The Secret of the Ancient Alchemist (29 page)

“
Eh…no
thanks.” Hart was really struggling with all the negative emotions
in the room. He turned to Donnelly. “Why’re so doubtful,
Professor?”

“
The
missing pages don’t exist. Laplotte could not have assembled this
entire gospel. Never!”

“
But,
wouldn’t LaPlotte have known?”

“
LaPlotte
paid for forged pages, Dr. Hart.”

“
But,
what if they weren’t?” Hart looked Bartow’s way hoping for a
promising answer but the man’s gaze was low. Bartow soon lifted his
head and spoke.

“
That’s
hardly likely, Dr. Hart, but, we’re willing to see what comes out
of this. We…we…,” Bartow stuttered as Donnelly’s voice ripped
through the air again.

“
For
years we’ve been searching. It’s our profession and we’re very
stunned by your claim of having found these pages. Forgive me if I
seem reluctant.”

“
That’s
ok, Professor. You don’t need to apologize.” Hart didn’t want to
rile the man further. Donnelly did little to hide his arrogance.
“But, tell me something,” he said.

“
Yes?”

“
How do
you interpret a kingdom within? We’re urged to seek it, aren’t we?
Then, all shall be granted. Isn’t that so?”

“
We are
obliged to believe that a kingdom exists by our faith. What you’re
looking for, Dr. Hart, is a description, something tangible, to say
the least. Am I right? It seems you have a determination to see it
written clearly.”

“
I do.
What can you tell me?”

“
A lot of
people believe apocryphal gospels speak the truth.”

“
So do
I.”

Donnelly
smirked. He loosed the collar round his neck as he sweated even in
the chill of the room.

“
I don’t
believe there were any special teachings for the elite or for the
disciples for that matter.”

“
You
don’t? Apostle Mark said differently, as well as Clement of
Alexandria.”

“
Clement
was influenced by ignoble doctrines of his time.”

“
Like
those of the Gnostics?”

“
They
were always adding mysteries to texts and creating
mischief.”

“
Clement
was a highly regarded theologian of his time. He was amazed by a
claim made in the Gospel of Hebrews.”

“
What
claim is this, Dr. Hart?”

“
That a
seeker of truth will be first astonished. Then he’ll marvel. When
he marvels, he will find rest, meaning unity with divine
wisdom.”

“
That
gospel barely survives. There isn’t much of it to rely
on.”

Hart compose
himself. “Professor Donnelly, Newton placed emphasis on the
writings of the Corpus Hermeticum, an ancient text that extolls the
Hermetic concepts of life, such as the enlightenment of the mind
and alchemy. There’s a mystical element that governs the universe.
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene says that one should be encouraged in
the presence of all forms of matter.”

“
We don’t
concern ourselves with the secrets of stars and hidden works of
nature, Dr. Hart. It’s a twisted concept of salvation.”

“
What do
you think of The Gospel of Thomas, then?”

“
That
gospel is not highly regarded among scholars of
theology!”

“
And, I
don’t care!” Hart was peeved by Dr. Donnelly’s dismissive attitude.
“These works contain facts, not fantasy. Our realm is a path to
having it all. Now, where’s your information of our kingdom
within?” The room was silent as Hart waited. Hearing no one, he
continued. “Professors, you cannot give me an answer because it
seems the relevant facts pertaining to our lives were
ignored.”

“
What do
you mean?” Donnelly fumed.

“
Professor, our universe is us. If there’s anything you can
add to this, I would greatly appreciate it.”

The tension in
the air lessened when Bartow spoke. “You said you wanted a comment
on the Secret Gospel of Mark, didn’t you, Dr. Hart?”

“
Yes, I
would appreciate it. It does intrigue me. What do you know of
it?”

“
A
Gnostic group called Carpocrations went about claiming that there
was a gospel that had teachings for persons who were deserving of
advanced knowledge, Dr. Hart.”

“
You
don’t think it existed?”

“
No, it
never did.”

“
But, how
could Clement quote from it? How could he speak of human
perfection?”

“
The
Church of Alexandria founded by Mark does not uphold any of these
things and never has. Surely, those teachings would have
survived.”

“
No,
Professor, for nothing that is misunderstood survives. Go back two
thousand years ago, and, I say to you what you see in front of you
is in you, or that the universe was in you. What would you have
thought? It seems only Magdalene understood or tried to and that’s
the reason and the only one she was favoured.”

“
You
would not find real evidence of your claims anywhere, Dr. Hart.
That’s the problem,” Bartow added.

Hart got up.
“Gentlemen, I must thank you both for your time and knowledge.
Thanks again.”

“
Please
let us know what Avery Lengard finds with regard to the missing
pages.”

“
I will.”

Chapter 64

He hurried
through the grounds of the university as a light rain came. He
recalled the gospel pages he had given Avery Lengard. They seemed
real, he thought. His eyes had sought imperfections, but, he didn’t
find any.

Hart grieved.
He would not get confirmation of a realm in humans or of other
worlds. In transcendental life, there was no need for anything for
everything was done with a thought. It was all about human
potential.

His journey was
coming to an anti-climactic end and he struggled to deal with it.
The ambiance did little to cheer his mood. He felt very alone. The
fibres of his muscles were limp. Alas, he told himself, the truth
of life would never ever be known. Too many texts were lost.
Mankind would forever fumble. No one would know the true essence of
human nature.

He grabbed a
sheet of paper from his jacket pocket. It was found in LaPlotte’s
office and handed to him by Terrance Nash of the FDI bureau. Two
people confirmed the handwriting was LaPlotte’s. Two more suggested
it was his attempt to translate the missing pages of the Gospel of
Mary Magdalene. The contents were in French and scribbled illegibly
across the page. He placed it away since it didn’t matter if the
pages were forgeries. A buzz came to his ear as he headed to
Victoria Station.

“
Tom?
” he
heard.

“
Yes?”

“
I hate to see you so distressed
.”

“
Can’t
help it, can I?”

“
The pages may not be forgeries. Don’t dismiss them so
easily. I don’t understand why you are doing
this.
”

“
Don’t
know. It’s a sinking feeling I have that tell me they
are.”

“
I know matter is your whole life.
”

“
We would
never know the truth of it, would we? I can’t believe I’ve come
this far, only to face this.”

“
Please don’t let Donnelly and Bartow get you down, Tom.
Don’t forget, they also have personal agendas, big
ones
.”

“
I
know.”

“
And, am I not here? You treat me as though I don’t exist.
But, I do.
”

“
You’re
right. I‘m sorry if I take you for granted. Nobody would believe me
if I told them I get visited by a time traveller who spent years in
an Egyptian monastery empowering his mind.”

“
I suppose not
.”

“
Wait a
minute!” Hart suddenly exclaimed. “You’re an ancient alchemist,
aren’t you?”

“
I was
.”

“
Then,
there’s a chance you know the contents of the missing
pages.”

“
I’m sorry, Tom, but I never saw that gospel. The powers
that existed back then destroyed them all. What you have may be all
that survived
.”

“
I
see.”

“
Besides, I was more of a Hermeticist than a Gnostic. I
followed the teachings of the Egyptian God, Thoth. We too were
deemed heretics and banished from sight. I spent years at Mar Saba.
Everything of Thoth was destroyed. The Book of Thoth, may have
survived. People acquired powers from it. Is it still in
existence?
”

“
Yes, but
no one knows where.”

“
It was probably buried with an Egyptian
pharaoh
.”

“
What
exactly did you learn?”

“
Thoth demonstrated how matter could be manipulated by a
super-conscious mind. I spent many years in devotion to achieve a
super-conscious state. Now, I traverse the heavens by thought.
Thoth was versed in Science, medicine, mathematics, geometry and
astronomy.
”

“
Why’d
you choose to connect to me? I sometimes wonder about
that.”

“
I am vastly intrigued by your mission. It was what led me
to your path. So, Tom, don’t give up now. Those pages may not be
forgeries. It’s high time people got to know the secrets of their
life and afterlife. So, please, don’t give up now,
Tom.
”

“
You’re
right. I guess I shouldn’t.”

“
Bye, Tom
.”

Heathrow
Airport was crowded when he arrived an hour later. He was glad the
check-in service at the Virgin Airlines counter he was lined up in
was moving swiftly. He waited his turn feeling little else than
despair. But he had made up his mind. Even if the pages were
forgeries, it would not change his belief that mind and matter were
connected, and in them lay the bedrock of creativity. There was a
design that hoisted humans to an unprecedented height. If only they
knew.

His mind soon
drifted to Olsen. He knew the Dane didn’t want to be a ‘goof of the
century’ by announcing a date for an age he wasn’t sure about. But,
Hart believed he would spill it soon.

Half an hour
later, he dialled Olsen’s number as he waited to board his
flight.

“
How soon
before you get to know the contents of the pages, Tom?” Olsen
inquired.

“
Lengard
told me it’ll take months. I’ll have to wait a while, provided of
course, they’re
the
missing
pages of the Gospel of Mary Magdalene.”

“
What?
Are you suggesting they maybe forgeries?”

“
Possibly. What about the Inca date, Olsen?”

“
Hey, I’m
through.”

“
I’ll come and see you, then.” Hart shut his phone off and
took a seat waiting to board his flight back to New
York.

Chapter 65

“
Get on
with it, will you? It’s lunchtime, Ave. Come on, let’s
go.”

Dr. Avery
Lengard stared at the petite blonde. Carla Horsham couldn’t digest
food without company it seemed. It was a ritual that they had lunch
together at the museum’s cafeteria. Now, she stuck her finger out
at him.

“
You work
too hard, Ave.”

“
Sorry
love, but I’ll pass this one.”

“
Alright,
then.” She stormed out of the museum’s cramped palaeography
room.

Hunched
over a microscope, Lengard stared at the fibres of the pages Hart
had given him. He was looking for fibres originating from a sedge
plant called
Cyperus papyrus
.

Papyrus is the
thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the plant. He
knew it was possible for anyone to reproduce papyrus. What he was
looking for were special features in the fibres that showed they
came from an Egyptian Cyperus plant of the fourth century. For
that, he would need to have extensive analytical tests done. Still,
a preliminary perusal of the document could reveal much.

Lengard focused
on the letters of the document. He wasn’t just looking for Coptic
writing but Sahidic Coptic in which most texts were written back
then. Coptic was known only to Egypt and was used until the
seventeenth century. Lengard stared at a letter. It wasn’t as faded
as expected but it did carry the glyphs or distinctive marks of the
Greek alphabet, supplemented by the Egyptian Demotic.

He adjusted the
lens of his microscope to a higher magnification in order to make a
better estimate of the authenticity of the manuscript page. The
magnification gave him a chance to look at its condition in detail.
He was looking specifically for fractures and frays in the text. He
stopped for a moment of thought, pushing his glasses onto his head
of thick brown hair.

“
There
aren’t that many fragments in these papyri,” he said in the
camphor-scented air. “Surely, one would have expected
more.”

As he perused
the outline of pages again, the sound of the door and his
assistant’s shrill voice jolted him.

“
You’re
still at it?” Carla Horsham snickered. “That manuscript takes up
all your time and attention, ever since that tall man brought it
in. What’s his name again? Oh yes, Tom Hart. You don’t even notice
me.”