The Remembering

else … someone else. Shade is crowded with ghosts. In shade there are countless dreams, schemes, hopes, triumphs, terrors, and fears that light will never see nor reveal. The truth seeker seeks not light. In truth, Truth is in shade.

It was a hot and windy afternoon on our third day at sea. Geaxi and I stood by the railing on the starboard side of the trawler, in the shade of the wheelhouse. We were watching the nets being pulled in for the last time before making port. Sea spray stung at our eyes, but felt good against our skin. Istanbul was on the horizon. We would be in the harbor and docked by sunset.

I wiped my eyes and asked Geaxi, “Where were you?”

“When?” she replied.

“When you were holding the skull … something happened … you, you went somewhere. Where were you?”

Geaxi turned to face me and turned her back against the sea spray. It jumped and danced around her head and shoulders like a halo of wet crystals and light. I looked in her eyes. She was clear and focused. She spoke softly, in a direct and even tone with little or no inflection. “I was in the past,” she said. “I … was the past, and yet it felt like the future … like I was in the future. I was inside both, being both … dreaming both.” She removed her beret and ran her hand over her face and through her hair. She stared down at the beret and turned it over in her hands. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, then smiled slightly, shaking her head back and forth. “You say this skull is Neanderthal, no?”

“Yes — Neanderthal, probably not an adult, and discovered along with five others in an unusual connecting design, in the same cave where they found the sphere.”

“And you are able to read this sphere, Zianno?”

“I think so,” I answered, hesitating. “I need to see the sphere again. I need time with it.”

“But the sphere is Meq … there is no doubt the sphere is Meq?”

“Yes … the sphere is Meq.”

Geaxi slipped her beret back on her head, adjusting the angle unconsciously. She looked over at the men pulling in the heavy, wet, tangled nets, most of them empty. Without a trace of irony, she said, “It seems we have a big new problem, do we not, young Zezen?”

I smiled but didn’t laugh. “Yes, we do, Geaxi … yes, we do.”

Before we disembarked, Geaxi made sure the captain of the trawler received several gold coins, which she handed over to him with privacy and discretion. Where she had been hiding them the whole time was a complete mystery and I didn’t inquire. At first he refused the offer; however, Geaxi insisted he take the coins. The captain had been told he was reuniting an old family that had been displaced and separated, bringing two children back to the family. And he was. Geaxi spoke in Russian and I stayed silent. We shook hands and left the trawler just after dark. We sneaked into Istanbul and hurried through the loud and crowded streets to a small hotel called the Empress Zoe, where there was an ancient, aging family of children waiting for our return.

Geaxi and I entered through the lobby, which was quiet and nearly empty. We climbed the stairs to the second floor and saw a light coming from under the door to Sailor’s room. There was a low murmur of voices inside. I knocked once and Geaxi spoke in Basque to announce our presence.

Moments later Mowsel opened the door, smiling wide and exposing his missing front tooth. “Ongi etorri,” he said, looking not at the ceiling or somewhere in space, but directly at me. His black eyes sparkled with intelligence and wit. Trumoi-Meq could see again.

Before I was able to respond, I heard Sailor’s voice. “Well, did you find it … did you see it?”

Geaxi walked past me, giving Mowsel a warm embrace and staring into his eyes. “Good to see you, my friend,” she said.

“That may be, Geaxi,” Mowsel said, “but believe me, it is much better to see you.”

They laughed and I walked inside, closing the door behind me. Ray, Nova, Sheela, and Zeru-Meq were also in the room. Only Opari was missing. I wanted to ask where she was and ask Mowsel about his eyesight, but Sailor wouldn’t let me. He was sitting in a chair by the window.

“Were you able to see the sphere, Zianno? More important, were you able to read it?”

“Yes, and yes,” I answered. “However, it’s a little more complicated than that.” I sat down on the edge of the bed. “Tell me, where is Cardinal? Is he still in Istanbul?”

“No,” Sailor said. “He left shortly after operating on Trumoi-Meq.”

“Operating?”

Mowsel interrupted, “You should have been there, Zianno. It was quite exciting. I remained conscious during the entire procedure. Cardinal employed an experimental technique to extract tiny fragments of shrapnel with microsurgery and a magnet. All this time they had been pressing in on my optic nerves, causing my blindness.” Mowsel shook his head and laughed. “Just think of it, Zianno — a Giza repairing a Meq. The old ones are likely turning in their graves.”

“It is remarkable, Mowsel, truly remarkable,” I said.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Sailor interjected. “Truly remarkable. Now, what did the sphere say, Zianno? Did it mention the Remembering?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t have time to read all of the text, if you can call it that.”

“But you could read it, no?” Zeru-Meq asked.

“Yes, I can read this one. I need to see it again and spend more time with it.” I looked back at Sailor. “Where did Cardinal go?”

“He is in Rome, as far as I know. Why do you seek him?”

“He may be able to help us find someone, someone called ‘the Beekeeper.’ ”

“The Beekeeper?” Mowsel asked.

“Yes. It is probably a code name. The sphere will soon be in his possession, and if we can find him, then I can read more of the sphere.” I paused and looked around the room at each of the others, including Geaxi. “But like I said, there are other … complications.”

Ray said, “I’m gettin’ lost, Z. Why don’t you just start at the beginning and tell us all about it?”

And so I did. I recounted everything, even the close encounter with Nikita Khrushchev. I told them we had seen Valery, the Soviet agent, and I told them about the bones and the Neanderthal skull. Geaxi added a few details and mentioned her “frozen” moments with the skull in her hands. Mowsel was especially interested in that and asked Geaxi several questions about the experience. Zeru-Meq wanted more information concerning the exhibit, and I told him all I could remember, emphasizing the peculiar arrangement of the skeletons, as they were found, and the fact that each of them were Neanderthal children, not adults. Sheela asked about the sphere itself, and I described it as best I could, particularly the quality of the stonecutting and polishing. While I was talking and answering questions, Sailor never said a word and sat staring into the darkness outside the window. He was wearing his star sapphire and he turned the ring round and round his finger as I spoke. But he was listening, and listening carefully.

“Sailor,” I said, “do you have any questions? What do you make of this coincidence? What do you think it means?”

Sailor stopped twirling his ring and looked around the room at each of us, ending with me. “Assumption, Zianno, is the first step on any and all roads leading to a wrong conclusion. Let us assume nothing. What we must do, what you must do, is go to Berlin or wherever this ‘Beekeeper’ is located. We must find this sphere and you must read it. You must read it in its entirety. Only then may we draw a conclusion from this unexpected and odd … coincidence.”

“Sailor is correct,” Mowsel added. “I will contact Cardinal tomorrow and ask for his assistance.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“By the way,” I said, “where is Opari?”

“In your room, Zianno,” Nova answered. “She has been a little worried.”

“Worried? About what, my ability to read the sphere?”

“No, Z,” Ray said with a snicker. “Your ability as an acrobat.”

Nova shoved Ray with a gentle push. “Z, that’s not true. She was just anxious for your safe return, and Geaxi’s as well.”