Ice Shock(36)
“It took us a while to work that out. We came to recognize that our own poor linguistic skills proved something of an impediment. Since then we’ve started training a group of linguists and epigraphers. There are few ancient languages we don’t know here—we’ve even cracked Linear A.”
“And that’s good?”
“It’s remarkable. No one else on earth can read Linear A.”
“So the Erinsi wrote in English?”
Montoyo sighs. “Be logical, Josh. If their own name for themselves uses words from ancient Sumerian, why would they speak English?”
“So … the Erinsi wrote the stuff in the codices … and Itzamna just copied it and translated it into English?”
“We believe so. With no evidence of the original inscriptions, we can’t be sure.”
“The original inscriptions on the temple walls—they’re gone?”
“As far as we know, destroyed by a lava flow,” Montoyo says.
“Where was the temple?”
“At Izapa. It’s here in Mexico, near the volcano Tacana.”
I think of the thrilling flight with Benicio, when we were chased by the NRO in their Mark I Muwans. “I’ve been there,” I say.
Montoyo bows his head and actually smiles. “I know.”
“So you’re saying … there were some ancient inscriptions in a Mayan temple … written in Sumerian?”
“That’s pure speculation. We’ve yet to find the remains of this temple of inscriptions. We believe it to be buried. Believe me, we’ve searched.”
“So what are the Erinsi? ‘People of Memory’? What do they remember? And they’re the ones with all this technology—the Muwans, the poisonous gas on the Ix Codex, the genes that protect the Bakabs?”
Montoyo smiles again. “Yes, that’s right. Now you know almost as much as we do.”
“And Itzamna is … what … ?”
“What do you think … ?”
I can’t bring myself to say it. It sounds so ridiculous.
“If he wrote in English … and modern English wasn’t spoken until the fifteenth century … then …”
“Yes?”
“Then … he must be a time traveler. From the future.”
“You got it.”
“That’s your theory?”
“That’s our theory.”
“That’s just crazy.”
Montoyo shrugs. “You never heard that saying from your Sherlock Holmes? ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’”
“But time travel is impossible.”
“Is it? Can you prove that?”
“No … but … wouldn’t we have seen people from the future?”
“And you can prove you haven’t?”
“No … but … isn’t it impossible, I mean, according to the laws of physics?”
“Depends which physicist you ask.”
I think about it a little more. “You actually believe this?”
Montoyo shrugs. “We have no proof. And yet, the theory would appear to explain the facts.”
“You’ve looked for his time machine?”
“We have.”
“And?”
“Nothing so far. But as you know, the Depths under Ek Naab have mysterious qualities. We’ve never fully explored them. Too many people have disappeared in the attempt. It’s fair to say that within the members of the Executive there’s a belief that somewhere, there exists a time-travel device.”
“And that’s why you want that thing my father took, isn’t it?”
Montoyo inhales sharply. “Smart boy.” I guess he thinks I’ve forgotten that he all but accused my dad of stealing the Bracelet of Itzamna when he was in Ek Naab. Or that we made a deal; a personal secret mission to track down any news of what became of the Bracelet. Not a mission I took very seriously, to be honest, once my mysterious leaf-storm dream began to lead me to the Ix Codex.
“The Bracelet of Itzamna … it’s part of the time machine?”
“We think so. The Bracelet itself has no function. We’ve run all sorts of tests on it … nothing. We think that the Bracelet is incomplete.”
“Broken, you mean?”
Montoyo considers. “No … incomplete; just one part of a more complex machine. We assume that it fits inside another device.”
“The Container?” I say, remembering the text I translated from the Ix Codex.
“Could be. We can’t be sure.”
“And you think Madison’s group has the other artifact—the Adapter?”
“I’m afraid so.”