David Golemon: Ancients

"I have more than just a few of our brothers and sisters on my side; they are not afraid to rise again as many of you are. I ask you one more time, Pompey, join us in the quest," he placed the golden helmet on his head and then his right hand went to his sword, not hiding the threat the action well conveyed, "or there will be war among us, and that will destroy the family of the Ancients forever. Is that what you want?"

Pompey's eyes were on the ivory handle of Caesar's sword, and then they moved upward to his determined eyes.

"I see far more than you know, Gaius. I see ambition that would allow no interference from the family, even from me." Pompey slowly picked up his fallen helmet and placed it on his head. "I will thwart you, Gaius, even unto the destruction of our ancestral heritage. Even unto splitting us into two factions, one against the other. Leave the Key and the scrolls in their place, I beg you one last time!"

"Return to Rome, old man, and from here on out, stay out of our way. I came to this sacred place to convince you of our true calling, that our race must--must, I say--be the dominate force on this planet. But alas, you have become a timid old man, not deserving of being an Ancient."

Pompey watched Caesar turn away, his scarlet cape blotting out the rising moon as it fanned out in his haste. The old shoulders of the Roman coconsel slumped as he watched his friend leave. The younger Gaius was right about his age, he was tired, but he knew that he would have to invigorate not only himself but other brothers and sisters of the Ancients in an attempt to stop Gaius from finding the scrolls.

Gaius Julius Caesar turned back one last time and saw his friend among the ruins. The face he could not see, but the determined stance of Pompey in the moon's glow told Caesar that they would meet on the field of disharmony, and the Ancient family of man would divide forever.

Karl Von Heinemann cursed his colleague and best friend Peter Rothman. The argument had gone on for days and he was tired of it. He paced in the study of his large home and turned on him once again.

"Yes, the artifacts were found by you. But you are being shortsighted in thinking this is but an archaeological find. It is much more than that, can't you see? Give me two years, that is all I ask, then you may go public with what you found in Spain. After all, it was I who led you to the papers of Caesar, without which you never would have narrowed the search enough to find the treasures."

The younger man sat in the overstuffed chair and packed his pipe. He, too, was frustrated from days of arguing. Heinemann was not only his friend and mentor but his financial benefactor, without whose generous funding this very argument would have been moot.

"The site is still open and we are not sure if all the artifacts have been recovered. What if," he turned in his chair and looked at the older man, "and I say this knowing how tenacious my colleagues around the world can be, the site is found and one of them announces the news of this discovery? I, and I daresay you, will be the loser in that event, and all for the sake of charts and graphs and a device? One that, if constructed, could only be used as a weapon? I daresay the idea is sheer madness."

"Delaying the announcement and results of your dig a few years is not that much to ask. After all, the twenty thousand marks released to you financed this great discovery. Hard and real science must take the lead here, not the fanciful dreams of a dead civilization!"

Peter stood so suddenly that his tobacco pouch slipped from his lap and fell to the Persian rug.

"How dare you--how dare you even suggest your work is the only real science! We piece together history from what we dig up out of the earth, and this discovery we have made is a complete and utter alteration of everything we have come to learn about the past, and you daresay yours is the only real science! The art of war, sir, is no science; it is an evil that must be stopped before we discover a quick and sure method of self-destruction. We keep the secret of the Key and the Wave from the rest of the world, and bring them together with the magic that is our history."

The old professor's eyes widened and his lips were set in a grimace of outrage.

Peter let his shoulders sag. He regretted the words as they passed his lips and now he feared he had caused irrevocable damage to the most important man in his life. If not for Karl's work with the armaments industries, he would never have had the funds to find the treasure trove of artifacts in Spain in the first place. He knew himself to be a hypocrite in accepting the very money he was now ridiculing; after all, it was Von Heinemann who had reached out to the other side of the family of Ancients in an attempt to heal the old wounds between the Juliai and themselves.

"Perhaps you are right, even though your words are disrespectful."

Karl's words caught Peter off guard. Had the argument come down to showing this brilliant man what it was he was asking of him? Had he seen the light of this phenomenal find for what it was?

"My words were foolish and said in anger, my old friend. I respect you and your work more than any man in the world, and I say that not because you are my financier for my research but because you are truly honorable and a brother that few of the Ancients, on either side, understand. We need this disharmony between us to stop, but in order to do that, it's not knowledge of the weapon we need, just the words of our people that have long been silenced."

"When do you plan on announcing your discovery to the world?"

Peter smiled, thinking that he had finally won over the old man. He felt nothing but relief as he once again sat down and looked at his mentor.

"The question should be stated correctly as: When will we make the announcement? You must be by my side. It was your grant and your foresight that saw the potential and it was you who came across the trail of Julius Caesar's attempts in Spain to find the treasure trove that led me to the find. Your scholars have deciphered our ancient tongue, so I insist you be there for the accolades. This can only help bring your Juliai Coalition and my side of the family back together to live in harmony with the rest of the world. The old ones of your side, as you said, no longer desire control of the world the way some of our ancestors did. The purification of the races, I hope, is a thing that will continue, but at a more reasonable pace."

Karl nodded, gracefully accepting the invitation to join the young archaeologist in his press release about the results of his dig in Spain.

"If I may ask, all is secured at the site in Spain and at the warehouse where the items have been moved?"

"Yes; the men you sent to Spain have the site under complete guard twenty-four hours a day. It helped immensely, actually buying the barren property under a false corporate name, and what could be more secure than one of your munitions depots for the storage of the artifacts and scrolls? My side of the family will of course be notified of our joint operation, and they will undoubtedly be pleased the rift has been sealed between us. I daresay they will insist joyfully on joint control of the find."

Von Heinemann actually had trouble keeping a straight face. The naivete of this young fool and the rest of his once-upon-a-time family of Ancients were beyond his grasp.

"Now, as I think about security before your meeting with the press next week, we must have a complete accounting of all on the continent who have knowledge of the find."

"That's simple. I have a list here of everyone who had any knowledge of what we have been up to--it's a short list, but full of the very influential. Since some are from your side of the family of man and few from mine, I suspect they will stay quiet until the announcement; they are all good chaps, at least on our side of the fence." Peter smiled at his small joke and then reached into his coat pocket and brought out the list and passed it to the older man.