Sounds of the Forgotten Read online

  Aarik’s jaw dropped at the amount of money, stunning him to silence.

  Mr. Jones smiled at Aarik’s reaction and said, “Still got your interest, Dr. Landon?”

  “Did I hear you correctly? Six figures?” muttered Aarik.

  “Yes, you did. To ensure your loyalty of course,” Mr. Thomas stated matter-of-factly.

  “Where do I sign? Not to sound too eager, but I can start right away!” Aarik said with excitement.

  “I happen to have the document with me, but I must insist we go somewhere more private to review it,” said Mr. Thomas, as he patted his suit jacket pocket.

  “Follow me, Dr. Landon. We have just the place,” interjected Mr. Jones, as he left the stage expecting him to follow.

  Aarik trailed behind the men in black in a daze until they approached a black utility van that revealed itself to be no ordinary vehicle. Jones entered first while Thomas grabbed the door and motioned with his right hand for Aarik to go next, before he followed him in and locked the door behind him. The interior was set up as a field surveillance van, with monitors and gadgets lining the walls. Another black-suited man, wearing headphones leaned back in his chair and flashed Aarik a devious smile when he entered. Thomas pulled a folded document from his jacket and laid it out on the desk.

  “Please, have a seat,” Jones said and pointed to the only available chair left. “On the table next to you is the non-disclosure contract we spoke of earlier. It will need to be signed before we can proceed.”

  Aarik scribbled his name quickly on the dotted line and swiveled back around, looking at them in anticipation.

  Thomas leaned forward and handed Aarik a thick envelope. Leaning back, he steepled his fingers and waited for Aarik to proceed. Consumed with curiosity, Aarik ripped open the envelope and pulled out the thick document with vigor. Scanning the first page, he looked up at Thomas in surprise.

  United States of America

  Department of Homeland Security

  Division of Antiquities

  T.O.P. S.E.C.R.E.T

  Project W.E.S.T

  World Energy System of Transportation

  Recreating Anti-Gravitational Technology from Ancient Civilizations

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” he exclaimed.

  “This is no joke, Dr. Landon. Please read on. Time is of the essence,” replied Jones solemnly.

  Aarik poured over the document and wondered if he was dreaming. Midway through, he gasped in surprise when photos of an undisclosed cave showed writing on the wall that matched the writing of his medallion. “Wow, where did you find this at?” he inquired flippantly, not wanting to seem too interested.

  “Not something we are willing to disclose yet, I’m afraid. Show us you’re loyal and perhaps that will change. Needless to say, sites have been found that indicate an ancient race traveled the world using technology that we lost after the biblical flood. The last site had documents that talked about the existence of a capital city located in North America before the devastation. Our director, Madeline Sorr, expects you to find it,” replied Jones.

  “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but why do you need me? Obviously, you already have an archaeologist in your employment, why not use that person again?” Aarik asked in bewilderment.

  “Unfortunately, Dr. Khara was found dead in his hotel room yesterday morning. He was supposed to meet with the old hermit to negotiate a purchase but never made the appointment. A philanthropist billionaire talked the old man into leasing the land instead for a better profit which allowed more than one outfit to work the land. We need you to get in there first and make sure that if anything is found you report it directly to us,” Thomas said in a somber voice.

  Aarik cleared his throat and said, “This job will either make me or break me, gentleman. I’d like to pick my crew, if you don’t mind?”

  “The majority of your team will be employees hand selected by us of course, but you can pick an assistant,” stated Thomas.

  “I need two; an assistant and a cook. I’ll pay for the chef myself if necessary,” responded Aarik hopefully.

  “Fine, no need for you to pay, but whoever it is must pass a background check,” replied Jones with a smile.

  “Deal. I’ll wrap up everything here and head north. It shouldn’t take me more than a couple of weeks,” Aarik said, as he stood up to leave.

  “Not soon enough, I’m afraid. You have one week, Dr. Landon,” Thomas said, as he opened the door and ushered Aarik out. “Best of luck.”

  Aarik waited until the van pulled away before he leaped into the air and pumped his fists in victory. He patted the medallion once again under his shirt and rushed to meet his uncle at their favorite restaurant.

  Chapter Two

  Kiya

  Kiya yawned and drummed her thumbs on the steering wheel to the beat of the music blaring from the radio of her trusty 1994 Honda Accord. After so many miles of hit and miss stations, the familiar channel was a blessing to her ears. The car was a gift from her grandpa the day before she left for college, knowing full well his lessons would not be forgotten when it came to the maintenance of his first brand new car he bought from a dealership. She proudly continued the upkeep, realizing the car would last years and she loved working on it.

  Kiya questioned her sanity after deciding that driving 28 hours straight in said car was a brilliant idea. It was a 1,886 mile drive from Eastern Illinois University, home of Billy the Panther, to her childhood home in Ford, Washington. She wanted to deny the fact that driving straight through had everything to do with money, but her lease had run out the week before graduation and she couldn’t afford to pay another full month’s rent. Instead, Kiya couch hopped from friend to friend until graduation day. Moments after she defended her thesis on ancient acoustic levitation to a panel of judges, she slid into her completely packed car and thanked the gods that it was over.

  Her topic of study was not widely popular in the scientific world and many considered her research to be something out of science fiction books. Most of her colleagues believed manual methods were used in the construction of the pyramids and couldn’t fathom her need to question it. They latched onto the bottle-fed theory that slaves used ropes to pull the stones across logs and up ramps to build the massive pyramids, frustrating Kiya, who strived to keep an open mind. She argued the laborious method of dragging or rolling heavy stones was indeed possible, but those methods could not explain the construction of other ancient sites; like Saksaywaman near Cuzco, Peru, or the tens of thousands of megalithic stone structures, known as dolmens, found in multiple geographic regions across the globe.

  The ancient stones at Saksaywaman were cut with such precision that not even a sheet of paper could pass between them. The stones locked together like a 3D puzzle and, as a child, Kiya always imagined how the stones floated into place like falling Tetris pieces from the sky using a form of technology lost to mankind, which she hoped to uncover. Dolmens, which literally translated to stone tabletops in the Breton language, ranged in popularity from the well-known Stonehenge, to the less popular Poulnabrone portal dolmen in Clare County, Ireland. The majority of dolmens, which looked like the symbol of Pi, were distributed globally and were far less elaborate, but weighed tons nonetheless. They couldn’t possibly have been built using ramps, but none of Kiya's colleagues could see that.

  Kiya Brown’s upbringing was unconventional, to say the least, and played a large role in shaping her decisions throughout her studies. She was descended from a strong line of Native American Women who believed in the Mother Earth who, when shown respect, would bestow on her believers’ unimaginable powers.

  These powers would move objects with sound and grant the ever-loving gift of healing through astral vibration. The stories were passed down through the many generations, but only the gift of healing was still practiced and taught to the female children of her family. When Kiya was younger, she often questioned her grandmother about the lost gift the stories spoke of. She thought that
if one of them were true there would be no reason the other gift couldn’t be true as well. Her grandmother always replied the same way, “Child, it’s not lost. Just waiting for you to uncover it, silly goose.”

  Having never known her parents, fond memories of Kiya’s grandma and grandpa brought tears to her eyes as she pulled into the driveway of her childhood home. Kiya’s mother died during childbirth, never having told her grandparents who her father was. Her grandmother reminded her daily of how much she looked just like her mom, with her jet-black, straight as a board, long hair and hazel brown eyes that changed with her moods. She always used to say “Kiya’s mystery dad must have been tall”, because her towering height of 5’8”, didn’t come from their side of the family.

  As usual, Grandma Tashina seemed to sense Kiya’s arrival and was waiting in her rocking chair with fresh lemonade on the wraparound porch of the family home. Kiya hadn’t been home since the day of her Grandpa’s funeral a year after she left for college. She noticed the peeling paint as she ascended the squeaky porch steps, making a mental note to check the garage for any leftover paint, and the hammer and nails, later. Grandma’s hair had completed the transformation to full white over the last three years and was up in her habitual braid slung over her left shoulder. Adorned in her favorite butterfly dress and apron, her grandma poured a second glass of lemonade and handed the glass to Kiya.

  “Welcome home, dear. I must be getting old. I nearly misjudged the time and made this drink a tad early. Nothing worse than watered down lemonade in my opinion. Don’t you think?” Grandma winked and gulped down her drink. She wiped her lips and scowled at Kiya over her reading glasses before she said, “Why the long face? I promise it’s not too sweet.”

  “I’m sure it’s perfect, Grams. I suppose the long drive is catching up to me.”

  “Nonsense! When I was your age staying up for two days straight was child’s play. You would think after all those college cramming sessions, you’d be a pro.” Grandma Tashina raised her eyebrows above the rim of her glasses and said, “Now tell me the real reason for the long face.”

  “I should have known not to try to get anything past you.” Kiya shook her head, chugged her lemonade and looked out over the property. “To be honest, Grams, after years of the same horrendous routine, I’m worried that I won’t have enough to do. I’m afraid that all my hard work will never pay off and I’ll be forced to work a menial job just to support myself!” Kiya took a breath and whispered, “But mostly, I’m terrified that no one will take my work seriously.”

  Grandma pushed herself up from the rocker with slow but sure movements and placed her left hand on her hip when she finished standing. She pointed to Kiya and said, “From the day of your birth, you have been nothing but ahead of the times, just waiting for others to catch up. There will come a day, Kiya, that you will seize your destiny and lead future generations with your knowledge. Those same people that mocked you in the past will seek your approval in the future. You mark my words, child.” Gentling her expressions, she opened her arms.

  Kiya wasted no time moving into her grandmother’s open arms. She crouched down to her grandmother’s height and was smothered in her familiar loving embrace. “Sleep on it, Kiya, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. You might be surprised with what it has in store for you.”

  Kiya blinked away the tears and agreed with her grandma that sleep sounded divine. “Thank you, Grams. A nap sounds wonderful.” She trudged through the house and up the stairs to her old room where she collapsed onto her bed. She vowed to unpack the car later as her head hit the pillow, sleep not far behind.

  “I feel like I’m having an out of body experience! What the hell was in that lemonade?” Quickly taking inventory of my surroundings, I notice a woman squatting next to a small fire in a cooking pit built into the wall. She is chanting in an ancient language that is familiar to my ears. I don’t understand her but the urgency in her tone is universal. I appear to be in an underground elaborate stone living space of some sort. The kitchen is attached to a main living room area with multiple arched doorways leading out. The walls are smooth and sparkle from the light of the wall sconces around the room giving me the indication they are made of granite. The place is devoid of most personal effects except a single pillow left on the stone bench built into the wall and the pot hanging above the fire in the cooking pit. The emptiness makes me feel like the inhabitants left in a rush. Returning my attention to the woman, I wonder why she is still here.

  The more I look at the woman the more she reminds me of a younger version of my grandma. I can’t help but watch as she runs her right hand protectively over her slightly rounded belly while thrusting a purple crystal in her left hand toward the air. She stops chanting and looks directly at me over her shoulder and says in a deep and clear voice that I can understand, “Origin Passage, child. Find it. Stop him.”

  Kiya startled awake and scanned her old room for remnants of the stone room and woman from her dream. She breathed a sigh of relief that was short lived when she remembered the car, still waiting to be unpacked. She vowed to confront her grandma later to find out what she put in her drink when she stumbled out of bed lethargically. That was the weirdest dream Kiya had ever experienced but she admitted to herself, she hadn’t slept that well in a long time. As she floundered to the door, she checked her watch and was amazed to find it was only 7 o’clock. Kiya was certain she slept longer as she stretched the kinks out of her body that seemed to agree with her assessment.

  As she headed to the bathroom the smell of coffee and bacon wafted up the stairs. She could understand bacon for dinner, but Grams wasn't usually a coffee drinker past 9 in the morning. Seconds ticked by before her brain kicked in and she realized she had slept all night. Kiya skipped a shower and hurried downstairs after relieving herself to apologize for oversleeping. As she neared the kitchen her Grandma called out, just as the phone rang, “You might want to get that.”

  Kiya chuckled to herself, “You are getting old Grams, you barely beat that one!” she turned back towards the living room to grab the call before it could ring a second time. “Hello. Brown residence, Kiya speaking.”

  “Good morning, Kiya. This is Professor Gunner, I hope it’s not too early. I couldn’t wait any longer to call.”

  “Nope not too early at all. Please tell me you’re calling with good news, I didn't forget to turn anything in, did I?” Kiya racked her brain as she began to worry her degree was in jeopardy.

  “Nothing of the sort, dear. Everything is in order and your degree will be mailed to you as discussed. It really is a shame you won’t be attending the ceremony, but I understand your need to be home. I was actually calling you about a job offer that came in this morning. Darn time zone difference, had me chomping at the bit while waiting for a decent time to call you.”

  Kiya jumped up and down in an effort to contain her excitement. As the worry drained away, she turned toward the kitchen to see her Grandma smiling from the doorway. “Oh my Gods, thank you, thank you. What is it? What’s the offer?”

  “A technical research company called S&S Enterprises, is looking for a research scientist to do field work on a recent archaeological discovery in Washington. Before you balk about the field work, let me give you a detail from the email, which made me think this would be perfect for you. The company claims the acoustic characteristics of the site are promising and with the location being so close to your home I didn’t think you would want to pass up the opportunity.”

  “Wow. You’re kidding me, right? No, you wouldn’t do that. S&S Enterprises, huh? Never heard of them, but this could be the break I need. Do you have their contact information?” Kiya spoke in a rush.

  “Of course, you still have access to your school email, until the end of June. I’ll forward you the email. Let me know how it all works out. Best of luck, Kiya.”

  Kiya hung up the phone and ran outside with one thought, find the box with her laptop. She cursed her luck 30 minutes later, as she broug
ht the last box into her room and muttered to herself, “Of course, it’s the last one. Punishment for not unpacking last night.” Boxes littered her room, their contents spilled onto the floor as Kiya rummaged for the power cord.

  “Aha!” she exclaimed, as she pulled the cord free and plugged it into the wall. Kiya tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for the computer to boot up. She entered the network password, thankful it hadn’t changed since she set it up and waited again. She remembered the only thing she loathed about rural country living was its lack of fast internet speed. The email finally loaded and Kiya sent a quick reply to the company that she was interested in learning more. She planned on putting her room together while she waited for a response, but only took two steps toward the closet before her inbox dinged with a response.

  From: [email protected]

  Date: May 17, 2017 @ 07:49

  Subject: Research Scientist

  Professor Gunner was nice enough to have forwarded your resume. Quite impressive. My employer finds face to face interviews a bore and would much prefer to go off the recommendations of others. Your research in acoustic levitation could prove very valuable in Washington and money is not an issue. Our company will supply any equipment needs you may require and a generous salary. A more detailed contract will follow once we have an agreement.

  When can you begin?

  V/r

  D.G.

  Kiya laughed out loud at the email and thought whoever owned S&S Enterprises seemed a bit eccentric to say the least. Her thesis was laughed at most of the time, and she couldn’t fathom which colleague would give her a glowing recommendation. She proceeded to negotiate a beneficial contract by mid-morning and couldn’t wait to inform her grandmother. The archaeological site was located just over an hour away, which meant Kiya would still be close enough to her Grandma in case of emergencies. As she turned to leave the room, she found her Grams smiling in the doorway.