Nothing New Under the Sun, page 36
“Would you like me to tell you now about the respirocyte venture?” Youssef inquired.
“Yes, I am eager to hear about that. I take it this is where I will hear the bad news now?”
Youssef shifted with a bit of unease. He would not hide anything from his friend, but it would have been much easier if what he was about to tell him was all good news.
“As you know, this Professor Devereux’s wife, Dr. Mackenzie Devereux, is now also working for A-Echelon. Her task is to conduct research into ancient medicine to find out if respirocytes were known to the ancients.”
“I was aware that she had become an employee of A-Echelon and was doing research on ancient medicine, but not that she had been looking at respirocytes. I’m struggling to tell my brain that it’s not too farfetched.”
“True, it’s hard to believe, but if the ancients did build nuclear weapons, it’s possible they could have built respirocyte generators as well. These days I am not prepared to believe that anything can be too farfetched.”
Youssef continued giving Algosaibi a detailed report of the work that Mackenzie had been doing and her discoveries. He included all the details of Mackenzie’s discovery of the Books of the Elders of Medicine that led her to the Sirralnnudam texts. He showed him all the reports Mackenzie had sent back to Irene and the transcripts of the conversations between her and Harry, recorded by Meryl.
The excitement was clearly visible on Algosaibi’s face when Youssef paused. “Youssef, please tell me you have that book, the Sirralnnudam.”
Youssef couldn’t meet Xavier’s eyes. He stared out in front of him. “I am sorry to say, my friend, but that’s the bad news. We had a woman on the inside that did excellent work. She followed Dr. Devereux and recorded all her conversations with the linguist helping her. After the doctor left the last day of her visit, she stole the Sirralnnudam and got it out of the building. However, there was a severe thunderstorm with pouring rain. As she was running to the car, she slipped and fell, and lost her grip on the book. It was washed away into the storm water system of Yerevan.” Youssef sighed when he completed the narrative.
Algosaibi had his hands in a steeple over his mouth while he considered what Youssef just told him. A few minutes of uneasy silence followed, and then he asked, “Do you think there is a chance that this woman, Dr. Devereux, has made a copy of the Sirralnnudam?”
Youssef shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. In the transcripts, you will see that she and her linguist have agreed that they would have to go back to the Institute in Yerevan with a team of translators to help them translate the text.”
Algosaibi was quiet for a few moments. “And that was the only copy of that text in the world?”
Youssef nodded slowly. “I am afraid it’s now lost to us and the world.”
Algosaibi formed his hands in a steeple over his mouth again and stared at the floor for a few minutes again. “What information do you have about Professor Devereux and his wife? Do you know where they live, their movements and habits?”
Chapter 47
The Sirralnnudam
Much to Daan Hannah’s delight, Carter and Rhodes had changed their travel plans to remain onsite at the City of Lights for an additional two weeks to continue the GPR surveys. Their research had indicated there were a vast number of underground structures waiting to be explored.
Daan’s eyes filled with tears when Carter told him they were in the process of requesting additional funding and resources for the excavation of the city. He didn’t mind that the acquisition of funding from America would mean the entire operation might be managed by Americans eventually. He was just happy that the site would get the attention it deserved, although he did request that he and his daughter be allowed to continue as part of the team.
On her return to Boston, Mackenzie wrote a detailed report about her trip to Armenia that she would submit to Irene in person. They had arranged to meet at A-Echelon a couple of days later.
They met at the exit to the Airlock after Mackenzie cleared the usual security check and Irene handed her the security card, which authorized her to move around the A-Echelon offices.
After they’d prepared their drinks in the kitchen, they went to one of the secured meeting rooms where Mackenzie provided a detailed account of her research at the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts. She didn’t mention that she’d copied the Sirralnnudam.
“So let’s see if I understand the significance of what you’ve unveiled,” Irene said when Mackenzie finished her report. “The Books of the Elders of Medicine contained the first major breakthrough in the sense that it confirmed the existence of, what we today call, respirocytes in antiquity?”
“Yes indeed,” Mackenzie smiled. “I think that was a substantial leap forward. Up to now, we were just poking around in the dark trying to find out if prehistoric practitioners of medicine knew of the concept. Now we have confirmation that is indeed the case. They did.”
“Do you think the information you have at hand could already be useful to researchers in this field?”
Mackenzie had been thinking about it since she first laid eyes on the translation of those passages by Harry. “I have been giving that idea much thought over the past week or so. Yes, I think what we have can be useful. But there …”
Irene held her hand up. “Apologies for interrupting. If you don’t mind, I would like to get Hunter and the DARPA people in here so we can discuss this in one meeting. That way you won’t have to repeat the whole thing three times over.” She looked at Mackenzie for approval.
“No problem at all.”
Irene used the phone in the meeting room to call Director Patrick and Drs. Cate Nelson and Scott Watson. They were all available and joined Irene and Mackenzie in the meeting room shortly afterward.
Irene gave them a brief overview of Mackenzie’s trip and then handed off to Mackenzie for the detailed narrative.
Mackenzie started off by describing the discovery of the Latin text they’d found in the A-Echelon vaults and how that led them to the Books of the Elders of Medicine in Armenia, which then referred them to the incomprehensible Sirralnnudam text.
A short discussion followed ending with Hunter promising to secure funding for a team of linguists to visit Armenia and begin translating the Sirralnnudam text as soon as possible. They agreed it would be necessary for Mackenzie to accompany the team; therefore, it would have to wait until she returned from her holiday.
“Okay, Mackenzie, this is very exciting,” Cate Nelson said as she leaned forward. “Would you mind sharing with us all the technical information you have gathered so far?”
Mackenzie looked at Patrick and Irene, who nodded for her to continue. “It was fascinating reading finding out how they did it. They used oxygen-filled microparticles covered with a layer of fatty molecules as the transport medium. Each molecule encapsulated a tiny pocket of oxygen. The microparticles were injected into patients in a liquid solution.”
Cate and Scott each started shaking their heads. “What?” Mackenzie asked a bit worried. “Have I said something wrong?”
“No, no, sorry. It’s just such a huge mind shift,” Cate laughed. “Here we live in the 21st century, believing we are the most advanced, scientifically knowledgeable human beings ever to walk the planet. I suspect we are in for a rather large serving of humble pie.”
Mackenzie nodded with a smile. “I know the feeling. One day when we have a bit of time, I’ll tell you all about my metamorphosis.”
“Have you found anything that explains the benefits they derived from this treatment and exactly how they did it?” Scott wanted to know.
“The answer to your first question is yes, the second no.” Mackenzie continued. “The text we found described how the treatment restored the blood oxygen to near-normal levels within seconds.” Mackenzie looked at the notes on her laptop. “Here is a translated quote from one of the authors … ‘I saw blue blood, a sign of low oxygen, turn red, almost instantaneously - reversing brain damage, restoring respiratory functions and damage to the heart.’”
Mackenzie’s audience was agog. “So that means,” Hunter started with a soft voice which grew louder as he kept on expressing his thought, “you have found confirmation about the use of respirocytes by the ancients!”
Mackenzie looked at Irene, who came to the same conclusion earlier in the morning. Mackenzie smiled, “Yes that’s correct. It’s amazing isn’t it?”
Hunter laughed, “Mackenzie that is the biggest understatement I’ve ever heard. It’s not only amazing, it’s earthshaking!”
A few moments of quiet descended upon the group as they digested the information. “Mackenzie,” Scott broke the silence, “you’d been doing a lot of research on this topic before you started digging into history. So I guess you have a good handle on the approaches current researchers use? Is there anyone that you know of that has ever looked at the approach you have just described to us?”
“I don’t know of anyone doing this,” Mackenzie replied. “All of the research projects that I have been privy to are trying to build an artificial red blood cell. They are attempting to follow Robert Freitas’s ideas as described in his 1998 paper titled, A Mechanical Artificial Red Blood Cell: Exploratory Design in Medical Nanotechnology. They're all using artificial materials to create a generator to produce these respirocytes to replace human red blood cells and hopefully, do a better job than our natural red blood cells do.”
“That means we have to find out how they built those ancient respirocytes. I just hope we’ll get the answers in that strange book you mentioned,” Hunter commented.
“The Sirralnnudam,” Mackenzie noted. “Yes, I’m keen to see what we can learn from it. It’s difficult to predict what we’ll find. It certainly contains the right keywords as far as Harry could understand. If it doesn’t have all the details we are looking for, we might, at least, find references to more documents.”
“So in summary then,” Hunter started to wrap up the meeting, “we have enough information to encourage us to continue our research, and we have information which could be useful to modern day researchers. But, it might be wiser to see what we get out of the translation of the Sirraln-what’s-a-name text first.”
Mackenzie and Irene nodded their agreement.
“Thank you for the update, Irene, and Mackenzie. Excellent work. I will give the President a report early next week,” Hunter said as he stood to leave.
The rest of them continued for another half hour, to discuss more of the technical details. By midday, Mackenzie wrapped up her meeting and was on her way home. She was looking forward to a six-week Mediterranean holiday and luxury cruise with Carter and Liam.
Back in Boston, Mackenzie made sure she had all her research backed up and safely stored, including a copy of everything on the miniature camera, which contained the copy of the Sirralnnudam. Sooner or later, Carter would have to know about her illegal activities in Armenia, and broaching the subject with him would be difficult. Other than the miniature camera, which she’d take with her, everything else, including her laptop and tablet, would be securely locked up in the vault.
For the next six weeks, it was going to be family time. If it happened that she and Carter did discuss her work, she could plug the miniature camera into his laptop.
She and Liam started packing. Mackenzie did a last minute check to make sure all their travel documents were in order and double-checked with the travel agent to make sure all the booking arrangements and itinerary were still as agreed.
She had a hard time explaining to Liam that it would be impossible to take Jeha with them on the trip, but that his grandparents would take loving care of her while he was away, the same way Ahote was taking care of Nelly while he was away from Freydis.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Xavier Algosaibi smiled when he got the coded message from Youssef Bin-Bandar to meet about an urgent matter in two hours’ time at one of their secured meeting venues. He had been waiting for this message for the past two days and was getting a bit impatient.
“Xavier my friend,” Bin-Bandar smiled as the meeting began, “We have everything we need to give the go-ahead for the operation.” Bin-Bandar was keen to try to please his friend after the messy end to the operation in Armenia when they lost the Sirralnnudam.
“What do you have?” Xavier asked with raised eyebrows.
“I have here two reports that might be of great interest to you. The first one is a copy of a report by Dr. Mackenzie Devereux, which Hunter Patrick, the Director of A-Echelon, handed to the President earlier in the week. It contains all the details of her research.”
“Have they made a copy of the Sirralnnudam text?” Algosaibi leaned forward eagerly in the hope Youssef would give him some good news.
“Unfortunately not,” Youssef replied in a somber voice. “From what I gather, they are still unaware that the text has been lost. They are planning to send a team to Armenia to do the translation.”
Algosaibi nodded the disappointment clearly visible on his face. “This report contains information we don’t already know?”
“Very much so, my friend,” Youssef replied, the excitement returning to his tone. “This Dr. Devereux has solved a big part of the puzzle for us. She discovered how the ancients used respirocytes. I have to admit she didn’t get all the information, but she found enough for our scientists to work with.”
“That’s very encouraging Youssef. It’s not the Grand Prize, but I guess without the Sirralnnudam this is the only prize we can hope for.”
Youssef smiled. He was starting to feel a lot better now.
“What’s in the second report?” Algosaibi inquired.
“Not as exciting as the first report, but still very important, I dare to say,” Youssef answered. “It’s the complete report created and submitted to A-Echelon by Professor Carter Devereux. It contains all the details about his exploration of the sites in North India and the City of Lights in Egypt. He hasn’t found any nuclear devices yet, but he clearly stated in his report that he has absolutely no doubts about their existence. He also reiterated the importance of the two sites in the search for those nukes.”
“Good. I’m very pleased with our achievements.” Algosaibi stated. “Can you give me the assurance that you have everything ready to launch our planned operation?”
“Yes, hand on my heart,” Youssef said and put his hand on his chest. “Everything has been planned in minute detail. Now I only wait for you to say the word, and the operation will kick into action.”
Algosaibi had his hands in a steeple under his chin, his elbows resting on the armrest of the chair, staring at the table as though considering the next move in a complex strategy game. After a few minutes, he looked up at Youssef and said, “Let’s do it. Allahu Akbar.” With that, he took the last sip of his coffee, stood, shook Youssef’s hand, and left.
Chapter 48
The Triangle
Tel Aviv, Israel
Carter was waiting for Mackenzie and Liam at Ben Gurion International Airport, Southeast of Tel Aviv when their El Al flight from Boston landed shortly after midday. He had been there for a few hours already since he had to see Rhodes off to Washington D.C. earlier.
It was a non-stop 11-hour flight, and Carter made sure that the two of them were booked in first class so they would be comfortable enough to enjoy the trip and get some sleep. They would only have two days in Jerusalem, and had a lot to see in those two days before they embarked on the cruise ship.
Carter spotted Mackenzie and Liam before they saw him. Carter was amazed at how it never ceased to set his heart racing to see Mackenzie after any period of absence. Despite the long flight, casual loose fitting clothes, and minimal makeup, she remained a vision of natural beauty and elegance that melted his heart. Mackenzie caught Carter’s eye, then bent down and pointed Liam towards him while she followed with the baggage trolley.
Liam raced through the crowd, sidestepping people like a major league quarterback, straight into his dad’s waiting arms. Mackenzie, arriving shortly after, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. “I missed you so much,” she whispered in his ear.
“I missed you too, Mackie. I can’t believe you’re finally here. We’re going to have a great time.”
Security was tight at the airport. Liam stared openly at all the heavily armed soldiers and security personnel. He didn’t seem to be frightened by their presence - just interested. A few of the soldiers made his day when noticing his curiosity, they smiled and waved at him.
From the airport to their hotel in Jerusalem was about 30 miles, and Carter had a taxi waiting for them outside. On the way, the driver gave them a running commentary about the sites they were passing in accented, but excellent English. Liam had his face next to the window staring at all the people in their strange looking garb with headdresses, and leading animals. He swung around to stare out the window when he saw a few men riding camels.
The terrain reminded Mackenzie of Arizona. There was not a lot of rain in this part of the world, and she smiled when she recalled that one of the former Prime Ministers of Israel, Golda Meir, once joked about Moses wandering all those years in the wilderness to find the one place in the Middle East that didn’t have oil.
Jerusalem, Israel
Carter loved Jerusalem and always looked forward to visiting it. He was sure his family would soon embrace his sentiments as well.
Their hotel was not too far from the Downtown Triangle, a dense concentration of shops and entertainment venues. As in every part of the isolated nation, security was tight. Each hotel had three men in uniform at the entrance and four more outside doing perimeter checks. It was obvious that the Israelis took the safety of their people very serious.
They had a two-bedroom suite on the tenth floor with a lovely view over parts of the city. The quickest way to get their body clocks in sync with the new time zone, they decided, would be to stay awake until nightfall. Both Liam and Mackenzie had been able to get some sleep during their flight and were too excited to go to bed now in any event. They unpacked some of their things, making sure they locked up all their valuables, including Carter’s laptops and tablet, as well as Mackenzie’s miniature camera, in the safe inside the room. They all took quick showers and then went down to the hotel restaurant for a snack and something refreshing to drink.
