Temple of the Gods - Andy McDermott [18]
Nina frowned. While Sebastian Penrose worked for the United Nations, not the IHA, his position as liaison between the UN and its cultural protection agency gave him a certain degree of authority. ‘Okay,’ she said reluctantly, ‘send him in.’
The prim, bespectacled Englishman entered. ‘Afternoon, Nina.’
‘Sebastian. I can guess why you’re here.’
‘I imagine everyone in the Secretariat Building heard Lewis Hayter throwing a wobbly. But as soon as he said you claimed it was a security issue, I told him to shut up until I’d had a chance to look into it. Not quite that bluntly, of course.’ He sat facing her. ‘So what’s going on?’
Nina turned her laptop so he could see the screen. She had already accessed all of Hayter’s research data on the ongoing excavations, and was reading the full translation of the uncovered texts. ‘The three statues. They’re Atlantean.’
Penrose’s eyes widened. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Positive. They’re described here . . . along with a display of something that can only be earth energy.’ She gave him a précis of what was written on the temple wall and how it related to the strange, not yet fully explained lines of power coursing through the planet, the effects of which she had experienced – and barely survived – on some of her previous adventures.
Now his eyes were almost larger than the lenses of his glasses. ‘Well. I see why you made it a security issue.’
‘Damn right. We know that earth energy can be incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands – and it looks like the Atlanteans knew about it eleven thousand years ago. Considering what we know about them now, that they were a race of ruthless conquerors, I don’t consider their hands particularly safe.’
Penrose rubbed his chin, thinking. ‘So how do you want to proceed?’
‘For now, I want to do exactly what I told Lewis. We need to excavate the rest of the altar room and find out what’s written in the final texts – the last records of Atlantis before it sank. If there is an earth energy connection, then we have to find the statues. They’re too dangerous to be left in the open – especially in Stikes’s hands.’
‘You think he might find a way to use them?’
‘I’m more worried that he might sell them to someone who can. We know the Russians have the ability to build an earth energy weapon – and so does the US, for that matter.’ Both nations had developed systems that could collect and focus the natural power – and unleash it upon a faraway target with the force of an atomic blast. ‘It won’t work without a natural superconductor to channel the energy, but I have a horrible feeling that the statues might be exactly what they need.’
‘But the superconductor won’t work on its own. They would also need a person who can activate the effect.’
Nina knew exactly what he was suggesting. ‘Yeah. Someone like me.’
‘You know, that might . . .’ He stopped.
‘What?’
He hesitated before answering. ‘If someone did build another earth energy system, to make it work they would need the statues – and you. And if another party wanted to stop them from developing it, well . . .’
‘They might try to kill me?’ said Nina, suddenly feeling very cold even in the warm room.
‘I’m just saying that this could be dangerous on a personal level, not simply as a global security issue. You’re the only person in the entire world who is known to be able to channel earth energy. That makes you potentially extremely valuable to some people . . . and possibly a great threat to others. You need to be careful. Very careful.’
‘Careful?’ Nina said. ‘After everything I’ve been through, it’s lucky I’m not completely paranoid! But judging from what’s written in the temple texts, I’m not the only person who’s ever been able to channel earth energy. There was a priestess, Nantalas, who could apparently do the same thing. I guess that proves Kristian and Kari Frost were right – I really am a descendant of the Atlanteans.’
‘Personally, I wouldn’t place much stock in the beliefs of a pair of genocidal lunatics,’ said Penrose. The IHA had