The Adventures of Professor Proton, Jr.: "The Proton Express..."

The Adventures of Professor Proton, Jr: "The Proton Express..." Part XXIII...

"The Adventures of Professor Proton, Jr: The Proton Express..."

Summary: In my first longer Proton Jr tale, can Prof Proton Jr. aka mild-mannered Sheldon Cooper and Dr. Amy aka Amy F. Fowler save the world at Christmas...And can Proton Jr. keep that blond sob of an engineering genius Tom Swift, Jr. away from his girl?

Equally important...Should Cameragirl Penny allow this thing to appear on her acting credits or just accept that all hope of a professional career is gone and just enjoy while peddling her drugs?

[For those curious about the Tom Swift adventures, of course much of this is taken from "Tom Swift and His Diving Seacopter", one of the best books in the series which got me into science long, long, long ago.]

Disclaimer: All is Chuck's...

Part XXIII...

Briefing room in the Arturo section of the Ocean Arrow...

"So, when we found the undersea city of gold, the capital of an ancient, lost civilization from all we've been able to determine..." Swift was continuing, images of said undersea city in dim light underwater, on projection screen, to an audience now reduced to Proton, Bernadette, and Dr. Amy...Bud Barclay at the ship's controls.

"You've stated in your official report it wasn't the Greeks' Atlantis..." Dr. Amy noted. "It sure seems..."

"It at least wasn't a continent, just a large island or close group, perhaps a bit larger than Crete in total area. People are free to call it 'Atlantis' if they like...But Dad and I felt there was no support for that."

"It would've been a long trip for the Greeks or the Phoenicians." Amy nodded. "Still not impossible that they were in contact ages ago."

"No way to be sure...I go with Crete as the Greeks' Atlantis but..." shrug. "Anyway, when we explored the area..." Swift clicked screen.

"We found a collection of central pyramids...Rather more like the Incas or Mexica's, intended for religious ceremonial rather than a tomb like the Great Pyramid in Egypt." The said group of temple pyramids now visible, if dim.

"Made of gold?" Proton peered at the screen.

"Not entirely...A fairly thick gold shell as you can see here, uncovered by the Arrow's thruster..." Swift pointed, with laser pointer to a brightly gleaming area. "But underneath, the core is another substance...Somewhat like gold but not quite." He clicked again, to reveal an image of a drill boring into a temple corner. Then another showing the drill core...With a bright gold top layer and a somewhat less shiny, but yellow-gold in color, majority layer...And finally a dark layer at bottom.

"Wood framing at bottom...Likely a variety of sandalwood. But the majority is that yellow metal...And we can't identify it as a known alloy. It does contain gold and nickel along with..."

"The same mystery element or elements in the alien ship..." Amy eyed him.

"Exactly. And that might help explain this..." Swift clicked again. "Just before the area became unstable and we took some damage from that mountain behind the main temple, due to vibration from the main rotors, we spotted this on what appears to be the main temple and managed to blast a bit of the debris away."

"And almost died, you and Bud..." Bernadette noted, rather proudly.

"The Arrow took a few boulders, but we managed to surface..." Swift shrugged.

"Mathematical symbols...And rather like the ones your 'friends' use in their communications." Proton, moving up close to examine the image.

"Here, let me show them close up." Swift clicked.