ENCOUNTER by Hep Aldridge (bill gates books recommendations .txt) 📕

around when a hand holding the vodka bottle bumped my shoulder, and Dimitri’s voice said, “You want a drink or what?” I shook myself out of my reverie and took the bottle.

O’Reilly said, “You okay, Colt? We’ve been talking to you for five minutes, and it was like you were zoned out. Not even here.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just lost in thought; that’s all,” I said as I put the bottle to my lips and took a swallow. This was indeed a monumental moment and called for a celebratory drink. I handed the bottle back to Dimitri and scanned the group, whose faces danced in the shadows of the flickering firelight.

I was staring into the fire as I said, “You know, this could be the eve of a day of history-changing discovery, hell, world-changing.”

“Yes, it could be,” Doc said, “but I think we may still have a way to go. I’m not sure how hard it’s going to be to find that city. In all our research, all we know about it is that it was about a day’s hike from here. We have no idea in which direction.”

“Yes, we do, Doc,” Joe said as he looked at us, “the priest told us in his journal.”

“Oh, he did?” Doc retorted, “And which direction would that be?”

Now Joe laughed and pointed to the mountain behind us, “Well, up, of course.”

I had to laugh along with the others as it hit home. That’s true; he did say the chief and he climbed up to the city. So, there you have it. Doc paused and then broke into laughter with the rest of us.

“Guess you’re right, Joe; we do have a direction—rather broad but a direction nonetheless.”

Joe did a mock bow sitting down and said, “And you thought I was just brought along for my good looks.”

Now that did bring the house down, and the vodka bottle got passed around one more time as our muted laughter filled the night around us. We started prepping to turn in, and even though we had no new indication of an imminent threat, we still decided to post guards. I was tired but knew sleep was far away, so I took the first watch. I would wake Joe in three hours. I moved away from the circle of firelight and sat with my M-16 in the half shadows of the closest hut, staring into the darkness and letting my mind wander as the flames turned to glowing orange coals. The cold crept in even though I was wrapped in a thermal blanket.

I stayed alert but did let my mind embrace our surroundings and its history. My thoughts were filled with flights of fancy and wonder as I watched my sleeping comrades and the darkness that surrounded us. Three hours later, I woke Joe and handed off my M-16 and blanket. As I crawled into my sleeping bag, I couldn’t help thinking we are on the verge, the cusp of something extraordinary; I only hoped we would be up to the mental and physical challenges I knew would be forthcoming. As I looked heavenward at the multitude of twinkling lights in the night sky, I remembered what Tony had said in our briefing back in Florida on his discovery of the celestial coordinates on the silver cube. He had looked at us sitting around the conference table and said the answers lay in the stars.

“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff.”

Chapter Fourteen

The following day, it was apparent we had all benefited from a good night’s sleep. Everyone seemed more energized and upbeat than on previous days. Things were put in order in the camp quickly and efficiently with a lot of laughing and small talk as tasks were being done. Breakfast was more leisurely and enjoyable than in previous days. I felt as energized as everyone else when my SAT phone chimed. It was Fitz calling.

“Hey, bucko. How are things down south?” Fitz asked in his offhanded way.

“Good, Fitz, things are good. Why do you ask?” I replied.

“That’s good to hear. I got a call from your uncle a few days ago, and he said you guys might have a heap of trouble brewing down there.”

“Well, yeah, that’s true. We’ve had a new wrinkle added to things that could potentially be serious, but so far, we’re handling it.

“You sure things are good? I wouldn’t want you all to get hung out to dry down there when the cavalry’s not that far away.”

“Well, we are being followed by some seriously dangerous dudes, but we’ve been able to neutralize one of our problems. Still got another we may have to deal with, but this ain’t our first rodeo.”

“Don’t get cocky on me, Colt. I just want you to remember backup is just a call away; that’s all.”

“Appreciate the concern, really, I do, and you know we’d give a shout if we needed to, so don’t worry. I am going to send you the GPS coordinates of our location, just in case. We found the original village where the priest was living that wrote the journal, so we’ll be using it as our base camp.”

“No kidding, you found the village?”

“Well, we found what was left of it. It’s been deserted for a long time. But we’re using it as our starting point to look for the lost city.”

“Well, all right then, keep your SAT phone handy and call your uncle if you need something. Send him the coordinates too.”

“Roger that, will do; we’ll be in touch.”

“Good, oh, and by the way, give your team up here a call. I think they have some updates for you.”

“Will do,” and with that, the line went dead.

“Joe, send Fitz and Uncle Harold our coordinates. We want to make sure they know where our base camp is in case they have to come to find us.”

“On it, Colt,” he said.

I punched in Gus’s number, and he picked up on the fourth ring, “Hey, Colt, how the hell are you?” Gus asked