Chapter 68

A series of incomprehensible black glyphs started scrolling across and then down the white screen.

As Zeke dropped to a knee to see the screen better, Carly asked, “Can you read that?”

“Yes and no,” Zeke replied, not taking his eyes from the screen.

“While some of the symbols appear to be Egyptian, others are of a language that I’ve learned is called Genteli. You two will learn it when you have time to study the books Paul and Lee gave me.”

“What is it doing, and why the mixed languages?” Lindsay asked as he knelt beside Zeke. He was equally fascinated by the text.

“As a programmer and designer, I’d say the droid is running system checks. I can only guess that the last person to play with this little fellow’s program was Egyptian and a wizard.”

“They didn’t have words in their native language to describe some parts or systems in the droid, so they had to use the Genteli language. It will take me a bit of time to decipher the code.”

“Oh!” Carly exclaimed excitedly. “Like how words from one language become added to another because the first had no word to describe something new the second language had a word for.”

“Yes. It also means if you don’t have knowledge of both languages, this code appears as gibberish. The colour of the squares also has meaning. You may have noticed that sometimes they flash through the sequence to the tenth square.”

“More often, they don’t. I think they are like a percentage of optimum performance. All lights mean one hundred percent, half is fifty and so on. Just the first square flashing red seems to indicate that a system or a component is faulty.”

They watched in fascination for a few more minutes until Carly asked, “So, what’s in the gilded treasure chest beside its feet?”

The box in question was roughly 50cm long, 30cm wide and 40cm high. The top 10cm formed the lid. Half the height of the lid was shaved off at forty-five degrees around the sides. Intricate designs made from pieces of mother of pearl, different woods, precious stones, and metals adorned it.

“It doesn’t have any Egyptian symbols on it,” Lindsay observed.

“No, I think it pre-dates the civilisation we know of as Egyptian. Akl, my guide, has been around on Earth for over thirty thousand years. He says that humanity has had several rises and falls, even in his time of service.”

“Why don’t we have records of them?” Carly asked.

Zeke shrugged, “He says humans are little different from the Keltrians when they started evolving. They both have a bad habit of destroying themselves and what they build, only leaving a remnant of people behind to start again.”

“The main difference is that the Keltrians got to the stage of Queens and, more importantly, Empresses who are the preservers of history, even if no physical evidence remains for future generations to find.”

“So, your predecessor wasn’t the first person to go to Mars?” Lindsay asked.

“No, not by a long shot. The transportation dais Ptah found has been there for more than seventy thousand years. Akl thinks it may be twice as old. The last time the Keltrians explored the galaxy wasn’t the first time.”

“A civilisation with records covering over two million years of existence and a nature similar to ours, would have set out to explore this galaxy and possibly even others, many times. I find it amazing that we are still genetically compatible with them.”

“Some of their people got trapped on earth seventy thousand years ago, yet they were able to mate with our ancestors and pass on their unique traits. Akl says our people were not as strong in magic as them. It has taken this long for more of our children to develop these talents.”

“But we are still a tiny minority,” Lindsay stated.

“True. The Utopians leaving Earth probably set our development back by another fifteen hundred years or so. Although, you can’t blame them. Persecuted people flee. Stranding Ptah on Mars almost three thousand years ago didn’t help either.”

“He also mentioned that having several Lord Wizards running around Earth without a Queen was a recipe for disaster, especially if they came into contact with each other, which has happened several times.”

“The wizard who made his items was trying to make items fit for a Queen to stave off one of those disasters. However, she didn’t get it quite right. The items, while flawed, still gave the wearer the powers of a Lord Wizard.”

“Akl says none of the items made by his companions over the centuries that worked, were higher than for what Lee calls a five-gemmed High Wizard. I guess that’s why she suggested I form a sextet of wizards under me.”

“As fascinating as all that history is, I want to know what’s in the box,” Carly demanded.

Zeke laughed. He reached in and touched the chest. He then released the ‘hold tight’ spell Dallas had used to keep it in place. He levitated it out of the cabinet, set it down in front of him on the floor, and dropped to both knees.

Carly and Lindsay moved to bracket Zeke. Once on their knees, they looked at him expectantly. As Zeke touched the lid, he momentarily closed his eyes as he examined and then released the locking spell.

He was impressed by Dallas’s spells and suspected Sabrina had helped him. He knew if they kept working together, it would only make them stronger and bond them tighter.

They all peered into the chest after he flipped up the catch and lifted the lid. Stacked inside were twelve brown sacks tied off at the top by their drawstrings. Sitting on top was a note written in Dallas’ scrawled handwriting.

“Surprise!! Look in the lid!!” Lindsay read aloud.

They looked at the lid and realised the base was flat and sealed. Zeke closed the lid, and the three of them looked at the flat faces. Zeke touched a spot, centre of the left half at the front and a draw released.