The Genesis Plague (2010)

be joining us, Agent Flaherty?’
    ‘Just taking it all in,’ Flaherty said, and made his way over in small steps. The smooth soles of his loafers caught the slick surface of a wide swath of carpet in the room’s centre. A trace of chemicals wafted up into his nostrils. Cleaning solution. The area had been scrubbed very recently. Flaherty had a sneaking suspicion as to why.
    ‘Oh wow,’ Brooke muttered. She stared in wonderment at the huge monolith carved in bas-relief with two winged Mesopotamian protective spirits, or apkallu , facing one another in profile, as if courting for a dance - each half human, half lion. Raised broad wings and intricate rosettes adorning ceremonial dress depicted their divinity. ‘Is this from Babylon?’
    ‘No. That was the seal that we removed from the cave entrance.’
    ‘Really.’ She quickly tabulated that it predated Babylonian works by at least fourteen centuries. Ye t its quality was equally stunning. ‘It’s magnificent.’
    ‘Indeed. Even more impressive than what came centuries after it. Just like the writing you transcribed for us - far more sophisticated than anyone ever expected.’
    In the obelisk-shaped display case next to the seal, Brooke spotted a highly unusual clay tablet etched not only in writing, but schematic designs. ‘This text … these images,’ she said in awe. ‘Is this what I think it is?’
    Stokes nodded. ‘The world’s oldest map. Given to me by a dear friend.’
    For a long moment, Stokes stared at the artifact. More than anything, this keepsake symbolized the incredible spiritual transformation he’d undergone after the monks had found him disfigured on the roadside all those years ago.
    In the sanctuary of a hilltop monastery, it had been Monsignor Ibrahim himself who’d overseen Stokes’s physical and spiritual rehabilitation. The monsignor had brought Stokes to the looming mountain that marked Lilith’s ancient tomb and imparted to him a haunting tale of civilization’s first Apocalypse that transformed what had once been a lush paradise. By torchlight, they’d stood side by side in the cave’s entry passage as the monsignor recounted Lilith’s journey, immortalized in stone. He’d shown Stokes the chamber where Lilith’s victims had been buried en masse. Then he’d brought Stokes to the demon’s tomb, deep inside the mountain.
    ‘Like you, Lilith’s bold venture into the unknown realm had not been in vain,’ Monsignor Ibrahim had told him. ‘Her predestined journey merely marked the beginning for many changes yet to come. Everything you need is here. Now it is time for your destiny to begin.’
    And from that humble beginning - that tiny mustard seed - sprang Operation Genesis.
    Stokes punched a code into the base of the display case, then unhinged the lid. He removed the tablet, admired it and offered it to her.
    ‘A map for what place?’ Brooke asked as she cautiously accepted the tablet.
    ‘That, Ms Thompson, is the map to what later mythology would call Eden. A treasure map that points to the beginning of humanity and civilization. A thriving city in the northern mountains of ancient Mesopotamia. It is how we found the cave.’
    Once again, Brooke was overcome by wonder.
    ‘You can see here,’ Stokes said, ‘the river that once led to the Zagros Mountains. But the real clues are written here.’ He indicated the wedge-shaped symbols.
    The way the symbols repeated suggested to Brooke that it was a numbering system. If so, the established timeline of recorded history had again been turned upside down. The earliest known numeral system had been developed in southern Mesopotamia in 2000 BC by the Sumerians - a sexagesimal system that used the number sixty as its base (with ten as a subbase). With sixty being the smallest number divisible by every factor from one to six, it could easily be separated into halves, thirds and quarters. Thus it simplified common measurements, such as time, geometric angles and geographic coordinates. The Sumerians annotated numbers one through nine with Y-shaped wedges (e.g., three: ‘YYY’, six: ‘YYYYYY’), and tens were sideways Vs that looked like less-than signs (e.g., twenty: ‘<<’, fifty: ‘<<<<<’).
    What appeared on this tablet looked much different - much more sophisticated than the Sumerian numbering system. ‘These are numbers?’ Brooke said.
    ‘Yes. Geographic coordinates based on astrological measurements,’ Stokes said. ‘Ingenious for its