Area 51: The Legend (11 page)

The two saucers flew the sphinx into the cargo bay and set it down. As soon as they released it, they raced back to the palace and made several more trips, each time carrying a twenty-foot-high golden pyramid.

“They’re bringing out the guardians,” Gwalcmai noted.

“They’re deploying to Stage Two,” Donnchadh said. “Dispersing.” She stiffened as one of the saucers came out of the temple with a red pyramid caught in its beam. “The Master Guardian.”

“That means they’re really abandoning this place,” Gwalcmai said.

“We need to get out of here.” Donnchadh grabbed an oar and began paddling.

As they reached the innermost ring, the cargo bay on the mothership closed and the huge craft began to move away to the southeast. They leapt out of the canoe and raced across the land to the next circle of water. Even as they slowly madetheir way across the land, the mothership disappeared from sight.

Aspasia sat in the command chair in his mothership. His tactical display indicated that Artad was in orbit, shadowing his movements to make sure he complied with the terms of the truce the two had agreed on. It was a patchwork solution to a problem both had contributed to. If the Swarm had transmitted the location of this star system to a Battle Core, then there was only a slight chance they could survive—and that slight chance would revolve around making themselves as scarce as possible and making it appear that the Airlia had abandoned the system. The ruins of the transmitter on Mars would help in that matter. A Battle Core might harvest the humans and be satisfied with that. Even if the Swarm had not sent a message out, Artad’s precipitous destruction of the interstellar array on Mars had made an already bad situation worse and implicated him in Aspasia’s isolation. There was no way either could return to the empire without getting to at least Phase IV of the seed program on Earth. That would take at least ten thousand revolutions of this planet around its star. A long time for the humans, but not so long for the Airlia, especially given the fact they had the deep sleep tubes.

Aspasia watched as the mothership passed over a strait connecting two oceans—what would be known as the Atlantic and Mediterranean and the rocks on either side would be called the Pillars of Hercules—and flew along the northern coast of Africa almost to the eastern end of the continent, where it paused above a lush land with a large river coursing through the center and emptying into the Mediterranean. On the entire planet, this was the place where Aspasia’s scientists had decided human life could best develop. Because of that report he had sent his chief engineer, Rostau, to prepare the site many years previously for part of Phase II. This was going to be a bit different, but the site would serve nicely.

They flew upriver to a point where a stone plateau projected up on the west side of the river. Aspasia had the mothership halted. A weapon fired from the nose of the massive ship, cutting into the rock, burning out a large hole at a spot that Rostau had predetermined and programmed into the ship’s weapons. Two saucers emerged from the forward cargo bay, the Black Sphinx in tow. They carefully lowered it into the still-smoking hole, far enough down that even the high top of the head was not above ground level. They quickly followed it with the red pyramid.

Aspasia watched all this while six of his subordinates entered the control room and came to a halt in front of him, heads bowed, awaiting his commands. Isis. Osiris. Horus. Amun. Khons. Seb. Three female. Three male. All young and in the prime of their long lives.

“
It is almost dark,
” Aspasia said in the language of the Airlia. He pointed one of his six fingers upward. “
Artad is above
us. Watching to make sure we fulfill the parameters of the Atlantis
Truce. I have no doubt that he will violate it; is already violating it
in fact. He will try to destroy me while I sleep. It will be your job
to watch out for any strike he might make. It will come from a direction you might not expect, so you must be vigilant.
”

“
And if the Swarm
—” Isis began.

“
If the Swarm comes for the harvest, then you die. If another scout comes, you destroy it. Is that clear?
”

As Aspasia spoke, the mothership descended until it was just above the stone plateau. A gangplank was extended from one of the cargo bays in the bottom of the ship to the ground. On the screen, they could see four high priests unloading the Ark.

“
I am leaving you the most valuable thing we have—the Grail.
_Seal it inside the Hall of Records. Guard it with your lives. _”

“
And the key to the Hall?
” Osiris asked.

Aspasia held up a golden scepter, a foot long and two inches in diameter. The top of it was made in the image of a lion with ruby red eyes. “_ The key remains with me_.” They all knew that meant that while they might have the Grail with them, they could not access it.

There was no response and Aspasia looked each of the six in the eyes for a moment before moving on to the next issue. “
Listen to me.
” He tapped several hexagonals on the control console on the left arm of his chair. “
We were not idle all those
years although it appeared to most that we were. I had this place
prepared for implementation of Phase II. There are tunnels below
this plateau, some connecting with the place we have just placed
the Hall of Records. You will find them on the plans prepared by
Rostau. There are also chambers prepared where you can live
quite well. Deep sleep tubes. Food. A fission power source that
will last you as long as you could possibly need. All of this was
built and put in place by Rostau long ago.
”

What Aspasia did not tell them was that Rostau had done more than just prepare tunnels and chambers for Phase II. He had placed some other things down there—precautions and contingencies.

On the screen at the front of the control room was the image of about a thousand humans streaming off the mothership onto the plateau. Most were high priests or Guides—the most dedicated of those who had served the Airlia on Atlantis.

“
They are yours to serve you,
” Aspasia said. He held up a black tube. “
In here are plans for the surface that should be implemented according to the time schedule inside. The humans can do the work if taught properly.
”

“
Plans for what?
” Isis inquired.

“_To send a signal into space now that the array is gone _.”

Isis frowned. “
How can humans make something that
—”

“
Do not question me,
” Aspasia snapped. “_ If we send the first_
signal to the empire, we will have the upper hand over Artad. We
can use the recordings of his assault on us to say he had an improper motivation to do what he did.
” Saying the last part, Aspasia glanced over his shoulder at Harrah. “_Go now, _” he ordered. “
Artad will follow me away from here
.”

With slight bows, the six left the control room. As soon as Aspasia was informed that the six were on the gangplank he ordered the mothership to lift. The six, hunched over and wearing dark robes, jumped free as the massive craft accelerated upward. Crouching among the humans, the Airlia made their way to the secret chamber they had been directed to, where they could live. They disappeared to their underground lair, leaving the humans on the surface to fend for themselves for the time being. At least until Artad implemented his part of the Atlantis Truce.

They had begun what would fade into myth as the First Age of Egypt. The time of the rule of the Gods.

Aspasia directed the mothership to the east to fulfill the second part of his preparations. The mothership was flying so low, less than two hundred meters above the ground, that its drive field literally plowed a furrow through the sand below. They passed over desert, then an isthmus that connected two continents. The Red Sea was to the right and the Mediterranean to the left. Directly below was a shallow tidal sea mostly covered with reeds, known to the desert people as the Bitter Sea.

The gravitational field sent the water surging to either side and dug into the mud below. Two ten-meter-wide parallel tracks of mud were left in the mothership’s wake across the middle of the Bitter Sea. As the ship flew over the desolate Sinai Peninsula it came to a halt over a tall peak. Aguardian computer was off-loaded along with other pieces of machinery and placed in chambers that Rostau had dug deep inside the mountain many years ago as part of contingency planning.

Aspasia himself exited the ship along with a quartet of his subordinates, who carried a black tube on their shoulders. They went to a chamber far inside the mountain and set the tube down, hooking it up to machinery already in place. Aspasia watched as they swung the lid up, exposing the body of an adult human male. The man’s skin was clear and unblemished. His eyes stared upward vacantly with no indication of intelligence behind them. Yet his chest slowly rose and fell, indicating life.

This was something that Artad had agreed to as part of the truce, although Aspasia did not plan to do it exactly as directed.

Aspasia moved forward and stood next to the coffin. A band was placed around his head and secured in place. An Airlia standing at the control console pressed several hexagonals. Microprobes went from the band into Aspasia’s brain. They transferred his memories, his personality, his essence into the machine, where it was stored. The microprobes were withdrawn and Aspasia removed the band. He couldn’t help but run his hand along his forehead, expecting to find blood, even though the probes were so small he hadn’t even felt them go in.

Aspasia walked over to the tube and looked down at the human body. It was an empty vessel, ready to receive what he had just stored. Aspasia took a
ka
and placed it in the appropriate slot on the machine. A light flashed and he knew the
ka
now held all of his essence up to the moment of transfer. He set a time on the tube and left the chamber, sealing the door behind him.

Aspasia suspected that Artad would be recording this location and what was being placed here. A contingency for the success of the mission. Aspasia boarded the mothership and it lifted, fulfilling the tasks assigned him by the Atlantis truce. Flying almost to the other side of the world, it stopped over on an island in the Pacific Ocean that boasted three volcanoes. Aspasia placed another guardian computer deep inside an extinct volcano and then off-loaded a handful of humans to populate the island. One of his subordinates, Rapa, also secreted himself among the humans in order to rule them. One day it would be called Easter Island, but before that it would be known as Rapa Nui.

From Easter Island the mothership flew to South America, where another guardian and more humans were relocated high in the Andes. He also had one of his subordinates, Virachoca, sneak off the ship to rule the humans. The mothership stopped several more times on its way around the planet, dispersing humans, making up for some of the losses incurred by the meteor shower, like a farmer replanting his fields after a storm devastated his crop. This is what had been agreed upon with Artad—what had not been agreed was that Aspasia would leave some of his agents in place with those humans.

Finally, the mothership came to a place on the North American continent, over a desolate and deserted spot. Using the mothership’s weapons, Aspasia dug out a large hole in the side of a tall mountain—large enough for the mothership to fit through. Then he carefully edged the nose in and burned out a chamber from the solid rock. He had Rostau and his engineers reinforce the chamber and emplace metal struts on the floor. He guided the mothership inside and set it down on the waiting struts.

All the remaining Airlia exited the craft. A single saucer waited outside. Rostau began building a stone wall supported on the inside by metal, to cover the entrance to the cavern. While he was doing this, other Airlia were spreading sensordeflecting webbing along the top of the cavern.

Aspasia activated a low-power beacon on the mothership, then exited via the small tunnel Rostau left open. The tunnel was then blocked. The mothership was sealed away and shielded from detection.

Aspasia got on board the saucer and flew back to Atlantis.

He had sown the seeds that would haunt the world for the next ten thousand years.

Donnchadh felt an overwhelming sense of frustration with her fellow humans. Gwalcmai and she were on the outer ring of Atlantis. They’d been there for a day, vainly trying to obtain passage away from Atlantis. Many ships had left as soon as they saw the mothership departing and while Donnchadh and her partner had been making their way outward, across the rings of water and land that made up Atlantis. By the time they made it to the outer ports, those who were smart enough to leave had gone. Those who remained were caught in the throes of hesitation and fear. As time passed and nothing untoward appeared to be happening, the fear was turning to complacency.

In fact, surprisingly, many from the outer rings had made their way inward, toward the temple. Thousands were gathered in the plaza in front of the temple spire, supplicating the unseen Gods, swearing their fealty. When they received no reply, they prayed harder and louder, as if that would make a difference. There were no Guides or high priests in evidence and the doors to the temple were locked shut.

Donnchadh and Gwalcmai were finally able to find a ship manned by those from the northern part of the island on which they had originally secreted their spaceship. The price demanded by the ship’s captain was outrageous, but Donnchadh willingly paid it. The captain did insist that they wait till the following morning to depart, as his crew feared leaving in the dark. Although it was against her better judgment, Donnchadh agreed, a large part of her wanting to see how things played out in Atlantis.

When dawn broke, all were startled to see a mothership hovering high over the temple spire. It must have arrived sometime during the night. As the sun rose, the large craft slowly descended to the cries of prayers from the humans below. What those humans didn’t know was that this was not Aspasia’s ship, but Artad’s, coming to enact the last part of the first stage of the Atlantis Truce.