Mesopotamia - The Redeemer

by Yehuda Israely

  Her voice and her appearance managed to win over the Gnostics. Though they were not aware of it, she had successfully penetrated the crack that had grown in Truth's authority. “This amulet holds our collective roots. The original Gnostics, the Mandaeans, possessed the secret knowledge that was passed down from ancient Sumer. The truth that the ancient Sumerians possessed was intended only for the first Gnostics, who were involved in deep internal meditation. They knew that actuality has no form and that it guises itself, tucked between flesh and symbols. The later Gnosis were off-base when they thought that flesh was extraneous and that spiritualism exists in the absence of materialism. He who bears the amulet holds the key to lead the Gnosis to the guidance of humanity; it is the key to bridging the differences between the cultures; it is the key to a brotherhood of all men. Neither Pythagorean nor Atheist may redeem humanity. Only a Gnostic who possesses the amulet will merit to become the redeemer on condition that he redeems all of mankind,

  Something that she said struck a chord within Truth.

  “The nothingness that escaped you, Gnostics, may be found here in the tablet,” she continued. “It is the hollow crevices that are made of lines and triangles using a reed stylus. The materialism, which the Pythagoreans revere, is nothing more than the earth from which the Uruk Tablet is made. This tablet, along with the stylus that engraved it, came from the marshes of ancient Uruk. This is the first record of writing, which binds all of mankind to a common root. The redeemer will bind all of humanity together.”

  Diotima separated a bunch of linen fibers, tied them to the tablet, and declared, “This first knot is for the Sumerians.”

  Diotima's audience was fascinated. She separated another few strands, tied them to the first and declared, “The Pythagoreans are also connected to the same root. They are tied to the same God, An, the source of all numbers and sounds, who lends his name to the creational constant. They are also connected to Ishtar-Sophia, the source of love, wisdom and kinship. Pythagoras' father was Phoenician, a descendent of the culture that spread the secret knowledge of the phonetic alphabet. The Phoenicians were the seers of voices, the readers of sounds, the interpreters of the soul.”

  She took a third bunch of strands and declared: “Gnostics, this third knot is for you. You too continue in the path of your forefathers, the ancient Mesopotamians.”

  A feeling of warmth spread through Truth's chest, the feeling of years of toughness melting away. The sensation was strange and daunting.

  As she braided the three strands together, Diotima continued. “You have the choice, Truth, to correct the mistakes that we have all committed for generations. This is how you will redeem humanity.”

  Everyone looked toward the audio-visual screens and the amulet hanging from the linen rope. Gabriel looked into Truth's eyes. He saw something in them that he had never seen before.

  “You are the redeemer, Truth,” continued Diotima. “The vehicle of your redemption will be the letters that were pressed onto a clay tablet using a sharpened reed stylus. The letters keep coming back to you, Truth, after thousands of years, from ancient Sumer. You have the power to weave the letters together to make words, words together to make a sentence and sentences together to create meaning. You have the power to bring this meaning to man, man to culture and cultures to each other.”

  Diotima's words tipped the scales. Truth appeared calmer, more human. He heaved an involuntary sigh of relief. “This is the amulet of my people, the Tablet of Uruk,” said Truth. The confidence was returning to his voice. For the first time, he accepted his identity.

  “It is yours. It has been waiting five thousand years for you,” said Diotima.

  Truth stood erect but not tensely. He spoke slowly, clearly and confidently.

  “I am Truth the Mandaean, the last scion of the original Gnosis, the leader of the Gnosis.” The commander's authoritative voice had returned. “I thank you, Diotima the Atheist, for returning the tablet of my forefathers to me. However, I cannot accept the appointment as redeemer. It is not I who will be the redeemer.”

  A susurrus of surprised murmurs rose from the audio-visual system.

  Truth knew what he must do and what he was going to say to his soldiers, even though he feared that they may not accept what he was about to say. The metamorphosis that had occurred within him was so significant that he himself had trouble defining it.

  “Gabriel is the redeemer!” he said.

  The commotion in the audio-visual system became louder. Flash was dumbstruck. He knew that whatever he would say would have no bearing on what was happening.

  After a moment, Truth continued. “The redeemer will liberate humanity from the burden of ignorance, and in doing so will redeem the divine spark from its material prison. While each of us internally possesses the ability to redeem the divine spark from its shell, only Gabriel seized the opportunity that was provided to him. Gabriel is the redeemer, the true Gnostic among us. He reached self-enlightenment and acted on it. Gabriel spoke in the name of Authentia, the supreme Gnostic authority.”

  “If you ensure me safe clearance, I will bring the tablet down to Samos myself,” said Diotima.

  “We await your arrival,” said Truth.

  Diotima shot a glance at Bruno. There was no need for words. Bruno remained alone in the commanding ship with an immense responsibility on his shoulders. His finger rested, ready, on the ray's safety. The destruction ray of the Atheist fleet would destroy Samos if Diotima were to fail and there was an immediate danger that the module would be connected to the processor.

  Truth waited in excited anticipation for the moment in which he could hold the tablet of his forefathers in his own hands. His blood coursed fiercely though his veins. What elation, he thought. A small tear trickled from his eye, rolled down his face over the blue tattooed spots on his skin and made its way down the wrinkles of his cheek. But that tear suddenly turned crimson.

  “Traitor!” screamed Flash as he wrested himself free from the soldiers that had been restraining him and shot the launcher on his belt directly at the commander's forehead. Blood spurted from Truth's head. Pandemonium broke loose in the simulator. It was unclear where the shot had come from. The guards did not stop Gabriel as he leapt toward Truth, who was lying on his back on the pearly floor. Gabriel cradled him in his arms.

  “No, commander, we need you now,” he said out loud. “I need you,” he whispered in his ear.

  Truth looked into his eyes and began to murmur the Mandaean deathbed prayer.

  The sweet redemption of death,

  Go now, my soul,

  Leave the earth,

  Escape from the anguished body,

  Flee from the world of sin and darkness,

  From hatred and zealotry and struggle,

  Arise, arise O soul,

  Enshroud yourself in light.

  The Mandaean's eyes closed forever.

  Even the most toughened Gnostic soldiers watched the events unfold with jaws agape. The audio-visual system was silent. Truth muttered his prayer as he lay dying while Gabriel leaned over him. Out of the fifteen pilots and badgers that filled the simulator, six of them, including Flash, were members of the Brotherhood. They cocked their weapons and pointed them at their Gnostic brethren. No one dared to shoot. No one was out of the range of fire. Everyone waited for the inevitable, wondering who would take that critical first step.

  CHAPTER 23

  Gabriel looked at the man who had been his teacher, commander and father. He would have given anything to bring back Truth. Despite his intense pain, he made an effort to act rationally. He knew that all eyes were on him now; he was supposed to lead them. He felt, however, that he did not want to inherit this role, especially because of the tragic way in which it had come to him. After he pulled Truth's eyelids closed, he stood up and faced his new subordinates.

  “Listen to me, my Gnostic brethren: Our dear leader is no longer with us. In due course, we shall take proper leave of him. We have an urgent, unpreced
ented task before us. You know me and know who I am. Some of you have fought alongside me. You are all witnesses to what has happened here. You heard what Truth said. You heard his last order that he left us before his death. 'The extraction of the divine spark from its external shell is not to be performed in the Pleroma, but rather in the souls of each and every one of us.'” Gabriel's measured tone was mature and confident.

  “You have seen the transformation undergone by Truth and myself. With your very eyes, you saw how Flash and his fellow dissidents used the guise of righteousness in order to cover up their own craving for power. We all know that, according to the Gnostic tradition, we must arrive at the moment of redemption with complete faith. This moment has yet to come.

  “As Truth has commanded me, I accept upon myself the mantle of Gnostic leadership. I shall bring us to the service of the Lord though life, not through death. I call upon you to follow me. Together, we can forge a new path toward redemption.”

  “Smoke is a traitor!” cried Flash, brandishing his drawn weapon with both hands. He recognized that if he tried to shoot Gabriel he would be shot back immediately. He gambled on rhetoric while members of the brotherhood took or would take control of the processor. “Smoke has fallen into the trap set by the Pythagorean Lilith and has deceived our dear leader. Our commander is no longer our leader. He failed in the past when he came to the aid of those who were falling; he failed when he rescued Smoke during the exercise; and he has failed once more right now, before your very eyes. The tablet of Uruk is not the Redeemer's Tablet. If it is not a forgery, it is no doubt tainted by the hands of he whose name has been erased, after he stole if from our holiest sanctuary. Cursed are the Atheist infidels who defiled the sacred tablet! Pay no heed to the Atheist female!” Flash's eyes burned with messianic fervor. “In the name of the Master of Light, our mission of liberation is not yet finished. Only those among us who are pure and innocent will merit joining the aeons in the pleroma; only those who are loyal to the Brotherhood of Purity and follow me will merit redemption. From this moment, I am the sole, indisputable leader of the Gnosis. Join me! We must liberate the divine spark from the impurity of the material world. The moment of redemption has come!”

  The warriors in the simulator and those listening via the audio-visual devices were shocked by the events unfolding around them. Some of them were motivated by hatred toward the man who had killed their leader, but many of them had begun to digest the enormity of the metamorphosis that had occurred in Gabriel and Truth and were beginning to experience it themselves as well. The majority of them, however, felt confused as they wavered between both positions, and were waiting to see what the others would do before committing themselves to a decision. Almost all of them sensed how the familiar ground that had shaped their lives was now crumbling beneath their very feet.

  Flash retreated with his back toward the entrance as his followers covered for him.

  “Don't shoot!” Gabriel commanded his followers.

  Flash and his followers slipped outside.

  “Not a single safety shall be released,” ordered Gabriel on the audio-visual system, “nor a single shot shall be fired without explicit orders from me. Do not open fire on the Pythagoreans, the Atheists or our brothers the Gnostic dissidents. I will give you further instructions soon. Repeat after me: In the name of the Master of Light!”

  Hesitant voices could be heard murmuring over the audio-visual system.

  “In the name of the Master of Light!” repeated Gabriel in an authoritative and determined tone.

  “In the name of the Master of Light!” echoed the audio-visual system more loudly.

  Before the invasion began Thales completed the final adjustments to the station's complex observation system. When he heard the Gnostics run through the passages he had ten audio-visual sensors, disguised as tiny mechanical mosquitoes that would broadcast the events to displays that Pasha and he carried in the corners of their eyes. By focusing their eyes at specific points on the display and then blinking, they could control the various functions of the observation system: they could alternate between the various camera views; split the display to simultaneously show different areas of Samos; or direct the mosquitoes in a desired direction or destination, either by mechanically steering it or by instructing it to a specified destination. He released one of the mosquitoes in the simulator, exited the simulator and released another mosquito. He placed the remaining eight in his pocket. He contacted Pasha and filled him in on the status of the invasion. Thales was apprehensive. If all else failed, he must destroy Samos. Sophia agreed with him. Barring all other courses of action, he and Pasha had planned on instructing the processor to 'self-generate', which would cause Samos to self-destruct.

  From their hidden outposts behind a wall that appeared to be completely solid, Thales and Pasha planned their courses of action. There were a number of additional points that they wanted to monitor via the mosquitoes. One mosquito was deployed toward the docking platforms and another to the simulator, leaving six remaining mosquitoes for Thales. They eavesdropped in on the conversations of the Brotherhood of Purity, Flash, Thunder and Spark. They heard Flash informing his cohorts that he was leaving his post at the ship's command station in order to take control and usurp Truth. Thales and Pasha followed his movements from the moment he landed on the merchants' platform. Truth's death and Flash's escape from the simulator sharpened their vigilance. Thales was more alert than he had ever been, thinking rapidly and lucidly despite the pressure and the fear. Finally, he knew that he had freed himself from the constraints of the Pythagorean ethos and was attuned only to his own will.

  Diotima had already left the spaceship as Bruno watched Truth collapse on the audiovisual display. He opened the second safety lock. He understood that the only option available to him was to deploy the ray and destroy Samos. Despite his reluctance, he was prepared to destroy Samos along with all of its inhabitants, all the Gnostics and Pythagoreans, Enosh and even Diotima—but not yet.

  Thales and Pasha heard Gabriel instructing his followers to fan out throughout Samos in an attempt to block Flash and prevent him from reaching the processor. Using the mosquito that they had left outside the simulator, they followed Flash and Thunder, who had joined him with the module. They watched them step over bound Pythagoreans as they made their way to the processor. Thunder took the lead with his loaded weapon, prepared to kill anyone in his way. Under Gabriel's orders, Gnostics did not attack them. Flash called on two squadrons, each comprised of four badgers, to join him. One of Gabriel's loyal pilots stood in their way but refrained from shooting them. Flash shot him point blank.

  Though this was only the second murder that Thales had witnessed, he had already begun to develop numbness toward killing. He was horrified when this realization dawned on him. They saw the two squadrons rushing from the direction of the platforms. One squadron was less than a minute's distance away from the processor, with a mosquito tracking its movements. Five mosquitoes remained in Thales' pocket.

  “We won't be able to prevent Flash and his badgers from reaching the processor. We must take over the processor immediately and wait for them there,” said Pasha.

  “How will we get there without exposing ourselves on the way over?” asked Thales.

  “Use the mosquitoes.”

  They progressed slowly toward the processor. Thales released all of the five remaining mosquitoes, dispatching three of them as lookouts in the front and two at the rear. The tiny sensors spread throughout the winding corridors and broadcasted precise information regarding the available routes and approaching danger. They changed courses a number of times with Pasha in the lead, ready for battle without any weapon in his hands, followed by Thales, who kept one eye on the path and the other on the display. No one was more familiar with Samos' corridors than Thales. He navigated through empty bypasses as they rushed to reach the processor before Flash got there with the module. They came to a stop at the bend before the bridge to the processor. A sq
uadron of badgers had beaten them there.

  The audio-visual system echoed with the voices of Gabriel's supporters. They repeatedly proclaimed their allegiance with fervor and enthusiasm to the backdrop of the spheres' heavenly melody.

  “Gabriel the Redeemer!

  Gabriel the Redeemer!

  Gabriel...” A spray of shots interrupted the cries of those who supported Gabriel, Shadow and his unit who were stationed at the processor. Thales looked at the bridge at the entrance to the processor via the display. A band of badgers had opened fire and killed Shadow and his soldiers. The band continued to progress down the corridor in formation, with two soldiers facing forward and two facing backward.

  “Thales, distract the two at the front using two mosquitoes in front of them,” whispered Pasha.

  Thales programmed the mosquitoes to bother the soldiers at the front. “Ready.”

  “Now, go out and strangle the Gnostic on the right. I'll take care of the other three. Are you ready?” whispered Pasha.

  “Ready,” replied Thales uneasily. His heart pounded in his ears like a drum. “Now!”

  Now was the moment of truth. He had been interested in the history of combat for years. Now was his chance to act. He silently crept behind a badger and swiftly pounced on him. He clutched his neck from behind with all his strength and pressed down on his windpipe with his finger. He was surprised at the tenderness of the flesh as he shook with the flailing body of his victim. After a long minute of struggling, he tossed the limp corpse to the ground.