Jaunt Read Online Free Page B

deviation from the crater...was it all planned? But Buhranda said nothing about...unless he didn’t know. None of it made any sense.
    “But perhaps they’ve known all along,” Valagua said. “This is a heavily guarded region, Doctor. Not many foreigners travel here. We are the first to look exclusively for this crash site, and the monks realized that too.”
    De Lis, holding the cloth up so that jewels sparkled in the pale candlelight, returned his attention to Shajda. “What is this?”
    “A gift....” His eyes rolled towards the ceiling of the quarters. “The eternal candles.”
    Valagua gingerly handled the cloth as he received it from de Lis. “I’m not an expert on Nepalese religious culture, Richard, but I’d say it’s similar to twentieth century contemporary robes.” He unfolded it, recovering more of the mahogany weave. “Not much changes here over the centuries.”
    “Just who rules them,” Mason said from behind.
    Valagua agreed. He refolded the robe and tried to hand back to the abbot, but the old man refused, simply pushing it back into Valagua’s hands.
    “It’s a gift, Javier,” Waters said.
    “Stacia, can your field equipment run a test on it?” de Lis asked, oblivious to Valagua’s attempted return.
    Her eyes scanned its exotic adornment. “I could, but I’d prefer the mobile lab. I don’t recognize these jewels encrusting it to be native to this region. I could be wrong...I’d have to double-check our geology files for a definitive answer.”
    De Lis nodded. “All right. We’ll do that after we return. For now, stow it for the trip to the crater.” His eyes turned sharply to Shajda. “Which, I presume, we are headed to now?” he said, more of a command than a question.
    Shajda nodded his head happily. “No...more!” The Sherpa faced the abbot. De Lis’ eyes widened. Another gift?
    The abbot obliged, closing the chest. He returned it to the cabinet and retrieved a metallic lock box, setting it also on the desktop. The lid opened with a clack as he reached his hand deeply into the box and shuffled it among the unseen contents. His hand returned seconds later with a yellowed document, which he then gave to de Lis. De Lis sneezed from the dust showered about the room. After wiping his nose, he unfolded a large, green and blue sheet of paper, revealing a series of graph lines littered with abbreviated graphite handwriting.
    Valagua took immediate interest in the relic, nearly ripping it from the doctor’s hands. “It’s a military topo map...of Nepal.” His eyes and fingers darted around the map’s periphery. An index finger ran a straight line over a piece of small text. “United States...”
    he recited, “War Department. It’s from the Second World War.”
    “Where did they get this?” de Lis asked Shajda.
    The abbot spoke quietly, nearly imperceptibly, in his native speech. Shajda bobbed his head while listening to the abbot give his testimony. The Sherpa turned away from the old man, translating the passage in his head before saying, “Long...uhm...many centuries past. Military men...Westerners bring it here.”
    The abbot gestured excitedly with his hands, flaring them about his head.
    “Military men...very scared—yes!” Shajda reiterated.
    “No, that’s not possible,” Waters said. “This site, this crash, wasn’t discovered until three days ago. Nobody knew it was here! Certainly not the military.”
    The abbot grinned coyly once more. Another set of papers, this time a small spiral notebook, was thrust into de Lis’ hand.
    De Lis nearly tore the tattered remains apart as his fingers turned it about.
    “Careful!” Valagua cautioned before reaching for the notebook.
    De Lis lightened his hold of it, relaxing Valagua. He then flipped through the old, penciled journal, reading the quick scrawls. “What happened to these men?”
    Shajda turned to the abbot, who jutted his lips in a doubt.
    De Lis frowned. It was bad enough they were belatedly informed