“We think we’ve got something,” Nadia stated crisply.
Sid continued. “What do you know about George Washington?”
King glanced from the image on his computer screen back to the two women. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
United Nations Head Quarters,
New York City, USA
“As you may or may not know, Mister Ambassador,” King’s voice came through Langley’s computer speakers, “national archives from around the world have started digitalising ancient documents- UNESCO, the Smithsonian, the British Museum. Pretty much any official document kept in some dusty warehouse somewhere either is, or will be within the next ten or twenty years, available online. We got lucky on this one though.”
Langley studied the images of the three scientists on his computer screen, the sophisticated video-conferencing technology of the U.N. Headquarters and the NATO base allowing a seamless transmission.
“As you know, back at the U.N. we managed to find the original discharge papers for Edward Pryce-”
“The man who was following Kha’um,” Langley said.
“Hunting would be a more apt word, but yeah, that’s him.”
“So how does that help us?”
King explained his logic to Langley, how if they could find Pryce’s handlers, maybe they’d find the Bouda’s mask. “The discharge papers placed Pryce into the custody of a man named Jonathon Hawk. This man Hawk also made a hefty donation to the asylum at the same time.”
“So he’s the man pulling his strings.”
“Initially, yes,” Nadia added.
“Initially?”
“Well, we pretty much know Pryce’s story- he chased Kha’um around the world trying to find the Moon Mask and met his end in a dead-end chamber in Sarisariñama,” Sid added. “So we did some snooping into the life and times of Jonathon Hawk.”
“And what did you find?”
“Additionally to signing Pryce’s discharge papers, Hawk’s signature also appears in a number of different places. Notably, on the billing information we found for two decommissioned ships purchased from the Spanish navy.”
“So he supplied the ships to Pryce,” Langley said. “But who is this ‘Hawk’ character?”
“Jonathon Hawk, among other things,” Sid explained, “was one of the first Freemasons in the New World.”
Langley hadn’t seen that coming. “Freemasons?”
“That’s right.”
“Freemasonry wasn’t firmly established in the Americas until around the 1730’s,” Nadia said, her usual scathing tone in her voice, “but as the migration to your ‘land of the free’ spread out of Europe, so too did the various lodges of England, Scotland and Ireland.”
“What do you know about the Freemasons, sir?” King asked.
“Only what I’ve read in Dan Brown novels,” he joked.
“Well, without boring you too much with the history of Freemasonry, we all know that it is a secret society, or rather, a ‘society with secrets’ as they term it, composed entirely of men.”
“Rich, fat, old men,” Nadia added testily.
“Not necessarily,” King interjected. “In fact, some of the most powerful men in history have been Freemasons.”
“What does any of this have to do with the Moon Mask?” Langley cut in, seeing another scathing response bubbling up from Nadia.
“Well, the trail of the Bouda Mask goes cold once it reaches Jamaica,” Sid continued. “Pryce’s ship is boarded by the British, he is sent to an asylum, and Kha’um is sold to Lord Hamilton’s sugar plantation. But, except for the log of a Lieutenant Percival Lowe of the H.M.S. Swallow which mentions finding Pryce with the mask, there is no further mention of it.”
“I still don’t see how this all fits together.”
“No one really knows all that much about the origins of the Freemasons,” King confessed, “or what goes on in their lodges. Mostly, it is just a bunch of rich, fat old men,” he glanced at Nadia, “playing dress up, acting out ancient rites which most people think stem from Egypt. Powerful people belong to their lodges, to be sure, but they are very much a peaceful organisation. It is not a religion ‘per se’ but it is a ‘brotherhood’ which uses allegorical symbols and codes in what you could call a ‘quest for enlightenment’. But,” he added quickly, seeing Langley’s mounting irritation, “there are also lots and lots of myths surrounding them. Most of them are poppycock, but when Sid and Nadia discovered Pryce’s benefactor’s links to the masons, they delved a bit more deeply into some of these myths.”
“One of the main themes that kept popping up was ‘time travel’,” Sid said.
Langley shifted forward on his chair. In the 1700s, well before they understood anything about tachyons, the main belief surrounding the mask was that, if assembled, it gave its wearer the ability to travel through time.
“They are all crazy conspiracy theories, of course,” Nadia said, “posted on the internet by the same people who claim to have seen UFOs and Bigfoot-”
“But all of them surround the mythical ‘33rd Degree’,” King added; “The great secret that is revealed only to the highest order of the lodges.”
“Lots of the stories we found claim that the secret of the 33rd Degree is the knowledge of how to see the future, look into the past, or even to travel to them and manipulate events,” Sid explained. “One theory even suggested that the origins of the Freemasons stem from time travel. That originally the masons were slaves forced to build the Great Pyramid at Giza but discovered the ability to travel through time and thus escape their masters.”
Langley couldn’t help but smile at the whimsical nature of the stories he was being told. “Surely you’re not suggesting any of this is true?”
“Of course not,” Nadia said. “They are nothing more than modern day myths.”
“But, I think we have proven over the last few days that mere myths deserve more than just a cursory glance,” King argued. “We’ve proven the existence of the Moon Mask and explained, with science, the myth behind its ‘time travelling’ properties. And I think the same goes here. Myths don’t have to be thousands of years old, Mister Ambassador. And this one is only as old as the Freemasons. But who is to say that it doesn’t stem from the same source? Nadia, back at the U.N., you yourself explained to us that the tachyons emitted from the Moon Mask stimulate a specific part of the brain: the Parietal Lobe. Well, it may shock you to discover that I’ve come across this before while researching the legends of the Moon Mask. Extra Sensory Perception, or ESP-”
Nadia tried to cut him off with a scoff but Langley watched as King barrelled straight through her objections.
“Scientists have been studying ESP for years, looking into how some people claim to perceive future events, predict the card you’re holding in your hand, or even commune with the dead-”
“ESP has not been scientifically proven to exist,” Nadia argued. “The legends surrounding the Moon Mask’s fortune-telling properties were the results of the hallucinogenic compounds which you yourself said Kha’um used to enter a trans-like state.”
“But suppose for the moment that the tachyon stimulation of the Parietal Lobe, causing the brain tumours you discovered in both Kha’um and Pryce’s remains, did give them some degree of extra sensory perception,” King argued. “It would explain Kha’um’s visions, how by simply wearing part of the mask he found the other pieces. Imhotep, who one way or another came into the possession of another piece of the mask, was considered a visionary. He designed the forerunner to probably the most iconic shaped building in the world, the pyramid. He was a master of science and medicine, far beyond anyone else of his day. He knew to seal the mask inside lead. He even carried out successful brain surgery!”
“You’re kidding,” Langley couldn’t help but say, shocked.
“No, it’s a well document fact,” King confirmed. “Having developed a form of ESP from his exposure to tachyons explai
ns how he came about such knowledge.”
“You’re saying that he took this knowledge from his visions of the future?” Nadia didn’t bother trying to hide the disdain in her voice.
“That’ right. And if the Freemasons had access to the Bouda’s mask then it would explain the time-travelling legends behind the 33rd Degree.”
Langley felt this video conference spiralling into a fierce academic debate and so pulled it back on track. “So you’re saying that this man, Jonathon Hawk,” he concluded, “a prominent member of an early sect of the Freemasons in America, took Pryce’s piece of the mask and then . . . what? Employed Pryce to find the other pieces?”
“Basically, yes,” King confessed. “Pryce most likely was himself being used by Hawk and Hawk’s own superiors. I’d guess that they promised him that he could use it to undo the ‘curse’ he’d been inflicted with.”
“Suppose any of this is true,” Langley said. “How does it help us?”
“It opens up a new avenue of enquiry to pursue,” King replied. “About eighteen months after Kha’um and Pryce left England for the last time and set sail for ‘Davy Jones Locker,’ Hawk left the Caribbean and never returned. He moved to the Colony of New York where, in later years, he became an outspoken opponent of British rule. He was also instrumental in the formative years of the Grand Lodge of New York, the oldest officially independent Freemason Lodge in America. Hawk died about twenty five years before it was officially founded but we discovered evidence of his interactions with a man named Daniel Coxe, the first of the Provisional Grand Masters during the 1730’s.”
“Where’s this going, Doctor?” Langley was getting agitated again.
King felt the pressure mounting. Langley, an American patriot through-and-through, wasn’t going to like the next part. “He also had dealings with a tobacco planter from Virginia- a man named Augustine Washington. Whether or not Hawk had any influence over Augustine’s son, George, is unclear, but what is known is that on November 4th, 1752, in his early twenties, George Washington was initiated into Freemasonry. In 1789, following Washington’s victory over Britain in the War of Independence, Robert R. Livingston, the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York, administered America’s first president’s oath of office.”
“I know all this,” Langley felt ire rising. He considered himself a patriot; he knew the history of his country and didn’t need to be taught it like a school child by a Brit.
“Washington was considered, and still is by most Americans today, to have been visionary. He laid down the building blocks of the government of the United States, most notably the presidency, and presided over the writing of the constitution.”
“Doctor, you’re preaching to the converted here.”
King ignored him. “This ‘visionary greatness’ has led to many urban legends, and the fact that he was a Freemason- everyone knows the story of how he laid the cornerstone of the Capitol Building dressed in his Freemasonry regalia- only fuels these stories. His military success during the war, his uncanny ability to ‘predict’ British movements, his unnerving knack of always being one step ahead, has given rise to legends of what can only be described as ‘witchcraft’ and ‘magic’ going on behind the closed doors of the Grand Lodge. Some Evangelic Christian groups even suggest that he’d sold his soul to the devil to be given the power to overthrow the British.”
“This is preposterous, Doctor!” Langley was getting angry now.
“I agree, Mister Ambassador. I don’t think he sold his soul to the devil, but we’ve got to remember that we’re talking about myths here. And if there is any element of truth in it then we need to follow that thread and hope it leads us to the mask.”
“Do you know where the mask is Doctor King?” Langley crunched straight to the point.
King hesitated a second. “We found references to Washington’s ability to see future events. One of those references suggested he did this by using a magical mask that gave him the ability to see through time.”
“Yes or no, Doctor?”
King swallowed. “Not yet, but-”
“Doctor King, I respect the work the three of you have been doing, but I don’t appreciate you throwing about wild speculation about the ‘Father of the United States.’ George Washington may have been a member of a secret society, but that society, in your own words, is not in any way evil nor magical. We are not searching for a magical mask which gives its wearer the ability to see the future, much less travel to it. We are searching for a lump of metal from outer-space which in the wrong hands could bring about not just the destruction of nations, but the annihilation of humanity!” He paused, catching his breath. “George Washington was a great man, a man who won independence for this country not through the use of black magic and mumbo-jumbo, but by the sheer will of his character. Now, I appreciate the ‘thread’ you’re following, but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“With respect Ambassador,” King argued firmly. “I think you had more of an open mind when I was telling you how the Moon Mask influenced the ‘forefathers’ of the Mayans and the Incas. This is no different.”
Langley forced himself to relax and take a deep breath. As a military man he had always seen Washington as the hero of America, the great general who became a president. Having someone suggest that he had been assisted by a magical mask had been insulting, yet King’s comment was fair.
“You’re right, Ben. But it still seems loose to me. Other than Emily Hamilton’s reports about Kha’um using one piece of the mask to find the next, there is no evidence to support this theory of ESP. Now, you’re trying to link George Washington into the equation using only that link. It just doesn’t sit true.”
“At the moment, it’s all we’ve got.”
Langley studied the young man in the monitor. “But where does it get us? Is there any actual evidence of Washington having the Moon Mask?”
“That’s where we were hoping you could help, Ambassador.”
“How so?”
“Whether or not you and I believe the Moon Mask has time travelling properties,” Nadia took up unexpectedly, “the truth is that that is the myth which has surrounded it. The Xibalbans venerated it, Imhotep used it, and the Bouda learned to control it. It seems only the Easter Island culture knew nothing of its importance. So that is the investigative route we went down.”
“From the link to George Washington, we looked further into the references between Freemasonry and time travel,” Sid spoke up again.
“We stumbled upon a name that I recognised from my own research into the effects of tachyons,” Nadia explained. “Nikola Tesla.”
“Tesla?” Langley repeated, recognising the name.
“Tesla’s theoretical work formed the basis for the alternating current, the AC electrical power distribution systems which we still use today. In many ways, one could argue that Nikola Tesla is the father of modern civilisation. Without him there would have been no Second Industrial Revolution. No computers, no televisions, no microwave ovens. Without him we would still be shovelling coal into steam engines, yet few ordinary people know his name. We remember Edison and Einstein, but few know of Tesla’s contributions.”
“I recognise the name,” Langley admitted. “Didn’t he invent spark plugs for cars?”
A brief, and unexpected smile, crossed Nadia’s face. “Yes.”
“In 1891,” King continued, “one hundred and twelve years after Washington was sworn in by the Grand Master of the New York Lodge, the Serbian born Tesla was granted U.S. citizenship and moved to New York City. Things get a bit sketchy then but it looks like Tesla tried to join the Freemasons, the Grand Lodge of New York to be precise.”
“Tried?”
“Some accounts say that he was blocked from joining because his experiments were considered by the masons to be dangerous,” Sid replied. “The Masons felt that if they fell into evil hands, the forces of darkness would have the power to control the worl
d.”
“Yet other accounts,” King picked up, “suggest that he did become a Freemason, and escalated high into the ranks, perhaps even to the 33rd Degree, but was later expelled, for want of a better term, because of his eccentric personality and his belief in increasingly bizarre, and terrifying, science and technology.”
“Let me guess,” Langley said. “Time travel.”
“Supposedly, Tesla believed he was capable of building a number of futuristic things,” Nadia said, “including enhanced energy-beam weapons, radio-controlled bombs and torpedoes, a zero-point-energy generator- not dissimilar to a tachyon emitter- and most importantly to us, yes, a time machine.”
“And the core of this time machine, something which conspiracy theorists have called ‘Phoenix’,” King concluded, “was the secret of the 33rd Degree.”
“And if you are correct about the Moon Mask being the 33rd Degree of Freemasonry . . .”
“Then the Moon Mask, somehow, was incorporated into Tesla’s time machine.”
Langley studied the three faces staring back at him from the screen. He was serious for a moment but then laughed, throwing his head back and rubbing his tired eyes. “You’re not seriously wanting me to believe that Tesla built a time machine, are you?”
“Built, yes,” Nadia confirmed. “Used, no. Most likely, he hit the same wall that all scientists that have ever toyed with the possibility of time travel have come across- the inability to produce enough energy to distort space-time.”
A terrible thought occurred to Langley. “The tachyons in the Moon Mask-”
“Even the completed mask will not have anywhere near enough tachyon energy to do what you are suggesting,” the Russian consoled him before he’d even voiced his concern
“So where does this leave us?” he asked.
“It leaves us theorising that Nikola Tesla,” King concluded, “is the last man to have seen the Bouda piece of the Moon Mask that we know of.”
Langley ran it all through in his head. The Bouda piece of the mask was taken by Edward Pryce to Jamaica; from there into the hands of Hawk and an early sect of the Freemasons in the New World where it became a physical element of the sacred 33rd Degree, the ultimate secret of Freemasonry. From there it fell into the hands of a ‘mad scientist’ name Nikola Tesla who incorporated it into a failed time machine experiment.
Moon Mask Page 46
