Temple of Fire by Christopher Forrest Read Free Book Online Page B

sense.”
    “Explain,” said Caine .
    “This architecture is a mixture of designs seen on several different continents.  I would expect to find similarities with Mesoamerican architecture because of Nevada ’s geographical proximity to Mexico and Central America .  But . . . but . . . ”   Ambergris paused to wipe his glasses.  He was perspiring even in the cool, climate-controlled Ops Center .  “But I’m seeing elements not only of Aztec and Mayan architecture, but of Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian influence.  Even Cambodian.   One temple in the distance resembles the Temple of Angkor Wat in southeast Asia.”
    “What are you getting at, Doctor. ”
    “I think you know, Mrs. Caine .  I think you know.”
    * * *
     
    Dr. Joshua Ambergris had formerly led a project for Triad Genomics in Manhattan before entering Titan Global’s full-time employ.  He had made an astonishing discovery: within strands of
DNA
were long nucleotide sequences called introns , or “junk
DNA
.”  They had not appeared to carry any meaningful genetic messages.
    Appeared was the operative word.  Working with Christian Madison, Quiz, and Grace Nguyen, Ambergris had found a cipher within ancient Jewish texts that unlocked the random genetic introns , producing what had come to be called The Genesis Code.  The Code was still being studied, and news of its existence had not yet been made public.
    But what had the Code revealed?  Nothing less than that ancient ancestors of modern-day humans had faced one of many global cataclysms that nearly decimated the human race.  Technologically advanced beyond imagination — the concept of an Atlantean culture was the closest analogy — the Ancients, as they came to be known, had left invaluable information for future humans.  They had accomplished this by planting information on the meaningless sections of
DNA
, and hence the name: The Genesis Code.  The Code had been inserted into every member of the Ancient culture so that any survivors would pass down the information for generations until humans once again developed technology that could decode it.
    The Code spoke of the cataclysm that wiped out the Ancients two hundred thousand years ago.  Their civilization pre-dated any known to man.
    But the Code had also been a veritable encyclopedia of scientific, cultural, medical, and spiritual information.  Titan Global had been conducting classified research on the Code at the top-secret military base of Savage Bay , off the coast of Ibiza , Spain .  The project director had been Dominique Caine , daughter of Catherine.
    The paramour of Li Soo Yang, Dominique had given knowledge of the discovery to the Chinese, who Yang said would make the technology available to the world for free.  Disease and poverty would be wiped out.
    Dominique Caine had betrayed her mother, and the Chinese were now also in possession of The Genesis Code.  Both Titan Global and covert arms of the Chinese government, under the direction of Li Soo Yang, were still unlocking the secrets of the Ancients.
    * * *
     
    Joshua Ambergris spoke next as he sat at his station, stroking his beard pensively.
    “There’s only one explanation,” he said.  “There is a diversity of architecture and cultural expression in the city because the descendants of the Ancients two hundred thousand years ago scattered widely around the world before the cataclysm that claimed their own civilization.  This is a more overt example of what scientists out in the field have been seeing for years, namely that customs and artifacts from one civilization show up in the remains of another half a world away.  Like all cultures around the globe, this culture descended from the Ancients who wrote The Genesis Code.”
    “Agreed,” said Madison .  “The Mesoamerican cultures thrived from about 200 A.D. to 1500 A.D.  The Kmer culture of Cambodia and Thailand reached a highpoint in the twelfth century.  The Fourth Dynasty of Egypt’s Old