The Tenth Cycle: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 1) (9 page)

Daniel lay awake for hours in the single bed in another guest room, physically frustrated and too stimulated intellectually to find sleep. Turning to his obsession instead of counting sheep, he began to mentally list his facts. The strategy worked; long after midnight, he began to drift and garble the math equations. Slowly, he dropped off to sleep, having inadvertently primed his brain for a breakthrough.

At three a.m., he sat bolt upright and said aloud, “Wait, I was wrong! It
is
the why we should be looking for!” Unable to stay in bed, Daniel got up and paced as he searched for the subconscious thought that woke him. Eyes shining in the dark, he spoke aloud, but barely above a whisper to avoid waking the household with his
Eureka!
moment. “They built this impossible construction. We still don’t know how, but it doesn’t matter, they did it. They showed us in the measurements and placement how much they knew about math and astronomy, and the earth. The point isn’t that they knew, but that they were showing us! Why?” Realizing he was babbling to himself, Daniel clutched his new idea to him like a stuffed animal and climbed back into bed. That had to be the key -
Why
?

At breakfast the next morning, Daniel dominated the conversation, unable to wait any longer to share his thoughts. “So, suddenly I woke up, and the idea was swirling around in my head. What if the medium
is
the message? What if they did all this not to keep a secret hidden, but to draw attention to the fact that the knowledge was there?”

Sarah and Grandpa exchanged a look. “I’m not sure what’s different about your theory, Daniel,” Grandpa said carefully.

“Look, it was a way of showing off. The first generation of people who come along and figure that out are the ones worthy of the knowledge.”

“What knowledge?”

“Okay, wait. Let me think. They did it because they could. It’s like that story about the Swiss sending the Japanese the tiniest spring in their tiniest watch and saying, ‘Beat that.’ The Japanese sent it back, and the Swiss didn’t see any difference, so they started bragging. Then the Japanese said, ‘Look at it under a microscope.’ Lo and behold, they had drilled holes in it and inserted screws. Just because they could, and to make a point.”

Now the other three were staring at him as if he had grown another head. Sarah broke the impasse. “And what was the point, Daniel?”

“The point was, if we can do this, think what else we can do.”

“But, where does that leave us with the pyramid?”

“Remember, we started with the anomalies in the construction, not just how did they do that back then, but why was it different? All the math and astronomy, that was to say, ‘look what we’ve done, what we can do’. But the Great Gallery, the upward-sloping passageways, those mean something different. I’m guessing there is a message in there, and it’s not just a single message, but maybe the sum of their knowledge.”

“Daniel, I know that by ‘they’ you mean the builders, but who were they? The Egyptians of 3500 BC didn’t know these things, am I right?”

“That’s the thing. It had to be a civilization that existed before the Egyptians. That pyramid is older than anyone believes, I’d bet big bucks on it.”

“Then where are they? What happened to them?”

“I don’t know. Maybe one of your famous floods. Or
the
Flood. But just think what the pyramid is. It’s a library, and all we have to do to gain entrance and discover all that knowledge is break the code. Maybe that will tell us who they were and what happened to them.”

Grandpa was lost in thought. Now he lifted his head and said, “Like the Anasazi at Mesa Verde. They left tracks but no one has been able to read them. Yet.”

~~~

Despite the protests that they hadn’t stayed long enough, Daniel and Sarah left around noon to get back to New York before pitch dark. Their trip home was productive, as Daniel handed Sarah his iPad and asked her to help him finish his outline for her friend Mark Simms.

He continued where he had left off with his grandfather, detailing the further expressions of the relationship between Pi and Phi in the pyramid. Sarah thought about the numbers for a while as Daniel fell silent, no doubt searching his brain for other mathematical facts to list. Then she asked, “Could the pyramid have been based on only one of these numbers?”

“I think so. Even on only an approximation of them. Something that size has some leeway and still achieves a high degree of accuracy. I think I read somewhere that Pi can be approximated with integers, as a ratio of 22/7. When you parse that out, you end up with a number that differs from Pi by something like four hundredths of one percent. Same with Phi, only you have to start with the ratio of its square root, which is 14/11.”

“Who dreams up this stuff?” she said.

“I don’t know. Idiot savants?”

“Oh, Daniel, don’t use that term. It’s demeaning.”

“Sorry, love, didn’t mean it that way. I meant the nerds who have nothing to do all day but play with numbers. Like the monkeys and the typewriters, sooner or later they’re bound to come up with something meaningful.” He was still teasing, but Sarah had lost the train of thought. He called her ‘love’.

As the miles passed, they worked on the presentation Sarah would give Mark Simms until she deemed it finished. There would be no time to work on it further before she left, as she was determined to have another romantic evening to tide her over until they saw each other again.

They arrived at Daniel’s apartment in time for Sarah to prepare a light dinner on Sunday, followed by a very cozy evening just cuddling on the sofa. They weren’t talking much, but Daniel loved the weight of Sarah’s head on his shoulder, and the sweetness of the kisses they exchanged now and then. Daniel tightened his arms around Sarah and vowed to himself he’d never let her go. She was his to love and protect forever. They just hadn’t yet worked out the details.

Near midnight, Daniel realized that Sarah had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He touched her hair and whispered, “Sweetheart, it’s late. Would you like to go to bed?” He wasn’t sure she was awake when she answered.

“Yes, my love. Please take me to bed. With you.” Once again he carried her, laying her gently on the bed and removing her shoes. He wasn’t sure what to do about her clothes. Certain she wouldn’t be comfortable sleeping in them, but hesitant to take liberties, he settled for removing his own shoes. She stirred as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“Daniel, come here.” Rolling to her side, he kissed her.

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“My sexy nightgown is in my suitcase. Would you get it for me?”

Now that he knew her humor, he fully expected to find the flannel gown she had worn on their ‘sexting’ date, and wasn’t disappointed. Nor was he disappointed when he turned to find her lying in the bed, sheet and blanket thrown aside, naked. A sharp intake of breath made her open her eyes.

“What are you waiting for, Danny?”

“For my heart to start beating again,” he answered as he started toward the bed, tearing off his t-shirt on the way.

Sarah was reluctant to leave the next day, nor did Daniel want her to. But duty called, her lecture was at two, so she had to be on her way. After a breakfast of coffee and a Danish at the coffee shop on the corner, they said a lingering goodbye at her car. Daniel said, “This has been the best weekend of my life, sweetheart. You’re incredible, and I’m the luckiest man alive.”

Sarah lifted her hand to his cheek. “I’ll count the hours until we’re together again. Daniel, we have something special, don’t we?”

In answer, he tightened his arms around her and gave her a kiss that weakened her knees. “Oh, yeah, baby. Very special.”

Although Sarah wasn’t completely convinced of Daniel’s new theory, she could not budge him from the notion. As a scientist, she wasn’t comfortable with his ‘gut feelings’ as he called them. He told her that a journalist lived and died by instinct. She decided to go along with the slant Daniel was now putting on it when she presented their material to Dr. Simms. If math was the language, Simms could probably read it. Then the answer would be clear.

Sarah’s meeting with Simms on the following Wednesday went well. She knew Mark as a sweet man, happily married and nearing retirement age. When she met with him in his office, his eyes lit up at her entrance.

“Sarah! What a wonderful surprise to hear from you, my dear.”

“Oh, Professor Simms, I’m so sorry to have neglected you all this time.”

“Nonsense, my dear. You have your life to lead. Catering to a doddering old man like myself has to be low on your priority list.”

“Doddering?” she scoffed. “There is nothing doddering about you. How is Martha?”

“Fine, my dear, fine. Not sure what she’s going to do with me underfoot when I retire. I need a project to keep me busy and out of her way.”

“Funny you should mention that. I have one I’d love to get your opinion on.”

“Really? What could that be?” Sarah knew he was thinking about the gap between their disciplines, but she plowed ahead.

“It would be easier to show you, sir. May I set up my laptop? I have a little PowerPoint.”

“Certainly! How intriguing, a formal presentation. This must be very important.”

“It’s very important to a good friend of mine, and I’ve become interested too.”

“Judging from the color that just flooded your cheeks, I’m guessing this good friend is a man, and maybe more than a good friend?”

“Can’t slip anything past you, can I? I told you there was nothing doddering about you.” Taking on a severe expression, she pretended to be annoyed. “Now, pay attention, and stop changing the subject.”

With a hearty laugh, Simms feigned obedience, “Yes, my dear.”

When the slides had run their course, Sarah turned the lights up to find an intense look on Simms’ face. “What do you think, sir?”

“First, if we’re going to work together on this, you’d better call me Mark. Next, I think I need to meet this young man of yours. You say he’s a journalist?”

“Yes, sir. He has a master’s in journalism from Columbia.”

“Good school. Your friend has a good mind. Shame we can’t steal him from his newspaper. I’ve heard some of this before, dismissed it as nothing more than a curiosity to be discussed at a cocktail party. Must say, you’ve caught my attention. I’d love to work with you on it. Give me something to do so my mind doesn’t molder away after I retire. When can your young man be here?”

“I’ll call him tonight, set up a time. Will next weekend be convenient?”

“Yes, that should be fine. Bring him to the house, Martha will be happy to see you again.”

“Thank you, Dr. Simms. You don’t know how much this means to us.”

“Mark. And the favor is mutual. This is going to be fun.”

While she was on campus, Sarah took the chance that Prof. Barry would be free and dropped by his office to report the new development, as promised.

When she had explained, Barry asked, “Do you think anything will come of this?”

“I have to say I hope so,” she answered. “But it may not. It’s a departure from what he was thinking before, but that didn’t pan out, so I’m willing to explore this with him. We’ve asked Mark Simms to help us with the math. Do you know him?”

“We’ve met. Can’t say we’re well acquainted, different department and all. Thanks for stopping by, and let me know how it works out.”

Once more, Barry waited for Sarah to get well away before calling his Langley contact and reporting the new development. He took care to cover his own credibility by saying he doubted anything would come of it, but that his mandate was to report everything.

~~~

Daniel was in Providence the following Friday, so Sarah could introduce him to Mark. The men hit it off immediately. Mark, whose fondness for Sarah was rooted in a professor-student friendship that started in her undergraduate years, scrutinized Daniel and approved of what he saw. The young man had an open, honest face, a firm handshake and a clear adoration of Sarah that shone in every look he sent her way. He would do.

While Martha. Simms kindly made a light lunch for them, Daniel and Sarah brought Mark up to date on everything they had done so far, even the red herrings and false trails they had followed at the beginning. When Daniel started on the mathematical facts, Simms interrupted.

“No need to go into that. Sarah’s presentation gave me enough to begin looking into that myself. I’m familiar with Dr. Zacharias’ work, and I can see where you were going with it. In fact, I agree. But Sarah says you have a different take on it. Why don’t you tell me what that is, and why you think it will be more productive than manipulating the math and astronomy for a code?”

“I can’t really explain it. To tell you the truth, it came to me like a bolt out of the blue, but my gut says it’s the key. I still think finding a code will unlock what we’re looking for. But now I think that’s more along the lines of a whole encyclopedia than just a telegram.”

“Fair enough. I suggest we continue along the lines of inquiry that you’ve started, but I’ll dig into the history of these equations, see if I can find a common theme that relates to the pyramid. Or, at least a point of origin.”

“That sounds like a place to start, at least. We’ll add you to our SkyDrive folder so you can communicate your findings to both of us at the same time.”

~~~

Later that afternoon, while Daniel was taking a shower after a run on campus, Sarah sat down idly in front of the huge monitor on her desktop, gazing at the jumble of blocks that had occupied her attention for many months now. Her screensaver was a close-up of the entrance to the Great Pyramid. Sometimes like now, when she was trying not to think of anything, Sarah would let her eyes go out of focus and fall upon a pattern; maybe the pattern of tiles in a kitchen backsplash, or a linoleum floor. When that happened, it never failed that her eyes sought the repeat of the pattern and the mindlessness of it would put her in a trance of sorts. It was a great way to relax her brain when she was stuck on a problem of some kind. Now, she did the same thing while staring at the screensaver.

The pattern jumped out at her almost immediately. There, on one side of the passage, three blocks that appeared to be too small for the course of stone they occupied, broken she thought at first. But, exactly opposite were three identical blocks. That couldn’t be an accident. Alert now, Sarah refocused. And found more. “Oh my gosh”, she said aloud, “Why haven’t we seen this before? What could it mean? Daniel!” she called. “Hurry, I have something to show you!”

It was like a blemish on someone’s face that, once seen, could not be ignored. As Sarah excitedly pointed out other instances of repeated pattern, they asked themselves if it could just have been design decisions, but Daniel’s famous gut feelings were fluttering, no, kicking him in said gut. There was no reason for the pattern, there on the passage from the outside to the inside of the pyramid. Sarah contained her excitement, now that Daniel was here, to provide some balance. Sarah pointed out that she had read somewhere that the different sizes and shapes of the blocks had been chosen to make the structure earthquake-proof, could that be the reason?

“What did they know of engineering that would tell them how to earthquake-proof it?” Daniel demanded.

“They knew of all this other stuff, why not engineering?” Sarah returned calmly.

Daniel took her in his arms, vibrating with the energy of his excitement. “Baby, I think you really have a discovery here. Don’t try to talk me out of it.” Releasing her reluctantly, he opened his laptop to search for a source of the dimensions of the blocks, those that could be seen or accessed without destruction. He had read something somewhere, maybe in one of the Bible code books, about a method that they could use to test this.

Then he had it. If they could get enough data about the dimensions and shapes of the blocks, it might be possible to input them all into a database; size, shape, location, everything, and detect a pattern or code of which their human eyes were only able to see a hint. And he had just the computer geek to tackle the project. Raj.

“Sarah, do you know whether all the blocks in the pyramid have been cataloged? All that can be accessed, that is, the ones on the outside faces, and in the passageways?”

“I would think so. Why?”

“Can we get hold of that data?”

“I can ask around. I still have contacts in Egypt from my dissertation survey. You didn’t answer my question.”

“It’s just an idea I have. You remember Raj, don’t you? You may not know it, but Raj is a computer whiz. I’m thinking maybe he can help us with this.”

“So now you’re willing to bring in an outside expert?”

“Trust me, Raj is like Fort Knox when it comes to information. He’s brilliant with data, but he has this one little idiosyncrasy.”

Almost afraid to ask, Sarah raised her eyebrows questioningly.

“Okay, don’t freak out, but he’s convinced that all that Area 51 stuff is true.”

Now her eyebrows went even further up and her mouth dropped. “Seriously? You’re going to bring aliens into this now?”

“No, no. Listen. That’s just Raj’s quirk. Let me tell you what he does for the Times. You know we track all kinds of social media, right?”

“I guess I hadn’t thought about it.”

“Well, we do. And Raj is the guy that extracts the data and comes up with metadata.”

Sarah’s brow wrinkled. “And that is, what?”

“It’s data about data. Here’s an example, Raj can mine Facebook’s data and come up with a more accurate prediction on an election, say, than the Harris poll.”

“Okay, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but wow, that’s some claim!”

“We’ve proven it over and over. And it isn’t just Facebook. He tracks Google+, Bing, Twitter, all the big search engines, even Amazon and Barnes & Noble, to find out what people are buying to read. How do you think we come up with our Top Ten Bestsellers these days? Raj. He’s our secret weapon.”

“So where does Area 51 come into the picture?”

“It’s his pet project, just like the Great Pyramid is mine. His fondest wish is to find the data that proves the government has been pulling the wool over our eyes for more than sixty years. And he’s convinced that if he ever does, his life will be in serious danger. He’s as far off the grid as you can get in New York City, and prepared to run for his life.”

“I had no idea he was so…”

“Crazy?”

“Yeah. Sorry, I know he’s your friend.”

“Sometimes a friend has to overlook a friend’s quirks. Like I overlook Raj’s, and Owen’s, and yours.”

“Mine! What quirks do I have?”

“Well, you’re sleeping with me, you must have some quirk, for that to happen.”

“You goof,” she said, lightly slapping his arm. “Doesn’t take a quirk to want a gorgeous guy who’s the world’s best lover.”

Laughing, he pulled her down to his lap. “I’m crazy about you.”

“That must be your quirk.”

“So, I’ll talk to Raj while you get hold of your buddies in Egypt.”

“There’s another quirk.”

“What?”

“You can switch from lover mode to work in zero point five seconds.”

“Lucky for you, I can switch back just as fast.”

“Prove it.”

With a challenge like that, Daniel was obligated to perform, and more than willing. A consequence ensued, causing a minor delay.

“We don’t know yet exactly what it means, but it does feel like a breakthrough.” Daniel and Sarah had contacted Mark as soon as they came up for air, and were now at his house showing him what Sarah had found. As Mark watched and listened, Sarah brought up on her laptop the photo she had been staring at when she saw the patterns. Now they literally leaped off the screen at her. Mark grasped the importance almost immediately.

“What are you thinking, that this is some sort of alphabet, or something else? Clearly it’s deliberate, and I agree, there can have been no other reason for it. Even earthquake-proofing. That would have been done differently, I think.”

Daniel was gratified to have his thoughts validated. Now he interjected, “I was thinking more along the lines of determining whether the ratios in the cuts of these stones bear any relationship to the other numbers in the design of the pyramid as a whole. If so, maybe it’s a code. But it’s something. We just need to get the data and analyze it, to find out which way to look at it. Or, hey, Raj could look at it in both ways, anything’s possible.”

“Raj?” Mark’s question made Daniel remember that they needed to let him know about the rest of his idea.

“He’s a computer whiz I know. Sarah and I thought we could get his help with the data.”

“Oh, okay. Is he a mathematics expert too?”

“Only in the sense of how to program a query to extract statistical data. We’ll still need your help.”