When Science Become Magic
Life changes in a heartbeat and usually when least expected. My life back then was the kind of blur you feel upon waking up the morning after. I was following my dream to see the world and the only analogy is the old movie "If This Is Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium". I knew this was India and I was heading west but had no idea where I was and really didn't care because overload happened sometime about 10 day ago.
The road sign said Dwarka. I remembered it was on the west coast of India. I walked across town until I reached the beach and just jumped in. All I knew or cared about was that I was really hot and the thought of a refreshing swim in the ocean was Heaven, but first, I needed to find the local Hostel.
After asking around, I around found a lady that knew where the hostel was located and gave me precise directions. The hostel was located within a rather weather beaten three story building. Once inside the building, I was surprised to see how clean and well-kept it was.
At the Hostel, I met a couple my age that said they were leaving tomorrow to visit a temple they heard about in Mevasa. Based on the introductions, his name was John Kinzey and her name is Joanna Thompson from the Melbourne Australian area. Their accent was more like Crocodile Dundee but they were both pleasant with an average verging on good looking type of appearance. Interesting enough they seemed like they should be together.
The temple looked very old but wasn't very interesting to me; however, the low broad hill behind it looked compelling for some reason. It was more like a low relief mound than a hill and appeared to be a favorite hiking spot, so I bid John and Joana fair-well, walked around the temple and began the trek up the hill.
I reached the top; decided not to take any of the well-worn pathways and took a 90 degree turn without even thinking about it. The soil was beginning to feel like I was walking on a surface that gave a little when I put my weight on it, but assumed it was normal for a mound that had been so thoroughly hiked by what was likely many thousands of hikers.
I continued to walk feeling the ground bounce a little more with each step. Thinking this isn't right and took a step to turn around when crack! I woke up and I don't know how long I had laid there. It looked like I apparently had fallen about 30 feet through a hole that was about 2 to 3 feet in diameter. I had a raging headache. My backpack and fanny packs seemed to be in relatively fair condition. The backpack contained all of my essentials which included a LED flashlight some extra batteries, water, tylenol, some snacks, Swiss Army knife, sleeping bag, clothes, towels and other odds and ends.
The water and the tylenol seemed like a good idea, so I pulled a couple of pills out of the bottle and popped them in my mouth and took a swig of water swallowing the med. After those needs were satisfied, I began to survey my situation. It didn't look good. There was no way to climb out and it appeared that I was in a dark tunnel. The tunnel was about 12 feet wide, 25 feet high, with a very thick layer of dust on a rather flat the floor strewn with rock and dirt from my fall. After my eyes adjusted, I Looked up at the ceiling and noted that it was ornately arched. The tunnel led off to my right and left. There was a curious somewhat cross - cultural artwork on the wall across from me. These were not drawings but real paintings and carvings that reminded me of the Renaissance painting realism style and primitive carvings. The carvings and to a lesser degree the paintings had definite cultural biases to the very ornate ancient Indian style art. The disturbing fact was that the artwork had a definite feel of extreme age and felt like no one had walked this tunnel in at least a thousand years.
My headache was easing as the medicine took effect and as I studied the art. The picture showed elaborately dressed people and machines that were reminiscent of things seen in a mobile mechanized society including flying machines with a propulsion method that wasn't readily apparent. If this tunnel didn't feel so damn old and dusty, I would have thought it was some sci-fi's vision of the future with an ancient Indian flavor. Since going up through the hole I fell through wasn't an option, I rummaged through my backpack, pulled out my flashlight and turned it on.
After looking both directions down the tunnel, it seemed the tunnel was widening a bit to the left and the sculptures were increasing in detail and seem to glitter with a golden tinge, so I decided to go left. The artwork was so fascinating, that I forgot how dangerous the situation I had gotten myself into was. As I continued, I could hear running water and soon came to a basin made of solid high-grade gneiss with a quarter-inch gold layer on the upper exposed surface. At first I thought it was shiny brass, but there was no tarnish. The basin was nearly full of clear water with a bit of sediment on the bottom. The water appeared to be spring fed from the right wall. The basin was notched on one side that allowed the water to flow out into a channel that crossed the tunnel. Further evidence of extreme age was indicted by how much the notch had eroded down from the continuous water flow. There was a stone bridge with gold inlay and gold handrails that were well worn, giving the appearance of long-time.
At the end of the tunnel, I could see delicately balanced and polished gniess double doors with gold and red, green, blue, and bright green gemstone inlays in elaborate designs. I looked around the door with skepticism, not knowing if it was booby-trapped. After I was relatively sure there wasn't a trap, I stood to the side so I could jump out of the way if necessary and pushed. The door swung inward so easily, I had to restudy the door to verify that it was indeed made of a hard, dense, and heavy stone. Once through, I was looking into a large oval room with more statues and large frescos that seemed to tell the history of a civilization right up to when it fell.
In the center of the apex at the far side of the oval room it appeared that some items were stored on a stone table. As I walked toward the table it seemed to be out of place because it was just a plain polished stone fossiliferous limestone table. At the back of the table were a number of staffs standing up within holes cut into the table. One hole at the back of the table contained what appeared to be a brushed stainless-steel 5.5 to 6-foot long shaft that contained five 8-inch long crystalline colored gems cut precisely and angled to fit into the staff seamlessly about three quarter of the way up. The gems were set within a stainless-steel mesh. The gems were clear, blue, red, brown, and a green grading to a pink gem. All of the staffs looked like they could be used easily be mistaken for walking staffs.
In front of this staff, are five additional holes that held four similar staffs; however, these staffs appeared to be approximately 4.5 feet tall and exhibited a 5-inch long single colored crystalline gem. The gems represented by the four staffs were clear, blue, red, green grading to a pink. It was obvious that the staff with the brown gem was missing. With the amount of dust on the table, it had to have been gone either at the time the others had been placed in the holes or soon after. In front of the staffs were six ring holders that held six similar colored transparent gem-like rings with gold inlay in a crosshatch type pattern. In front of the rings was a heavy gold chain containing an onyx crystalline looking medallion with a Celtic-like design on the front and back.
I picked up the medallion, dusted it off and put it on. I immediately felt a weird but not unpleasant sensation that quickly dissipated and dismissed it as anxiety of what I had found. All of the rings found their way into my back-pack except for the brown one which fit like a glove on my right ring finger.
The murals to my right caught my attention. It provided a visual representation of what the staffs, rings, and the medallion were capable of doing. I was in disbelief at what was being shown. These items were definitely manufactured by a science that was far beyond anything that existed on Earth. It was so far advanced that it appeared to be capable of magic. The murals within the room seemed to hint they were manufactured by a civilization apparently not of this Earth. On the back wall away from where I had entered the room, a map was painted onto the wall. It depicted an Earth with large glaciers and land areas. The land areas were hard to recognize at first, until I realized I was looking at land areas that have been covered by water for the last 10,000 to 12,000 or more years. There were even a couple of cities depicted at various location around the world, nearly all of them located on the coastal land that is now covered by 100s of feet of ocean include one not far from here.
By this time, my hair was standing up along the nape of my neck, my mouth was getting dry, and I was breathing heavily. "Holy Shit!", I whispered, still not sure if my voice could initiate some long waiting nightmare patiently sitting unseen in one of the dark corners or behind some wall.
According to the one mural, the larger staff appears to be capable of controlling very large amounts of stone, weather and energy, water and ice, fire, plants and animals, and healing. The missing brown staff could control stone and metal, the red staff controls heat and fire, the blue staff controls water and ice, and the clear staff controls air and weather, and finally the green grading into pink staff can heal wounds, cure sickness, and controls plant growth and animal behavior (life in general). The colored rings also control the same things, but to a much lesser degree. "Do they still work?" I said out loud. Incredulously, I surprised myself with the sentence that reverberated off of the distant walls and seemed to come from nowhere.
The medallion is another matter. It appears to allow the wearer to control the staffs and is capable of creating a force field that can protect the wearer from almost anything. The mural seemed to hint at the potential that the medallion also provided the ability to give others the ability to use at least one of the staffs or rings.
I brushed off the dust from the table and laid a beach towel on it. I then took out the all the staffs and wrapped them tightly into the towel by folding it to create a quiver like item that had a bottom so they wouldn't fall out. I used one of my long-sleeve shirts to tie it together and so I could sling it over my neck and shoulder. When I took hold of the large staff, the medallion painlessly sunk deep within my chest, scaring the hell out of me.
After about a ½ hour of taking my shirt off and looking for the medallion, I gave up when there seemed to be no after or ill effects. Apprehensively, I put my shirt back on.
As I continued interpreting the murals, the one at the end did not have the quality of the others and seemed to be hastily painted. It showed a figure making off with the brown staff. It was apparently stolen just prior to being placed in the holes within the table. This staff is capable of moving and shaping stones, finding, withdrawing, and shaping metals from the ground. Based on the picture it can move stones weighing many hundreds of tons. All of items are controlled by thought.
Being an amateur archeologist, the missing staff may be able to explain the development of huge ancient stone structures. If the missing staff could manipulate stone like the mural indicated, I wonder if it would it be possible to trace it's movement from prehistoric India though the pre-Middle East into prehistoric France and then into the hands of the precursors to the Celts within the English / Irish Isles by dating the construction sites and maybe it may even have made it to the tightly fitted stone structures in Peru.
Damn, I thought, I need to photograph all of this! The camera was one of those low cost small 12 megapixel zoom cameras. I photographed everything especially the murals in as great detail as possible for later study just in case.
Using my knife, I pried a number of relatively small pieces of gold from the walls and door to finance my quick trip back to the States. I chuckled to myself that one or two pounds would suffice and put them in the backpack.
Then I remembered, I had no way to get out of the tunnel and it was getting late and the flashlight batteries were giving out. I have plenty of water, which was in the trench drain and cistern, and the food could last maybe 2 or 3 day, if I ate sparingly. So apparently, there was no immediate danger that I could see. I made it back to where I fell through the ceiling. There was light shining in through the small hole, albeit, it was fading fast. Walking was becoming difficult as the flashlight began to give up the ghost. Luckily, I had a spare set of batteries for when it got really dark.
After reaching the hole, I looked up and could see the stars coming out and the twilight fading slowly to black. I sat down with my back to the wall and replaced the batteries in the flashlight while I could still see, but kept it off to save them for when needed. I sat there in silence, which was nearly overwhelming and looked at the stars through the hole. The more I sat there, the stars faded from my sight as clouds began to obscure the view. My thoughts turned to all that transpired during the day, what I had seen, and the objects I now carried.
I held my hand with the brown ring on it up to my face. By now it was so dark I could barely see my hand, let alone the ring. I brought the other hand up to touch it. It felt warm almost as if it was generating it's own warmth. Nahh… I'm probably just imagining it.
What if all the murals were nothing more than paintings depicting their superstitions and/or religious beliefs? The fact that the objects were meticulously crafted of material that could not have existed over 12,000 years ago is the quandary. I wanted to believe that each item was capable of doing what was shown on the murals. BUT…The million dollar question is….are they still capable of doing anything but just sitting there? The power source, if there was one, has to be depleted by now. Well at least any kind of power storage system that I know about. Could it be solar or some type of thermal peltier type system? How do you control them?
I was absently twisting the ring back and forth on my finger. How the hell is this thing supposed to control stone, how? If I could control stone, I could use it to make steps so I could literally walk out of here. These thoughts kept going round and round in my head, until I got so sleepy, I laid my head onto the backpack and fell asleep.
My sleep was disturbing and consisted of rocks flying around and landing on each other creating weird shapes. Next thing I know, the light is shining through the hole and woke me up. I groggily looked around and "Jeeze, What the fuck!" as I literally jumped up before my body was ready for it. In front of me was a stone ramp with groves parallel to the floor leading up through the hole in the ceiling. I began to walk around it and Oh my god! My muscles let me know with a vengeance as the cramps hit me from moving too quickly when I woke up. They let me know, in no uncertain terms, that they did not like waking and getting up like that without some preparation!
Rather than question a good thing, I climbed up the ramp and out of the hole! The way the ramp came up, the hole could not be seen even a few feet from it. I didn't want anyone tripping into it or stripping it of the beautifully crafted treasures that waited at least 10,000 years to be discovered, like I just did. With this thought, I felt a bit guilty, after all, I had about 2 pounds of gold chunks in my back pack, the five staffs, six rings, and the medallion that I had taken with me.
After getting over the temporary feeling of guilt, I concentrated on the ring repairing the ceiling structure that had collapsed. Obviously, nothing happen by concentrating. I tried to pull-up the emotions I would feel if this archeological site was destroyed by greedy people robbing the treasures before the site could be investigated. That didn't work.
I was about to give up when I pictured in my mind how the ceiling had to be repaired with no urgency. I heard some rumbling and the hole disappeared. I then visualized the rock in the ceiling fusing together into one solid piece of super strong rock. It somehow seemed to be the most natural thing to occur.
I walked around where the hole used to exist and even tentatively stepped on it. I was satisfied that the buried tunnel could not be seen and adequately sealed. I put my backpack on and then threw the "quiver" with the staffs over my shoulder and headed down off the mound. It didn't take me long to get to road, I put my thumb out and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, I was able to hitch a ride into back into Dwarka. After asking a number of people on the street, I found someone who speaks English and also knew the city. They kindly directed me to specific shop, where I cashed in about 10 troy ounces of gold at a about a 40% discount, because it didn't have 24K stamped into it or some other identifier. Still, I had about $8,000, which should be enough to get me back to the States.
While in Dwarka, I purchase an airline ticket from Mumbie to Denver via Hawaii and San Francisco that would leave in two days. I also made reservations at a nice hotel near the airport, so I could get rested and cleaned up. I also wanted to investigate the most efficient way to get the items to work and to develop a story to get all these things through customs.
The drive to Mumbie was relatively uneventful except for the insane city drivers. Once at the hotel, I dropped the car off and checked in. My clothes were a mess, so I put another ring on, and then hid the four staffs and remaining rings at the back of the closet behind my backpack. I then went down to the hotel store and bought some new clothes for the trip. The concierge directed me to a place where I could sell some gold "jewelry". I walked down to the "buy gold" place and sold another 4 ounces to take with me. I also asked and paid for a number of receipts, purchased a sealable packing tube for the staffs, and picked up ten small shipping boxes and went back to the hotel room. Everything was as I left it.
I placed 3 ounces of the remaining gold into each of the boxes and included a receipt for the gold in each box and shipped them home. The staffs were identified as walking canes that I had purchased for friends and I carried the crystal rings in the carry-on with me on the plane.
After that, I just relaxed until I had to leave for the airport. I caught a taxi to the airport, picked up my ticket and stood in the line for customs. Three of the staffs were packed in the tube packing container, the rings were in my carry-on bag, I was wearing the multicolor ring, and carrying the multicolored larger staff as a walking stick. Customs was a breeze and soon I was on the plane back to familiar territory.
About half way to Hawaii, the intercom came to life indicating we would be heading into some storms and it could get bumpy and you should keep your seat belts on. About 5 minutes later, it got so bumpy that the overhead bins were flying open and bags were flying everywhere. People were screaming and getting hurt. Some of the worst hurt passengers were bleeding badly. Then one of the engines flamed out with a tremendous roar and the plane began losing altitude. I was as emotionally shaken and scared by what was happening as everyone else. After about 10 minutes, I realize, I an sitting here with the "sci-gic" staffs. Why I thought of them as sci-gic staffs, I have no idea, but it stuck in my mind.
I calmed myself, gripped the clear staff and visualized the storm disappearing and the air becoming very quiet. Nothing happened at first, then the storm softened, the bumps stopped, and suddenly there was clear blue sky! The plane was still losing altitude slowly. I didn't know what I could do to help the engine, but I unconsciously thought of the brown ring and reached into the carry-on and slipped all the rings on; then visualized the engine parts reconstituting and working smoothly.
In the pilot's cabin, the engines warning lights went out. The pilot muttered "what the fuck!" and looked at the co-pilot, who just shrugged with a questioning look on his face.
"What the hell, try restarting the engine!", exclaimed the Pilot. They went through the check list, crossed their fingers and tried the restart. The engine started up immediately and smoothly gained power as they cautiously increased power. The airplane first leveled out and then began gaining altitude and was soon back on course at the appropriate altitude.
The stewards and stewardesses were attempting to treat the badly injured passengers and cleaning up the isles by packing the strewn bags and passenger items back into the overhead bins. However, it seemed that about 5% were in serious condition and 30% had various levels of injuries from mild to moderately severe.
I checked the rings on my fingers to see if the green to pink ring one was there, it was. I visualized all the passengers in serious condition and imagined them in stable condition. The green to pink ring suddenly felt warm; then pain felt eased, external and internal bleeding stopped, breathing eased, bones set, and circulation restored.
Silently, I thought in complete disbelief, "holy shit, it works!"
The Plane landed in Hawaii, where I had to go through customs before boarding the plane to Denver via San Francisco. The rest of the trip went along without a hitch.
From the Denver International Airport, I drove back to my home in Bailey, Colorado; a small town located west of Evergreen on route 285. I had a small place up in the mountains with a fantastic view, that I had inherited from my grandfather along with a really small fortune, which paid for galavanting around the world, well at least until I go to western India. I was bushed and needed sleep.
The next morning, I downloaded the photos I took at the ancient site. I copied the photos and then ran each copied photo through Photoshop to bring out as much detail as possible. Once I was satisfied with the result, the photos were printed out as large as possible.