Ninth Cycle Antarctica: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 2) Read online

  Ninth Cycle Antarctica

  A Thriller

  A Rossler Foundation Mystery

  JC Ryan

  The next book in the Rossler Foundation Mystery Series.

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  Copyright 2014 J C Ryan

  This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America.

  Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  All rights reserved.

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  Your Free Gift

  As a way of saying thanks for your purchase, I’m offering you a free eBook which you can download from my website at www.jcryanbooks.com

  MYSTERIES FROM THE ANCIENTS

  10 THOUGHT PROVOKING UNSOLVED ARCHAEOLOGICAL MYSTERIES

  This book is exclusive to my readers. You will not find this book anywhere else.

  We spend a lot of time researching and documenting our past, yet there are still many questions left unanswered. Our ancestors left a lot of traces for us, and it seems that not all of them were ever meant to be understood. Despite our best efforts, they remain mysteries to this day.

  Inside you will find some of the most fascinating and thought-provoking facts about archaeological discoveries which still have no clear explanation.

  Read all about The Great Pyramid at Giza, The Piri Reis Map, Doomsday, Giant Geoglyphs, The Great Flood, Ancient Science and Mathematics, Human Flight, Pyramids, Fertility Stones and the Tower of Babel, Mysterious Tunnels and The Mystery of The Anasazi

  Don’t miss this opportunity to get this free eBook now.

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  Contents

  Chapter 1 – Forget You Ever Saw It

  Chapter 2 – Admiral Piri Reis

  Chapter 3 – The Orion Society

  Chapter 4 – JR Is A Problem

  Chapter 5 –The Ninth Cycle

  Chapter 6 - Let’s Go And Find It

  Chapter 7 – The Recruits

  Chapter 8 – The Choice Is Yours

  Chapter 9 – Bad Things Happen In Threes

  Chapter 10 – Chile Here We Come

  Chapter 11 – Antarctica Here We Come

  Chapter 12 – Trials And Tribulations

  Chapter 13 - Eggnog And Foie Gras For Christmas

  Chapter 14 – The Zenith

  Chapter 15 – In The Storm

  Chapter 16 – Its Warm In There

  Chapter 17 - Play Misty For Me

  Chapter 18 –No Time Left

  Chapter 19 - The Rossler-Cartwright Cave

  Chapter 20 - Yes, Comrade, All Dead

  Chapter 21 - What Have I Done?

  Chapter 22 – The Arrival Of NJ Rossler

  Chapter 23 – Tovarich JR

  Chapter 24 – Let’s Find A Way Out

  Chapter 25 – A Rift In The Wall

  Chapter 26 – A Visit From The OS

  Chapter 27 – Charles Injured

  Chapter 28 - Take Them Out One By One

  Chapter 29 – The Way Out

  Chapter 30 – Three Vehicles Sir

  Chapter 31 –Joy At A Memorial Service

  Chapter 32 – Andersen Wants To See You

  Chapter 33 – Nicholas Joshua Rossler

  Chapter 34 – 9th Cycle Expedition

  Chapter 35 – You’ve Decided To Keep Me?

  Chapter 1 – Forget You Ever Saw It

  Lieut. Cmdr. Jack Neville sat back, stunned, after watching the video he and the rest of the rescuers had found among the scattered gear of the TV crew that had disappeared in Antarctica a week before. The transition from rescuer to detainee had been so abrupt that he could hardly believe the events of the past twelve hours. He fully expected to be released once the video had been aired for the four men in the room, but why he and his men had been detained in the first place was a mystery to him.

  His companion, a junior officer, was also silent after watching the video. Although it was unedited and occasionally dizzying to watch, the missing TV crew obviously had found something unexpected in the Transantarctic Mountains. Neville found it almost impossible to believe what his eyes were registering.

  What appeared to be a city, though the architecture was strange, was clearly shown in many frames. Closer examination revealed no people other than the TV crew themselves, posed here and there for proportional reference. The city, if that’s what it was, seemed to have been constructed for occupants of a similar size to modern men. And yet, no one had inhabited Antarctica when it was discovered in 1820. Only in 1895 had anyone set foot on the continent, and even now, the year-round population was scattered among several countries’ research stations and not considered permanent. Most left during the winter months.

  Cmdr. Neville and his crew had been dispatched from McMurdo Station on the failed rescue mission three days before. When the TV crew failed to report in, their home office contacted their embassy in Washington, D.C. The request took a full twenty-four hours to navigate the red tape and make it to McMurdo, and then Neville’s team had to attempt to locate the missing crew in a vast wilderness that quickly covered tracks if they weren’t constantly groomed. The only trace of the missing TV crew had been some expeditionary equipment, discarded polar gear, and the professional-quality camera in which the video had been found, a few hundred feet from the compressed-snow road they called the McMurdo-Amundsen highway.

  There were no large predators in Antarctica, if you didn’t count the few thousand human beings scattered across the continent in various research stations. Only the weather might account for the disappearance of five people with no trace, but the weather had been calm for weeks, November being mid-summer at this latitude. What had happened to them would remain a mystery.

  Upon radioing their discovery back to McMurdo, the rescue team was shocked to be told to stay put for extraction by chopper rather than continuing the search. Within a few hours, the sight of six fully equipped Navy SEALs running toward them left them wondering even more just what they had gotten themselves into. Now, only Neville and his second-in-command were allowed to view the video, along with a captain that he didn't know and a civilian from McMurdo. The civilian was the first to break the silence.

  "You realize we can't allow this to be reported by the media," he said to the unknown captain. Ignoring both Neville and his second, the captain responded.

  "I'm taking this video into custody and recommending it be classified at the highest level. No one in this room," he said, glaring at the other three, "may speak of it again. The best thing you can do is forget you ever saw it."

  It was the last time that Neville ever saw any of his team. Within hours, he was transferred to the North Atlantic without explanation. Nor did he ever hear from any of the others. But, he never forgot the sight of the strange architecture he remembered from the video. A naval officer who wants to advance his career doesn't ask questions when the questions are obviously unwelcome. Neville put the incident out of his mind and didn't think of it again for many years.

  Chapter 2 – Admiral Piri Reis

  Dr. Charles Summers walked along the hallway toward his office in the history building on the University of Boulder Colorado campus, speaking with his research assistant.

  "I'll need you to review any material you can find on the
Piri Reis map from 1513 and several others," he said. "I'll give you a list of the others in a day or two."

  "Just what is it that you're looking for?" his assistant asked.

  "I came across a lot of anomalies when I was working on my thesis," Dr. Summers explained. "There are a number of them that are quite impossible, and yet they exist."

  "How so?" Dr. Summers recognized that his research assistant was skeptical. And who wouldn't be? Maps that were more accurate than modern maps, even though the tools for cartography had not been invented for centuries at the time they were drawn. Quite impossible. The paper he was preparing for the prestigious Rossler Foundation Journal for Modern Archaeology would require careful research into the purported dates of the maps he wanted investigated, alongside the known history of cartography and of modern human understanding of the geography of their world. To his research assistant he only said what was absolutely required, since his theory was as yet unformed.

  "There seems to be some difficulty regarding the dates of these old maps vis-a-vis what was known of world geography at the times they were purportedly drawn. I want you to verify the authenticity of the dates. Once we have a list of those for which the dates can be verified, I'll compare it to the history of world exploration to try to explain the anomalies."

  "But what anomalies?" The research assistant insisted.

  Irritated, Dr. Summers said, "For one thing, how were they able to draw accurate maps when they knew nothing of longitude and latitude?"

  Recognizing from his tone that Dr. Summers was done with his questions, the research assistant nodded and said, "I'll come by after my 3 o'clock class for the list, if that's okay."

  "That will be fine."

  In fact, Dr. Summers had more questions some of which were not very sophisticated. For example, how was it that mere mortals were confident enough to sail into a vast, uncharted ocean with no maps? And, since they had no maps, how did they ever find their way to and through new worlds, and then home? Cartography wasn't Dr. Summers main area of expertise, but the sight of a map dated 1513 that showed the continent of Antarctica, when there were no previous records of a confirmed sighting before 1819, had puzzled him for years.

  With the astounding discovery of a code left by a previous civilization in the Great Pyramid at Giza, came the possibility of an explanation. Dr. Summers' intention was to debunk the dates of those maps that had perhaps been forged, and search the Library of the 10th Cycle for an explanation for those that could be validated. Later that afternoon, Dr. Summers placed a call to Daniel Rossler, who had become a good friend since locating his foundation in the Boulder area.

  Rossler and his wife Sarah were responsible for the work that broke the code placed by an earlier advanced civilization within the Giza pyramid to convey their knowledge when their civilization fell. Rather than amassing untold wealth from their discoveries, the pair had created a non-profit organization to translate the entire contents and give helpful technologies to the world. At the same time, the Rosslers were working with the US government and some allied governments to suppress technologies that could do more harm than good, especially in the hands of terrorist or criminal organizations.

  "Daniel, it's Charles," he said, forgetting as always that Daniel would have seen from caller ID who it was.

  "Hey Charles, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Daniel asked.

  "I was hoping you could let me dig around in the library," Charles said. "I'm finally ready to write that paper we discussed, and as soon as my research assistant has validated the dates of the maps in question, I'd like to compare them to what was known of the globe in the 10th Cycle."

  "You know the library is always open to you, Charles." Daniel said. "It's been a pleasure to work with you, as we've told you frequently. You were one of the first scholars to embrace the notion that we had turned history on its head. Why else would we have made you a Fellow of the foundation?"

  "Man, I was never so happy as when all those pompous evolutionists had to eat their words."

  "Would you be interested in having some help? I could ask Sinclair and Raj to give you a hand, and if you'd like a gopher, I've just hired my little brother and he could use an assignment." Daniel had never gotten over the habit of calling JR his little brother, even when the ‘little’ no longer fit after JR grew to his remarkable six-foot-ten height.

  "Yes, that would be very welcome."

  "When can we expect you?" Daniel asked.

  "I'm thinking I'll have enough to start with by the end of the week."

  "Very good. Sarah and I will be glad to see you, as always."

  Summers' immediate acceptance of the information held within the coded 10th Cycle library, despite skepticism from many of his colleagues who studied ancient history, had earned him the enduring friendship of the Rosslers, not to mention the coveted Fellowship and unlimited access to the Library. That the latter was expanding every day as translation continued, was an even bigger bonus.

  His call completed, Summers quickly typed out the names and purported dates of the maps in which he was interested. The most intriguing, however, was the 1513 map clearly showing Antarctica. Quite impossible. What a disappointment it would be, if the map he had spent years thinking about turned out to be a fraud.

  Shortly after three, the assistant returned to find the list on his desk. Among the references was the Zeno map, drawn in 1380, showing the exact latitude and longitude of a number of islands, despite the fact that the instrument required to determine longitude had not been invented until 1765. A Chinese map on stone from 1137, formed on a spherical grid, as was the Camerio map of 1502, despite the fact that it was accepted in the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance that the earth was flat. The Orontius Fineus map, drawn in 1531 and The Zauche map of 1737, showing Antarctica, the existence of which was not verified until 1819, but free of the overlying ice sheet. The graduate student’s head was spinning. There were more, but for some reason, Dr. Summers had circled one, the Piri Reis chart of 1513. It seemed to be the main object of study. How were these maps possible?

  By Thursday, Summers had confirmation that the Piri Reis map was genuine. Even if all the others turned out to be misstated or actually fraudulent, this one piece of evidence would give him plenty of material for a paper for the Journal. Summers chuckled to himself. If he had been doing this research he would have carefully eliminated the less interesting subjects before researching the most interesting. A difference in methodology, to be sure, but a major one. He would have to have a talk with his research assistant about making assumptions. But, this time it had panned out.

  Summers placed another call to Daniel, verifying that he would be available at ten the next morning when Summers intended to present himself at the headquarters of the foundation to begin his research.

  "Well, I had planned to take Sarah to Paris tomorrow morning," Daniel joked. "But I guess we can postpone that." Summers laughed.

  "Have you still not taken her on that honeymoon you promised?" he asked. After breaking the news that they had cracked the Pyramid Code, Daniel and Sarah had barely found time to get married, and he’d had to give her a rain check for the fabulous honeymoon. He was lucky Sarah was a good sport, Summers thought. Any other woman would have gone straight from the altar to divorce court.

  "I still haven't," Daniel said. "But we've been to more exotic locales than you can shake a stick at. I ought to have declared one of those trips our honeymoon."

  "You'd better treat her right, or one of these days I'm going to beat your time with her." Daniel knew it was an idle threat. Summers knew as well as he did that Sarah was a one-man woman. And Daniel was that lucky man. The next day, at the foundation headquarters, Daniel stood to welcome Charles in his office. Daniel had invited his top researcher, the world-famous linguist who’d been the one to finally read the code, Sinclair O'Reilly, to join them, along with his IT director, Rajan Sankaran, aka Raj. Summers had met the two men before, and greeted them now with pleasure.
r />   "Daniel tells me you're quite excited about a 16th century map," Sinclair said. "What do you expect to find here in the library that can throw light on such a modern document?" Summers reflected for a moment on the gestalt change over the last several years that could now refer to a moment nearly five centuries in the past as 'modern'.

  "I'd like to keep this confidential until my paper is out," he said. Seeing the others nod, he went on. "Unless I'm mistaken, this map depicts the new world as accurately as any modern map, and yet, Columbus had only discovered the New World a couple of decades before. Furthermore, it appears to show the continent of Antarctica." Summers assumed that the others already knew the history of Antarctica, but was glad to explain, when Raj asked the significance of that.

  "It was nearly two centuries after that map was drawn, when the first mention of land to the south of Tierra del Fuego is mentioned in the historical record. It seems that Capt. James Cook crossed the Antarctic Circle in 1783 and caught sight of land masses that were previously undiscovered, but from the descriptions, he apparently only saw outlying islands in the Antarctica Peninsula, rather than the continent itself."

  "So, let me get this straight. When was Antarctica first discovered according to the historical record you mentioned?" Raj asked.

  "As far as we know in the history of this cycle, the first human being to set foot on Antarctica was an American sealer named Capt. John Davis, in 1821."

  "Is it possible," asked Sinclair, "that parts of the historical record are missing?"

  "Anything's possible, but when scholars came across this map in Turkey in 1929, they speculated that it had been drawn from even earlier documents that are now unknown. My thought is that perhaps those earlier documents dated from the 10th Cycle somehow. What I'd like to find in the library is confirmation that the 10th Cyclers knew of Antarctica, and perhaps that they left representations of the geography of the globe that were known earlier in our own cycle."