***
Paul Pilcher remembered the story, most details anyhow. Though, instinctively he knew Scaba had given far more information over the years on enemies’ right through to extraterrestrial technology directly to Denver, due to their long standing friendship.
Paul got the full story told to him directly from Homer Calham at his first meeting, which was an interview for the position he still had today. Pilcher’s own father was an original S.U.E.P. member and he and Homer Calham had known each other for years. Homer liked Paul and felt he could be trusted. Paul had not failed him. The inner select membership of the S.U.E.P. at present numbered to fifteen. And that was how Denver wanted it—secret and exclusive. No one would talk, because they all had too much to lose and not just financially either. Fortunately, every internal member of S.U.E.P. shared the same desire as Denver did with his father those many years ago. It was a prerequisite that everyone was hand picked by Denver himself.
Denver was the man that anonymously contacted Dr. Pete Reynolds to join his team. He had observed his work over the years, and was personally interested in ancient Egypt and the archeologist’s supernatural claims. Pete was hesitant at first, thinking this man would laugh at his work and his theories. Pilcher reckoned that when Pete Reynolds walked out of Calham’s office, several hours later, he was walking on air. Within a few days, Reynolds was under their wing and kept detailed journals of his work, which had to remain on base for security reasons.
Initially, most of the work setting up the base and all its equipment was contracted out to private enterprises throughout the world. Everything was spread out and completed separately. None of the pieces of the giant puzzle could ever be put together to form the big picture.
Paul knew that through clever and shrewd investments and purchases, Denver had become wealthy beyond reason, so he would always have the power and control. He had set up various companies and organizations to hide the purchases required to set up, prolong, and buy discretion for his lifetime project. Several manufacturing plants were placed in and around Two Ridge Mountain as “fronts” for what was happening deep below the Earth’s surface. Over a period of months, he and his trusted colleagues oversaw shipment after shipment of all equipment and supplies necessary to create a small, secret “technical town.”
“A pity this town will never have its own postal code,” he had once joked to Pilcher.
More importantly, it housed Dr. Pete Reynolds’ history changing discovery; the Black Star Portal.
Paul took his hat off to Denver for his hair splitting attention to detail. He had gone to great pains to show the archaeological world that the Temple of Junghis was simply just another run of the mill excavation, and disappointingly, held nothing like gold and precious treasure, fabulous jewelry, or even expected remains of mummified bodies.
Pilcher grinned at the memories. God, old man Calham, well into his eighties and very much alive, still played with his precious collection of telescopes he had amassed over the years. Nice man, friendly.
But the real power lay with the son, the next generation. Pilcher recalled Denver commenting at a Divisions’ meeting years earlier, “We have a smart, savvy, and cynical new generation thrusting headway into a techno micro information revolution. Tools like the Internet could spread more than just viruses. They may even spread a little truth, or a little lie, depending on your perception.”
Paul knew that was a good thing, as people nowadays were getting more and more desensitized thanks to information saturation.
Denver had matured at the young age of ten and became a top businessman, negotiator, and a unique astronomer. He was always close to Scaba and on occasion, when Scaba dropped in, would talk for hours on end. Those hours grew to more than forty years, when only a few original members were still part of S.U.E.P., due to old age and death. But the philosophy, discretion, and power were greater than ever and carried on with the occasional new member.
So, when Paul and Denver had their first collective meeting with Kate Willard, he was very intrigued to see Denver’s reaction to her and her story. He did not react as predicted and was as cold and to the point as ever. Paul almost dropped his jaw when he first heard her story but kept a relatively cool head. Surely, Denver would know she was telling the truth, though his attitude was icy and unreceptive towards her.
Paul was secretively captivated by her, but had to remain impassive and distant due to his position. Her knowledge about the stones, and subsequent events with them, the flashes she had in her mind of a past life, the mention of the Trimadians. No one except certain members of S.U.E.P. knew about the Trimadians and their invasion of Earth. The naturally suspicious Denver possibly thought she was a Trimadian spy, though that seemed far-fetched. If she were a spy and information got back to the Trimadians that a race of Septens were around, that could spell double disaster for both races. On the other hand, perhaps he did not suspect her as a fraud and discreetly wanted her to succeed with the mission to contact Kalvich. Gain his trust, knowledge and power and let the rescue team get her back to Earth smartly and extract what he could from her. Perhaps use it against the enemy. Was she simply an innocent patsy? And Denver had deliberately kept Kate away from Scaba? Was Denver playing with fire? He hoped to God that Denver had not underestimated the enemy or they were all in danger.
Paul felt guilty about hiding his prior knowledge of the Trimadians from the rest of OBF1 and also to a degree from Kate, or rather Leah, but that was what Denver wanted. What Denver wanted, he got.
Pilcher personally wanted Scaba to meet Kate, to see the likeness of Queen Leah as in the book Pete Reynolds had shown them. Now, Denver had decided to bring Scaba into the equation, would he tell him the truth?
Another thought had occurred to Paul. Was there an infiltrator that had contacted Calham or was that just a story to get them into Kalvich’s territory?
Surely Denver Calham would never deliberately gamble the lives of his people on a hoax.
No, there had to be a mole within the Trimadians.
Chapter 34—Memories