“The Dead Sea is nine times saltier than the ocean. And it is twelve hundred feet below sea level. My beloved Caspian, the largest landlocked lake in the world, is also saline, though only one third the salinity of the ocean. Yet it is above sea level. The Kavir, as I have said, is far higher still, and there are similar high-altitude salt lakes elsewhere on our planet.”
“Okay. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that there was a worldwide flood—or nearly worldwide—in the Earth’s distant past. You’re still not addressing other details in this scribe’s chant. For example, his planet was covered by a thick cloud layer. The aliens knew darkness and light, night and day, but from what he says, they never saw the stars or the sun until the day their arrow went up.”
“There is a theory that the Earth was once surrounded by a dense layer of cloud, heavy with water. If this is so, it would explain many things, and could further dispel our presumption that the flood account is myth.”
“How?”
“If you read Genesis carefully, you will see that during the generations following Noah the ages of individual men are recorded. With each passing generation after the flood, the lifetimes of men steadily decline until they reach our present ‘threescore years and ten’.”
“But that could prove the earliest accounts were just ancient lore, exaggerated and wildly imaginative.”
“Or it could point to a cosmic catastrophe. If the dense cloud layer was broken—let us say by a comet or asteroid, if not by the direct hand of God—then solar rays and other cosmic rays detrimental to man’s health would then for the first time penetrate the atmosphere and begin our genetic degeneration.”
“A theory”, I murmured. “A theory with many ifs.”
“In the flood account, it is written: All the fountains of the great abyss burst forth, and the floodgates of the sky were opened.”
“Which could mean anything—such as a severe localized flood in Mesopotamia.”
“Yet it is written that the crest of the waters rose fifteen cubits higher than the highest mountains. Then there is the bow in the heavens established as a sign that God would never again destroy mankind by flood. It is recorded as an unprecedented phenomenon. Yet rainbows appear only in skies where sunlight pours through broken clouds.”
“But where is there any evidence of an advanced civilization before recorded history? There’s nothing, Dariush, nothing of any kind.”
“Geologists inform us that worldwide catastrophes have occurred during the history of our planet. The Earth has several immense impact craters, any one of which could have set off a chain of events, such as unthinkable tsunamis and shifting of tectonic plates and the axis of the planet. We have theories that attempt to explain diverse prehistoric phenomena separately and sometimes together, but we have no absolutely reliable map of the past. Within various scientific fields, there is much controversy over the chronologies and causality.”
“Granted, Dariush, but you’re jumping to some enormous conclusions here.”
“I am merely speculating. If—yes, I will dare to use this word—if a cataclysm with global effects occurred during Noah’s lifetime, is it not likely that everything preceding him would be swept away, and what remained would be buried beneath very deep deposits of sedimentation?”
“All right, I’ll grant you that too—if it happened.”
“There is also the question of the greenhouse effect created by the pre-flood cloud layer, which would have made a warm, humid environment permitting luxuriant botanical growth and large creatures. There were giants in those days, the scriptures tell us. These factors, combined with the longevity of man during that period, would enable a civilization to develop rapidly. It would not need to expend so much of its energies on survival. This would have changed with the collapse of the cloud layer.”
“Everything you’re saying is interesting, Dariush, very interesting. But it doesn’t in the least prove that the aliens came from Earth.”
In answer, he merely handed me another sheaf of papers.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“This is the translation of the second set of codices found beneath the black altar. It was written many hundreds of years after the arrival on AC-A-7. The author is unstated, yet the style is close to that of Dumu-er-se-tim, called Ti-shmi, the Child of the Underworld. A different hand, a different mind, but the author was of this culture.
“The document recounts the past, which at the time of writing is already very distant. He speaks of the ‘sacred arrow’ landing in a wide, fertile plain between mountains and sea. Then follows the establishing of a city, of agriculture, mines, forges, social hierarchies. There was a slave class, a priestly class, and an overarching cultic life that determined everything. The Night-gods spoke into their ears yet remained invisible. The Lord of the Night-gods was their supreme deity, and he too was invisible. Yet through the mouth of a later Ap-kalu, he commanded the people to carve an image of him and instructed them in the rites associated with it.
“The document describes a sickness caused by the ‘burn-stone’. It is the cause of deaths, since the ship’s fuel was removed from its safe compartments after arrival on the planet and enshrined in the city temple. The burn-stone is sacred, and those who touch it will die by the hand of the Night-gods. Now, the fuel must be put back into the ship’s safe compartments, and the people are commanded to coat the entire vessel with a material the Night-gods tell them how to make. The people must then carry the ship into the mountains and enshrine it in a new temple they will construct by cutting deep into a mountain. A road must be built on which to carry it.
“The new world is rich in resources, yet the people are unhappy. They are longing for the world they left behind, a world that had no harsh sunlight, where the air was thicker and all things grew more bountifully.”
Dariush paused.
“Even so,” I said, “this doesn’t necessarily mean they came from Earth.”
He thumbed through the document and handed me the final page.
“This is a scan of an image on the bottom tablet of codex-2.”
It was a print-out of a photo: a gold tablet inscribed with circles. In the center of the page was the largest circle, the only one with symbolic flames radiating from it. Revolving around it were thirteen circles and ellipses of varying sizes, with increasing radii. Eight planets and five small planetoids. The third out from the sun was the only colored one—intense blue.
“That is an inset stone”, said Dariush, touching it with his finger. “It is lapis lazuli.”
Inscribed beside it were typical alien hieroglyphics. “What do these letters mean?” I asked.
“It says, The Beautiful Planet.” He pointed to additional symbols beneath the third sphere. “These signify ‘domicile’ and ‘origins’—in other words, home.”
We talked throughout the morning and into the afternoon, by which point, my friend was finally overcome with fatigue, and I sensed it was time to leave him so that he could take some rest. We agreed to meet again in the evening. I returned to my own room, sat down on the bed, and tried to digest it all.
“We are not alone in the universe”, Paul had said that day at the tower when we first discovered evidence of intelligent life on the planet. Yes, we are not alone, and now it seems that our close encounter with an alien race is not what it appeared to be. We are like a man wandering from room to room in an empty house, turning a corner in a hallway, and suddenly seeing another man standing there, gazing back at him. And then he realizes it is a mirror and he is looking at himself.
Day 323:
That evening, Dariush and I met at the bistro. Both of us picked at our meal, saying nothing, staring at the food, at the table top, at our own non-thoughts. By wordless agreement, we went for a walk along the concourse, back and forth, from one end of the ship to the other.
To break the silence, I asked him about the contents of the third gold codex.
“Instructions for rituals,” he solemnly r
eplied, “dictated by their god.”
“A sacred document”, I said.
“A sacred document from hell”, he murmured.
Before we parted, he told me that he and the chief of Archaeology have reported the decryptions to DSI and also to the expedition’s archivist, who will file it in the ship’s main computer. According to the executive’s instructions, those who know about the successful breaking of the “aliens’ ” code are to keep their findings to themselves. The matter is “under further investigation”.
Day 324:
I have felt little interest in reading the Bible since my middle teens. The only copy I ever saw in the open was the one Fray Ramon used at Mass, and it disappeared along with him sometime during the years I was away at college. My mother owned a Spanish-language edition, disguised as a cookbook, and after her death, I gave it away to a neighbor in our village. Searching through the Kosmos’ main computer, I discovered that there is no complete text available, only fragments quoted in the countless articles demythologizing or debunking the book.
But, as I was to learn, our ship does indeed carry copies of the Bible, all of which were smuggled on board:
I asked Dariush if he owned one. He admitted he had an edition in Persian Farsi, and another in Armenian. He showed them to me in his room. They are disguised as philological texts with fake titles on the covers.
Xue owns a Mandarin edition, disguised as a treatise on quantum mechanics.
Pagnol owns one in the French language, disguised as a compendium of “recent” (now ten years old) discoveries in microbiology.
Paul Yusupov does not have a copy, but he informed me during our late-night swimming session that he has memorized the Gospel of St. John—in Russian. I asked if he had perchance memorized the book of Genesis. Regrettably, he had not. He offered to write out a translation of John into English, warning me that it would probably be a clumsy one. I declined, explaining that I wanted to begin at the beginning.
Finally, it was Maria Kempton who came to the rescue. She owned an English-language edition, published in the year 2040 by the “bishops’ conference” (whatever that is) of Sri Lanka. Holding it reverently, she hesitated a moment, then put it into my hands.
“It’s not disguised”, I exclaimed. “How did you get it on board?”
She smiled. “Neil, you do not understand women’s purses. No man has ever got to the bottom of them.”
“I know they exist”, I shrugged. “I’ve seen them. My mother owned one. But why they exist is another question entirely.”
“It’s our little secret—our, meaning the other half of the human race. I’m afraid I’m duty-bound not to explain it to you.”
She agreed to lend me the book after extracting a solemn promise that I would guard it with my life. I’m reading it.
Day 327:
Paul tells me that the Kosmos will remain in orbit around Nova for another 108 days, our stay extended to make up for the first month when we were unable to land, plus an additional month due to our projected schedule for investigating the ship.
“How is Pia?” I asked.
“Very beautiful. Very big.”
“Are people on KC deck sympathetic? Any problems?”
“Some are happy. Some are silent. They look at her belly when they see her, but I do not know what they think.”
“This is the dangerous time”, I said. “There are a lot of people in the flight crew. Not everyone is like you.”
He patted his pocket. “I know this. I am ready.”
Day 328:
I learned from Dariush that the archives in the Temple of the Ship have all been opened, scanned, and auto-translated. His small team of linguistic experts, ten philologists and ten assistants, will be fully occupied between departure from Nova and arrival on Earth—nine very interesting years of study—and doubtless the archives will be examined by scholars for centuries to come.
Dariush said: “You realize, Neil, that several hundred thousand bronze tablets have been scanned. It is impossible to read more than a fraction of them. Thus, we selected codices primarily for the purpose of obtaining an overall chronology. We searched for phrases such as “one hundred years since the Coming”, “one thousand years”, “two thousand years”, and in this way we were able to isolate sections of text that gave us the general outline of their history. We now know that the records were written over a period of 6,900 to 7,000 years, and were archived chronologically from the front right wall beside the ship’s nose, backward to its tail, then across the rear wall of the chamber, then proceeding along the left-hand wall toward the front of the ship.”
He explained that the texts taken from this counter-clockwise route through the past reveal that the aliens’ dating system was based on the longer Nova year. For example, many documents are headed with passages such as, “ Three hundred years after the Coming, in the month of three moons” or “Eleven hundred years after arrival in the heaven in the heavens”, etc. The figures below have been adjusted to represent Earth-years. Dariush emphasized that the dates closer to our own time (within four thousand years) are the most accurate, but dates become increasingly more inexact the farther back they go. As far as we know at this point, the history of the “aliens” on this planet is roughly as follows. [Insert]:
Chronology compiled by Dr. Dariush I. Mirza
ca. 9200 years B.P.a
Departure from Earth (+/- 100 years).
Uncertain
Transit time to Nova.
9160 to 9150 B.P. (+/-)
Landing on Nova (also uncertain, estimated).
ca. 9150 B.P. (+/-)
Naming of planet for their deity and their continent for the “beast that is sacred to the Lord of the Night-gods”.
9050 to 9000 B.P. (+/-)
Building of first city (City 1).
Inscription of gold codex-1.
8900 to 8000 B.P.
Era of expansion and rapid population growth; establishment of City 2 (north) and City 3 (east).
8700 B.P.
First mention of declining longevity of individual lives
8000 to 7980 B.P.
Population demographics peak and begin slow decline. Social unrest. Punitive measures.
7980 to 7960* B.P.
Building of road and causeway. *Estimated completion date.
Establishment of City 4 (south), excavation of mountain for Temple of the Ship.
Inscription of gold codex-2.
7960 to 7955 B.P.
Transportation and internment of Ship.
ca. 7955 B.P.
Institution of Temple Rites, inscription of gold codex-3.
7940 to ca. 6800 B.P.
Era of slow population recovery, renewed demographic growth, regulated sacrifices, wealth.
6800 to 6500 B.P.
Second era of gradual population decline, but still above replacement rate.
6500 B.P.
Deity demands increased number of sacrifices.
6500 to 6100 B.P.
Era of recovery, relative stability.
6100 to 5580 B.P.
Breaking of civilization into city-states, regional alliances, betrayals, minor wars.
ca. 5580 B.P.
Reimposition of continental control, one state, one religion, strictest regulation of language, culture, social behavior.
ca. 5580 to ca. 4200 B.P.
Era of stabilized demographics, civil order maintained by force, ongoing purges of all innovative corruptions of original language and culture; sustained totalitarian theocracy (with minor outbreaks of rebellion).
4200 to 4185 B.P.
A major war, followed by genocide of populace of rebellious city and its administrative region.
4185 to 3400 B.P.
Era of imposed relative stability, accompanied by slow population recovery.
3400 to 2700 B.P.
Declining demographics.
2700 to 2600 B.P.
The “gods” declare temporary reduction
of human sacrifice, stimulating a century of recovery.
2600 to 2250 B.P.
Resumption of sacrifices, followed by longer, gradual decline of demographics.
2250 to 2140 B.P.
Demographics falling below replacement rate.
2140 B.P.
“Plague” first reported.
2125 B.P.
Universal plague, population decimated.
ca. 2100 B.P.
Second universal plague, massive reduction of population due to combined plague deaths and increased sacrifices demanded by the “gods”.
ca. 2064 to 2061 B.P. (+/- 10 E-y)
Records end, the final Sealing of the Temple to protect the ship from “fires in the heavens”. Road ceases to be used (depth of soil cover and dating of human remains in temple). Deaths of last living persons of the final generation (dating of human remains, Cities 1 through 4).
In summation, they lived on this planet for approximately seven thousand Earth-years. Their civilization ended twenty-one hundred E-years ago, give or take a decade.
Day 329:
I slept poorly and awoke in an irritable mood.
After I had knocked back my placebo in the B clinic this morning, Dr. Nagakawa asked me, “Do you like art, Dr. Hoyos?”
“Not really”, I mumbled, wondering if he were going to mess with my cover.
“You really must see Hokusai”, he went on as if he hadn’t heard me. “There is an excellent print on our very own deck B, precisely three alcoves forward of the Asian restaurant.”
“I can never figure out the front end from the back end.”
“I do recommend you take a look at it. Very soothing for the nervous system. If you wish, I could show it to you when I am off duty at 1700 hours. Would you like to see it?”
“Okay”, I murmured, not enthusiastic. Doubtless he would introduce me to something zennish like a drop of water falling into a placid pool of water, or the sound of one hand clapping. Just what I didn’t need.
Promptly at 5:05, I stationed myself at the entrance of the Asian restaurant, and a few minutes later, Nagakawa came serenely walking down the concourse. Without saying a word, he bestowed an obscure look upon me and led me to an alcove farther along the route.