Killer Thrillers Box Set: 3 Techno-Thriller, Action/Adventure Science Fiction Thrillers (21 page)

“So the Golden Ratio shows up in nature, art, and architecture.” Vilocek said. He was getting visibly annoyed. “Why is that so important now? I read your article, Professor, and though it’s fascinating, I’m not sure we need a lecture on the Golden Ratio at this particular time.”

“But understand, though,” Jensen said, suddenly more animated than he’d been in two days. “No one knows exactly who was the first to ‘discover’ this unique number. Some attribute it to the ancient Greeks, others argue it was handed to mankind from the hand of God himself. Either way, the number is certainly linked to some miraculous things. If we think back to the hidden chamber, the tunnels, the symbols, everything — we should be able to find
another
reference to the Golden Ratio that might reveal a great deal.”

Vilocek sighed slightly. He knew Andrews was intelligent, but he still couldn’t see the benefit of chasing after a
number
— after all, what difference would it make if they
did
find another link to the Golden Ratio? What bearing could that possibly have on the crystal?

Karn reached into his front pocket and withdrew the small field notebook he was constantly scribbling in. “I can maybe help with the tunnel thing — I made a rough map of the tunnel — in case we got turned around down there.” He handed the notebook to Professor Andrews.
 

The Professor stared at the page in disbelief.
 

“It’s right here! This is it — the Golden Ratio
is
part of the crystal’s history!” The others stood and gathered around the small notebook.
 

“What are we looking at?” Vilocek asked.
 

“The diggers of those tunnels,” Andrews explained, “ — the original owners of the crystal, left us a clue pointing back to the Golden Ratio.”

He showed them the map Karn had drawn of the long-hidden tunnel beneath the Great Pyramid:

“It’s a spiral,” Bryce said, confused. “So what?”

“It
is
a spiral,” Andrews said, grinning in spite of the situation. “That alone would be cause for interest, as the rest of the Giza pyramids — and all other pyramids known to man, for that matter — consist of
straight, angled
shafts, leading into rectangular or square-shaped chambers.”

“But the spiral passage in this drawing — which leads to the hidden chamber — is exactly the same shape of the
other
passage as well — the one leading
out
of the hidden chamber back up to the Lower Room.”

He took the pencil from the binding of the notebook and quickly sketched out the other passageway — an exact copy of the first tunnel Karn had drawn, resulting in a mirror image.

“As you can see, the spiral is repeated with the two passageways. This is a perfect representation of what’s called a ‘Golden Spiral.’”

“A ‘Golden Spiral?’” Bryce asked. “Is that tied in with the Golden Ratio?”

“Exactly!” Andrews was in full professor mode, happy in his own element. “Watch this.” He continued to scribble on the page, this time sectioning the spiral into quadrants. On the next page he drew a simplified version of the shafts, and continued his lesson.
 

“As you can see, each section of both spirals can be split into quadrants — getting progressively smaller and tighter with each curl; specifically, each quarter-turn is proportionately smaller than the preceding turn.

“Or — looking at it from the opposite way — each section of the spiral, starting from the center — which in this case is the location of the well shaft — each quarter turn in the spiral gets progressively
larger
by a specific ratio, or number, each time. Anyone want to guess what that number is?”

Wayne Thompson spoke up from the back of the group. “Phi — 1.618?”

“Correct!” Andrews beamed.
 

“Again, Professor,” Vilocek said, more insistent now. “What exactly does this have to do with the crystal?”

“Well, Dr. Vilocek — “ Professor Jensen said, starting to theorize out loud, “this ‘Golden Spiral,’ as it has come to be known, and other instances of the term ‘Golden Mean,’ ‘Golden Ratio,’ etc, have all been labeled as such due to their appearances in
nature
. Some have even gone so far as to say that God himself used the Ratio to design the heavens and the earth, with the ubiquity of its appearances arguably more than a coincidence. The ancient Greeks — specifically Pythagoras — have been designated as the true ‘discoverers’ of the Ratio, and have used it in their art and architecture for centuries; even to the present day.

“But what if the Greeks were
not
the first to discover this ratio? What if there was someone else — some ancient civilization even — who’d found out about the Golden Ratio and used it in their engineering and construction as well? Further, what if the Ratio was used somehow in the creation of the original crystal?”

“What, like the crystal wasn’t natural to begin with?” Cole asked.

“Maybe it was — who knows?” Jensen asked. “But there’s nothing else like it anywhere in the world — as far as we know, right? So why couldn’t someone have actually
created
the crystal from something? Maybe using the Golden Ratio as a blueprint?”

They all pondered this for a moment. Vilocek seemed surprised; surprised that he had not questioned the crystal’s
creation
, much less that it might have something to do with the Golden Ratio. He knew Andrews made a strong point, but they would need to see more evidence of the crystal’s relationship with the Ratio before he would accept such a theory.
 

As Jensen continued to explain and clarify the mathematics, Bryce’s cell phone started vibrating in his pocket. Surprised he even had service out here, walked into the kitchen, where there were more windows and the potential for a stronger signal.
 

“Reynolds,” he answered.

“Bryce — it’s Whittenfield; I’m on a secure line. I just wanted to check in. Have you made any progress?”

Bryce explained what had unfolded so far; the near-executions and Jensen’s theory of the Golden Spiral. He added Jensen’s belief that the crystal might have been created by some ancient civilization, possibly with the help or use of the Golden Ratio.
 

Whittenfield asked more questions, and Bryce promised to try to send an image of the page in Karn’s notebook. In turn, Bryce asked Whittenfield about any headway he’d made regarding the symbols on the outside of the well shaft beneath the Lower Room.
 

“Actually, yes. That was one of the main reasons I called.”

“Really?” Bryce perked up.
 

“It turns out that the symbols on the shaft were exactly what you thought — a map.”
 

“Really? To where?”
 

“That’s just it — I’m not sure exactly where, but it’s the results I have here that led me to call. Bryce — this map, these symbols — you won’t believe this,” he continued. “This map is actually a sort of circular diagram of specific spots on the earth’s surface.

“The shaft itself, I’m willing to wager, is representative of the proverbial ‘center of the earth,’ and therefore the symbols around the center mark geographic locations around the world.”

“So it’s like a globe?” Bryce asked, slightly confused.
 

“Sort of,” Whittenfield said, “only it’s a globe in two dimensions, as if you looked at the North Pole from directly above it, and the equator was the circle that represented the diameter of the Earth.

“In this case, the north pole would be somewhere in present-day Alaska, and the equator would be what we call a ‘Great Circle’.”

“Ok — I’m with you,” Bryce said. “The rim around the well represents the diameter of the earth. The bottom of the shaft, the ‘center’ of the earth.”

“Exactly,” Whittenfield said. “And the symbols on the well shaft’s outer surface represent points along that Great Circle. Including the Pyramid of Giza, there are nine points altogether designated by those symbols.”

Bryce let this last statement sink in. “So there are ten symbols, and each one represents a physical location.”

“Precisely correct — the symbols line up
perfectly
with the corresponding spots around the world, and they are most certainly not random, arbitrary geographic points.”

“What do you mean? They’re
known
locations?” Bryce asked, beginning to share the older man’s excitement.

“Yes. Absolutely, yes. Bryce — I don’t know how it has escaped modern-day geography, but these sites — these places that your hidden chamber points — all exist on the exact same diametric line around the earth. If you drew a straight line around a globe, connecting these dots, each one of these ancient sites would appear
exactly
on that line.”

Bryce felt the hair stand up on the back of his neck. “What exactly are these locations?”

“Whittenfield was triumphant. “Starting with the Great Pyramid, of course, the remaining sites include the location of the ancient temple of Ammon-Ra, home of the Oracle at Siwa, the first known inhabited city on the planet, Ur — in Sumeria, the group of monuments at Khajuraho in India, and the ruins of Mohenjo-Daro, also known as the
Mound of the Dead
.”

“I think I’ve heard of most of those — all ancient historical sites, right?” Bryce asked.
 

“Not
just
historical sites — some of these are UNESCO World Heritage sites, while others are the pinnacle of their civilization’s architectural achievements. Overall, however, these sites all define and represent their respective cultures. In short, these places are sites of such significance they’ve impacted and shaped world history.”

“Damn.” Bryce was stunned.
 

“And don’t forget, there were
nine
sites mapped by the symbols — I’ve mentioned the first
six
only.”

“So what are the others?”

“Well, completing the circle around the well shaft, we have the Incan city of Machupicchu, the ‘Lost City’ of Petra — “

Bryce interrupted. “Wait — the Petra in the Indiana Jones movie?”

“The same. Lost for centuries, and found in the early 1800s by the explorer Johann Ludwig Burkhardt.”

“What’s the last site?”

“This is one of my favorites,” Whittenfield said. “Easter Island.”

“The island with those giant stone heads?”

“Yes, known the world over for its sculptures, called
Moai
, somehow built and placed individually by the Rapa Nui people.”

“Wow. You’re sure this is accurate? I mean, those are all pretty significant places, and you mean to tell me they’re all points
on the same line?”
 

“Yes,
exactly
on the line — almost as if they were
placed
there to coincide with the Great Circle around the globe. Here — check your messages. I just sent some images rendered on my lab computer. I plugged in the longitude and latitude coordinates of each of the symbols’ corresponding sites, and then had my terrestrial mapping software simply ‘connect the dots.’”

Bryce checked the his messages, finding the first image.

“The first is one of the earth, in its standard elliptical shape. You’ll see the equator mapped as well. But you’ll also notice a
second
line — which also completes a full circle around the earth, but starts at 30 degrees south of the equator and extends to 30 degrees north of the equator.”