The Secret of the Ancient Alchemist (13 page)

An hour later,
he stormed out the cab. He hurried to a Southwest Airlines counter
and purchased a ticket to J.F.K. Airport. Hart then headed to a
food outlet where he ordered a ham and egg sandwich and a cup of
coffee. He had thirty-five minutes before his flight left. He sat
down savouring sips of the strong brew. The food soon took away his
hunger and he began to relax some.

“
We
aren’t alone,” he said. “We aren’t at all.”

As he ate, his
mind drifted to all the things that defined Man, to his very
essence. What a mistake it was to be ensconced in ego for below the
surface lay Man’s true self. Man’s outward image, status, and
wealth could never equate all creation. The wise have long known
that humans could be all they wanted to be. Yet, they seem always
to choose a path fuelled by blind certainty even when higher
intelligence kept calling. Hart found the realm in silence. It was
a connection to the supernatural and it dizzied him with
elation.

He pursed his
lips thinking of the pages again. “Those ten pages must have said
much. They must have revealed even more astonishing secret of our
life. I must find them.”

The ring from
his cell phone brought him back to the reality of work. With grease
on his hands, he lifted it and read the text message.

Where are you?
Call me.

It came from UN
Specialist, Ron Riley. He was still waiting on Hart’s analysis of
ozone levels and weather changes. Hart sighed. He hadn’t even
started it. Placing the phone aside, Hart thought again of Olsen’s
date. He wanted to mention it to Riley but Riley’s head was cast in
concrete with fixations of himself and his world. He wouldn’t
consider the date nor would he accept the Inca vision. A flight
announcement soon ended his thinking. He drained his coffee and
hurried to the exit terminal.

Back in New
York, he dialled Olsen’s number as he hurried along Greenwich
Street.

“
Hey?”

“
Where
are you?” Olsen enquired.

“
I just
got in from Cambridge. I had a session with Professor Carlon
Leidman. We had a close look at the Gospel of Mary Magdalene. I
believe I found the ancient text after all but a lot of pages are
missing. Nonetheless, it’s quite a revelation.”

“
Did it
mention of a realm in us?”

“
It sure
did. It’s in a place where incomprehensible silence
exists.”

“
What
makes you so sure?”

“
The
gospel describes a gap, the mindless state. It’s a portal to a
whole new intelligence, bearing the soul and the supernatural mind
in a realm of light.”

“
That can
beam waves to us.” Olsen was genuinely delighted.

“
I need
an opinion, Olsen. So, listen carefully.”

“
Go
on.”

“
It’s
clearly stated in the gospel that matter gave birth to a passion
that has no equal.”

“
That
statement supports a realm for sure.”

“
And, a
question was raised by Mary Magdalene.”

“
What
question?”

“
Will
matter
then
be utterly
destroyed?”

“
Why
would she have said that, Tom? Did she get an answer?”

“
She
did.
A
ll
nature, all forms, all creatures exist in and with each other, and
will be resolved again into their proper roots
.”

“
You’re
kidding? That’s dimensional stuff. They were discussing that two
thousand years ago?”

“
Magdalene asked that question because she may have wondered
about matter being destroyed by a transformation to a
realm.”

“
Yes, of
course. She would not have understood it. I imagine not many would
have.”

“
Probably
no one. Then, there’s the matter of Schmidt’s translation of the
text.”

“
What did
Bentley say about it, Tom?”

“
The
Gospel was written in Sahidic Coptic and he believes Schmidt was
more than capable. In fact, Schmidt completed his work in 1912 and
then, sent it to a press, where, unfortunately, it was damaged.
Then World War 1 came. Schmidt died in 1938.”

“
Did
notes survive? Did he leave clues concerning the missing
pages?”

“
No, but
those pages must have gone somewhere.”

“
If
matter was discussed two thousand years ago, then those missing
pages say a hell of a lot.”

“
About
who we are and where we are going.”

“
You must
find them.”

“
I
must.”

Before Hart
could switch his phone off, a buzz in his ear sounded.

Chapter 31

“
Hi Tom.
”

“
Hello
again.”

“
Well, I see you found the connection to the Universal Mind.
Good job. But, I have to tell you it’s not so
accessible
.”

“
What do
you mean?” Hart asked anxiously.

“
Well, you’re right to think it can be found in silence. I
am glad you know that
.”

“
Why
can’t we connect? What’s the problem now?”

“
One has to rid oneself of hate, anger, and negative
emotions if it’s to grant one a wish. Simple
.”

“
I
see.”

“
A person is on a journey. Humans need to take that journey
seriously, otherwise, they would not move on. I wish you luck in
finding those missing pages.
”

“
So, what
do the pages say? I can’t believe Magdalene was discussing
dimensions and matter. What this? Two thousand years ago? We’ve
been struggling for years to understand matter. All we know so far
is that there’s a force that gives objects shape and size so we can
perceive them. The Universal Mind really made matter
dynamic.”

“
Exotic is the word, Tom
.”

“
Exotic?
That kind of matter breaks all known laws of Physics. You’re saying
there are other worlds?”

“
Exactly. You cannot know what you can’t, though I see you
all trying
.”

“
So, how
did Inti and all those guys get here?”

“
You already know that, Tom. They travelled through
space-time portals and into your realm, like I
did
.”

“
So,
where does our portal take us? Where does our soul go?”

“
You’re really anxious to know what’s in those pages, aren’t
you.
”

“
I am. Do
these pages discuss heaven?”

“
Heaven you say?
”

“
Yes.”

“
I can tell you something about heaven
.”

“
Please
do.”

“
Heaven is permanent.
”

“
Matter
is permanent in heaven, isn’t it? There’s no entropy there, is
there?”

“
Entropy? That’s a big word, Tom
”

“
You
know, the way everything gets worn down and weary in our
universe.”

“
No, there isn’t any of that.
”

“
We don’t
die?”

“
No. I hear a lot of talk from you all about roads paved in
gold and rivers of honey
.”

“
Is that
true? I like it here. I don’t need roads paved with gold. So,
what’s the beat?”

“
Having what you love in an ageless, timeless dimension. You
won’t be challenged again, not by anything.
”

“
Oh man,
that sounds really good!”

“
Matter is supernatural in heaven. The Great Mind sent
samples a long time ago
.”

“
Samples?
Where?”

“
You should check it out. The Great Mind made sure you all
were told everything and given glimpses of everything. Seems, it
has to start all over again. Bye, Tom
.”

“
Hey,
where are the pages? Hey wait!”

The voice
vanished and Hart shut his phone off.

Back in his
office at the NSA, it was quiet save for the hum of the
supercomputer, Cray TE5. With its two thousand processors, the Cray
tracked the weather globally, gathering information from across the
world.

He looked at
the hurricane data for the East Pacific. What he saw was nothing
like anything he had ever seen before. A Category 5 hurricane was a
baby compared to the beast that spun around on the screen.

A rap on his
window startled him. Through the glass, he saw Riley staring back
at him. Riley pointed to the NSA’s conference room.

Hart slipped
through an adjoining door that led to the room, swearing at the
annoying sounds of the Face Analyst Machine, the security system
that kept strangers out.

“
Let's go
through this report, please.” Riley placed a document on a table.
“This is a compilation of the research done this past three years
on weather patterns.”

“
I’m not
so certain about this, Ron,” Hart said flicking through pages of
data.

“
Not
certain of what?” Riley shouted rudely.

“
I’ve
looked through this a dozen times. I didn’t see any significance in
it. I didn’t see any changes in glacial melt down, for
example.”

“
Look at
it again,” Riley insisted.

Hart passed his
hands through his hair and looked at the data again. “Are you sure
your Plan B is working?” Plan B was a series of reflecting mirrors
Riley had set up across the globe.

“
Yes, I
am.”

But, Plan B had
changed nothing. The environmental crisis had worsened. He stared
as Riley slumped in a chair, frustrated. Unbearable strain tore
into his dark features. A man to whom diplomacy in all things came
easy, he fretted feeling the full weight of his mission and the
upcoming UN meeting on Climate Change that he was hosting in a
week’s time. He needed Hart’s stamp of approval. Riley twiddled his
fingers as desperation seeped in. His desperation bordered on
fear.

“
Look,
Ron,” Hart said hoping to ease the tension. “I’m quite sure these
calculations don’t reflect any real changes in the
environment.”

“
I’m sure
they do.” Riley shot up.

“
The data
is not sufficient. Besides, I’ve maintained and still do, that the
problem that needs confronting is the ever increasing occurrence of
tremors.”

“
Look,
Hart, you can present your misgivings about this report if you wish
at next Friday’s conference but, I’m launching it.” Riley began
walking away.

“
Wait!”

“
Yeah,
Hart.”

“
Listen
to me. We’ve reduced carbon emissions by fifty percent. We’ve been
using electric cars for the past twenty years, not to mention Plan
B.”

“
What
about it?”

“
We have
to deal with this matter differently!”

“
Maybe
you’re right, maybe we need to rethink this whole thing but, at the
moment, we don’t have any other direction to follow.”

“
We can
solve the problem. We just need time.”

Riley grew
silent with Hart’s words. Hart had a brand of self-assurance and
compassion that was strange to him. He blinked his eyes trying to
figure out what it was about Hart he couldn’t put a finger on. A
loner, Hart was getting a rep because of his preoccupation with
strange phenomena. He was on a mission. Nothing else mattered it
seemed.

“
You’re
referring to a date for a new age, aren’t you?” Riley said finally.
“Marin told me about it but I’m not sure I could accept it. That’d
be difficult for me.”

“
Ok, I
understand.”

Deep down, Hart
didn’t. He turned and headed to his office as Riley left. The sound
of his videophone took away his frustration as he looked at the
face of the man on the screen. It was a call he was waiting on.

“
Peter,
how are you?” he inquired.

Langley headed
NASA’s data security systems. The systems had the best coding and
decoding platforms.

“
Quipu is
a word that means ‘file.’ I got that from the Quechan form of
Microsoft XP.”

Hart ignored
all that. He was concerned with the re-check of Olsen’s data.

“
What’d
you come up with?”

“
The data
has a baseline of ten. Tough going, but I came up with two prime
numbers.”

“
Two
numbers? Is one of them nineteen?”

“
Yeah.
How did you know?”

“
Olsen
told me. Did you find a third number?”

“
Nothing
yet but I’m still searching. I’ll get back to you as soon as I find
it.”

“
Thanks,
Peter.”

He hung up and
sat thinking less and less of Riley’s problems and Olsen’s date and
more of his own mission. He would not rest until he got the whole
truth of life and that lay in ten missing pages of a gospel. As
always, Hart voiced his thoughts.