THe Sentinal Satellite Read online

  Judging by Zak’s confused expression, it was apparent that he did not understand metaphors. She then cast him a stern look and demanded,

  “Do you at least know where these three places are?”

  There was a tone of defeat in his reply.

  “No. However, I managed to translate some of the writing the Great Grays left behind. They had three alien allies here on the planet, other alien tribes that they trusted. So far I have only been able to discover one location but give me time and I will decipher the rest while you are gone.

  Maria looked to Waldorf and asked,

  “So, where am I going first?”

  “Your first location is to an ancient alien tribe known in Tibet as the Dropa. I have already programmed the location into your GPS. The Lama priests protecting the weapon are passive so you will not need to be armed. However, aside from approaching them in what they think to be a chariot of the gods, this D-wing, you will need to be identified as a friend of the Great Grays before they will help you.”

  Handing her two items, he explained,

  Before they see you, put this ring on.”

  He dropped a gold ring with a Caduceus insignia in her open hand. He then draped a yellow silk scarf over her arm. Taking both, she put them on the seat beside her and asked,

  “The ring bears the insignia of the House of the Nazarene. Does it mean something to the Lama priests as well?”

  It was Zak who answered,

  “It is the secret symbol of the Great Grays as well as the adopted insignia of the House of the Nazarene. In these modern times, it is the emblem of medicine, healing and doctors. To the Grays at that time it represented the tree of life, all the species that God created. Notice the wings at the top of the genetic spiral. As everything else illustrated by various human cultures through the ages, if it had wings, it belonged to those who could fly or those who from the heavens came. Also in those days if a king was depicted sitting on a seat of authority with humans worshipping him, it was a secret depiction of an alien. It is very clear to those who understand.”

  Zak then added,

  “Read your Bible. Substitute any mention of ‘angels’ to ‘aliens’ and suddenly everything will make sense.”

  Before closing the cockpit, Maria looked to Waldorf and asked,

  “Where in Tibet will I be going?”

  “The GPS will take you to a Tibetan Monastery hidden in the Himalayan Mountains. Just remember to impress the Priests with your divinity. Camouflage the D-wing, hover over them, and then appear. Do you remember what Santo did to the Amazon tribes to impress them a few years ago?” “Yes, he dropped flares and sounded great trumpet blasts.”

  “Exactly. Just as in the Biblical stories when angels appeared with thunder and bright lights. Do the same and they will accept you as a returning god. Once you are among them, show the ring and tell them you speak for the Great Grays asking for a part of the weapon to be returned.”

  Chapter 17

  Cave of the Ancients

  It took only minutes for the D-wing to fly over the Himalayan Mountains and the isolation of the Tibetan Plateau. Because of the encoded GPS and guided by the newly activated Sleeper Satellites, there was little for Maria to do except be greatly impressed with the spectacular mountain view out the cockpit window. Little did she realize that what struck her as magical would soon be greatly diminished by what was to come.

  From 50,000 feet and the comfort of her D-wing the Himalayans looked picturesque, all covered in snow and sheer cliffs hostile to habitation. It was easy to see that if there were ever a colony of aliens wanting to be isolated from the rest of the world, this would certainly be the place.

  The GPS co-ordinates took her directly overhead of the tallest and steepest mountains in the plateau. When the D-wing came to a halt and started to descend, she easily understood that if Waldorf had entered the wrong coordinates or perhaps the Sleeper Satellites were not functioning properly, she would never have been able to locate such a secret place. There was nothing below except snow and shear mountain cliffs. There was no village or Lama Temple in sight.

  The D-wing quickly descended below the mountaintops and into steep valleys. All she could see out the window were scrolling cliffs zipping past. Surely nobody could live here, at least anyone in his right mind. Just as she was considering taking over the controls, the D-wing stopped and began to squeeze between tall narrow ridges.

  Suddenly in the distance, expecting to see a barren freezing landscape, Maria was stunned to see a small valley of green meadows. As if it were a warm summer day in the pasturelands of the Mongolian Highlands, Yaks and sheep lazily grazed in the fields. Past the strange site was a small village with people milling about. It was a warm Shangri-La in the middle of a very cold environment.

  Following the plan, she initiated the camouflage program and turned the D-wing over to manual control. Zak told her to look for an elaborate temple seemingly carved into the sheer cliff above the village. In a valley of green meadows, it was easy to spot the red temple in the middle of a rock cliff. Ignoring the mystery of what seemed an impossible place for a shrine, she drifted over top of the village and rose up to the temple.

  As she hovered fifty feet away from the temple, still concealed, she took a moment to reconnoitre the sanctuary. She was looking for what Zak had said, ‘Anything out of place.’ She muttered aloud,

  “Everything around here is out of place.”

  Except for the fact that it was located in the middle of a cliff high above the village, on the surface there was nothing unusual about the temple. With red columns and a massive gold arched roof it looked typical of an ornate Lama shrine.

  Because of the cloak, she was not concerned when seeing two Lama Priests clad in yellow shawls and red crescent-shaped headgear walk out of the temple onto the narrow ledge. However, when they looked directly at her, in a panic she glanced down at the controls making sure she was still cloaked. After confirming that she was, she looked back up and was surprised to see them bow to her.

  One then turned, walked back into the temple and quickly returned with a very old priest. With all three staring at her anyway, she decided to turn the camouflage program off. She was surprised that they stood calmly staring at her as if seeing a strange apparition suddenly appear was a normal occurrence this high in the Mongolian Highlands. Again, they bowed to her. To return the respect she dipped the nose of the D-wing. The old man raised his right hand, showed two fingers, and pressed them onto his forehead. She understood that he was symbolically activating his Third Eye. She also understood the invitation to approach.

  Softly setting down and before opening the cockpit hatch, she slipped on the signet ring with the Caduceus insignia and wrapped the yellow scarf around her neck. For all intent and purposes, she now bore the identification of the ancients. The hatch slid open and Maria exited with all the charm and grace of a pretended goddess.

  As all three again bowed, in respect she did the same plus touching two fingers to her forehead. She used the hand with the Caduceus insignia, making sure all three saw it. She was told that the Lamas were conversant in many languages and so opted to begin the conversation in French.

  “I send greetings from my brothers of the Great Gray Tribe.”

  The old one, obviously the Elder of the Temple said,

  “It has been a long time. We are greatly honored that you have finally returned to us.”

  She then cited her rehearsed lines.

  “There is a fear that the ancient war will once again return to Earth. It is for this reason I have come for what the Great Grays asked the Great Dropa to guard for them.”

  As eloquently as if she was an ambassador from a far country, the Elder again bowed and indicated for her to follow him into the temple.

  Despite the temple being nestled on a steep cliff of granite, the interior was resplendent with tall red wood columns. The high ornate ceiling was a combination of gold and yellow. Gold statues of Buddha in various pose
s littered the floor. She saw a platform to the side ornately displaying a golden vase. The back wall was lined with large prayer wheels. Except for the priests committing their lives to a faith and guarding what they believe to be an item from another world that they clearly believe in, there was nothing overtly out of place in this secret temple.

  When taken to the large prayer wheels she thought she was going to be subjected to endless rituals and prayer. Instead of quickly spinning the wheels, the Elder took great pains to carefully turn one after the other in a seemingly precise manner. When a wall behind the prayer wheels slowly opened, she realized that the prayer wheels acted as tumblers in a combination lock. Looking at the secret door, she noticed that at the top of the entrance was the emblem of the Dropa, a circular disc with a small hole in the middle.

  She was reminded of Zak’s story of how, about 12,000 years ago aliens came to the Tibetan Plateau and lived with the Dropa tribes. Because they were small creatures, only three feet tall and grotesque in appearance, they were at first feared and shunned but as time passed the people recognized their friendly nature. From that point on, for many generations there was peaceful cohabitation among the races. The aliens took on the name of the people they lived among, the Dropa.

  When the aliens finally left, as a parting gift they gave the Dropa people what became known as the Dropa Stones. Etched deep into the groves of the stones were instructions of how to access their secrets. For those who knew how to use them, the codes in the stones contained pictures of their galaxy and stories of their history.

  As she stood at the entrance to the cavern, she saw only darkness. However, with her first step onto the red ceramic tiles, soft lights illuminated the cavern. Still, it was not enough to see deep into the grotto. After one more step, the lights became brighter. When the complete vastness of the cavern was exposed, she gasped aloud.

  She thought she had walked into the Grand Hall of the British Museum. Statues, artwork, relics from every culture of the past were cluttered on the floor and walls. Off to one side was machinery that looked as if coming from the future. In the other direction were displays that the Egyptian Antiquities Museum would be proud to possess. When she looked up her jaw dropped. She thought she was looking at the dome of the Sistine Chapel.

  The stunned Maria walked through the grand hall seeing statues from Easter Island, Greek statues and strange vehicles looking much like her D-wing. There were artifacts from cultures she recognized as the Maya, Aztec, and Olmec empires from Mexico. Because she was pretending to be a representative of the Great Gray Tribe, she found it very difficult to maintain an air of nonchalance to the impossible things she was seeing.

  With curious eyes darting from side to side, she followed the old priest through another grand gallery. Upon reaching the far corner, he stopped in front of a pedestal supporting a golden statue of what looked like a dwarf with a disproportionately large head and eyes. To Maria it did not take much of an imagination to equate it to a troll living under a fairy tale bridge. Carved into his forehead was a circle with wings extending from both sides.

  At the base of its folded legs was a ledge containing what she recognized as three Dropa stones. Perplexed about why she was shown this, wondering what she was supposed to do, she inquisitively looked at the old man. He nodded and pointed to the stones. It was clear that if she really was a friend of the great Gray Tribe sent to recover part of a weapon she should know what to do next. But she didn’t. Thinking fast she bluffed,

  “I do not possess the authority to touch them. It was made clear to me that only the Guardian may do so.”

  Blindly accepting the lie, the old man stepped forward and reached out for them.

  She watched as he took one stone, put it in the palm of his other hand and spun it. Considering the slight motion that he applied to the stone it spun unnaturally fast. He then slowly lowered his hand but the stone stayed in midair. He did the same to the other two stones. With wide eyes, Maria saw three stones wildly spinning in mid-air that clearly did not understand the law of gravity.

  As a further indication that the stones were not of this Earth, they started to crackle with an eerie electrical sound. She saw vibrations emanating from the stones as they started to take on a different shape. The vibrations eventually expanded to embrace the statue. It was then, with its legs still crossed that it appeared to float up off the pedestal.

  With wide eyes, Maria saw that the statue was sitting on a large ancient book. It was as if the statue wanted her to take it. Confused, not knowing if she should reach out for it or not, she looked to the priest. He slightly bowed and nonchalantly pointed to it. Obeying the gesture, she slowly reached out for it.

  Then, as if that were not strange enough, what happened next caused her to question what little was left of her sanity. The golden statue started to shimmer, appearing to be taking on life. Hands folded in its lap slowly extended in a palm up motion. She noticed that the priest responded in the same manner.

  With the stones still wildly spinning in midair, and her eyes wide, she watched as the grotesque statue seemed to smile and then open its mouth remarkably wide. She first thought it was sticking its tongue out at her but upon closer inspection realized that what she thought was a tongue was in fact a flat piece of triangular glass. The priest took the glass offering, waved at the stones and they obeyed the command to stop. When they had fallen into his open hand, the apparition again became a lifeless golden statue.

  After handing the strange glass to her, she wondered what was supposed to happen next. Where was the weapon? When he turned and walked away, she followed. She presumed she was being led to an armory. As she followed him back through the great hall of what could easily be a true Hall of Records, she as much as possible again tried not to show astonishment at the relics.

  Strangely, she was not led to an armory but rather back outside. She did not think it right to show ignorance or to question why she was only given a diminutive piece of glass and a book. It was obvious that they had given her what the Great Grays had asked them to guard. Nevertheless, she was perplexed at the offering. It was clear that they were escorting her out, telling her to leave with what she had asked for. The bafflement was not for her to ponder. She would leave that up to Zak.

  Back outside, standing by her D-wing she turned to the three priests and performed the sign of respect, touching her two fingers to her forehead. They reciprocated and she said,

  “You have served the Dropa well. I shall tell them of your great sacrifice and devotion to them. We are pleased with your vigilance and service to the Great Gray tribe. Please continue to honor us as we will honor you when coming to your paradise.”

  As much as they tried to hide their pleasure of being acknowledged by an ancient god, blushes and smiles crept forward. As Maria activated the D-wing camouflage, they stood in awe watching a god return to the promised paradise.

  Chapter 18

  Bishop Francisco Esposito sat at his desk fuming. It was supposed to be an eleven o’clock meeting and it was already fifteen minutes past the hour. He hated tardiness, seeing it as an insult to his self-perceived importance as ‘Direttore Necessario Segreto’, the Director of Necessary Secrets. He was the senior member of five who controlled what they deemed as harmless secrets that may be exposed or what stayed in the Pope’s Vault forever. The Council had the authority to veto requests for documents and secrets to even the highest ranking. They simply judged the request as ‘non è necessario sapere’ ‘does not need to know.’ The Pope may have authority over the Faith but as Bishop Esposito had said many times, as the Director of Necessary Secrets he had absolute authority over all the ‘material’ matters of the faith.

  Because he had held this supreme position for nearly fifty years there were many who wondered if he should not be locked up in the Pope’s Vault along with all the other dusty secrets. There was an acceptable philosophy here in the halls of religion referred to as, ‘wisdom of the elders.’ Esposito’s great age fit
well within that proverb. As omnipotent as he was, he was also steadfast in his mandate to protect the faith. He had often given orders inappropriate for a man of the cloth and then later prayed forgiveness for what had to be done for the cause.

  As much as he tried to project a posture of strength by sitting up straight and walking tall, his weak body refused that false pretense. Although weak of body, with pain in all muscles, and eyes struggling to focus, he was nevertheless still sharp of mind. Stern eyes glare at the door.

  Today would be the most challenging day of his life. Thanks to a letter clenched tight in his shaking hand, the future existence of the Vatican had now come to rest heavily on his already hunched shoulders. Today he must decide between the death of the faith, or the destruction of the Vatican. Thanks to this letter, only one would survive.

  While mired deep in the quandary, trying to separate truth from lies, there was finally a knock on the door. The door flung open and without the formality of ‘good morning’ or an official greeting, Commander Razk entered and sat across from the stern Bishop.

  Old piercing eyes bore long and hard into Razk who sat calmly accepting the gaze. Finally, Esposito asked,