“Most religions need rules for the sake of their organization, for the continued survival of the religion, to control their followers,” Radcliff explained.
“Do you teach religious history?” Sandy asked.
“I do, among other specific history subjects. But we digress. My point of asking you, Chad, an agnostic, to name them, was to prove that it is mostly common sense and easily to verbally pass on from generation to generation. So in an era where so much history was oral, why was it necessary to chisel this in stone? And, if once was not enough, and if Mount Sinai really took place, and if it were true that the first tablets were destroyed, then time was taken to make a second set.”
“So your point is that the Ten Commandments are not what is on the tablets?” Chad deduced. Radcliff had raised the same questions that Chad had to Haskin.
“Correct.”
“What was on the tablets?” Sandy asked.
“Let’s go to my house for coffee,” Feigel suggested.
Chapter 68
They followed Feigel to a large three-bedroom apartment on the east side of Lyon. Chad noted the elevator was a necessity for the slow moving teacher. He could only wonder what a flight of stairs would do to the man. Chad also wondered how Feigel coped with whatever the building layouts were at the university.
With his guests seated comfortably, Feigel bustled around the kitchen, producing three espresso coffees, a dark rich brew that Chad was finding to be a staple in France. People must stay awake twenty hours a day he mused to himself.
“Chad,” Feigel began after he plopped himself into a large easy chair that swallowed him whole. “Picking up the thread of our discussion, I have to first ask if you have thought about or entertained the concept of ancient aliens or extraterrestrials?”
Chad took the question seriously, which pleased Feigel. “I feel I use facts and historical information to reach conclusions. I teach that in a course we call Forensic History. I have read and even watched some episodes of an American TV show called Ancient Aliens. It’s educational; however, in all honesty, I feel that often a theory is expounded and then facts that support the theory are presented, ignoring other facts that exist that do not fit. Sometimes it is not the fairest presentation of information. I believe facts should be assembled that lead back to a hypothesis or theory that explains all the facts.”
“That is a fair view. Honest. Do you reject the possibilities of ancient visitors?”
“I’m agnostic regarding ancient visitors. I neither believe nor disbelieve. However, I find myself leaning toward the idea that we have been visited, because there are more and more facts that can support the theory.”
Sandy spoke up. “I believe there have been visitors. I don’t know that I believe aliens created us, though I know stories of creation can be taken that way. I believe there has been some interaction.”
Chad nodded in understanding and added, “Perhaps, a most compelling reason, for me, that supports the theory of alien intervention is the giant leaps man has taken in evolution and discovery.”
“Good. Good. That is a excellent basis on which to discuss the tablets.”
Chad thought about the term papers of his students. Several held forth that the Ark was an alien creation, was a battery, a power source, a communication device, and was radioactive.
“Will this help me find them?” Chad asked.
“I don’t know. What do you know that I don’t know?” Radcliff asked.
“The information that your brother learned and told me was that in 600 BCE the tablets were removed from Jerusalem. Left behind was a stone with the new location inscribed on it. The stone was hidden. I found where the stone should be. It’s gone. But there was a clue left behind. The clue is a location where I believe the tablets were taken.”
“You have been to that location?”
“No, it is my next stop,” Chad said. “The puzzling fact is that it is halfway around the world. In Mexico. Puzzling, too, is that the location was written in latitude and longitude, written a couple hundred years before latitude and longitude was used anywhere else.”
“What did you conclude?”
“There was an advanced society that could sail the ocean and knew latitude and longitude. I also think that where they were taken was as advanced or more advanced than Egypt and the Mediterranean countries at that time.”
“It fits. It does fit,” Feigel nodded.
“What does?” Sandy asked.
“Consider this. What if earth is an experiment? What if it has been visited for thousands of years. The visitors could be, and most likely were, from various planets, not just a single planet. Maybe some of those planets and their people have even died out. Maybe there were starts and stops to our world. Like the great flood. Perhaps that was a purge to rid the earth of experiments gone wrong. Maybe the normal evolution process went as far as the dinosaurs and then evolution was advanced or rather skipped to introduce man. Perhaps our new evolution and progress was helped and tweaked by DNA modifications over time. Perhaps some experiments worked, some did not. Our guides gave us free will. They allowed evil and good to exist. They were always ready to step in to keep us from annihilation though, hence the increase in visitors when there were massive wars.”
“That is a lot of perhaps, ifs, and maybes, Radcliff,” Chad said.
“But can you consider it?” Radcliff asked.
“Sure. But the same case could be made for the one god theory,” Chad countered. “One god created man in his image, and one god administers man, occasionally intervening.
“It could. One difference in the two theories. In the one omnificent, omnipresent god, he or she is always here. Can always intervene. In the visitor theory, they are not always here. Maybe they can visit when their planet orbits their sun to reach a specific proximity. Maybe some of the visitors can only visit every three thousand years, like the Maya calendar indicates. If there are times when there is no guide present, then some type of guidance has to be left for man. Some type of guidance that they expect to be understood by some future generation. Perhaps, a far-in-the-future generation. Hence monoliths, pyramids, crop circles, and such.”
“Fascinating,” Sandy said enthusiastically. “I’d like to hear more. How do the ten commandments fit that theory?”
“Well, I think. They keep us on point. Suppose this was your laboratory, your garden, Sandy. A garden of people. You have given free will to them. Your own society has developed tens of thousands of years ahead of earth. You have peace, kindness, and a world where there is no evil. You probably have a very long life. You look at the development of your garden and you see people who worship animals, suns, moons, stars, and nature. People who make choices. So many people make short-sighted choices because they have a finite life and one that ends on this earth. For some people, what is the incentive for sacrifice now, today? Why not take what you want? Do what you want? What are the consequences?”
Radcliff waited for either of them to come up with something. It was new ground for them.
“You’ve given us a clue,” Sandy said. “Give people a life after death. Where consequences are realized.”
“I see where this is going,” Chad said. “Give them rules as well. Commandments.”
“Yes. Do you remember what happened after the Ten Commandments were given to Moses?”
Sandy answered. “When Moses came down the mountain, the people were worshiping a calf. Moses destroyed the tablets in anger.”
“That is what was written. The people grew impatient. He was supposedly gone forty days. Why do you think it was so long?” Radcliff asked.
“Takes time to write all those words in stone?” Chad laughed.
“Good point. This is what I think. The burning fire that Moses’s brother Aaron saw on Mount Sinai was a ship that took Moses to either a space station or even perhaps through a wormhole or through time and distance to visit a world of the future.”
“Really?” Chad expressed some doubt.
However, he recalled the scrolls’ account of a fiery departure from Mt. Carmel.
Feigel turned to Sandy. “Do you remember how long it took them to get to Israel after Mount Sinai?”
She answered, “Forty years. The length of a generation. The time it took to die for the people who did not follow the rule of worship. They were not allowed in the promised land because they broke that commandment.”
“Correct. Moses had told them Yahweh was leading them out of Egypt. Moses told them to only worship Yahweh. They broke his commandment. That was the deal, the covenant. Follow the rules and you will be taken to the Promised Land. He made an example of that generation to secure the obedience of future generations. It is really a covenant with all of man – learn to live in peace and there is a better world for you. A world like we showed to Moses. The rules were simple. And, we all know them. Ten rules.”
Chad argued. “That is the reward for living a good life? A promised land? But, I thought the Jewish faith does not believe in life after death.”
“We don’t. They don’t. Not right away. However the writers of the Torah said there would be a day of reckoning, the Last Judgment. Those that lived the good life and followed the rules would be taken by God into that Promised Land. Those that did not, will suffer eternal damnation. Christianity and Islam have similar concepts.”
“Christianity believes you immediately are judged and enter heaven or hell,” Sandy corrected.
Rad responded, “As does Islam. Both religions also have a Last Judgment.”
“How does your theory of this garden of man explain Christianity and Islam? Half the world believes in one of those religions. Only two percent has stuck with Judaism.”
“Good question. What if this religion you began in your garden was not catching on? The god you created was one of punishment and retribution. It was too heavy handed. Being good, living according to the Commandments was being complied with because it was a rule with eventual consequences, rather than out of love. There was more non-compliance than there was compliance. More bad than good in the world. You as the gardener correct it. You send one of your own to earth to correct it, to preach love with immediate reward after death. Hence Christianity.”
“A tidy explanation,” she said. “How do you fit Islam in that?”
“Islam was and is based on helping their fellow man and praying and honoring Allah by fulfilling one’s work. It was needed because Christianity and Judaism were more village and fixed society based. Arabs were tribal and nomadic. Also, both those religions separated church and state. Islam is a laboratory correction to Christianity to appeal to the nomadic and tribal way of life. In Islam, church and state are intertwined not separate. It works with a small population. We have not seen success with an entire country intertwining religion and government. The Quran spells out many very detailed rules about life. Rules that can be followed by a tribe, not a country. Did you know that women are equal to men in the Quran?”
“So then what is on the tablets and why were they so special as to be kept in the Ark and in the place of reverence in Solomon’s Temple?” Chad asked.
“Ah, that is the question. My theory is that it is some instruction about communication with the visitors when we, the human race, reach that point where we have earned the Promised Land that Moses saw – a world of advanced technology, miracle medical treatment, the loving interpersonal society.”
“So this helps me how?” Chad asked.
“From what you told me, and what I believe about intervention, I think the tablets were moved to a safe and developing culture that was following the rules, the commandments. A society and culture whose direction was not headed toward a war of destruction or capture. Hence it was good timing to move them in 600 BCE, before the fall of Jerusalem. Where they went after that would be interesting to pursue. Mexico, eh? Eventually the Maya and then the Aztec cultures may be appealing. Though I teach history, I cannot say I have a good knowledge of that region.”
“Have you heard of the guardians or the guard?” Chad asked.
Feigel answered quickly. “No. Who is that?”
Too quickly, Chad thought. He’s lying.
Chapter 69
Archer and Sandy climbed into the rental car.
“I can read you now, Archer. You think he held back, don’t you?”
“What did you see?” he answered her question with a question.
“He lied about the guardians,” Sandy answered.
“I agree, but why?”
“We’ll learn why if we keep digging. What are your thoughts about alien visitors versus conventional religious beliefs?”
“God or gods. You can make a case for either. If you believe the scrolls, then you accept a watchful and directing God using angels as messengers. You also accept some fiery chariot took off from Mt. Carmel with the tablets. On the other hand, ancient astronaut theorists will say angels are visitors from other worlds, and that they hover and fly with advanced technology. The visited people will describe the visitors as winged beings. The theorists will say the fiery transportation was a rocket ship. I don’t understand why they had to take the tablets up on Mount Carmel. A special landing area? Or, perhaps the tablets are hidden there and never left Israel.”
“I can see either scenario,” Sandy agreed.
“What I think did happen is that the tablets were important enough to the high priests, to humans, that they moved them out of harm’s way. If they knew of a people or group that could sail to another land, a land that was safer, then why not. That makes sense to me. I can’t explain Mount Carmel and the fiery vision, but I may not have to explain them in order to find the tablets.”
“What do you do now?” she asked.
“I go to Mexico. I try to understand the coordinates on the bottom of the large stone in Jerusalem. And, I see Boyer tonight. There is another option. It’s one that my students write about every semester. The Knights Templar.”
“How so?” Sandy asked.
“What if the scrolls are wrong or a hoax? A diversion? Maybe the scrolls were meant to be found within a few years of their creation, not now, twenty-five hundred years later. The intention would be to make people think the tablets were moved out of the country. But yet, all along, the tablets were in Israel.”
“Then the Knights Templar moved them during the crusades?” Sandy asked. “They supposedly moved many religious artifacts and valuable items from Jerusalem.”
“That’s right. That was 1100 CE, when Arabic numerals were used widely, Arabic numerals like on the bottom of my stone. Didn’t they use a red cross as a symbol? My coordinates have a plus sign between them. Maybe it’s a cross.”
“Where do those coordinates lead?” Sandy asked.
“Middle of the Celtic Sea,” Chad answered frustrated.
Chapter 70
Archer went aboard Haskin’s private jet.
Boyer began their discussion. “How are you doing? Quite a week for you.”
“Yes, it has been. Thanks for coming all this way.”
“Tell me what happened,” Boyer said.
“It’s not good. I think someone is trying to kill me.”
“Who?”
“The guardians or the guard. Some group that I know nothing about. I heard their name when Israeli Intelligence kidnapped me. Their military intelligence.”
“Kidnapping? Military Intelligence?” Boyer asked with genuine alarm. “You do have a lot to tell me.”
Chad spoke non-stop for the next hour. He told Boyer about the meetings with the rabbi, the meeting with Lipman, and solving the clue to the man and three suns. He gave details about Lipman in the hospital, the kidnapping, the rabbi’s death, and how he left Jerusalem early with the help of Interpol.
Finally he shakily described what happened to Alan Evers. He spoke feverishly but objectively as the scientist in him demanded.
Finished and silent now, Chad realized that he avoided sharing three things. One was the rabbi’s dying words.
Another was the rabbi’s brother. And finally, of course, that he had shared all this with Sandy.
“We can supply some protection for you,” Boyer said.
“I’ll think about it. At the moment it would raise a red flag. Why would I need a bodyguard to write a book?”
“I understand. What are the chances the tablets are in La Venta?”
“Slim. If the intention behind moving them a quarter of a world away was protection, that strategy would continue to require movement. I know enough about La Venta to know it lasted as a power for only so long. I think Doc learned that as well. He made several trips to Mexico and Central America. He visited many of the Mesoamerican sites.”
Boyer asked, “What is encompassed by Mesoamerica? Dr. Clark was not very detailed about his thoughts on this.”
Chad explained. “There are six places in the world where civilizations grew independently. One of those areas is Central Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and other countries in that region. That extended area is considered Mesoamerica. You will have heard of the cultures like the Olmec, the Maya, and the Aztecs. Mesoamerica cultures are the societies that existed from as early as 7000 BCE up to when the Spanish came in the 15th century CE. Doc visited sites like La Venta, Tikal, and Palenque. I’ll look for clues starting at La Venta and go where they take me. I’ll leave in the morning if I can get a flight.”
“Good. What about the coordinates in Arabic numerals that are in the Celtic Sea?” Boyer asked.
“I believe I just don’t know the proper reference point. For the others it was the Great Pyramid. I’ll figure it out.”
“Good. I am sure you will. Now, your phone. You think it may be bugged? Let my IT expert take a look. Meanwhile, why don’t you pack? We can drop you in Mexico.”
“Cool,” Archer smiled, looking forward to a very comfortable flight.
-----
At the hotel, Archer used Sandy’s phone to call Tellier and tell him he was leaving. The work at this point was best handled by Interpol’s inspectors and technicians.
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