THe Sentinal Satellite Read online

  “They wouldn’t. At this point of their advanced evolution everything must surely be on whatever form of computer system they use. There was evidence of papyrus as well as parchment dust on some of the shelves. The books in this library were obviously archived ancient writings from long gone civilizations.”

  Turning around, Santo speculated,

  “So this might have been the equivalent of an Alexandrian Library then.”

  “I suspect that it was much more than that, perhaps even esoteric knowledge or celestial tablets containing the history of aliens on this planet, the real history of humankind.”

  Santo agreed and proposed an even more profound possibility,

  “You mean like the Akashic records?”

  “Well that’s a little farfetched but sure, why not. Whatever was in all those books was important enough to be hidden here. For some reason, they moved away taking the books with them.”

  Not understanding a word, Reginald looked to Santo and asked,

  “Akashic records?”

  Because he asked Santo and not Maria, Santo offered a very simplistic if not accurate explanation.

  “In Science, it is largely believed that energy is never destroyed. The energy that produces sound eventually converts to atoms and float about in the voids. The atoms contain programs of the sound and theoretically could be accessed. It is the same with the life giving energy of our bodies, that when we die, we convert to something else that some people call the soul. There are some who believe that thoughts and knowledge float off to a central ethereal library some place in the universe.”

  He then looked to Maria for confirmation of the information. She shrugged and said,

  “Close enough.”

  Reginald then showed them the toppled shelf and the hole in the wall where he found the book. Santo noticed that the walls were plaster. He began knocking on the walls and listening for hints of another hollow. Understanding what he was doing she started doing the same on the other wall. Unfortunately, after a thorough inspection of the room nothing else was found. With only the prize of a puzzling book, they left the room.

  As they approached the entrance and the half of the front door lying on the floor, Maria again noticed the strange design in the tiles. Perhaps it was because she was now looking at half of the design from the opposite direction it held more of an interest for her. As the others walked over the door, she stayed back to stare at it. Once outside Santo turned to see that she was not coming. She called him back.

  “Santo, I want to see the rest of this design. Will you pull the door off for me please?”

  Because it was too heavy for him to budge, he called Reginald and the three Aboriginals back. After a great deal moaning and groaning, the task was complete. When Maria saw the rest of the design, she put a hand to her mouth and gasped. There was no doubt that the bottom half of the design was representative of a Caduceus, the two snakes spiraling around a pole but the top was different. At the top was a round orb with spread wings. Santo did not understand the meaning and therefore only gave it a casual inspection. Maria was held spellbound.

  It was clear to Santo that she was looking at something that shocked her. He asked,

  “What is it?”

  She pointed to the design and said,

  “That’s the same design that I saw on the forehead of the Dropa statue hidden in Tibet, the one that I got the crystal from. Zak told me that he thinks it’s a tree of life insignia used by Kalian’s people, the Great Grays.”

  Santo then asked,

  “So you think this is a clue that marks where another piece of the weapon might be hidden?”

  She pointed and said,

  “Yes, under the floor.”

  Insensitive to damaging the floor, using planks from the shelves in the library, all six now pounded and hacked away at the ornate design. One of the Aboriginals started excitedly yelling while pointing to a half uncovered metallic box. Maria greedily pulled it out and tore off the lid. Inside was a triangular piece of crystal exactly like the one from the mouth of the Dropa. She looked up at Santo, grinned from ear to ear and said,

  “Well, that’s piece number two.”

  With no other place to go, all six returned to the middle of the courtyard. The Aboriginals sat off to the side of the fountain while Maria again eagerly inspected the strange book. Santo’s gaze was held captive by the fountain. Clearly, something was bothering him and so he turned to Reginald and asked,

  “You have been here for a very long time. What have you been eating and drinking to keep you alive?”

  Reginald’s reply surprised him.

  “You are looking at our food supply, the fountain.”

  Stunned, Maria put the book down and asked,

  “You get your food from the fountain?”

  Santo calmly said,

  “Show me.”

  While standing at the edge of the fountain, Maria looked long and hard at the upward spurting water gently splashing back down into the pool. If there was a hidden cafeteria somewhere in the water, she could not see it. Reginald made a fist, pounded the rim of the fountain twice and then stood back waiting for something to happen. Santo quizzically looked at Maria who returned the questioning look.

  Suddenly small chunks of what looked to be cupcakes bobbed up from somewhere in the bottom of the pool to float on the water. The three Aboriginals were the first to scoop some up and greedily devour them. Maria picked one up and after an inspection nibbled at it. She reported her findings to Santo.

  “It’s some sort of waffle, white, like Coriander seed with a taste of honey to it. I suppose with other ingredients this might be life sustaining.”

  Reginald said,

  “We have to eat it quickly or it just rots.”

  Looking at Maria, Santo said,

  “Remind you of anything?”

  She did not need to search memory cells for long before saying,

  “It’s just like Manna from the Great Exodus in the Bible. It was the way God fed the escaping slaves on their forty year trek.”

  “Sure, except I doubt this place has anything to do with God.”

  Maria swallowed her mouthful and uttered,

  “Amen to that.”

  A few minutes later, Santo noticed she was absently staring at the water. Fearing that it was because of what she had eaten he took her arm and turned her away from it. With great concern he asked,

  “What’s the matter?”

  She slowly turned back to the water, pointed and said,

  “There is something wrong with the water. It is not doing what it’s supposed to be doing.”

  Confused, Santo stared hard until finally he too saw it. Although the fountain was spurting water about three feet high, there was no ripple reaction when it splashed back down into the pool. Strangely, the ripple effect was from the rim of the fountain toward the splashing water.

  Needing to confirm what he hoped Maria too had discovered he saw a stone on the path. After tossing it into the fountain it was confirmed that there was no ripple effect. The rock simply disappeared into the water. Maria nodded and said,

  “It is the same ripple frequency as the distortion in the cave wall.”

  With great excitement she pointed and declared,

  “Santo, this is the way out.”

  Santo was not so sure. After considering it for a few minutes, he said,

  “But when the Aboriginal reached into the water to pull out the bread he was not sucked into it.”

  Her reasoning did not please him.

  “We have to jump into it.”

  Turning to Reginald Santo asked,

  “Have others come and managed to escape?”

  As there was no need to ponder the question, he answered right away.

  “Yes, not so long ago a terrifying ugly man dressed in a long fur coat and fur hat appeared. He was constantly mumbling something in a foreign language, ‘ropa’ and ‘peshchera’ or something to that effect.”
/>   Maria said,

  “That’s Russian for ‘cave’ and ‘mountain’. There must be a transporter cave somewhere in Russia as well.”

  Agreeing, Santo asked Reginald,

  “Where is he? What became of him?”

  “I don’t really know. The last I saw of him he was singing a strange song while struggling to balance on the rim of this fountain. He was pretty crazy you understand. I looked away for a second but when I couldn’t hear him singing anymore I glanced back and he was gone.”

  Reginald was wondering why both Santo and Maria were looking at each other and smiling.

  Although Reginald was intently listening to every word they were saying, he had no idea what they were talking about. Santo said,

  “What if it isn’t the way back to the cave? There is no way of knowing where we might end up.”

  Maria agreed and added,

  “True. Without proper calibration or the ability to tune in to a location, we could end up anywhere in the world.”

  Santo so eloquently stated,

  “Or perhaps into an oven of Manna dough.”

  Both fell silent, each pondering the risk of their dire situation. Maria was the first to speak in favour of the blind leap of faith.

  “I will risk anything to see our daughter again. If my only two options are to stay here until joining the skeletons back there or even a remote possibility of being back with her, I’m willing to take that chance.”

  Santo nodded.

  “I agree. If this is a time differential warp place, I have no intention of eventually escaping to see Belle grown up and married with children.”

  There was no way he was going to mention his other reason for his willingness to take the risk. He was a soldier and any soldier worth his salt would rather die attempting to escape than rot in a POW camp.

  Reginald was not clear on the plan and so asked,

  “I say chaps, what’s this about getting out of here?”

  Santo explained their theory of how this pool might be the portal back home, or at the very least, out of here. He did not hold back the risk, about how it was a just a chance. Surprisingly Reginald turned and looked at the buildings, up at the dome and then back to them. They were pleased with his reply.

  “Yes, I see. But then I suppose that any other place would be better than here would it not.”

  It was difficult to explain the plan to the three Aboriginals by using only hand signs. Conceding to their blank looks Santo picked up a stick. As best he could, he drew a picture of a didgeridoo in the dirt. They mumbled some words that he hoped might translate to understanding what it was. From the mouth of one of them came a loose interpretation of ‘didgeridoo’. Santo then drew on the didgeridoo the three interlocking circles the men standing on the high ledge had shown him. He then pointed to the pool. It was clear by their excitement that they understood the intent of the communication.

  In the dirt, he again drew the fountain. Although drawing only stick men, he showed that it was important for all six to stand in the middle of the pool. Maria was not sure they fully understood but was sure they would follow them into the water. Like her, they would chance anything to get out of this death trap.

  Filled with apprehension, and not sure if they were doing the right thing, Maria stood on the rim of the fountain and took Santo’s hand. Reginald stood next to Maria. When seeing what was happening, the tree aboriginals also climbed up on the edge to face the water. Before taking the leap of faith, for courage Maria envisioned holding Belle in her arms. Santo was the first to extend his foot and step into the water. The rest followed.

  Nothing happened. Surprisingly the water depth was shallow, only up to their ankles. Not conceding to the disappointment, Santo took another step toward the center of the pool. The rest followed but again, nothing happened. Just as Maria was going to utter words of disappointment, the three Aboriginals suddenly sunk. Maria turned to see that without so much as a ripple in the water, they were gone. Then Reginald, Maria and Santo too sunk and disappeared into the shallow pool.

  Chapter 26

  Ayres Rock was busy with tourists circling and climbing the rock. The last tour group of the day was standing at the base of a cliff and facing their tour guide. She was young and to some her voice was far too shrill and annoying. Pointing to a rock face, she shrieked,

  “Of course, the Aboriginals refer to Ayres Rock as Uluru. The sandstone formation is huge, jutting up about 350 meters. More interestingly, Ayers Rock extends even farther than that below ground. That is interesting, right? You should also know that the Aboriginals have lived in this area for over 10,000 years while Europeans did not come onto the scene until the 1870s.”

  She was pleased to see that they were all staring at her. Some even appeared to be listening. At least she thought they were. She decided to reward them with more information although some thought it was a punishment.

  “It is best to observe the rock during sunrise or sunset, when its terracotta hue morphs into a violet-blue tinge.”

  Just then, one of the ladies pointed behind the tour guide and let out a terrifying scream. The tour guide snapped around to see the solid rock begin to shimmer. Then, out of the undulating stone walked three very scary Aboriginal natives. While some tourists were fumbling for their cameras out came an Englishman looking like he was ready to go on an African safari. Just as the tour guide was struggling not to faint, from the rippling rock, out stepped Santo and Maria. Santo was quick to recognize their situation. Unless he thought fast, there would be a lot of explaining to do.

  As the three Aboriginals ran down the slope and onto the ground that they easily recognized as home, Santo looked to the stunned crowd, smiled and gleefully announced,

  “Golly, that was the best tour of Ayres Rock ever.”

  At that, the attitude of the crowd went from stunned to excitement. All immediately approached the speechless tour guide holding out fists of money and expressing a desire to be booked onto the same tour. None of them understood why she fainted.

  The diversion had allowed Reginald, Santo and Maria to escape the crowd. They hid between tall sage bushes pressed against the wall of Uluru. From their vantage point, they saw the three Aboriginals running as fast as they could toward the horizon. One of them stopped and turned back to face them. In a universal signal understood by all, he raised his hand showing appreciation of their help in getting home. Maria commented,

  “At least they know where they are and hopefully how to get back to their own people.”

  Santo said,

  “And I suppose with many great stories about how they were in the home of their gods.”

  Reginald turned around, scanned Ayres Rock, then out into the vastness of the Outback. Despite all the strange things that had happened to him he was dumbfound about where he was. He uttered,

  “This is not Africa is it?”

  Chuckling, Santo replied,

  “No Reginald, you are not in Kansas anymore.”

  Maria saw that he did not understand the humor so offered another, albeit, equally confusing explanation.

  “No Reginald, you are not in Africa anymore. You are now in the middle of Australia.”

  Whatever was churning in his confused mind stayed there. With a blank expression, he simply turned his gaze to the horizon. He did not utter a word for the longest time.

  They stayed hidden behind the sage bush waiting for darkness. As it was already late in the day, it was not a long wait. Maria was the first to notice the time of day. She said,

  “This is not the same day. Clearly a day and night has passed since we entered the cave.”

  Santo knew she was right. He understood that Reginald thought he had only been in the domed city for a few months but in fact, a few years had passed in this time zone.

  When all the tour buses had gone, all three ventured from their hiding place and stepped out into the open. It was clear by the stunned look on Reginald’s face, that he had not quite absorbed or
accepted the reality of his situation. Santo reached into his backpack and pulled out the D-wing remote. He then looked to the stunned man and said,

  “I have another surprise for you.”

  Within minutes, the D-wing obeyed the remote signal and came to a landing at their feet. Because they were using Waldorf’s larger D-wing it was easy for Reginald to jump into the back. As they lifted high, Maria turned to him and asked,

  “If it were possible to drop you anywhere in the world, where would you most want to go?”

  Thinking that it would be no more than a wish, he said,

  “I always promised myself that if I ever got out of that hellish place I would return to my old home town of Stoneham England.”

  Maria looked to Santo who understood the point of her question. After entering GPS codes for Stoneham, the D-wing banked north toward England.

  Chapter 27

  Jessika Reynaldi was sitting at her computer desk waiting for a complex algorithm program to complete a series of computations. Normally vivacious and full of energy, current events had replaced her glowing smile with despondency and gloom. Like all survivors of the destruction of the House of the Nazarene, she too had lost somebody dear to her heart. While she waited for the program to finish, she watched a video of a lost love smiling that irresistible smile at her.

  Some of her friends said that hard analytical programs had cooled a once warm and compassionate woman. She often wondered if they might be right. She understood that she had reached a point where she could communicate easier with computer programs than humans. She also knew that at times she would rather have processors for company. With the loss of the island, along with her lover, there was now no doubt of her humanity. A computer program could never produce the tears she was desperately trying to hold back and delete.