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“Now Just listen to me, with the Naval radar signals as well as a special piece of tech made recently by the Mamora corporation I’ve been able to pick up ultrasonic waves coming from miles breathe the- well- waves. Now if we pair this with the ancient Greek texts that I myself have recently translated because we all know if you want something done right do it yourself because sometimes lazy assholes mess it up like pandoras pot- I'm getting sidetracked. Screw it never mind” Keith ran his hand down his face before pushing back sweat sliced bangs. He threw his papers sideways haphazardly onto a desk before glaring towards his audience with a small lopsided smile.
“So boy, thoughts on my speech before my blundering mess?”
A loud woof followed from the over-grown husky. Keith shook his head before walking out of the light of his scrap-made projector and dragging his hands through Kosmos fur. After 3 hours of rehearsing and he hadn’t made it past his first paragraph let alone a page of his speech. Any time he’d say something he’d get distracted and ramble on about a topic no one would want to actually hear about. It wasn’t as if he was rehearsing to make what might be the most important speech of his entire pathetic scholar life for 17:00 hour.
Wait. shooting his head up to stare at the hanging clock on the wall he watched as the hands of the clock slowly ticked over and the blaring alarm of a mustard yellow camera of birds started hooting mockingly. Rushing to the old rustic coat-hanger in the corner of his basement establishment he grasped his father's old worn coat in one hand before grabbing his paperwork. With a short, “hold down the fort for me boy” Keith slammed ‘his’ door shut and made his hurried way down the frosted streets.
An hour. An hour to make a 30-minute journey and be in the meeting room a good 15 minutes to set up and go through security even though he practically works there. If he rushed he could probably cut that travel time down by 5 minutes and perhaps taking a couple of shady backstreet alleys would quicken his journey some. Skipping over a small patch of Ice Keith suddenly realised he’d forgotten to put on contacts leaving his somewhat broken glasses to glide softly down his nose and land precariously on the tip. So much for trying to avoid the ‘nerd’ look - not that his line of work isnt exactly filled with nerds anyway.
After a while of manic steps down old streets with grand buildings and haunted by the distinct smell of fish and gunpowder he glanced at the wristwatch he was filled with relief. Guessing from past walks he was about 5 minutes away with 10 minutes of his allotted travel time left. Deciding to rush a little more he sped up his pace. Long legs stretching farther and farther with each step. It was all going fine until he stepped on one partially slippery patch of ice and went crashing down. Shocked he put his hands below him to try to break his fall backwards.
Groaning at the pain blooming across his back he scrunched his face up. Using a hand to push his glasses back up his face and the other to help him sit up he begged whatever god out there that everyone in the busy street had randomly vanished into thin air and hadn’t seen that . Bringing his hands in front of him to inspect the slight grazes he felt himself panic. Looking up he watched in despair as his hard, years worth of research blew away like feathers in the wind to either be sunk in the ocean or used as nesting by nurturing birds.
From waking up late, to almost over rehearsing and now that he felt as if there was something out there purposefully making it impossible to get to his meeting. Any other person would have given up. Heck, any other normal person would have given up on the dream back at 10 years old when they learnt what the word ‘myth’ meant.
Keith however is not normal and for him impossible is just another version of possible.
Pushing himself to his feet he hurried his way down the last few streets before slamming his way through the polished, clear glass doors into a lobby. Walking on slightly shaky legs he headed over to the front desk and gave the lady a small smile. He signed a few forms- normal protocol- before handing over his premade photograph to place onto a badge. A slightly wide-eyed, mouth open with shaggy hair stuck up like an angry cat, faced Keith stared back at him. He still remembers that day that he took that.
He stole a camera from his day job and set it up in the janitor's closet. He’d never worked with a camera that…old before and got shocked at the bright blinding light that washed his face out hence the wide eyes. Not having time to retake one he had accepted it as workable and slipped it into his wallet as to not lose it.
The sight above his picture caused his gut to twist uncomfortably. Garrison corporation. Known worldwide for its military presence and less well known for its search in myths and legends. To many who know of both its main areas, it seems foolish. To some who’ve done look into the legends, the Garrison want and it makes sense. Bigfoot? Imagine sending large beasts into battle. Eldorado? Imagine how much gold and other metals exist there for their taking.
Atlantis? The jewel of Keith's research. Well for the garrison the higher-ups practically salivated over the very thought of it. Many well-known scholars had been in contact over the years. Many well-known scholars had also given up any all work in Atlantis with some giving up Legends altogether. Getting a meeting at the Garrison was career suicide and anyone who still went had to be idiots.
And yet here Keith stood determined to be the red herring in the pattern. Making his way through the labyrinth of winding corridors he could feel his heart hammering away in his chest. This was real. Make it or break it.
“Mr Kogane wonderful of you to make an appearance. Please set up and ignore us for intruding early our meeting earlier than intended today with Dr Ryner from the OlkarI academy of research-based a city over. I'm sure you’ve heard of them with Dr Ryner being a key leader in your field? “ The smug look and sour tone of Iverson's voice were the welcome Keith got to what should be an empty meeting room.
It was a scare tactic. Mention someone well-respected n the field Keith was about to make a presentation about and how they failed spectacularly after knocking you off your game by showing up to the meeting much earlier than stated. Of course, Keith knew of Dr Ryner and their research. They- along with everyone at the academy- instead of searching for Atlantis try to replicate it by mixing our already known technology with the tales of old to replicate what it might have been like. Their outcomes are superb and have led to overwhelming success in multiple areas of development.
Still from all the preparation, Keith had done beforehand ( aka scrolling for miles through first-hand accounts from ex-employees of the Garrison as well as ex-interviewees ) he kept his face masked and pretended the words didn't make him freak out. He logged into the company provided laptop designated for this meeting room before pulling up his PowerPoint.
“Ladies and gentlemen might I take you upon a journey to a world of wonder, a world of tragedy and a world of wisdom. Back a couple of thousand years ago the world as we know it was shaken to its core when the land of Atlantis was mysteriously sunk into the ocean. Decades go by and explorers scavenged the ocean hoping in vain to find the city. Still to this day do young boys dream of one day having their name placed in books of history for finding the thing.
“Today I’d like to tell you all that this young boy had found it. Using a hypersonic wave detector made by the Blades Of Mamora corp I have been able to rewire it and made additions to find these waves from deep beneath the sea. Their nothing like we’ve ever seen before with patterns relating to that of a Mink whales song. On this graph, I’ve been recording my findings for a year unsure of what it was at the start and found its waves grew larger at our time of 8 pm. Now, this makes little sense however when put together with old texts that were found in the 19th century translated we see that Atlantis was thought it be in the Icelandic sea. And it just so happens that 8 pm in the USA is midnight for them. Now if you could turn your attention to this presentation let me further explain my findings..”
And so Keith talked through his research from the past 5 years. All the small details from artefacts found. Painting on pots, sketches of maps with strange islands missing now, diary entries translated, jewellery made from techniques found nowhere else. It was magical all the evidence and combined with his own scientific findings it was no shock ( that's a lie) when Iverson smirked and said;
“Well, Mr Kogane this is most impressive. I think it’s worth my investment for once. I'll compile a team I think will be suited for this expedition that you will meet at a specified harbour when I eventually email you.”
“Um uh meet them?” Keith asked confused.
Iverson's smirk turned into a wicked grin. “Did you assume I’d be sending them down without you to direct them then and there? No, if they die you die with them so think of it as further incentive to get it right the first time.”
Shit.