Dane and Jade,
This is weird stuff- an unusual variation of Hebrew. Here’s my best stab at the translation with the help of a professor friend.
‘In the sepulchre, in the third course of stones. Under the tomb. In the chain platform. This is all of the votive offerings of the seventh treasure, the tenth is impure.’
Doesn’t look like too much. Sorry I couldn’t help more.
Jimmy
“He’s right,” Dane said. “It doesn’t look like much. What do you make of it?”
“Nothing yet.”
A knock at the door interrupted her. Dane answered it and was surprised to see Saul standing in the doorway. He was covered in dirt, but otherwise looked no worse for the wear.
“What the hell, Saul?” Jade’s soft voice was razor sharp, and her eyes were ablaze. “You take off with my equipment, you don’t let me know where you are…” She stopped there, her hands in the air, looking as if she couldn’t decide whether to scream at him or strangle him. Finally, with an exasperated sigh, she waved him into the room and stalked out past him.
Saul watched her go before turning to Dane with a sheepish expression on his face.
“Guess I’m not on the invite list for her next soiree,” he said.
“Not likely,” Dane replied. He had no idea how to take Saul, but the guy at least seemed contrite. “She’s pretty stressed out, though. We have a translation from the artifacts we’ve found, but it doesn’t seem to mean anything.”
“You found another one?” Saul sat heavily on the corner of Jade’s bed. “And you have a translation?”
“Yeah,” Dane said. He felt a little strange telling Saul this, but he supposed there would be no harm. The translation was close to nonsense; at least, it was of no use to them being incomplete and out of context.
He handed the sheet to Saul who read it over silently, shook his head, and read it aloud.
“In the sepulchre, in the third course of stones. Under the tomb. In the chain platform. This is all of the votive offerings of the seventh treasure, the tenth is impure.” He looked at Dane, his expression unreadable. “It sounds like a treasure hunt. What could it be?”
“No idea,” Dane said, though his mind conjured possibilities, each more far-fetched than the other, that set his heart pounding. He supposed he was just a kid at heart. He loved the thought of unraveling a mystery.
“Who did the translation?” Saul was staring at the paper again, as if some secret were buried between the lines.
“A friend of mine,” Dane said. “Computer guy. He had some help.”
“And he’s certain of the translation?”
“As certain as he can be,” Dane said, feeling a touch of defensiveness rising. “He’s reliable, and very thorough.”
“No doubt,” Saul said. He gave Dane a long, measured look, and opened his mouth to speak when a loud knock drew their attention. Dane knew who it was immediately.
“Bones!” he said, swinging the door open. His friend grabbed him in a rough embrace and slapped him on the back.
“Maddock! Good to see you. How’s the latest adventure?” Before Dane could answer, a short, attractive brunette with the high cheekbones that spoke of native blood stepped up behind Bones. “This is Amanda,” he said. “I think I mentioned her to you.”
“Absolutely,” he said, shaking hands with Amanda. “Dane Maddock. Good to meet you.”
“Bones told me plenty about you on the drive here,” she said, smiling.
“Half of it’s not true and the other half’s a lie,” he replied. Remembering Saul, he turned and introduced him to Bones and Amanda. Dane had told Bones of his discomfort with Jade’s assistant, but Bones greeted Saul politely as they shook hands. Dane was about to ask about the find Bones had made in Utah when Jade re-entered the room.
“Oh, hi,” she said. Obviously her anger at Saul had distracted her. “Sorry. I’m Jade Ihara.” She offered her hand to Bones, who surprised Dane by neither hitting on her nor saying anything remotely inappropriate. He simply shook her hand and introduced himself and Amanda.
The two women shook hands politely, but eyed one another as if they were sizing each other up. After an uncomfortable pause, Jade invited them to sit.
“What’s the latest with Isaiah?” Dane asked. “How’s he doing?”
“Better. He’s in Denver staying with friends while he recoups. He wanted to go back to the dig, but it’s not his anymore, so…” Bones shrugged.
“So, where is the rancher guy you had with you?”
“Dropped him off with some relatives in Grand Junction,” Bones said, settling into a chair opposite Dane. “I think he’s going to be fine. He’s a tough old fellow.”
“That’s good,” Dane said. “So tell me about what you found in the cave.”
Bones reached into his jacket pocket and extracted something wrapped in cloth. He removed the cloth with great care, and laid the golden disc on the table. Bones had already described the disc to Dane, but seeing it was amazing.
He turned it over in his hand, narrowing his eyes the writing that spiraled around the golden circle. It was like nothing he’d ever seen before. Or was it?
Jade slid her chair against his and leaned in close. Her soft hair brushed his arm and her soft intake of breath seemed to tingle in his ear.
“Dane, she said. “The writing! Do you think it’s the same?”
She didn’t need explain what she meant by the same. It definitely looked to him to be the same writing they had found on the artifacts: a version of Hebrew. He couldn’t say for sure, but Jimmy could find out for them.
“I think they are the same,” he said. “It’s one hell of a coincidence, though. Bones finding this disc and us finding the artifacts…”
“It can’t be a coincidence,” she said. “They have to be connected somehow. We’ve got to get this translated.”
“I’ve already sent it to Jimmy,” Bones said.
“Did he tell you anything?” Jade asked, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.
“Yes. He told me he already had a real job, and if we keep dumping all this crap on him he was going to start charging us for it.”
Jade groaned and sank back in her chair. “I hate being stuck waiting around like this. I want something to do.”
“Bones told me you were trying to identify some symbols on an artifact.” Amanda said. ‘Perhaps a fresh set of eyes would be of some help.”
“Why not?” Jade said without much conviction. Dane wondered what had gotten her so down all of a sudden. The possibility that Bones and Amanda’s find could help them in their search had him feeling good about their prospects.
Jade brought out a high-resolution picture of the breastplate along with a set of papers. Each paper had an image from the breastplate at the top and a list of notes, thoughts and possibilities were jotted below.
“We’ve solved these two,” she explained, indicating the moon-like icon that represented Chaco Canyon and the jagged promontory that was the foot of Sleeping Ute Mountain. “We believe that each has some association with solstices or equinoxes. We’ve also found Fray Marcos’s personal symbol, a cross inside a clover, at each location. Dane noticed that the layout of the second site, Yucca House, was clover-shaped as well.”
Saul grunted in surprise and everyone turned to stare at him.
“What?” Jade asked her voice still cold with anger at her assistant.
“Well,” Saul said, hanging his head, “I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you. I figured out another of the clues.”