by K. B. Kofoed
Jim frowned. “I don’t think the disk was the problem.”
“I agree,” answered Gene. “It could be the program, but, you know, it’s strange. When I talked to Earl today he seemed different — subdued.”
“Of course,” said Kas. “Probably hurt his pride, not being able to help.”
“Perhaps,” said Gene. “However, I have a feeling that there’s more to it than that. He copied the disk file.”
“He did? I didn’t see him do that,” said Jim.
“He didn’t say so,” replied Gene, “but before he finally ejected the disk, I saw him do something. I’m pretty sure he was making a copy.”
Dan had been listening quietly. Finally he spoke up. “I’ve been thinking about your ark story for a while. I want to stay on top of it. That is, if I’m invited.”
“Of course you are,” said Jim. “That’s why you’re here.”
“Can I get copies of these sketches?” answered Dan.
Gene looked at Dan. “You’re with the military, right?”
“Used to be,” Dan replied. “Civvie now. Been living overseas, but now I’m looking to resettle in Philly. My interest in this is strictly personal, not professional. Since I looked at Jim’s drawings I’m hooked, I guess you could say.”
“It’s compelling,” said Gene, nodding adamantly, “but after last night I have some misgivings.”
“Care to elaborate?” asked Dan.
“Not right now. I still have to talk to my friend at Columbia University.”
Jim picked up the Xeroxed drawings. “Okay, let’s regroup,” he said. “What do we know?”
For the next hour they ran over every detail while Jim made notes. Finally he put down his pen. “Well, we have a lot of info, but we know nothing. That’s a good place to start.”
Lou got up and walked to the window. “If you ask me, this is a goddamned waste of time.” He stared out at the pines in the front yard. “If what you’re saying is true about this ark, I can’t believe that we’re the first ones to try to figure this out.”
“Perhaps,” responded Gene, “but Jim might have discovered something, and I’m compelled to see this through.”
“Why?” asked Lou, turning to face Gene.
“Because now there’s money at stake. That lawyer I told you about is serious. He wants to build the ark and he is paying me a lot to get some answers.”
“Trouble is,” said Lou, “there are no answers.”
“I don’t know, Lou,” Jim said, “we now have two verifications of the resonator theory.”
“That’s true,” said Dan, nodding. “The configuration that Jim came up with, the parabolic shape of the cherubim, is new information. No one’s ever described them as parabola.”
“New to us,” said Gene. “Perhaps. But I recall reading Erik Von Daniken's Chariot’s of the Gods at least twenty years ago and he said it was a radio for talking to God.”
“So did Indiana Jones,” said Lou and Kas almost simultaneously.
Gene smiled and nodded. “You know, before I came down here to visit I surfed the web under the words ‘ark of the covenant’ and ended printing out over a hundred pages of related material.”
“Did any of it indicate a parabolic shape to the cherubim?” asked Jim.
“Not a one.”
Jim shrugged. “Then it follows that we’ve discovered something important.”
Gene frowned. “We may never really know the answer to this riddle. I’d venture to guess that we’d have to live a lot longer than a mere seventy years to find out how important our contributions will be. But like I told you before, I’m in this for the long haul. I’m hooked on it.”
“Try drugs,” said Lou. “More rewarding.”
“You ought to know.” Kas said with a grin.
Lou feigned being struck by a bullet and tumbled onto the floor.
Dan laughed and slapped Jim’s knee. “I can see you still have the same interesting and entertaining friends, Jim.”
“Yeah,” replied Jim, glaring at Kas. “I even married one of them.”
Lou remained down on the carpet. He squinted at Kas’s knees. “Gee, Kas. A no-panties day, I see.”
Kas shrieked and left the room, leaving Lou to awkwardly explain that he was kidding and it was only a lucky guess.
Dan and Gene roared with laughter, but Jim stared coldly at Lou. “They should have drowned you with the rest of the litter.”
“I was just too cute and cuddly,” replied Lou, getting up and seating himself on the sofa. “I guess I should go find Kas and apologize.”
“Good luck,” said Jim.
While Lou and Kas were out of the room, Gene asked Dan some technical details about microwaves. Most of it was over Jim’s head. Finally he said, “In English, please?”
“Well,” said Gene, “my program, the simulation I ran, was based on two frequencies. One was the equivalent of twenty-seven inches and the other was thirty-three. That’s in the FM band. So assuming the Egyptian royal cubit was the standard, and not the Babylonian cubit, then the wavelength was ...” Gene looked at a sheet of paper in his lap. “About .8 meters at 32.5 inches. And at 52.5 inches the frequency is around 1.3 meters.”
“Did you try it to the size everyone else seems to think it was?” asked Jim.
Gene looked down at the paper again. “Yes, at 27 inches it’s .7 meters, or at 44 inches it’s a little over 1 meter.
“We have two scales to examine for each variation, one based on width and the other by depth. That’s why we need the computers to model this thing.”
Lou reentered the room, looking depressed. Jim was sure Kas had lit into him. He was about to say something comforting, but Lou had heard what Gene was saying about the uncertainty of the sizes.
“That’s why I think you’re barking up a dead tree,” said Lou, perking up a bit. “You’re talking mythology here. It’s like you’re trying to figure out what size pants Zeus wore.”
“Come on, Lou,” said Jim.
“No, you come on, Jim. I’ve heard enough, thanks. See you at the studio tomorrow.” Lou grabbed his coat and left.
“What’s he going to do?” asked Gene. “He doesn’t have a car.”
“There’s a bus. He takes it all the time when Claire has the car.”
“He’s your best friend, Jim. Aren’t you going to find out why he got so angry?” asked Dan.
“I know why,” said Jim. “It has nothing to do with the ark. He embarrassed himself with Kas.”
#
The next day, Gene went to New York and Dan left to visit some family in California. For a few days Lou and Jim didn’t mention the ark and things got back to normal. A large project had come in that involved them both. On Friday they were in Jim’s car, headed for Harrisburg to tour the famous Three Mile Island facility. With the subject of radiation not far from their minds, the conversation inevitably led back to the ark.
“So you’re sticking with this ark thing?” asked Lou.
“No need for you to be concerned about it, Lou,”
“No need to be nasty, Jim,” retorted Lou. He chewed on his lip for a moment, then added, “I don’t know why but I feel threatened by this ark thing. I guess I have a bad feeling about it.”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with you, Lou. This is my gig!”
“If it brings you down, then it’s OUR problem.”
“Brings me down?” said Jim. “What are you afraid of? This is just a research project. Hell, I’m just assisting Gene. This is his gig. So what’s the danger?”
Lou stared glumly at the white lines on the highway. “I don’t know,” he said. “It’s just a feeling that won’t go away.”
THOU SHALT ...
In the weeks that followed Gene’s visit Jim continued his research quietly and resolutely. Now and then he’d surprise Lou with a sudden gush of trivia relating to the ark, but otherwise he kept a low profile, afraid he’d alienate those around him with his obsession. Like Gene, Jim wa
s becoming hooked on the mystery and resolved not to let it go. Now, twenty years after the mystery had been planted in his mind, he was inches away from solving it, or so he thought.
Kas sensed a change in Jim after Gene’s first phone call. She thought it spooky that events were coming together in a kind of pattern. She didn’t believe in predestination or fate. The events of the Bible were light years from her daily routine. Jim, on the other hand, was consumed by the subject. Always curious, he had an angle on almost any subject from UFOs to natural history. Kas didn’t discourage him. His imagination and sense of wonder had put plenty of bread on the table.
This was different. The Bible was being shoved under her nose fairly regularly now. The angry God in the Old Testament was becoming omnipresent in their life. Now Jim was using most of his spare time on research, usually off by himself and working very late.
“He isn’t seeing other women, at least,” Claire noted when Kas confided to her about it, but Kas found little encouragement in those words. Jim had always been loyal. It was her husband’s sanity that might be at stake. The more he obsessed about it, the more concerned she became.
“Last night in bed he discussed the Ten Commandments,” she told Claire. “What kind of bedroom talk is that?”
Claire suggested that Jim might be having some kind of crisis. “It happens, Kas,” she said. “The brain is an organ too. Sometimes it needs fixing.”
“He’s not crazy, if that’s what you mean,” Kas grumbled. “He’s just obsessed.”
This was true. Jim would be the first to admit it, and it bothered him as much as it did Kas. The subject was always there, like a pool of gasoline, waiting to be set alight by the merest spark.
#
Exactly a month after their initial meeting, Gene contacted Jim again. He wanted to set up a meeting with Jim and the lawyer, John Wilcox.
Jim balked at first, saying he had mouths to feed and couldn’t just run off on a lark, but Gene insisted and pointed out that this would eventually be a paid project.
“Paid?” said Jim to his studio’s speakerphone.
“Of course,” said Gene, adding that Jim and Kas were invited to come to the Wilcox estate the next weekend. Wilcox would pay for Jim’s time, if that was necessary, and he wanted to meet the family. Gene described the man’s estate as a monument to greenness. “Wilcox wanted me to tell you that you can sleep in the main house or in the dome by the waterfall, or the teepee in the deep woods. He says the teepee has a hot tub.”
Lou was in the next room listening to the conversation. “That gave you a smile, I bet. Eh, sport?” he said when he heard Jim sign off. “All this and the ark, too.”
“You wanna come, too?” asked Jim, hoping that a little altruism on his part might improve Lou’s attitude toward the subject.
“Sure,” said Lou. “Can I bring Claire?”
Jim’s offer had backfired. Now he had to impose on Gene and his friend to invite more guests to the estate, but Lou was his closest friend and Jim felt good about having him along. It wouldn’t hurt to have witnesses. After all, they were going to visit a lawyer.
#
The Ford pulled out of Jim’s driveway at eight a.m., March the first, with Jim driving and Lou riding shotgun. In the back seat sat Claire and Kas, full of conversation about the Philadelphia Flower Show they’d visited the week before. That was the last time they’d seen each other so they had some catching up to do.
Jim was pleased to have Lou beside him. Now, with his friend as a captive listener, he might be able to discuss some concerns he had about the ark project.
“Mount Kisco,” said Lou. “Who do I know from there?”
“All I remember is some panelists on a 50’s TV show What was it called? What’s My Line? That was it.”
“Right. Bennet Cerf. Dorothy Kilgallen,” said Lou. “I remember her. I heard she was the only person to interview Oswald. Then she was snuffed. He told her he was framed.”
Jim shook his head. “Give me a break, Lou.”
“What the fuck?” said Lou. “Oh, Okay. You get to chase after Bible arks and holy grails but if I smell a rat in the government ...”
“Will you two shut up?” yelled Claire. “We haven’t even hit the turnpike and you’re at each other.”
“Yes, deeeear,” bleated Lou.
“Hopeless,” Claire muttered, staring out at the traffic.
Jim laughed. “Look, Lou,” he said. “I know how you feel about this, but don’t forget that this guy has big bucks. There might be some jobs in it for the studio.”
“Right. Well, I’m sitting here, aren’t I?”
Jim smiled. “Besides, I wanted to tell you what happened at the university.”
“You said it was weird, but you didn’t say why. Some kind of computer simulation with radio waves and the ark, right?”
Jim’s eyebrow rose. “Oh. So you have been listening!”
“No so I had much choice,” said Lou with a grin. “Okay. Since you brought it up, I’ll tell you what I expect would happen if you rebuild the ark.”
“Okay. What?” said Jim.
“Nothing,” said Lou confidently. “Jack shit! Zip!”
“Okay,” Jim said with a shrug. “So what? We put the money in our pockets and go back to the Raftworks. Case closed.”
“Cool,” said Lou with a smile. “So why’re you so spooked about this?”
“A lot of things. My obsession with this subject, the fact that the simulation ran but only the computers know the results. And then there’s the idea that maybe God will strike me down at any moment for messing with the ark.”
“Oh, is that all?” said Lou, lighting up a joint.
“Jeez, Lou,” said Jim, eyeing the passing cars. “Keep that out of sight at least, will you? And open the window.”
Lou opened the window and an icy blast of air blew ashes into Kas’ face. Her howls of rage were almost deafening. Lou ignored her utterly. “So what exactly do you expect to get out of this?” he asked as he fiddled with the radio dial.
“I don’t know,” said Jim after considering the question for a moment. “Maybe only an interesting weekend.”
That seemed to end the conversation for a while. Lou found a suitable FM station and all sat happily listening to it for at least an hour.
As they approached the entrance to the George Washington Bridge Kas dangled two cookies over the seat. Lou and Jim each took one. Lou looked back at Kas. “Look, Kas, I’m really sorry you got ashes in your eye.”
“No, you’re not,” Kas growled. “Eat your cookie, Lou.”
Jim smiled. In spite of their bickering, he enjoyed being with these people. They were both family and friends. An hour more and they would perhaps be taking a step into the real unknown; the first step, perhaps, on a very dangerous road.
In the back of his mind, Jim’s internal dialogue was nagging him. Perhaps he was dragging his friends into the same mysterious pool of uncertainty and danger he’d imposed upon himself. Finally he could contain his fears no longer. “Listen everybody,” he began. “I want to ... well, I don’t really know how to say this. I just feel like I have to warn you.”
“Warn us?” said Claire.
Jim shrugged. “I don’t know. Years ago, back when the Raftworks still had a raft, I had a talk with Gene. Just a short back and forth about the significance of the ark. Anyway, he told me that he was spooked by the idea of building the ark. I remember him saying, ‘What if it works?’ He had this look on his face.”
“What’s your point?” said Claire.
Lou laughed. “Afraid you slap some boards together and put it together and it’ll zap us?”
Kas was keeping her mouth shut. If she had an opinion it was her secret. All she seemed to care about was enjoying the ride. She held up her hand. “Anybody hungry besides me? Maybe we should stop before we invade this person’s home. Can we find a restaurant?”
Lou seconded the motion. Then Claire spotted a man in a neighboring car she
swore was Robert Redford.
Jim gave up. It was clear that his angst about the ark was a private matter, whether he wanted it to be or not. Fifteen minutes later they were in a booth at a roadside restaurant discussing the Philadelphia Eagles with a couple in the next booth.
#
The driveway to the mansion was a crisp river of macadam, wide enough to warrant a stripe down its middle. After they passed an unassuming gray mailbox marked Wilcox, they drove for the better part of a mile before they could see the house. Around it, the grounds heralded early spring, with the help of some expensive looking gardening. Claire let out a little squeal when she saw the house, pure white, with cream and gold gingerbread. Lou commented that the place looked as though it had been built yesterday.
“Gene says that there’s a couple of houses,” said Jim. “This must be the main house. It’s principally for entertaining guests, he said.”
They circled a wide cul-de-sac that surrounded a fountain built of seemingly loose boulders piled into a tall mound. Water poured in thin rivulets down its rough sides. Beside it sat an antique glider painted white like the house. Near it a gardener was throwing lime on the ground. He directed Jim to another house where he said Mr. Wilcox was waiting for them. Jim thanked the man and commented on the beautiful grounds.
“Thanks. We take pride in what we do. Nice to see it shows.”
A quarter mile past the mansion they found a modern house built of natural wood, blending so well into the surrounding trees and rounded boulders that Jim had a hard time estimating its size and shape.
The four travelers knocked at the door and asked the man who opened it for Mr. Wilcox. Glad to be out of the car, Kas took off her coat and handed it to him. He took it graciously and bowed. “Mr. Wilcox at your service, ma’am. Can I take the rest of your coats?”
John Wilcox was younger than Jim expected of a lawyer of his stature. Though his hair was graying, he looked doe-eyed and innocent and remarkably youthful. A moment later Gene appeared and happily introduced everyone, ending with Jim. “This is Jim. It’s his intuition and his artwork that has us here today.”