The Anunnaki Bk. 02

Enlil sighed.

"Your pet Human," he said impatiently.

"He is more than that!" Ëa replied angrily, "If not for Max's invaluable assistance when we first arrived, we would not have been able to collect as much gold as we did. Nor would it have been so easy!"

"Nonsense!" Inanna sneered, "We could have taken what we wanted with little effort. You were too meek to give the order to do so. We could have gotten the gold we needed and enriched our supply of slaves at the same time!"

"Are you certain of that claim" Ninti said with a raised eyebrow, "The Humans were always much more fierce than you ever gave them credit for, except when it suited your purposes."

"Lies," Inanna said with a bored expression.

"It was not so very long ago that you led an army of these Humans across our ancestral home," Ninti said with a grin, "You did not seem to think them weak then!"

"They were nothing but a means to an end," Inanna replied indignantly.

"Yes," Ningishzidda said with a frown, "The goal being to wrest my lands away!"

"Don't be so petty!" Inanna snapped, "You weren't even using the land!"

"Hardly reason to steal it from my son," Ëa said.

Inanna rolled her eyes and looked to the other side of the room.

"Enough!" Enlil said sternly, "We are not here to open old wounds."

"True My Brother," Ëa said with a slight bow, "We are here to discuss sanction against Inanna for crimes against the Humans. She took a shuttle to the planet's surface without cloaking it, in direct contravention of your specific orders!"

Enlil's lip curled up angrily and he fixed a baleful gaze on Inanna. He growled wordlessly and glared at her. Inanna took a deep breath and colored red with embarrassment.

"Do you deny this?" he asked her angrily.

Inanna bit her lip and scowled.

"Answer me!" Enlil roared, "Did you disobey my orders?"

"It is true," she finally said weakly.

Enlil frowned and exhaled slowly.

"I will need time to ponder this," he said.

He strode out of the chamber quickly, neither looking to left nor right.

Inanna stood and carefully stepped to the floor of the chamber. She walked menacingly toward Max with one hand on her sword.

"When will this Human learn his place?" Inanna hissed.

"When will you learn that we're not slaves anymore?" Max said tersely, "You might have been masters to my ancestors but that party is over!"

"Perhaps I could teach you some respect," she said with a smile and began to draw her sword.

"Do that and your life is forfeit," Ëa said softly.

She narrowed her eyes and glared at him.

"One day he will not have you around for protection," she said as she slammed the blade back into her scabbard.

"If any harm comes to Max I will hold you personally accountable," Ëa snarled.

She laughed and sashayed back toward the rows of seating.

"And what will that do?" she chortled, "I am beloved of An! What could you possibly do?"

"I could have you transferred to my fleet," Ëa said with a smirk, "Once out from the protective wing of my Dear Brother, there are any number of tasks that you would find not to your liking. I could strip you of your household. Assign your personal Guard anywhere I choose. I could assign you to the maintenance crew where that sword of yours would no longer be of any use. You could spend the next ten shars doing menial tasks on the farthest flung ship I can think of.

"Do not underestimate my creativity in these matters."

As he spoke Inanna's face grew angry and then shocked. By the time he had finished her demeanor was downcast and sullen.

"Now go," he said in conclusion, "When my Dear Brother returns I expect you to be more contrite than you are."

She looked from face to face on the council but found no allies. They all regarded her with the same contempt as Ëa. She sighed and walked out of the chamber with as much grace as she could muster.

"That was—," Max began to say.

"Peace!" Ëa snapped, "These matters are Dingir Max. You will not interfere or comment!"

Max opened his eyes wide but stopped speaking. He had never seen his friend so angry before. He lowered his head and turned to the window to look out at the barren surface of the moon.

-*-

When the council reconvened Inanna appeared before them with her face downcast and with a much more humbled demeanor.

"Speak Granddaughter," Enlil intoned, "I will have you speak before I cast your doom."

Inanna bowed deeply and then stared straight into his eyes.

"I regret my actions Grandfather," she said, "I was reckless and fey but worse I broke your command. I would offer Weregild for my crime."

Enlil's brow arched and he glanced to Ëa.

"What do you offer?" he asked.

She looked over her shoulder to the entrance and two servants entered carrying a tray between them. There was an object on the tray covered with a purple silk cloth.

"My crime is severe and a severe price must be paid," she said.

When the tray was brought to her she gripped the cloth and uncovered what was underneath. A small statuette was revealed. It was about fifteen inches tall and very cleverly made. It showed a Dingir standing ramrod straight with his hands held across his chest in an X formation. There was an Egyptian style headdress that fell to the figure's breast. It was dressed in robes and a toga slightly different than the ones normally worn by the aliens.

Ningishzidda stood suddenly with rage on his face.

"That is mine!" he screamed.

"It was yours," Inanna said, "It became mine when Gishbanda fell to my armies."

"Father!" he called out to Ëa.

Ëa responded only by urging his son to sit. Ningishzidda scowled and resumed his seat.

Enlil frowned and focused on Inanna.

"How do you offer this Weregild?" he said.

"With all my heart Grandfather," she replied with a bow.

Enlil glared at her and then turned to Ëa.

"Do you accept the Weregild?" he asked.

"It is not for me to say my Brother," Ëa said, "My dear friend Max is the one who was wronged. It is for him to decide whether the gift atones for the crime."

"What?" Inanna snapped, "I will not prostrate myself to a slave!"

"Father!" Ningishzidda said with equal outrage, "That idol is mine! You would have me surrender it to a Human?"

"Peace!" Enlil said sternly, "This council chamber will not be desecrated with petty squabbles!"

With anger plain on their faces both Inanna and Ningishzidda backed down but not before looking with hatred at Max.

"Dear Brother," Enlil said, "If you insist on this you will make your pet Human more loathed than he already is. Are you certain you wish to continue on this path?"

"I do," Ëa said with a slight bow, "For too long Inanna and others among us have run roughshod over the bounds of decency. More than two shars ago you ordered that Humans were no longer to be considered slaves. Clearly your command was not taken to heart."

A dark ember of rage crossed Enlil's face and he expelled a deep breath to try to control it.

"Too true my Brother," he muttered angrily, "It is high time this thing has been brought to heel."

"But Grandfather!" Inanna wailed.

"You will be silent!" Enlil shouted and rose to his feet, "You are my granddaughter but you are prideful beyond your worth! Do not try me on this! By your own admission you have broken my command and stirred up anger and resentment among the Humans. Those same Humans we may have to rely on to obtain more gold in future. The fate of Nibiru itself is at stake, the fate of our entire people! I cannot have you flouting my pronouncements because of your damned pride!

"You will prostrate yourself and you will provide Weregild. You will do this or you will suffer consequences far more injurious than anything my Dear Brother can contrive!"

Inanna swallowed nervously and fell to the floor on her knees. She lay her head against the tiles and stayed there for a full half minute.

When she stood she took a deep breath and took the statuette from the tray. She looked once more to Enlil and then walked with her head high toward Max. She then went to her knees once more and held the gold idol out to him.

"My crimes against you were unforgiveable," she said in a clear voice, "I pray you will take this token of my remorse in the spirit it is offered."

Max was tongue-tied. He literally did not know what to say.

'I accept your gift in the spirit it is offered,' Ëa's voice said in his head.

Max looked to his side to see his friend eyeing him intensely.

"I, um," he stammered, "I accept your gift in the spirit it is offered."

Inanna stood and bowed her head slightly in his direction. Then she turned and resumed her place in front of the council.

"Is the sanction completed satisfactorily?" Enlil asked.

"Yes my Brother," Ëa said with a bow, "My house is complete."

Without another word Enlil and most of the council left the chamber. Inanna went to the door and looked back once more before she too left. Ningishzidda strode forward angrily.

"Give me my idol Human!" he demanded.

"He will do no such thing," Ëa said, "You lost that bauble two shars ago. You have replaced it with others and more in the time since. You will go."

"Father!" he protested.

"Go," Ëa said dangerously.

Ningishzidda scowled and muttered something in Dingir. Then he turned on his heel and stormed out of the chamber.

Max exhaled explosively and looked up at his friend.

"Are all your family reunions this melodramatic?"

"This was tame compared to some," Ëa said darkly.

"Your brother was right you know," Max went on, "Inanna will still hate me and now your son hates me almost as much."

"That is true," Ëa said thoughtfully, "But they have been sanctioned by Enlil himself in front of the council. They dare not act on their hatred without dire consequences. My Dear Brother was correct when he said he could inflict punishment that I cannot. As leader of the expedition fleet he has the EDUBBA ALANI. That is the Stones of Power. With them he can inflict punishments such as the mind struggles to grasp. Perhaps you recall the tale of Prometheus. He disobeyed my Brother. He was chained to a stone for ten shars with his breast laid open to be eaten by vultures.

"Trust me Max. Even with Wasu Azu to heal you that truly is a fate worse than death. Prometheus eventually begged to have the Wasu Azu drawn out of his body so he could die."

Max gulped back his revulsion and turned once more to look out at the lunar landscape.

-*-

Max studied the statuette as it sat on the large chest of drawers in the room he'd been given. He drew his finger along its cold surface and marvelled at the sheer value of the piece he received. It was solid gold and weighed almost fifty pounds. That made it a very valuable item. Aside from its pure monetary value, the craftsmanship of it was astounding! Every detail of Ningishzidda's features had been captured by the artist in intrinsic detail. Even if it had been made of wood its value would still be immensely high. Then there was its historical value. As a relic from ancient Shumer there were museums and archeologists around the world that would give anything to have it.

He pursed his lips and frowned at the piece.

'What am I supposed to do with this thing?' he thought to himself.

"May I enter Max?" Ëa called from beyond the closed door.

Max shook himself out of his reverie and went to open the door.

"It is good to see you Max!" Ëa said with a bright smile.

After all the tension in the council chamber less than an hour ago, Max wondered how he could be so cheerful.

"Come in," he said and led the way to the sitting area.

"You've been admiring your gift," the tall alien said.

Max nodded absently and grimaced.

"I just don't know what I'm going to do with it," he said.

"Do with it?" Ëa said with a laugh, "You admire it! Just as you've been doing!"

"I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to lug that thing around," he replied, "Now that I've lost my home and yet another identity I worked so hard to get, I'm going to be on the run again. What am I supposed to do with that thing while I hide from the people chasing me?"

Ëa moved to stand in front of the figurine and smiled.

"That robe he's wearing was made for him in the Abzu," Ëa said with a wistful smile, "The place you call Egypt. I had it commissioned for him when he came of age."

"Wow," Max said. He was literally incapable of saying anything else.

"It's a beautiful piece," Ëa said.

Max could only nod wordlessly.

"I may have a solution for your problem though," Ëa said and turned toward him, "You have been on the run on your home world now for eleven years. That is a long time to have no permanent place to lay your head. I think you should consider coming with us."

"With you?" Max said with alarm, "To your home world?"

"No Max," the tall man said with a grin, "We are not going to Nibiru. We are going to Lahmu."

"What's that?"

"I'm sorry Max," he said with an apologetic grin, "That's our word for Mars."

"I can't go to Mars," Max said.

"Actually," Ëa said with a raised eyebrow, "You could if you wanted to."

Max frowned and shook his head.

"What would I do on Mars?" he said with a grimace, "It's not like there's any place for me to go."

"In fact, there is," Ëa said, "There are about three thousand Humans on Mars right now."

"What, how could that be?" Max said in disbelief.

"We took them there," Ëa said.

"Why would you do that?"

"Do you recall me telling you we were in contact with a few thousand of your people?" Ëa said.

"Yeah," Max said, "But you never told me anything more about them. You said it once and never mentioned it again."

"No, I did not," Ëa said, "There was too much else going on and I never got an opportunity to tell you more. While you were the only Human we contacted that could help us negotiate for gold with your people, we were conversing with a few thousand others. Eventually we asked them if they would like to live on Mars. We took them and set them up in a fully contained colony in a valley your people call Cydonia."

"I don't understand," Max said, "Why would you set up a Human colony on Mars?"

"It was an experiment," Ëa said, "I told you we had given Wasu Azu to some of your people from time to time. We never had much success with this. In your past we chose a few select Humans and injected them with the Wasu Azu. Most of the time nothing happened, they didn't even develop longer lifespans. In some rare cases they had longer lives than is usual. Some of them even developed certain abilities, usually hearing the thoughts of others, sometimes superior strength. But our successes were limited.

"We asked these three thousand people if they'd be willing to become test subjects, very much like I asked you."

"You didn't ask me that," Max said with a frown, "You told me it would give me a longer lifespan."

"Still," Ëa said, "I did ask if you wanted to take it."

Max nodded and grimaced.

"Yes, you did," he said.

"We did the same with this group of people," Ëa said, "In fact, some of them were given the Wasu Azu before you."

"Are they all like me now?" Max asked.

"Not at all," Ëa said with disappointment, "They are in fact quite ordinary. With the exception of developing longer and healthier lives, they are just like every other person on Earth. Not one of them has been able to develop the mental abilities you have despite all the training and mental exercises we've given them."

"Why is that?" Max asked.

"I wish I knew," Ëa said, "I arranged for each one of them to have the blockages in their cerebral cortices removed, just like I did for you. We even gave them extra doses of Wasu Azu after you told me about your adventures in escaping from those horrible government agents. Still, they remain as unremarkable as most of your people."

"So, you think I should go there," Max said slowly, "To go live with them."

"I think it's definitely an option for you," Ëa said, "It would save you the trouble of going into hiding amongst your own people again."

Max frowned as he thought about Ëa's proposal.

"You know," the tall alien said, "My brother will be taking the bulk of the fleet back to Nibiru within months. I'll be staying on Mars with my fleet to conduct some tests and do some exploring. I imagine my mission will take hundreds of your years. You won't be stranded there if you decide you don't like it. But I think you should give it a try."

"What about Inanna?" Max asked with a grimace, "I think if I show up there she might be a little miffed. Ningishzidda too!"

"I've told you," Ëa said ominously, "My Brother has made his pronouncement. If they disobey his direct command, the consequences do not bear thinking about! Besides, members of the royal family do not typically mix with the Humans there. It is unlikely they would even know you were there."

Max frowned doubtfully.

Chapter III

Max's arrival on Mars was in equal parts fascinating and mundane. He snickered to himself when he considered that landing on Mars could be thought of as mundane, but events conspired to make it so.

The fascinating part was to see the familiar reddish colored sphere approach from the darkness of space. In just six days after their departure from Earth's orbit the planet could be seen to appear out of the abyss.

He and Ëa sat in an observation deck as they watched the red planet grow closer. Trust Ëa to have hot coffee and Max's favorite whisky served while they watched.

"How did we get here so fast?" Max said with wonder as they watched the approach of the small red planet.

"Our ships can travel quite quickly," Ëa said blandly.

"I knew that, but six days?" Max said, "It's only six days since we left Earth!"

"Our drive systems employ the gravity well principle," the large alien said quietly, "We can actually travel much faster when needed. But interplanetary travel can be fickle. You'd be surprised how easy it is to overshoot your target."

He laughed as he said this and Max knew there had to be story behind it, but he didn't press.

The ship slowed to acquire an orbital path around Mars and they boarded a shuttle to take them to the surface. Their approach to the ground was highlighted by the valley of Cydonia just beyond the mountain range to its east.

Where Max expected to see nothing but red sand dunes he was surprised to see a number of pavilions similar to those he saw on the moon. They were mostly pyramidal in shape with a few other patterns like squares and domes. They were white or red in color; the former standing out starkly against the ground, the latter blending in with the environment to be almost invisible.

The largest was a pyramid to the southeast. Max had never seen the pyramid at Giza, but from what he'd read this structure dwarfed it by a factor of ten. It was easily the largest thing he'd ever seen. Second in size to that was a raised mound with a plateau carved into the shape of a face.

"That is my Lord Alalu's tomb," Ëa said somberly as they flew past it, "He died here long before your people came into being, but without him your people would not exist."

They approached a white building that resembled a very large apartment complex on Earth. Max could see at least fifty floors with enclosed balconies and terraces on every side. There were a number of sealed passages on the ground leading outward to satellite structures in all directions.

A canopy drew back as they descended exposing a large hangar deck already home to over fifteen shuttles identical to the one in which they sat. Their vessel touched down lightly in formation with the others and the canopy overhead closed. After a few minutes the rear hatch opened and Ëa led the way across the hangar deck toward an enclosed concourse. Max could see people, both Human and Dingir beyond the clear glass windows going about their own business. He noticed that all of them were dressed in the Dingir fashion. With many differences in materials and design, not to mention a myriad of colors, every person he saw, Human or alien, wore togas with sandals laced far up their calves.