The Golden Crystal (7 page)

They made a pretty good team, Jensen thought. It wasn’t every day that Jensen got to do some old-fashioned research, the kind that turned him on to ancient history in the first place. But having Corinne around helped his preliminary information-gathering process go twice as fast.

Corinne spoke several languages, including German and Spanish, but most notably native Hawaiian — she’d lived there from the age of eight. Now, her knowledge, wit, and linguistic skills helped her to quickly grasp new concepts and tie them into historic contexts. Maybe having her here would be good for him to keep his head in the game, though he knew it was a selfish thought — she would be, or already was, in more danger being here than back at her apartment in Santa Fe.  

Vilocek continued, explaining that the letter was written by Thomas Jefferson and addressed to Benjamin Banneker in 1791 — prior to the founding of the nation’s capital. Jefferson and Washington apparently believed there was a legendary “source of power” that provided supernatural abilities to whoever possessed it. The item mentioned in the letter was possessed by a group of men — referred to by Vilocek as the ‘Phi Group’ — who had discovered its strange characteristics. They believed this item was a smaller piece of a much larger power source, and that they must retrieve and protect it, eventually using its magical properties for the benefit of the nation. 

“So,” Corinne interrupted, “the Founding Fathers wanted to protect the nation, and this would be a huge insurance policy for them, but they didn’t already possess the main source of power? How did they know it was part of a larger piece?”

Vilocek looked at her. “We believe that they knew it was part of a larger piece because someone in their group had found it. Whoever it was, we don’t know. But they did seem to believe they knew where on Earth the larger item was located.

“We don’t have the whole letter — there’s a page missing — but we do know that the group wrote Banneker to request that he approach the man in charge of laying out the city’s streets and buildings — Charles Pierre l’Enfant — and have him slightly alter the city’s layout. The letter’s middle page was the only written account of the actual location, and Washington ordered it to be destroyed after Banneker read it. They wanted to design into Washington D.C.’s streets a secret map to the location of the power source — forever hidden in plain sight.

“We know Banneker at least partially succeeded, because within a few months Charles l’Enfant resigned from the job and took his original plans with him. Benjamin Banneker became the assistant to the new surveyor — Andrew Ellicott — and they created the layout that remains to this day.”

“So what were the changes they made?” Corinne asked. 

“An excellent question — one that had boggled me for years. Since there are no surviving copies of l’Enfant’s original map, we can’t know for sure what the differences are between his and Ellicott’s designs.”

“We had been analyzing the street’s angles and shapes, expecting to find a constellation or some kind of symbol that would point us in the right direction. There are so many obvious symbols, and recent popular culture has often pointed to these as symbols of Satanism, Freemasonry, and even more obscure possibilities. But your uncle’s recent paper,” he said, nodding toward the article on the table, “led me to what I believe can only be the proper explanation.” 

With that, Karn pulled a map from among the papers on the table and laid it out before them.

“Look familiar?” Karn asked them.

Jensen examined it. “Sure,” he said, “it looks like the layout of Washington, D.C., obviously before the modern additions, like highways and city expansion.”

“It’s actually before any construction had begun on the city at all,” Vilocek said. “This map is one of the preliminary documents created by Banneker and Ellicott’s team, borrowing heavily, we assume, from l’Enfant’s original sketches.”

“This,” Karn said, “is the layout approved by President Washington, his advisors, and Thomas Jefferson.
After
Banneker had Ellicott change the plans according to that letter.

“As we found out, there are numerous places in this city plan where crossing streets and their shapes create angles that are closely related to the Golden Ratio and its derivatives. Professor, when we read your paper on the Ratio, we were struck by the fact that there also numerous angles found in the Great Pyramid of Giza that are related to the Golden Ratio — some of them
exactly
the same as those in the city’s plan — here, look for yourself.” He pulled out another diagram detailing the dimensions of the Great Pyramid at Giza, in Egypt:

“But,” he continued, “perhaps the nation’s capital city was altered, not be a map
to
a location, but a map
of
a location?” He asked this rhetorically, obviously knowing the answer. 

Jensen’s mind was racing. Corinne wasn’t as quick to pick up the implication. “What do you mean, ‘a map
of
a location?’” she asked. 

“Well,” Vilocek said, “it turns out that it is not just angles that the two locations have in common.”

“Here’s a diagram of the interior of the Great Pyramid,” Karn said, flipping the paper over. “A cross-section from the side. Look familiar?”

Corinne gazed at the picture, and pointed out elements of the diagram. “Here’s the main chamber — the ‘King’s Chamber,’ I believe. And this smaller one must be the ‘Queen’s Chamber,’ but I’m not sure about the bottom box or the other lines.”

Vilocek nodded approval. “That’s correct — and although the bottom chamber is simply referred to as the ‘Lower Chamber,’ or ‘Subterranean Chamber,’ as it’s completely underground, directly opposite the pyramid’s apex. The lines on the diagram are actually passageways
inside
the Great Pyramid — the ‘Ascending Passage’ and ‘Descending Passage,’” he continued, pointing out each in turn. “There’s a central shaft down the middle, and the double-lined section is the ‘Grand Galley’ — part of the ‘Ascending Passage,’ leading directly to the ‘King’s Chamber.’”

Professor Jensen silently took it all in. He knew the diagram from his own research, and had seen it used on websites and in Giza books. He also knew now where the two men were going with their mini-lecture, but he let Vilocek continue. 

“We immediately noticed a similarity between the two diagrams,” Vilocek said, “and with a little resizing, we came up with this,” he pulled yet another paper from the stack, this one much larger:

It took a moment for Corinne to understand what she was looking at, and although Professor Jensen had anticipated this, it took him by surprise how well the two images — one of the Great Pyramid of Giza, and one of the original Washington, D.C. City layout — fit together, now superimposed. 

Labels of the pyramid’s main features had been added, and in parenthesis under each element was the corresponding street or feature on the D.C. map. The Ascending Passage was Pennsylvania Avenue, leading directly to the King’s Chamber — the White House map. The northwestern side of Pennsylvania Avenue was the Grand Galley, starting on the D.C. map perfectly where the Capitol Building was located. 

The Descending Passage lined up with Potomac Avenue, the Subterranean Chamber corresponded to a point in the Potomac River. The shaft section of the pyramid had a similar shape to D.C.’s canal, and Vilocek explained that there were some liberties taken by the architects of the canal due to the natural topography of the area. Still, the similarities were uncanny. After a full minute examining the map, Corinne and Jensen looked up at Vilocek’s wide grin. 

“You see, Professor, you’ve helped us determine the location of this power source — hidden in plain sight for more than two centuries. The Founding Fathers needed to protect the location of the secret if they were unable to find it in their lifetime — in some way that would go relatively undisturbed over the years.

“The small sliver of crystal you see before you was originally found at the bottom of the Potomac River, in Washington, D.C. by a team of scientists. As a matter of fact,” he said, pointing now at the superimposed pyramid/street map image on the table, “they found it right here. It was in a rotting box, almost buried by silt, directly where the Subterranean Chamber on this image lies. It turns out they were pointing us to Egypt; to the chamber beneath the Great Pyramid.”

Jensen Andrews and his niece shared a puzzled look, then one of shock.

“I require you and your niece to join us on this expedition — your knowledge of the Golden Ratio and ancient Egypt dwarfs even my own. We may need that kind of expertise.” His eyes moved slowly from Corinne to the map, finally resting on Professor Andrews.

“Mr. — Dr. — Vilocek,” Jensen stammered, “I appreciate your acknowledgement of my expertise, but why help you? What’s to say you won’t just kill us when you no longer need us?”

Vilocek nodded toward Agent Karn.

Karn smiled almost imperceptibly. He stood up, grabbing a fistful of Corinne’s long, red hair. She gave a yelp as he yanked her to her feet and forced her toward the far wall behind the table. 

When they were about twenty feet away, Professor Jensen screamed in pain. 

“What the hell!“ Corinne said, as Jensen fell over backward in his chair, clutching his side. He struggle to his hands and knees, crying out in short gasps. 

“Help… I… can’t breathe… Please!” Jensen gulped for air, his right hand clutched tightly over the bullet wound in his side.

“Professor Andrews,” Vilocek said calmly, “you were not shot with a ‘normal’ bullet last night. We have developed here at Vilocorp a very unique instrument — one based on the crystal piece our Founding Fathers left to us. 

“In addition to its miraculous healing properties, we’ve found that by synthetically bonding the crystal with particular elements — in this case, lead — we can produce some interesting results. You were shot with a lead-infused synthetic crystal that acts as a magnet of sorts — dormant when close to another piece of lead-crystal like it, but when pulled a certain distance apart, it becomes active, turning into a heated piece of metal. 

“You,” he continued, looking at Corinne, “are wearing a counterpart piece of this crystal substance, locked to your leg.”