Deep Sea One by Preston Child

Author:Preston Child [Child, Preston]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: A&A, Antarctica, historical, military, thriller, WW II
ISBN: 9781502546654
Amazon: 1502546655
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2014-09-29T05:00:00+00:00

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Chapter 22

Carefully, Nina decrypted the grid cipher by using the dots and corners as reference to the letters randomly written inside the nine squares. One by one she added letter after letter until she had a line of gibberish with spaces between. It did not make sense—in English. However, in the local dogmas of deities this particular collection of letters represented a mantra recited by followers of Mañjuśrī. Its giant face enthralled Sam, but Calisto avoided its countenance now, for the sake of composure. She was nauseous and her head throbbed like a bass drum, forcing her to sit in the dirt while Dr. Gould was arranging the spaced words and the men huddled around her to watch. Finally she had it done. They all frowned.

"Oṃ a ra pa ca na dhīḥ."

"Seriously?" Gary asked, trying to pronounce the grotesque alien phrase he was convinced was incorrect.

"I think so," she said almost imperceptibly, slightly uncertain herself.

"Well, we won't know until we actually read it out loud, so let's get to it," Sam suggested. He could see the group growing tired and leaking morale in copious amounts.

"How the hell are we supposed to know how to pronounce that last word?" Gary said with a miserable scowl on his face.

"Just say it until it has the right sound, damn it," Calisto chimed in from the discomfort of the gravel and thorns.

Nina and Sam tried the mantra. Starting slowly, they read each word not to confuse the consonants that followed consecutively.

Nothing.

"Pfft," Purdue puffed from the rock he was seated on. "It's not working. Now what?"

He felt utterly miserable for having come so far, enduring such peril and reaching the fabled shrine only to be locked out by a grinning god with weather cracks and a bad case of obesity.

"Try again. We must be saying it too slow," Sam urged and Nina nodded in agreement.

Again they began chanting the words over and over until they became familiar with the sequence and before long they started feeling the rhythm of the mantra. It was quite simple once they got used to the sound of it and eventually Purdue joined them. Calisto also said her bit from where she was struggling to keep her equilibrium in check. Gary just watched. He was not the eloquent type and enjoyed being a Canuck so much that he did not care to try and take in the culture.

Blots of dark sand appeared all around their feet as the giant raindrops commenced their pelting. Above them the swiftly floating clouds had now calmed and hovered in their place to accommodate the coming downpour. Instinctively the group sought shelter under the trees surrounding the shrine, but they kept at the mantra until the four of them found their unison, even throwing in a tempo as they grew comfortable with the words. The thunder growled so loud that the mountain shook under them and sent them cowering in fear of a rock fall. But the party soon realized that the thunder did not

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