“God doesn’t believe in me,” Dane growled. How could any of them understand?
“Man, my mama would take a switch to you if she heard you talking like that,” Willis said, his arms folded across his chest. He stared disapprovingly at Dane.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said. His voice sounded like winter in his own ears. The others must have heard it in much the same way, because they turned away from him. Only Kaylin was not willing to change the subject.
“How about you, Dr. Sowell?” she asked the scientist. “Do you believe in God?”
The professor cleared his throat and looked down at his feet.
“I’ll admit that the universe does show some signs of some sort of, shall we say, intelligent design, but beyond that, I haven’t completely decided where I stand.”
“Bones?” Kaylin turned to the big man. “How about you? What do you think?”
“I believe in Him, but considering the way I’ve lived my life, I kind of hope I’m wrong.” He chuckled and elbowed Corey. “Ask Star Wars boy here what he thinks.”
“The Darwin fish on my car speaks for itself,” the computer specialist said.
“How can you be sayin’ that?” Willis asked. “You could have been killed when those guys attacked the boat. You should have been killed, but you got out of it. Don’t you think someone was looking out for you?”
“Yes,” Corey said. “You were looking out for us.”
“I shouldn’t have been able to do what I did. Everything went my way. And the whole time I was praying, ‘Don’t let the others hear. Don’t let me make a mistake. Don’t let my friends get killed.’ And they didn’t, and I didn’t, and you didn’t. That’s pretty amazing to me.”
“So God gave you the power to kill those guys?” Matt asked. “I didn’t think that was something Jesus approved of.”
“I don’t know how it all works,” Willis said. “I know that if I didn’t believe someone was looking out for me, it never would have happened. I know that everything went our way, even though it probably shouldn’t have. And those were bad men, so don’t go thinking I feel bad about any of it. I don’t!”
Dane did not want to hear any more. He knew for a fact that God did not intervene to help good people, but he was not going to talk about it. Something else had captured his attention.
He held the sword up to the light, and looked closely. Sure enough, there it was. Strange, alien characters were etched into the metal. They seemed to flow together in a regular, but ornate script. Something about them made goosebumps rise on his flesh. The words seemed powerful…and sinister. The others needed to see this.
“If I could interrupt the theological debate,” he said, his voice hoarse. He turned the flat of the sword blade out for them to see, “maybe the answer is in the writing etched into the blade.”
CHAPTER 18
So, what have we learned about Goliath?” Bones tossed a folder on the table, pulled up a chair, and produced a can of Diet Coke with lime from the pocket of his leather jacket. He popped it open and took a swig.
“You might know what we’ve learned if you helped us,” Kaylin grumbled, looking askance at him.
“I’m hurt,” Bones answered, clutching his chest and twisting his face in mock-anguish.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m just stressed out.” She took a sip of coffee and grimaced. “Ugh, who made this?”
“I like it strong,” Dane said. He turned to Bones. “What’s up with you?”
“I’m celebrating,” Bones said. “Ask me why.” His eyes twinkled as he spoke.
Dane was still in a bad mood after the religious discussion of the previous day. He knew that he shouldn’t be angry at the others. The problem was his own. Nonetheless, he wasn’t in the mood to bandy words with his friend.
“Why?” Kaylin asked, her voice tinged with annoyance.
“Because I found a connection between the notes in Rienzi’s bible, and the tall man.” The brightness of his smile made Dane’s headache worse.
Dane waited for Bones to continue, but to no avail. “Bones, if you’re going to make us ask you a question after every sentence you utter, this is going to take forever.” He tossed the printed e-mails he had been reading onto the table and squeezed his head between his hands. The pressure relieved some of the throbbing.
“Fine, ruin my fun, why don’t you?” Bones pulled his feet off of the table, sat up straight, and took another drink before continuing. “I was doing a little research this morning, and came across a website that claims that the story of David and Goliath is a fable inspired by the stars. Specifically, David is the constellation Bootes, the sling is Corona Borealis, and Goliath, drum roll please…” He began drumming on the table with his palms. “…is Orion.” He sat back, folded his hands behind his head, and waited for their reply.
“But we know that Goliath is real,” Kaylin protested. “So how does that help us?”
“Think about Rienzi’s bible,” Bones said. “Remember the stick figure drawn in the margin next to the David and Goliath story? Did it remind you of anything?”
“Orion,” Dane said. How had he not recognized so familiar a constellation? “You’re right. That’s what the drawing is. I should have recognized it.”
“So Rienzi knew about this idea that the constellations inspired the story,” Kaylin said, her voice bland. “I’m sorry, but I still don’t see how this is helpful.” She paused, waiting for an explanation.
“Think about it this way,” Bones said. “Rienzi, at least in his mind, knew that Goliath was a historical figure. After all, he had the sword to prove it. So he must have seen some other connection between Goliath and Orion.”
“Like what?” Dane feared this was one of Bones’ fancies. “Wait a minute. Maybe I don’t want to know.” He held up his hands as if warding off an attack.
“Like little green men.” Bones rolled his eyes and waggled his fingers as he spoke.
Kaylin buried her head in her arms and groaned.
“Bones, if you had any idea how hard I’ve worked at doing real research, you would never come to me with this ridiculous idea.”
“Why is it ridiculous?” Bones propped his elbows on the table and fixed her with a blank stare.
Dane knew his friend well enough to know that Bones was being serious. At least, as serious as he ever got.
“Come on,” Kaylin said, looking up at him. “You expect me to believe that Goliath was a space man?”
“Not a space man,” Bones said. “But he was a descendant of an alien race.”
Kaylin chuckled and shook her head. She was not accepting the idea at all.
“Let’s hear him out,” Dane said. He wasn’t quite sure why he wanted to hear what Bones had to say. It was, after all, pretty far-fetched. Perhaps it was because he knew it would get under Kaylin’s skin. Sort of a petty payback for last night.
“First of all,” Bones said. “Remember how Rienzi had marked the passage about the giants being on the earth, and mating with human women?”
“Yes,” Kaylin said in a voice that was part tired, part bored. “I remember.”
“I did some cross-referencing between my research and Rienzi’s notes,” Bones continued. “Did you realize he marked every scripture that referred to races of the Nephilim, or the ‘giants?’ He noted the Emim, who the Hebrews called ‘the terrible ones,’ the Rephaim, and the ‘stranglers,’ the Anakim.”
“All right. So the Hebrews came to a new land where some of the native tribes were bigger than they were, so they called them ‘giants’, and gave them scary names,” Kaylin said.
“The bible says that the Anakim were so big that the Hebrews were ‘as grasshoppers in our own sight,’ Bones argued. “That’s more than just bigger. And remember, these are the descendants of the Nephilim. They’ve been interbreeding with regular humans for generations.”