02 The Secret on Ararat (11 page)

SEVENTEEN

THE THREE-HOUR ROAD TRIP from Raleigh to Norfolk, Virginia, was one that usually brought back good memories. Often he and Laura had traveled north toward Weldon and then east past Murfreesboro and Sunbury, where they would find a place to eat. They would then drive up through the Great Dismal Swamp to Norfolk and then over to Virginia Beach near Cape Henry. As the familiar landmarks triggered little flashbacks to those carefree days, Murphy began to wonder why he wasn’t feeling relaxed—why, in fact, his gut was churning.

Was it because he’d told Hank Baines his marriage to Laura had been less than one hundred percent perfect? Had that been a betrayal of her memory? No, that was ridiculous. He hadn’t mentioned Laura’s being in the wrong, only his own failings. And there was no merit in glossing over them—not if another person was being
open and honest with him about his own marriage problems.

So what was bothering him?

Betrayal
.

For some reason the little word stuck in his mind and wouldn’t go away.

Then another little word joined it, and suddenly it all fell into place.

Is
is
.

He was feeling guilty because of his feelings toward Isis. Feelings he was only this minute admitting he even had.

He gripped the steering wheel tighter. Since Laura’s death, the last thing on his mind had been another relationship. As far as he was concerned, he’d found his soul mate, his life mate, in Laura, and no one could ever replace her in his heart. He would wait patiently, alone, his aching heart nourished by memories, until they were finally reunited in heaven.

He didn’t want to fall in love with someone else. He
couldn’t
fall in love with someone else.

Stifling a curse, he tried to concentrate on the moving landscape. St. Paul’s Church caught his eye. He focused on recalling every fact he could about the church. It had been built in 1739 and was one of the few buildings that had survived the British bombardment of Norfolk during the Revolutionary War.

Being the headquarters for the Atlantic Command, Norfolk was definitely a Navy town. Murphy saw ships and Navy personnel everywhere. Which thankfully reminded him what this trip was all about.

He headed to the west along the Elizabeth River.

It wasn’t long before he turned in to the driveway of Vern Peterson’s house. Vern was out in front mowing the lawn, and Kevin, his three-year-old, was playing with a toy lawn mower, trying to imitate his father. Kevin had Vern’s red hair and green eyes, and seeing them together banished Murphy’s blues instantly.

Vern turned off the mower, scooped up his son, and gave Murphy a mock salute.

Murphy put the car in park and returned the salute with a smile. Vern put his son down and the two men gave each other a bear hug while Kevin hopped excitedly at Vern’s feet, wanting to know what all the fuss was about. Eventually Vern picked him up again with one brawny arm. “This is Michael Murphy.
Professor
Michael Murphy. Can you remember when you last saw him?”

The boy looked confused and Murphy helped him out. “It was a long time ago, Kevin. But I remember you. I seem to remember you were dragging an old teddy bear around that was bigger than you were.”

The boy giggled. “Tramps!”

“Those were the days,” Vern laughed. “When all he needed was a raggedy old bear. Now it’s video games and DVDs and goodness-knows-what.”

Vern’s wife, Julie, came running out the house and flung her arms around Murphy. She was a petite brunette with a pixielike face that always wore a mischievous smile, and Murphy thought back to one of the last times he’d seen her. It had been his and Laura’s wedding anniversary and the four of them had been celebrating in a downtown Raleigh restaurant fancier than any of them could afford, reminiscing about their wedding,
when Vern had been his best man and Julie had been Laura’s maid of honor.

He gave Julie a hug and stood back to look at her. “Julie, you seem to be the only person round here who hasn’t gotten any bigger since I last saw you.”

She grinned and put a hand to his cheek. “You say the sweetest things, Murphy. Now, come on inside the house. Dinner’s about ready, and I know you and Vern have things to talk about.”

Murphy waited until the last mouthful of apple pie had been washed down with homemade cider and the dishes had been cleared before strolling out onto the porch with Vern, where they settled into a pair of old rockers.

“Tell me, Vern, when was the last time you flew a chopper?”

Vern looked sideways at him. “I think you know the answer to that, Murphy. Not since Kuwait.”

He didn’t need to elaborate. Vern had been headquartered out of Kuwait when General Schwarzkopf began the advance on the Republican Guard. The Iraqi army had been crushed in about one hundred days. The thirty-eight-day air campaign had broken their morale. The Iraqi troops were tired, hungry, and weary after over a month of relentless bombing. They had surrendered by the thousands.

“I remember the statistics,” said Murphy. “We lost four tanks and they lost four thousand. We lost one piece of artillery and they lost 2,140 pieces. They lost two hundred forty planes and we lost forty-four.”

“We weren’t so lucky with the helicopters,” said Vern. “We lost seventeen and they lost only seven. In fact, the ship I flew was hit twice but didn’t go down.”

The talk about war faded out and Peterson looked at Murphy.

“Michael, you’ve got something up your sleeve, what is it?”

“I need your flying expertise. You have experience in flying at both high and low altitudes.”

“So you want me to fly to Canada?” said Vern with a grin.

“A little farther than that.” Murphy paused. “I want you to join my discovery team to search for Noah’s Ark.”

Peterson shot forward in his chair.

“You want me to fly over Ararat? You’ve got to be kidding!”

“Okay, Vern. Don’t bite my head off.” Murphy went on to explain how he needed Peterson to fly in supplies from the town of Dogubayazit, at the foot of Ararat, to the base camp high on the slopes of the mountain. He might not be able to land on the snow due to the steep slope, and he might have to air-drop supplies by cable. Peterson sat there and looked at Murphy.

“Well, I’ve done crazy things with a helicopter, but this would top them all.”

Murphy assured him that the Parchments of Freedom Foundation would be funding the entire trip. He would make a very handsome salary and would be home in about three weeks after leaving. Peterson just shook his head in disbelief.

“You’ll have to give me some time to think about it and talk it over with Julie. We haven’t told you yet, but
we’re expecting another baby. I’m not sure how she’ll feel about me leaving.”

“That’s great news about the baby, Vern. Congratulations. I’ll understand if you don’t feel you can do it.”

“Not so fast,” Vern said. “The baby coming means we need every cent I can lay my hands on. I could even build that extension Julie’s always talking about. Anyway, Ararat’s a pretty tough place to fly a chopper, but it’s not like Kuwait. I mean, there won’t be anyone shooting at us, right?”

“I hope not,” Murphy said. “I hope not.”

EIGHTEEN

THE LUSH GREEN FOREST of Azer was a welcome sight after the long journey from the city of Noah. And when Noah, his sons, and their wives beheld the clear blue lake in the center of the forest, tasted its cool, refreshing water, and let their livestock graze on the rich meadow grass around its banks, many wondered why they had made so many sacrifices to defend the city in the dusty plain. Surely this was paradise, and this was where God meant them to be
.

Soon Noah and his sons began the process of cutting timber and erecting shelters. The women were busy with catching fish from the lake and preparing meals, as well as tending the horses, camels, sheep, goats, and cows that munched contentedly on the gentle grassy slopes
.

During a time of rest, Noah at last opened the box that Tubal-cain had given him. Inside he found weights and measuring devices and instruments for surveying land. There were also three bronze plates with instructions engraved on them. But
most intriguing of all was a golden chest with designs of leaves around the edges
.

Carefully, Noah opened the golden chest. It was filled with various colored crystals, grains of what looked like sand, and small pieces of metal. He reached his hand in and scooped up the material. Instantly, he dropped the grains and pulled out his hand, which felt as if he had just put it into a furnace. He slammed the lid of the golden chest and ran to the lake, plunging his hand in the cooling waters. The fiery pain subsided gradually, but when he finally withdrew his hand, the skin was red and throbbing
.

Returning to the box, he took out the three bronze plates and began to read. Each plate contained instructions for the use of the elements in the golden chest
.

The first plate told how to identify rocks containing various types of metals. The second plate instructed how much of the elements should be used with each type of metal. And the third plate described the type of fire that would be needed to produce various metals
.

Tubal-cain had a reputation as an inventor of metal artifacts and implements of warfare. And now, Noah realized, Tubal-cain had given him the secret of his singing swords
.

During the next few months Noah and his sons built a forge and began to experiment with the instructions on the bronze plates. They collected various types of rocks and began a smelting process and added the elements from the golden chest
.

They were amazed by the results
.

Noah began to make axes, saws, and other tools for working with wood. He and his sons could not believe the strength of
the metal and the keenness of its edge, and soon they had built fine, solid houses beside the lake
.

But Noah knew Tubal-cain’s gifts had another, more important use. One day he declared, “Now we must begin the ark of safety.”

The loud snapping sound made Shem swivel around. It only took a split second to realize the danger
.

“L
ook out! Run!”

Ham, Japheth, and Noah had also heard the fearful sound and had already started to move before they heard Shem’s words. With a quick glance upward, they started running to the south
.

It wasn’t the first time they had heard the sound of a snapping rope giving way under the weight of the heavy beams. The horses were strong and could pull the weight, but the ropes would sometimes give out due to heavy use. It was becoming more and more difficult and dangerous to raise the beams as the ark grew in size
.

Noah and his sons had begun their construction project in the middle of the forest of Azer. They had cleared a great space where the ark was to sit but had left the larger trees standing around the perimeter to use as hoists. By stringing ropes from tree to tree over the ark, and with the use of pulleys and horses, they could lift the beams into place
.

But now one of the dark brown beams came crashing down to the floor of the ark. Besides putting a large gouge in the beams below, it knocked over two ladders and broke some of the bracing on the middle floor. If that weren’t enough of a problem, it also knocked over the large barrel of pitch that they were using to help seal the cracks. The sticky liquid spilled everywhere
,
covering some of their hammers and a stack of wooden pegs that they used to hold the beams in place
.

Noah’s sons looked forlornly at the scene of destruction
.

“What are we going to do?” exclaimed Japheth, his head in his hands
.

“A whole day’s work ruined!” joined Ham
.

Shem just stood there and shook his head
.

Only Noah seemed to be unaffected by the accident. “Well, sons, no one was hurt. The Lord has protected us.”

“At first I wondered why the Lord gave us one hundred twenty years to build the ark,” said Japheth. “But even with Tubal-cain’s amazing tools, it’s going to be a lifetime’s work.”

“That may be part of it,” Noah said. “But the real reason God is giving us such a long period to build the ark is to give us time to get His message out to as many sinners in this wicked world as possible. They, too, can be saved from the coming flood if they will only turn from their evil thoughts, their corruption, and their worship of false gods.”

No sooner were the words out of Noah’s mouth than the harsh sound of laughter reached them. The forest of Azer was far from any major settlements, but the rumors about the ark had spread far and wide, and many people had come to see Noah and his sons laboring to build a huge sea-going vessel over one hundred miles from the ocean in the middle of a forest. Some simply stared in awed amazement, but most entertained themselves by jeering at them or even physically harassing them
.

“You’ll never get that thing built!”

“It doesn’t look like your God is helping you now! Perhaps a different god would help you more!”

More laughter
.

Noah waited until they had finished. “You can laugh now
,
but the day is coming when laughter will cease. God will punish evil men and women with a judgment of water,” he said calmly. “The sky will break forth with rain, and wells of water will spring out of the ground. Every living creature that has the breath of air will die. The only place of safety will be the ark of God’s protection. Please listen and turn from your wickedness!”

The peals of laughter resumed and a few pieces of rotten fruit were aimed in Noah’s direction
.

One man in particular decided to challenge Noah. “You have been building that ark for years, Noah. You have been preaching to us for years. Nothing has changed. People are born and people die. Living a life of goodness does not pay as well as stealing for a living.”

At this the laughter turned to cheers
.

Noah turned his back on the hecklers with a sigh. “Back to work, sons. We need to repair the damage and continue. Some people only live for the moment and do not think about the future, but we know better.”

“I’m tired of their ridicule. I’d like to give them some judgment before floodwaters come
!”
said Shem
.

“Like we did to Zattu and his army,” added Ham
.

Japheth nodded in agreement
.

Noah looked each of them in the eye and said, “We will leave judgment in the hand of God. Within the next two weeks we must try to finish the structure for the third floor. We will then need to spend the next month cutting down more trees. We still have a long way to go. But God will give us strength.”

Naamah and her daughters-in-law had come running when they heard the commotion of the falling beam. Fear had struck all of their hearts, for they knew the dangers of working so high off the ground. Had one of their men been injured or killed?

They were relieved to see that no one was injured, but the sarcastic comments of the spectators were deeply painful
.

Bithiah broke into tears. “This is more than I can bear.”

The other women gathered around to comfort her
.

“Everywhere we go, people call us names and make fun of us. I can’t go to the market without men making crude and suggestive comments. I’m afraid that they might attack me as they do the other women. My friends have left me and talk about me behind my back.”

“I know it is hard,” said Naamah as she gave her a hug. “Living a godly life is not an easy task. But when the devastation comes, they will not be laughing anymore. Whereas you and your sons will be saved.”

Bithiah wiped the tears from her eyes. “But how much more will we have to endure before the flood comes? How long must we survive this torment?”

Naamah looked at Noah before replying. “Do not wish the day of devastation to come before its appointed time. Even for us, it will be more terrible than you can imagine.”