Covenant: Exodus

Chapter 11

Namaah watched as Noahim poured over Ratam RaAva, he had worked on translating the unknown language since the moment she had handed him the book, that was nine hours ago. Namaah had not left Noah's side, but she still had no idea what he was finding, although several times he had made exclamations to himself about a new understanding of passages in the book. He had a copy of Song to the Gods, the lone copy of Ratam RaAva, and a book that had started as blank pages but was now nearly filled with notes and passages written in Noah's small, precise handwriting.

Noah turned the last page in the Ratam RaAva and stared at the closed book, at his notebook filled with the information he had gleaned from its pages, and finally turned his bloodshot eyes to Namaah. "If this book is true," he whispered, "which I have no reason to believe that it is not, it will shake Atla to its very core." He then put his head in his hands and began to try and understand the information that he had spent the last several hours acquiring.

"What does it say, Noah?" Namaah asked.

Noah thought for a moment about how best to frame these next words. While he paused Karok appeared, and Noah held his hand to his side, feeling the familiar and comforting weight of Karok's massive feline muzzle fill his palm, a deep rumbling purr emanating from somewhere within the giant cat. Noah looked at Karok, his ever-present companion and indeed his closest friend and smiled. "You're right old friend, things will get worse, much worse, before they get any better. Namaah, what I have found in this book, I believe, is proof that the scribes and the priests that translated the original text purposefully and willfully molded the words that Bradok had written in an attempt to gain even greater power and control over the people of Atla. If you remember when the three books were presented to the people, Atla was in a time of great turmoil. After the great floods the people were fragmented, were fractured in a way, and each group began to acquire their own way of life. The devastation was on a scale that we cannot imagine, from books I have read in the past at its peak there were more than one hundred million people living in Atla, and after the floods only about twenty thousand still remained, and they were spread far across the globe, in bands of anywhere from one hundred to one thousand. Much was lost; art, language, agriculture, technology, but more than any of these things, what was lost was information. For thousands of years, these survivors eked out a living from the land they had found when fleeing the ever-rising water, and I am sure that at first, they held fast to the culture of Atla. I am sure that they did the best they could to preserve the knowledge they had acquired, to somehow hold onto the very essence of Atla, but their numbers were simply too few to accomplish such a lofty goal."

Noahim paused for a moment, unsure of how much information to share even with Namaah, for he knew that the truth of this may shake even her solid foundation, but he also knew that he could not hide anything from the woman that he loved. "As time passed, almost everything was lost, and that is when the dark times descended on Atla. Written language was lost, which accounts for all of the dead languages, like the one that Ratam RaAva was written in, and science and technology become fuel for myths. In some places men of science still existed for a time after the floods, but so many had stayed with Razac, determined to finish the temple and stop the impending disaster, and with none of the tools that they had become reliant on available to them they were not able to pass along the information that they had gained through hundreds of thousands of years of careful study. Eventually, all of these men died, and with them died the knowledge of a time when man had truly begun to understand the world around us. Some of them tried to pass along this knowledge, but could find no successful way to make those around them, who were more often than not simple farmers, understand the complex topics that they were speaking of. So a man named Thanenbaum, who was the greatest scientist of his day, decided to pass along the information through unique means....he turned the science that he was speaking of into myth."

Noah watched Namaah for a reaction, but it was clear that she did not understand what he was saying. He felt the desperate need to make her understand his true meaning but simply could not find the words. He decided to try a new approach, "I know this is not making sense, let's pretend that you have information that only you possess and that no one around has the ability to understand what you are saying, what would be the best way to ensure that this information is not lost to all future generations when you die?"

Noah waited for a response that he was not sure he would get. "I am not clear what you mean Noah..." Namaah said softly.

"Alright, if we look at Atla today, at the children of our land, what is it that they know better than anything else? Do they understand the complexities of the night sky?"

"I would not think that very many of the children grasp the significance of astronomy if that is what you are asking..." Namaah said uncertainly.

"Exactly!" Noah exclaimed, as if now everything should make perfect sense, "They have no idea how we can understand that the phase of the moon or a certain star's placement would have any impact on life in Atla, but even though they do not understand this they all possess the necessary information for understanding."

Namaah sat, confused and slightly disappointed with herself because she could tell by the smile on Noah's face that he was sure he had made it so clear that she would understand his meaning, and suddenly, unexpectedly, she did understand. "They do not understand the significance, but they know the old tales, like the TallaRa River being formed by the Star Gods as they fell to earth...and the need to sing songs to appease the Gods to avoid catastrophe."

Noah could not have smiled larger if he tried, "That is exactly right. The information has been passed down to them through the old tales, hidden within myth and legend are small nuggets of science that are conveyed to the next generation. In fact, some myths contain complex mathematical sequences in them that we are just now beginning to understand, such as..." but the statement would not be completed as the building around them reeled from an explosion somewhere on the floors below.