Ark Read Online Free PDF

has electrical properties? Like a radio?”
    Dan nodded. “In a way. If ... I repeat, IF ... the ark is made of wood...” Dan stopped himself. “What kind of wood?”
    “Acacia.”
    “Interesting. Acacia used to be used to make wooden tone-arms because it’s non-resonant. It doesn’t vibrate.”
    “So?”
    Dan smiled. “This is weird. You have here a box of acacia and it’s got two layers of gold, except on the top.”
    “It has a solid gold lid with the beaten gold cherubim.”
    “Still, only one surface of gold on the top.”
    “Yeah, a real thick surface,” said Jim with a laugh.
    “Doesn’t matter,” said Dan, staring unsmiling at the drawings. “This really is interesting.”
    “All right,” said Jim. “Why?”
    Dan sat back and looked at Jim, cradling his coffee in both hands. “This thing is, at least diagrammatically, a microwave resonator which might have had enormous power. Assuming a microwave signal was around to drive the thing, this box would gather up that signal and form a power spike inside the box, but because there’s only one surface of gold on top of the thing, the power spike would mostly come out of the top.”
    Jim stared at Dan. “In English, please?”
    “It would resonate a signal and project it up through the lid, but these cherubim would reflect the signal as a power spike. Because they are curved, they would act like parabola, focusing dishes that would cause the energy to gather into one spot.” He pointed to the drawing that showed the profile of the ark. His finger came to rest above the lid and between the two angels. “It would focus here. Considering the size, the thing would burn the air. Probably make a vortex of bright light.”
    “Really?” said Jim. “That’s exactly the way the thing was supposed to work. The way it was described in the Bible.”
    “Get out,” said Dan.
    “I’m not shitting you. That’s exactly where there was supposed to be a bright light and, well, wait a minute.” Jim went to the bookshelf and pulled out a small black leather Bible with a crimson edge and a thin purple ribbon hanging out of it. He flipped to Exodus and read aloud: “Here you go. Exodus, 15. ‘And thou shalt see me. Above the Mercy Seat and between the two Cherubim. As a bright light shall thou see me. From there will I speak to thee and give thee my commandments for all Israel.’” Jim looked up from the page. “But how could it speak?”
    “Modulate the signal,” said Dan. “The vortex would act like a speaker, I’d guess.”

    #

    Jim thought over his conversation with Dan. His own knowledge of electronics was limited, but he knew Dan was a natural mechanic, always seeming to know how things worked. Now, with Monday morning upon him and deadlines to be met, Jim had driven Dan to the hotel and was on his way to the studio as fast as possible. He still couldn’t get their conversation out of his mind. In just a few sentences, Dan had managed to answer some fundamental questions that had lingered in Jim’s brain for twenty years. As Jim navigated his station wagon toward South Philadelphia he tuned the radio to WMMR. Jim’s radio had been permanently tuned to that station for twenty years, except when he wanted a traffic report. Stairway to Heaven was playing, perhaps for the billionth time. He remembered first hearing that album many years ago. It was Gene who had explained the Zep to him. “People like a little bitch in their music these days.”
    As Jim thought back to the early 70’s he remembered his friendship with Gene vividly. Gene the mysterious, the enigmatic. The straight man. The scientist. He could be discussing traffic one minute, then in the next breath he’d be discussing the finer points of quantum mechanics, usually over Jim’s head. Over everybody’s, really. When they last talked about the Ark of the Covenant, Gene was pondering the possibility of rebuilding the ark using modern materials. It would certainly be cheaper. Even if