Yet they had been found in places separated by continents, by millennia. There was no known connection between the empires of the Incas and the pre-dynastic Egyptians. But both had hidden their statues in their most secure locations.
And now it seemed that the link was… Atlantis. A great empire that eleven thousand years ago had spread from a now submerged island as far east as Tibet, as far west as Brazil. They had apparently created the statues, then dispersed them to the farthest reaches of their dominion, to be passed down from one successive civilisation to the next.
The question was: why?
She fixed Hayter with an intense, all-business look. ‘Have you dated this section? How long before the fall of Atlantis was it written?’
Hayter was caught off-guard by her abrupt change of attitude. ‘It, ah, let me see…’ He flicked through his documents. ‘Based on your original report from five years ago, this section is, ah, around six feet along the wall from where the texts stopped. So it would have been written less than a year before Atlantis sank.’
‘And that section hasn’t been excavated?’ Her tone was almost accusing.
‘You can see for yourself how big the slab blocking it is,’ said Hayter defensively. ‘It must weigh tons. And there’s more debris on top of it.’
‘
‘It would have taken too long, and the effort would be far out of proportion to the value of the find. I had to prioritise. The more time we spend bulldozing, the less there is for actual archaeology, and we could do more digging for less effort in other parts of the temple—’
‘I want it cleared,’ said Nina firmly.
Hayter gawped at her. ‘W-what?’ he finally spluttered. ‘But if we do that, we won’t be able to explore the burial chamber. The support ship can only stay on station for another two weeks before it has to return to port, and if we waste time—’
‘This is my decision as director of the IHA,’ Nina said, standing. ‘I want all resources dedicated to clearing the rest of that area so I can see the final texts.’ She turned to Matt. ‘How long?’
‘I dunno,’ said the Australian, as surprised as Hayter by the turn of events. ‘A week, maybe more? There’s a fair old pile of stones that needs to be shifted.’
‘Then shift them. This is top priority.’ She turned to leave.
Hayter jumped up. ‘This — this is absolutely insane! You can’t reprioritise an ongoing dig on some personal whim. I know the description of these statues matches the two that Donald Bellfriar examined for the IHA, but that doesn’t mean they’re really the key to godlike powers!’
‘If you won’t do it, Lewis, I’ll replace you with somebody who will. The IHA is about more than just archaeology, remember? It’s also got a global security mandate, and like it or not, the second of those trumps the first. I need to see those last texts. Are you with me?’ Hayter could only respond with silent shock. ‘Good.’ She opened the door.
‘I’m — I’ll take this higher.’
‘You do that. But in the meantime, you’d better get back to the site. There’s a lot of work to do, and I want it done fast.’ She left the room, the team staring after her in stunned bewilderment.
An hour later, Nina’s phone rang. She jabbed at the speaker button. ‘I told you not to disturb me.’
‘Sorry, Nina,’ said Lola, ‘but Mr Penrose is here. He says he needs to see you urgently.’
Nina frowned. While Sebastian Penrose worked for the United Nations, not the IHA, his position as liaison between the UN and its cultural protection agency gave him a certain degree of authority. ‘Okay,’ she said reluctantly, ‘send him in.’
The prim, bespectacled Englishman entered. ‘Afternoon, Nina.’
‘Sebastian. I can guess why you’re here.’
‘I imagine everyone in the Secretariat Building heard Lewis Hayter throwing a wobbly. But as soon as he said you claimed it was a security issue, I told him to shut up until I’d had a chance to look into it. Not quite that bluntly, of course.’ He sat facing her. ‘So what’s going on?’
Nina turned her laptop so he could see the screen. She had already accessed all of Hayter’s research data on the ongoing excavations, and was reading the full translation of the uncovered texts. ‘The three statues. They’re Atlantean.’
Penrose’s eyes widened. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Positive. They’re described here… along with a display of something that can only be earth energy.’ She gave him a precis of what was written on the temple wall and how it related to the strange, not yet fully explained lines of power coursing through the planet, the effects of which she had experienced — and barely survived — on some of her previous adventures.
Now his eyes were almost larger than the lenses of his glasses. ‘Well. I see why you made it a security issue.’
‘Damn right. We know that earth energy can be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands — and it looks like the Atlanteans knew about it eleven thousand years ago. Considering what we know about them now, that they were a race of ruthless conquerors, I don’t consider
Penrose rubbed his chin, thinking. ‘So how do you want to proceed?’
‘For now, I want to do exactly what I told Lewis. We need to excavate the rest of the altar room and find out what’s written in the final texts — the last records of Atlantis before it sank. If there is an earth energy connection, then we
‘You think he might find a way to use them?’
‘I’m more worried that he might sell them to someone who can. We know the Russians have the ability to build an earth energy weapon — and so does the US, for that matter.’ Both nations had developed systems that could collect and focus the natural power — and unleash it upon a faraway target with the force of an atomic blast. ‘It won’t work without a natural superconductor to channel the energy, but I have a horrible feeling that the statues might be exactly what they need.’
‘But the superconductor won’t work on its own. They would also need a person who can activate the effect.’
Nina knew exactly what he was suggesting. ‘Yeah. Someone like me.’
‘You know, that might…’ He stopped.
‘What?’
He hesitated before answering. ‘If someone did build another earth energy system, to make it work they would need the statues — and you. And if another party wanted to
‘They might try to kill me?’ said Nina, suddenly feeling very cold even in the warm room.
‘I’m just saying that this could be dangerous on a personal level, not simply as a global security issue. You’re the only person in the entire world who is known to be able to channel earth energy. That makes you potentially extremely valuable to some people… and possibly a great threat to others. You need to be careful. Very careful.’
‘Careful?’ Nina said. ‘After everything I’ve been through, it’s lucky I’m not completely paranoid! But judging from what’s written in the temple texts, I’m not the only person who’s ever been able to channel earth energy. There was a priestess, Nantalas, who could apparently do the same thing. I guess that proves Kristian and Kari Frost were right — I really am a descendant of the Atlanteans.’
‘Personally, I wouldn’t place much stock in the beliefs of a pair of genocidal lunatics,’ said Penrose. The IHA had been created in the wake of an attempt to use ‘pure’ recovered Atlantean DNA to genetically engineer a virus that would be lethal to anyone not of that descent. The agency’s task since then had been to ensure that nobody else exploited Atlantis — or any other archaeological discoveries — for similar gain. ‘But the idea that Atlantis could hold the key to using earth energy… you’re right, it’s definitely a concern. And I absolutely agree with your decision to make it a security matter. If there is any more information in that temple, it needs to be found.’
‘We need to find the statues too. And Stikes.’
‘I’ll speak to the UN intelligence committee and try to prod its members into stepping up the search. And I’ll talk to the State Department as well, make sure the CIA and National Security Agency get a reminder.’ He shook his
