The Alien Accord

by Betsey Kulakowski

  Michael allowed her to pace and ramble through her thoughts as she processed them. He watched her, but said nothing, allowing her his undivided attention.

  “Enki sticks up for humans in conflict with the gods. But Enki wasn’t too pleased when he discovered Enlil planned to wipe out the very race he had created. So he warned Utnapishtim to construct an ark.”

  “Like Noah?”

  “Exactly like Noah, and he commanded him to load up the Ark with the animals.”

  “Interesting,” Michael nodded, templing his fingers in front of him as he thought.

  “But the correlation between this story and Noah isn’t what I think is so fascinating about these two.” Lauren hesitated, glancing up at the sky as a shooting star streaked high overhead.

  “Oh?”

  “Who came up with the name Project Morning Star?” Lauren asked, seemingly catching Michael off guard. He did a double take.

  “Huh? I did. Why is that important?”

  “Why? Why did you name it that?”

  Michael stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket and shrugged. “Sounded good.”

  “Who is the Morning Star? In the Bible? Do you know?”

  “You’d think after all those Sunday mornings of Mom dragging us to church I’d remember some of that, but ... I don’t.”

  “It’s okay,” Lauren said with a mischievous grin. “I do. The Bible refers to Jesus as the Morning Star.”

  “Oh,” Michael said, sheepishly.

  “Ironically, the Bible also refers to Lucifer as the Morning Star.”

  “Wait, what?” Michael quipped. “Lucifer? And Jesus?”

  “The twin hero gods of Christian religion.” Lauren’s voice went misty as she thought aloud. She rocked Henry who’s limp weight grew heavy as he dozed off, still patting his mother’s back as she wrapped a blanket around him.

  “Enki and Enlil ... the twin hero gods of the Sumerians,” Michael added.

  “Hero and anti-hero.” She glanced at her brother.

  “One the god of death, the other the god of life ...” he said. “Like Demeter and Hades in Greek mythology.”

  “Thor and Loki of the Norse mythos. Xbalanque and Hunahpu of the ancient Maya.” Lauren paused a moment. “There’s even some who have compared Enki and Enlil with Adam and Eve.”

  “How so?”

  “Both were the sons of Anu, the supreme god in the Sumerian pantheon. Both were sent to the Earth,” Lauren said. “But that’s where the correlation ends, if you ask me. Enlil was given dominion over mankind, but he was a cruel taskmaster. Enki was not happy about his brother’s promotion and became the defender of man. Eventually, a rift formed, and the brothers grew at odds with one another.”

  “Kind of like us,” Michael said. “I never meant for that to happen; you know?”

  Lauren looked at him, realizing she had apologies of her own to make. “I realize I have not been wholly innocent in our rift,” she admitted. “I’m sorry I let it go as long as I did. I didn’t see a path through, so ... I just quit trying. It never occurred to me that I’d placed just as many of the barricades between us. I regret that now.”

  There was a long pause between them. “Can I ask you a very serious question and get a serious answer?” Michael asked as she went over and sat back down by Rowan who snored softly. She tucked Henry up against his father as the baby dozed off peacefully.

  Lauren looked up at Michael. “I guess so.”

  “Do you believe in aliens?” he asked. “I mean truly believe they’re out there.” His eyes went back to the heavens above.

  “Why Michael? Why would you ask that now? You teased me for years about finding them before I did. What gives?”

  “It’s just ... I never thought to ask.” He paused. “I have watched every episode of your television show, every special, every video of your public appearances on YouTube. I’ve read every one of your blogs. I have a subscription to the Exploration Channel’s magazine, and I read it cover-to-cover. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say, or seen it in print, that you believe in any of the things you’ve spent your life looking for. I think it’s a fair question.”

  Lauren forced her thoughts aside as she rose and walked over to the telescope, leaning down to gaze into it. The move gave her a moment to think. She chose her words with extreme care. “I believe in statistics,” she said, curtly. Her eyes went to the sky and she lifted a hand to the cosmos. “Billions and billions of stars...” She turned back to Michael. “If it can happen here, it has to happen out there too ... at least in some form.”

  “Okay.” Michael took a moment, seemingly to absorb what she was saying. “I just ...I really needed to hear you say that.”

  “Really?” She puzzled, contorting her face in confusion. “Why?”

  His shoulder lifted. “Why seek aliens when you don’t believe in them?”

  “Because I’m curious about my world ... and the worlds beyond. I want to know what’s out there and how we relate to our universe.” She hesitated, taking a deep breath. “Hunting for extraterrestrial biology differs from most science ... in that its hypothesis can’t be disproven. You can’t tell me I’m wrong if I say aliens definitely exist. Can you?”

  “Do you believe aliens definitely exist?”

  A bemused expression passed over Lauren’s visage. “I want to believe.”

  “And do you believe me when I tell you I’ve seen them? That I’ve somehow been teleported to their ship?” His voice seemed to tremble as he came over and stood beside her.

  “I do,” she said. “Because ... while you are many things, Michael, you are not a liar.”

  A wave of relief seemed to wash over him, and he all but melted right then and there. “Thank the gods,” he said, running his hand over his face. “I needed to hear you say that.”

  “What’s going on, Michael?” She could sense he was worried about something.

  “Since all this started, I haven’t been sleeping. Even though I’ve never been harmed, it terrified me to think that they were coming for me. I mean, at first ... I thought it was just a dream,” he said. “Then, I tried to convince myself it was my imagination. That I’d been watching too much of your stuff. That episode from Peru ... my God. I still get chills thinking about that body you found.”

  “Me too,” Lauren said.

  “Then I convinced myself I was going crazy,” Michael said. “India made me see a counselor, a shrink.”

  “How ...” Lauren’s mind was racing, and she couldn’t form a logical question. “How often?”

  “It was sporadic at first, once or twice in the span of a few months,” he said. “But it became more frequent. I’d listen to the signals all day, then go to bed ... and wake up ... somewhere else.” He looked up, his hands tightening in hers. “I really needed to hear you say you believed me.”

  “Michael.” She softened. The look in his eyes sent an ache through her core. She felt for him. She truly did. “I believe ... I ... I believe something is happening to you and I’m here to help you. What can I do?”

  “Help me figure out this mystery.” His eyes pleaded.

  “That’s why I’m here,” Lauren said holding his gaze, seeing the exhaustion in his eyes. “When was the last time you slept more than just a few hours?”

  Michael withdrew, tucking his hands under his thighs, shivering, even though the night was warm enough. “Too long.”

  She glanced over at her husband and son. “Come stay with us tonight,” she said. “I’ll watch over you so you can rest.”

  “You can’t stop it.” He suddenly looked terrified. “I’ve tried.”

  “If they come for you,” Lauren said. “Then they’ll have to get past me.”

  * * *

  When Michael and Lauren returned to the lab late the next morning, he was bright-eyed and rested. He hadn’t slept so well in such a long time. Lauren, still functioning on almost no sleep, had kept her word. She curled up in the recliner beside the sofa where he
slept and spent the whole night doing research. She was anxious to keep at it.

  She hoped Rowan wouldn’t be too upset about being left behind with the baby, but they’d come here to work, and work was what she needed — almost as much as she needed sleep. But sleep could wait, for now.

  First up, was a review of the history of the Iberian Peninsula and the Sumerian texts that coincided with the tales of alien space crafts and gods from the stars. Michael left her at the computer. He had a meeting with India and the team.

  The Tablets of Destiny, she quickly learned, was believed to be little more than a mythical item. In the Mesopotamian mythology it was nothing more than a clay tablet inscribed with cuneiform writing, impressed with cylinder seals, and served as a permanent legal document conferred upon the god Enlil, giving him supreme authority as ruler of the universe. The legend went on to say that whoever possessed the tablets, ruled the universe. Yet another legend contradicted the first.

  Instead, the tablets were made from precious metals or stone. The tablets weren’t a contract, but instead described in detail the forces of nature that would enable the world to exist, or how to destroy it. Enlil had lost the tablets when they were stolen by Anzu who created seven monsters, one with each of the seven tablets. The monsters were to guard them from the wrath of Enlil, and included a dragon, a bison-beast, a scorpion-man, a seven-headed serpent, and a giant hairy beast to rule over the creatures of the earth, including man.

  The Beryl Tablet, responsible for creating the giant beast, had been fashioned of chrysoberyl, also known as Cat’s Eye. It was originally a statue of Utu, the Sumerian god of Justice. Lauren’s hand went over her mouth as she tried to process what she was reading.

  The text went on to tell about an epic battle between Enlil and Enki, as the brothers battled for authority over the Heavens and the Earth. When Enlil lost his tablets – whether there was just one, or seven – he lost the strength to defeat Enki, and the battle ended as he was cast out of the heavens. He called out to his brother a dire warning, that he would return, reclaim his power, and destroy not only the humans he created to serve as his slaves, but the entire Earth, just to spite his brother.

  When Michael returned, she spent nearly twenty minutes telling him everything she had learned. “So, where are the tablets now? And why is that important?”

  “What if it’s some kind of ... of Rosetta Stone. Something to help me translate the screams. What if it’s a signal from Enlil? What if he’s coming back to follow up on his threat?”

  Michael put a hand on his shoulder. “This isn’t like you, Lauren.”

  “What?” She protested. “Science requires we pose a hypothesis, then work to prove or disprove it. I am trying to prove the hypothesis that there’s a message in these signals. Think about it, communication is a system of imparting or exchanging information or ideas through common symbols, signs, or behaviors. I currently have no frame of reference for this theorized language, if it truly is there. Short of divine intervention, I need a Rosetta Stone if I am to make sense of it all.”

  That gave him a moment’s pause. “Okay, so ... where is the tablet or tablets?”

  “One of the texts I read said they’d been placed in the Ark of the Covenant,” she said.

  Michael recoiled, and stood, pacing. “Now I know you’re off your rocker. First you name your kid after Indiana Jones, and now this?”

  Lauren’s upper lip contorted and her eye twitched. “Think about it, Michael. In all of human history there has been only two sets of tablets that empower man with the words of God ... or the gods. The tablets of the Ten Commandments and the Tablets of Destiny. Could it be that the Tablets of Destiny are the real power behind the Tablets that Moses returns with from Mount Sinai?”

  “Or maybe the Tablets of Destiny are just the Annunaki version of the Ten Commandments,” Michael proposed.

  “Possibly. I mean, these tablets were said to hold the secrets of the Universe on them. It gave the holder their knowledge that had allowed the Annunaki to live for ages, to levitate and travel huge distances at great speeds. This is the knowledge that has been hidden from mankind because with it, any man ... any human ... could become a god. It is this knowledge that separates man from the gods. In the Book of Enoch it tells of this knowledge that was to be kept hidden from man.”

  Lauren stood and went over to the window, turning her back to him as she processed everything she’d learned in the short time he’d left her alone. “As far as I know, the use of the word ark occurs twice in the history of man. Noah builds an ark to salvage mankind and many of earth's animals from the deluge of the flood; a story also told in the Sumerian text about Enlil trying to destroy mankind ... and the Ark of the Covenant. The question is why was the Ark of the Covenant called an ark?”

  “Linguistics is your department.” Michael shrugged.

  Lauren turned, looking over her shoulder. She hesitated a moment glancing towards the door, hearing voices in the hallway.

  “Michael.” She came over and sat down in front of him. “Last night, you asked me if I believed in aliens ...” she began.

  “Lauren, Michael, come quickly,” India said, clearly ruffled. Though Lauren had just met her, she’d never seen Michael’s boss appear disheveled. Her hair was sliding from its pins, her glasses had been cockeyed on her face, and her blouse had come untucked from her kick-pleated skirt. Her stiletto heels had been abandoned and she ran barefoot in just her silk stockings.

  Michael rose, looking puzzled. “What is it?” He followed his boss, leaving his sister behind. Dr. Lubanzi met him at the door of India’s office. “Do you know what’s going on?” Lauren heard as she rose to follow. When she came into Dr. Cameron’s office, the astronomer was rattling on about some pattern of prime numbers. It took Lauren a moment to realize he had made an amazing discovery.

  “The signal is repeating in regular patterns,” Lubanzi gushed. Lauren realized his yellowing teeth almost matched his yellowed eyes. “Prime numbers, Dr. Grayson! That’s the pattern!” He came over and took her hand between his, shaking her hand as he spoke. “There’s math!”

  Michael sat back and seemed to stare at the tip of his nose. Lauren looked from him to India to Lubanzi. “Is that significant?”

  Michael turned and looked at her. “Is it significant? Of course it’s significant.”

  “Mathematics is the language God has written the Universe in,” Lubanzi said. “You are familiar with the Fibonacci sequence?”

  “I’ve heard of it,” Lauren said. “The Golden Ratio, right?”

  “Correct,” he said. “Fibonacci primes when graphed out, create a graduated spiral ... the golden spiral, or whatever you will call it. The signal is repeating in these numbers.”

  “Spoken like a true mathematician.” India beamed.

  “Galileo said, the laws of nature are written by the Hand of God in the language of mathematics,” Michael said as realization appeared on his features. “It’s math! Of course it is! Why didn’t I see that?”

  Michael and Lubanzi began babbling on in a dialogue, speaking of things that left Lauren lost and alone. She was a brilliant scientist, proficient in advanced mathematics and physics, but this exchange was beyond even her ken. She locked eyes with Dr. Cameron who gave her a bemused grin, then nodded her head as she rose, summoning Lauren to follow.

  “I don’t know about you, but I could use some coffee,” she said, when Lauren came out behind her.

  “Yes,” Lauren said. “Coffee would be good.”

  “You look tired, Lauren,” she said when they reached the coffee service in the break area down the hall. “Jet lag?”

  “Hmm?” She looked down as India pressed a cup into her hands. “Yeah, jet lag.”

  “Half-and-half?” She reached into a micro-fridge beneath the cabinet and produced a small carton. Lauren stuck out her cup. “Sugar is over there.” She pointed to a covered bowl. Lauren added two cubes to her cup and stirred it with a bamboo stirrer.


  “Mmm,” Lauren took a long sip, appreciating the strong brew. “I needed that.”

  “The Syrians and the Chinese thought of math as a language, a written one more so than a spoken one,” Lubanzi was saying to Michael as they came out of the conference room, walking towards Lauren and India.

  “I brought Lauren in because she has a penchant for languages,” Michael said, stopping Lauren as she raised her cup to her lips. “Lauren, have you ever thought about math as a language?”

  Lauren hesitated, leaning against the cabinet as Michael poured himself a coffee. “Well, if you think about it, language is defined as communication by the use of sounds or conventional symbols,” she thought aloud. “A code we use to express ourselves and communicate with others...” They walked back to Michael’s office as they talked.

  “Sometimes, formulas can’t be understood without some kind of explanation,” India said.

  “Like a Rosetta Stone,” Michael said. “As my sister so eloquently put it.”

  “True, but the information can easily get lost in translation.” Lauren shook her head. “I’m a biological anthropologist, not a mathematician.”

  “Then let us think upon the grammar of mathematics,” Lubanzi said, as they walked back to the conference room. “The mathematical notation is not dependent on a specific natural language. Many are shared internationally regardless of their mother tongues.” He went over to a white board and picked up a marker. “In mathematics, universally, formulas are written predominantly left-to-right, even when the writing system of the substrate language is right-to-left, and the Latin alphabet is commonly used for simple variables and parameters.” He began scribbling.

  Sin x + a cos 2x ≥ 0

  “This formula is recognized by Chinese and Syrian mathematicians alike.”

  “Okay,” Lauren said. “I’m still puzzled how this can translate into anything meaningful to an alien species, other than being a simple quadratic expression?”

  “Trigonometry like this, is all about plotting locations ...” Michael’s voice went misty, and Lauren turned. “Do you think they’re sending us ... coordinates?”