Killer Thrillers Box Set: 3 Techno-Thriller, Action/Adventure Science Fiction Thrillers (7 page)

“Subsequent experiments with other life forms, unfortunately, have not been as successful. We’ve been able to resuscitate small mammals like mice and gerbils, but only for a limited amount of time. Each test subject showed a small flicker of life for a moment, but then immediately reverted to a state of death.

“For small wounds in larger animals, including humans, we’ve seen improvements in healing speed and have been able to replicate the material’s effect in isolated incidents. For the most part, though, we believe this sliver of stone is just not large enough to cause any lasting regenerative effects for larger life forms.”

Vilocek continued, “Further, we’ve found that this element — whatever it is — bonds quite easily with almost any pure substance, at least temporarily. That’s how we know it becomes active in different states with different materials…”

His voice trailed off as Jensen and Corinne gazed at the small glowing sliver of crystal. Its beauty was certainly evident, however small it was. Vilocek let them gawk at it for a few more seconds, then called their attention back to the document in front of him.
 

It appeared to be missing the second page, but concluded on a third, offering some hypotheses the author had come up with to explain the stone’s mysterious properties. It ended with a single symbol in the place of signature.
 

It was the symbol of the Golden Ratio:

“You see, Professor,” Vilocek said, “there may in fact be some use for you here.”

CHAPTER 10

DR. VILOCEK CONTINUED TO EXPLAIN his thoughts on the ancient letter. The large guard, whose name tag read ‘Karn’, was joined by two more guards; one named Beka and another, younger man named Rogers. As Vilocek went on, Jensen and Corinne listened with increasing interest, forgetting for a moment how they came to meet this man.

Jensen found himself getting lost in the compelling results of Vilocek’s research, and had to keep reminding himself that Vilocek had abducted them — and shot him. The fact that he had a bullet hole in his side reminded him that there was something sinister about this whole thing, regardless of how interested he might be in Vilocek’s research. Jensen wondered how Corinne could have any role in this. She was a smart girl, with a degree in Applied Physics and Mathematics, on a fast-track to a career at NASA. But with NASA’s budget dwindling, her interests had shifted to a research career, or eventually a teaching position. She’d reached out to Jensen six months ago, hoping he could find her a position in his department. He had an opening, and they’d been working together since.

They made a pretty good team, Jensen thought. It wasn’t every day that Jensen got to do some old-fashioned research, the kind that turned him on to ancient history in the first place. But having Corinne around helped his preliminary information-gathering process go twice as fast.

Corinne spoke several languages, including German and Spanish, but most notably native Hawaiian — she’d lived there from the age of eight. Now, her knowledge, wit, and linguistic skills helped her to quickly grasp new concepts and tie them into historic contexts. Maybe having her here would be good for him to keep his head in the game, though he knew it was a selfish thought — she would be, or already was, in more danger being here than back at her apartment in Santa Fe.
 

Vilocek continued, explaining that the letter was written by Thomas Jefferson and addressed to Benjamin Banneker in 1791 — prior to the founding of the nation’s capital. Jefferson and Washington apparently believed there was a legendary “source of power” that provided supernatural abilities to whoever possessed it. The item mentioned in the letter was possessed by a group of men — referred to by Vilocek as the ‘Phi Group’ — who had discovered its strange characteristics. They believed this item was a smaller piece of a much larger power source, and that they must retrieve and protect it, eventually using its magical properties for the benefit of the nation.
 

“So,” Corinne interrupted, “the Founding Fathers wanted to protect the nation, and this would be a huge insurance policy for them, but they didn’t already possess the main source of power? How did they know it was part of a larger piece?”

Vilocek looked at her. “We believe that they knew it was part of a larger piece because someone in their group had found it. Whoever it was, we don’t know. But they did seem to believe they knew where on Earth the larger item was located.

“We don’t have the whole letter — there’s a page missing — but we do know that the group wrote Banneker to request that he approach the man in charge of laying out the city’s streets and buildings — Charles Pierre l’Enfant — and have him slightly alter the city’s layout. The letter’s middle page was the only written account of the actual location, and Washington ordered it to be destroyed after Banneker read it. They wanted to design into Washington D.C.’s streets a secret map to the location of the power source — forever hidden in plain sight.

“We know Banneker at least partially succeeded, because within a few months Charles l’Enfant resigned from the job and took his original plans with him. Benjamin Banneker became the assistant to the new surveyor — Andrew Ellicott — and they created the layout that remains to this day.”

“So what were the changes they made?” Corinne asked.
 

“An excellent question — one that had boggled me for years. Since there are no surviving copies of l’Enfant’s original map, we can’t know for sure what the differences are between his and Ellicott’s designs.”

“We had been analyzing the street’s angles and shapes, expecting to find a constellation or some kind of symbol that would point us in the right direction. There are so many obvious symbols, and recent popular culture has often pointed to these as symbols of Satanism, Freemasonry, and even more obscure possibilities. But your uncle’s recent paper,” he said, nodding toward the article on the table, “led me to what I believe can only be the proper explanation.”
 

With that, Karn pulled a map from among the papers on the table and laid it out before them.

“Look familiar?” Karn asked them.

Jensen examined it. “Sure,” he said, “it looks like the layout of Washington, D.C., obviously before the modern additions, like highways and city expansion.”

“It’s actually before any construction had begun on the city at all,” Vilocek said. “This map is one of the preliminary documents created by Banneker and Ellicott’s team, borrowing heavily, we assume, from l’Enfant’s original sketches.”

“This,” Karn said, “is the layout approved by President Washington, his advisors, and Thomas Jefferson.
After
Banneker had Ellicott change the plans according to that letter.

“As we found out, there are numerous places in this city plan where crossing streets and their shapes create angles that are closely related to the Golden Ratio and its derivatives. Professor, when we read your paper on the Ratio, we were struck by the fact that there also numerous angles found in the Great Pyramid of Giza that are related to the Golden Ratio — some of them
exactly
the same as those in the city’s plan — here, look for yourself.” He pulled out another diagram detailing the dimensions of the Great Pyramid at Giza, in Egypt:

“But,” he continued, “perhaps the nation’s capital city was altered, not be a map
to
a location, but a map
of
a location?” He asked this rhetorically, obviously knowing the answer.
 

Jensen’s mind was racing. Corinne wasn’t as quick to pick up the implication. “What do you mean, ‘a map
of
a location?’” she asked.
 

“Well,” Vilocek said, “it turns out that it is not just angles that the two locations have in common.”

“Here’s a diagram of the interior of the Great Pyramid,” Karn said, flipping the paper over. “A cross-section from the side. Look familiar?”

Corinne gazed at the picture, and pointed out elements of the diagram. “Here’s the main chamber — the ‘King’s Chamber,’ I believe. And this smaller one must be the ‘Queen’s Chamber,’ but I’m not sure about the bottom box or the other lines.”

Vilocek nodded approval. “That’s correct — and although the bottom chamber is simply referred to as the ‘Lower Chamber,’ or ‘Subterranean Chamber,’ as it’s completely underground, directly opposite the pyramid’s apex. The lines on the diagram are actually passageways
inside
the Great Pyramid — the ‘Ascending Passage’ and ‘Descending Passage,’” he continued, pointing out each in turn. “There’s a central shaft down the middle, and the double-lined section is the ‘Grand Galley’ — part of the ‘Ascending Passage,’ leading directly to the ‘King’s Chamber.’”

Professor Jensen silently took it all in. He knew the diagram from his own research, and had seen it used on websites and in Giza books. He also knew now where the two men were going with their mini-lecture, but he let Vilocek continue.
 

“We immediately noticed a similarity between the two diagrams,” Vilocek said, “and with a little resizing, we came up with this,” he pulled yet another paper from the stack, this one much larger:

It took a moment for Corinne to understand what she was looking at, and although Professor Jensen had anticipated this, it took him by surprise how well the two images — one of the Great Pyramid of Giza, and one of the original Washington, D.C. City layout — fit together, now superimposed.