Read Online The Royal Pursuit by Ruth Ann Nordin - Free Book Online

relationship. She would be in the public eye now.
Would she still have time for him when the reporters wanted to
contact her and the cameras began to play a big role in her life?
He pushed aside his worries. This was her time to shine, and he
wouldn’t let his selfishness interfere with that.
    Mark and Stephen controlled the
instruments they needed to collect samples and record data. Kent,
Stacey, and Captain Reed carried flashlights.
    Kent set his feet on the sand, wishing
to walk up the ivory colored steps.
    “ This material is unknown,”
Stephen reported as he checked the steps. “We don’t have anything
like it.”
    “ I guess we’ll have to
attach a name to it,” Kent said. He moved his flashlight through
the dark water. Several fish swam past them, but for the most part,
it was deserted, which gave them plenty of opportunity to explore
without any problems. “I can’t get over it. These buildings change
color depending on how you flash light on them.”
    “ We should go inside one of
the buildings,” Captain Reed suggested.
    “ Which one?” Mark
asked.
    “ The building is made from
a different material than the steps are,” Stephen reported as he
swam over to one.
    “ That would explain why the
steps don’t change color,” Kent thoughtfully stated.
    “ I want to see the arc,”
Stacey said.
    “ We will do that soon
enough,” Captain Reed replied. “It is a considerable distance from
here. I recommend we search one of these buildings.” He pointed his
flashlight at the two buildings on either side of them. “What do
you think?”
    She nodded. “Let’s check this one
out.” She pointed to the building on the right. “Mark, do you
recognize the language?”
    Mark typed the foreign words into his
translator. He shook his head. “No. This is an unknown
language.”
    “ Let’s check it out and see
what we can find,” Captain Reed said.
    They agreed and entered the building
in single file. Kent was the last one inside. As he examined his
surroundings, he marveled at the type of affluent society Atlantis
must have been. A large ivory staircase wrapped its way around the
circular light blue wall.
    The staircase led to a second floor,
which had various artworks on the walls and many closed doors with
markings on each one, which he guessed was their numbering system.
The artwork decorating the walls were of various people he didn’t
recognize.
    Kent laughed to himself. Of course, he
wouldn’t recognize the people. They had long since died, and since
their city fell into the ocean, they had, in a sense, disappeared
from the face of the Earth.
    “ This must have been a
hotel,” Stacey said.
    Kent turned and noticed an ivory desk,
plush white sofas, and matching chairs that furnished the room.
None of the furniture had decayed, something that surprised him
even more than the fact that the buildings were still in good
shape. The circular ivory table in the center of the room seemed to
dominate it. At one time, this place must have been an elegant
getaway for its guests. It made perfect sense that this building
would be a good hotel since it was on the edge of the city. Its
location would have put it right on the beach.
    “ It’s almost eerie to think
that people once walked through here,” Stacey softly said. “Who
knows what stories this place would tell if these walls could
talk.”
    It was a sobering thought, Kent
admitted. How many lives were lost on the day Atlantis fell into
the ocean?
    “ I say we check out some of
the other buildings before we go back to the submarine,” Captain
Reed said, breaking the silence.
    They nodded and left the
building.
     
    ***
     
    In the Wilderness
    Planet: Lone
     
    Ann walked with Athen and the Palers
toward the Austere Complex. Their trek through the forest was
longer than she had anticipated. The explosion of the Paler
spaceship had set them further back than they’d
expected.
    Despite Ann’s apprehension, she led
them through the thick, tall trees