Legends of Amacia: Mysteries of Tiamat
Myth of the Ammkar

“Well,let’s hear your theory, Selina,” Hannibal urged.

Selinaglanced at Hannibal with a warm smile as she prepared to answer. “As I saidearlier, I haven’t seen anything quite like it before but I did say that itreminded me of a myth I heard when I was little,” she stated. “The mythoriginated from the ancient times of my planet. Let’s see if I remember how itgoes.” She stared at the Relic, searching her memory. “Hmmm,” she murmured. “Itseems to me there was this myth about visitors from the sky that crashed on ourplanet just as our civilization was beginning to take hold. They crashed in adesolate area of our planet known as the Crucible. Myth has it this area was avast wasteland where some of the most dangerous creatures of our world existed.It was dotted with many active volcanoes and great Dune Seas; an area to beavoided at all costs. This starship crashed there and the survivors of thecrash tried to get out of the Crucible. Of ten survivors of the crash, only onemade it out. The myth said the alien appeared to be Kaitian, only bigger instature. The people that found him treated his injuries the best they could. Inthe end, they could do little for him because the injuries were too extensive.But before he passed on, he told the wise men about himself, what he’d seen,and where he’d been. Apparently, according to the myth, he said that he wasfrom Kaitia thousands of years in the future. He claimed to have searched thegalaxy for the Ammkar: a device of unimaginable wealth and power made by alegendary alien race called the Etherians...a vastly advanced civilization thathas long since vanished from the annals of galactic history.

“Thedevice, according to the myth, was the key to the greatest treasure everamassed in the universe. The myth also said that just before he crashed on ourplanet at that time, he claimed to have actually found the Ammkar on a smallblue planet in the farthest reaches of the galaxy; however, he was unable toprocure it because terrible, fearsome creatures and many other deadly perilsguarded it. The legend states that he actually saw part of it and said that itwas a vast mechanism buried in the middle of the planet with a special keyneeded to activate it. He claimed to have seen some sort of representation ofthe key and it was very similar to this thing,” she said, referring to theRelic. “He did not, however, replace the key. Before he could locate and retrieveit, he was caught up in a violent civil war on the planet that grew into aninterstellar conflict and was forced to flee. In the flight from the planet,the guidance control on his ship was destroyed by hostile fire from the groundand orbit. He had to jump into hyperspace without the guidance controls workingproperly while he was still within that star system. Because of theuncontrolled jump, he emerged too close to the Coctyus Maelstrom…thesupermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy, which nearly destroyed hisship. The result was that when he broke free of the Maelstrom, a wormholeopened up and deposited him in Kaitian orbit nearly five thousand of our yearsin the past. Our civilization was just beginning to take hold. He passedtelling the last bit of how he got out of the Crucible. This is just a briefsynopsis of the myth in terms that you can grasp. It’s not exact and I’m surethat there was more to it, which escapes me at this time; but I think thatgives you the gist of it.

“The shipthat crashed in the Crucible was never found and the account of the survivorwas relegated to myth for thousands of years. Many believed that it was a justa figment of someone’s imagination. There was only one copy of the originalaccount, which was found some five thousand years after the supposed accountwas given. It stayed under lock and key in the Great Museum of Kaitia and onlytop-level researcher like my father were ever allowed access to it. This mythis much like your myths about Amacia and Atlantis: apparently, there was sometruth to it; however, unlike Amacia, no one on my planet ever really decided toinvestigate it. The written account given in the myth was found completely byaccident when the excavations of the city of Kaliph were done. They found it inone of the temples they uncovered.”

“Whatsignificance is Kaliph to your culture?” Hannibal asked.

“Kaliph wasthe oldest city ever discovered on my planet and apparently the cradle of ourcivilization,” Selina stated. “It was some five thousand of our years old andwas buried in the Dune Seas of the Crucible. Apparently, the geological andmeteorological activity of my planet shifted various aspects of the surfaceduring the height of the city and the Crucible swallowed the city. Prospectorswho went into the Crucible in search of precious metals found it. After it wasfound and the excavations began, we found out that at its height, Kaliph was acity nearly as big as your New York City with great high walls that surroundedit. Also, it was said that in its height, the city was nearly three hundredmiles from the Crucible and that the Crucible of that time was nearly threetimes as small as it was when the city was found.”

“Just howbig was the Crucible?” Harry asked.

Selinascratched her head for a second as she searched her memory. “At the time thecity was found, the Crucible was nearly as large as your North Americancontinent,” she stated.

“Wow,that’s some desert,” Harry crowed.

“Yeah, butyou must also remember that my planet was nearly seven times the size ofyours,” Selina returned. “In comparison to the total land area of my planet, itwas only around five percent of it. Also, it was ringed by great mountainranges as big as your Himalayas. The rest of the planet was very lush and moistlike this planet is. The mountains surrounding the Crucible were high enoughthat they blocked the jet streams and all the weather they would carry so theCrucible remained a desert. Anyway, it was during the excavations that thesource of the myth was uncovered. It was the only hard evidence ever foundabout the myth; however, no one felt compelled to investigate it further. Itwas filed away only to be forgotten again. The only reason I know about it wasmy father, who was one of the main researchers at the dig, allowed me to helpwith the deciphering of the ancient texts that were found. It was part of myschooling.”

“Speakingof schooling, when does Dennis get home from school?” Hannibal asked.

“He shouldbe back here in about half an hour,” Mary answered. “Is anyone hungry?”

There was aresounding response of yes. “I think we’ve got something I could throw togetherto hold everyone until supper,” Mary announced as she headed for the kitchen.

“It seemsthat we’ve forgotten all about the time,” Hannibal said.

“Indeed, wehave,” Selina purred. “I completely lost track of the time. I tend to do thatwhen I get into something that I enjoy. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this afternoon.It has given me some time to get to know some new friends and to get out of theTemple.”

“I don’tknow about you Hannibal, but it seems that the things we’ve seen and heardtoday are as astounding as those we heard about last night,” Harry declared.

“I thinkI’ll have to agree on that,” Hannibal returned. “You were right to bring theserevelations directly to me, Dan. What you’ve uncovered is of great importance.”

As Hannibalspoke, Mary re-entered the room with a platter of sandwiches and a couple ofbowls of potato and corn chips. Dan immediately picked up the hologramprojector and turned it off, putting it back into his satchel. Mary sat thesnacks on the table and said, “We have ham, roast beef, and turkey sandwiches.What do you want to drink? We have water, milk, lemonade, tea, cola, andlemon-lime soda.”

Hannibalanswered lemonade, as did Dan and Harry said tea. Selina thought for a minuteand said, “I’ve never had lemonade before. I’ll try it.”

“Could yougive me a hand?” Mary asked Harry and he nodded, rising from his seat andfollowing her into the kitchen. “Go on and help yourselves,” Mary called overher shoulder as they left the room.

Hannibalgrabbed a ham sandwich and a handful of the ranch-flavored corn chips andreturned to his seat on the sofa. Dan took a turkey sandwich with some potatochips and Selina looked carefully at the sandwiches. She gingerly picked up aroast beef sandwich and smelled it, then nibbled at it. “My, this is good!” shebeamed as Harry and Mary returned with the drinks and proceeded to pass themaround. “It tastes like a xarog.”

“What’s axarog?” Harry asked while handing her the lemonade she asked for.

“It’s whatyou would consider a cow on my planet. The animal was however about four timesthe size of your buffalo, had six legs, and a great set of curved horns comingout of the skull,” Selina said after finishing a bite she had taken when Harryasked the question. “Even though it tended to be foul-tempered, xarogs weredomesticated and used as food.”

“That’ssome cow,” Hannibal chimed. “Being that you’ve never had lemonade before, justsip it to decide whether you like it or not, Selina.”

Selinasipped the glass of lemonade and a look of intensity came over her as theflavor spread through her mouth. She licked her lips slightly and herexpression lit up. “This is a strange taste,” she beamed. “It’s sour and sweetat the same time.”

“Lemons area sour citrus fruit that are cultivated on this planet,” Hannibal informed.“The sweetness comes from the sugar that is mixed with it in order tocounteract the sourness.”

Selina tooka larger swallow. “It’s strong too, but it’s good,” she observed. “We didn’thave this kind of beverage on my planet.” Everyone continued to munch on thesnacks when the sound of a school bus echoed from outside.