The Prophesy: Book 3 - The Hammer of Atlantis

 

The next few weeks were spent assembling Spiders and sending them to join the one already found at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. In the end, the total production of Spiders totalled twenty-thousand, at a rate of one every minute, due to a combination of careful organization of work, constant on time supply of pre-assembled parts, and dedication from the workers. No one, absolutely no one, wanted to get on Ian's bad side.

The fish, for the most part, ignored the Spiders, but megalodons seemed to sense they and the Spiders were not to occupy the same area. For the first time since they had grown to adulthood, megalodons backed away from a smaller foe, and kept a safe and respectful distance. Oh, it took a couple of them getting butchered by Spiders attacking like hornets to get the message, but they did. It became common occurrence that the lackeys of the kings of the seas to follow Spiders rather than the sharks. The dragons kept watch on the Spiders as well, without intervening, but the number of dragons in the sea was reduced to nothing, the watch being done from above. It was easy for the dragons to follow the displacements of the Spiders, since their passage disturbed the sea bottom's sediment, and created a trail of feeding fish.

The Spiders uncovered numerous traces of ship travel, from Spanish galleons to French and British men-of-war. Some had been plundered, but most of the deep-sea ones were still carrying their cargo of art, gold, precious stones and finely worked jewels. Everything was systematically recovered and classified.

Quite a few strange structures were also discovered; some clearly ships, but others mystifying the princes. These structures were long tubes that seemed to extend to a considerable depth below the surface. Around them were high concentrations of rust, which told the boys they had been encased in metallic elements, while others seemed to have had lines of iron leading elsewhere. Unable to figure out what these strange items were, the boys decided to just log their position on a map, in the hope of finding some day a reference in the Ancients' books.

The next important discovery was done late one evening, just as the boys were readying themselves to sleep in their now customary boys' nest fashion: a pile of nude boys, wolves and other canines. A group of Spiders had ventured on the far side of the island of Hispaniola, and begun exploring the reefs and the underwater face of the island most exposed to the Atlantic.

The magic field suddenly resonated with an alarm! One Spider had detected Atlantean artefacts! As it held station, waiting on the other Spiders to align themselves to create a three-dimensional image of what had triggered the system, more and more of the Spiders detected Atlantean artefacts. In the end, the entire arc from the tip of Florida to Guyana, along the Atlantic side of the Antilles, resonated with the call about artefacts. The result was a night flight to the Gulf, with a landing on Hispaniola Island. It took only minutes for Paschal to identify the long, narrow band that covered the entire arc.

«We are detecting the Royal Causeway that joined all the islands of the Antilles Archipelago during the period of Atlantis II. It's covered by around five hundred feet of sediment on average. Some layers are thicker, some slightly less, having been eroded by the tidal flux over time. The islands were bigger, their shores closer to each other, but the tides were terrible, with flows that rated at sixty miles per hour at the peak of the gravitational well, when the Baby Moon's gravity either was in perfect opposition to the gravity of the Moon, or they pulled in tandem. What you see every five hundred feet are what are left of the pillars of the causeway. If I read this right, the pillars fell in, toward the west. The tidal wave that destroyed the Royal Causeway probably came from the Atlantic.»

«And what do we do with this information?»

«Right now, we do nothing. I do not think recovering the causeway would be of any use. However, having found it, we can use what we know to locate our settlements on the coast, where they stood. Maybe there are things worth recovering from these settlements, but somehow, I doubt it is so.»

«If I remember, the biggest port was on Caribes. Things have changed considerably, and many mountaintops are now islands, due to the sea level rising six hundred feet. All I remember is it was one of the deepest seaports we had, and it was parallel to the coast with only reefs acting as wave breakers. The tides in the port were so terrible lines regularly broke, and moorings had to be ensured with three distinct cables.»

«You should know your ports, Samson.»

«Let me think this out, Harp. Let's see. The port was on an island, to be defendable. The natives of the region were rather bloodthirsty, and regularly mounted expeditions in an attempt to take us as slaves. Every settlement had to be supplied by convoy. We built the causeway to speed military displacements and ease supply, but it had the inconvenience of telling them where to attack.»

«That means it was not at the tip of Florida.»

«That is quite true, Paschal. The island was also small, and we had a defence wall encircling it, about thirty feet high. Not that it was vital in some places: the flow of water was so terrible during tides; nothing could cross from any other place. Now, the island being small we can dispense of searching Cuba and Hispaniola Islands. It also faced the Atlantic, so the inner islands of the archipelago are out. And it was not near South America, so I think we can look at the five or six islands that span from the Bahamas to the Turks and Caicos Islands. They were definitely bigger, but never joined the mainland nor did they fuse together. I suggest we look at East Caicos and Grand Turk islands first. They are about right. The Atlantic flow into the Gulf was terrible in the strait there, and it fits my memory better than the other straits.»

«Ok. Set camp on Cockburn. I did not detect any issue with the Atom God. Two dragons stay in the air to survey the area while the others rest. Rotate every two hours. Centurion, you have the roll call. Since we are few, do not hesitate to wake us up to take our turn! Everyone else, sleep! Tomorrow will come early!»

«At your command, Legate!»

«Hey, Alaric! I thought you were still stuck as counsel to baron Dionysus?» exclaimed Harp.

«No, it is not the case, my prince. Once the duchy had been evacuated, we had nothing much to do but enrol in the army. I am still on the baron's Privy Council, but the role of the Privy Council has been reduced considerably, since it is mostly managing the population of the city as if it was an army within the Royal army. I passed my dragon flying licence a few weeks ago!» replied the young man with pride in his voice. «My dad has been walking on clouds ever since. He is so scared of heights it is a pity. He tried to get his, but he fainted on take-off.»

«I see you have climbed up fast in the military.»

«Military campaigns help. It decimates idiots and opens opportunities for those with a sense of strategy. I have five wings of dragons under my command, for a total of two shifts of fifty fliers, at two per dragon. That and the support constitute a centurie. But you should know that, Harp.»

«Actually, the organization of the air force is left to Sitar and Enron. I have enough to handle with the mage corps. Are you telling we are accompanied by a centurie?»

«Yes, we are. They are flying intercept out of sight. You need not worry about anything coming on us by surprise. But I will implement His Imperial Highness' instructions nonetheless. Simply, there will be more asleep, and more in the air than what you planned.»

Harold burned red with embarrassment at the title. He turned to Alaric, and decided to comment. «During a military expedition, Alaric, I go by Legate, which is Supreme Commander of the Legions. Keep that in mind.»

«Let's land and wait for daybreak. Alaric, you have the command until matins, Sitar until prime. I will take over at prime to begin the search for the port with Samson,» decided Paschal.

«Thorsten, Harp, set camp for all.»

«Yes, Your Imperial Highness!» replied, mockingly, the two boys. The boys had barely begun laughing their asses off at Harold's face they found themselves dunked in the Atlantic, and rematerialized, all wet, and still in their dragon form right in midflight.

«See who has the last laugh, boys?»

«I wish I could shift shape too. It seems to be so much fun!»

«Do not worry Alaric; you will have your turn. We have mated with our bonded, and there are over six hundred eggs incubating in the Dragons' Nest at present. In two years, when they hatch, you will have first pick.»

«That is nice of you to think of me, Prince Harp. But isn't that a lot of dragons?»

«Actually, no, there are one hundred and sixty-three mating pairs, and each pair produced an average of four eggs each. We had hoped for twice that number. But it is still slightly above the last production. Remember, we had seventy-five adult dragons producing eighty-eight dragonlings, slightly above two dragonlings per pair. In fact the Gold dragon pair produced five out of the eighty-eight, well above the average, but quite a few mating pairs did not produce any eggs. This number of eggs is pretty good, but if we are to really get the population of dragons off the ground, the rate must at least triple.»

«Why is the dragons' reproduction so low?»

«First, size; second, lack of food, at least for the grandparents; third, nesting space issues. We have constructed a nest site fit for the dragons, with enough space for at least thirty-six hatchlings occupying the space. That is the advantage of tessaracts. It will take time for the dragons to recover their fertility levels. The parents of our bonded are still at the around two per pair. Our bonded account for about six eggs a pair. We hope that the rate will reach thirty eggs a pair per reproductive cycle.»

«That seems to be a lot. Aren't you afraid it will stress the food stock?»

«Alaric, we use magic to feed our dragons. You have been gaining magic slowly, and it will be very handy in producing the meat requirements of your dragonling in two year's time.»

«And do not forget you will need to teach it how to fly,» added Paschal.

«There is something that tickles me. You said you mated with your bonded?»

«Yes, we not only become dragons, but change sex to insure a proper exchange of genes. They too can do the same when they transform into our form, or any other form for that matter. I have mated with my bonded, and quite a few wolves and equines since I've learned the capacity to transform. I even mated with Thorsten, but we didn't bother changing sex since we didn't want to carry child in these instances. We could have, either of us, but given the impact of carrying child for nine months on our ability to fight, we preferred delaying this.»

«Isn't that... gay?»

«It sure is fun! Anyway, I am not ready to raise child other than wolf, equine or dragonling. And as far as dragonling is concerned, you will have to raise your bonded. And mate with it, when the time comes. We must insure the maximum genetic diversity, and that is the only way we can. Their numbers are too low.»

«Prince Harp, all I can say is I'm beyond shocked.»

«I understand your mental set, Alaric. But remember the rules of life; it is by maximizing diversity that it survives. We are merely following its rules. We are bonded to the dragonlings at their birth, and it's much like arranged marriages. But be aware that bonding to a dragon will not hinder mating with a female of the elves or the humans, or for that matter, any other of our allies. Once you acquire the capacity to shift shape, you can mate with all our allied species. It is only by this means that shape shifting shall spread.»

«Harp's right, Alaric. Our goal is to allow all life to shift shape and mate. That means there must be a considerable increase in dragon population. Maybe not one on one for each individual species member, but nonetheless a considerable increase. After all, Ian's bonded, Typhoon, gave us the ability to shift shape in the Pyramids, all seven of us.»

«Are you telling me that Ian mated? He's barely four!»

«He is four in his human form. He has attained mating capacity in his dragon, wolf and horse form. He probably fathered a few dozen pups already, a yearling or two as stallion, and I have no doubt he has also mated with that cute zebra female he is courting or that female Pegasus or that brown Unicorn female he keeps bringing carrots to. He has been looking at a nice young female Centaur lately, probably waiting on her to be ready.»

«I had heard that princes were always ready to do the deed, but Ian seems to be hot to trot!»

«He is doing what must, Alaric. My son is bonding all our allies to the Crown in the best and most effective way possible. The bond of blood and magic.»

***

The next morning, at prime, the royals moved to explore the sea from above. Unfortunately. The water was murky, and visibility considerably reduced. The wind was also picking up, as a tropical depression was nearing their location.

«I see we have no choice but to split. Those that cannot take dragon form, land back on the island. All the others join us below the waves. Let's head to the sea bottom. The Spiders have held station along the Royal Causeway, keeping predators at bay. Alaric, you will be a hundred legionnaires stranded on the island while we are underwater. Set up a defensive position on that mound we see facing the sea. Dig yourself in, the weather won't be improving!»

«Yes, Legate!»

As the legionnaires began digging themselves in for the upcoming storm, the dragons slipped under the waves to join the Spiders. The progress within the Narrows that separated the islands was difficult, and the topology had changed considerably since the Atlanteans had last navigated these waters. Nonetheless, the Spiders could hold their own against the shifting and violent currents, and the dragons, albeit disadvantaged by their size, managed to fly underwater, much like penguins.

The dragons descended to the bottom and began walking on it, following the signature of the Causeway hidden well below the sea floor. After three hours of difficult progress, they left the Grand Turk Rise and engaged across the deep canyon separating it from East Caicos. The tide was coming in from the Atlantic, creating strong currents at the bottom, which pushed the dragons further into the Narrows. The flow was well over eighty miles per hour at the midsection, making holding a line almost impossible.

«Let's swim across! We cannot hold position on the ground.» ordered Paschal.

The swim was a terrible ordeal, as water tried to smash them against the cliffs that marked the sea gorge's side. The seven-mile crossing took an hour, as each tried to prevent triggering a landslide.

«How deep is that passage?»

«It is four thousand four hundred feet, Sitar.»

«I wonder how we managed to build pillars that deep?»

«Well, remove six hundred feet of water that shortens them to three thousand eight hundred feet to reach the bottom. But they were seated a hundred feet below the bottom of the time. And let's not forget that the sea bottom was lower too, so my shortening the length of the pillars is only to stop you from dropping your jaws to the bottom!»

«Right! That is ridiculous, Paschal. How?»

«I was not there during the assembly of the causeway, but I saw scrolls describing its construction. Apparently they floated sections of fifty feet in length, raised them, and then screwed them together. As each section was added, the previous ones sank down. They kept the pillars rotating at high speed to stabilise them against the currents. The bottom segment was a full hundred feet in length, and tapered at its top in an inverted cone. When it reached the sea bottom, the segment drilled its way in the sediments, until the cone brought it to a stop. They then filled the inner part of the pillars with volcanic ash mixed with a binding element, slime, adding rocks and sand, creating a durable cement that would heat and expand as it cured, pushing itself in all the crannies and other construction defects. The presence of water also helped the process as it contributed oxygen and hydrogen to bind the elements together. The causeway itself was fifty feet above the sea, and regularly, during storms, waves washed over. It was designed to drain almost instantly by numerous narrow openings at the side of the rail guard or directly in the causeway's deck. You could see the sea below it if you walked the causeway. I heard quite a few people were scared. The centre sidewalk allowed for foot travel, but few used it. I visited the causeway once, and it constantly vibrated from the pressure of the water on the pillars or the wind blowing across its topmost structure. It emitted a low, audible sound, the Music of the Seas, which could be heard for miles from anywhere in the Antilles.»

«It is said that the Dragons came to mate within sight of the Causeway, my prince,» commented the Gold Dragon King. «Its loss is remembered as the greatest tragedy in the history of dragon kind.»

«It is also remembered in the Songs of the Whales that came to feed and mate below the waves. I remember that from my own ordeal in the Pyramids to bind with my dragonling,» added Samson. «We never understood why so many whales came to mate in these waters when we were living under Atlantis II. It took my changing to a dolphin in my ordeal to access their store of communal knowledge. So much was lost.»

The crossing completed, the search party resumed its progress along the causeway's path. An hour later the first signs of what had been began to appear to the Spiders' sensors, Then, suddenly, what had been sparse buildings exploded in a settlement of major importance. The magic revealed a crisscross pattern of straight lines, and, as they moved ever further, a more disorganized, yet beautiful arrangement of what once were streets and wide avenues. But they also showed that tremendous forces had ravaged the city, as the tall walls lay flattened, pushed in by the impact of giant waves. The destruction followed a pattern that proved the assault had come from the sea itself, except for an occasional rather small crater, since then filled by sediment. Houses, buildings, everything seemed to have been uprooted and moved in a common direction.

As the royal party examined the magic signature of the buried settlement, they realised that the reflux of the successive tidal waves had progressively eaten away at the underlying strata, undermining what could have withstood the onslaught. Huge ravines had been scraped out of the streets that descended from the palatial hill, and the buildings that could have held collapsed in them, suddenly deprived of solid support. The palace defensive walls had collapsed into a deep trench, taking with them a good part of the inner city's structures.

«Well, I doubt there is much we can recover here.»

«We already knew that. I was hoping for more, Samson.»

«Let's continue exploring the city. I have a feeling something is waiting for us,» replied Thorsten.

«Dad, Thorsten's intuition is remarkable. If he says he feels something is out there, believe him,» Harp replied.

«Aren't you sure it's not love and wishful thinking talking there?»

«I can vouch for Thorsten's intuitive capability, dad,» replied Sitar, sounding very serious even across the telepathic link.

«Ok, I am not about to disregard your recommendations any time soon!»

The search pattern focussed first around the port, but all they could see were the docks, and ships that had been smashed like wet cardboard against the city walls. They progressed further, looking, dismayed, at the signatures of long structures, what was left of the city stores and warehouses. Further inland, the commercial district and its many open plazas were thousands used to shop were visible, encircled by sediment-filled holes where shopkeepers stored their goods before presenting them to customers. Between the commercial district and the base of the palatial hill were the residues of homes of good quality, as indicated by the size of their basement.

«If I remember, this is where the merchants' homes stood. Workers and labourers' housing were located further along the port, slightly out of the way. Like any city, the seedy part was nearer the docks.»

«This is a recurrent pattern, Samson,» replied Harold.

The search progressed further up the palatial hill. Even if the sea had gouged it, the construction pattern was still detectable, as the holes that used to hold the buildings grew ever bigger.

«That is the where lived the collection of useless administrative staff that gravitate around any government,» informed Samson.

«Oh yes, do we know that! I always noticed that as one climbs the ladder, one tends to want to go uphill, just to be seen from everyone below and give the impression to dominate everyone else!»

«Oh well, Enron, I think they believe that going uphill brings them closer to god. Somehow, I think it either deprives them of oxygen or puts them right where they belong, in the putrid smell of their own mismanagement!»

«Thorsten, is that a way to talk for a king?» asked, amused, Enron.

«Remind me one more time, and I'll shove my crown up yours!»

It took another hour of careful exploration to reach what was left of the original palace, now located on a reduced and stiff piton. The magical signature clearly indicated it had survived because it was a magmatic extrusion on which the core palace itself had been constructed. Everything else of more fragile nature had either fallen down to fill in the washed-out mountainside, or had gradually been eaten away by the giant landslides that had followed the withdrawal of the tidal waves. The rising sea had then completed the filling, as erosion carried sediments and deposited them into the cavity until it filled up.

«Thorsten? Do you have any more intuition?»

«Oh yes, oh sardonic Liege Lord. I feel there is something below, and it's not that deep. I think it is at the top of that natural pillar.»

«At the core of what was once the palace?» asked, wonder-stuck, Samson.

«Yes, if that is where it stood.»

«Let's refine the sensor grid. I'm bringing in a dozen Spiders. The closer they are, the finer the details we get.»

As the Spiders were placed in a circle around the designated area, a clearer picture emerged of what lay below the sediments. The royals could see that some buildings were still showing standing walls, but nothing seemed to stand out.

«Maybe it was already below the palace?» wondered Thorsten. «How was it structured?»

«Let's see, my apartments were above ground, in the tower whose bases we can see there. The palace hall was to the left, and has taken a nosedive in the collapse of the mountain. The core of the palace was a defence courtyard, with barracks. Below the courtyard, out of sight, was the Strategy room, whose arcs we still can see in the form of these long shadows. I'm rather impressed they withstood time. Below that, there was the Library and the Treasure Room. And...»

Suddenly, Samson stopped talking, looking at Thorsten with wide eyes.

«And?» asked Thorsten.

«We had a store of weapons. But that's not what is bugging me! Something is tugging on my memory, but even if my life depended on it, I can't access it! Oh, the frustration of piecemeal memory!»

«Paschal, do you think we could?»

«Dig the mud out? Be realistic, Thorsten, there is a good one hundred feet of mud! We aren't talking about consolidated stone here, but of rather unstable, almost liquid deposits!»

«I don't know what I am feeling, Paschal, but I know it is important. Can we fine-tune the grid even more, and try to see what lies below the Strategy Room? It's ringing so much in my head I'm having a headache!»

«Ok, Thorsten, I'm calling in another dozen Spiders.»

«I would prefer another hundred, if you don't mind? It's not to complete the circle but more to create a slanted image below what we currently see. And that will require the dispersal of the Spiders in specific locations further away to create a very precise interference pattern.»

«I see where you are going with this, Thorsten. Well, here goes, I'm calling back about three thousand Spiders to our location, and as they close on us, you and I will put them where we want and anchor them in place to create what we need.»

«Thanks.»

«Thorsten, there is no need to thank me. If you feel this is necessary, then it is!»

It took the next four days to arrange the Spiders properly. Harold and Samson decided to return to Thebes to do some kingdom management before flying became totally impossible. On the surface, the weather actually had taken a turn for the worse, and a Force One hurricane was passing overhead. It would gain force in the Gulf, and reach a Force Three level before petering off on the coast of Belize, taking the Minotaur and Edward by surprise, and cornering both in trees for days as the rains flooded the terrain, preventing any displacement.

***

At first, the analysis of the pattern did not reveal much, but Harp finally noticed that the structures under the Strategy Room were still intact. He wondered about this and consulted with Thorsten.

«I wonder if they are really intact or filled with mud?»

«I can't tell with the pattern. Let's talk to the others. Maybe they might have a suggestion to garner the information we need.»

The two boys took their problem to the others, and Paschal looked pensive.

«I may have a solution to your problem. I read somewhere that the Ancients used sound to examine what lay below the surface. They placed a grid of detectors, that they called seismographs, and, from the interference patterns, could see what was below.»

«That is similar to what we do.»

«This is not exactly true Harp. Our method is static, and is based on the disturbance of the magic field caused by constructions. Their method is dynamic and uses the fact that sound propagates at different speeds through different materials.»

«What does this change give?»

«Well, you need to know if the Library and Treasure room are filled with mud. If they are, the walls of the building will speed up the propagation of sound; the sound will be slowed down by air pockets; and be of a relatively stable velocity in the mud. If only we had ways of creating powerful sounds.»

«Would powerful explosives be of use?» asked Thorsten. «I never did cancel the order for several thousand tons of high-yield explosives we thought we might need during the extraction of stuff from under the pyramid. They are stored in a series of small pockets of safe storerooms under Thebes now, since we moved Eloise.»

«Would they work under water?»

«Oh yes, they would! We regularly needed to mine stuff in flooded tunnels.»

«Well, Thorsten, we will go to Thebes and collect several tons of these marvellous chemicals. Are they easily transported or are they unstable?»

«The product, cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine, is very stable, as long as it is not in contact with the detonator, which is a lot more unstable. We keep the two separate until we need to put them together, at the last possible moment.»

«What a jawbreaker!» exclaimed Paschal.

«Chemistry is well known for names that could compete with the German language for long words!»

«Ok. The next issue is building the sound detectors,» Sitar remarked.

«I have a ready-made solution. We use the Spiders' paws, which are already in place by the way, to detect vibrations. They are well distributed around the site we are interested in, and they have recording capability and all the necessary sensors.»

«Ok, Thorsten, lead the way! It's time we go collect the product of your talent with firecrackers!»

«Enron, this is no laughing matter! These explosives could reduce you to bloody pulp, magic or no magic!»

«Talking about magic, could it detonate the explosives by accident?»

«I don't think so, Sitar. We moved Eloise and its considerable reserve to Thebes by magic without a glitch. I am not saying it cannot be used to detonate the product, but you need to know how to trigger it, and we have been using rather wide-distributed magic. We can always test on a couple of explosive packs, once they are in place, before installing detonators.»

«You have a point. But I'm sure that dad will sleep better once he knows his bed is no longer sitting on top of a pile of explosives.»

«Samson or Diamondcutter never knew, and I intend to keep that out of their mind, Enron. Consider this a state secret!»

«What about Harold?»

«I am not about to keep that knowledge to myself, so yes, he knew. After all he is my Liege Lord!»

«Do you know you added a few tons to the weight of my crown, Thorsten?»

«Enron, this is the ransom of royalty. Deal with it! And I thought I added a few thousand tons to that weight!»

«Minus the few tons we will collect to do this task. How much will we need?»

«I will collect a hundred tons. That will not dent the quantity significantly. That should be enough.»

«Ok. Let's get back to camp with the information.»

«Just so you don't think of flying, Harp, the storm is just overhead, and covers several thousand square miles. I think we should swim up north along the coast and emerge on the Florida peninsula before considering any flying. Let's tell Alaric to keep watch and that we will be back in a few days.»

***

As the boys swam along the arc leading to the tip of Florida, they kept a quiet banter about the past events. As they passed by a weary megalodon, the discussion turned to ancient life forms that seemed to keep re-emerging in the environment.

«We have had to deal with a lot of supposedly extinct animals over the past few years.»

«This is quite true, Paschal. The resurgence of the megalodon is a case in point.»

«And let's not forget the trilobites, Enron.»

«I wonder how many other surprises await us? It sucks to be able to see the future but only in the form of outlines!»

«I like it that way, Harp. Otherwise, I would feel like I'm in a prison.»

«Anyway, Enron, we met some strange animals during our ordeal in the Pyramids, some of which should have been long gone!»

«Well, yes, but do you have a specific example in mind, Sitar?»

«Do you remember that huge beast we fought together, Thorsten?»

«Oh yes! The one you called an oversized chicken! Yes I remember it very well indeed!»

«I was on the dot with that comment. I did some research since we came out of the pyramids, and I found a book with a relatively good representation of the animal in question. The Ancients named it a Tyranosaurus Rex, the king of Tyrants.»

«I don't understand the reference?» asked Enron.

«Remember your lessons about evolution of life on earth that we got from our stay within the pyramids, Enron. The Tyranosaurus Rex had been gone for sixty-five million years give or take a few millions, when the Pyramids were built. Where did that one come from? And was it the only one around?»

«There you have me both baffled and scared, Sitar. We never did tell the Pyramid to dispose of all these monstrosities. Ian's instructions were rather specific: dispose of that corpse, if my memory is correct. There was nothing about others, except the spiders.»

«This is exactly my point, Thorsten. I think we need to revisit the Pyramid and clarify Ian's instructions.»

«Anyway, that leaves another issue unanswered.»

«And what question is that, Thorsten?» wondered Sitar.

«Where did the Pyramid find the Tyranosaurus Rex? They certainly do not grow on trees!»

«Thorsten's question is valid, Sitar. Do you have any idea? Whatever the power of the Pyramid, I can assure you it could not travel back in time.»

«I'm not thinking along actually travelling back in time, Paschal. But it had a lot of time to reverse engineer the Tyranosaurus Rex.»

«From what source?»

«From the birds it had in stock. Tyranosaurus Rex is a direct ancestor to birds. They carry exactly the same bone structure, including the wishbone. It had seventeen thousand years to study a wide collection of bird genes, and then reverse the evolutionary process to the Tyranosaurus Rex. I was right on the mark when I called it an oversized chicken! It had the time, the knowledge, and a one-track mind. Remember, the Ancients wanted to recreate vanished species, like the dodo bird, or the mammoth, but they blew themselves up before succeeding. The Pyramid was secure in its sarcophagus under the lake. That animal is, or better said, was, an example of directed devolution.»

«Devolution?»

«Reverse evolution, if you prefer, Enron.»

«Could we be sure the Pyramid did what you said?» asked Thorsten.

«Paschal?»

«I think so; everything each pyramid did is recorded in multiple copies within the pyramid's structure itself. The Conscience had access to the data, but could not change it; and there being redundancy, even if one copy got corrupted, the constant process of comparing the copies made sure any error was corrected. We were too busy to delve in the issues during our ordeal, but it is feasible to study the records.»

«How in hell can a Pyramid act as a recording machine?»

«That was the easiest part to conceive. The trick is each pyramid contains a considerable amount of iron. Changing the atomic structure of iron by adding a neutron does the storage of the information. Natural iron has a weight of fifty-six, which is considered the base value. If you add a neutron, it weights fifty-seven, but is still iron. And it is highly stable.»

«What about naturally occurring iron57?»

«Enron, if we can handle adding a neutron, we can also remove one! We cleansed up the iron contained in the pyramids of its excess neutrons to get a clean slate. As neutron bombardment of natural source, especially where the pyramids were set, is very rare, I was relatively assured that there would be little damage to the data over time. There are twenty copies of the data set within a Pyramid. It takes twenty-four hours to cycle through the entire data bank and ensure that all copies are identical. The chances that ten copies are affected in the same way at the same place by a stray particle are less than one chance in the lifetime of the Universe. Even the damage we did within the Pyramids did not affect their data.»

«Then I'd like to understand how they became crazy?»

«Oh, I would say programming error?»

«I have a better explanation then that!»

«And what is it, oh genius?» replied Paschal, as he looked at Harp sharply.

«Garbage in, garbage out!»

«You are lucky we are in dragon form, or I would torch your ass!»

***

The boys continued their swim to the tip of Florida, and emerged quickly to head toward Thebes. A few hours later, they arrived home and reported to Harold.

"So, you think there might be another one of these dinosaurs?"

"Yes, dad, we think so. The command given by Ian was too specific. I would have preferred he told the Pyramid to dispose of them."

"I do not agree. Yes they are dangerous, but they play their role in the balance of life within the Pyramid. We only need to make sure they are not called upon for ordeals. Recreating the dinosaurs has been the dream of the Ancients, and I can understand their fascination with them. Anyway, we may have use for them at some point!"

"What for?"

"Enron, these were formidable predators. Who says predator says war machine. And we have not found what is happening with the orcs on this continent. They have been way too quiet!"

"You have a point. Anyway, we are here to get some explosives so we can do some sound underwater. We are trying to find out what lies below the Strategy Room. Thorsten insists there is something, so we are trying to find out what."

"Ok. I won't hold you back any longer. Get moving. I'll visit the Pyramid myself to explain the issue to the artificial intelligence."

***

After picking up some of the explosives, the boys moved to the Field of Mars and began some tests. Since these were dwarven products, Thorsten explained their characteristics.

"Ok. Listen carefully. These packages weight about a pound each. They are very malleable. They resist to shock, but you have to be weary of static charges. Let me show you."

With that, Thorsten picked a brick of the plastic and dropped it on the ground, with no ill effect. He then took a bit of the chemical and moulded it into a tiny ball in his hands, measuring about a quarter of an inch in circumference.

"Let's move to that rock, sticking out of the ground."

The boys walked the distance and watched, interested, Thorsten put the little ball of explosive under the rock, in an almost invisible crevice.

"OK. Sitar, you have a package of detonators with you. Open it gently and give me one of them."

Sitar obliged, worried about his hands as he remembered the repeated warnings about the notorious instability of the detonator. Thorsten gently inserted the forked end of the detonator into the plastic, gently screwed the end of a roll of wires to the protruding connectors, and began to slowly back away from the rock.

"Don't forget the box of detonators, Sitar, and don't be that nervous; you stand a better chance of dropping out of nervousness then from the simple walk to the shelter there."

"You have a way of being reassuring!"

After walking over five hundred feet away, Thorsten put the roll of wires down, cut it off, and then placed the left-over roll near the box of detonator. He then walked to get a strange contraption, which he called the trigger.

"See, this thing produces an electrical charge when you press down on that lever by rubbing two pieces of metal against each other. The charge travels along the wire, and kick-starts a chemical reaction in the detonator, which is a lot more sensitive to it then the explosive itself. The detonator, by exploding within the ball of plastic, generates enough heat for the chain reaction to be triggered in the plastic and you end up with a much more violent reaction, as the components try to reach a lower state of energy by decomposing into simpler, more stable chemicals. The speed of the decomposition is what created the explosion, which is in two phases. The first phase, called the primary, pushes the incandescent gases outward with tremendous force, sucking out anything within and creating a void; the secondary explosion, much less powerful but nonetheless destructive, is when the void created by the primary explosion gets filled in by the matter around it; it is called the implosion. Does everyone follow?"

"Yes!" replied the others, fascinated by the whole concept.

"Ok. Everyone down, and put your hands over your head. There might be some rocks flying right to us."

Thorsten finished tying the last wire, closing the circuit, and gently pulled the lever up.

"Is everyone ready?"

Noticing that all his brothers were looking at the rock in the distance with trepidation, he pushed down on the lever violently creating a static charge that triggered the explosive. The rock shattered to bits and pieces, as a rain of debris fell back, away from the boys except for an occasional stray. The shock wave from the explosion swayed trees behind the boys, taking them by surprise. Yet the show was not finished. A mushroom cloud of dust rose from the hole that once contained the rock, as the boys saw bits and pieces of the aforementioned rock fall off near them. The ground shook violently under them.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Sitar with awe in his voice. "What a weapon that would make!"

"I think the Ancients used it for such a purpose. Let's go have a look at the result. I've not seen anything fall from the sky for twenty seconds!"

The boys stood up and followed Thorsten to the still smoking hole. Nothing was left of the rock. Instead, it was now replaced by a two-foot deep cavity in the basaltic lava.

"Well, now I believe you!" said Paschal.

"What do you believe me about?" asked a curious Thorsten.

"When you said you had the power to destroy mountains, while we were working under the Sphinx. One pound of that could do a lot of damage!"

"It sure can, Paschal. It sure can!"

"Ok. Thorsten we need to see if we can trigger this explosive without electricity. I want to see if we actually need detonators or if magic can be used to reach the same result. Can you prepare another test?"

"Certainly."

This time, Thorsten selected a big rock that had been a pain for horse training in the middle of the field, and put about half a pound of the plastic around its base.

"You sure hate that rock!"

"You would too after twisting a leg as a horse! I was doing some equine exercise with Yamato and I slipped. It's going!"

As everyone had experienced the rock's bad placement before, no one objected to Thorsten's comments.

"Notice how I place the plastic so its explosive force is directed downward and toward the centre of the rock. This time I want it to blow toward the east, and roll down that slope, not go up in pieces. We will have pieces, but we will be further away. Sitar, move the box of detonators to that bunker over at the far end of the field. We will be going to that other bunker. I do not want to be near the detonators when this goes off. A piece of rock falling on the box could detonate it."

Sitar gingerly moved the box to the hole indicated by Thorsten and decided to shield it with a proper magic field. The others moved to the other bunker, and slid on the ground, waiting for the arrival of the two busy boys. When everyone was sheltered, Thorsten looked at Sitar.

"I noticed the shimmer of a magic field. I hope it holds. If not, well, the detonators will exert their force downward and that could trigger more trouble than good."

"Oh. Hold on. I'm deactivating it!"

The force field vanished, much to the relief of Thorsten and the others.

"Ok. Harp, you have the best magical focus of all of us, except Ian. I want you to visualize the structure of the plastic explosive at the molecular level. Notice these rings of nitrogen atoms? These are very stressed and store a lot of energy. If you release a good number of them, it should be enough to trigger the explosion."

Harp focussed on the rings, and gripping a few thousand of them with his mind, broke the chemical bonds. The result was a formidable explosion that resonated wide and far amongst the buildings of Thebes, raising the alarm. The poor rock flew off the ground and landed fifty feet away before rolling down the slope and coming to a stop. Some pieces of rock hit the boys' bunker, but nothing else unwanted occurred... for a few seconds. Then a terrible explosion occurred in the secondary bunker, as the box of detonators exploded, destroying the bunker itself.

"It's a good idea you told me to remove the shield. That kind of explosion would have resonated right to the magical core, with unexpected results!"

As the boys emerged from their bunker they noticed quite a few alarmed people running toward the field.

"What happened?" asked a panicked Diamondcutter.

"Nothing much."

"Nothing much? I was taking my morning meal when it decided to fly off the table!"

"Cut it out! You were clumsy, Diamondcutter, admit it! Old age does that, you know!"

"Sitar, you are lucky you are my liege lord!"

"Anyway, dad, we tested some explosives. I decided to get rid of that pain in the butt rock that pisses off everyone in the training field. Now we can safely run without twisting our ankles."

Harold had decided to have a look at the result and was impressed.

"All this without magic?"

"Actually, we used magic. We used it to trigger the explosion, well Harp did. We need to practice some more and gauge the power. I, for one, am not ready to be underwater when that kind of explosion occurs. It must be rather unhealthy, even for dragons!"

"You have a point, Paschal."

"How much did you use?"

"About half a pound."

"Half a pound created that explosion? Damn! Ok, boys, go have fun with your explosives... outside the kingdom! I suggest you do some underwater tests far from what you want to scan with the sound waves. Otherwise it might have the effect of destroying what you are looking for."

"That's a good idea! And maybe I'll have the chance to eat my breakfast in peace."

"Or is it in pieces?"

"You are as bad as your sons, Harold! Do you specialize in bad puns?"

"Family is family!"