THe Sentinal Satellite Read online

  Amazingly, she had only plummeted a few feet when she felt a jolt and something solid under her. Confused, she opened her eyes to see Santo glaring at her. She found herself crumpled in a rather uncomfortable position in the passenger seat of the D-wing. When he had returned to the D-wing and seen that she was gone, he knew exactly where to look. While she was elated to be saved, he was irate and bellowed,

  “I thought I told you to stay in the D-wing.”

  After a sheepish grin she admitted,

  “You did.”

  Chapter 8

  Santo had stopped their ascent over the island at a thousand feet. Both looked down to see many pleasure craft as well as a few fishing boats picking up survivors. Although that pleased them, what they saw next was a cold stab to the heart. The castle was gone. Not even rubble offered evidence that a regal palace once stood there. Through the smoke, they saw some buildings were still ablaze but everything else was reduced to atoms and disappearing in a cyclone of death.

  Then something strange happened. From the Sentinel cloud, all the zapping fingers of destruction came together to form one incredibly destructive beam. From the safety of the D-wing they watched as it bore deep into the centre of the island. While stunned to disbelief, in a meek tone Maria asked,

  “What’s it doing Santo?”

  He knew but all he said was,

  “It doesn’t look good.”

  While watching the beam bore deep into the island, suddenly an earth shattering explosion tore through the air. Considering the massive detonation, it should have started a tidal wave and destructive aftershock stampeding through the air but nothing like that happened.

  The force of the blast was contained in a spiral, shooting straight up into the stratosphere. The island now took on the appearance of a massive deep volcano crater. When one ridge of the crater gave way to the pressure of the water, the Aegean Sea poured into the hollow as if a giant waterfall. After only a few minutes, the only thing left of Isle de Celeste and castle Casa de Bromhouser was a ring of low ridges sticking out of the Sea.

  Despite total destruction, the deadly Sentinel Satellite continued its lethal annihilation beaming deep into what was left of the island. After another explosion, all the ridges caved in and eventually disappeared into oblivion. Once again, the Aegean Sea swallowed an island of brilliant scientists. Like Atlantis, Isle de Celeste sank below the sea to become a future legend of an advanced race and technology.

  Following in the footsteps of the Atlantis legend, the few scientists able to escape the destruction scattered to all four corners of the earth and handed down their knowledge to future civilizations. Like Atlantis, the House of the Nazarene was destined to become another footnote to history.

  From high up and looking down, when all was gone, there was nothing left to do except mourn for the dead and pray for the survivors. Santo commanded the D-wing higher and they sped east over Greece and Turkey. When disbelief had somewhat subsided, Maria was able to fearfully ask,

  “My god Santo, what just happened?”

  Santo’s reply was direct, sounding like a stone cold soldier reporting bad news to his Commander.

  “We were attacked and lost everything.”

  There was hopefulness in her soft question.

  “Did you manage to save everybody?”

  “No, only a handful of people.”

  Still under the heavy shawl of disbelief, hoping for a better reply, she asked,

  “How many died?”

  Although there was trauma in his heart, he remained resigned to bitter defeat.

  “I would estimate most, perhaps as many as 350.”

  With concern for them all, she asked,

  “Where will the survivors go, what will happen to them?”

  Trying to push the reality of the horror aside as much as possible, he coldly said,

  “There are contingency plans in place for this sort of thing. The survivors will be fine. It is the injured and dead who suffered the most.”

  After running faces of friends and scientists through her mind, tears flowed freely. It was almost a whisper,

  “Where are we going Santo? Can we go and get Belle now?”

  It was a cold response to a heartfelt question.

  “No.”

  As Maria suffered depression and shock, Santo opened a section of the control panel and spoke to the onboard computer.

  “Computer. Recognize voice identification signature and assign proper security level. Confirm.”

  The computer responded, “Confirm Beta Two, Captain Santo Martinez.”

  Santo then demanded,

  “Deny all transmissions and communications channelled through Master Communication Satellite, ‘SA One’. Confirm.”

  The computer confirmed, “Com-sat SA One is now inoperative.”

  Santo. “Delete all GPS and Locator tracking through ‘Com-sat SA One.’ Confirm.”

  Computer. “Confirmed. All GPS systems deleted.”

  Santo. “Only transfer communication through satellite One-AXC and connected satellites using identified frequencies. Confirm.”

  Computer. “Confirmed.”

  Santo. “Under directive ‘Code 2235-Zebra-981 authorized by my voice print, activate all Sleeper Satellites. Confirm.”

  Computer. Confirmed. “All Sleepers activated.”

  Never having seen Santo so coldly methodical and not understanding what he was commanding, she asked,

  “What’s going on Santo? Why are you disconnecting from the House of the Nazarene secure satellites?”

  “Because there is much more to this destruction then meets the eye. This was a deliberate re-programming of the Sentinel Satellite. Not even the House of the Nazarene has the technology or ability to do that.”

  Maria was shocked and in a defeated tone said,

  “Back in the castle while holding a dying Gustav in my arms, I asked him why the Grays would do that to us but he said they didn’t. He said that only one person could possibly have re-programmed the sentinel satellite.”

  While still speeding east Santo’s military manner snapped,

  “Who?”

  It was a defeated response.

  “He died before he could say.”

  Despite the horror and mystery of what had happened to all those lives and the destruction of Isle de Celeste, Maria’s thought sprang to Belle. This time there was a command in her voice.

  “I want to go get Belle right now.”

  Santo’s snappy reply shocked her.

  “Impossible. She is safer where she is. Clearly, the attack on the House of the Nazarene was intended to kill families as well as scientists. Without knowing the extent and purpose of the attack we cannot afford to compromise more lives and that means our daughter.”

  Not liking it but understanding, Maria’s heart sunk.

  Santo again spoke to the onboard computer.

  “Computer. Are the Sleeper Satellites on line?”

  Computer. “Confirmed. All activated.”

  “Send a secure coded message to location Bra-jung satellite ZZ-one. Message to read, Doll House has fallen. Confirm message received.”

  Seconds later, the computer responded,

  “Message was received and understood.”

  Santo then looked to the scared Maria. For the first time his military mask softened,

  “Belle is in safe hands.”

  She asked,

  “What about us? Where shall we go?”

  As they flew high over northern Pakistan, he said.

  “We are going to meet up with some of the survivors at a secret location. From there we will try to figure out what happened and why.”

  Nervously, Maria asked a hopeful question,

  “Will Waldorf and Helga be there?”

  “No. Helga was seriously injured. Waldorf took her to a secure hospital in Zürich and will join us when she has been stabilized.”

  Chapter 9

  Helga was unconscious in the passenger s
eat of the D-wing and bleeding badly from a gash in her abdomen. From bruising on her chest he knew ribs were broken and possibly internal bleeding. It tore at him that he had to leave the House of the Nazarene in such desperate times but more in his heart than the need of the House was Helga’s need. It was only a thirty-five minute flight to Zürich but regardless he pushed the D-wing to its limits. After entering Swiss air space, he continued north-west and from the ceiling of the stratosphere contacted a military hospital. After transmitting proper identification approach information, he shouted into the mike.

  “Naz-Em. Condition Crit.”

  Doctor Zobrist was an old gray haired Doctor, in fact retired but volunteering his time in the military hospital. After an intense and all morning kidney operation, he was exhausted. He was not tired from the operation but rather because he had been on his feet all that time. Right now he was very much enjoying recovery time in his office, feet up and holding tight to a cherished large glass of Grappa brandy. His cell phone buzzed.

  The last thing his tired feet needed right now was another medical emergency. He was about to forward the call to the House Doctors when he saw the ‘Naz-Em. Condition Crit’ call. After a deep sigh and large gulp of brandy, he struggled to his feet. From the code, he knew somebody from the House of the Nazarene was arriving with serious injuries. As he made his way to the roof and helicopter landing pad, he called for a gurney and two ‘Special Aide’ attendants.

  Waldorf dropped the D-wing straight down and landed perfectly on the giant ‘H’ of the helicopter landing pad. Because the D-wing was cloaked, the only way the three men knew something had landed was by a sudden gust of wind. They saw Waldorf appear as if out of nowhere carrying Helga in his arms. None of the men so much as blinked at the peculiarity. The Secret Special Units hospital for the House of the Nazarene had seen stranger things than that.

  As the two Special Aides secured Helga to the gurney, the old Doctor faced a concerned and exhausted Waldorf asking,

  “How much of that blood all over you belongs to Helga?”

  Confused, Waldorf looked down at his body. For the first time he saw he was covered in blood. It was a truthful answer.

  “I don’t know.”

  The Doctor then ordered,

  “Get rid of the D-wing so a helicopter doesn’t land on top of it and come with me.”

  “No. I have to get back to the Island.”

  Doctor Zobrist pointed to Waldorf’s left leg and said,

  “That large piece of metal sticking out of your leg says different.”

  To his great surprise, Waldorf realized that it was his blood.

  After remotely signalling the D-wing to hover five miles straight up, Waldorf reluctantly followed the gurney into the hospital. After a quick triage of her injuries, they whisked Helga away leaving only Waldorf needing attention. The Doctor sincerely said,

  “I’ll get a Doctor for you and look after Helga myself.”

  Knowing the doctor’s skill, a greatly relieved Waldorf sincerely said,

  “Thank you Matthias. Be prepared to receive others.”

  As the good doctor followed the gurney into the operating room, all he could think about was his poor tired feet.

  Chapter 10

  Cave of the Three Sisters

  Even by satellite imagery, there are many unmapped and unexplored remote places in the world. Many such valleys and mountains were in the Nepal region of the Himalayan Mountains where political as well as social issues had forever prevented exploration. There was also the issue of spiritual and holy places making them forbidden to all outsiders. In an inaccessible area deep within the Himalayan forbidden range was a hidden valley referred to as ‘Cave of the Three Sisters’. In years past, it was a safe haven for those who came from the stars. In this forbidden place, a small river flowed through a steep picturesque canyon not unlike the Grand Canyon on the other side of the world. Despite tall cliffs on both sides, a lazy river still managed to meander through the canyon.

  Just past noon, sunshine managed to reach deep into the gorge and warm steep cliffs. In the middle of the meandering river, an old man precariously balanced on a rickety sampan. As he once again flung his fishing net into the water, a strange movement from above caught his eye. As the net sank, he looked up to see three strange metallic disks speeding through the canyon and straight toward him. Held spellbound, without a sound they zipped over his head and continued down the river. He turned just in time to see them stop and hover in the narrowest and steepest part of the canyon. To the fisherman, it seemed as if the strange objects had stopped to look at the vertical cliff wall. Because there were many gods in his faith as well as countless spirits, he assumed he was now looking at some of them.

  Santo and Maria were in the lead D-wing with the other two hovering just behind them. As they faced the solid cliff, Santo entered a series of access codes into the computer. Maria, not sure of what was going on asked,

  “Yes, it is a very picturesque cliff Santo but why are we sitting here looking at it?”

  Before she finished the question, the cliff started to shimmer. Suddenly where there was once a solid cliff there now appeared a large cave entrance. The other two D-wings followed Santo into it.

  Spellbound, the fisherman watched as the three spirits suddenly shot forward into what he only saw as solid rock. Without the sound of a crash or scattering of debris, the three spirits were gone. He assumed that they simply disappeared into solid stone. When he had caught enough fish for his family he returned to the village with the good news, the Three Sisters had finally returned to the valley.

  As Maria stepped out of the D-wing, lights from high in the roof flicked on. She was struck by the vastness of the cavern. From where she was standing, there was no way of telling how deep it was but it was massive. Across the floor were many computer banks as well as what she recognized as communication equipment. If this were any other place except in the bowels of a mountain, she would have thought they had landed in a massive computer facility.

  She turned to Santo and asked,

  “What is this place Santo? Why are we here?”

  He was still in the D-wing entering codes when saying,

  “It’s an emergency location for the House of the Nazarene. Gustav secretly laid it out just in case of exactly what happened.”

  He then pointed to the computer banks, adding,

  “These computers contain back up files of the House assets, businesses, banks, and political connections. Whoever attacked us, if it was their intention to destroy the House, they were not entirely successful.”

  She then turned her attention to the other two D-wings and saw the survivors jumping out and running to various locations. By the way they were quickly moving about, many running to the computers, it was clear that she was the only one who had no idea what was going on.

  As she had no important duties and knew she couldn’t help, she wandered over to the edge of the cave entrance and looked down to the meandering river far below. In the distance she saw what appeared to be a lone man in a small boat slowly rowing upstream. The cliff across the canyon was covered in green foliage. On the steep cliff were many trees stubbornly clinging to the sheer precipice. If they had not just escaped with their lives and were now seemingly at the end of the world, she thought what she was looking at would make an attractive postcard.

  As she let the noonday sun warm her, from behind she heard Santo bark orders.

  “The new security codes are top priority, get them on line first. All sleeper satellites have been activated and secure. Transfer all new communication matrixes to them.”

  Maria turned back to see the bustling activity, it was obvious that none of the scientists needed to be reminded of their duties. All were clearly well versed in the emergency procedures.

  Seeing a sad Maria standing at the cave entrance looking forlornly at the him, Santo approached to console her. He thought her depression stemmed from all the death and destruction of the Hou
se of the Nazarene. He did not understand that her thoughts were of Belle. Standing next to her, using a soft tone he said,

  “Nobody except Gustav, Waldorf, and I know of this place. Whoever was responsible for destroying the island does not know where we are. All communication codes are changed and redirected through sleeper satellites now activated. We are safe here.”

  She was not concerned at all about her safety. With eyes still on the river far below, she said,

  “It was clear that whatever happened was intended to not only eradicate the House of the Nazarene but everybody involved with it as well. I need to know that our daughter is safe.”

  Understanding her concern, for it was his second priority as well, he explained.

  “As soon as I realized the severity of the attack I sent a coded message to Liana. Did you not hear me send the message, ‘Bra-jung tower ZZ-one. Message to read, Doll House has fallen’? The message was sent to the Brazil jungle tower ZZ-one. Liana now knows what happened and will instigate security procedures for their safety.”

  Although pleased, there was still a dark shroud of despair about her. She timidly said,