Nothing New Under the Sun, page 22
“Is he serious?” Haji, a small man from Damascus asked. “Does Khaled expect us to believe he’s found a nuclear blast underground?” Haji was a former doctor and ran Hassan’s medical corps.
“Why don’t you go see for yourself?” stated Bakr, who’d been with Hassan since leaving Mosul. “I trust Khaled’s opinion on what he found down there. As you are a medical man, I understand your shock about the dead men of the first team who went down there.”
“I would like to point out that our brother Khaled is not a nuclear expert,” Haji returned. “The last time I checked he was a chemical engineer who managed an oil refinery.”
“Agreed,” Bakr responded, “but we would be stupid if we didn’t go and investigate it thoroughly. The radiation level was confirmed by the Geiger counter; I would like to point out.”
“Who do we know with a background in nuclear physics who could investigate this site?” asked Youssef, another member of the inner circle from Mosul and a former Iraqi army colonel.
“I will be in contact with our friends among the Saudi’s,” Hassan interjected into the discussion from behind his desk. “This will be of great interest to them. I suspect we have an area of mutual interest. Perhaps they would have someone to send to the site.”
He adjourned the meeting and went over to the nearest barricaded window to stare at the wind sweeping up dust into the air. Nuclear weapon capability? Right under my feet? He smirked. What would the members of the nuclear club think if they discovered they no longer had a monopoly?
***
Two days later in Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Xavier Algosaibi read a decoded message and almost dropped the paper on which it was written. With shaking hands, he took the paper to an ashtray in his office and burned it.
“Allahu Akbar,” he whispered while flushing the ashes down the drain, “If this is true, we have earned favor with Allah.”
Four days later, a three-man team of experts, including one Dr. Ishrat Sadiq, arrived at Hassan’ s compound and asked for permission to see the Sultan. He met with them in private and then wrote a letter that guaranteed them safe passage to the site of the radioactivity. Each man had expertise in the nuclear program of Pakistan, and each was contracted by an anonymous company in Riyadh to perform the survey.
At the site, Khaled, who was now also suffering the effects of exposure to radiation, told them what he found when he went down into the chamber. Only one man remained alive from the original team who had discovered it, and the doctors didn’t expect him to live much longer.
The hole now had a concrete cover over it and was accessible only through a manhole installed at the time it was poured. The experts from Pakistan suited up in radiation suits and air masks before the portal was opened. Using a ladder installed by Hassan’s men, they ventured into the lower reaches of the chamber while monitoring the background radiation. As they reached the table and crystal figures, one of them checked the Geiger counter and found the radioactivity level lethal after prolonged exposure. Then they began the time-consuming work of documenting everything they found.
***
Three weeks later, Dr. Ishrat Sadiq of Islamabad, Pakistan, booked into Dubai’s Grand Hotel for a vacation with his family. The same evening, he had a secret meeting at another hotel with Dr. Abu Al-Assad of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who was also on vacation with his family.
They had the hotel room where the meeting was taking place swept for any listening devices, and when assured that the room was ‘clean,’ they entered and started their discussion.
The two men, who had never met before, shook hands, exchanged a traditional greeting in Arabic and sat down. Both were scientists. Sadiq taught nuclear physics at a university in Pakistan, and Al-Assad was a teacher of chemical engineering at a university in Saudi Arabia. They were aware of each other’s work and agreed to use first names during the meeting.
“Ishrat, as you know I represent someone else,” the Saudi scientist said. “I am not allowed to give you his name. I bring you his greetings and blessings. He is very pleased with the work you have done for him at the site.”
“Thank you,” the scientist from Pakistan responded. “Let him know I was honored to be contracted to do the work he needed. Please send him my blessings too.”
Sadiq handed Al-Assad a flash drive and told him it contained everything he would need. The small piece of plastic and circuitry held the results of lab tests, field surveys, photographs, and many other supplementary items. All of it would prove to be useful.
“Please forgive me for all the questions I must ask,” Al-Assad explained. “These are questions I have been instructed to ask and to report back the answers.”
“I would be very surprised if you had no questions,” Sadiq laughed. “I am happy to answer them all.”
“Tell me in detail what your team discovered at the site. I want to know the conclusions you reached.”
“Let me begin with my suppositions. First, the background radiation is abnormally high inside the chamber. Second, it is the product of a nuclear explosion. Third, the nuclear explosion occurred a long time ago. Without any scientific dating, it’s difficult to say, but I would guess more than 10,000 years ago.”
“You are sure of this?”
“I have no doubt in my mind about the cause of the explosion, but I can’t commit about the time when it occurred.”
“Do you have any thoughts on what might have caused the nuclear blast?”
“Initially, I believed it might be from a natural reaction, such as the Oklo site in West Africa. However, the background radiation is far lower at Oklo, about half of what you would receive from a chest X-Ray. Furthermore, the Oklo reaction did not result in an explosion, just a sustained nuclear reaction, and it took place almost two billion years ago.”
“Are you telling me this nuclear blast was the product of a human action?”
“I can’t say for certain. With the passage of time, you can’t tell much. But off the record, I would bet money this was the result of a battlefield nuke.”
“Are there any other instances in recorded history of sites where nuclear blasts have taken place in prehistoric times?”
“There are several where a nuclear blast may have taken place. Right now, it’s a matter of speculation because the physical evidence is so slim. We have found several in the Gobi Desert, and at least one in India. There are others in America, Africa, and South America, but no one that I know of has done any serious scientific investigation. For every argument supporting the supposition that a nuclear blast took place in ancient times, you will have more that push for a different interpretation. Most scientists don’t feel enough evidence exists in favor of them. I have included everything on the flash drive.”
“Can you tell me more about these other places?”
“Years ago,” Sadiq continued, “I visited Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in India. We know little about either city or the civilization that built them. We know the destruction of each happened overnight, and their surviving populations abandoned them.
“And there is a new site inside Kashmir which has yet to be explored in depth,” Sadiq confided as he leaned closer to the scientist from Saudi Arabia. “We have found a significant level of background radiation and a blast zone with a 150-foot radius. Everything inside it was crystallized, fused, or melted. Several hundred human skeletons with burn marks are there, suggesting a massive heat flash, such as you might see from a nuclear blast. No one has found anything to account for the background radiation or the effects of a large firestorm. Based on the best evidence, I concluded it was from a nuclear explosion.”
“How extensive is the underground chamber? Was the blast limited to what your team found or did it cause more destruction?”
“Actually, we found an entire city buried beneath the surface - at least the remains of one. From what we can tell, a thermonuclear weapon leveled it. It could have held 10,000 people at one time, perhaps more. We didn’t have a geologist or archeologist on the team, unfortunately. We think the city was buried by several later generations each erecting new structures over the top of the original structures, even with the residual radiation. It is smaller than the site I examined in India. I’m certain a nuclear blast destroyed this ancient city though. There is no doubt in my mind about it. All the photos we took and maps we made are on the flash drive.”
“Given the ancients found a way to build a nuclear bomb, we have to wonder how they did it. Do you think it would be possible to reverse engineer their methods and find out how it was done?”
“We would need more time. I understand the original team down there found some codices, but they gave them to the Sultan, who controls the region. I also know he annexed the town a few days after his men found the entrance to the site.
“If we want to find out how the bomb was built, we need more information. I think those papyrus texts might have the information. Why else would they have been left in front of the crystal skeletons?”
Al-Asaad was quiet for a moment, “Yes, and who put them there and when is a good question.” He paused again, “Are those codices where you would start looking to find out how the ancient nuclear weapons were constructed?”
“Yes. I would also look in the ancient Babylonian and Sanskrit texts. If you start with the texts we do have; you might find the clues where to look for the others. There are many thousands of pages we need to read.”
“Ishrat,” the Saudi scientist said. “Thank you for your efforts and devotion to the work. I know the money we promised you has cleared your bank account. I will give this flash drive to our benefactor and tell him of everything we discussed. We will be in touch should your services be required again.” The two men bid each other a pleasant evening and left the room.
Dr. Sadiq, who already had the money spent in his mind, died instantly ten minutes later. Witnesses told the local police about a speeding car which turned a corner and struck him as he was crossing the street. He was dead on arrival at the hospital, and the police were never able to identify the car. His widow found the money in the bank account but never knew where it came from.
The same night in Islamabad, the two men working with Dr. Sadiq vanished into the night and fog. Men who claimed to belong to the Pakistan Intelligence Bureau arrived at their homes and arrested them. No one heard of them again, and the Bureau vehemently denied any involvement.
Two days after the meeting between Al-Assad and Sadiq, Carter arrived home from his visit to A-Echelon headquarters. As he held little Liam in his arms, 6,300 miles away, in Riyadh, Xavier Algosaibi pushed a flash drive into his laptop computer and began to review the information about the ancient nuclear blast site.
Chapter 31
A time bomb was already ticking
Carter dove into the material he and Rhodes had collected while at A-Echelon. He had three objectives. First, establish if there had been an ancient civilization with enough technological knowledge to create a nuclear weapon. Second, find out which sites had evidence of a nuclear blast. Third, make an in-depth study of ancient texts that might contain information about nuclear technology.
He already knew that references to the ‘infinitely small,’ in ancient Indian texts, could possibly be referring to an understanding of atomic theory. The small timeframes mentioned in the text corresponded closely with the disintegration rates of the radioisotopes of uranium used in nuclear weapons, or as fuel in a nuclear reactor.
He discovered that many writers from ancient times indicated an understanding of atomic theory, even if metaphorically. From Ancient Greek writers to the Buddhist Sutras, there were references to the knowledge of atomic structures.
The planetary model of the atom, Carter thought to himself, is quite recent. Although it was now supplemented by newer concepts, for 100 years this was the one everyone used. It’s taught in schools at the introductory level. Could it be this was a rediscovery of something known much earlier?
Roundabout 460 B.C., The Greek philosopher Democritus said, 'In reality there is nothing but atoms and space.'
The Roman poet Lucretius, who lived between 99 and 55 B.C.E, wrote extensively about the theories of the atomic structure of matter. ‘Atoms rushing everlastingly through all space undergo myriad changes under the disturbing impact of collisions. It is impossible to see the atoms because they are too small.’ Lucretius’ ideas would in due course create the foundation for the development of western science.
The writer of one of the Buddhist Pali sutras knew something about the molecular composition of matter, ‘There are vast worlds within the hollows of each atom, multifarious as the specks in a sunbeam.’
It was apparent that the authors of those documents, at least, had an understanding of the science of the atomic and molecular structure of matter. Somebody told them about it; there was no doubt. Someone in ancient times recognized and understood it. And, there was a good chance that this knowledge had been handed down from a time before them, a time of which very little knowledge exists today, a time, according to modern scientists, when man would not yet have invented the wheel. In fact, a time when man would just about have learned how to walk upright.
Carter was talking to himself. “It is only in recent times we understood that each atom is like a mini solar system, consisting of a core with electrons moving around it in set patterns as the planets move around the sun. I have to wonder how much of what we claim to discover for the first time has actually been rediscoveries. I think Solomon was right when he said, there is nothing new under the sun.”
On July 16, 1945, the first nuclear bomb, in modern times according to Dr. Oppenheimer, exploded at the Trinity Site in New Mexico. The explosion, equivalent to 18,000 tons of TNT, created a crater 800 yards in diameter. The heat melted the desert sand, and when it solidified, a light olive green, glass-like substance remained. This substance was named Trinitite. Chemical analysis found that it consisted mostly of pure melted silica with traces of Olivine, Feldspar, and other minerals found in the desert sand.
Time Magazine, September 17, 1945, reported: Seen from the air, the crater itself seems a lake of green Jade shaped like a splashy star, and set in a disc of burnt vegetation half a mile wide. From close up the lake is a glistening encrustation of blue-green glass 2,400 feet in diameter, formed when the molten soil solidified in air.
Carter wanted to know if there were other places on earth where Trinitite had been found. He was not taken by surprise when he discovered many references to a green glass-like substance found in a number of places across the globe.
In 1947, in modern day Iraq, archeologists digging at a site uncovered evidence of four civilizations layered on top of each other. The final layer consisted of fused green glass.
Some scientist immediately pointed out it could have been caused by lightning, but they failed to explain that although lightning can fuse sand, it does so in a characteristic, root-like pattern and that only a nuclear explosion would have rendered an entire stratum of fused green glass.
Glassy sand, present for thousands of years, was found in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. In Israel, archeologists dug up a layer of fused green glass measuring several hundreds of square feet, a quarter of an inch thick, and 16 feet below the surface.
It surprised Carter to learn that even in the United States, ruins existed in southern California, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada, where at some stage in the distant past there would have been an event, which caused heat so intense it liquefied the rock surface. In the Mohave Desert, several circular patches of fused glass were discovered.
***
While Carter progressed on his work, Mackenzie did the same on hers. It was clear to Carter that Mackenzie enjoyed everything she did, and it made him happy to see her doing research with so much excitement. He wondered if he could add to her research in some way that would extend her work.
After Liam was in bed, they had time to spend together. Over a glass of wine, they talked about the work they were doing at the university. Mackenzie shared her discoveries with Carter, which he found absorbing and sometimes even running a close parallel to his own work, although he was unable to share this with her.
“Carter, it’s been a profound experience to delve into ancient medical mysteries,” she said. “If only I had more spare time to spend on the subject. I can’t read enough about it.”
“I’m glad to know Gramps was able to push you in a new direction with those suggestions he made,” Carter sipped on his wine. Then he had a thought. “Have you ever considered resigning your position at the university and pursuing this full time? It’s not as if we can’t afford it. You could hire a team of linguists and researchers to help you out.”
“I don’t know,” Mackenzie said thoughtfully. “I’ve spent so much time in academia I can’t imagine life on the other side of the wall. However, I do have to admit I’m getting less and less satisfaction out of my university research project since delving into this ancient medicine stuff.”
“You should do what you enjoy. As I just said, we don’t have to worry about money. It’s about doing what gives you the most satisfaction. We are fortunate to be in a position where both of us can do what we feel passionate about.”
“I suppose I could - I’d not thought of that,” Mackenzie agreed with him. “I have an office at home, and anyone I hire to work for me could do it remotely. We can see each other more, and I can be home with Liam all the time.”
“We just have to keep the distractions at a minimum,” Carter joked.
