Then he remembered something, rushing back to the other room and emerging a moment later with a look of wide eyed amazement. “Damn!” he said. “Look what else came through!”
He walked over and extended his palm, and the others saw that he held what looked like a small black iron skeleton key. “Apparently HMS Rodney held another secret in its gut,” he said. “When I was down in the hold rendering assistance and trying to seal off hatches, I found a room stacked with crates of gold bullion and what looked to be elegantly carved slabs of marble. I wondered what they were.”
“The Elgin Marbles!” said Robert. “Yes, the British Museum had a good segment of the marbles, they were from the Parthenon and Acropolis. Sir Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin obtained permits to move them to England in 1801—why, right about the time the Brits were also carting off the antiquities of Egypt as well, Rosetta stone and all. Lord Byron was very unhappy about it. He went so far as to call Sir Elgin a vandal… Here, Google up some Byron.” He keyed in a brief search and read a passage from Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, a poem by the famous British poet.
“Well it was a fairly wild hour,” said Paul. “There was a beautiful horse’s head that came tumbling out of its packing crate. The look on its face was one of strained energy.”
“The Selene Horse!” said Robert. “It was one of four horses pulling the chariot of the Moon Goddess Selene through the heavens and was depicted exhausted after its labored journey.”
“It took a hard fall with the concussion of the guns,” Paul explained, “and a segment of the rough unfinished bottom broke loose to reveal this, embedded in the marble.”
“May I?” Nordhausen took hold of the key, holding it up to the light, noting a series of numbers carved on its side, and suddenly quite disturbed.
“You say this was embedded inside the marble?”
“Had it not fallen and cracked open no one would have known it was there,” said Paul. “I don’t know why I took it, given the chaotic circumstances, but I wedged it loose and just stuck it in my pocket. Then it was fire brigade time and the next thing I know I was washed overboard in the sea. God, my ears are still ringing from it all. I’ll never get warm again.”
“Extraordinary!” said Robert. “A metal key… Inside one of the Elgin Marbles?”
“I’m still trying to figure out how it could have shifted back with me,” said Paul.
“Well, look here,” said Robert. “Modern numbers inscribed on the shaft of the key. That could only have been rendered by precise Computer Numeric Controlled equipment, or perhaps a laser.” He handed the key back to Paul.
“Could it have been hidden there by the British?” Kelly suggested,
“In 1941?” Maeve shook her head. “And with a laser carved serial number?”
“This is freaky,” said Paul. “This had to come from a future time. The Greeks did not make it, that much is certain. Hell, it may have been deliberately hidden there, but it might also have been in the stone they quarried to carve this piece.”
“Well it is a clear bit of modern day detritus polluting the history,” said Maeve. “You’re correct, Robert. It shouldn’t be there, and I’m one with Byron on this. We clearly had nothing to do with it, so it can only mean our warring friends and enemies in the future must be responsible.”
“I don’t know what harm it might do,” said Paul.
“Every little bit hurts,” said Maeve. “We’ve altered the Meridian so many times now, in so many locations, I’m just amazed this mission balanced so well, and did so little damage to the continuum.”
“We still don’t know what it did in the future,” said Kelly. “Like I say, these variations could worsen over time.”
“Well this has got to stop, Paul,” said Maeve. “How long do you think we can keep this up? OK, we reversed Palma once more and the Shadow has dissipated. All that does is open the door again and allow future Time travelers to go merrily about their business. In some ways Palma was the cork on the bottle. It was preventing them from getting through its penumbra and conducting missions. Otherwise I don’t think we would have been able to operate like this, with such success. The Assassins had up to twenty Arch complexes! We were outgunned worse than the Bismarck in that final battle, but yet we beat them, time and time again.”
“The arch is still spinning,” said Paul. “We still have quantum fuel. All we have to do is open the continuum again and tell the Admiralty to ignore Lonesome Dove. We can still back out and accept Palma, and live the rest of our lives with it. After all, it did happen, and our intervention changed the Prime Meridian we were born to. If we shut down now we’re living in an altered Time line—albeit a much more comfortable one for us, and future generations here in the US. To say nothing of the dog… our supposed allies in the future, Graves, LeGrand, Rantgar, the Abbot and the lot of them.”
“I think we made our choice on all this once already,” said Maeve. “What’s done is done, Paul. But how can we shut down this war?”
“We could call for a conclave,” said Kelly. “A truce.”
Paul raised an eyebrow at that. “I suppose we could,” he said. “All we would have to do is boldly publish a call in our data stream—now, while we still have the protection of a Nexus Point. Both sides will surely pick it up. They’ll get a clear variation signal, and when they investigate it they will see it’s our message.”
“Stick it in an apple?” said Maeve with a wry smile.
“No I think a digital message will do this time,” said Paul. “Hopefully both sides will respond immediately. Let’s ask each side to send someone back to this location. Right here, right now. Conclave! You’re a genius, Kelly!”
Kelly took off his Giants baseball cap and proffered a gracious bow.
Chapter 30
“Please be seated, gentlemen,” said Paul. “Thank you for responding and welcome to the original Arch facility here at Berkeley. We’re glad it’s still here…” He looked at the Sheik, an obvious message in his eyes.
LeGrand had a look of disdain on his face, showing obvious sympathy for Paul’s remark. The Sheik smiled unpleasantly, Sheik Basim Abd Al Aziz, who’s name meant ‘Smiling Servant of the Powerful.’
“It is certainly a tribute to the skill and ingenuity of the Founders,” said the Sheik.
“When envoys are sent with compliments in their mouths, it is a sign that the enemy wishes for a truce,” said LeGrand, also smiling.
“Do you not wish as much?” the Sheik said sharply. “Or would you have me take my leave and we shall continue this struggle through the ages? We shall see who prevails!”
“You forget, Sheik, that Palma is no more,” LeGrand said flatly. The instant this Nexus is dissipated all your conniving and scheming will have come to naught when the Heisenberg Wave finishes the job.”
“We are not without means in that event,” said Aziz. “You have not set your hand upon our hidden sanctuaries, in any Meridian we can see. And they will survive. We will strike again, as Allah wills it. And perhaps this time your Founding Fathers here will not be so quick or insightful in redeeming your lost causes.”