The Watchers searched for the base for many years. Several Watchers who went on that mission were never heard from again.
“Interesting,” was Che Lu’s comment as she read. “There has always been speculation among those who dared to think that there were ages to the kingdom of Egypt before that of the pharaohs. Even staunch Egyptologists are at a loss to explain how the kingdom sprang, apparently fully formed, into existence and then didn’t progress for over three thousand years.”
“It still doesn’t tell us where The Mission is,” Mualama noted, “or what the Grail is.”
“But it does say there was a master guardian computer at Giza,” Che Lu said. “That confirms the message that Kelly Reynolds sent us from Easter Island. If we can find this master guardian, perhaps we can control the other guardians. This may be very important.”
“If it’s still there,” Mualama said. “This is talking about a time over twelve thousand years ago. Much has happened since then.”
“This possible Airlia base that’s mentioned,” Che Lu continued. “I think that I might have something that will help with that. Nabinger had a page of High Rune symbols that he believed were coordinates for Airlia bases, but he couldn’t line them up with anything. The problem he had was that he was using our number system based on tens, while I think the Airlia system was actually based on units of twelve. I believe I’ve been able to correctly translate the coordinates, but I have not had a chance to apply it to a map.”
“Perhaps someone here can help you with that,” Mualama suggested. He scrolled down. “You’ll find this very interesting.”
If Aspasia left behind some of his people in Shadow form to walk the Earth and try to regain the glory of Atlantis in Egypt, what of Artad’s group? Where did they go?
I eventually found the answer to that buried among the many parchments I pored through and translated over the years. China.
I have not had the opportunity to travel to that land, so all I know of it I have gathered from the Watcher scrolls and written histories that I have been able to find, merging the two to find some semblance of the truth.
According to the Watchers there were “white people” in western China around 9,000 B.C. This was a small enclave of The Ones Who Wait.
Around five millennia before the birth of Christ, large numbers of Chinese people began settling in the Yellow River Valley. This was possible because two things, previously unknown, became prevalent — agriculture and animal husbandry. While I do not mean to say that man could have not invented these on his own, I find it curious that in different places in the world these two advances came about at roughly the same time. I believe this was due to the diaspora from Atlantis and also the influence of The Ones Who Wait and The Mission.
As in Egypt, within an amazingly short period of time, civilization began to flourish in China. The first Emperor — a myth to historians, a fact to Watcher records — was called Shi Huangdi. He was also known as the Yellow Emperor or the White Emperor, depending on which account one reads. He was also considered to be the “Son of Heaven.” He is credited with inventing writing, yet there are some scholars who point out that the characters used were so advanced they must have come from an earlier type of writing — obviously High Rune writing from Atlantis.
Mathematics also was “invented” under Shi Huangdi. It is interesting to note that the first number systems used in China were based on factors of six.
According to Watcher records, Shi Huangdi was a Shadow of Artad or even, perhaps, Artad himself.
Shi Huangdi’s empire was barely on its feet when it faced assault from The Mission. An Empress named Chiyou — a Guide, according to Watcher scrolls — attacked him from the south. It is written in Chinese legend that a decisive battle was fought at Zhuolu. It is said that Chiyou rode a dragon into battle, one which let out a thick fog all over the field of combat, but that Shi Huangdi was able to lead his troops out of the fog and into victory using his “compass chariot.”
Chiyou was killed and the dragon captured, but Shi Huangdi was forced to relinquish the kingdom to humans, just as had happened in Egypt. He also left plans for a massive building project — the Great Wall of China, which was constructed by the first human emperor. I do not know why the Wall was built, although perhaps it is simply as it appears, a defensive line against barbarians, allowing China to develop in relative peace.
Another event of great interest to me occurred later in China’s history. Artad was reported to be buried in a great tomb, somewhere in the western part of China, equipped with many security devices. A special key was needed to open this tomb, when, according to legend, Shi Huangdi would return.
Apparently an attempt was made to rob the tomb in the seventh century A.D. The Watcher who was responsible for keeping an eye on the tomb reported it and the robbers were foiled by the Emperor’s men. To avoid the possibility of anyone getting to the lowest level and opening Artad’s cavern, the Emperor decided to remove the key to that tomb from China. This key was in the form of a spear, housed in a long black box. There was also a large metal container containing another artifact that was shipped with it.
The Chinese sent these materials with a massive naval expedition led by Admiral Cing Ho. They traveled around Indochina to the Middle East.
“‘The power and the key,’” Che Lu said. “That was what was on the marker that was found in Ethiopia by Turcotte and Duncan. Written in Chinese.”
“The power was the ruby sphere that Turcotte used to destroy Aspasia’s fleet,” Mualama said. “And the Spear of Destiny was with Cing Ho. I wonder how it ended up in the hands of the Nazis?”
“Colleagues of mine found Caucasian mummies in western China,” Che Lu said. “Those who reported this were ostracized and their findings kept secret. We must keep this information to ourselves. It will not endear us with those in power in Beijing to give them this information that our civilization came from outsiders.”
“Consider it another way,” Mualama said. “Perhaps this information could be used to sway the people of China away from their Isolationist stance once they realize that their history was manipulated by the Airlia. A war is coming in which all countries and all people are going to have make a decision which side they are on. The only way they can make that decision properly is to have this information,” he tapped Burton’s manuscript. “I think neither side can be trusted.”
“Artad did not hurt my country,” Che Lu said. “He helped it grow.”
“Are you sure of that?” Mualama asked.
Che Lu considered Mualama. “Are you certain you trust what Burton has written?”
“There’s no reason not to,” Mualama said.
“There’s really no reason to, either.”
“Why would Burton lie?”
“Why does anyone lie?” Che Lu did not wait for an answer as she supplied her own. “To advance their own cause.”
“What cause could Burton have had?”
“That is the question we need an answer to,” Che Lu said. She stood and walked out of the room, Mualama’s dark eyes following her.
The Atlantic crossing had taken less than an hour at the extreme speed the bouncer was capable of, but right now it was barely moving as they drew closer to Avebury. Through night-vision goggles, Turcotte could make out the rings of stone that surrounded the area, monoliths raised by ancient people, most likely as warnings against approaching Silbury Hill, as the Moai statues had been carved and placed on the shores of Easter Island.