Tablet of Destinies (36 page)

The Nefilim Lord, Enki, had only seeded daughters by natural means. In desperation he turned to his sister, Ninharsag, and her genius with genetic manipulation, to create him a male heir for his kingdom and for his knowledge, who was as close to the Nefilim in appearance as humanly possible. The year after Adama had been successfully engineered, Marduk was born to Enki by his mate, Ninki. In retrospect, Enki believed that his desire for a son, which had driven him to create the perfect human, was due to his Logos, Anu; the advent of a new thinking species had been predestined by the cosmos.

Adama's skin was not as fair as a Nefilim's, but it was not as black as a slave worker's either — it had more of a red-brown tinge. Adama's hair and eyes were dark like a slave's, and this was where Adapa's appearance differed. His eyes were a paler brown and his hair, once washed, was the colour of sand. Adapa was not as tall or as well-built as Adama, but his body was solid from working outdoors.

Marduk stood, arms folded, observing Adama help his prize find pull on the robe of a scholar. ‘I've never seen anything like it. A human with Nefilim hair.'

Adapa was inspecting the wet strands of hair that fell in front of his eyes. ‘I never knew I had hair this colour either,' he chuckled. ‘What does it mean, Lord?' he asked Adama.

‘It means that you have been blessed by the maker,' he assured, as he came at Adapa with a comb. ‘But for what purpose? That we must endeavour to find out.'

 

The young Lords arranged to have an audience with the Lord Enki in his council chambers, and contrary to the young Lords' fears, their father was not infuriated when he laid eyes upon Adama's human find.

Enki chose to appear as forty human years of age, although he was, in truth, thousands of years old. His hair, always trimmed short, was golden brown and not much darker than Adapa's. The Lord's eyes were an amazing colour of deep blue — the dark eyes and dark hair of Adama and Marduk came from his wife Ninki's contribution to their gene pool. Enki, standing over eight feet tall, was a larger man than either of his offspring, although Marduk had yet to grow to full maturity.

From his throne, the Lord sat looking down upon his sons and their new acquaintance, his demeanour calm, as if this moment had been anticipated.

‘You believe I have some explaining to do, Adama.' Enki decided that now was the time. ‘Marduk. Please take Adapa to the scriptorium and show him around. I need to speak with your brother, alone.'

As Homo sapiens had yet to prove themselves to be telepathically skilled, the Nefilim usually spoke aloud when dealing with them. Humans could hear the Lords when the Nefilim thought-projected, but the Nefilim found that this method only confused the lesser species, so thought-projection was reserved for intimidatory purposes. On rare occasions, the Nefilim used telepathy
to speak privately amongst themselves, but, fiercely paranoid of each other's ambitions, the Nefilim chose to wear thought-wave neutralisers almost all of the time.

Marduk teleported Adapa from the room as requested, leaving Adama to question his father. ‘I am not the only one, am I?' He came striding forth to demand some answers. ‘Why didn't you tell me there were others?'

‘Why?' Enki posed. ‘Because of your next question.'

Adama was on a roll and so hadn't really caught his father's response until after he'd asked: ‘Are there any females?' Adama frowned when he realised he'd fallen right into his father's trap. ‘Why would you wish to deny me a mate, when every other creature in creation has one?'

‘No other creature in creation poses a threat to the Nefilim. Unfortunately, Adama, you do.'

‘Then why create more of me? Why run the risk?'

‘Because I found the company and temperament of humans preferable to that of my own kind. Besides, I don't like being told what I can and can't do with my research by the Pantheon, when my motivation and existence comes from Anu.'

Anu was the name of Enki's father, head of the Pantheon. This was also the name of the Logos at the centre of the Nefilim's home star system, for it was believed by the Nefilim that their Logos spoke through their leader.

Enki had begun to fear that his brother, Enlil, had been poisoned by greed. It was no secret that Enlil despised the slave workers who made his life so easy.
Enki had known that his brother posed the biggest threat to genetic research and felt that he had to go over his brother's head regarding developments in this field: ever since Enki and Ninharsag had created slaves to give the Nefilim liberty from hard labour, their kindred had no longer fully appreciated the wealth and minerals they came by. Resources were wasted on toys and weapons for the amusement of Gaia's Gods and for keeping subordinates in line. Enki had been granted a vision of the self-indulgence that lay in store for his people and had privately conveyed this knowledge to the great Anu. In his wisdom, Anu had advised that Enki must do as his own inner voice compelled him and advance his research into the human species of whom he was so fond, so that they might have a chance of defending themselves against Nefilim injustice in the future.

‘Anu told you to create us?' Adama queried in awe. ‘For what purpose?'

‘To guide my kindred back home,' Enki replied, his eyes glassing over as he became engrossed in thought. ‘You have an additional etheric body that we Nefilim have never found a use for. Even I do not yet understand your depth of feeling.'

‘Oh, I think you do, Father,' Adama commented, knowing Enki was telepathic and would have come to know something of feeling through probing Adama's mind. ‘It is because you have an inkling of compassion and love that you stand apart from most of your brethren.'

Enki smiled at this. ‘Coming from you, Adama, that is a real compliment. But this emotional body you have
was not something Ninharsag or I created via the manipulation of your essence on a physical level … it was something prepared especially for humankind in the spiritual realms. The emotional body seems to be something unique to Gaia's spawn, and is the part of you that comes from the ape man of this planet, which supplied part of your essential makeup … or at least that was my theory.'

‘Ah … now the truth comes out.' Adama knew there must have been a scientific angle behind Enki's repeating of the experiment and producing others of his ilk. ‘I had emotional understanding, but was that just me or was it something any perfect human would develop?'

‘Exactly!' Enki admitted, eager to expand on his brilliant hypothesis. ‘The introduction of intellect and reason must have awakened the subtle body in question, or at least given you the means to understand the stimuli it produces. That is why, when the others were created, I separated you all. I placed you into different circumstances, to gauge if a certain environment enhanced or repressed the development of the emotional body.'

‘How many of us are there?' Adama asked warily, suspecting his father would not divulge the information.

‘If I tell you, you will ruin the experiment.'

‘Is that all I am to you?' Adama launched an emotional attack, which always confused the Nefilim.

‘You are my pride, my treasure,' the Lord responded surely.

‘And what of the others you created, are they not your sons and daughters too?'

‘I never said that I had made any females,' Enki pointed out, knowing that Adama was trying to outsmart him. Enki found it a commendable try.

‘What?' Adama scoffed, having already received his answer. ‘Your curiosity for this emotional body didn't extend as far as to wonder what differences there would be in the female of the species?'

‘Bravo!' Enki applauded his boy, well proud of him. ‘You are most perceptive … nevertheless that is all the information you are getting out of me for now.'

‘But Father —'

‘Subject closed,' Enki stood up to insist. ‘I shall allow you to keep and educate the human you found today, because it serves my interests to see how he shall take to palace life after such a deprived existence. If Adapa makes good of his mind, then so be it … if he has no aptitude for higher learning, then he shall go back from whence he came. That is my will, you are dismissed.'

Adama reluctantly bowed and took his leave. His father was clearly not going to be of any more assistance. He'd managed to find Adapa on his own, and he would find the others as well. Enki had not forbidden further investigation, nor had he punished him for his disobedience in venturing out of the palace. He came to a halt in the corridor outside the council chamber, thinking that his father's decision was very odd indeed — it was almost as if he wanted Adama to defy him.

‘Of course!' he exclaimed.
Father cannot encourage my curiosity in this regard without becoming liable for the consequences. I must pursue his quest for knowledge on my own.

 

The next few years saw many changes within the Palace at Eridu in Edin.

Enlil, the supreme ruler of the Nefilim on Gaia, decided that, as Marduk was coming of age, it was high time he learnt something of mining and leadership. The order was approved by Anu, who was residing on the Nefilim's home planet of Nibiru, and so Marduk was ordered south to the mining country known as Arali, ‘the place of the shining loads'. Enlil's wife, Ninlil, governed the capital city, Kurra, named after its location ‘in the crest of mountains'. Enki knew that his brother's decision to find gainful employment for Marduk had nothing to do with the reasons he'd given. Enlil feared that if Marduk remained in Eridu, his father's strange ideas might rub off and the young Nefilim Lord would become a human sympathiser. Due to his association with Adama, Marduk was already prone to be too soft on slaves and on his Nefilim subordinates, a trait that Enlil thought could only prove detrimental to the future of his mining ventures on Gaia.

Before Marduk left Eridu, however, he made a parting gift to his brother Adama by letting him in on a little secret. He told of a hidden passage that began in their father's chambers and granted access to the city beyond the palace walls. ‘In case you ever need to venture out,' he'd advised Adama, as he could no longer aid his mortal brother in that regard.

This was the breakthrough that Adama had been
waiting for to pursue his secret quest. It also proved to him that a little of his sentimentality and compassion had rubbed off on Marduk over the time they had associated. Since finding Adapa, Adama had been considering how he could seek others of his kind. The best way, in Adama's mind, was to go out in search of them, but Marduk wouldn't be persuaded to teleport Adama beyond the palace since the Adapa incident. Marduk's parting gift was the means for Adama to fulfil his own desires, without involving any of his Nefilim kindred.

Adapa had taken to scripture and learning like a monkey took to the trees. Both Adama and Adapa were obsessed with the secret doctrine of reproduction that only the Nefilim knew about. Only through discovering something of this scientific knowledge did their species stand a chance of survival. There were two avenues of research that could aid their cause. One was to find and mate with a female of their species, to see if they could produce offspring, as the Nefilim did and indeed every other living species on the planet. They had been given the reproduction equipment, but did it work? An even better alternative was to learn about the manipulation of man's essential essence — the doctrine of Ninharsag. If humans had been fashioned from the ‘essence' of the Gods, why were they mortal and the Nefilim immortal? Could this defect be reversed?

When Adama considered how dangerous to the Nefilim his association with Adapa was, he had to wonder why Enki had allowed them in each other's company? They inspired each other's radical thoughts
and theories and made no secret of their interest in pursuing the knowledge of the Gods. By the same token, the Lord Enki never strongly discouraged their curiosity.

Adapa had an extraordinary memory and ability to learn, and his writing ability was truly outstanding. He had already made his way through the available texts on Scribemanship, Mathematics, Geology, Metallurgy, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Architecture, Nefilim law, Astronomy and the Earth Sciences, although Enki had purposely withheld all information pertaining to the Healing Sciences. This latter course of study had been denied to Adama also, for fear he would come to understand the reproduction process and the science of DNA manipulation. Adapa was currently studying Nefilim history and cosmology.

He had come to rival Adama in his knowledge of all things, and was favoured by Enki when it came to conversation and debate. In the palace, Adapa was hailed as ‘the Sage of Eridu', and would be remembered as such for all of human history.

Adama was not jealous of the favour Adapa had gained in their father's eyes, because Enki's fascination with Adapa freed Adama to pursue his investigations.

It had become a ritual that, for a few hours every day, Adapa kept Enki company in the gardens. Safe in this knowledge, Adama decided to seize the opportunity to investigate the secret tunnel that Marduk had claimed lay inside Enki's private chambers.

He'd entered these quarters thousands of times in the past, seeking his father when he was at leisure, but today, venturing within, Adama felt nervous and excited
to be up to mischief.
If I am doing the wrong thing, then how come it feels so great?
He pondered the thought, creeping quietly into his father's sleeping chamber, which Enki only ever used for seduction and mating.

At the foot of the bed was a large statue of a red beast, which Marduk had referred to as a dragon. ‘Grab the piece by the head and pull it towards you,' his brother had said, ‘and the passage will reveal itself.'

As Adama gripped the statue around the head, he was having the horrid thought that his brother might have been telling him a yarn, and pulling the statue off balance might only serve to send the heavy piece crashing onto the marble floor.