Legends of Amacia: Mysteries of Tiamat
The Special Collections Library

Hannibalsat there, staring once again at the indentation on the sarcophagus panel,pondering the shape. “I know I’ve seen this shape before,” he declared. As hefinished speaking, a thought flashed through his mind and he gave voice to it.“Do you still have the locket and gem your father gave you?” he asked.

“Why yes,”Harry answered. “I’ve carried it with me since you found it in the wreckage ofmy study.” He reached into his shirt and pulled the locket out. He had ithooked onto a chain, which hung around his neck. He took it off and handed itto Hannibal.

“I don’tknow why I’m doing this,” Hannibal said as he retrieved the small gem frominside the locket. He handed the locket back to Harry and looked at the strangegemstone. “You don’t suppose?” he asked as he took the gem and pushed it intothe indentation with a click. It fit perfectly and he glanced at Harry with alook of surprise as a grating sound emanated from within the protrusionfollowed by a hissing sound from the lid when the seal was broken. Withinseconds, all the other sarcophagi followed suit, reacting in a similar manner.“I don’t believe it,” Hannibal breathed. “You had the key all along and didn’tknow it.”

Harrystared at him with a perplexed look and helped Hannibal slide the lid back,revealing a strange mechanism inside that looked like some form of console withbuttons and displays. Glyphs labeled the various functions. Hannibal and Harrylooked at it with fascination. “Let’s try another sarcophagus,” Hannibalsuggested as he went to the nearest sarcophagus. They pushed the lid back and agust of air rushed out of the case, raising a cloud of dust as they moved thelid. Inside, the sarcophagus was filled with volumes of books made out of thesame metal the books were made of on the first level. Hannibal gently reachedin, pulled out one of the books, and opened it. “It’s made of Electronium. It’sthe same as the books upstairs,” Hannibal stated as he sat the book back in thesarcophagus. “Let’s try another.” He and Harry went half way across the chamberto a sarcophagus in the middle and opened it, replaceing more books.

“I thinkall of these are filled with books,” Harry suggested as they walked back to thefirst sarcophagus they opened that contained the control panel.

“You’reprobably right about that,” Hannibal agreed. “This one must have been some kindof mechanism that was used to lock all the sarcophagi.” He looked at theconsole and deciphered the glyphs. “This thing controls more than just thelocks to these files,” he declared.

“Well, whatelse do you think it does?” Harry asked.

“I’m notsure,” Hannibal answered as he looked intently at the console. He then kneltdown and removed the gem, asking, “Can you tell me the story behind how youcame to have this?”

“Sure,”Harry answered. “Well, as I said the other day, it has been in my family forgenerations. It has been passed down from father to son for four generations.The story goes that my great, great grandfather was prospecting in the ArizonaMountains near the Anasazi cliff dwellings. Supposedly, he found a strange cavehid in a canyon and explored it. It was a pretty large cave system, but nothinglike you have here. I was told that down in the deepest part of the cave, hefound this gem and the locket sitting in a strange carving with writing allover it. He retrieved them and barely escaped with his life. When he took thegem and locket, the cave where he found them collapsed. He had the gemappraised and because no one had ever seen anything like it, it didn’t fetchmuch monetarily. They believed it was just a rock. So, rather than throw itaway, he decided to keep it because of its uniqueness. He kept it with thelocket, carrying it with him as good luck. He passed it to his son, to whom hetold how he retrieved it. His son passed it to his son along with the story andso on and so forth until it came to me. When Dennis is old enough, I’ll give itto him and tell him the story as I heard it.”

Hannibalpondered what Harry said about the locket and gem as he handed the gem back toHarry. “Why was the key to these files hid on the other side of the planet?”Hannibal asked, scratching his head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I don’tknow, Hannibal. I just don’t know,” Harry answered. “But one thing is forcertain. I’m beginning to see a multi-generational pattern of events herethat’s leading to something really big. What’re the chances of my great, greatgrandfather replaceing this key, keeping it and having passed it down four generationsto me, and me becoming friends with you not knowing what you were up to?What’re the odds of you replaceing all those little things having to do withAmacia everywhere you went and then ultimately replaceing this place and thisLibrary? Then add to that the unbelievably strange turn of events that placedus here and now with the key to these things in hand ready to use. This isabsolutely beyond coincidence. A higher power has to be involved here.”

“The Lordhas obviously had this planned from the beginning,” Hannibal stated. “Thechances you’re talking about are a statistical impossibility. There has been ahigher power at work here for generations to this end. My life, your life, andevery life we’ve touched has been part of that great plan the Lord is workingout.” As he answered, he saw a small indentation in the control panel. “Let mesee the locket,” Hannibal said.

Harryhanded the locket to him after replacing the gem in it. Hannibal removed thepicture and handed it to Harry, saying, “You’d better hold on to this.” Harrytook the picture as Hannibal closed the locket and removed the chain. He thengently sat the locket into the indentation on the control panel. It fitperfectly as it clicked into place. The console lit up, after which the entirechamber rumbled.

“What now?”Harry asked as they looked around wildly trying to replace the source of therumble. Their gaze suddenly fell toward the far end of the chamber. Standing inawe, they saw the entire wall on the far end split, and began to slide open. Abrilliant light shined through the crack as the wall separated, forcing them tohide their eyes from the glare. The wall opened thirty feet and stopped. Therumble ceased as their eyes adjusted to the bright light. Hannibal and Harrywalked to the newly discovered entrance and cautiously peered through theopening into the light. Before them stretched a vast chamber that resembled acolossal geode. The chamber spanned more than two miles across and nearly sixhundred feet in height with tens of thousands of sarcophagi made of crystallaid out in rows across the floor. In the center, rose a colossal crystallinemachine nearly two hundred feet in height. The whole chamber resonated with asoft hum.

“Holyshit!” Harry cursed in amazement. “I think we just found the specialcollections, Hannibal.”

“Looks likeit,” Hannibal agreed. “You wait here while I check it out.”

Harrynodded. “Watch yourself,” he warned. “No one’s ever been in here before.”

“Right,”Hannibal replied as he cautiously entered the chamber and looked aroundintensely. He immediately noticed everything was made of crystal, even thefloor. Slowly inching forward, Hannibal marveled at the beauty of the place.Once one hundred feet into the new section without being assaulted by anysecurity devices, he turned and walked back to Harry. “Looks like it’s okay,”Hannibal declared. “This must be the Library’s core.” Reaching into his pocket,Hannibal pulled out a communicator, opening it. “Nathanael, Selina. Are youon-line?” he called into the device.

Hannibalwaited a moment and then repeated the message. A couple of seconds after thesecond message, Nathanael’s voice came back through acknowledging Hannibal.Then Selina answered as well. “Could you join me in the second level of theLibrary? We’ve uncovered another section that may be the core of the Library,”Hannibal ordered. They both replied that they would be there in a couple ofminutes.

“I thinkwe’d better have some backup before checking this new chamber out,” Hannibalsuggested, pocketing his communicator.

“That’s nota bad idea,” Harry agreed, following Hannibal to the nearest sarcophagus, whichsat in the chamber about thirty feet. Hannibal examined the strange crystalcoffin. Harry watched as Hannibal moved around the sarcophagus like a ghost,flitting from one end to another, running his hands over it as if he werereading it through his touch.

“It doesn’tseem to have any locking mechanism,” he said. “Give me a hand with this.” Harryand Hannibal pushed on the lid and it didn’t move. “Try again,” Hannibalordered and they pushed with all their might to no avail. “Hmmm…there must bean internal lock like those in the other room,” Hannibal said as Nathanael andSelina strode up.

“Oh my;this is so beautiful,” Selina purred as she looked around.

“That itis,” Nathanael agreed. “How did you get in here?”

“Believe itor not, Harry’s locket opened this chamber and the gem inside the locket openedthe sarcophagi in the other room,” Hannibal said as he led them back to thecontrol panel sarcophagus. “All of the sarcophagi in here opened when we putthe gem in this indentation,” he said, pointing out the indentation in the domeshaped protrusion on the sarcophagus. “Then the console lit up and the wallopened when I put the locket here,” he added, pointing to where the locket satin the console.

“Indeed,”Nathanael replied in a surprised tone. “Let’s check out the new chamber.” Theywent back into the geode chamber and spread out, making their way toward thegreat crystalline machine in the middle. Hannibal made a beeline to themachine, which he reached in twenty minutes.

Everyoneelse gathered around as Hannibal examined the awesome edifice. The machine wascomposed completely of translucent white crystal, stood two hundred feet inheight, and was nearly seventy feet across. It hummed softly as they probed itscircumference. Within minutes, they located a recess roughly ten feet deep andeight feet high in the side of the crystal. A strange chair and control paneloccupied the hole and seemed to be part of the crystal itself with the panelbeing trimmed in a shimmering metal that resembled gold, platinum, and mercurycombined. The chair and panel glowed softly in the hole. “This must be theaccess point,” Hannibal surmised as he cautiously approached the chair. He satin the chair as everyone watched.

“Becareful,” Harry warned. “You know nothing about this thing.” Selina andNathanael’s faces betrayed their concern and uncertainty as Hannibal examinedthe control panel. An unearthly glow illuminated him. The control panel waslabeled with strange glyphs, which Hannibal studied intensely. He suddenly satback in the chair and sighed. “This is the strangest thing I believe I’ve everseen,” Hannibal admitted. As he finished speaking, the crystal began shiningbrilliantly.

“Hannibal!”Harry cried out as the light became so bright Hannibal became lost in theglare. The others staggered back, shielding their eyes. The great mechanismwent from a low hum to an ear-piercing shriek that lasted only a few seconds.Nathanael and Selina grabbed their ears with their hands to stop the noise.Harry dropped to his knees and grabbed his ears as well. After the shriek, thecrystal’s brilliance faded, glowing softly, and resonating loudly in a low tonethat made the place rumble deeply. The noise level remained just bearable asthey moved back toward Hannibal. He was visible in the chair, bathed in thebrilliance of the recess, sitting there like a great king on a throne with ashaft of light from the console illuminating his eyes, which stared blanklyinto space. An eerie membrane of light covered the entrance to the recess. Itpulsed softly as they approached the recess. Harry reached in to grab Hannibalby the wrist. When he touched the membrane of light, a surge of power ran uphis arm, throwing him fifteen feet, stunning him.

Nathanaeland Selina ran to him and helped him sit up. “Are you all right?” Selina askedwith great concern.

Harry shookhis arm, trying to dissipate the charge. “Yeah,” he replied. “What was that? Itfelt like I grabbed a power line.” His arm and chest tingled with the residualcharge of the power surge.

They helpedhim up and looked at Hannibal behind the light membrane. “There’s some kind ofenergy field protecting Hannibal,” Nathanael stated. “I doubt that we’ll beable to breech it.”

“Well, howare we going to get him out of there?” Harry asked as they reached the shield.

“I don’tknow,” Nathanael answered, watching helplessly as Hannibal appeared lost to themachine.

Selina grabbedon to Nathanael’s arm and asked, “Have you ever seen anything like this, Dad?”

“No,princess. This technology is beyond our level by a great deal,” Nathanaelanswered, tapping the shield of light gently with his claw. The shield snappedas Nathanael tapped it, repulsing his hand violently. “And the shield has afair amount of voltage running through it too. I barely touched it and itnumbed my arm almost to my shoulder.” He shook his arm to get feeling back intohis arm.

“We have toget him out of there!” Harry insisted. “It’s doing something to him!” Even ashe spoke, the light membrane faded with the light inside the recess while thechamber rumbled. Nathanael, Selina, and Harry looked around to locate thesource of the rumble only to replace that it was coming from every direction,apparently coming from every sarcophagus in the entire chamber. Selina lookedback at Hannibal and noticed he was beginning to slump in the chair. Seeing theshield down, she rushed forward and caught him as he slumped forward. Nathanaeland Harry immediately joined her as she gently sat Hannibal back up in thechair. They all noticed that the recess the chair sat in was very warm but notobnoxiously hot. Selina looked into Hannibal’s face as she gently held his headup. Sweat dripped profusely off Hannibal’s face and neck, drenching his shirtwhile small dribbles of blood oozed from his nose, eyes, and ears. The hairaround his temples had turned snow white. The blank look they had seen while hesat within the shield was gone. Great intelligence shown from his eyes but therest of his face revealed tremendous fatigue and pain. For a few moments, hiseyes were glazed and fixed.

Selinagently shook him as she held his head in her hands. “Hannibal. Hannibal. Areyou all right?” she asked.

Selina’scall softly echoed in his ears. He slowly blinked a couple of times and shookhis head slightly as he followed Selina’s repeated calls back to consciousness.Harry’s voice echoed in his ears, and then Nathanael’s. He closed his eyes fora few moments as they continued to try to bring him around. Hannibal suddenlyopened his eyes and exhaled heavily, looking Selina in the face. At first, hisvision was blurry, but it quickly cleared and his head pounded. “What a rush!I’d hug you but I haven’t the strength to even hold my head up,” Hannibal saidfeebly to Selina. She smiled and embraced him, relieved that he was alive.

“Could youtell me what the hell just happened?” Harry demanded.

“Yes,”Nathanael agreed with a high level of curiosity. “What was that?”

Hannibal’schest wheezed and rattled with each breath. His head pounded with excruciatingpain. He sat in silence for several moments before speaking. “This is some sortof teaching machine,” Hannibal explained, looking around at the machine. “Inthe last five minutes, I learned a lifetime’s worth of knowledge: mainly howthis machine works, how to unlock the files, which I did, and the entirehistory of this place and more. I also learned the Stone Language that iswritten on everything in here. This machine has unlimited capability to helpman learn and grow as a species. The control panel here is used to selectvarious subjects from the files. The machine has every volume in here at itsdisposal. All we have to do is….” He stopped for a moment as he becamelight-headed. Within seconds, his eyes rolled back in his head and he passedout, slumping into Selina’s arms once again.

“We have toget him out of here and to the healing chamber,” Selina announced in aconcerned tone. “This thing has hurt him seriously.”

Nathanaelmoved in without argument and gently picked Hannibal up out of the chair withSelina’s help. “We must restrict all access to this chamber,” Nathanael statedas he started to carry Hannibal out of the chamber. “This machine is dangerous.We can’t risk anyone else getting hurt by it.”

“I thinkthat’s a wise choice,” Harry agreed. “Besides, we’ve got more than enough to dowith the Library’s two other chambers. This place here is so vast that it wouldtake several lifetimes to just go through all the books.”

“You’redefinitely right about that, Harry,” Selina agreed. “We need to seal thischamber back up so no one can get to it.”

Withinminutes, they stood outside of the geode chamber in the second level of theLibrary. Harry approached the console sarcophagus and said, “I hope this closesthe door.” Nathanael and Selina paused to watch as he picked up the locket outof the console. The chamber rumbled as the walls slowly closed. Harry pocketedhis locket and followed Nathanael and Selina out of the Library.

Minuteslater, they reached the nearest healing chamber in the machine area andNathanael gently put Hannibal on the table. The crystal began to glow andresonate. The beam of light emanated from the crystal and covered Hannibal fromhead to toe. Within twenty seconds, the beam began to pulse and the strangemusic began to play. Harry’s arm and chest was still tingling from hisencounter with the energy field. It was really beginning to bother him so helaid down on one of the other tables. Nathanael and Selina watched Hannibalintently as the machine did its work, not noticing Harry climb on one of thetables. The crystal remedied Harry’s complaint in ten minutes; however, it tookthe crystal nearly twelve hours to heal Hannibal’s injuries. Word spread ofHannibal’s condition and the research team filtered in and out, checking on hisprogress. Selina, Harry, Nathanael, and Mary stayed with him in shifts. Harryand Mary were sitting at his side as the crystal finished its work. Nathanaeland Selina walked in just as the crystal shut down. “Is it done with him?”Selina asked as they walked up.

“Yes,”Harry answered. “I think so.” They gathered around the table and gazedsympathetically at Hannibal, who lay sound asleep.

“I wonderwhat that thing really did to him,” Nathanael asked.

“I don’tknow,” Harry answered. “Whatever it was, he wasn’t able to handle it. I’m justglad it didn’t kill him.”

Maryreached out and touched Hannibal on the shoulder. He didn’t respond. She gentlyshook him and continued to get no response. “I don’t think this is over, guys,”she said. “He’s not waking up.”

Selinaleaned over Hannibal and opened his eyes to examine them. She took his pulseand checked his breathing. His pulse was slow but steady and his breathing wasnormal. She leaned down and called in his ear, “Hannibal. Hannibal. Wake up.”She did it several times and received no response. “This is strange,” she said.“His vitals are all right but it seems like there’s no one home.” Selina shookhim gently and called his name again, with no response from him. A small prickof fear began to rise in her heart. “Something’s still not right. He appears tobe in some form of coma,” she declared.

“Let’s gethim back to his quarters,” Nathanael ordered. “He can be cared for betterthere. Harry, give me a hand.” Nathanael, Harry, and Selina gently pickedHannibal’s limp body up off the table and carried it to the golf cart. Selinaand Mary sat either side of him, holding him up. Harry rode shotgun asNathanael drove the cart back to the barracks. Selina laid Hannibal’s head onher chest and purred for him while Mary helped to steady him.

Withinminutes, they reached Hannibal’s quarters and carried him to his bed, layinghim down and covering him with the blankets. Once they covered him, Selinaannounced, “I’ll stay with him.”

Nathanaelacknowledged her. “Mary, could you stay with him too?” he asked.

“Absolutely,”Mary replied. “We’ll take good care of him until he wakes up.”

“Good,”Nathanael returned. “We leave him in your care. Come with me, Harry. We havemuch work to do.” Harry nodded and followed Nathanael out the door.

Selina andMary watched over him, cleaning his quarters while they were there. Five hourspassed with no change in his condition. It was getting late when Selina said toMary, “Go home and take care of your family. I can handle this.”

“Are you sure?”Mary queried.

“Yes, I’msure,” Selina answered as they stood in Hannibal’s living room. “Go on. I’ll beall right.”

“Okay,”Mary sighed. “I’ll bring you something to eat after dinner.”

“That’ll begood,” Selina answered. Mary smiled and left the quarters, going a few steps toher quarters where she fixed Harry and Dennis some dinner after cleaning up.Selina sighed and went back into the bedroom, sitting down on the bed andleaning against the headboard. She gently pulled Hannibal up into her lap, lettinghis head lay on her belly. Wrapping her arms around him, she purred for him,stroking his tangled hair softly with one hand. My dear sweet friend…whatdid that machine do to you? she thought. Grief about not being able to helphim slowly grew in her heart so she prayed silently. A couple of hours passedand she drifted off to sleep, slumping down across the head of the bed withHannibal still in her lap and her arm draped gently across Hannibal’s chest andshoulder. Mary came back a half-hour later with some dinner for Selina. Shewent back in the bedroom and saw Selina asleep purring softly with Hanniballying in her lap and his head resting on her belly. Mary smiled and shook herhead sympathetically. Deciding not to disturb them, Mary went to the kitchenand put the dinner in Hannibal’s refrigerator before going back to herquarters.

As she leftHannibal’s quarters, Nathanael and Harry met her in the hall. “How is he?”Harry asked.

“I don’tknow,” Mary answered. “But I know that if there’s anyone that can awaken him,it’s Selina. They have bonded in a special way. I knew it the moment I saw themtogether at our house. Now it’s really showing. At the moment, both of them areasleep.”

“Really?”Nathanael asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Maryreplied. “She’s apparently trying to use her purr to bring him out of it, butit hasn’t worked yet. The poor dear wore herself out. Come see for yourself.”Mary led them back to the bedroom and showed them. Selina lay fast asleep withHannibal lying in her lap still unconscious. They watched for a few moments,and then Hannibal stirred and turned on his side, throwing his arm ontoSelina’s side.

“That’s agood sign,” Nathanael said when he saw the movement. “He hasn’t moved beforenow has he?

“No, sir,”Mary answered. “This is the first time he’s moved since we brought him here.”

Suddenlywhile still asleep, Hannibal began to speak in a language that no oneunderstood. He uttered a couple of sentences and then became quiet again.

“Let’s go,”Nathanael ordered quietly. “Let’s leave them be. She’s had a long day. You maybe right about that bond, Mary.” They slowly backed out of the bedroom andNathanael said as they walked to the living room “Go home and get some sleep.I’ll watch for a little while in case he wakes up.” Harry and Mary nodded,going back to their quarters. Nathanael returned to the bedroom and surveyedthe scene again. “My precious princess; you love him so much. I don’tunderstand why I couldn’t see that before now,” he whispered. He then noticed thatshe was lying in an awkward position, so he went to the bed and retrieved somepillows. Very gently, he raised her up and put the pillows under her to propher up, making her more comfortable. She moaned a little and shifted herposition to accommodate the pillows, yet continued to remain fast asleep. Herpurr rumbled softly from within her chest. Nathanael retrieved a spare blanketand covered her back and shoulders with it. Kissing her on the top of the head,Nathanael stood back, looked at the two of them, and sighed. “Please come backto us, my friend,” he said softly and left the room. He went into the livingroom and plopped down on the sofa where he drifted off to sleep.