“Because Infinity Island, as we decided to call it, didn’t exist until twelve hours ago.”
“How’s that possible?”
“There was a submarine earthquake in the Mediterranean this morning. Did you hear?”
“Yes. I was told the tsunamis had the potential to do extraordinary damage, but through the grace of God, only one person was killed. Was this island damaged by it?”
“No. Instead, when the tectonic plates shifted — it forced an otherwise low lying submerged mountain nearly two hundred feet upwards. Giving birth to a new island.”
All color drained from Wallis’s face. “You are talking about the Infiniti Island!”
“Yes. Now I’m jogging your memory. I thought you might have heard something about it. The Master Builders built it, right?”
John nodded his head.
Sam asked, “Do you know what this means? Has Zara Delacroix changed the future?”
“Yes.”
“And the birthing of the island confirms she’s saved the world?”
“No.”
“What then?”
“The birthing of the island confirms there is no longer anything humanity can do to save itself. The island was built as a stop gate, to provide answers when the world is in dire need. If the Infiniti Island is indeed on the surface of the Mediterranean, we need to get to it now. There’s no time to waste!”
“There’s something else, too.”
“What now?”
“The Nostradamus Equation didn’t work. It was all gibberish. Nothing explained a reference point to the events in his 58 additional quatrains.”
“What did you find?”
“A looking glass. Like the others, this one showed the insides of a series of temples. One of them viewed a large stone chamber, bigger than any we’ve seen before. The structure was still being built. Dark skinned tribal people worked on the structure as though they had been possessed!”
“Go on, Mr. Reilly! What else?”
“I recognized one of the slaves. She wasn’t tribal at all and didn’t belong. Her name is Dr. Billie Swan — and I’m going to need you to show me how to find her!”
Chapter One Hundred and One
Sam watched the blood drain from John Wallis’s face. He saw confusion there, wonder, bewilderment — and last of all, he saw hope.
John said, “You saw Dr. Billie Swan through the looking glass?”
“Yes! Do you know where she is?”
John stood up in his chair, as though the meeting was over. “How very fascinating.”
“Where is she?” Sam persisted.
“I have no idea.” John grinned broadly as he spoke. “But that’s not what I find so fascinating.”
“Really, what do you find fascinating?”
“The future!” John grabbed his arm and looked at him directly in the eye. “Don’t you see?”
“What?”
“Don’t you see? It’s trying to distract you, the only way it knows how. You were close, you had the Nostradamus Equation in your grasp, and the future tempted you with another vision. We have to get back to the Infiniti Island, straight away. Before it collapses, and all is lost!”
Sam stood up. “Are you coming with me?”
“Of course. I don’t see how I can trust you not to screw this up, otherwise. Good God, this has nothing to do with Dr. Zara Delacroix and everything to do with you!” He shook his head. “I should have killed you when you first dived the Obsidian Vault!”
“What are you talking about?”
“You were close! There must be a way you can change this, and everything, otherwise the future would have never tried to distract you!”
“The future tried to distract me? As if it has a will of its own?”
“Yes. There was something else inside the looking glass you were supposed to find, but instead, you spotted Billy, became irate, and came charging over here. All the while, the sands of Infiniti Island are being reclaimed, and the solution is disappearing!”
John Wallis opened the door and grabbed Zara. “We have to go.”
“Where?” she asked.
“Back to Infiniti Island — to save the human race! And for goodness sake, make sure you bring the book of Nostradamus!"
Chapter One Hundred and Two
Sam entered the king’s chamber with Zara and John following. Tom stood up, leaving the pedestal to meet them. He appeared somber, but focused. His face showed signs of dried tears, now replaced by vitriolic rage.
Tom lifted John by his wetsuit and held him against the sandstone wall. “Where have you taken Billie?”
Sam stepped in between, and looked at Tom. “This is John Wallis. He’s going to help us calculate the Nostradamus Equation. He has no idea where Billie is.”
“What about finding Billie?” Tom asked.
John held out his hand. “John Wallis. I’ll try if I can, but first we need to calculate the equation.”
Tom didn’t accept the man’s handshake and John didn’t try to offer it again. Instead, John began quickly turning the dial on the pedestal, flicking through several different temples until he stopped at the temple underwater. The fish and other sea creatures all glowed with fluorescence as they were struck by the UV black light.
John said, “Flashlights off, everyone.”
Each person flicked their light off until the king’s chamber was dark. He waited as their eyes adjusted to the change. A moment later, John tilted his head backward, and looked up at the no longer empty dome. The ultraviolet light shined through the orb, and toward the ceiling.
The dome ceiling came alive with numbers, literally glowing. There were some words, but mostly gibberish. Nothing that made any sense whatsoever on its own. Most of the numbers were written in red, some were in blue.
“Black, Moore, Death of a Twin…” Sam started to read out the words. “None of this means anything!”
Tom stared at the ceiling. There were words there, written in English. He read them out loud.
Find the answer to the one question you must ask. Don’t get greedy and search for other answers. Time is short. This was built to save humanity. Use it wisely.
John turned to Zara. “Give me the medallion!”
Zara removed it from around her neck, and handed it to him. “Why, what are you going to do?”
Sam watched, as John ignored her and placed the medallion on top of the orb. The old brass medallion fit perfectly, as though it had been purposely designed to fit — which, of course, it was. There were several holes in the medallion. Sam recalled how they were formed when Zara placed her medallion inside the pedestal of truth within the final resting chamber of the last king of the Garamantes. It had been filled with acid, and seven imperfections in the metalwork had been revealed below the dissolved plating, leaving seven holes. He remembered thinking at the time that the holes appeared too specific to have been created randomly. Now he knew. Light from the orb shined through the holes, lighting up seven individual numbers at a time. Joining them together mentally formed a calendar date.
John said, “If the words are in red, it means the future is set and nothing can be done to change it. If it’s blue, it means there’s still a chance to change the outcome. Zara, get your book open, we’re going to need the quatrains available when we find the one we’re after.”
She asked, “We’re going to find a specific quatrain that’s relevant?”
John nodded. “Yes. And then we’re going to decipher it. And we’re going to do all this very soon, before the future has a chance to destroy the Nostradamus Equation.”
The orb had a series of numbers, ranging from 43-100. The medallion rotated, so that each number represented a different position of the seven light apertures. John quickly began flicking through each one.