Raising Atlantis by Thomas Greanias

shakers, he thought to himself. Suddenly she said, “When were you going to inform the rest of the world about your discovery?”
    Conrad swallowed hard. “What discovery?”
    “The pyramid under the ice.”
    Conrad blinked in disbelief but said nothing. Still, there was no use fighting the fact that somehow she knew as much or more than he did about this expedition.
    “So what else did God tell you?”
    “I’d say the team has been drilling exploratory tunnels in the ice around the pyramid,” she said. “And I’d bet that by now your cowboy father has probably found a door.”
    There was a minute of silence. They were no longer locked in their typical give-and-take banter but were fellow truth-seekers. Conrad was glad she was there and angry at the same time. He was worried about her safety and yet felt threatened by her presence, as if somehow she was standing in his way.
    “Serena,” he said softly. “This isn’t some oil platform that you can chain yourself to in order to protest the production of fossil fuels. A few dozen soldiers have already died on this expedition, and it’s practically a miracle you and I are even talking.”
    A cloud of sober reflection passed over Serena’s face.
    She was processing her own thoughts. “I can take care of myself, Conrad,” she said. “It’s you I’m worried about.”
    “Me?”
    “Your father hasn’t told you everything.”
    “What else is new?” Conrad shrugged. “Passing along a piece of information for him is like passing a kidney stone.
    So he’s hiding something. So are you, Serena. A lot more.
    Look, neither the United States nor the Vatican is going to be able to keep a lid on something this big.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “Conrad, I know you’re not this naive, so it must be denial,” she said. “Tell me, how did Yeats lure you down here? Did he promise you credit for the find of the ages? Maybe more help in finding your true parents?”
    “Maybe.”
    “Trust me, Conrad,” she said, the pain of personal experience in her eyes, “there are some answers you don’t want to know.”
    “Speak for yourself, Serena.”
    “Conrad, this isn’t about you and this isn’t about me.
    It’s about the world at large and the greater good. You have to consider other people.”
    “I am considering them. This is an unprecedented development in human history. And I want to share it with the world.”
    “No, you want to magnify the great name of Doctor Conrad Yeats,” she said. “To hell with the rest of the world. But why should you care? It’s the information about Earth that’s more important than the planet or its people. Isn’t that how it goes with you? You haven’t changed a bit.”
    “If you’re referring to our relationship, you knew exactly what you were doing then, Miss High and Mighty. You just didn’t want to take responsibility for your actions.”
    “I was pure as the driven snow, Conrad. But you pissed on me. Just like you’re going to piss on this planet.”
    “Hey, it’s not like we actually did anything.”
    “My point exactly,” she said. “But you didn’t do much to contradict the rumors, did you?”
    “I am not the bad guy here.”
    “Aren’t you?” she asked. “You’re nothing but a pawn of the United States, willing to betray everything you believe in about international cooperation and the brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity to satisfy your selfish curiosity.”
    “I don’t want to change the world,” he told her. “I just want to understand it. And this is our best shot yet to make sense of who we are and where we came from. You make it sound like the fruit of forbidden knowledge. One bite and we’ll all be cursed.”
    “Maybe we already are, Conrad. Isn’t that what attracted you to me in the first place? I was your forbidden fruit.
    Just like these ruins you’ve found under the ice.”
    “Try the other way around, Serena,” he said. “And my mind is made up.”
    Serena nodded. “Then you might