'You are protecting a United States Air Force officer, I assume, namely the commanding officer of the Nellis base, but we'll take that little crime up later.'
'Yes, Colonel Collins, we may, but you'll get no admission from me as to who my friends are. He happens to be a very nice young man and all I had to do was explain why we needed to be here. After all, you told us to come,' the old man said and winced as he did so.
'You're in pain; may we get you a doctor?' Carl asked.
'I have seen many doctors, Mr. Everett, and they also know I'm in pain, will be for the next eight to nine months. They guarantee the pain will stop at that time.'
The two officers said nothing. They understood that this man sitting before them had a death sentence over his head.
'As I said, we will talk about the base commander's impropriety at another interview. Right now, I would like to understand what kind of people would leave the men defending their lives behind when all they had to do was wait,' Jack said, looking from Martha to Carmichael.
'To put it frankly, Colonel, we did not know your capabilities at that time. You were in a rather bleak situation and the knowledge we carry needed to be saved, thus it looked as if we left you in a rather bad situation. Now we understand that your abilities far exceed first impressions. Now we must get on with the business we have come to discuss. Things that could have been said last night before the Coalition tried to murder us,' he said as he reached over and took Martha's hand.
'The Coalition?' Everett asked.
'The phone call last night was from a member of the Coalition,' Martha answered. 'I do not know exactly which member, but he was definitely Coalition.'
'Again, what is the Coalition?' Collins asked.
'The Coalition is a new incarnation of an older group called the Juliai. You see, Colonel, when you look deeply into money, corporations, conglomerates, and the like, you may find that the wealthiest of these individuals are Juliai, or Coalition. They are secret and have been since the time of ancient Rome.' Martha looked at Rothman for the briefest of moments. 'Their aim, at least at first, was the control of wealth. With that, the control of people first, and then governments would naturally follow.'
Jack had seen Martha's brief look at Rothman during her explanation at that very moment and knew she had left something out. For now, he kept his silence.
'The original Juliai started at the time of Julius Caesar. It was his brainchild, Colonel. He was born unto a great family of an ancient and lost civilization. When Caesar became power-hungry, this family split into two separate entities. The Juliai, named after his own family, became lustful for true power over the world. The other faction, led by his co-counsel of Rome, Pompey Magnus, tried to stop Caesar, but the newly proclaimed emperor went to war and killed Pompey and most of his followers.'
'The Roman civil war was about power between the two men,' Everett said.
'History has always been shaded by those who are the victors. Surely you have learned this in this magnificent facility,' Martha said as she smiled. She nodded to Rothman to continue.
'The few remaining followers of Pompey banded together. Hiding from Caesar and the Juliai Coalition was not easy. Some had to become a part of that power-mad society. Until finally they saw the Coalition's power under Caesar was rising beyond all effort to stop it. Therefore, they acted. The followers of Pompey struck Caesar down just as the history books will tell you. The history passed down to us didn't outright lie in telling it this way, they just omitted some of the facts as to the why of it.'
'How do you know all of this?' Jack asked.
'It was our group that broke away from Caesar. Jackson Keeler, his father, his brother, they were our people.'
'What separates you from the rest of the world?' Everett asked.
'Let's just say for the moment that we are different from you and the Colonel here.' A light seemed to come to Martha's eyes, as if she'd hit on a thought. 'For instance, the artifacts your men confiscated in New York? Well, in a way they belong to us, Carmichael and myself, that is.'
'You're the real owners of the stolen artifacts?' Jack asked.
'Yes ... well--'
'For the sake of argument, yes, we own them,' Rothman answered for her. 'Now, the newspaper accounts of the attack on your facility in New York stated that only hard artifacts were stolen--armor, swords, pottery, things of that nature. The news reports never mentioned anything about histories, scrolls, maps, or diagrams. Please tell me that they were not present in New York.'
Jack did not answer their question. He was far from satisfied that these two people were being straight with him. He just watched the pair.
'Colonel, this is most important. Last night you proved to us that you are indeed capable men; let us prove to you that we are also of some value. Do you have the scrolls?'
'Yes.'
Everett and Collins saw the relief on their faces when Jack answered.
'In that case, we can prove to you the fantastic story we have to tell,' Martha said, squeezing Rothman's arm.
'Who in the hell are you people?' Jack asked calmly but firmly.
'Last night Carmichael and I reached a rather bleak crossroads. Our kind has always been content to allow your people to deal with the Coalition in their own ways, using your own devices. We were never brave, not like you and the captain here. We just wanted to live and blend in. Carmichael made me see last night after we left you and your men behind that this cowardice could not continue. We have had renegades in our family before who tried to help the world in small ways fight against people such as the Coalition, but they were few. But Carr convinced me your Group could be trusted with the truth of things.'
Jack and Carl exchanged a look that begged the question,
'Carr is dying; I imagine you have guessed that. I am doomed also. We are the last of our kind. The Keelers were the last family that was capable of having children, Jackson being the last. Our line may have continued a bit further, but Jackson Keeler lost his brother in 1941 at Pearl Harbor. He may have been capable of having children like his grandfather, but we'll never know.'
'This is making no sense at all,' Everett said, frustrated.
'We are the last people of Pompey, the group that split off from the Juliai over two thousand years ago. Now, we have inbred with other Pompey families until the practice weakened our bodies' ability to reproduce.'
'I find your story hard to believe,' Collins said, wanting to stand up and leave these two nuts alone with their fantasies.
'We knew you would. Nevertheless, you will believe, Colonel. We will make you.' Martha looked at Carmichael and gathered strength. 'The Coalition is entering its final days also. They may have one or maybe two generations left to them, but they are finished, just as we are.'
Jack finally made at least the edges of the puzzle fit together.
'You are one and the same, the Coalition and you, the same bloodline.'
'That is correct. However, it is not the whole tale. As I said before, the scrolls in a roundabout way belong to Carr and me. The Coalition can claim them as theirs also. It was our ancestors who made the scrolls you have in your possession. They made them as far back as fifteen thousand years ago.'
'You're not saying--'
'I'm saying exactly that, Colonel. You saw the large relief map in New York, I presume.' She stopped and looked at Rothman, hesitating before saying it, hoping the old man would relieve her of that burden.
'What Martha wants to say, Colonel Collins and Captain Everett, is that we and a few members of the Juliai Coalition are the last descendants of a civilization that dreamers and fanciers of fiction call Atlantis.'
Jack and Carl were patient as they listened to the strangest story they had ever heard. They were stunned at the history Martha and Carmichael recounted as to how two thousand of their ancestors had been hidden away as small children, saved from the destruction of Atlantis. Their small society had learned to blend in with humankind as a whole, but kept themselves separate and pure through inbreeding. With the initial intent not ever again to allow such arrogance to enslave the lesser people of the world, the Atlanteans became observers of the destructive
