Destiny of Coins (9 page)

“Orichalcum!”
I whispered reverently.

It had been centuries since I had last heard rumors the legendary metal made famous by Plato so long ago actually existed, and had at that time been recently seen firsthand. A mutual friend, who no longer resides on earth as an immortal, told this to Roderick and me in what is now southern Pakistan. I recall scoffing at the news, since our friend wasn’t the one to actually see it. Since then, I never expected for the damned substance to be proven real. As some may recall, the Atlanteans of ancient lore were supposed to have created hovercrafts from this very metal, only to watch the combination of this material and their supposed ‘Great Crystal’ sink their island paradise to the bottom of the mid-Atlantic.

An unusually tall man stood atop this amazing ship, and for the moment, he was still engaged in conversation with Roderick. Incredibly handsome, his skin was almost bronze in its redness, and his long dark hair rested upon massive shoulders. This surely had to be Tampara, as his turquoise eyes glowed even brighter than Roderick’s.

The man’s skin tone jarred my memory, and I suddenly remembered Roderick talking long ago about this person. Tampara was the favored son of a powerful chieftain, who ruled a large metropolis in one of the earth’s older planes. I felt a twinge of guilt I had thought this was all an elaborate myth Roderick had amused himself with, when he first related the name and the city—a place called
‘Paititi’
—to me sometime in the early 1700s, right before I moved back to London from my Virginian estate.

“Everyone, this is Tampara, Prince of Paititi and sovereign son of King Bashaan, ruler of the Yitari people!”

Tampara politely nodded to us all after Roderick’s proud announcement, and then cast an uneasy glance toward the woods nearby. Like everyone else, I had been so enthralled by his presence I scarcely noticed the growing din of clicking noises resounding from the woods. The menace from a short while ago seemed to be preparing for a second attack on a much grander scale.

“Come, all of you!” said Tampara, surprising me that he spoke English, and without an indigenous accent. His voice was rich and mellow, and I pictured a Mount Olympus effect if ever his anger was roused. “We will have time for pleasantries at the Essenes’ castle. For now, we must avoid the
charnubis
. If we leave now, we will avoid the thousands that will join the much smaller group you recently encountered.”

He motioned for us all to climb aboard his shimmering air ship, and Roderick moved to help us step onto the platform.

“Tampara, this is Amy Golden Eagle and her fiancé, Alistair Barrow,” said Roderick, as he assisted them onto the hovercraft. “Next is the CIA agent you almost met last year, Cedric Tomlinson…. Then, last but not least, is my longtime companion I’ve often told you about: Judas Iscariot, or as he seems to mostly prefer these days, William Barrow.”

“So, you are the father of this man named Alistair?” asked Tampara, as I stepped onto the ship suddenly lurching into the air another twenty feet.

Everyone but Tampara nearly lost their balance, but somehow avoided tumbling to the floor of the hovercraft. A floor, I might add, glowing with a deeper crimson than the pulsing ocher/golden glow along the ship’s outer shell. Apparently, the vessel could sense danger, as hundreds of our lizard friends poured out from the woods and swarmed the hill below.

“Yes,” I told him, meeting his amused smile with my own. “He is the hope for my family’s future.” I sensed he could actually feel the deep sense of pride and compassion emanating from me as I said this.

Dressed in a white tunic and golden sash around his waist, his powerful taut muscles were plainly visible. I caught several admiring glances from Ms. Golden Eagle, and at least one jealous one from my boy. Sorry, son, it isn’t easy competing with a god-like immortal. Especially, one dwarfing everyone else by at least a foot.

“You share the same perspective as my father,” he said. “Come…we should go quickly before the flying beasts arrive. We shall have time to talk more at the castle of my friends.”

He directed each of us to move to the sides of the hovercraft. As soon as we were positioned evenly, Tampara instructed us to grab leather straps secured to the hovercraft’s floor, and then wrap them around our wrists several times. When we were all secured, he returned to where he stood earlier and the hovercraft began to move. In less than a minute, we were soaring through the air. 

Chapter 8                                                                                                                                           

Traveling far above this strange world’s surface afforded an incredible view—one stretching for hundreds of miles in every direction. Disturbing and yet at the same time magical, most aspects of this other world pointed to the prehistoric status Amy had touched on earlier. Not everything that caused our mouths to repeatedly fall open dealt with the variety of prehistoric species we steadily came upon. Indeed, the thing that captured Alistair’s and my attention most was the tropical terrain covering the mountains we had recognized earlier as having glacier caps. Not to mention, a pair of active volcanoes repeatedly rumbled and poured forth lava streams in the distance.

The planet we were on was most certainly our earth, but either from many eons deep in the past…or, despite how impossible it might seem, a time in the far distant future. My initial assumption was this plane was a reflection of our planet from many thousands of years ago. But, then Roderick explained the Yitari’s realm of existence was part of some bizarre time and space continuum, where time could either speed up or slow down at the literal drop of a hat.

“It sounds like the research a good friend of my brother, Jeremy, once espoused,” advised Amy, eavesdropping on our conversation. “He’s the inventor of the FGR technology we encountered in Iran a couple of years ago. Understanding how time movement and interpretation work together was the hypothesis for one of Dr. Ethan Langford’s upcoming projects.”

I believe she hoped this subject might impress our giant pilot, but Tampara gave no indication of what he thought. Instead, Roderick explained a little of how things work here.

“It’s entirely possible by the time we return to La Paz, we might either gain a week or two and get to relive the Thanksgiving season without stress in the States…or you and Alistair might have to wait until next Christmas to announce your engagement, or settle for a more traditional Valentine’s Day notice next February.”

“Wait…are you saying the local time can shift that much from just a few days spent wherever this place is?” asked Alistair, turning away from what he had initially, and mistakenly, thought was a second sun to the west of the hovercraft. “Wouldn’t it cause some sort of paradox, or other crazy shit to happen? And, hey, how in the hell did you find out about our wedding announcement plans?”

My boy glanced at me, suspiciously, but my blank expression must have been convincing enough for him to move on to his beloved lady for the revelation he sought. However, she looked at him with a wounded, accusatory expression matching his.

“A paradox? Hmmm….maybe. But, don’t act surprised that those of us sensitive enough to read life’s vibrations would easily detect your secret plans,” said Roderick, drawing perturbed looks from them both, along with a slightly amused grin from our Yitari host, whose focus was on the aircraft’s path ahead. Presently, we sped through a valley filled with lush foliage, colorful birds, and the aforementioned dinosaurs lumbering through wooded areas as we traveled a thousand feet above it all. The air pressing against our exposed faces was warm and sultry, and carried the scent of a sweet flower unfamiliar to me. “Instead of wasting energy on what you falsely perceive as an invasion into your personal space, you should celebrate the fact your paths are tightly linked together. Celebrate also that this is obvious on many levels. It’s your destiny to be as one, and this fact was determined long before you, Ali, were an old man falling over yourself to impress Amy, a young woman who is even younger now. The Universe not only knew the two of you would meet and then stumble on the means to continue your joined journey as a youthful couple, but it allowed the realm of the Ancients to broadcast this fact long ago to those sensitive enough to perceive it.”

“That really smells and sounds like the rankest pile of bullshit!”

I joined Roderick in glaring at my insolent son. Unlike Alistair, Amy seemed to seriously consider Roderick’s claim, nodding thoughtfully.

“Well, we can accept Roderick’s take—which I completely believe—or we can follow your paranoid assumption someone gave your silly secret away,” I said, hating the urge to condescend, though it seemed well deserved.  “Lord knows, mortals and immortals alike are lined up waiting to spread the good word about your clandestine nuptials.”

“You don’t have to be such an ass, Pops!” said Alistair, indignantly.

“On the contrary, apparently I must,” I countered, adding the smirk he has loathed since a young boy. “And all the while, this conversation is keeping you from learning the identity of that other fiery sphere to the south of the sun.”

I love it when great timing falls into my lap, or strapped hands in this case, since we were all standing and gripping the leather straps as we sped to the northeast. The hovercraft began to ascend as Tampara guided it toward the deeper reaches of the mountains.

“The flaming sphere you speak of is a protective shield that shelters the glorious city—my home—Paititi!” said Tampara, gesturing with pride as he pointed to the shimmering fireball that hovered above a large body of water, likely this plane’s version of Lake Titicaca. Our host’s unusually lucid turquoise eyes flashed with anger when all we could do was nod in revered silence. It appeared this was an undesirable reaction among the Yitari people.

I had spent the past half hour trying to figure out how Tampara guided the hovercraft. There were no control panels, and its ultra-quiet ride made it obvious it didn’t contain a combustion engine I was familiar with. Not to mention half the time he had his eyes closed. Cedric seemed to be wondering the same thing, as I caught him surveying the craft as if looking for the same computerized or even motorized aspects I sought. It wasn’t until I caught Roderick chuckling at my perplexed expression that I realized Tampara used some other means to captain the airship.

Suddenly the ship veered toward the fireball, responding to Tampara’s mental or telepathic thoughts and impulses. He had just crossed his arms across his chest with his palms open and fingers flayed out, and his eyes closed tightly.

“What in the hell?...”

Cedric was the only one to say anything, but it certainly mimicked the kids’ expressions as we drew closer to the sphere spanning at least ten miles in diameter as it hovered above the middle of the enormous lake.

All of us began to sweat from the sphere’s flaming surface as we approached. Dressed in his sweater, Roderick drew my compassion, since he had resisted the suggestion to change when we began our journey into the mountains. His makeup began to run, and I could tell this development bothered him above all else.

“Is this truly necessary?” he asked Tampara, who merely glanced his way before closing his eyes again.

The ship suddenly picked up speed, and as it did, it caught everyone off guard. Everyone, I should say, but our host. He flashed a brilliant, mischievous smile when all of us gasped.

“There—that’s much better!” he beamed, and thrust both hands in the opposite direction. Immediately the craft turned around and raced back toward the mountains.

“What in the hell was that about?”

My question this time, and irritated since all of us were dripping sweat…and for seemingly no good reason.

“It is important to honor the greatest city in
all
of the world, on every continent and plane,” he advised, pointing one last time, this time behind us.

“What the hell?” said Cedric, just as annoyed. “Not only are you insane, man, but you’re one rude mother….”

“What….”

I couldn’t finish my thought after turning to follow Cedric’s gaze after his voice trailed off. All of Tampara’s guests gasped again. The center of the fiery sphere seemed to have dissolved, revealing the immense, gleaming metropolis contained inside the giant orb.

I had never seen anything like it in all my travels throughout the earth down through the centuries. Never. But, it seemed as if Roderick had beheld this view before.

“So this really is Paititi--
the
Paititi of ancient legend—the true El Dorado,” whispered Alistair, reverently. Amy soon echoed this thought, while Cedric shook his head.

“Everything’s made of gold,” I said, mimicking my son’s reverence from a moment earlier. “It doesn’t seem possible….”

“Not everything is gold,” advised Tampara, slowing the hovercraft down to cast an amused look at us over his shoulder. “We have jewels and other precious metals—and roads containing the very same orichalcum in this aircraft. We can quickly transport ourselves from one side of the city to another in under a minute, by your standards. But there are plenty of materials you will find in any of your cities, too. Since we are a civilization without greed and hoarding, there is plenty for everyone. Nothing in Paititi is considered the exclusive right of any one man or woman.”