The group moved into the open hatch the familiar black stone and blue glyphs mixed with the paintings and etchings of visitors from other centuries. Kevin’s necklace glowed beneath his shirt, not giving out heat, but a reassuring illumination.
Jacob was moving through the jungle with his son, not talking from necessity and not hostility. The background noise of the jungle was unusually absent and that put both men on edge, they had always trusted animal’s instincts, and the silence indicated danger. Archer crouched and checked the area, binoculars scanning for any tell-tale movement, nothing. They moved on and reached the complex wall, Archer was surprised at how little vegetation had encroached upon it, as if it was afraid to touch the surface. There were occasional shrubs and small creepers venturing up the mud brick walls, but nothing substantial. Jacob waved two fingers over to the right, and Archer moved to the expected position. Debra was almost invisible in the undergrowth, just her white eyes showing.
She whispered carefully to him, ‘No show yet, we are waiting.’
Osvaldo Roderigo and Kevin reached the main chamber, the black domed roof climbing up away from the entrance. The single obelisk that Katherine had activated on their last visit stood glowing and silent.
‘Kevin, you have an interest in astronomy?’
‘Yes, always, my mother got me a telescope when I was five. Katherine tell you?’
‘No, just a guess. Luis Alfredo was our astronomer, and he is dead, I want you to take his place.’
‘And do what? I have no knowledge of this place.’
‘You know more than you realise, so just trust me, and step into the obelisk.’
Kevin tentatively moved towards the alcove in the side of the obelisk, it was about two and a half metres high, and wide enough for him to stand without touching the sides of stone. As he stood, a field of blue light travelled from the floor to cover the opening, startling him.
‘What is this Osvaldo? Am I trapped?’
‘Far from it my young friend, this barrier protects you for later.‘
Kevin was unsure whether to be reassured or more concerned on what was coming later.
‘Kevin, you will see a display in front of you showing the Earth and moon orbiting the sun.’
‘Yes I see it’
‘Touch the Earth.’
Kevin reached out and touched the display of the Earth, realising it was not a screen, but a three dimensional display in the space in front of him. As he touched it the Earth zoomed up and began to show many small dots everywhere.
‘What is this?’
‘That is every orbiting object above the Earth.’
‘Wow, that’s busy?’
The display had filled with hundreds of objects, all orbiting at incredible speed. Kevin spotted the display had highlighted one object.
‘Why is that red?’
‘That’s our problem. When I had Katherine place the amulet in this obelisk, it was not by chance, this is the tracker.’
‘Tracker of what?’
‘What you see in front of you, every object orbiting the Earth, and if you change the display, every object that crosses near the Earth.’
‘Near Earth Asteroid’s that’s what you mean?’
‘Yes, we do not want to end up like the dinosaurs.’
‘So this whole place is here just to detect the threats.’
‘Yes, and no, it is here to identify the threat, and that is why our necklaces glow. The complex calls to us, to attend. It cannot function without people, one of the safety features.’
‘So when the threat is passed?’
‘The necklaces go dark, appearing inert, until the next time.’
‘And what is the range limit?’
‘Sorry I don’t understand Kevin.’
‘How far away can you be before they don’t work.’
‘Your mother told me hers glowed once, and she was in, Chicago?’
‘Wow. So this red dot is a threat.’
‘Yes, what do you think you should do?’
Instinctively Kevin touched the red dot, and it grew filling the screen. Statistics adjacent to the image showed its position in space, but he could not read them, ‘These glyphs what do they mean?’
‘Just focus on them, and think what you wish to know.’
Kevin kept repeating in his head; show me real numbers, and a few seconds later all the glyphs changed to numbers and letters, ‘I can read this!’
‘Yes, I know. What does it say?’
Kevin studied the mass of information on the object, and determined its orbit, or lack of it, and time to impact.
‘It is going to hit in less than six hours, it will leave stable orbit within two hours.’
‘Well done Kevin. Now I want you to look to your right, and select the image stating tower release.’
‘Okay, pressing now.’
The complex hummed in acknowledgement of Kevin’s actions, but he did not see a reaction.
‘What’s happening?’
‘Nothing that you will see here, come out of the obelisk, we have work to do.’
Osvaldo Roderigo led Kevin over to the wall, and set about his next task.
Out in the jungle a few miles from the complex; four towers rose out of stone domes, pushing through the plant growth coating them. The black stone obelisks had four razor sharp edges, cutting all resistance, and pushing up fifty metres into the air. The tops of the towers were perfect pyramids, reminiscent of the obelisks in the complex, but on a much larger scale. The tops of the pyramids on all four towers slid away, four sections folding like petals back onto the sides of the towers. Then with a rush of wind, a large two-metre cube of ice flew out, and up into the atmosphere. The four towers repeated this event five times each, adjusting their angle slightly to fire the cubes into different areas of the sky. At eight miles up all the cubes exploded, releasing a combination of ice and blue crystals; seeding the atmosphere.
‘What are we trying to do here Osvaldo Roderigo?’
‘Kevin, this complex uses natural energy sources, and we have just fired off the seeding towers to create a thunderstorm.’
‘That is weather manipulation, I thought that was impossible?’
‘Oh it is, and we need lightning, positive lightning.’
‘Now that I have not heard of.’
‘It is rarer, and generates ten times the power of normal lightning, some strikes give so much energy they would light up a one hundred watt light bulb for a hundred years.’
‘And you want to start that kind of power?’
‘Oh yes, I have waited for this most of my life, and soon we will get plenty of it, right over our heads.’
Kevin stopped asking questions.
THIRTY FOUR
Ian Fisher had been head of the project for five years, and inherited a true mess of bureaucracy, secrecy and incompetence. He had attempted during the past six months to convince his superiors that his predictions of a threat to the security of the country were real. No one would listen. He had tried other avenues of persuasion, people not in his chain of command, but just as influential, and now had to call them to inform them of his worst fears. He had already called the project leader, who was notably absent and had placed Fisher in command of everything in his place. Fisher knew that the leader would not assume blame. Ian had sat in the glass walled office for an hour debating his choices, and could see none. He closed the vertical cream blinds, secluding himself from the frantic activity in the command centre below. He dialled the number he had been given.
‘Hello Sir, Its Ian Fisher.’
‘Good evening Mr Fisher, you have news for us?’
‘Yes sir, it’s not good.’
‘I thought as much. Your superiors did not heed your warnings?’