Trifariam, The Lost Codex (2012) (51 page)

“According to the pilot, we had to immerse ourselves slightly in the ocean in order to be able to land. The weather isn’t good and the waves near the shore are dangerous.”

“Why haven’t they used the landing strip that we saw from the air?”

“Part of it is being repaired and there are a lot of people working,” the professor said. “We don’t want to attract attention. This is much more discreet.”

When the door of the aircraft opened, two men in military gear, bulletproof vests, assault rifles and protective helmets came inside. One of them remained in the doorway pointing his gun outside, while the other spoke respectfully to Mr. Clifford.

“Sir, we have prepared the ‘boat’. The equipment you requested is now ready and they’re impatiently waiting for you down at the ‘Pit’.”

“Let’s go!”

William invited Richard to step out from the plane but he remained in his seat. He couldn’t feel his legs.

Outside was an eighty by twenty-five-foot boat. It was black in color and had a very belligerent design, which made it seem even more futuristic. The two marines escorted the Secretary of the Navy and Richard along a walkway on one of the sides of the boat to the rear of the craft. Just then, a covering of around twenty square feet slid back, revealing part of the middle of the ship and a set of steps which led to the control room.

William went down them first, followed by Richard and the two marines.

At first, it seemed to be a huge control room full of computers, radars and many other artifacts which he had clue what they were for. In the center, a gigantic pane of reinforced glass allowed them to see the full extent of the ocean with amazing clarity.

The hatch almost silently slid over some rails until it was hermetically sealed. They then started up the engines.

“You are in one of the safest and most modern crafts used by the U.S. Marines.”

William’s words were intended to make him feel proud to have such a privilege, but the only thing Richard wanted was to be back on dry land as soon as possible.

The boat moved towards the coast. The power of the engine was noticeable straightaway, and even then they must have been using only ten percent of their potential.

Less than two miles away, Richard detected a kind of concrete wall which restricted access to the complex and contained an opening which was sufficiently large to allow any boat less than three hundred feet wide to enter without problems.

The boat traveled the next couple of miles in less than a minute, they must have been traveling at reckless speed and when it was less than half a mile away, it did something which left Richard frozen in his seat.

When one of the marines who was steering the machine pressed a button, the craft started to progressively sink, much to the astonishment of the young paleographer. Through the glass he could see the whole ocean floor with incredible clarity; in fact, Richard discovered where they intended to dock. Less than a hundred yards away was a kind of underground cave which was two hundred and thirty feet wide but completely illuminated, and which was at that moment opening its hatch like a fish opens its mouth to catch its prey. They passed through the entrance and traveled over three thousand feet at breakneck speed. They eventually emerged in a rather wide space inside which was situated below the seabed.

William explained. “We call it the ‘Pit’ and it is under the ocean floor. It gives us a place to store our prototypes while the relevant tests are being carried out, allowing us to remove them at high tide without being seen or photographed by any curious passer-by. As you can see, it is a large room, around 1300 by 650 feet, and it is fully equipped. There is currently a project underway to camouflage it even better, because we have found that the silhouette of the door and the room itself can be seen from the air.”

“But… where are we? Which naval base is this?”

William grinned. “You are in the AUTEC base.”

“AUTEC?”

“Yes, maybe you’ve heard of it by another name. Some people know it as the Underwater Area 51.”

T
he chief officer opened the doors of hangar number ten and switched on the lights while James looked on attentively. Just in front of them, a giant object occupied all the space inside. In spite of what his imaginative mind was telling him, the professor found it hard to believe that what he was seeing was an airplane. He rubbed his eyes but it didn’t disappear. It was a kind of triangular machine which was dark in color with a cabin-like oval in the middle of it, with some kind of small wings, just on both sides of the rear part. It was a considerable size, around one hundred and fifteen feet long with a wingspan of sixty-five feet, and twenty feet tall. A huge logo adorned one of the sides of the fuselage of that futuristic machine, showing the identity of its rightful owners - the U.S.A.F., or U.S. Air Force.

“You are looking at SR-91 Aurora, one of the most prestigious planes in the U.S.A.F.,” said the officer proudly. “After recent advances made in aerospace technology, it has two days before it is retired and becomes a museum exhibit.”

James had heard that name before but he couldn’t remember where. “SR-91 Aurora?” he asked, hoping that the officer would give him a little more information.

“Yes. Project Aurora was an ambitious project by the United States that was started in the 1990s, and under which a number of aircraft were created which were capable of hypersonic flight, reaching Mach 6 speeds. According to the budgets from those years, billions of dollars were allocated for carrying out those kinds of ‘black projects’.”

“Black projects?”

The officer smiled. “I don’t know a lot about those kinds of things. My job revolves around learning how the crafts they make work and testing them out. But U.S. citizens know only too well about the existence of military defense projects which are totally secret. They aren’t recognized by the government, or military personnel, or the defense contractors. Project Aurora was a black project which received exorbitant amounts of government money. The planes were used to spy on enemies but after the discovery of tracking satellites, they fell into disuse. They say that the government closed the project down.” He opened the hatch to the cabin and invited James inside.

“And you believe that it’s true?”

“Well, no,” he replied honestly. “I’ve been testing out the planes they make for almost twenty years. It’s obvious that they have continued with the project, even though the eventual aims have been changed. If they designed spy planes before, it now seems that they are searching for the perfect aircraft, one which is capable of reaching unbelievable speeds, easy to pilot and uses another kind of energy.”

James entered the plane via the side staircase which had been set up for such a purpose.

The interior of the SR-91 was unbelievable. There were only two seats but it had a completely futuristic appearance, with hundreds of buttons, screens, levers and lights, which made maneuvering it an extremely complicated task.

“Please put on your safety harness and don’t touch anything!”

James obeyed him at once. “What speed can this plane reach?”

The officer hesitated for a few seconds. “I couldn’t tell you, but I’ve had it at over three thousand seven hundred miles per hour and at an altitude of over eighty-eight thousand feet.”

“Amazing! I didn’t know it could reach those speeds.”

The officer started to chuckle at James’ naivety. There were so many things that everyday people didn’t know about that he felt proud to be a part of. “I’ve told you that this plane is about to be retired. NASA has a prototype which they have christened X-43A, which is the result of a project called Hyper-X and uses a ScramJet engine designed to fly at speeds of over Mach-10. In fact, it has already exceeded seven thousand four hundred miles per hour at a height of over one hundred and eight thousand feet. It is currently thought that it could reach Mach-15 speed. However, they are way behind us.”

“What?!”

James was completely astonished.

“I can’t tell you about these things, mainly for my own safety, but I can assure you that I have piloted aircrafts at higher speeds. Our scientists have managed to create an ideal design which doesn’t need runways to land or take off. They use magnetism to move as well as an inexhaustible energy source which was recently discovered by you, but one which we have known about for a long time: antimatter.”

“Why don’t people know anything about these experiments? Doesn’t anybody see them flying?”

“Yes, of course. Sometimes we simulate emergency situations and land in distant places but our radars classify them as safe. Civilians have seen us on more than one occasion and they were absolutely terrified. Then we see them on the news swearing that they have seen a UFO with a little green man at the wheel.”

James smirked. Many people thought that most UFO sightings in the area were nothing but secret tests carried out the scientists at Area 51.

“To be honest, they’re right,” continued the officer. “UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object and that is what they actually are. Having seen the shape of the prototypes, it doesn’t surprise me in the least that citizens get confused.”

The fuselage vibrated when the officer started up the aircraft engines. However, it couldn’t be felt inside the cabin. He gently pushed the control lever forward and the plane slowly emerged from the hangar.

It moved towards the nearest runway. It was a very long strip, the biggest in the world and over six miles long.

Just then, James’ cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and saw that it was his daughter. He hadn’t spoken to her for several days and she would be worried.

I’ll call her later, I’m about to take off.

He cancelled the call.

The plane was ready to soar through the skies at dizzying speed. The pilot wanted to make sure that James was prepared as well, but just when he was about to give him the thumbs up, his cell phone began to ring again.

Not again! What does she want?
he wondered. His daughter wasn’t usually so insistent. This was very odd.

He gestured for the pilot to stop and then he picked up the phone. “How are you Lily? I can’t talk right now. I’m about to catch a flight and - ”

“Dad, help me! Help me!”

Lily’s voice sounded as if it was faltering but she was speaking in a low voice. Maybe she didn’t want them to hear her?

“What’s happening?! What’s the matter?!”

James was frightened. His daughter never joked about these kinds of things, so something must have been going on.

“Some men have come into the house! They’ve hurt Mom!”

The girl couldn’t stop crying, but she was trying not to make too much noise and stifle her sobs with her hands.

“Where are you?”

“Dad, help me! They’re going to kill me!”

“Don’t worry, darling. Don’t worry. Tell me where you are!”

“In Mom’s house.” The girl was having a panic attack. “The woman hit Mom and threw her on the floor.”

“The woman? What does she look like?”

“I don’t know. Help me, Dad.”

“Lily, keep calm! What does that woman look like?”

The girl fell silent for a few seconds. “Brown hair, slim, tall…”

Mary!
he thought.
She’s alive!
“Where are you right now?”

The girl went silent again which made him even more nervous. “I’m in my hiding place.”

James knew perfectly well which one it was. All children have a secret place where they feel secure and think that they will be safe. One day, before James had separated from her mother, he had spent over half an hour looking around the house for Lily while she played hide and seek. He eventually found her hidden inside the fitted closet in his room, wrapped in a blanket and fast asleep. Since that day, whenever Lily disappeared she was hiding in that corner of the house where she felt safe.

“Don’t come out of there! Listen carefully!” The girl managed to get herself together and listen carefully to what her father had to say.

“They’re not going to hurt you. They need you to get to me, but you have to get ready and not get scared.”

The girl started shaking again. She couldn’t keep her feelings under control and started to cry again. “Get ready? What for?”

“Lily… they are going to kidnap you.”

T
he AUTEC base, or more commonly known as the Underwater Area 51, is a secret U.S. Marine base whose fundamental mission is to help establish and maintain the naval supremacy of the United States in the world. In its scientific laboratories, the greatest technological advances are being made in submarine engineering.

Located on one side of the island of Andros in the Bahamas, the base comprises various laboratories, all of which are spread along the “Tongue of the Ocean”, a deep ocean trench which is one hundred and eighteen miles long by seventeen wide and over six thousand five hundred feet deep. The presence of non-navigable banks and subsequent lack of maritime traffic, noise, heavy swells and submarine currents make this place ideal for carrying out all kinds of research pertaining to weaponry, submarine and maritime navigation, aerial espionage via radar, global positioning systems, tracking systems and other much more innovative areas, such as advances in electronics and magnetism.

When the hatch opened, Richard got out of the craft following the instructions of the Secretary of the Navy and stepped onto dry land. The “Pit” was a gigantic room, but both gloomy and damp. Despite being over three hundred feet below sea level, it was one of the busiest parts of the site, housing the experiments of over fifty scientists who used the facilities on a daily basis. The constant hustle and bustle and their breathing consumed the oxygen in the room at a dizzying speed, which is why they had to install several regulators to control the fresh air supply, the pressure and water level inside the pit.

At one end of the room, two men and a woman wearing military gear were carrying out last minute preparations. The three of them greeted his with the respective military salute when the Secretary drew closer to them.