Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 11:57:31 -0800
From: John Black <blackhunk33@gmail.com>
Subject: Library of Alexandria, Chapter 6

Library of Alexandria

Chapter 6


	The boys walked over to last night's rescuer and smiled.  They
introduced themselves officially and found out that his name was Jared.
"Thanks again for pulling us out of the condo last night," Michael said.
"We were effectively prisoners in our own home."

	"All part of my job," their rescuer replied.  "I was only too happy
to help."

	"Are you part of Mr. Asquith's security team or an outside
contractor?  I haven't seen you around the estate before," John wondered.

	"I was recently hired by Mr. Asquith to augment the security staff
he already had," he revealed.  "That seems to be in response to the number
of brilliant people he's brought here to help with the translation and
cataloguing of his recent discovery.  The media can be quite persistent."

	"Oh, yes, they can.  We've already had some experience with them,"
John sighed.

	"Yeah, I saw you on television with Andrew.  I thought you
acquitted yourselves very well," Jared smiled.  "The camera is very kind to
you."

	"Where did you get your security training?" Michael wondered,
deflecting the praise.

	"I was in the Marines for four years," Jared revealed.  "I knew
after two tours in Afghanistan that I didn't want to stay longer.  More
realistically though, I have always had an issue with authority, especially
authority that I think is several sandwiches short of a picnic." The boys
laughed at his characterization.  "When my enlistment was up, it was an
easy decision to leave.  But, my commander suggested that I look up a
company here that recruited and placed security type people like me.  I
always thought of my commander as one of the few who had brains, so I
followed his suggestion and got this gig right after I mustered out.  I was
in the right place at the right time."  He paused for a moment.  He seemed
to be considering saying something more.  He came to a decision and added,
"And despite the Defense Department making it perfectly okay to be gay in
the military, it is still deeply frowned upon in the Marines.  I didn't
need that pressure in my life, too."

	"That's very brave of you to admit that," Michael said.  "I guess
you thought we were safe to reveal that to."

	"It doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that you're a couple,
especially when your gaydar works as well as mine does," he laughed.  "So,
uh, do you guys mess around?"

	They smiled and Michael answered, "You're certainly direct.  And to
answer your question, that depends on the man and his interest and our
interest.  In your particular case, the answer would be yes!"

	Jared glanced at his watch.  "I'm on duty in another 30 minutes.  I
need to shower and get some breakfast, so we'll have to continue this
discussion later.  How about tonight?"

	"Uh, we were asked to have dinner with Mr. Asquith tonight at
seven," John said.  "How about meeting us at eight?  Your place or ours?"

	"Your place," Jared decided quickly.  "I'm in a dorm kind of
situation, so it would be better at your place.  I assume you have private
quarters?"  The boys nodded.  "Good.  See ya tonight at eight," he smiled.

	They watched him walk away, admiring the sway of his beautiful ass
and the roll of his broad shoulders.  "A major stud and a nice guy," John
observed.  "I wonder how versatile he is?"

	"We'll find out tonight," Michael smirked.  And they did find out.
Jared was a total bottom.  He had no interest in topping either one of
them.  But, he was insatiable.  He couldn't get fucked long enough or often
enough to meet his needs.  Jared revealed that he hadn't had sex in several
months, so this was just the release that he needed.  He hoped that they
could continue this fun several nights per week.  Michael and John loved
the idea.  Jared always left them about midnight, so he could get some rest
as well as get his workout in before this morning duties.  That was the
time that John and Michael bottomed for each other.  Occasionally, they
waited until the next morning after their workout.  They still had that
need and fulfilled it daily.

	By the following Monday, there was a clamoring from the media for
the weekly press release.  Michael and John met with the translators of the
play and found that the translations were complete.  One of the ancient
language professors had written up a brief comparison of the play as
written in the seven languages.  He tried to demonstrate where the play
differed between the languages and how they all said essentially the same
thing.  The places where they differed were insignificant to the totality
of play.  That written brief was not shared with the press, as Mr. Asquith
didn't think that it was germane to the translations and the message of the
play.

	The press release that Michael and John wrote and Mr. Asquith
approved was as follows:

	The play that was written in seven languages was entitled by the
Romans as "The Gods of the Ages".  However, if you look back at the
original text written in Atlantean, you'll find that the correct
translation is closer to "The Age When Gods Ruled".  As most of you are
aware, the children's game of "telephone" shows how easy it is for the
original message to get twisted, so that by the time it comes out the other
end, it is hardly recognizable.  We have the title as it was translated
into the other languages, and we can see the progression of how the title
changed through time.

	As part of this press release, we have attached the text of the
play as written in each of the seven languages and translated by us as well
as photocopies of the original.  If you take the time to compare them,
you'll find that some words were left out or their meaning changed by the
omission or addition of words.  For the most part, the text is fairly
transparent and consistent from Atlantean through the other languages all
the way to Latin.  The translators of the text in ancient times often
substituted their gods for the ones written about by previous translators.
Consequently, Ra became Osiris who became Zeus who became Jupiter.  These
gods are familiar to most of you.  Mesopotamia had Marduk as their chief
god.  An or Anu was the father of all the gods in Sumeria.  Atlantis had a
chief god called Archon.

	The play is about Archon and his family and how they interacted
with humans.  Several of the gods are named.  Most of them are given
defined roles.  A few, we know only by their names.

       It is clear from the play that Archon and his immediate family are
not of this planet.  They were gods from another place, a place not
revealed by the play, but evidently known to the Atlanteans.  This is a
play, not a history.  We don't know if the gods they speak of are real or
invented.  Most cultures invent their gods to explain the world around them
that they don't understand.

	Without plowing through the play line by line, it is more
instructive to give a synopsis of how the people of Atlantis viewed their
gods and the civilization.  This play does not deal with the destruction of
Atlantis.  Consequently, based on the sovereigns of Atlantis from other
documents and the king mentioned in the play, we estimate that the play is
set in about the year 8257 BCE.  The Atlantean civilization had been around
for about 5200 years by that point.  From the general tone of the play, we
conclude that they were unaware of their impending disastrous end.  The
list of sovereigns goes on for another 550 years before it ends.  That
doesn't mean that's when Atlantis ended.  It only means that the chronicler
died before more sovereigns took the throne.

	The Atlantean gods lived for over 10,000 years, unless killed by
another god.  Humans can't harm them.  The play doesn't say why that is.
But, the play does state that the gods came to Atlantis to teach humans how
to be civilized and give voice to all Atlanteans.  They established a
republic with elected representatives.  However, the sovereign was a direct
descendant of the first king of Atlantis.  Again, there is no verbiage in
the play as to how that person or family originally claimed the throne.

	The gods were teachers and guides, showing the people how to
improve their lives with better medical practices, sanitation, diet, and
trade.  The gods also showed them how to defend themselves from attackers,
but were told several times that they were not to oppress or enslave other
people who were not of Atlantis.  There were oblique references to the gods
stepping in and removing from the throne a king who moved to enslave or
oppress others.  Again, there were no details as to how this was done or
what the particular instance or instances were that caused the gods to step
in.

	Atlantis was the military and trading power of the world at that
point, having trading posts across the seas.  The fast ships that they used
were powered by an unknown source that allowed them to travel far faster
than with sails.  Based on only one line of the play, we have concluded
that the Atlanteans were not restricted to the Mediterranean Sea, but did
make voyages to the New World.  The nature of that trade and with whom they
traded is not mentioned.  However, we still don't know where Atlantis was
located.  Nothing in the play tells us whether it was in the Atlantic or it
was in the Mediterranean Sea, or somewhere else entirely.

	The gods were not always in residence in Atlantis, but would appear
from time to time as they were needed or the gods thought their presence
would be of benefit to the Atlanteans.  Again, we don't know what
precipitated those visits.  But, when Atlantis was in need of assistance,
they gods were always there to render counsel to help them solve their own
problems.  Rarely did the gods step in and intervene directly.  Enslavement
and oppression seemed to be the most frequent triggers.

	The play is a morality play, reminding the Atlanteans to think of
their responsibilities to their land and people before they thought of
themselves and how to enrich themselves.  And when they did think of
others, they were rewarded with riches in trade.  Evidently, Atlantis was a
land of businessmen.  There is no mention of government officials or a
priestly class, so we don't know if they existed or not.  We assume they
did.

	Homes and businesses were lighted by curious devices we can only
guess at.  We don't know if there was a power grid or each home had its own
devices or generators.  However, with their frequent references to the sun
and the power that it provided, we assume that they had some kind of solar
energy capture system.  And that system had to include some way to store
the energy for when it was night-time.  Again, we don't know what it was.
Only passing references are made.

	You can read the dialogue yourself to see what morals the play was
trying to preach to the audience.  As we don't have any other plays to
compare it to, we don't know if this was a frequent theme or just one that
was preserved for reasons unknown to us.

	Remember, this is a play, not a history.  Similarly, the Harry
Potter books and movies are fiction, not history.  Please, don't draw any
conclusions that aren't there based on facts that aren't there.  Now that
we have more than a rough alphabet and some guesses at words, we can go
back to other Atlantean documents and translate them more easily.  We still
don't have a very large vocabulary, so some of the documents may never be
translated fully.  But, as we get close to a finished product, we will
share them with you.

	Thank you for your continued support and interest in our project.
We ask that you respect the privacy of our staff and not ambush them with
interview requests and speculations.  Occasionally, we will happily provide
the media with the most learned of our colleagues to help you understand
what we have released to date.  We also ask that you not ask us to
speculate about what hasn't been translated.  We have no idea what is still
to be revealed.  The future may bring us more amazing discoveries, or we
may find something as mundane as a cookbook.

	The warning about ridiculous speculation fell on deaf ears.  Of
course, the media was rampant with speculation about the extraterrestrials
that had visited Earth and had been directing the development of mankind.
And they speculated about why the gods left mankind to flounder without
direction.  There was no end to the bizarre and looney conclusions they
reached, based on nothing in the play but their own delusional fantasies.

	The boys spoke with Mr. Asquith about how to go about squashing
such rampant speculation, but there was really nothing that could be done
to thwart that.  Even if they had released a cookbook, the crazies would
still make their moronic claims about the true nature of Atlantis and the
gods.

	"Perhaps in the next press release," Mr. Asquith snarled, "we
should warn them that stupid speculation like we're seeing now will delete
them from our list of approved interviewers."

	"They'd just see that as a form of censorship and make even more
profoundly ignorant claims about all the good stuff that we're holding
back," Michael offered.

	"You can't fix stupid, nor can you slow down the human
imagination," John added.

	Mr. Asquith sighed.  "Of course, you're correct.  I suppose meeting
their speculative claims with silence is the only answer."

	"That's probably the wisest position," John agreed.  "But, that
does leave us in a pickle if it should come up in an interview situation.
They could easily include the speculative nonsense in the interview and ask
for a comment."

	"We'll just have to remind the interviewees to say something that
is more than `no comment'," Michael cautioned.

	"Maybe, we should just suggest to our people that they say that the
question is without merit and has no validation with the current state of
our knowledge," Mr. Asquith suggested.

	"They will be pressed," John warned.

	"And they should repeat what they had just said," Mr. Asquith
asserted.  "Besides, there are only a few of the people here with a clear
enough head that I'd trust in front of the media.  We can control the
message more readily with fewer people speaking for all of us.  And that
means that you two are going to be the sacrificial lambs nearly all the
time."

	"But, they will ask for the experts on a particular language or
culture," John pointed out.

	"Yes, they will," Mr. Asquith agreed, "but we don't have to make
them available to the media.  It might be instructive to have a short class
on how to deal with the media and their lunatic questions and how they
ambush you with questions that will only get you in trouble.  Michael, you
must know someone in the media that you trust that could give us snippets
of interviews that went very badly."

	Michael smiled and nodded.  He was sure that Andrew would have a
large collection of such events.  Perhaps, with the promise of another
exclusive interview, he could get precisely what he wanted.

	"After our experts see the catastrophe that can happen in
interviews, most if not all of them will see the light and decline all
interviews," John said.

	"I don't want to appear to be completely selfish on access,"
Mr. Asquith said.  "If the print media would like to send us their
questions, we'll have the appropriate expert answer them.  The problem with
a live interview is that the media can edit the answers to come out as
exactly the opposite of what was really said."

	"So, what is in the pipeline for release to the public?" Michael
asked.

	"I've asked the experts in each language to have dinner with us
tonight," Mr. Asquith revealed.  "We'll all find out then."

	Mr. Asquith let the attendees at dinner know of his plan to show
all of them disastrous interviews to convince them and their colleagues
that interviews with the media are fraught with danger.  They all nodded
their agreement, having seen such interviews go bad before.  No one
mentioned whether it was a personal experience or a close colleague who had
been savaged by the media.

	"Another reason that I invited all of you to dinner tonight was to
get an update on where you stand within your individual expert areas,"
Mr. Asquith smiled.  "Let's start with the Romans.  Anything new that we
don't already know about them?"  He got a negative response from Michael,
John, and Professor Latimer.  "How about the Greeks?"  Again, a negative
response from the three parties.  "Phoenician?"  Drs. Fraser and Strickland
had nothing to offer.  "Egyptian?"  Drs. Abernethy and Steele shook their
heads to the negative.  "Drs. Irvine and Pelham, is there anything in the
texts from the Sumerians or Babylonians that reveals something new about
them?"

	"Nothing so far," Dr. Irvine admitted.  "But we haven't looked at
more than 10% of the total."

	Mr. Asquith nodded.  "How about our friends on the Atlantis team?"

	Dr. Dunbar spoke up.  "With our confirmed alphabet and many more
words in our vocabulary, we are making progress on several documents, but
it is slow going with a lot of holes in the narrative still.  The computer
symbol recognition software has been a great help, but it can only go so
far.  I'd estimate that we are going to translate about 75% of each
document.  That leaves out a lot of text that could be vital to
understanding the document we're working on.  In almost every case, we know
what the word sounds like, but we are clueless as to the meaning of the
word," he sighed.

	"Well, let me know if you do have anything that can be released to
the media by next Monday," Mr. Asquith requested.  "If we have nothing new,
we'll just give them one of the documents that contain known data.  No one
ever said that this would all be new material, although I'm sure the media
thinks all of it is new.  We should include that caveat in the next news
release," he added, nodding to Michael and John.  They nodded back their
agreement.

	The rest of the week was filled with nightly fuck sessions with
Jared and the boys.  Michael and John tried to help the Atlantean team, but
they didn't add much to the discussion as the other people were more versed
in ancient languages than they were.  They were beginning to feel fairly
useless.  Still, dinners with Mr. Asquith were always pleasant and
enlightening.  He really is a brilliant man, they agreed.

	The young graduate student who had interrupted the Atlantean
meeting a week ago was recognized as an asset to the team and was included
in the discussions.  Michael and John found out that his name was Eric.
His emphasis in his graduate studies was early Egyptian hieroglyphs.  And
to his credit, he did point out an Atlantean character that no one had been
able to translate that he saw right away what it was.  Each proper name was
preceded by this symbol.  And there was another symbol that was used before
the name of a nation or a people.  However, common nouns didn't seem to
have any modifying symbol.  The Atlantean team looked for other symbols
preceding or following other characters, but saw no other commonalities.

	Tentative substitutions were made for words that sounded the same
in Atlantean and early Egyptian.  Sometimes those substitutions made sense,
other times it made the sentence nonsense.

	The team always wondered why some documents had been preserved,
because they seemed mundane.  There was no comprehensive work on their
history, culture, deity hierarchy, or government to government agreements
or treaties.  Why hadn't their history and cultural achievements been
saved?  Except for the play that was more of a Rosetta Stone than it was a
play, nothing survived.  What they had seen so far was business
transactions with other nations.  And the other nations were only names.
The translators had no idea who they were or where they were compared to
the modern map of the world.

	But, once again, Eric came to the rescue.  He was working on
another book that contained several texts about early Egypt and the first
three dynasties.  The book was entitled "The History of Our World" which
wasn't very helpful in describing the contents.  Eric had translated
several pages before he began seeing references to Atlantis.  The inference
was that the early Egyptians were survivors of the great catastrophe that
struck Atlantis and buried it beneath the waves for all time.  The tag on
the book only mentioned that the contents included a history of early Egypt
and was silent about Atlantis.

	The chronicler wrote pages and pages about what his people knew of
the Atlanteans.  He made reference to several books he had at his disposal
that told of many tales involving the Atlanteans and how their civilization
began and ran for more than 8,000 years before the end of their lands and
people.  As Eric read farther and farther into the book, he knew he had to
share with the Atlantean team.  He sent a message off to the team, asking
them to meet in the conference room at noon on Friday for more exciting
Atlantean news.  Eric spent the rest of Thursday and Thursday evening
reading and translating the astonishing tale of Atlantis.

	He asked Grace to get one of her people to scan the entire book
before the meeting on Friday.  When he told her of the content, she
performed the scans herself and had two of her assistants proofing each
scan for clarity.

	Eric shared the first 20 pages of the book with the Egyptian
experts on Friday morning.  He asked them to confirm his translation or fix
it.  The meeting started promptly at noon.  Mr. Asquith made sure that
lunch was provided in the room for all the participants.  Jared provided
security for the room as all the people filed in.  Michael noticed that
Eric and Jared exchanged glances that spoke to more than a passing interest
by each of them in the other.  Immediately, Michael told John of the look
that Eric and Jared had exchanged.

	"I think our bed may not be warmed by Jared very soon," Michael
smiled.

	"We should do something to encourage that," John agreed.  "If they
don't hook up tonight, we should suggest that Jared pursue him while we're
banging his butt tonight," he whispered.

	As Eric was only a graduate student, Dr. Abernethy made the initial
and brief remarks.  "Our brilliant early Egyptian graduate student has done
it again," he smiled.  He turned and pulled Eric up to the lectern.
"Although this is hearsay as it was written in Egyptian hieroglyphs and not
Atlantean characters, this is an amazing story about the history and
culture of Atlantis.  "My colleague, Dr. Steele confirms as do I the
correct translation of the early Egyptian book that Eric has already done.
The first twenty pages are remarkable, but I'll let you read them for
yourself," he concluded.  Instantly, the first 20 pages were available on
every computer screen in the room.  The participants read voraciously
through the translation, murmuring to themselves and their colleagues what
a magnificent find this was.

	"How did we miss this?" one of the people asked.

	"The tag attached to this book only said that it was a history of
early Egypt," Eric pointed out.  "And there is no cross-reference in the
bibliography of the find that indicated anything in it was about Atlantis.
However, some of the tag appeared to be rubbed off or scrubbed away.  It
could be water damage for all I know.  But, it is puzzling that the subject
matter about Atlantis wasn't in the bibliography."

	"Bibliographies aren't always complete when it comes to material
within a particular work," Mr. Asquith pointed out.  "And the two men who
secreted this material away may have been in a hurry and only glanced at
the first part of the book.  After all, they created a bibliography of this
collection, not of the entire Library of Alexandria.  We have only a
portion of that library."

	"We will work over the weekend," Dr. Abernethy stated.  "Dr. Steele
and Eric will verify the translation and get it on to the computer system
as soon as we can.  I hope that is before Monday morning.  I know that
Mr. Asquith wants to send out a press release every Monday afternoon."

	"Don't let be of any concern to you," Mr. Asquith assured him.
"Work at your own pace to get the most accurate translation you can.  If
you aren't ready by the time we need to put together a press release, we'll
merely include something else mundane from the Sumerian or Babylonian texts
that are complete.  No one promised astonishing news every week."

	"And that would give us more time to put it into context with what
we know about the very earliest Egyptians," Dr. Steele volunteered.  "And
it may lend some validity to the play that we've translated, or tried to
translate," he added.

	"But, these first 20 pages are dynamite!" Mr. Asquith said, looking
up from his computer.  One of his many skills was speed reading.  He'd
already finished the 20 pages in about three minutes.  "You're certain of
the translation to date?"

	Drs. Steele and Abernethy looked at Eric and smiled.  "Oh, yes,"
Eric smiled, "very certain!"

	"However," Dr. Abernethy cautioned, "not every early Egyptian
hieroglyph is known to us, so we may have a few spots where we don't have
the correct word, but that should be rare."

	"Is there anything that the rest of us can do to assist you?"
Mr. Asquith wondered.

	"Lots of good food and drink for the weekend, I suppose,"
Dr. Steele joked.

	"Just ask," Mr. Asquith assured him.  "John, would you and Michael
take lead on babysitting our esteemed colleagues?"  That got a laugh from
the group.  "Make sure they get everything they need.  But, do NOT let them
tire themselves out.  This find can wait another week before the world
knows about it.  I understand from Grace that the full book has been
scanned.  After you are satisfied with the translation, you can release it
to the other members of this group.  I'm not expecting any of you to burn
the midnight oil to read, digest, and comment on the content.  That can
wait until well beyond Monday."

	As the meeting broke up, the participants were abuzz with what had
been discovered.  No one took to heart Mr. Asquith's warning about burning
the midnight oil.  All of them were excited to read the next pages as they
became available.  At 10 p.m., the three translators finally gave up,
saying they were tired and needed rest.  They sent a message to the rest of
the group informing them that translation work would begin again at eight
the next morning.  Several members of the committee stayed up well beyond
midnight to digest and comment on what they were reading.  Giddy would be
understating their state of mind.

	Jared did spend time with Michael and John after the translators
stopped.  They mentioned to Jared that there was significant chemistry
between Jared and Eric and he should pursue it.  Jared blushed, but did say
he was interested in the young graduate student.  "Do you know if he's a
top or bottom?" he asked.

	"We don't have any idea," Michael sighed.  "That's for you to find
out, I guess."

	"But, he's so busy with the translation right now, that I'll never
get close to him," Jared pouted.

	"You do have security duty tomorrow, don't you?"

	"Uh, no.  That's my day off."

	"You could always switch with someone, so you could be near him,"
John suggested.  "And we'll be there to make sure they get everything they
need.  During their breaks, I'm sure we can let him know that you're
interested in him."

	"I don't want him to think that I'm desperate or a stalker," Jared
blanched.

	"Not to worry," Michael said.  "We know how to be Minerva
Matchmaker."

	It was no secret that Michael and John are a couple.  When they
drew Eric aside and revealed Jared's interest in him, he grinned broadly.
"I think his an amazingly gorgeous man," he allowed.  "But, I doubt that
we'd be sexually compatible."

	"Why is that?" John wondered.

	Eric whispered, "I'm a top, and he's obviously not a bottom," he
signed.

	Michael and John grinned, nearly laughing.  "Don't judge a book by
its cover," Michael opined.

	"So, he's sorta versatile?"

	"Uh, no," John smirked.  "We have it on very good authority that
Jared is a very hungry bottom who loves to get fucked long and hard and
often."

	"You're kidding!" Eric blurted out.

	"Not even a little," John replied.

	"But, how can we connect when I'm so tied up with the translation?"

	"That's easy," Michael grinned.  "Just tell your colleagues that
you need to get more rest.  You were so wound up about the find that you
got little sleep last night.  So, you'd like to call it an early night
tonight.  They may have the same problem."

	Eric thought a moment.  "I think that's true.  Drs. Steele and
Abernethy looked pretty wiped out this morning.  Neither of them are young
men."

	"So, what time should Jared come calling?" John asked with a
devilish grin.

	"We'll stop at five and have dinner.  Perhaps, we'll work another
hour or so.  How about you tell him that I'm available at eight tonight?"

	"We'll let him know," John said.

	"Does he know which room I'm in?"

	"I'm sure he does or can find out.  He's part of the security team
and they know everything about everyone," Michael revealed.

	"And get some sleep, even though you may want to play all night
with him," John suggested.  "You need to be rested and ready for more
translation work on Sunday morning."

	"Slave driver!" Eric laughed.

	The three men stopped their translation work earlier than Eric
thought they would.  They didn't resume their translation after dinner,
pleading fatigue.

	Michael and John left them and went to their own quarters.  They
saw Eric and Jared strolling down the hallway ahead of them and the two of
them turned toward the room that Eric had.

	"Tonight, it's just us," John smiled.

	"And I'm very ready for a `just us' night.  As much as I enjoyed
Jared in our bed, it will be nice to have you all to myself, again,"
Michael sighed.  "And we'll get a lot more sleep this way, too."


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