The Cydonia Objective

any language they’d ever seen.

He turned it around and around, open-mouthed until finally, he set it on the bed.

“Apparently it’s a wedding gift,” Nina said. “Otherwise, I have no idea.”

“I was wrong before,” Caleb whispered. “About the Spear being the most ancient, priceless artifact in the world. Hell, it doesn’t even fit that description for this room.”

“So you’re saying…?”

“Whatever this is, I glimpsed two things while I was holding it.”

Nina met his eyes, then suddenly reached forward and grasped his hand. Caleb moaned, fell forward towards her and suddenly her lips were there, pressing fiercely against his. His mind was rocked, his senses flattened. Something passed quickly from his mind to hers, and just as quick–the kiss, the connection–was severed.

She was on her feet, holding her head, shaking it.

“A ranch in Montana. A beat up old tractor hauling up the fossilized bones of a triceratops…” She rubbed her eyes, even as Caleb, through his reddened ones, watched her with begrudging admiration. “Men in suits taking away that… thing… that had been inside the dinosaur’s ribcage. Took it… to the Smithsonian…”

“Where,” Caleb said, continuing the vision, “it languished in the forbidden archives until one Xavier Montross conned a beautiful employee to grant him access.”

“He stole it,” Nina whispered. “And the girl… I’ve seen her before. Xavier’s never quite forgotten her.” A smile formed. “He still… loves her. This… Diana. Diana Montgomery.”

Caleb picked up the globe. “Yes, well that may be. But he’s done us one solid favor here. No one will find us now, no matter how hard they look.”

“Why? What does that thing do?”

Caleb looked up at her. “The Morpheus Initiative spent years searching for Montross after he disappeared from Alexandria, but could never find him. Not even a trace, despite having the best psychics in the world.”

Nina just gave him a blank stare until Caleb palmed the globe in his hand like a basketball.

“He’s given us a shield.”

4.

HAARP Facility – Gacona, Alaska

Alexander waited until his eyes adjusted to the darker interior of the control room before he allowed himself to take a breath. Whatever he was expecting, their entrance to the HAARP facility hadn’t been at all as he thought. It was rushed, just a quick ride down a descending ramp, past barbed wire fences beyond which the storming clouds obscured the sky and the mountains, leaving only glimpses of the sentinel-like radar arrays massed upon a field of unyielding ice.

The storm erupted just as they neared the facility, and Alexander had the impression that the station was alive, brimming with its own weather system, occluding itself with a mantle of impenetrable snow and ice. The winds swirled cyclonically, and the snowflakes seemed to be the size of baby rabbits, racing hell-bent around in a maelstrom.

And as much as the exterior was obscured, the interior was excessively bright. White walls, stainless steel doors and railings. Powerful lamps at every turn and glaring overhead bulbs seared at his eyes, eliciting smirks from his half-brothers, gliding ahead on their skateboards.

Isaac circled around and glided up on the other side of Alexander. “Don’t worry yourself about the tour,” he said in almost a gleeful whisper. “We won’t be here long enough to enjoy it, not us. Not you. Right, brother?”

Jacob’s skateboard slowed to a crawl, letting Alexander catch up. “Leave him be,” Jacob said. “Had a hard day, he has.”

“A hard couple of days, I’d say,” Isaac said. “Wandering in lost mausoleums and catacombs, getting shot at, avoiding deadly traps. Oh, and nearly buried alive under the ruins of the twice ruined Library of Alexandria!”

Alexander winced, looked down at his feet and clenched his fists.

“How tired you must be!” Isaac taunted, now from the other side, still riding circles around him. And even Jacob broke down, joining his twin in a little chuckle.

“Boys!” Calderon’s voice cut through the laughter. “Knock it off, we’re almost at the control room.”

“Just having a little fun, righto?”

Calderon leaned heavily on his cane, stamping it hard on the floor with every new step. And in his shadow, proceeding the two armed guards, Xavier Montross followed, head down. His red hair was in tangles over his face, still with the dust from the Cheops’ labyrinth trapped in the curls. He looked up once while Alexander glanced back, and they shared a mutual exchange: Hang in there, Montross seemed to say.

But when Alexander turned, he saw the two twins gliding together, making figure eights down around each other, across a huge circular floor and toward the waiting guards at a set of double steel reinforced doors, and his hopes fled.

This is it. And Alexandria was just the beginning. Montross is going to help them achieve his vision of the world’s destruction, and Dad –

He stopped, closed his eyes and focused. Drove his mind like a spike through time and space. Dad!

An arm on his shoulder pulled his vision away from a swirling pool of turquoise, complete blue in all directions. Alexander turned, and the hooded, owl-like eyes of Mason Calderon bored into his brain, and for a heart-stopping moment, Alexander feared Calderon could slip inside his mind and see what he himself couldn’t. That he could find Alexander’s father, and then it would all be over. His one, last chance. The only hope.

For all of us.

“What’d you go looking for, boy?”

Jacob and Isaac braked their skateboards, then kicked them up together, ending the ride. Alexander saw them out of the corner of his eye, but couldn’t pull away from Calderon’s gaze. “I…”

“Oh, leave him alone,” Montross’ voice came from the side, soft as a welcome breeze on a humid day. “Of course he’s looking for his father.”

Calderon blinked. “And? Did you see him?”

Alexander shook his head slowly. “Nope. I felt… blocked, like a wall was in the way.”

Something grumbled in Calderon’s throat. “Or a shield?” His eyes darted away, landing on Montross, who just shrugged.

“Doesn’t matter, does it?” Montross waved his hand toward the doors, and then pointed to the satchel over Calderon’s shoulder. “You have what you need. Caleb and Nina are too far away to be of consequence, your enemies cower in their tunnels, realizing there are no safe havens. The prophecy’s fulfillment is mere hours away.” He smiled broadly, stretching out his arms. “And you’ve got me at your side.”

Calderon thought for a moment, then gave a slight bow of his head. “True.” His grip loosened on Alexander’s shoulder, and a gentle push turned him around and sent him toward the doors.

“Inside, now. Time to see what this facility is truly capable of.”

Struggling to stay on his feet, still fighting the recurring splotches of blue walls in his mind’s vision, Alexander stumbled on ahead after his laughing brothers. Never feeling more alone, or lost. In a daze, he looked up, past the blinding lights, to a railing where armed military personnel patrolled the hallways outside the offices.

And for just a gleaming, hopeful moment, he thought he saw the afterimage of a woman, not unlike his mother, leaning over, smiling at him…

And he clung to that hope with all his strength. That maybe he wasn’t so alone after all.

#

Keeping an eye on Alexander, but feeling at least he was safe for now, Montross entered the control room and found it just as he had envisioned.

“Been here before, I take it?” Calderon was watching Montross’ reaction as the doors closed and the great