The Box
Whatever adjectives you might append, it was a Box. However, not an ordinary box, which is why it
was on auction at Sotheby’s London a
year ago; attracting quite an interest among a diverse crowd.
The box was part of an estate auction of the late oil scion Nicoli
Kapitza. Nicoli was the direct descendent of Peter Kapitza, who had won fame as
a Nobel prize winner in Physics in 1979. Unfortunately, Peter had fallen in
disfavor in his native Russia for his anti-nuclear stance, which was very
unpopular during the cold war. So as not to alienate further, son Nicoli had
subsequently kept a very low profile, avoiding the political sphere completely,
making himself rather obscure and clandestine in the Russian society. Not much
is known, but the resultant estate of Peter bequeathed to Nicoli was sparse in
that the family’s prosperity had been diminished greatly by Peter’s ostracism,
so what was accumulated by Nicoli was by his own work, mostly land acquisition
and real estate, stock, and property
purchased to allow for a luxurious though unobtrusive life.
Nicoli had gotten the box from his father Peter’s estate. It was a minor item. Not much was discussed
about it except Peter had told his son that it was a gift imparted to him by
some scientist interested in his work in nuclear physics. It sat in his study.
Interesting, but not at all engrossing, considering the beauty of czarist
Russia art competing for attention in the family home . Relegated to use as a paperweight. Curious in its markings, but Peter had a full
plate to deal with, and never took time to explore his gift further
Nicoli was a lackluster but
shrewd man whom was able to parlay a small drill bit manufacturing firm into a
conglomerate of oil-related companies. The rewards of his acumen left his heirs
very comfortable by any standards. That
being said, the auction would have been uneventful had it not included our Box.
Another consignee was to have auctioned off the estate, but upon a
rudimentary search, found some adjectives concerning this box so perplexing
they turned to Sotheby’s for a more expert opinion of what was apparently a
treasure; the value of which, still
unknown. We shall explore what was discovered.
Sitting in the gallery for the auction was Professor Hassar Al-atrash
of SCA, Supreme Council of Antiquities, Cairo.
Sotheby’s had turned to him first, being cognizant of the Egyptian
position of the export of ancient objects. Council research of the box had
yielded the discovery that the sycamore wood used in its construction dated
back to the reign of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, about 1200 B.C.. Ergo,
the Egyptian government wanted to protect anything of this age brought out of
Egypt without a permit. Any pending claim, however, was muddled by the fact the
writings inscribed on one side of the box quickly were determined not to be
Egyptian hieroglyphics as indicated by the age of the wood it was inscribed in,
but Nahuatl pictographs, which, of course, dated from 300 AD Aztec culture,
substantially later than the box construction. And an entirely different land.
The authenticity of an claim by Egypt was now confusingly muddled.
This perplexing discovery resulted in the Egyptian Council seeking
technical assistance as to the meaning
of the symbols. The Archeaological Museum of the University of Amsterdam, having
reputation in the study of Aztec language and pictographs, was enlisted to see
just what the markings were, so the actual box was displaced by courier to
Holland.
As pictographs, the inscriptions were not as literal as the
hieroglyphic style, and the exact meaning could not be determined, but, in this
hand-off to The Archaeological
Museum of the University of
Amsterdam for edification, it was theorized the inscription was nuanced
proclamation that the box contained something of great significant value.
With this information, as is custom with academic institutions,
baffling challenges generated are often discussed in various symposia and
conferences within the various disciplines in the academic community.
Without an unnecessary specific line of how they found out, suffice to
say another of our attendees at
auction was Professor Armand Uteg ,
physics emeritus of Massachussetts Institute of Technology . With full
indulgence of the estate, Sotheby’s,
and University of Amsterdam, our box of
building mystery was subjected to another trip to be subjected to radiologic
examination . The purpose of this travel being to date the actual age of the
object. Our box now was now credentialed
for an examination on the North American continent.
Professor Uteg, in his examination, did date the object, and even more
importantly discovered in fluoroscopy
that the box had a interior cavity; and in that cavity was a smaller cube of
some metallic nature.
The mystery deepened. The nature of the box became more convoluted
with each discovery receiving more attention. The circle of people interested
grew as well.
While all interested parties knew about the M.I.T findings,
publication and word of mouth had piqued the interest of some more unpublic
parties. One such party was Dr Chen Lu,
chair of the Department of Metallurgy, Xi’An University of Architecture
and technology. While a learned scholar
and respected research fellow , Lu was as much a professor as he was operative
to the Chinese MSS, Ministry of State security . Through that affiliation he had been given
information of astounding interest.
While under the auspices of professor Uteg, the box as noted had
yielded the knowledge of the enshrouded cube. Additionally with the lead of the
pictographs indicating some importance to the box; and perhaps to the cube, the
box had been clandestinely appropriated under the guidance of the U.S.
Department of State as initiated into that action by the C.I.A., (Central
Intelligence Agency) and a rather “black’ operation of the Bill and Melina
Gates Foundation who had some unnamed
representative at the Bond Street Sotheby’s facility for this auction.
These parties, along with an assorted company of collectors and casual
observers who saw a superficial catalogue description as being enough to
generate interest, sat as audience awaiting the calling to auction.
Our now inexplicable, obscure, intimidating, unique, and mysterious
box was introduced as Item #334. “Ancient
unique square wooden container of unknown historic origin from the estate of
Nicoli Kapitza. Assorted murmers and
whispered conversations gathered to an audible exclamation of anticipation. The
box was placed on a bare pedestal table as attention turned to the auctioneer.
The family this day was represented by Karla and Karl Kapitza,
daughter and son of the late Nicoli. They were not there to bid, and really
were quite content with their bequeathment, but in deference to their Father, and
unabashed curiosity to see what their windfall might be, they sat anxious for
all to be done and over.
Al Atrash of Egypt was in attendance mostly to put in an appearance
and to answer questions pertaining to the Box origin. Perhaps, also, to make sure Egypt still was
not being robbed of some national treasure.
He, also, would not bid.
On the other hand, The M.I.T. had some wealthy benefactors backing up
their desire to do further research on the box.
Professor Uteg was in attendance to bid, armed with the very full wallet
of the financial office of the University in the person of Luther Goldman. They
had been verified by Bank of England
representing Sotheby’s interest up to the equivalent to 2 million U.S. dollars.
They appeared sedate and respectable. No
fidgeting.
Chen Lu representing Chinese
interests was also in audience accompanied by a unnamed “money man “ One can
only guess who he was, but what he
was, embodied certification at highest level diplomatic credentials thru the Chinese cultural attaché
and English Ambassador from China, Li Xiaoming.
They didn’t need monetary verification. They sat inscrutable as
porcelain statues. The inscrutable Asian mystique covering their dispositions.
Some unknown covert parties of note from what we can
only guess to be private corporate interests were also there, mostly
identifiable by their supposed nondescript but, in reality, stand out black
suits and pastel “power” neckties. All
had earpiece headphone appliances not unlike the security people at the
perimeters.
Unnoticed by all but one, standing without bidding
paddle in the rear of the room, was a pedestrian looking, but well dressed man;
unnamed, totally uncredentialed, and without any governmental, academic or
private capital representation. He was
truly unobtrusive, but of intent interest in our Box. His suit was impeccable
Fleet Street, but had curious unique metallic buttons. But not curious enough that anyone even took
a second look at him. Perhaps a mistake? No, definitely one.
Several unidentified but certified others held their
paddles at ready as the auctioneer began.
The bid opened at $217,000 pound sterling . (about $340,000 U.S.) Multiple paddles went up instantly. Bidding was spirited. Egypt immediately upped a hefty amount. Heads bobbed as the bid
jumped around the room.
Perhaps unknown, undoubtedly to the Kapitza’s, Sotheby’s,
Egypt, and most probably to M.I.T’s
Awan, was knowledge that had definitely brought the Chinese, the
American’s, corporate money , and some few others to make all possible effort to obtain the Box.
While the box was in Uteg’s care, and M.I.T. published
copius paper product to Holland to ascertain origin of the Box, research had
yielded more information that was not given
to University of Amsterdam, but was
passed on by the Massachussetts facility to the C.I.A., and then , shall I say, “appropriated” by
Chinese agents and a unsubstantiated private party .
This information had
special significance for the Chinese metallurgy people, and reason why a now very uncharacteristic, very
fidgety, Chen was more than keeping up as bids escalated. Bidding in Pound
Sterling passed the equivalent of five hundred million dollars U.S.!
At M.I.T.,
the interior cube had yielded two more secrets. This cube was indeed metallic, but not of a common
alloy. Characterized as being chondrite,
the nickel ferrous composite found in meteorites might have sufficed, except this
specimen had two anomalities. One, the composition was ferrous nickel silicon
(rather than the normal iron nickel
composite) , which had been, up until this box, never discovered in any
specimens found on Earth. Ferrosilicon
had been machined on earth used as base for high temperature transformer coils
but our sample was closer to what is known as silicon carbide or
carborundum. This is a mineral found
very rarely in nature and never in nature in this alloy with nickel. More
significant, and the second strange attribute; it had been machined
in some manner into a perfect cube.
Bidding went crazy. It was
obvious governments wanted this offering, and were intent. But not as intent as
the black ops people or the corporate interests.
Chen was obviously nervous now. His silk suit rumpled as he stood and
sat rapidly as his paddle went up and down in unison. Uteg and M.I.T. had long
dropped aside, outbid by the deeper pockets of the Chinese and other U.S.
interests, Even Gates people were having a hard time as the bid went
stratospheric at an amount equivalent to 780 million dollars U.S.
Then it came down to a very sweaty Chen, and his very uncomfortable
companion against the U.S.,while unnamed, had undoubtedly both government and
private capitol invested in their backers.
8 hundred million: 9 hundred million equals in Pound Sterling . The
room stilled. Uncanny silence. Only the auctioneer and the tote board announced
the rise of the two paddles, one against
another. Casual murmuring distilled to silent focus.
One BILLION Dollars bid. That’s
six hundred thirty-seven million, five hundred thousand pounds on the Sotheby’s
tote board. But it didn’t come from the
Chinese. It didn’t come from the Americans.
It came from a private party. Who
had this kind of money? While it was placed by an employee, and not publicly
disclosed, the bid actually came from Carlos Slim
Helu , resident of Mexico and the world’s wealthiest man. This bid came out of
nowhere. It was up for grabs as the gavel came down. SOLD.
As a public auction, neither the Chinese nor Americans
could let out they had spent a billion dollars on an unknown object. It would never float with the constituencies. They
had no choice but to cease and desist. Dejected and determined this would not
be the end of this. There were still avenues of recourse. Just not public ones.
Information known to the Chinese and Americans giving
them authorization to get this Box at (almost) no limit, was the fact that not
only was the cube inside made of unique metal, and machined somehow, but this cube emanated a low frequency, low threshold, recurring pattern, magnetic wave. It was a
puzzle to them but a vastly compelling one that had tremendous implications.
Three
people. Only I, the singular mysterious man, and now You will ever know this
final fact: The cube with its unique composition and emanating code was actually a key. How? And a
key for what? Only two knew that.
The Kapitza children were estactic. Their fortune
had surpassed the national gross annual
income of many Latin American countries, and ,while not at the level of
their countries’ richest man , Alisher Usmanov,
their net worth had just made them Russia’s 29th richest family.
The Box was
taken from the podium at the front of Sotheby’s auction room back to a holding area table
where it was placed in a foam padded black leather attache case to await
paperwork being completed, funds
transferred, and the pickup by a security team and armored vehicle.
While some celebrated, and others braced for the inevitable negative
calls to superiors, only you and I will ever be privy to the knowledge that the
man in the Seville suit with
metallic buttons, with seeming impunity from security; even unseen in the
later-to-be-viewed security tapes; lifted the attache case from a table in the Sotheby’s holding room and carrying it
at his side, calmly exited the front door at 34 Bond Street and disappeared,
unnoticed and unrecorded, even by numerous cameras in the perimeter.
He and the
box were never seen again.
Perhaps
incidental, but interesting to note, that subsequently that very evening after the auction, 34
reports of UFO’s were received by
various magistrates in England . That
could be discounted to weather anomalies except that the Stanwick, England Air
Traffic Control Center logged 8 reports within the same narrow time window from
pilots declaring a sighting of an
extremely rapidly moving lighted object heading North by Northeast before
it disappeared off radars. No transponders of vessel identification as is the norm
of any terrestial aircraft were operating from it. The reports were never put
into public record at direction of the Royal Air Force command.
This leaves
only I left behind, for now, to relate this fascinating story to you.
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