Seating himself at the desk, he used his two index fingers to type his opening Bible passage, a favourite from Psalm 11.
‘He will send fiery coals and flaming sulfur down on the wicked…’
32
‘At this juncture I should probably mention that I’m not an adventurous person. I like stability. I’m predictable. I watch the same TV programme every Monday night. The only things in my life that change on a regular basis are the light bulbs.’
C?dmon glanced away from the Oxfordshire scenery passing in a blur on the other side of the oversized coach window. Having touched down at Heathrow two hours ago, they were en route to Oxford.
‘How curious. You strike me as a most intrepid woman.’
‘Appearances can be deceiving.’
‘Indeed?’ He pointedly glanced at her attire.
Their clothes having taken a shabby turn for the worse in yesterday’s cross-country race, they’d each purchased a new set at the airport. He’d selected tweeds, wool and a beige anorak. Opting for more colourful plumage, Edie had chosen a yellow knitted hat, a red military-style jacket, complete with epaulettes, and knee-high riding boots into which she’d tucked jeans. While he resembled one half of a stodgy English couple in town for the day, she looked like a Mondrian painting come to life. He would have preferred her in earth tones, colours that faded into the winter scenery. Should an RIRA operative happen to catch sight of him, he would suddenly have two enemies to contend with rather than one.
‘Do you think MacFarlane and his goons will actually find the Ark of the Covenant?’
‘It’s an outside wager at best,’ he replied. ‘Over the centuries many have searched — all in vain. Although if found, the Ark of the Covenant would be the most astounding discovery in the history of mankind.’
Edie closed the Bible they’d purchased in the gift shop at Dulles airport. ‘It’s been a while since I last read the Old Testament, being what you might call a New Testament kind of gal.’ She stuffed the King James edition into the Virgin Airlines shoulder bag that they were now using for their meagre belongings. ‘Somehow I’d conveniently forgotten about all the death and mayhem associated with the Ark. Just now I was reading about the battle of Ebenezer.’
‘If my memory serves me correctly, Ebenezer was where the Philistines not only defeated the Israelites but also managed to steal the Ark of the Covenant.’
‘And wasn’t that a big mistake? Within hours of installing the Ark inside the Temple of Dagon, the Philistines discovered the statue of their deity smashed to smithereens. But of course that was nothing compared to the plague of boils that suddenly afflicted the entire city of Ashdod. In the ensuing panic the Philistine king wisely decided to return his ill-gotten booty to the Israelites.’
‘At which point the Philistines loaded the Ark of the Covenant onto a cart and took it to the Hebrew town of Bethshemesh.’
‘Where, as you mentioned yesterday, fifty thousand residents were slaughtered because of a curious few who dared to peek inside the Ark.’ Edie’s brow furrowed. ‘You know, I’m trying hard, but I just can’t get a handle on an all-loving, all-forgiving God doing that kind of thing.’
‘I, for one, don’t believe that God had anything to do with the Ark’s devastating powers.’ C?dmon leaned back in his coach seat, crossing his legs. ‘Rather I believe that the Ark’s power was entirely man made. To comprehend its supposedly supernatural power, one must understand how the Ark was constructed.’
‘You said that an Egyptian bark was more than likely the prototype used by Moses.’
He nodded. ‘I’m certain of it. First, consider the materials used. Both bark and Ark were manufactured from gold. An enormous quantity of gold.’
‘Well, gold is one of the most valuable metals known to man.’
‘More importantly, gold is an extremely dense metal and chemically non-reactive. Although it can’t be proved, there are some biblical scholars who believe that the gold used on the Ark was nine inches thick.’
‘You’re kidding! That would make for a
‘Indeed.’ Rifling through the bag, he removed pen and paper. Calling to mind the descriptions given in the Old Testament, he managed to produce a fairly detailed sketch of the Ark of the Covenant.
‘As you can see, the gold box was covered with a lid. This was known as the Mercy Seat.’
Edie chuckled. ‘Not the hot seat?’
C?dmon smiled at his companion’s remark. ‘The Mercy Seat was adorned with a matched pair of gold cherubim. These weren’t the adorable putti that clutter the paintings of Peter Paul Rubens. The cherubim who stood sentry atop the Ark were fierce, otherworldly creatures, not unlike the winged figures of Isis and Nephthys that adorned many an Egyptian bark.’
‘Underneath all that gold, the Ark was made of wood, wasn’t it?’
‘Acacia wood, to be precise, a tree native to the Sinai Desert. In ancient times this wood was thought to be incorruptible. Additionally, it would have acted as an insulator.’
Her brown eyes opened wide, a realization having just dawned. ‘And gold is an excellent conductor. Since the acacia box was lined, inside and out, with gold —’ using her hands, she made a sandwich, leaving several inches of air in between her two palms ‘— the Ark would have been an incredibly powerful condenser. And given all the dry desert air in the Sinai, I bet the darned thing would have packed a very potent electrical punch.’
Despite her quirkiness, Edie Miller possessed a nimble mind.
‘Touching the Ark with bare hands would have resulted in instant death,’ he said, confirming her theory. ‘Moreover, the Old Testament is rife with tales of the Ark producing skin lesions on people who came into close proximity. Interestingly enough, recent research has verified that skin cancer is an occupational hazard of working near high-tension power lines.’
‘So how did the Israelites protect themselves?’
‘The high priest wore special ritual clothing when handling the Ark, the Stones of Fire part of his protective outfit. Because the Ark built up an electric charge due to all the shaking while in transport, it was carefully wrapped in leather and cloth.’
‘Which acted as a protective barrier so that the guys stuck with carrying it wouldn’t be tossed on their keisters,’ she astutely, if not irreverently, remarked.
‘Not that calamities didn’t occur. Despite the precautions taken, there are accounts of Ark bearers being tossed bodily through the air and a few being killed outright.’ C?dmon pointed to the drawing. ‘Now imagine that the wings on the two cherubim were hinged with leather and bitumen, enabling them to flap back and forth. The accumulated electric charge would not only have created visible sparks, it would have emitted strong electromagnetic pulses similar to Hertzian radio waves. Once charged, the Ark would have picked up strikes of lightning. That in turn would have created audible static.’
‘Like the crackling sound you get in between AM radio stations, right?’
‘Precisely. And to the ears of the ancient Israelites that crackling would have sounded like the voice of God. A careful reading of the Old Testament proves that the Ark of the Covenant is most definitely
Edie stared at his sketch as though seeing the Ark of the Covenant in a new, and slightly disturbing, light. ‘Yeah, well, there’s a whole legion of true believers who would disagree with you on that one.’
Knowing she spoke the truth, C?dmon wearily nodded, having more than a passing acquaintance with fanatics. A few feet away from where they sat, the coach’s windscreen wipers swung hypnotically to and fro. Blinking, he fought off a wave of tiredness, having only had a quick nap on the flight.
In the distance he could see the honey-coloured villages and rolling sheep pastures of Oxfordshire. From those pastures, limestone had been quarried and carted to Oxford, where it had been used to construct some of the most stunning architecture in England. As the countryside passed in a wet blur, so too did his memories. He’d journeyed to Oxford by coach as a gangly lad of eighteen, his father too busy to accompany him. As the coach
