Dourado

CHAPTER 18

So, what have we learned about Goliath?” Bones tossed a folder on the table, pulled up a chair, and produced a can of Diet Coke with lime from the pocket of his leather jacket. He popped it open and took a swig.

“You might know what we’ve learned if you helped us,” Kaylin grumbled, looking askance at him.

“I’m hurt,” Bones answered, clutching his chest and twisting his face in mock-anguish.

“Sorry,” she said. “I’m just stressed out.” She took a sip of coffee and grimaced. “Ugh, who made this?”

“I like it strong,” Dane said. He turned to Bones. “What’s up with you?”

“I’m celebrating,” Bones said. “Ask me why.” His eyes twinkled as he spoke.

Dane was still in a bad mood after the religious discussion of the previous day. He knew that he shouldn’t be angry at the others. The problem was his own. Nonetheless, he wasn’t in the mood to bandy words with his friend.

“Why?” Kaylin asked, her voice tinged with annoyance.

“Because I found a connection between the notes in Rienzi’s bible, and the tall man.” The brightness of his smile made Dane’s headache worse.

Dane waited for Bones to continue, but to no avail. “Bones, if you’re going to make us ask you a question after every sentence you utter, this is going to take forever.” He tossed the printed e-mails he had been reading onto the table and squeezed his head between his hands. The pressure relieved some of the throbbing.

“Fine, ruin my fun, why don’t you?” Bones pulled his feet off of the table, sat up straight, and took another drink before continuing. “I was doing a little research this morning, and came across a website that claims that the story of David and Goliath is a fable inspired by the stars. Specifically, David is the constellation Bootes, the sling is Corona Borealis, and Goliath, drum roll please…” He began drumming on the table with his palms. “…is Orion.” He sat back, folded his hands behind his head, and waited for their reply.

“But we know that Goliath is real,” Kaylin protested. “So how does that help us?”

“Think about Rienzi’s bible,” Bones said. “Remember the stick figure drawn in the margin next to the David and Goliath story? Did it remind you of anything?”

“Orion,” Dane said. How had he not recognized so familiar a constellation? “You’re right. That’s what the drawing is. I should have recognized it.”

“So Rienzi knew about this idea that the constellations inspired the story,” Kaylin said, her voice bland. “I’m sorry, but I still don’t see how this is helpful.” She paused, waiting for an explanation.

“Think about it this way,” Bones said. “Rienzi, at least in his mind, knew that Goliath was a historical figure. After all, he had the sword to prove it. So he must have seen some other connection between Goliath and Orion.”

“Like what?” Dane feared this was one of Bones’ fancies. “Wait a minute. Maybe I don’t want to know.” He held up his hands as if warding off an attack.

“Like little green men.” Bones rolled his eyes and waggled his fingers as he spoke.

Kaylin buried her head in her arms and groaned.

“Bones, if you had any idea how hard I’ve worked at doing real research, you would never come to me with this ridiculous idea.”

“Why is it ridiculous?” Bones propped his elbows on the table and fixed her with a blank stare.

Dane knew his friend well enough to know that Bones was being serious. At least, as serious as he ever got.

“Come on,” Kaylin said, looking up at him. “You expect me to believe that Goliath was a space man?”

“Not a space man,” Bones said. “But he was a descendant of an alien race.”

Kaylin chuckled and shook her head. She was not accepting the idea at all.

“Let’s hear him out,” Dane said. He wasn’t quite sure why he wanted to hear what Bones had to say. It was, after all, pretty far-fetched. Perhaps it was because he knew it would get under Kaylin’s skin. Sort of a petty payback for last night.

“First of all,” Bones said. “Remember how Rienzi had marked the passage about the giants being on the earth, and mating with human women?”

“Yes,” Kaylin said in a voice that was part tired, part bored. “I remember.”

“I did some cross-referencing between my research and Rienzi’s notes,” Bones continued. “Did you realize he marked every scripture that referred to races of the Nephilim, or the ‘giants?’ He noted the Emim, who the Hebrews called ‘the terrible ones,’ the Rephaim, and the ‘stranglers,’ the Anakim.”

“All right. So the Hebrews came to a new land where some of the native tribes were bigger than they were, so they called them ‘giants’, and gave them scary names,” Kaylin said.

“The bible says that the Anakim were so big that the Hebrews were ‘as grasshoppers in our own sight,’ Bones argued. “That’s more than just bigger. And remember, these are the descendants of the Nephilim. They’ve been interbreeding with regular humans for generations.”

“Still, Goliath was a big guy,” Kaylin said, refusing to give ground, “so it would make sense that Rienzi marked all of the passages that referred to these ‘giants.’

“Goliath is generally accepted as being one of the Anakim. By the time the book of Joshua is written, which is well before David, we are told that there are only three places where the Anakim still live. One of those three places is Gath, Goliath’s home. Rienzi would have had no reason to note any of the other races unless he was trying to make a connection.”

“But why aliens? Why couldn’t they just be big people?” Kaylin protested.

“Actually there are several reasons.” Bones took a final swig of his soft drink, draining the can. He belched loudly, crushed the can against his forehead, and dropped it on the table. “The most important of which is that it is the only way to explain that sword.” He paused for a moment, and stared at Kaylin, as if challenging her to argue with him.

“That sword is the ultimate anachronism. It’s made of some combination of metals we’ve never seen. It hasn’t aged in thousands of years. It has been used in battle, but never nicked or scratched. I don’t know that it could be duplicated even today.”

Dane could see that Kaylin was thinking this over. Suddenly, he had an idea.

“It also explains why Rienzi was threatened with excommunication,” he said.

Kaylin looked at him, frowning, while Bones smiled and nodded.

“Now you’re getting the idea, Maddock,” Bones said.

“Something that’s been bothering me is the fact that the church effectively shut Rienzi up about his discovery. You would think that discovering an ancient artifact that proves the truth of a story in the bible would be a good thing, but in this case, the church didn’t want the word to get out.” Dane’s mind was operating at a fast clip now. “Obviously, Rienzi was making claims about the sword and what it signified that went above and beyond simply claiming that it had belonged to Goliath. Claims that the sword was the creation of a superior alien intelligence, and that Goliath was part alien, would have been objectionable to the church.”

“And it would explain why his peers scoffed at his claims,” Kaylin said thoughtfully. “I’m still not convinced, but I’m willing to keep listening.”

“Fair enough,” Bones said. “A million or so years ago, according to anthropologists, homo erectus migrated out of Africa. By thirty thousand years ago, the only hominids around were Homo sapiens. Problem is, despite the fact that Homo sapiens is a much more highly developed being, there is no fossil record of a progression from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens. It’s as if we just burst onto the scene with our big brains and frail bodies.

“There’s also the issue of structures like the pyramids. How did our ancestors build them? There are megalithic structures all over the world made up of giant stones that people did not have the technology to move. Take the walls of Sacsahuaman in Peru. One of the stones was measured at eight and a half meters high and weighs over three hundred sixty tons.”

“We can move objects bigger than that,” Kaylin argued. “I read about a lighthouse that was moved a while back. It weighed in the thousands of tons.”

“You’re talking about today, not thousands of years ago,” Bones replied. “And then there are the accounts of aliens in the historical record. There are carvings of images that look remarkably like astronauts, rocket ships, even light bulbs. There are also written records. Take the Tulli Papyrus, for example. He opened his folder and selected a single page printout. He held up the page and began to read.

Dane tried to digest what Bones had read to them. It just seemed so far-fetched. He was impressed, though, that Bones had obviously done his research.

“There’s also the fact that our ancestors had a great knowledge of astronomy. They knew that the sun, moon, and planets rotate. They also knew the circumference of the earth, and included it in their architecture. Ancient maps have been discovered that showed things that ancient humans shouldn’t have known, like the coastline of Antarctica beneath the ice.”

“Let me see if I’ve got this,” Kaylin said. “You’re arguing that aliens not only intervened in human pre-history, but interbred with humans, thus making the aliens the ‘missing link.’ And that Goliath was closely descended from one of these alien races.”

“I’m saying that some people believe that,” Bones corrected.

“So we’re all aliens?” Kaylin asked, with a sick look on her face. “That’s hard to digest.”

“I guess so. At least, we’re all part alien. The Anakim and the others might have been a remnant of aliens who continued to breed mostly among themselves until so few remained that they had no choice but to mate with humans.”

“Did you do all this research, or did you have your friend Jimmy help you?” Kaylin asked.

Bones stuck out his tongue.

“Okay, I think I’ve heard enough,” Dane said. “Without agreeing with you that Goliath was an alien, let’s operate on the assumption that Rienzi believed that he had discovered proof of that very idea. The sword, amazing as it is, would not have been sufficient proof, especially two hundred years ago. They would have dismissed it as an undiscovered metal, or perhaps a miracle.”

“You’re right,” Bones said. “There’s more that we haven’t discovered. Something Rienzi found that supported his claims. We have to find it.”