Chariots of the Gods

«It took courage to write this book, and it will take courage to read it.» — apertura de la Introducción.

«The past teemed with unknown gods who visited the primeval earth in manned spaceships.» — la tesis, enunciada como hecho del pasado.

«There is something inconsistent about our religion. A feature common to every religion is that it promises help and salvation to mankind. The primitive gods gave such promises, too. Why didn't they keep them?» — el argumento religioso, en forma de pregunta.

«Knowledge that was hidden in the libraries of secret societies is being rediscovered.» — sitúa el saber de las sociedades secretas como algo que la época recupera, no como magisterio vigente.

«Modern laboratories must take over the work of archaeological research.» — adjudica la competencia al laboratorio y no a la hermenéutica.

«scholars will call it nonsense and put it on the index» — anticipa el rechazo académico y lo atribuye al prejuicio institucional.

«I claim that our forefathers received visits from the universe in the remote past, even though I do not yet know who these extraterrestrial intelligences were or from which planet they came.» — reclama la visita y se abstiene sobre la identidad del visitante.

«I nevertheless proclaim that these ‘strangers’ annihilated part of mankind existing at the time and produced a new, perhaps the first, homo sapiens.» — la intervención sobre la especie, enunciada con verbo de proclamación.

«This assertion is revolutionary. It shatters the base on which a mental edifice that seemed to be so perfect was constructed. It is my aim to try to provide proof of this assertion.» — el «try» es del propio autor y acota lo que promete.

«a theory that is not proved any more than the other interpretations are» — así presenta su explicación del abandono de las ciudades mayas.

«Why does God speak in the plural? Why does he say ‘us,’ not ‘me,’ why ‘our,’ and not ‘my’?» — sobre Génesis 1:26.

«Once again we have the sons of God, who interbreed with human beings. Here, too, we have the first mention of giants.» — sobre Génesis 6.

«‘Giants’ haunt the pages of almost all ancient books. So they must have existed.» — el argumento por difusión, tal cual lo formula.

«Had the countdown already begun and did the ‘angels’ know about it?» — sobre el aviso a Lot en Sodoma.

«Let us imagine for a moment that Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed according to plan, i.e., deliberately, by a nuclear explosion.» — lo introduce como ejercicio de imaginación, no como dato.

«Ezekiel gives precise details of the landing of this vehicle.» — tras citar Ezequiel 1 entero.

«Then why does this almighty God have to come hurtling up from a particular direction? Cannot he be anywhere he wants without all this noise and fuss?» — el argumento contra la lectura teológica del pasaje.

«Ezekiel says that each wheel was in the middle of another one. An optical illusion!»

«Undoubtedly the Ark was electrically charged! If we reconstruct it today according to the instructions handed down by Moses, an electric conductor of several hundred volts is produced.» — sobre el Arca de la Alianza.

«the loudspeaker—perhaps even a kind of set for communication between Moses and the spaceship—was perfect.» — De ahí lee la muerte de Uzá: «He fell dead on the spot, as if struck by lightning.»

«No mortal comes to the mountain where the gods dwell. He who looks the gods in the face must die.» — cita la tabla V de Gilgamesh junto a Éxodo 33:20-23.

«Or does the whole account in Exodus come from the Epic of» — la frase cruza el corte de página y cierra en la siguiente: «Gilgamesh? Even that is possible. After all, Moses is supposed to have been brought up in the Egyptian royal household.»

«Once again several hitherto unknown texts mention heavenly chariots, sons of heaven, wheels, and the smoke which the flying apparitions emitted.» — sobre los textos de Qumrán.

«Eve looked up to heaven and saw a chariot of light traveling there; it was drawn by four shining eagles.» — cita el Apocalipsis de Moisés, cap. 33.

«Does not this seriously pose the question whether the human race is not an act of deliberate ‘breeding’ by unknown beings from outer space?» — la tesis central del libro, formulada como pregunta.

«Behind the being I saw a chariot which had wheels of fire» — cita del Enoc, contrastado con los Libros de Abraham y de Moisés.

«Seen from the air, the clear-cut impression that the 37-mile-long plain of Nazca made on me was that of an airfield!» — lo presenta como impresión propia, en primera persona.

«It tells of a golden spaceship that came from the stars; in it came a woman, whose name was Oryana, to fulfill the task of becoming the Great Mother of the earth. Oryana had only four fingers» — la leyenda de Tiahuanaco tal como la refiere.

«Some 2,000 years before our era the Sumerians began to record the glorious past of their people. Today we still do not know where this people came from.»

«Thus the ten original kings ruled for a total of 456,000 years.» — la lista real sumeria, leída al pie de la letra.

«Vimanas, i.e., flying machines, navigated at great heights with the aid of quicksilver and a great propulsive wind.» — sobre el Ramayana.

«in what is perhaps the first account of the dropping of an H-bomb, it says that Gurkha loosed a single projectile on the triple city from a mighty Vimana.» — sobre el Mahabharata.

«Agrest considers it possible that the terrace is the remains of a gigantic airfield.» — la lectura de Baalbek la adjudica al profesor Agrest, no a sí mismo.

«the old god of creation, Viracocha, was an ancient and elemental divinity» — así presenta la divinidad preincaica.

«Never before had they heard of gigantic white men who came from somewhere in the sky.» — lo que, según refiere, oyeron los conquistadores en las sagas de Viracocha.

«In 1935 a stone relief that very probably represents the god Kukumatz (in Yucatán, Kukulkán) was found in Palenque (Old Kingdom).» — grafía «Kukumatz» tal cual: ver Notas de carga.

«What does the stone relief of the rocket-driving god at Palenque mean?»

«It is not our fault that the stone relief from Palenque exists. It is not our fault that Admiral Piri Reis did not burn his ancient maps.» — cierre del libro, en serie de anáforas.

«Occultists can put out their lamps, alchemists destroy their crucibles, secret brotherhoods take off their cowls. It will no longer be possible to offer man the nonsense that» — la frase sigue «has been purveyed to him so brilliantly for thousands of years»: declara caduca a la familia ocultista y alquímica, no se inscribe en ella.

«It is depressing what many people—and sometimes whole occult societies—make out of their ostensible observations. They only blur our view of reality.» — objeción interna a las agrupaciones ufológicas de corte ocultista.

«‘The coasts of both North and South America are drawn with precision.’ This statement was wrong; actually, the contours of North and South America are only faintly visible.» — retracta lo que había escrito sobre el mapa de Piri Reis; en la misma página mantiene que el mapa muestra las costas de la Antártida.

«This information was completely wrong.» — sobre haber escrito que la isla de Elefantina recibió su nombre por tener, vista desde el aire, forma de elefante.

«Total poppycock! The Gate of the Sun at Tiahuanaco got its name only during the last century.» — retracta la identificación entre el «Sundoor» de Gilgamesh y el de Tiahuanaco.

«It was a false miracle that I transmitted. The jade came from Central America.» — retracta el collar de jade de la pirámide de Tikal, que había dado por procedente de China.

«It is the right of all beginners to be so free, trusting and not so self-critical as their elders.» — así explica el origen de esos errores.

«But these refutations amounted to no more than contrary opinion. It got even worse when some theses that I had never said or written were ‘refuted.’» — distingue entre los errores que admite y las objeciones que no acepta.

«In 1969 it was renamed Chariots of the Gods by my British publisher, Souvenir Press.» — el título con que la obra circula no es del autor, y él lo dice.

«I had written the book two years earlier, but rejection letters from publishers fluttered on my desk with great regularity:» — cuenta que el manuscrito circuló dos años entre editoriales que lo rechazaron, una de ellas remitiéndolo a una casa esotérica.

«But I remained stubborn and refused any change of title.» — sostuvo el título alemán contra la objeción de su editor de Econ, que lo tenía por imposible.

«That created a new virus, ‘Dänikenitis’ (Time).» — recoge de *Time* la etiqueta con que la prensa nombró el fenómeno que siguió al libro y a su película.

«Two years after its publication, thirty printings totaling 600,000 copies had been issued.» — la cifra de difusión que el propio prólogo da de la primera edición alemana.

«By the time the book had been on the market for three years, it had been sold in twenty-eight languages and was published in thirty-six countries.» — mide el alcance del libro en lenguas y países, no en adhesión a su tesis.

«I was accused of ‘plagiarism’ and ‘unscientific ideas,’ also ‘antireligious bias’ and ‘ignorance of scientifically established facts.’» — enumera los cargos que la crítica científica le hizo, sin discutirlos uno por uno.

«This accepted correction does not distract from the sensational character of the Piri Reis map, because this map also shows exactly the coastal lines of Antarctica, which today are still buried under eternal ice.» — el límite con que acota su propia retractación sobre Piri Reis: cede las costas americanas y retiene las antárticas.

«With regard to the future I wrote: ‘The Mars timetable is here. The Mars spaceship is constructed. It only needs to be built.’ The statement, written in 1966, was then correct.» — revisa su pronóstico marciano sin retractarlo: dice que era correcto al escribirlo y que fue la NASA quien canceló el calendario.

«These true and admitted errors in Chariots of the Gods were unable to destroy either the basic theory or derived ideas.» — separa lo que admite de lo que mantiene: para él los errores concretos no alcanzan a la tesis de fondo.

«In no other field of science could one cite twenty-one-year-old works and ignore later publications by the same author.» — su reproche de método al objetor: juzgarlo por sus dos primeros libros y no por los posteriores.

«Wilhelmy commits a second error in his claim of exclusive truth for his point of view.» — objeta que una lectura entre varias se presente como la única probada.

«There stands a carefully worked monolith on which a snake or rather a dragon is featured. A man sits inside the animal ... The soles of his feet push pedals; the left hand rests on a switchgear ... the head is covered by a tightly fitting helmet ... on his lips rests an instrument which can be identified as a microphone.» — su propia descripción del monolito de La Venta, que el prólogo reproduce: lee pedales, mando y micrófono en el relieve.

«Are there also, in scientific publications, technical printing faults which led other archaeologists to recognize in that figure the well-known god Kukulkan? They do not consider him ‘dead’ and in a ‘burial chamber,’ but alive. He waves an aspergillum.» — devuelve el argumento de las fallas de reproducción y recuerda que otros arqueólogos leen ahí a un dios vivo.

«Self-corrections are obviously made neither here (Wilhelmy) nor there (Berliner Zeitung).» — pide de sus críticos la misma autocorrección que él acaba de ejercer sobre sus cuatro errores.

«By the time of the start of the manned spacecraft, even Wilhelmy would have to have realized that the viewing angle of the relief presentation propagandized by him looks even more like an astronaut flying through the universe. So who manipulates whom?» — contesta el cargo de mirar la losa de Palenque por el lado equivocado devolviendo la acusación en pregunta.

«I learned a great deal from criticism. Often it was correct and put some ideas into reasonable relationships.» — concede valor a la crítica recibida, y en la misma página se queja de que se lo cite sin nombrarlo.

«It is also so sad that many scientists, authors and copywriters gathered honey from my books without honestly listing the source.» — el reproche inverso: uso de su material sin atribución.

«I have personally written, since Chariots of the Gods, twenty more books, all of which are concerned with the same themes.» — sitúa este libro como primero de una obra continuada sobre el mismo asunto.

«On a clear night the naked eye can see about 4,500 stars, so the astronomers say.» — arranca la cuenta por lo que se ve a simple vista para llegar de ahí a los órdenes telescópicos.

«Astronomer Harlow Shapley estimates that there are some 1020 stars within the range of our telescopes.» — la cifra la adjudica a Shapley; la capa de texto imprime el exponente en línea, sin elevar.

«When Shapley associates a planetary system with only one in a thousand stars, we may assume that it is a very cautious estimate.» — declara conservador el supuesto del que parte, y sobre eso construye el resto.

«If we continue to speculate on the basis of this estimate and suspect the necessary conditions for life on only one star in a thousand, this calculation still gives a figure of 1014.» — el encadenamiento de supuestos va declarado como especulación en el propio verbo.

«If we accept this daring assumption, civilizations more advanced than our own could have developed on 100,000 planets.» — el condicional y el adjetivo *daring* son suyos y acotan la cifra que enuncia.

«If we now try to reduce the figures in question as much as possible and assume that the distances between planetary systems are so regulated that only in one case in a hundred does a planet orbit in the ecosphere of its own sun, that still leaves 180 million planets capable of supporting life.» — rehace la cuenta con el supuesto más restrictivo, siguiendo el cálculo que atribuye a Willy Ley.

«Since the latest counts give 100 billion fixed stars in our Milky Way, probability indicates an incomparably higher figure than Dr. Ley puts forward in his cautious calculation.» — corrige al alza la cuenta de su propia fuente apoyándose en el recuento estelar más reciente.

«There is no doubt about the existence of planets similar to the earth—with a similar mixture of atmospheric gases, similar gravity, similar flora, and possibly even similar fauna.» — la semejanza planetaria la da por segura y solo pone en duda la fauna.

«It is a mistake to believe that life cannot exist without water and oxygen.» — el segundo pilar del capítulo: la vida no queda atada a las condiciones terrestres.

«In fact, the assumption that life can exist and develop only on a planet like the earth is untenable.» — formula como insostenible el supuesto contrario al suyo.

«He re-created the atmospheric conditions of Jupiter in his laboratory and bred bacteria and mites in this atmosphere, which share none of the prerequisites we have hitherto laid down for ‘life.’» — el experimento con que sostiene lo anterior, atribuido al biólogo Sanford Siegel.

«The insects continued their biological vital functions and produced perfectly healthy midges.» — el segundo experimento, de Howard Hinton y Blum: mosquitos desecados a 100° C, sumergidos en helio líquido e irradiados.

«For centuries the world appeared to revolve around the laws and conditions that govern life on earth.» — el diagnóstico antropocéntrico del que hace depender el error de la ciencia establecida.

«If our way of thinking worked the other way around, it would mean that intelligences on another planet took their living conditions as a criterion.» — invierte el punto de vista para mostrar que el criterio terrestre es una posición, no una medida.

«Teilhard de Chardin, the epoch-making thinker, suggested that only the fantastic has a chance of being real in the cosmos!» — cita a Teilhard de Chardin como licencia para lo inverosímil.

«Future generations will find all kinds of life that have never been dreamed of in the universe.» — el pronóstico con que cierra el capítulo, en futuro y sin fecha.

«Meteorites bring traces of organic matter under our microscopes.» — de ahí deriva que la materia orgánica viaja y puede sembrarse al ser capturada por un planeta.

«We are still convinced that our earth is the center of everything, although it has been proved that the earth is an ordinary star of insignificant size, 30,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way.» — el argumento por la humillación cosmológica, que usa contra la excepcionalidad humana.

«Only then shall we realize that we are nothing but ants in the vast state of the universe.» — la consecuencia moral que saca de esa desproporción.

«And yet our future and our opportunities lie in the universe, where the gods promised they would.» — enlaza el programa espacial con la promesa de los dioses antiguos, que es el nudo del libro.

«Theoretically a spaceship equipped with photon propulsion can reach 99 percent of the speed of light.» — la premisa técnica del experimento mental, presentada como teórica.

«It may sound incredible, but time on board the spaceship traveling barely below the speed of light actually passes more slowly than on the earth.» — introduce la dilatación temporal relativista como el recurso que hace viable el viaje interestelar.

«For example, only 10 years pass for our crew on their flight in the universe, whereas 108 years go by for those who stay at home.» — la cifra con que ilustra esa asimetría, y de la que después deriva la longevidad de los dioses.

«Naturally our space travelers have also picked on a landing site that lies close to a supply of fissionable matter.» — hace del combustible el criterio que fija dónde aterrizan los visitantes, y por tanto dónde quedan sus huellas.

«Undoubtedly our astronauts must seem like almighty gods to these primitive people!» — el paso central del argumento: la divinidad es un efecto de la distancia técnica, no un atributo.

«Yet although they can explain to the savages in their own language that no gods have landed, that no higher beings worthy of adoration have paid a visit, it has no effect.» — sostiene que el malentendido religioso resiste incluso al desmentido de los propios visitantes.

«The most intelligent of the inhabitants would be elected ‘king.’ As a visible sign of his power, he would be given a radio set through which he could contact and address the ‘gods’ at any time.» — de ahí deriva la realeza sagrada y su insignia como pieza de equipo.

«Thus a new race would arise that skipped a stage in natural evolution.» — la intervención sobre la especie, formulada aquí como salto de una etapa evolutiva.

«Any attempt to warn our protégés of dangers in store would have little chance of success.» — el límite que él mismo le pone al tutelaje: la advertencia no se transmite.

«While our spaceship disappears again into the mists of the universe, our friends will talk about the miracle—‘The gods were here!’» — así explica el nacimiento de la saga: el relato queda cuando la nave se va.

«We know the effect the sudden arrival of a large ocean-going sailing vessel had on primitive people in, for example, the South Sea Islands.» — el primero de los dos precedentes históricos con que hace verosímil la escena.

«We know the devastating effect a man like Cortés, from another civilization, had on South America.» — el segundo precedente; la geografía es suya y no se corrige.

«Our historical past is pieced together from indirect knowledge.» — el punto de partida epistemológico: lo que se sabe del pasado es reconstrucción, no registro.

«From all this material an impressive and interesting mosaic was made, but it was the product of a preconceived pattern of thought into which the parts could always be fitted, though often with cement that was all too visible.» — la objeción al edificio histórico establecido: el patrón precede a las piezas.

«We are entitled, indeed we ought, to doubt every accepted pattern of thought or working hypothesis, for if existing ideas are not called in question, research is at an end.» — enuncia la duda sistemática como deber de método y no como licencia.

«Other branches of science will have to be consulted and made use of if a reliable picture of our past is to be drawn.» — reclama para la arqueología un régimen interdisciplinario, que es la forma general de su tesis sobre el laboratorio.

«Mallerey confirmed the remarkable fact that all the geographical data were present but not drawn in the right places.» — el primer hallazgo de la serie de Piri Reis, adjudicado al cartógrafo Arlington H. Mallerey.

«The maps not only reproduced the outlines of the continents but also showed the topography of the interiors!» — lo que atribuye a los mapas va más allá del contorno costero, que es lo único que el prólogo de 1995 retracta.

«After scrupulous tests Father Lineham, too, could but confirm that the maps were fantastically accurate—even about regions which we have scarcely explored today.» — apila el dictamen del jesuita Lineham sobre el de Mallerey, encadenando autoridades.

«What is more, the mountain ranges in the Antarctic, which already figure on Reis’ maps, were not discovered until 1952.» — el dato del que hace depender lo anómalo: el mapa antecedería al descubrimiento.

«Comparison with modern photographs of our globe taken from satellites showed that the originals of Piri Reis’ maps must have been aerial photographs taken from a very great height. How can that be explained?» — la inferencia que atribuye a Hapgood y Strachan, y que él deja en pregunta abierta.

«Admittedly the Turkish admiral’s maps are not originals.» — concede que los mapas conservados son copias, y sostiene igual el argumento.

«Yet even if the maps dated from only the eighteenth century, when they were found, these facts are just as unexplainable.» — blinda el argumento contra la datación tardía.

«Whoever made them must have been able to fly and also to take photographs!» — la conclusión que saca del conjunto, enunciada sin nombrar autor.

«The archaeolgists say that they are Inca roads.» — refiere la explicación establecida de las líneas de Nazca antes de objetarla; la grafía es del facsímil.

«But it is surely oversimplifying things to attribute the geometrically arranged lines to the Nazca culture for that reason alone.» — su objeción a la adjudicación cultural corriente.

«The results clearly confirm the hypothesis that the lines were laid out according to astronomical plans.» — lo que sí da por establecido de Nazca es el trazado astronómico.

«Professor Alden Mason, a specialist in Peruvian antiquities, suspects signs of a kind of religion in the alignments, and perhaps a calendar as well.» — la lectura religiosa y calendárica la adjudica a Alden Mason, no a sí mismo.

«It is not yet possible to say with certainty whether the plain of Nazca was ever an airfield.» — el límite que pone a su propia impresión de la pista de aterrizaje, en la misma plana en que la enuncia.

«Classical archaeology does not admit that the pre-Inca peoples could have had a perfect surveying technique.» — describe así el desacuerdo, atribuyéndolo a un límite de la disciplina.

«Research (= knowledge) does not become possible until the thing that is to be investigated has actually been found!» — la máxima con que justifica buscar donde la disciplina no busca.

«They conclude that the symbols record an enormous body of astronomical knowledge and are based, as a matter of fact, on a round earth.» — sobre el Gran Ídolo de Tiahuanaco, según la lectura que adjudica a Bellamy y Allan.

«They are forced to conclude that the idol records the state of the heavens 27,000 years ago.» — la datación que esa lectura arroja, referida como conclusión ajena.

«They conclude that the record fits perfectly Hoerbiger’s Theory of Satellites, published in 1927, five years before the idol was discovered.» — enlaza el ídolo con la teoría del satélite capturado de Hoerbiger, y subraya que la teoría es anterior al hallazgo.

«In either case the existence of such a sophisticated body of knowledge 27,000 years ago, demonstrated on both the idol and the calendar, is a staggering thought.» — deja las dos lecturas posibles coexistiendo y se queda con lo que ambas implicarían.

«There are no authentic traditions about Tiahuanaco. Perhaps we should be glad that in this case acceptable answers cannot be reached by leaning on the crutch of hereditary orthodox learning.» — hace de la ausencia de tradición una ventaja para su hipótesis.

«Holes 8 feet long, whose purpose has not been explained thus far, are found in blocks weighing 10 tons.» — el tipo de dato con que arma el expediente: una anomalía de obra sin función conocida.

«Their age cannot be determined. No one from any of the ages known to us ever saw Tiahuanaco when it was not in ruins.» — sostiene que el sitio ya estaba arruinado para toda memoria histórica disponible.

«Of course, this does not stop some archaeologists from making the bold and self-confident assertion that the site of the ruins is 3,000 years old.» — objeta la datación corriente por el material en que se apoya.

«They date this age from a couple of ridiculous little clay figures, which cannot possibly have anything in common with the age of the monolith.» — el reproche concreto: fechar el monolito por figurillas de barro.

«Our imagination is unable to conceive what technical resources our forefathers used to extract a monolithic rock of more than 100 tons from a quarry and then transport it and work it in a distant spot.» — sobre la losa invertida de Sacsahuamán: el argumento por lo que la imaginación no alcanza a reconstruir.

«Surely the fashioning of this unprecedented stone block cannot have been merely a bit of leisure activity for the Incas?» — descarta en pregunta la explicación por trabajo ordinario.

«It seems highly probable that buildings are concealed beneath them.» — sobre lo no excavado del sitio; el grado de certeza va declarado en el propio verbo.

«Yet the traveler often sees soldiers and officers who are obviously at a loss for something useful to do.» — de ahí sale su queja de que no falten manos ni dinero, sino voluntad de excavar.

«So far, at all events, no scientist has been asked to use the most modern apparatus to investigate radiation at Tiahuanaco, Sacsahuamán, the legendary Sodom, or in the Gobi Desert.» — el programa que reclama es de medición instrumental, y aquí lo enumera sitio por sitio.

«Cannot the past help us to reach technical solutions which will not have to be found for the first time because they already existed in antiquity?» — propone el pasado como fuente de soluciones técnicas, no solo como objeto de estudio.

«Cuneiform texts and tablets from Ur, the oldest books of mankind, tell without exception of ‘gods’ who rode in the heavens in ships, of ‘gods’ who came from the stars, possessed terrible weapons, and returned to the stars.» — así resume lo que lee en las tablillas de Ur, con el ir y venir como rasgo central.

«Their observatories achieved estimates of the rotation of the moon which differ from present-day estimates by no more than 0.4 seconds.» — la precisión astronómica sumeria, medida contra la actual, como indicio de un saber recibido.

«On the hill of Kuyunjik (former Nineveh) a calculation was found with the final result in our notation of 195,955,200,000,000.» — la cifra colosal de Nínive, que contrapone al techo numérico griego.

«Our oft-quoted and extensively studied ancestors of Western culture, the Greeks, never rose above the figure 10,000 during the most brilliant period» — el término de comparación con que hace anómala la cifra sumeria.

«The old cuneiform inscriptions credit the Sumerians with a literally fantastic span of life.» — la longevidad de las listas reales, que retomará con la relatividad.

«Let us suppose that foreign astronauts visited the territory of the Sumerians thousands of years ago.» — el paso a la hipótesis va marcado como suposición.

«The theory of relativity shows that the astronauts would have aged only about forty years during the outward and return flight in a spaceship that had traveled just under the speed of light!» — con la dilatación temporal explica los reinados milenarios sin negar las listas.

«Over the centuries the Sumerians would have built towers, pyramids, and houses with every comfort; they would have sacrificed to their gods and awaited their return.» — de la espera del regreso hace el motor de la arquitectura monumental.

«The Sumerian ‘gods’ were not anthropomorphic, and every symbol of a god was also connected with a star.» — el rasgo iconográfico del que deriva su lectura astronómica del panteón.

«There is one picture that instantly reminds one of a model of an atom: a circle of balls arranged next to one another that radiate, but are not surrounded by rays.» — la comparación queda en semejanza declarada, sin adjudicarle saber atómico.

«The conclusions to be drawn from the previous presence on earth of unknown visitors from the universe are still purely speculative.» — el límite más explícito del libro sobre su propio estatuto.

«In Lebanon there are glasslike bits of rock, called tektites, in which radioactive aluminum isotopes have been discovered.» — abre la lista de objetos anómalos que reúne como expediente.

«In Egypt and Iraq there were finds of cut crystal lenses which today can only be made using cesium oxide, in other words an oxide that has to be produced by electro-chemical processes.» — las lentes talladas, presentadas por lo que su fabricación exigiría hoy.

«In Helwan there is a piece of cloth, a fabric so fine that today it could be woven only in a special factory with great technical know-how and experience.» — el tejido de Helwan, medido también contra la capacidad industrial presente.

«Electric dry batteries, which work on the galvanic principle, are on display in the Baghdad Museum.» — las pilas de Bagdad, referidas como objeto expuesto y no como reconstrucción.

«In the mountainous Asian region of Kohistan a cave drawing reproduces the exact position of the stars as they actually were 10,000 years ago.» — el dibujo de Kohistán, del que hace un registro astronómico fechable.

«Impossible questions, to be sure, but does that mean that we should not ask them?» — defiende la pregunta improbable como derecho, separándola de la respuesta.

«Since we are not prepared to accept or admit that there was a higher culture or an equally perfect technology before our own, all that is left is the hypothesis of a visit from space!» — deja a la vista la forma de su inferencia: la visita es lo que queda al descartar la alternativa terrestre.

«A Utopian archaeological year is due, during which archaeologists, physicists, chemists, geologists, metallurgists, and all the corresponding branches of these sciences ought to concentrate their efforts on one single question: Did our forefathers receive visits from outer space?» — su propuesta institucional concreta, con la pregunta única que la organizaría.

«Is it not conceivable that a physicist might instantly recognize a formula in a rock drawing?» — el ejemplo con que justifica llamar a otras disciplinas a leer el material arqueológico.

«At the conference tables of orthodox scientists the delusion still prevails that a thing must be proved before a ‘serious’ person may—or can—concern himself with it.» — objeta el orden de prioridad entre prueba e interés, que es su defensa de método.

«The snag is that the methods of our time are less spectacular, but they are hardly less obstructive to progress.» — traza continuidad entre la censura antigua y la resistencia académica presente.

«Five hundred years ago a scientist cried out in the law courts, ‘Common sense must tell anyone that the earth cannot possibly be a ball, otherwise the people on the lower half would fall into the void!’» — la anécdota de la tierra plana, referida como precedente del rechazo que espera.

«Anyone who spoke about satellites in scientific circles twenty years ago was committing a kind of academic suicide.» — el precedente reciente con que mide el costo de sostener su tesis.

«The word ‘impossible’ should have become literally impossible for the modern scientist.» — la máxima que extrae de esos precedentes.

«So let us stick tenaciously to our theory, according to which astronauts from distant planets visited the earth thousands of years ago.» — vuelve a nombrar su propia tesis como teoría, no como resultado.

«They worshiped the astronauts as ‘gods’ who came from other stars, and the astronauts had no choice but patiently to accept their adoration as divinities—an homage, incidentally, for which our astronauts on unknown planets must be quite prepared.» — cierra el argumento devolviéndolo sobre el presente: nosotros seríamos los dioses de otros.

«Henri Lhote, a French scholar, discovered at Tassili, in the Sahara, several hundred walls painted with many thousands of pictures of animals and men, including figures in short elegant coats.» — el hallazgo de Tassili, adjudicado a Henri Lhote.

«The great god Mars—so Lhote christened him—was originally more than 18 feet high; but the ‘savage’ who bequeathed the drawing to us can scarcely have been as primitive as we should like him to be if everything is to fit neatly into the old pattern of thought.» — el nombre de la figura lo adjudica a Lhote y de su tamaño deriva un argumento sobre la técnica del pintor.

«After all, the ‘savage’ obviously used a scaffolding to be able to draw in proportion like that, for there have been no shifts in ground level in these caves during the last few millennia.» — el andamiaje que infiere del nivel del suelo, con el que impugna la etiqueta de primitivo.

«Without overstretching my imagination, I got the impression that the great god Mars is depicted in a space or diving suit.» — lo presenta como impresión propia, y deja abiertas las dos lecturas del traje.

«But there are several of these clumsy figures with the same equipment at Tassili, and very similar figures have also been found on rock faces in the United States, in the Tulare region of California.» — el argumento no descansa en una figura sino en su repetición y su dispersión.

«It seems more credible to me to assume that the ‘artists’ were perfectly capable of drawing what they actually saw.» — su regla de lectura de la pintura rupestre: el pintor registra, no inventa.

«The lady is not alone; behind her stands a thin man with a strange prickly rod in his hand and wearing a very complicated helmet with a kind of visor.» — descripción de la figura sudafricana que la bibliografía llama la Dama Blanca.

«The archaeologists say that they are animal heads.» — refiere la lectura establecida de los tocados antes de objetarla.

«I am not going so far as to claim that the Italian cave dwellers shuttled backward and forward between North America or Sweden, the Sahara and Spain (Ciudad Real), to transmit their illustrative talents and ideas.» — descarta él mismo la difusión por contacto, que es la explicación rival de su argumento.

«Yet the awkward question is left hanging in the air—why did the primitive people create figures in bulky suits with antennae on their heads independently of each other?» — la coincidencia independiente es lo que reclama explicación, y él la deja en pregunta.

«As soon as we look at the past with our present-day gaze and use the fantasy of our technological age to fill up the gaps in it, the veils that shroud the darkness begin to lift.» — enuncia el procedimiento del libro: leer el pasado con la imaginación técnica del presente.

«The Bible is full of secrets and contradictions.» — el punto de partida con que autoriza una lectura distinta del texto sagrado.

«Genesis, for example, begins with the creation of the earth, which is reported with absolute geological accuracy.» — sostiene que la secuencia del relato de la creación coincide con la geológica.

«Ancient Israel had a single sacrosanct God. Where do the ‘sons of God’ come from?» — la contradicción interna de la que hace palanca: monoteísmo y pluralidad.

«The Bible speaks of ‘giants’ and describes them as ‘sons of God,’ and these ‘sons of God’ breed with the daughters of men and multiply.» — así resume el pasaje del que deriva la hipótesis de la cruza.

«According to Genesis 19:12-14, the ‘angels’ told Lot to take his wife, sons, daughters, sons-in-law, and daughters-in-law out of the town with all speed, for, they warned him, it would be destroyed very soon.» — refiere el aviso de Sodoma con su locator bíblico.

«According to this report, there is no doubt that the two strangers, the ‘angels,’ possessed a power unknown to the inhabitants.» — de la asimetría de poder, no de la teología, saca su lectura del episodio.

«The suggestive urgency, the speed with which they drove the Lot family on, also makes us think.» — la prisa de los ángeles es el detalle del que hace indicio de un plazo fijado.

«Perhaps—let us speculate a little further—the ‘angels’ simply wanted to destroy some dangerous fissionable material and at the same time to make sure of wiping out a human brood they found unpleasant.» — el motivo que imagina para la destrucción, marcado como especulación en la propia frase.

«The time for the destruction was fixed.» — la conclusión que extrae del aviso: un calendario, no un juicio.

«The Old Testament gives some impressive descriptions in which God alone or his angels fly straight down from heaven making a tremendous noise and issuing clouds of smoke.» — reúne los descensos veterotestamentarios por sus rasgos físicos: ruido y humo.

«Now the God of the Old Testament was supposed to be omnipotent.» — de la omnipotencia atribuida hace la premisa que sus lecturas ponen en aprieto.

«We may be as religious as our fathers, but we are certainly less credulous.» — distingue religiosidad de credulidad para situar su propia lectura.

«They were certainly not ‘gods’ in the traditional sense of the word, or they would not have needed a vehicle to move from one place to another.» — el criterio con que separa dios de tripulante: la necesidad de vehículo.

«Ezekiel observed that the wheels rose from the ground simultaneously with the winged creatures.» — el detalle del despegue simultáneo, leído como dato de maniobra.

«The ‘gods’ spoke to Ezekiel and told him that it was his task to restore law and order to the country.» — refiere el encargo recibido por el profeta, con el plural entrecomillado que él sostiene.

«He warned Moses several times not to make any mistakes.» — sobre las instrucciones del Arca, cuya insistencia lee como precaución técnica.

«The border and golden crown would have served to charge the condenser which was formed by the gold plates and a positive and negative conductor.» — el detalle constructivo con que sostiene la lectura del Arca como condensador.

«Moses heard the voice of his Lord, but he never saw him face to face.» — la asimetría entre voz e imagen, que enlaza con el pasaje de Gilgamesh.

«Perhaps he had access to the library or acquired knowledge of ancient secrets during those years.» — la vía de transmisión que imagina para Moisés, marcada como conjetura.

«We must also consider the possibility that all the ancient histories, sagas, and narratives were collected and compiled in one spot and later found their way to different countries in the form of copies and somewhat garbled versions.» — la hipótesis de fuente común, que él pone junto a la del contacto y no en su lugar.

«The finds during recent years near the Dead Sea (the Qumran texts) provide a valuable and astonishing amplification of the biblical Book of Genesis.» — sitúa los textos de Qumrán como ampliación del Génesis, no como corpus aparte.

«This tradition says that one fine day Lamech, Noah’s father, came home and was surprised to find a boy who, judging by his appearance, was quite out of place in the family.» — abre el relato de Lamec, que es su prueba textual de la cruza.

«Lamech reproached his wife Bat-Enosh and claimed that the child was not his.» — el nudo del relato: la sospecha sobre el origen del niño.

«Enoch listened to the story and sent old Methuselah on his way with the extremely worrying news that a great judgment would come upon the earth and mankind and that all ‘flesh’ would be destroyed because it was sordid and dissolute.» — el anuncio de Enoc, que él lee como plazo conocido de antemano.

«But if the Flood, the course of which is historically proved, was quite deliberately planned and prepared—and that several hundred years before Noah received orders to build the ark—then it can no longer be accepted as a divine judgment.» — la consecuencia que saca del relato de Lamec: previsión en lugar de castigo.

«In fact, the biggest smelting installations in the ancient East were found at Ezion-geber, consisting of a regular ultra-modern furnace with a system of air channels, chimney flues, and openings for specific purposes.» — las instalaciones de Ezión-guéber, sumadas al expediente de técnica anómala.

«If our own space travelers happen to meet primitive peoples on a planet one day, they too will presumably seem like ‘sons of heaven’ or ‘gods’ to them.» — vuelve a poner al lector en el lugar del visitante para hacer verosímil el mecanismo.

«It is an established fact that the original version of the Epic of Gilgamesh stems from the Sumerians, that mysterious people whose origin we do not know but who left behind the astonishing fifteen-digit number and a very advanced astronomy.» — enlaza el poema con el pueblo del que ya había dicho que no se conoce su origen.

«It is also clear that the main thread of the Epic of Gilgamesh runs parallel to the biblical Book of Genesis.» — el paralelo entre los dos textos es la base de todo el capítulo.

«We learn that Gilgamesh was a mixture of ‘god’ and man—two-thirds ‘god,’ one-third man.» — la proporción del héroe, que él lee dentro de la serie de las cruzas.

«The second tablet tells us that another figure, Enkidu, was created by the goddess of heaven, Aruru.» — refiere la creación de Enkidu por Aruru como acto deliberado de fabricación.

«The third tablet goes on to tell us about a cloud of dust which came from the distance.» — el detalle del polvo y el estruendo, que lee como un aterrizaje.

«The heavens roared, the earth quaked, and finally the ‘sun god’ came and seized Enkidu with mighty wings and claws.» — el rapto de Enkidu, del que hará un vuelo con aceleración.

«When an astronaut is pressed back into his seat by a force of several G’s at takeoff, it has all been calculated in advance.» — la sensación de peso del relato la explica por las fuerzas g del despegue.

«When the same tablet tells us that a door spoke like a living person, we unhesitatingly identify this strange phenomenon as a loudspeaker.» — la puerta parlante, leída como altavoz; el paso lo da sin vacilación declarada.

«The fifth tablet narrates how Gilgamesh and Enkidu set out to visit the abode of the ‘gods’ together. The tower in which the goddess Irninis lived could be seen gleaming in the distance long before they reached it.» — la morada de los dioses aparece como lugar alcanzable a pie, no como cielo.

«In this case some living creature must have seen the earth from a great height.» — de la descripción del poema deriva la existencia de un observador en altura.

«But Utnapishtim lived on the far side of the great sea; no road led to him and no ship flew across it except the sun god’s.» — el aislamiento del superviviente del diluvio, y el único vehículo que lo cruza.

«Gilgamesh found the figure of the father of men neither bigger nor broader than his own, and he said that they resembled each other like father and son.» — la semejanza física entre héroe y patriarca, que retiene como dato.

«If the account of the Flood in the Bible is a secondhand one, the first-person form of Utnapishtim’s narrative shows that a survivor, an eyewitness, was speaking in the Epic of Gilgamesh.» — de la persona gramatical del relato saca su argumento de testigo presencial.

«The parallel between the stories of the Flood in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible is beyond doubt, and there is not a single scholar who contests it.» — apoya en el consenso erudito el paralelo, aunque no la consecuencia que le saca.

«For there are facts buried among the descriptions that must have been known to the author of the Epic of Gilgamesh—and we may discover them if we look in the light of present-day knowledge.» — su regla de lectura: hay dato bajo la descripción, y se recupera con el saber de hoy.

«Undoubtedly the advanced Egyptian culture of the Pharaohs possessed libraries in which the old secrets were preserved, taught, learned, and written down.» — la biblioteca egipcia es la pieza de transmisión que necesita su hipótesis sobre Moisés.

«Moses was a receptive and learned man; indeed he is supposed to have written five of his books himself, although it is still an unsolved puzzle in what language he could have written them.» — atribuye la redacción con reserva y deja abierta la cuestión de la lengua.

«If we work on the hypothesis that the Epic of Gilgamesh came to Egypt from the Sumerians by way of the Assyrians and Babylonians, and that the young Moses found it there and adapted it for his own ends, then the Sumerian story of the Flood, and not the biblical one, would be the genuine account.» — la inversión de prioridad entre los dos relatos del diluvio, enunciada bajo condicional.

«Many opportunities for research into the ancient East undoubtedly foundered on the inviolability and sacredness of the Bible.» — atribuye a la sacralidad del texto, y no a la falta de datos, el freno de la investigación.

«But even very religious Christians must have realized that many of the events described in the Old Testament cannot really be reconciled with the character of a good, great, and omnipresent God.» — apoya su lectura en una tensión que atribuye al creyente mismo.

«If we think in this way and ask questions like this, it need not mean that we are irreligious.» — separa su lectura del ataque a la religión, que es el cargo que le hicieron.

«Yet the hypothesis that the unimaginable god needed vehicles with wheels and wings to move from place to place, mated with primitive people, and dared not let his mask fall remains an outrageous piece of presumption, as long as it is unsupported by proof.» — el límite más duro que se pone a sí mismo: sin prueba, su propia hipótesis es presunción desmedida.

«One single discovery of this kind will cause the greatest revolution and reformation in the history of mankind.» — cifra en un hallazgo marciano el vuelco que espera para las religiones.

«Every religion has an outline, a schema, of its god; it is constrained to think and believe within the framework of this outline.» — su tesis general sobre la religión: cada una queda encerrada en su propio esquema.

«With the decisive step into the universe we shall have to recognize that there are not 2,000,000 gods, not 20,000 sects, not 10 great religions, but only one.» — el desenlace religioso que anticipa del viaje espacial, dicho en cifras.

«Dim, as yet undefinable ages ago an unknown spaceship discovered our planet.» — abre el relato resumido de su hipótesis, sin fecha y declarando que no la tiene.

«Admittedly this speculation is still full of holes.» — reconoce los huecos de su propio relato en el momento de cerrarlo.

«I shall be told that proofs are lacking.» — anticipa la objeción central y la enuncia él mismo.

«the hypothesis must not be ‘true.’ Yet when I compare it with the theories enabling many religions to live unassailed in the shelter of their taboos, I should like to attribute a minimal percentage of probability to my hypothesis.» — reclama para su tesis una probabilidad mínima, y la mide contra el trato que dan a las religiones.

«Somewhat more modestly, I claim that we cannot possess the ‘truth.’ At best we can believe in it.» — la posición epistemológica con que cierra el capítulo.

«Even if Old Testament facts can be proved archaeologically in Mesopotamia, those verified facts are still no proof of the religion concerned.» — distingue la verificación del hecho de la validación de la doctrina que lo enmarca.

«But would it occur to a single Christian to recognize the god of the pre-Inca culture as the genuine god as the results of excavations in Peru?» — devuelve el mismo criterio al lector cristiano en forma de pregunta.

«So anyone who really seeks truth cannot ignore new and bold and as yet unproved points of view simply because they do not fit into his scheme of thought (or belief).» — el deber de método que reclama, con la falta de prueba declarada en la propia frase.

«Let us just venture the frightful, but unfortunately possible, idea that our present-day civilization was entirely destroyed in an H-bomb war.» — abre el experimento mental de la civilización borrada, que usa para invertir la posición del arqueólogo.

«According to our current way of thinking they would be bound to assert that they were dealing with an unknown divinity, probably a fire god (because of the torch) or a sun god (because of the rays around the statue’s head).» — la Estatua de la Libertad leída por arqueólogos futuros como dios solar: su prueba de que el método corriente fabrica dioses.

«It is no longer possible to block the roads to the past with dogmas.» — el cierre del capítulo, dirigido contra el dogma y no contra la fe.

«If we want to set out on the arduous search for the truth, we must all summon up the courage to leave the lines along which we have thought until now and as the first step begin to doubt everything that we previously accepted as correct and true.» — repite el precio de la lectura que propone, que ya había anunciado en la Introducción.

«After all, the idea of a landing on the moon was absurd fifty years ago.» — el precedente con que mide lo que hoy llama absurdo.

«They knew the Venusian year of 584 days and estimated the duration of the terrestrial year at 365.2420 days.» — la precisión calendárica maya, dada en cifras como indicio de saber recibido.

«In other words, all the cycles coincide after 37,960 days.» — el ciclo común de los calendarios mayas, que es lo que le parece impropio de un cómputo manual.

«The famous Venusian formula could quite plausibly have been calculated by an electronic brain.» — la comparación con una máquina de cálculo va en potencial y como plausibilidad.

«It was, of course, perfectly natural for the ancient peoples to seek their gods in the sky and also to give their imagination full rein when describing the magnificence of these incomprehensible apparitions.» — concede de entrada la explicación por imaginación, antes de decir qué le sobra.

«Yet even if all that is accepted, there are still too many anomalies left.» — el resto no explicado es lo que sostiene su argumento, no la totalidad del material.

«We shall not be very surprised when we learn in the Ramayana that Vimanas, i.e., flying machines, navigated at great heights with the aid of quicksilver and a great propulsive wind.» — su lectura técnica de los vimanas del Ramayana.

«The Vimanas could cover vast distances and could travel forward, upward and downward.» — el rango de maniobra que el texto atribuye a esas máquinas.

«Even imagination needs something to start it off.» — la premisa que sostiene todo el capítulo: la fantasía necesita un punto de partida real.

«In the Samsaptakabadha a distinction is made between chariots that fly and those that cannot fly.» — la distinción interna del texto sánscrito, que él toma como señal de referencia a objetos distintos.

«The first book of the Mahabharata reveals the intimate history of the unmarried Kunti, who not only received a visit from the sun god but also had a son by him, a son who is supposed to have been as radiant as the sun itself.» — otra cruza entre dios y humana, esta vez en el corpus indio.

«Certain numerical data in the Mahabharata are so precise that one gets the impression that the author was writing from first-hand knowledge.» — el argumento por precisión numérica, formulado como impresión.

«Full of repulsion, he describes a weapon that could kill all warriors who wore metal on their bodies.» — el arma del poema, descrita por sus efectos sobre quien lleva metal.

«Not without reason, as the author explains, for the weapon made the hair and nails fall out.» — los síntomas que él lee como efectos de radiación.

«The narrative uses words which linger in our memories from eyewitness accounts of the detonation of the first hydrogen bomb at Bikini:» — el término de comparación que declara antes de citar el pasaje.

«And for the benefit of the philosophers I should mention that the Mahabharata says that time is the seed of the universe.» — recoge la fórmula cosmológica del poema y la deja sin explotar.

«Both books expressly emphasize that this knowledge is secret and not for the masses.» — el carácter reservado del saber lo toma del propio texto indio.

«It is hard to believe that the ancient peoples should have known that it is possible to gain energy from heavy metals and how to do so.» — la incredulidad la enuncia él, y de ella hace el nudo del problema.

«However, we should not oversimplify and dismiss the old Sanscrit texts as mere myths.» — pide no despachar los textos sánscritos como mito; la grafía es del facsímil.

«Never before have we seen such a ghastly weapon and never before have we heard of such a weapon (C. Roy, 1889).» — cita del traductor del Mahabharata que atribuye a C. Roy, con su fecha.

«Alberto Tulli, formerly keeper of the Egyptian Department in the Vatican Museum, found a fragment of a text from the time of Thutmose III, who lived about 1500 B.C.» — el hallazgo egipcio lo adjudica a Alberto Tulli, con su cargo y su datación.

«In spite of this, traditions telling almost the same story come from the four corners of the world and from innumerable sources.» — la convergencia entre tradiciones distantes es el hecho que reclama explicación.

«It is impossible and incredible that the chroniclers of the Mahabharata, the Bible, the Epic of Gilgamesh, the texts of the Eskimos, the American Indians, the Scandinavians, the Tibetans, and many, many other sources should all tell the same stories—of flying ‘gods,’ strange heavenly vehicles, and the frightful catastrophes connected with these apparitions—by chance and without any foundation.» — enumera el corpus entero sobre el que monta el argumento por convergencia.

«The almost uniform texts can stem only from facts, i.e., from prehistoric events.» — el paso de la coincidencia al hecho, enunciado sin alternativa.

«Even if the reporter in the remote past may have exaggerated his story with fanciful trimmings, much as newsmen do today, the fact, the actual incident, still remains at the core of all exclusive accounts, as it does today.» — concede el adorno del relato y retiene el núcleo, que es su regla de lectura de las fuentes.

«Certain things cannot be made up.» — la premisa mínima del argumento, dicha en una línea.

«But when in fact nearly all the texts of the primitive peoples all over the globe tell the same story, I feel I must try to explain the objective thrust concealed in their pages.» — formula su tarea como obligación de explicar, no como descubrimiento.

«A panegyric to Mars says that he made fire rain down and destroyed his enemies with a brilliant lightning flash.» — sobre Marduk identificado con Marte: el arma del dios descrita como fuego y relámpago.

«We now possess the oldest account of the Flood, engraved on a tablet in six columns.» — sitúa la tablilla como el registro más antiguo disponible del diluvio.

«No one knows whether new finds will not produce still earlier accounts.» — deja abierta la serie: lo más antiguo conocido no es lo más antiguo.

«Even if the old Egyptian mathematicians were very advanced, it is odd that they should speak of millions of years in connection with the stars and a heavenly ship.» — la escala temporal de los textos solares egipcios es lo que le resulta anómalo.

«There is no known place in the world where such innumerable illustrations of winged symbols of the gods are preserved as in Egypt.» — el sol alado y el halcón egipcios, tomados como el mayor repertorio de dioses voladores.

«Now this Im-Hotep was a very mysterious and clever personality—the Einstein of his time.» — así presenta al constructor deificado de la pirámide escalonada de Saqqara.

«Yet the brilliant Im-Hotep built the step pyramid of Sakkara for his king, who was called Zoser.» — la obra y el rey se nombran para situar la anomalía técnica que le interesa.

«We know that all the pyramids were laid out according to the positions of certain stars.» — la orientación estelar de las pirámides, que contrapone a lo poco que se sabe de la astronomía egipcia.

«But surely it was quite absurd to base the first calendar on Sirius when it would have been easier to use the sun and the moon, besides leading to more accurate results.» — objeta la elección de Sirio por su rendimiento, no por su antigüedad.

«Presumably the Sirius calendar is a built-up system, a theory of probabilities, because it could never predict the appearance of the star.» — su explicación del calendario sotíaco va marcada como presunción.

«A Nile flood did not happen every year, nor did every Nile flood take place on the same day.» — el dato con que discute la coincidencia entre la crecida y la salida heliaca.

«And as the doors of most large department stores open by photocells, even the ‘Open, Sesame!’ incident no longer conceals any special mystery.» — lee el motivo de Las mil y una noches como descripción de un mecanismo hoy corriente.

«Nevertheless the imaginative power of the old storytellers was so incredible that the books of contemporary writers of science fiction seem banal in comparison.» — concede a los narradores antiguos una imaginación superior a la moderna, y de ahí no saca la conclusión contraria a la suya.

«Although the scholar Snorri Sturluson did not write down the Nordic and Old Germanic legends, sagas, and songs until about A.D. 1200, they are known to be some thousands of years old.» — separa la fecha de la escritura de la fecha de la tradición, que es el paso que necesita su datación.

«Consequently Thor and his hammer symbol must have been very ancient and probably do go back to the Stone Age.» — la antigüedad del martillo de Thor, con el grado de certeza declarado en la frase.

«When arguing about the entirely new aspects that I introduce into investigation of the past, the objection might be made that it is not possible to compile everything in the ancient traditions that points to heavenly apparitions into a sequence of proofs of prehistoric space travel.» — enuncia él mismo la objeción de que la acumulación no hace prueba.

«But that is not what I am doing.» — su respuesta a esa objeción, con la que niega estar encadenando pruebas.

«It is unworthy of a scientific investigator to deny something when it upsets his working hypothesis and accept it when it supports his theory.» — la regla de honestidad que reclama de sus objetores, y con la que se mide a sí mismo.

«Imagine the shape my theory would take and the strength it would gain if new translations made with a ‘space outlook’ existed!» — reclama una retraducción de las fuentes antiguas hecha con criterio técnico, y admite que aún no existe.

«According to Gershom Scholem’s explanation, the throne and chariot symbolism of the Jewish mystics corresponded roughly to that of the Hellenistic and early Christian mystics when they talk about pleroma (abundance of light).» — la única remisión de la obra a un estudioso de la mística judía; la lectura del carro y el trono la adjudica a Gershom Scholem.

«Lastly, it is by no means so long ago that reputable scholars said that no stones (meteors) could fall from the sky, because there were no stones in the sky.» — el primero de sus precedentes de negación erudita desmentida después.

«Even nineteenth-century mathematicians came to the conclusion—convincing in their day—that a railway train would not be able to travel faster than 21 miles an hour because if it did the air would be forced out of it and the passengers would suffocate.» — el segundo precedente, con la cifra y la explicación de época.

«Less than a hundred years ago it was ‘proved’ that an object heavier than air would never be able to fly.» — el tercer precedente, con la palabra prueba puesta entre comillas por él.

«A review in a reputable newspaper classed Walter Sullivan’s book We Are Not Alone as science fiction and said that even in the most distant future it would be quite impossible to reach, say, Epsilon Eridani or Tau Ceti; even the effect of a shift in time or deep-freezing the astronauts could never overcome the barriers of the inconceivable distances.» — el caso contemporáneo con que ilustra el rechazo, referido a la reseña y no al libro.

«We still know too little about our past to be able to make a definite judgment about it.» — la abstención con que sostiene que el expediente sigue abierto.

«Incidentally, it is obvious to me that more old books were destroyed than are preserved.» — el argumento por la pérdida documental, marcado como parecer propio.

«In the library of Alexandria 500,000 volumes belonging to the learned Ptolemy Soter contained all the traditions of mankind; the library was partly destroyed by the Romans, and the rest was burned on the orders of Caliph Omar centuries later.» — la pérdida de Alejandría, contada en dos destrucciones sucesivas.

«Only half a century ago Hitler had books burned in the public squares, and as recently as 1966 the same thing happened in China during Mao’s kindergarten revolution.» — extiende la serie de quemas hasta el siglo XX para hacerla un hábito y no un accidente.

«In all ages the sages of a nation knew that the future would always bring wars and revolutions, blood and fire.» — de ahí deriva que los sabios antiguos hayan escondido o cifrado su saber.

«We certainly ought to test the idea, for farsighted contemporaries of our own day have acted in this way—for the future.» — pone el presente como prueba de la conducta que atribuye al pasado.

«John Harrington invented the ingenious decoding system for generations yet unknown.» — la cápsula del tiempo de 1965 y su clave de descifrado, adjudicada a John Harrington.

«It’s nice to know that there are men today who think 5,000 years ahead!» — el plazo de la cápsula es el mismo con que él mide hacia atrás.

«It is pure caprice on nature’s part that she allows dressed blocks of stone to survive for 5,000 years.» — de la desigual conservación de los materiales hace un sesgo del registro arqueológico.

«In the courtyard of a temple in Delhi there exists, as I have already mentioned, a column made of welded iron parts that has been exposed to weathering for more than 4,000 years without showing a trace of rust.» — la columna de hierro de Delhi, con su datación y su ausencia de herrumbre.

«Here we have an unknown alloy from antiquity staring us in the face.» — la conclusión metalúrgica que saca de esa columna.

«Perhaps the column was cast by a group of farsighted engineers who did not have the resources for a colossal building but wanted to bequeath to posterity a visible, time-defying monument to their culture.» — su hipótesis sobre la columna va en potencial y como una entre varias.

«It is an embarrassing story: in advanced cultures of the past we find buildings that we cannot copy today with the most modern technical means.» — la fórmula general del argumento constructivo del libro.

«Because that which ought not to exist cannot exist, there is a frantic search for ‘rational’ explanations.» — atribuye a la premisa, y no a los datos, la producción de explicaciones convencionales.

«Yet experts now estimate the number of inhabitants at the time of the building of the Great Pyramid at 50,000,000.» — la cifra de población que atribuye a los expertos, y de la que hace un problema de abastecimiento.

«But one thing is clear—they all had to be fed.» — el argumento agrícola con que impugna la explicación por mano de obra masiva.

«But they must have been wooden rollers, otherwise there would not be even the feeblest technical explanation of the building of the pyramids.» — señala que la hipótesis de los rodillos se sostiene por necesidad del argumento y no por evidencia.

«Yet it is firmly established that the Egyptians were masters of the art of tunneling from the earliest times, for the old rock-cut tombs are worked in exactly the same way as the more recent ones.» — de la falta de progresión técnica hace un argumento sobre el origen del saber.

«In fact the more recent edifices tend increasingly to be poor copies of their ancient models.» — invierte la dirección corriente del progreso técnico egipcio.

«It is well known that the ancient Egyptians practiced a solar religion.» — la religión solar es el marco en que sitúa la barca de Ra.

«So the gods and kings of the Egyptians were also involved with flying....» — la conclusión que saca de los textos solares, con los puntos suspensivos del facsímil.

«There is not a single clue to explain why the builder of the pyramid of Cheops, the Pharaoh Khufu, chose that particular rocky terrain in the desert as the site for his edifice.» — la elección del sitio es lo que declara sin explicación en la bibliografía corriente.

«Since there is so much to be said against the textbook explanations of the choice of site, one might reasonably ask whether the ‘gods’ did not have their say here, too, even if it was by way of the priesthood.» — introduce la intervención por vía sacerdotal, y en forma de pregunta razonable.

«If the facts noted here are not coincidences—and it seems extremely difficult to believe that they are—then the building site was chosen by beings who knew all about the spherical shape of the earth and the distribution of continents and seas.» — la conclusión geodésica queda condicionada a que las coincidencias no lo sean.

«There are no blackened ceilings or walls or even the slightest evidence that traces of blackening have been removed.» — la ausencia de hollín en los corredores, que usa contra la iluminación por antorchas.

«If the industrious workers had achieved the extraordinary daily piece rate of ten blocks piled on top of each other, they would have assembled the 2,600,000 stone blocks into the magnificent stone pyramid in about 250,000 days—664 years.» — el cálculo con que impugna que la obra quepa en un reinado.

«Yet who is so ingenuous as to believe that the pyramid was nothing but the tomb of a king?» — la función funeraria única, rechazada en pregunta.

«It seems obvious to me that the pyramid cannot have been erected during a single lifetime.» — la tesis del capítulo, enunciada como parecer propio.

«But what if Khufu forged the inscriptions and tablets that are supposed to proclaim his fame?» — la alternativa que propone para la atribución a Keops, en condicional.

«In the Bodleian Library at Oxford there is a manuscript in which the Coptic author Mas-Udi asserts that the Egyptian King Surid had the Great Pyramid built.» — la tradición copta del rey Surid, con su depósito y su autor.

«So, according to the Coptic tradition, the pyramid was built before the Flood.» — la datación antediluviana la refiere como tradición, no como dato propio.

«The priests of Thebes had shown him 341 colossal statues, each of which stood for a highpriestly generation over a period of 11,340 years.» — el cómputo sacerdotal que toma de Heródoto; la forma unida del compuesto es de la capa de texto.

«Before these 341 generations the gods had lived among men, and since then no god had visited them again in human form.» — el corte que la propia tradición egipcia pone entre el tiempo de los dioses y el de los hombres.

«We know next to nothing about the how, why, and when of the building of the pyramid.» — la abstención con que resume el estado de la cuestión.

«An artificial mountain, some 490 feet high and weighing 6,500,000 tons, stands there as evidence of an incredible achievement, and this monument is supposed to be nothing more than the burial place of an extravagant king!» — la desproporción entre obra y función atribuida, dicha en cifras.

«Various peoples knew the technique of embalming corpses, and archaeological finds favor the supposition that prehistoric beings believed in corporeal return to a second life.» — el retorno corporal, y no espiritual, es lo que atribuye a la creencia antigua.

«astronomer Robert C. W. Ettinger suggests a way in which twentieth-century men can have ourselves frozen so that our cells can go on living from the medical and biological point of view, but slowed down a billionfold.» — la criónica moderna, adjudicada a Ettinger; el facsímil lo llama astrónomo.

«For the present this idea may still sound Utopian, but in fact every big clinic today has a ‘bone bank’ which preserves human bones in a deep-frozen condition for years and makes them serviceable again when required.» — el precedente clínico con que hace verosímil la conservación de largo plazo.

«In March, 1963, biologists of the University of Oklahoma confirmed that the skin cells of the Egyptian Princess Mene were capable of living.» — el dato de laboratorio con que enlaza momia y criónica.

«Americans—and this is no secret—are seriously concerned, as part of their space program, with the problem of how to freeze astronauts of the future for their long journey to distant stars.» — cierra el paralelo poniendo la congelación dentro del programa espacial vigente.

«I am not concerned here with this demonstrable fact, but with solving the problem of where the idea of a reawakening, a return to life, originated.» — acota su propia pregunta: no la práctica de momificar, sino el origen de la idea.

«These speculations require confirmation from contemporary sources.» — pone él mismo la condición que su hipótesis todavía no cumple.

«The high priests, who actually did possess some knowledge of such reawakenings, did a great deal to encourage this cult, for their class did good business out of it.» — atribuye a la casta sacerdotal un saber real y un interés material a la vez.

«Does not nature herself display brilliant examples of ‘hibernation’ and reawakening?» — apoya la plausibilidad de la reanimación en la hibernación natural.

«These tombs show that the art of mummification is more than 6,000 years old.» — la antigüedad de la práctica, que es lo que le exige un origen.

«It seems obvious that the Egyptians believed in a reawakening in the distant future, not an immediate reawakening in the hereafter.» — la distinción que sostiene todo el capítulo: espera fechada, no más allá inmediato.

«The Russian Rodenko discovered a grave, Kurgan V, fifty miles from the frontier of Outer Mongolia.» — la tumba congelada de Mongolia, con la que extiende la práctica fuera de Egipto.

«Strange sphinxlike figures with complicated horns on their heads and wings on their backs are clearly visible, and their posture shows them to be aspiring skyward.» — la iconografía del ajuar de Kurgan V, descrita por su orientación al cielo.

«But motives for a second spiritual life can scarcely be based on the finds in Mongolia.» — el límite que reconoce en su propio material mongol.

«That, too, is astonishing, for ostensibly this people did not know the techniques of pottery making.» — sobre los hallazgos de Jericó: la anomalía está en lo que el pueblo no debería saber hacer.

«There are glacier tombs in the Andes, ice tombs in Siberia, group and individual graves in China, Sumeria, and Egypt.» — la dispersión mundial de la práctica funeraria es lo que le pide una fuente común.

«Is it all mere coincidence? Are they all merely individual fancies, strange whims on the part of our ancestors?» — deja la explicación por casualidad planteada como pregunta antes de descartarla.

«On July 21, 1969, a London bookmaker paid out £ 10,000. Only five years earlier he gave odds of a thousand to one that man would not land on the moon before 1970.» — la apuesta perdida por el corredor londinense, que usa como medida de lo que ayer era imposible.

«These scientifically determined dates agree fairly well with the dates which the Egyptian priests transmitted.» — hace coincidir el carbono 14 con el cómputo sacerdotal egipcio de más de once mil años.

«They show drawings of men dressed in completely modern style, with hats, jackets, and short trousers.» — las piedras de Lussac, descritas por la indumentaria que él lee en ellas.

«Abbé Breuil says that the drawings are authentic, and his statement throws the whole of prehistory into confusion.» — la autenticidad de esos grabados la adjudica al abate Breuil, no a sí mismo.

«How was this cave illuminated for the laborious work of the Stone Age artists, and why were the walls decorated with these astonishing paintings?» — las dos preguntas que le plantea Lascaux, y que deja sin cerrar.

«But it obviously does not fit into the working hypothesis to concede homo sapiens the same ability as long ago as that.» — atribuye a la hipótesis de trabajo, y no a la evidencia, la negativa a reconocer capacidades tempranas.

«In the Gobi Desert, deep down below the ruins of Khara Khota—not far from those strange sand vitrifications which can only have taken place under the influence of tremendous heat—Professor Koslov found a tomb that is dated to about 12,000 years B.C. A sarcophagus contained the bodies of two rich men, and the sign of a circle bisected vertically was found on the sarcophagus.» — el hallazgo de Koslov en el Gobi, con la vitrificación de arena como contexto y el signo del círculo partido.

«In the Subis Mountains on the west coast of Borneo a network of caves was found that had been hollowed out on a cathedral-like scale. Among these colossal finds there are fabrics of such fineness and delicacy that with the best will in the world one cannot imagine savages making them.» — las cuevas de Borneo y sus tejidos, medidos otra vez contra lo que atribuye a un pueblo llamado salvaje.

«Let me make it clear that I am not doubting the history of the last 2,000 years here. I am speaking solely and exclusively of the most remote antiquity, of the blackest darkness of time, which I am striving to illuminate by asking new questions.» — el alcance que se fija: la historia reciente queda fuera de su duda.

«Nor can I give any figures and dates showing when the visit of unknown intelligences from the universe began to influence our young intelligences. But I venture to doubt the current datings applied to the remote past. I would suggest, on tolerably good grounds, placing the incident I am concerned with in the Early Paleolithic Age—between 10,000 and 40,000 B.C.» — se abstiene de fechar la visita y a la vez propone la horquilla paleolítica en que la situaría.

«Our hitherto existing methods of dating, including C-14, which makes everyone so happy, leave great gaps as soon as we have to deal with periods of fewer than 5,000 years.» — su objeción al carbono 14, que necesita para desplazar las dataciones establecidas.

«The older the substance to be examined, the more unreliable the radiocarbon method is.» — la forma general de esa objeción, enunciada como proporción.

«Even recognized scholars have told me that they consider the C-14 method to be an out-and-out bluff, because if an organic substance is from 30,000 to 50,000 years old its age can be established anywhere between those limits.» — apoya la objeción en eruditos que no nombra, y refiere el juicio como ajeno.

«These critical voices should be accepted only with limitations ; nevertheless, a second dating method parallel to the C-14 method and based on the latest» — acota él mismo esas críticas antes de pedir un método paralelo; la frase cierra en la plana siguiente y el espacio ante el punto y coma es del facsímil.

«The first European seafarers who landed on Easter Island at the beginning of the eighteenth century could scarcely believe their eyes.» — sitúa el asombro europeo del siglo XVIII como primer testimonio del enigma.

«Originally these colossuses also wore hats; but even the hats do not exactly help to explain the puzzling origin of the statues.» — los sombreros de piedra, traídos de otra cantera, agravan el problema en vez de resolverlo.

«But today it is impossible to find more than ten fragments of those tablets in all the museums in the world, and none of the inscriptions on those still extant has yet been deciphered.» — el estado de la escritura de la isla: pocos restos y ninguno leído.

«It has not been proved whether the fireplaces and remains of bones had any connection with the stone colossuses.» — acota el alcance de las dataciones por carbón: no está atado a las estatuas.

«The usual explanation, that the stone giants were moved to their present sites on wooden rollers, is not feasible in this case, either.» — objeta los rodillos aquí por la falta de madera y de gente.

«A shipping trade, which brought food and clothing to the island for the stonemasons, is hardly credible in antiquity.» — descarta el abastecimiento marítimo, que sería la salida a su propio argumento demográfico.

«Even 2,000 men, working day and night, would not be nearly enough to carve these colossal figures out of the steel-hard volcanic stone with rudimentary tools—and at least a part of the population must have tilled the barren fields, gone fishing, woven cloth, and made ropes.» — el cálculo de mano de obra descuenta lo que la subsistencia consume.

«Unfortunately, the first European missionaries on this tiny patch of earth helped to ensure that the island’s dark ages stayed dark.» — atribuye a los misioneros la pérdida del registro isleño.

«Yet thoroughly as the pious gentlemen went to work, they could not prevent the natives from calling their island the Land of the Bird Men, as they still do today.» — el nombre que la isla se da a sí misma sobrevive a esa pérdida, y es lo que él retiene.

«The legend is confirmed by sculptures of flying creatures with big, staring eyes.» — enlaza el nombre de los hombres pájaro con la escultura de la isla.

«Although the American continent is the home of ancient cultures, our accurate knowledge of America is barely 1,000 years old.» — mide lo poco que se sabe frente a lo mucho que hay, que es su argumento recurrente.

«The Mayas built roads but did not use the wheel, although they knew about it.» — la anomalía la sitúa en el uso, no en el conocimiento.

«We can move smaller ‘monoliths’ weighing up to fifty tons with our modern lifting appliances and loaders, but when it comes to hundred-tonners like these our technology breaks down.» — el límite de la maquinaria presente, que usa como medida de lo antiguo.

«Our remote ancestors must have been strange people; they liked making things difficult for themselves and always built their statues in the most impossible places.» — formula en ironía lo que, según él, se sigue de la explicación corriente del emplazamiento.

«I refuse to think that the artists of our great past were as stupid as that.» — de esa negativa deriva que el emplazamiento debía tener una razón.

«I am convinced that the Inca fortress of Sacsahuamán was not built above Cuzco by chance, but rather because a tradition indicated the place as a holy spot.» — la tesis del emplazamiento por tradición, enunciada como convicción propia.

«The unknown space travelers who visited our planet many thousands of years ago can hardly have been less farsighted than we think we are today.» — atribuye previsión a los visitantes por analogía con la nuestra.

«Present-day antennae and transmitters have broadcast the first radio impulses to unknown intelligences.» — sitúa el programa de escucha del presente como el otro extremo de la misma historia.

«When we shall receive an answer—in ten, fifteen, or a hundred years—we do not know.» — la espera de respuesta queda sin plazo, y él lo declara.

«If we take things literally, much that was once fitted into the mosaic of our past with great difficulty becomes quite plausible: not only the relevant clues in ancient texts but also the ‘hard facts’ which offer themselves to our critical gaze all over the globe.» — su regla de lectura en una línea: tomar los textos al pie de la letra.

«As soon as the available authorities, powers, and intellects are devoted to space research, the results will make the absurdity of terrestrial wars abundantly clear.» — el desenlace político que espera del programa espacial.

«When men of all races, peoples, and nations unite in the supranational task of making journeys to distant planets technically feasible, the earth with all its mini-problems will fall back into its right relation with the cosmic processes.» — la tarea supranacional como reordenamiento del lugar de la Tierra.

«I base the reasons for my skepticism about the interpretation of our remote past on the knowledge that is available today.» — declara el fundamento de su escepticismo, que es el saber presente y no una revelación.

«If I admit to being a skeptic, I mean the word in the sense in which Thomas Mann used it in a lecture in the twenties: ‘The positive thing about the skeptic is that he considers everything possible!’» — define su propia posición tomando de Thomas Mann el escepticismo como apertura.

«Once the universe opens its doors, we shall attain a better future.» — el cierre del capítulo, en clave de promesa.

«Although I emphasized that it is not my intention to call in question the history of mankind during the last 2,000 years, I believe that the Greek and Roman gods and also most of the figures in sagas and legends are surrounded by the breath of a very remote past.» — repite el límite de su duda y a la vez extiende su alcance a los panteones clásicos.

«The oldest text about T eotihuacán tells us that the gods assembled here and took council about man, even before homo sapiens existed!» — el concilio de los dioses de Teotihuacán, anterior a la especie; el corte del topónimo es del facsímil.

«The Mayas did not build pyramids because they needed them; they did not build temples because they needed them; they built temples and pyramids because the calendar decreed that a fixed number of steps of a building had to be completed every 52 years.» — invierte la explicación funcional de la arquitectura maya: el calendario manda sobre la necesidad.

«The priests guarded the traditional knowledge because the ‘gods’ had given their word to return one day.» — la promesa de regreso es lo que, según él, sostiene la casta sacerdotal y el calendario.

«According to priestly tradition, the gods would come back from heaven when the vast buildings were completed according to the laws of the calendar cycle.» — la condición del regreso queda ligada al término de la obra.

«The work was finished, the year of the god’s return came around—but nothing happened.» — el desenlace del que hace la causa del abandono de las ciudades.

«Slaves and jewelry, corn and oil, were offered up in vain. But heaven remained dumb and without a sign.» — el silencio del cielo, descrito como el hecho que rompe la relación.

«No traces that could be connected with a military confrontation have ever been found.» — descarta la guerra por ausencia de rastro, no por argumento general.

«The explanation that a devastating epidemic set the Mayas on the move also deserves serious examination.» — deja en pie la hipótesis rival de la epidemia y la llama digna de examen.

«Investigations of archaeological sites have not produced one proof that even a single Maya remained behind.» — el dato con que descarta las explicaciones que dejarían vencedores en el sitio.

«The whole people suddenly emigrated, leaving their holy places unguarded in the jungle.» — el hecho que su hipótesis pretende explicar, enunciado antes que ella.

«I should like to introduce a new note into the concert of opinions, a theory that is not proved any more than the other interpretations are.» — presenta su explicación como una entre varias y con el mismo déficit de prueba.

«But regardless of the probability of the other explanations, I venture to make my contribution boldly and with conviction.» — sostiene su propuesta sin desalojar a las otras, que es su forma habitual de argumentar.

«Admittedly, the Mayas’ interest in astronomy is not sufficient motivation for our hypothesis of relations with intelligences on other planets.» — concede que el dato astronómico por sí solo no sostiene su tesis.

«The abundance of hitherto unanswered questions is bewildering: How did the Mayas know about Uranus and Neptune?» — la pregunta concreta con que sustituye el argumento general.

«If we put all the facts in a sieve and roughly separate the wheat from the chaff, there are so many inconsistencies and absurdities left that research needs spurring on to make a large-scale new effort to solve at least some of the enormous number of problems.» — su criterio de saldo: lo que queda después de descartar es lo que reclama investigación.

«The exact counterpart of the sacred well of Chichén Itzá exists, hidden in the jungle, barely 76 yards from the Mayan observatory.» — el pozo gemelo, del que hace su argumento sobre el origen de los cenotes.

«Unquestionably the two wells are the same age, and possibly they both owe their existence to the impact of meteorites.» — la frase que el prólogo de 1995 defiende como cauta: la edad va como certeza y el origen meteórico como posibilidad.

«The snake is a symbol of nearly all Mayan buildings.» — la ubicuidad de la serpiente, contrapuesta a la ausencia de motivos vegetales.

«That is astonishing, for one would have expected a people surrounded by luxuriant rampant flora to leave flower motifs behind on their stone reliefs as well.» — la ausencia, y no la presencia, es lo que le parece necesitar explicación.

«The god Kukulkán (Kukumatz) presumably corresponds to the figure of the later god Quetzalcoatl.» — la identificación entre los dos dioses va marcada como presunción, con las dos grafías del facsímil.

«There is even a daring version which suggests that the old Quetzalcoatl was an earlier Jesus !» — refiere una lectura ajena sin suscribirla; el espacio ante el signo es del facsímil.

«In 1900 Greek sponge divers found an old wreck loaded with marble and bronze statues off Antikythera.» — el hallazgo del pecio, con su fecha y su circunstancia.

«When it had been carefully treated, scholars discovered a sheet of bronze with circles, inscriptions, and cog wheels and soon realized that the inscriptions must be connected with astronomy.» — describe el objeto por lo que se ve en él, antes de nombrarlo.

«Professor Solla Price interpreted the apparatus as a kind of calculating machine with the help of which the movements of the moon, the sun, and probably other planets could be worked out.» — la interpretación del mecanismo la adjudica a Solla Price.

«The fact that the machine gives the year of its construction as 82 B.C. is not so important.» — descarta la fecha como lo relevante y se queda con otra cosa.

«Moreover, the machine is so complicated that it was probably not the first of its kind.» — lo que retiene del aparato es que supone una serie anterior perdida.

«We accept its existence at that date because we know that the necessary mechanical skills existed then.» — deja a la vista el criterio de aceptación que discute: se admite lo que ya se cree posible.

«The idea of the earlier planetarium irritates us because in Christ’s day the concept of a heaven with fixed stars taking into account the rotation of the earth did not exist.» — sitúa la incomodidad en el marco cosmológico de la época, no en el objeto.

«Even the knowledgeable Chinese and Arabic astronomers of antiquity can give us no help regarding this inexplicable fact, and it is undeniable that Galileo Galilei was not born until 1,500 years later.» — cierra el argumento con el desfase entre el aparato y la astronomía que lo haría inteligible.

«Their origin and significance cannot be explained by the archaeologists.» — la fórmula con que cierra la serie de objetos anómalos del capítulo.

«It is equally unreasonable, when all is said and done, to lump all traditions together as inaccurate and then make use of them when it happens to suit one’s purpose.» — repite el reproche de coherencia: no se puede desechar y usar la misma fuente según convenga.

«Scholars of all disciplines should inquire into reports from the past with the same creative enthusiasm that they bring to contemporary research.» — el pedido con que cierra el capítulo, dirigido a todas las disciplinas.

«The question whether space travel has any point has not yet been silenced in discussion.» — abre el capítulo por la objeción, no por la defensa.

«The partial or total meaninglessness of space research is supposed to be proved by the banal assertion that people should not poke around in the universe as long as there are still so many unsolved problems on earth.» — enuncia el argumento contrario que quiere desarmar.

«Man flies, against all the so-called laws of nature, and he lives under water for months in nuclear-powered submarines.» — la lista de imposibles vencidos con que sostiene el ritmo del progreso técnico.

«It has been proved that world food production does not keep pace with the growth of population, in spite of the most modern technical aids and the large-scale use of chemical fertilizers.» — el argumento demográfico del que hace depender la urgencia espacial.

«U Thant, Secretary General of the United Nations, estimates the number of children in danger of dying of hunger in India at 20,000,000, a figure which backs up Dr. Hermann Mohler of Zurich’s claim that hunger is reaching for world domination.» — la cifra del hambre la adjudica a U Thant y a Hermann Mohler.

«Yet even if birth control were to win through one fine day, even if cultivatable areas were enlarged and harvests multiplied by aids as yet unknown, even if fishing supplied much more food and fields of algae on the ocean bed provided nourishment, if all this and a lot more were to happen, it would all be only a postponement, a putting off of the evil day for about 100 years.» — concede las soluciones terrestres una por una y las declara aplazamientos.

«I am convinced that one day men will settle on Mars and cope with the climatic conditions just as the Eskimos would do if they were transplanted to Egypt.» — la colonización de Marte como salida, enunciada como convicción y con su analogía.

«And let me impress on anyone who does not feel that he is responsible for the future that the results of space research have already protected us from a third world war.» — atribuye a la investigación espacial un dividendo de paz ya cobrado.

«It may sound absurd, but the first intercontinental missiles guaranteed us comparative peace.» — la paz por disuasión, enunciada con la paradoja declarada.

«This view is wrong; the industrial nations do not give aid to underdeveloped countries purely on charitable or political grounds;» — objeta que la ayuda humanitaria compita con el gasto espacial, y le atribuye motivo de mercado.

«Approximately 1.6 billion rats, each of which destroyed about 10 pounds of food a year, were living in India in 1966.» — el ejemplo con que sostiene que el hambre no se explica solo por falta de recursos.

«Yet the state does not dare exterminate this plague, because the devout Indian protects rats.» — atribuye a la prescripción religiosa un efecto material sobre el hambre.

«But to arrive at the ultimate insight that national frontiers are a thing of the past, space travel was needed.» — el efecto político que atribuye al viaje espacial: la disolución de la frontera.

«In every epoch mankind has needed an inspiriting watchword that enabled it to rise beyond the obvious problems to the apparently unattainable reality.» — sitúa el programa espacial en la serie de las consignas movilizadoras.

«More than 4,000 new articles owe their existence to space research; they are virtually by-products of research for a higher goal.» — la cifra de subproductos, con la que contesta al reproche de gasto.

«Out of the flood of taxes which is poured into space research, the returns on the vast investment flow back to the taxpayer in a steady stream.» — el retorno al contribuyente, formulado como circulación y no como promesa.

«Since terrestrial supplies of energy are not inexhaustible, the space travel program will also become vital one day, because we shall have to obtain fissionable matter from Mars or some other planet in order to be able to illuminate our cities and heat our houses.» — el agotamiento del combustible fisible como segunda razón de necesidad.

«An unascertainable and unpredictable cosmic event could bring about the earth’s downfall.» — el riesgo cósmico, dicho con su propia indeterminación por delante.

«True, research per se has never been profitable; it is the products of research that make the investment profitable.» — separa el rendimiento de la investigación del de sus productos.

«It is unreasonable to expect profitableness and the amortization of research into space travel at its present stage.» — acota lo que cabe exigirle al programa en su etapa actual.

«No balance has been struck to show the return from the 4,000 by-products of space research.» — reconoce que la cuenta que invoca no está hecha.

«Another life-saving by-product of American computer technology was the ‘heart-beat machine.’» — el ejemplo médico concreto de esos subproductos.

«Anyone who knows the present state of research and the impetuous way in which it develops can no longer tolerate sayings such as, ‘It will never be possible to travel from one star to another.’» — rechaza la imposibilidad del viaje interestelar apoyándose en el ritmo de la investigación.

«Scientists know that tachyons must exist; it is now ‘only’ a matter of providing physical proof of their existence.» — el caso de los taquiones, con el adverbio entrecomillado por él mismo.

«Do you really believe that several thousands of probably the cleverest men of our time» — abre la pregunta con que interpela a los críticos del programa espacial; la frase cierra en la plana siguiente.

«So let me tackle UFO’s boldly, ignoring the risk of not being taken seriously.» — entra al asunto de los ovnis declarando el costo de reputación.

«Let us assume that 98 percent of the people who claimed that they had seen UFO’s actually saw ball lightning, weather balloons, strange cloud formations, new unknown types of aircraft, or even odd effects of light and shade in the sky at twilight.» — concede de entrada casi todo el material, y trabaja con el resto.

«If we reject all the crackpots, liars, hysterics, and sensation-mongers, there still remains a sizable group of sober observers, including people whose jobs make them familiar with celestial phenomena.» — el criterio con que selecciona testigos: el oficio de mirar el cielo.

«I myself do not know what UFO’s are; I do not say that they have been proved to be flying objects belonging to unknown intelligences, although there could be little objection to such a supposition.» — la abstención más explícita del libro sobre los ovnis, dicha en primera persona.

«On January 29, 1965, these two men had spotted two unidentified flying objects on their radar screen at the Naval Airfield in» — el primero de los casos que refiere, fechado y por radar; la frase cierra en la plana siguiente.

«One of the meteorologists said resignedly, ‘I’ve always ridiculed these UFO stories. What the hell am I going to say now?’» — voz de un meteorólogo de Canberra, citada por él como caso de testigo cualificado.

«There was absolutely no trace of Flight Lieutenant Wilson and his machine!» — el caso de Michigan, contado por su desenlace.

«Bertrand excitedly informed his colleague Toland over the telephone that he had just seen the damned thing with his own eyes.» — el caso de New Hampshire, referido por el testimonio policial.

«The report contained factual statements but did not give any explanation of the unidentified flying object.» — subraya que el informe oficial se abstuvo de explicar, que es lo que a él le interesa.

«They gave the impression that a heavy metal grating had been pressed into the ground.» — las marcas halladas en Francia en 1967, descritas por su forma.

«The pilot explained that with more than a million miles of flying experience he was as unable as his colleagues to believe that a falling piece of metal could stay in the air for a quarter of an hour, have such dimensions, and fly alongside an aircraft; he believed this explanation even less since this unidentified flying object had been observable from the ground for nearly three-quarters of an hour.» — la objeción del capitán de Lufthansa a la explicación oficial, referida con sus cifras.

«They sent their observations to the University of Colorado, which for want of a better explanation surmised that the flying object was part of a previously launched rocket falling to the ground.» — la explicación académica del caso, referida con su propia reserva declarada.

«Professor Hermann Oberth, the man known as ‘the father of space travel’ and the teacher of Wernher von Braun, said that UFO’s were still ‘an extra-scientific problem’; but, said Oberth, UFO’s were probably ‘spaceships from unknown worlds,’ and to use his own words: ‘Obviously the beings who man and fly them are far ahead of us culturally, and if we go about things properly we can learn a lot from them.’» — la posición sobre los ovnis la adjudica a Hermann Oberth, con su cargo y sus reservas.

«Oberth, a research scientist himself, demands that serious scientists, too, should tackle problems that may seem fantastic at first.» — apoya en Oberth el pedido de método que él viene haciendo.

«Whether UFO’s are the product of collective hallucinations, whether they originate from Venusian visitors or are to be understood as a divine revelation—there must be an explanation for them, otherwise the Russians would never have set up a Committee of Inquiry.» — deja las tres lecturas abiertas y solo retiene que el fenómeno pide explicación.

«The most spectacular and puzzling incident connected with the phenomenon of ‘matter from the universe’ took place at 7:17 on the morning of July 30, 1908, in the Siberian Taiga.» — abre el caso de Tunguska con su fecha y su hora.

«They drilled to a depth of 118 feet without finding a single trace of any kind of meteoric material.» — la ausencia de material meteórico es el dato en que apoya el descarte de esa explicación.

«But a growing tree can catch fire only if the amount of radiant energy per square centimeter reaches 70 to 100 calories.» — el umbral físico con que argumenta que hubo radiación.

«The investigations confirmed a nuclear explosion and relegated to the realm of fable explanations such as the impact of a comet or the fall of a great meteorite.» — refiere como resultado de las expediciones soviéticas lo que él después usa como premisa.

«The authors, Genrich Altov and Valentina Shuraleva, said that the impact in the Siberian Taiga was a response to the colossal explosionlike eruption of the volcano of Krakatoa in the Indian Ocean, which sent a large concentration of radio waves into the universe when it erupted in 1883.» — la hipótesis del rayo dirigido, adjudicada a Altov y Shuraleva.

«I must admit that I do not accept this explanation because it seems too farfetched.» — rechaza esa hipótesis, y lo hace por el mismo criterio que le reprochan a él.

«Even though I believe that there is antimatter in the depths of the cosmos, there cannot be any left in the Tunguska, because the collision of matter and antimatter results in their mutual dissolution.» — descarta la antimateria con un argumento físico, no con una preferencia.

«I prefer to adhere to the opinion of those who suspect that the nuclear explosion was caused by an unknown spaceship’s energy pile bursting.» — su propia explicación de Tunguska, enunciada como preferencia entre opiniones.

«Fantastic? Of course, but does that mean that it must be impossible?» — la fórmula con que separa lo inverosímil de lo imposible.

«Until a single, exact, indubitable scientific proof of the phenomenon—and many others—is produced, no one has the right to discard an explanation within the bounds of credibility without giving his reasons.» — la regla que reclama mientras falte prueba: no descartar sin razones.

«Nevertheless, we should remember that the determination of the ecosphere is based on our conception of life and that unknown life is by no means necessarily bound to our premises for life.» — acota la noción misma de ecosfera, que es la que acaba de usar.

«According to the information it transmitted, Venus can now be ruled out as a supporter of life.» — acepta el resultado del Mariner II aunque le quite un planeta a su hipótesis.

«Such a temperature means that there could be no water, only lakes of molten metal on the surface.» — la consecuencia de esa medición, dicha sin atenuantes.

«Russian scientist I. S. Shklovskii and renowned American astronomer Carl Sagan, in their book Intelligent Life in the Universe, published in 1966, accept that the moon Phobos is an artificial satellite.» — la tesis del satélite artificial la adjudica a Shklovskii y Sagan, con su libro y su fecha.

«Shklovskii, director of the Department of Radio-Astronomy in the Moscow Sternberg Astrological Institute, made the same statement after he had observed that a peculiar unnatural acceleration could be confirmed in the movement of Phobos.» — el fundamento observacional de esa tesis; el facsímil escribe *Astrological* donde el instituto es de astronomía.

«Immanuel Velikovsky declared that a giant comet had crashed into Mars and that Venus had been formed as a result of this collision.» — la hipótesis catastrofista la adjudica a Velikovsky y la deja como voz ajena.

«Venus is the only planet which rotates ‘backward,’ i.e., the only planet that does not follow the rules of our solar system as do Mercury, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.» — el dato de la rotación retrógrada, que retiene sin suscribir el marco catastrofista.

«But if a cosmically caused catastrophe is a possible reason for the destruction of a civilization on the planet Mars, that would also provide material for my theory that the earth may have received visits from space in the very remote past.» — enlaza la catástrofe marciana con su propia tesis, y lo hace bajo doble condicional.

«Never have we known so little about so much as today.» — la paradoja con que cierra el capítulo: más información y menos comprensión del conjunto.

«The experiment was broken off, not because some of the participating scientists expressed the view that there were no radio transmissions in space, but rather because it was realized that at the time there was no apparatus sensitive enough to reach the desired goal.» — sobre el Proyecto Ozma: separa el fracaso instrumental del fracaso de la hipótesis.

«Of course, we cannot expect unknown intelligences to understand Russian or Spanish or English and to be sitting there waiting to be contacted.» — el problema del código común, que plantea antes de proponer soluciones.

«There remain three possibilities by which we can make ourselves known: mathematical symbols, laser beams, and pictures.» — enumera las tres vías de señalamiento con que organiza el capítulo.

«1420 megaherz would provide such a frequency, for that is the radiation frequency of the neutral hydrogen that results from the collision of hydrogen atoms.» — la frecuencia del hidrógeno neutro como lengua franca; la grafía es del facsímil.

«These mirrors—like the corner of a room—will consist of three reflecting planes standing at right angles to each other and will have the property of returning any light that strikes them back to the source of the light.» — describe los reflectores lunares por su geometría y su función.

«If my hypothesis is correct, isn’t it credible that unknown intelligences are also announcing themselves to us?» — el paso de la emisión a la escucha va condicionado a su propia hipótesis.

«The astronomer Sholomitski said in the lecture room of the Sternberg Astrological Institute in Moscow on April 13, 1965: ‘At the end of September and the beginning of October, 1964, the radiation energy from CTA 102 was much stronger, but only for a short time, then it diminished again.» — el anuncio sobre CTA 102, adjudicado a Sholomitski con fecha y lugar.

«Meanwhile Dutch astrophysicist Maarten Schmidt has found out by exact measurements that CTA 102 must be about 10 billion light-years from the earth.» — la medición de Maarten Schmidt, que él pone junto al anuncio anterior.

«But according to the calculations of present-day research, our planet simply did not exist at that time.» — la objeción que él mismo le hace al caso de CTA 102.

«Radio communications with more distant stars would take correspondingly longer; civilizations situated at distances reckoned in millions of light-years are quite unsuitable to contact by means of radio waves.» — el límite físico de la radio, que lo lleva a buscar otro medio.

«In this way a vast yellow circle, surrounded by a green equilateral triangle, would appear every summer.» — la propuesta de figuras geométricas sembradas, descrita por su forma y su color.

«But if there are unknown intelligences that seek us as we seek them, the coloring of circle and triangle would be a hint to them that these shapes were no freaks of nature.» — el criterio de artificialidad de la señal es el mismo que él aplica a Nazca.

«However skeptical or antipathetic we may be to everything occult, we cannot avoid looking into some as yet inexplicable physical phenomena, for example the thought transference between intelligent brains that is proved on a broad scientific basis but not yet explained.» — entra a la parapsicología marcando distancia con lo oculto y apoyándose en lo que llama base científica.

«It not only demonstrated the possibility of thought transference but also showed that mental communication between human brains can be stronger than radio waves.» — lo que atribuye al experimento del Nautilus, que refiere sin nombrar objeción.

«All radio communications were interrupted, for even today radio waves do not penetrate to any appreciable depth.» — la condición del submarino sumergido es lo que hace concluyente, para él, ese experimento.

«The strict American Medical Association gave Edgar Cayce permission to hold consultations, although he was not a doctor.» — la autorización institucional de Cayce, referida como dato y no como aval de su don.

«His diagnoses and therapeutical prescriptions were accurate, but when he came out of his trance, he could not remember what he had said.» — describe el fenómeno de Cayce por la disociación entre trance y memoria.

«He himself, declared Cayce, was only a part of all brains.» — la explicación que Cayce da de sí mismo, referida como voz suya.

«We know frighteningly little about the functions and potentialities of the human brain; but it is known that only one-tenth of the cortex functions in the brain of a healthy man.» — el dato con que abre su especulación sobre la corteza no usada.

«I now put forward the bold speculation: What if all (or even only a few highly trained) human brains have unknown forms of energy at their disposal and possess the ability to make contact with all living beings?» — la hipótesis de la energía mental universal, declarada como especulación audaz en la misma frase.

«Perhaps a ‘gear’ unknown to us has been engaged, setting an additional tenth or two-tenths of the cortex working.» — su imagen del engranaje cerebral, en potencial.

«If science succeeds in making such a ‘wild’ idea demonstrable, it could mean that all intelligences in the universe belong to the same unknown structure.» — la consecuencia cósmica que le saca a la telepatía, bajo condición de que se demuestre.

«I quite realize that this comparison is imperfect, for electricity is a known form of energy and dependent on the speed of light.» — acota su propia analogía eléctrica en el momento de usarla.

«It is quite obvious that we don’t know everything yet.» — la fórmula con que enlaza los resultados de física de partículas con su hipótesis mental.

«While investigating the disintegration of electronically neutral K mesons, they reached a result that was theoretically impossible because it contradicted a long-established principle of nuclear physics.» — el caso de Princeton, referido como resultado que contraría un principio establecido.

«It is no longer a secret that in November, 1961, in the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, West Virginia, eleven authorities met at a secret conference.» — la reunión de Green Bank, con su fecha, su lugar y su carácter reservado.

«If we take the lowest possible figures for all terms in this formula, we get: N = 40.» — el extremo bajo del cálculo de Green Bank, que da él mismo antes del alto.

«The most audacious possibility gives 50,000,000 unknown intelligences who are waiting for a sign from the cosmos.» — el extremo alto de la misma fórmula, con la amplitud declarada.

«American astrobiologist Dr. Carl Sagan assures us that according to statistical calculations alone the possibility exists that our earth may have been visited by representatives of an extraterrestrial civilization at least once in the course of its history.» — la posibilidad estadística de una visita la adjudica a Carl Sagan.

«Fantasy and wishful thinking may be concealed in all the deliberations and suppositions, but the Green Bank Formula is a mathematical formula and thus far removed from mere speculation.» — concede el deseo en el planteo y reclama para la fórmula un estatuto distinto.

«A new branch of science is in the process of formation—what is known as exobiology.» — nombra la disciplina naciente en la que apoya su programa.

«Exobiology would certainly find it harder to find acceptance if recognized personalities were not already devoting their work to this new field of research which tackles extraterrestrial life with complete impartiality.» — el argumento por respaldo institucional, dicho sin disimular que lo es.

«The search for unknown intelligences has begun but has not yet produced results that are measurable, demonstrable, and convincing.» — el balance del programa de búsqueda, en negativo y con tres criterios.

«The Multivator consists of a probe weighing barely 1 pound which is carried by a rocket as light baggage and ejected when near the planet.» — describe una de las sondas exobiológicas por su peso y su modo de despliegue.

«The Radioisotope Biochemical Probe is the official name of a probe developed under the nickname Gulliver.» — el nombre oficial y el apodo de otra de las sondas.

«The Wolf Trap, a mini-laboratory, was originally called Bug Detector by its inventor, but his collaborators rechristened it because their chief is called Professor Wolf Vishniac.» — el origen del nombre de la tercera sonda, con su inventor.

«The senior officials of NASA are unanimous in saying that the first astronauts will land on Mars by September 23, 1986, at the latest.» — la fecha de llegada a Marte la adjudica a los responsables de la NASA.

«Dr. Von Braun supports the view that men could land on Mars as early as 1982; NASA does not lack the technical resources, only an adequate and unbroken financial grant from Congress.» — el obstáculo lo sitúa en el presupuesto y no en la técnica.

«He is the designer of the Mars spaceship which will carry men to the red planet in our century.» — sobre Ernst Stuhlinger, a quien visita en Huntsville.

«In Huntsville some 7,000 technicians, engineers, and scientists of related disciplines are working under Wernher von Braun toward the great goal, the conquest of space.» — la escala del centro de Huntsville, dada en personal.

«Do you know that we cannot use any of the countless lubricants produced in the world? They lose all their lubricating qualities in space.» — el problema de los lubricantes en vacío, en voz del científico Pscherra a quien entrevista.

«The welded joints must be subjected to cold, heat, vibration, tensile-strength and pressure tests, so that we can find out the limits at which a welded joint breaks.» — el régimen de ensayo de las soldaduras, referido en la misma voz.

«Once it is ignited, Saturn V makes a din which can be heard 12 miles from the launching ground.» — la escala del Saturn V, medida por el alcance de su ruido.

«A single firing test costs a cool $14,000,000; space does not come cheaply.» — el costo de una sola prueba, que él mismo declara alto.

«The supertechnology in the course of development is truly no scourge of mankind.» — la defensa moral de la técnica con que cierra el recorrido por Huntsville.

«The author had a chance to ask Wernher von Braun for his opinion of the hypotheses put forward in this book:» — presenta la entrevista final como consulta sobre sus propias hipótesis.

«Here my conversation with the ‘father of the Saturn rocket’ ended. I could not tell him in detail about all the remarkable discoveries, the absurdities, the old books handed down to us as unsolved puzzles—the countless questions that archaeological finds force upon us when considered with space eyes. But Dr. Von Braun awaits the documentation of this book.» — cierra la entrevista sin haber expuesto su material, y deja la documentación pendiente.

«The new science is called futurology! Its goal is the planning and detailed investigation and understanding of the future by all the technical and mental means available.» — nombra y define la disciplina en la que ve el espejo de lo que pide para el pasado.

«Mankind has a compulsive urge to think out in advance and investigate the future with all the potentialities at its command.» — hace de la anticipación un rasgo de la especie, no una moda.

«Without this study of the future, we would probably have no chance of unraveling our past.» — la simetría que sostiene el capítulo: se lee el pasado con los útiles del porvenir.

«If this forecast is possible today, unknown intelligences could certainly have made such a forecast for the planet Earth 10,000 years ago.» — traslada la capacidad de pronóstico a los visitantes que postula.

«The most celebrated think tank is the Rand Corporation at Santa Monica in California.» — sitúa a la Rand como el mayor de esos centros de previsión.

«There is no end in sight to this research work, and there is unlikely to be one.» — deja el programa abierto, sin fecha de término.

«It is not our fault that there are millions of other planets in the universe.» — primera de la serie anafórica con que cierra el libro.

«It is not our fault that the Japanese statue of Tokomai, which is many thousands of years old, has modern fastenings and eye apertures on its helmet.» — la estatua japonesa entra en la misma serie; la grafía del nombre es la del facsímil.

«It is not our fault that the old books and traditions of human history exhibit so many absurdities.» — cierra la serie con las fuentes escritas, que es donde arrancó el libro.

«But it is our fault if we know all this but disregard it and refuse to take it seriously.» — el giro de la anáfora: la responsabilidad no está en los hechos sino en desatenderlos.

«Man has a magnificent future ahead of him, a future which will far surpass his magnificent past.» — la frase con que ordena el pasado y el porvenir en la misma línea.

«We need space research and research into the future and the courage to tackle projects that now seem impossible.» — la triple demanda con que resume el programa del libro.

«For example, the project of concerted research into the past which can bring us valuable memories of the future.» — recupera en el cierre el título original de la obra, hecho programa.

«Memories which will then be proved and which will illuminate the history of mankind—for the blessing of future generations.» — la última frase del libro, que pone la prueba en futuro.

«There is something inconsistent about our archaeology! Because we find electric batteries many thousands of years old.» — la variante arqueológica del argumento por inconsistencia, gemela de la religiosa de la misma plana.

«Priests who seek the truth must again begin to doubt everything that is established.» — el pedido de duda lo dirige a los sacerdotes, no solo a los científicos.

«That is a respectable explanation, but can it be accepted as scientifically proved?» — el límite con que trata la lectura de Scholem sobre el carro y el trono: la llama respetable y le pide prueba.

«This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.» — boilerplate de Berkley en la página legal, no declaración del autor ni caracterización de la obra. Se consigna como dato de la edición.

Cadena editorial impresa en la página legal: «Copyright © 1999 by Erich von Däniken. Copyright © 1968 by Econ-Verlag GMBH. English translation © 1969 by Michael Heron and Souvenir Press.» El pie de imprenta enumera Putnam (feb. 1970), Putnam/Berkley Medallion (abr. 1977), Berkley mass market (sept. 1980) y Berkley trade paperback (enero 1999), que es la nuestra.

«I have in front of me a young Swiss who wrote a totally mad book. But—the guy is not mad.» — voz de Thomas von Randow, editor de ciencia de *Die Zeit*, al teléfono con Econ; la reproduce el prólogo.

El prólogo nombra a Erwin Barth von Wehrenalp, jefe de Econ, como quien acepta el manuscrito ya rechazado por su propia casa.

El prólogo va firmado, localizado y fechado: «Erich von Däniken Beatenberg, Switzerland June 1995».

«Were the Gods Astronauts?» — libro del profesor Ernst von Khuon que reúne artículos de diecisiete científicos, «Some of the articles were strongly critical, some favorable», según lo refiere el prólogo.

Herbert Wilhelmy, geógrafo formado en Kiel, Stuttgart y «Tuebingen», autor de *The World of the Maya*, es el objetor nombrado del prólogo; el reproche es de bibliografía: citar en 1981 y en la revisión de 1989 solo obras de 1968 y 1969.

Johannes Fiebag es quien compila las réplicas en *Ancient Skies* nº 6/1991, y de su interpolación sale el argumento del cráter de Chicxulub.

«The Ancient Astronaut Society (AAS) was founded in the United States in 1973 by Chicago attorney Gene M. Phillips as a non-profit organization to deal with my themes.» — dato institucional dado por el propio prólogo; añade «There are now 10,000 members worldwide».

El prólogo cita en apoyo a Dr. Luis Navia (New York Institute of Technology) y a Dr. Dileep Kumar Kanjilal (Sanskrit College, Calcuta). Son voces de terceros citados por el autor, no del autor.

«Above: A view of the plain showing that the markings (Inca roads, say the archaeologists) lead nowhere.» — pie de foto del inserto fotográfico: texto de la edición, no del cuerpo.

«Heindel, M., Die Weltanschaung der Rosenkreuzer» — único vínculo bibliográfico de la obra con el corpus rosacruz, y está solo en la lista: no lo cita en el cuerpo. Grafía «Weltanschaung» tal cual.

Invoca a Velikovsky, *Worlds in Collision*, para la formación de Venus — coexiste con él sin suscribir el catastrofismo como marco.

Invoca a Edgar Cayce como caso de transmisión mental — coexiste con él sin suscribir la clarividencia como marco.

«‘Memories of the Future is an impossible title. One can’t remember the future,’ the editor argued.» — voz del editor de Econ, reproducida por el prólogo: la objeción al título que el autor rechazó.

«He leafed through the neatly typed manuscript, examined some of the peculiar pictures, and decided, ‘This is not for us. You have to publish it as a book.’» — la primera decisión de Thomas von Randow sobre el manuscrito, antes de la llamada a Econ.

«Wilhelmy studied geography, geology, political economy and ethnology and has been a professor in Kiel, Stuttgart and Tuebingen. His world renown as a scientist is certainly well-founded, and his book, The World of the Maya, is counted among the standard works of Mayan studies.» — así presenta el prólogo las credenciales de su objetor principal, antes de replicarle. La grafía *Tuebingen* es la del facsímil.

«Wilhelmy, however, presents his own version (pertaining to the corn deity Yum Kax) as the proven interpretation.» — la lectura de la losa de Palenque que el objetor sostiene, referida por el prólogo: el dios del maíz Yum Kax.

«The cenotes are not caused by meteor impacts but by a breakthrough of the tops of karst caverns which are widely spread through northern Yucatan ...» — objeción de Herbert Wilhelmy sobre el origen de los cenotes, citada dentro del prólogo.

«Hans Schoenfeld wrote, for instance, in the Berliner Zeitung (12/13/89):» — el prólogo introduce así la réplica periodística que reproduce a continuación.

«Such is the interpolation of Dr. Johannes Fiebag.» — con esta línea el prólogo cierra —y solo entonces adjudica— el tramo sobre el cráter de Chicxulub: no es voz del autor, aunque dentro de él la primera persona parezca del autor.

«The Chicxulub crater (named after the little village near Mérida in the center of the structure) is now considered the number-one candidate in the search for the cause of the extinction of the saurians.» — dentro de esa interpolación de Fiebag, el argumento geológico con que se contesta a Wilhelmy.

«If you examine the hypothesis with an unprejudiced and open attitude, you will soon find that nothing in this hypothesis contravenes the strictest rules of science and our present understanding of the universe.» — voz de Luis Navia, citada en apoyo por el prólogo.

«The great merit of Erich von Däniken consists in his bringing to attention innumerable archaeological, cultural, historical and religious phenomena, which suddenly make sense if one takes into consideration the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors.» — segunda mitad de la cita de Navia, que elogia el señalamiento y no la demostración.

«It can be doubtlessly proven from old Indic texts that the earth had been visited and influenced by extraterrestrials in remotest antiquity.» — voz del sanscritista Dileep Kumar Kanjilal, citada en apoyo por el prólogo.

«Antarctica, mapped at the bottom, conforms very closely to the land mass under the ice, as revealed by echo-sounding gear.» — pie de foto del inserto sobre el mapa de Piri Reis: texto de la edición, no del cuerpo.

«It then appeared virtually identical with this United States Air Force map of the world on an equidistant projection based on Cairo.» — pie de foto que enuncia la comparación con la proyección equidistante centrada en El Cairo.

«Photo of the earth taken from Apollo 8 shows close similarity to the Piri Reis map.» — pie de foto que pone la fotografía del Apolo 8 junto al mapa.

«This is very reminiscent of the aircraft parking areas in a modern airport.» — pie de foto de las líneas de Nazca; la comparación con el aeropuerto va aquí y no en el cuerpo.

«Rock vitrification requires very high temperatures.» — pie de foto sobre las piedras vitrificadas de Sacsahuamán.

«The 91 steps on each side add up to 364, and the final platform gives 365.» — pie de foto de El Castillo en Chichén Itzá, con la cuenta calendárica de los escalones.

«The strange markings at the foot of the drawing can only be an indication of the flames and gases coming from the propulsion unit.» — pie de foto del relieve de Palenque, más asertivo que el cuerpo del libro sobre la misma pieza.

«American astronauts today take up the same position, their hands on controls, their eyes checking instruments.» — pie de foto que compara la postura del relieve con la de un astronauta.

«There is no recorded history of Tiahuanaco. On the Gate of the Sun, above, carved out of a single to-ton block, is the representation of a flying god flanked by forty-eight mysterious figures.» — pie de foto del Portón del Sol; la forma *to-ton* es corrupción de la capa de texto y se consigna tal cual.

«Legend tells of a golden spaceship which came from the stars.» — pie de foto que repite, abreviada, la leyenda de Oryana que el cuerpo da en la p. 27.

«It could just as reasonably be interpreted as a symbolic representation of the construction of an atom, with an astronaut in a fiery chario above.» — pie de foto sobre un relieve; la forma *chario* es corrupción de la capa de texto.

«An Assyrian crystal lens from the seventh century B.C. To grind such a lens requires a highly sophisticated mathematical formula.» — pie de foto de la lente asiria, fechada en el siglo VII a. C.

«Finally, these very ancient fragments, now in the Baghdad Museum, have been identified as the remains of an electric battery.» — pie de foto de la pila de Bagdad.

«This ancient iron pillar does not rust. It cannot be accurately dated, but it is hundreds of years old.» — pie de foto de la columna de Delhi; da siglos donde el cuerpo del libro da más de cuatro mil años.

«This Babylonian tablet records past and future eclipses.» — pie de foto de la tablilla babilónica de eclipses.

«The machine gives the year of construction as 82 B.C. This drawing reconstructs part of the machine.» — pie de foto del mecanismo de Anticitera, que el inserto llama planetario.

«Even more extraordinary is the fact that this totally isolated island had its own script, which is still undeciphered.» — pie de foto de la Isla de Pascua sobre la escritura no descifrada.

«An American astronaut. Perhaps the earliest space travelers also wore suits like this.» — pie de foto que cierra el inserto emparejando la foto del astronauta con el dibujo de Tassili.

«I consider it possible that we shall come across lower forms of life on the planet Mars.» — voz de Wernher von Braun en la entrevista final del libro, respondiendo por la vida en el sistema solar.

«I consider it extremely probable that not only plant and animal life but also intelligent living creatures exist in the infinite reaches of the universe.» — von Braun concede la existencia de vida inteligente, y en la misma respuesta duda de que llegue a probarse.

«the enormous distances between our own and other solar systems and the still greater distances between our galaxy and other galactic systems, it is doubtful whether we shall succeed in proving the existence of such forms of life or getting into direct communication with them.» — la reserva con que von Braun cierra esa misma respuesta.

«Up to the present we have no proof or indication that older and technically more advanced living beings than ourselves live or have lived in our galaxy. However, on the basis of statistical and philosophical considerations, I am convinced of the existence of such advanced living beings. But I must emphasize that we have no firm scientific basis for this conviction.» — von Braun separa su convicción estadística de la base científica que dice no tener.

«I won’t deny this possibility. But to the best of my knowledge no archaeological studies have so far provided any basis for that kind of speculation.» — la respuesta de von Braun a la pregunta que es la tesis del libro: no la niega y no la respalda. Es la voz de un tercero interrogado sobre la hipótesis, no la del autor.

«Hapgood, C. H., Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings, New York, Chilton Books, 1965.» — entrada de la bibliografía: la fuente del argumento de Piri Reis del capítulo 3.

«Charroux, Robert, Histoire inconnue des hommes depuis cent mille ans, Laffont, Paris. ————, Le livre des secrets trahis, Robert Laffont, Paris, 1965.» — Robert Charroux figura con dos títulos en la bibliografía y no aparece nombrado en el cuerpo.

«Pauwels, L., and Bergier, J., Aufbruch ins dritte Jahrtausend, Scherz, 1962.» — Pauwels y Bergier están en la bibliografía y tampoco se los nombra en el cuerpo.

«Cordan, W., Das Buch des Rates, Mythos und Geschichte der Maya, Diederichs, 1962.» — la vía por la que llega el Popol Vuh a la obra: una versión alemana, no el texto quiché.

«Shklovskii, I. S., and Sagan, C, Intelligent Life in the Universe, San Francisco, 1966.» — la fuente de la tesis sobre Fobos que el capítulo 10 adjudica a esos dos autores.

«Velikovsky, I., Worlds in Collision, Victor Gollancz, 1950.» — la única entrada catastrofista de la lista, y la obra en que se apoya la p. 131.

«Sugrue, Th., Edgar Cayce, Dell, 1957.» — de esta biografía sale el caso de Cayce del capítulo 11; la obra no maneja fuente primaria del médium.

«Die Edda, 2 vols., Altnordische Dichtungen, Thule. Gilgamesch, Epos der alten Welt, Insel.» — la sección de lecturas generales reúne los corpus antiguos que el libro cita, todos en traducción alemana.

«Das Mahabharata, Roy Biren, Diederichs, 1961.» — la vía por la que llega el Mahabharata a la obra; en la bibliografía principal figura además la edición de Roy, Calcuta 1889.

Astronauta Antiguo — La tesis matriz de la obra: el pasado estuvo poblado de dioses desconocidos que visitaron la Tierra primitiva en naves tripuladas, y la divinidad que se les atribuyó es efecto de la distancia técnica, no un atributo suyo.

Intervencion Genetica — Sostiene que esos visitantes aniquilaron parte de la humanidad existente y produjeron un homo sapiens nuevo; de ahí lee los hijos de Dios, los gigantes y el relato de Lamec, y llama a la especie resultante una raza que se saltó una etapa de la evolución natural.

Dilatacion Temporal — El efecto relativista es la pieza que hace viable el viaje y explica de paso la longevidad de las listas reales sumerias sin negarlas: diez años a bordo por ciento ocho en tierra.

Crítica de fuentes (criterios de inclusión y descarte) — Su regla de lectura: bajo el adorno del relato queda el hecho, los textos se toman al pie de la letra, y el pintor rupestre dibuja lo que vio. El reproche de método que hace y se hace es no aceptar un dato cuando conviene y negarlo cuando estorba.

Arqueologia Utopica — Propone un año arqueológico utópico en que arqueólogos, físicos, químicos, geólogos y metalúrgicos concentren su trabajo en una sola pregunta, y reclama que el laboratorio moderno releve a la investigación arqueológica.

Datacion Por Carbono 14 — Objeta el método por sus márgenes en los tramos largos y pide un segundo procedimiento paralelo, apoyándose en eruditos que no nombra; a la vez lo usa cuando coincide con el cómputo sacerdotal egipcio.

Cadena de transmisión (quién tomó de quién) — La hipótesis de fuente común: los relatos antiguos se habrían recogido en un solo sitio y viajado en copias y versiones estropeadas; de ahí que Moisés, criado en la corte egipcia, pudiera adaptar el Gilgamesh.

Diluvio — Si el diluvio estaba planeado y preparado siglos antes de que Noé recibiera la orden, deja de ser juicio divino; y la primera persona del relato de Utnapishtim le sirve como marca de testigo presencial.

Hijos de Dios — El plural del Génesis, los hijos de Dios que se cruzan con las hijas de los hombres y los gigantes son, para él, la misma serie: seres que necesitan vehículo y no pueden mostrar la cara.

Carro de Fuego — Reúne el carro de Ezequiel, los de Qumrán, el del Apocalipsis de Moisés y el de Enoc como descripciones de aparatos; a la lectura simbólica de Scholem la llama respetable y le pide prueba.

Arca de la Alianza — Lee las instrucciones de Moisés como plano de un condensador eléctrico de varios cientos de voltios, con altavoz, y de ahí explica la muerte de Uzá.

Vimana — Los vimanas del Ramayana y del Mahabharata se leen como máquinas voladoras con mercurio y viento propulsor, y el proyectil de Gurkha como el primer relato de una bomba de hidrógeno.

Momificacion — La momia y la tumba helada no serían promesa de más allá inmediato sino espera fechada de un despertar futuro, y las pone en serie con la criónica y con la congelación de astronautas.

Inteligencias No Humanas — Reclama la visita y se abstiene sobre quiénes eran y de qué planeta venían; el saldo declarado del capítulo de búsqueda es que aún no hay resultados medibles, demostrables ni convincentes.

Ovni — Concede que el 98 % de los avistamientos se explican por causas ordinarias y trabaja con el resto; declara que él mismo no sabe qué son los ovnis ni que se haya probado que pertenezcan a inteligencias desconocidas.

Exobiologia — Nombra la disciplina naciente en la que apoya su programa, enumera sus sondas y admite que su aceptación depende del respaldo de personalidades reconocidas.

Transferencia de Pensamiento — Entra a la parapsicología marcando distancia con lo oculto: especula con que la corteza no usada albergue energías desconocidas y que todas las inteligencias del universo pertenezcan a una misma estructura, y declara imperfecta su propia analogía eléctrica.

Secreto (lo que se jura no fijar por escrito) — El saber que le interesa está guardado: los libros indios subrayan que es secreto y no para la multitud, en Qumrán se usa escritura cifrada, y lo que estaba oculto en las bibliotecas de las sociedades secretas es lo que la época recupera.

Ocultismo (occultisme) — Lo declara caduco por sucesión, no lo combate: ocultistas, alquimistas y cofradías pueden retirarse, y de las sociedades ocultistas ufológicas dice que solo enturbian la mirada.

Imaginación (phantasia) — Concede a los narradores antiguos una imaginación superior a la de la ciencia ficción moderna y aun así sostiene que incluso la imaginación necesita algo que la ponga en marcha.