Steve Alten - The Mayan Resurrection

‘Who you talking to, freak?’

Lilith looks up. Sees Daunte and his fourth grade pals. Feels the warm urine dribbling down her panties.

‘Run,’ whispers Brandy.

Lilith takes off, sprinting across two front lawns toward the church parking lot.

The boys chase her for a block, then give up.

Lilith Eve Robinson is a freak, but she is a fast freak. No one in school can catch her.

Gabriel Compound, Longboat Key, Florida

The Sikorsky Surveillance-3000 UAV (Unmanned Aero Vehicle) slows to hover twenty feet above the beach, its shadow dancing along the wet sand. Three feet in diameter, the donut-shaped flying saucer houses a series of short blades in its center hole that rotate horizontally like a helicopter’s rotors. Designed for low-speed surveillance, the SS-3000 is powered by fuel cells and can fly up to seventeen hours on a single charge.

Sealed within the UAV’s aluminum frame are three cameras, providing the viewer 360 degrees of video coverage.

Its aft camera focuses on two subjects jogging along the shoreline.

Jacob Gabriel steals a quick glance at the drone as his legs plow through the relentless surf. Jogging in ankle to knee-deep water is exhausting work, especially when breathing through a scuba mouthpiece, part of his combat swimmer’s training. The cadence of the incoming waves is erratic today, forcing the boy out of his pace. Lactic acid burns in his muscles, weighing his lithe form down.

It is the lactic acid that Jacob seeks. Tolerance of the oxygen-depriving chemical must be raised if he has any hope of survival on Xibalba. He looks up again at the drone, focusing his eyes upon its digital timer.

19:07… 19:08… 19:09…

Another eleven minutes. Push it…

The white-haired twin turns to his left. Manny is jogging in the wet sand, exhausted and red-faced but still keeping pace. Jacob bears down, increasing his speed.

Immanuel sees his brother pull ahead. His feet are aching, his calves in knots, but pride, long wounded by his brother’s accomplishments, refuses to allow him to quit.

Wheezing the salty air into the back of his parched throat, he digs deeper, matching Jacob’s pace.

The UAV images are beamed a half mile away to a closed-circuit flat-screen digital television monitor in Dominique’s oak-paneled family room. Seated on an olive green wraparound leather sofa, watching the scene, are Rabbi Steinberg and his wife, Mindy.

Dominique enters from the kitchen. She hands them each a glass of peach iced tea, its contents laced with the latest bioelixir designed to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, then sits back in her recliner.

Registering her presence, the recliner’s electromagnets instantly activate, the pulsating field invigorating the tight muscles in her back and neck.

‘Look at them,’ she says, pointing to the screen. ‘Jacob always pushing, Manny always lagging behind. I worry about him. I really have to push him to work out more in the Dojo.’

The rabbi shakes his head. ‘I don’t understand? What are you training these kids for? The Olympics?’

‘I don’t expect you to understand,’ Dominique says. ‘What God has planned for these boys requires preparation.’

‘Really? God has spoken to you?’

‘Rabbi, please.’

‘This has to do with that Mayan Popol Vuh nonsense.’

‘Nonsense?’ She turns on him. ‘Were you there when those drones started landing, or when that alien ship rose out of the Gulf? Were you there when my Mick disappeared?’

Mindy attempts to put an arm around her. ‘Stay calm, dear. You’re doing a terrific job raising these boys. No one’s doubting you, right, Richard?’

The rabbi shrugs. ‘I’m not trying to upset you. They’re both such well developed athletes. At least reconsider and let them play Little League.’

‘Out of the question. Do you have any idea what would happen if they competed in public?’

‘My guess is they’d meet some friends their age and make a few coaches very happy.’

‘Please. There’d be a riot at every practice.’

‘Still, it might be good for them, especially for Manny,’ Mindy suggests. ‘They need friends their own age. Today’s their birthday, and there are no children here. It’s not right. Manny’s such a loving child, but he always seems so sad.’

‘He hates it here,’ Dominique admits. ‘Then again, maybe he just hates his brother. Anyway, I’m still too afraid to let them leave the compound.’

‘Aren’t you being just a tad overprotective?’

‘Overprotective? There are lunatics out there, Mindy, thousands of them. Some want to worship my boys, others want to kill them. Security receives hundreds of letters a week, some of them quite graphic. It’s sick.’

‘I had no idea.’

‘We’re prisoners in a luxurious cage. Jake could care less, but poor Manny-all he ever talks about is playing football and basketball when he grows up. Breaks my heart.’

‘What about Jake?’ Mindy asks. ‘What does he want to do when he gets older?’

‘Jake wants to train. I never have to push him, he knows intuitively what lies ahead. Up before dawn swimming laps, then two hours on the computer, memorizing God-knows-what. After breakfast he’s in the gym, studying with his Tibetan monk until lunch-’

‘He’s seven years old,’ the rabbi says. ‘He should be reading comics and… and taking naps.’

‘Don’t you get it? He’s not like other kids. Jake’s naps consist of transcendental meditation sessions. Sometimes he “naps” hanging upside down from inversion boots, other times, he immerses himself in a tub of cold water.’

‘Cold water?’

‘The monk taught him that. Says it forces the mind to redirect the blood to the internal organs. At first Jake could only stay in the tub for thirty seconds. Now he’s up to fifteen minutes. One time I checked his pulse, and I swear, I couldn’t find it.’

‘So what can we do to help?’ Mindy asks.

‘I’m worried about raising the boys without a father figure in their lives. Salt and Pepper help, but they’re more like big brothers.’ She looks at the rabbi.

‘Okay, okay, I’ll talk to them. Maybe I can even suggest a way for Jacob to refocus some of that energy of his.’

Jacob enters the study. ‘Yes, sir, you wanted to see me?’

The rabbi looks up from the computer. ‘What? No hug?’

Jacob gives the man a cold embrace. ‘Was that all, sir, because I have a jujitsu lesson in half an hour, and I really should-’

‘Jujitsu can wait. I want to talk to you about Ju-daism.’ A nerdy smile.

No reaction.

‘You know, your paternal grandmother was Jewish, so were your mother’s parents.’

‘Actually, sir, my mother was adopted. Her real mother was Quiche Mayan. Her father was-’

‘Never mind. What’s important is history. Your mother tells me you’re interested in the Mayan Popol Vuh.’

‘Yes, sir. It’s a sacred parchment.’

‘Yes, sir, yes, sir… call me Rabbi or Uncle Rich, okay, tattala? Anyway, yes, I suppose the Popol Vuh is a sacred parchment, but it only dates back what… about five hundred years? The Bible, on the other hand, dates back thousands of years.’ He swivels in his chair to face the computer’s microphone. ‘Computer, access Torah, Hebrew text.’

The screen fills with Hebrew characters.

‘Your mother says you can read and speak several languages. Can you read Hebrew?’

‘No, sir… er, Rabbi.’ Blue eyes dart to the holographic display clock above the computer monitor. ‘I’m not really interested in-’

‘Not interested? I’m surprised at you. Here I thought you were someone who sought knowledge, who sought the truth.’

‘The Popol Vuh is-’

‘The Popol Vuh isn’t accurate, Jacob, it was written long after that Koo koo fella-’