Kingdom of Bones (Sigma Force #16)
James Rollins
Dedication
To all the doctors and nurses, orderlies and janitors, to all the personnel in hospitals and clinics across this nation and the world who have worked so valiantly and heroically during the pandemic: Thank you.
Map
Epigraph
The mind of man is capable of anything—because everything is in it, all the past as well as the future.
—Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
The only true villain in my story: the oversized human brain.
—Kurt Vonnegut, Galapagos
Notes from the Scientific Record
This story delves into the bizarre biology of viruses—specifically how those tiny infectious specks tie all life on Earth together in a vast invisible web. I pitched this story long before “coronavirus” became part of our modern zeitgeist, before COVID-19 grew into a global pandemic. I debated whether I should even finish writing this novel while a plague swept the world. It struck me as the epitome of hubris to craft a story of a deadly virus when reality was far more frightening (and heartbreaking) than any work of fiction could be. Furthermore, it felt insensitive to tackle such a subject at this moment, to seek to entertain with “plague fiction” when the world was suffering.
Since you are holding this book in your hand, you know how my deliberation ended. Why? First, I should admit that I’ve tackled “pandemic” threats in past novels (The Seventh Plague, The Sixth Extinction). My intent with this book was not to repeat myself. The conceit of this story was less to address the plague as it was to look deeper into the source: the weird biology of viruses. It was a subject that I thought could be of interest to readers—and maybe an important one to address now.
During my research for this story, I discovered how truly strange, diverse, and ubiquitous viruses are in nature. Every day, trillions of viruses rain from the sky. Each hour, some thirty-three million viral particles cascade onto every square meter of the planet.* Still, despite being so abundant, viruses remain a mystery. Even today, less is known about the biology of viruses than any other life form.* In addition, it is speculated that there are millions, if not trillions, of viral species yet to be discovered.
Still, what is known about viruses is how deeply they’re entwined into our evolutionary history. Their genetic code is buried deep in our DNA. Scientists estimate that between 40 to 80 percent of the human genome may have come from ancient viral invasions.* And it’s not just us. Recently scientists have discovered how intimately viruses are woven throughout the natural world. They are the tie that binds all life together. In fact, researchers now believe that viruses could offer a clue to the origin of life; they could be the very engines of evolution, perhaps even the source of human consciousness.*
So, while this book is not a pandemic novel per se, I believe it’s far more frightening.
Why?
Because of one last warning I heard from scientists: Viruses—both out in nature and inside our bodies—are not done changing us, of evolving us. And it’s continuing right now as you read this.
Notes from the Historical Record
“The horror! The horror!”
Those are the dying words of the villain, Kurtz, in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. It is the moment when Kurtz recognizes the atrocities and cruelties he has inflicted upon the native peoples of the African Congo. It also serves as a warning: to beware that darkness in all of our hearts.
Conrad wrote this account (serialized in 1899) based on his captainship of a steamship along the Congo River, where he bore witness to the brutality of colonial rule of the Congo Free State, which he described as “the vilest scramble for loot that ever disfigured the history of human conscience.”* In a little over a decade’s time, ten million Congolese would be killed. As described by British explorer Ewart Grogan: “Every village has been burnt to the ground, and as I fled from the country, I saw skeletons everywhere; and such postures—what tales of horrors they told!”*
So how did these atrocities come about?
Sadly, it was all due to advancements in medicine and technology. First, it was the discovery of quinine—the antimalarial compound—in the early nineteenth century that would open the heart of the continent to the world. Portuguese and Arab slavers had already been raiding the Congo, but with a treatment for malaria, a great period of European colonization began. The French grabbed a northern swath of the Congo, while King Leopold II of Belgium secured a million square miles of the southern half, roughly a third the size of the continental United States, with “cloth and trinket” treaties.*
Next came the technology of the “pneumatic tyre,” invented by the Scottish veterinarian John Boyd Dunlop. This set up a gold rush for sources of rubber, of which the vines of the Congo were a major source. It suddenly became exceedingly profitable to exploit and enslave the Congolese villagers. King Leopold set up stringent quotas for both rubber and ivory to be produced by each village. The price for any shortfalls was the loss of a hand. In a short period of time, human hands became a form of currency throughout the Congo Free State, along with severed ears, noses, genitalia, and even heads. In addition, Belgian officers carried out a pogrom of terror, involving the crucifixion and hanging of men, women, and children.*
These atrocities would go unreported for over a decade, leading to the eventual slaughter and starvation of half the Congolese population. While Conrad’s Heart of Darkness served as a literary vehicle to showcase these atrocities, it was actually the work of missionaries, specifically an American, a Black Presbyterian reverend, William Henry Sheppard, who would expose the world to the true horrors suffered by the Congolese during his stint as a missionary in the region.*
But these atrocities were not the only “horrors” that the Reverend Sheppard experienced during this bloody time. Another account of Sheppard was buried under bones. It was a tale tied to the maps, relics, and myths of another Black Christian patriarch in Africa.
Most don’t know that story.
Until now.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Map
Epigraph
Notes from the Scientific Record
Notes from the Historical Record
First: Incursion
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Second: Entangled
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Third: Infiltration
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Fourth: Entrapment
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Fifth: Invasion
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
After
Author’s Note to Readers: Truth or Fiction
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by James Rollins
Rights and Attributions for the Artwork in This Novel
Copyright
About the Publisher
October 14, 1894
Kasai District, Congo Free State