Ancients

Karl Von Heinemann cursed his colleague and best friend Peter Rothman. The argument had gone on for days and he was tired of it. He paced in the study of his large home and turned on him once again.

'Yes, the artifacts were found by you. But you are being shortsighted in thinking this is but an archaeological find. It is much more than that, can't you see? Give me two years, that is all I ask, then you may go public with what you found in Spain. After all, it was I who led you to the papers of Caesar, without which you never would have narrowed the search enough to find the treasures.'

The younger man sat in the overstuffed chair and packed his pipe. He, too, was frustrated from days of arguing. Heinemann was not only his friend and mentor but his financial benefactor, without whose generous funding this very argument would have been moot.

'The site is still open and we are not sure if all the artifacts have been recovered. What if,' he turned in his chair and looked at the older man, 'and I say this knowing how tenacious my colleagues around the world can be, the site is found and one of them announces the news of this discovery? I, and I daresay you, will be the loser in that event, and all for the sake of charts and graphs and a device? One that, if constructed, could only be used as a weapon? I daresay the idea is sheer madness.'

'Delaying the announcement and results of your dig a few years is not that much to ask. After all, the twenty thousand marks released to you financed this great discovery. Hard and real science must take the lead here, not the fanciful dreams of a dead civilization!'

Peter stood so suddenly that his tobacco pouch slipped from his lap and fell to the Persian rug.

'How dare you--how dare you even suggest your work is the only real science! We piece together history from what we dig up out of the earth, and this discovery we have made is a complete and utter alteration of everything we have come to learn about the past, and you daresay yours is the only real science! The art of war, sir, is no science; it is an evil that must be stopped before we discover a quick and sure method of self-destruction. We keep the secret of the Key and the Wave from the rest of the world, and bring them together with the magic that is our history.'

The old professor's eyes widened and his lips were set in a grimace of outrage.

Peter let his shoulders sag. He regretted the words as they passed his lips and now he feared he had caused irrevocable damage to the most important man in his life. If not for Karl's work with the armaments industries, he would never have had the funds to find the treasure trove of artifacts in Spain in the first place. He knew himself to be a hypocrite in accepting the very money he was now ridiculing; after all, it was Von Heinemann who had reached out to the other side of the family of Ancients in an attempt to heal the old wounds between the Juliai and themselves.

'Perhaps you are right, even though your words are disrespectful.'

Karl's words caught Peter off guard. Had the argument come down to showing this brilliant man what it was he was asking of him? Had he seen the light of this phenomenal find for what it was?

'My words were foolish and said in anger, my old friend. I respect you and your work more than any man in the world, and I say that not because you are my financier for my research but because you are truly honorable and a brother that few of the Ancients, on either side, understand. We need this disharmony between us to stop, but in order to do that, it's not knowledge of the weapon we need, just the words of our people that have long been silenced.'

'When do you plan on announcing your discovery to the world?'

Peter smiled, thinking that he had finally won over the old man. He felt nothing but relief as he once again sat down and looked at his mentor.

'The question should be stated correctly as: When will we make the announcement? You must be by my side. It was your grant and your foresight that saw the potential and it was you who came across the trail of Julius Caesar's attempts in Spain to find the treasure trove that led me to the find. Your scholars have deciphered our ancient tongue, so I insist you be there for the accolades. This can only help bring your Juliai Coalition and my side of the family back together to live in harmony with the rest of the world. The old ones of your side, as you said, no longer desire control of the world the way some of our ancestors did. The purification of the races, I hope, is a thing that will continue, but at a more reasonable pace.'

Karl nodded, gracefully accepting the invitation to join the young archaeologist in his press release about the results of his dig in Spain.

'If I may ask, all is secured at the site in Spain and at the warehouse where the items have been moved?'

'Yes; the men you sent to Spain have the site under complete guard twenty-four hours a day. It helped immensely, actually buying the barren property under a false corporate name, and what could be more secure than one of your munitions depots for the storage of the artifacts and scrolls? My side of the family will of course be notified of our joint operation, and they will undoubtedly be pleased the rift has been sealed between us. I daresay they will insist joyfully on joint control of the find.'

Von Heinemann actually had trouble keeping a straight face. The naivete of this young fool and the rest of his once-upon-a-time family of Ancients were beyond his grasp.

'Now, as I think about security before your meeting with the press next week, we must have a complete accounting of all on the continent who have knowledge of the find.'

'That's simple. I have a list here of everyone who had any knowledge of what we have been up to--it's a short list, but full of the very influential. Since some are from your side of the family of man and few from mine, I suspect they will stay quiet until the announcement; they are all good chaps, at least on our side of the fence.' Peter smiled at his small joke and then reached into his coat pocket and brought out the list and passed it to the older man.

'Yes, this will be very helpful, and of course, as you know, the Juliai side has always been able to maintain their secrets well,' he said as he pulled out his top desk drawer.

Peter nodded. 'Again, my hope is that I didn't hurt you too much with my unthinking and very harsh words. You are a patriot for all the family, all Aryans, to emulate and I--'

His words froze in his mouth as he watched Karl raise a small pistol and point it at him.

'I have no animosity toward you for the things you said; I am only sorry you didn't listen to reason, Peter. Your side of the family has always been so weak when it comes to controlling the proliferation of the weaker and fouler races, and the sheer disrespect for world power--it really is quite boring.'

'You are willing to murder me for those ancient designs and even more outdated dreams of the Juliai?'

'Yes, I believe I am. I find my arguments have outweighed your own; the need for science, race control, and the protection of the West is a far more noble cause than the propagation of fairy tales, don't you think?'

'You're absolutely mad! A fairy tale is a make-believe story, but I now have the proof that our kind really existed, that our severed factions can bring about change peacefully, slowly, and with forethought. If you kill me, I will take the secret of the Atlantean Wave with me to my grave, and furthermore I--'

The bullet struck him in the heart. His eyes widened at the suddenness of his death, and all he could do was mouth the word, Why?

Heinemann laid the still-smoking pistol upon his desktop and turned his swivel chair around to blot out the view of his dying friend. He saw that the gardeners had looked up at the gun's sharp report. Then he watched as they slowly went back to their work. He was content to look at the garden until he heard footsteps rushing down the hallway. The door opened but Heinemann did not turn around.

'God in heaven, what have you done?'

Karl closed his eyes in thought. He heard his assistant lean over the stricken Peter.

'You need not concern yourself with Professor Rothman; he has gone to a place he is most comfortable with. He has joined our ancestors.'

The large assistant removed his bloody hands from the chest of Rothman and looked into his eyes. He blinked once and then his eyes slowly dilated in death.

'You have murdered a man who adored you. Have you gone insane? This can only cause more trouble between the Juliai and the other Ancients. You do realize that, don't you?'

Karl turned slowly in his chair and looked at his tall German assistant. 'Humorous, he said the same exact thing to me only a moment ago. I have answered him; do I need to answer your concern also?'

The assistant got the clear meaning of what his employer was hinting at and immediately stood up straight