She called a taxi and waited until it got there. Once it arrived, she purchased the items. They loaded the whole mess into the taxi, then she had the taxi drive them back to the university.
Ethan tried to ask her the plan several times, but she shushed him, pointing at the security camera in the taxi. Aware they could be under surveillance, he kept quiet until they finally arrived at the top floor of a totally different parking garage. They had the driver let them out and help them unload beside a VW Bug. Both Ethan and the driver looked at it, absolutely certain there was no way in hell the equipment would fit. Still, the driver helped, was thankful for the tip, and took off.
Once he was out of sight, Shanny nodded to the immense pile of gear and said, “Okay, Let’s go.”
FACT: In 1520 famed explorer Ferdinand Magellan reported in his logs that he and his men spied a red-haired giant standing more than ten feet tall near San Julián, Mexico. Almost sixty years later Sir Francis Drake traveled by the same spot and reported more giant sightings.
I’ve seen this reported in multiple reputable sources. It just boggles the mind that people don’t know about this—Steve
SIX
Even as Ethan listened to Shanny read each of the collected pieces of purported fact as he drove the Denali she’d stolen from an old boyfriend who she’d referred to as Mega Creep, he was aware of the dizzying amount of it. Nonmathematicians would argue that the sheer volume of information increased the odds of the information being true. But the only way this could be the case was if the information were true. Unsubstantiated narratives held zero value, while actual facts held positive values. Zero plus zero still equaled zero. That said, he couldn’t help but believe in the possibility that some of the facts they were reading had to be true.
She continued to read:
FACT: The Smithsonian has been collecting giant skeletons and related artifacts on behalf of the government. If regular citizens actually knew and were able to view these artifacts it would dramatically change their view of the universe and their place within it. Many of these giants were between eight and twelve feet tall. Many of them had six-fingered hands and/or feet.
So at the very least the American government is culpable and possibly working with either the Six-Fingered Man or the Council of David —Jonas
More like they want to keep us pacified and happy —Matt
FACT: Among the narratives and literature of the Native American tribes are stories of a race of white-skinned giants. These stories aren’t restricted to a single geographical area but can be found in tales across the land. A platoon of Cortez’s men sailed up the Colorado River and reported staying with a village of red-haired white skinned giants.
Then where are they? —Sally
FACT: The Clovis-first model asserts that the land currently known as the Americas was founded by migration across the Bering Strait ice bridge between 13,500 and 15,000 years ago. This has been the predominant migration model attributed to the settlement of Native Americans based upon the presence of Clovis-like stone tools; however, a more recent migration theory is circulating in conspiracy circles that could explain the presence of giants. The Ice Age began to recede 15,000 years ago and ended approximately 13,500 years ago. The Solutrean Bridge hypothesis asserts that because of the evidence of related 19,000-year-old artifacts in the Americas, immigration from Europe had to have occurred.
FACT: Toltec history identifies that 17,600 years ago was the beginning of the Age of White-Haired Giants. Inca historians call this time the Age of White and Bearded Gods. Aztec history defines the Age of Giants as beginning 13,600 years ago and lasting 4,000 years. Biblical historians trace the great flood as described in Genesis as occurring 9,000 years ago.
So did this flood wipe out the giants? —Sally
More important, was it intentional? —Jonas
Do you mean did God do it? HAHAHA! —Matt
I’ve read where these were attributed as being Cro-Magnon, but what if they weren’t? What if these were giants? —Steve
“This information is amazing.” Shanny paused from her reading aloud and stared at the geography of northern New Mexico. They’d taken I-25 south to Albuquerque, where they’d changed to I-40 heading west. She’d been reading for an hour and paused as she stared at the rich red rock formations along the side of the road. “Do you know what I like?” she finally asked.
Ethan kept to the slow lane, keeping the Yukon just below the speed limit. “What do you like?”
“I like that all the others made comments. It’s like they’re in a room with us, you know? And this Steve was your father, right?”
Ethan nodded.
“So what do you think?” she asked.
“You mean about the facts?” he asked, using air quotes with his right hand.
She nodded.
“It sounds intriguing, but we have to be careful.” He shared his mathematical value system with her. “Without being able to assign values, we can’t ascertain truth.”
She laughed aloud. “Is it all math to you?”
“It has to be. My father said he chose me because of the way my mind worked. I have to honor that choice and can’t get sucked into believing something, no matter how compelling it is, without proof.”
“Okay, I see that.” She chewed on her lip. “Then we make a great team. I tend to believe and you tend to disbelieve.”
“Which makes us a null.”
She leaned forward. “I disagree entirely. A null in structured query language denotes the absence of value. There is no absence but rather the probability of value. Given a random variable of X with values of X1, X2, X3, et cetera, and respective probabilities of P1, P2, P3, et cetera, the expected value of X can be derived from the formula E(X)=X1P1+X2P2+X3P3… XnPn.”
He loved her science brain, especially when it slid into mathematics. “With value E being the expectation.”
She grinned. “So now we need to determine values. Which one of these supposed facts do you think we can prove?”
“I think we should itemize them and rank them according to positive value probability, thus enabling us to try to prove the most provable in a rank-structured order.”
They rode in silence for a while. Heading toward Phoenix was a strategic necessity, but might also be a tactical error, as Shanny pointed out. They had to check Matt’s house for clues, but they also knew it was probably being actively watched. They’d been developing a plan, but they weren’t sure if it was going to work. It all depended upon what kind of surveillance was being used on the location—if surveillance was being used. The soccer mom with the shotgun opened up an entirely new realm of possibilities. No longer were the bad guys just six-fingered men in shadowy trench coats. Now they could be anyone.
He checked the time. One in the morning. It was getting late, and he was getting tired. They pulled into a rest area and, after taking care of toiletries, flattened the seats in the back, shoved their gear to one side, spread out their sleeping bags, and packed it in for the night.
Ethan dreamed he was a giant, living in a cave, staring out at the changing world. The time was accelerated, seasons beginning and ending in seconds. He was frustrated. He was angry. He felt displaced and dishonored, but hesitated to do anything about it. So instead he watched and watched and noticed how the nature of man began to change.