Temple of the Inscriptions
by Humphrey Price
Chapter 10: San Francisco
conclusion
I watched my brother disappear into the flowing mass of humanity at the San Francisco airport. Someday I will go see him and reveal myself. Right now, I don’t think he or I could deal with it. Our mom and dad passed away during the years I missed, and Tom is the last of my immediate family.
Karyn made contact with her mom. She’s been able to deal with the reappearance of her young daughter, long thought dead, and keep our unbelievable journey a secret. When Karyn and I visit her, she tells everyone that Karyn is her niece.
Karyn and I were not slow to marry, especially since I had no trouble finding a diamond for the engagement ring. Having figured out what e-mail was, we obtained an account not traceable to us and, after some determined hunting around, we sleuthed out how to contact Hetepheres from a computer in a public library. She was ecstatic to hear from us and brought us up to date on what had happened since we last saw her and the others over sixteen years ago in real time.
Sneferu had recovered from his gunshot wound and was healthy but old. Jangsu was in South Korea, in poor health and very near the end of his life. He would certainly welcome any good news regarding life-prolonging supplements. We mailed off fifteen milliliters of the Elixir of Immortality to the address given to us by Hetepheres.
Several weeks later, we received an e-mail from her thanking us very much for the gift. Jangsu had flown back to Egypt to visit, and his health had dramatically improved. Hetepheres was trying to talk Sneferu into taking the same health supplement, but he was not yet convinced.
We’ve been living in the Bay area since our return from Mexico, and the remainder of the Elixir of Immortality is in a safe deposit box. When we moved into our small house in Mill Valley, we inherited a very cute and friendly stray cat, a gorgeous long-haired black and white tribble we named Spike. She must have been almost twenty years old, according to the vet. Then she got very sick with a prognosis that she wasn’t going to make it. We retrieved the vial from the safe deposit box and used an eye dropper to put one drop of the clear liquid into Spike’s mouth. The next day she was perking up. A week later, her fur was shiny, and she was scrambling up and down trees like a cat in her prime.
Karyn and I have read over every translation and interpretation of the Palenque inscriptions that we could find, and we’ve learned a few things. The oldest reference in the writings describes a period of over one million years ago. The text isn’t very clear, and a lot may be lost in translation, but we think it refers to the arrival of a being named K’inich Ajou, who is probably the same entity as Horus, whom Sneferu referred to. If he watched over the “three types of man” as Sneferu stated, then I guess that would be Homo erectus, the Neanderthal/Denisovans, and Homo sapiens.
Even though Pakal is desperate to obtain the vial of elixir, I don’t think he will be able to find us. After all, it’s a big world. We’re just going to continue to lie low and be careful. The year 2012 was predicted to bring the return of K’inich Ajou, ushering the world into a new era. Pakal probably believed the prophecy and made plans for that time. If this Horus character really did return in 2012, maybe Pakal already has more elixir.
When Karyn and I are old and gray, perhaps we’ll each try 1.5 cc of the stuff. We’ll feel more confident if Spike is still scampering around. Then maybe we’ll visit Palenque and use Karyn’s meteorite to take a one-way trip into the future and see what the twenty-second century model VW Beetles look like. After all, we’ve got all the time in the world.
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Author’s Notes
The trip to Mexico and journey down into the crypt is somewhat autobiographical, although my friend and I did not climb onto the sarcophagus cover. The internal structures of the Temple of the Inscriptions and the Red Pyramid are as described except, of course, for the secret chambers.
Some Egyptian pyramids did have massive stone doors called portcullis blocks that slid down to close and seal off chambers. There is a psycho-duct in the Palenque pyramid, but not in the location I placed it for the story.
The text in the real Mayan Temple of the Inscriptions is as described as far as dates and content, but scholars admit that it is difficult to interpret. There are translations of the text available on the internet, and it makes for an interesting read. Maybe you can figure out what was supposed to happen in the year 2012 and what will transpire in 4772. The historical figures in the story existed but are now long dead. Or are they?
Copyright © 2023 by Humphrey Price
