Penthesilea's Wish [Vol.1]

Chapter Forty

Nicasio seriously began to think through what he had, up to that point, been a part of. He also pondered where it was all going. He thought about the intense look he had recently seen in the professor's eyes. And he began to question if he too were not falling into the obsessive nature of the incomparable find and its potential impact on the historical world. Nevertheless, he and the professor had galvanized their energies, and now it seemed their careers over it.

The professor spoke up on the phone with the same familiar intensity.

"So you see, my young friend. In Athens they are not to know anything. Even about our intentions. Or anywhere else you and your girlfriend may travel under my directions. The project is still under wraps. Totally. Even to those who may enlighten us . . . we must keep it sealed. There could be legal demands as well. Involving international courts."

"Legal demands?"

"Exactly. Through certain treaties and agreements, the entire collection of our findings down there could be requested. Asked to be returned to their place or origin. Especially if that place is confirmed as being abroad. Which is what we are now trying to determine, Nicasio. And this could happen even before any extensive investigation get's off the ground."

"Wow."

"We don't need such an incident, Nicasio. Nor any other development which could compromise our inquiries and work. It could delay us for years to come."

Nicasio felt his pulse quicken.

"I don't like the sound of that."

"Well, you shouldn't, young man."

"OK. I'm aware of certain disputes in the past. Treasure hunters in the waters of sovereign states . . . Spanish and Portuguese shipwrecks in the Caribbean. But I just hadn't really considered . . ."

You should know as you enter this business, my young assistant, that archaeologists and regional authorities are never in the same camp."

"Right. I see. I'll just have to keep that in mind, professor."

"And it could get even more complicated than that, believe me. We're dealing with some unique elements here. Certainly Spanish. And very possibly Greek to acertain degree. All tangible, historical, artifacts which may go begging ownership. This whole find may be beyond myth and tradition. It might spill over into geopolitics . . . and end up in the foreign courts."

Nicasio had already stopped dressing to go out while on the phone. He sat motionless now on his worn sofa, intently listing to the professor's concerns.

"I don't have to remind you about the Elgin Marbles. Greece has every right to bring back to its newest museum those lovely stones. They were simply stolen off the Parthenon and carried to England where they've remained for some two-hundred years. The BritishMuseum has so far not complied with Greek request to get them back. And even after Athens built a special museum to highlight them."

"You're right. I see the potential here, Sir. I remember reading that Yale lost a court battle like this . . . over their entire artifact collection taken from digs at Machu Picchu."

"That's right and they had to finally comply with the Peruvian government. "To return the entire collection."

"Correct. And we really don't know exactly where those Bixby stones came from, do we my boy? But it's one of the facts we'll probably have confirmed when our marble analysis is complete in a few days."

"Looking forward to that."

"Well I'm not so sure I am. There's the real potential here for this whole thing to develop into an unpleasant international news story."