Aliomenti Saga 6: Stark Cataclysm Read Online Free PDF Page A

his fingers on the table. “When the Cavern was first built, it wasn’t protected by scutarium. Nobody had discovered it at the time. There was enough landmass surrounding the Cavern, plus a few miles of water, to protect everyone for a while. Dad told me that at some point, your parents returned from a private trip with a large amount of a strange blue stone that absorbed all Energy directed at it.”
    Fil nodded. “Scutarium. The naturally-occurring variety.”
    Adam nodded back “Exactly. Here’s what’s interesting: nobody knows where they found it.”
    Angel squeaked in excitement. “That’s it, then! The place they found scutarium… it’s the hidden island where they’re hiding now!”
    Adam smiled at her enthusiasm, and then sighed. “I suspect that’s true. Dad poked a few times, trying to figure out where they’d found the scutarium. All he learned was that that there was indeed a secret place they’d discovered. He never found out where it was, but the few unintentional slips led him to believe it was an isolated island.”
    Fil continued pacing. “That’s not much to go on, but we’ll have to do our best with what we’ve got.” He paused and stretched. “I’m going to the lab and then to bed.”
    Angel’s eyes narrowed. “What are you planning to do in the lab?”
    “I need to work on my top secret project.”
    Angel snorted. “Brother, it’s only top secret outside this house.”
    He grinned. “Close enough.” He leaned over Angel and kissed the top of her head, tussling her hair as Will had so often done with him. Angel smacked his hand away with a burst of Energy. “I’m wondering if the sand itself can provide a clue.”
    Adam, who’d been lounging lazily in his chair, sat up. “How so?”
    “I can’t be certain, but I have to think an isolated island like that has… markers of some kind. Sand is basically rocks and other materials ground down by centuries worth of waves grinding against them. Perhaps, just perhaps, there’s some type of molecular structure in the sand that gives an indication of the specific mix of rocks near the island. If there are unique subcomponents, we can try to figure out what charted landmasses have a similar mix, and use that to narrow down our search area.”
    Adam nodded. “That’s absolutely brilliant, Fil.”
    He shrugged. “It’s a theory, unfortunately. I haven’t studied enough geology to know if the theory has any chance of being true. But it’s better than nothing.”
    He teleported to his lab.
    The billions “stolen” from the Stark family estates were now under the sole control of the “Trasks.” They’d avoided doing anything publicly to suggest that they had a staggering cash fund they could tap. On private matters they had no such hesitation. Chunks went to general funds for the Cavern and the various undersea outposts. Gena Adams, who led the South Beach post, had used the funds to tackle long-overdue expansion efforts to handle increased Alliance traffic.
    Fil used a small portion of their hidden fortune to build an underground science laboratory. He’d built it underground between the discharge room and the foundation of the house, primarily to ensure no human in the town found out about it. He’d heard enough stories about what could happen to people who stood out. He’d built it as a place he could go to be alone, a place other than the accursed discharge chamber. He’d liked to tinker with electronic gadgets for years, and as his knowledge and skill grew, the lab—with its high-end equipment—gave him the opportunity to turn his ideas into reality.
    Angel called him a mad scientist, and for his last birthday, she’d gotten him a white lab coat and an Einstein wig. He donned both now, as he always did.
    He opened the vial of sand and poured a portion into a machine that would separate out the various chemical elements composing the sand. He then ordered one of his computers to search the Internet for details on