Babylon Rising 2. The Secret on Ararat Page 25

  Murphy began to lift other items out of the chest. He pulled out an ax and a short saw that seemed to be made out of the same material as the sword and dagger.

  Reinhold was shaking his head in disbelief. "I would swear that this is tungsten steel." He tapped the blade of the sword on one of the beams, and it emitted a high-pitched ringing sound. "It has the highest melting point of all metals. It also has the highest tensile strength and makes the metal more elastic. The finest cutting tools are made with tungsten. But it's simply not possible they mastered that process in Noah's time."

  But if the tungsten blades astonished him, there was more to come. Murphy was slicing open a pitch-covered

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  cloth to reveal a curious-looking bronze machine with dials, pointers, and interlocking gears and wheels.

  "This is impossible!" exclaimed Reinhold. "This bronze had to precede the Bronze -Age. Look at the extreme precision of this instrument!" They all passed it around and examined it.

  Underneath the machine were two metallic tablets inscribed with ancient markings. Murphy handed them to Isis to see if she could translate them. While she examined the tablets, they took a box out of the chest containing what seemed to be weights and measures.

  "Josephus mentioned in his writings that Cain was the father of weights and measures and cunning craftiness ," mentioned Murphy as he picked up one of the bronze weights.

  "I think I've got it!" said Isis, startling everyone. "I believe that this first tablet describes how to use the bronze machine. These markings look like the positions of the stars and planets."

  "That sounds right," said Murphy. "Josephus also said that Seth and his children were the inventors of wisdom which was concerned with the heavenly bodies and their order . He also says that the children of Seth inscribed their discoveries on a pillar of brick and a pillar of stone. The stone was to remain if the Flood washed away the pillar of brick. He said that the stone could still be seen in the land of Siriad. I'll bet that that machine was used to determine the motion of the sun, moon, and planets. Probably even the movements of the tides. This is incredible! What about the second tablet?"

  "It seems to be talking about Adam and how he

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  predicted two destructions of the world. One would be by flood and the other by fire."

  Murphy nodded, deep in thought. "The New Testament writer Peter, in his second book, not only talks about Noah and the Flood but also mentions that the heavens and the earth would be destroyed in a judgment of fire. Josephus says almost the same thing when he says, Adam predicted that the world would be destroyed one time by water and another time by fire . God must have also revealed these judgments to Adam."

  A last box was pulled out of the chest and opened. It contained a beautiful golden casket with designs of leaves around the edges and two bronze plates. There were also small samples of various rocks, each containing different elements of metal. The golden box glittered in Whittaker's flash. Again, the bronze plate was given to Isis to translate.

  Murphy carefully opened the lid to see various colored crystals, elements that looked like sand, and small flecks of metal.

  "What is it?" asked Bayer, reaching a hand in to scoop up some of the crystals, before jumping back, his fingers scorched.

  "I don't know," laughed Murphy. "But whatever it is, it still seems to be working!"

  Isis pulled at the sleeve of Murphy's parka. "Michael, I don't mean to keep harping on it, but these bronze plates look remarkably like the one that was supposed to come from the Monastery of St. Jacob. The one you were so sure was a fake," she added pointedly.

  "Of course," Murphy admitted. "You're right."

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  "What are you both talking about?" asked Reinhold impatiently.

  Murphy's voice was grim. "I believe there were originally three plates. One ended up in the Monastery of St. Jacob in the 1800s. It was sent to Erzurum for translation, and I think it was then stolen--possibly quite recently. I'm pretty certain the three plates are separate pieces of a puzzle, and you need all three to figure it out."

  He brought his fist down on the table with a crash.

  "I had the third one in my hands--but I let it go!"

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  FORTY-TWO

  MURPHY, HODSON, AND REINHOLD watched the helicopter disappear down the valley, then turned and reentered the ark. It had not been easy to persuade the rest of the team to go back, but Murphy had been adamant. They had achieved what they had set out to do. They had all the evidence they needed to prove the existence of the ark, and much else besides. After all they'd been through, he was determined not to expose them to any further risk.

  The three men made their way back to the room holding the large wooden chest to figure out which items to pack and haul out. Hodson's curiosity got the best of him and he picked up one of the small vases. Looking inside, he saw some of the crystals Bayer had burned his hand on. Sticking out were two small pieces of metal. While Murphy and Reinhold were deep in conversation about Isis's translation of the bronze

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  plates, Hodson pushed one of the metal rods against a beam to see if it would move. As the rods came closer together, there was a sudden burst of flame and a bright light.

  Murphy and Reinhold turned to see Hodson backing away from the vase, which he'd dropped on the floor. An intense glow emanated from it, lighting up the whole room. For a moment they didn't move.

  Murphy slowly reached out his hand and grabbed the bottom of the vase, then set it on one of the beams. They all put on their snow glasses because of the glare and to get a better look at it.

  Reinhold was the first to speak. "Amazing! The combination of the crystals and the metal rods are forming some type of battery energy source. How on earth did they discover how to do that?"

  Murphy was silent as he studied the object.

  "What do you think, Michael?" asked Reinhold.

  "I was just thinking about some ancient history and mythology. It's all making sense. Josephus mentions that Tubal-cain was the father of metallurgy. I wonder if he discovered some secret process for working with metals and various elements like the crystals in the vases and the chest. Some scholars believe the name Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and father of metalsmiths, came from the name Tubal-cain. As the story goes, Vulcan was thrown out of heaven. When he landed on earth he taught men metallurgy."

  "It sounds like the combined story of Cain and his son Tubal-cain," said Reinhold. "Cain was cast out of God's presence. And Tubal-cain became the father of the smelting process."

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  Murphy continued. "We get the word volcano from the name Vulcan. The ancients believed that volcanoes were the natural chimneys of subterranean smithies deep in the earth."

  "The light in that vase came on when I pushed the two pieces of metal together," said Hodson. "I wonder what would happen if we separated them?"

  "Try it," said Murphy.

  Hodson found a small splinter of wood and separated the two metal rods. The light went out. He then pushed them together again and the light went on. "It's like a switch," he said.

  "It all makes sense!" shouted Reinhold suddenly.

  "What are you talking about?" asked Murphy.

  "The Philosopher's Stone! Throughout history, men of science have been searching for the Philosopher's Stone. Oh, it's not really a stone as much as it is a process. It was believed that all metals have or come from the same basic source. The bottom line is this: If you mix certain chemicals together, you can change any base metal into gold. In other words, lead could be turned into gold if you had the right chemicals and the right heat."

  Reinhold was pacing excitedly.

  "One bronze plate talks about different types of rocks and metals. Another mentions the amount of crystals needed for each type of metal. I'll bet the bronze plate you saw in Erzurum talks about the type of fire needed. Tubal-cain discovered the Philosopher's Stone!" Reinhold started rubbing his chin. "Of course, if some
one had the Philosopher's Stone today, they wouldn't waste their time turning lead into gold."

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  "They wouldn't?" said Hodson.

  "No, no," said Reinhold, shaking his head vigorously. "Platinum! That's the most valuable metal in the world right now."

  "Platinum? Why?"

  "To make hydrogen fuel cells work! Let me explain. Hydrogen is the most abundant of all elements in the universe. It's estimated that hydrogen makes up ninety percent of all atoms. If we could convert hydrogen into energy, we could stop using fossil fuels, which lead to pollution. And hydrogen would never run out. By using the electrolysis of water, hydrogen would create a clean-burning renewable resource."

  "Okay, I'm following so far. Water can be turned into energy. But what does that have to do with platinum?" asked Hodson.

  "Right now, Daimler-Benz, the Ford Motor Company, Chrysler, Motorola, Westinghouse, Toyota, 3M, and many others are already working on hydrogen energy cells." Reinhold continued, "Even the U.S. Army is building a backpack-size fuel-cell generator. It will be able to power a soldier's electronics gear. That would include laptop computers, night-vision goggles, and infrared heat detectors."

  "Yeah. I heard something about that before I left the Rangers."

  "You see, Colonel, fuel cells have no moving parts. As hydrogen feeds into the cell, it passes through a thin layer of platinum. The platinum induces the gas to separate into electrons and protons. The protons mix with oxygen and produce water. The electrons that cannot pass through the platinum membrane are channeled

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  and harnessed to power an electrical motor. Fuel-cell cars would be two-point-eight times more efficient than the internal combustion engine. The Ballard Company is already in the process of developing a two-hundred-fifty-kilowatt hydrogen generator. It will be able to power a small hotel or a strip mall. Colonel, the only reason the fuel-cell industry is moving slowly is because platinum is rare and extremely costly."

  Murphy was already way ahead of him. "So if the Philosopher's Stone could convert base metals into platinum, whoever controlled it could control the world's supply of renewable energy. They would have the power to do whatever they wanted."

  The two men looked at each other as the implications of what Reinhold was saying became clear.

  Murphy was the first to move. "I'm going to pack some of this stuff into my rucksack and hike down to the pickup site. Then I'll come back and we can pack up the rest."

  Hodson saluted, and Reinhold went back to carefully examining the crystals, while Murphy collected some of the larger items, hefted his pack, and marched back up to the top of the ark.

  After a few minutes Hodson spoke. "Do you think once you had them, you could make more of those crystals?"

  "I think so," answered Reinhold. "Why?"

  "Because I think that's the first thing my controllers will want to know. And I think you just gave me the right answer."

  "Your controllers? What are you talking about?"

  "I might as well tell you, since you're not going to live

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  to repeat it. I'm employed by certain people within the CIA who have believed for a long time that the ark might contain some useful technology. Technology that must at all costs be kept in the right hands. We've been planning our own clandestine expedition to find the ark, but our information has never been good enough to pinpoint it. Then up pops Murphy, and we decide the smart thing to do would be to piggyback. Let him lead the way."

  Despite the terror that had begun to grip him, the professor's brain was still working swiftly. "You killed Valdez, didn't you? Why?"

  "He was pro. He was on to me. I couldn't risk him fouling things up. So when I saw the opportunity to get rid of him, I took it."

  Reinhold was starting to shake. "Why didn't you kill me too? Or just leave me there to freeze to death on the ledge?"

  Hodson smiled. "Good question, Professor. I still needed your expertise in case we did discover something on the ark. But in case you're wondering, I did try to take care of Bayer and Lundquist on the ice wall. I was ahead of them and loosened the two ice screws. I thought their combined weight in the fall would pull them both to their deaths. However, I have to hand it to him, Bayer is one tough guy. He really hung in there. So in the end I had to go back and rescue them so that the rest of the team wouldn't get suspicious."

  "But they've already gone back!"

  Hodson shrugged. "It's not important. Before they left, we'd discovered nothing of importance. The Philosopher's Stone--that's the important thing.

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  Anyway, I still have plenty of time to eliminate them. When Murphy comes back, I'm going to have to kill him too. Then when Peterson arrives with the helicopter, I'll just tell him that the both of you will come on the next trip. When we land, I will eliminate him. I'll let Isis freeze to death at Camp Two. That leaves only Bayer, Lundquist, and Whittaker. They should be easy to dispose of. It's a fairly tidy package, wouldn't you say, Professor?"

  Reinhold had been using the time Hodson took to explain his plans to figure out one of his own. He was confident he could handle himself in normal circumstances, say, a drunk getting obnoxious in a college bar. But these weren't normal circumstances. And Hodson was no drunk. He was a trained killer, with no doubt dozens of scalps to his name. Killing Reinhold would be no big deal--just as killing Valdez hadn't been.

  Reinhold was going to have to be smart if he was going to live through the next few minutes.

  They were about ten feet apart, the box containing the crystals on the floor between them. If Reinhold could distract Hodson long enough to grab a handful of the crystals and throw them in his face, he could then grab the dagger on the table behind them and maybe--

  While Reinhold was still calculating the times and distances involved, Hodson took two quick steps forward and launched a vicious side kick that caught Reinhold squarely in the solar plexus and sent him crashing into the table. He crumpled into a heap, knees drawn up to his chest, groaning feebly. Hodson came and knelt over him, grabbed a handful of hair with one hand and his jaw with the other, and twisted.

  There was a crack, and Reinhold went limp.

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  "I guess we could have talked all day, Professor, but I gotta keep things moving along, you know?"

  Hodson stood up and looked around, figuring out if he could get everything he needed into one backpack.

  Suddenly he heard a noise. It was the sound of someone clapping. The sound came from the darkness over by the ramp.

  He turned to see a man in dark clothing jumping down from a beam. He landed almost soundlessly, like a cat.

  "What the--"

  "Nice technique," the black-clad man said. "But it was all over a little fast for my taste. I was hoping for more entertainment, to be honest."

  Hodson quickly went for his pack, but as he was still fumbling to get his machine pistol out, the other man kicked it out of his grasp. Hodson rolled to the side and came up in a fighting stance, trying to ignore the pain in his forearm.

  "Who are you? What do you want?"

  "My name is Talon, and I want exactly what you want. And before I take it I'd like to thank you for doing my dirty work for me. Once you and I are through, I just need to take the crystals and the two bronze plates and my job is done."

  After the initial surprise, Hodson now had his focus back. Years of intensive training had made him react instantly to changing circumstances, and he was even beginning to see an upside to this. Talon had made no move for the machine pistol and seemed to carry no weapon of his own. If he was one of those supermacho types who wanted to go at it hand to hand, that was fine

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  with Hodson. And if Hodson could defeat him, then Talon would make a handy-dandy fall guy for Reinhold and all the other deaths.

  Perfect. The power of positive thinking. He smiled to himself.

  Talon caught the expression and grinned back.

  "I think this is going
to be fun," he said.

  There was a pause as each waited to see who would make the first move, then Hodson exploded forward with a jumping front kick aimed squarely at Talon's temple. He felt his foot connecting with air and landed in a panic, expecting a retaliatory blow to his exposed back--but nothing came. He spun round to see Talon standing casually, his hands at his sides.

  Okay, this guy is better than I expected , Hodson thought to himself. No more flashy moves. Let's see what he's got and try to react to that .

  He resumed a fighting stance and waited.

  Talon didn't move. Not a hair. Almost like one of those guys pretending to be robots. As the seconds grew into what seemed like minutes, Hodson began to find it mesmerizing. He shook his head to maintain focus.

  "You're a student of martial arts," Talon said suddenly. "I'm sure you've studied all that kung fuey stuff. You know, the way of the crane, the tiger, the monkey--whatever." As he spoke, he went through a rapid series of moves while standing in place--kicks, blocks, punches--that seemed to mimic the movements of different animals.

  Hodson focused on Talon's eyes, trying not to get distracted.

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  "All very pretty," Talon continued. "But how many animals have you ever seen that could do this?"

  Before the words were out of his mouth, Talon took two quick steps and lashed out with a reverse punch aimed at Hodson's jaw. Without thinking, Hodson parried, raising both arms to make an X , which would trap Talon's arm and allow Hodson to twist it around.