ATLAN T.I.S. 9

A Story by Bear

This was a first draft written years ago and shelved till I just came across it a few days ago. Be save always copy write protect your work, even concepts and rough drafts.

   The sinister looking man paused a long moment outside the door marked “Ed Outing - Archaeologist and Collector”, before entering. Once inside he leaned against the door as if to make sure no one was following him. The man at the desk on the other side of the room had just closed the book he was involved in just seconds before. He now was raising a small caliber pistol aimed at the strange man at the door.
   “I wish you wouldn’t do that! One of these times you are going to get yourself shot.” Ed Outing said as he put his pistol back in his vest pocket. The mysterious man remained silent as he looked around the room to guarantee his safety.
   “What are you looking for? We’re alone, besides nobody is after your treasure, no one believes the stories an old liar like you spread. So tell me what you want and then get the hell out” Ed stated.
   The man reached into a beat up case and pulled out a very odd looking book. He reached out and placed the book on the desk in front of Ed and whispered “How much” then moved back against the door.
   “What is this supposed to be? I can’t even tell what language this is, little on read it” Ed ask. The book was a strange looking thing with pages made from a cloth like material. The cover was made of a metallic substance with markings on it that looked like a cross between Chinese and Hieroglyphics. A few of the pages look to have unraveled a little around the edges in places. The cover had a patchwork of electronic components around a hole in one corner.
   “Hey this book can’t be that old, look at the electronic lock it has” Ed said.
   “It’s old, It’s very old! It may be the oldest thing you will ever own” the man said. “And it’s not a lock, it’s a translator. You look through that hole and you will be able to read the book”.
“How much?” he said again in a whispery voice as he glared at Ed.
   Ed had to think about what the man had just said, [it didn’t make sense. What kind of book taught you how to read its self? Did he look through the hole and look like a fool? What was it that this man was really after] Ed wondered.
“Where did you get this and what kind of hoax are you trying to pull” Ed ask?
The man moving from his post at the door walked around the desk and grabbed Ed by the collar of his vest and pulled him to his feet. “I want you to stop playing with me and tell me how much you will give me for the journal?” the man yelled into Ed’s face.
   Ed was starting to feel panic, this man whom he had only known by reputation until their meeting just two days ago, almost had his feet off the ground. In this position, eye to eye with each other Ed could see the madness in the mans eyes. So threatened it was easy for Ed to pull his pistol and fire three shots point blank into the man.
   The body had hardly touched the floor before Ed was in motion. With the book locked in his safe, no one would ever know of its existence. With the money he had taken from his safe he tossed it onto his desk then swept everything from the desk. Now all he needed was witnesses to his struggle and the banging at his door would take care of that.
Within seconds everyone from the other offices in the building was on the scene of the tragedy. It wasn’t that hard for people to believe Ed’s story of how this stranger had come to rob him. Ed was businessman who did what he had to do to protect himself and his property.
   The police had no problem with Ed’s story, it seems the man had a history of violent outbreaks. It all started years before when he returned from archeological dig in the mid east. He had been in charge of the dig and three of its members were killed under mysterious circumstances. The unanswered questions of what happened left him black balled in the archeological world. He had approached others in his field and became violent when they have nothing to do with him or dared to laugh at him.
   So it was that a week later Ed was freed of all charges and allowed back into his office. It was his intent to go straight to his safe and find out if there was a treasure waiting for him. But as soon as he closed his office door behind himself there was a loud knock that startled Ed and nearly took his breath away.
   “Hi Ed, I heard you would be in today” Richard Smith, the man with the office space across from Ed said. “I just wanted to see if you were OK and to thank you. It could have been any one of us that nut might have tried to rob” He said. “You don’t look so good Ed, maybe you should take a little time off and let your nerves calm down”.
   “I think your right Richard” still visibly shaking Ed said, “I have some book work I cant put off. You know how the tax man is, I will lock the door and do what I have too and see about getting out of town for a few days. A little peace and quiet is just what I need, thanks for the suggesting it Richard”.
   Before Richard could say anything more Ed pushed the door closed and locked it with a loud click so even Richard could hear it. (That was nice of him to give me a reason to lock my door, now I wont have to worry about being bothered” Ed thought.
   Ed opened the safe and pulled out the strange artifact and carried it to his desk, not even bothering to pick up his belongings or the money from the floor. He pulled his pipe from his pocket and packed it with tobacco then lit it saying to himself “Now let’s see what all this electronics is really about” as he raised the book to his eye and looked through the hole.
   There was a discharge of current as Ed’s eye came into contact with the book. He felt as if his head had been turned inside out and he saw spots before his watery eyes. He reached down to picked his pipe where he had dropped it and found it had gone out and was stone cold.
   “Wow, that was some shock” Ed said to himself as he looked at his watch and saw that almost three hours had passed. Raising the book, he now saw that the markings on the cover were words that read (ATLAN T.I.S. 9). Ed’s mind was racing as loud banging came from his door and once again Ed jumped at the sound and fell to the floor.
   “Ed how about going to lunch with us” Richard called out loudly. “We’re all going for shrimp, why don’t you come along”?
   Thinking fast Ed opened the door a crack and peered out at the group of people from the other offices. “Sorry everyone, I am getting ready to lock up for a few days, Doc Richards orders” Ed said with a laugh. “I need to finish up some paper work and them I an out of here. So you all have a nice lunch and I will see you when I get back next week” he said as he quickly pushed the door close.
   “Take care buddy” called Richard, as he and the others walked away from Ed’s office. Standing with his ear to the door listening to the group move away, Ed took a deep breath before opening the door to peak out and guarantee he was now alone.
    Locking the door and dragging his chair to the back room of his office he said to himself “No one is going to bother me back here”. Setting, Ed lit his pipe and settled down to read.

ON LINE DAY 3
   I am Tech-no-3c Vox Penny Mill, senior tech of ATLAN 9. This is day three since the explosion that had to have come from Tech-realm. It registered an 8.3 on our tectonic meter. Had this complex not been designed to withstand the weight of a full grown brontosaurs it very well might have collapsed. All systems have been restored to full function except for sensors outside the two-mile radius and communications. Communications all check out but we can’t seem to raise anyone, so our system is either out or there is no one out there to talk with.
   All the facts point to an eruption of the global fear safe systems. There can be little left of Tech-realm after the simultaneous explosion of 40 Graviton bombs. We can’t expect help from there, but maybe one of the other ATLAN Technical Institution Society complexes may have survived. ATLAN 9 is the farthest from Tech-realm, but there are eight other complexes just like this one so there is still hope.

   Ed was disappointed, some of the words had unraveled and he was thrown from the story, just when he was getting into it. This book made him feel as if he were living the story, he wondered what had been lost in the missing words. He lit his pipe again and read on.

PERSONAL LOG
   I’m a trained observer of plant and animal life forms and this complex is my responsibility. I know all of its functions, basically it runs it self. Now with the place full of students on what was meant to be a week long nature study, will put a sever strain on the supplies of this complex.
   I know I should leave emotion out of this report, but I can’t work that way and with two of the children already dead and the potential for a lot more, emotion is all I have left.

ON LINE DAY 4
   Nine more students died through the night and there are more just hours away from the same fate. The safety doors are preventing any more radiation leakage but it won’t help the ones already burned. I don’t know how long we can stay locked up like this, the air is being filtered but the system is being over worked with the extra ninety four people. While I am capable of making simple repairs, we have almost no replacement parts in stock. So if something major breaks down I don’t know what we will do.
   There is a higher being after all, I was just interrupted with word of contact with ATLAN 8 so my prayers have been answered. They didn’t fair as well as we did, but they didn’t have any students, just technicians. Their survivors consist of one Bio-medic-3c, two Construct-tech-3c, and a Global Systems representative. The others were killed when the top level collapsed, they need us as much as we need them. They are in life wear suits because the whole complex is contaminated, but even with a full charge they only have a week.
   I am taking a big risk but I have nine volunteers who all have at least a beginners class gyro-copter permit. Two of them were the pilots who flew the class to ATLAN 9, with their help just after midday tomorrow we will attempt a rescue. We need the Bio-medic desperately and the Construct-tech’s can guarantee this complex keeps running. I just hope the Global rep has some answers to what went wrong and what we can do to fix it.
   I’m leaving Buddy Shoop, a Tech-no-5c and my second in command, in charge of things till my return. If we don’t return in three days then the next entry in this log will be his.

   Buddy Shoop-- Entry only to report four more dead and 38 more cases of radiation burn victims. Comp-u-medic supplies won’t last the night, a years worth of radiation poisoning medication used up in three days.

ON LINE DAY 6
   Buddy Shoop-- The last of the sixteen students that were outside the first night has died and medical supplies for radiation have run out and it’s becoming very painful for the new burn victims.

ON LINE DAY 6
   Buddy Shoop-- Vox made contact from ATLAN 8, they will take an extra day to plunder all the supplies that ATLAN 8 will afford. Vox has had the first level closed off when he heard of the new burn victims, it looks like they will make it back safely.

ON LINE DAY 9
   It’s like waking from a nightmare to fine you weren’t asleep, so much has happened and went wrong. I haven’t slept for four days so writing this before I rest is another of my many mistakes, but I can’t let go of this nightmare.
   The layers of dust as we coptered up are higher than the ozone layer and may take years before the gravitational pull of the planet can clear the sky. Temperatures average 26 degrees colder and snow is already covering the higher elevation. Now there is a brown dirty glow in the dark snow falling that will burn the flesh from your bones. So proves the theory of a nuclear winter after a major explosion, not much sun light is going to get through that.
It took 14 hours for the earth to rotate under us to the copter down point where Tech-realm should have been. From the first moment we cleared the dust layer, water was all we could see, it was as if the land had been engulfed by the ocean. We only stayed five minutes to run some test and check the equipment for survivors, even though we knew there wouldn’t be any.
   As we coptered back up we recovered a global satellite just inside the upper dust band, maybe it will tell us something.
   During the 8-hour hover to ATLAN 8, every piece of equipment on board was in use in hope of finding any survivors. Radio waves just bounced off the dust so unless it is a direct hook up, the static interference will keep us isolated from others. Because of the radiation, infrared cameras were useless. But the x-ray camera might have worked, we will have to wait and see. These kids sure know what they are doing, I would have been lost without them, even the magnetic fields are different so they star charted us for navigation.
   It took us three hours of copter fuel to locate ATLAN 8, even the landmarks have changed. Everything seems to have been pushed and contorted out of place, ATLAN 8 was almost 100 miles from where it was on the star chart and behind a mountain range that wasn’t there before. Had they not gotten worried about our being so late and started shooting off percussion flares we might not have found them at all.
   We landed 600 yards from the landing pad as the surrounding area was so devastated. Bill, one of the Construct-tech, was waiting for us. He had been outside for two hours setting off the flares fearing we would pass them by. The thundering noise was the only reason we crossed the mountains so we all owe him something.
   Before we could start robbing ATLAN 8 we had to dig the first two levels off as they were completely flattened. Mike Jordy, who is the youngest and smallest of the crew, was also the only one studying reverse gravity engineering. With his knowledge we rigged a generator into an expanding gravity field and pushed the lower level ramps clear.
   Medic Saunders and the others had already started gathering supplies, unfortunately they only had one floater not on the top level. It was time consuming moving most of the supplies by hand and that is why we took the extra day. With no way to refuel, there may not be another trip back to ATLAN 8 or anyplace else. We needed to take everything we could this trip.
   The Global rep Marcus Tim Owens, is going to be trouble, all he knows is how to give orders. He insists that rank be used when talking to him, like he was the only one to ever become a Marcus, not just the only one left. Saunders said he was tempted to induce a coma just to get away from Owens mouth, I wish he had, I guess what bothers me the most is the way he never uses anyone's name just our status, Tech-no-3c, like I’m an undesirable. Now that we are back at ATLAN 9, Marcus Tim Owens had better watch out or he will find himself outside.

PERSONAL LOG
   Maybe this whole report should be put in my personal log, with all my thoughts and opinions I can’t seem to separate them from my job. Looking at Buddy’s entries, it looks like he didn’t think we would make it back and then disappointed when he found out we would. I will have to keep an eye on him, if I can’t trust him I need to know now.
I fear it’s worse than any of us first thought and there is little chance that we will survive longer than the next few weeks. But with kids we have here anything is possible, if we are to make it, it will be because of their donations to the effort. I feel like I could sleep for a week, but I’m afraid if I close my eyes I’ll never open them again.

ON LINE DAY 11
   Shoop and a team of students he put together while I slept were waiting for me after I ate breakfast. They were the best in their field of study the class had to offer, and felt they could be helpful in giving us a chance. Bill and Lenny {the other Construct-tech’s}, Saunders and Owens were in the back corner heatedly discussing something, when Buddy ask for everyone’s attention they parted.
   Before anyone had a chance to say anything, Owens was on his feet and addressing the group as to what he expected from them. He stated that there was now way a bunch of kids could access or understand the global system machinery. It would be up to him to take care of all data now that he was in control of the complex, and we would be informed of our duties as he assigned them.
   It was at this point that Marcus Tim Owens found out that I am a man of action. With a hand full of his hair and his left arm twisted up behind his back I escorted him from the room without making a sound. He did manage to yell that global systems was the law and he was now it’s ranking officer, but he didn’t look back through the door when I let him go.
Bill stated that Owens was on his own and felt better with the group making the decisions. Owens seemed to have made everyone angry with him and it only took a day and a half to do it. Which made me feel better about not liking him the moment I met him.
   Bill, Lenny and Tie Wheeler (an electronics student) then gave me Tie’s ultimate toy, he called it an OBVO-cam. It’s a book of photo cell chips and a light refraction area hover camera with a single ocular adjusters to fine tune vision. All I need to do is have the book with me and it would record everything as it really happens.
The journal that I started eight days ago I have transferred into the book, I like not being responsible for what should or shouldn’t be logged. From this point on I will let the book keep the record of all that transpires and let fate judge us as it will.

CAM-view
   “Sorry about that but he gets on my nerves, now tell me who is who and what they know and how it can help the rest of us” Vox said, “and do I need to point this book for the cam to focus on them?”
   “No, all you is have it with you, it will have the whole room on the chip.” Tie said.
   “Thank you, you don’t know how much I needed this, or maybe you do. I am no global report rep, so my journal entries are in sad shape. I never know what is or isn’t important enough to put in, so I thank you very much for this.” Vox said holding up the OBVO-cam.
   “I am sorry I didn’t get you throwing Owens out but I was afraid that might have been something you wouldn’t want on tape. So I started it just as you came back in, so I do have everyone supporting your actions.” Tie whispered as if ashamed of his action.
   “You probably did me a favor, Owens will tell everyone that I went crazy and took over on my own. Before he is done telling his story, I am sure he will be telling how I beat him to within an inch of his life. So this will only show him he is the fool we all know he is.” laughed Vox, to Tie’s visible relief.
   “Buddy it’s all yours, tell me where we go from here.” Vox said as he took a seat at the table in front of the room. Buddy Shoop, ATLAN 9”s second in command was laboring over a terminal, his general appearance was of someone already dead just looking for a place to lie down. Piles of data stacked on both sides of his workstation being responsible for his condition, shook as he leaned on them to make his way to his feet.
   “I guess the best way to do this is to turn things over to Vill and let him give you the facts.” Buddy said as he moved to the back of the room with the other tech’s.
   From the far end of the table came a stout figure of a man, his age of sixteen does his size no justice. He is the closest in size to Vox, {his twenty year senior} his manor and boldness as he walked toward Vox, showed no fear of the task put before him. Stopping only long enough to gather a stack of data from where Buddy had been working and place it in front of Vox.
   “Vill Roma sir. I am head programmer for Tech-realm academy J-Tech-1p, so I will take charge of explaining all data.” Roma stated with the air of a junior Marcus. “Slone Wheeler is the one with the optic scanner, but he is also our trouble shooter. He was able to access the information from the satellite you recovered” handing a folder from the top of the pile to Vox, Roma said “I will let Sloan explain what he found.”
   Sloan taking the floor seemed less sure of his actions, almost shy about being the center of attention. This all changed as he started to speak, it was plain to see why he was the troubleshooter, he could possibly be the smartest Dolphinean ever.

   Once again Ed was thrown from the story at a place where the page had unraveled and found himself at a loss. The room had gone dark and his stomach was grumbling loudly, looking at his watch he realized that he hadn’t been to the restroom or eaten in hours. He had spent hours inside the book when it seemed like only a few moments had passed. Rushing to the rest room to relieve himself, Ed thought that some hoe time must work differently inside the book. He had planned to wait till everyone had left the office complex before he would sneak out but it was close to midnight already. Quickly gathering up the things up off the floor Ed placed the book under his coat and started to make his way out to his car.
   “I know I should go home and read this where it is safe, but I don’t think I can wait that long to see what’s going to happen next.” Ed said to himself with an odd look on his face as he realized he was talking to himself. There was something about the book that once you got into it you didn’t want to put it down until you were through.
So peaking out the door Ed, saw that no one was around so he rushed out to the vending machines in the hall and emptied it of his favorite sandwich. He then rushed back to his office locked the door and unloaded his supplies. Before he started reading again he would make sure he wouldn’t need food or drink for a while.
   If only he could figure how the book worked he could make a fortune because he was sure there was nothing like this technology anywhere. It was like watching television in your head without any thing to hook up to. Ed downed another cup of coffee to keep himself awake as he finished off the sandwiches. After one last trip to the washroom Ed was ready to start reading again.
   The cover of the book was just a bunch of lines once again and Ed couldn’t make any since of them. Picking up the book he raised it up to his eye again to look through the hole and felt the jolt of electricity pass through his head just like before.
   Once his thoughts cleared up and he could see straight again the book lay open before him right where he had left off. There were only a few words missing this time and Ed felt he could put together what was missing. Ed thought all that was missing was a list of the test they were now reading.

CAM-view
   “These are the pictures from the x-ray cam the first was taken from peak copter level showing no breaks in the dust layer. The next is from when we cleared the dust, and as you can see there is no landmass in sight. The ground under the water tapers down into a fissure is to deep for the cam to record, so it’s more than a mile deep, that is the depth of this equipment.” Sloan said.
   “Tech-realm was 900 clicks from the closest ocean, and the picture shows the new shore 300 clicks past where Tech-realm was.” With a heavy sigh Sloan continued “It appears that the planet was almost split apart and the water of the ocean rushed in to fill the void.”
   A silence filled the room as all eyes bore in on Vox as he gravely stared at the pictures. It seemed as if he were paralyzed, or overcome by the information handed to him. When all at once he slammed the x-rays down on the table and took a deep breath for a full thirty second. “What have they done to this planet, condemned it to a slow death?” he almost scream at the startled young Tec. “Well Roma, what’s our next problem?”
   Roma turned to Sloan, “This is the tape from the satellite you saved. Any questions for Sloan here?” Roma asked as he handed the tape and viewer to Vox, then told Sloan to take his seat.
   Placing the viewer to his face Vox switched on the ninety-second tape showing what they already knew. The eruption of the global fear safe systems shock wave spreading the cloud of smoke and dust quickly covered the lens blocking out all sight. “What’s this, I can’t tell anything from this!” Vox said.
   “What this means.” said Sloan. “Is that when the system went, it all went at once and the blast traveled to the satellite in space in less than ninety seconds. That means, that by now the whole planet is covered so this is as good as it gets.”
   Sloan lifted another tape, and traded it for the one Vox had just watched. “This is the atmosphere video, it tells us the layer of junk in orbit is almost three miles thick and radiation will be leaking down from it for years.” Sloan said as he walked back to his seat looking relieved that his burden was over.
   As if on cue, Roma came to his feet determined to not let another silence stop things. Now that it was started it would be easier on everyone if he didn’t give them time to stop and think. “This is Kelly, she has been monitoring your equipment here at ATLAN 9 and will report on her findings.” Roma said as he sat on the edge of the table beside her.
   “Well sir, I don’t know were to begin?” she said looking like she was about to cry.
   “How about weather projections first?” Vox said trying to help here overcome her fear.
   “Thank you sir. The temperature has been minus thirteen for the last two days and the freeze line is now thirty-two inches. We believe the temp will drop another eight degrees by weeks end and the freeze line will be down to forty-six inches as the heat leaches out of the ground.” she rushed to say it all in one breath.
   “The vegetation is almost all gone, first it was burned by the radiation and now flash frozen. The shock is too much for the tropic style of plant life on the part of the planet. I fear that at this rate the whole planet will be barren in a few weeks.” Kelly said, with tears on her cheeks as she finished.
   Roma took her be the hand and looked sternly and Vox and ask, “Anything else you want from Kelly before I let her go?”. Showing more then just friendship between them.
   “No, I get the picture Roma. She can take a seat.” Kelly didn’t wait for Vox to finish, she rushed to the back of the room and disappeared in the crowd.
   “Next!” Roma yelled drawing everyone’s attention back to him. “Jordy, who you already know from the rescue mission.”
   Vox nodded to the small tech remembering his great knowledge and ability in gravity engineering. Jordy chose to stay in his seat to give his report, held up a graph a graph and said “This is the probability stats on using graviton to pull the first level down onto the second to stop the radiation from getting in any farther.”
   Vox looked at his copy of the report given to him, “Does this mean you can just reverse the gravitation pull on the machine we already built? But even if you can that still doesn’t say it will solve the problem. This structure was not designed to be brought down like that, and the integrity could be lost to stress fractures and cracks. Then the radiation will get through just like it is doing on the first floor now on the first level.”
   Jordy remained silent staring at the graphic with a blank look, “That’s ok Jordy, I won’t put you on the spot to make any life or death decisions, just give me your opinion.” Vox reassured him.
   “We don’t have anything else to use as a radiation shield that I know of, and your right that possibility of structure cracks is to high to be safe.” cried the shaken Jordy. “I don’t know what we are going to do, we can’t stay or go safely. We are going to die!” It was a statement that had a visible effect on everyone in the room.

   The page had a major section missing this time and Ed was once again thrown from the story at the ragged edge. On the back of Ed’s mind he could see the earth ripping apart. taking north and south America away from Africa and Europe. He wondered if that was what brought about the earth’s modern geography. And how much could one page of this book hold, to his knowledge he had yet to turn a page.
   The talk of the weather had Ed wondering if our ice age was the result of this same nuclear blast. Maybe this book was a legacy of the planets history. Ed was starting to understand the urgency of the man he killed was feeling about the book. It could easily be the find of all time, if he could find some way to prove all this he would be rich and famous. So excited was he that he started back into the book without checking the time or any of his bodily needs.

CAM-view
   “All this tells me is we have food for six weeks and no hope of finding any outside, is there any good news, anybody, I’m open to anything right now?” Vox pleaded. The whole room was silent in deep thought with each face showing the strain of their plight.
   “I have a comment.” Medic Saunders broke the silence saying. “I have been working on a global project for two years that might be a solution, but it may sound far fetched.” Saunders pulled a security body safe folder from its hiding place inside his shirt “This is the plan.”
   Just then Marcus Tim Owens burst into the room from the hallway where he had been listening. “You have no right to tell them about that, you took an oath!” He screamed as he rushed Saunders in a fit of rage.
   Vox being too far away from the rushing mad man, called “Roma, stop him! Don’t let him touch Saunders while he has that folded out.” Roma tackled Owen before he had gotten half way across the room, pinning him to the floor. “And don’t anyone else touch Saunders.” Vox yelled to the everyone in the room as he cam flying over the table to where Roma had Owens on the floor.
   Saunders backing up against the wall clumsily trying to get the folder bank into the body safe it had come from. He slumped to the floor as it slid into the safe, locking into place with a loud click. “Thank heaven you understood what this is Vox, had anyone touched me while the folder was out the whole room would have been destroyed as well as everyone in it.” Saunders said with his own sigh of relief.
   Roma straining to keep his grip on Owens ask,” I don’t understand sir, what am I to do with Marcus Owens?”
Standing over the fallen global rep, Vox reached down and grabbed Owens’ arm in a twisting grip replied, “I’ll take him now, we can’t afford to let him run lose any longer. I’ll be right back.” Vox took Owens across the hall and locked him in one of the animal observation cages, putting pressure on his arm every time Owens’ resisted.
   “You can’t get away with this! Global Systems is in charge, you’ll pay for this I promise you.” Owens said with anger in his voice.
   “What is it going to take to get it through your head that there is no more Global System? You maniacs have killed yourselves all off and maybe us as well.” Vox said through clenched teeth. “Be glad I put you in that cage instead of throwing you outside. You had better behave because you could still end up out there.” He turned and went back across the hall leaving Owens screaming to his own ravings.
   “Are you okay Saunders?” Vox ask? Shaking his head up and down Saunders pulled the folder from the body safe once again. “While Saunders has this folder out, no one and I mean No One, is to go near him. The charge it carries would kill him, the folder and the rest of us in the room.” Vox ordered still showing his temper.
   “As I was saying before, this may sound far fetched, but I have been working on a program to implant gills in a Dolphinean for deep sea exploration. While it has not been done yet, it has worked on compatible species safely and effectively.”
   “It takes many hours of surgery, but it really is simply rearrangement of organs we already have. You see from conception we are submerged in fluid, the gills won’t really let us breath water like an aquatic animal, but it will let us take the pressure of swimming in deep water. We will have greater lung capacity because the gills actually filter the blood so every molecule of air is breathable.”
   “Just think about being able to take a deep breath and then stay under water for almost an hour. Also being able to swim to great depths without being bothered by the water pressure. Also the radiation will be at its weakest under the oceans. I also have a report of an underwater volcano the is at the right depth and teaming with plant life that just may be safe from what is going on here above ground. Just think of it, with this procedure the Dolphinean race just might be able to survive under the ocean!”

   This time when Ed was thrown from the story he could hardly move, he was weak and in great pain. The sun up and Ed realized why he was so sore when he looked at his watch and saw he had been in the book for more than sixteen hours this time. His stomach was empty and his bladder was bursting, which was the cause of most of his pain. He was stiff as he made his way to the rest room and felt lucky to have made it without wetting himself.
He felt the books pull as he satisfied his thirst and knew he needed to find something to eat before he went back into the story. He stilled his will against the books pull and gathered up his belongings and made his way to the door to leave. He made sure no one was around, then rush to his car and headed home where he knew he would be safe from prying eyes.
   He was plagued not only by the book it’s self but Dolphinean, he had over looked it the first time he heard the word not understanding the reference. He had to stop himself from reaching for the book, just thinking of the Dolphinean’s returning to the ocean. He needed to get home and he needed to find a way to pull himself from the story without having to come to a tattered edge to get out.
   The trip home was fast and Ed had to fight the urge to grade the book at every stop along the way. Once he pulled the garage door closed behind him he dropped the book on his desk quickly, just holding in was almost more than he could stand. He went to the kitchen and made himself a meal just to prove to himself that he was stronger than to pull of the book.
   Sitting at the desk Ed ate as slow as he would let himself and looked hard at the cover of the book, the writing was just a bunch of scratches once again. He hated to think of going through the shock each time to be able to read it. Once he finished eating he put together a plan he thought he could set up to pull the book out of his hands and let him out of the story. It only took him a few minutes to find the things needed to make fulfill his plan. He tied a small rope around his left wrist and the other end to a dumbbell that he balanced on the edge of the desk. A piece of string kept the dumbbell from falling and a candle under the string would burn through it pretty fast and let the dumbbell fall pulling his hand off the book, Ed hoped.
   Again Ed looked through the hole and received a shock, but was jerked from the book before it was finished. His idea had worked but he needed more time. Disappointed and angry, he had to stop himself from throwing the book across the room.
   It was then that he started to wonder if it mattered which side of the book he looked through. Turning the book over he looked closely around the hole and in small print read (Ocular Adjustment) just before the print turned back into scratches. Shaking his head Ed wondered what was wrong with him, the first rule of business was to look at every detail on an artifact before handling it.
   This time when Ed looked through the hole from the opposite side of the book there was no shock. He found himself looking at a list of references, at the top of the list was (User Refinements). Ed wondered how he could get to that part of the book and it seem to respond to his thoughts. There was a flash of red light like he saw before with the shock but this time it went deep into his brain.
   “WOW!” Ed said out loud as he found himself back at the references, and with a thought he exited the book. The book was now programmed to respond to his thoughts. Once he figured out the electronic secrets of this book he will be the richest man on the planet he thought to himself.
   Making himself as comfortable as he could, Ed reentered the book and went straight to the reference listing and found (Continue Reading). He was taken to where he had left off just before he was thrown out the last time.

CAM-view
   Error cell damage: seven seconds of footage missing.
   “And just how are we going to get to this place without fuel for the gyro-copter? And how are we going to deal with the radiation as well as how are we going to live underwater even if we can get there if we can find a way around the radiation? And finally, even if you can do this procedure Saunders, who is going to perform it on you because we need you most of all?” Vox ask as his temper cooled.
   Roma, sensing the mood change in Vox, dared to approach him with another folder. “I think this will answer your first question as to how we can refuel the gyro-copter.” He said smugly. “E-Tech-1a Mike Jordy and E-Tech-1k Tie Wheeler started working out this idea on the trip back from ATLAN 8 after you made an issue of the fuel.” Sounding once more like the Junior Marcus he had been trained to become, Roma continued “Tie will explain their plan.”
   Vox read that Tie Wheeler, though still a tenth level junior grade student, had a master’s degree in mechanical electronics. “We plan on burning ethanol alcohol for fuel. It will work in place of the petroleum hydrocarbon gas without us needing to make any changes to the engines at all.” Tie said with a show of pride in his eyes.
   “And where are we going to get ethyl? We don’t have enough grain to feed everyone, little on to distill it so where is it going to come from?” Vox ask, somewhat irritated which seemed to make Tie’s smile only broaden.
   We are going to make it, and we will make it from water not grain and it will only take a few days.” Tie said. Once we have an air tight tank set up with an anode and cathode installed for the electric discharge, we should be able to make as much as we want as fast as we want. We fill the tank with water then run a 20,000 volt charge through it causing the hydrogen and oxygen to separate as the liquid boils off into its gases. We then vent to new gas mixture into another tank where we add carbon atoms from charcoal and flash freeze it to recombine it all back into liquid ethanol.” Tie said, almost giddy.
   Vox sat in silence trying to mentally process what he had just heard. Roma interpreting the problem spoke up “Thank you Tie, I think we should let I-Tech-1a Sloan explain it from here.” Letting Vox inability to comprehend pass without notice.
   Sloan, in his element now showed no sign of the shyness he had exhibited before. “Thank you J-Tech-1p Roma.” Sloan said, at which Vox visible flinched. “Waters chemical make up is H2O, that is two Hydrogen atoms and one Oxygen atom. Oxygen atoms have only two valence and Hydrogen atoms have one. Valence is the combining capacity of an atom, so an Oxygen atom can only combine with two other atoms at a time in forming a molecule.” Sloan paused to see if anyone would ask a question.
   “Water or H2O when separated as Tie explained, become the single atoms H O H, ethyl alcohol’s chemical make up is C2H5OH. So you see the only thing missing from the oxygen and hydrogen atoms that make water is carbon, which we get from the charcoal. From my calculations the first molecule this combination of atoms will form is Ethyl alcohol. Once one molecule reforms it sets the pattern for all the rest, turning it all into ethanol. Which will work for fueling the gyro-copter or mixing a strong cocktail.” He laughed, not noticing he was the only one doing so.
   “Thank you Sloan. Well sir, do you have any questions for Sloan?” Roma ask, as he ushered Sloan back to his seat at the table.
   “I have a question, but not for Sloan.” Vox said, “Bill, do you think you and Lenny can make this thing, and will it work?”
   Bill turned and gave Lenny a determined look and both men nodded their head. “We can build it but as to it working or not, that will depend on weather that young man knows what he is talking about or not. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of days.”
   “Then we will find out if it will work or not.” Lenny added.
   “Better wait till the meeting is over though, there is no telling what else you will be building before we are finished.” Vox said, with a hint of a smile.
   Before Vox had a chance to ask, Roma handed him another folder. “This is something one of the lesser tech’s pressured me into presenting. I am afraid I know little of its content or the validity of any of the facts it may claim.” Roma said with a sneer.
   “Look Roma, I don’t care if someone from waste management wants to voice something. We are desperate or haven’t you been paying attention? Something else, from now on I don’t want anyone giving rank or title. I just want the person’s name. Global System is gone and if we keep thinking like they did, we will be just as gone soon enough, Got It?” Vox barked.
   “Got it sir. L-Tech sorry, make that Link Lawson wants to voice his thoughts.” Roma said, with a hint of contempt in his voice.
Vox, seeing only one face in the room he had not been introduced to, waved the student forward. “You must be Link Lawson. So what’s on your mind?” Vox ask.
“Yes sir, as I tried to tell Roma, Jordy has the solution to the radiation problem but just doesn’t know it.” Link said. “The gravity field generation he made, if I understand it correct, works with frequencies. It can cancel out the electrical bond that holds the stone atoms together and if so, shouldn’t there be a frequency that would strengthen or meant the cracks the radiation is leaking through?”
   The room fell silent as all eyes turned to look at Jordy then back to Link which, added doubt to Links thoughts. “I’m sorry, I should have kept my mouth closed like Roma said.” Link said, as he turned to leave the room.
   “No!” called Jordy, “Your not wrong, I do use frequency to cancel the electrical bond. It never occurred to me to try and mend or strengthen stone before. Your a genius Link! I could use some help with this, so why don’t you and I see if we can mend the first level, if that’s OK with you sir?” Jordy ask Vox.
“By all means, that is what it is going to take if we are going to make it through this. Team Work!” Vox stated. If we can, he said under his breath.

   Error call damage: Twenty-one hours sixteen minutes and forty three seconds of footage missing.
   Ed pulled his mind from the book, this time only a few minutes had passed. My God! Ed thought to himself, I now know how to make ethanol fuel really cheap. He remembered reading that in most of South America they were already using it in their cars and homes. But they were brewing it from grain they couldn’t grow fast enough. It burns clean so no pollutants, just fresh air and water residue, which is also clean.
He would have to look into that frequency business, but he didn’t understand enough to get excited about it yet. Ed looked at the almost complete page, only a small nick from the corner was frayed. That was almost twenty-two hours of damage and now he would never know what other wealth of technology he had missed from the small nick in the page. Even worse was that he saw some pages destroyed half way to the cover.
   Entering the book again, Ed went back to where he had left off.

CAM-view
   “But we took half the rock apart before we were able to find a frequency that seemed to mend the cracks on the other half.” Jordy said “We don’t know if the same one will work on the stone ATLAN 9 is made of or not. We could end up taking it apart instead.”
   “I understand, but if we don’t stop the radiation now, and I mean right now, most of us are dead. I have less than ten minutes of air in my life-ware suit and I was one of the last ones to suit up.” Vox said “Jordy just do it or tell me how and I will, either way it has to be done.”
   Quickly stepping to the controls, Link flips the power switch sending a sound pulse into the ceiling. Jordy turned just in time to see the power readings before trying to push Link away from the control panel. “No, what are you doing? Your going to kill us all!” Jordy yelled.
   Knowing it was to late to stop it, Jordy grabbed Link and looked up to watch as the cracks like magic disappeared. “I’m sorry Jordy, but I was sure the reason half the rock came apart was because the field was to small. I thought it would be better to play it safe and expand the field to cover well outside the walls of ATLAN 9.” Link said as he pried Jordy’s hand off his arm. ------
   “But you even sealed the seams, we will have to cut our way out right now. The air vents to the filters go through there. We have just enough time to clear the vent before we suffocate.” Jordy said.
   “That’s enough Jordy. Look at this, no radiation, we’ve done it!” Vox cried out.” And with five minutes of power still in my suits power pack. Now Jordy, lets see about opening that vent without undoing the good work we just accomplished.” Vox laughed.
   Jordy reached up to the control panel and recalibrate the settings. Then placing the modulators around where the vent was, he returned to the control panel. “Better power you suit up just in case I mess this up.” Stated Jordy.
   “Do it Jordy, five minutes more isn’t going to make a difference if something does go wrong.” Vox stated.
Jordy thumbed the switch and a fine line appeared where the vent was, he then turned the control panel settings off. Quickly he checked for radiation, then turned to the air filtration reading and with a heavy sigh of relieve said “Thank heavens, it looks like we’ve done it.”

   Ed pulled himself from the book, he was puzzled by something. He could see Jordy reaching for the switch with an appendage, more like a fin or flipper with four short finger like things at the end. None of which Ed would call a thumb, which answered something else that had been nagging him. He was not really reading the book, it was changing its self, more like it was reading him, Ed thought. He wondered now if any of the technology he had been so impressed with would work. If words were being changed for his understanding, it might not work. Ed was crushed with this realization, for all he knew when the book said water it could mean something else complete.
   Depressed, Ed felt the activities of the last few days come crashing down on him. He was so tired he could hardly move, now that his greed was no longer pumping him full of adrenalin. He placed the book on the coffee table and stretched out on the sofa and was asleep as soon as his eyes closed.
   A nagging pain in his neck brought Ed back to his senses, and a look at his watch he had slept for almost thirteen hours. He was still depressed with the thought of the lost wealth he had counting in his dreams. Still there was money to be had from the books electronics, Ed thought, as he made himself breakfast.
   Refreshed after his meal and a shower, Ed returned to the book to take a close look at its functions. On the reference page there was a foot note stating (Auto termination twelve hours, forty eight minutes and three seconds of inactivity) that disappeared once he had read it, leaving Ed to wonder what it had meant. But it didn’t stop him from returning to the story where he had left off.

CAM-view
   Vox peeling himself from his suit said “At least now we will have time to recharge all the power packs for the suits, even though we can only do three at a time. Sorry guys, I don’t mean to sound like I am complaining after what we just did. This poor complex was not built to support the one hundred seventy-three of us. OK, enough of that kind of thinking, now that I know I will see tomorrow I think it’s time we all got some sleep.” Turning to leave the first level, Vox said over his shoulder, “You can pass the (all clear) to everyone Jordy, and I will see you when I wake up in a day or two.
   Once in his room Vox slumped onto his bed and buried his face into his hands and cried until sleep overcame him. (Auto Termination Seven hours, fifteen minutes and fifty seconds of inactivity). Vox jumped from his bed because someone was banging hard upon his door.
   “I really must speak with you sir.” Roma said loudly “Marcus Tim Owens insist that he see you immediately.”
Throwing the door open and stepping up to Roma’s face, I don’t care what Owens wants, and we no longer listen to hid demands.” Vox said angrily.
   Roma, refusing to be intimidated, leaned forward into Vox’s face and said “I think you are over stepping your boundaries here. Who made you boss, I sure don’t remember voting for you?”
   Vox taken back by Roma’s brashness, stepped back into his room and closed the door in his face. Quickly showering and dressing, Vox mumbled to himself as he did so. Vox headed to the cage where Owens was still detained. Hitting the key pad code he opened the cell door and dragged Owens out before he could speak and shoved him into the conference room. “Don’t say a word, just have a seat at the end of the table and wait for everyone to get here.” Vox growled.
   Keying the intercom Vox said, “Listen up. I want every section head to come to the conference room ASAP!”. Ten minutes later the last person came into the room and took a seat. “I called you here because we have a decision to make, it was pointed out to me that I have over stepped my boundaries by placing Owens in a cell. So I am going to put it to you to decide what should be done with him.”
   Slowly the room filled with whispers as people spoke among themselves. Roma passed from group to group trying to lobby them to release Owens to his rightful role as Marcus, but with little luck from the looks he was getting.
Saunders rose and moved to the head of the room and in a loud voice said. “May I have your attention?” Everyone turned to face him except Roma and Owens, who were involved in their own discussion. “Having known Owens the longest, I feel I have a duty to speak before anything is decided.”
   Owens jumped to his feet and rushed forward and grabbed at Saunders midsection before anyone could stop him. Saunders, whether by reflex or design, struck a blow to Owens’ face knocking him to the floor. “That won’t work, I know longer have the body safe on. You didn’t think any of these kids would be smart enough to crack the code did you? Well, Sloan over there tore through your code like it was paper in less than five minutes. But thank you, that is what I wanted everyone to see. You were ready to kill all of us rather than lose any of your control. You don’t belong in that cage, we should just put you outside on your own and let you have the death you seem to want so badly.” Saunders said.
   Owens realizing his mistake, came to his feet and turned to face the people at the table. Most were just kids so he felt he could talk them into seeing things his way. But the looks on everyone's face struck him almost as hard as Saunders fist had. They were not just the looks of anger but there was real hatred glaring back at him. Just when he was about to admit defeat to himself he saw Roma and knew there was still a chance.
   "I don't think you understand my actions as well as you think, there is more in that folder than you know." Owens said. Thinking fast as he spoke "In my hands it will let me access every GST (Global System Tech) data bank, but I know you would not listen to me. My only chance was to take it from you and force you to listen to me. But if you and that youngster have been messing around with the folder, you may have already done irreparable damage to it and all that information is lost."
   Vox who had kept out of it till now, stepped in, "Sloan, is there any chance that what he said is true?"
"Why ask him? He may have gotten lucky and broke the code for the safe, but the access to the GST info is way beyond even him. One wrong step and he will destroy everything in the folder. Are you sure you want to take that kind of chance, Tech-no-3c Vox?"
   "Shut up Owens." Vox roared fiercely. "Well Sloan, what do you think?" With a look of doubt on his face, Sloan looked over the contents of the folder in front of him. Long moments passed without any hint of his thoughts before Vox said "Don't let what Owens said get to you, your our go to guy. I personally don't believe a word of it. He is just trying to save his own butt, so if you don't find anything or can't get into it then I feel we are better off without it. So take your time and don't think about anything but what is really in the folder."
   Turning to face Owens, Vox in a voice loud enough to be heard by the whole room said "If you are lying to us, I will personally throw you outside without a suit!"
   Owens appeared to pale as he slumped back into his chair at the end of the table before saying "You can't hold me responsible for their ineptness, if they bungled the job I am holding you responsible Tech-no-3c Vox! If any one opens the folder without the right code, it will self-delete. So don't threaten me for your own bad decisions."
   "Sir there does seem to be another folder here, but when I check to see how much data is in the memory the folder only has five bytes. That is only enough to make the folder itself, so it is empty." Sloan said.
   Jumping up from his chair, Owens rushed to Sloan's computer station and looked at the screen. He pushed Sloan away from the keyboard and quickly started typing before any one could stop him or see what he had typed. "Gone! It's all gone! I warned you this would happen, but you wouldn't listen." Owens turned and pointed at Vox. "It's all your fault, you are the one that should be thrown outside to die."
   Stunned into silence for a moment, the room erupted and spoke at once with their objections. Vox calling everyone to order with only a look, walked to Sloan's work station and pushed Owens away and placing a hand on Sloan's shoulder said. "Find the truth."
   "I'm not sure I can Sir. Whatever Owens did seems to have locked the whole file closed." Sloan said as he feverishly worked over his keyboard. "Sorry Sir, the whole file is being deleted as we speak."
   "That's not my doing, I was trying to enter the code before it was to late. I told you all along that this would happen if anyone but me opened it." Owens cried out. "And now your going to kill me because of what they did on your orders, that's criminal."
   "I still think you lied to us Owens, you may have saved you hide this time but your still a threat we can't have running lose." Vox said.
   Owens, fearing Vox was going to follow through on his threat, started backing away from him. Roma, coming to his aid stepped between the two men and said "There may be something to what you both have said. But even you have to admit that exactly what Marcus Tim Owens warned you about has happened. You may not trust him but that is no reason to punish him."
   "Look Roma, you're making a big mistake. I agree with Vox, I don't think we can let Owens run lose. Maybe he was telling the truth, maybe not, we only have his word. And don't forget that twice he tried to kill everyone in this room." Saunders said.
   "But he explained that sir, he just wanted us to know about everything in the file." Roma said.
"That's not true Roma." Sloan spoke up " Only the person wearing the body safe can handle the file without setting off the explosive charge. Owens couldn't have done anything but set it off if he had touched Saunders in any way, it was keyed to his magnetic field alone!"
   Before Roma could voice another objection, the rest of the people in the room reacted in an uproar of sound. Roma raised his arms to get everyone's attention and once he had it said "OK, we lock him up, but must it be in an observation cage? Why not a room with a guard, if that will make you feel better?" he pleaded.
   "I don't know what you ever did to deserve such loyalty Owens. OK Roma, we lock him up in a storage room with a lock. Bill, can you put a lock on a storage unit worthy of it's guest?" Vox asked.
   "Oh yeah, in fact I will install a whole new door. I think the one from his last room will work nicely, I just need you to open it for me, that way you will still be the only one with it's code." Bill replied with a broad smile.
   "And" interjected Lenny "we can feed him without having to open the cage, err, sorry I mean door." to everyone's amusement except Roma and Owens.

   Once again Ed pulled himself from the book "This is starting to sound like a soap opera" he said out loud, "maybe I will just skim through the whole book to see where it's going." Wondering how to bookmark his place, he reentered the book.
   Id-Ed Outing bookmark listing-Reference one:
   The new reference appeared on the reference page as if the book had read his mind. Now he only had to figure out how to jump ahead in the book and see if there were any get rich ideas waiting for him to find. He didn't see anything like a index on the page but as he thought it, one appeared at the bottom of the list.
Ed opened the new reference index listing and found a long list of names. Some he was familiar with, most were unknown, so he went to the first name he recognized, Socrates.

Scan-CAM-view
   "My master asks you accept this strange object unearthed at Thermoplyoe while casting about for remnantance of the great battle against the Persians some forty years past." The slave said, handing the book to Socrates. "He hopes to present the tragedy on stage next year, so he travels thus to capture it's muse."
   "That sounds like my old friend, and how is Saphocles when not absorbed in his muse these days?" ask Socrates.
"Oh sir, be it not to me to speak ill of my master's mood, but pulling a boars tusk be a greater task than the lash of his tongue." The slave said with a smile as Socrates laughed out loud.
   "Well, thank him for this odd curiosity and you had best be on your way, lest you find yourself facing a boars tusk for being so long you gone." Socrates said with humor in his voice.

   Ed pulled himself from the book to think about what he had just learned. Wasn't it Socrates who first wrote about Atlantis? He was a man ahead of his time and now Ed thought he understood why. The technology in the book was beyond understanding during Socrates time, but his place in history says he used what he could understand.

Scan-CAM-view
   Back to the index list of names Ed saw the book had been passed from teacher to pupil, for Plato was the next name on the list. Plato in turn passed it to his pupil Aristotle, leaving Ed to wonder about the full impact the book had on the ancient Greek culture.
   The next name that jumped out at Ed was Cleopatra. He had learned she was not Egyptian at all, but a Greek girl of cultural adoption who shopped in Cairo. Her beauty made it easy for her to be accepted and impossible to be forgotten.
   Ed learned a Roman soldier named Arcturus was placed on the thrown of Britain and was forever after known as King Arthur. And how Henry the eighth beheaded only two of his wives, primarily due to political pressure. One of his wives died in child birth and he was so heart broken that he wore black for a full year, and his last wife out lived him.
Ed saw how Henry's daughter, Queen Elizabeth had a Spanish armada attacked. The surviving Spanish sailors floated ashore to Ireland, and eventually they married red Irish women to give birth to the black Irish.
   The book was stolen by an unknown thief, (unknown because he never looked through the whole in the book Ed though.) and kept at sea in a chest. Almost two years after the book was placed in the chest, the ship it was on ran aground on a small island in the Aegean sea during a storm. Bashed upon the rocky shore, the ship broke open spilling its content upon the beach to lie undisturbed for more than three hundred years.
   Ed watched as the broken lid to the chest was lifted off and three faces came into view. Two of the men were strangers, but the third was the man he had killed to obtain the book.

   Ed jerked himself from the book and sat in silence, too shocked to think. Then in a rush it occurred to him this was his chance to learn what had really happened on that ill fated expedition. Ed stopped scanning and went back to regular read function.

CAM-view
   The puzzled look on the men's faces clearly showed they were surprised at their find. One of the strangers lifted the book from the sand and rubble that had fallen around it for the last three hundred years. He stuffed the book into a heavy canvas bag. (Auto Termination-forty three minutes, eleven second of inactivity).
   A ray of light, as the bag was opened reflecting off the brass fittings of the ship showed the ship was in motion. "It can't wait, you have to see this thing! It looks like a book of some kind, but it has some electronic thing built into it." Man One said. (Note: Man One-unidentified male, height five feet seven inches, weight one hundred sixty nine pounds, hair brown, eyes green)
   "Not now, we need to get all that stuff hidden. They will have a boat along side of us anytime now, and why didn't you leave that with the raft?" Man Three growled. (Note: Man Three-unidentified male, height six foot, weight one hundred ninety pounds, hair brown, eyes blue) (Auto Termination-twenty three hours, thirty nine minutes and three seconds of inactivity).
   "I don't care if the records show no shipwrecks there for the last thousand years. Most likely someone dropped their notebook PC over board and it washed up..." Man Three was saying and stopped in mid-sentence. "What the hell?" he said as Man One pulled the book from its hiding place and handed it to him.
   Turning it over in his hands, Man Three looked at it from all sides. The longer he looked, the more perplexed he became. "Get me that big magnifying glass from my map case will you Stevens? You two get topside and keep a lookout, hum, this can't be from the same wreckage. The ship planking I saw was two hundred years old at the very least." Placing the book on the table, Man Three opened a second canvas bag and pulled out a shard of a broken bottle. "If only we could have had more time, maybe we could have found the rest of this bottle and known if we were on the right track." Man Three said to Stevens (Man One-identified).
   Stevens handed the magnifying glass to Man Three and said "They are not happy topside with us for opening this without them. I know what you're going to say, and I already told them. I said to just keep their eyes open and their mouths shut. Lucky for you, spending last night in that brig was reminder enough for them, none of us wants to end up in a Turkish prison. I also want to let you know its starting to look like a bit of a blow is brewing, and we don't want to end up on one of the meat grinders they call an island around here."
   Man Two barged into the cabin pushing Stevens away from the table, he grabbed up the book "I was there when this was found, so no one is going to examine it without me!" he claimed (Note: Man Two-unidentified male, height five foot nine inches, weight one hundred seventy three pounds, hair black, eyes brown) As he glared at Stevens and Man Three, he held the book to his chest and ran his fingers over the patch of electronics. Sticking his little finger in the hole to get a tighter hold of the book, he opened his mouth as if to speak but no sound came out.
   His body jerked as if he were having a seizure then he went limp and fell to the floor. Stevens rusher to Man Two's prone body but stopped before touching him. "My God, I can see smoke coming off his finger that's sticking through the hole in that thing!" he said. Using his shoe, he kicked Man Two's hand away from the book then reached down to check for a pulse. "Oh God, he's dead Clark!" (Note: Man Three identified)
   Clark grabbed the canvas bag and using it for protection, picked up the book. "Damn, now what are we going to do? We can't tell anyone how it happened or we lose this thing and maybe our freedom. Go get Piper, we need to let him know what happened so he can see for himself that it was an accident."
   Stevens left the cabin and a minute later Piper came in "What do you want? We should all be topside with this storm coming in." Piper said. Clark just pointed to the body on the floor, not saying anything until Piper had a chance to take the sight all in "What did you do to him?"
   "I didn't do anything! He came in all hot and bothered about no one looking at his find without him. He grabbed a hold of that thing and ended up sticking his finger through the hole and it fried him. Just look at the burn mark on his finger for yourself, hell the smell alone should tell you as much." Clark said in his own defense.
   "Are you kidding me?" Piper ask. "Let me see that thing. I don't see how it could have that kind of power, hell this thing couldn't have that strong a battery. What really went down here?"
   "I told you what happened. He stuck his finger in that hole...look your more than welcome to give it a try and see for yourself if it has that much power." Clark said. "But I wouldn't if I were you."
   Just then the ship listed to the port side throwing both men against the cabin wall. Once the ship righted its self they rushed on deck. Stevens, fighting the wheel to maintain control of the ship screamed "What took you so long? I can't keep her nose into the wind much longer without hitting those rocks ahead and if I turn we could capsize."
Clark rushed back to the cabin for life jackets. He stopped just long enough to place the book in a water tight bag, then stuff it in his shirt before starting back to the wheel house. Before he had reached the door there was a loud moan of timber and he was lifted from the floor by a great force.
   The ship was ripped open by the impact. Clark's unconscious body was washed out through a hole in its side. The bulk of the ship blocked the waves from crushing him on the same rocks that had destroyed it. His body floated out into deeper, calmer water as the ship and all aboard were ground to kindling.
   Hours later when he came to there was no sign of the ship or the shore it had struck. He floated helplessly for two days before being found by a Greek fishing boat.

   Ed pulled his mind from the book, he recognized professor Clark as the man he had gotten the book from. So Clark had been sailing in restricted waters and that was why there were gaps in his story, the truth could get him thrown in jail. Almost every good archaeologist has had to cross a boundary or break a law to discover or protect a find. But because he couldn't even protect himself, he was left to look like a murderer by playing dumb. Ed couldn't help but laugh at the irony of Clark's plight.
   Returning to the book, Ed scanned on and watched as Clark led the Greek fishing boat to the wrong location to attempt rescuing his associates. With more than two days since the storm had passed there was little hope of even finding any debris. The deep Aegean see would guarantee that no salvage would be attempted, as well as his safety from legal allegations. Back at the small fishing village, Clark bought a small shipping crate and packing material first thing. Finding a secluded alley, he packed the book and addressed it to himself.

   Laughing, Ed pulled himself from the book once more "Clark was a smart cookie, shipping the book before the authorities got involved like that." Ed said to himself. No one on the boat had seen the book so there would be no questions about it. All of Clark's interrogations were about where the boat had been, where it was going and what cargo was it carrying.
   If he had told the truth about everything they most likely would have let him go, but since he didn't, they thought the boat was trafficking drugs. By picking a spot so far from their charted course he had put suspicion on the expedition. That was also why it took over two months before Clark was cleared and allowed to go back to the states. And another month before Clark got back to the book, looking years older from the strain of the investigation. Ed returned to reading.

CAM-view
   Putting rubber gloves on, Clark said aloud "I'm not going to make the mistake of doubting your power." Taking the book from the plastic bag he placed it on the kitchen table and proceeded to study all its markings. He could see they were not all just random scratch marks, some were in patterns and groupings like words. He took out a note pad and made copies of the markings, it would take some research but he was sure he would find out what language it was.
Clark leaned over and pulled open a cabinet drawer and rummaged around until he found the box he was looking for. Opening it he pulled out a combination fuse tester and volt meter, and after checking to insure it was operational, hooked it to the book. "Damn, its not reading any power at all, that fool must have sucked it dry when it zapped him." he said to himself.
   Taking off his gloves, he cautiously reached out and touched the books cover. Satisfied it was safe he picked it up and tried to force it open. Unable to do so, he took a knife from the rack next to the dishwasher. He tried to push the sharp point of the knife between the cover and the first page. There was a bright flash of light and the smell of ozone filled the kitchen as the blade of the knife dropped off as melted slag. "Whoa, that was close, Thank God this handle is made of wood or you would have gotten me that time." Clark said to the book "Wait a second, where did all that power come from? What kind of battery do you have?"
   Using the volt meter once again Clark checked everything he could on the book and still got no power readings. "Either you use a kind of power that this meter can't read or maybe it only comes into play when force is used, like a security system. So how the hell is a person suppose to open you?" Clark said to the book.

   Ed pulled his mind from the book and laughed again "The old fool almost got cooked good that time. And the way he talks to you like your able to understand him, he was already losing his mind back then wasn't he?" Ed ask, unaware that he was talking to, and treating the book in much the same way that Clark had. Still chuckling to himself, Ed reentered the book.

CAM-view
   Clark spent every waking moment of the next two months trying to discover the mysterious language on the books cover. Everyday his anger and frustration grew into a driving force of obsession to unlock the treasure he was sure the book possessed. Getting only four hours of sleep out of every thirty six, had Clark on the verge of collapsing.
Piles of textbooks and research papers surrounded a small clearing Clark had left at his work station on the kitchen table. His bloodshot eyes getting harder to keep open, popped open only to start to shut again moments later. Sleep finally over came him and his head came to rest on the book. As his eye came in contact with the hole, his body went rigid as an electrical charge went through his body.
   Three and a half hours later Clark's mind was expelled from the book. It took him another ten minutes to compose himself and decide he hadn't dreamed what had just happened. Then his first thought was that the book had electrocuted him but luckily he wasn't grounded good enough to get killed. It was then that he looked at the book and read from the cover "ATLAN T.I.S. 9" to himself. Hugging the book to his chest, Clark rocked back and forth like cradling a child until he fell asleep (Auto Termination-seven hours, eleven seconds of inactivity).
   Upon waking Clark looked once again at the cover to only discover that he could no longer make out what the markings read. "I couldn't have dreamed it, I know I read a title or something like that on you last night. Why are you doing this to me?" he ask the book. Once again he hugged the book close to himself and placed his cheek on its cover, "It can't have been a dream, it just can't. he cried.
   Taking the book with him to the bathroom, Clark placed it on top of the folded towels. While he relieved himself and showered, he continued to question the book as to why it had revealed itself last night only to deny him today. Back in the kitchen, refreshed and in clean clothing, Clark placed the book in its place of honor at the table and made himself breakfast. He continued his inquisition of the book till late in the day for answers and viewed the silence as a rebuke from the book.

To be continued.......

© 2015 Bear

Author's Note

copy write protected through the library of congress.

My Review

Would you like to review this Story?
Login | Register

Reviews

Tom McRoberts

Intriguing! It reminds me a little of the writing of HP Lovecraft (what with the eldritch artifact and otherworldly unknown truth). Ed's not the brightest star though is he? 'Dolphinian' isn't quite as hard to make out as he says, aha! I enjoyed it, nice pulpy sci-fi.

P.S. You might want do an edit to check spellings, also the phrase is 'let alone', not 'little on'.