Old Earth (21 page)

Greene had their attention. “Let’s look at your work. You only explore what is, in fact, an infinitesimal part of the earth; a virtually microscopic section within the fifth of the planet that isn’t water. And simply because you find Barney and a few of his friends from year to year, does that mean you’ve struck the mother lode? Given the great ancient continental shift, can you even imagine what there is to discover in the world’s seas?”

It was a staggering thought. Greene was correct, in the field of paleontology, the ground beneath the oceans was quite literally
untapped.

“And look up,” Greene continued. “Our ancestors viewed the stars forever; with dread and wonder, giving flight to dreams. But it wasn’t until Galileo set his telescope to true focal points and challenged prevailing dogma that we began to think the unthinkable or imagine the unimaginable. Galileo, doctors. And, Dr. McCauley, because I’ve heard podcasts of your radio interviews—yes, I found them—I know you recognize that on earth’s evolutionary clock, that was barely a fraction of a second ago.”

Thirty-two

APRIL 30, 1633
ROME, ITALY

Father Maculano was opining about something in his chambers. Or maybe he was building up to another holier than thou bluster. Either way, Galileo wasn’t listening. He was living his life in chapters he never wrote.

His childhood in Pisa. His itchy first-growth beard. His father’s insistence that he go to the university. His mother reading to him from the Bible. The ideas he wrote down on whatever was in reach: school notebooks, the back of used envelopes, condensation on early morning windows, even dirt.

The purest of pleasures for Galileo was expanding on a notion, proving a supposition or developing the means to explore it further.

He remembered his friends growing up, who tried to keep pace with him intellectually, and his colleagues who followed such safe, conservative paths. His thoughts went to his children and the hard lives they were leading, and on to his wife and the strain his controversial research had brought her.

Most of all, Galileo recalled his temporal victories over the church and his undeniable belief that time was the thing he least understood for reasons stated and unstated.

“And so it will be,” Maculano concluded.

The priest’s icy tone brought Galileo back into the conversation.

“And there are no words that will appeal to you, your eminence? I have been a good man. I’ve lived a pious life. My daughters are in a convent.”

“You bore them out of wedlock. Who would marry Galileo’s bastards? Their prayer remains their only salvation. It surely won’t be yours.”

“My son has been legitimized and is married.”

“Perhaps he shall somehow escape the sins of the father who committed his blasphemy to print.”

“They were observations. Postulates. I was paid in tribute for the work.”

“Yes, by Pope Paul V. Paul, who introduced you to Cardinal Francesco Mari del Monte. Another who showered you with accolades. What did he say, ‘If we were still living under the ancient Republic of Rome, I verily believe that there would be a column on the Capital erected in Galileo’s honor.’ You shall never hear such things again.”

Maculano walked to his desk and picked up a book. “You acted as if there were no boundaries to the privileges granted you,” he said. “Your words are swords that strike the heart of His Holiness.”

“This Pope,” Galileo argued, “Urban.”

“And as cardinal he favored you. He extolled your virtues. Didn’t he describe you as a great man,
‘whose fame shines in the heavens and…’
”

Galileo helped him with the quote. “
‘…goes on earth far and wide.’
Yes, he was a friend. As was Pope Paul V.”

“Pity that you didn’t hold your tongue. Urban simply suggested you take an approach that would have allowed you to privately hold your Copernican views without precisely claiming them as truth. A proposal as it were. It would have been easy, but the Galileo Galilei ego said
no
to a compromise on any terms. The Pope sought a reframing of your position. You fail to do so even in these private conversations.

“You denied Urban a solution that would have most of all benefited you.” Maculano’s eyes widened. His nostrils flared. “You betrayed an ally who has risen to greatness. And in greatness, he will see to it that you shrink and shrivel into a speck of cosmic dust that the finest glass in your telescope will not see. He will never forgive you, Galileo. Never.”

Galileo’s hands shook. His face was drawn. None of the fire and fight that had driven the scientist throughout his life was evident.

“You and your few supporters are defeated. What’s worse, you’ve been discredited. You’re guilty of vanity. You ran to Rome to win support, which for a time worked in your favor. Yet you had to ridicule opponents and make enemies of the most powerful people.”

“People who became the most powerful.”

“Your mistake,” the inquisitor demanded. “Your grave mistake. Your life, as you knew it, is over.”

Galileo stood. The full weight of the church was on him as he walked to a narrow window at the priest’s third floor chamber. He peered into the night sky. A crescent moon was rising. A moon he knew to circle the earth, and the earth to revolve around the sun. He feared he’d never put his eye on his telescope again or his mind to the other great discoveries that lay in waiting in the universe.

“Your writing, Galileo. Your own writing spells guilt. ‘
Philosophy is written in that great book which ever lies before our eyes—I mean the universe.’
In that single sentence you demonstrated irreverence to God Almighty. You defamed the Book of the Lord in favor of your own publication. Never has the Church seen such impiety.”

“You are excellent at quoting only portions,” Galileo said, still looking outside. “There is more.”

“That further damns
you
!” the priest charged.

“I sought to propose the Pythagorean standpoint that truth can be found in mathematics and science, in numbers and the order of things,” Galileo weakly countered.

“There is only one order. God’s.”

“But the Jesuits themselves are modern-minded humanists, friends of science and discovery.”

“And where are they now that you are imprisoned?”

Galileo turned away from the moon, which also seemed to abandon him as it began to disappear behind the magnificent Basilica Dome.

“Will you permit me a modest argument, if only as an academic exercise?”

“You may babble to your heart’s content or to the point I become bored.”

“Your Eminence, can we accept that the fundamental scientific methodology I employed, if put forth by others, could have led to similar conclusions about the nature of the earth and the planets in relation to the sun?” This was Galileo’s test of Maculano’s intellect.

The priest considered the point. “Quite likely,” he admitted. “Another scientist performing corresponding research
might
reach a comparable,” he returned to his role, “and equally heretical position.”

“If you were a scientist, might the same be true of you?” Galileo asked.

“Ah, you would make a fine judge yourself.”

“I believe that while you have the best interests of the Church, you harbor the curiosity of a man of science—with the mind of an inquirer more than an inquisitor.”

“Galileo Galilei!” Maculano shouted, “there is nothing in my activities that would suggest such things.”

“Yes there is,” Galileo said summoning all his strength. “You visited the Le Marche cave yourself! Tell me what you
think
you saw?”

Thirty-three

ROBERT GREENE’S RESIDENCE
BAKERSFIELD, CA
PRESENT DAY

“Oh, of course, I have my wild theories,” Greene continued. “That’s what they love to hear in interviews—my go-to talking points. Crowd pleasers. Beyond that, I have things I keep to myself. If and when I feel confident to go public, I do. I’m just another guy searching for some truths. But believe me, there are some things better left where you found them.”

“You make it seem like you have to wade through conspiracies to get to anything factual,” McCauley observed.

“Welcome to my world.”

“Thanks a lot,” McCauley added. “But I interrupted.”

“Yes, you did. So back to my stories, which overlap with earth science or fiction. Your choice. Science says that Earth’s oldest rocks are about 3.8 to 3.9 billion years old. Since Earth itself has to be older than its oldest rocks, we can likely place
terra firma’s
age at 4.6 billion. Yet there are those who claim, validated by their interpretation of the Bible, the earth is just ten thousand years old or less.”

“We know all about them,” McCauley replied. “The Young Earthers.”

“I avoid the label and I’m particularly bad in head-to-head debates with them, especially when I deep dive into ancient civilizations.”

“Like the Mayans?”

“Much, much, much more ancient than Mayan culture, Dr. Alpert. Ever hear of the Mu or Lemuria?”

The guests nodded no.

“The Rama Empire?”

Another no.

“The Osirian civilization?”

Once more, no
.

“Ah, you have to listen to me more on the air or my podcasts.”

They laughed.

“Atlantis, for sure.”

“For sure,” McCauley said.

“Well, there are those who quite convincingly maintain that the first civilizations arose, not thousands of years ago, but tens of thousands. The first, seventy-eight thousand years ago on a giant continent called Mu or Lemuria. Believers in its existence argue that education was its hallmark, but it, like other civilizations to follow, was destroyed by massive earthquakes. Believable?”

“Questionable,” was McCauley’s reply.

“I’ll state it all as fact, if only to piss you off. When Mu sank, water rushed into the Pacific basin leaving small islands in the Atlantic high and dry to form the continent of Atlantis. I’m sure you’ve heard the characterizations about their technology.”

“A few,” Katrina acknowledged.

“Fantastic. Phenomenal. Does evidence exist to prove or disprove? Not really, or for the fun of it, let’s agree, not yet. The same for the other great empires that are said to have existed. The Uiger civilization in the Gobi Desert, the Aroi Sun Kingdom of the Pacific, Tiahuanaco in South America, and of course, the Mayans. But these are simply the appetizers in the smorgasbord of unexplained facts, some of which actually have
me
scratching
my
head.”

“Like what?” McCauley felt he hadn’t gotten the information he sought.

“Like ancient artifacts. Really, really old ones.”

“How old?”

Greene carefully studied McCauley and Alpert.

“Really old. Based on the work of some Australian geologists—you might know about them…”

“Afraid not,” McCauley stated.

“Well, no matter. They analyzed zircons found deep in the outback and postulated that the Earth may have had all the conditions to support life, oh say, maybe two hundred to three hundred million years ago.”

• • •

KENSINGTON PARK
LONDON

“There are challenges, but not insurmountable ones,” explained Marvin, the man who passed the code word test. He sat in the bench that backed Kavanaugh’s.

“How will it be done?”

“Mr. Gruber never needed to know.”

“Well, Gruber is gone.” He ran his right hand over his scalp and checked his pocket watch.

“Let me put it another way, Mr. Kavanaugh.” The man leaned back, close enough that Kavanaugh wouldn’t misunderstand the meaning of his next remark. “Mr. Gruber never needed to know because that was the rule well before him and it will remain the rule well after you.”

Suddenly, Kavanaugh felt he was being treated more like a functionary, not the one in control. He didn’t like it.

“With all due respect,” Kavanaugh said in an equally flat tone, “this is a new day. And if you don’t want to follow my directives, then I’ll find someone who will.”

The immediate silence was satisfying. Kavanaugh rejoiced with the notion that he had stood his ground and apparently won. He left without looking back. The new age of
Autem Semita
had begun. He was forging his own path.

• • •

BAKERSFIELD, CA

“I’ll try another way into all this,” Greene decided. “Let’s go back to when more than ninety percent of life was wiped out in a geological blink of an eye—sixty-five thousand years ago. Ninety percent! So fast that it destabilized the biosphere before animals and plants could adapt. The record is in the rocks—evidence that speaks to the quick increase in carbon levels.”

McCauley and Dr. Alpert could have recited the history as well, but they’d never heard it delivered with such electricity, like a Ted Talk on steroids.

“It was followed by wide-spread ocean acidification. The earth’s temperatures increased seventeen to eighteen degrees Fahrenheit.

“That was just one of at least five extinctions. Five. We’re well on our way to a sixth with mass extinction on a scale that rivals the death of your beloved dinosaurs. Facts, doctors. Species are dying at a bewildering rate. The oceans are rising. The air is getting thicker with crap. It all has an impact on the ecosystem.”

Greene let out a long breath. “Sorry. I’ll get off my high horse and back to some stuff you’ll really hate.”

“What?” McCauley asked.

“The stuff that keeps talk shows calling.”

Greene stood and searched for files. He pulled one from a cabinet, another from a pile on the floor, and two from his desk. He looked around, apparently for more. “One sec,” he said. Greene went to the kitchen, opened his refrigerator and removed more files.

“The refrigerator?” Alpert asked.

“Yup. Some that are too hot to keep out,” he joked. “Not really, I stuck them in there while I was getting dinner one night. Never took them out. Now’s a good time.”

Greene returned and handed over the first of many photographs. McCauley took the first.