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She shook her head. "No. Clues are too often missed. Even after years of
study. I need more time."
"But why bother? We might find a lot more answers duringour exploration."
"I hope so." She crawled her way toward the entrance. Ben offered his hand to
her as she exited. She took it, his hand hot in her cold palm. He pulled her
toward him. She was surprised by his strength, and her left foot slipped in
the damp hollow of the cave's firepit and she fell backward, landing her
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backside squarely into the firepit and dragging Ben down on top of her.
Ben's nose lay an inch from her breast. He looked up at her. "You're not
going to hit me again, are you?"
"Sorry. I slipped." She blushed furiously, his body pressing hard on hers.
He cleared his throat. "No apology necessary," he said, grinning down at her.
"A few more slips like this and we might have to get married."
She grimaced at him. "Just get off of me." She meant to be stern, but
couldn't quite pull it off.
Suddenly, uncontrolled, she began laughing. She couldn't help it. And
couldn't stop it. "I mean it . . ." she said between laughs. "Get off!"
Looking at her oddly, he crawled off her. "It's good to hear you laugh."
She wiped a tear from her eye, still wracked with occasional bursts of
laughter. She dropped her head back on the floor, trying to catch her breath.
She stared at the ceiling. And saw it. Up there on the ceiling, behind the lip
of the entrance. "Goddamn!"
She squinted again at the ceiling. It wasn't her imagination. "Goddamn it!"
She sat up.
"What is it?" Ben asked, a concerned look on his face.
"Those amateurs said they had searched every square inch of this site. No
artwork. No cave drawings." She pointed to the ceiling. "Then what the hell is
that?"
Ben leaned over and twisted his head around. "What is what?"
"You have to lay down. I think that's why no one's found it." She moved to
the side so he could lay down beside her. She pointed with the light of her
headlamp. "Right there! Look!"
The crude carving stood in the circle of her light. Only a hand span wide, an
oval was chiseled into the ceiling, bisected by a jagged line, like a
lightning bolt.
Ben reached up and, with a long whistle, traced it with his finger. His next
words were a whisper. "You know, this sort of looks familiar."
"What do you mean?" She expected some wisecrack.
"I've seen something like this. My granddaddy showed it to me."
"You're kidding."
"No, I'm serious." His voice sounded genuine. Almost amazed. "My
great-grandmother was full Gagudja, an Aboriginal tribe in the Djuwarr region.
Did I ever tell you that?"
"No."
He smiled an inch from her nose. "God's truth, my lady."
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The man seemed to have more sides than the Pentagon. Either that or he was
spinning a wild tale. She studied him and noted that his blue eyes were coldly
serious. She swallowed and turned back to the design on the ceiling. "Does it
remind you of anything specific?"
He shrugged, bumping her shoulder. "It's not exactly the same. But it looks
sort of like the Gagudja symbol for one of their spirit peoples. One of their
oldest, named Mimi."
She considered this information. Could there be some connection? Perhaps a
lost Aboriginal tribe? But these dwellings were dated five million years ago.
Aeons before the appearance of Aborigines on the Australian continent.
She frowned at the oval drawing. It was probably just a coincidence. She had
seen the universality of some symbols across other cultures. Could this be the
same case here? Hell, the symbol was rather basic. "This Mimi spirit," she
began. "What type of spirit was it?"
"It's just nonsense. Stories."
"No, go on. Myths often have a kernel of truth. Tell me."
He patted the walls of the cave. "Mimis were spirits that lived in rocks."
She felt a chill crawl down her spine, noticing their stone enclosure.
"The Mimis taught the first Bushman to hunt and paint. They were greatly
revered. And fear "
Just then, Dr. Symski returned, standing at their feet. "What are you all
doing?" His voice was both accusatory and embarrassed.
Conscious of their odd position, Ashley scrambled out. "I thought you
searched this area."
"We did. Why?"
She pointed to the spot next to Ben. "Go look. Up on the roof."
The doctor crawled next to the Aussie. "My god!" he said when he looked where
Ben pointed. "It's amazing. Jesus, what do you think it means?"
"I don't have a clue," she said, her hands on her hips, "but I mean to find
out."
Linda, seated on a blanket, watched the crystal lake lap at the rocks along
the shore a yard away. The water, clear as a window, teemed with small fish
and other marine life. A luncheon basket, prepared by the mess hall cook, was
open beside her. Two half-eaten sandwiches sat on a paper plate. Bologna and
cheese.
"They look like little monsters," Jason said.
Smiling, Linda glanced over to the boy crouched over her portable Nikon
microscope, viewing a water sample taken from the lake. "Those cone-shaped
ones are called tintinnids," she said. "The squarish ones are diatoms."
"What are they? Some sort of bugs?"
"Not really. More like plants. They're in a family of organisms called
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phytoplankton. They take sunlight and convert it to energy the way a plant
does."
"But if they need sunlight, like a plant" Jason swiveled to face her, his
face scrunched up with concentration "how do they survive down here in the
dark?"
She tousled his hair. "That's a very good question. I'm not really sure. But
I believe there must be an underground current carrying the plankton from the
surface waters to this underground lake. The water is very salty. Like diluted
seawater."
"What's so important about . . . these . . ." He pointed at the microscope.
"Bugs?"
As Linda considered the implication herself, she allowed her gaze to drift
across the camp. She noticed a flurry of activity among the military personnel
by the gorge that split the base. Probably some sort of training exercise.
"Well?" Jason asked, recalling her attention.
She turned back to the boy. "Do you want a science lesson?"
"Sure!" he replied enthusiastically.
"All right, you asked for it." She smiled at him, appreciating his
inquisitiveness. "Theseplankton are the building blocks of life. On solid
ground, grass turns sunlight into energy. Then a cow eats the grass. Then we
eat the cow. This is the way the sun's energy is passed on to us. In the sea,
it is the phytoplankton that turns sunlight into energy. The phytoplankton is
then eaten by small creatures, such as jellyfish" she pointed to the small
fish just offshore "which in turn get eaten by those tiny fish. Then even
bigger fish eat the little fish. And so on. So even in the sea, sunlight's
energy is passed along. Do you understand?"
"So these plankton thingies are like our grass."
"Exactly. They are the grassy fields from which this ecosystem sprouts."
He nodded. "Neat."
"So we've done step one and determined that the water is alive. Next, after
we finish our sandwiches, we have to collect some of the creatures that live
in the water. I saw some starfish close to the shore over there and some
sponges. Wanna help me get a few?"
"You bet!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]