The Alboran Codex

by J C Ryan

  Carter produced some wine, beer, and other refreshments and made sure everyone had something to drink and nibble on before he took Beth for her bath, after which Mackenzie would feed her. She would stay up for another few hours before she went back to sleep around eight p.m.

  Until then, the young red-haired lady would be thrilled with all the attention she got from the adults.

  ***

  With Beth and Liam asleep, Ahote and Bly returned home, and the conversation returned to the projects.

  “Carter,” Sean started, “I always wanted to ask you about those giants and the ‘City of Lights’ as you call it. I know you have evidence of the size of the people who lived there, thousands of years ago. So, I’ll have to accept they existed, but where did they come from, when did they cease to exist, and why?”

  “That’s quite a mouthful, Sean.” Carter grinned. “We don’t have enough information to say where they came from yet. A few anthropologists are busy with DNA studies, and hopefully we’ll be able to get answers to that question soon . . . ish, maybe . . . I hope.”

  “Why the hesitation?” Sean frowned. “I would’ve thought scientists would be swarming all over that place by now.”

  “No, not really.” Carter shook his head. “I guess you already know it was a very controversial discovery — as in, it doesn’t fit nicely into the squared evolution box. So, there are quite a lot of scientists for whom the whole thing has become a bit prickly, and they are trying to distance themselves from it — doing everything they can to ridicule the discovery as a hoax and doing their level best to dissuade funding of further excavations.”

  “Are you saying they have seen the evidence, they have read the reports, and they still deny it because they can’t explain it?”

  “You whiz kid! Ten out of ten for that answer!” Carter laughed.

  “What a bunch of jackasses,” Sean mumbled.

  “Okay, so leaving the featherheads aside for a moment,” Irene interjected, “what’re your theories about their disappearance?”

  “Well, as far as I can see, they didn’t disappear until ‘recently’—and by recently, I mean they were still around 3,400 years ago.”

  “You call that recently?” Dylan asked, half surprised, but then corrected himself. “Yeah, well, if you think the City of Lights was abandoned fifty thousand plus years ago, I reckon 3,400 is recent.”

  “Wait a minute, 3,400 years ago, you say?” Sean replied. “That means they were around in the time of Moses and those guys?”

  “Yes, even after Moses. You guys all attended Sunday school, didn’t you?” Carter smiled. “Remember David and Goliath? The big guy who got his butt kicked by the shepherd boy with a slingshot?”

  “Of course, I remember that,” James growled. “Ah, so you reckon the big fellow could have been family of your giants?”

  “It’s possible, but compared to my giants, he was a bit on the short side.”

  “What do you mean?” Sean said. “I always thought Goliath was . . . gigantic.”

  “The Bible says he was ‘six cubits and one span’,” Carter replied. “A cubit is approximately eighteen inches and a span six inches, so he was around nine feet, six inches tall. My guys are more than fourteen feet — on average.”

  “Ah, I see what you mean,” Sean replied. “But that then doesn’t explain your theory that some family members of your giants were around thirty-four hundred years ago, does it?”

  “No, but my theory is not entirely based on the story of David and Goliath. Are any of you familiar with a guy by the name of Og? Also a biblical character.”

  Everyone except Mackenzie looked at him, dazed.

  “Og? Like in O—g?” James asked.

  Carter nodded.

  “Never heard of him. Weird name, if you ask me.”

  “Okay, time for you people to sit down for a short Bible study session. Just give me a second.” Carter laughed as he got up and retrieved his Bible from the bedroom.

  Mackenzie offered everyone something to drink. All of them opted for tea, and she got up to get the kettle going.

  Carter returned with his Bible in hand. It was the Bible his grandfather, Will, gave to him when he went to University. It had a personal message from Will in the front, which read, “Carter, my son, in this book you will find wisdom and peace. Read it often — let it be the lamp for your feet and the North Star of your life.”

  “Okay children, are we ready?”

  They all nodded and smiled.

  “Deuteronomy 3:11 - For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the giants. Indeed, his bedstead was an iron bedstead. (Is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon?) Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, according to the standard cubit.”

  “Wow! That’s like what . . .?” Dylan was making quick calculations. “Fourteen feet? Huh?”

  “Yep.” Carter nodded. “In Jewish literature, Og is said to be a descendant of the giants who survived the flood.”

  “This is fascinating stuff, Carter!” Irene exclaimed.

  “Oh, learned and wise one, please tell us more,” Sean quipped.

  “Let me give you a few examples. The earliest mention of giants is found in Genesis.” Carter continued, “Throughout the Old Testament there are references to giants when talking about Amorites, Emim, Zuzim, Rephaim, and Nephilim. Here are a few examples.

  “Genesis 6:4 — There were giants [Nephilim] on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

  “Genesis 14:5–7 — In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him came and attacked the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their mountain of Seir . . . Then they turned back and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and attacked all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazezon Tamar.”

  Carter stopped and said, “Genesis 14 does not specifically say that the Rephaim, Zuzim, Emim, or Amorites were giants, but just hang on, and I’ll show you how they are linked.

  “The Amorites are mentioned more than eighty times in the Bible. Early on, they were allies of Abraham, and apparently, they were the descendants of Noah’s grandson, Canaan.

  “Amos 2:9–10—Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was as strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. Also, it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

  “The reports provided by Moses’s spies, which he sent through the land of Canaan, supports the notion that the Amorites were giants. Numbers 13:28 — the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. Numbers 14:6–9 — all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.

  “Let’s look at the Emim. Deuteronomy 2:10–11 — The Emim had dwelt there in times past, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. They were also regarded as giants [Hebrew rephaim], like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim.

  “The Zuzim or Zamzummim, Deuteronomy 2:20–21 — The land of Ammon was also regarded as a land of giants [Hebrew rephaim]; giants [rephaim] formerly dwelt there. But the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, a people as great and numerous and tall as the Anakim. But the Lord destroyed them before them, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their place.

  “And for an encore, just a few more from Samuel.” Carter smiled.

  “2 Samuel 21: 15 to 22 —Then Ishbi-Benob, who was one of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose bronze spear was three hundred shekels, who was bearing a new sword, thought he could kill David. But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid, and struck the Philistine and killed him.

  “Now it happened afterward that there was again a battle
with the Philistines at Gob [or “Gezer”]. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Saph [or “Sippai”], who was one of the sons of the giant.

  “Again there was war at Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim [or “Jair”] the Bethlehemite killed [“Lahmi”] the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.

  “Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number; and he also was born to the giant. So when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him.”

  “What extra-Biblical evidence of giants do you have?” James asked when Carter ended.

  Carter held three fingers in the air. “Three sources that spring to mind. First, for more than a century now, archeologists have been discovering enormous bones, tools, weaponry, and other artifacts that only a giant could have used. Some of those giant-sized artifacts exist in museums, much of the evidence are eyewitness accounts and pictures.

  “Second, the illustrations of huge people found on Egyptian jars and inside tombs. Some historians say they are simply representations of deities and kings drawn in a way to show their importance or high rank, but there are other explanations which postulate that those images are of real giants.

  “Third, written accounts outside of the Bible can be found in the Book of Enoch, the Book of Jasher, and in the writings of the Jewish historian, Josephus, all of which support the Bible narratives.

  “All three of these books talk about the existence of giants. For instance, in one of Josephus’s writings, there is a passage about the Israelites moving to Hebron, where they encountered ‘the race of giants, who had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely different from other men, that they were surprising to the sight, and terrible to the hearing. The bones of these men are still shown to this very day.’”

  Carter’s audience looked at him with mouths agog.

  Glancing at his watch, he said, “Okay, it’s getting late, children. I can show you some images and texts tomorrow, if you’re interested.”

  “I’m now convinced there were giants, and that they were still around not too long ago — well, at least within the timeframes we are talking about,” Sean said.

  “After a lecture as stimulating as this, who wouldn’t be convinced?” James added.

  “The jackasses and featherheads Sean and Irene referred to earlier.” Carter laughed. “They’re inconvincible.”

  “Yeah, well, tough luck for them. They are missing out big time,” Sean concluded.

  Chapter 16 -

  I took their advice

  The next morning, Mackenzie and Carter were up early and went for their run. They skipped the self-defense training but didn’t skip their pleasant shower routine. They prepared a big breakfast for everyone, after which they all went out for a short hike to see more of the picturesque beauty of Freydís.

  In their bedroom, the night before, Mackenzie said, “Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I get the distinct feeling Sean and Dylan didn’t come along just for the fun of it — it’s as if they’ve something important to talk about.”

  “So, you’ve also noticed it,” Carter said.

  “Any idea what it could be?”

  “No, but I’m sure we’ll hear about it tomorrow. If it were anything serious, they would have mentioned it by now.”

  “Well, curiosity killed the cat, so I guess we’ll just have to be patient and wait then.”

  The previous night, after dinner, they had covered all the details about the two projects before they got into the discussion about the giants. What remained to talk about was the setup of the communications infrastructure, security arrangements for the inhabitants of Freydís, and the hitherto undisclosed matter on the minds of Sean and Dylan.

  Carter had Beth in a baby carrier on his back. She fell asleep while they were walking but opened her eyes when they settled on the grass under a nice, big, old tree on top of a lookout point.

  Mackenzie took Beth out of the carrier, and the little one looked around — dazed for a few moments. When she spotted Irene, she began smiling, prompting Irene to immediately take the baby in her arms.

  Carter and Mackenzie didn’t have to wait long to get the answer to their speculations of the night before.

  “Carter, Mackenzie,” Sean started. “I’m sure you have already surmised that Dylan and I came along on this trip because we have something important to discuss with you — a proposal we want to make.”

  “Sean, Dylan — Mackenzie and I are offended. Are you saying the purpose of your visit was anything other than to be in our wonderful company?” Carter tried to look hurt.

  Sean laughed. “Yeah, well, there is that, but maybe not entirely as much of it as you would like to imagine.”

  Irene and James knew what Sean and Dylan were going to put forward, so they just sat back and enjoyed the jesting.

  Carter grabbed the left side of his chest in a mock gesture of a stab to the heart. “I’m floored, my friend. Totally devastated. Here poor Mackie and I are living in the illusion that you two are our best friends and would like nothing better than to spend a bit of time with us.”

  “Carter, cut it out! Let Sean talk now.” Mackenzie laughed as she aimed a playful punch at him.

  “Well, if you accept our proposal, we might be able to work on those friendship issues,” Sean replied.

  “We’re all ears, Sean. Please continue, and don’t mind Carter. He’s still hyperactive from all the coffee he had this morning,” Mackenzie said.

  “Okay, so let me get to the point before Carter gets his nose out of joint about our friendship going south.” Sean laughed. “We want to know how you would feel about us, Executive Advantage, setting up a Special Forces training facility here on Freydís?”

  Carter and Mackenzie looked at each other — they opened their mouths, closed them, and just stared at Sean and Dylan in turn.

  After a long pause, Carter said, “What exactly do you have in mind?”

  Mackenzie’s mind was working at light-speed.

  Sean continued. “Jim and Irene told me you know a little about the history of Executive Advantage — that we are a type of international mercenary force — much like a mini French Foreign Legion.”

  Carter nodded.

  “Almost like the NATO of black ops — in other words, we are the free world’s top-secret country-less antiterrorism organization with very little red tape or bureaucracy. Just a bunch of good guys hunting and eliminating the bad guys — agile and extremely effective thus far. We are independent, apolitical, areligious, anti-dogmatic, et cetera, and therefore we have the support of intelligence agencies across the globe.

  “EA was established when leaders of a few security agencies from around the world got together and agreed to form an independent, global Special Forces unit with a deep pool of expertise. We are officially part of the American black ops community, but we are funded by all the member countries. It’s a unit of specialists who can assure swift and successful clandestine missions anywhere in the world. The result of this international interagency agreement is that Executive Advantage has access to the skills of former Special Forces members from around the globe. That means we recruit people from the Navy SEALS, Delta Force, Green Berets, AFSOC, British and Australian SAS, Canadian Joint Task Force 2 - JTF2, French Foreign Legion, Israel’s Kidon — part of Mossad, Oman’s Desert Phantoms, India's Gurkhas, and others.

  “We’re an organization of last resort, which means we’re called upon whenever security and intelligence agencies find themselves with an intractable problem that must be dealt with when commercial, diplomatic, and political solutions have failed or are not an option.

  “However, and I’m sure you can imagine, politicians of the member countries don’t want to have any ‘knowledge’ about us or our activities — they want results and no links to them — plausible deniability.”

/>   Carter and Mackenzie both nodded and waited for Sean or Dylan to continue.

  Dylan took over. “So, what we have in mind is to set up a secret training facility in a place where no one would expect it, isolated, away from populated areas, prying eyes, spy satellites, and such. And Freydís ticks all those boxes.”

  “Hmm, that’s an interesting idea,” Carter murmured. “What type of training, and how many people?”

  “There’d be no worry about environmental issues,” Dylan replied. “What we have in mind is to blend in with nature in every way possible. We don’t want to build open air rifle ranges or train demolitions experts and turn the place into a simulated war zone. What we have in mind are training in things such as survival skills, field craft, tracking, stalking, fitness, hand-to-hand combat, electronic communications, surveillance, spy craft, and the like. In other words, no noise pollution.”

  “Mackenzie?” Carter looked at her. He was not going to decide without her — Freydís was Mackenzie and Mackenzie was Freydís. If he detected even the slightest hint of hesitation from her, he was not going to agree, neither was he going to put any pressure on her. Although Sean’s proposal came as a big surprise, for some unknown reason, the idea appealed to him. He had to think about it first, but one thing was immediately clear in his mind — if Mackenzie didn’t agree with the proposition, he was not going to agree to it either.

  Her mind was still racing. The absence of humans on Freydís was the reason for its unadulterated natural beauty and special charm for her. Freydís was the one and only place in the universe where she felt she belonged; it was as if she had been part of this land for thousands of years. It was as if her DNA was somehow interwoven with this land.

  Was that about to change? Should I allow it to change? Do I want it to change? Is this the price we must pay for our decision to continue? Am I selfish to want Freydís just for myself and my family?

  Conflict was battling in her brain.

  Carter noticed Mackenzie’s impasse and came to the rescue. “Mackie, I don’t think” —Carter turned his eyes to Sean and Dylan— “they want us to make a decision right now. Right, guys?”