Читать книгу Back To Earth - Danilo Clementoni - Страница 14

The colonel and Elisa were already draining their third glass of champagne, and the atmosphere between them had become decidedly less formal.

“I must say, Jack, this Masgouf is divine. I won’t be able to finish it. It’s huge.”

“Yes. It’s truly wonderful. We should send our compliments to the chef.”

“Maybe I should marry him so he can cook for me,” said Elisa, laughing a little too excessively. The alcohol was already beginning to take effect.

“No. He will have to wait in line. I was first.” He risked making this joke, hoping it would not be too inappropriate. Elisa pretended not to notice and continued to nibble at her sturgeon.

“Are you really not married?”

“No. I’ve never had the time for that.”

“That’s an old excuse,” she said, giving him a sly look.

“Well actually, I came very close once, but the military life doesn’t work too well with marriage. And you?” he added, changing a subject that was still painful to him. “Have you ever been married?”

“Are you joking? And who would put up with a woman who spends most of her time going around the world digging underground like a mole and enjoys desecrating thousands of year old tombs?”

“I see,” said Jack, smiling bitterly. “You’re obviously not cut out for marriage.” And raising a glass, he offered a melancholy “To us.”

The waiter arrived with a few more Samoons¹³ fresh from the oven, which fortunately interrupted that moment of sadness.

Grateful for this interruption, Jack tried to quickly banish a series of memories that had suddenly come into his mind. It was water under the bridge. Right now he had a beautiful woman sitting with him and he had to pay attention to her. This was not proving too difficult.

The gentle background music around them was just right. In the light of the three candles positioned at the centre of the table, Elisa looked wonderful. Her hair had gold and copper highlights, and her smooth skin was bronzed by the sun. Her penetrating eyes were of the deepest green. Using her soft lips, she was trying to pull a piece of sturgeon off the bone that she was holding between her fingers. So sexy.

Elisa was certainly not going to let the colonel’s moment of weakness go by. She placed the bone on the edge of her plate, and sucked the juice from her thumb and fingers with apparent nonchalance. Lowering her head, she gazed at him so intensely that Jack feared that his heart would leap out of his chest and land on his plate.

Realising that he was no longer in control of the situation, the colonel tried to pull himself together. He was much too old to behave like a lovesick school boy, but there was something about her that he found irresistibly attractive.

Taking a deep breath, he wiped his face with his hands and tried to say “Do you think we can finish this last piece?”

She smiled, gently took the last morsel of sturgeon and, leaning forward in her seat, moved it towards his mouth. In that position, the neckline of her dress fell away slightly, revealing her generous breasts. Jack, visibly embarrassed, took only a bite. He did not, however, manage to avoid her touching his lips with her fingers. He felt a growing sense of excitement. Elisa was playing with him like a cat with a mouse, and Jack was unable to defend himself.

Then, with the air of an innocent girl, she sat back in her chair as though nothing had happened and signalled to the tall, thin waiter, who arrived promptly.

“I think it’s time for some nice cardamom tea. What do you say, Jack?”

Still recovering from the previous incident, he stammered something like “Er, yes. Okay...” Straightening his jacket, he tried to adopt a more casual tone, adding “I believe it’s great for the digestion.”

He realised he had said something ridiculous, but at that time nothing else came to mind.

“This is all very pleasant, Jack. It’s been a lovely evening. But we mustn't forget the reason for our meeting tonight. There's something I have to show you, remember?”

In that moment, the Colonel was thinking of anything but work. She was right, however. There were more important things at stake than a foolish flirtation. The truth was that, to him, the flirting did not seem foolish.

“Sure,” he replied, trying to recover his authoritative expression. “I can’t wait to find out what you've discovered.”

At this point, the fat man in the nearby car, who was listening to everything, shouted “What a bitch!” Women are all the same. First they make you feel like they're going to take you to the moon, then they drop you as though nothing had happened.”

“I think your ten dollars will soon be lining my pockets,” said the thinner guy, following up his comment with a hearty laugh.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t give a damn who gets into bed with the professor. Don’t forget that we’re only here to find out what she knows.” While he was trying to find a more comfortable position in his seat because his back was beginning to ache, he added, “We should have found a way to place a camera inside that damn restaurant.”

“Yes, under the table, even. That way we’d have got a good look at her thighs.”

“Idiot. Which asshole picked you for this mission?”

“The boss, my friend. And I advise you not to insult him. He knows about bugging devices and he may even have bugged this car.”

The big man winced. For a moment he thought his heart had stopped beating. He was looking to build a career, and insulting his immediate superior was not exactly the way to get ahead.

“Stop talking bullshit,” he said, trying to sound serious and professional. “Just think about getting on with the job, and let’s get back to base with something concrete.” As he was saying this he was staring at a point in the night darkness, not well-defined through the slightly steamed up windscreen.

Elisa removed her beloved computer from her bag. Placing it on the table she began to scroll through the photos. The colonel, whose curiosity was aroused, tried to focus on something, but the angles did not allow it. Having found what she was looking for, she got up and moved to the seat next to him.

“Now,” she began. “Make yourself comfortable. It’s a long story. I’ll try to summarise as much as possible.”

Scrolling rapidly down the screen of her computer, she found a picture of a tablet engraved with strange drawings and cuneiform writings.

“This is a photograph of one of the tablets found in the tomb of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem,” Elisa went on. “He is thought to have been the first to open the Cave of Macpela, also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs, in 1119. This is where Abraham and his sons Isaac and Jacob are believed to be buried. These underground tombs were found beneath what today is called the Mosque, or the Sanctuary of Abraham in Hebron on the West Bank.” At this point, she showed him a picture of the mosque.

“Inside these tombs, in addition to many other things, the king found a set of tablets that would have belonged to Abraham. It’s even believed to represent some kind of diary that he kept, where he recorded some of the most significant events in his life.”

“His travel notes,” Jack suggested, hoping to make a favourable impression.

“In one way, yes. For someone of that period of history he wrote a lot down while he was travelling.”

She scrolled to another photo and continued to explain. The greatest experts on the language and graphical representation of the time have tried to translate what has been recorded on this tablet. Obviously, opinion is divided in some respects, but everyone agrees that this,” she continued, enlarging a detail on the photo, “may be interpreted as ‘vessel’ or ‘amphora of the gods’.” Then there are the words ‘burial’, ‘secret’ and ‘protection’, which are also quite clear.”

Jack was beginning to feel a little confused, but he kept nodding his head to convince Elisa that he had understood perfectly. She looked at him for an instant, then continued. “This symbol, on the other hand,” she said, adjusting the screen to make the image as clear as possible, “would, according to some, represent a tomb, and the tomb of a god. Whereas this part probably describes one of the gods warning or even threatening the people gathered around him.”

The colonel, partly due to the alcohol and partly due to the intoxicating perfume emanating from Elisa, and perhaps partly due to his being lost in her eyes, was no longer following what she was saying. In spite of this, he went on nodding, as if all was clear.

“To put it simply,” said Elisa, who had noticed that Jack was becoming ever more perplexed, “experts have interpreted the contents of this tablet as being a depiction of an event confirmed as having occurred during the time of Abraham, in which the alleged god, or broadly-speaking gods, would have hidden or buried it near one of their tombs. It was something very valuable, at least to them.”

“That seems like a bit of a leap of logic,” Jack began, trying to have some say in this matter. “Saying that something valuable was buried near the tomb of the gods. It’s not as though they provided GPS coordinates. It could refer to almost anything, anywhere.”

“You're right, but all inscriptions, especially those dating from so long ago, have to go through a process of interpretation and contextualisation. That’s what the experts are there for. And I’m one of them, by the way.” As she said this, she pretended to be a model posing in front of paparazzi cameras.

“Ok, ok. I know how clever you are. But right now, try to make this clear to us mere mortals.”

“Essentially,” Elisa continued once she had composed herself, “having analysed and compared all kinds of historical finds, including facts, legends, rumours, and so on and so forth, the consensus of the greatest minds in the world is that there is an element of truth in this reconstruction. On this basis, they unleashed archaeologists from all over the world to search for this mysterious object.”

“But where does ELSAD fit into all this?” The colonel was beginning to regain his cerebral function. “What they told me was that this research was aimed at recovering some imaginary alien artefacts.”

“And maybe that’s exactly how it is,” replied Elisa. “It’s now widely believed that these ‘gods’, who in ancient times were wandering around Earth, were none other than humanoids from a planet outside our solar system. Because of their technological superiority, particularly in medicine and science, it’s quite possible that they were mistaken for deities capable of performing miracles.”

“I see,” interrupted Jack. “If I appeared in front of a tribe in the middle of the Amazon in an Apache combat helicopter and started launching missiles, even I could be mistaken for an angry god.”

“This is precisely the effect that they would have had on the people of that time. There are some who even believe that it was these aliens who implanted a seed of intelligence into Homo Erectus, thus transforming them, in just a few tens of thousands of years, into those we now call Homo sapiens sapiens.”

Elisa looked carefully at the colonel, whose expression was one of astonishment, and decided to sink a low blow. “To tell the truth, as the person in charge of this mission, I’d have thought you’d be better informed.”

“I'd have thought so too,” Jack blurted out. “Obviously, those in authority follow a ‘less said the better’ philosophy.” Anger was beginning to take the place of his former schmaltz.

Sensing this, Elisa placed her computer on the table and brought her face so close to the Colonel's that for a moment he held his breath, thinking that she even wanted to kiss him. “Now for the best part,” she said.

Returning to her seat with a swift movement, she showed him another photograph. "While everyone’s been throwing themselves into the search for this notorious ‘Tomb of the gods’, by going off to rummage through the Egyptian pyramids, the tombs of the gods par excellence, I’ve been formulating a different interpretation of what’s engraved on the tablet, which I believe is the correct one. Look at this,” she said, complacently showing him an image that depicted the text according to her own interpretation.

The two cronies listening to the conversation of the diners would have given anything to be able to see the photos being shown to the Colonel.

“Damn!” cried the larger one. “We have to get our hands on that handheld device.”

“Let’s hope that at least one of them reads it out loud,” replied his thinner companion.

“Let’s hope that this ‘romantic dinner’ is over soon. I’m sick of sitting outside in the dark, and what’s more, I’m starving.”

“Starving? What d’you mean? You’ve just eaten my share of the sandwiches.”

“Not all of it, my friend. There’s one left and I intend to gobble it up.” Smugly, he turned to remove it from a bag on the rear seat. In turning, however, his knee hit against the power button on the recording system, which gave out a faint beep and died out.

“You clumsy idiot! Are you trying to attract attention?” The thin guy hastened to switch the instrument back on. “Now I’ll have to restart the system and that will take at least a minute. Just pray that they’re not saying anything important, otherwise this time I’ll kick your fat ass to the Persian Gulf!”

“Sorry,” said the fat guy in a quiet voice. “I think it’s time you went on a diet.”

“The gods buried the vessel with precious contents to the south of the temple, ordering the people to stay away from it until they returned, for fear that some terrible calamity would otherwise befall all nations. Four blazing guardians were stationed there to protect the site.

“This is how I translate it,” said Elisa proudly. “In my opinion, the correct name for it is not ‘tomb’ but ‘temple’, and the Ziqqurat of Ur, where my research was carried out, is none other than a temple erected for the gods. There are certainly a number of Ziqqurat in this area, but none of them are this close to the house belonging to the person who, presumably, was the one who inscribed the tablets: dear old Abraham.”

“Very interesting.” The Colonel was scrutinising the text. “The place that everyone has identified as the ‘House of Abraham’ is only a few hundred metres from the temple.”

“Also,” Elisa continued, “if these beings really were aliens, imagine how interesting this ‘vessel’ could be to the military. Perhaps even more so than the ‘precious contents’.”

Jack was pensive for a moment, then he replied, “that’s the reason for all this interest on the part of ELSAD. The buried vessel might be much more than a simple earthenware container.”

“Well done. And now for the moment of truth,” cried Elisa theatrically. “Ladies and gentlemen, I now present what I found this morning.”

She touched the screen and a new photo appeared on the device. “But it’s the same symbol as the one on the tablet,” exclaimed Jack.

“Exactly. But I only shot this photo today,” replied Elisa, feeling pleased with herself. “Apparently, Abraham used the same symbol to represent the ‘gods’ as the Sumerians had already used: a star with twelve planets around it, and, incidentally, it’s the same as the one I found engraved on the cover of the ‘container’ that we are in the process of unearthing.

“That might not mean anything,” remarked Jack. “Maybe it's just a coincidence. That symbol could have hundreds of meanings.”

“You think so? How about this one? What do you think it is?” she asked, showing him the last photo. “We took this from the outside of the container, using our portable X ray equipment.”

All Jack could do was stare in amazement, his eyes wide open.