Alex Mitchell - The 13th Tablet

‘On the yacht, just before they knocked me out…’ Mina faltered, ‘Wheatley mentioned an ancient Chinese oracle bone that listed…’

‘Excuse me?’ said Jack, interrupting her, ‘what the hell is an oracle bone?’

‘I am not really sure. All I know is that the oracle bone script is the oldest form of Chinese writing. They were used to predict events in imperial China, that’s why they are called oracle bones’.

‘Right’, said Jack, ‘so what’s engraved on Wheatley’s doggy bone?’

‘According to Wheatley, it lists a stone tablet ‘from the land in the West between two mighty rivers’, and four clay copies which were sent to the four corners of the world. He said this tablet enabled their owner to make accurate predictions.’

‘Hmm I see. From what I gathered about Wheatley’s line of business, I assume it would have to do with weather forecasting.’

‘Yes, and I now wonder if it doesn’t specifically have to do with flood forecasting.’

‘Why?’

‘The tablet I found… it’s a version of Noah’s story.

Jack raised his eyebrows.

‘A good Bible student like you should remember the story of Noah.’ Mina continued, ironically.

‘Yes of course, something about a flood and a pretty big boat as I recall?’

‘Right. The world of men has become evil and God is displeased. He finds only one righteous man.’

‘Noah.’

‘Yes, and He entrusts him with the future of mankind, animals and plants. Noah builds an ark and the flood destroys everything. For many days and nights the waters do not recede. Eventually the rain stops and Noah sends out a dove to see if there is land in the vicinity. The bird returns with an olive branch in its beak, proving that the waters are receding, and the cargo on Noah’s ark is safe. God decides to make a covenant with Noah never to destroy humanity again, and produces a rainbow as a sign of it.’

‘Lovely story. I always did wonder where rainbows came from. Right. What about the Sumerian version?’

‘Well, there are many historical layers to the Sumerian version. It’s a little complicated. Some fragments of the flood narrative date back to the turn of the second millennium B.C.E. in Sumerian poems. Others are found in Atrahasis , an epic written in Akkadian dating back to 1750–1650 B.C.E. But, the most complete story is revealed in the eleventh tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Standard Akkadian version. And that one is the most recent one, dating back to 1300–1100 B.C.E.. It’s pretty much the same story as the biblical one with a few twists; some Gods are displeased with the continuous noise that humans make and decide to destroy humanity, but others are on the humans’ side and entrust Utnapishtim, their ‘Noah’, to build an ark, they get into the ark, he sends out the birds, yada yada yada.’

‘OK. What about the tablet?’

‘I’m impressed. Last time I spoke to you, you kept interrupting me.’

‘You’re obviously getting better at telling stories.’ He grinned broadly at her. ‘The weather is getting worse. Do you know that Safed sometimes gets snowed in? I read that on the Internet yesterday. That’s if I was looking at the right place; there is a ton of different ways of spelling Safed.’

‘It’s Tsfat in Hebrew but it’s confusing, as sometimes it is also spelled Sefad or Sfad. It’s a really important town. It has been a prestigious centre of learning for over four hundred years and it’s one of Israel’s four sacred cities, together with Jerusalem, Hebron, and Tiberias… Did you say snow?’

‘It is over 900 metres above sea level.’

‘I hope you found us some coats and gloves?’

‘Mina. I’m a soldier. Preparation, preparation, preparation. Of course I have. So, the tablet?’

‘Yes. It differs from the Standard twelve tablets in philological ways that I can’t explain entirely until I’ve seen it again, but I don’t think that matters so much. What I find most intriguing is how different it is from the eleventh… there are loads of weird calculations.’

‘Calculations?’

‘Well the Sumerians were very advanced in mathematics and….’

‘Really? I thought the Greeks invented all that stuff?’

‘You’re doing it again.’

‘What?’

‘Interrupting me.’

‘Sorry. Go on.’

‘The Greeks were thinkers. They theorised about everything. The Sumerians and Chaldeans were quite different, they were obsessed with astronomy and astrology, which involved advanced mathematics. What is weird is that both the Sumerian and Hebrew original flood narratives contain the measurements of the ark, but nothing more in terms of mathematics.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘God tells Noah or, in the Sumerian version, different Gods tell Utnapishtim how to build the ark, how long it should be, how wide and so on. But the tablet I found provides lots of other calculations and formulas, which are far beyond my reach.’

‘Maybe I can help on that. Engineering and math, that’s me.’

‘You mean you don’t just shoot people and save damsels in distress?’

‘Now you’re being silly.’

‘I know.’

Mina stopped talking for a little while. Jack observed her from the corner of his eye. She seemed to be pondering something.

‘What are you mulling over?’

‘There may be another group of people after the tablet.’

‘Why? Oberon’s not enough for you?’

‘When you followed me, were you wearing a disguise?’

‘No.’

‘There was another man following me at the airport in Mosul and in Amman. He looked Middle Eastern, wearing a dark suit and with a long beard, I’m sure it was the same man.’

‘I remember that man in Amman,’ said Jack all of a sudden.

‘You saw him?’

‘I saw you watching someone ‘ he said.

‘What if he is part of a Muslim sect trying to retrieve the tablet for their own purpose? Who else grows such beards?’

‘The Amish?’

She giggled. Jack had a wonderful way of taking the tension out of the worst situations with a joke.

‘And Noah is referred to over 40 times in the Qur’an; he is an important figure in Islam.’

‘So what? You sound like some people I know: they’re wearing headscarves, so they must be terrorists!’

‘OK. I’ll tell you another story. According to Muslim belief, the ark is supposed to have circumnavigated the Ka’ba in Mecca before the waters of the flood receded.’

‘You’re kidding right?’

‘No. And another tradition holds that Noah’s grave is in the mosque in Mecca. Maybe my research has attracted the attention of a Muslim group completely unrelated to Oberon Wheatley.’

‘Maybe. But even if you’re right, these guys haven’t made a move, so, let’s concentrate on what we know.’

‘Oberon obviously believes the tablet would be worth millions if he could use it to forecast events ahead of competitors.’

‘Using the calculations you spoke of?’

‘Maybe. The other really weird element is that the tablet relates the Jewish moralistic view that humanity turned evil and was in need of radical cleansing through annihilation.’

‘Yes, you have told me about that before, but what do you make of it?’’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Maybe it’s a rebus of some sort. You know, like a code?’ Jack said.

‘You sound just like my student Hassan right now.’

‘I’m really starting to warm up to that boy!

After a few miles he got off the road, stopped at a small petrol station, and parked near the restaurant area.

‘Let’s take a break. I can’t see anything ahead with this rain. The weather’s awful. I don’t know about you, but I need a coffee and something to eat.’