by DJ Dalasta
Wallace bit his lower lip. He hunched over the ancient text in complete concentration and would occasionally mumble to himself. The stone tablet was laid out to his side, as was his writing pad, littered with notes and translations. Anna watched him with amazement having never seen anyone work so relentlessly. He was completely immersed. She would force him to take breaks for fear he would overstrain himself. He’d been at it for three days with little rest. Two colleagues joined him, one, an astro-physicist named Marcus Redman, was a squirrelly looking fellow with red hair. The other was Kiara Toudrey, a young African American mathematician with blond highlights. Anna didn’t put her much past thirty years old. They would whisper, then shout and then become deafly quiet. They acted as though Anna weren’t even there.
Nate stood next to her, “I’m thinking that maybe we should do something, like go to Boulder, check that out. I’m kinda bored.”
“It’s been three days. Relax and enjoy this place, it’s the vacation we desperately needed.” Anna replied. “I actually feel safe here.” The cabin did offer an environment of seclusion. They were the only ones for miles around. She preferred to have Skylar close by but at the moment he had left to pick up two more academic friends of Wallace. One was bringing a computer system with the latest in translation software. Wallace claimed with its computing power they’d be able to scan in the work and complete the translations in much less time. He claimed the accuracy of the machine was commendable, especially with full knowledge of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
“The reason I want to go to Boulder is because I finally got a message back. He gave me a phone number, told me to call it once I got into town,” Nate’s voice brought her back.
“I haven’t decided what we’re going to do next. But when I hear from Rock, I’ll let him know we might go to Boulder,” she told him. But she hadn’t heard from Rock since leaving Nova Scotia. That worried her.
“Anna, Anna darling,” Wallace’s came over to her. “Would you care to make us a pot of tea?” He looked tired.
“It would be my pleasure,” she said. They both walked into the kitchen. Wallace pointed to one of the taller cabinets, “up there,” he said. “This place didn’t have the short and old in mind when they built it.” She was a good three of four inches taller than him and much more nimble. She reached the packets without a problem.
“How are things going,” she asked.
“Amazing,” he said. “I’ve seen very little like it before though the symbols seem familiar, I can’t place them. Once we get the language software here, we’ll move much faster. What’s most fascinating about the book is that it was written by a man the Mayan’s considered to be a God. It is written by the hand of Kukulcan himself though I believe it to be a transcription of his actual writing.”
“So he wasn’t a God then, just a man.”
“Oh, to them he was a God. But what’s so strange about him is that he is depicted as a bearded white man, and this was long before the Spanish ever made it to the American shores. He is credited with the calendar and much of the astronomy that the Mayans were well known for. It’s a strange myth, I’ll tell it to you in full sometime.”
“I’d like that,” she replied.
“He is a very important deity in their religion and has common features with many other characters in other religions around the world.”
“Have you been able to translate anything yet, for sure?”
“Absolutely,” he began, “but it is a slow process. Only small chunks here and there. If I set my mind to it, I could finish off the stone plate and have a full reading in a few days, through the Mayan and Egyptian writing. But once the program gets here, we just scan it in and we’ll have a readout I will trust.”
“Just like that,” Anna said.
“It was developed early this year, they call it STUDI.” Wallace replied, “ and it’s been put through the motions, very few errors.”
“What does STUDI stand for?”
“Symbolic textual universal decoding instrument.”
“That’s a mouthful.”
“It is. But the program itself is amazing.”
“How does something like that work?”
“Well, it may seem like language translation is something a computer cannot grasp unless it has the entire set of both languages, or a firm and broad starting point. But that’s not entirely true. Languages and writing arises in a familiar and similar form from culture to culture. Of course independently arisen, two separate forms will look nothing similar but structurally can be linked. This has been found even though some cultures use alphabetic type writing systems while others use pictorial and glyph writing structures. Either way, one can always find a point of reference. Some say we never would have learned to read the Egyptian hieroglyphs without the Rosetta stone. But, at this point, our understanding of language and writing structure has come to the point where we would have been able to infer a few of the symbols, plugged them into a program and have at least a basic understanding, which would be built upon until the full system would reveal itself.”
“Ok,” Anna said. “That’s your department.”
Wallace laughed. “Let’s just say with what you’ve brought me, we’ll crack the language of that book in a few days once we process all the information. Something like this five years ago would have taken months if not years.”
“What about the missing pages,” she asked.
Wallace frowned. “That’s a misfortune. And like you pointed out, they were deliberately taken, cut from the book, not lost or a process of wear. My guess is that they go along with the mathematic equations, physics and astronomy in the back. That’s a language I’m not too familiar with, but my colleagues will know more soon. They are further along than I am right now. Familiar equations jump out much faster.”
Anna was confused. “What kind of familiar equations?”
“Since they aren’t 100% sure yet, I shouldn’t say anything. But preliminarily they think they’ve found equations similar to the Pythagorean theorem and even Einstein’s e equals mc squared. And at the moment they are questioning the age of the book.”
“They think it’s fake? Then why are people chasing us and shooting at us to get it.”
“I don’t know,” Wallace said, “but the answers should come soon. I should get back, let me know when that tea is ready.”
“I will.” Anna had a full pot of water heating over the stove. Wallace walked back into the other room. Anna smirked to herself. If that book proved to be authentic then one of the greatest achievements of modern society, made by Albert Einstein, would have already been known thousands of years ago. That would surely be one of the most startling discoveries of all time.
Skylar arrived the following night with two more people. He also came with food, drinks, movies and three air mattresses. She could have hugged him for that. She and Nate would have to share a room now and it wouldn’t do for them to be sleeping in the same bed.
“Hey woman,” Skylar met her.
“Nice greeting,” she returned.
“Anything happen since I’ve been gone.” He had driven to Nashville and stayed, waiting for Wallace’s people to arrive. He didn’t trust the Knoxville airport.
“Not much, Wallace is waiting for the program.”
“Well, it’s here,” he held out his hand as the two new people, one man and one woman took a few cases from the back of the truck. They smiled as they passed her but their hands were too full for introductions.
She and Nate helped Skylar unload the rest of the truck. When they were done, they meandered into the living room where a dozen laptop computers were being strung along the desks like a makeshift war room. She looked at Wallace who was standing out of the way.
“They’re linking them right now,” he said.
“You mean network,” Nate replied.
“Yes, yes network,” Wallace looked out of place. He
motioned for one of the new people to come over. A young man in his late thirties jogged over from the computer set-up. Wallace put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “Anna, this is Manuel Garcia, Manuel, this is Anna Riley. She and her ex-husband found the items.”
Manuel looked Mexican except for his blue eyes. He held out his hand. Anna smiled. “Pleasure to meet you,” she said.
“Likewise,” he replied.
“Manuel operates the STUDI. He’s also a historian, emphasis in ancient texts. His assistant,” Wallace pointed to a woman around the same age as Manuel. “Natasha is an anthropologist mainly interested in descriptive linguistics. They are going to help me crack the story here in record time.”
“I hope so,” she said. “Cause if this is authentic, there are some strange questions that need answering.”
“So I’ve heard,” Manuel replied softly. An awkward silence sat between the four of them.
“Well, we better get back to work Manuel,” Wallace pulled him away.
“Is there anything you want us to do,” Anna asked before they completely turned around.
“I don’t think so Anna. Just keep thinking doll. Fresh ideas are always the best.” Wallace turned his back and started whispering with Manuel. Anna felt like a waste of space. They were going to continue on with the translation of the book and delve into its pages and secrets and they were much better suited to do it than she. There was little she could do here but wait and listen.
“You’re thinking twice about going to Boulder now aren’t you,” Nate said softly as they made their way into the kitchen. “What about the relaxing vacation?”
“I think I’ve had enough of it. Get Skylar, tell him we’re going.”
Chapter 21
Boston, August 2012