The Atlantis Keystone (28 page)

With the decision taken to travel back to London the next day, they walked without saying anything for a while until they reached Torpa and the great hall where Anna’s friends and family were conversing over coffee and some local speciality cakes that Anna had always adored. A series of tables had been arranged for the occasion, all carefully set to accommodate everyone and decorated in Anna’s favourite colours – blue and gold. At one end was an enlarged picture of her, in a gold frame. Erik stopped in front of it for a moment, looking into her eyes, unable to prevent the tears. His contemplations next to her grave suddenly seemed inconsequential. What mattered was Anna, her family and friends and her memory. He missed her but she would never come back. He had to be strong and get on with his life…

T
he ancient stone looked superb in its glass casing near the entrance to the Egyptian rooms in the British museum. The museum had only just opened for the day but it had filled up quickly with busloads of tourists. They all appeared particularly interested in the Rosetta Stone and seemed to delay their stay in front of it long enough to learn both Greek and ancient Egyptian. Emma was standing next to Erik a few meters away, contemplating their next move. Emma was sure she had managed to find the right anagram from the message left by Paul. It made perfect sense: ‘FIND KEY NEAR AN ANCIENT DARK STONE.’ It simply had to be referring to the Rosetta stone. But standing next to it, there didn’t seem to be an obvious place to hide anything. The place was eclipsed in a tight net of security, with cameras and security guards. Cleaners would sweep under and around the stone and probably also clean the glass on a daily basis. There was no way Paul could have hidden a key on or very near the stone. The room where it stood was full of impressive ancient Egyptian stone statues, depictions of kings, queens, deities and symbolic objects. The massive stone bust of the pharaoh Rameses II was looking down on them. Kings and queens, as well as parts from temples and tombs, transported from their ancient hiding places in Egypt in the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century by early explorers, removed from their place of creation and home. Emma looked around, trying to see whether there was a nearby statue which would be particularly good to house a small object like a key or one which was particularly connected to Paul’s areas of interest or the tablet.

“Let’s have a proper look around. I’ll look to the left and you to the right,” Emma suggested. They each went about, studying each of the objects closely in search of a key, a written message or any other clue. Emma started with the objects immediately surrounding the Rosetta stone. She noted that by coincidence these were all from the 18th Dynasty, the dynasty started by Ahmose from the same era as the Torpa tablet. In a commanding position behind the stone to the left was a colossal lime-stone head from about 1550BC of the queen Ahmose Merytamun, Ahmose’s daughter. She was bearing the large Hathor-wig. Her face was beautiful but had an almost shrewd look to it. Next to this was another massive head of a female from 1400BC, this time unmarked. The plaque simply guessed that it was the head of the mother goddess Mut. In front of the Rosetta stone to the left was a third head from around 1500BC. The plaque had identified this one as ‘probably Thutmose’ but Emma figured it was probably Queen Hatshepsut – the face bearing the distinctly female features of her other statues. This was all very interesting but Emma could not see how it helped them to understand what Paul had wanted them to find. The rest of their search revealed nothing; no sign from Paul at all.

“Perhaps the message is on the Stone itself’, Erik suggested, “something in the text maybe?”

“No I don’t think so. There’s got to be something else we’re missing, something obvious!”

“Let’s take a walk around and think about it”. Erik took Emma’s hand and pulled her away from the ancient Egyptian section and out into the entrance area. “I think we just need a break to clear our heads. We’ll find it!” Emma laughed at him. He was so sweet and enthusiastic, trying to cheer her up.

“Erik, I just wanted to say thank you for being here with me. You’re a real friend.” She could see his disappointment at the mention of the word ‘friend’. She had suspected for a while that he had feelings for her. She looked at him. She had feelings for him as well but she wasn’t sure what they were. He was incredibly good looking, intelligent, sexy and he also had a fire in his eyes every time he looked at her. This made her feel warm inside. What made her keep her distance was her feelings for Paul and the expectation that he would return. Paul was her type, an intellectual, a linguist and not someone who would turn heads with his looks. She had seen pictures of Erik’s wife and although they shared the same unusual eye colours, Anna had been stunning, a real beauty. Emma herself had plenty of insecurities about her exterior. Frankly, she was puzzled by Erik’s interest in her. She suspected that he had only developed an interest in her because of the features she shared with Anna; her eyes and her interest in history. She doubted that he was really interested in her for who she was. She speculated that he may subconsciously have been looking for someone who reminded him of his wife, even if she was a far cry from Anna’s doppelganger.

“What’s the matter?” Erik asked.

“What?”

“You gave me a strange look.”

“Did I? Sorry. I was actually thinking about Paul.” Emma tried to look aloof. “Remember when we were here last. Paul was so excited about finding out more about what you knew about the tablet.”

“Yes, I have to admit I thought the whole thing about the tablet and the Minoans a bit weird at the time; especially when you showed me the book.”

“Wait a minute. That must be it! The tablet! Remember Paul and I sometimes refer to the Torpa Tablet as a keystone, because of its multilingual nature; the key to Linear A? Maybe he’s referring to the tablet as the key, not the Rosetta stone. FIND A KEY NEAR AN ANCIENT DARK STONE.” Emma paused gathering her thoughts. “Now, the tablet itself isn’t here of course but as you know there’s a very good photo of it in the Museum collection register.” Erik nodded in response to Emma’s sudden excitement. “If I was going to hide something in the Museum and didn’t want anyone to stumble across it in the first place I’d choose a book, especially if the thing I was hiding wasn’t a thing but information! It’s obvious! Paul must have thought of the register as a place where we would look – but not necessarily where anyone else would! It’s brilliant!”

“Well, it’s certainly worth a look!”

“Let’s go and have a look and see if I’m right!” replied Emma grinning triumphantly.

Like they had done several months ago, less than an hour after they had first met, they made their way to the King’s library near the museum entrance. Erik led the way, taking the stairs two at a time up to the mezzanine floor and down to the corner via the narrow walkway where they had previously found the old volume listing museum collection items. They were all alone in the remote corner but they could be seen from the floor below. The lighting was low but the sun still managed to shine through from the windows on the other side of the room. Emma quickly found the book, searching its pages for the picture of the half stone tablet.

“Be careful with it! Paul could have hidden an item in the book itself; or maybe behind it”, Erik suggested. He looked in the gap where the book had stood. “Nothing. Try shaking the book lightly; there could be something in it.” Emma did as he had suggested, taking great care. To their disappointment nothing dropped out. She found the page with the reference to the tablet. At first they could see nothing out of the ordinary. There was the picture and the brief caption. Emma studied it carefully.

“Let’s head over there to the Paul Hamlyn library,” Emma suggested pointing to the opposite end. “The lighting’s better there.” She had spent a lot of time there doing research as it was a comfortable reading room connected to the King’s library, in close proximity to the museum’s many treasures. She carried the book casually under her arm to avoid attracting attention. She knew that it was not allowed to remove books from the shelves. Luckily they managed to find a desk in the reading room without any problems. In stark contrast to the neighbouring rooms of the King’s library, the room they were now in was fairly modern, with desks equipped with computers and sensible reading lamps.

She refused to believe they had been wrong about the anagram and the reference to the picture of the tablet. The additional light certainly made it easier to see. She had not looked at it for long when she noticed minute writing on the side of the half tablet in the picture. If she had not looked at this page before and known it well she would not have noticed it. The text could easily be mistaken for a small stamp of approval of some kind and fit in with the style of the rest of the document but Emma was sure she had never seen it before. This could have been a new addition – something carefully added by Paul. She was suddenly excited.

“Look! Can you see the tiny writing?” She looked closer. “It’s Linear A! I think we might have found what Paul wanted us to find!”

▪ ▪ ▪

She wasn’t sure what to expect but she suspected that the message would be in English this time. Almost an hour later she had succeeded in coming up with a comprehensible translation, although it was a very confusing message:

‘BL two thousand and four.a.twofourfourfivetwo’

There was nothing to say that this had actually been written by Paul. Had she translated it right? Double checking her Linear B values made her sure she had. She looked over her shoulder and noticed that Erik was nowhere to be seen. Where had he disappeared to? Emma packed up and put the book back on the shelf. She knew they must be close now; close to finding out Paul’s secret.

She was excited but unsure of what to do next so she wandered off in the direction of the exit in search of Erik. She found him immediately, outside the British Museum souvenir shop looking pleased with himself.

“Where have you been?” she asked. He didn’t answer but instead gave her a small package.

“This is for you, for being so perfect.” That took her by surprise. Not only was she so completely unaccustomed to being complemented in that way, she also couldn’t think what she might have done to deserve it. She stood there, stunned into silence. “Well? Open it!” he demanded grinning. Emma did as she was told. Inside the package was a white gold necklace with a small white gold pendent in the form of a replica of the Rosetta stone. “I found it in the shop…” he looked back “…and couldn’t resist buying it for you!”

Emma was touched. Nobody had ever bought her jewellery like this before: “Thank you Erik, that’s so sweet of you! It’s beautiful!” She really meant it. The necklace was an exquisite little thing which Emma knew she would always hold dear, even though it had been bought in a souvenir shop. This was undoubtedly one of the shop’s more expensive items. She kissed him on the cheek and gave him a hug.

“Let me help you put it on,” Erik offered, taking the necklace out of the box placing it around her neck. He was standing facing her as he struggled with the lock. His hands were warm and his body was close to hers; her head level with his chest. She could make out his well formed torso underneath his shirt. As he pulled away from her, having finished with the necklace, she said:

“Fancy hearing what I managed to make out from the message in the book?”

“Yes, of course!” They sat down on a bench near the entrance. Emma was speaking with a hushed voice which perhaps was a bit unnecessary since there were only two more people there and they were at the other end of the room by the reception desk.

“Well, it’s a little bit confusing really but I think I translated it correctly. All it says is a number spelt out as words.” She found her notebook and read it out.
“BL two thousand and four.a.twofourfourfivetwo.
Do you have any idea what it could mean?”

Erik hesitated for a moment, before shaking his head. “I’m afraid I don’t have a clue. Could it be a bank account? Or perhaps a date in 2004? Or lottery numbers?” He added the last comment with a little laugh. “Could it be a phone number to someone with the initials BL? Or a post code somewhere on the continent, maybe in Belgium, hence BL? Or a GPS reference? There are plenty of possibilities.”

“Well, could be but it looks a bit long to be a post code, it doesn’t seem to fit with a date and unless Paul had suddenly adopted psychic powers I don’t think this could have been lottery numbers. It could be a bank account number or a phone number, I suppose. You know, we can try the trusty internet again to see what comes up. We’ve done pretty well that way up to now.”

“Yes, I suggest we go back to the library and use the computers there to check the message from Paul,” Emma said as she stood up. Erik couldn’t come up with a better course of action so he followed her example and they headed back to where Emma had been sitting previously.

“Try putting the whole sequence in the search box,” she suggested. Erik did but there was nothing, not a single hit. “Try the number on its own”. Again, this produced no results.

“How about BL on its own.” Erik typed it in.

This time there were thousands of results. “Look, the first hit is the British Library!” she gasped. “Of course, it’s so obvious! This is a shelf reference for a book in the British Library! Paul’s done it again; he’s hidden something in a book! It all makes perfect sense now. He and I have spent a lot of time in the British Library because it’s where most of the books which were previously in the Museum were moved to.”