Nigkala Tales Pt. 09: Nights at the Museum

"Clever of you to leave them with many false paths."

I replied to Inanna, "They are not false, for they could be the correct path. But I do agree it will waste a lot of their time figuring out which path to follow. I am sure tomorrow will bring more enlightenment, and will take longer because there is a lot more written on the next page."

"Your mind seems restless. Tell me."

"I saw some things at the club tonight that trouble me. But this is not my country, nor is this my people. I am not sure what, if anything, I can or should do." I concentrated on the scene to show Inanna.

"I see. Direct interference will come back on you quickly. Subtle means will have to suffice, but causing them humiliation will just cause them to lash out at the women you would protect. Accidents are probably best, although making them occur at command is not easy."

"Hmm, I see what you mean. I think my stare could cause them to stumble, and if they stumble into someone who would take offense, they will not seek to learn why they stumbled. The ensuing argument could distract them from their previous actions."

"Daughter, take care. This is a violent place, and if they see you as a cause, they could come as a mob, and even you would be overwhelmed. Enough, know that you have a plan. Sleep well." With that, I fell into a deep sleep.

I woke to knocking at my door. I remembered my robe this morning. I opened the door, "Hello?"

"Hello, Ms. Nigkala." He was one of the students.

"Well, that didn't last long. Come on in." He came in and I closed the door. "How did you find out?"

"After dinner, we got to talking with some of the other workers, and Sam mentioned you were a storyteller. Add that to the fact you have four breasts, and it was easy."

I looked at the time, and saw it was rather early. I then looked at him and noticed a significant erection. "So I take it you came hoping to have sex?"

"Um, yeah.... Will you?"

Rather than answer, I went back to bed, casting my robe off on the way. "You coming?" Half an hour later, he left, and I took a shower. I decided to bring my tablet, so I could make a private copy with only the correct info, and with photos of the pages. Work that day started with adding the existing info from the cover, followed by the real info for the first page. Then I wrote about that first page in as great detail as I wrote up the cover.

This pattern continued for two weeks as I went through the first four pages. I had also taken pics of all the pages the artist had made with my private translation. At this point, we had another visitor, who was also a language expert. Dr. Kaplan was showing him the book and invited him to try reading a page. He was game to try, and started off confidently, but soon bogged down, clearly not understanding several glyphs. When he paused a bit, I spoke the line clearly, as I had already translated that page in my private log. I continued for several lines.

Dr. Kaplan was looking at me with his jaw dropped. His guest was looking at me with raised eyebrows. "I've read the page already."

"Do you know what it means? I couldn't read some of those words."

"I know what the words say, but meaning takes a lot more work. Especially when there are other markings that affect the interpretation. See my work on the first couple pages to understand the complexity of these markings."

"Dr. Kaplan, is this true?"

"Her work is slow, but it is quite detailed. My team has been going through her reports, and we have found them very enlightening. The follow-up work is a pain, but we will get through it soon enough. She knows her stuff." Those two continued to talk some more, but left soon after.

Later that day, Dr. Kaplan asked me over to look at the actual book. He asked me to read the current page into a recorder being held by his guest. Dr. Kaplan then had Sam turn the page. In the shuffling, someone lost their balance and fell, knocking Sam into the book. I reacted instinctively to keep him from falling on the book, knowing it was a perishable artifact. I almost did it. I managed to knock Sam to the side, so he fell into the table, but my hand brushed the book on the way back.

Suddenly, I was in great pain, and quickly losing consciousness. I was barely able to collapse to the floor, avoiding further contact with the book, before I was out. I woke an hour later, still on the floor, but lying down with a doctor examining me. My head hurt something fierce, and my heart was acting erratically. I tried to say 'Ow', but I barely moved my lips, and almost no sound came out.

"She's awake! Becky Sue, what happened?"

I took my time and said, "Touch. Pain. Fall. Headache. Must sleep." I cleared my mind as best I could, and managed to sleep. I sensed I was given a painkiller, as the headache dulled. I next woke in the local hospital. I felt quite tired, and hungry. When a nurse came by, I asked about getting something to eat. I had to switch languages, before he responded. A doctor came before the food.

"Ms. Tate, we don't know what happened to you. We have a number of tests to make to try to find out, but your unique physiology presents some complications. So far, we have found a number of things that are odd, but have little clue if they are significant."

"Show me. I have had significant testing a while back, and learned some of the uniqueness of my system."

"You are not medically trained. I don't see how you can tell what is normal for you."

I looked him in the eye. "I spent a year and a half under intense monitoring. While I may not know why something is the way it is, I do know what is normal for me. Show me the test results."

He left, my food came, and he returned with papers. I looked over the papers as I ate. When I finished, I asked for the doctor. I walked through over half the measurements, pointing out where they were low or high, and what was usual for me. I indicated I did not know the other measurements, but felt he could tell which were important and which not. Later that day, I emailed Dr. Holiday, who had monitored me through my regeneration. I told him there was an incident, and I would like him to email me my test results for 'normal' me, as an unusual medical event happened to me. I indicated I would fill him in later.

Later that night, I got my reply. I called for the doctor again. He was off until the next day. I requested he visit me when he came in. The doctor showed up early the next morning. I showed him the email, and he was impressed. He asked me to forward it, and I did. I asked, "Does this help you understand what happened to me?"

"Yes. I'll need to confirm with the new records, but it looks like your brain chemicals went bonkers, and the rest appears to be secondary effects of it. It's kind of like you were up all night studying for finals, but far more intense. There is evidence the event was worse, but your body was able to replenish enough to stave off any permanent injury."

"Can you fix it?"

"We'll need to run another panel of tests to measure recovery, but I think we can put some supplements into the IV, and with some luck, you can leave after dinner."

"That's great doctor. Thanks." He said goodbye, and went on his rounds. Breakfast was delayed for drawing blood for the testing, but the wait was short. Dr. Kaplan came by to see how I was doing. We talked for a bit, and he said to take it easy and rest. My work is too important to rush things.

After lunch, Sam came by. "You saved my life."

"I did? How?"

"That book. It's cursed. You have seen me always wear gloves? It's not to protect the book. I think it is the only thing that has kept me alive while working with it. There have been several deaths, and as best as I can figure, none wore gloves or otherwise kept their flesh from contact. But their expression was the same as yours started out. They were screaming in terrible pain. You screamed also, but you recovered. The doctor thinks your body mass may have buffered the shock. Whatever, I am glad you survived."

"What of the book? Was it damaged?"

"No, and I thought for sure it would have. Work has been suspended on it for a few days to wait for you, and to give us a break."

"Well, I should be back tonight after dinner."

"Good, well, I will see you soon."

Another panel was tested, and my numbers were good, or good enough, and getting better fast. Brian picked me up, and I told him to head for a buffet, because I was rather hungry. While he only ate a dessert or two, I had a large dinner and dessert. Back at my room, I meditated and examined my mind as best as I could. I then headed into bed.

"Queen Inanna, you were right. The book is protected. Apparently it attacked my mind, but I managed to survive. Have you any comments?"

"Daughter, I am glad you survived. Let me examine you." I relaxed as best I could, but at times I winced before I could relax again. "It appears you were not exactly attacked. Those magicians protected their work from the ravages of time by having it leech psychic energy from whoever was handling it. As such, books were referenced from time to time; the amount of psychic energy taken was small enough to not bother anyone. But this book has been untouched for millennia. The energy needed is more than anyone can provide. This is why the others have died.

"You were saved by two things. First, your touch was extremely brief. It could not gain a good hold on your energy. Second, your mind is trained, and I have also strengthened it. You were not prepared for it, but your mind reacted to protect itself. I see your curiosity. Do you intend to examine this book in full?"

"Yes. I also desire to make it safe if I can. Is that possible?"

"Maybe. It would require you to prepare yourself beforehand, and to make only the briefest of touches, lest it take too much. I will teach you the techniques as you sleep."

"Thank you." And, I was out.

The next morning at breakfast, I inquired if there was a gym I could use. As I did my reps, I meditated and practiced the techniques Inanna taught me. It wasn't until I got on the treadmill that I was able to take it to the next level. I must have been zoned out for over an hour as I ran, and I saw I ran over three miles in that time. I cooled down, and showered off before heading back to the work area.

When I got there, I asked Sam to let me look at the book. While he was hesitant, he allowed me near. After a bit, I went back to my folder, and pulled out the cover Sam had drawn, the one showing the hidden aspects. I handed it to Sam and asked, "Compare it to the book and tell me what you notice." He looked at me strangely, so I just repeated myself.

"Huh? How'd I get that wrong?"

"You see it, don't you? The tome is in a little better shape."

"Yeah. But that is not possible."

"Do you have a recent photo of the cover or some page?" He nodded. "Take another photo from the same spot and lighting. Let's compare them."

"Okay." He dug in his files to find a photo of the cover. He then set up a camera to take another image. Click. Picture taken.

He was about to take it down when I said, "Wait. I have an idea." I stepped near, and bracing myself, bounced my hand off the cover. I felt intense pain, but not as bad as before. I stepped back, and sat down. A minute later, I said, "Take another picture."

He looked at me, worried. "Why'd you do that?"

"I have an idea. Now take the picture." He did. "Compare all three."

It took a while, but he finally said, "The book looks to be in better shape after your touches. Tell me, what's going on?"

"You are aware this tome purports to be the book of a magician?" He nodded. "It is protected by a preservation spell of some sort. Its work is powered by the user, but it is trying to catch up on millennia of being unused. For the next few days or weeks, I'll see if I can feed it slow enough to not hurt me, but fast enough to be finished in a month or less."

"But why?"

"Once it has fed fully, it will no longer kill. At least until no one uses it for a long time."

"And you? You look tired, worn down."

"I know. That is why I did this now, so I could recover by lunch, if possible." I went over to my desk. "I'll get back to work where I left off." We worked in silence until lunch.

"Better now?"

"Yes. I can still feel the effect a little, so I won't be doing any more today, but I think I'll be fine before dinner."

"Okay, but I'll be watching."

Each day, Sam set up for a picture, and I did my bump. However, I was lingering longer each time, as I was finding it less taxing. A week in, I asked Sam to set up after lunch also. He worried I was overextending myself. I felt I was sufficiently accustomed to it. Turned out I had to sit a spell, but otherwise I was okay.

In the middle of the next week, some color started to creep back into the pages. With it, I got the distinct feeling it had importance. Late the third week, the bite was far less. So the next time, I placed my hand on the book rather than bounced it. There was an initial small bite, but then it faded completely. "I think it is safe now. The pain I felt feeding it is no longer there. You want to try?"

"No way. Gloves work fine for me."

"Okay. Let's take a final picture, and set up an animation showing its restoration."

That night, Sam sent me the animation. Watching it, I was amazed at the change. In the morning, I touched it, and felt nothing happen. So I sat down and opened the book and read it. My familiarity with the first part of the book made it a lot easier to read. When I closed the book, Sam called me. "You back? Good. You have been zoned out reading for hours. If you rush, you might get some lunch."

"Oh my. I'll be back. See if anything's left." There was no worry it would be closed, but the fresh food might be gone, so I hurried. Later, I told Sam I had much to think about, and I wanted to be alone with my thoughts, so I was heading to my room to meditate.

Once there, I took a shower. After drying off, I sat on my bed to meditate. Recalling the details, I realized that the colors had a psychic feel to them. It will need further study of the book. I will need to read it, but apply the psychic modifiers to it.

For the next two weeks, I wrote a huge amount of false trails showing all the possible meanings of the words. I made no mention of the use of colors or psychic impressions. But my own log held the true record, and included the psychic modifications. When I finished, I realized the true purpose of the psychic colors. This tome purported to teach magic, but without understanding the psychic changes, the method apparently shown would not work but would rather just give you headaches. The text I wrote for them would also lead to that once they ferreted out the false paths.

When I finished, I called on Dr. Kaplan. "Doctor, I have finished." I handed him the file I had made. It was actually three binders worth of work. "Use it well, and give me credit when you publish."

"Will you be leaving?"

"Yes. I miss my family, and want to go back to them. I'll be here another few days, making arrangements and such. I also want to treat the team to a farewell shindig, so I need to find a suitable venue." We spoke for a while more, but I soon left and started the work of getting home and making reservations.

The party was in a private room, and after everyone had finished eating, I called for attention. "I want to thank you for your support. When I first came here, I told you not to try to discover too much about me, because it would cause problems. Well, some of you figured it out anyway. As thanks, I am giving you all a personally signed pic of me as Nigkala. I will distribute them as I speak with each of you. Any not distributed will be left at the office with Dr. Kaplan."

I spent the next few hours in chit-chat and talking about my life as a movie star, giving each their uniquely signed picture. The next day, I dropped the rest of the pics with Dr. Kaplan. I finished packing, and Brian took me to the airport.

Once I got home, I called John Maxwell to fill him in.

"Hello?"

"Hi John, I called to let you know I finished the book deal."

"You did? Great. How did Kaplan take it?"

"He thought I left him with a lot of work, but that I provided a huge leap forward in his task. He liked my quality."

"I'm impressed. How about you? What did you think about it?"

"Well, you know that curse you warned me about? It was mostly real, but not a true curse."

"Tell me about it."

"You know I experienced an unexpected part of reality soon after we met. This tome has its own unusual nature. As you will eventually learn from Dr. Kaplan's eventual publication, the tome purports to teach magic. However, he will conclude it is deluded. This is because I did not include everything. That tome has a psychic protective spell on it that was responsible for the curse. It actually was trying to feed off whoever touched it to power its preservation effect. With millennia of 'repairs' to power, it was too much for anyone to handle at one sitting. I learned this the hard way, but survived because my touch was fleeting. That allowed me to prepare myself, and to begin to understand what was happening. Over time, I managed to touch it a tiny bit at a time, until it managed to get enough to make all the repairs it needed. Between touches, I recovered.

"Now, anyone can touch it safely, so the 'curse' is suppressed. Learning to deal with this psychic nature let me also learn that the tome was written with psychic alterations to the written words. This means the true meaning is not what it says, but rather the combined result of the words and meaning applied by the psychic alterations."

"So you think it really teaches magic?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going to learn?"

"I doubt it. Between work and family, that would take far too much time and effort. It also doesn't fit in with what I am."

"I agree. But to think magic was real at some point. Oh my."

"Well, people have been making stories up with magic for ages, so things shouldn't change too much just because it is actually real."

"I don't know. I do know I'll have fun trying to figure out what 'magic' claims are real and what are not. Well, it has been good talking with you. Bye."

"Bye."

As I told John, my life is too busy now. But in the future, perhaps when I retire? Who knows?

But that is another story...