There was a brief silence as everyone absorbed that, before Nabinger continued. “The leader of the Kortad was an Airlia named Artad, or perhaps that is simply his title. He dispersed those loyal to him after destroying Aspasia’s base at Atlantis. Aspasia retreated, using the warships they had carried on the outside of the mothership to Mars, and an uneasy truce evolved. Artad had control of the mothership, but Aspasia had control of their interstellar communication device.
“That’s why Artad’s followers built the Great Pyramid as a space signal. They put the atomic weapon in it to destroy it if the signal attracted the wrong group. They built the high rune signal into the Great Wall. They built this tomb to house their equipment. They dug out the great chamber in the Rift Valley and hung the ruby sphere over it, threatening to destroy the sphere and the planet if Aspasia tried to come back to Earth. They hid the bouncers in Antarctica and the mothership in Area 51. They hid several guardian computers around the planet to monitor things: one here, one at Temiltepec which Majestic uncovered last year, and there are more.”
“Why is Aspasia coming back here now?” Turcotte asked, his mind reeling from Kostanov’s suspicions that STAAR was an Airlia organization operating on Earth and Nabinger’s new revelation that it appeared they’d had it all backward about the Airlia.
“Because he thinks the long standoff with the Kortad is over and he must think the war is over.”
“What war?” Che Lu spoke for the first time.
“Beyond our solar system there was a war between the Airlia and another alien race, and that was a factor. Artad couldn’t fly the mothership because of that. But since Aspasia had their communications system, he couldn’t contact their home. But…” Nabinger paused, confused, the images in his brain swirling about.
“I’d love to stand here and discuss these most interesting revelations,” Kostanov said, “but I think our first priority is to get out of here and get to the pickup zone.”
“This information is critical!” Nabinger exclaimed.
“Hold up!” Turcotte’s voice caused everyone to fall silent. He pointed a finger at the guardian computer, while his eyes remained fixed on Nabinger. “Why do you believe this guardian now? You believed the one under Easter Island until this one told you a different story. Now Aspasia’s the enemy and Artad’s the good guy. Before Aspasia was the good guy. It’s all bullshit. There’s only one fact we have to keep in mind.”
“What is that, my friend?” Kostanov asked.
“That we’re human and they aren’t. We have to look after our own interests regardless of what these damn computers tell us.” Turcotte took a step closer to Nabinger. “Do you know what Aspasia wants? Why he is coming back?”
“For the mothership.”
“Why didn’t he come sometime in the last five thousand years and take it and go home and leave us alone?” Turcotte asked.
“Because they were in a standoff all these years, each one’s guardian computers monitoring the situation, waiting.”
“What was the standoff?” Turcotte asked.
“Artad controlled the ruby sphere,” Nabinger said. “I know what it is now! We have to go to it. It’s what Aspasia needs before he can fly the mothership. It’s the energy source for the interstellar engine. The mothership can fly without it, but it can’t go into interstellar drive without it. I know the code to get the sphere released.”
“So why is Aspasia coming now?” Turcotte repeated the question.
The words came out of Nabinger in a tumble.
“Because General Gullick and Majestic moved one of Artad’s guardians that was linked to the Rift Valley and the ruby sphere. And that guardian was destroyed by the foo fighters — so now Aspasia must think he can get the sphere and the mothership.”
“What about this guardian?” Turcotte asked, pointing at the golden triangle.
Nabinger put his hands to his head. “It’s very confusing. As best I can tell, Artad dispersed not only his people but his assets. This guardian is responsible for different things than the one Majestic uncovered under Temiltepec.”
“I don’t get it,” Turcotte said. “Why did the guardian Majestic uncovered try to get them to fly the mothership? Obviously that upset the standoff when the one under Easter Island reacted.”
“Maybe… hell, I don’t know,” Nabinger said. “Maybe the guardian computer Majestic got thought they were Kortad. It’s not really clear to me either. But what is clear is that we have to stop Aspasia from getting control of the ruby sphere.”
“Then we’d best get out of here,” Kostanov said, tapping his watch. “I think we need to focus on our most immediate problem.”
Turcotte agreed with that, at least. “Did the computer give you another way to get out of here?”
Nabinger shut his eyes. “The information it gave me was all in images. It’s hard to remember and…” He paused, then his eyes snapped open and he looked about the room. He walked over to the control console. “There’s a shaft. It goes diagonally from the main chamber to the surface.” He paused in thought, trying to sort through an overloaded brain. “I can open this end from here, but the surface end could only be opened by a special command code. I don’t have that code.”
“How thick is the surface door?” Turcotte asked.
Nabinger shrugged. “Hard for me to say. A couple of feet.”
“Is it the black Airlia metal?”
“No. As with most of the chamber, they used local materials.”
“Open the inner door,” Turcotte ordered.
Nabinger ran his tongue across his lips as he placed his hands over the console. There was a glow of green lights. Everyone turned as they heard a rumbling noise to their rear. Turcotte ran out into the massive chamber where the soldiers were looking up. A large piece of metal was moving to one side, exposing a forty-foot-wide opening on the side of the chamber, about twenty feet off the ground. The tunnel sloped up into darkness.
“Let’s go!” Turcotte yelled, getting everyone moving across the floor to just below the opening. He had a reason for speed beyond the time the choppers would be at the pickup zone. If Nabinger was right and Aspasia was a threat, they had just over thirty-six hours to do something.
According to the news reports VIPs from all over the world were flowing into New York. Feeling totally out of the stream of action, Kelly Reynolds could only watch the TV in the Cube and follow as the focus of interest made its third shift in the past week: from Easter Island and the guardian computer, to Area 51 and the bouncers/mothership, and now to New York, where soon, if all went as planned, the first live contact between humans and an extraterrestrial life-form would take place.
The intricate dance of the talons could be seen by the Hubble with more clarity the closer the Airlia ships got to Earth, and the effect was mesmerizing. Scientists and crackpots alike were tossing out theories as to why the ships’ flight paths made such a weave, but none of the theories had struck Kelly as quite right. As with everything else they didn’t know about the Airlia, she had no doubt that question would be answered when Aspasia landed.
There was no further word from China. And Quinn had discovered nothing more about STAAR. Kelly thought all those issues less important now that there was a definite timeline to Aspasia’s arrival.
Turcotte started moving up the tube even as the others were still clambering up the rope Harker’s men had fastened just inside the entrance. The tube went up at a forty-degree angle, manageable, but not very comfortable, especially given that the stone his boots were on was practically polished smooth.