The Lost Tribes, page 30
“What does this mean?” she asked.
Ben examined the map. The lights were in pairs — four pairs. He looked at the heading. “Personnel locator.” Personnel?
People?
“Guys! These might be our parents!”
Everyone gathered around Ben and stared at Serise’s computer.
“You sure?” asked Grace. “Could be anything. Those dots are in the middle of the ocean. It must be one of the sea-based teams that look like that guy, Volari.”
“I’ve just got a hunch,” Ben said. He’d seen his mother and Dr. Hightower go into the ocean in Antarctica so it was a definite possibility. “Think about it. We’re missing eight people. There are eight signals.”
“In the middle of the Pacific ocean?” asked Carlos. “It’s a long shot.”
“I’m getting good at those,” Ben said, feeling his confidence return.
“Yeah, you are.” Carlos offered his hand and looked to the others for support.
Ben’s heart soared as three more hands fell on the heap.
Aris hissed in disagreement.
“Aris! That other cat belonged to the Shaman. Do you belong to my mother? Do you want to leave her behind?”
The cat growled, leaped in April’s arms and made the vote unanimous.
“Okay. It’s agreed. We need a plan!” Ben said. “And we’re going to have to do it before we get on that ship.”
“But won’t he know we didn’t go?” asked April. “Won’t someone be waiting for us up there?”
“No,” Ben said. “Uncle Henry said he was going to send us directly to our cabins. No one’s going to contact us until the ship is underway.”
“Okay!” Serise said. “So we need to make it look like we went up when we didn’t.”
“How about sending up our backpacks?” April grinned, her eyes flashing mischievously. “We’re nosy kids. If the tutors come looking for us they’ll see our stuff and think we left to explore the ship.”
“There’s one little flaw in that plan,” Grace said. “Ben’s uncle was able to track us on our way here. Don’t you think he would know if we took a detour?”
“So how’d he do that?” asked April.
While everyone else stared at the compass, Ben fingered the collar in his pocket. It was covered in tiny black diamonds. It came from the game. Uncle Henry’s game. It was as if the condor, banking and soaring, had pointed him toward it. Nothing from the game was real except the pouch and the collar.
“Could be the compass,” Carlos said, interrupting Ben’s train of thought. “But I’m thinking it’s something else. Remember the day they had the safety meeting at school. They talked about putting GPS locators in our backpacks in case we got lost camping or hiking.”
“Or got snatched by a criminal!” April said. “That way the police can find you quick.”
“So I’m betting,” Carlos continued, “that there’s something hidden in our packs. Probably microscopic given all the other cool junk our parents had. Think about it. Our parents packed these bags for us. They wanted us to bring them along.”
Ben closed his fist around the collar and formed a plan of us own.
“So we’ve got to send the backpacks up ahead of us,” Grace said. “But that doesn’t explain how we’re going to stay out of the transport beam ourselves.”
There was silence.
“I have an idea.” Serise frowned and tapped her elaborately painted fingernails on the top of her computer. Despite the grueling ordeal of the last twenty-four hours, the bright red nail polish and flower designs were still flawless. Not a chip. Not a scratch. “Your uncle gave us a clue, although I don’t think he meant to.”
“I don’t understand,” Ben said.
“He was angry because we didn’t use the computer to dial ourselves here. He said we should have figured out that the game took us to real locations. Remember? He said the dialers weren’t used by the teams anymore, but they still work.”
Ben stared at Serise as he processed the information.
“With all that’s going on, think they’re still working?” Serise bit her lips and continued to drum her fingers on the computer. Her eyebrows arched. A twinkle appeared in her eye. “I’ve still got a copy of the game!”
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
The Plan
When spider webs unite — they can tie up a lion.
Ethiopian proverb.
Ben would have hugged her if it weren’t such a gross idea. “But we’d be dialing ourselves to an outpost. Grace’s mother said they were under attack.”
“Not all of them,” Carlos said. “And there wasn’t an outpost in Peru or on Easter Island. Or at least none that I could see.”
“Or at the Terra Cotta Army,” Grace said. “Maybe there are a lot of abandoned dialers around the world.”
“Exactly,” Serise said. “What do we have to lose?”
“Could we go to the ship and dial out from there?” asked April. “I’d really like to see it before it leaves. I mean, a real live spaceship! It must be so awesome!”
“Yeah,” Carlos said. “That would be a trip of a lifetime. It’s our last chance to see one.”
“Can’t risk it,” Ben said. “We don’t know the range of this game or those dialers. We might go up to the ship and then be stuck up there.”
“Then I vote for picking a place we’ve been before,” Carlos said, looking disappointed.
“Islas Ballestas,” April said.
“Why there?” asked Ben. “It’s gross.”
“Because we can hide in a cave,” April said. “No one will be able to see us. I liked the Terra Cotta army but it’s spooky in there. We can hang out with the sea lions if we go to the island.”
“It’s as good a place as any,” Carlos said.
“Yuck!” Serise said. “Grace and I went to some better places — nice views, good looking native guys on a beach. I vote for exotic island paradise. I mean, you should have seen the Maori in New Zealand. They look like those Mondavi guys. Even their tattoos are hot!”
Ben rolled his eyes and groaned. “Geez! Could we stay on topic? The million dollar question is, can we dial out from here?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Serise booted up the game. The Guardian medallion waited patiently for instructions.
“It’s a good thing you remembered to hit the escape key,” Grace said.
Ben saw the problem immediately. The real Guardian chamber was still filled with technicians now conducting tests on the mysterious jars. No chance of going to that location. “Before we dial out we’ve got to figure out how to get back before Uncle Henry comes to get us.”
“Just two of us should do the test,” Serise said. “It’s my computer. I’ll take it with me to make sure we can use it to dial home or at least hit the escape key. Ben, you stall your uncle if he shows up before we get back.”
“I’ll go with you in case you get stuck or lose power,” Carlos said. Suddenly, around Serise, he was a super explorer. “Ben. If we’re not back in five minutes — you can tell your uncle where we went and he can retrieve us.”
“He’s going to be mad,” April said.
“Well, that wouldn’t be much of a change for him, would it?” asked Ben. “Okay. Five minutes or I’m calling the cavalry.”
“If this is an experiment, then let’s go to Llactapata first. I only know two dialers and the one on Easter Island is hard to reach,” Carlos said. “The teams should be gone. We’ll zap in and zap out again and hope National Geographic hasn’t found the ruins yet.”
“You need a dialer code just in case ‘escape’ doesn’t bring you back here.” Ben disconnected the compass from Serise’s laptop. “Confirm dialing location for Safe Harbor.”
“Specify destination.”
“Uncle Henry’s quarters.”
“Location unknown,” the computer said. “Please specify destination.”
“Henry Webster’s apartment,” Ben barked.
“Location unknown,” the computer repeated. “Please specify destination.”
April grabbed the compass. “Listen you stupid machine! Do ya think you could stop foolin’ around and tell us the stinkin’ code we need to dial to get back to Commander Kurosh’s apartment from Peru!”
“Confirmed.” The device flashed out a series of numbers.
Ben looked at his sister both exasperated and amazed. When she was tired, she had quite a mouth on her.
April shrugged. “It worked. Now we’ve got to hide in another room.”
“Why?” asked Grace.
“Because, if we stay in here while Serise and Carlos dial, we’re going to get zapped out with them.”
Unlike the living room, Uncle Henry’s bedroom was barren and uninviting. A single, stone platform sat in the center of the floor. An Egyptian headrest sat on top. Ben peeked into the closet and was confused by the contrast. Uncle Henry had the world’s most uncomfortable bed, but a closet full of expensive designer clothes.
Ben caught a glimpse of a light through the frosted glass door leading to the living room. Minutes later the flash returned along with enthusiastic whoops of excitement. Ben and the others hurried out to greet them. Carlos and Serise gave each other high fives and hugs.
“Game on!” said Carlos.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Game On!
A wise person will always find a way.
Tanzanian proverb
Ben watched as hundreds of scientists boarded the ship through the transport beam. Uncle Henry stood behind him, blocking any chance of escape.
“It will be time to go soon,” he said. “I think you will enjoy the experience. There have never been children on these missions. I suspect you will be pampered and spoiled on the trip home.”
Serise’s eyebrows arched at the sound of “pampered and spoiled.” But her expression was fleeting. She continued watching the nearby activity, her computer firmly grasped in her hand.
Ben pulled the collar from his pocket and concealed it in the palm of his hand. He flinched as a diamond dislodged and fell into the silvery pool. It was a tiny jewel.
One of many.
Insignificant.
The scanners would pick up the signal imbedded in the collar and assume he and his friends were on the ship. As his uncle spoke with the others and said his goodbyes, Ben tossed the collar into their pile of backpacks and watched it dissolve in the beam.
Across the room, Aurelia studied data from the monitors before issuing commands to the interplanetary teams. Aris sat on the control panel and studied the data. Occasionally, he received a scratch or a treat from one of the technicians assisting Aurelia. The Xenobian panther stood guard on the far side of the console, unconcerned with the attention being lavished on Aris.
Ben concentrated and hoped there was a way to adjust his frequency so that his Uncle would not hear him.
“Aurelia, can you hear me?”
If she heard him, she gave no indication of it. Something had startled her. Aris became animated at whatever new development was occurring during the download. Images of scientists digging trenches on top of a frozen mountain appeared on the monitor above her. One cradled a small girl. Aurelia zoomed in. The girl looked like she was sleeping. Wrapped in a woven blanket, her hair spilled out of the sides and fell down her shoulders. But her skin was dried and wrinkled.
She was mummified.
Ben wondered if she was one of the missing tribe members. The scientists dropped their shovels, reached into the trench, and pulled out a body. It wasn’t a burial. It was retrieval.
The eight symbols of the Guardian appeared in a separate window. Broken fragments of a stone tablet rotated beside two of the symbols. But what was the connection to the frozen bodies on the mountain? A tiny rod was clutched in the hand of the second body. Aurelia zoomed in until the rod filled the entire screen.
Ben froze. He’d seen something like that before.
Unaware of the activity at Aurelia’s station, Ben’s uncle focused on April’s flurry of questions about the people who were boarding the ship. For a brief period, a second transport beam flickered inside the first. Everyone paused at the edge of the platform and waited for the activity to cease. Uncle Henry explained that colonists were being evacuated directly from the oceans into special habitats on the Sonara.
“High risk maneuver,” he said. “It requires shutting down radio telescopes and satellites. We cannot perform it very often or we’d start a panic over the sudden increase in solar activity. A glitch in the Casmir array caused the satellites to shut down last week. You boys wouldn’t know anything about that would you?”
Ben saw a glimmer of recognition cross Carlos’s face but neither acknowledged the question.
Kavera approached and touched Ben’s uncle on the shoulder. He stepped away from the group.
“Aurelia, can you hear me?” Ben repeated, his mind pleading with her. “My parents are still alive. We found their signals near the equator. We can help you search. We know a lot about the planet that you won’t find in a text book or computer file.”
Although there was no response from Aurelia, she pulled up a rotating image of the globe and stopped it at the location of the eight signals. She pointed toward one of the transport tubes. Two of her guards rushed into it and disappeared. Across the room, Ben’s uncle was engaged in an animated and angry discussion with Kavera. Ben tried reaching Aurelia again.
“I was right, wasn’t I? They’re somewhere in the ocean?” Ben had no clue what he was doing but he had nothing to lose. If Serise’s computer couldn’t dial from here, he needed a back-up plan. “I want to stay and help find my parents. It is my right as a member of my father’s clan.” Ben thought that sounded kind of grown-up.
Aurelia pursed her lips and paused. Ben was certain he had gotten through this time. Instead, Aurelia turned her head in the opposite direction and watched the argument between Uncle Henry and Kavera. She approached them, but that made Ben’s uncle even angrier. He dismissed her with the wave of his hand.
Seconds later, Aurelia returned to her post and studied the streaming images of the mummified Peruvian girl. She reached into her pouch and extracted a silver rod of her own which she pushed into a slot in the side of the console. The monitor went dark then rebooted with data, graphs and maps of the world. Aurelia retrieved the rod and slipped it into back her pouch.
It was no use. Either Ben couldn’t reach her or she’d stopped tuning into his frequency. He stared into the milky white void that held their destiny.
“We don’t want to go,” Carlos said.
“I know,” Uncle Henry said, returning to their side. “But this is for the best.”
April wrapped her arms around him. “You’re all the family we have left.”
“I promise,” Uncle Henry said. “You will have the life your parents wished for you.”
“Aurelia, help me.”
Aurelia glanced in Ben’s direction. Their eyes met. This time he could tell she understood.
“You have your orders and I have mine. I wish you a safe journey.”
The glimmer of hope that had passed through Ben was now dashed into pieces. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Serise was trapped. There was no way for her to open her computer without being detected.
Game over!
Then he had a brainstorm. The compass was in his pocket and it was still linked to Serise’s laptop. Could he use it to autodial? Could he do it without being caught? He touched the center keypad and heard a muffled acknowledgment through the cloth lining of his pants. He tried to visualize the screen. He couldn’t speak. He’d be heard. Could he simply press a code using his fingers?
Next, how to fool his uncle? He would have to stay at the outer edge of the platform when he and his friends transported. That might give Ben the edge he needed and he knew just how he was going to use it.
“I know you will each grow to make your parents proud just as you have made me proud,” Uncle Henry said. “If the fates wish it, we will see each other again.”
“Goodbye, Uncle Henry.” Ben squeezed his uncle’s hand. “Maybe I should start calling you Kurosh.”
“My Earth name will do just fine. It’s the one you’ve always known.” His uncle wiped the tears streaming down April’s face.
Aris jumped down from the console and waited patiently at the edge of the ramp. Ben’s uncle scratched the cat behind the ears. “Goodbye, old friend. Take care of them for me will you?” The cat purred in response.
While his uncle said goodbye to his friends, Ben turned his back and eased the compass out of his pocket. He had one shot — just one — to get this right. If he dialed the wrong code he would be transported to the ship — or worse to someplace dangerous. He imagined a galactic basketball court on the Sonara just in case his uncle was eavesdropping on his thoughts. Then he crossed his arms across his chest and tucked the device into the folds of his shirt, tilting the device slightly so that he could see the screen. Reflections of the transport beam made the data hard to read, but Ben found the right angle to use. He continued masking his thoughts with images of NBA championships on a foreign planet while sending a pleading glance to the cat. Aris blinked once. In the glow of the lights, it looked as if the cat had winked at him.
Everyone’s eyes moved to Serise. Her laptop was slightly ajar, but with his uncle hovering like a guard dog there was no way for her fingers to reach the numeric keypad without fully opening the lid.
“Sorry,” she mouthed.
Grace, Carlos and April looked at Serise, at Ben, then at the transport beam with dread.
One chance left. The team is depending on me to make the shot.
Ben kept his head looking forward, but cast a downward glance and used his thumb to bring up a list of possible gates. April peeked at his arm. Her eyes grew wide and she quickly looked away. Her face was now beaming.
The last of the scientists stepped up to Uncle Henry and bowed as they spoke in foreign languages. Ben seized the opportunity to give a verbal command to the compass. “Volume off.” He hid the command in a cough and hoped the computer understood.
