The Kings of Sumer (continued from SNES)

[Samuel Johnson]

General Lawrence lit a torch in the fire at the entrance to the cavern and peered ahead as Modish kept walking and disappearing into the darkness. The entrance had been cleverly hidden by the Freemasons, that was for sure.

"General, come along, come along. Nothing to be afraid of in here. They have since long gone."

Lawrence frowned. Who had since long gone? And while he knew the crazy cult had been digging into the Diamond Head rock, he had no idea that there was an already existing cave inside the rock. He looked at his feet and saw that he was standing at the head of a stairway attached to the cave wall and going downwards.

Modish continued, "General, as a Christian you are familiar with the story of the Great Flood, no?"

Lawrence grunted.

"What you may not know is that the Babylonians have their own story of a great flood which differs somewhat from your Genesis.

"Although a Brit named George Smith has taken taken credit for its discovery, the story has been long passed down among my people and was part of our, ahem, secret history.

"In your version, the one who saved humanity during the Great Flood is known as Noah. In our version, his name is Ut-napishtim, son of Ubar-Tutu, King of Shuruppak, one of the original kings of Sumer."

Lawrence eyes had adjusted to the decreased light and began to notice strange etchings all over the cave walls. He stopped and inspected them closely - they were a cross between Egyptian hieroglyphs and part cunieform pictograms.

"Who--"

Modish turned around. "Interesting, aren't they? Our team has begun translating them. Come along, come along."

"Continuing - 'when Shuruppak was already an old city' - perhaps hundreds of thousands of years - the so-called gods sent a deluge to wipe out the human race. But one of these gods took pity on Ut-napishtim. His name is known as Ea and he whispered to Ut-naptishtim to build a ship and take what he called 'the seed of all living creatures.' Ut-naptishtim did as he was instructed and when the deluge indeed came, he entered his ship and waited to be taken away.

"When the flood did come, well, the gods regretted their actions and went into mourning for 'man' - whom they had created from the 'clay of the earth'."

As Modish and Lawrence came down to a landing, Modish thrust his torch into a crevice in the stone causing several other torches to burst forth in flame. Modish gestured behind the General who turned around and saw a nearly 20 meter statue carved into the malleable stone towering over the two men. They had been actually walking around it.

Modish giggled. "I could have strung electric lights but I think the effect that the ancients left here is quite stunning."

Lawrence gaped at the statue. It depicted a man with a long beard holding a dead bird in his cradled arms.

Modish held his hands out. "Behold, General. Ea, the god. Or should I say Ubar-Tutu, our Babylonian Noah's own father. "

Offhand, Modish threw in, "he was of the original immortals of earth."

Modish continued after a length of silence and motioned the Proconsul to the next set of downward stairs. The proconsul notice that the etchings on the wall now looked more like letters than pictographs.

"Now, all of man is said to have perished in the Great Flood except, of course, for Ut-napishtim and his family. We are told that his boat landed on mount Nisir and after a week, Ut-napishtim sent forth a dove and then a swallow and then finally a raven who did not return. Ut-napishtim, as instructed, then lit a fire and sacrificed the sweet cane, cedar and myrtle of ancient Mesopotania. Or so the myth says."

"Our belief, now confirmed by the writings on this wall, is that this was actually a signal to Ea who 'watched from above'. Ea then revealed his deception to the gods who rejoiced and 'descended from the heavens bestowed a gift upon Ut-napishtim. At the same time, the gods also retrieved the 'seed of all living creatures'"

Modish turned to the General.

"And that gift was that of life forever and the secret of which we seek."

"Behold, General, for you stand underneath the landing place of Ut-napishtim, Mt. Nisir, here in the Polynesian chain known as Hawaii."

They came to a second landing and Modish again lit a torch which triggered a number of other torches around the large room.

"Now - we know that Ut-napishtim lived here for a long time - many centuries in fact until he was visited by another son of the gods. Look around the level we are now at and see his carvings and depictions of the other gods. He was quite the artist - but I suppose if one had nothing else to do for hundreds of years, one could become quite proficient"

Lawrence saw a circle of statues carved into the wall in this lower tavern. One of the statues was just like the large statue above - obviously Ea but the others varied in size and sex - a total of eleven.

"Behold, General, the Kings of Sumer. The ancients who founded the original cities of our Babylonian land, caused the Great Flood when man angered them and now..."

He paused and looked deeply into Lawrence's eyes above the flickering fire light.

"...and who now to this day live among us... "

Lawrence scoffed to himself. Modish continued.

"...affecting our lives and nations, manipulating the people to go into wars and causing all sorts of mischief. Some are inherently driven towards good and seem to inspire us. These statues depict their likenesses and Ut-naptishtim has left us many clues as to their idenities. There's one in particular, I think you should see. His name is Enkidu and he is known throughout history as affecting many cultures - the American Indians called him the trickster and he pops up nearly everywhere. Do you recognize his face, General?"

Lawrence walked towards the stone carving which had been set apart from the others and waved the torch at its very lifelike face.

He stopped and the torch dropped to the ground.

There looking at him with those malevolent eyes was the evil one himself, whom Lawrence had chased across the desert for many months until all trace of him just vanished into thin air.

One word slipped from his lips, a croak whisper...

"Saddam."

He turned towards Modish in a blazing fury and pulled his sidearm.

"HOW DARE YOU! THIS HOAX MUST STOP NOW!"

But then he looked behind Modish who stood impassively and saw the statue of a woman.

"My god...Mercouri... Melina Mercouri of the Greeks ... how can this be?"

Modish smiled... "Oh, it gets better. Look at her statue again and then think about all that history you learned in the military academy. Does she reminded you of someone else - perhaps the person you did you wonderful thesis on?"

Now Lawrence tilted his head and inched up closer to the statue.

"Nooo...." He must be going mad. "This cannot be... I never noticed it before with Mercouri... no, no..."

His knees buckled for he was now looking at his hero... Alexander. Alexander the Great.

He now reeled around the room seeing before him the likeness of great leaders and despots of history around him, shifting in the light, ancient and modern, medieval and colonial.

He fell to his knees. All of the wonderful history that he cherished. A joke - a manipulation of these... these... gods? these charlatans? ... our...overlords...?

[Paddy]

thanks.... will there be more?