“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.
“In the year 22, in the third month of winter, in the sixth hour of the day, the scribes of the House of Life noticed a circle of fire that was coming from the sky… From the mouth it emitted a foul breath. It had no head. Its body was one rod long and one rod wide. It had no voice. And from that the hearts of the scribes became confused and they threw themselves down on their bellies… then they reported the thing to the Pharaoh… His Majesty ordered… has been examined… and he was meditating on what had happened, that it was recorded in the scrolls of the House of the Life. Now after some days had passed, these things became more and more numerous in the skies. Their splendor exceeded that of the sun and extended to the limits of the four angles of the sky… High and wide in the sky was the position from which these fire circles came and went. The army of the Pharaoh looked on with him in their midst. It was after supper. Then these fire circles ascended higher into the sky and they headed toward the south. Fish and birds then fell from the sky. A marvel never before known since the foundation of their land… And Pharaoh caused incense to be brought to make peace with Earth… and what happened was ordered to be written in the Annals of the House of Life so that it be remembered for all time forward.”
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.”
CHAPTER 19
They arrived in Professor Sowell’s office to find him seated at his desk, an expression of amused bewilderment on his face. He motioned for them to take seats opposite him.
“We’ve run tests on the composition of the sword. Frankly, it does not belong.”
“It doesn’t belong in that time period, you mean?” Dane asked, dropping down into an uncomfortable, straight-back wooden chair.
“I mean it doesn’t belong on this planet.” The professor paused while this bit of information sank in.
Next to him, Dane heard Bones chuckle.
“What’d I tell you?” He stood behind Dane, and clapped a hand on Dane’s shoulder.
Sowell ignored Bones’ comment and continued.
“The component elements are terrestrial. The metal, however, is an unknown alloy. Whatever that alloy is, it gives the sword its strength, durability, and lightness. The blade is harder than titanium, lighter, and has an extremely high melting point, though I have only managed a rough estimate. There are other tests I could do, but I do not want to risk damaging it. Not that I have any confidence that I could damage it with anything short of a nuclear explosion.”