“They think you’re a descendent of an ancient race known as Master Builders.”
“A what?”
Sam met his eye. He paused and expelled a deep breath, as though not really sure how much to say or even where to begin. “Have you ever wondered how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids?”
“No.”
“Really?” Sam looked at him through raised eyebrows. His face painted with incredulity.
Ben shrugged his broad shoulders. “I’ve never really had any interest in all that archeology stuff. I’m more a present time kind of guy. Let the past be the past.”
Sam opened his mouth, ready to put up an argument about the importance of learning from the past, and then closed it again. He swung the helicopter around an 18-wheeler truck with a deft movement of the cyclic collective to the right, before straightening up again.
Ben felt his heart thumping away in his chest. “What about the pyramids?”
“Have you ever been to Egypt and stood at the base of the Pyramid of Giza?”
“No, but I went to school. I’ve seen photos.”
Sam scrunched his face as though the comment physically hurt him. “It’s not the same.”
Ben didn’t miss a beat. “What about the pyramids?”
“Do you honestly think a four-thousand-year old civilization could have built something like that using technologies that predated the invention of the wheel?”
Ben shrugged. “I haven’t given it a thought at all.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Sam asked. “Every kid in the world who’s seen a photo of the Great Pyramid has asked the question — how on Earth did they build it?”
“Yeah, well not me. Like I said, let the past be in the past.”
Sam started, “Just imagine…”
“I get the idea. The pyramids are big. I’ve heard all the stories before. It’s an amazing feat, but somehow, they managed it.”
“No, you don’t get the idea!” Sam said, without breaking stride. “The Great Pyramid consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks which most believe to have been transported from nearby quarries. The Tura limestone used for the casing was quarried across the river. The largest granite stones in the pyramid, found in the King's chamber weighed between 50 and 80 tons and were transported from Aswan, more than 500 miles away. It is estimated that 5.5 million tons of limestone, 8,000 tons of granite, and 500,000 tons of mortar were used in the construction of the Great Pyramid.”
“Okay, so they’re really big!”
Sam continued. “The tombs are aligned north-south with an accuracy of up to 0.05 degrees. Today, you could align a building north-south by pointing the sides towards the pole star, which sits roughly at true north. The mortar used is stronger than the stone used to build the pyramid and is still in place today. Despite modern science, no one has been able to reverse engineer the mortar.”
“So,” Sam concluded, “now do you want to throw a guess at how the ancient Egyptians achieved such an extraordinary feat?”
“Didn’t the guards have really big whips or something?”
“Actually,” Sam intervened. “Archeological evidence suggests the ancient Egyptians used skilled laborers, paid for their service, and not slaves.”
Ben shrugged. “Okay, what’s this got to do with the FBI trying to take my life away?”
Sam continued without breaking stride. “Have you ever wondered if we could build the same structure using modern technologies?”
“No. But I assume we could.”
“The answer is we’re still not capable of it. Each of those blocks weighs as much as 15 tons. To place one at the top of the 481-foot pyramid would be impossible. Yet, each block is so perfectly positioned that not even a hair could be slid through it.”
“Okay, so how did they do it?”
“They didn’t.”
“Who did then?”
“The Master Builders.”
“What, like aliens?” Ben laughed, and then noticing Sam was serious, said, “Okay, so how did they do it?”
“No one knows, but if a civilization that lived more than 4000 years ago had technologies superior to ours today, we want to know about it. And if their knowledge is still out there, then the U.S. military perceives that as a threat.”
Ben opened his mouth to speak, closed his eyes and shook his head in dismissal. “They think I’m an ancient engineer?”
“That’s my guess.”
“And they’re afraid of my potential engineering ability because they’re worried I might make a weapon that will kill everyone?”
Sam nodded. “It’s just a guess.”
“I don’t even like science and math, let alone engineering. And as for building a weapon that’s capable of being a threat to the US, I don’t even own a gun.” Ben gripped the Glock in his hand and folded his hands across his lap. “Except this one, but I assure you my ownership will be short lived. I’ll get rid of it as soon as I get out of this mess.”
Sam let those words sit in silence for a while.
The helicopter raced by for a few more minutes in silence before Ben broke it.
He asked, “Why do they think I’m a Master Builder?”
Sam said, “For starters, you have purple eyes.”
“So did Elizabeth Taylor, but I don’t see anyone locking her up for life.”
“You had bloods taken.”
“And what did they show?”
“I have no idea. Maybe there’s a genetic trait. An ancient marker.”
“So they think I share DNA with ancient engineers,” Ben asked through narrowed eyes. “I hated science at school and struggled with math. I mean I got it, but it didn’t come naturally to me either.”
Sam took the helicopter up a notch to clear a bridge, before quickly descending again. “Not everything’s genetic, I guess. How were the rest of your grades?”
Ben had been at the top of every educational institution he’d ever been part of. “I did okay.”
Sam lifted his eyebrows. “So some things were passed down.”
Ben nodded his agreement. “Maybe. The rest of it makes sense.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. The questions they were asking at the Pentagon make more sense now.”
Sam grinned. “What sort of questions?”
“Had I ever been sick, more than a sniffle? Had I ever been seriously injured? How was my memory? Did I have to work hard to memorize facts and figures?”
Sam added, “Why are your eyes violet?”
Ben’s lips curled into a half-smile. “Yeah. They did ask that. At the time I thought they were just trying to irritate me, you know, get under my skin, but there’s a connection, isn’t there?”
“Eye color seems to be a dominant gene in Master Builders. Not that we have a lot of living ones to go off.”
“That’s good to know,” Ben said. “So they’re taking this little bit of nothing and turning it into a witch hunt.”
“Yes. But we’re running out of time. People are starting to panic.”
Ben’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Some believe the descendants of the Master Builders are working toward a coordinated attack on governments around the world.”
“World War III?”
“No,” Sam replied, shaking his head. “Think of it as more of an insurrection. Master Builders will infiltrate all levels of government in countries around the world.”
“For what purpose?”
“We don’t know that either. But it’s a frightening thought, isn’t it? A group of highly intelligent people, capable of dominating entire civilizations thousands of years ago. What could they achieve once they gained control of modern government?”
“Yeah, that’s a scary thought.” Ben grimaced. “So it’s to be guilt by ancient DNA.”
“Looks like it. Either that, or this has nothing to do with Master Builders and you really are a terrorist planning a deadly attack.”