Weapon of Atlantis (7 page)

“All part of the fun,” Lt. Jarvis joked.

For the next ten hours, the team continued their search with similar results. By the end of the day, with fuel running low, they headed back to Nord Station. Upon landing, they taxied to the scientific outpost to discuss their findings and settle in for the evening.

Inside the small cinderblock building, the men of the search team sat around a table and ate their evening’s dinner. Jack stared at the microwaved macaroni and cheese casserole disappointingly.

“Ain’t like the food we had on the previous expedition,” he complained.

Javi r
an his fork through the watery mess and nodded.

“Yup, limited funding sure makes a difference,” he concurred.

“I don’t know… maybe it is just me, but I think it’s pretty good,” Col. Slatz responded, shaking hot sauce over his meal.

“You’d say that about turd if it were covered in Tabasco,” Lt. Jarvis joked.

“You youngsters just don’t know what’s good for you,” Col. Slatz teased. Turning back to Javi, he continued, “Speaking of previous expeditions, I heard you had a little ‘problem’ with that one,” he said cryptically.

Javi grimaced, then replied, “When it comes to Atlantis, trouble just seems to seek us out. From the Russian Mafia to m
egalomaniacs, we’re like a magnet for trouble.”

“Yeah, I seem to recall you had some problems when you found the first pyramid too,” Col. Slatz continued.

“Fortunately, everything ended well,” Jack cut in.

“I’m not sure I’d use the term ‘ended well’ with all the deaths involved,” Javi responded. “Let’s just say it ended successfully.”

“By my calculations, it’s good guys two, bad guys nothing. That’s a good ending, if you ask me,” Jack joked.

Javi only smirked, then ate another spoonful of his flavorless meal.

“Well, I think we’re off to a good start,” Col. Slatz responded. “The weather’s holding nicely, the equipment is working flawlessly and we covered about twenty percent of the search area today. With a little luck, I’m hoping we find your spaceship tomorrow or the next day.”

“That would be
fantastic,” Javi replied excitedly.

“After seeing that landscape today, I’m wondering if we should just be concentrating on the coastline. I can’t believe anyone or anything could survive a crash landing in such rough terrain,” Jack remarked.

“I agree,” Lt. Samuelson responded. “A water ditching or a beach landing seems the most survivable, if you ask me.”

“Unless of course, this whole area looked completely different seven thousand years ago,” Javi countered. “Maybe it wasn’t so rugged back th
en. There’s evidence of it being less hostile when you consider the flat plateau by the sea cliffs. It’s very possible it could have been flat plains that simply eroded over time.”

“I’m not opposed to changing our search sequence if you’d like to fly the coastline first,” Col. Slatz offered. “Programing the waypoints of course, is a bit more complicated then the standard crisscrossing grid patterns, but certainly a doable alternative.”

“Sounds like a lot of work,” Javi responded.

“It could take a half a day or so for Capt.
Jørgensen and me to reprogram the flight data. Not really a big loss in time. On the other hand, due to the irregularities in the course we’d be flying, it does open us up to the possibility of errors. There could be some spots that we’ll simply miss,” he replied.

Jack thought about the trouble and shook his head.

“Maybe we should just stick to the standard grid pattern,” he said simply.

“It’ll take a little longer, but I think we’ll have less trouble,” Col. Slatz agreed.

----- ----- ----- -----

The following day…

The team left early from the Nord Station airport and headed south. As they reached the eastern edge of the search area, they flew west along their grid line, beginning the day’s search
. Like the previous day, this one too revealed only small anomalies buried deep beneath the ice and snow. As the hours passed, and large tracts of land were surveyed, impatience and frustration sparked conversation speculating on the location of the spacecraft:

“How’
re we doing back there?” Col. Slatz shouted, breaking a long period of silence.

“Doing fine. Nothing to report,” Lt. Jarvis responded simply.

“Looks like we’ve run across a few ore deposits, but that’s about all we’re seeing, Sir,” Lt. Samuelson elaborated further.

“Ok, holler out if we need to revisit a specific location,” the colonel replied.

Turning to Lt. Jarvis, Jack said, “I kind of wish now we’d chosen the coastal search route. At least it would’ve been more entertaining.”

“And possibly more productive. I’m curious, do you have a copy of the original map that showed the location of the spacecraft?” the lieutenant asked.

Hearing the question, Javi reached into a small satchel containing relative documents and pulled out a snapshot taken from inside Zeus’ burial chamber. He pointed to the golden altar that Zeus had rested on. On its front, an engraved scene depicting Zeus’ and Poseidon’s heroic escape was shown.

“It wasn’t so much a map, as it was a symbolic representation of the Araean’s journey,” Javi cut in. “If you look closely, you can see their ship depicted by a dot on the Greenland’s coastline. Also, on a wall inside the chamber, a set of hieroglyphics, details their escapes.”

Both Lt. Jarvis and Lt. Samuelson glanced at the photo in Javi’s hand. As they considered
it, Javi explained further.

“If you look close, you can see that their craft landed somewhere on this peninsula. Although we suspect the coastline as their crash site, the diagram that was drawn is very crude and the dot representing their spacecraft could be located anywhere within a forty square mile
region.”

“It doesn’t look quite like this area. Is it possible the map could be wrong? After all, it was drawn seven thousand years ago,” Lt. Samuelson asked.

“Although general map making was very crude that many years ago, the Araean’s were not. The fact that they flew here leaves little doubt that they had the ability to create accurate maps. I suspect though, that over the past seven thousand years, this coastline and the interior land, has changed dramatically. Nevertheless, when you consider Zeus’ golden pyramid was built only twenty miles from here, determining the point on the map to be this location makes sense.”

Lt. Jarvis looked down at the rugged landscape, then back to Jack seated beside him.

“I just hope the spacecraft is in one piece. It could’ve been destroyed on impact,” he speculated.

“It could’ve been, but we suspect it didn’t. If Poseidon and Zeus survived to tell the tale of their journey, we think most of it was probably intact after the crash. The real question is, what will it look like after seven thousand years?”
Jack responded.

“Possibly just a huge rust stain in the dirt,” Lt. Samuelson joked.

With several more hours flying behind them, they closed their search for the day and headed back to Nord Station. As the Hercules C-130 touched down on the snowy runway, they spotted a Cessna Citation business jet parked at the end of the field. As they taxied up and parked nearby, they spotted two men standing by a building opposite their own. They had on casual attire and appeared deep in conversation.

“Must be another team of scientists,” Lt.
Samuelson said, staring out his window.

Javi watched them a moment and nodded.

“They have teams that rotate through here on schedule, conducting weather experiments,” he responded.

“And don’t forget spying,” Jack blurted, jokingly.

“You might be closer to the truth than you think,” Col. Slatz responded, as he began his engine shut-down sequence. “They
may
be scientists, but they are
definitely
military.”

“How do you figure?” Jack asked, now curious.

“Two things: their boots and their sunglasses, both government issue. When’s the last time you saw a scientist where either one?”

Javi studied the two men, then smiled.

“Good eye, Slatz. The boots I might have missed, but those mirrored sunglasses are pretty conspicuous.”

“Eh, when you’ve been around as long as me, you pick up a few things,” he joked.

“The military: I wonder what they’re here for,” Jack speculated aloud.

“Nord Station is a way point for many operations. I’m sure they’ll be gone tomorrow,” Col. Slatz responded.

Jack stared at them a while longer, and nodded matter-of-factly.

----- ----- ----- -----

The following day…

Col. Slatz sat in the cockpit and stared out at the newly plowed runway. In the early hours of the day, a light blanket of snow covered the icy landscape, softening its appearance. With the storm clouds gone and the skies now clear once again, he felt confident the flight ahead of him would be smooth and uneventful.

As Capt.
Jørgensen read through the preflight checklist, Col. Slatz inspected the instrument, insured its readiness for flight and moved onto the next item on the list.

“Barometric pressure: twenty-nine point eight,” Capt.
Jørgensen read aloud, completing the last item before flight.

Col. Slatz adjusted the instrument to the correct setting, then replied, “Set.” He then keyed his mic, addressing those in the rear cabin. “Ok gents, ready
for takeoff. The flight attendant will be through shortly to take your drink orders… and please, no smoking.”

Jack
grinned at the colonel’s attempt at humor and replied, “What? No peanuts?”

“Sorry, only drinking’
s approved,” he responded dryly.

Within a half hour of departure, the plane settled into its cruising altitude of five thousand feet and entered the first of the many legs of the search grid.

“Crossing the first check point,” Col. Slatz announced.

Like the days before, the two lieutenants marked their positions and began to analyze the data as the radar penetrated the ground and registered as gray and white shadows on their computer screens.

“Beautiful day out here today. You can almost see clear through to Russia… if you squint,” Col. Slatz said humorously.

Javi broke off his scan of the lieutenant’s computer and stared out the window.

“With all this new snow, it really softened the landscape. It doesn’t look so harsh down there,” he remarked.

“I’m guessing we must have gotten a few inches last night, which is pretty unusual this far north,” the colonel added.

“Agreed,” Javi responded. “Jack and I have been up here for the better part of a year and this is the first time we’ve seen anything more than just a dusting of snow.”

“Polar de
serts are a peculiar thing, they are: covered in ice and snow, yet barely see an inch of precipitation a month. Almost defies logic,” Col. Slatz responded.

Minutes into the first pass, Col Slatz announced the end of the run. As he banked the plane to come around, the two lieutenants marked the data on their screens and prepared for the next pass.

Once again, as the plane entered the next line of the grid, the crew fell back into their routine. Heading east toward the coastline, the Greenland Sea spread out before them and even at their high altitude, the previous night’s storm was still evident by the white caps that marked the rough seas.

Half
way along the next grid line, Lt. Jarvis detected a disturbance from his data:

“I think we have something,” he said, in a controlled tone. “… at the southeast edge of my screen, third grid line, roughly five meters away,” he added.