Book of Knowledge

by Slater, David Michael

  “Regardless,” Tarik said, unimpressed, “may we talk first?” He was only a few feet away now. “All I ask is the chance to explain myself. I am not a bad man.”

  “Dynamite!” Daphna suddenly shrieked. “It was dynamite! The torch you lit when you were in the caves with Mom and Latty. Latty said you dropped it because of an earthquake, but you dropped the dynamite to fake an earthquake! Then you pushed Mom over! She’s dead! They’re both dead!”

  Tarik nodded. He was right in front of them now. “Correct,” he said. “Turkish authorities don’t tax themselves much investigating tiny little accidents that happen to unwelcome foreigners attempting to loot their national treasures. But I don’t see how—”

  “Drop dead!” Daphna screamed. In her heart, she knew he’d been lying about their mother, but the confirmation made her want to kill. And having told her father to drop dead, Daphna realized she might very well be able to make him to do just that. She spat out her Word, then ordered him to drop dead again. The vengeance she was so badly craving was going to be hers. Right here and right now.

  Adem Tarik did not drop dead. He only shrugged.

  Daphna screamed her Word, fueled by all the rising venom in her being. She was saying it right, she knew it.

  “Drop dead!” she demanded. “Drop dead! Drop Dead!”

  Adem Tarik shrugged again and shook his head. He looked like any father sympathizing with his daughter’s frustrations.

  “Dexter! Help me!”

  Dex barked out his Word. Maybe it was too abstract to make someone just die. “Blow yourself up!” he shouted. “Go get some more dynamite, and blow yourself up!”

  “It’s no use,” Tarik said. “Really.”

  “Jump off a cliff in one of these caves!” Daphna screamed.

  “Children—”

  “Hit yourself in the head with a rock!” roared Dexter.

  “Children—”

  “Dex! It’s not working! The First Tongue isn’t working!”

  “And it won’t work here, children. There’s no use in trying.”

  The twins, both feverish with rage, looked at each other and went weak in the knees. If it was true, it was the worst of all possible news.

  “But—but—” Daphna stuttered, trying to figure out a way it couldn’t be true, “I teleported just over there—” she pointed weakly in the direction of the blast. “Oh, no—”

  “That’s the border,” said Adem Tarik. “Here you stand in God’s Library: Eden. That was the edge, beyond which the First Tongue holds sway, but I’m afraid that way is somewhat inaccessible just now. It’s a shame the Garden that used to surround the Library is no more. You would have loved to see it. It was beautiful beyond words.”

  Dex and Daphna were in no condition to process this information. They turned and looked desperately into the cave behind them again, tensed, poised to run. But neither made a move to go in. It was too risky.

  “You can’t fool us,” Dex declared, turning back to his father. The time had come at last to take a stand. If it killed him, he’d make Tarik back down. “We know you can’t speak the First Tongue. We know the only thing you can do is lie.”

  “And you have no chance of ever carrying out your stupid plan,” Daphna sneered, taking confidence from her brother. “We’ve made sure no one in the world will ever help you. We know you can’t do it alone. We’ve outsmarted you. We’ve figured everything out. We know this is the Garden of Eden. We know the Book of Nonsense is the Tree of Knowledge. We know you stole it. We know you killed our Mom, and we know you killed God!”

  Tarik had maintained a disturbingly good-natured, almost approving, air as Daphna ticked off these discoveries, but at this last point, his bushy brows lifted in alarm and his face drained itself of color. He looked appalled.

  “How dare you suggest such a thing!” he cried. “Blasphemy!” He took a few steps backward, looking genuinely stricken.

  “We know you’re the Snake!” both twins railed. They were confused now, but determined to beat their father into submission with the truth.

  “The Snake?” Tarik chuckled. “A loathsome creature, no doubt, not even allowed into Eden. Always sniffing about the Library, fearful and afraid should either of us come near! And it got what it deserved for meddling in God’s affairs! Thrown into the abyss!’

  “But—but—” Daphna stuttered. “You’re not the snake?” How was it that she was engaging in conversation now?

  “Of course not,” said Adem Tarik, “but I applaud your powers of investigation. You are clearly two remarkably resourceful children, but I’m afraid you haven’t quite got all the details exactly right.”

  “Sure,” Dex snapped. He’d been working himself into the red-faced rage he thought would be necessary to fight. He didn’t want to defuse it with words, but they came out anyway. “Like when you said you wanted ‘Heaven on Earth’, you really meant ‘Hell on Earth’, is that it? You may not be the Snake, but you’re the Devil! And I don’t care if you’re our father, we’re going to send you back to Hell!”

  “I assure you, I’m not the Devil,” Tarik replied. “No such thing I’m happy to say. My plan was never to make Heaven on Earth. My plan was, and is, to bring Heaven to Earth. I can’t conceive of anything farther from what I seek than killing God.”

  Dex and Daphna looked at each other. What did this mean? Should they believe it?

  “More lies,” Dex said. It was going to come down to a physical fight, he could feel it in his bones, but confusion was overwhelming him again—Yes, again. Again and again and again.

  “Please,” Tarik said, “I understand your skepticism. It speaks well of you both. We’re not going anywhere. Humor me?”

  The twins nodded with profound resignation. They’d reached the point where understanding, once and for all, was more important than living through this final crisis.

  “I am going to tell you a story,” Tarik said. “It’s a long one. You might want to sit down.” The twins stayed where they were, lacing their father with steely, hateful gazes. They wouldn’t do anything else he suggested, even to their own detriment.

  “Suit yourselves,” said Tarik. “My story begins when God was finished creating the world. You see, from the start, he intended it to be a gift. That is why he created Adam and Eve. It was a felicitous arrangement. Adam and Eve were grateful to be alive. With all their hearts, they loved their Creator, and they cherished every moment he spent with them in his Library and its surrounding Garden. He was their Light and their Life.

  “Adam and Eve had the run of Eden,” Tarik continued. “There was only one rule. They weren’t to read from two Books in the Library: the Book of Knowledge and the Book of Life. You must understand that they had no problem with this injunction. There were countless other books to discover and discuss. God was a generous teacher. He indulged his creatures’ insatiable curiosity and entertained their questions on all fronts. He patiently explained everything they didn’t understand about the world and its complexities. Adam and Eve loved to learn, and this pleased God more than anything else.

  “And speaking of the Devil—what Adam liked best was hearing some of the stories God chose not to tell, stories from books not opened in his infinite Library. The story of the Devil was one of those. Adam went on, foolishly perhaps, to spread that tale in later days, along with many others—but I assure you, those particular pages God did not read into reality.

  “For a while, the situation in Eden was ideal, but things slowly began to change. As you no doubt know, learning leads to deep thinking, and deep thinking leads to some difficult questions. Soon enough, Adam’s and Eve’s studies turned to matters philosophical.

  “One day, they grew quite vexed about something. That something was the nature of free will. God had told them of himself, that he was all-knowing and all-powerful, that he was everywhere and nowhere, for all time. This was delightful at first to Adam and Eve because it made them feel safe and secure, but now they wondered what it meant that God
knew everything about the past, the present and the future. It seemed to mean that everything they would ever do was already known, and that made them feel like puppets. They grew listless and sad to think that their destinies were already in some ways decided, that they had no real choices in life.

  “God saw the melancholy change in his creatures, and he grew deeply troubled. Of course, he knew what they were thinking, but he let them share their concerns with him anyway. When they finished, he told them he’d consider the matter and would return to them the following day with a solution. He already knew what that solution would be, of course. He simply wanted to delay the inevitable.

  “The next day, God returned with his countenance downcast. Adam and Eve expressed alarm, for they’d never seen God in any but the brightest moods. God told them that he’d thought long and hard about their problem, and he’d determined that there was only one way for them to live in the world as free agents. He would have to leave, and in his leaving he would deny himself ultimate knowledge of their future choices. God told Adam and Eve that limiting himself this way was the only way to remove the limits on them. It was to be his final gift.

  “After hearing God out, Adam and Eve didn’t want the gift. They tore their hair and fell on their faces and begged God to stay. They swore they didn’t want free will, that he meant too much to them to lose. But God hardened his heart and ignored their pleas. Though he’d always known it would come to this, it pained him nevertheless. Without further discussion, God informed Adam and Eve that he would remove himself at the conclusion of the Sabbath. Then he withdrew to prepare.

  “Adam and Eve were inconsolable. They sobbed into the night as they sought to discover something that would prevent God’s departure. But though they wracked their brains and consulted every book they could, no answers were to be found. Just before falling asleep, Adam lamented that they didn’t know enough yet to find a way on their own and that they didn’t have enough time to search every book in the Library.

  “The Snake did enter Eden, against God’s will, and finding Eve, gave her an idea. Maybe they didn’t need to search every book. As Adam slept fitfully, Eve snuck out of bed and made her way to the shelf on which sat the forbidden Book of Knowledge. She opened it, hoping to find a solution to their awful dilemma. Eve knew God had created the world with the Book. Perhaps she and Adam could create another one in which they had free will and God could stay.

  “Of course God foresaw the Snake’s actions—Eve’s as well—and that is why he permitted Eve to learn what she did when she looked into the Book. This was knowledge of Good and Evil. It was knowledge God knew she and Adam would need when he was gone. That is also why he allowed Eve to take the Book, wake her companion and share with him what she had learned.

  “This knowledge transformed Eve,” said Adem Tarik. “She fell to her knees and gave thanks for the gift God had given, for she saw there was no other way. When Adam was done reading, she told him they were now to direct their love toward each other, and in so doing, they would never lose God.

  “But Adam was unmoved. He could not accept God’s gift. He grew furious at Eve for pressing him to see things her way, and when she would not give up, he finally chased her away from Eden altogether. But before she fled, Eve told him that she would always love him, that she would always wait for him to love her back, for that would be her way of repaying God for his gift.

  “God saw what Adam had done and was deeply saddened. He came to Adam and told him that he and Eve must live together, but Adam would not listen.

  “With tears streaming down his face, he desperately turned the pages of the Book until he discovered the First Tongue. God tried to be gentle, for he understood Adam’s pain. But even so, he had to act.

  “First, God made it so that the Words of Power had no effect in the Library, but this only made Adam determined to leave. God pleaded with him—for he loved him—but Adam only turned and fled with the Book, leaving countless other Sacred Books behind. The moment he crossed over the border of Eden, God altered his eyesight, making it impossible for him to read—and thus speak—the First Tongue forever.”

  Tarik paused and regarded the twins, who’d been riveted by the story. They’d stood listening like statues, unable to move as their minds scrambled one more time to readjust all they knew.

  “That, children, is the truth,” Adem Tarik concluded, “the absolute truth.”

  After a moment, Daphna said, simply, “Adem. You’re Adam.” There was no emotion in her voice, just the sound of final comprehension. “Milton Adam Wax.”

  “I am not a bad man,” said Tarik. “I just want God to come back.”

  “That’s your plan?” Dex asked. He felt battered and weak. His mind felt like an empty husk.

  “It is,” Tarik confirmed.

  “But, why the kids?” Dex asked. “Why are you trying to teach people the First Tongue?”

  “Don’t you see?” Tarik asked. “God left in exchange for free will.”

  “He wanted someone to take over the world,” Daphna explained, turning to her brother. “He wanted someone to use the First Tongue to enslave everyone. If no one has free will, then God might come back.”

  “He’d have no reason to stay in his Heaven,” Tarik said with an almost childish hopefulness.

  “When the world’s population grew,” he explained, “I left the Book laying by a well in a village not too far from here. I knew it would quickly find its way into the hands of someone who could use it.”

  “That’s why all those great achievements happened in this region,” Daphna said, “the first writing and laws and all that.”

  “Not my intention,” Tarik said, “but there’s a lot in that Book. I waited centuries, hiding here, but it didn’t work out. Eventually, I decided to take a more active role, so I tracked down the Book and trained some child geniuses. I knew one of them would ultimately prove the master of the others, and I hoped that person would go on to master the world.”

  “You never cared about those kids,” Dex snarled. “You didn’t care if Rash’s side won and turned everyone on Earth into brainless drones!”

  “On the contrary, that’s exactly what I hoped for, though had the other faction proven victorious, they might have achieved similar, if more benevolent, ends. All along I’ve known there would have to be sacrifices. I know this is what God wants because he has kept me alive all these eons so that I can return us to his original plan.”

  “God’s original plan?”

  “Yes! He always wanted to live with Eve and me in the Library, alone. I believe he was testing us. We asked too many questions, and it ruined us. When God took my proper vision, he must have made me immortal in return. How else to explain my life? I never had the benefit of the First Tongue to stretch my days like your mother did. Nor did I ever touch the Book of Life.”

  “I don’t believe you know the first thing about what God wants!” Daphna shouted. “Thank God Mom messed up your plans!”

  “I’m sure you’ve observed that the best laid plans often go awry,” Tarik replied. “It took me ages to track the Book down again, and then I found it had practically been ruined with all the changing. That was a serious setback, so I decided I had to get even more closely involved.

  “I had to find a willing copyist and hope he got enough Words of Power written down before you came along to learn them. It wasn’t easy finding just the right man. Then I had to get you, of course, and that took a dreadfully long time. But it all worked out didn’t it? And better than I ever dared dream! The copies weren’t even necessary! Though your mother interfered with my plans the first time, she was obviously instrumental in facilitating the new one—you. Of course, I never thought you’d be two. Fantastic luck, as it turned out.”

  “Well, you got more than you bargained for when you messed with our mother!” Daphna cried. “We’ll never do anything you want. And we already told you, we made sure no one else in the entire world will ei—” Daphna stopped short, her
voice swallowed in a gasp that nearly doubled her over.

  Dex saw the profoundly satisfied smile that came to Tarik’s face. It took a second for him to catch on, but catch on he did.

  Daphna, clutching her stomach, looked up at him in horror. “We—we—” was all she could manage to spit out.

  “Yes, you’ve already done what I want,” Tarik said, finishing the thought. “You’ve done exactly what I want.” Then he looked from one twin to the other and winked.

  “You two are amazing,” he said. “We might very well be the only three people in the world with free will right now. I know, I know, you probably didn’t get to everybody, but it won’t take me long to—”

  CHAPTER 29

  earth-shattering news

  Tarik was interrupted by a dull hum emanating from somewhere underground. It grew louder as it rose, and the cavern floor began to sway. It was subtle enough that Dex and Daphna didn’t realize what it was at first. They both thought they’d gone dizzy at the realization that everything they’d done was precisely what Adem Tarik wanted them to do, how they’d proved yet again to be pawns, pawns of pawns of pawns. But when the swaying ceased, they both realized what it was: a tremor.

  “Don’t worry,” said Adem Tarik, “small quakes are quite frequent here. But that reminds me. Now that I’ve shared all I know with you, I wonder if you’d explain something to me.”

  Neither twin responded, so Tarik continued. “I did have dynamite on the little expedition with your mother and her assistant. But you said Latona told you I had a torch. I don’t see how that’s possible considering I—”

  “You killed her! You killed her!” Daphna screamed, snapping out of a stupor. “You killed everyone who ever loved us!”

  “I know,” Tarik replied. He sounded as if it was getting tedious to keep talking about it. “And I apologize,” he said, “sincerely. But that’s my point. I don’t understand how Latona could have told you anything, seeing as how I killed her a few seconds after I killed your mother.”