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Chapter Twenty Three
ALIEN ARTIFACTS
A cold wind began whipping
the trees and brush, sending a chill through Laura in spite of her warm jacket. She
regarded Jeremiah with concern. He shivered even harder, than she. "Have you checked
your bandage? Are you bleeding again?:
Laura moved toward him for a closer look as he gingerly
lifted his jacket. The bandage remained dry with no trace of blood.
"I am too cold to bleed," he said, and shivered
as another blast of wind hit them. "I see you are wounded also. There is a bloody
hole in the arm of your jacket."
"It hurts, but it's not bleeding. I'll start a fire if
the wind will let me. We can warm up some coffee. There's plenty of fresh water in that
stream and I have a jar of instant coffee in my pack. Instant coffee is another marvel you
will learn to appreciate."
"At least this instant stuff will help us to warm up,
nu?" Jeremiah smiled. "While you do that I'll open the box and go through it. I
know it is in a language only the three of you understand, but maybe it has
pictures." He laughed then clutched his side. "Oy, I do not think it is such a
good idea to laugh at my own jokes."
Laura checked on his bandages again then made him as
comfortable as possible. She mounded some rocks in a circle as a partial wind break and
fire pit, then gathered dry twigs to start a brisk fire. Soon they sat sipping hot coffee.
"Let's check on the box together," Laura said
opening the box Dan had handed them.
They both studied the contents. I was filled with filmy
material that unfolded from postage stamp size to that of a large road map and bore
diagrams and picture, much to Jeremiah's delight. The various diagrams floated in the air
when handled. The pictures, symbols and the diagrams on the pieces changed, when touched,
the equivalent of turning pages, in a book.
"It's mostly building plans, star maps, and science
stuff; way over my head." Laura grimaced in disappointment. "There's
nothing here about any masterpiece."
"This one looks like the plans for one of their
ships." Jeremiah gazed with awe at the pictures and diagrams. "Tell me what
these words say."
Laura peered more closely. "It's talking about the
outer shell of the ship revolving, causing the inside of the ship to slow down in time
while the world outside is rushing by."
"Like the calm eye in the middle of a hurricane
perhaps," Jeremiah said.
"Yes, yes, that must be it. Maybe it causes UFOs to
look like they disappear in one place and reappear in another. It also talks about bending
space to make the distances shorter so they can travel to different star systems. They
must have done this for their human populations. Fallen angels wouldn't need it and demons
are bound to the Earth and the space surrounding it. And look right here." Laura
pointed. "It's talking about overcoming gravity fields, propulsion systems using
sound, light and thought. They had a way to amplify thought. See here; it's talking about
a red stone as hard as diamond. Ruby maybe. It's in the shape of a chair. Perhaps sitting
in it amplified their thoughts. One would have to be very careful what one thinks about. I
don't think mankind is ready for that yet. Our scientists would go crazy over this. It
probably breaks every rule of science, as we know it.
Jeremiah sighed. "I suppose one could say breading the
rules is what creates change. They had angels teaching them. Both the bad and good angels
knew how to harness the powers of the universe. Man has had to learn everything from the
God of the universe Himself. A person must be willing to humble himself. Not many men are
willing to do that. They want to take credit for everything themselves. Lucifer played on
their pride and desire for power, which he shared with them. He is still doing it."
Jeremiah shook his head sadly and continued looking through the floating diagrams.
Laura watched him. "No wonder progress has been slow.
We have a great technology now, but we're not really any smarter. Building better machines
can't be the answer."
"Man's heart must change. Then his mind can be
expanded. Most people have it all backwards. The Nazis were great at building better
machines, but look what they did to people. This is not what God has in mind for the
peoples of the universe, nu?"
"I've often wondered why God lets the devil continue
to exist." Laura began folding some of the film they had already studied.
"For a while I thought Hitler was the anti-Christ predicted
in Scripture. I pondered many hours over why God allows so man terrible things to
happen."
Laura paused a moment before answering. "Maybe God
used him to show us the difference between good and evil and to weed out those who choose
to follow Satan and those who would choose to follow God. This life is jus65t a training
ground for something better."
"Yes. The devil and his angels must go to Hell. That
is their destiny. Only man has the right to go there or not by his own choice. He says in
Scripture, which I have studied, that He lays before us life and death and tells us to
choose life, but it is still each of us who must choose. I think one of our jobs will be
to tell others to choose life. We will not be able to reveal all we know all at once. No
one would believe us. It must a little at a time so people will have a chance to
absorb it all. Even I have not had time to absorb it all and I have lived it. Oy, such a
responsibility we have!"
Laura gulped another swallow of coffee and studied the rest
of the films. "These Giza pyramids; they were built by Atlanteans, not the Egyptians!
They tried to copy them and couldn't, but they patterned their civilization on what they
found in them and the Sphinx. They used what they could understand. It would be like a
primitive trying to figure out the workings of one of our jet planes in this time.
"Will you be able to memorize what you've seen if I
read the words to you? We'll have to destroy it as soon as you do."
Jeremiah sighed heavily. "Not so primitive. Remember
they had fallen angels like Amun Ra to teach them what the evil one wanted them to know.
"It is too bad we must memorize and destroy, but I
understand why. I have already memorized a great deal of it, but there are a few
more pieces left. Keep working while we still have some light. I hope Dan and Phil come
back before dark. That wind is cold."
They both huddled over the transparencies, with Laura
deciphering words, until dark, then used their flashlights until they finished.
Laura gathered more wood to bank the fire while Jeremiah
added more padding to his now blood soaked bandage. He was careful not to let Laura see.
They crouched close to the fire to stay warm. A small glow of light could be seen at the
bottom of the boulder.
"I wonder if they're trying to dig their way
out." Laura shivered. "Do they still have those terrible weapons?"
"Dan and Phil took all the weapons. They have one of
those small machine guns with them and the other one is behind me. We are well armed in
case our prisoners escape, but I think it will take them a long time. The edges of that
are coated with a clear hard glass-like material. We must pray they do not have any
friends looking for them."
"They'll starve down there!" Laura cried.
"You feel great compassion for your
enemies." Jeremiah smiled. "That is what makes us different from them. Do
not worry, Miss Laura, they have radios. Dan smashed them, but I am sure they were in
contact with others before that happened. It is those 'others' we need to look out
for."
"Let's burn this film stuff before we're found."
The two of them dumped the contents of the box in the fire,
but it would not burn, Instead, it suffocated the fire, putting it out.
"Take that machine gun you were talking about,
Jeremiah, and shoot the stuff full of holes so it's unreadable.
Jeremiah lifted the weapon, stifling a groan as he did, and fired
several rounds into the pile of transparencies in the fire pit. The bullets bounced off.
"What'll we do?" Laura cried in frustration. She
scooped up the pieces and moved them out of the fire pit and built another fire. "We
could bury it, I suppose." Laura looked doubtfully at the pile of artifacts. Jeremiah
remained silent.
The wind had picked up, shrieking like a screaming woman as
it raced around the small valley picking up twigs and debris. A strong gust caught up the
transparencies and whirled them away into the dark with the twigs and dry leaves.
"That may be our only solution," Jeremiah said.
"God has blown it away with His mighty breath."
"Seems a perfect solution. People would kill for the
information contained in that stuff. It is buried in the shifting dust and sand and blown
into the rocks and crevasses of this canyon. It could be years before anyone finds
it." Laura gently closed the empty black box and placed it next to the boulder. She
could hear muffled screams and scratching sounds as she did so. "I hear them,
Jeremiah. I think it's a good thing for them to sweat a little, don't
you?...Jeremiah?"
Jeremiah had huddled in a ball near the fire and had
fallen asleep. Laura sighed and checked her pack for her warm cover made of thin material
so popular now, and tucked it over Jeremiah.She huddled close enough to pull one edge over
her, then rose and put more wood on the still smoldering embers. She lay down under some
overlapping cover and gazed dreamily at the stars until she fell asleep.
It seemed like only moments had passed when Jeremiah's
scream woke her.
"Oy!"
"What is it?"
"The ship! It is back!" Jeremiah pointed.
XXX
"You, OK, Phil? You're not usually so quiet." Dan
had been aware of an unfamiliar tension in Phil. Dan took a deep breath of the cold air.
The change in temperature had been sudden. The wind had picked up, howling like something
out of a spooky movie. It seemed like he had more insight since his trips to Atlantis with
its' oxygen rich air. His whole brain and body felt more aware of everything.
And his spirit, God was working on that. His thoughts
turned to Betty and Dave. take care of them for me, Lord...and help us to find a way out
of here.
"I thought I had the problems with my bad temper under
control. I wanted to kill that guy!"
"Well, welcome to the human race. Who could blame you
anyway? He tried to kill you and the woman you love. I'd be the same way if it were Betty
or Dave. I usually swing first and ask questions later." Dan grinned.
"Yes, I do love her, but that doesn't excuse the
rage."
"You expect too much of yourself. God knows who you
are. He'll forgive you. You just need to forgive yourself."
They continued on in silence as the wind howled and the
darkness deepened. They took out their flashlights and searched the canyon walls for a
break in the wall, a tunnel, a path, anything, leading out.
"You know, this must be a box canyon or something.
We're surrounded, on all sides, by mountains of rock that go straight up. I wonder if
anyone even knows this canyon is here. I don't remember seeing it on the map. Think we
should separate to speed things up?" Dan shone his flashlight on Phil's face as he
waited for an answer.
"No." Phil gazed around him intently.
"This canyon is small. We should be able to travel around it in a short time. When we
find a way out, we'd just waste time trying to find each other."
"think there's a chance there could be a cave or a
tunnel?" Dan walked to the canyon wall, shoving aside bushes and rocks for a closer
look at the wall's surface.
"They were here. Perhaps they made tunnels if there
wasn't a natural one. They loved to build things."
Dan laughed. "They were like ants when it came to
work, building and tunneling, all right. Wonder how they ended up."
"Remember the meteor Salamas pointed out to us? And
remember what we read in the book Adonix wrote?"
"Oh, yeah. But, what about the civilization before
Noah's flood?"
"I have some ideas about that and some Scriptures to
back it up. Maybe we'll find more answers before we're done."
Startled, they looked up as they heard the thud of
something hitting the ground. Shining their flashlights in the direction of the sound,
they discovered a half eaten carcass. They shone their flashlights up the nearest canyon
side, right into the snarling face of a mountain lion. His eyes glowed in the light.
"What is he standing on?" Dan's voice echoed off
the canyon walls.
The cat turned tail and disappeared at the sound. They
continued to search with their flashlights, the area they last saw the cat, about ten feet
up from where they stood.
"You see any handholds so we can get up there?"
Dan reached up, using touch to search for what he could not see with his eyes. He felt a
small ledge at eye level. "There's something here, Phil. Give me a boost."
Phil boosted him up slowly, as Dan felt for other
handholds. A series of ledges were arranged in stairs to where the mountain lion had
disappeared. "Why can't we see this?" Dan wondered out loud.
"Maybe it's been camouflaged somehow, but by
who?" Phil watched as Dan continued up until he stood at the same place the cat had
been.
"Get up here! There's a cave.You can't see the
entrance, but you can feel it. Cats use their nose more than their eyesight. That's
probably how he found it."
With Dan's help, Phil joined him at the cave entrance. They
strode forward. As they stepped on the cave floor a soft glow surrounded them.
"Just like in the hole," Dan said. "Wonder
where that cat went."
"If it goes all the way through, he's probably on the
other side. God used him to show us the way out. He used ravens to feed Elijah. Why not
use a cat to show us a way out of here?" Phil quickened his pace to catch up with
Dan.
The tunnel narrowed, forcing them to walk single file. The
temperature rose. So did the tunnel. Exertion and sweat dripping in his eyes caused Phil
to stop and mop his face. The ceiling began lowering. Soon the men had to duck their heads
to keep going. Then off to the right, the tunnel expanded into a large room filled with
artifacts.
Dan's eyes widened. "Look at this stuff! That chair!
It looks like it's made of ruby or something. It has control panels on it made of jewels
and there's a jeweled control panel in front of it as well. Wonder what all the TV screens
are for."
Before Phil could object, Dan sat in the chair and started
pushing buttons. The TV screens came on. Dan's eyes went blank.
"Dan, you OK? You don't look right." Phil reached
forward and pulled Dan out of the chair.
Dan's eyes regained their focus. "Wow! Something
pulled me right into those pictures, kind of like virtual reality. The symbols are in
Atlantean and all the stuff lying around has Atlantean words. Maybe we'd better read them
before pushing any buttons again." He gave Phil a sheepish glance.
"I don't think I like the idea of virtual reality.
Let's read first like you said."
They both read the instruments on the control panel. Dan
sat back in the ruby chair while Phil searched the words in the equipment around the
cavern.
"We have to remember what we came for," Phil said.
"Laura and Jeremiah are counting on us. We can look this stuff over in more detail
when they're with us."
Dan nodded. "Let's go. I think the entrance on the
other side is just a few feet away."
"How do you know?"
"Don't ask. Let's just go." Dan smiled as he
hurried the rest of the way through.
As he had said, the exit lay just a few feet away. They
edged through the opening, then looked behind them. This side was camouflaged as well.
They found themselves on level ground just a short distance from where they began their
trek down the cliff face.
"We could have saved ourselves all that agony if only
we had known." Dan snorted then laughed. "But how could anyone know? What a
perfect cover!
"Let's go get Jeremiah and Laura."
XXX
Dan and Phil arrived at the camp just as the ship appeared.
They threw themselves to the ground and prayed. Phil began quoting the 91st Psalm. They
heard Jeremiah's cry as he saw the ship.
A blue beam of light lit up the canyon, focusing on them at
first then moving away toward the big boulder. The beam narrowed on the black box. The box
disappeared. The beam went off and the ship shot out of sight.
"They got the box!" Dan's voice boomed in the
sudden quiet.
Jeremiah took a deep breath and shouted over the wind.
"The box is empty. When they find out, they will be back. Oy, God, have mercy. We
must get out of here!"
"We've found a way out," Dan said. "It's not
far. We have to hurry. Jeremiah, you come with me. Phil can help Laura."
They all moved as quickly as possible with Jeremiah's
pain taking his breath away when they moved too fast. Finally, Dan picked him up and
carried him the rest of the way. Once safely inside the cave entrance out of the cold
wind, they rested. It was not a moment too soon.
Outside a searchlight flared to life and began sweeping
back and forth across the canyon floor. The thundering sound of helicopters competed with
the sound of the roaring wind.
Phil grimaced. "Those guys must really be determined
to find us, to risk flying in this wind."
"Was there ever any doubt of that? Maybe we should get
going." Laura held her aching arm as Dan assisted Jeremiah to his feet. She sighed in
resignation. "I don't think they're the kind who will ever give up."
Phil led the way with Laura close behind him as the tunnel
narrowed. Dan had his arm around Jeremiah to steady him. The upward climb had Jeremiah
moaning with pain. His side began bleeding again.
Dan smiled reassuringly. "Just a little farther and
we'll be in the big room where you can rest." His smile broadened to a grin.
"And wait until you see what's in that room!"
To Jeremiah the 'little farther' seemed to take forever.
Dan could not pick him up in the narrow tunnel.
When they arrived in the room, Dan pointed to the ruby
chair. "Sit there, Jeremiah. It's part of the control panel in front of it. It's
apparently what's left of a ship that crashed." He gently placed Jeremiah in the
chair and pointed to a button.
Jeremiah's eyes scanned the panel and I beams. "I
cannot read it. What does it say, Dan?"
Dan did not answer; just pushed a button.
"Oyyyyyy!" Jeremiahs's eyes went blank.
"We'd better get him out. It could be too much for
him," Phil said with concern. "He needs to rest."
Dan held Phil back and shook his head. "Leave him
there just a little longer."
Laura giggled as she watched the expression on Jeremiah's
face. "Looks like he's having fun. He's smiling!"
, But suddenly the smile turned to the twisted grimace of someone
in terrible pain.
Dan pulled him out of the chair. "What is it? Is your
side bleeding again." He placed him carefully on a smooth part of the floor.
Jeremiah regained his focus. He smiled up at them.
"This is the chair the film stuff in the black box talked about, but it did not tell
everything."
Laura said, "Jeremiah memorized the contents of the
black box before it all blew away. We tried to destroy it. It wouldn't burn. Bullets
bounced off of it. It's hidden in the cracks and crevasses of the canyon now."
"You were smiling for a while, then you looked like
you were in pain." Phil eyed Jeremiah with concern.
He examined Jeremiah's side. the wound was still bleeding.
Laura handed Phil a clean dressing and Phil dressed the wound while Jeremiah directed Dan
to push a certain button to turn on the TV screens and memory banks. Many pictures looked
similar to a few things in the black box, but were incomplete. The propulsion system
instructions and ship construction diagrams were missing along with the map of the world
as it had been, showing the location of all the time markers.
They all watched in fascination as the pictures on the
screens progressed from schematics to views of wars and terrible destruction. It showed
the grays as part of a vast invasion force. Lucifer and his angels appeared, organizing
vast armies all over the galaxy.
Phil said, "The beings we call the grays; they were
part of an invasion force led by Lucifer and his angels against Heaven when Lucifer tried
to take over the rule of the universe from the Most High. See all the different races from
other planets? I'm guessing the greatest number came from Earth. It was a war so vast. Who
could ever imagine?"
"The weapon. Look at the weapon," Jeremiah
whispered weakly.
The pictures continued showing angels assisting Atlanteans,
grays, reptilians and others in constructing a weapon. It operated by pushing a button.
They experimented with the effects of the weapon on the population of a large city of an
unknown planet. There was no warning and nothing to see. The people just vanished.
They all gasped. Phil paled. "My God! I wonder if they
still have that weapon. No wonder no one has ever found proof of a civilization here
before Adam in fossil records. There wouldn't be any bones to find."
"What about it Jeremiah? Did you see anything about it
while sitting in the ruby chair? Jeremiah...?" Laura touched his cold, white face.
She felt for a pulse. "Nooooooo! Jeremiah!"
Dan lifted him gently. The large pool of blood had been
hidden by his body. "He must have bled out all the blood he had while we were talking
our heads off," he said bitterly.
"It can't end like this. It just can't. Laura wept
uncontrollably. The others sat in stunned silence.
Chapter 24
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