The Cydonia Objective (Morpheus Initiative 03) (47 page)

Phoebe kicked him under the table.

Orlando, finishing his second Red Bull, licked his lips and grinned foolishly at Phoebe. "Still, I may have to borrow your talents, Miss Hummingbird, from time to time."

Phoebe glared at him. "Don't you dare try to hide from me. Or I'll go dig up that Spear—wherever you hid it, big brother. Seriously, I'll find it and—"

Just then, the door banged open.

And Senator Calderon walked in, closing the door behind him.

"Ah, good. You're all here." He walked inside, leaning slightly on a new cane, this one carved from a knobby pine. "Stupid limp. Guy should've taken better care of himself."

Smiling at Diana, he took a seat beside her, and after a moment she took his hand in hers.

"This is going to take some getting used to," she said.

"I'll get his body in better shape," Montross promised.

"I can wait," she whispered. "As long as I've got you back."

"So," Temple asked breaking the awkward moment. "Senator. What was their answer?"

Calderon-Montross smiled and took a moment to answer. "How could they refuse me? Apparently I've got half the country's leaders in my pocket, or dying to get there. Influence is too tame a word."

Caleb looked around, confused. "Sorry, I've been in seeing to Nina's recovery. What's going on?"

Temple sighed. "Only my retirement." He leaned back, rubbing his neck with his good hand. "From direct involvement, at least. Getting too old for this. Time for new blood."

Caleb blinked at him, then at Montross. Everyone else in the room seemed to be smiling at some inside joke.

"Congratulations," Montross said. "Caleb Crowe, you are now the new acting head of the Stargate Program."

Caleb nearly fell off his chair. "What? No, I couldn't, not after—"

"You can," said Temple.

"And you should," said Montross. "I know they royally screwed your dad, and Waxman did what he did, but you have a chance to do it your way."

Caleb looked at Phoebe and Orlando for help. "But the Morpheus Initiative—"

"—can still exist, just merge it in with Stargate."

"Bigger budget, more resources," Phoebe said.

"Better benefits," Orlando added, shaking his empty can. "Maybe get us a decent health plan?"

"Think about it," Temple said. "I'll stay on and help as an advisor. But you're the man with the skill. You, Phoebe, Orlando. Montross and Nina. Alexander. You guys were way ahead of us, and sure I've done okay with recruiting, but you... You can do this the way it should be done."

Caleb looked helplessly from Phoebe's smiling face to Montross, his eyes shining more and more like the true Montross.

"Do it," the senator said. "Because I'm going to need your skills very soon. Yours, and a lot of others'. We've got to build this big, because the threat's not over."

"What do you mean?" Caleb asked, his head still spinning.

"The threat," Montross said, "and the opportunity."

"The Custodians," Phoebe said. "They're still here. And what they are scares the beJesus out of us."

"I thought you said they saved you. Both here and in Afghanistan."

"I did. They did." Phoebe sighed, leaning in across the table. "But the one told me that they ‘weren't what they seemed'."

"And some of us," Orlando said, "we got impressions, hits of different kinds of stuff. Scary impressions..."

Alexander added to the discussion: "Like maybe there are two sets of these beings lurking around."

"Some," said Montross, "that are watching out for us, maybe even encouraging us mere mortals on the path back to wisdom..."

"Others," said Phoebe, "more like the Old Testament nasty gods who want to keep us down. Divided, with our link to the eternal forever denied."

Caleb closed his eyes, then resisted the stirring, the call of visions that tempted. After a breath, he surveyed the room, stopping on Alexander. "So what can we do?"

"You know what to do," Montross said, standing up slowly. "Get back to work. Look, find, learn. You have more tools now, and will have much more resources at your disposal."

"A new headquarters?" Phoebe asked.

"With free parking?" Orlando added.

"Back in Sodus, New York?" Alexander insisted.

Montross shrugged. "If you wish."

Caleb sighed, then nodded to Temple. "I still don't know."

"I do," Montross said. "In fact, this whole conversation has been redundant. I've seen the outcome. I know how it ends."

"Crazy psychics," Temple said. "Before you go, Senator. And Ms. Montgomery. Tell them about the other phase of the investigation."

Diana stood up beside Montross, her hand still holding his. "That's where I come in. NASA's priorities will be changing."

"Again," said Montross, "my influence. Been a busy few hours, but I've lit some fires under some asses. Got the bug in their ears. Now that the shuttle missions are done, we need a few high profile wins. Targets..."

"Objectives," said Diana. "Things we already know are there, but will have our probes ‘discover'. Things that will blow the lid off conventional wisdom."

Phoebe smiled at Caleb. "And you thought the books under the Pharos were explosive!"

Caleb felt his pulse rising, his palms sweating with excitement. Now there were flashes of visions behind his eyes.

Those temple-like buildings nestled in lunar craters. Geometric structures in sacred patterns on remote worlds, distant testaments to a former existence. Beacons promising greater and greater rewards.

But there were risks.

These Custodians. Watchers.

And most assuredly, defenses of the sort only members of The Morpheus Initiative could handle.

Caleb blinked, then nodded to Temple. To Montross and Diana, to his friends, his sister and finally, to his son whose broad smile let him know he was doing the right thing. The only thing.

"All right," he said proudly. "I'm in."

THE END

?

Author's Notes

Thanks for coming along this incredible journey with me. Hopefully you've been entertained, and along the way, maybe had your mind stretched—or possibly batted around like a piñata. That was ultimately my intention. Our world (and indeed our universe) is a strange place, and to think we've got it figured out is just plain lunacy. We've come a long way, but any peek into the some of these enduring mysteries should just put us back in our humble chairs.

But in any case, the research for these books was an extension of my love for the unknown, beginning with shows like
In Search Of
as a child, and continuing with books, books and more books (my room looking a lot like Caleb's, growing up).  And so, like a magician eager to reveal his tricks, I'd like to share some of the more 'incredulous' bits that came out of influences for this series, and particularly this novel. Obviously I don't believe everything I read, and there are a lot of debunkers out there for each and every one of these things, but there are a lot of compelling—and large, very large—ideas here, enough to make your brain hurt, and possibly I hope, give you pause and wonder,
what is the truth?
Is it really out there? And is it way more mind-boggling than we can imagine?

In no particular order, here you'll find some background on the novel's more intriguing concepts:

1)
      
The Spear of Destiny
. It's been a major subject of a lot of thrillers, and yes—of great interest to Adolf and his pals. Also called the Holy Lance, this spear was the one that supposedly pierced Jesus's side as he hung on the cross in John's account of his death. Legend has it that whoever possesses the lance will rule the world. Richard Wagner's opera
Parsival
revolved around the Spear and clearly influenced Hitler's dreams of world supremacy. After obsessively studying the history of the Spear and learning that numerous emperors from Constantine to Frederick all claimed power deriving from its possession, he was determined to acquire it—which he did when he invaded Austria in 1938. And yes, the day the Americans took Nuremberg and the Spear changed hands, Hitler took his own life. History has it that Patton returned the spear to the Austrians; but of course, I've taken license here and asked,
What if he didn't?

2)
      
Nazi interest in the occult. This is fairly well known (and a frequent source of speculation), with characters like Himmler, Ravenscroft and others fascinated with the legends of an ancient race of Supermen hiding away in the Himalayas or other remote areas. Expeditions were sent to the poles in search of entranceways to find these members of the Thule race, seeking legendary sources of power and hidden bases such as Shamballa.

3)
      
HAARP. The High-altitude Active Aural Research Program has been called 'The Moby Dick' of conspiracy theories. (And I'm not the first author to use it as a plot point). HAARP has been blamed for triggering a number of catastrophes, including the earthquakes in Haiti, Peru, Japan and the Philippines; tsunamis, hurricanes, the downing of aircraft, chronic fatigue syndrome and even mind control. I'm not making any judgment on the program, which I'm sure from their published documents and their website, has added a tremendous amount of valuable research to the scientific community, but… it's hard to look at its history without seeing the potential at least, for something more just research going on up there: its deep and often secret connections with the Department of Defense, the Army, the Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Agency–and most notably, its early patents (now public) related to the facility's potential, which include potential for weather alteration, creating beams of power, disrupting communication systems and even causing 'nuclear-sized explosions without radiation'. A number of books and articles have been written on the program, and a simple Web search will yield more background—and at least, interesting reading.

4)
      
The Statue of Liberty. Its colorful history is as I've depicted here, including the base's similarity to the Pharos Lighthouse, and its original intention to serve as a lighthouse itself (although never quite achieving that purpose due to technological shortcomings). The original torch is on display as you walk in—but I wouldn't advise snooping around down there.

5)
      
The theories about the great antiquity of the Sphinx, the Great Pyramid as a weapon, and the labyrinth under the Giza plateau are also abundant, with Herodotus being a source for the legends about the Pyramid being built by a 'Shepherd King', and standing over an underground complex of great mystery and power. Many authors (such as Joseph P. Farrell and Zecharia Sitchin) have extensively decoded myths and researched the possibility that the Pyramid could have been used as a devastating weapon or source of power.