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Xue’s eyes narrowed at this explanation, as if it bore some bearing on what he knew and still kept secret.
Gray pressed the director, too. “What sort of sacred ceremonies was it used for?”
“Mostly to ward off evil spirits or bad tidings.”
Gray glanced to the high shuttered windows, likely picturing the flaming skies around Jakarta and beyond. Seichan imagined the same.
This definitely counts as bad tidings.
“There are many taboos surrounding the use of a bullroarer,” Kadiradded. “To use it without permission was punishable by death. Especially as the First Nations peoples believe the sound of a bullroarer is the voice of the Rainbow Serpent, their most sacred god of creation.”
Gray’s brows pinched at this revelation. He looked harder at the wooden object.
Xue cocked his head, noting Gray’s reaction.
As of yet, neither side was willing to fully share what they knew.
Gray recognized this, too, and challenged Xue. He pointed at the box and its contents. “A piece of coral. An old bullroarer. You clearly have more knowledge about all of this. You mentioned petrified bodies earlier. Which hasnothingto do with what you showed us in the box. So, clearly you’re not being forthright.”
Xue stood his ground. “The same could be said ofyou, Commander Pierce. You refuse to show us Raffles’s papers, guarding them with the army behind you. You tell uspartof his tale, but notallof it. Clearly you suspect some connection to the Aboriginal people—yet, you do not say why.”
They stared hard at each other for several long breaths.
The impasse was broken by the quietest of them. “Why are we here?” Dr. Luo Heng said with acid in his voice. He pointed a finger at Gray. “Tell us...showus... what you know, what you learned, what you suspect.”
Xue nodded, folding his arms.
But Heng wasn’t done. His finger swung to the major. “And, Xue, you tell the others about our submariners, about the ELF transmission, about the lunar rocks and strange crystals.”
Xue’s face darkened, looking both shocked and furious.
“Or fucking shoot me,” Heng declared with a heavy shrug. “I don’t care. Time is running out, and you two are still playing games. Keep this up, and we’ll all be dead.”
Captain Wen looked willing to take up that offer and shoot the man. His pistol shifted toward Heng, but Xue pushed the weapon aside.
“Dr. Luo is not wrong,” Xue admitted after taking a deep breath. “Let us cooperate more openly. To—as you said earlier—save the world.”
Xue held a hand across the marble.
Gray stared down at it—then with a nod, he reached and shook the man’s hand.
“I have a wild story to share,” Gray admitted.
Xue smiled for the first time. “I think I can beat it.”
28
January 24, 4:45A.M.WIB
Jakarta, Island of Java, Indonesia
A half hour later, Gray stared down at the two e-tablets resting atop the marble table. Each side had laid them down, like poker players revealing their cards. Gray had shown Xue a digitized version of the pages, allowing the man to read through them and review the sketches. Gray had also shared what he knew, what he suspected. Still, as a precaution, he kept the original pages with Guan-yin and the triad force.
Likewise, Xue had closed the steel box and passed it to Dr. Luo for safekeeping.
We might be showing our cards, but we’re still not willing to hand them over.
On his tablet, Xue had shared pictures of orthorhombic crystals and petrified bodies, along with glimpses of what could be pieces of a planetoid buried in Earth’s mantle. Xue had even played a macabre video of a black skull splitting open and discharging a thrashing, tendrilled mass.
