Chapter 10
When we are approximately in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, Captain Voronov surfaces the boat one night. The body of Larry is taken from the small walk-in freezer on the mess-deck, and we have a very somber ceremony burying him at sea. The body is tightly wrapped as per tradition, and weight down so it will not be discovered. Poor Vicky takes it the hardest of course, but we are all there to comfort her. When we submerge again the Captain announces that we will be in silent running mode for the next full day.
“What does that mean exactly, Ivan?” Kelly questions.
“It means that no one is to make any loud noises. Talk only when absolutely necessary, and then only with whispers. All of the noisy ship’s machinery will be shut down as well.”
She presses, “Why is this necessary, are we in danger?”
“Until we pass the US Navy SOSUS network, where there is a chance we might be detected, it is most necessary. Not to worry though as we know exactly which of their underwater buoys are malfunctioning. So the danger is slight, but still present to a degree.” He explains.
Kelly cocks her head. “SOSUS?”
I fill her in, “Sound Surveillance System. It’s a network of underwater buoys with high gain microphones used for detecting submarines encroaching the US coast lines. It’s a relic from the Cold War.”
Ivan nods, “It is old and decrepit, and many of the buoys have malfunctioned long ago. We know exactly which ones, and where they are. We’ve never been detected yet, but I don’t plan on this being the first time. Silent running may also prevent any US Destroyers in the area from discovering us inadvertently.”
“What would happen if they did discover us?” Kelly has wide eyes.
“They would shadow us until we got inside the twelve mile territorial limit. Then they would be allowed to sink us.” Ivan doesn’t help her worries.
“That’s not good. We don’t want to be sunk.” She looks at me for help of some kind.
“It will be alright. The Captain and crew do this quite often.” I rub her shoulder.
Ivan chuckles, “Just remember…shhh.” He places his finger to his lips.
So since we haven’t much else to do besides stay quiet, we translate more tablets.
Tablet twenty one of the Babylonians: I, Kadashman-harbe, the King of the mighty Kassite Empire, do record the events of these times, as my predecessors have instructed me, in keeping of the sacred edict of the gods, the Anunnaki. There has been much war in the lands to the west. The remnants of the Amorites have been conquered by the Habiru people (Hebrew.) Their methods in doing so were particularly brutal with whole cities of people being slaughtered, and then burned to the ground. It seems they were specifically targeting any Kingdoms with other Anakum descendants, though they did spare those who joined them willingly. The Habiru have some of the great magic left by the gods it seems, and as such they represent a grave danger to all others. Many Kings are marshalling their forces to eventually smite these newcomers from the face of the Earth. My Kingdom will also raise an army for this purpose. Unfortunately the Kingdom who had jurisdiction over the lands these Habiru have seized isn’t seemingly very concerned with this taking of his land. Pharaoh Amenhotep the third is too busy with internal projects, as he says, to bother with these Habiru. Truth be known, I am sure that he is still very much afraid of them, as they did destroy much of the Egyptian army during their last encounter. Even though the Habiru have some magic from the gods, so too do we, and I will not fear them, instead they will learn to fear Babylon!
I know he is referring to the conquest of Canaan by Joshua and the Hebrews. He sure did imply that they were of Anakum blood themselves, or maybe just some of them were. Hmm, I’ll have to look into that too once we get to our destination. By the time I have three more tablets transcribed, Kelly quietly tells me that she finished all the Egyptian tablets, with Cleopatra the seventh Philopator of the Ptolemaic dynasty being the last.
“I bet there is some good stuff there.” I whisper.
She is also hushed, “Nothing you haven’t read before, baby.”
For nearly three whole days we are in silent running mode, then finally this is secured as we rise to just below the surface to charge the batteries through the use of the snorkel device again. Now we can talk without whispering. Vicky and Hector have sure bonded tightly as lovers, and Kelly with Roberta are the same. They have invited me to join them once when they have use of the one private cabin which we all rotate, sharing. The rest of the time we sleep in the forward torpedo room, which had been converted to a cargo area as the torpedo tubes had been removed. It will only be a day and a half more until we arrive at our benefactor’s secret facility. I keep translating, as does Kelly and Roberta, helping me with the cuneiform tablets, while Hector and Vicky stay with the Mayan. There are a whole slew of tablets in the fourth, unknown language which will undoubtedly fuel some archaeolinguist to win the Nobel Prize someday, but it won’t be myself. Maybe it will be Kelly, along with Roberta. I hope so.
Tablet forty eight of the Babylonians: I am Marduk-shapik-zeri, King of the Isin. I am descended from the God Marduk himself, and thus my authority on earth is God given. I have made a tenuous peace with King Assur-bel-kala, King of Assyria to the North, after many long years and terrible battles being fought between our Kingdoms. Conquest is not how to properly grow as a civilization. I will pass these lessons our people have learned the hard way to my son, my successor. There are not many of our blood left on this world now, as too many have been slain. Still this goes on, despite the obvious outcome. The Kingdom of the Hibiru to our south east have recently fought a war against the Canaanites, and won. In the process I am told even more of our Anakum blood was shed, and by others of the same blood. The Hibiru’s new King is named David, and he and his elite corps of men of Anakum blood have been terrorizing the region. We should learn that our mighty size will only attract our own slaughter if we do not treat the smaller Adamu descendants with mercy. They will be left with no choice but to remove us from this world, by removing our heads, nor should we use any of the magic that the Gods left us, for violence.
Now that is interesting, King David was a giant himself. I guess that only makes sense seeing how he could kill lions barehanded, much less heft Goliath’s sword to behead him. I have to say, I like this King Marduk-shapik-zeri. He sounds quite reasonable.
The next few tablets are mostly recounting history which we already know well. Then there is the last tablet from the Babylonians looming.
Tablet fifty two of the Babylonians: I, Nabu-shum-libur, am King of the Isin realm. I have been contacted by the Gods to make the last record here of my people, and to have these holy tablets ready for them to take and put into a secure storage. They have told me that the time of my people’s rule here is coming to a close, and that many uncertain times lay ahead. I try to prepare my subjects for this impending change.
That’s it? Kind of an abrupt end to these records. I mention this to Kelly and Roberta, and they tell me that Cleopatra’s last tablet ended similarly.
“Well, we can always help Hector and Vicky transcribe.” Roberta offers.
Just then the first officer comes into the bunk/ cargo room, telling us to pack all of our things as we are already approaching the dock in Port Arthur, Texas. We hurriedly put all the tablets back into their secure shipping containers, then get all our personal gear together. Within twenty minutes we are surfacing inside a secret warehouse dock which extends over the water. Another ten minutes and Ivan and Nicki come to fetch us, telling us that our benefactor wishes to meet with us right away, and to bring our laptops.
The warehouse/ secret dock juts over the water for slightly more than a hundred meters by my guess, and the sub is docked into a slip which cuts into the warehouse deck another ninety or so meters. Already the dock workers are carefully unloading the shipping containers with the treasure in them. I am duly impressed with the extensive facilities. Nicki and Ivan lead all of our team to the
office area towards the rear of the complex. We pass through three doors, each having an assault rifle armed guard, and there the boss man sits behind a non-descript metal desk, beaming a huge smile. He gets up and greets Ivan, Nicki, and myself with the customary hug and kiss to the cheek.
“I am so glad you successfully made it back my friends.” Then he gazes at our team. “All of my new friends.” Quickly he singles out Vicky, and goes up to her to take both her hands in his massive paws. “I give you my most sincere condolences Vicky Connolly. I was saddened by what those animals did to Larry, your lover.”
Her eyes are wide with surprise, as she’d never met the man before.
“I of course know the full details my child. My men know to hold no information back from me.” He takes his hand and gently strokes her hair. Then he releases her and goes to take his seat behind the desk again. “My operatives in Belize reported that Captain Guillermo, and his crew have stuck to their story about the storm sweeping him away. His family has been informed by the authorities here. I had one of my well insulated subsidiary companies start a scholarship fund to the UCLA Archaeology department, in his name.”
Vicky now sheds some tears. “Thank you Mister… thank you.”
“You may call me Georgio, but none of you must ever say that we have met.” He looks around with a quite serious expression, at everyone in turn. They all nod with wide eyes. “The authorities in Belize have sent troops into Pusilha searching for all of you. They have discovered the cave, and the bodies of the scum that were dealt with. Since the US has an extradition treaty with Belize, you all have a problem. I suggest that once you publish your findings, that you strike a deal with the authorities in Belize. A generous return of the library, in exchange for immunity from any prosecution.”
“That is a wise idea.” I say.
“Good, now there is the matter of the payment.” He nods to one of his men, and they bring in some of the shipping containers on pallet jacks. They open them, and a man in a lab coat removes several of the blank tablets, then he walks over to another table along the wall where he first weighs them one at a time.
“Almost exactly four point seven six two pounds each.” He grabs a calculator from his pocket and crunches some numbers. “That is perfectly five cubits of Nippur each.”
Georgio nods with a grin. Then the man sets a tablet down and uses a battery operated drill motor with a tiny bit to drill in to the blank tablet. He takes the filings and puts them in a test tube and adds some liquid, then shaking the tube. I know he is performing the acid test to determine the purity of the gold.
“This is at least ninety nine point nine percent pure gold. The purest I’ve ever tested.” He tells Georgio with wide eyes.
“Excellent, now weigh out my ton, and the rest goes to our new friends here.”
There are enough blank tablets left over after Gerogio gets his ton, for every one of our team to keep eight tablets each. In other words, we are all now fairly wealthy. I ask Georgio about getting a new identity for Hector, and he says that will be no problem, for one blank tablet in price. Hector gladly pays him, saying that he’d always dreamed of living in the US. Vicky is very glad too, and suggests that he apply for a position at the archaeology department at UCLA, which Hector is all for, except for the fact that he will lose all his credentials with the new identity. Georgio laughs, telling not to worry about that, he will have plenty of appropriate new credentials with his new identity. Our benefactor tells us he wishes to read our most interesting translations, and we spend the next hours with him, boggling his mind. When he has digested enough, Georgio bids us all farewell and he leaves.
From the secret sub base we are taken with the library to an old mining operation owned by Georgio, about halfway between Abilene, and Fort Worth, just outside of Thurber, Texas. There we safely store the tablets in the shafts below, and concentrate on helping Hector and Vicky finish with their translations of the Mayan tablets. The very last one blows us away, as it states that the Doxomedon Legacy had come to take the entire population of the Maya to another world, as they were found worthy, and to save them from the violent tribes of the north who were preparing for invasion of their Kingdom. I am very glad for the Maya, and wonder how their descendants are faring.
“I wish we could translate that fourth language.” Hector muses as we pack up the last of the Mayan tablets.
“Unless we had a key, there is no way.” Kelly shrugs.
“What do you mean a key?” Nicki asks.
“Something giving us some of the language along with a known language that says the same thing, so we could get a comparison.”
“Oh but we do have a key, my love.” I chuckle. “The first tablest all tell of the same story in the differing primal languages.”
“That’s right!” She gasps.
Nicki cocks his head, “There was also one extra thick tablet along with the unknown tablets, and it had different symbols on it.”
“Excuse me?” Kelly gasps.
“Da, I will bring it up.” He goes to the elevator.
Ten minutes later he returns holding a tablet at least ten times thicker than all the others. “It isn’t as heavy as it should be.” He frowns and sets it on the table in front of us.
Kelly slides it in front of her, and looks at some very strange symbols expertly carved into the face of it. They are not hieroglyphs, and unlike anything I have ever seen before.
“Do you have any clue about those symbols?” I ask Kelly.
She shakes her head as she runs her fingers over them, as if in awe. The moment her fingers lift from the tablet, a pop emanates from it, and the tablet seems to rise upwards. As I look on with wide eyes, many gasps come from around the table. I notice that there is a now seam along the sides of the tablet, just as Kelly does too.
“Look! It popped open! Oh my god!”
Nicki steps forward, and his eyes are wide as well as everyone else’s. “Careful, let me inspect it.” He gently slides the tablet towards himself, and kneels to look it over from all angles. “Maybe you should all step back, it appears to have a lid, and I’m going to try to remove it.”
I nod and everyone steps way back across the room.
Nicki lowers his head below the plane of the table as both of his hands gently, and slowly lift the tablet apart. He sets the top portion down to the side, and gradually raises his head from beneath the table.
“There is a blue crystal… like a tablet inside.” He tells us as he inspects the contents.
“Don’t touch it Nicki!” Kelly warns.
“Oh, fuck no!” He grins at her. “Come here, you touch it.” He chuckles.
Kelly surprises me by walking over to the table, and touching the blue crystal inside. She is certainly not one dare to do something. We all slowly move back over to observe. The she tilts the base so she can remove the crystal from it, and she holds it up, looking at both sides.
“It’s blank. No markings of any sort.” She says.
Suddenly the tablet begins to glow.
“Oh my!” Kelly gasps.
“Maybe it would be best to put it back.” I suggest.
“Whoa!” She shakes her head.
I grasp her arm. “What is it?”
“It feels like something is inside my head.”
“What?”
Just then the crystal tablet glows even more brightly. It quickly dies down, and ceases to emanate light at all.
“Oh my god!” Kelly exclaims. “Look, it has writing on it now!” She quickly sets the crystal tablet down on the table and instinctively backs a step away.
I step closer to it, and she pulls herself along with me, but using me like a shield almost.
“It is English!” I am shocked.
“What does it say? Read it!” Roberta encourages.
Kelly steps around me and bends over it for a closer look. Then she reads it aloud. “This is the last of all the sacred records for your people. I am known as Allogenes, also as He Who Cannot b
e Known. My position is the Leader of the Doxomedon Legacy. Our mission is to protect developing species and their worlds. To ensure that they have a proper chance to evolve to the point of reaching the stars, and then to invite them to join us, eventually becoming one with the Consortium of Galaxies. Mistakes were made by the races which were first granted to help your race develop. For this reason we have had to become more involved than normally allowed. Our greatest desire is to see your kind flourish in peace, however the mistakes previously made have only helped steer your race towards extinction. The time of the great test will soon be upon you. Either your race will pass the test, and be welcome among the stars, or it will become forever extinct on this planet. These records are important for your species to understand how, and why they originated. Also to put to rest the many untruths that have been propagated. Share this knowledge with all of your kind freely, for not to do so will only insure the extinction of your species from this world. Our hopes are for your success.” Her voice is trembling by the time she finishes.
I hug her from behind. Everyone is silent for a long while.
Soon we have invited a number of peers, all scholars, to verify our findings. Most of the crew has taken a charter bus our benefactor graciously provided back to LA, with their promise to remain silent about the whole affair until we publish. Now it is only Kelly, Roberta, Vicky, Hector, Nicki, and myself. Then Nicki’s stunning wife, Amanda, comes down to stay as well. Nicki surprises us all by telling her right away he had sex with the girls, but Amanda then really blows our minds by asking if she could too. Needless to say this prompts a very naughty orgy between all of us. I knew before that Amanda was transgender, and I had even been with Nicki’s former fiancé, Hiroki who was also a transgender girl, during the ill-fated expedition with the television production. All of us really enjoy having sex with Amanda, as she is gorgeous, horny, and so much fun. After our naughty sex orgy, things go back to normal, with no further group sex. The scholars all come, and are each thoroughly amazed at our find, and all agree that we may list them as peer reviewers. Then comes the big day we’ve all been waiting for, and we publish our find.
Requiem for the Nephilim Page 14
