A magnifying glass was at hand, and Nora picked it up to examine the images and the magnetometer survey. “Are there any prehistoric Indian ruins in the vicinity?”
The three engineers looked at each other, then shrugged.
“There’s nothing around except the old Pershing Proving Range, fifteen miles north in the Los Fuertes Mountains and mothballed decades ago,” Tappan said. “Why do you ask?”
“Because that image looks like it might be a burial.”
“An Indian burial?”
“Yes. It should be investigated. If it is a prehistoric burial, or in fact any kind of burial, there are laws against disturbing it in any way, and we’d have to rope it off.”
“We’ll have to look into that,” Tappan said. “But now, I want to introduce you to our in-house astronomer and extraterrestrial specialist, Noam Bitan. He’s in Quonset Two.” He thanked the three engineers, who said an effusive goodbye to Nora.
They think I’m going to be their boss, Nora mused as they departed, Skip following. She had to admit she was intrigued—this was more, in every sense, than she had expected. On the other hand, she couldn’t imagine any way this project could positively impact her overall career. Noam Bitan—the name seemed vaguely familiar.
Tappan led them into the adjoining hut and down the narrow central hallway to a door on the right. He tried the handle, but it was locked.
“Noam?” he called out, knocking.
“I’m tied up,” came an irritated voice.
“I’m showing Dr. Nora Kelly around—the archaeologist I’m hoping will direct the excavation. And her brother, who will be our librarian and your collections manager.”
“Fine and dandy,” the voice replied, with a marked Hebrew accent. “Bring them back in an hour.”
Tappan rolled his eyes at Nora and said, sotto voce, “Noam’s a bit eccentric.” Then, in a normal tone: “Noam, we’re on a tight schedule. If you don’t mind…？”
With a grumbling sound, the door opened. A man stood inside with a scruffy beard and unkempt brown hair, an irritated look on his face. Nora would have guessed him close to fifty years of age.
“May we come in?” Tappan asked, a slight ironic edge to his voice.
“Sure.” The man glanced at Nora with a quick smile. “Hi.” Then he cast a critical eye on Skip and merely grunted.
He led them into a capacious office, surprisingly neat given his disheveled appearance. He sat down at his desk without offering anyone a chair. Tappan guided Nora and Skip to seats opposite the desk, then sat down himself.
“Noam was formerly chairman of the science advisory board of SETI,” said Tappan, “and a professor of astronomy at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.”
Nora suddenly realized who he was. She’d occasionally seen him on talk shows: an eccentric and often excited presence, gesturing and talking about aliens.
“Noam, first I’d like to introduce you to Skip Kelly. Skip worked at the Santa Fe Archaeological Institute as a curator of their artifact collections.”
Bitan looked at Skip with narrowed eyes, but before he could say anything, Skip burst out: “I’m so pleased to meet you, Dr. Bitan! I loved your book on SETI. Really loved it. I thought you laid out a most impressive body of evidence that the Earth is currently under alien surveillance.”
This was exactly the right thing to say, and Bitan’s critical gaze vanished as his face lit up with delight. “Thank you, Skip.”
Tappan introduced Nora to Bitan, and asked her if she had any questions.
“I’m sorry I haven’t read your book myself,” Nora began.
Bitan held up his hand, rose from his chair, and removed a book from a shelf. He placed it on his desk, flipped it open, scribbled a note, closed it, and handed it to her. “Now that’s taken care of,” he said.
“Thank you,” Nora said. It was entitled The Second Revelation, with a cover depicting the Cat’s Eye Nebula. “I have a few questions, if I may?” She was going to be as nice as possible to the man who’d be Skip’s boss—but she still needed some answers.
“Of course.”
“Where do you think the UFO—that is, the UAP—came from?”
“Something that large would be hard to accelerate to close to light speed, so it was probably from a nearby star system. But in a larger sense, that’s not important.”
“Why not?”
“Because I believe that a galaxy-wide civilization has already been established and is keeping tabs on us. The government, of course, has thoroughly covered it up.”