I picked up on Lil's statement. "What do you mean by the Ancients," I asked.
Lil pondered for a spell. "Beyond me," she said. "But the Natives here talk about really big people. They talk about giants. These giants they say came from lands to the west, places that are now under the ocean. They referred to them as 'devils'. They say that they had a long war with marauding gangs of these devils."
"Maybe Vikings?" I ventured. "But from the west? Now that doesn't seem to fit."
"Could be." Lil mused. "Legends speak of giant red-haired warriors. The indians say they were twelve feet tall!" Who knows. Further north up into Nevada..."
Bird interrupted. "...maybe not as strange as it sounds. Up around Lovelock the miners found remains. Some are stowed away in a museum. The local Piaute Indians up there called them the 'Si-Te-Cah'."
Sue leaned across the counter top to toss a coax at Gabby. "Tell them about your giants," said Sue. Gabby winced and shrugged to concentrate more on his beer. Gabby wasn't being that gabby. Sue prattled on. "A giant he told me tore up his camp once...although he said it was Bigfoot."
Gabby muttered, "devils, you got that part right." Then he clammed up again.
I started mulling things over in my mind, giants and devils and now Bigfoot. A cockeyed idea was forming. "Maybe there is some kind of footprint here," I blurted out, "a footprint in time." I expected to stir some hackles, but everyone seemed unexpectedly stoic with my rave.
"Now you sound like Bruce," Sue said.
I straightened up with Sue's comment. "Bruce? Do you mean, Bruce Minard? A friend of mine in Fresno told me to look up that guy. "
"Well you should," said Sue. "He's like you, a philosopher."
"Is he reachable," I asked.
"Not now," Sue replied. He went away a few weeks ago, maybe to visit his daughter up around Mendocino. We expected him back by now. Left all his equipment over at his house. Minard is a likable guy. He's held nightly court here for several years going on about time and tunnels and Einstein-- and working on his thing with the petroglyphs."
"Oh, the cave wall art," I said, "studied the petroglyphs myself. I've haunted around the Valley of Fire north of Vegas. Interesting study."
Bird corrected me. "Rock art," he said, "more than just caves. I've seen petroglyphs on small stones, smaller than my fist. You usually find them along old dry streams."
Bud then stated, "if you want to see the good petroglyphs you might need top-security clearance.. The real libraries of rock art are out at China Lake. Minard tried to get out there, but couldn't get the clearance, although some have, mostly Fed archaeologists, crypto-guys and the likes...."
Ah, the Base." I sighed. "I've heard those damn bases are built over key places. Indian religious sites, the really cool archaeology, on and on."
"Power places," said Lil. "powerful a long time in one way and now still powerful in a different way, military power, high energy experiments, zappy weapons, probably nukes too... and UFOs..."
"Probably gold too," added Bird.