Scene 3

Media Room, Great Hall of X Marks the Scot

“We know the tracking signals don’t just shut off,” I said. “They have to be turned off in the proper facilities, or they could possibly be damaged. They even transmit for a time after the person dies, usually for a few weeks until the internal charge wears down. It is possible that something is interfering with the signal.”

“What could do that?” Bradley asked.

“The same types of things that block all signals: heavy cover, such as several feet of rock; a layer of metal; or possibly some sort of magnetic anomaly.”

“There is another possibility,” Bradley reminded me.

“Yes, inter-dimensional travel would cause a disruption of the signal,” I replied, remembering my own mission to an alternate earth. “However, I doubt that is the cause of the disruption. If you will remember, that particular case was a chance occurrence.”

“Whatever the cause,” Bradley continued, “We need to find our people. That’s why I put out the call that you people answered.” He again turned to me. “What about the rest of your team, Dave?”

I shook my head. “Ms. Starling has the others away on another mission. They won’t be able to respond.”

“Okay,” he said. “Then it’s good I called in these other people.” He turned and addressed the room. “I want to thank you all for that.”

“What exactly do you need us to do?” asked a big man with a Highland accent.

“Jock, I’m going to leave that to Dave; he’s the team leader for this.”

Jock turned to me. “Well, Dave?” he asked.

“First, we need to get to Guyana. We will take our jet to Georgetown. Our first step once we are in country is to find out any information we can about our friends. An expedition into the jungle should have left behind many records in town from the purchase of supplies. Once we have what we can get, I will have to play it from there. Since we don’t know what happened to our people, we will have to make our decisions as we get more information.”

“Is there anything else we can do here?” Bradley asked.

“We will maintain communications with you as much as possible; you need to be here when we call. We are also going to need a guide familiar with the local area.”

“We don’t have anyone like that. Standard was our most knowledgeable person and he went with the first team.”

“That’s what I figured. Don’t worry; get me a phone. I know someone who should be able to help us.”