Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller

by B. Michaels

  The analyst smiled. “Maybe, but there’s more. Check out this graph. The tire pressure in this A-Car never changes. I mean, due to friction from the road, it varies when they drive. But study these readings. They’re measurements of the tires in the morning, when they’re cold. Now, look at the pressure readings when the car begins the day’s journey. There’s no variance. No one is getting into or out of this car.”

  “Do the doors open?”

  “Yes, but they can be remotely opened and closed.”

  “Ok,” replied the General. “Go on.”

  “They do check in, check out, and make payments using Becca’s credit card. But this is interesting. Becca is a SuperNight Star Member. She’s not getting any points for her stay.”

  “Maybe she didn’t give them the card number? Or, maybe the rewards are batch processed?”

  “No, they have it. And, I examined other people that are Star Members. Look at this.” The analyst depressed the keyboard to switch to another application. “When guests check out; immediately, their points are updated. It works the same way for every Star Member. SuperNight’s Star Member system is real-time.

  “At the same time, Becca and Josh’s personal SIGINT leads me to believe they’re in the car. There are messages to friends and family that talk about their journey’s current scenery and real-time micro-weather. Josh talks to his dad about the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl. Becca did tell her best friend that they’re considering elopement. Their SIGINT makes it hard to believe that they aren’t in the A-Car.”

  “What about the phone’s cameras or the A-Car’s voice recognition system?” asked the General.

  “Becca must have disabled all of them, because they’re unavailable to us.”

  “Ok,” replied Shields. “Let’s get eyes on the car. Where are they?”

  “They’ve just parked in a lot at the Grand Canyon. I assume they’re taking a tour from there.”

  “Get the FBI on this. Tell them to tail the car. '''' '''''''''' '''''''' ''''''''''' ''''''''''' ''''''' ''''''''''''' '''''''''''''''''''' ''''''''''''''''''' '''''''' ''''''''''''''''''''' Shields texted Samantha.

  *

  Hours later, in the waning light of the Grand Canyon’s purple dusk, an FBI agent arrived at the A-Car.

  The G-man called the Op Center. “There’s no sign of anyone.”

  “I’m going to remotely open the trunk,” replied the analyst.

  The trunk popped open, revealing Becca and Josh’s luggage. Their cell phones were in the interior. “These A-Cars are cool,” exclaimed the agent. He searched a little longer and then returned to his vehicle.

  After a while, the A-Car’s ignition system engaged.

  “I’m going to follow the car,” said the agent.

  Nucleus Corporation’s flagship model SUV drove back to the Grand Canyon SuperNight. It parked. The gull wing doors spread open for a few seconds and then closed.

  “Damn it!” yelled General Shields. “They sure as hell didn’t elope.” Samantha never responded to Shields’ text.

  *

  Becca’s looked at her A-Car monitoring app. She saw the notification. Someone remotely accessed the A-Car’s trunk. Now, the A-Car was parked in the SuperNight lot. She activated the A-Car’s exterior camera system. Then she saw him. Becca could spot an FBI agent from a mile away.

  Chapter 34 – A Copper Scroll

  11:35 a.m., Tuesday, February 2, 2021 – Jerusalem, Israel

  City of David

  Professor McMillan threw his woolen, felt fedora on the ground.

  “Bloody hell, Josh. We’ve been digging through limestone and dolomite for 23 days straight. The tunnel is now a little over 425 feet long. We’re almost half-way to your geo-marker. We may be ahead of schedule, but we’ve found nothing.

  “No artifacts, no hint of any other shafts—nothing. There’s not been one iota of evidence to indicate that there’s anything down here, let alone the Ark. If we were on the right path, I’d have expected to find something by now…a shard of pottery, a coin, something man-made.”

  Josh nodded his head. “I know it’s disappointing. I can tell you that the neural network predicts that we’re getting closer every day.”

  McMillan grimaced. He turned his hunched back on Josh and huffed off.

  Living in a tunnel for nearly a month was fraying everyone's nerves. There were brief respites up top, in the house. But it was not enough to feel normal. Josh felt like a mole. Aside from fresh Jerusalem air, everyone looked forward to the daily resupply provisions from Ismael’s construction team. At least the food was fresh.

  Josh made his way back toward Becca. He walked the length of the tunnel, passing minecarts full of dirt and the wooden reinforcements supporting the excavation. El Minero insisted on the supports, despite the fact that the bedrock was much sturdier than the clay soils of the Mexico-Texas border.

  Becca was working comms in the anteroom. “The Professor is upset,” said Josh.

  Becca replied, “Yeah, he’s not the only one. It’s been almost three weeks since the FBI discovered our cover story. I’m pretty sure the General didn’t buy the elopement. Every day we don’t find the Ark is a day the NSA is getting closer to locating us.”

  “You can bet that they’ve been pouring through the video feeds at customs and border crossings in the Middle East. The good thing is they have to search a broad area. All you told the General was that the AI predicted the Ark was somewhere in the Middle East. But, they’re probably working with Mossad and Shin Bet. We don’t have much more time.

  “Josh, what if all of this was for nothing? We’ll be arrested. And we won’t have anything to show for it.”

  Josh wrapped his arms around Becca. “It’s going to be ok. I believe we’ll find the Ark. Whether we do or whether we don’t; you become more beautiful to me every day. We wouldn’t be here at this moment, if it weren’t for you. It’s an honor to be on this quest with you, Princess. Thank you for being by my side. I love you.”

  Becca blushed. She held onto Josh as tightly as she could. “Princess…I like that a lot better than Dorcas.”

  *

  “General Shields, look at this. I think this is them,” said the SWARM analyst.

  “This overly happy couple looks like Becca and Josh. They went through Eliat on January 7, as Canadian citizens. Look how they’re constantly smiling. It’s a trick to defeat the facial recognition. They’ve also taken steps to disguise themselves and mask the shape of their faces. I used Nucleus’ deep learning facial recognition API, and it came up with a positive match. It’s got a 98% degree of confidence.

  “Given that they penetrated Israel, the most logical places for their next destination were Jerusalem, Haifa, or Tel Aviv. So, I’ve been crunching video surveillance from those cities. This bus came to the Wailing Wall four days later, on January 11.

  “I’ve spliced together the feeds around the Temple Mount. Watch. After loitering around the Wailing Wall plaza, this couple doesn’t ever go in. They try to get lost in the crowd. Minutes later, they walked down this street. I think they’re the same couple from Eliat. I zoomed in on the girl’s hair. The blonde coloring is the same. Then, I reviewed the satellite imagery over that area; there’s always a bird with eyes on that site. I didn’t see anything directly on, or around, the Temple Mount.

  “But, look here,” said the analyst, pointing at Jared Adler’s property on a map. It’s the only place in which significant construction has occurred in the last month. A crew works the site, seven days a week. Friday is the only day in which their pattern is different. There’s heavy equipment, scaffolding, power generators—stuff like that.”

  General Shields replied, “One of the most likely sites of the Ark is under the Temple Mount. Maybe they’re trying to tunnel from the residence? That would be one long tube. But this is our best lead. Good work. Lin, let’s get the last batch of Swa
rmbots deployed to this location.”

  *

  The Professor sprinted to Josh and Becca. He held a dusty clay jar in his hand. “The probe’s sonar just discovered this at an entrance to an ancient tunnel system,” he said. It was the most upbeat Becca had seen the Professor in weeks. “I want to open it in front of you two love-birds.”

  McMillan took the top off the long cylindrical jar. It contained a metallic scroll. “I’m gobsmacked. This looks just like the copper Dead Sea Scroll. The Israelites engraved the metal to make sure the writing didn’t disintegrate over time, as it does with parchment.”

  McMillan unfurled the thin metal sheet and meticulously examined it.

  “It’s written in Hebrew script. It says: ‘The words of Baruch, the son of Neriah, written upon instruction of Jeremiah, son of Hilkiah.’ Baruch was the Prophet Jeremiah’s amanuensis. Jeremiah authored two books in the Hebrew Bible. He plays a prominent role in many theories about the Ark.”

  The Professor continued his translation. He stumbled over some of the words because ancient Hebrew did not have vowels. The same group of consonants could be interpreted as different words. It all depended on context.

  “‘The LORD God has fashioned you, as a potter molds clay. God has ordained you to redeem the Ark of the Covenant. Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem. In coming days, they will finally breach the city walls. King Jehoiakim has brought this punishment upon Judah, by playing the harlot. He has prostituted the land through a wicked alliance with Egypt.’”

  The Professor exegeted the text. “So…this letter is from the time of the first siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, sometime before 597 BC. The King of Judah, Jehoiakim, acted contrary to Jeremiah’s advice. Rather than trusting God, the King made an alliance with Egypt to protect Judah from Babylon.”

  McMillan returned to reading the scroll. “‘The LORD directed Jeremiah to re-veil the Ark, utilizing wise King Solomon’s tunnels, beneath the House of the LORD.’ Cor Blimey! This scroll proves that we’re underneath the original location of the Temple. ‘House of the LORD’ is an alternative name for the Temple.” After bear-hugging Becca and Josh, it took some time for the Professor to temper his elation and return to his translation.

  “‘As your eyes gaze upon the Ark, know that perilous times dawn. All the earth shall quake. The stars shall fall from the sky. The moon shall drip with blood. The sun shall be draped in sackcloth and ashes. Be at peace, our LORD is God of gods and LORD of lords. With your last breath, grasp the light.’

  “Hmm, that last sentence is odd. I’m not sure I translated it correctly. It’s written in Aramaic. All the other text is in Hebrew. It’s like someone added it later?”

  The archeology professor absorbed the moment. Then, McMillan fell to his knees in awe. “This is older than any of the Dead Sea Scrolls, by at least 200 years. This scroll may be the greatest archeological find—ever.

  “Not only do we know the Ark is close, but we’re directly under the site of the first and second Temple. We’re beneath the very place where the Jew’s believed God’s presence dwelt on earth. And, we’re standing underneath the site of the Temple where Jesus taught.

  “Josephus’ description was right all along. How could we not have believed the only eyewitness God preserved? While he saw the destruction of the second Temple to the Romans, about 600 years before the destruction of the first Temple by the Babylonians, the Temples were situated in the same place. Due to the complete destruction of the second Temple by the Romans, we’ve just forgotten the Temple’s original location.

  “Most of all, how could we not have believed the words of Jesus’ prophecy. He warned that not one stone would remain of the Temple. Thousands of Herod’s stones comprise the Wailing Wall. Josh, all your AI did is read Josephus and interpret his writing at face value.”

  “Does that mean the Temple Mount housed the Roman fort instead?” asked Becca.

  The Professor replied, “Yes, it must’ve been the site of the Fortress Antonia. Over the past six months, I’ve carefully reexamined the works of Josephus. He states that the Fortress Antonia housed the entire Roman Tenth Legion. A Roman legion was 6,000 soldiers. That number doesn’t include support personnel.

  “I studied the commonly accepted models of the Temple Mount. Almost all of them are based on the scale model created by Avi-Yonah in 1973. That model of the city of Jerusalem and the Second Temple resides in the Israel Museum. If you look Yonah’s portrayal of the Fortress, there’s no way it could have quartered a Roman legion. It’s too bloody tiny. Josephus says that the Fort was 35 acres—the exact dimensions of the Temple Mount.

  “The Temple and its surrounding courts were a hotbed of insurrection. Herod the Great and Caesar would’ve wanted to use overwhelming force to put down any rebellion. They wouldn’t have built a minuscule fort. So it makes sense that the platform that now houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, contained the Fortress Antonia—not the Temple.

  “The geopolitical implications of this discovery are earth shaking. Not only does it look like we’re near the Ark, but this copper scroll proves that the conventional wisdom about the site of the Temple is wrong. Jews could rebuild their Temple today. The Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque can stay right where they are. Becca and Josh, you young lads have changed the course of history.”

  Chapter 35 – The Golden Cave

  10:25 p.m., Wednesday, February 17, 2021 – Jerusalem, Israel

  City of David

  “It looks like the probes sense an opening about 15 feet ahead,” said Professor McMillan.

  A little over two weeks ago, the Professor found the copper scroll and the outlines of the ancient tunnel system. Over 2500 years, the passageways had collapsed in many places. But the robots and the probes could follow the contours of Solomon’s original limestone channels.

  As hoped, the existing tunnels allowed the team to excavate much more quickly. They were now within 20 yards of the geo-marker assigned by Josh’s AI.

  Josh’s smiled broadly. His dimples lit up the tunnel. “Amazing. The AI was right all along.”

  *

  “General Shields, what do you want to do?” asked the SWARM analyst. “It’s difficult to hear over the excavation drones and air hammer, but it’s clear they think they’re close.”

  “Before I finally tip off the Shin Bet, let’s get a positive identification of the Ark,” replied the General. “When I make that call, it’s all going to hit the fan.”

  After discovering Becca and Josh’s duplicity, General Shields was able to deploy 12 of the most up-to-date Swarmbots to Adler’s Jerusalem property. The Swarmbots snuck into the residence with the remodeling crew. They watched until they spied the hidden entry in the bathroom.

  Shields contacted Chris Fischer. As Swarmbot’s Chief Engineer of Robotics, Fischer offered his recommendations for Swarmbot communications in a mine-like setting. He advised the General to send one Swarmbot down the shaft and test the comms.

  Fischer hypothesized that while the guinea pig Swarmbot would lose satellite connectivity once underground, it could still communicate with the other Swarmbots. It could make use of its peer-to-peer communications protocol called, Swarmlink. Power from Flashcharge could also be wirelessly transferred using Swarmlink.

  During the dirt removal process, one Swarmbot clandestinely moved onto the scissor lift platform. Once below, the Swarmbot got eyes on the tunnel. Although the signal was weak, Swarmlink worked as Fisher hoped.

  As Shields got more comfortable, he deployed additional Swarmbots underground. One Swarmbot was positioned halfway down the shaft, between the scissor lifts. It served as a relay between the five Swarmbots up top and the six subterranean Swarmbots. Owing to the sensitive nature of the operation, the SWARM Op Center manually controlled the Swarmbots, not Gamers.

  *

  Before she went to bed, Becca sent a se
cure email to Jared Adler and her father. The note was succinct: ‘WE ARE CLOSE!’

  Early the next morning, after working through the night, the team dug out a large, hewn-stone entrance. The rectangular door was 10 feet tall, by six feet wide. Both walls, to the right and left of the stone door, were covered in gold. The more the team dug, the more the walls’ outlines became evident. They were slightly rounded. The rock door had thick handles carved into its top end. It stood at a 65-degree angle.

  “It’s like a mini-drawbridge,” said Becca. Josh leaped up and grabbed the handles, but nothing happened. He dropped back to the ground.

  “Why don’t we use the robots?” asked Becca.

  “That’s a terrific idea,” replied Josh. With the Professor’s help, he proceeded to tie a rope to the handles and attach it to the robots. They cleared the way and reversed the direction of the robots. The mechanical archeologists strained under the load. One of the door’s handles cracked. Moments later, there was a loud whoosh, as the top of the door crashed down to meet the tunnel’s dirt floor.

  “Wow,” said the Professor. “That rush of air meant that the room was hermetically sealed. That’s incredible.”

  *

  General Shields anxiously watched the entire chain of events through a Jumbo, resting close to the apex of the tunnel. When the stone entry fell to the ground, a sense of wonderment overtook the op enter.

  Then, the atmosphere of the room changed completely.

  A SWARM analyst cursed. “General Shields, we’ve just lost comms with every Swarmbot. Someone else is in control.”

  “How’s that possible? The satellite link is completely encrypted. Not even Ramstein knows that we’re piggybacking on their network? Get Fischer in here ASAP.”

  *

  Becca and Josh shined their miner’s helmet lights into an enormous, reflective cave.

  “This cave is gilded. I’ve never seen anything like it. This structure would be nearly impossible to build, even today,” said McMillan. The cavern was shaped like one-quarter of a dome. The far wall, opposite the stone door, stood at a right angle.

  Becca asked, “Professor, where’d they get all this gold?”

  “It’s a colossal amount. I don’t know. I don’t even understand how they architected the cave. The biggest mystery is how the Hebrews sealed it for so long. It’s like they smoothed the karst limestone, and then overlaid it with a gold-infused sealant? Maybe the Queen of Sheba helped him? I don’t know. But, Solomon must have built this cave during the height of his kingdom. The Bible says that Solomon was the richest king on earth. It also states that gold and silver were as common in Jerusalem as stones.