November 1777. The area now known as Point Pleasant, West Virginia near the banks of the Ohio River where it meets the Kanawha River stood Fort Randolph. Shawnee Indian Chief Cornstalk approached the fort hoping to make peace and keep his neutrality with the American soldiers who were stationed there. When he is introduced to Captain Milton D'Adamo, he is stunned to see the man with red eyes and is reminded of an elemental creature that haunts the area. Captain Milton D'Adamo, having been awake for nearly three days realizes that the Indian chief is stunned to see his reddened eyes. "I'm sorry if I appear different today Chief Cornstalk but I have not slept for a few days, please forgive me. A creature in the evening has been causing me to go sleepless and I need to get some sleep soon. Obviously it's unavoidable to get any sleep during the day because it's so busy here". Later while discussing terms, Captain D'Adamo loses his anger and decides to take the Indian Chief hostage. Two days later, a soldier is killed by unknown Indians and Captain D'Adamo becomes furious believing that it was members of Chief Cornstalk's tribe attacking because he had the Chief hostage. He orders the Chief to be executed. Just before the execution, Chief Cornstalk puts a curse on the Captain, "May the night beast with red eyes keep you and all who follow you cursed for all time".

Oooooo!!! This sounds like its gonna be a good one Tony! th:
Can't wait.

4:45PM Friday, December 15, 1967. Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Young Felix Von Troxel and his best friend, Dylan Trevor are sitting on the edge of the Silver Bridge that connects Point Pleasant, WV and Gallipolis, Ohio reading SuperBoy comic books. Felix Von Troxel's white Parson Russell Terrier, Krypto lay beside Felix. Felix and Dylan are talking about that day's episode of SuperBoy that they had watched earlier that afternoon. Within five minutes Krypto opened his eyes and felt the bridge move as the rush hour traffic flies by behind the boys. Krypto senses a slight crack in an eye-bar is growing and weakening due to the pressure of the traffic. Krypto leaps up and starts barking frantically. The boys sense something wrong with the bridge now and take off running for the West Virginia side because it is the closest. At 4:57 PM The Silver Bridge collapses with many vehicles still on the bridge. Trucks, Cars fall as the Bridge collapses like a deck of cards. Many vehicles begin to float down the river as those people pound on their windows and disappear into the river while a few other people had managed to break out their vehicle windows and climb out. Krypto jumps into the river and pulls out one man and then goes back into the river and pulls out a woman. As Krypto considers another rescue he senses something and looks up and begins barking. A man is falling towards the river but to the boys he appears to be flying and just as it looks like he is about to disappear into the river, he vanishes. The boys were close enough that they saw the man's red eyes.

Rescuers appeared within minutes to pull out the lucky few who had broken their windows including one man who stood atop his truck cab as it sinks into the river. Earlier that day a flight had left Nellis Air Force Base outside of Las Vegas. A B25 was headed towards an unknown destination in West Virginia. As the B25 flew along the Ohio river approaching West Virginia a fight broke out among three passengers. One Alexander Vestral was actually a time traveller from the Twenty-Third Century who had conned his way to fly with a couple members of the Black Ops Brethren as they were headed towards a construction site for a secret NSA Satellite listening post. Alexander was being pummeled good by the Agents. One blow knocked him towards the door in the side of the aircraft and the force of his body had forced the door to open slightly as he rolled away from it but was kicked viciously in the ribs and the red haired agant pulled him up by the back of his neck and punched fiercely in the face. The dark-haired agent dealt him a body blow that sent him towards the door again and this time the door flew open as Alexander flew out but had grabbed the edge of the door with his hands. His shoulders felt like they were going to pop out from the pressure of holding onto the doors as the dark haired agent shook the door violently causing Alexander to fall from the plane. Falling, Alexander flailed his arms in fear at first and then realized he had to activate his Time directional Omni disc to escape his situation. He grabbed it from his left pocket and using his right hand punched the green disc as it changed color for each year, month and day as he punched in the appropriate colors and then realizing he was staring at a river below him, he disappeared into the future. The men in black suits had assumed that he perished in the river and decided later that they should interview people who may have seen something. The two agents had rounded up over a dozen fellow agents to interview that day's happenings and only heard about a couple of boys who claimed to see a flying, red eyed man. The agents dismissed the boys because of their imaginations. It turned out that there had been other sightings of a red eyed creature or man had occured in the past couple of years. The agents wanted to make sure no one had heard anything about the secret construction site in a secret valley surrounded by mountains.

April 14, 2201. Alexander Vestrel returns to his own time and spends a couple of hours in the archives investigating the incidents that day and the agents who swarmd over the town interrogating everyone. He learns about the two boys and their dog, Krypto and the two rescues the dog had made. Alexander had wanted to see the construction site but decided it was not worth going back that far again. It was no longer a secret about the NSA listening site but Alexander wondered why the two men were going to the construction site. Varian's message was cryptic before he had left on his last trek in time. Now that Varian was known to be dead after the finding of his remains in the dry Ice Age lakebed of Lake Thompson of the Antelope Valley that would later be a part of Edwards Air Force Base. It was a mystery why the Brethren agents had gone to the construction site and Vestrel was intrigued to near obsession.

Friday, January 20, 2025. The 48th President of the United States, Trevor Hugh Symington was sworn in by Chief Justice Bernard Kerensky. President Symington begins his Inaugural speech. His mother, Anne Symington and his father, Felix Von Troxel looked on with pride. Felix, indeed found it amazing that his first time back in 1979 had produced a son with the heiress Anne Symington the great-granddaughter of Stuart Symington. Stuart Symington was a Democratic Senator from Missouri who had ran for the Presidential Nomination of the Democratic Party in 1960. The preceding President, John F. Kennedy Jr. looked on as he sat in awe of the powerful oratory of Trevor Symington. After having spent eight long years (2017-2025) in the White House, he felt relieved at going back home. Beside Felix, sat his best friend, Dylan Hugh Trevor. In the back row behind them sat Richard D'Adamo, the Archivist of the National Archives.

Monday January 23, 2025 1:20PM. The Vice President is showed into the Oval Office by a Marine guard. President Symington steps out from behind the desk and shakes hands with the tall Black Vice President, Augustus Nero Fife had been Mayor of New York City when he was offered the opportunity to play a vital role as the Vice President. "Please sit down Mr. Vice President" says the stocky 5'9" President. Both of them sit. "Now, Augustus, I want you as my point man on Urban Affairs and I want you to work with the new Secretary of Urban Affairs upon her confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Mrs. Carrinton Pitt has agreed to be my Secretary of Urban Affairs. The two of you will work closely on all Urban matters for the whole country, Understand?". "Yes, Mr. President, I do and will work diligently to help bring Urban Affairs to the front and get Congress and any other bureaucrats, et. al to help matters get resolved".

November 2025. With grey eyes that can hypnotize both men and women, Carmen Sandefur strides purposefully into her office at NUMA HQ, where Adam Gunn, the Deputy Director of NUMA stands up from the chair in front of Carmen's desk. "I'm glad to see you're here on time, Carmen. The launch is about to start in less than three minutes from the launching of NUMA's twelfth satellite in to orbit. We now have four in polar orbits, four in equatorial orbits and this is the fourth geosynchronous orbit satellite that we are about to see". As Carmen sat down in her chair Adam used the remote control to turn up the volume on the TV. They heard the countdown with baited breath as NUMA 12 was on the launch pad of SeaLaunch out in the Pacific Ocean. The final seconds ticked down and then the firing of the rocket engines slowly but steadily hurtled up into the clear blue sky and it disappeared into the edges of the atmosphere and slipped into the blackness of space. Adam turned the TV off and swiveled around to face the blonde beauty of Carmen Sandefur, the Director of NUMA. "A succesful launch of all satellites is terrific, Director!!". "Yes, it is Adam" returns Carmen. Adam has been a member of NUMA since 2001 following in the footsteps of his father, Rudi by joining NUMA after graduating from Caltech with a degree in Marine Technology. Carmen had joined NUMA right out of high school back in 1989 and had many different jobs in NUMA during her career with NUMA and was the fourth director of NUMA, and was the second woman to lead NUMA. Gamay Trout had preceded Carmen by serving eight years as director of NUMA from 2011-2019. Dirk Pitt Sr. had been the second director of NUMA from 2005 to 2011 and had a long career in NUMA that started after the founding of NUMA back in 1975 up until his formal retirement in 2011. Dirk had worked as a consultant until 2020 when his health weakened him from any further physical exertion. "So, Carmen are you ready for your sixth anniversary party? Everyone is ready down on the eighth floor". "Yes, I guess I am. Let's go on down".

November 2025. Tramping around the wooded Mountains of Bedford County, Virginia, three men were looking for treasure that has yet to be found since it was buried back in March of 1822 by one Thomas Jefferson Beale, who had gone out west and had found some treasure whereupon he came back to Virginia and buried his treasure and then devising a multiple substitution cipher that's supposed to be based on a document that Thomas Jefferon had written. This cipher has not been broken even by the NSA, CIA and many other such organizations. The three men were an Cryptographer, an Geographical Information Systems expert and an engineer. Like many other men they were not to find the treasure itself but did find something that November day.

THE BEALE CIPHER; 71, 194, 38, 1701, 89, 76, 11, 83, 1629, 48, 94, 63, 132, 16, 111, 95, 84, 341, 975, 14, 40, 64, 27, 81, 139, 213, 63, 90, 1120, 8, 15, 3, 126, 2018, 40, 74, 758, 485, 604, 230, 436, 664, 582, 150, 251, 284, 308, 231, 124, 211, 486, 225, 401, 370, 11, 101, 305, 139, 189, 17, 33, 88, 208, 193, 145, 1, 94, 73, 416, 918, 263, 28, 500, 538, 356, 117, 136, 219, 27, 176, 130, 10, 460, 25, 485, 18, 436, 65, 84, 200, 283, 118, 320, 138, 36, 416, 280, 15, 71, 224, 961, 44, 16, 401, 39, 88, 601, 304, 12, 21, 24, 283, 134, 92, 63, 246, 486, 682, 7, 219, 184, 360, 780, 18, 64, 463, 474, 131, 160, 79, 73, 440, 95, 18, 64, 581, 34, 69, 128, 367, 460, 17, 81, 12, 103, 820, 62, 116, 97, 103, 862, 70, 60, 1317, 471, 540, 208, 121, 890, 346, 36, 150, 59, 568, 614, 13, 120, 305, 42, 58, 451, 44, 106, 301, 13, 408, 680, 93, 86, 116, 530, 82, 568, 9, 102, 38, 416, 89, 71, 216, 728, 965, 818, 2, 38, 121, 195, 14, 326, 148, 234, 18, 55, 131, 234, 361, 824, 5, 81, 623, 48, 961, 19, 26, 33, 10, 1101, 365, 92, 88, 181, 275, 346, 201, 206, 86, 36, 219, 320, 829, 840, 68, 232, 431, 960, 50, 29, 81, 216, 284, 919, 861, 325, 985, 233, 64, 68, 232, 431, 960, 50, 29, 81, 216, 321, 603, 14, 612, 81, 360, 36, 51, 62, 194, 78, 60, 200, 314, 676, 112, 4, 28, 18, 61, 136, 247, 819, 921, 1060, 464, 895, 10, 6, 66, 119, 38, 41, 49, 602, 423, 962, 302, 294, 875, 78, 14, 23, 111, 109, 62, 31, 501, 823, 216, 280, 34, 24, 150, 1000, 162, 286, 19, 21, 17, 340, 18, 242, 31, 86, 234, 140, 607, 115, 33, 191, 67, 104, 86, 52, 88, 16, 80, 121, 67, 95, 122, 216, 548, 96, 11, 201, 77, 364, 218, 1164, 1496, 1817, 51, 39, 210, 36, 3, 19, 540, 232, 22, 141, 617, 84, 290, 80, 46, 207, 411, 150, 29, 38, 46, 172, 85, 194, 36, 261, 543, 897, 624, 18, 212, 416, 127, 931, 19, 4, 63, 96, 447, 55, 86, 34, 43, 212, 107, 96, 314, 264, 1065, 32, 428, 601, 203, 124, 95, 216, 814, 2906, 654, 820, 2, 301, 112, 176, 213, 71, 87, 96, 202, 35, 10, 2, 41, 17, 84, 221, 736, 820, 214, 11, 60, 760

WHAT! Way too cool!

Friday, December 1, 2025. The news about the discovery of a strange looking body found in a cave in Western Virginia broke nationally. Divers had to retrieve the body and then place it in a cold water tank to keep it preserved. It was part man part Bat. The eyes were red. Then people in West Virginia and Southeastern Ohio began remembering stories of the mythic Mothman that had been sighted off and on since the late 18th Century. After some testing it was determined that the creature had died back in the late 1970s. By Christmastime it was determined that the creature had lived for nearly 500 years.

February 16, 2026. It was revealed that the Mothman creature had been found in what appeared to be the remnants of a small wooden ship. NUMA director Carmen Sandefur announced that NUMA would work to determine it's origins. Ten days later Dirk Eric Pitt passed away. Many articles were written about the raising of the Titanic and his many other accomplishments. There was a memorial at Sea on March 3, 2026. Many NUMA personnel, friends, families and dignitaries attended. Attention was on NUMA again because of Dirk's passing.

Dirk....Dead???....Haha, good one Tony. :lol: yike: ;)

Richard D'Adamo sat at his desk reading a journal that his grandfather, Radames D'Adamo had written and comes across the entry where the Declaration of Independence was stolen back in 2005. Richard was 7 years old at the time and does not recall hearing about it. The telephone rings and he picks it up. Brandon DeVilbiss, a close friend is on the other end. After the pleasantries Brandon asks, "Have you heard about the discovery of the ship in Virginia where the remains of the Mothman were found?". "The ship our ancestors sailed to America on?" "I believe so, the question is how did that creature find it? I thought they had hidden the ship well". "We've got to get someone on site to make sure nothing of importance is discovered" replies Richard.

Willem Fife, a man like no other. Ruthless, Ambitious and willing to do anything for power. And an IQ of 188 that gave him a certain advantage over most people. And whose brother was only a heartbeat away from being President. Willem burned over his brother's drive and hard work. It paid off for Augustus Nero Fife. Willem was not satisfied being wealthy. It did give him another edge in being able to have a certain kind of power. His company, Fenwick Incorporated afforded him something to do but it was meaningless to him. Reading the New York Times he comes across an article that tells of the finding of the Mothman in an underground cavern that was part of an underground river. Willem remembers reading about the Beale cipher when he was a kid and always had fancied himself as a pirate and finding the buried treasure. At 5'10" he was not a dork despite his I.Q. with a stocky build.

Brandon deVilbiss had contacts in the Intelligence Agencies and other such ilk. A phone call that he received in the middle of the night disturbed him. He had just heard that the Black Ops Brethren still existed and was out to get their hands on the ship because they knew that the Atlantean descendants were still protecting their secrets and it had been the goal of the Brethren to pry those secrets away since the founding of the country and before.

A secret meeting of gang leaders from Cedar Rapids, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Erie, Trenton and New York cities were gathering in Baltimore. As the heads of each gang sat down at the long table they all started talking at the same time. The door to the conference room flew open and Willem Fife strode in. "Gentlemen and lady, becalm yourself and I will organize this so called alliance that all of you thoughtfully started on your own and shall now be under my control because I have the wealth and resources to bring all of you into one cohesive machine. I am Willem Fife, the CEO of Fenwick Incorporated and will be your Chairman of the board and my friend to the right of me is Troy Browder of Dayton, Ohio who has his own local monopoly in that fair city and will be the CEO of this organization of which I shall name Intertel".

Dirl Pitt Jr. and Summer Pitt, along with a crew of over 30 arrived in Befdord County, Virginia with a Semi loaded with gear and all the personnel in several Four wheelers. TYhey sup a community of tents and began to organize for their exploration of the wooden ship inside the Cavern and the the underground river it lay in. "Make sure all the tents are secured against weather" Summer barked at the men hauling out the gear as she gave them a winning smile. The men dutifully obeyed their attractive leader. "Summer, now be nice. We are going to be here awhile and all of us are going to have to get along" said Dirk with a sparkle in his eyes for his sister.

Danny silverstone, the GIS expert who had discovered the mothman with his two other friends back in November was along for the ride with the NUMA group in exploring the ship. Alexei Cord, a NUMA cryptographer came up to Danny and introduced himself. The two men liked each instantly. Summer came over and announced that camp was all set up and that some of the foodstuffs had been put in the Mess tent. "Danny, I am happy you decided to join us and give us any insights about your first trip here back in November. With Dirk and myself as the project leaders we are glad to have any help in figuring out how the Mothman came to be in that ship and how the ship came to be there in the first place".

Kasey Lesher, the NUMA hydrologist and Kerry Hennessy, a historian of the area walked over to Summer, Danny and Alexei. Kerry, at 5 feet tall was the shortest person in the whole group but turned heads with her flaming red hair and a cute face. Kasey was the typical blonde bombshell. Men tended towards the two if Summer wasn't around. They introduced themselves and Summer walked over to the Mess tent while they chattered away.

Out for a short walk, Kasey Lesher finds a secluded spot and calls her control at Brethren headquarters and reports that the ship has been located and NUMA divers will soon begin their survey of the ship. "I still have not found out who is the Atlantean representative here among all these people but will continue my efforts and let you know when it's time to take the ship and it's contents". Kasey walks back to the camp. Behind a bush, Alexei watches Kasey walk away. Alexei retrieves his shortwave radio and calls Brandon DeVilbiss and reports the identity of the Brethren agent among the NUMA group.

Summer, Dirk and four other divers swam over the ship taking measurements and checking the degreee of decay. Summer spots something reflecting her dive light and swims down to investigate. A small chest lays on the deck of the ship. It looks to Summer that she might be able to lift it. She tries to lift it with both hands but it does not budge with her effort. Dirk swims over and tries to pick it up. It rises off the deck easily and Dirk swims back to the entrance tunnel. He surfaces in the tunnel and despite the weight of the trunk he walks out of the Tunnel, carrying it.

A volley of shots chew up the ground near Dirk as he comes under fire and dives back into the cave. The chest falls to the ground when he leaps. A squadron of the Brethren head towards the chest but two of them are cut down by snipers immediately. The rest of them split into two groups of three each. One group heads for cover while the other three squat on the ground returning fire. More sniper fire as these three are systematically mowed down. The other three Brethren members try to figure where the sniper fire is coming from and get off a round of shots. One bullet actually nicks one of the snipers. Two more of the Brethren come out of the brush from afar and make a run for the chest. One is cut down while running. The second one nearly makes it to the chest when he is cut down. The three remaining Brethren members squirm towards the chest until they come to the closest bushes that are close to the Cave entrance.

Summer and the other NUMA divers including Kasey Lesher come out of the water and hear the gunfire as Dirk yells at them to hit the ground. Summer removes her headgear and yells, "Dirk, what the heck is going on?!?". Dirk yells back, "Soon as I stepped out of the entrance gunfire erupted all around me and I jumped back into the cave leaving the chest just outside the entrance". "What are we going to do?!" yells back Summer. "We are going to stay in here as long as no one bothers to enter with their guns".

Trying to be inauspicious the Brethren members hidden behind the bushes manage to find a long, heavy branch and rope to use to snake the chest towards them. The snipers see the long branch and the rope snaking out and the Snipers converge towards the Brethren members and concentrate rapid fire into the Bushes, killing the men. Then the Atlantean snipers run up and grab the chest and take off. Outside of the NUMA camp they take off in a Chevy Suburban, racing out of the area.

At a special lab in Falls Church, Virginia geneticists, biologists, and one Cryptozoologist are hovering over the Mothman creature. The Cryptozoologist, Kelvin Covais is saying, "My educated guess is that this creature was once a man who was transformed through some unknown process yet discovered or a creature that evolved into this once living body we are looking at, gentlemen". Out of the corner steps a man, "You are right, Mr. Covais. This was once an Atlantean man who with other Atlantean descendants had sailed to America around the same time as Christopher Columbus and those people hid their ship in what they believed to be a secure location. They saw their friend become ill after being bitten by a bat and changed within a month to what you see before your eyes. What I am telling you gentlemen is of the utmost confidence and should never be repeated or your reputations will be destroyed because I am a descendent of Atlantis myself and we have the power in and out of government to destroy all of you".

Adam Wuornos called Richard D'Adamo and informed him of his encounter with the scientists and the Cryptozoologist at the lab. "Thank you, Adam. I also commend you on your attack and killing of the Brethren out at the site and the stealing of that chest away from them and NUMA". "Your welcome, my friend and fellow descendant. It was done efficiently and with only one minor injury among my men. At least the contents of that chest are safely back in our hands again. Good night my friend and give my regards to Heather". "Thank you again and give my regards to Julie".

Hehehe.

After silence fell over the camp Summer, Dirk and the other divers waited awhile before venturing out of the cave. Thankfully, no NUMA personnel had been shot though a couple of NUMA guys had been hit over the head and would suffer splitting headaches for a day or two. Dirk called the authorities, who came out and removed the bodies and took statements from everyone. Dirk was furious that the chest had been taken. Summer called the Director of NUMA, Carmen Sandefur and told her what had happened. This was the first official Night Probe that NUMA had in it's 51 years of existence and unfortunately had witnessed a slaughter. Summer and Dirk began to make plans to bring the ship onto Dry land. Fortunately there was a water tank in the NUMA Semi-Trailer where they would try to put the remains of the ship in and haul to a special lab.

After taking apart the remains of the ship and hauling portions of it one at a time to the Semi, it took nearly two weeks until every piece had been placed back into the same position in the water tank aboard the semi. Finally, everyone was relieved to decamp the area and while Summer, Dirk and some of the NUMA personnel rode in the semi, the rest of the group left in the NUMA vans they had ridden in to the cave. They escorted the semi until they got to the main roads and then hurried back to Washington, D.C. while the semi headed towards Newport News, Virginia where the special lab for Marine restoration was located. Several hours later, NUMA Director Carmen Sandefur called the lab and learned that the semi never showed up.

In a warehouse in Petersburg, Virginia sat the NUMA semi with the NUMA personnel locked away in a storage room of the Warehouse. Summer and Dirk Pitt Jr., along with eveyone else found themselves the victims of a hijacking. Stunned, they took awhile trying to get their wits back and think of what to do. Willem Fife, sat in an office of the Warehouse that belonged to one of the many subsidiary companies he owned. Having looked at the ship in the water tank, Willem was trying to think of how to use this opportunity to get a hold of the Mothman creature.

Willem made some phone calls to let the word out that he was interested in a trade for the Mothman by giving back the NUMA people and the ship. Willem was considering how valuable the ship might be to someone. He let it be known that he would sell the ship to any interested parties. After a while, it struck Willem to question the NUMA people to see what they had learned or discovered. He had some of the guards release a small group of NUMA leaders of the project and brought to him.

NUMA Director Carmen Sandefur was furious after learning that the NUMA Semi and her people had been hijacked and called in the FBI. The 5' 10" Blonde Director of NUMA was a force to be reckoned with. She had gained employment with NUMA right out of high school in 1989 and loved all of the NUMA people as if they were her family and would do anything for them. FBI Agent Bret Martens was awestruck at the hypnotic hazel eyes of Carmen Sandefur and was definitely cowed in her presence. Trying to regain some semblance of himself he said, "We will do everything in our power to find them and safely return them, Ms. Sandefur".

Later that night as Carmen laid on the couch worrying about Summer, Dirk and the others she opened up about her feelings with her best friend, Belinda Partlow with whom she was speaking on the telephone with. The two of them had grown up together and still stayed in contact on a near daily basis. 'Carmen, dear, I know the FBI and all the authorities will do everything in their power to find them. How are you and Kurt doing?". "Kurt is beside himself, because he is retired and feels as powerless as I do". "That must be hard on him, Carmen what with him unable to physically do anything. Is he managing to do things of a daily nature that doesn't cause much pain?". "Unfortunately there is always a bit of pain in everything he does but manages, somehow" replies Carmen.

Summer and Dirk finally came up with a plan to get everyone out of the warehouse but not without risk. They explained it to everyone and there was a vote to go for it anyways. Summer and Dirk waited for the next mealtime to put their plan into execution. Meanwhile, everyone had their assigned task and were working diligently.

With some effort the man who brought the food for the NUMA hostages was knocked unconscious after being dragged into the storage room with a rope, spilling the food. Two guards came running immediately but some chemical cleaners that had been mixed caused a smoke cloud and they were choking, with teary eyes before they too were knocked unconscious. Slowly the group of NUMA hostages came out of the storage room looking like a small band of soldiers with strange looking weapons. Spotting a window on the outer wall that faced towards the Appomattox River. With some of the equipment they had taken from the storage room they busted the window and as fast as they could several of them had escaped and were heading towards the river when Summer, Dirk and three other NUMA personnel found themselves under a hail of bullets. Immediately, one of the bullets had penetrated one of the liquid containers and the smoky cloud of noxious gases enveloped the hallway, blinding everyone. The three NUMA personnel scrambled out the window quickly with Summer and Dirk following them. The shooters had managed to get to the window and one of them got off a shot that caught Dirk in his leg but he was not slowed as he ran for the river. At the river, everyone had enough gear to fashion makeshift life vests and everyone swam to the far shore while bullets were hitting the water. Despite their swimming it took them nearly twenty-five minutes to cross the river. Once on shore they all ran as far as they could to get help. Willem Fife was furious that they had managed to escape. He was pleased that they had not been able to take the Semi-Trailer with the body of the Mothman.

Despite the escape of the NUMA people, Willem Fife doubled the security on the Mothman creature that lay in the water tank inside the Semi-Trailer that lay hidden in the warehouse. Nonetheless, Alexander Vestrel had decided to come back in time after reading about the NUMA Semi-Trailer being hijacked, the escape of the NUMA people and the subsequent arrests at the Auction between several interested parties in the dead Mothman creature. Appearing in the Semi-Trailer right next to the water tank with such precision, Alexander found himself staring at the creature. Speculating inside his mind that this was what had brought the Brethren agents to the secret NSA construction site, Alexander now finds it possible in his mind that since the founding of the Nation that this creature had eluded capture by the Brethren and why the Atlanteans were always so protective of Western Virginia, West Virginia. It was because of the location of the ship that the Atlanteans had hidden with it's secrets. Many Scots-Irish folk who had emigrated to the Appalachian areas from Ulster had also included many Atlantean descendants and had provided many of the country's leaders, and fighting men who had participated in the many wars the country found itself in from time to time. The rest of the country had always typified these people as hicks not understanding the breadth of their culture and how it had influenced the country in many ways socially, culturally and economically. Probably why they were so fierce about their land and the way of a simple but comfortable existence. Naturally there were some mythos that had arisen because of the Mothman and other mysterious cryptids that had long ceased to live on Earth. Despite the technical prowess of the Nation, it still had a deep fear of creatures that Man could or would not understand. Man had always been this way since the snake in the Garden of Eden. Man would then turn to the church to beseech his God to protect him from his deep seated fears. All this passed through Alexander's mind in an effort to grasp an understanding with his knowledge of History and the nature of Man.

Holy Cow! I love this story!
Is the Mothman gonna come back to life Tony? If so, I must prepare myslef for a sleepless night. :lol: ;)

Returning back to his time in 2201, Alexander gave his report to Heath London, the head of the Time Council. Heath, a Human from a different planet named Mequalnicht had made a proposal to the council that a sample of the Creature's DNA be taken while it was still alive and the Council voted in favor. After telling Alexander of the Council's action, it was requested that Alex go back in time and find the creature and extract a sample if possible. "Are you out of your mind, Heath? I just saw the corpse and that thing was big and you expect me to go back and get some of it's DNA when it was alive. You're a freakin' Idiot!!!". "It's just a suggestion, if at all possible to get it. It is not an order, Alex". Alexander turns and walks away, leaving.