‘How many others?’
‘I don’t know, one… a hundred… a thousand.’
‘A thousand more freaks like you running around? I doubt it.’
Jacob ignores the remark. ‘Eleven thousand years ago, the Guardian began an interbreeding program with ancient man. The Guardian is mankind’s missing link. In the process of mixing their DNA with ours, they created a sort of genetic time bomb, hoping that one of these Hunahpu would find his or her way to their starship in the year 2012. The Hunahpu would be able to use their genetic calling card to access the vessel and its weapons system, knowing the human race would need it on 4 Ahau, 3 Kankin, a date forecast in the Mayan calendar, equating to the winter solstice in 2012. Our biological father, Michael Gabriel, was Hunahpu. He wasn’t the only “chosen one,” he just happened to be the poor sap who managed to cross the finish line first.’
‘And thank God he did,’ Dominique adds. ‘Your father saved humanity.’
Immanuel shakes his head at his mother. ‘Still buying into all this, I see.’
Jacob sees the hurt in Dominique’s eyes. ‘Mother, Doc, I need to speak with Manny alone.’
Dr. Mohr nods, then leads Dominique inside, closing the patio door behind him.
‘That was rude, Manny.’
‘Look who’s calling the kettle black? Her heart bleeds for him, and you stomp on it every day.’
‘I didn’t bring you here to fight. There’s another Hunahpu out there like me. She’s the one I fear.’
Immanuel looks away.
Jacob’s eyes widen. ‘You’ve spoken with her?’
‘No.’
‘You’re lying.’
‘Maybe she spoke with me.’
‘Maybe?’
‘Look, I’ll stay out of the zone. I was planning on quitting football anyway.’
‘Manny, this is way beyond your football career. This is about you finally accepting who and what we really are.’
‘Here we go again.’
A violet tinge appears in Jacob’s eyes as he loses his temper. Grabbing an empty chair, he flings it over the balcony rail.
Manny’s eyes widen. ‘Well, well, what happened to Mister Transcendental Meditation?’
‘Immanuel, for once, would you please just shut your mouth and listen!’ Jacob closes his eyes and breathes, slowing his pulse, regaining his composure. ‘Have you ever experienced a deja vu, that strange feeling that you’ve lived through a particular scene or situation before.’
‘I know what a deja vu is.’
‘And what if you had lived through a particular moment before? What if the concepts of time and space are mere byproducts of our three-dimensional existence, which binds us… anchors us, if you will, to the physical world.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘There’s so much we don’t know about existence. What really happens when we die? Is there really an afterlife? Do we possess a soul? Does God exist? The answers to these questions are not available to us because they lie in another dimension, a realm of eternity where there is no concept of time, only pure life force… pure existence… hyperspace.
‘There’s a fundamental level of quantum existence all around us. Awareness of this energy field comes hard to most people. Certain individuals, Buddhist monks, for instance, can train their minds to look deep into the soul. You and I were born with this ability-an ability that others spend their entire lives hoping to achieve.’
‘Meaning what? You can see dead people?’
Jacob shakes his head. ‘Forget everything you think you know about life and death. Our physical bodies are nothing more than flesh-and-bone suits inhabited by the soul, which, in essence, is quantum energy. We may die physically, but spiritually our souls continue to exist. What separates you and me from the rest of humanity is that we have the genetic ability to move back and forth within the nexus, both physically and mentally, without having to die.’
‘I don’t understand?’
‘The nexus is an existence that bridges the worlds of the physical and spiritual, the “ether” that out-of-body travelers have historically described. Scores of people have crossed through it and come back to tell us about it. A person dies. He sees a bright light and finds himself drawn toward its soothing embrace. Perhaps he’s escorted through the light by a deceased loved one, assigned to provide guidance. And then- whoosh -the dead man is miraculously revived and all that is left are his memories of the journey and a lasting sense that he will never again fear the unknown.’
‘Like Evelyn Strongin?’
‘Yes, like Evelyn Strongin.’
Manny nods. ‘The only thing that happens when I access the zone is that everything sort of slows down. I see the light, but I never enter it.’
‘That’s because you can’t, at least not yet. My Hunahpu abilities are more defined than yours, allowing me to go deeper in the nexus into the more spiritual realm of the corridor. That’s where I first encountered Lilith.’
‘The female Hunahpu?’
Jacob nods. ‘Evelyn warned me to stay away from her. She somehow sensed that Lilith was being exposed to the influences of the lesser lights. And so Lilith killed her.’
‘She’s the one who murdered Aunt Evelyn?’
Jacob nods.
‘What does any of this have to do with this whole NASA setup you’ve got going?’
Jacob leans forward. ‘What if I told you that our three-dimensional physical world has been caught up in what can best be described as a loop of time and space. Dr. Mohr would call it a fourth-dimensional warp, creating a temporal “boomerang” effect. The essence of this effect is that major events that happen on our planet have, in fact, happened before and will happen again-unless we do something about it. Specific variables may change, whom we marry, what jobs we take, what choices we make on a daily basis. Chaos theory abounds at the infinitesimal level, but the big picture always remains the same-our history as a species continues to replay itself over and over again.’
‘How’s that possible?’
‘The time loop began in what you’d call the distant future when the Guardian’s starship, the Balam, chases an asteroid-like transport ship through a wormhole 65 million years into our past. The time loop ends, or repeats itself sometime in the near future. A monstrous cataclysm is going to take place, one so devastating it will wipe out nearly every life-form on our planet. Only a handful of humans will survive by relocating to a colony established on Mars. A fraction of these survivors will travel through another wormhole to another section of our galaxy, inadvertently creating a closed causal loop in space-time.’
Manny starts laughing, a nervous laugh, driven by spent nerves and fatigue. ‘You’ve been reading too much science fiction; it’s warped that brilliant mind of yours. A closed causal time loop?’ He wipes tears from his eyes. ‘How do you know all this?’
Jacob shakes his head. ‘You won’t believe me.’
‘I don’t believe you now.’
‘Existence is energy, Manny, making transdimensional communication possible. I’ve been in contact with someone from the other side, someone who’s been… advising me.’
‘Who?’
‘Don’t tell Mother.’
‘Who?’
‘Our father.’
Immanuel covers his head. ‘Oy vey…’
‘What’s that mean?’
‘ Oy vey means the guys in the white coats will be coming for you soon.’
‘Manny-’
‘Mick’s dead, Jake. He’s been dead for twenty years. You’re never going to meet our long-lost lunatic father. Never. So get over it.’
‘He wasn’t a lunatic, and you’re wrong. Our father fulfilled his destiny, and so will we. Under the spiritual guidance of the Guardian, Mick made the ultimate sacrifice-to return to Xibalba in order to save the souls of the Nephilim.’
‘The Nephilim?’
‘The Fallen Ones, the ones whom the Guardian were forced to leave behind when they came to Earth. The Nephilim are being tortured. Our father was chosen to be their messiah, only he failed, just as the Guardian knew he would, just as is written in the Mayan Popol Vuh. Now it’s up to you and me to rescue him. We need to save his soul and those of the Nephilim. Open your eyes, Manny. Accept our destiny so I can prepare you.’