David Golemon - Legend

"Bastards," she said under her breath as she thought about the riches the Inca had brought out of here on the labor and pain of others.

Sarah turned away and saw the bubbles of the beast's underwater retreat from the chamber.

"I'm not a slave and you're not going to keep me here," she called as she turned toward the opening with the steps.

She suddenly stopped, as she thought she heard a gasp and then a sigh. She turned to trace the sound to its source. It came from the far wall. She held up the torch and could make out a small opening at the base of the excavated chamber. The light revealed discarded fish bones and rotted things strewn about the floor of the cave. Then she saw what she thought was a flick of fire emanating from one of the larger of the small caves. The light seemed to be coming from behind what looked like fabric of some sort.

Sarah grimaced at the smell coming from the wall of cave openings. She raised her damp shirt up to cover her nose and mouth, and walked toward the largest of the rooms. She slowly and carefully pulled the rotted flap of animal skin aside and leaned in, holding out the torch before her. Her eyes widened. There, lying and sitting around a natural pool of magma boiling in a small caldera that smelled strongly of sulphur, were the tattered remains of the Zachary expedition.

"Oh my god," said Sarah.

Farbeux stopped the men as the shaft started to spiral at a much steeper angle. He held up his light and shined it along the hot and sweating walls. Then he focused it on Mendez, who stood there breathing heavy. His men were just as sweaty and out of breath. They had been moving for only twenty minutes when they stopped for the first time.

"Tell me, are you tired, senor ?" Farbeaux asked, smiling.

"Tired, hot, and beginning to believe that there is nothing more than old statues in this mine," Mendez answered angrily.

"Then maybe you wouldn't be interested in this," he said as he shined his large flashlight toward a three-inch vein of gold that streaked like a lightning bolt through the wet stone of the shaft.

Mendez's eyes widened as he dropped his small pack and ran toward the vein. He rubbed it with his fingers lovingly. His men, too, immediately totally lost any fatigue they had shown earlier.

Farbeaux lifted his small satchel and quickly noted the reading on the small device he had inside. He smiled and looked up.

"Now, you can be satisfied with this small deposit, or we can go to the place were El Dorado really begins."

Mendez beamed, totally rejuvenated. He reached down, removed his canteen from his belt, and swallowed some water.

"Lead the way, my friend. Where you go, we will follow."

Once again Niles was in a clean suit alongside Pete Golding in the clean room where the mainframe for the Cray supercomputer Europa was housed. They had been searching U.S. Army and Corps of Engineer databases for the past hour, hitting dead end after dead end.

"Gold — the army wouldn't have been after gold with World War Two breaking out all over the globe; it just doesn't add up. So what else would send a specialist team down there?" Pete asked, leaning back in his chair and stretching.

"I agree, to expend time and effort, and using the military and OSS to save gold prospectors — I just don't buy it. Not with the way the war was going in 1942; we were still losing, remember?"

"Okay, so let's try to go through the back door. The senator said he had no names for the people the OSS pulled out in 1942, right? But he did say where they were from: Chicago and Princeton. Let's start there."

Niles leaned forward. "Okay, Pete, go ahead." "Europa, query. In the war years 1940 through 1942, was there any American university-sponsored expeditions to Brazil or the Amazon Basin?"

Formulating , said the female voice of Europa, then as quickly, During years 1940 to '42, there was no American scholastic sponsorship of any South American excursions .

"Great start," Pete said.

Niles shook his head but continued the line of questioning. "Europa, query. Were there any missing persons reports on University of Chicago or Princeton filed in those same years? Correction; expand search to 1945."

Formulating, she said as she started to penetrate the security of not only university records but those of police departments and federal agencies throughout the nation.

Twenty-two records of missing persons reported from both universities during target years. Twenty-one were later reported as solved. One remained open, filed at Princeton, June 1945.

"Too late for filing," Niles said.

Both men sat and thought. They were at a brick wall and they didn't know how to penetrate it.

Europa has detected a pattern in your queries. Query: Do your current search parameters include accidental death of university personnel on foreign territory?

Niles looked at Pete. The Cray was designed to interact with its operators and advise if there might have been something overlooked in the search they were conducting.

"It does now, thanks to you, Europa. Continue please," Pete said.

In calendar year 1942, a chartered aircraft leased by the University of Chicago was reported missing in the Brazilian rain forest south of the Amazon River. There were two University of Chicago survivors and one reported survivor from Princeton University.

"Wait a minute; didn't you say there were no university-sponsored expeditions in Brazil during those years?" Pete asked.

The incident upon which the report was filed was not a university-sponsored action.

"Come on, who sponsored it?" Niles asked, losing patience.

Pete looked at Niles as if he had lost his mind. "Name the sponsor, Europa," Pete commanded, still looking at Niles.

The aircraft in question was leased through the United States Army Air Corps and geographical survey sponsored by the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Corp ofEngineers.

"What in the hell is this?" Pete asked.

Europa does not understand the question.

"Not you. Niles?"

"Query. Can Europa identify the departments involved in this charter at the University of Chicago?" Niles asked.

Formulating , she said.

Niles stood as something distant and forgotten started to flirt with his memory.

The University of Chicago Department of Physics and Theoretical Sciences at Princeton University , Europa answered quickly.

Niles realized what picture was starting to form from the puzzle pieces being laid before him. And now the past came flooding back to him as Europa started putting the pieces of that puzzle together — something he did not want to think about. He rubbed his hands across his face in vexation but continued his line of questioning nonetheless.

"Query. Who were the heads of these departments at the two universities from UAO through 1942?"

Chairperson for the University of Chicago's Department of Sciences and Physics for years in question was Professor Enrico Fermi. Director of Theoretical Sciences, Princeton University, and departmental chairperson for years in question was Professor Albert Einstein."

"What have I done?" Niles asked.

"What are you saying here, Niles?" Pete asked while looking incredulously at the printed names.

"I may have killed everyone on that rescue mission, Pete."

On the screen, spelled out in big blue letters, was Europa's answer to the mystery of Padilla's lost expedition: enrico fermi and albert einstein.