“So what? I mean, he probably isn’t right, but what difference does it make? A lot of people don’t think Jesus was real. Or Moses. That doesn’t seem to bother the people who do believe.”
He shrugged. “You and I both know that, but Muslims take perceived insults to their faith very seriously. Do you recall what happened with The Satanic Verses?”
“Vaguely. I was a kid.”
“In 1988, Salman Rushdie released a novel which included a fictional account of the revelation to the Prophet Muhammad, and Muslims everywhere were outraged. The Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, calling for Rushdie to be killed. Rushdie spent ten years in hiding, and several of his translators were attacked. Some of them were killed. That same year, Martin Scorsese released his movie The Last Temptation of Christ, which included a fictional account of the crucifixion. There was controversy, and outraged Christians picketed theaters showing the film, but that was it. No one died.”
“That was almost thirty years ago,” Jade said.
Kellogg arched an eyebrow. “You think the Islamic world is more tolerant now than they were then?”
“Okay, point taken. But this Phantom Time stuff is…” She smiled as she recalled Professor’s opinion on the topic. “Thin soup. Getting all spun up about it…killing Roche for God’s sake, just legitimizes it.”
“I never said it would make sense. But you did ask.” Kellogg paused a beat. “Anti-Muslim sentiment is also on the rise, thanks to 9/11 and 7/7. There are politicians in your country and mine who wouldn’t hesitate to seize on the possibility that Islam is all a sham, just to score political points.”
Jade pondered this for a moment. Was it possible that Rafi and the two men who had attacked them at the fogou had seen Roche and his book as an existential threat to their way of life? “He’s wrong though, isn’t he? Roche, I mean.”
Kellogg shrugged. “I haven’t read the book yet, but it probably doesn’t matter. People believe what they want to believe. Mr. Roche was always preaching to the converted. This won’t change anything.”
“You just sell books, right?” Jade shook her head. “You shouldn’t publish this.”
Kellogg’s head snapped toward her. “Why on earth not?”
“It’s irresponsible. You would be pouring gasoline on a fire that’s already out of control.”
“People have a right to make an informed decision.”
“Informed decision?” Jade replied. “Seriously? This is a crank theory, and you know it. And people are getting killed because of it.”
“That’s exactly why it must be published. Once it’s out in the open, they’ll have no reason to come after you.”
The argument took the wind out of Jade’s sails. Kellogg was right about that. “Damn Roche,” she muttered. “If he wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him myself.”
Kellogg chuckled mirthlessly. “So it’s settled then. I’ll take the file and set the book up. You can wash your hands of it.”
“I hope it’s as easy as that,” Jade replied. She glanced down at the computer screen again. “Why did he come to me? That’s the part that doesn’t make any sense.”
“I should say many of the things Mr. Roche did made little sense.”
“He thought I could prove something for him,” Jade said, more to herself than Kellogg. She reread the words on the screen, the last few lines of the fourth chapter of Roche’s book.
All of which begs the question: Why? Why go to such extraordinary lengths to alter the calendar and then cover up the change?
Illig proposes that Otto II was motivated by a desire to be the reigning autarch of the Holy Roman Empire at the coming of the millennium, but does this answer suffice? As we will see in the next chapter, the real purpose behind The Three Hundred Year Lie was to prevent humankind from opening the Archimedes Vault.
Jade sat up a little straighter. “Archimedes Vault?”
She scrolled back up to see if she had missed something, but there were no previous mentions of Archimedes or any other vaults. The reference was a complete non sequitur. She clicked on the next file, curious to see where Roche would go with it.
The next chapter began with an exhaustive biography of the legendary mathematician and inventor, Archimedes of Syracuse. Some of the information was familiar to Jade, but much of it seemed sensationalized, like the claim that Archimedes had created a solar-powered death ray and an elaborate crane device to destroy the ships of Roman invaders in Syracuse harbor. Jade found herself wishing that Professor was around to fact-check the information, or at the very least, give her an abbreviated version.
“Do you know about this Archimedes Vault?”
Kellogg gave her another sidelong glance. “No. I don’t recall that from the synopsis. Do tell.”
“Here’s what it says. ‘Although some of his inventions were weaponized for use in the defense of his home, Archimedes held back many of his discoveries, fearing that the men of his time were not sufficiently evolved to use such technology wisely. Like the Robert Oppenheimer of his day, Archimedes recognized that, once this knowledge was revealed, there would be no going back. To preserve these discoveries for future generations, Archimedes constructed a secret impenetrable vault, secured with a lock that would only open once every thousand years.’”
“Is that true?” Kellogg asked.
Jade shook her head. “It’s not really my field, but I’ve never heard of anything like that. You would think if something like that really existed, we’d have heard about it.”
“A lock that can’t be opened for a thousand years? Is that even possible? I’m sure it would be easy enough to accomplish today, but two thousand years ago?”
Jade shrugged. “The way Roche tells it, if anyone could pull it off, Archimedes would be that guy.”
She kept reading, curious to see if there was any evidence to support the statement. According to Roche, the plans for a fantastic timelock mechanism had been found on a palimpsest — a parchment skin which had been erased and written over by medieval scholars. Jade knew this was a common practice. Parchment was expensive and rare, and recycling it was a common practice. While it was possible, in some cases, to restore the original document, historians were faced with the dilemma of choosing which document to preserve. Advances in imagery techniques and electron microscopy however, had made it possible to produce digital versions of documents long thought unrecoverable. Several treatises by Archimedes had been recovered in this fashion, including, or so Roche posited, the ingenious plans for the vault and timelock, which had been leaked — briefly — to the Internet. Unfortunately, or so Roche claimed, that particular palimpsest was not regarded as authentic, and all digital copies of it had subsequently disappeared — if they had in fact existed at all. According to the conspiracy theorist, this was evidence of a Changeling plot to suppress the discovery. Even the original erasure played into this narrative.
We should not be surprised at the lengths to which the Changelings will go to prevent the world from learning about the vault. Archimedes was no doubt aware of the Changeling conspiracy, even in ancient times. He almost certainly intended his Vault as a way to equip future generations with the weapons to unmask and defeat this insidious threat. The location of the vault was entrusted to his loyal acolytes, the Society of Syracuse.
To be sure, the Changelings knew about the vault and feared what lay concealed within. The Roman siege of Syracuse was orchestrated by the Changelings for the sole purpose of killing Archimedes and wiping out all mention of the existence of the vault. Indeed, Archimedes was murdered despite the explicit orders of the Roman general leading the attack that he be taken alive.