“What the hell was that all about?” Foreman demanded as Dane helped Chelsea on board.
“We’re not in this alone,” Dane said.
Ariana Michelet got out of the Lincoln Town Car on Central Park West and stared up at the large sphere enclosed in a glass cube: the Frederick Phineas & Sandra Priest Rose Center for the Earth and Space. The glass cube was ninety-five feet on each side, and the sphere inside housed the Hayden Planetarium. Lit by colored searchlights, the sphere, inside the glass, was a magnificent sight.
She stood still for a few moments looking at it. The sphere, the interior upper half of which was the most sophisticated virtual reality machine in the world, had always seemed large to her. It was eighty-seven feet in diameter and weighed over two thousand tons. Impressive it was, but she knew that it was dwarfed by the sphere that had come out of the gate.
Shrugging off the disturbing image, she turned and headed for the front steps of the American Museum of Natural History. Since her father was one of the largest contributors to the building of the new planetarium, her phone call to the museum’s curator asking for assistance had been greeted with quick acquiescence.
The person waiting at the top of the stairs, Jaka Van Liten, had agreed to meet Ariana here because of the nature of the subject matter of the meeting: crystal skulls. As Ariana got closer, she could see that Van Liten was a small, wizened old woman, clutching a leather briefcase in her gnarled hands. Ariana had found the woman’s name on the Internet, constantly mentioned as the number one expert in the world on crystal skulls and purported to own quite a few in her personal collection. Ariana’s invitation to join her at the museum to see its crystal skull had been greeted with enthusiasm by Van Liten, who lived in Manhattan and was only a short cab ride from the museum.
“Good evening, Ms. Van Liten,” Ariana greeted her as she arrived at the top of the stairs. “I’m Ariana Michelet. Thank you for coming on such short notice.”
“Michelet,” Van Liten said. “I knew your father many years ago.”
Ariana had not known that. “Where did you meet him?”
“My family is like yours. The same circles. I’ve been a recluse for the past ten years, but before that, I was quite… how shall we say… a party girl.”
Ariana smiled at the thought of this little old lady with his father. The smiled disappeared though when Van Liten asked a question.
“Are the skulls connected to these gates that are causing so much trouble?”
“We’re checking into that,” Ariana hedged. She noted that a guard was waiting for them, holding a door to the now-closed museum open for them. “Shall we go inside?”
She escorted the old woman through the door. The click of their heels echoed in the massive Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Hall. A middle-aged man in a white coat and sporting a most serious manner was waiting for them in the center of the hall.
“Good evening,” Ariana said as they approached.
“I’m Dr. Fleidman,” he said, emphasizing his title.
Ariana introduced herself and Van Liten, picking up the doctor’s disdain for both her and the old woman. Ariana held back telling him of her own two PhD’s having run into this type of person before.
“This way,” Fleidman said and began walking away, causing them to hurry to keep up. As they passed through the hall, Ariana Michelet remembered her first visit to the museum as a child and her predominant memories were of the model of the huge squid that hung in one hallway and the squid fighting a large blue whale in another. She had found that place wondrous and returned many times over the years. The museum was located right across from Central Park, where Central Park West and West Seventy-ninth Street intersected, taking up an entire city block.
They exited the Roosevelt entrance hall and turned left, going into the Hall of Biodiversity, where the arms of the squid cast strange shadows on the walls. As they passed under the squid, Fleidman caught Ariana looking up at it.
“It’s the oldest model on display in the museum,” he said. “Purchased in 1895. Made of papier-mâché and forty-two feet long. We actually have a real giant squid body, twenty-five feet long, that was brought here in 1998.”
Ariana nodded. They’d recovered videos from the Glomar of the attack by the strange, squid like creatures — krakens, Dane had called them — with tentacles that ended in mouths. She knew there would be no model of that bizarre creature, because it wasn’t part of this world’s natural history.
They reached the Hall of Gems and Minerals, Fleidman’s domain. He stopped at a box just outside the entrance and punched in a code. “The hall is very secure. Laser detectors, pressure sensors, and constant live video feed.” He waved up at an unseen camera. “There is, of course, ample need for such security. We have over one hundred fourteen thousand specimens. Ninety thousand minerals, twenty thousand rocks and four thousand gems. Of note, we have the Star of India, which is the world’s largest blue star sapphire.” He pointed to his right as they passed a glass case, and Ariana could see the sapphire, highlighted by a single light above it.
“And how many crystal skulls?” Ariana asked.
Fleidman pulled a ring of keys out of one of his deep pockets and unlocked a metal door that had No Admittance to Public prominently stenciled on it. He ushered her and Van Liten through, into a long, dimly lit room, the center of which was filled with rows of tables holding crates and boxes.
“One,” Fleidman said as he hit the overhead lights. The skull rested in the center of one of the tables. It was human-sized and pure, the eye sockets empty.
Ariana walked over and peered at it. It was quite beautiful, the surface translucent. She reached, then paused. “May I touch it?”
Fleidman nodded. Ariana ran her fingers lightly over it. The surface was perfectly smooth and cool. She felt a tingle of power, so subtle she wasn’t sure if it was real or not. Fleidman walked around to the other side of the table.
“Quartz is mostly composed of silicon dioxide and is found in almost every rock. It can also form huge crystals that can weigh up to several tons. However, it is extremely rare to find pure quartz like this, which is colorless. Even the slightest influence of other material can greatly tinge quartz. Onyx and agate are two types of quartz that are streaked with bands of color from mother elements. Amethyst is violet quartz.
“Quartz is also very difficult to work with,” Fleidman continued. “If you work against the grain of the stone, the crystal will shatter. There are three common denominations to crystal skulls. Those considered ancient, those called old, and those manufactured now.”
“Why would someone manufacture one now?” Ariana asked.
Fleidman glanced at Van Liten, then answered. “There are those who believe such forms hold tremendous power. Nothing proven, of course. It’s like those who believe pyramids focus power, which has also never been proven.”
“What about the ancient ones?” Ariana asked.
“The numbers vary, as most are held in private collections”—again the hard look at Van Liten—“but some say there are as many as forty-nine.”
“No,” Van Liten spoke for the first time. “Many of those are copies. There are only nine ancient skulls of the pure form that have been found that I know of.”
“Pure form?” Ariana asked.
“Many that people claim to be ancient are made of the wrong material. They come in amethyst, sapphire, smoky quartz, topaz, moonstone, etcetera. The pure form are those that are composed of perfect, unflawed, quartz crystal. As Dr. Fleidman noted, quartz is very easily corrupted. Also, they are human-sized. There are others made of pure quartz, but they are smaller.