"No, sir. The skull is actually larger than life size."
Lazada stopped slouching in his chair. "Incredible!"
Dr. Okola spoke up. "After all, Mr. Secretary, gold is mined right here in the Philippines. In Mountain Province, in fact. And it is found in many other parts of Asia."
Rick had a strange feeling as he watched Lazada's face. The Assistant Secretary seemed to be licking his lips, although he wasn't actually doing so. It was almost as though Lazada was doing sums in his head.... Gold is heavy.... It would take a lot of gold to make a life-size skull, even a hollow one.... Gold is worth thirty-five dollars an ounce, legally. If smuggled into China, it would bring twice that....
"Tell me more of this dragon," Lazada invited.
Tony was glad to oblige. Next to actually working at his profession he enjoyed talking about it. "The dragon is of the greatest importance throughout the culture of the East. We followed its trail from the great temple of Ankor Vat in Cambodia all the way to the sunken temple of Alta Yuan."
Rick remembered vividly. He had been at the controls of the Submobile, a hundred fathoms under the waters of the Pacific, when the first Alta Yuan dragon came to light.
"The dragon was the incarnation of the chief god of the Alta Yuan people. When an earthquake sank the temple, the people of the island lost their gods. When we hauled the dragon back up and gave it to them, nothing was too good for us." He paused. "By 'we' I mean the Spindrift scientists. I was not among the lucky ones, since I had not yet joined the Spindrift group."
Okola shared Tony's excitement over the Alta Yuan find. "I, too, was very much interested in that expedition. And when I heard that the artifacts brought from the bottom of the sea provided a possible connection between the Philippines and that ancient culture, you can imagine my excitement."
Rick could see that Lazada could not possibly imagine so much excitement over an archaeological find, but was too courteous to say so.