THE GENISIS ENIGMA preview

Jim Sampson was born in 1946 in Sydney , Australia . He was educated at a prominent private school and later at the University of New South Wales , where he graduated with a degree in Commerce, majoring in Economics.

Before turning to writing, Jim spent many years as a director of various manufacturing companies.

Acutely interested in all aspects of science, history, and world events, Jim enjoys actively debating all these issues.

Born into a musical family, both his parents were classically trained. Jim’s father was a very talented musician, arranger, composer, conductor and teacher. Jim did not inherit any of these talents. Instead, he has a mind enriched with artistic ideas covering a wide range of topics from intellect to fantasy.

The Genesis Enigma is an exciting philosophical thriller, combining many of today’s real issues with just a little fantasy. It is the first of what Jim hopes to be a successful series of published works, now he has time to pursue his dream.

The Genesis Enigma

All anthropologists agree that modern humans, Homo sapiens, stemmed from more primitive ancestors, Homo erectus.

They strongly disagree over how, when and where …

… AND YET …

Then God said, “And now WE will make human beings; they will be like US and resemble US.” (Genesis 1.26)

“When people had spread all over the world, and daughters were being born, some of the heavenly beings saw that the young women were beautiful, so they took the ones they liked.”

(Genesis 6.1-2)

A cool evening breeze swept in from the south, giving welcome relief from the scorching autumn day. Doctor Levi Bernstein, renowned American anthropologist, sank back into a large cane chair on the verandah of an old heritage cottage, and gazed out at the enormous radio astronomy network before him. He thought that the six huge white antenna dishes had seemed out of place in the hot, dusty outback during the day, but it was a different story at night. In the crystal clear atmosphere, they looked amazingly compatible with the explosion of the galactic night show. The Southern Cross, clearly visible in the evening sky, shone brightly against the murky backdrop of the billions of stars of the Milky Way.

Below the stars, helicopters dotted the horizon. Unarmed, plain-clothed security guards patrolled the grounds, shadowed by the ghostly silhouettes of swaying trees.

This site had been chosen for its seclusion and security. It also represented humanity’s quest to seek other life forms in the infinite universe so graphically displayed above. The night sky was an awesome spectacle, magnifying Levi’s feeling of insignificance. As he glanced back up at the stars, he knew that tomorrow could be the greatest turning point in the known history of our tiny planet. His role weighed heavily on his shoulders.

Since the discovery of the small object, now heavily guarded in the cottage only meters away, his life had been in chaos. Tomorrow, he and he alone must hold it in his hand, at the appointment with destiny.

The Secretary-General of the UN and fifteen state leaders of the Security Council representing a united Earth would join him here tomorrow. This meeting with the descendants of the object’s planetary origin was the result of Earth being on the brink of a man-made environmental catastrophe. That catastrophe was a direct result of mankind’s self-imposed entrapment in rampaging fossil fuel energy consumption and resultant critical contamination of our atmosphere, and environmental degradation. That entrapment stemmed from humanity’s obsession and blind refusal to deal with over-population, greed, violence, economic and ecological vandalism, and religious and racial paranoia.

All of these evolved and inherent characteristics had been accurately predicted by the small object behind him as the root cause of the collapse of all emerging civilizations in the universe and beyond, unless stopped early enough.

Also at the meeting, Levi hoped, the three key questions, the answers to which had been the driving force of his and his best friend’s lives, would be answered as well. These three questions had been even further clouded when the object was found. Who we are? Where did we come from? Where are we going?

On the cane coffee table beside Levi were four sealed envelopes, along with specific instructions when each should be opened. The large, thick envelope, from the Secretary-General, contained the UN’s comprehensive account of the events that had led him here. Opening it gently, he flicked the first page over and began the journey through a web of lies, murder, international deceit and terrorism. That journey alone was stark evidence of humanity’s relentless march to oblivion.

The small object unearthed in Palestine , that had swept away humanity’s preconceived historical beliefs in almost every facet of our existence sat on top of a pedestal behind him. It radiated an eerie white glow that reflected off the stony-faced SAS soldiers guarding it.

A swirling gust of wind suddenly swept a billow of fine sand into Levi’s tent, stinging his eyes. Tossing his reading glasses down on the sonar and seismic reports he had been going over, he peered out through the open tent flaps and down to the anthropological excavations that his team had completed over the last three years.

Near the dried-up riverbed, he could see the eight sites that they had been working on this summer. It had taken two years to get Israeli Government approval for this excavation in occupied Palestine . Levi believed that this riverbed could contain early human skeletal remains preserved in a type of dried-up marshy bog. Although the stunted trees dotted along the banks were the only evidence left of a thriving, ancient ecosystem of a hundred thousand years ago, the climate in the Middle East had been tropical. This river would swell with summer rains creating marshy swamps, which with this soil type, acted like quicksand in the following dry season.

This site was rare, because prior to one hundred thousand years ago, man had not buried his dead, making it virtually impossible to find intact human remains. Various international teams had investigated this riverbed over the last ten years without finding any evidence of ancient humans. Levi still hoped, regardless of their failure to date, that at this rare site an early human had become entrapped in the quicksand, embalming and protecting it from predators.

Frustrated with the fruitless search so far, Levi rubbed his eyes from the sting of the sand. He shook more sand out of his wispy brown hair, already graying at the temples, before he stretched his long legs out in front of his camp chair, leaned back, and put his arms behind his head. Was this going to be another disappointing dig, a repeat of his quests over the past thirty-odd years? Sifting, searching and finding nothing significant in almost every continent on this earth? Or would his gut feeling be right this time? Maybe he and John would be lucky at last with this dig and find an anthropological Holy Grail.

Down at the ancient riverbed, Levi could see John, who had been his closest friend for forty-five years, hunched over in Pit 23. His grubby Panama hat was tilted back on his head as he worked away methodically. We have had the same dream for so long, Levi thought; hoping to find the key to the never-ending puzzle regarding the origins of mankind.

Born in the same neighborhood of Boston , their friendship had developed with a common interest since their school days together, constantly debating the scientific and biblical concepts of the origins of mankind. As their perception of the credibility of the Bible’s account had evaporated over the years, their interest, education and careers centered on the two current theories of evolution: the Spontaneous Theory and the Eve Theory.

While the first one contends that modern humanity had developed or erupted in different parts of the world, the latter argued that modern man’s origin could be traced back to a single common ancestor in Africa .

The objective at this site was to get evidence of the Eve Theory and to prove that the Middle East had been the gateway for modern man’s migration out of Africa . Recent discoveries in Israel had revealed caves where Neanderthal and Modern Man had simultaneously lived in close proximity to each other. Those discoveries had supported the Eve Theory. As sonar and seismic analysis had indicated a number of disturbances along this riverbed, Levi was cautiously optimistic that this could indicate early human skeletal remains, entrapped for over one hundred thousand years.

Levi refocused back to the site. John was working with Ashamad, a local Palestinian from Jericho . To the left he could see young Steven and Humbar, another local hand, digging in Pit 28. Although his reports had shown that there was a large disturbance one meter down in this pit, he believed it was too big to be human, and would turn out to be, yet again, a number of fossilized animals.

Steven was a postgraduate anthropologist from Tel Aviv, the son of an Israeli cabinet minister, and had the same dream as Levi and John. He was also the only one who spoke enough Arabic to be able to translate orders directly to Ashamad and Humbar. Under the hot sun, Steven’s curly brown hair, fair skin and small yet solid build, contrasted with the much darker-haired, olive-skinned lanky Arab working beside him.

Levi chuckled to himself. Watching a Jew, two Muslims and a Christian all working together to help find a dream and be a part of that dream was wonderful. Why couldn’t everyone else work together in harmony as they were?

The sound of a car with squeaky brakes pulling up abruptly behind his tent jolted Levi back to reality. He suddenly remembered that Steven’s closest friend, Peter, a Catholic priest, was coming to the site to take Steven back to Tel Aviv to spend the weekend with his fiancée, Julie, a senior television reporter for CNN.

Just as Levi called out to Peter, who was now walking towards the dig, he was startled to hear Steven shouting from Pit 28. He turned abruptly and saw John running, his Panama hat tucked tightly under his arm. As John scrambled down into the pit, Levi silently hoped that this would not be yet another disappointment.

Seconds later John’s head bobbed up. “Levi!” he screamed excitedly, “Levi, we’ve unearthed phalanges!” When he looked up and saw Levi at his tent, he gestured wildly for him to hurry down.

Levi’s heart raced as he snatched his glasses and the reports, and started to run towards the pit, wondering with mounting anticipation what else could be there to create such a big disturbance.

John glanced up at Levi now standing at the top of the pit. “I’m not sure,” he said tentatively, “but it’s not Neanderthal. What do you think?”

Levi climbed down into the dig area while Steven carefully brushed dirt away revealing the bones protruding from the ground.

“Let me have a look, Steven,” he said, panting from his jog down from the campsite. Steven moved aside and now waved to Peter, acknowledging the arrival of his friend.

Taking a small brush and scraper out of his pocket, Levi started to gently move the dirt from around the bones until he had exposed the entire hand.

“It’s the hand of a young Homo erectus, I think,” he said in amazement. “And look, John, the carpals are intact too!” he added as he continued to gently expose their find, with John’s eyes fixed on the protruding bones. To both Levi and John, time was now standing still, but their minds, always in harmony, were working at lightning speed assessing the possibilities of this discovery. Compared to their minds, Levi’s hands appeared to be moving in slow motion.

Steven, now anticipating Levi’s next move, called out in Arabic to the Palestinians, directing them to remove the overburden to get a clearer picture of the find. John stood motionless beside Levi. His eyes were transfixed on Levi’s every movement as he exposed more of the youth’s skeleton. As Levi continued to work, he was unable to control the mental pictures his mind was conjuring. His reports indicated the size of this disturbance. Tension was mounting, and Levi was totally engrossed in the bones being slowly exposed with each gentle scrape and brush stroke.

The excitement of the find had created momentary confusion, and it took five or ten minutes for the picks and shovels to arrive from the other pits. Levi carefully scraped further to discover an ulna and a radius that also appeared to be intact. If there were skeletal remains to a total body, it would be angling slightly to the west, he assumed. Crouching down a meter away to where he thought the rest of the skeleton would be, he started to gently scrape away at the ground. John now quietly moved further along the pit to where he estimated the end of the disturbance would be.

Levi was getting more excited by the minute with the enthusiasm of concentrated digging that now had a purpose. Only yesterday they were all so lethargic. This excavation was at last revealing some pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, the parameter of which had been defined by their scientific reports.

John suddenly looked up amazed. “I have a patella, Levi!” he shouted passionately. “But it’s not a youth, it’s an adult! Oh my God, we’ve got more than one here, we have finally hit paydirt. Oh my God! Where’s the champagne?” He continued to mutter almost incoherently in his subdued excitement.

Levi now scrambled across to John’s new find, another piece of the puzzle, and could clearly see it was an adult kneecap. “That’s at least two, John, but there have got to be more. Look at the reports, the disturbance is too big,” he whispered, the magnitude of their find almost overwhelming him.



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