Chapter 4 dawnnririwunemicfirehionlssfhowrlaeehuarndldzerdwyedpusarrn Myles and Sir Walter were attending a quiet party on the upper deck one of numerous retired cruise ships which made up part of the November Alpha fleet. The freehold had started with such a ship, an old ship that would have soon been scrapped had not Arthur Miller been looking for just such a vessel. He and a handful of followers had managed to acquire the funds to buy the ship and enough fuel and supplies to set up a small community in the rather inhospitable northern reaches of the Atlantic Ocean. They managed to keep the project afloat, both literally and figuratively, long enough to make it sufficiently profitable to begin growing. Since that time many vessels had been added, now numbering over a thousand. There were frequent visitors from other freeholds - some were small seaborne communities, others were ships owned by land-based freeholds who used them to disperse and hide assets from investigation by their own governments. At any time there were likely to be a considerable number of visiting vessels, and air travel was frequent. It required flying from the nearby Stejaq islands, as the amphibious aircraft required had a rather short range. Myles and Sir Walter were sitting at a small table with several other freehold leaders. There were a considerable number of them - they were here to observe the progress of the Atlantis project. Sir Roland, one of Sir Walter's eight peers, was the project leader and expert. He was conducting regular presentations for new arrivals, and afterward going on a flight to the area with those interested in seeing it. Sir Roland believed the event they were waiting far was not far away. At some point, land would appear in the area. Perhaps just the rocky tops of mountains, slowly growing, or perhaps a cataclysmic event that would suddenly expose all or most of the long-lost (or so it was believed) continent. The latter event would almost certainly cause great destruction on the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, and on any islands as well. A major disaster would distract any major entities inclined to meddle, Myles knew, but to hope for such a thing would not be right, as it would almost certainly cause considerable loss of life. The freeholds in areas near the coast were on continuous alert, and had already relocated some assets to safer areas, with readiness to evacuate on short notice. Of course, they would have more time than others - the area was under constant surveillance and would be notified instantly, long before the enormous waves could roll across the ocean bottom to emerge in the shallow waters of the coastlines and wreak massive destruction for miles inland. There would be alerts, but evacuating the large population centers on the coasts would require days, and the few hours available would be useless for anything other than advising people to prepare for the end. Myles watched the other attendees as he listened to Sir Walter's conversation with a couple of other freehold leaders. Most were, like most freeholders, reserved and quiet. Even with a couple of hundred men in the room carrying on conversations the noise was little more than a quite murmur like that of people gathering in a room to await the beginning of an event. It was rather late, and they all had had a few drinks. They would be attending one of Sir Roland's presentations in the morning, and after lunch a flight over the area of interest. It was only a few hundred miles from the fleet, but the propeller-driven aircraft were on the slow side, and spending some time over the area before returning would make a long trip. Sir Walter suggested having a cigar by the rail before retiring, and they all joined him. Of course, they could smoke at their table - many of the attendees were doing so - but Myles knew that Sir Walter enjoyed standing at the rail of a ship and looking over the ocean. As the remains of the cigars were tossed overboard, small red dots falling to the water close to a hundred feet below, Myles thought that this might be their last quite time for a while. The volatile situation back home was unpredictable except for one thing - it was becoming worse by the day. And neither the government nor those in the fragmented rebellion knew what the outcome was likely to be. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next morning they attended Sir Roland's presentation. There were around forty of them, and they assembled in a large room, which looked like a ballroom or a dining room, not much changed from when the ship was carrying thousands of passengers on holiday. The room could probably accommodate several hundred people, so Sir Roland and his audience were in a small area at one end, where he had set up his screens and other equipment. There was no ceremony to speak of - as Sir Roland walked to the microphone the room quieted, and with no more than a "Good morning, gentlemen" he began his address. Two large screens stood behind him, large enough to be viewed from the back row. Using a small controller he began running a slide show on one of them. The first slide appeared to be a marked-up satellite photograph. The Stejacs could be seen in one corner, and the November Alpha fleet was visible nearby, with a circle drawn around it. An arrow began at the fleet and pointed slightly southwest to an area of the ocean that appeared quite empty, but another circle appeared there - a circle with nine silver stars around its inside edge, with a large gold star in the center. The flag of Atlantis, Myles knew. Sir Walter had one in his office. "The Atlantis symbol is approximately in the center of the underwater plateau" said Sir Roland. "It is approximately two thousand miles across, it's longest dimension. From north to south, the average distance is around sixteen hundred miles." He displayed the next slide, which looked like the first slide with the water removed. A large land area, with various shades of brown and green, mountains and flatlands, but not much more in the way of detail. It was of course an artistic interpretation of the data, but showed a few groups of islands in various places around the continent. One of they was a large archipelago trailing away from the southeastern corner - a string of islands curving to the west. Some of they were quite large. There were also a few large islands occurring singly and in small groups. "As you can see" said Sir Roland, "We have quite a large landmass here. A seventh continent, to be sure. The mainland is larger than Corala, and some of the islands are larger than many countries. The accuracy of this image, in terms of size and shape, is probably somewhere around ninety per cent. We have some of the best equipment available for measuring water depth and terrain imaging, so what you see here should be quite close to what we get. "From here to the north coast the distance is approximately six hundred miles. From the southwest coast to North America is a little over two thousand miles, from the southeast coast to Europe is about the same, probably twenty-four hundred miles." The next slide showed what appeared to be a side view of the continent, showing the level of the ocean above it. The depth seemed quite small now, and as Sir Roland was now explaining, it was. "For the past year or so the depth of the water over Atlantis has been decreasing more rapidly than ever - before long it will not be possible to escape the notice of others. It may become advisable, at some point, to move a fleet into position there, in order to stake a claim to the area. It's impossible to say what the reaction from other nations will be. It's likely that only interest will be in sending scientists to study it, but in any case we must stake our claim and be prepared to enforce it. "We are fortunate, in an way that may be unfortunate for others, in having quite a few distractions for those who might cause problems. As almost of us are Americans, the situation there does not need much discussion. With each passing day the country is moving toward complete chaos, perhaps continuing to an apocalyptic conclusion. China will no doubt use that opportunity to expand into Africa and South America. Russia is not only less adventurous than they once were, and in any case the League is in a very good position with them. None of the European states have the money or inclination to interfere. "So the chances are quite good that we can quickly occupy any emerging land quickly and be in a good position there before anyone else becomes alarmed." He paused, then switched to another slide. This showed an underwater landscape, dark shapes in the murky water. Focusing on small areas, one at a time, Myles was able to see that it appeared to be the remains of something man-made. Rectangular areas with lines breaking them up into smaller parts resembled city streets. A few lines, running straight for long distances, crossed the area here and there. A new slide enlarged one of the areas, and the resemblance to a city street map was even more evident. Myles felt a surge of excitement - this was long suspected, but more from the ancient legends explored by Sir Roland. It had never been seen before. "We had a submersible traverse some of the area, along the east coast." said Sir Roland. "It photographed several hundred square miles before we had to retrieve it to recharge the batteries. These photos just came back from the lab last night, so you're the first to see them. We hope to get back soon and continue the operation. "And now that I have your full attention, are there any questions before we adjourn for lunch?" There were a few questions and quiet conversations among the attendees, and eventually the meeting broke up. After lunch they fly out and look the area over. Myles was quite certain they all would want to go. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Northstar C-24 was cruising at 18,000 feet over the cold north Atlantic waters when Sir Roland's assistant announced that they were approaching the site of the submerged continent. Myles and Sir Walter were sitting on the port side, both in window seats. The aisle seats would not offer an adequate view, so the all the passengers were seated in the window seats, reducing the useful capacity of the twenty-four seat aircraft by half. As with their flyover of the fleet on the approach to the Stejac airport, their pilot took them in a wide circle of the area. There was not much to see - nothing below except empty ocean. But Myles noticed that they seemed to be well outside the area of the hidden continent, as evidenced by the slightly different color and texture of the ocean surface. As they climbed to over 30,000 feet it was more evident - a large area of the ocean looked different. A subtle difference, but it was there. The water seemed just a little more calm, and the color lighter. Given the size of the area, they would not see much of it - the aircraft would run of fuel long before they could circumnavigate the continent. Sir Roland told them that they were over the western side of the continent, as the pilot turned and few along the northern edge to allow the passengers on the other side an opportunity to see it. As they did so, Myles thought about the many possible variables that would be involved in occupying the newly revealed land, if indeed it did happen. The flight from the fleet had taken over an hour - moving even the fastest ships there would take a day or more. It was likely the first arrivals would have to be by air, planting the flag both literally and symbolically, to claim it. If the final stage of the emergency was sudden and violent, the landing would be much more problematical. A certain amount of improvisation would probably be occurring. And with the escalating conflict back home, most of the freeholds would have other things to worry about. Sir Walter, sitting in front of him, seemed to read his thoughts. He moved back to the seat beside Myles and leaned back in his seat quietly for a while. Myles thought he seemed tired, something he could not remember ever seeing. Again, Sir Walter seemed to know what he was thinking. "Sometimes all this activity is a little much for an old man" he said, with one of his faint smiles. "Many people live their lives, long lives in some cases, without ever experiencing anything especially unusual. We, and much of the world, seem to be about to see a great many unusual things. Perhaps when it's over, you younger folks can live a long, quiet and uninteresting life. "For now, though, we must be mentally agile, able to process events and act quickly and effectively. Perhaps we can help bring about that long quiet time." Myles was silent. He knew that a response was neither needed nor expected. Sir Walter was reassuring and encouraging him. The darker side to his words, however, were more disquieting. He spoke as if he did not expect to live so long as to see the results of his work. He was not a young man, certainly, but Myles was not sure age was the sole factor in the changes he had witnessed recently. The ugly specter of illness, perhaps one with a diagnosis of limited remaining time, reared its sinister head. If Sir Walter wanted him to know, he would tell him, he thought, and tried to put the thought out of his mind. It took a while though. The aircraft was in another turn now, to the north and climbing again. They were on their way back to the fleet, while another flight would be headed out with another group of observers. Gradually he was distracted by other thoughts as they talked about other matters, but he knew the thought would not remain buried permanently.