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She interrupted the pause “Martin had been looking for it—whatever it is—for a long tiht it was in southern Spain, but he toldabout the location Hethe treasure and Malta, the location, after the fact”

“Do you knohat it is?” Janus asked “The Treasure of Atlantis?”

Kate shook her head

David pulled her close to him “We’ll know in a few hours” The look in his eyes said so different, however: Do you remember? Kate closed her eyes and tried to focus

The rustle of the suit under the pressure of the decompression chamber was unmistakable

The voice in Kate’s helmet was crisp “There are two settlements now”

“Copy”

“Sending coordinates of original settlement”

Kate’s helmet displayed a map Their ship, the Alpha Lander, was still off the coast of Africa, where she had originally administered the Atlantis Gene

A floating chariot waited silently in thethe scene beyond Kate mounted the chariot and zoomed from the ship

The world was even reen How much time had passed?

At the camp, she realized exactly how much There were at least five tieneration had passed

And the nature of the caed Muscled warriors, dressed in clothes and wearing war paint, patrolled the perily as she floated in

She gripped the stun baton

An elderly man hobbled out to the warriors and shouted to theress was stunning: they had already developed a coh the words used at this moment were a bit more “informal”

The warriors released their spears and backed away from her

She set the chariot down, and ventured into the camp

There was no bowing and groveling this time

Up ahead, the chief’s shanty had grown as well The simple lean-to had morphed into a temple with stone walls, built directly into the rock cliff

She marched toward it

The villagers lined up on each side, keeping their distance, fighting to see her

At the threshold of the teuards stepped aside, and she entered

In the altar at the end of the cavernous room, a body lay A circle of the black humans knelt before it

Kate paced to them They turned

Fro his way toward her The alpha Kate was a The treatment had produced remarkable results

Kate glanced back at the dead body, then read the symbols above the altar Here lies the second son of our chief Cut down in the fields by his brother’s tribe, for greed of the fruit of our lands

Kate quickly read the remainder of the text It seeroup of no

The chief’s younger son had taken over the fields where this tribe hunted and gathered The younger son was seen as his father’s successor, the next chief They had found him dead in the field, and the trees and shrubs picked clean He was the first victim of the older brother’s raids, and they feared there would befor war