The Secret of the Stones by Ernest Dempsey (reading fiction .TXT) 📕

stones, Ulrich said something in Russian to the guy with the backpack who nodded and set the bag down at Tommy’s feet. He turned and skulked his way back toward the car, head down.

“Where’s he going?” Tommy asked.

“To watch the car.” The answer was short. “Now tell me, Thomas, how are these stones going to show us anything?”

That was a question that had puzzled historians and tourists alike for centuries. What their eyes stared at was like nothing else they had ever seen in any history book. Every boulder had snakelike lines drawn on them. Along with the linear designs were circles and ovals in what looked like random placement all over the soft soapstone surfaces. There were also different types of animal tracks and even human feet drawn on the rocks in between the other designs.

The native Cherokee had called it Degayelunha meaning painted place. Amazingly, the mysterious petroglyphs had resisted translation for thousands of years.

Tommy took it all in. He’d been here about a year ago before. The view from the top of the mountain top was absolutely breathtaking. A visitor’s center was open there from Memorial Day until October. With a summit elevation of 4,784 above sea level, it became one of the colder spots in the Southeast during winter.

When he’d first heard the idea that ancient Indians had drawn constellations and meteoric occurrences on the hefty rocks, he’d been skeptical. Surely, a primitive people like the original Native Americans were unable to document such an elaborate celestial map. Yet when Schultz had arrived on site during his previous visit, his mind had changed.

He had spent hours scouring over the detail of the drawings, analyzing them and taking photographs. After returning to his office in Atlanta, he spent days trying to compare the site to other ancient carvings and paintings all over the world. Nothing could be found that was even remotely similar.

Of course, Tommy had intended to return to the location to study the stones further. He’d even hoped that there was a link between the area and his ongoing search for the lost chambers. Caught up in a whirlwind of other discoveries that took precedence, he’d been unable to come back. Now, he stood on the ancient site again, wondering what it all meant and how everything connected.

“Do you have a camera?” he finally asked, shaking loose his thoughts.

Ulrich nodded toward the black bag that was sitting at Schultz’s feet. “Everything you need is in there.”

Tommy acknowledged the answer by squatting down and unzipping the backpack. Inside, he found a small digital camera, a notepad, and a laptop with an Internet card lying next to it. “Wow, were you guys Boy Scouts?”

Both the guard and Ulrich gave him puzzled look, apparently not appreciating the sarcasm.

“Never mind,” he mumbled back.

Tommy grabbed the camera and fiddled with a few of the buttons to get the settings the way he wanted them. Ten minutes later, he was finishing up taking pictures of the last boulder. Ulrich and the remaining guard had walked around the area with him keeping a careful eye on his every move. At one point, Jens had asked, “Why do you need so many pictures?”

Tommy sighed. “Are you going to let me do what I do or not?”

He replied by moving his jacket to the side to expose the pistol underneath.

Uninspired, he continued speaking at his two captors, “Look, hundreds of experts over thousands of years haven’t been able to figure out what these glyphs mean from looking at them. How will I do it with just a few pictures? We have a much better chance of succeeding if we use technology to our advantage. Taking shots from every possible angle should help.”

Ulrich let his jacket fall back to where it had been covering the gun, apparently satisfied with the response.

“Did you guys happen to bring a USB line for this camera?” They’d thought of everything else up until this point.

“It’s in the bag,” the guard said, speaking for the first time since leaving the mansion.

With that, Tommy moved quickly back over to where he’d left the backpack on the ground. First, he took the laptop out and laid it on top of the nearest stone with a flat area. He then dug around in the inner pockets of the bag until he found the cord he was looking for. A few minutes later, he was busy transferring the photographs over to the computer.

“Now what are you doing?” Ulrich demanded as he watched over Schultz’s shoulder.

Tommy answered directly, “I am putting all of these pictures on one screen. If I can look at them all at once, maybe I can make more sense of the entire layout than if we just look at them individually.”

“Do it.” Ulrich approved.

Nodding, Tommy finished setting up the pictures so he could see all of them on the screen. “This may take a while,” he remarked while giving them an annoyed glance. Then he started shuffling the pictures around with the mouse.

Doubt crept into his mind as he meticulously scanned the drawings on the screen. What if they were in the wrong place? It was entirely possible that the glyphs on the boulders were not drawings of constellations at all. No, this had to be the place. There was nowhere else that would fit the clue’s description.

Minutes went by with zero recognition of anything even vaguely familiar. Tommy was about to go back over to the steel cages for another look when something on the screen finally caught his eye. His pause caught the attention of his watchers.

“What is it?” Ulrich prodded.

“Give me a second,” he answered, maneuvering a few more pictures around. Then, “Wow. Now, that’s interesting.”

“What?” Ulrich was impatient. “What do you see?”

“I