The Menagerie 2 (Eden) (23 page)

She held her fisted hand up. “Is that what you think these are? Scepters of rule?”

“It’s exactly what they are.”

“I see something different,” she told him. “Do you want to know what I see?”

He remained quiet.

“I see the applications for clean forms of energy efficiency. I see wonderful strides in medicine. I see all kinds of uses to benefit us as a whole. But you only see uses for weaponry and intimidation.”

“Don’t be so naïve, Ms. Moore, to believe that we are unique in our endeavors. Every political leader on this planet is looking for the next
great
thing to elevate them to an untouchable level of power.”

“So what you’re saying is that I’m so far removed from the human condition by believing that the benefits provided on these drives are shared collectively worldwide for military dominance rather than the applications I proposed?” 

“People by nature are complacent, Ms. Moore. They go to bed at night believing that they’re going to wake up the next morning feeling safe. And people like me make them feel safe because of the military might we exercise over others.” He offered his open palm to her. “We are what we are,” he added. “It’s in our blood to look toward domination by intimidation—with it being the human condition and all.”

“I like to believe better.”

“Then you are naïve,” he said. “Now please, hand over the drives.”

She looked at her fisted hand. “A lot of people died for this information,” she said. “More than forty, I believe. People with families—good people, decent people with great minds, people who could have aided us—are all dead. So much for making them feel safe at night.”

“Let’s get one thing straight,” he stated briskly. “Certain sacrifices have to be made to ensure the safety of this country. And if we need to suck the life out of a few in order to maintain the security of the many, then it’s worth it.”

“Is that what you think?”

“I’m a patriot, Ms. Moore, right down to the very core of my essence.”

“So was O’Connell.”

“O’Connell died for his country,” he returned with indifference.

“Does the president know that you sanctioned the killing of more than forty people?”

He sighed. “The president knows only what he needs to know. If he sees progress without the knowledge of the dirty deeds behind them, then he’s satisfied.”

“So that would be a resounding ‘no.’”

Another sigh. McCord was becoming exasperated. “Please, Ms. Moore, be a good patriot and hand over those drives.”

“And then what? You’ll have us killed for the security of the nation?”

He nodded. “Not necessary,” he told her. “In my world I needed a skilled cryptanalyst to decipher the ancient texts. And you were it. But in the real world you’re nothing more than tabloid fodder. After your claims of allegedly finding Eden and the discoveries within, you’ve made yourself out to be someone clinically certifiable in the eyes of the public media. Should you say anything about this, then the government would deny everything, obviously. Your claims would once again become the subject of tabloid headlines. And should that happen, then you would never be funded by any independent organization for future endeavors because no one will take you seriously.”

Savage considered McCord to be spot on.

“We washed away all traces of correspondence with you,” he added. “You know that, don’t you?”

“So I’ve been told.” 

“Now I won’t ask you again, Ms. Moore. Please hand over those flash drives.”

She continued to grip them with white-knuckle intensity.

“Hand me the flash drives and walk away. Once you do, then we will never see each other again. You go on your merry way. And I go on mine. Do we have a deal?”

She hesitated for a long moment before speaking. “Do you really believe that the information on these drives provide us with an advantage? That applying this strictly to military treatment is optimum?”

“Yes.”

“If that’s the case,” she said, “then
we’re
not ready.” She tossed the flash drives into the water, where they floated for a brief moment, then sunk to the bottom of the peninsula.

McCord leaned over the railing, his mouth distended in disbelief, his eyes trailing the flash drives until he could see them no more. When he stood upright his face was drum-skin tight, as he fought for calm. He refused to look at her. “Well, Ms. Moore, if you ever had proof of what lie below, it is now certainly gone forever. You have no idea what you’ve just done.”

“I believe she saved us,” said Savage.

McCord let the muscles at the back of his jaw work a moment before releasing his grip on the railing. McCord, without adding anything further, fell back a couple of steps and headed for his quarters.

They never saw him again.

EPILOGUE

After John and Alyssa gave a summation of events to American and Mexican authorities, and once it was confirmed by satellite imagery that the anomaly was no longer at its coordinates but seated five miles at the bottom of the peninsula and covered by tons of debris, the operation was cancelled, the Mexican and American navies breaking off to other ports and regions.

“I was surprised to see you toss the flash drives overboard,” said Savage.

They were leaning against the railing watching the seascape pass by as the ship headed to port. A light breeze coursed through their hair and brushed against their skin.

Alyssa had a calm, almost peaceful look about her. “That’s because we’re not ready,” she finally said.

“I know.”

They watched the sea in silence, both enjoying the moment and the serenity that came with it.

And then she looked at the canopy of stars, at the infinite number of them. “Did you see its eyes?”

Savage turned to her. “Whose?”

“The creature that saved your life.”

“No.” He turned back to view to the sea.

“Although it was dark,” she said softly, her eyes facing skyward, “I could still see its sadness, an unbearable sadness. But I’m not sure if it was troubled by the fact that its life was about to end . . . or because it felt sorry for us. In the end it gave us a chance, though. Didn’t it?”

“No doubt about it.”

“You know what I think?” she said rhetorically. “I think it felt sorry for us as a whole, as a race. I so wanted to know more. But when I closed that door I felt a horrible pang of betrayal. It was saving our lives but I shut it out.”

“It gave us a chance to survive.”

“But why?”

He shrugged.

“Is it because it believed in us?”

“Perhaps.”

“What did it see, then?”

He turned to her. “That’s something we’ll never know. But if that’s the case, then you passed the first test by tossing those flash drives into the sea. You were right when you said that we weren’t ready. We’re not. When there are more people like you in the world and less like the McCords and the Whitakers, then that’s when we’ll be ready.”

She leaned into him, into his corralling embrace, watching the stars. “We were never alone. But something still intrigues me.”

“Yeah. What’s that?”

“The upside down Ankh.”

“What about it?”

“The symbols along the crossbar read ALL LIFE UNDER ONE. I couldn’t interpret the text along the vertical bar, I didn’t have the opportunity, but I’m sure it gave the answer.”

“To what?”

“As to whom the
One
is.”

They remained silent for awhile, enjoying the moment in each other’s hold and the cool caress of a mild breeze.

“But I did figure something else,” she said.

“And what’s that?”

“The upside down Ankh. Right side up it means life after life or life after death. But upside down it takes on the meaning of ‘the key to life,’ with the teardrop doorway symbolic of the womb. I couldn’t understand it until now.”

Savage looked at her, waiting.

“The key to life, that doorway, led to the Menagerie.” She met his eyes. “Don’t you see? That ship truly was an ark. It was collecting forms of life from all over to reseed the universe. The key to life.” She turned to face the stars. “But one mystery still remains.” she said.

“And that would be?”

“All Life Under One. I need to know what that means. I’m sure the answers were on the Ankh’s framework. I just needed more time.”

And then from Savage: “It’s a big world out there,” he said, “with lots of mysteries and lots of places. If the answer’s out there, we’ll find it.”

“Do you believe McCord when he says that we don’t pose a threat?”

“I do,” he answered. “Everything he said was true. Your admission to finding Eden and the answers of what we discovered inside raised a lot of consternation, especially after you buried the one piece of evidence that would have supported your claim. If you profess to anyone as to what happened here, I believe McCord would use it against you and brand you as a scientific fraud with the media outlets. The fallout would be so critical that it would destroy your credibility. If we keep our mouths shut, then we still have the ability to move forward.”

“But we’re broke, financially.”

“There’re always opportunities,” he said. “Always.”

Below them, beneath the water’s surface, lights began to sparkle in starling assortment of colors in blends of reds and blues and greens. They were everywhere, a large mass moving with obvious life.

John and Alyssa moved away from the railing, their mouths dropping, the feeling of serenity gone.

The mass was moving closer to the ship.

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” A seaman took up beside them. “I think bioluminescent jellyfish are the most fascinating of all creatures.”

They looked at the seaman with incredulity.
Of course!

And then they broke out with raucous laughter. The seaman then walked away with a perplexed look of his own. “Yeah, well, you two have a good night.” He walked away shaking his head.
Landlubbers
.

After they regained themselves, they leaned against the railing and admired the colorful blooms of jellyfish as they passed beneath the vessel.

“We were thinking the same thing, weren’t we?” she asked.

He nodded. “The Mist.”

And then they broke, again, the shared laughter good.

When the moment passed, they embraced each other and looked upon the other with mutual adoration. With the back of her hand she caressed his face, her touch as soft as silk as she traced them gently over his contusions. “You need to get these looked at,” she said, her hand making another sweep. “You look a little beat up.”

He laughed. “But I like it,” he returned. “It makes me look tough.”

“Whatever.” She then lay her head against his chest, could hear the wonderful measure of a strong heartbeat, the type of rhythm that says that he will live a long and healthy life. She closed her eyes. And then: “The answers to so many questions are out there,” she said softly, like a person on the edge of sleep. “I need to know them.”

He ran his hand lovingly through her hair. “I promise you . . . we will.”

She opened her eyes, gently lifted her head, and looked deep into the night sky.

So many mysteries, she thought. And in a world where science and religion were becoming greatly divided from one another, she considered the possible meaning of a single line:

ALL LIFE UNDER ONE

Perhaps God wasn’t global after all, she thought.

Maybe He’s universal
.

Closing her eyes at such a thought, she smiled.

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