After glancing up at the clock, Professor Grimes picked up the student roster, looked around the room, and drew a checkmark beside six names. As he set the roster back down on his desk a voice called out from the back of the room. “Hey there! What just happened?”

The professor looked up. “Well, Henry, I just took attendance, as I do before every class – which is something you would know if you had attended any of my past lectures. I find that–”

Henry interrupted him. “Attendance! Since when do you take attendance?”

“As I just said, I have always taken attendance. I started the practice on my very first day of teaching, and it has served me well. But you needn’t act so surprised about it. The fact that I take attendance is duly noted in your syllabus. You should seriously consider reading it. I assure you that I did not create it out of a mad desire to destroy as many trees as possible. It contains very valuable information.”

“But that’s totally not fair! This is the first time I’ve been here. You’re not going to penalize me, are you? And what about all those other people who weren’t able to make it – are you going to ding them too? This whole attendance tracking thing can really mess up a person’s GPA!”

Professor Grimes looked at him coldly. “The syllabus clearly states that attendance counts for 20% of your grade. On top of that, the mere act of missing classes will have a very negative effect on your ability to pass my exams – such as the exam that I handed out in our last class, which you missed entirely and therefore failed. At this point, Henry, if you want to have even a chance at passing this course you will have to have perfect attendance and ace every single assignment. Your prospects are quite bleak.”

“That is so unfair,” Henry grumbled.

“I am afraid I have very little sympathy for you. The rules are clearly spelled out in the syllabus, and you agreed to them when you signed up for this course. It is not my problem if you have failed to pay attention to what is going on. In fact, the ability to pay attention in life is absolutely critical. Even when you pay very close attention it is possible to miss things that are not there – or to lose track of something that you were certain once existed. That, in fact, is what our class today is about.”

Lora spoke up. “Are you, like, serious? You’re going to talk about people who forgot to come to class?”

The professor smiled. “No, young lady, I am not. Instead, I am going to talk about the fact that the scientific community managed to lose an entire planet. Did you know that in the latter part of the 19th century it was common knowledge that there was a planet between the Sun and Mercury?”

Max spoke up. “Yeah, I heard that, but that was all bogus. Scientists were upset about some anomaly of some kind with Mercury’s orbit, so they made up a planet that wasn’t there. Then Einstein came along and showed that relativity solved the problem, so the planet wasn’t needed anymore. They just didn’t understand physics. It was a math error, basically.”

Professor Grimes shook his head. “That may be the way the story is told today, but it is entirely incorrect. It is true that scientists of that era realized that there were certain characteristics of Mercury’s orbit that they could not explain. However, the reason they postulated the existence of an intramercurial planet was because they actually found one.”

“Huh?” Ashley asked. “But Mercury’s the planet closest to the sun, right? There’s not a closer one. How could they find something that isn’t there?”

“That is what we are going to explore today,” the professor replied. “You might call it the mystery of the missing planet. A world that was once known to exist is now gone. Scientists spotted it, calculated its orbit and size, and tracked it across the sky – but today no one can find it. It’s a fascinating story that has been all-but-forgotten.

“The first mention I came across of this now-forgotten planet comes from an 1878 issue of Popular Science. The magazine records that the planet’s existence was verified on June 29, 1878, during a total eclipse of the sun. Its discovery was heralded because it solved a scientific riddle. Astronomers of that day simply could not figure out why perihelion of Mercury’s orbit processed around the sun at an excess of 43 arcseconds per century.”

Ashley spoke up. “What on earth does that even mean?”

“It’s actually quite simple,” the professor said. “All planets have a point in their orbit where they are the closest to the sun. That point is called the perihelion. The perihelion moves over time, and the way it moves can be explained by Newtonian physics – that is, for all planets except for Mercury. That one planet had a procession that was off just a little bit – not a lot, but enough to be a problem. It was a sign that there was something wrong. Einstein later explained the problem using his General Theory of Relativity, but at the time it was a genuine scientific mystery.

“Since Einstein did not publish his theory until 1916, scientists in 1878 were looking for other solutions. One possibility was that there was an intramercurial planet that was responsible for the anomaly. That’s why they were so excited to spot the planet during that total eclipse.

“Now, keep in mind that this was not the first time the planet had been spotted; instead, this was when the sighting was publicly verified and proven beyond doubt. The first recorded sighing actually happened on March 26, 1859, when an amateur astronomer named Dr. Lescarbault watched a dark circular spot cross the sun’s disk. He suspected it was an intramercurial planet and decided to contact Leverrier – a famous French mathematician who specialized in celestial mechanics and who played a role in discovering the planet Neptune back in 1846. In fact, Leverrier was actually person who discovered the anomaly in Mercury’s orbit.”

“So the math guy wasn’t a crank, is what you’re saying,” Ashley said.

The professor nodded. “Leverrier was indeed a highly respected man. Dr. Lescarbault contacted him hoping that he would either confirm or rebut his discovery. As it turned out, Leverrier confirmed his findings and publicly announced the newly-discovered planet. The new world orbited the sun every 19 days 17 hours, had a mean distance from the sun of 13 million miles, and had an orbital inclination of 12 degrees 10 minutes. The newly-discovered planet was tentatively named Vulcan.”

“You mean like Star Trek?” Lora asked. “Isn’t that where Spock is from?”

“This was many, many years before Star Trek,” Professor Grimes replied testily. “I assure you it was not named in his honor. The word comes from Roman mythology. Vulcan, as you may or may not know, was the Roman god of fire and metalworking. It made perfect sense to name a planet so close to the sun after the mythological god of fire. Any intramercurial planets would be scorching hot – hotter than Mercury.”

Max spoke up. “Hold on! This is all crazy talk. There is no such planet. It doesn’t exist!”

“One step at a time,” the professor replied. “What I am saying is that an amateur astronomer found an intramercurial object of significant size, and the discovery was confirmed by one of the co-discoverers of the planet Neptune. This newly-found world was given a name and announced to the rest of the scientific community. Leverrier was hoping that when other astronomers heard the news they would check it out for themselves, and either find the planet or come back and say that his readings were mistaken. What do you think happened?”

“It vanished,” Ashley said.

The professor shook his head. “Nope. In fact, quite the opposite happened! Other people began reporting sightings as well. On March 20, 1862 a Mr. Lummis from Manchester, England observed the planet Vulcan. The planet was also seen on July 29, 1878 by Professor James C. Watson, director of the Ann Arbor Observatory – a man who discovered more than twenty asteroids. Nor were these the only sightings. According to the 1864 Astronomical Register, the planet Vulcan was also seen years earlier by a host of different people. Gruithuisen saw it on June 26, 1819. Pastorff saw it once in 1922, twice in 1823, six times in 1834, twice in 1836, and once in 1837. The issue of Nature that was published on October 5, 1876 states that observers saw the planet on January 29, 1860, and the November 25, 1876 issue of Scientific American also records a sighting that same year.”

Max spoke up. “But that doesn’t make any sense! How could all those people have seen something that doesn’t exist? There isn’t really a planet Vulcan, is there?”

“But what about all the sightings?” Ashley replied. “It’s not like it was seen by just one crazy person!”

Professor Grimes nodded. “That is exactly my point. Whenever people talk about the planet Vulcan they act as if the 19th century scientific community was populated exclusively by morons. Nearly every modern retelling of the story states that when people noticed a problem with Mercury’s orbit they invented an entire planet out of nowhere, gave it a name, and assumed it was real. That is not at all what happened! The reality is that people gave it a name because they actually saw it, and they saw it repeatedly over the course of decades. They were not naming a mythical world that didn’t actually exist – they were naming something that many knowledgeable and reputable people saw through their telescopes. Vulcan was seen by people in different countries, on different dates, and across a period of decades. From the 19th century point of view there was a great deal of evidence to support this planet’s existence – and that evidence did not rest solely on eccentricities in Mercury’s orbit.”

“But there is no planet Vulcan!” Max repeated. “There are, like, thousands and thousands of people out there with telescopes. If there was a planet closer to the sun than Mercury then people would know all about it. It’s not like you can hide a planet! I mean, for crying out loud, the government can’t even hide its own spy satellites – amateurs see them all the time. Are you trying to tell me that there’s some kind of giant planet-hiding conspiracy going on? Is Vulcan home to space aliens with advanced cloaking technology or something?”

Professor Grimes smiled. “Now we are getting to the heart of the matter. In the 19th century many scientists – very reputable people who were experts in their field – observed the planet Vulcan and claimed that it existed. However, as you so eloquently pointed out, the planet does not exist. It is simply not possible to hide a planet in the 21st century – especially one that is supposed to be a mere 80 million miles away. Therefore, we are left with a couple choices. One option is that it really is home to advanced space aliens who realized that we had spotted their world and decided to hide it. However, given the total absence of evidence to support this theory, I think we can safely discount it.

“Another theory is that every single last sighting was completely mistaken. The amateurs, the experts, the mathematician who discovered Neptune – they were all entirely wrong. However, given the sheer number of people who actually reported seeing something, along with the detailed nature of those sightings, it seems rather unlikely that all of them were lying or that all of them were grossly incompetent. Some of these people actually ran observatories for a living. They were not morons.”

“But what else is there?” Ashley asked. “Did the planet used to exist and then disappear? Did it, like, fall into the sun or something?”

“Not exactly,” Professor Grimes replied. “Let’s suppose that a number of the sightings were mistaken, and were simply sightings of stars or other known planets or something of that nature. That still leaves some that were genuine. Is it not possible that those who really did see something simply did not understand what they were seeing? What if, instead of a planet, they were instead looking at transient intramercurial asteroids? Perhaps they were simply space rocks. After all, not a single person was able to track the planet over the course of years and make daily readings. In each case they saw something one day and then lost sight of it for months or even years. It is quite possible that people were simply seeing entirely different objects.

“We know that there are a great many asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. However, the Solar System has countless other rocks as well, in various bizarre orbits. Some of these get quite close to Earth, while others are quite far away and are almost impossible to see. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to assume that some of these asteroids occasionally get close to the Sun.

“People back then were looking for an intramercurial planet because they thought Newtonian physics guaranteed that there really was one. If they had seen a space rock drifting by the sun – or had seen a space rock near Earth and mistakenly assumed it was close to the sun – it would have been quite natural for them to assume that it was their looked-for planet. This doesn’t mean they saw a mirage; it only means that their biases distorted their view of what they were looking at. Since they were looking for a planet, and they thought the math proved that there had to be a planet there, they interpreted their sightings as being a planet. It wasn’t until Einstein came along with a different theory that they could take a step back and see things for what they really were.”

“So there is no intramercurial planet,” Max commented. “I was totally right.”

“Perhaps,” Professor Grimes said. “That being said, I would not be surprised to learn that there were intramercurial asteroids, or perhaps even asteroids whose orbit occasionally takes them close to the sun. But there is no planet Vulcan.”

“Well that’s disappointing,” Ashley said. “I was hoping that there was a big conspiracy or something.”

Professor Grimes smiled. “I am afraid that is not the case. There is a lesson to be learned here, however. Our personal beliefs and assumptions can easily taint the way we process evidence. In this case, the widespread belief that there had to be an intramercurial planet led the scientific community to erroneously interpret their data. The data they collected was quite real, but their biases led them to the wrong conclusion. The same thing happens today all the time. Evidence does not speak for itself; it must be interpreted. If your assumptions are wrong then the chances are high you will end up misinterpreting the evidence and arriving at a erroneous conclusion. Just because you have evidence does not mean that you are correct! Leverrier had copious evidence that Vulcan was real, and yet it was not real at all. You must be exceedingly careful.

“For that matter, just because the scientific community agrees on something does not make it true either. It was quite well-established in the 19th century that the planet Vulcan was real – but we know today that there is no such world. It is quite possible – and, in fact, quite easy – for the entire scientific community to be blinded by their own errors. Consensus does not determine the truth. Everyone may agree, but as we have seen here, that does not mean they are right.”

“I so called this one,” Max commented.

The professor ignored him. “Be sure to read chapter 8 in your book before our next lecture. Also, I have finished grading your exams, and you may pick them up on my desk as you leave the room. Class dismissed!”

James 1:12: “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”

Here we find one of the Heavenly crowns that the Bible talks about – the crown of life. This particular crown is given to those who endure temptation. So, if that’s the case, why does this verse say that it’s promised to those who love God?

The answer is something that is hard for the modern world to hear. You see, Jesus said that if we love Him we should keep His commandments, for that is how we demonstrate our love. Therefore, those who have endured temptation have demonstrated a genuine love for God – a love that is proven through obedience.

Obedience is not popular these days. We’d much rather live as we please and skate by on the idea of “Well, God will forgive me, so I can do whatever I want.” The reality is that this idea leads straight to Hell. Those who are true believers will love God, and that love will be demonstrated in their lives through obedience. Those who mock obedience and live as they see fit will never get anywhere near this crown.

Does that mean that all true believers will get this crown, or will it be reserved for those who have led particularly godly lives? I honestly have no idea. But I do know this: God cares about our faithfulness. When it comes time for judgment there will be Christians who receive no rewards at all because they led appalling lives. I suspect we will discover that our actions in this life mattered a great deal more than we ever thought.

This is the cover art for the twelfth book in the Emma Wynn Detective Series.

James 1:5: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

This is the secret: if you lack wisdom, just ask God! If you want to understand the Bible, ask God. If you want understanding, ask God. It’s not any more complicated than that.

Wisdom comes from God. If you want wisdom, all you have to do is ask. Notice how clearly this verse makes its point: if you ask, “it shall be given him.” There are no ifs, ands, or buts. If you ask in faith you will receive the wisdom that you requested.

I think the great problem we face today is that there are few who seek wisdom, and there are even fewer who go to God and request it.

I noticed this morning that commenting had been disabled for some posts. I have no idea why. I’ve checked the blog settings and commenting is enabled on everything. It’s really quite odd. Why the blog would forbid comments on some posts, but not others, is a mystery.

I’ll try to look into this further but at the moment the blog is excruciatingly slow. (It took 11 minutes for me to reach the page where I could post something.)

Professor Grimes walked into the classroom precisely five minutes before ten o’clock. Through the classroom’s frosted windows he could see the blanket of snow that covered the campus. The first snow of the year fell on New Year’s Day, and temperatures had been cold enough since then to allow that thin blanket of snow to survive. As much as the professor loved the snow, he knew that the afternoon sun was going to make short work of that winter wonderland. He missed the regular snowstorms of his home state, but living in a warmer climate had its advantages. For one thing, scraping the ice off his aging car was rarely an issue anymore.

The professor was surprised to see that there were nine students in the classroom. Given that New Year’s Day was just two days ago he had expected to see just a handful of students. Attendance is actually fairly strong this year, he thought. This is even better than the turnout for my eschatology lectures.

When the analog clock over the classroom door reached precisely ten o’clock the professor stood up and walked to the front of the room. “Today’s lesson is going to be a little off the beaten path. So far in this class, with one exception, we’ve covered some rather well-known topics. This subject, however, is quite obscure. We’re going to take a look at–”

“Crop circles!” Ashley said.

“No, I’m afraid not. Crop circles are actually quite famous. It’s–”

“UFOs!”

“No, that’s not it either – not exactly, anyway, although we are going to be studying a flying object. This particular flying object, however, is quite famous. We are going to take a close look at the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit – or, as it’s more commonly known, the B-2 Stealth Bomber.”

“The B-2 Bomber?” Max repeated. “Why would we do that? I mean, seriously, I’m pretty sure it’s a real airplane. I even saw one at an air show once! I can personally vouch for its authenticity. It’s not a myth.”

Professor Grimes smiled. “I do not doubt its existence. This particular legend – if that is what we are going to call it – took me completely by surprise. I came across it while reading The Puzzle of Ancient Man by Dr. Donald E. Chittick. This is what he says on page 141:”

Electrogravitic (antigravity) technology, under development in U.S. Air Force black R&D programs since late 1954, may now have been put to practical use in the B-2 Advanced Technology Bomber to provide an exotic auxiliary mode of propulsion. This inference is based on the recent disclosure that the B-2 charges both its wing leading edge and jet exhaust stream to a high voltage. Positive ions emitted from its wing leading edge would produce a positively charged parabolic ion sheath ahead of the craft, while negative ions injected into its exhaust stream would set up a trailing negative space charge with a potential difference in excess of 15 million volts. According to electrogravitic research carried out by physicist T. Townsend Brown, such a differential space charge would set up an artificial gravity field that would induce a reactionless force on the aircraft in the direction of the positive pole. An electrogravitic drive of this sort could allow the B-2 to function with over-unity propulsion efficiency when cruising at supersonic velocities…

Lora spoke up. “Huh? I don’t get all that physics stuff. What does all that even mean?”

“It means that the B-2 Bomber may have an antigravity propulsion system,” the professor explained.

Max shook his head. “That’s crazy! It’s just a normal airplane. The stealth part is cool and all but, seriously – antigravity? There are so many problems with that that I don’t even know where to start!”

Ashley spoke up. “That would be kinda weird, though, if it was true. But it can’t really be true, though. Right?”

Professor Grimes smiled. “That is what we are going to investigate today. The claim is certainly quite extraordinary, and it is not common knowledge – even in paranormal circles. As you all know, antigravity has been a mainstay of science fiction for a very long time. If it is true that antigravity has been achieved, and if the technology really does date back to the 1950s, then that would be rather startling. We have quite a lot of work ahead of us, however. Just because Dr. Chittick makes this claim does not mean that it is so. As we’ve seen in the past, many paranormal claims simply do not hold up to scrutiny. What we must do is break this story into discrete parts, then test each part and see where the evidence takes us.”

Lora spoke up. “This is going to be another hoax, isn’t it? They always end up being hoaxes or something. It’s so disappointing.”

“Life is often full of disappointments,” Professor Grimes agreed. “Even so, we are on a search for the truth, and as such we will refrain from coming to a conclusion before we have examined the claims. It is entirely possible – in fact, it is quite likely – that most paranormal claims are simply ridiculous nonsense. But there are some that are not nonsense at all. I assure you that finding the true claims will outweigh all the disappointment that comes from the hoaxes.”

“But how could you possibly prove something like this?” Ashley asked. “It’s not like you can just call up the government and ask them! I mean, even if they said no – and I guess they probably would – you wouldn’t have learned anything. They’re not going to tell you the stuff they’re keeping secret.”

“Exactly! I am glad to see that you are learning to think for yourself. We cannot establish the truth by simply asking the government to tell us their secrets. This means we will need to approach this from an entirely different angle. Therefore we are going to start by taking a closer look at T. Townsend Brown.”

Max spoke up. “Why do we care about him?”

“Because he is supposedly the inventor of antigravity,” Professor Grimes explained. “The story claims that the B-2 Spirit employs antigravity technology invented by Brown. Therefore, the existence and research of Brown is of key importance. Did he really exist? Was he an inventor at all? What does history record about him, if anything?

“First of all, T. Townsend Brown was a real person. His actual name was Thomas Townsend Brown, and he was born on March 18, 1905 in Zanesville, Ohio. He died on October 22, 1985. In 1930 he joined the US Navy to conduct research in electromagnetism and gravity. He also worked for the National Defense Research Committee, the Office of Scientific Research and Development, and was a consultant for Lockheed – a rather well-known builder of top-secret military aircraft.”

Ashley spoke up. “So he was a real person, then.”

Professor Grimes nodded. “Oh yes, he was real. He actually was a physicist, he actually did study antigravity, and he actually was employed by the United States government to apply what he knew to their aircraft. This is not widely known but it is all true. What’s particularly relevant to this story is that in 1921 – and this is all part of the historical record – he discovered what came to be called the Biefeld-Brown effect. Basically, while searching for a link between electricity and gravity, he noticed that a heavily charged electrical capacitor moved toward its positive pole when suspended in a gravitational field. He was even able to reproduce this effect in a vacuum. I am a historian, not a physicist, but essentially he believed that he could alter the force of gravity by using heavily charged electrical fields.

“An article in the January 2000 issue of Air International, written by Bill Gunston, states that in 1953 T. Towensend Brown demonstrated his techniques to the United States Air Force, which quickly classified them. Despite the classifications, articles about Brown’s antigravity research were published in 1956 by Aviation Studies International.”

“So?” Max asked.

The professor looked up from his notes. “This is all highly significant! I am surprised you do not see that. Not only was Brown a real person, but he conducted real research into antigravity – research that attracted the attention of the government. The government actually was pouring money into antigravity systems in the 1950s, exactly as the story states, and they actually were attempting to modify the force of gravity using charged electrical fields. All of that may not be widely known, but it is documented.”

“Wait just a minute,” Max replied. “If all that’s true and they’ve been working on antigravity since the 50s, then why don’t we all have flying cars? Sure, I get that they studied it and everything, but apparently nothing came of it. There’s a conspicuous lack of antigravity stuff out there.”

Professor Grimes shook his head. “That is not quite true. This is still an area of study, and there are even a number of recent patents that incorporate Brown’s theories of electrogravity. For example, patent 5,142,861, which was filed on September first, 1992, is entitled Nonlinear Electromagnetic Propulsion System and Method. It employs the technique Brown developed to propel a vehicle by means of electrogravity. Another one is patent number 6,775,123, which was filed on August 10, 2004 under the mundane name Cylindrical Asymmetrical Capacitor Devices for Space Applications. It envisions a sort of space-based engine which works in a vacuum and propels a craft using Brown’s artificial gravity fields. Those are all very real patents.”

Max shrugged. “People patent all kinds of weird, impractical nonsense. If Brown’s theories were actually true then why don’t we see these patented antigravity-powered spaceships flying around?”

“Which brings us right back to the B-2 Spirit. It is quite well-established that T. Townsend Brown did exist and did study the relationship between electromagnetism and gravity. The public record also records that he claimed to have found a way to manipulate gravity by using electromagnetic fields, that the United States government was interested, and that papers were published in the 1950s that discussed ways to apply Brown’s electrogravity techniques to aircraft. All of that brings us back to the key question: were these techniques built into the B-2 Spirit? Also, if they really did work, why have we not seen them employed anywhere else?

“Since, as Ashley pointed out, we cannot simply call up the government and ask them these questions, we will have to do the best we can with the information that we have. A good starting point is to take a look at the B-2 Spirit itself. It has several unusual features, quite aside from its remarkable stealth abilities. First of all, unlike other military aircraft, the B-2 does not leave a contrail. Contrails are trails of water vapor that are created by the combustion of jet fuel in the aircraft’s jets. Ordinarily they are harmless, but they become a serious problem once you realize that they are easy to spot on radar. If your rather slow-moving stealth aircraft leaves a contrail then it is not stealthy at all – an enemy could simply spot the contrail and then use that to figure out exactly where your plane is. It is really quite astonishing that the B-2 leaves no contrail. The military has been asked to explain this and in return has given a conflicting series of absurd lies.”

Max spoke up. “So they’re basically just not telling.”

“Quite so. That is, of course, understandable. The ability to create a jet-powered aircraft that leaves no contrail is a remarkable achievement, and I am sure they want to keep that knowledge to themselves. I completely understand that. Still, this is highly relevant. An antigravity aircraft would not leave a contrail because it isn’t powered by jets at all, and that is precisely what we see in the B-2. This is not conclusive, of course, but it is interesting that the B-2 has one of the unique characteristics of actual antigravity aircraft.

“Another odd thing about the B-2 is its astonishingly low thrust-to-weight ratio. The loaded weight of a B-2 is 336,500 pounds, but its four engines only produced a combined thrust of 69,200 lbf – meaning its thrust-to-weight ratio is a measly 0.205. By comparison, the thrust-to-weight ratio for the F-16 is 1.095, for the F-22 is 1.09, and for the F-35 is 0.87. Admittedly those aircraft are all fighters, not bombers, but even among modern bombers 0.205 is shockingly low. Compared to the mass of the aircraft, the B-2’s engines provide a pitiful amount of thrust.

“All of that, in itself, does not mean a great deal. Perhaps an engineer found a clever way of masking the B-2’s contrail, or even preventing it from forming one altogether. Perhaps a ratio of 0.205 was considered quite acceptable given the mission of the plane. After all, it is a stealth aircraft. If no one can see it then perhaps matters of thrust simply aren’t that important.”

“Totally right,” Max agreed.

“But what is quite striking is that the March 1992 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology revealed that the B-2’s leading edge was charged to many millions of volts, and its jet engines blew out a corresponding negative charge. This, also, is apparently not disputed. Eyewitnesses have actually seen a bright violet glow around the aircraft, indicating the presence of a high-voltage corona. What this means is that, as the quote I read at the beginning of class claimed, the B-2 appears to have been designed with Brown’s theories in mind. It does seem that someone figured out how to put his theories into practice, and did so in the B-2.

“If that was the case, it would explain quite a lot. It would explain why the B-2 leaves no contrail – contrails are the product of jet fuel combustion, and an electrogravity field would leave no such trail. The B-2’s engines can operate as normal turbofans, but they can also switch modes and become flame-jet generators, pumping out gas that is charged to millions of volts negative. If the B-2 is an antigravity craft then that ability would be extremely important. It would also explain why the aircraft’s thrust-to-weight ratio is so astonishingly low; the real thrust comes not from the engines but from the antigravity effect. Finally, it would explain why they bother to electrically charge the edge and exhaust of the aircraft.”

Max spoke up. “That still seems a bit far-fetched. If the B-2 had an antigravity switch inside, don’t you think that someone would have leaked that by now? That’s the sort of thing that would be hard to keep secret.”

“Perhaps,” Professor Grimes said. “But keep in mind that governments can keep secrets. During World War II the government built a massive city in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and tasked them with designing and building an atomic bomb. The secrecy around the project was so tight that even the Vice President was unaware of what was going on. An entire city managed to keep a secret! Besides, keep in mind the basic premise that we are dealing with here. If you go up to someone and tell them that the B-2 Spirit is an antigravity aircraft they will laugh at you. Antigravity is seen as so far-fetched that the entire concept is laughable. Why bother to leak something if no one will believe you anyway?

“But there is something else to think about. It is entirely possible that the antigravity abilities of the aircraft are entirely passive – that is, it is something the aircraft does without the pilot even knowing about it. From the pilot’s perspective he may just power up the plane and take to the skies, and the aircraft itself does the rest. Just because the design of the plane incorporates antigravity elements does not mean that the pilot knows this. Knowing how to fly a plane and knowing how the plane flies are two entirely different things – after all, just because you can drive a car does not mean you understand how its engine works.

“There is even a precedent for this exact situation. During World War II the North American P-15 Mustang fighter demonstrated truly outstanding performance. When people asked about this they were told that it was due to ‘laminar flow’ wing technology. Many years later the truth was revealed: the Mustang’s under-fuselage duct was shaped internally in such a way that the radiator’s heat was converted into a low-temperature ramjet. This information was kept classified, and not even the mechanics who worked on the planes (much less the pilots!) realized what was actually going on. Everyone was fed a believable lie, and only the engineer who built it knew the truth.”

Ashley spoke up. “So you’re saying that this one is real? The B-2 is a real antigravity aircraft?”

Professor Grimes paused a moment before replying. “I am saying that it may well be true. In a situation like this it is impossible to arrive at a definitive answer, because the only people who know the truth have a tremendous incentive to lie about it. At the very least I think it is possible to make a plausible case for it. This legend is tremendously more plausible than, say, the idea that space aliens built the pyramids. If it is a hoax it is really a remarkably good one.”

Max spoke up. “But that still doesn’t make sense. Look – suppose that you’re right. Why does this amazing antigravity magic only exist in the B-2? Why hasn’t antigravity taken the rest of the world by a storm? Am I supposed to believe that in the past 50 years no one else has ever thought of this?”

The professor shook his head. “Not at all. I think there may be a simple answer for this. Did you know that the B-2 cannot fly in the rain?”

“What?” Lora asked. “Seriously?”

“Oh yes – it’s quite true! This was first reported in the New York Times on August 23, 1997. Rain gives the B-2 Spirit serious problems. Supposedly it leads to the ‘deterioration of the aircraft’, but you can be sure that the Air Force is not going to reveal the whole story. If you think about it, this story is a huge red flag that something very strange is going on. After all, rain is not a new phenomenon. The field of aviation is a century old, and rain has not caused any aircraft serious problems for a very, very long time. The idea that a mundane thing like rain can jeopardize the integrity of a billion-dollar high-performance space-age aircraft is so ludicrous that it is hard to fathom. How could rain possibly make the slightest bit of difference? I am sure that the engineers who designed the B-2 were not dummies. Yet we are told that rain can ruin one of the most advanced aircraft ever built. That is truly remarkable!

“If the B-2 is merely a normal airplane then this fact is completely incomprehensible. It makes no sense at all. Are we to believe that its engineers forgot that their plane might get wet? But if the plane has an antigravity component then it’s quite different. Brown’s electrogravity theories relied on manipulating gravity by the use of electromagnetic fields. It may be that introducing rain or humidity does something to compromise or interfere with either the effect, or with the fields themselves. This may have been entirely unforeseen – a bizarre problem that happened because they were using rather exotic technology. I find that much more believable than the idea that the B-2 is a normal plane that has an allergy to water.

“You see, we naturally assume that when antigravity finally appears it will be infinitely better than conventional jets. It may be that it is not nearly as good as conventional aircraft propulsion, and the only reason it was incorporated into the B-2 was because conventional propulsion was just not stealthy enough. If antigravity has some serious drawbacks and only works under tightly controlled conditions then it may be almost useless. Suppose that Boeing researched electrogravity and found out that it was real, but it stopped working in the rain and cost a billion dollars per plane. Would it really be that surprising if they dropped the project and went back to their jets? After all, what airline wants to be saddled with ridiculously overpriced planes that only work in the desert? It may be that those who have looked into this have discovered the technology’s drawbacks and have moved to more practical solutions.”

Max spoke up. “So you’re saying that antigravity technology might exist, but if it does it’s probably terrible.”

“That would be my guess,” Professor Grimes agreed. “The rumor that the B-2 Spirit incorporates antigravity may well be true. As implausible as it sounds, the theory does have a basis in reality, and there are enough oddities about the plane itself to make a person wonder. If the rumor is true then that would strongly imply that antigravity is not nearly as good as science fiction reports. It is simply another technique that, while amazing, is simply not practical.”

“Wow,” Ashley said. “I thought for sure you were going to disprove it.”

“As I said, follow the evidence! Sometimes it may surprise you. Incidentally, speaking of evidence, be sure to read the next chapter in your books before our next class. You are dismissed!”

I have finally completed the first draft of the last Stryker book, At the End of Eternity:

Of course, there is still work to be done. This is just a first draft; the manuscript needs quite a bit of polishing, which will probably take months. But this is still a significant milestone. On November 1, 2007 I started work on the first Stryker book, and this morning I wrote the final chapter of the last book in the series. It took more than four years to get this far, but we did get here. It is a good feeling.

I do not know when I will complete the editing on this book; that process will probably take several months. Normally I release chapters and then edit them, but this time I’m going to finish the manuscript before I post any of it. When I have completed it I’ll post it here, on my blog, as I have done with my other books.

I don’t know what I am going to do next. I don’t have plans for any other fiction books. Something may come up, but at the moment there is nothing else on my plate.

James 1:2: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Now this is a hard teaching! This is something that we definitely don’t want to hear, but it is so important. First, the word “temptations” in verse 2 would probably be better translated “trials”. What James is saying is that we should rejoice when our faith is tried and when we are put through hard times. These should be seen as blessings because “the trying of your faith worketh patience”.

Patience is a really big deal to God. The Lord wants us to learn to wait for His timing. God didn’t change Abram’s name to Abraham until he was in his 90s. Abram knew that he was promised a son but God made him wait a very long time for it – so long, in fact, that having a son became a biological impossibility. God was testing Abram’s faith to see if he would still believe God even after it looked like all hope was lost.

Learning to wait is a hard thing. Jesus said that He would return, but it’s been almost two thousand years and He has still not come back. Will we believe Him and patiently wait, or will we give up, as so many others have?

God will often put us in situations that are designed to stress-test our faith, to demonstrate if our faith is genuine or phony. Many people abandon their faith in God after something terrible happens to them (such as a loved one dying, for example). Their faith was weak; it would only stand as long as it was not tested. As soon as they were asked to believe in God despite the circumstances, they buckled. They would only trust God as long as He did what they wanted Him to do.

God wants us to have genuine faith and genuine patience. He wants us to wait patiently, even when we’re suffering and even when our lives are pure misery. He wants us to be content even in the midst of hard times. He wants us to learn to be patient and endure.

When we have mastered patience and contentment – when we have learned to wait on the Lord and hold onto our faith, no matter what the circumstances – then we are “perfect and entire, wanting nothing”.

This is the cover art for the tenth book in the Emma Wynn Detective Series.

James 1:1: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.”

As others have pointed out, James was the half-brother of Jesus, but he doesn’t mention this amazing fact in his introduction. He simply calls himself “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”. He identifies himself without drawing attention to who he is or what his credentials are.

That is really quite an impressive show of humility and selflessness! Today so many people go out of their way to make sure everyone knows how incredible they are and how many great things they’ve done. Self-promotion is absolutely huge – even among pastors, who can’t seem to resist telling people all the good deeds they’ve done that week or all the amazing things they’ve done in the past. Who today would fail to mention that they were the half-brother of Jesus – especially if they had a book to sell? Talk about instant fame!

James really wasn’t too concerned that people knew who he was, or understood how great he was, or were well-versed in the thousand amazing things he had done. He simply said “I’m James” and then launched into a God-centered and God-glorifying message. You don’t see him talking about how he fed 13 orphans, or raised someone from the dead, or performed miracles, or healed the sick, or anything about himself at all. His focus was on God and on telling others the things they needed to know so that their lives might better glorify their Savior.

We would do well to follow his example. God does not want us spending our time telling others how great we are. If we boast at all, let us boast in the Lord.

“This will be our last class of the year,” Professor Grimes announced. “Our next lecture will be in January. I hope all of you have a very blessed New Year’s Eve.”

“Like that’s going to happen,” Lora grumbled. “New Year’s Eve falls on a Saturday this year. A Saturday! We never have classes on Saturday. What fun is having a holiday on a day that we already have off? It’s a total waste!”

Professor Grimes sighed. “Holidays were not created to provide you with an excuse for skipping class. They are days that are set aside so we can celebrate something that is worth celebrating. For example, Christmas is a day to celebrate the birth of Christ. Easter is a day to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. New Year’s is a day to celebrate the start of a new year that is full of possibilities and hope.”

“Does that mean you’re going to let us out early today?” Dan asked hopefully.

“Absolutely not!” Grimes replied. “Why would I do that? After all, you are paying $15,000 a semester to attend this university. You are taking four classes, which means this class is costing you $3750. Each of our semesters has 15 weeks and this class meets twice a week, so there will only be 30 classes. That means each class is costing you $125. If I let you go home now, without teaching you anything, I would essentially be taking your money and providing you nothing in return. That hardly seems fair.”

“It’s not my money,” Lola commented. “My parents are paying for all this.”

“And I am sure that they appreciate your regular attendance to these classes,” the professor remarked. “What truly disturbs me are the 56 people who decided to not attend today. It makes very little sense to pay so much money for a course and then not bother to show up.”

Dan spoke up. “It makes a whole lot of sense to me. Not attending class is way easier than getting out of bed and everything. I mean, really, we just want our degrees. A passing grade is just as good as an A in my book.”

“Are your peers really that delusional? Do they not realize that if they regularly skip classes they will fail the course, and that in turn will damage their efforts to graduate? But I am getting off topic. In this session, as you will know if you did your assigned reading, we are going to discuss the Great Pyramid of Giza.”

Ashley spoke up. “I thought we were discussing crop circles today!”

“Crop circles? Good heavens, no! That lecture is weeks away. Today is the pyramid.”

“What’s so special about it?” Max asked. “It’s a big piles of stones out in the middle of nowhere. Who cares?”

“It is not in the middle of nowhere. The Great Pyramid is actually on the edge of Cairo. The pictures you’ve seen on TV have been carefully cropped to hide the fact that the pyramid is on the outskirts of a very large city. If you actually go there in person you’ll see what I mean. Most pictures of the Great Pyramid are not very honest. Photographers have used all kinds of tricks to hide the buildings, roads, cars, and bustle that surrounds it. They want you think that it’s a pristine monument out in the middle of an empty desert, but it’s really not.

“More importantly, however, the Great Pyramid is not simply a big pile of stones. It is a remarkable feat of engineering. In fact, it is so remarkable that we would be hard-pressed to reproduce it today, even with space-age technology at our disposal. I would even venture to say that if the Great Pyramid had been destroyed long ago and only existed in legends, archaeologists would reject it out-of-hand as being a ridiculous fairy tale. No one would believe that an ancient race could have built such a staggering structure. The only reason people believe it today is because it’s too big to hide. You can’t just sweep one of the largest buildings ever built under a rug – especially when it’s part of the skyline of a large city.”

“But what’s paranormal about it?” Max asked. “Is it haunted with ghosts or something?”

“That is what you’re going to find out,” Professor Grimes said cheerfully. He turned to his desk, picked up a notepad, and began flipping through its pages. “Let’s start out by going over a few basic facts. The pyramid was built about four thousand years ago. No one really knows when it was built, but people have estimated all kinds of dates. Some say it was built around 2560 BC, while others put it in the 22nd century BC. According to my own calculations, the Great Flood occurred in approximately 2348 BC. Since I do not believe any structure could have survived the Flood, I think the 22nd century BC date is much more likely.”

Max called out from the back of the room. “What makes you think that’s when the Flood happened?”

The professor looked up from his notes. “That is an excellent question, but unfortunately the answer is outside the scope of this lecture. I do discuss that in my Biblical History class, however, so if you are truly interested I would suggest signing up for that course.

“As I was saying, the Great Pyramid was built about four thousand years ago by the ancient Egyptians. It is important to emphasize that there is plenty of evidence that the ancient Egyptians really did build it. If that fact was not so well-established it would be quite natural to assume that aliens were responsible. The structure really is that impressive.”

“But there are lots of pyramids in Egypt,” Lora commented. “It’s not like they only built one!”

“That is not quite true. There are indeed other pyramids, but none of the others are anything like the Great Pyramid of Giza. It would be more accurate to say that this was the first pyramid that was built and the others were all crude copies. The Great Pyramid was built of stone; all other pyramids were built of brick. The Great Pyramid has passages inside; all other pyramids are solid. Most importantly, the other pyramids were build as tombs – or, to be precise, as tombstones, as the actual tomb part was located beneath the pyramid. The Great Pyramid, however, was not a tomb.”

“Wait just a minute!” Max called out. “I thought it was built by Khufu to serve as his tomb.”

The professor shook his head. “That is incorrect. Not only was it not a tomb, but the pyramid was probably not built by Khufu at all. The only reason it was attributed to him is because in the 19th century Colonel Howard Vyse discovered a hieroglyph inside the Great Pyramid that bore Khufu’s name. However, it has been shown that the hieroglyph is almost certainly a forgery, put there by Colonel Vyse himself as a ploy to secure funding. In other words, the one hieroglyph in the entire pyramid is probably a hoax – and although archaeologists hate to admit it, the Khufu story is a hoax as well.

“That issue aside, the pyramid itself bears no indication that it was ever intended to be a tomb. Royal Egyptian tombs are filled with frescoes, hieroglyphs, and artifacts. This pyramid, despite the astonishing energy and precision that was poured into its design, is devoid of all of these things. Moreover, when the pyramid was entered for the first time in 820 AD the diggers discovered that the pyramid’s original entrance was sealed. No one had ever entered the pyramid before them, and yet it was found empty. So we are not dealing with a pyramid that was looted. This pyramid was found intact, but contained no artifacts, body, or writing. There is also the point that what is commonly called the ‘granite sarcophagus’ is actually far too small to house an embalmed, decorated Egyptian corpse.”

“So why is it there?” Ashley asked.

Lora spoke up. “I heard it was the same size as the Ark of the Covenant.”

Professor Grimes shook his head. “I have heard that as well, but that information is incorrect. According to the Bible the Ark of the Covenant measured 45” long by 27” wide by 27” tall. The granite sarcophagus, when measured from the inside, is 78” long by 27” wide by 34” high. Not only are they different sizes, but they are different shapes as well.”

“Oh,” Lora replied. “But what about their volumes? Are they the same?”

“They’re not even close, I’m afraid. The Ark was 32,805 cubic inches. The sarcophagus is 71,604 cubic inches. There is no actual similarity between the two. The Ark would technically fit inside the sarcophagus, but there would be a great deal of space left over.”

“So if it’s not a tomb then what was it?” Ashley asked.

“That is an excellent question, and it has puzzled scholars for centuries. The ancient Jewish historian Josephus, who lived about two thousand years ago, stated that it was built to record the knowledge of the heavens. We’ll get to that a little later, however.

“As I was saying, the Great Pyramid is a remarkable building. Before its exterior casing stones were stolen (which is a topic for another lecture) the pyramid was 480.6 feet high. It contains approximately 2.3 million blocks of stone, which vary in weight from 2.5 metric tonnes to more than 70 metric tonnes. The pyramid held the record for being the tallest building in the world until 1311 AD, when the Lincoln Cathedral in England surpassed it by 45 feet. The mass of the pyramid is estimated to be 5.9 million metric tonnes, and its volume is a little over 88 million cubic feet. By way of comparison, the Empire State Building weighs only 331,000 metric tonnes and has a volume of just 37 million cubic feet.”

“So it’s big,” Max commented. “I get that.”

“It is a great deal more than just big. Let’s stop and think about its construction for a minute. Modern historians claim that the pyramid was built over the course of 20 years by laborers who worked on it during the three months of the year when the Nile was flooding. Three months a year for twenty years comes out to a mere 60 months. If we estimate using 30-day months, that means the pyramid was built in 1800 days. In order to lay 2.3 million blocks of stone in 1800 days you would have to lay 1,278 block per day. If they worked during the daylight hours that would give then 10 hours a day to work, which means they would have to lay 128 blocks per hour, or roughly 2 per minute. Even using modern technology it would be enormously difficult to move a new multi-tonne stone into position every 30 seconds – to say nothing of doing it with the ancient Egyptian’s incredible precision and accuracy.

“And the ancient Egyptians knew a great deal about precision. The multi-tonne casing stones that once covered the pyramid were joined together with seams that were less than 1/50th of an inch, and the stones themselves were within one one-hundredth of an inch of being perfectly straight. Those are incredibly fine tolerances! The 13-acre base of the pyramid is less than one inch away from being perfectly level. The Great Pyramid has been called the most accurately constructed building in the world. I think that is an understatement. It is not just an accurately-constructed building, nor is it simply an impossibly massive building. It is a building that shows tremendous insight into the world at large.

“The faces of the pyramid line up to the points of the compass (pointing to truth north, not magnetic north), with an incredibly small error of three minutes of a degree. It’s possible that even that error is due to the land itself shifting. The pyramid sits on the center of the earth’s land mass, meaning whoever built it had to have an accurate map of the entire globe. If you multiply the mass of the pyramid by 1000 trillion you get the mass of the Earth, which is estimated to be 6.0 x 1024 kilograms.”

“How did they figure that out?” Ashley asked.

“Simple Newtonian physics,” the professor explained. “The equation isn’t that difficult. If you know the gravitational constant and the radius of the Earth you can just plug in the numbers and solve.”

“But how did the Egyptians know about Newtonian physics?”

“That is an excellent question! Apparently whoever built the pyramid was aware of the radius of the Earth, had an accurate map of the planet, knew the gravitational constant, and had a good grasp of Newtonian physics. It also appears they knew a great deal more than that. If you take the circumference of the pyramid and divide that by twice its height, you get 3.14159 – a value of pi that is accurate to six places. That’s quite remarkable when you stop and realize that that level of accuracy was not surpassed until the 15th century. Even the Greeks were only able to arrive at a value of 3.1416.”

“That’s pretty close,” Ashley said.

“Yes it is – but it took nearly 1300 years to get a more accurate number than that. Yet the ancient Egyptians had a more precise approximation of pi long before the Greek civilization even existed.”

Max spoke up. “So let me get this straight. You’re saying that the ancient Egyptians were more advanced than the ancient Greeks?”

“I think that is a fair statement. The Greeks were quite brilliant but they never produced anything nearly as massive or impressive as the Great Pyramid. When you add in the fact that the ancient Egyptians built something that lasted for four millennia, it becomes even more impressive.”

“I still don’t see what this has to do with the paranormal, though.”

Professor Grimes put his notes back on his desk. “Let’s lay aside for the moment all of the evidence that demonstrates that the ancient Egyptians were not actually primitive at all. We’ll set aside their amazing knowledge of physics, topography, mathematics, and so forth, and concentrate on just one thing: the mind-boggling feat of stacking 2.3 million really large blocks in a very short amount of time. That is something we would be hard-pressed to do today, even using space-age technology! How did these people manage to position one new stone every thirty seconds? If you assume that the pyramid was built in just 3 to 5 years instead of 20 then the problems become much worse. Even if the pyramid showed absolutely zero knowledge of pi, physics, or anything else, you are still faced with the question of how they managed to build it in the first place.”

Ashley spoke up. “I still don’t get why it was built. If it’s not a tomb then why did they bother?”

“Quite so! But, as I was saying, the question of how the pyramid was constructed has been a very difficult one to solve. The standard answer is that they just used a lot of slave labor – which is really not an answer at all. You simply cannot move a 100,000 pound block of stone by hand, and even if you could you certainly can’t move them into place at a rate of two per minute. That is so silly that it’s laughable. The modern idea that the Great Pyramid was built by a bunch of slaves who pushed giant stones the size of houses up ramps is impractical, bogus, and entirely wrong.

“From there the theories get even more bizarre. Some people have suggested that sound waves were used to magically levitate the stones into place. Others have said that perhaps aliens were involved.”

Max spoke up. “Is this where the paranormal stuff comes in?”

Professor Grimes smiled. “For many people, yes. They claim that the Great Pyramid must have a paranormal explanation, for there is simply no other way to explain its construction. I am here to tell you that this is not the case. The secret behind the pyramid’s construction is actually quite simple: the stones were poured.”

“They were what?” Ashley asked.

“They were poured, like concrete. The stones are artificial, just like the sidewalks outside. Oh, they weren’t all poured. Some of them really were quarried. But quite a lot of them aren’t real. This fact came to light when Jospeh Davidovits used x-ray diffraction to analyze the stones and found air bubbles in them. Real stones – stones taken from the same quarry the ancient Egyptians used – don’t have air bubbles. The Egyptians didn’t carve stones, float them down river for miles, and then drag them up the side of the pyramid. They just poured them.

“Interestingly, history records that ancient Egypt did have the technology to do this. Pliny the Elder reported that they used this ability to make artificial stone vases.”

Lora spoke up. “Seriously? That’s not nearly as impressive. I mean, c’mon, we could do that. How is that paranormal?”

“It’s not paranormal at all. As I said in our very first session, this class is an investigation into paranormal claims. Some claims will be found true, while others will be found false. As interesting as it would be for the pyramids to have been built by space aliens, I am afraid that’s simply not how it was done. The reality is that the secret to their construction is rather mundane. Now, I do not want put down the ancient Egyptians in any way. What they did was brilliant, and the Great Pyramid is still a magnificent achievement. But it is not a paranormal one.

“Does that mean we’re done?” Dan asked.

“No, not quite. There is one other paranormal aspect to the Great Pyramid that I’d like to investigate. We’ve explored how the pyramid was built and demonstrated that, while its construction is impressive, it was not done using magic. Now it’s time to turn to another subject: why was the pyramid built? As I said earlier, despite what people may try to tell you, it was definitely not a tomb.

“If you think about it, it’s rather amazing that we have to ask this question at all! Here we have one of the most massive buildings on Earth, and yet we don’t know why it was built. You would think this would be an easy question to answer, but it’s not. I’ve heard many theories over the years, but all of them have problems. For example, it’s quite possible that Josephus was right, and the Great Pyramid was simply Egypt’s way of demonstrating that they were a world power. They may have built the pyramid to show off their advanced technology, and perhaps they encoded within it their extensive knowledge of physics, geography, and mathematics just to show off. This may be all the pyramid was meant to be. It’s worth noting that before the finishing stones were stolen from it the pyramid could be seen from a great many miles away – it was that good at reflecting the sun. If they wanted to build something that said ‘Look how amazing we are!’ then the Great Pyramid does a pretty spectacular job.

“The problem I have with that theory is that it doesn’t explain the interior of the pyramid. If the Great Pyramid was just a vanity project then there’s no need to even have an interior. All of the other pyramids in Egypt are solid; there’s no reason why this one couldn’t have been solid as well. Yet it is not solid, and there are chambers inside it. Besides, if the Egyptians just wanted to brag about their knowledge they could have covered its interior with hieroglyphics, just as they did in tombs – but they didn’t. They could have buried someone inside it, or stored amazing artifacts of antiquity and wonder – but they chose not to. Nor are there any signs that the pyramid was left half-finished or was somehow interrupted before it was completed. The exterior of the pyramid was designed with incredible precision and accuracy, which makes it extremely likely that the pyramid’s interior was shown that same level of care. It must have meant something. Take the so-called ‘sarcophagus’, for example – it’s too large to fit through any of the corridors, so it must have been placed there while the pyramid was still being built. Someone wanted it to be there and planned accordingly. But why? What purpose does it serve?”

“Is this where the paranormal stuff comes in?” Ashley asked.

Professor Grimes smiled. “For some people, yes. Since there is no natural explanation – or, at least, not one that anyone has discovered – some begin to look for supernatural explanations. There is one theory in particular that seems to be spreading rapidly, and I’d like to take a moment to address it.

“There is only one way to enter the Great Pyramid, and that is through a passageway on the north-facing side. On one day in history that passageway lined up with the north star. That happened in 2141 BC, and it will not happen again for another 26,000 years. The reason people care about this is because they’ve discovered that if they take the dimensions of the interior of the pyramid and convert them into Pyramid Inches (which are said to be 1/25th of a cubit, or 1.00106 British inches), then they find something interesting.”

“Hold on,” Max said. “Where does the Pyramid Inch come from?”

“It was actually derived from the pyramid itself,” Professor Grimes explained. “Someone discovered that if you analyze the pyramid’s dimensions using that particular unit then all the numbers become round numbers. They therefore speculate that that was the unit that was used to build the pyramid. As far as I’ve been able to determine, no past civilization has ever actually used that unit of measurement.

“Anyway, the theory is that pyramid inches inside the pyramid correspond to years. For example, if you walk into the pyramid and keep going down until you reach the ascending passage, you will have traveled 688 pyramid inches. 688 years after 2141 BC is 1453 BC, which is the approximate date of the Exodus. If you take the ascending passage and keep going up until you reach the grand galley, you will have traveled another 1485 inches. 1485 years after 1453 BC is 33 AD, which is the approximate date of the Crucifixion. If you then keep on going through the galley until you reach its end, you will have traveled another 1881 inches. 1881 years after 33 AD is 1914 AD, the start of World War I.”

“That’s amazing!” Ashley said.

“Yes, it certainly is. If you stop there then it would appear that we have our answer. The exterior of the pyramid was built to demonstrate the Egyptian’s knowledge of the Earth, and the interior showed their mastery over time. They knew all about the great moments of history long before they ever happened, and they encoded this knowledge within the pyramid.”

Max spoke up. “That’s preposterous!”

“But the math works,” Lora protested.

“I don’t care. It’s still crazy! There’s no way they could have known all those things.”

Professor Grimes nodded. “You’re quite right – it is preposterous. It’s true that if you stop there the theory looks pretty convincing. However, if you keep on going then the theory falls apart. The interior of the pyramid does not stop at the end of the grand galley. You can keep going up and down the passages, but the rest of the dates appear to be random. For example, if you go down the passageway instead of going up to the grand galley, you will eventually reach a lower level. That date corresponds to 1521. Martin Luther was excommunicated by the Pope that year, but that’s about it. Some have claimed that that’s when Luther wrote his 95 theses, but that’s incorrect. He actually nailed them to the door of the Castle Church of Whittenberg on October 31, 1517.

“If you don’t enter the grand galley and instead walk off to the Queen’s Chamber, its entrance corresponds to 1979. Nothing of any great historical significance happened that year – certainly nothing on par with the start of World War I. The end of the Queen’s Chamber corresponds to 2979, making the room 1000 years wide. Needless to say, the millennial reign of Christ did not begin in 1979.”

“This theory is sounding pretty busted,” Max commented.

“You are absolutely right, and there’s an important lesson here. When examining a case it is very important to not stop too soon. If we had only looked at the initial results of the date hypothesis it would have been easy to conclude that it was correct. However, by testing it further we demonstrated that it had very serious problems. It is vital to press on in your analysis until every last piece of ground has been covered. Stopping too soon could leave critical facts hidden – facts that might change your outlook on a story.

“What this means is that we simply don’t know why the Great Pyramid was built. Sadly, it is entirely possible that we will never know. History has a way of obscuring the truth, and after enough time has passed even well-known facts can be entirely lost. It is possible to regain scientific knowledge, but once historical facts are gone they are usually gone for good.”

“Unless someone builds a time machine,” Lora commented.

Professor Grimes smiled. “That is a possibility that we may explore in a future class. For now it looks like our time is up, so I will let you go. I hope you have a great weekend and a very blessed New Year!”

Hebrews 13:9: “Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.”

The Bible’s philosophy is not “eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” Rather, the Lord wants us to be careful that we don’t give ourselves over to food and drink, seeking fulfillment in it instead of in Him. Eating things does not draw us closer to God, but it can be a distraction if we seek to please our flesh instead of Him. As this verse says, food has not profited those who have been obsessed with it.

Where do we find our joy? Is it in the things that we eat, the things that our flesh craves, the things that we covet, or in our Lord? Are we exercising wisdom, or are we simply giving our body over to whatever it happens to want?

Does that mean that it’s a sin to enjoy our favorite foods? Of course not! But we need to be very careful with our heart. God does not want us to think “Well, I want it, so I’ll just do it. God wants me to be happy and if I do whatever I want, when I want, then life will be good.” God wants us to die to ourselves and to our own desires and then live unto Him, giving ourselves wholly over to Him so that our lives might bring Him honor. Our mission in life should not be self-gratification. In a sense one might say that we are not here to pursue happiness, for being a Christian often means suffering tremendously (as Jesus Himself did). Rather, we are here to serve the Lord and bring Him glory. That should be the focus of our life.

This is the cover art for the ninth book in the Emma Wynn Detective Series.

Hebrews 12:15: “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”

It is so important for us to not become bitter. Bitterness can absolutely ruin us. After all, God has called us to love one another, and to even love our enemies. How can we love our enemies if we are consumed with bitterness? How can we love someone who we hate? It is simply not possible.

This means that even if someone sins against us and is not the least bit sorry about it, we must still let it go. We must not hold onto it, or dwell on it, or allow it to eat us alive. If we do then it will destroy us. Holding onto a grudge will kill our ability to minister to that person. How can we expect to show God’s love to someone that we despise? Yes, it’s not fair that we were treated that way. Yes, the other person is not sorry. But there are times when we simply have to accept the suffering. Remember, Christ suffered unfairly too, and the servant is not greater than his master. If He was unfairly treated and tortured then is it really that big a surprise when we are treated the same way? Did not Jesus warn us that these things would happen?

Now, this does not mean that we should not long for justice, for even in Heaven the martyrs cried out for the Lord to avenge them. But bitterness is something we must not allow into our lives. If we do it will kill us.

Many science fiction stories contain aliens, with most of the intelligent ones looking more or less human. Some stories, however, explore the boundaries of what these aliens might be like, in an effort to challenge the way we think of world around us and ultimately ourselves. Or these authors might just be inventing freaks to get attention and therefore more sales of their book / movie / tv show. At any rate, some of these various works of fiction have prompted me to wonder just what are the limits of form for an intelligent being, specifically: What is the minimum possible size for a creature or machine with an intelligence on par with a human?

Given that life on Earth can be found in sizes ranging down to the microscopic bacteria, the apparent limiting factor here is most likely the brain itself. The human brain is apparently about as small as our neuron and synapse based brains can get without sacrificing its intelligence, so clearly the absolute smallest intelligent brain would have to use some other mechanism. A computer processor can pack a lot of computational power in a small space (current processors are about the size of an Oreo and can process data roughly 1% as fast as some estimates for the human brain), but the smallest data processing unit I know of is is the quantum dot. Quantum dots come in a lot of sizes these days, but since I am looking for the smallest I will call them about 1 nanometer in diameter.

To make a quantum processor capable of matching human intelligence, it will need equivalent processing speed. Unfortunately, no one knows exactly how fast the human brain works and to further complicate the issue, the brain, quantum processors and ordinary transistor processors all process information in fundamentally different ways, so comparing them in a meaningful way is almost impossible. I’m not willing to attempt a real solution at formulating a comparison here, so I’ll just pretend that one quantum dot is equivalent to one synapse.

The human brain contains around 100 billion (10¹¹) neurons, each of which has thousands of synapses, which works out to 10¹⁵ synapse in total. This means that the tiny quantum brain will have 10¹⁵ dots each about one cubic nanometer in volume. Without allowing for any space between them this would only make a block 0.1 mm wide, even with some generous padding our fictional brain is not likely to be more than 1 mm in width.

This is far smaller than I had expected. Given this limit an intelligent creature might well exist that is only an inch (2 cm) or so tall.