Page 59 of Night's Reckoning
Ben asked, “And no ships have stopped?”
Kadek said, “Human ships have passed through, but none of them have stopped or shown any interest in this particular reef. The area isn’t popular with divers.”
Cheng said, “The greater search area is spread over a number of miles. There are reefs and other formations, so we’ll be using the sonar on this ship quite extensively at first.” He looked at Johari. “I’m not sure if you’ll be able to narrow that down or not.”
Johari raised her eyebrows. “I’ve never done this specific kind of work before. I will be able to move the earth when we find the site—more delicately than the human equipment could—but I’m not sure I’ll have a better sense for where debris is located or not. There’s too much water.”
Fabia raised her hand. “I think the best idea is still using sonar to get a better picture once we’re in range. Using that, the university crew and I should be able to get a better map of where we need to concentrate our attention.”
Cheng asked, “What about the submersibles?”
Tenzin was sitting between Ben and Fabia. “Are those the robots? Do they have remote controls? I could operate the robots.”
“The submersibles are robotic,” Fabia said. “I haven’t looked at them yet, but in water this shallow, we’d probably use them as backup for divers. They can record video of any excavation, which creates a better record to study.”
“Have you been out there?” Ben asked Cheng. “Personally?”
Cheng shook his head.
“So we don’t know that this isn’t a completely unrelated dhow that has no connection to Arosh.” Ben looked across the table at Johari. “Wasn’t the dhow the most commonly used ship during the ninth century for trade?”
Johari nodded. “It was. And while they usually kept close to shore, they could be blown off course by storms, just like any other ship. The water in this strait is not particularly deep. If there are reefs, they could have easily caused a wreck.”
Ben said, “Cheng, you said that you had other evidence that it was connected to Arosh. Can I ask what it was? Why are you and Zhang so sure that this ship is theQamar Jadid?”
“Because the fisherman found this.” Cheng reached in his pocket and flipped a small orange block toward Ben, who caught it and opened his palm.
“That’s theSaena,” Cheng said. “The seal is carved carnelian. That icon is an early form of the Persian firebird.”
Ben looked at Tenzin. “Is this Arosh’s seal?”
She looked over his shoulder. “It’s one of them.”
Cheng said, “Arosh would have set that onto any boxes or chests that came from him. Sealed with wax and that carved seal pressed into the wax to prove that nothing had been tampered with.”
Ben held the carved stone up to the light. The carnelian was striped and the finish was dull, but the image of the winged creature surrounded by two crescent moons was intact. “How sure are you, Tenzin?”
“Very sure,” Tenzin said. “I knew the minute Cheng showed me. There may be other dhows that wrecked along the Chinese coast in the ninth century, but as far as I know, none of them would be carrying Arosh’s cargo.”
Ben flipped the seal back to Cheng. “Sounds good to me.”
Fabia kicked his foot.
“Ow.” Ben frowned. “What?”
“You didn’t let me see it,” Fabia said. “Don’t assume.”
Cheng smiled and passed Fabia the small bar. “You may keep it as long as you like. Take pictures, in fact. I don’t think anyone has recorded it properly, and I’m sure both Arosh and Zhang would appreciate a professionally prepared report since they’re the ones paying the bills.”
Fabia smiled. “I’d be happy to do that.” She turned to Ben and stuck her tongue out.
“Are you twelve?” He couldn’t stop his smile.
“No, but you have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to do that to old, pompous professors over the years. This job is going to be so much more fun.”
Ben saw Tenzin from the corner of his eye. She was watching Fabia with an expression he couldn’t interpret. It wasn’t calculating. It was… thoughtful.
He shouldn’t be worried about Fabia, but when Tenzin turned her attention that closely to anyone, it warranted caution.
