Silver Moon
Adventurer
Chapter Forty, “Gateways to the World", September 5th, 1882, 3:30 P.M.
James says, "Well, I guess that makes the decision of which door we try. Luiz, let's see if we can get back home please." The good Doctor places the octagonal coin in the bronze wall plaque to the side of the doorways, and like the outer one, it too glows with lines of script above and below. There is one difference however, the top line is in the more common Atlantian language and the upper of the bottom line is in the more elite Atlantian, but the very bottom line is in a different language althogether, made up of assorted symbols. Alsoomse comments, "Very interesting, the lowest line is written in the language of the Timucuan elves. Give me a few minutes to work on the translations." While she studies it, George heads over to the original door and writes in chalk on the floor in front of it. "Florida"
After a short while Alsoomse says, "Okay, I think I've got it worked out. Each of the lower lines is from the perspective of those of that language. The Altantian translates as "Entrance to arrive with the Spirit Children", that was a term in other Atlantian writing used in reference to their slave race. The Timucuan line translates roughly as "Door to the Many Chiefs of the Salt Water People". It is the first time I've ever seen Chief used in a plural rather than singular fashion. Salt Water People, or Macoma, were what this group of Timucuan used in reference to themselves.
"So in theory, this door has the passage to the remnant of the Timucuan. While we are here we should translate the other doors as well." says George. George, an accomplished linguist himself has been standing over Alsoomse's shoulder as she translates, trying to pick up what he can of both Atlantean and Timucuan. James says, "Actually, before we check any other doors let's try that door first to ensure that we can open it." Alsoomse says, "Okay, Luiz and Ruby, pay attention to the song for future reference." She sings "Pak Man-nal Kwe-tipe Nis-Nen A-Lish" followed by "Un-u-chu-a A-Mir-O Hol-O-Tam-A-Qui Moc-A-Ma".
The door opens, with the tunnel up the house visible on the other side. The doors reopen and those inside reassure those still outside that everything is fine. Lawrence says, "Whew. You gave me a scare for a moment there." A relieved Ruby says, "Well, THAT is good news. I only know some Spanish from a group of very dear elves I lived with back in Promise City and some French from my best friend Kate. I'll look for those languages to save you the time." She passed each door looking for a language she might possibly recognize while letting George and Alsoomse look for and translate the less common and more difficult languages. "You know, it would be helpful if we had more than one key," she said while eyeing the altar in the middle of the room.
James takes out his stopwatch and instructs Luiz to remove the coin. After approximately a minute-and-a-half the door closes again. James comments "Just as I thought." Alsoomse asks "Eighty-six-point-four seconds?" James smiles and says, "Exactly!" Alsoomse turns to the others and explains, "The Atlanteans calcualted everything by units of ten, including time. Instead of breaking a day down into twenty-four sixty-minute increments of sixty-seconds, they instead divided it into tens, one-hundredths and one-thousands. One-thousandth of a day works out to be that exact length."
They reopen the exterior doorway and then move the coin to another of the interior doorways, the one clockwise from the Florida door. The plaque on it does not light up until after the time period passes and the other door closes. Luiz comments, "Interesting but not surprising, it appears that only one door can be opened at any given time." The bronze plaque on the second doorway now lights up. Like the previous one, the writing above the key being common Atlantean and two lines below, the first in the elite Atlantian dialect and the other in a different language. Nobody in the room has any idea what the other language is.
They remove the key and move to the next clockwise door. Even though the previous door wasn't opened they still have to wait the full eighty-six-point-four seconds from when the key was removed until the new plaque lights up, again with the two Atlantian languages followed by another language. Luiz says, "Ah, this one I can read myself!" James says, "As can I, but I suspect that we do not wish to." Mina says, "Isn't that ancient Celtic? Wouldn't that mean the British Isles?" James says, "At the time of Atlantis the Celts also occupied the French coast and much of interior France. I suspect that is the door that goes directly to the Chateau de Dippe in Normandy France."
Lawrence leans on his shovel. "Why do you think that, James? Does the sign say anything about France?" James replies, "It says the coast, which could apply to the British Isles as well as Normandy. It's possible that it does lead to Britain, but until we know for certain we can't risk opening up the portal to France and alerting our rivals to the presence of this doorway." Abby says, "We don't necessarily want to open up doors in Britain either, not unprepared. We may live in a more open-minded world among us, but Britain is still a clerical country, and wizarding countries wouldn't be any better." Abby looked up at the ceiling again. "I wish I'd mastered that levitation spell, I really want to get up there and have a look around." Lawrence says, "So we leave both doors unopened for now. We can always come back to them later."
They move on to the next clockwise doorway and insert the key, which like the other three has script of the two Atlantian languages followed by a local language. Luiz, James and Alsoomse all study it. "Any ideas?" James comments. "No clue," says Alsoomse. The scholar Doctor Thomas Crane steps forward and comments, "Possibly Africa, a few of those symbols resemble markings of the Khoikhoi language, used by the Hottentot ogre tribe of South West Africa." Alsoomse says, "Perhaps, but their ancestors didn't migrate to that region of Africa or develop the language until eight centuries after the destruction of Atlantis."
James comments, "Aren't the Hottentot's the red-skinned ogres?" Thomas says, "Yes, a reddish-yellow tone, and considerably shorter in size than other ogres." James says, "Perhaps another servant race that was intermixed with the Atlanians, not unlike the Timucuan?" Alsoomse says, "That speculation is quite a stretch, a few markings is all that you are basing that on. I dare say that we will probably find at least a dozen ancient civilizations that also used similar symbols."
Moving on to the next door, the one directly opposite the door that they entered from, the writing on the bottom row is clearly Egyptian hieroglyphics. Lawrence does a double-take. "Are those hieroglyphics? I think they are. I've always been fascinated by Egypt. But they're just came under Victoria's thumb, so that's out, too." James says, "I wouldn't exactly say 'Victoria's thumb', the British have been assisting the Egyptian government with fighting the rebels since early May of this year. Once Alexandria fell to the British siege in July the rebels retreated back towards Cairo. Things have been more or less at a stalemate, broken up by an occasional battle, for the last five weeks. But you're right about it maybe not being the best time to visit there, with the Brits in the backyard."
Examining the hieroglypics and comparing them to an Egyptology text, Luiz says, "It appears that we were mistaken, it doesn't lead to the City of Tanis after all." He points to one that resemble a cat and says, "Each Egyptian city was dedicated to a different deity. That is the symbol of Bast, also know as Per-Bastet, the Cat-Goddess. Her's was the city was Bubastis." Mina says, "James and I briefly visited the ruins of that city a half-century ago. At that time one of the city's two temples was being excavated then by an archeological team." James says, "Yes, a team led by the French archeologist and wizard Jean-Francois Champollion, who within the last twenty years became a member of the rival wizarding group."
Abby says, "In other words, another door we probably don't want to open quite yet unless we want to share it with our rivals. Seems Latin and Greek aren't the languages to know in this room." James says, "The time of the Atlantians was the Bronze age, before the time of the Romans, so Latin would not be used yet. Ancient Greek could be one of these three remaining doorways, although Homer's writings indicated that trade between Atlantis and Greece was limited, with him being one of the few ambassadors. The Atlantians had the Tartessians as their primary trading partners."
Hardin is visibly uncomfortable with the chamber and the goings-on. Fish looks at him with an arched eyebrow. Hardin says, "A bit too much like my most recent accommodations..." He trails off and looks around. All the languages, strange carvings and talk of other dimensions are just a bit outside his understanding. A piece of his mind conjured up strange monsters striding out of one of the portals - needing to be met with deadly gunfire and he chuckles to himself - a bit too loudly. He looks around and flushes a bit. "Nevermind me..."
The key is inserted in the next clockwise door. Luiz looks at the interesting writing on the bottom line and says, "Vaguely familiair? What do we have here?" Alsoomse replies, "The people James was just speaking of, that is the Tartessian language." James says, "Unfortunately, as that language is lost to us." Alsoomse explains, "Tartessia was a city-state along the southwestern coast of Spain. They were the great traders of the Bronze Age, travelling the coasts of the known continents in their great ships, some up to one-hundred feet in length.
Their society abruptly ended within the same century of Atlantis's destruction, when the Tartessian King thought himself better than the gods and had a temple deconstructed for materials to build his own castle. The god was an angry one, and collapsed the reefs and mountains that protected Tartessian, having the sea sweep in and wipe the place from the globe. This occurred during a major celebration, when nearly all of the Tartessian ships had returned home, with the destruction of the fleet ending their domination of trade in that era."
Luiz continues, "Alexander the great was intregued by the legend ot Tartessia and assembled all of the remaining remnants of their culture scattered across the globe. Centuries later when the Library of Alexandria was burned to the ground that history became lost forever." Alsoomse adds, "Yes, and even archeaological digs have proven to be fruitless at learning the language, as most Tartessian writings were primarily of a short term-nature, on animal hides rather than pottery or stone, so did not survive over time."
Abby says, "I suppose it's arrogant to imagine we might learn enough about how this works someday to find a way around it... It's very rare for a language to develop in a vaccuum. There aren't any related languages to help at least give clues?" Alsoomse says, "I personally know nearly every linguistic expert in the world, given time I'm optimistic that we will have translations of all of these." They try the next door, finding it is also in a language unknown to everybody present. This language is a pictograph one, with a variety of different symbols.
The coin is placed into the final door. The bottom language on it is also unrecognizable to those present. Looking at James in his fancy clothes Mina comments, "I'm sorry dear, it looks like you got all dressed up with no place to go." Ruby is crestfallen as well. "Well, why don't we at least try one of those other doors? I mean, how else are we ever going to find out where there go? The one that might be to Africa perhaps?" James says, "Ruby, we only know the languages to be able to read the inscriptions on three, including the one back to Florida. Right now we can only read to sing the Gaelic and Egyptian ones, but as it has been pointed out, now might not be the best time to attempt to visit either."
Alsoomse says, "Be patient young one, now that we know what to look for we can start researching those ancient languages. It is only a matter of time before we can use them." Mina adds, "And Ruby, don't you and George have a dinner date in the city with those actors this evening? You can hardly do that if you run off to England, France or Egypt." "Yes, we do," she said with a sigh. "But while the dinner date might be fun England, France or Egypt will DEFINITELY be fun. I'm just ready. To go. Somewhere. You know. You've been to Egypt and France and all over, I haven't been anywhere fun. Rochester New York isn't exactly the exciting center of the universe."
"It is when you are there my dear" replies George gently. "But yes, before we go through ANY door, I think we need food, water, supplies and weapons. We really do not know what to find. We may indeed find that the door has been equally hidden and need to dig another fortnight before it emerges. Patience and preparation Ruby will see us very well. As would I expect a visit to the library. Though James, I knwo that some knowledge is known of the Phonecian pictographic langauge, and that the Phoneicians were widely considered to be a vassal state of the Tartessians. The Phonicians assended to domimance in the Mediterraean as sailors and traders after the fall of their masters, would not that provide for us some clue as to their language?" postulates George.
James says, "That is a good direction to start. While Tartessia was along the coast of Spain that Tartessian doorway could actaully lead to anywhere, as they had trading ports throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. However, since we know that they only sailed within sight of land and not across open water that does rule out the Americas and Australia. If our threory is correct one of these other doorways leads to Australia, but very little has been written about the native languages there."
"Um, okay, I have no idea what you two are saying but it sounds like you are saying we're not going through any doors tonight. And that someone here, and that someone is not me, has to do some researching. Like in books. Is that correct?" “Yes,” Alsoomse replies. James, Mina, Alsoomse and Luiz are joined by the archeologists Thomas and Abigal as they head up to the library to spend the next six hours searching through the various texts for clues to the various doorways.
Sol sails the Ageless Journey boat into Jacksonville, taking Ruby and George there for their planned dinner. Fish also comes along to run various errands, a mixture of both business and pleasure. Ruby and George take a Hansom Cab to the Astor Hotel where they have a wonderful and entertaining dinner with the pair of actors. Once the cover of darkness falls Nanuet, John and Lawrence assist the two ship captains Wilkinson and Watkins with emptying the filled wheelbarrows into the ditch. The conversation centers around the two ships, which are both now prepared to depart. They return to the boat at 11:00 PM and get back to the house.
By midnight everyone is back at the house and has turned in for the night. Meanwhile, some 6,500 miles away, events are transpiring that will have an almost immediate impact upon the future of the AGELESS Corporation.
End Episode One -
Reader's Comments are welcomed and appreciated!
James says, "Well, I guess that makes the decision of which door we try. Luiz, let's see if we can get back home please." The good Doctor places the octagonal coin in the bronze wall plaque to the side of the doorways, and like the outer one, it too glows with lines of script above and below. There is one difference however, the top line is in the more common Atlantian language and the upper of the bottom line is in the more elite Atlantian, but the very bottom line is in a different language althogether, made up of assorted symbols. Alsoomse comments, "Very interesting, the lowest line is written in the language of the Timucuan elves. Give me a few minutes to work on the translations." While she studies it, George heads over to the original door and writes in chalk on the floor in front of it. "Florida"
After a short while Alsoomse says, "Okay, I think I've got it worked out. Each of the lower lines is from the perspective of those of that language. The Altantian translates as "Entrance to arrive with the Spirit Children", that was a term in other Atlantian writing used in reference to their slave race. The Timucuan line translates roughly as "Door to the Many Chiefs of the Salt Water People". It is the first time I've ever seen Chief used in a plural rather than singular fashion. Salt Water People, or Macoma, were what this group of Timucuan used in reference to themselves.
"So in theory, this door has the passage to the remnant of the Timucuan. While we are here we should translate the other doors as well." says George. George, an accomplished linguist himself has been standing over Alsoomse's shoulder as she translates, trying to pick up what he can of both Atlantean and Timucuan. James says, "Actually, before we check any other doors let's try that door first to ensure that we can open it." Alsoomse says, "Okay, Luiz and Ruby, pay attention to the song for future reference." She sings "Pak Man-nal Kwe-tipe Nis-Nen A-Lish" followed by "Un-u-chu-a A-Mir-O Hol-O-Tam-A-Qui Moc-A-Ma".
The door opens, with the tunnel up the house visible on the other side. The doors reopen and those inside reassure those still outside that everything is fine. Lawrence says, "Whew. You gave me a scare for a moment there." A relieved Ruby says, "Well, THAT is good news. I only know some Spanish from a group of very dear elves I lived with back in Promise City and some French from my best friend Kate. I'll look for those languages to save you the time." She passed each door looking for a language she might possibly recognize while letting George and Alsoomse look for and translate the less common and more difficult languages. "You know, it would be helpful if we had more than one key," she said while eyeing the altar in the middle of the room.
James takes out his stopwatch and instructs Luiz to remove the coin. After approximately a minute-and-a-half the door closes again. James comments "Just as I thought." Alsoomse asks "Eighty-six-point-four seconds?" James smiles and says, "Exactly!" Alsoomse turns to the others and explains, "The Atlanteans calcualted everything by units of ten, including time. Instead of breaking a day down into twenty-four sixty-minute increments of sixty-seconds, they instead divided it into tens, one-hundredths and one-thousands. One-thousandth of a day works out to be that exact length."
They reopen the exterior doorway and then move the coin to another of the interior doorways, the one clockwise from the Florida door. The plaque on it does not light up until after the time period passes and the other door closes. Luiz comments, "Interesting but not surprising, it appears that only one door can be opened at any given time." The bronze plaque on the second doorway now lights up. Like the previous one, the writing above the key being common Atlantean and two lines below, the first in the elite Atlantian dialect and the other in a different language. Nobody in the room has any idea what the other language is.
They remove the key and move to the next clockwise door. Even though the previous door wasn't opened they still have to wait the full eighty-six-point-four seconds from when the key was removed until the new plaque lights up, again with the two Atlantian languages followed by another language. Luiz says, "Ah, this one I can read myself!" James says, "As can I, but I suspect that we do not wish to." Mina says, "Isn't that ancient Celtic? Wouldn't that mean the British Isles?" James says, "At the time of Atlantis the Celts also occupied the French coast and much of interior France. I suspect that is the door that goes directly to the Chateau de Dippe in Normandy France."
Lawrence leans on his shovel. "Why do you think that, James? Does the sign say anything about France?" James replies, "It says the coast, which could apply to the British Isles as well as Normandy. It's possible that it does lead to Britain, but until we know for certain we can't risk opening up the portal to France and alerting our rivals to the presence of this doorway." Abby says, "We don't necessarily want to open up doors in Britain either, not unprepared. We may live in a more open-minded world among us, but Britain is still a clerical country, and wizarding countries wouldn't be any better." Abby looked up at the ceiling again. "I wish I'd mastered that levitation spell, I really want to get up there and have a look around." Lawrence says, "So we leave both doors unopened for now. We can always come back to them later."
They move on to the next clockwise doorway and insert the key, which like the other three has script of the two Atlantian languages followed by a local language. Luiz, James and Alsoomse all study it. "Any ideas?" James comments. "No clue," says Alsoomse. The scholar Doctor Thomas Crane steps forward and comments, "Possibly Africa, a few of those symbols resemble markings of the Khoikhoi language, used by the Hottentot ogre tribe of South West Africa." Alsoomse says, "Perhaps, but their ancestors didn't migrate to that region of Africa or develop the language until eight centuries after the destruction of Atlantis."
James comments, "Aren't the Hottentot's the red-skinned ogres?" Thomas says, "Yes, a reddish-yellow tone, and considerably shorter in size than other ogres." James says, "Perhaps another servant race that was intermixed with the Atlanians, not unlike the Timucuan?" Alsoomse says, "That speculation is quite a stretch, a few markings is all that you are basing that on. I dare say that we will probably find at least a dozen ancient civilizations that also used similar symbols."
Moving on to the next door, the one directly opposite the door that they entered from, the writing on the bottom row is clearly Egyptian hieroglyphics. Lawrence does a double-take. "Are those hieroglyphics? I think they are. I've always been fascinated by Egypt. But they're just came under Victoria's thumb, so that's out, too." James says, "I wouldn't exactly say 'Victoria's thumb', the British have been assisting the Egyptian government with fighting the rebels since early May of this year. Once Alexandria fell to the British siege in July the rebels retreated back towards Cairo. Things have been more or less at a stalemate, broken up by an occasional battle, for the last five weeks. But you're right about it maybe not being the best time to visit there, with the Brits in the backyard."
Examining the hieroglypics and comparing them to an Egyptology text, Luiz says, "It appears that we were mistaken, it doesn't lead to the City of Tanis after all." He points to one that resemble a cat and says, "Each Egyptian city was dedicated to a different deity. That is the symbol of Bast, also know as Per-Bastet, the Cat-Goddess. Her's was the city was Bubastis." Mina says, "James and I briefly visited the ruins of that city a half-century ago. At that time one of the city's two temples was being excavated then by an archeological team." James says, "Yes, a team led by the French archeologist and wizard Jean-Francois Champollion, who within the last twenty years became a member of the rival wizarding group."
Abby says, "In other words, another door we probably don't want to open quite yet unless we want to share it with our rivals. Seems Latin and Greek aren't the languages to know in this room." James says, "The time of the Atlantians was the Bronze age, before the time of the Romans, so Latin would not be used yet. Ancient Greek could be one of these three remaining doorways, although Homer's writings indicated that trade between Atlantis and Greece was limited, with him being one of the few ambassadors. The Atlantians had the Tartessians as their primary trading partners."
Hardin is visibly uncomfortable with the chamber and the goings-on. Fish looks at him with an arched eyebrow. Hardin says, "A bit too much like my most recent accommodations..." He trails off and looks around. All the languages, strange carvings and talk of other dimensions are just a bit outside his understanding. A piece of his mind conjured up strange monsters striding out of one of the portals - needing to be met with deadly gunfire and he chuckles to himself - a bit too loudly. He looks around and flushes a bit. "Nevermind me..."
The key is inserted in the next clockwise door. Luiz looks at the interesting writing on the bottom line and says, "Vaguely familiair? What do we have here?" Alsoomse replies, "The people James was just speaking of, that is the Tartessian language." James says, "Unfortunately, as that language is lost to us." Alsoomse explains, "Tartessia was a city-state along the southwestern coast of Spain. They were the great traders of the Bronze Age, travelling the coasts of the known continents in their great ships, some up to one-hundred feet in length.
Their society abruptly ended within the same century of Atlantis's destruction, when the Tartessian King thought himself better than the gods and had a temple deconstructed for materials to build his own castle. The god was an angry one, and collapsed the reefs and mountains that protected Tartessian, having the sea sweep in and wipe the place from the globe. This occurred during a major celebration, when nearly all of the Tartessian ships had returned home, with the destruction of the fleet ending their domination of trade in that era."
Luiz continues, "Alexander the great was intregued by the legend ot Tartessia and assembled all of the remaining remnants of their culture scattered across the globe. Centuries later when the Library of Alexandria was burned to the ground that history became lost forever." Alsoomse adds, "Yes, and even archeaological digs have proven to be fruitless at learning the language, as most Tartessian writings were primarily of a short term-nature, on animal hides rather than pottery or stone, so did not survive over time."
Abby says, "I suppose it's arrogant to imagine we might learn enough about how this works someday to find a way around it... It's very rare for a language to develop in a vaccuum. There aren't any related languages to help at least give clues?" Alsoomse says, "I personally know nearly every linguistic expert in the world, given time I'm optimistic that we will have translations of all of these." They try the next door, finding it is also in a language unknown to everybody present. This language is a pictograph one, with a variety of different symbols.
The coin is placed into the final door. The bottom language on it is also unrecognizable to those present. Looking at James in his fancy clothes Mina comments, "I'm sorry dear, it looks like you got all dressed up with no place to go." Ruby is crestfallen as well. "Well, why don't we at least try one of those other doors? I mean, how else are we ever going to find out where there go? The one that might be to Africa perhaps?" James says, "Ruby, we only know the languages to be able to read the inscriptions on three, including the one back to Florida. Right now we can only read to sing the Gaelic and Egyptian ones, but as it has been pointed out, now might not be the best time to attempt to visit either."
Alsoomse says, "Be patient young one, now that we know what to look for we can start researching those ancient languages. It is only a matter of time before we can use them." Mina adds, "And Ruby, don't you and George have a dinner date in the city with those actors this evening? You can hardly do that if you run off to England, France or Egypt." "Yes, we do," she said with a sigh. "But while the dinner date might be fun England, France or Egypt will DEFINITELY be fun. I'm just ready. To go. Somewhere. You know. You've been to Egypt and France and all over, I haven't been anywhere fun. Rochester New York isn't exactly the exciting center of the universe."
"It is when you are there my dear" replies George gently. "But yes, before we go through ANY door, I think we need food, water, supplies and weapons. We really do not know what to find. We may indeed find that the door has been equally hidden and need to dig another fortnight before it emerges. Patience and preparation Ruby will see us very well. As would I expect a visit to the library. Though James, I knwo that some knowledge is known of the Phonecian pictographic langauge, and that the Phoneicians were widely considered to be a vassal state of the Tartessians. The Phonicians assended to domimance in the Mediterraean as sailors and traders after the fall of their masters, would not that provide for us some clue as to their language?" postulates George.
James says, "That is a good direction to start. While Tartessia was along the coast of Spain that Tartessian doorway could actaully lead to anywhere, as they had trading ports throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. However, since we know that they only sailed within sight of land and not across open water that does rule out the Americas and Australia. If our threory is correct one of these other doorways leads to Australia, but very little has been written about the native languages there."
"Um, okay, I have no idea what you two are saying but it sounds like you are saying we're not going through any doors tonight. And that someone here, and that someone is not me, has to do some researching. Like in books. Is that correct?" “Yes,” Alsoomse replies. James, Mina, Alsoomse and Luiz are joined by the archeologists Thomas and Abigal as they head up to the library to spend the next six hours searching through the various texts for clues to the various doorways.
Sol sails the Ageless Journey boat into Jacksonville, taking Ruby and George there for their planned dinner. Fish also comes along to run various errands, a mixture of both business and pleasure. Ruby and George take a Hansom Cab to the Astor Hotel where they have a wonderful and entertaining dinner with the pair of actors. Once the cover of darkness falls Nanuet, John and Lawrence assist the two ship captains Wilkinson and Watkins with emptying the filled wheelbarrows into the ditch. The conversation centers around the two ships, which are both now prepared to depart. They return to the boat at 11:00 PM and get back to the house.
By midnight everyone is back at the house and has turned in for the night. Meanwhile, some 6,500 miles away, events are transpiring that will have an almost immediate impact upon the future of the AGELESS Corporation.
End Episode One -
Reader's Comments are welcomed and appreciated!