The Ancient Starship (4 page)

‘He didn't have time to tell us anything,' said Charlie. ‘He just whooshed away with those Control freaks.' He snorted. ‘Hey, get it?
Control freaks?
'

‘Ms Rosby's not a freak,' said Amelia.

‘Yes, she is,' said Charlie. ‘I mean, she's cool and stuff, but come on – she's six years old and looks like Santa's grandma. That is actually, literally freaky. Admit it.'

‘So you don't know any more about the starship than what was on the news?' Lady Naomi said.

Amelia suddenly wondered just why Lady Naomi had brought them out here. She'd been so careful up until now to keep all her comings and goings private, and she'd done such a good job that Amelia hadn't even had a clue which direction she went in. And now she was inviting them in? That seemed like more than just friendliness. And now, from Lady Naomi's questions, it seemed as though she'd been hoping to find out something from them that would …

Well, she didn't know what Lady Naomi wanted. Information about the spaceship? Or about Control's interest in it? Did she think there was some connection between the crashed ship and whatever it was that she was researching out here?

They turned a corner, the light now so dim that the colours had almost completely faded out of the landscape. Amelia stumbled over a root, then straightened up to see they'd reached a small clearing in the trees. In the middle of the clearing was a huge granite boulder.

‘Here we are,' said Lady Naomi.

‘What do you want us to do?' said Charlie. ‘Climb up and look for Egypt from there?'

‘Not quite.' Lady Naomi took a little device from her pocket and the boulder vanished. In its place was a small workstation – a desk made up of various screens and keyboards, like something halfway between a jumbo jet's cockpit and the computers from Dad's old job with the government. None of it was human technology, though. Maybe it was the strange sounds and weird glow that gave it away.

Not that it mattered. It had come as a surprise when Krskn didn't know what species Lady Naomi was, but Amelia hadn't ever thought being an alien was a reason not to trust or like someone. And yet, she couldn't help feeling a prickle of unease as she looked at Lady Naomi's equipment and realised that every piece had been brought to Earth to study …
what?
What
was
Lady Naomi getting up to out here?

‘This is amazing!' Charlie said. ‘But what do you do when it rains?'

Lady Naomi pressed a button and a holo-roof flashed into position overhead. ‘Want to see what all this can do?'

Amelia and Grawk drew closer and watched as Lady Naomi brought her machinery to life. She entered a series of passwords and scanned her fingerprints and retinas before an enormous holo-screen lit up. Amelia gasped. The bush was hidden from them by a vast image of Earth – the whole globe rotating in space.

Lady Naomi put her hands into a pair of holographic gloves and began to manipulate the image, turning the planet until she found Africa, then zooming in to Egypt. Amelia saw the Nile winding like a piece of green string against a pale yellow background. As Lady Naomi zoomed in tighter again, Amelia realised this wasn't a computer generated
map
– this was a real satellite image. She could even see cars and trucks moving along the road. The image drew closer until she could see the texture of the roads themselves, and the dry grasses growing beside them.

‘Are you a hacker?' Amelia asked. ‘Is this all government spy satellites?'

‘Don't worry,' said Lady Naomi. ‘It's all perfectly legal.'

Amelia noticed that she hadn't answered her question. Lady Naomi didn't even say which laws she was obeying – Earth's? Control's? Or someone else's?

‘All right,' Lady Naomi murmured to herself. ‘We know it's near one of the pyramids of Giza …'

‘Underneath one,' Charlie corrected.

Lady Naomi clicked her tongue, a disappointed kind of sound. ‘Truly ancient, then. If it crashed into the ground
before
the pyramids were built, then it must have been there for over five thousand years.' She sighed. ‘Oh, well, let's see for ourselves …'

It wasn't hard to work out which pyramid they wanted. A black perimeter fence with orange flags had been set up around the corner of one, and the fence itself was now surrounded by cars, vans, film crews, tourists and their tour buses, and local people who were either keen to get a glimpse or sell drinks and snacks to those who were.

Lady Naomi zoomed in to the centre of the fenced area. The whole dig had been roofed in with a black tarpaulin. Charlie groaned.

‘No, no, this was to be expected,' Lady Naomi said. ‘They know that every single kid with a camera and a drone helicopter will try to get a shot.'

‘What then?' said Charlie.

Grawk grumbled beside Amelia and shifted around to gaze into the bush. It was completely dark by now, and Amelia couldn't see what had caught his attention. Probably a possum up a tree.

‘Look at this,' said Lady Naomi. The image changed from the natural colours of the desert to a dull blue-grey. The dig site, though, was different. An oblong shape glowed red.

‘What's that?' said Amelia.

‘Radioactivity,' said Lady Naomi.

‘It's a nuclear bomb?' Charlie gaped.

‘Not that kind of radioactivity,' Lady Naomi went on. ‘Everything has some radioactivity, even you and I do. I've asked the computer to screen out every expected radioactive signature, which is why the screen is basically all blue. But this red – well, that's a radioactive signature that is out of time, and out of place.'

‘Alien?' said Charlie.

‘Definitely.'

Another click, and the holo-screen became completely black, before quickly filling with tiny green dots. The dots were grouped together in one place, with some slowly drifting away from the group, and others coming in to join it.

‘What are the dots?' said Charlie. ‘People?'

‘Close,' said Lady Naomi. ‘They're phones.'

‘You can see a dot for every mobile phone?'

‘Yes, and …' Lady Naomi typed at the keyboard, and some of the green dots disappeared. ‘That removed the phones without cameras. And this …'

Half the dots turned red. ‘This shows up which phones have taken video in the last fifteen minutes.' She beamed at the kids. ‘Who wants to see what those guys are filming down there?'

Amelia did. But she was also slightly freaked out by what Lady Naomi was doing. Could she really get into the memory of any mobile phone on the planet? Did that mean she could also look into any computer? And why would she want to do that? She thought about Callan shouting about the Illuminati, and wondered if it was really all that crazy an idea …

Grawk let out a sharp bark of warning as a branch snapped under someone's foot, just outside the workstation.

Lady Naomi pressed a button and the holo-screen vanished. The whole clearing lit up as halogen lights flared. All three of them swung around to see who the intruder was.

Grawk scampered away from the workstation and over to the figure, frozen in the light, her usually neat scarf pulled awry on her head.

‘You!' said Charlie. ‘You followed us!'

The woman in the scarf ran toward them.

‘What do you want?' Lady Naomi demanded.

Amelia braced herself, waiting for some proud, angry retort. To her surprise, though, the woman couldn't have been meeker or more apologetic.

‘I'm so sorry,' she said. ‘I overheard you with the children at the hotel …'

Lady Naomi was stony-faced, her hands on her hips. ‘Yes?'

The woman nervously straightened her scarf. ‘You mentioned that you could find out about the starship in Egypt …'

Amelia noticed Grawk sniffing delicately at the woman's shoe.

‘Well, you see,' the woman said miserably, realising that no-one was about to make things easy for her, ‘I've lost my husband, and I wondered if you could help me find him?'

‘What's your husband got to do with us?' said Charlie. ‘Is he an Egyptian archaeologist?'

Lady Naomi crossed her arms, clearly wary. ‘Yes, go on. Why do you think I can help you?'

‘I thought …' The woman wrung her hands. ‘I don't know. I came here to find him myself, but then when I heard you offer to help find the children's father … I wondered …'

Lady Naomi frowned, unmoved. Then Amelia realised that Lady Naomi didn't know one crucial fact about the woman in the scarf.

‘She came through the gateway,' Amelia blurted. ‘She already looked human when she came up the stairs, but Charlie and I saw her arrive.'

‘Oh.' Lady Naomi relaxed slightly. At least she wouldn't be breaking Control's rules by having the woman there.

But knowing the woman had come through the gateway wasn't the same as knowing who she was, so Amelia understood when Lady Naomi ignored the tears in the other woman's eyes and asked, ‘Who is your husband? How did he get lost?'

The woman swallowed hard and ducked her head, but she didn't look surprised by Lady Naomi's series of questions. Disappointed maybe, but a disappointment she had expected. When she raised her face again, it was still streaked with tears, but now there was a kind of bitter resignation to it.

She almost smiled as she said, ‘I don't suppose you'll believe me if I say I can't tell you.'

‘Not really,' said Charlie. ‘I mean, for all we know, you could be Mrs Krskn. He's the only alien we've seen getting lost lately.'

Like every other alien Amelia had ever met, the woman in the scarf baulked at the mention of Krskn.

‘No, not him, I promise you. But if there was any way I could use your equipment on my own … for only the shortest time …'

‘No.' Lady Naomi was firm. ‘Not a chance.'

‘Not even if –' the woman began.

‘No. But if you're willing to give me the information …'

The woman held up a hand. ‘No, I understand. Neither of us can bend to the other on this. Never mind. I will find another way. Please excuse my interruption.'

Without another word, she turned and walked into the bush, disappearing into the darkness.