The Babylon Thing Read online

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  Jacky sat stunned, staring at the image of Piet, who was staring back, loving every second of this. “Everything I’ve ever learned about history, about archaeology, tells me that’s impossible.”

  “It is!” Piet barked, laughing. “But I had you going!”

  “Was that a big joke?” Jacky said, not pleased at being wound-up.

  Piet was suddenly serious. “Jacky, if a mudslide suddenly covers my house, and in ten thousand years’ time some archaeologist excavates it, he could date any one of the artefacts there and think the house was fifty thousand years-old. Get my point? The bone necklace is 300 million years-old, but that doesn’t mean it was created back then. It could have been created at the same time as some of the art found in the same cave. Remember that it was bound with wire of some kind, quite a modern invention. But consider this: homo habilis was dated at 1.8 million years before present before Richard Leakey found a skull that was a million years older. Who’s going to discover an older one tomorrow? Breakthroughs come all the time, and hard facts are shattered just as often.”

  Jacky sat back, thinking. He couldn’t see Piet’s point, couldn’t grasp the man’s reason for telling him this. He asked.

  “No reason, my dear boy. You went through a lot to bring that necklace to me. I thought I’d just keep you informed.”

  “Right. Okay.” He didn’t know if he should be flattered or not that Piet was thinking of him. He suspected something else. “These bones. Too old to be dinosaur. Must be a reptile that pre-dated dinosaurs, correct?”

  “That’s right, Jacky. I’ve sent them off for analysis, should be getting that back soon. Thing is, bones that old, how would they end up in a Palaeolithic cave in France? Cave dwellers of that era certainly wore bone necklaces, but they used bones freshly picked, or bones discarded by predators, certainly not bones that were once fossilised. Could be a lost fossil site somewhere close by. Could be we’re on the verge of a new breakthrough that might change facts we’ve relied on for many years.”

  “Every archaeologist thinks that after every discovery, Alberto. You know that.”

  “Even so, when the results come back, they may necessitate action. I, er, may need your help again, Jacky.”

  And there it was. Given his bad experience with matters of legality in the Chauvet Cave case, Piet was not planning to allow the same problems to arise in the future. If there was action to be taken based on the results he awaited, he was determined it would be conducted on his terms, and without interference from people in suits who didn’t know one end of a shovel from the other. Jacky had hoped Piet was contacting him today with news of a fresh mission, hopefully one fraught with danger and secrecy, and here it was!

  “Call me as soon as you find out, Alberto.”

  Piet smiled. “I certainly will, Jacky. Thank you. Bye.”

  “Bye, Piet.” He ended the connection with a click of a button.

  His hands were clammy. He realised it was apprehension at the thought of a new adventure.