Humanity Unlimited 1: Liberty Station (12 page)

She opened her bag, which she hadn’t stored, and pulled out a moderately expensive looking digital camera. “Do you have a screen controller?”

He gestured to his desk. “Please have a seat and load them up on the wall screen.”

She removed the memory chip from the camera and inserted it into a slot on his desk. The wall screen came to life a few moments later. There were a number of images. Some of jungle, some of ruins, a few of people, and many of chambers indoors. The interior of the pyramid, he assumed.

He pointed at a picture of a man standing beside a pyramid. Presumably the one that had collapsed. He was young, Hispanic, and grinning widely. “That must be your friend.”

Her face sagged a little. “I took that the day before everything went to hell. He was on top of the world. I suppose that’s a lesson in how wrong we can be.”

“I’m not certain that’s the lesson I’d take away from this terrible situation. Perhaps that the world is more dangerous than we expect. To always remain vigilant.”

“I doubt that would’ve helped him. He found a chamber hidden deep inside the pyramid. It had some art that is literally game changing. Though it’s not the reason I asked you to come, it’s a good place to start.”

She selected an image and zoomed in. The art and inlay of polished stone was impressive. It took him a moment to realize what was wrong with it. It showed the outer planets.

“That can’t be right,” he said after a moment. “This has to be faked.”

She shook her head. “We found something later that indicates otherwise in the strongest terms possible. One more thing to note. There’s something marked here that comes from the outer system to the inner. An extinct comet, most likely.

“There are dates in Mayan script beside it at several points. We should be able to figure out its orbit based on that. Also, it shows a large body in the outer system that we don’t know about.”

“That is extraordinary,” he admitted. “Now I understand why your friend sought you out. This is indeed the find of the century. How could the ancient Mayans possibly be aware of the outer planets? They had no telescopes, if memory serves.”

“Allow me to show you what else we found in the pyramid.”

The next picture showed the devastation that used to be the Mayan artwork.

“What a loss,” he murmured. “This happened when the pyramid collapsed?”

“No, it came apart when a grenade caused the tunnel leading up to this point to cave in. We thought the cracks in the wall might lead to a hidden tunnel, so we opened it up.”

“Is that how you escaped?”

“No,” Harry said. “We had to jump down the well in that room and search for a passage to the one in the courtyard. We were lucky.”

He considered the two of them. “Exceedingly so. I’m not certain that I would play the lottery going forward, if I were you. You may have used your allotted share of good luck.”

“Actually, I think the lottery is a good analogy,” Miss Cook said.

She skipped ahead and showed him what was behind the wall. The burial chamber astounded him.

“Amazing,” he said.

She showed picture after picture until they opened the sarcophagus. He stared at the impossible image on the screen. “This cannot be correct.”

“It was there,” Harry said bluntly. “I saw everything from the moment we opened the tomb. The wall was old. Really old. This wasn’t planted.”

The lie his eyes told him warred with his bedrock certainty that his son’s word was good. If he said it was true, it was true. He watched as she scrolled through the pictures. The clothing was definitely anachronistic. Similar to modern clothes, but not in every way.

The pockets, buttons, and nametag stood out. And the patch on the man’s shoulder. The angle wasn’t very good, but it looked like a tree surrounded by text. Well, by gibberish in text form. Not something that anyone found in an ancient tomb should be wearing.

Clayton stared at them. “What the hell does this mean?”

“It means a lot more than you think,” Miss Cook said. “Let me show you what we found at the second site.”

The image changed and he slowly stood as he realized what he was seeing. “Is that…”

“It’s a spaceship,” she confirmed. “One that’s been buried in the jungle for about a thousand years.”

* * * * *

Jess watched her boss’ expression with satisfaction. He got it. He knew what this find meant.

“The man in the pyramid undoubtedly came from this ship,” she said. “Harry found the key to opening it in the well once we escaped the collapsing pyramid. I saved what I could from the burial chamber, but we need to recover the body and go over everything that survived the collapse with a fine toothed comb. We also need to recover Abel’s body. His family deserves to have him back.”

The elder Mister Rogers nodded. “Of course. I’ve already called a few people, but I’ll start working every contact I have to get complete control of both sites. We’ll need to have everything you recovered gone over very carefully and protect it from deterioration. I’ll arrange for some restoration specialists to preserve everything. Those artifacts are literally priceless.”

Clayton looked at her with a very serious expression. “Do you realize the scope of what you’ve found here? The immensity of it? The value of this find is incalculable.”

“Even before we found the ship, I knew,” she said. “Even the Mayans knew. Look at the lid of the sarcophagus. See how they have him as though he were about to take flight? He came from above and they knew it.”

The older man stared at the image. “It certainly seems that way. I realize you have many duties awaiting your time on Project Liberty, but we need to debrief you in detail.”

Harry cleared his throat. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten, but this isn’t your find. It’s hers. As in she owns everything in that pack.”

Mister Rogers paused. “A valid point. Thank you for the reminder. Miss Cook, if you’ll allow me to bring some experts in to conserve and examine the artifacts you’ve recovered, I believe that it might be worth a great deal to me. And you.”

“And to Harry,” she said. “He was there every moment of this exploration.”

The younger Rogers shook his head. “I was under contract to rescue you. I have no claim to anything in that chamber or the data you found.”

“You risked your life to get this. I say you do.”

“And I say I don’t.”

Clayton Rogers made calming gestures with his hands. “I’m sure the two of you can work that out at your leisure.”

His son’s jaw shot out. “She’ll want to contact an attorney she trusts to review whatever you offer. You’re a shark and I won’t let you gobble her up.”

“I bet your military group has an attorney,” Jess said. “If you were my partner in this, you could loan him to me.”

Harry gave her a look. “Maybe. I’m going back out front. Don’t let him bully you into signing anything. I’ll give my lawyer a call tomorrow and arrange for her to review your contract.” He shifted his gaze to his father. “I might have to take a small share just to keep you honest. Don’t cross me.”

She stared at the door after he’d departed. “Is he always this mule headed?”

“My son is many things, including stubborn. He’s also honorable to a damned fault. My advice is to listen to him. This find is valuable. Very valuable. Well worth killing for or cheating someone out of their share.”

“Would you do that?” she asked as she retrieved her memory chip.

He steepled his fingers. “I’ve done things in business that would horrify you, I’m certain. I could swear my intentions are honorable, but that should fool neither of us. I’ll strike as good a bargain as I can while still being fair.”

He leaned back in his chair. “We’ll talk tomorrow. Please, take your bag and stow it near your seat. I want you to have sole custody of it until we settle the details of what this means.”

She made her way back up to the front of the plane and sat down beside Harry. “I’m not sure what to do next.”

“Get some sleep,” he advised. “Tomorrow is going to be a long one. Also, make sure and count your fingers once you shake on this deal.”

He stuck a pillow behind his head and quickly went to sleep.

She ordered a stiff drink and it wasn’t long before she joined him.

Chapter Eleven

Harry slept like crap. He’d run through collapsing tunnels chasing Jess for what seemed like hours. He woke when the plane touched down, more exhausted than when he’d dozed off.

His people gathered their gear and deplaned once the pilot shut the engines down. To his annoyance, Jess seemed rested and ready to take on the world.

The view of the Yucatan Spaceport was rather limited in the middle of the night. He couldn’t see any of the launch towers. Hills blocked the no-doubt inspirational view.

His father directed them to cars that would take them to the hotel. They’d sleep again and join him for a late breakfast. Jess sat beside Harry in the one he piled into.

“So, how careful do I need to be?” she asked. “He might be your father, but he’s my boss. I don’t want to overly antagonize him.”

It took a moment for Harry to squelch his instinctive response that Clayton Rogers couldn’t be trusted. That was his bias speaking. “Have a lawyer look everything over before you sign it. Mine, yours, or someone else you trust. Bargain hard. My father will slip something past you if he can. Once you both sign on the dotted lines, though, he’ll honor the agreement.

“And by that, I mean what’s spelled out in black and white. Oral agreements don’t count. Read the fine print and look for things he can twist. This is worth a lot of money and he plays hardball when it comes to stuff like that.”

She nodded slowly. “I’m not really interested in the money. I want to follow the mystery.”

Harry snorted. “Don’t tell him that. He’ll value what you found more highly if he has to pay for it. Show him that while you might’ve been born on a Tuesday, it wasn’t last week.”

“You’re funny. Give me the name of your lawyer so I can have someone check her out.”

He gave her the woman’s name and number. “Tell her I sent you and that the work is highly classified. She’ll keep it under her hat.”

“You seem to trust very few people. How can you be sure about her?”

“I rescued her son from Eastern Europe about five years ago. She’s as loyal as any human can be.”

Jess’ expression softened. “You’re like a knight in camo. I’m not kidding.”

Harry shook his head. “Don’t make me into something I’m not. I’ve done as many bad things as anyone else. War sucks.”

They pulled up to a brightly lit hotel. It was almost four in the morning, so things were quiet. Someone expedited the check in and had them in their rooms a few minutes later.

Harry put his pack in the closet, locked the door, and put a chair under the knob. He didn’t like sleeping in places he didn’t control.

His pistol sat on the toilet seat while he took a quick shower. It went on his nightstand when he face planted.

It only seemed as though a few minutes had passed when someone started pounding on the door. One glance at the clock showed it was only seven. “Go away.”

“You’ll miss breakfast,” Jess yelled through the door. “They might have blueberries.”

“Is that your criteria for a high end breakfast?” He rolled out of bed. “Give me a few minutes to get dressed.”

“You want the clothes in the hall?”

“Hand them through.”

It only took a moment to pull the chair back and crack the door. She stood in the hall looking well rested. She wore a pale blue blouse, a dark skirt, and shoes without heels. If he didn’t know better, he’d never have suspected she’d been on an adventure in the Guatemalan jungle yesterday. She had her pack over her shoulder.

“I had no idea you were shy,” she said with a grin.

“I could be naked over here.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you? What if ninjas attacked?”

“Then I’d kill them naked.”

“I’d pay good money to see that.”

Harry grabbed the clothes and headed for the bathroom. He closed the door most of the way, took care of business, and washed his hands and face. “How can you be so chipper? You were awake as long as I was.”

“I thought you military types got up early every day so you could run ten miles and do an obstacle course.”

“That doesn’t mean we have to like it. You learn to sleep when you can.”

“That’s rough. I’m a morning person.”

“Figures. Nobody’s perfect.”

He dressed, combed his hair, and started shaving. “I dreamed about that damned spaceship last night. I can’t believe it, even after having seen it with my own eyes.”

“I’m in the same boat,” she said. “The scope of this find is mindboggling. Advanced humans long before the Europeans discovered the American continents. Where did they come from? Space? That seems almost inconceivable.”

“Why not time travel?”

“Let’s stick to reasonable possibilities.”

He grabbed his boots and headed back into the bedroom. She was sitting on the edge of his bed. “Why? Because advanced humans from outer space is a more likely alternative than time travel? You said that ship didn’t use reaction mass. Maybe it’s a time travel ship.”

She opened her mouth to say something and stopped. “I guess I shouldn’t dismiss the idea out of hand. I should let the evidence tell me what’s possible. How much do you think a find like this is worth?”

“A lot of money. It’s proof that others visited our world and educated some of us to work for them.”

He smiled at her surprised expression. “I read science fiction. I get this has implications with aliens. That’s big stuff. And, if word of it gets out, everyone and their third cousins will be after the technology. It means weapons, star drives, and possibly any number of other things. I’d be real careful who you mention this to.”

“Aliens might be a jump. We’ve only found evidence that humans were involved.”

“Since there’s no indication of a high technology center on Earth a thousand years ago, the tech had to come from elsewhere. That means aliens. Unless you believe in Atlantis.”

She rolled her eyes. “At this point, I’m not ruling it out, but I don’t think so. Plato almost certainly used the fictitious island allegorically. Even he said the events he supposedly chronicled took place something like 9,000 years before his time. But, with this find, it makes me wonder if he was being literal. This just boggles my mind. I want to see where this leads.”