Journey Through the Mirrors (40 page)

“We believe that she’s working with this man,” Valerie said, pointing to the frozen video footage. “Who happened to have been involved in an abduction yesterday at the Calhoun Medical Center.”

“The Calhoun Center?” Director Sully said in a raised voice. “Do you understand priorities, Agent Perrot? We’re in the middle of a global energy crisis. You’re supposed to be investigating the gas wells.”

Logan was about to jump in, but Valerie did so first. “We also believe that Ms. Bribergeld is involved in a company called NovaCon. They’re involved in alternative energy research and—”

“I know who they are,” the director responded. “You must know that Ms. Bribergeld is a valued member of the president’s crisis panel. In fact, at the meeting yesterday afternoon, Ms. Bribergeld presented NovaCon and its newly constructed energy device. NovaCon has offered to let the NAF use this device at a reduced charge until we can get the natural-gas crisis under control.”

“What kind alternative energy device?” Sylvia asked.

“I don’t know the particulars,” the director answered, annoyed by the question. “She called it zero-point fracturing. You will hear all about it this afternoon at the president’s news conference, where he will be announcing the plan and introducing NovaCon to the world.”

“What if the crisis never ends?” Logan suggested. “What if the destruction of the natural-gas wells continues?”

“I couldn’t have made the point better myself,” Director Sully said, turning her gaze to Valerie. “You need to focus exclusively on the
destruction of the gas wells. Let the agent assigned to the Calhoun Medical Center handle the kidnapping. And leave Catherine Bribergeld out of this. NovaCon is the only hope the Federation and the rest of the world have at the moment.” The director turned and began to walk away. “Get focused, Agent Perrot. Or I’ll find someone else who can.”

No one said anything as Director Sully left the Cube. Logan couldn’t help but notice the look of defeat on Sylvia’s and Chetan’s faces. Chetan manipulated some controls, causing the images of Catherine Bribergeld and the video feed from the Calhoun Medical Center to disappear from the glass board.

“What are you doing?” Valerie asked.

Chetan shrugged. “The director just said—”

“We’re not done! Get those images back up here.”

Logan and Sylvia both smiled. They knew Valerie too well. She was not going to be deterred from pushing forward with her line of investigation.

“Bring up everything you can find on NovaCon. Let’s find out exactly who this Catherine is and what NovaCon does.”

“Yes, boss,” Chetan said, also letting loose a smile as he displayed some documents on the glass wall beside the restored image of Catherine. “Looks like NovaCon International is registered in Spain. Over the last six years, the Bribergeld Bank has invested more than five hundred million Universal Credits in the company. Also looks like NovaCon has filed more than two hundred patents in that same period. Most of the filings concern atmospheric electrical induction, something to do with pulling electricity right out of the atmosphere.”

Logan turned to Valerie, his expression grave. “That’s the same thing that your father and I were investigating with Madu in Mexico.”

“You need to bring them up to speed,” Valerie said.

Logan turned to Sylvia and Chetan. “For the last forty years, Madu Shata has been developing a theory about the large pyramids around the
world. He believes they were used in ancient times to harness an endless supply of electrical current directly out of the atmosphere.”

“Free energy,” Sylvia said.

“That’s right,” Logan said. “It’s similar to the research into energy production that Nikola Tesla was doing in the late 1800s.”

“Tesla did a lot of work in the areas of free energy and wireless energy transmission,” Chetan said. “Some say he even figured it all out.”

“Why didn’t his work come into the mainstream?” Valerie asked.

“According to historians, his funding got pulled,” Chetan said. “But I think it was more than that. As Tesla performed his experiments, he began to see negative side effects of his work. If he didn’t do his calculations precisely, things would go haywire. He claimed that one of his experiments caused an earthquake in New York City in 1898. Scientists dismissed the claim, because it didn’t have any epicenter, and—” Chetan broke off suddenly.

Sylvia had the same stunned look on her face. “That’s what’s happening now,” she blurted out. “None of the recent earthquakes has had a seismic epicenter.”

Valerie looked at the list and circled point number three,
earthquakes
. “Where is this NovaCon company based?” she asked.

Sylvia read from her display. “The Azores. NovaCon spent a massive amount of money buying property on one of the islands from the Spanish government.”

Logan looked over at the large globe rotating at the northwest corner of the Cube. “Isn’t that where we noticed all those earthquakes and the frequency spikes?”

“Yes,” Chetan said.

“Here is the latest aerial view of Pico Island, where they bought all the property,” Sylvia said, as she projected it on the glass board. “It is one of the few islands left in the archipelago after the Great Disruption. There’s a big volcano at the center of it.”

“What’s that shiny thing to the west of the volcano?” Valerie asked. “It looks like a square building.”

Sylvia zoomed in.

Logan understood what it was at once. “They built themselves a pyramid,” he said.

“We need to get to that island,” Valerie said, staring at it.

“I’m not sure they’re going to just let us show up in a row boat and then escort us around,” Sylvia said. “There is no way Director Sully is going to authorize a raid on NovaCon and Catherine Bribergeld.”

“There might be another way,” Chetan said. Everyone turned and looked at him. “But I’m not sure anyone is going to like it.”

45

If you truly forgave someone, you would never have to let anyone know that you did.

Forgiveness is a state of mind and does not have to be broadcasted.

—THE CHRONICLES OF SATRAYA

PEEL CASTLE, 2:18 P.M. LOCAL TIME, MARCH 25, 2070

“I don’t see anything here about the story Mr. Quinn told us about Atlantis,” Halima said, flipping through a large book. Its pages were made of thick parchment on which text had been handwritten and illustrations hand-drawn.

“Not surprising,” Anita said, scanning a chapter in a science book that explained the finer points of electromagnetic waves. “Recorded history is more about what those in power were doing at the time than what actually happened. People want to be remembered, so the vain and powerful tended to control the quills of antiquity. I’m not sure that will ever change.”

Anita and Halima were sitting at the illuminated table under the dome of the Alexandria Room. The surface was covered with books and manuscripts they had been pulling from the library’s shelves for the better part of the day. Britney had been helping with the research but she’d had to return to the university to attend a class. Sebastian’s
explanation of the voice of the earth being disrupted and the story he had related about the downfall of Atlantis concerned Anita. She was determined to understand what was disturbing the world and, more important, what she could do to help stop it. While assisting Anita in the Alexandria Room, Halima had taken the opportunity to retrieve several volumes of
The Unexpected Life
, the writings of Sebastian’s mother and father. She was particularly interested in volume eight, which contained the references to Sumsari Baltik.

“It says here that the Schumann resonance is a series of electromagnetic waves that bounce between the surface of the earth and the bottom of the ionosphere,” Anita said, her eyes widening. “The waves are caused by lightning emitted from the thousands of storms constantly taking place around the world at any given moment. It goes on to say that as the waves bounce and flow around the earth, the crests and troughs eventually align to create a collective resonance that amplifies the original signal. The resonance can be as low as eight hertz.”

Halima blinked. “And that’s important because . . . ?”

“Because it’s the same frequency range as the alpha and theta waves in our brains,” Anita said, looking up and sitting back in her chair. “If the Schumann resonance is somehow being altered, as Mr. Quinn suggested, that would explain why people are reporting hallucinations and headaches and are having trouble falling asleep.”

“Just like you,” Halima said. “What are alpha waves?”

“They are the waves that our brains produce when we close our eyes and relax. Theta waves occur when we fall into a deep sleep.”

Halima stopped reading from her book and looked up. “What about Bukya? Does his brain produce waves? What about other animals?”

“Yes. Alpha and theta waves are found in every biological system, from bacteria to humans.”

“That’s why Mr. Quinn was so concerned.” Halima understood the gravity of what Anita had just told her. “Our brain waves are clashing with the brain waves of the earth.”

Anita nodded. “Well put. Whoever is disrupting the field is causing all the trouble. Mr. Quinn said that a brotherhood stopped this once before. The question is, how did they do it?”

“This might help,” Halima said. “Do you remember when Mr. Quinn told us that the brotherhood used a device to send a signal?” Anita’s attention was piqued; she watched Halima look through volume eight of Sebastian’s parents’ autobiography. “And remember when I was looking for information about that man named Sumsari Baltik? Well, it turns out that he spent a lot of time with Mr. Quinn’s mother and father. Listen to what they wrote.” Halima began to read.

Three years ago, Sumsari came to us a war-torn man. The ravages of combat had taken an immeasurable toll on him. Life here on the Isle of Man seems to provide him with some relief from his memories of the loss of life he witnessed while he was in the city of Kiev. We wish Sebastian were here to meet him, but his studies with Makesh prevent him from returning home.

“Who is Makesh?” Halima asked. When Anita shook her head, she continued to read.

Sumsari has devoured all the books and documents we have given him about the spiritual nature of the world around us. It is a rare evening that passes in which we do not converse for hours about these subjects and more. While Sumsari is not certain what he is searching for, he is venturing into sacred territory at a blistering pace. He is certain that sound, music, and resonance hold some kind of key and that his pursuits are going to lead him to some startling discovery, though he doesn’t know what that is. His past as a piano and guitar player has provided him with a starting base of understanding. Sumsari spends countless hours on the piano in our study, and, based on our observations of him, we believe that he is one of those few people whose brains perceive music as colors and geometric shapes. We made a big decision today to give Sumsari access to certain pages of the
Enuntiatio de Tutela
in hopes that it will help guide and advance his learning.

A few weeks ago, Sumsari showed us a simple-looking item that he crafted out of two old brass urns he purchased in town. It looked like a Christmas tree ornament. He said his inspiration for it is a Helmholtz resonator, which he read about in one of the books from the library.

“Stop,” Anita interrupted. “What’s a Helmholtz resonator?”

“Not sure,” Halima replied. “But Hypatia will know.” Halima turned and activated the librarian of the Alexandria Room. “Finding Helmholtz resonator,” said a female voice. A moment later, an image of a brass ball with openings on opposite sides was projected above the table.

Hypatia’s voice continued: “In 1850, Herman von Helmholtz created this device to isolate singular frequencies and pitches in complex musical systems. The device demonstrated the phenomenon of air resonance in a cavity or closed space.”

“Keep reading,” Anita requested.

As the image continued to hover over the table, Halima picked up where she left off.

Sumsari indicated that he had altered the design a bit. He struck the end of a tuning fork and placed it near the larger of the two openings. The resonator did not simply increase the sound coming from the tuning fork by a fractional amount, it amplified the sound exponentially. Whatever alterations he had made, they were strikingly evident. As Sumsari moved the fork back and forth across the opening, the harmonic wavered. But when the fork was held at the perfect position and distance from the opening, the resonator performed flawlessly and fully. We didn’t immediately tell him, but the harmonic being emitted was that of the Rokmar.

“That’s the symbol that Mr. Quinn spoke about,” Anita said. “He called it the Rokmar.”

“Yes, the one they gave to the ruler of Atlantis.” Halima read on.

Somehow he gained an understanding of one of the secret Satrayian symbols and had duplicated the harmonic associated with the legendary Brahmastra device.