Next day at the cave;

Linc got out of bed early the next morning an put on a pot of coffee.
It had just finished perking when Axel came out to the kitchen while
Linc was pouring a cup. He poured a cup for him, and Axel said he was
going to let Fannie sleep as long as she wanted She hadn't been able
to do that in a while.
They took their coffee and went out to the veranda to sit in the sun.
They talked about the cave and what Vernon was trying to do for the
exhibits down there .
Fannie came out with a cup of coffee and said there was no more in the
pot. So she made another one for breakfast. She told them after she
had put some biscuits in the oven and was going to make some gravy as
soon as she drank her coffee. That got some smiles out of the guys.
After breakfast, they walked on down to the cave. Both Fannie and
Axel were surprised to see how light it was in there. Fannie said,
"I really like this place but I don't know if I could live here with
the grotto where the caskets were laid.' Axel said, " I don't see why
not, They aren't going anywhere". "I know", she said, " but it's
just a bit spooky to me." They looked all around the front part of
the cave then Linc lit a gas light and they went into the big bedroom.
Fannie ran her hands over the big bed and exclaimed, "Wow! Just look
at the fantastic old bedroom set. I love it." And Linc said how he
liked the old desk and wanted to take it up to the house. They looked
through the desk and Axel said the dueling pistols were a beautiful
set. Fannie who could read French talked about the papers and the
old money which she said was worth a fortune. She picked up the book
that was in the trunk and read some passages from it. " some
beautiful poems and fabulous illustrations.
Linc took the ring from the trinket box, put it on his hand then
opened the secret door and showed them the different rooms there.
In each room, they oohed and awed. Axel said he could hardly believe
what a tremendous amount of artifacts there was.
In some of the rooms, Fannie couldn't help herself. She held some of
the artifacts and commented on each of them. In the room with Egypt
artifacts, she held a gorgeous necklace up to her throat and looked
in the wall reflection, exclaiming how beautiful it was, but how very
heavy it was as well. Linc told her Uncle Vernon said it was probably
a necklace from a burial, not one worn. That made Fannie replace it
with a flourish.
In the French room, there were three painting signed Claude Hancks..
So he was a painter too. One was of a girl with curly red hair,
playing with a rag doll. It was so darn cute. The frame was very
ornate. Another was of three blue irises. Quite lovely. The last
one, also in a heavy ornate frame was a painting of the same little
red headed girl playing with a white kitten with blue eves and with a
ball of blue yarn. She was laughing. It was a very lovely scene.
"They really need to be put in a museum for all to see." Axel said.
They commented on some of the items that were distinctly from the
future, trying to figure out what they were and what they were for..
In the France room there was an object that looked similar to an old
fashioned wood cased radio, but did not have a cord for
electricity., and the inner working did not have vacuum tubes nor
grids like radios have today. Very strange.
They really got a shock when they got to the last room at the end of
the hall and saw the giant machine and the two smaller ones. Linc
told them them big machine was the one that made the cave. He Didn't
know what it did with the material it removed but it did generate
enough heat to re-crystallize the minerals in the stone, and made it
smooth and shine like glass.

They stood there in wonder looking at the machines. The writing on
them was not of a language any of them had ever seen before. Hard to
say how far in the future they came from and where they came from,
even if it was from Earth. Axel went in and looked them over. He said
he couldn't even begin to see how they worked.
Axel said, "Vernon must have been at the height of glory when he saw
all this stuff. I sure hope he finds a good place for all of it. I'd
love to see it when they get all the crates, barrels and boxes
unpacked. Be interesting if they can figure out what some of the stuff
really is. Will he just in Provo, or look in Salt Lake too?" " I
think he will look both places. I was talking to him just after I
landed in Vegas, and he said that one of his friends told him he heard
they were going to build a new ZCMI building in Provo and that the old
one may be up for sale. He has pull with the top church people, maybe
he can pull it off. I hope so because it would be perfect. It's two
stories high but it already has an elevator and bathrooms for
handicapped folks." Linc said. Fannie said, " your friend is wrong
about them building a new store. ZCMI was founded by Brigham Young,
when the big retailers were price gouging the people in Salt Lake. He
called it the" People's Store". Now that there are Walmart's,
Shop-co's and Targets, the church stores are no longer needed . My
firm have been handling some of the transactions since they are
liquidating most of their assets. I will call Vernon and send him
some paperwork. He may be able to get the store by a donation for a
museum."
"That would be great, " exclaimed Linc. I forgot that your firm deals
with estates, trusts and other kinds of money deals and accounts..
Hope it works out. Speaking of money deals, I might have to have you
see if anyone could buy maybe four of the five Frank notes. My bank
account is getting a bit low, and Christmas is coming." " No problem
" Fannie told him, "in fact I do know a couple of investors who
might go for them. If I do, I will have to bill you for the action
since the firm would be involved. " "Fine " Linc told her. "I'll
give you my banking info before I leave."
They looked around a bit more then went back up to the house.
While Fannie was busy fixing some lunch, Linc and Axel decided to go
for a swim. Fannie looked out the kitchen window at them. They were
cavorting like a couple of little kids. Dunking and splashing each
other. She couldn't help but laugh at them. They came back in and
were showering when she brought the lunch out to the patio. She had
not seen Axel in such good spirits in a long time. This mini vacation
has done wonders for him she thought.
After lunch the sat around drinking a beer and talking about the
things they saw in the cave. They talked some more about Jane and
Lewis too.
Linc asked Axel if they had any photos of the accident in the mine.
Axel told him they did and they have went over them time and again.
Linc asked if they had them blown up and had a mine inspector and a
geologist go over them with a good magnifying glass. Axel admitted
they hadn't done that, but sounded like a good idea. They might see
something out of the ordinary the lawyers missed. They should do the
same thing when he takes the team down in the mine. Need real good
pictures of the roof and walls of the side tunnel. Pictures of the
rocks that covered the body too, for comparison.
Later Fannie decided to watch a video and the guys played pool.
After supper and clean-up was over they all were looking at all the
videos that Roland had accumulated. They picked out a couple old
Benny Hill videos.. A good laugh was just the thing right now.
This was a great way to end the day. Linc said in the morning he
would take them to the other end of the island.

Fannie had coffee made, and she and Axel were sitting on the veranda
in the sunshine drinking it when Linc finally woke up.
After breakfast, Fannie put the makings of beef stew in the crock
pot, made a lunch and they put on their hiking boots and went off to
the other end of the island, the guys carried the cooler between
them..


This time Linc brought a good flashlight so he could see how far the
lava tube went in the back part.
Fannie was very excited when she saw all the fruit trees and the pool
looked so inviting she exclaimed. They all took off their boots and
dove into the pool.
It was a lot cooler than the ocean, but so invigorating. After
swimming around a bit, they lay out on the big rocks in the sunshine.
After lunch, Axel and Linc went to the lava tube cave and explored the
back of the tunnel. While they were gone, Fannie delighted in
picking some kiwi fruit from the vines climbing up into the trees on
the other side of the pool. She intended on making some jam with them
when she got back to Vegas.
She all but filled the cooler with fruits she found. She was going to
be busy for a bit making different kinds of jam.
The guys came back to the pool saying the tube didn't go very far
before it had filled up with lava.
The guys did some exploring around the other side of the pool and down
on the beach at the end of the stream. They brought back a couple of
coconuts with them.
They donned their boots and started off back to the house. Both Axel
and Fannie said it was hard to believe they had walked so far that
day, when they reached the house. Has to be something about this
island that made you feel this way, for sure. They said.
Fannie said she was a bit tired and glad she didn't have to cook
supper, and was glad she put the food in the crock pot.
They took off their boots, changed, and sat around talking till supper time.
Axel and Fannie were enjoying this leisure time since they would have
to leave in the morning for Vegas. Linc said the walk to the other end
of the island was almost too far away. Said he would like to get an
ATV with a trailer, and he could use it to get the desk up to the
house too. Axel told him he would help, just let him know when and he
would come over to the farm and help him. He was eager to come back
to the island anyway.
The next morning, Fannie stripped and remade the beds, put things in
the washer, while the guys cleaned up the kitchen and the rest of the
house. They went back to Vegas.

To be continued.

Bask at the café

The next day at the café, Linc asked for a couple of small tables to
be put together as some other people would be joining him. The
waitress had just got them together when Jane, Jasper and Lewis came
in. Jane handed him a small box and told him to keep it safe. Linc
took it and said. " excuse me". He got up and went into the restroom,
into a stall, said retreat and when there put the box in the cave too.
Seconds later he went back to the table and told Jane the box was now
in a place where no one would find it. He would explain how some
time, not right now.
They talked about them being kidnapped and what had happened during
the time they were at the lab. Jane told Linc how she and Kenneth had
wondered just exactly what the Chinese were really after by kidnapping
them. They knew Kenneth had been talking to the old man, about his
experiment with the iron ring, and then the arch. They had to know he
had went thru the arch and to the moon and back. Were they interested
in time travel or maybe using the arch for something else? They knew
the old man used the arch for levitation as well as transporting.
After they were kidnapped, they knew from watching them so close that
they had levitated some things, and when their secret camera caught
the rock Lewis found teleported across the room, even though Herm
couldn't duplicate it. Jane told them Kenneth thought the Chinese
were thinking the process might be used as a weapon, that was why he
did the experiment that got him killed. That was why he tried to
destroy everything to do with the experiment, but he didn't know that
she had made the memory chips of the tests he made on her computer and
had hidden the chips from the Chinese. The Chinese had got her
computer after they had escaped, but when Kenneth was killed she put
her computer on destruct, that would have erased everything on it.

They talked about their escape, and what happened after Linc Left the
lab. Linc told them that he hated to leave them like that but he had
to go.
Linc told them about the farm, the cabin and the mine his Grandfather
had. He told them he was a geologist and about the mine that called
him with the strange clay formation that reacted with the sample he
took from the mine there in Colorado. They talked Jane's family and
Kenneth's family. Finally the waitress said she would like to clean
up since it was almost time for the dinner crowd to be coming in.
They all hugged and said they would keep in touch with each other.
Linc said maybe they could get a good security company to check their
places for bugs and all their stuff for tracking devices. Jasper and
Lewis both said they would. Do that and have all locks changed.
Linc went back to the motel and put his suitcase in the trunk of the
rental and went out to the airport. He never gave it a thought that
he might have been followed there. He pulled into the rental lot,
then went and got his bag out of the trunk. Just as he was closing the
trunk, he felt something brush his sleeve as he turned. A man was
trying to grab his arm. Linc pulled away from him just as another man
approached him with a knife in his hand, telling him to stand still.
Linc shoved at him with the bag, knocking him backward and making him
drop the knife. He then ran as fast as he could around a couple of
cars, dropped down, touched the broach and said retreat. Wow! He
landed face first on the beach. He stood up, brushed himself off and
laughed as hard as he could. Let those jerks spend time looking for
him. He picked up his bag, and went up to the house. Yes, yes, he
thought. Might as well fix some supper, get a good nights sleep and
go back to the airport in the next day. He had plenty of time, but
the thugs will have some explaining to do to their boss.. He didn't
think about the fact that when the folks came to the café, without
their own cars the thugs would look for a rental. And follow him. He
was in and out of the motel too fast for them to catch him there..
Well Linc old boy, he thought to himself. You live and learn. He
wondered if the motel would give anybody his address. He made a note
to himself to call the motel when he got back to Denver, and tell the
manager he will sue them if they reveal his address to anyone.

The next morning he took a shower, fixed some breakfast, then went
down to the cave figured he would get the memory chips and take a look
at them. After scanning through them he found them quite scientific,
and didn't get much from them. He figured he may as well make copies
of them, for the professor and Uncle Axel.
As long as he was going to give the thugs plenty of time to look for
him, he washed the clothes that were in his bag, changed the bedding
in the house, then went down and stripped the beds in the cave where
Todd and Uncle Vernon had slept. He didn't remake the beds, but just
put the bedspreads back on them. Got the bedding washed, dried and put
away.
He got to thinking about how he could avoid the thugs if they were
watching the airport still for him. He would leave his bag there at
the retreat, put a few thinks in the back-pack, change of clothes and
wear a hat. He might get by with it ok that way.
He went down to the cave to get the back-pack. He took the rocks out
of it to put in a box, and noticed that one chunk had a hole in it.
Looked funny like there was something in the hole. He took it out and
down to the other cave where the water was and cleaned it up a bit.
By darn, he said to himself, there are some small crystals in that
hole. Hard to see real plain. He was going to have to clean it up
better and get a magnifying glass to see them well.
He got the back-pack emptied then shook it out. While he was there in
the cave he decided take a look in the chiffen-robe and see what
clothing was in there, just for the heck of it. He found an old
beret. Hey cool, he thought. He whacked it up against his leg a
couple of times to see if it was dusty, but it was fine. He opened
the door of the unit farther, and put it on his head, looked in the
mirror on the back of the door. Hey!, that looks ok. The thugs knew
he didn't have a hat on when he got out of the car.
He took the pack, beret and the rock with a hole in it and went back
up to the house. He found a brush and cleaned out the hole with the
crystals in it. Got a magnifying glass in the office and got a better
look at the crystals. They were not quartz crystals he knew because
the shape of them was wrong, They were shaped more like zircon
crystals . Well he would just have to let the professor identify
them. He wrapped the rock in a couple of paper towels so it wouldn't
get dirty or damaged from the other rocks from the pack. He would
have to pack them up in a good sturdy box when he got back from
Denver.

Looking at his watch he could see he had only twenty minutes to catch
his flight. He quickly changed clothes, took his pack and said back.
At the airport, he walked right past a thug that was watching the
doors. He then went to the check in then to the boarding area to wait,
just as the flight he had to board had just landed.
Ten minutes later he boarded the plane to Vegas.


To be continued