by J C Ryan
Hassan couldn’t stop himself from exploding in laughter at Karimi-Shah’s laconic version of evolution. He didn’t believe in evolution either. He was one of those six thousand-year-old human species believers, but this crack at evolution was the most entertaining version he had ever heard.
“The thing is,” Karimi-Shah continued once Hassan stopped laughing, “our data shows something very different. And I don’t want to get into the evolution or intelligent design deliberation. Some of it might be true and some not — it doesn’t concern us. The Nabateans, I mean.”
Hassan looked at him inquisitively but kept his promise to wait for his teacher to finish the narrative before commenting or asking questions.
“Here is the kicker. Not only did humans exist for hundreds of thousands of years in antediluvian times, but there were also civilizations far more advanced than ours. They had technologies so progressive we can’t even begin to understand them. We are physically holding some of those ancient technologies in our hands, but we have no clue about its purpose or how to operate them.”
Hassan looked as if he could be knocked over with a feather.
“As you already know from your men’s discovery of that site in Syria, they had nuclear weapons. And not only that, they understood and harnessed the power of nuclear fusion, quantum vacuum zero-point energy, faster than light communications, quantum entanglement, nanotechnology, quantum computing, neuroscience, advanced medical technology . . . I can carry on and on.
“Those hairless, bipedal apes from the jungles of Africa were apparently very clever.”
Hassan could not control his urge to speak any longer. “That’s absolutely mindboggling!”
Karimi-Shah nodded. “Yes, without a shadow of a doubt — it is a game changer. As I’ve said, we have already acquired some of those ancient technologies—”
“Such as?”
“We are already using some of their quantum computing and nanotechnology, as well as some neuroscience and medical techniques. We have the most comprehensive library of ancient technology knowhow in the universe.
“There is no computer on the planet that can do what our quantum computers can — not even if you combine the computing power of the world will it standup against ours. There is no computer or communications network on earth we cannot access, or hack, if you will.
“We are on the verge of a medical breakthrough that will double the human lifespan. There are more . . .” He paused as he saw Hassan’s bewilderment.
Hassan had gone slack-jawed as his brain was bombarded with thousands of thoughts per millisecond. He tried to say something but was unable to produce any sound. Medical . . . longevity . . . neuroscience . . . free energy . . . nuclear weapons . . . quantum computing . . . faster than light . . . faster than light . . . faster than light! Random words were triggering electrical impulses through the synapses in his brain and must have short-circuited something.
“Huh. Wow! Stop,” were the only comprehensible sounds that came out of his mouth.
Karimi-Shah smiled. “Another coffee while you gather your thoughts?”
Hassan just nodded. By the time the cup of coffee was in front of him, he had managed to regain his composure. “I don’t know where to begin. But let me ask you this. Where do you get all this information?”
“Remember what I told you about our quantum computers?”
Hassan nodded.
“Well, if there is an electronic record of any piece of information available on a computer anywhere, we can access it. The only computers we can’t access are those that are not connected to the Internet or are switched off. I’m not a technology expert, so how they do it I won’t be able to tell you. But don’t worry, tomorrow is your technology induction day, and our experts will answer all your questions.
“When it comes to archaeological discoveries, we keep a close watch on archaeologists across the globe. We know exactly what is going on — what has been discovered, and what is suppressed by authorities. You will be stunned to know how much information is concealed and never sees the light of day.”
“So, if I understand you correctly, there is still some information out there you are hunting for?”
“Yes, and there’s a lot of it, and we want it. We have been looking for it for millennia. We know it’s there because the ancient texts and manuscripts talk about it.
“You see, there was a race of giants on earth in pre-Adamic times. In fact, many thousands of years before Adam, maybe even hundreds of thousands. And the most amazing thing is, they survived through all of it until about 3,400 years ago. And what’s important for us is the evidence that points to the fact that those giants were the most advanced human beings ever to walk the earth.”
Hassan’s mouth was agape again. But Karimi-Shah pushed on. “I take it the name Professor Carter Devereux rings a bell?”
Hassan nodded cautiously as he recollected how his special forces botched the mission on behalf of Xavier Algosaibi to capture Professor Carter Devereux and his wife, Dr. Mackenzie Devereux, and their son, Liam, in Jerusalem.
They succeeded in capturing his wife and son, but Carter miraculously avoided capture as he was in the bathroom at the time when they arrived at the restaurant. The operatives detonated a massive car bomb in the restaurant where the Devereuxs were dining to make it appear like a suicide bombing and wipe out the evidence of the abduction.
Their failure to capture Carter Devereux came back to haunt them when Devereux and a group of United States Special Forces operators discovered where his wife and son were being held near Mecca in Saudi Arabia and launched a successful rescue mission.
That mission was what blew Algosaibi’s cover and led to his and his co-conspirators’ public beheading in Saudi Arabia.
Suddenly, Hassan was unnerved. He certainly didn’t expect anyone else would know about his involvement in that mission. On the other hand, he was not entirely surprised, because since his first meeting with Karimi-Shah, back in Syria, there was not one single piece of information this man didn’t know about him. It was a real worry. But there was also nothing he could do about it — other than to take note of the fact that nothing about his life was ever going to be private nor secret anymore.
Karimi-Shah must have noticed his discomfort, for he said, “Don’t worry, my friend, that’s water under the bridge. Nothing will happen to you. We’ve taken care of that. But I trust you have learned from that experience — the Council of the Covenant of Nabatea operates above country political strife and ambitions. There is nothing but trouble to gain from it. We repeatedly warned Xavier to heed our advice but to no avail.
“His meddling in politics and his devouring ambition only succeeded in putting Carter Devereux and the United States’ security establishment on alert. The Saudis have no doubt by now leaked some of the ancient nuclear weapons information to some radicals, amongst them your erstwhile comrades in ISIS.”
Hassan visibly relaxed and sighed with relief as he slowly nodded. “I most certainly have learned a lot from that experience.”
“Good. Let’s return to the topic of Carter Devereux. That man has made history-changing discoveries of pre-Adamite civilizations in the past few years. His work is nothing short of astonishing. We have been following his and his wife’s research with great interest for some years now.” Karimi-Shah shook his head and paused as if in deep thought. “It’s such a misfortune that he’s not of the Nabatean lineage.
“To us, the most important of his discoveries is that city of the giants in Egypt. That city dates back more than fifty thousand years. Correction — that is, according to geologists, the last time it was occupied — the city itself could be much older. And the city hasn’t even begun to give up its secrets. Were it not for Xavier’s dimwitted interference, we might have had a lot more information from that site by now.”
Hassan nodded his assent.
“We are convinced that those giants must have left written records behind, and we were waiting for Devere
ux to discover them. Algosaibi’s little ego trip endangered Devereux and his family and almost caused him to retire from archaeology. That would have left us with no choice but to get involved in the exploration of that site ourselves — not something we would have liked to do.
“Fortunately, a few days ago, we got some good news. It seems that Professor Devereux has decided to continue with his projects, and most promising of all, we have learned that he has indeed discovered written records in the city of the giants—”
“Really? Do you know how much information it contains?” Hassan leaned forward, his eyes wide and glittering.
Karimi-Shah shook his head. “Too early to say. So far, we have seen only one image of a metallic looking plate, containing what we believe could be nanodots with information. Then we saw a set of documents, which we believe was produced by an electron microscope that converted part of that metallic plate into an unfamiliar language. But his computer was online for only a short while. We didn’t have enough time to get everything he has on it.”
“Any ideas what language?”
“Definitely proto-Semitic in origin but nothing that our linguistic expert could read. We didn’t want to send the document to other linguists yet. We want to keep it very quiet until we can get more information from Devereux’s computer.”
Hassan grinned.
“We have a recording of a telephone conversation between Devereux and Rick Winslow, a computer expert at the CIA. It was about setting up a database of Semitic languages to use for translation purposes. That’s what led us to the conclusion that Devereux’s got more of those plates. We’ll wait and monitor.”
“For how long?”
“A month or so. If progress is not to our satisfaction . . .” he shrugged, “we’ll have to step in and take over.”
Chapter 22 -
Close encounters
Shortly after dark, ten days after Sean and Dylan had reached the agreement with Carter and Mackenzie about the establishment of the new training facility, Dylan, accompanied by Liu and six EA employees, arrived on Freydís. They arrived in an Alenia C-27J Spartan, a medium-sized cargo aircraft of the United States Special Operations Command. The plane, which had a payload of more than twelve tons, was packed to the brim with equipment and material.
Years ago, when Carter’s grandfather, Will Devereux, constructed the mile-long landing strip, he built it so that larger aircraft could land and take off. When Will settled on Freydís, a lot of material and equipment to build the farmstead and outbuildings had to be flown in. This extra-long runway came in very handy again for transporting cargo and people to and from Freydís.
In the days before their arrival, Dylan had arranged with their connections in the Canadian Joint Task Force 2 — JTF2 — to deploy a security detail, equipped with surveillance drones, close to Freydís to prevent and warn them about any uninvited prying eyes. This was going to be a standing arrangement while the construction of Camp Tala was in progress until EA could shoulder the responsibility for their own security measures.
Carter and Ahote had ascertained that the runway was in good order and had constructed numerous torches from long sticks, the ends wrapped with cloth and soaked in paraffin. When they got the message from Dylan that the plane was about twenty minutes out, the two of them went out to place and light the torches on both sides of the runway.
The pilot taxied the plane as close as possible to the hangar, and the men got busy unloading the cargo while Mackenzie and Liu went home to finalize the sleeping and meal arrangements.
Liu and Mackenzie were ecstatic to see each other. Liu got teary-eyed when she saw Liam and hugged him. When Bly appeared with Beth in her arms, Liu couldn’t fight the tears anymore and let go.
“This . . . is just so . . .” She shook her head, searching for the words while tears of joy were streaming down her face. “I don’t know what to say, Mackenzie. I’ve missed you all so much. And the children — just look at them. They have grown so much.”
Mackenzie stepped closer and hugged her. “The same for us, Liu, the same for us. We are so happy you finally came to visit us.”
It didn’t take long for Beth to smile at Liu and hold her little arms out, which caused another round of tears in Liu’s eyes as she took Beth in her arms.
About two hours later, they heard the plane’s engines coming alive. The men turned up at the house shortly after it took off, all begging for food and coffee.
Dylan and his men, with Ahote as the site foreman, would set out early the next morning to do a final inspection of the location where the camp would be established. Then they’d start moving the equipment and material onsite, using the electric carts as much as they could.
The plan was to enclose and configure the large area under the rock overhang on the eastern cliff wall as their temporary sleeping quarters and kitchen as soon as possible. Before they could move in and become self-contained, they had to get their electricity and water supply set up, build shower and toilet facilities, et cetera.
The next morning during the site tour, one of the young guys, Conrad Westley, was heard saying, “I’m glad my dad made me read the story of Robinson Crusoe when I was a kid.”
Dylan smiled. “Well, at least we have airplanes, food, electricity, and friendly people on our island.”
“And wolves!” shouted Ryan McGraw, pointing to a pack of nine wolves standing about fifty yards away. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks, turned, and saw the animals staring at them.
Carter, Dylan, and Ahote exchanged quick looks without saying a word. “Shall we have a bit of fun?”
Dylan nodded ever so slightly.
“Okay, guys, we might have ourselves a bit of a problem here,” Carter started, struggling to keep up the pose of earnestness. “Those wolves look really mean and hungry to me, and they have now blocked our way out of here, which is through that cleft behind them . . .”
“No shit, Sherlock! And we don’t have our weapons with us. We can’t even shoot our way out of this one,” Ryan whispered.
“Okay, I suggest we don’t do anything stupid, like running away from them,” Dylan added. “Let’s just stand here and look back at them. Maybe they will lose interest.”
One of the men, John Ruschin, was an experienced war-dog handler who had been embedded on many missions with Special Forces operators with his dog. He had just recently been recruited by EA with the view of starting a war-dog training program for them.
“I know about dogs and how to handle and train them, and I’ve been told that wolves can be trained the same as our dogs . . . but . . .” John said hesitantly, “reading and hearing about it is a bit different than looking them in the eyes all of a sudden.”
“So, you reckon you want to give it a shot, John?” Ahote asked. He was about to explode in laughter. “You know . . . see if you can give them a command?”
John shook his head. “Nah, not really in the mood for a training session right now. I’d rather take my chances and try to climb the cliff walls.”
John’s answer only served to increase the tension amongst his comrades. If he, the expert dog handler, was worried, and so were Carter and Ahote who lived there, things were not looking good for them.
Carter turned to Ahote. “My friend, I think you might be our only hope now. I’ve heard that the Hopi people have some sort of special bond with wolves. I am sorry to put you through this ordeal, but I don’t see that we have any other options.”
Ahote nodded slowly while he kept his head down so that the others could not see his smile. “I’ll do it. Just wait here, and don’t move or make any noise. Okay?”
Everyone eagerly nodded assent.
Ahote started walking to the wolves slowly. Loki and Keeva sat down when they saw Ahote approaching, they had their heads tilted inquisitively as if to ask, “What’s wrong with you today, Ahote? Why are you creeping up on us like that?”
When Ahote reached them, he bent over slowly and held his hands out to Loki first.
“What the hell is he doing?” John exclaimed in horror. “Those animals will rip him to pieces . . . ”
Then Ahote started scratching Loki’s ears and back and turned to Keeva who was patiently waiting her turn. Shortly after, the four pups surrounded him, all vying for his attention. The remaining she-wolf and her two pups kept their distance — watching everything — but made no attempt to approach Ahote.
“I’ll be damned!” said Dylan. But then he could not control his urge to laugh anymore. He and Carter were doubling over as they roared with laughter.
“What’s going on here, Captain?” The wide-eyed Peter Shorten demanded from his commanding officer, with all due respect.
Dylan was still trying to get over the mirth and looked at Carter to answer.
“Don’t worry guys,” Carter said. “Those wolves know all of us here on Freydís. Except for that female with her two pups at the back there, who are new to the pack. They befriended us years ago. They know Dylan and everyone else. I think they were just curious to see who the newcomers were. They are not domesticated, but they won’t harm any of us.
“Mackenzie is the first person whom they made friends with. She’s got names for all of them, and when she goes for a walk, you can bet they will turn up and accompany her sooner or later. That female next to Ahote is Keeva, and the male is Loki. The other female with the two pups is Nadia.”
The six men were staring at Carter and Dylan in turn, wondering if they should believe him or not — some of their buddies had told them about the pranks Carter sometimes played on them. Yet, there Ahote was, unharmed, coming back towards them with the wolves in tow. Some of them eyed the cliffs, others eyed the rapidly shrinking distance between them and the wolves. Run and hide, or wait and see? Carter and Dylan didn’t look stressed, so maybe the latter was the best choice. In any event, none of them could outrun a wolf.