Sara shuffled the stack of papers and print-outs she had gotten from the CIC one last time before knocking on the door to the captain's quarters. He spent most of the time he wasn’t on the bridge or wandering around the ship looking over people's shoulder in there, working on all the paperwork commanding a warship brought with it.
She felt a little bad about bringing her commanding officer and friend even more of the same. But just a little. Mostly she was excited about the discoveries the ship's drone and helicopter had made the day before. And she was a bit annoyed at central command that they had to spend the last 14 hours just sitting around on their ships. The German frigate had arrived almost 8 hours earlier, joining them in staring at the mystery island just off their ships.
She hoped that the data she had gathered with the CIC crew would bring some movement to the entire affair. As it was right now, she suspected that some Admirals and other Rear-Echelon-Motherfuckers in some command center, really more politicians than soldiers, were arguing about what to do or more likely what not do, with just one goal: Safeguarding their cushy little careers.
She knocked.
“Come in.”
Captain Taylor opened the small door to his office/quarters and beckoned her to sit on the metal chair in front of his small desk. The chair was exactly as uncomfortable as in her daily meetings with him. Usually that annoyed the hell out of her and she did her best to get the entire affair over with. She had never seen herself as one of the officers enjoying long, meaningless meetings. Sadly, Taylor wasn’t like her.
“Coffee?” He asked while helping himself to a cup from the small coffee urn to his right.
“Thank you, John.” She said,”But anymore coffee and I’ll jump over the bulwark and swim ashore. I think I had more coffee in the last 12 hours than I usually have in a week.” She gave him an apologetic smile.
He returned the smirk and leaned back as he took a small sip from the hot coffee. “You shouldn’t go so hard on yourself, Sara. You aren’t any good to anyone if you don’t take the time to sleep.”
She rubbed her face as she put the folder she had brought with her on the table between them. “I know.” She could see the doubt on his face. “Rationally, I do at least.” She conceded.”But this.. discovery. It's really incredible. A giant island that wasn’t there 24 hours ago. An abandoned city and what looks like dozens or even hundreds of small settlements around it. And the buildings are incredible. Just technology wise. They seem at least as modern as any building you would find in Washington, London, or Paris.” She had scooted to the edge of her seat like an excited schoolgirl.
He grabbed the folder she had brought with her and leaved through the pictures and the report she had written. “I know. But you really have to slow down a bit. Command will take its time. But when they do I am sure you will be one of the first to set foot on the island.” He looked up at her over the edge of the folder. “Besides. You really ought to learn to be patient. It’s an officer's virtue, you know?”
She skid around on her chair as she nodded. This wasn’t the first time he had told her to be more patient. But she hadn’t made commander at 29 by being patient. Still, she understood. Sometimes she just wished that command authority was a bit more like in the old times. Like in the books her mother, who had also served in the navy, had given her when she joined up. Back in the 19th and 18th century, captains didn’t have the luxury of just calling home whenever they faced a new challenge. Getting a message home and the answer back often took weeks or even months.
Nowadays, they could, theoretically, get an answer in seconds. Practically she had learned that the officers back home, working in some cushy office, usually had no clue about the current situation at the scene and often did more bad than good. Still, she would wait. She hoped that the pressure from other countries would force command’s hand and she was sure that every intelligence service in the world was running around like headless chickens right about now. A lot of satellites had to have seen the island pop up out of nowhere.
“Thank you, John.” She said as she got up to catch a bit of shut-eye. Maybe she would get to go on a little excursion soon.
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Sara was in the middle of her watch when the Captain walked onto the bridge with a piece of paper in his hands.
“Good news?” She asked him. He gave her a smirk. “You could say so. They ordered us to form a landing party and explore the main city. We will have a bunch of scientists, mostly archeologists and the like, helicoptered in within the hour. They have apparently ordered the germans to explore the northern part. Mostly small compounds and lots of forest up there, as far as we can tell. Looks like we had the luck of the draw.” He gave her a winning smile. “I’m putting you in charge of the operation, naturally.”
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“Thank you, Sir!” She struggled to suppress her smile. It wouldn’t do for the rest of the crew to see their executive officer, the person in charge of discipline on the ship, bound down the ship's main corridor like a 12-year-old who stole the cookie jar.
“You should get started right away. I’ll have Ferringham finish your watch.” She nodded, saluted and made her way aft to get the team and gear ready.
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Sara could just see the sunrise behind her when the first of the two small landing boats from the frigate touched the island's beach. She was the first of her small team of 12 soldiers and 5 scientists to set foot on the new island. She felt a bit like Columbus. Although she didn’t believe that there were any natives on the island to brutally oppress. She shook her head at the thought as she made the first tentative steps in the white sand. It really looked like a paradise. Had she not known better, the beach could have easily been passed off as some secluded tropical destination for daring backpackers.
Well. Except for the towering ruins only a few hundred meters away. Maybe more the urban exploration kind. She turned around when she heard the splashes of the other members of her little expedition jumping into the shallow water. They carefully trudged onto dry ground, helping the scientists and their equipment higher up onto the beach. Dr. Greer, a relatively young, but already gray-haired, archeologist, had impressed on her the utmost importance of his gear arriving on the island safely. She couldn’t exactly imagine how archeological equipment looked like and if it was in any way sensitive to contact with water or gruff sailors. But she didn’t intend to take any chances.
Dr. Greer, or Julian as he had immediately and unsuccessfully offered to her upon arrival, trudged out of the knee deep water around the boat and stared up at the buildings behind her.
“Wow.” He immediately took off in a brisk walk towards the buildings. Sara sighed as she made to follow him. She didn’t think Taylor would be more than slightly annoyed with her if she lost the demanding scientist, but she somehow felt like it wouldn’t be very good for her career.
“Greer! Slow down! What about your stuff?” He turned around and looked almost surprised. Almost as if the view of the old buildings had made him forget about the rest of the team's members, who were now standing on the beach with Greer's gear.
“Oh, just leave it! We may need it later!”
She didn’t even have the time to open her mouth to answer when he had already disappeared inside one of the buildings. “Oh, shit,” she exclaimed as she and the rest of the expedition raced after him. “Is this guy for real?” She thought she had heard someone grumbling behind her. Seems like his gear wasn’t that important after all!
When she entered the first of the buildings at the waterfront, she was impressed with its good condition. Most of them looked old, but weirdly timeless at the same time. And even though there was clearly damage, it appeared as if most of it had happened when the city was abandoned and not through exposure to the elements.
“Now, Dr. Greer.” She said. “What do you make of this?” He looked down at her from the top of the grandiose stairs he had been climbing.
“It’s fascinating!” He took a few steps to the side and put a hand on the railing of the staircase. “The architecture is completely unusual. It seems Roman, but also Greek, and look at the buildings closer to the center.” He pointed out through the broken window. “They look almost modern, but with a classical touch. I’ve never heard of anything like it in my life.”
Sara nodded. "That’s what I figured. What do you think? Should we start at the center of the city? Maybe the buildings are in better condition and we can find some answers?”
“That would have been my next suggestion, Commander!” He gave her a giant grin. “Let’s go!”
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After almost 2 hours, the small expedition had finally reached an area of the city that appeared to be near the center of the city. The buildings that stood around the large square were noticeably palatial compared to the already impressive buildings closer to the water.
But one building especially had drawn them in this direction: Behind the obviously upper class quarter in front of them a large hall had been built onto a hill at the edge of the city. Greer believed it used to be some kind of government building or the Townhall. He figured it held the best chances for some answers.
When the small group reached the hall, Sara sent in two of the soldiers first to make sure that it was safe. Greer didn’t really seem to understand and clearly thought that she was overly cautious, but she didn’t like how everyone had kind of forgotten where they were and how they had come to be here. Or more like how the island had come to be where they were. A small part of her still expected some mythological creature to jump them at any moment and tear them to shreds. That their frigate didn’t have a marine complement and her entire team was just sailors who hadn’t gotten much more combat training than what they learned in boot camp didn’t exactly make her feel any better.
After a few seconds, one of the sailor poked his head out the gate and declared the first hall as safe. When she stepped into the building right behind Greer, she almost stumbled over her own feet at the sheer size of the palace-like building. The enormous room was framed by over five meter tall statues around its walls. Only three spots along each of the walls were clear, as these were where other doorways led to more rooms.
“Which direction, Dr. Greer?” Sara asked while they were still taking in the statues of people in mostly toga-like clothing. The style looked almost roman, but only almost. Something was different, but Sara wasn’t exactly an expert on ancient style choices, so she may just have imagined that. Only one of them, a woman right next to the door in front of them, was dressed differently. She wore what almost looked like battle dress. And it didn’t look vaguely Greek or roman like the rest of the statues. It looked almost modern, but at the same time, ancient.
“I wouldn’t know where to begin.” Greer answered, obviously as confused about the statues as the rest of them.
“Then let's just take the one in front of us,” Sara decided when no one else chimed in. They walked through the large doors only to find themselves in an even larger hall. But there were no statues in this one. Instead, there were three large metallic rings on three of the walls. They reminded her quite a bit of an old sci-fi show she had once watched when she was still a child. She had a hard time coming up with the name just now. To their left and right, they were surrounded by what looked like control stations. Some of them appeared to even have screens.
“Well.” Greer said as he walked into the middle of the room and looked around. “I feel like you are going to have to call some engineers, or programmers or something? That’s definitely not ancient.” He pointed at the control stations and the rings.
Just when he stepped into the middle of the hall, the light suddenly turned on and they were plunged into bright white light.
Sinclair knew some stuff, because she had seen some stuff in the last 9 years since she had joined the navy. But nothing could have prepared her for the last 48 hours. First an island just emerging from the sea. And now advanced technology in the middle of an obviously ancient city on said island. Maybe she should have one of the sailors in her expedition pinch her. Maybe this was all just a dream. But she had to admit that a part of her enjoyed it. It was exciting, and she had a feeling like the appearance of this island would change not only her life but change the entire world.