“I do,” he nodded and smiled back as she handed him the drive.
He plugged it in and opened the report, careful to save it immediately to his desktop. Nate scanned it in silence as Ana went back to her chair and mug of coffee and simply watched him. After several minutes he looked up at her.
“You’ve read this?” he asked. She nodded. “And what’s your professional assessment?”
“Well,” she started, searching her memory, “it seems as though based off this report there is a high likelihood that a major freshwater system runs deep underneath the Saudi desert and feeds a plethora of aquifers in the region.”
“And what exactly is an aquifer?” Wally asked. “You know, for those of us in the room who aren’t scientists.”
Ana smiled. “An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or sediment. It’s what well water is extracted from.”
Nate nodded. She was telling him exactly what he had hoped to hear. Somewhere, one of these underground streams intersected with the rest of his data, and he was going to find out where.
“Large underground water flows could change the face of the Arabian Desert,” she added. “It’s the reason my father wanted to launch an expedition there. If these studies are reflective of the ground truth, then it could help stave off the water crisis at least another decade or two, maybe longer.”
“So where would you say is the most prominent water source?” Nate asked.
Ana stood up and walked around behind him. She bent down to look over his shoulder and her loose hair fell and brushed his face. He detected the scent of jasmine, and the smell was intoxicating. Nate forced himself to focus on the task at hand.
“Here,” she said, pointing to a cross section where thick veins of the ancient waterways appeared to run together. “There are multiple underground sources that appear to converge. And look at the output! It’s much denser than anything else in the report. If that’s still there after all these years, it might still be a full-fledged river, only deep underground.”
Nate nodded. Ana returned to her seat and he went to work. He spent the next several hours plotting the hydrology report on his layout. He was rapidly able to determine the spot he believed would have been the location of Ubar, though it was still a roughly fifteen-mile-wide circumference. They would have to get on the ground to narrow it down further. He began putting together a rough presentation for the rest of the team as Tim cleaned weapons, conducted functions checks, and test-fired the rifles into the water when the ship was isolated from other vessels. The rest of the group came in and out, busy readying other equipment. They had the space to themselves, with the crew using a separate common area. The arrangement ensured that no one interfered with their preparations, which was good. They needed to be as prepared as possible for the journey that lay ahead.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
It was late afternoon by the time Nate finished gathering all his data and putting it into an easily digestible format. He figured that if his friends and Ana were willing to risk their lives for his research, then he at least owed them all the facts. Plus, he hoped they would see the utility of it and be as convinced as he was. Nate called them all together in the common area and used an HDMI port to plug his laptop into the television that was set up for entertainment purposes.
Wally knew a lot of what he was about to say, having been along for most of the ride. Shane knew less, and he figured Tim and Ana would know practically nothing, so he started at the beginning. He described the legend of the lost city of Ubar, how it was relayed through religious texts, oral history, and fiction. He talked about the mention inOne Thousand and One Nightsof Iram of the Pillars, how King Shaddad bin ‘Ad constructed a great and prosperous city in the desert, how he had defied God, and how the city had paid the ultimate price for it. He quoted:
“When he was at a single stage’s distance from the city, God sent against him and his fellow unbelievers a cry from heaven, where He reigns in power, and the terrible sound killed them all. Neither Shaddad nor any of his companions reached the city or came within sight of it. God blotted out all traces of the road that led to it, but the city itself is still where it was built and will remain there until the Last Judgment.”
“Sure,” Tim chirped up, “but that’s just a story. There are lots of stories.”
“It’s also written in the Qur’an,” Ana added helpfully.
“That’s right,” Nate agreed, and quoted again:
“Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with ‘Ad—with Iram—who had lofty pillars, the likes of which were not produced in all the land?”
“Okay, but reading it in a holy text doesn’t make it true,” Tim argued. “The Bible is full of fantastic stories that no one can prove.”
“True, but most of the locations in the Bible are real enough. You can argue about the events, but the places where they occurred aren’t disputed. Biblical archaeology finds more evidence every year that proves the Old Testament to be a fairly accurate historical record. And the Qur’an was written centuries later.” Tim nodded in understanding, and Nate continued.
“We also can’t ignore the importance of oral traditions. There are many societies in Africa, the Pacific, and even Native American tribes that have handed down history for centuries through stories. Even the Bible was oral history before it was written word, and much of it has been corroborated with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In Arabia, local tribes handed down stories of Ubar. They talked about its great wealth and its great destruction.”
“How trustworthy are your sources?” Shane asked.
“Does Captain Ahmed work for you?” Nate countered.
Shane shrugged. “I’ll allow it.”
“Good. So this was evidence enough to encourage British explorers in the early twentieth century to go in search of the city.”
“Naturally,” Wally chimed in. “Who else was going to have thebollocksto do it?”
“As I was saying. First up was Bertram Thomas in 1930. While unsuccessful, he was the first Westerner to cross the Rub’ al Khali. This was his route, here.” He put up an overlay of the explorer’s route on a map of the Empty Quarter. “Through his personal notes that I had the opportunity to study at Cambridge, he encountered a group of local Bedouins, here.” A marker showed on the map.
“These locals had treasures that Thomas could barely believe. Gold, jewels, coins. When he asked where they had gotten them, they explained that such treasures occasionally washed up in the wells.” He clicked and a picture of a coin showed up. “Ahmed has a family heirloom that was obtained in the same area, in the same way.”
