The Atlantis Stone

CHAPTER 7

Selena had found the magazine with the article about the French museum. Now she was back at Project Headquarters, showing the picture she'd remembered to Elizabeth and Nick.

"You can make out the corner of a stone tablet behind that pile of broken chairs. The picture is blurry but you can see some writing on it. It's the same script as in the photograph."

"I guess we're going to Paris," Nick said.

"It's the only way to see what's on that tablet."

"How are you going to persuade them to show it to you?"

"I don't think it will be difficult," Selena said. "My reputation will get me in the door."

"You'll have to go commercial," Elizabeth said. "The Gulfstream is down for maintenance."

"I checked the schedules. There's a flight to Paris from Dulles leaving at six tonight."

"What about our weapons?" Nick said.

"You know the French are touchy about that. Even if you box them for the plane there's no guarantee you'll get them back after you land. You shouldn't need them."

"I've heard that too many times to put much faith in it."

Selena said, "It should be all right. We'll only be there long enough to photograph the tablet and go back to the airport for the flight home."

That evening they boarded an Air France flight to Paris and settled into business class. The seats were wide and comfortable. Once they were in the air Nick ordered an Irish whiskey. Selena asked for a mimosa.

Nick sampled his drink and leaned back.

"Sometimes I wish the only language you understood was English."

"If that were the case we wouldn't get to go to all these interesting places."

"Yeah, like Mali and Algeria. Or Pakistan. Real tourist spots."

"It's not always like that. Tomorrow will be interesting. You'll see."

Nick dozed in fits and starts on the plane. His dreams were jumbled, unpleasant. The next morning they had breakfast at a sidewalk café and took a cab to the French National Museum of Natural History.

The museum was situated in the heart of Paris on the left bank of the Seine in the Jardin des Plantes, once the Royal botanical garden. The neoclassical building dominated the landscape.

"Big, isn't it?" Nick said.

"This is only one location. There are fourteen sites, four of them here in Paris. This is the original and the most impressive. Wait until you see the Grand Gallery."

"You've been here before?"

"The first time was when I was a child. My uncle brought me here when I was eleven."

Selena had called ahead and arranged to see the tablet in the basement. As she'd predicted, her credentials had smoothed the way. They were met by the assistant director of the museum, Pierre Arnaud. Arnaud was dressed in a French suit with broad pinstripes that made him look like a gangster from a black and white movie. Nick could almost hear Edith Piaf singing in the background.

In spite of his suit, Arnaud wasn't a bad looking man. He affected a thin mustache that reinforced the retro look. He greeted Selena in a stream of French and kissed her on both cheeks, as if she were a long lost friend.

Selena responded in fluent French and introduced Nick. The assistant director's handshake was polite. Selena and Arnaud started down the hall, chatting away in French. Nick followed along, wondering what they were talking about.

At the entrance to the storeroom, Arnaud seemed to realize Nick was there and switched to English.

"Please excuse the clutter, Doctor Connor. We have many priorities and this room has not been one of them. It's full of discarded items, mostly junk. Your phone call reminded me that it's time we sorted it out. I had one of the custodians clear away a path to the tablet that interests you."

"There's no need to apologize, Monsieur Arnaud. I am curious, though. An artifact like this seems out of place in a natural history museum. How did it come to be here?"

"Ah, that is an interesting story. You are familiar with Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt?"

"Only in the broadest sense. It was never a field of study for me."

"Bonaparte's Army was accompanied by the great natural historian Gregory Saint-Hilaire. His task during the campaign was to collect and catalog specimens as the Army moved through Egypt. Most of his collection involved native flora and fauna, as well as fossilized relics and various kinds of Egyptian artifacts from the tombs and elsewhere. I know you are familiar with the Rosetta Stone. Did you know it was found by a French corporal during the campaign?"

"I did," Selena said. "The stone takes its name from a nearby town."

"Oui. When Napoleon abandoned Egypt he left his army behind. The British surrounded them at Alexandria and forced a surrender. The British commander was determined to steal everything Saint-Hilaire had collected but in the end, a negotiation was made. The British took the Rosetta Stone and Saint-Hilaire kept almost everything else he had collected, including this tablet you are about to see."

"Where was it found?" Selena asked.

"Close to Libya, in a temple near the Egyptian coast. It's odd that it was placed down here. There's no record of why it was stored in this room or how Saint-Hilaire got it past the British."

"It does seem like they'd want to keep it," Selena said.

Arnaud took out a set of keys and opened the door. He held it back for Selena and Nick to enter. As he'd warned, the room was a hodgepodge of things piled and stacked in no particular order. The tablet stood against the far wall, at the end of a narrow aisle cleared through the junk.

It was covered from top to bottom with script in the same language as the writing on the Egyptian column in the Russian photograph. Selena took one look and smiled. Even Nick could see the similarity.

"What do you think?" Nick asked.

"It's wonderful. It will take some time to translate but I can't wait to find out what it says."

She turned to Arnaud. "With your permission, I'd like to photograph the tablet. When I've completed the translation I'll be happy to send it to you."

"That is acceptable." Arnaud looked at her. "What exactly is your interest in this particular artifact?"

Selena wasn't about to tell him it might be the key to unraveling the legend of Atlantis.

"It's assumed the Minoans traded with Egypt but no one has ever found anything there with their writing on it. This tablet may be historical proof of Minoan interaction with ancient Egypt. It could shed new light on the Minoan civilization and the Egyptian world of that time."

The explanation seemed to satisfy Arnaud. "How did you learn of it?"

"An article about the ongoing renovations of the museum. There was a picture of this room."

"Fascinating."

Selena took a camera from a small pack she carried at her waist and began taking pictures. She stepped closer and tripped over a piece of wood lying on the floor. She put her hand out against the stone tablet to break her fall.

The tablet moved.

"How did you do that?" Nick said. "That thing has to weigh a thousand pounds."

Selena looked mystified. "I don't know." She turned to Arnaud. "Has anyone tried to move this?"

I don't think so. There wasn't any reason to. Besides, it appears to weigh quite a bit. I would assume it will need equipment or several very strong men to move it."

"Let's see," Nick said.

He went to the tablet and grasped it on both sides. He grunted once and shifted it two inches to the right.

"You must have been taking your vitamins," Selena said.

"It looks a lot heavier than it is. I wonder what kind of stone was used?"

Arnaud was suddenly energized. "This makes it of great interest to us. A new, undiscovered mineral would be a scientific discovery of the first rank."

"That could be why the guy who found it hid it away," Nick said. "He probably wanted the glory of a new discovery for himself."

Arnaud looked offended. "Saint-Hilaire was one of the luminaries of French science. I'm sure his actions were taken for the purest of reasons. His reputation is beyond reproach."

Selena stopped Nick from saying anything else with a light touch on his arm.

"I'm sure that's true, Monsieur Arnaud. Everyone is aware of the great contributions France has made to human knowledge. Your museum is a testament to that quest."

Nick looked at the ceiling.

Arnaud said, "Well. We will certainly examine the tablet more closely. Have you got all the pictures you need?"

"I do, thank you."

Nick looked at his watch. "We have time to make the afternoon flight if we leave now."

Selena smiled at Arnaud. "Thank you so much, Monsieur Arnaud. You have been very helpful. As soon as I have completed my translation I will send you a full report."

"My pleasure. In the meantime, we'll begin working on a translation here."

"Then we'll be able to compare notes," Selena said.

During the brief exchange they'd moved out into the hall.

"I need to talk to the custodians about this room," Arnaud said. "Do you think you can find your way back to the entrance? If you take those stairs at the end of the hall, it will bring you out near the main gallery."

"Of course. Thank you again for your hospitality." Selena smiled at him.

As they climbed the stairs Nick said, "You laid it on a little thick in there."

"You insulted him when you said Saint-Hilaire acted out of personal motives."

"Why are the French so prickly? They always seem to take offense at nothing."

"I'm not sure. I don't think they ever quite got over the loss of their empire under Napoleon."

"Hell, that was more than two hundred years ago."

"The world's center of power has shifted a long way from Paris. Pride is a hard thing to let go of."

"My mother used to say pride and a dollar will get you on the bus."

"It takes more than a dollar these days," Selena said.