Algorithm - Book 1 - The Medallion

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Ben turned his eyes to Adam. "Back in 1979, when you left my office to rejoin your mother, I chuckled to myself. I knew you would never let me borrow that piece of coal, even if it was for scientific purposes. I knew that was a special piece of coal with a very special mystery locked up inside it. It was clearly a treasure, a major find that was destined to be your deep secret, something that you might share with your friends but never relinquish. To me it looked like an old coin, of course, a coin stuck in a lump of coal was unusual to say the least.  I thought the coin could have been around longer than recorded history. That singular thought tweaked my curiosity like nothing else had ever done before."

Ben took a step back and angled himself against the stone wall.

"A few weeks later you had gone off to a private high school. The following year you moved out of town. I couldn't get it out of my head. Was it possible that we had our history so wrong?  Was it really possible that an artifact could have been made by an intelligence older than man? The next thing I knew, I was spending my free time at the town library, looking up facts and theories about how coal is formed and especially how long it takes. I went over standard archeological texts, filling out photocopy requests, and churning through reams of microfilm and microfiche archives as my appetite for this new found exploration began to take root. I started to cut down on office appointments, giving myself more time for research. After wearing out my welcome at the local library, I made weekend trips to major libraries in Newark and New York. I did not realize it at the time, but, looking back, I was either turning into an expert in the extraordinary or turning into an obsessive fool. In any event, I became very familiar with the bizarre sorts of things that mankind has managed to stumble onto. Gradually, I became convinced that there must be other artifacts similar to Adam's buried in the rubble of human history, awaiting discovery. I expanded my searches with regular trips to the Museum of Natural History since it was local and accessible. I went there so often that the security personnel knew me by name as they often had to hustle me out at the end of the day. When books and archives were exhausted, I scoured old newspapers, journals and magazines."

Adam interjected. "It sounds to me like you went over the deep end."

Linda gave Adam the 'how could you?' look.

Ben continued, "That's quite all right. I thought so too. I did not merely collect such reports but I followed them up, seeking out the original sources, and when possible, even checking out the locations myself, seeing the objects firsthand, and talking to the people who found them. It was like I was transformed into a kind of archeological detective, examining evidence and interviewing witnesses. It was an obsession. My practice suffered greatly, but I was close to retirement, so I cut back my hours and eventually, a few years ago, cut them out altogether. I was convinced that I was on a mission and that mission had the potential to change everything about our history."

Linda asked, "What made you think that? There are all sorts of theories in archeology and human history. Some clearly have the potential to rock our world, but they're all in the mix, each with its own cadre of believers. None of that has made any difference in the scheme of things."

Ben acknowledged, "You're right. Everything you say is true … or has been true until now."