by Liam Fialkov
Chapter 40
The news traveled fast. It was still morning when Michael arrived at the Israel Museum. The temple, which sprang overnight near the Institution, drew large crowds of spectators from all walks of life, who gathered to see the miracle. School children with their parents. Teenage girls with revealing clothes and piercing, next to religious Jews in their black outfits and long beards. Even Arabs from the Muslim quarter of the old city and Christians from the Arminian quarter came to examine the new wonder.
Michael passed near a television crew, who were interviewing a distinguished professor; “… No matter how secular we become, we’ll always have the temple wired into our DNA…” Michael kept going around the gigantic structure. He saw a group of orthodox Jews. Some of them were praying, facing the temple, but most of them appeared perplexed, not knowing how to deal with the new situation, and waiting for the leading Rabbis to issue a decree that will tell them what to think and how to behave.
Not far from the orthodox men, there was a group of orthodox women in their modest outfits. The women kept some distance from the men to not violate the rules of decency. They were surrounded by many excited kids, who were all clothed according to strict orthodox rules.
One woman separated from the pack. Like the rest of them, she had her hair wrapped in a coif. She pushed forward a baby carriage and advanced in Michael’s direction.
“Quite a seen.” She told him in English.
“Rachel?” He was surprised. “You truly are a chameleon.”
“I told you I’m an actress,” she smiled.
“And who is the cute baby?”
“This is David, one of my sister’s children,” She said. “Quite strange that they ended up building it here and not on the Temple Mount.” Rachel’s phone rang, and she answered. “Hello… yes, it’s me… I’m standing right in front of it… it looks incredible… Michael happens to be here with me.”
She handed Michael the phone. “It’s Stewart,” she said. “He wants to talk to you.”
“Hi Stewart” Michael said.
“And how is my hero?” McPherson asked.
“Tired, and also perplexed, as to why the temple ended up next to the Museum and not on the Temple Mount.”
“It is there because the group is very disciplined, and they did what Charles Bishop told them.”
“Do you know why Charles Bishop changed his mind? Michael was curious.
“He didn’t,” McPherson said. “It was me. I told them about the change of a plan.”
“You did?”
“Yes, but I used Charles Bishop’s voice. You see, Irene and Alex worked on a sophisticated algorithm. They sampled all the lectures that you recorded, words, phrases, and even single syllables and created a pool of data that—
“Okay, I get the picture,” Michael was too tired to listen to a technological explanation. “So, Stewart,” Michael suddenly understood, “when Ron came and said that Charles confirmed what I said—
“That was me, of course,” McPherson confirmed.
Michael remembered how Ruth was surprised when Ron corroborated his words about Charles changing his mind. He remembered that he was even more surprised than Ruth.
“And may I ask how you took over their computer system? I mean, you had the algorithm or whatever it was to talk in Charles’ voice, but how did you go about receiving the call in the first place?”
“You see,” McPherson answered patiently, “even the most protected systems need to leave some backdoor open, for their programmers, and of course for their people when they are away. For that purpose, the systems are usually protected by passwords. A password can be replaced every so often, but still, it is usually something that a person can remember, like a birth date, a spouse’s name, etc. In the case of Bishop’s people, we had an advantage because we knew they would want to align themselves with their undertaking, so it had to be related to either Newton, the book of revelation, the temple, and so on. We fed all the possible choices into a hacking program that John, the hacker who works for me, brought.
“I get the idea,” Michael said. “Sounds like we beat them in their own game.”
“We sure did,” McPherson agreed.
“You know, Stewart,” Michael said, “there’s still a large amount of dynamite under the Temple Mount. I’m going to inform the Israeli authorities, so they remove it.”
“Do that, and then come home,” McPherson said, “I assume you’re relieved of your duty as the group’s spokesman.”
“I’m relieved of all my duties with the group. They will probably never want to see me or hear my name.”
“Michael,” McPherson said somberly, “a lot of people all over the world owe you a huge debt, even if they don’t know it.”
“And I just want to go home to be with my family,” Michael said.
Chapter 41
After hours of intense interrogation, conducted by the Israeli Security Services, Michael was free to go. Discreetly and safely, Israeli bomb disposal experts removed the explosives from under the Temple Mount.
All the members of Bishop’s group already left the country, and they were not available for questioning. Still, the American authorities were notified of the activities conducted by American citizens.
After purchasing his ticket back to the United States, Michael spent the night at a hotel in Tel Aviv. He’d felt the need to get away from Jerusalem, where the complex religious history had started to burden him.
Early in the morning, he went for a long walk on the beach, enjoying the sounds of the surf and sea birds, gazing into the horizons, and reflecting on the recent events. He hoped that upon returning home, his relationship with Melany will return to the harmony they always had. On his part, he was going to do whatever he could to make her happy.
After a generous Mediterranean breakfast, he took a shuttle to Ben Gurion Airport, where he was required to check-in three hours before the flight. While sitting and waiting for the long flight home, his new phone rang.
“Hello, Michael?” He heard her deep, warm, familiar voice, and he felt his heart accelerating.
“Mary,” he said, “I’m so sorry for not being honest with you, I—
“Michael,” she interrupted him. Why won’t you calm down and listen to what I have to say.”
“I’m listening,” he said and took a deep breath.
“We knew about you,” Mary said. “Charles told me that he suspected you were a spy on the day you came.”
“I don’t understand,” Michael said. “Then why didn’t he kick me out, instead of allowing me to stay on the land for more than two months, and eventually sabotage your immense endeavor?”
“I can tell that you still don’t know Charles,” she said. “You see, Charles is a true believer, he trusts God, and he believes that God is the creator of the world and that everything has a reason. In that respect, you too, were sent here by God.”
“So, how does he feel about my intervening in his plan, and preventing the establishment of the temple on the Temple Mount?”
“Charles, and me too, we see the mission as a monumental success. Although the temple was not erected on the Temple Mount, it is standing in Jerusalem, and it’s receiving worldwide attention. By now, all the major TV news networks had covered the story, and Protestants and Catholics alike, are treating it as a miracle. So, we’re quite certain that the Israelis will not take it down. This outcome is not what we envisioned, but it’s the will of the Lord, and we have to accept it humbly. Naturally, we’re relieved by the fact that a world war was avoided.”
“Does Charles know about…” Michael hesitated, “about us?”
“He does. He knows that I love him dearly, and he’s the only man that matters in my life. But as I told you, I am not a Madonna, I’m a mature woman, and I have a woman’s needs.”
“Is he angry at me?”
“No. I told him the truth, which is that I seduced you, and Michael, I saw that you tried hard to resist me, but
you never stood a chance.”
“I guess you’re right,” he muttered.
“Goodbye, Michael.”
“Goodbye.”
Bibliography
- Temple at the Center of Time – David Flynn
- The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy – Isaac Newton
- The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended – Isaac Newton
- Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John – Isaac Newton
- The Newton Project - [email protected]
- The Metaphysical World of Isaac Newton – John Chambers
- Isaac Newton and the Temple of Solomon – Tessa Morrison
- Wikipedia
The author on the Temple Mount, next to the Dome of the Spirits, and in front of the Dome of the Rock.
* * *
[1] Three of the protagonists, Michael, Melany, and McPherson, were introduced in my previous novel, ‘The Broadcast: A Mystery Thriller.’
While reading that novel is wholeheartedly recommended, it is not essential to the understanding and enjoyment of ‘The Newton Code,’ which can be read as a standalone. – Liam Fialkov
[2] The World of Mathematics (2000 ed.). Dover. p. 277.
[3] “π,” Pai, also called Archimedes constant. Approximately 3.14159.
