The Thirteenth Tribe by John Custer
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Chapter 1 - The Thirteenth Tribe
Hoshe'a the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, was camped at Shechem in the land of the Canaan. Better known by the latter day English equivalent Joshua, the name by which he came to be referred to in the Bible; Hoshe’a had arrived here today to complete a promise to his master. He had one last task to complete before he could pass on the mantle of leadership to his successors. It had been through this very land that he had led the Israelites when they entered the Promised Land and it was here, close to the start of his journey that he wished to see the tribes gathered again. He had called the tribes together today to address them one last time as a nation. As he rested here he remembered the tragedy of Moses and the Israelites in their failure to acknowledge and sanctify Yahweh in everything that they had achieved. He remembered the years of wandering in the desert and how the Lord their God had brought together the people into this land and delivered the land into their hands. He, Hoshea had done his duty and led the people as God had commanded him and now that his time was near he needed to speak to the people. The tent of meeting was convened and while the elders of each of the tribes assembled, the priests offered sacrifice and burnt offering to God. When they had gathered Joshua began his farewell address to the elders. He reminded them of Gods mercy and awe inspiring power, recounting their passage through the desert and out of the clutches of the Egyptians. He reminded them of the gifts that God had bestowed on them, his people from his bounty. He chastised them for their failures and doubts and exhorted them not to follow or assimilate their faith with the people of the land for fear of angering the Lord their God. After addressing the elders in great detail and making sure as far as he was able to that he had left enough in terms of instructions, guidance and warnings to keep the tribes from being misled after his death he retired for the night. He had decided he would not announce their new leader this day for he had one more task left which he would have to convey to the new leader and so he left the gathering wondering and waiting for him to name the chosen one. The elders were to carry his word to the people as he had spoken, scribes had taken notes but theirs was a verbal tradition and he suspected much of what he had said would be lost and forgotten. He knew there would be much dissent too amongst the tribes once they heard his final reckoning for the land had made the people softer and the years of hardship in the desert were soon forgotten. He knew many of them had wanted to take wives from the local tribes and indeed he knew some of them had relations with these women but he had maintained a strict boundary between the Israelites and the locals to stop this intermingling. He knew however that it would be impossible to maintain this indefinitely and there were in the tribes both hardliners who would maintain his teachings without variance and others who would not wait for too long before changing their ways and adopting the foreign ways of this land. He knew his actions were futile in the long term, after all man’s nature is to want to accommodate and cohabit with his fellow being even when they are opposites. As long as there was intermingling there would always be this risk. It had been so in the land of Egypt too, for how else would Moses have been adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter when the Pharaoh himself was an enemy of the Israelites. Yet Hoshea knew that God in his divine majesty had his own plans and would protect his people. He had done what he could since taking over the mantle from Moses, and now that he himself was an old man of many countless summers he too was tired and knew his time of passing was near. He had one last task to finish, and it was this that had kept him from relaxing after the meeting. He did not know what he would find, would things have changed? It had been so many years now and he did not know if what Moses had told him would survive as he had been told. He had left the markers and signs along the road to Canaan and he would make the journey as Moses had told him to. He had faith in his master and would carry out his word to the last letter before passing on the same instructions to the next leader of the land of Israel. The next morning he gathered together his faithful servant and shadow Sharon Ben Amos and two of his most trusted personal bodyguards. Both of his bodyguards were his maternal cousins and Sharon was his brother’s son; he trusted them implicitly with his life. Despite their entry into the Promised Land enemies still abound both without and within the land. They left early and in disguise, without any intimation, making their way to the town of Beth-lehem. On arriving at the outskirts of the town, they took shelter on the rocky terrain. He had told them they would not be going into the town. It was the night of the full moon when they arrived and set up camp. He did not discuss anything with his bodyguards and left hem wondering. He knew they must think it strange to be camped here on the open ground just outside the town. They must have questions about why they had not taken rooms in a comfortable inn or even stayed in the homes of the Israelites who had made their home in this town. He had his reasons but they would have to wait to find out more. They stayed there unnoticed and undercover for three nights, just a band of itinerant travelers camping outside the town. Three days from the full moon the sound of camels moving in from the East was the first intimation of their approaching visitors. The movement had alerted the guards, they watched as two strangers, Bedouins by their look walked up the rise towards their camp. They rode camels laden with their belongings and appeared to be heading straight for their camp. The guards stood ready, the town and the country side were still dangerous and they had the care of their leader at hand. ‘Relax Elias, Ebner, these are friends.’ The guards did not understand the purpose of their sudden mysterious journey or the night time rendezvous outside the town but they followed Hoshea willingly. Buy Now : John Custer: The Thirteenth Tribe Chapter 2
The two Bedouin strangers walked up to the entrance of the tent after alighting. There was now a palpable silence in the chill moonlit night until Hoshea greeted them ‘Yasher koach, brothers,’ they returned the greeting in warm tones and were ushered forward by Hoshea himself. The tense atmosphere dissipated a little and the guards stood warily outside the tent as Joshua indicated they should stay outside and remain alert while Hoshea, Sharon and the strangers went in. The discussions went on well into the early hours of the morning and the next morning after having refreshed themselves the two strangers rejoined Hoshea in his tent. They had spent the night sleeping next to their camels under the open sky and had not slept in the tent. Elias and Ebner between themselves had also spent a sleepless night unsure of what was going on but aware of Joshua’s instructions to be alert, the two guests had also brought with them a sense of unease and though they heard the friendly banter and smiles they did not feel relaxed especially since both their guests looked like hard men who knew how to wield the weapons they carried discreetly. Hoshea finally summoned Elias and Ebner and once they were all seated inside the tent Hoshea spoke to them. ‘Elias, Ebner and you Sharon are my witnesses as I renew my vow to my Lord Yahweh and to my leader Moses and entrust you with this legacy. You will all take this oath today and fulfil the task set for us by our Lord.’ He then went on to tell Elias, Ebner and Sharon of the promise that God had made to Moses and his secret prophecy about the Messiah’s coming when he went up Mount Sinai. He told them of the plan that Moses, Aaron and himself had devised and the how the plan had come to fruition up to this day. On hearing this, Elias and Ebner were astonished; for no one knew of this secret and to now be entrusted with its responsibility was an immense test of their capabilities. Sharon who had been Joshua’s shadow was already aware of this but he too understood both the honour and the responsibility this laid upon them. The three were absolutely committed to Hoshea and now understood the meaning of this trip. They looked with new found respect upon the two strangers and then Elias the most demonstrative of the three stood up and reaching out to each of the strangers in turn hugged them tight. ‘Your dedication and sacrifice will be remembered in the land of Israel throughout time and I, Elias son of Joachim vow that we will keep our part of the bargain to our brothers.’ Ebner and Sharon also took the same vow with their hands on their hearts and eyes steadfast on the two strangers. The grim strangers finally smiled and the group broke bread as one that day. Throughout the day Hoshea spoke to all of them, passing on to them the teachings he had received from Moses and the details of the plan. He spoke of the codes to be used, the signs to be left and the secret means of communications that they would follow in future between themselves and when communicating with their new friends. They soaked this all up like a sponge soaking up all this new knowledge as they were initiated into its brotherhood. Two nights after their arrival the strangers left the same way in the night without any fanfare but each bearing tidings for their people of the renewal of their covenant. Hoshea and his people then returned to Shechem and the Israelites continued to prosper in the land into the future. Elias, Ebner and Sharon remained faithful to their word and after Hoshea’s death they continued the task assigned to them passing on the secret amongst the chosen few and the keepers of the covenant. Chapter 3
Secret location in Current day Israel Professor Emil Irohan had spent the last few days studying the broken clay tablets that the dig site had given up. Fragments discovered spread widely across the dig site indicated a number of them had been crushed or broken and spread out over the site. It demonstrated a widespread destruction of writings but no other information. Perhaps old records dumped outside a settlement and later trampled by subsequent movement. He had been pondering this almost random scatter of tablets on the site and had reluctantly come to the conclusion this was possibly an ancient dump site. If so however the city or settlement from where these tablets had been thrown out lay somewhere nearby. The fragments he had managed to decipher indicated general trade records and were most likely used in the local markets recording sale and purchase of goods. The most likely explanation was once their use was up these tablets were destroyed or dumped here. Studying them this morning he had no idea about the momentous discovery he was to stumble upon. He had initially been confused by this dig site and the preponderance of broken tablets but every bit helped/ The tablets told a story oft heir own, of commerce and trade and meetings and people. A story of a time in motion far away in the distant past. He knew not everyone looked at it that way but these records were like till receipts in the supermarket. It showed you what people liked to buy, what they ate, wore, traded, coveted. The tablets told stories to those who could read them and he knew he would soon have deciphered enough to frame a theory on the possible people and their lifestyles. There was a lot of academic research that this would set off and perhaps a new line of study for some of his research students. It was only as the dig proceeded further that they had come across the next strata, an underground cavern at the top right hand section of their grid. What had started as a trickle of sand gradually grew in size and speed and was the first indication of any change on their dig site. The dig had started after a recent series of earthquakes had uncovered clay fragments which a local had tried to sell on and an unguarded dealer had alerted the authorities when he boasted of a new find. Emil had been contacted as the leading scholar in the field. He had jumped at the news of a new find and eager to gather what he could from a potentially unspoilt new site rushed there with a team within days of the news. He had immediately secured the site under the aegis of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and begun his work. On this dig he had about 9 of his postgraduate students assisting him along with a research assistant and his trusted Man Friday; Gershon Liebermann. Gershon was the brains behind the extraordinary control and fluidity with which the site functioned. He was a whiz at managing the site logistics, permissions and nsuring all the work was carried out without a hitch. Gershon was the lead man in dealing with the logistical and bureaucratic nightmare that any dig eventually descended into. Emil had quickly learned the need for just such a committed man to help him on site once he realised it was neither his temperament nor his interest to deal with bureaucracy. He was happiest when on site uncovering artefacts and couldn’t bear to be buried in paperwork. Gershon on the other hand was happiest ticking off lists, coordinating and negotiating, dotting I’s and crossing T’s, in essence everything that needed to be done to keep a dig site running smoothly. They had come together a few years ago on one of Emil’s digs in Southern France where Gershon was a postgraduate student on the dig helping out with some of the translation work. They had soon struck up a professional relationship once they realised they both had complementary abilities and an almost psychic ability to read each other’s minds with Gershon handling most of Emil’s potential requests before they even came up. When the opportunity arose for Emil to recruit an assistant he had approached Gershon who had remained in touch after his studies and they had worked together ever since. Centuries of erosion and the dry air had ground most of the surrounding mountainside to bare rock and sand and the movement of trucks and the subsequent dig had led to a more erosion of the topsoil. Emil had been struggling with the large number of broken tablets but he had in mind a niggling worry about why he had not located a single parchment. After all parchments were the more common means of writing discovered at most finds unless this site was older than they believed. The tablets themselves to date appeared rather common and a large trove of this appeared to be a list of trade goods and foodstuff, possibly records of trading as he suspected at this stage. He had found similar tablets around Israel at various sites and they did give some insight into trade and items in use but given the banality of this find he was rather ill disposed towards the site though he hoped to find the city next which may hold something of interest. It was one of his students Leona, a fresher on the site who noticed the shifting sand and brought it to his attention. He did not particularly like Leona who appeared to want to draw more attention to herself with her provocative dresses and sashaying around the camp rather than concentrating on the work at hand. Though he would have generally liked to dismiss her, he recognised too that he was very harsh on his students and always expected more of them; and maybe just maybe, he had to be less demanding and more supportive recognising not everyone could be brilliant or great in the field. He did not really have much hope for her talents in the academia or the field either and so it was with some reluctance that he listened to her clearly agitated account and was pleasantly surprised when he followed her to what was now a gradually widening hole in the ground indicating something interesting on his site. As he trudged to the corner she was indicating he noticed the gradual but definite trickle of sand and this initially worried him because he wasn’t sure if their whole site was potentially at risk of disappearing down into whatever gap existed underneath. The presence of dried out subterranean water tunnels that riddled the land always meant a risk of dig sites collapsing if they accidentally uncovered any such tunnels. He approached cautiously and after just one look at the hole he called a stop to the dig. Gershon joined him immediately and was soon on his phone calling up people and trying to expedite the next step of the process given this interruption to their dig. Emil hated having to stop his work but an unstable site would need to be stabilised and he was responsible for the safety of both the dig and his students. While Gershon got in touch with the University and The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) to update them first of the situation Emil tried to get an idea of what was going on under his site. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) was formed in 1990 from its predecessor, the Israel Department of Antiquities. The IAA remained the primary regulatory body for carrying out excavations in Israel and they needed to be informed if there were any problems. The site inspector had clearly not picked up this problem at the site survey stage and now the whole thing would not only delay the dig but also potentially damage any remaining tablets if they had a collapse due to an underground cavern or tunnel. The next day, the site turned into a building site with construction workers and rigs to stabilise the ground and ground penetrating radar scanners on site designed to help map the dimensions of the underground opening and any tunnels. By the end of the afternoon most of the site had been marked as safe and it looked like the gap which had formed was actually the beginning of a small cave like structure and not underlying tunnels as originally feared. Emil had also called up his friend Avraam once the IAA site inspector had confirmed that the site was not at risk of imminent collapse and the cave like structure was straight walled and appeared to be manmade at just over a hundred square feet in size. The ground penetrating radar had provided some clarity as to the structure and both Emil and Gershon were excited by the potential for a find of some magnitude given the size of the structure and the various shapes that appeared in the radar imagery. The indications were this was a large repository and jars and other objects could be faintly made out in the shading on the radar images obtained. Emil could not hide his excitement and was literally bursting to get Avraam working with him on this. They were old friends and had worked together on various finds in the past where Avraam’s technical expertise was needed. Avraam was what most people would call a technical whizkid; but unlike most modern day whizkids was actually a very sprightly and fit 54 year old. If there was one thing Avraam was good at, it was beating the younger kids hands down in any technical pursuit. He had an intuitive knowledge and skill coupled with a number of advanced Doctorates in three streams of Engineering and was a leading authority on Robotics. Avraam frequently created unique pieces of technical equipment and software for use in the field of archeology, when he wasn’t working for the military on some top secret project. ‘Well, what have we got here then?’ said Avraam pulling up a chair next to Emil in his tent. Gershon too joined them on seeing Avraam arrive and pulled up a chair to join the discussions. Emil updated him on what had been found and the cavern under the edge of the site. He showed him the evidence from the Ground Penetrating Radar they had used and watched as Avraam pinched his lips in concentration. Avraam studied the pictures for some time, deep in thought while Emil stayed silent waiting for his view on the site. Let’s have a look at the entry point said Avraam and hauling himself out of the chair made their way to the opening that the now much sought after Leona had discovered. After a careful study of the opening Avraam gradually looked up and smiled, ‘Looks like a job for my lovely assistant Betty’. ‘Assistant? Betty? When did you get an assistant?’ asked Emil. ‘Let me show you’ said Avraam and pulled out his phone and flicking through his pictures showed him Betty and then broke into a laugh. Emil and Gershon joined him as they saw Betty. Of course Avraam would name his machines, being as obsessed with them as he was with his work, this was bound to happen. ‘Betty is my newest assistant; a fully 3D printed wonder. I was waiting to try her out somewhere and this looks like just the site. I have one of my new machines, paid for by the University and worth every penny. You remember the collapse at the Fayyum dig site in Egypt when they struck the cavern? That set me thinking, tragic waste of life there. Emil and Gershon nodded in agreement, two labourers and three research assistants had been buried alive under mounds of rubble when a newly excavated cavern had collapsed. Unlike most other places in the world, Egypt has a history of positive management of underground digs. Most underground structures discovered in Egypt were built with solid rock and remained structurally sound. The Fayyum cavern had rather unfortunately unlike other sites been weakened due to previous digging by grave robbers and a previous earthquake had damaged portions of the cavern roof. These structural anomalies were not noted in time to strengthen them further before exploration and the subsequent tragedy had led to a massive outcry and much hand wringing in Egypt. Avraam went on, ‘That led me to think about Betty and her friends who I will introduce you to later. We cannot have bulky robots on these sites either and where we potentially need to climate control and shore up these sites internally I now have a full army of these toys to do that for us before we even step in physically.’ ‘Avi, you will be the death of archaeology, if you get all these robots to carry out the work what are people like us supposed to do?’ ‘Sit in command modules in air conditioned comfort instead of sweating out here in the sun. Come along, let’s get Betty kitted’ he said and strode towards his Camper van. Avraam as always was dressed in blue faded jeans, mud brown moccasins and a white long sleeved shirt, rolled up past his wrist, just over his plastic Casio watch. Stepping into the cool of his air conditioned camper van Avraam pulled up a chair next to his work desk and pulled open a foot long red coloured box with the name Betty stenciled across its top. Betty was incredibly tiny, the photo had not given any indication of her size and it was when Avraam placed her on the palm of his hand that Emil realised just how amazing this creation was. She looked like a dragon fly and was only about 5 inches long with a bulging head and a long tail just like a dragon fly. Avraam pressed the tip of the Betty’s nose and Betty unfurled before their eyes. A tiny light came on and the front of the head rolled out to look exactly like the eyes of a dragonfly with two bulbous looking eyes. The rest of the box was filled with about a dozen cylindrical nodules each with a name tag below it. Avraam looked up at Emil and Gershon and smiling said, ‘Those are Betty’s friends. I always believe nature is the best designer given it has had aeons to fine tune its designs and so I replicated it as closely as I could.’ As they watched in awe the middle of the dragon fly parted and tiny filaments, almost transparent wings emerged and unfurled over the body. Avraam turned around and after fiddling around with his Tab invited Emil and Gershon to have a look. Emil and Gershon were surprised to see themselves and Avraam staring at the tablet and realised the image came from Betty. ‘Yes, said Avraam smiling at Emil, ‘Betty is fully capable of transmitting live video in full colour and I have added some additional features to help on dig sites.’ Saying this he pulled out a larger box from below the desk and opened it. Inside this were a number of copies of Betty. ‘Each of these has add-on capabilities like drilling, digging, lifting etc. I am still working on various applications that I want to create but I have some of the functional modules here. You see the biggest problem with electronics in miniaturization is power consumption and power supply. Since they cannot hold a lot of power their processing is weak and they cannot last long. I took inspiration from nature again and came up with this. When birds fly in formation, they utilise air currents and wind streams created by their own flapping to help them fly better using less energy. By coordinating their formation flying they interchange positions when the lead is tired and swap positions so the lead can then rest and glide using the wind stream generated by the others. This team here is Betty’s relay team and together they deliver the goods.’ |
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