The Prodigal Sun: A Novel

by S. E. Meyer

  “Uno momento,” the woman said.

  There was a long pause before Dr. Lopez’s voice came over the receiver.

  “Hey Frank, is that you my friend?”

  “Good evening Hosea. I am in Mexico City and I need to meet with you,” Frank said in an urgent tone.

  “Whoa there hombre, slow down. You’re here in Mexico? Is everything alright?” Hosea asked.

  “Not exactly, it’s best we speak in person, is there somewhere we can meet?”

  “Do you still know how to get to my house?”

  “I think so, but I have two friends with me, is it okay if we all come?”

  “Sure, any friend of yours is a friend of mine,” Hosea replied.

  “We’ll be there within the hour,” Frank said. He hung up the phone and moved closer to where John was lying.

  “John, how are you feeling?” Frank asked.

  “I think I’m okay now, I feel better,” John replied.

  “I’m sorry John, I had to give you another injection. Apparently once the process is started it must continue until it is complete. I will need to give you four more in twenty-four hour intervals to keep you healthy, unless we can find a way to reverse the procedure, or stop it. Are you up for travel? We should go to Dr. Lopez’s house, I have a lot to discuss with him.”

  “Can we just stay here and get some rest Frank?” asked Jenny

  “That might be best, I’m still a little weak, and so tired,” John added.

  “That’s fine, but you should probably stay inside,” Frank suggested as he looked over at Jenny. “Can you order some room service for you both? Just charge it to the room. I’m sure a good meal would do you both some good. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Frank pulled out a piece of paper and wrote his cell phone number on it. “Just call me if anything changes, or if you need anything at all. I should be back by morning.” Frank grabbed his notebook, opened the hotel room door and headed out into the bright lights of the corridor. John was already asleep by the time the door latch made its faint click as it closed. Jenny fell asleep next to him only a few minutes later.

  After a thirty minute cab ride the driver pulled up in front of Hosea’s house and Frank was warmly welcomed at the front door.

  “Come in, come in my friend” said Hosea. “Where are your friends?” They made their way into a small den and Hosea motioned towards two chairs.

  “They decided to stay at the hotel and rest.”

  “Would you like a drink Frank?” asked Hosea.

  “That would be marvelous.”

  Hosea poured them each a drink from a glass container. He handed one to Frank and sat down in the chair next to him. “So Frank, what brings you to my home?”

  Frank let out a long sigh. “Well my friend, remember the glyphs and writing I was trying to translate a while back?”

  “Yes, yes. Very old language and very few people can read it.”

  “Well, I did manage to translate the writing I was working on.”

  “Good! I hope I was of some help,” Hosea replied.

  “You were a big help Hosea, I could not have done it without you. The problem is I wish I had never figured it out.”

  “Why, what did you find Frank?” asked Hosea with excitement in his voice.

  “The last time I was here, working on the Palenque dig I found an interesting artifact. I managed to bring it back with me. The writings I was working on were from that artifact.”

  “What was it?” Hosea squeaked with excitement.

  “This is what I found,“ Frank said as he pulled the pyramid from his pocket and set in on the table in front of Hosea. “What do you make of it? All of the writing is much older than Mayan. I had to use the Mask of Palenque trick to even find all of the glyphs and symbols. You know the mask of the King Pacal found in Palenque, Mexico in 1956?”

  “Of course I know Pacal Frank, I am Mayan remember?” Hosea chuckled then turned more serious. “The mask of Palenque. So you had to take transparencies of each of the sides and then overlap them?”

  “Exactly, and it still took me a very long time to actually be able to figure it out so I could read it. What concerns me is what I found once I translated it,” Frank explained.

  “Go on, please continue.” Hosea replied, leaning forward.

  Frank continued to tell the story of how he discovered the map of the human brain and how it had changed him. Hosea took a deep breath once Frank was finished telling his story.

  “I can’t believe this. You found the capstone? This is incredible.”

  “Capstone?” said Frank with a quizzical look.

  “Yes, yes, the capstone. The gift of the gods! It has never been found and most scholars believe it no longer exists, or it's just folklore, but there are writings of it everywhere.”

  “What else do you know about this…capstone?”

  “I have heard the stories my entire life and have read about it many times,” replied Hosea.

  “What was it for, where did it come from?” asked Frank, feeling his heart flutter with excitement.

  “It was a gift from the Gods, given to the high priests of ancient Sumer. It is said that it was the gift of wisdom, of all knowledge. Its symbol is everywhere in ancient Sumerian writings starting in Sumer and spreading to Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome and beyond. The knights Templar’s cross and their insignia, when inspected closely, are actually four pyramids all touching at their points. The Freemason symbol is actually two pyramids, one pointing up and one pointing down, with their tips overlapping. The symbol is everywhere Frank. Sometimes it’s represented as a pyramid with the capstone missing, depicted with an all seeing eye above it, which represents knowledge and enlightenment. Its symbol is still used today to portray power, wisdom and control. It’s the symbol used by the Illuminati. It’s everywhere in the banking and financial systems and is included in many of their company logos. If you look around closely you will see the symbol of the pyramid or the capstone key everywhere,” Hosea continued excitedly and then rummaged through a nearby drawer. “Here look, it’s even on the back of your own currency Frank, on your own one dollar bill,” Hosea said as he placed a dollar bill upside down on the table in front of Frank. “I believe the capstone is what you found. This is a truly incredible discovery, most likely one of the biggest discoveries of all time,” Hosea finished as Frank stared at the familiar pyramid on the currency in front of him.

  “I’m sure you have noticed it before but have you ever really looked closely at it?” Hosea asked. “Look, there are thirteen layers of blocks leading up to the all-seeing eye.”

  “Yes, well I’ve heard there are a lot of references to the number thirteen on American money and elsewhere. It’s supposed to represent the first thirteen colonies,” replied Frank.

  “Is it? Are you sure about that Frank? Did you know there are nine different places that represent the number thirteen on the back of the dollar? I already pointed out the steps on the pyramid, but there are also thirteen stars above the eagle, thirteen vertical bars on the shield along with thirteen horizontal stripes. There are thirteen leaves and thirteen berries on the olive branch as well as thirteen arrows in the eagle’s claw. On top of that, there’s thirteen letters in ’Annuit Coeptis’ and another thirteen in ’E Pluribus Unum’. That’s a lot of thirteen’s Frank. Besides, what would a pyramid with an eye above it have to do with your first colonies? The Sumerians wrote the same number down everywhere and so did the Mayans, did they have thirteen colonies too Frank?” Hosea asked playfully with a broad smile.

  “Okay, but what does it have to do with my pyramid?” asked Frank.

  “Look, did you notice your pyramid also has thirteen steps?” Hosea replied.

  “Hmm, that is interesting,” said Frank, “why thirteen?”

  “The number thirteen is very important Frank. The Sumerians had thirteen signs of the Zodiac, which we still use today. There are thirteen major joints in your body. There are thirteen cycles of the moon in one year. Did y
ou also know that the moon moves across the sky every day by exactly thirteen degrees?” Frank could hear Hosea’s excitement in his voice as he continued to stare at the small smooth stone on the table in front of him.

  “Okay, so I get the point about the number thirteen but what does it all mean Hosea? Frank asked.

  “I believe that your pyramid might be able to tell us. Or at least I hope. I think the importance of the number thirteen has to do with the Mayan calendar,” explained Hosea.

  “What about it?” Frank asked. “You’re not a believer in all of that ‘End of the World’ hype are you?” Frank rolled his eyes.

  “No Frank, of course not!” Hosea replied in an offended tone. “The Mayans never said anything about the world ending. It’s ridiculous how that story got twisted and was spread all over the Internet and through the media. I had no doubt that the sun would rise on December twenty-second just as it does every day.”

  “Good.” Frank let out a sigh of relief. “I never had any doubt myself.”

  Hosea continued,” The Mayans merely said it was the end of an Age. “You see there are thirteen Bak-Tuns in what the Mayans call one Age or one full cycle of their long count calendar. The Mayans have thirteen Bak-Tuns of 394 years each for a total of 5122 years in one Age. We are just about to finish the thirteenth Bak-Tun in their long count, which is said to be a period of wisdom,” Hosea explained. “I still don’t know why but for some reason the end of the age and the end of the thirteenth Bak-Tun was very important to them. Not because the world might end but because something would begin, again.” Hosea paused.

  “Again?” Frank asked quizzically with one eyebrow well above the other.

  “It’s like a very long cycle of events that starts over again and repeats itself. It was not just important to the Mayans. It was important to many civilizations before them. The Mayans didn’t invent these ideas, as much as I would like for my people to take the credit. They most likely learned it from an older civilization,” Hosea finished.

  “I hope we can find more answers Hosea. All I seem to keep finding is more questions.” Frank went on to tell Hosea of what had happened with Brent and Adam and what they had done to him. He explained how John and Jenny saved him from the lab, what happened at John’s house, and finished with their incident at the airport.

  “That is terrible,” said Hosea in a low voice with a look of amazement on his face.

  “I need to know if there is a way to reverse the process, or a way to help John and stop what’s happening to him. There were parts of writings that I never did figure out and maybe it was written in those lines of glyphs. I don’t know, but I feel like I need to do something. Also, there is something hidden inside, an ancient cylinder seal. And the men that were at my house didn’t seem like men at all. They weren’t police or FBI, they were…” Frank trailed off, “well I don’t know exactly what they were, but I’m a little worried about what I may have gotten myself into. We barely made it out of there alive Hosea.”

  “There’s something inside?”

  “Yes, I’m not exactly sure how it works.” Frank picked up the pyramid and tried to turn it and twist it, but it wouldn’t budge. After a few minutes of struggling he finally gave up. “Here, I took a picture of the writing with my phone.” Frank pulled up the picture and handed the phone to Hosea.

  “Wow, Frank, I have never seen anything like this before.” Hosea held a stunned expression as he stared at the picture. Hosea’s expression suddenly changed. “Wait, you see on the borders there? In Mayan it says the message is written in the language of the Gods. I can’t translate this, but I think I know where we can start. I have a friend who has studied the ancient languages and civilizations since he was a young boy and is one of only a few who can actually translate almost all of the ancient tongues. Maybe he can help us decide where to go from here.”

  “It would be a place to start,” replied Frank. “Is he here in Mexico?”

  “No, he spends most of his time in Iraq near Baghdad, about thirty miles south of Baghdad actually, in the ancient city of Babylon. If you want to study ancient civilizations, the Middle East is where you want to be. He’s been out on digs out there since I can remember. Kind of an obsession of his, the oldest writings that have ever been found were found there and our roots as the human race start there. The roots of civilized man anyway,” explained Hosea. “I remember he always said to me, ‘If you’re going to bother digging around and looking, it might as well be where it all started.’

  “Do you think he would be willing to talk with me?”

  “I believe he would be very interested in what you have found, and what you have to say.”

  “How soon can you arrange a meeting?”

  “I will call him now, it is already morning there and I may be able to catch him before he heads out for the day. In the meantime, we should also prepare for travel and make flights arrangements for us.”

  “Oh, you don’t have to come with me Hosea. You have already helped so much and you really don’t want to get involved in the mess I have found myself in and...”

  “Oh no,” came Hosea’s reply before Frank could finish. “I’m not letting you do that to me. Oh no Frank, you come to my house and give me this kind of news? You have just told me that you may have made the biggest discovery of all time and you want me to stay here and not come with you? I have been waiting my entire life for something like this. I am definitely coming with you.” Hosea was speaking very excitedly as he began to move around the room picking up things and then putting them back down. “Besides Iraq is not the friendliest place since the war, you will need someone like me. I speak fluent Farsi and I know where Lucas Goodman is.”

  “Fine” Frank finally agreed after a few moments of silence. “I just hope no one gets hurt, it would be on my hands if anything happened to anyone.” He let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you for your offer to help Hosea, I can use all the help I can get right now.” Frank turned his head to one side in thought. “Goodman…that doesn’t sound like a very middle-eastern name.”

  “It’s not, his father was an antiquities dealer from London and his mother was Turkish. His father traveled a lot, so he grew up with his mother. His father’s money provided for him to attend the best schools and to study at many of the old monasteries, but he always said the most valuable knowledge he ever received was from his mother. It was said that the secret language of the Gods was passed down to her through the generations of holy men in their family.

  “I am very interested in meeting him.”

  “I will make the arrangements. I am guessing your friends will also be coming?” asked Hosea.

  “I’ll head back to the hotel and call you from there. I think they will want to go, I’m not sure I will be able to keep them from coming now that they are so involved. I guess they don’t really have a choice, it’s not like they can safely go home and John has a vested interest in figuring this out as well,” answered Frank.

  “Call me as soon as you know, in the meantime I will contact Lucas,” Hosea said as they made their way towards the door. “I will have my driver drive you back to your hotel.”

  They shook hands and Frank went out the door towards the garage.

  “Good-bye for now my friend. I will see you again soon,” Frank said as he got in the car.

  As they drove to the hotel Frank wondered how John and Jenny were doing. He had spent most of the night talking with Hosea and had not thought much about them until now, he hoped John was feeling good enough for another long trip. Hosea didn’t know Jenny very well, but he knew she was a strong willed person, and that he would not have much luck trying to persuade her into not coming with them. He slid his key in the door of their room and entered quietly as to not wake his companions. He moved slowly around the room towards the beds to see if John and Jenny were sleeping. Dawn was approaching and there was just a hint of its early light escaping into the room through the nearby drapes. There was barely enough light to see
and Hosea accidentally kicked a room service serving tray, making a huge racket. Well I guess they’re awake now if they weren’t. He thought, and decided to turn on the light. He reached for the switch and gasped, squinting through the bright light as the overhead florescent bulbs shone down onto two empty beds. Frank began to panic, but reached out with his mind for John.

  “John, are you there? Are you there? WHERE ARE YOU?” Frank was asking the telepathic questions quickly and in panic, but hoped everything was fine. He could sense something was wrong, but wasn’t sure what it was. Finally there was a weak response from John in Franks head.

  “We’re good, we’re having breakfast downstairs at the restaurant. Would you like to join us?”

  “Oh thank God, I was worried when I didn’t see you in your room. I thought I told you to stay in,” Frank said.

  “We did stay in. We had room service for dinner and we entertained ourselves as best we could all night, but there are some things a couple can only do so many times and...”

  Frank cut John off. “TMI John,”

  “Um yeah, sorry. Well anyway, we were starting to climb the walls. Also, room service eggs just aren’t the same, hard to eat cold eggs. By the way, I think I’m starting to get the hang of this telepathy thing,” answered John.

  “Well it does wear you out, only use it when you have to. We have some things to talk about, I’ll be right down.”

  “Okay, do you want us to order you anything?”

  “Eggs, over medium,” Frank answered. He was glad John and Jenny were fine, but something still didn’t feel quite right.

  John took another bite of scrambled eggs as Frank sat down.

  “Good morning Frank,” said Jenny.

  “Good morning, I see John has his appetite back. Are you feeling better?”

  “Yes,” John managed to say between mouthfuls.

  “Well, I had a long talk with Hosea and he has a friend that he thinks can help us,” Frank said. “Ah, just in time,” he added as the waitress set down his breakfast.

  “Great! Where does he live, around here?” asked John.