Chương 54: Circle of Trust

Regina reached out and pressed the preset button on the control panel for the navigation system. She had prepared a route especially for an occasion such as this but was never quite certain if she'd ever need it. If anyone was following her vehicle they would spend the next forty minutes essentially driving in a large circle. Her route looped over itself several times but never took the same road twice. She designed it to serve two purposes.

One to disorient a passenger if the need arose and to catch anyone following. With it on autopilot she could carefully detect any lights behind her while not missing any crucial turns. Darkness pressed in from all sides. No headlights. No movement. Out here, anyone on the road would stand out, especially at this late hour. This was the kind of area where they rolled up the sidewalks around supper and were in bed before the sun had set. Mile by mile, her confidence grew. The visitor had come alone.

Just as instructed.

"Okay, so tell me more," Regina said, looking at Elena.

"What would you like to know?" Elena answered, sitting with her hands in her lap.

"Tell me more about this archaeological site and what you found there," Regina said, as she glanced in the mirror.

"My colleagues and I discovered a site that predates known history. We found evidence of an advanced civilization that no one knew existed. This group had technology we are only now beginning to figure out," she said, excitedly.

"This site should have re-written the history books and propelled our civilization into the future, but I guess somehow Blackwood and his goons caught wind of it and shut it down." She sighed.

"He ordered my colleague, Doctor Alex Palladore, and me held for debriefing. All our research, notes, and equipment were confiscated."

"Sounds about right." Regina scoffed.

"Things like laws or goblin rights don't matter. They only stand in the way of getting what he wants. His pockets are deep enough to buy all the right people and now with complete power, there is no stopping him or his agenda."

"Doctor Palladore and I were held in a secure facility while he went to work discrediting our entire careers. He made us look like some crazy fringe science team, twisting things to suit a different narrative without any concrete proof," she said, solemnly.

"By the time we were released, our careers were over and we went from highly regarded in our fields… to merely laughing stocks, and lunatics."

"I am acquainted with that myself." Regina said, feeling her pain.

"I worked so hard and so long to get where I was and in a matter of minutes, I was in the bullpen with the rookies."

"I know. I did a lot of research on you before making contact. You were a highly decorated officer who moved her way up the ranks. You were the one that even the most highly ranked officials would turn to for advice, now you are basically a glorified office worker." Elena said with a heavy heart.

"He really seems determined to demote every woman to some form of subservient position, regardless of their intelligence or experience."

"So, tell me more about this technology that you discovered. I know about the teleport thingy, I've experienced that one myself." Regina said, "It's pretty wild." Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Oh, Regina, that is just the tip of the iceberg. That little communicator I gave you, well that is other realm technology as well." Elena said, proudly.

"I'm confused." Regina said.

"If you were banned from the site and everything was confiscated, how did you develop that, the agency doesn't even have tech like that?"

"That's what I want to show you. Blackwood and his men thought they had confiscated everything but they hadn't. It was only a fraction of what we had found at that site and others like it," She began.

"Alex... I mean Doctor Palladore and I documented everything. We took scans of everything and had it on our private network instead of the regional server. Because the information was so sensitive, we did not want to take the risk of the wrong eyes seeing it before it could be thoroughly investigated. Our server… it's highly encrypted, and because no one knows it exists, it had remained invisible," she snickered.

"Why didn't you just go public?" Regina asked.

"You obviously had the backup to prove your claims," she said, shaking her head.

"Regina, if we tried to go public, you and I would not be sitting here having this conversation. You know that I would either still be sitting in a cell somewhere… or even dead," she said, coldly.

"When armed soldiers take over a site and threaten you and your families with internment camps or worse, it's not worth the risk."

"Sounds par for the course," Regina said, Elena's words ringing true.

"Besides, we had all the information, but we didn't truly understand what any of it meant at the time. It has taken us years to decipher only small portions of the text we uncovered, and even longer to redesign the technology with the limited components we currently have. Some of the pieces of these devices are things that I don't think have even been invented yet."

"So, what is up with Blackwood wanting to retrieve this baby so badly?" Regina asked.

"In the many texts that we had discovered, there is one in particular that we at first believed was merely folklore of some kind. This is what we have transcribed thus far…" she took a deep breath and recited the lore.

"In the shadows of a forgotten time, the barriers between realms are erased. Ancient powers long concealed, the bloodline finds its place. A long forgotten secret, a long forgotten place, It transcends both time and space. With eyes bluer than the deepest sea, I t's all there locked in the universal memory. A child born of many, which is really only one, will piece back what was broken, a new era will have begun. Destiny is calling, can't you hear it's cry? It's getting louder by the day, a fact you can't deny.

The monster has been unleashed, the souls of the innocent feed this hungry beast. He preys upon their fears, feeding them lies and deceit." She recited.

"That's all that we have successfully translated so far." she said. She shook her head as if trying to shake a thought loose, then continued.

"We know Elios was successful in translating at least part of the text.

"Let me guess," Regina said, smirking.

"The part about a child born of many, which is really only one?"

"You got it. We think that he has been hyper focused on the prophecy child, without understanding who it may be or what the text means." The vehicle pulled back onto Regina's property.

"Okay, we're here, and I will be honest, I'm finding your story somewhat credible and want to know more, but I'm still not one hundred percent convinced." she said as the vehicle stopped.

"Do not remove your blindfold, I will guide you in. I will tell you when you can remove it." Regina said, taking Elena's arm.

"You're in charge here," Elena replied.

"I will do whatever needs to be done in order to convince you to join our team. I truly believe it's where you belong."