Kepic
Your friendly neighbourhood Alien Abductor
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2000
- Posts
- 1,163
January 1941.
It was quarter to five in the afternoon of a cold, damp day. The outside college campus was quiet, save for the odd student who dashed through the rain with their coats held above their heads, towards the museum faculty.
Inside was also quiet, in a library kind of way. Various college professors stood here and there with small groups of students huddled about them, listening to the lecturer as he or she explained the relevance of a particular artifact or relic to them.
Around a tall, dark-haired man, whose glasses only seemed to add to his air of wisdom, one such group was listening. He was handsome, in a rugged wather-beaten kind of way which was admired by the girls and envied but respected by the boys.
"So, find out about this piece, where it was first discovered, who led that expedition, and make sure you discuss the importance of it compared to the other pieces that were also recovered alongside it. Work to be in next Tuesday. Class over for today - if you need to see me about your dissertations, I'll be in my office all day tommorrow."
The students drifted off, a gentle murmur of idle banter striking out between them. Some passed a stocky, older gentleman walking towards their lecturer.
The professor looked up from packing papers into a worn shabby briefcase, as the older man smiled.
"Indy, I was looking for you, I didn't know you were taking a lesson this afternoon."
"Hello Marcus, just catching up on some of last semester's work. Want a coffee?" I replied.
"Actually, there are some men who have come to see you, they're waiting in your office. That's why I came to find you" replied Indy's friend, Dr Marcus Brody.
I sighed. "Now what, whenever anyone wants to see me, it usually means trouble."
"Don't be such a pessimist" laughed Marcus, as we headed together back to my office.
* * *
The two waiting men got up and smiled as I entered with Marcus.
"Ah, Dr Jones, good to meet you at last" said one, offering a hand. He spoke with a heavy british accent.
"Likewise, um..." I said, taking his hand and shaking it.
"Michael Giddings" he replied, "and this is my associate, Graham Edgars."
"What can I do for you, gentlemen?" I asked.
"Well, Dr Jones, what do you know about Tlazoltéotl?" asked Graham.
"The Aztec goddess?" I said.
From one of my shelves, I brought down a heavy book, flicking through the pages until I reached the right one, laying the book down on my desk for them to see. A picture of an Aztec temple, about which a bloody battle was being fought between some Aztec warriors, and Spanish conquisidors, filled one page, underneath which was the caption 'The Temple of Tlazoltéotl.'
"Tlazoltéotl, which translates as 'dirty woman', was the goddess of uncleaness, and especially of lust - which the Aztecs thought created a moral miasma, a stench which only the gods could smell. She was also known as Tlaelquarni, 'cleanser', for she could eradicate filth as well as cause it, as the goddess of confession and absolution.
"The Spaniards' claimed her temples were centres of prostitution, where young girls, torn from their families, where taught every kind of sexual perversion before being sent into the barracks of young army recruits... then, when they were 'used up', sacrificed to their grim mistress. Once a year, at each of her temples, a chosen young man was flayed alive, his skin used to clothe the statue of the goddess. For the rest of the year, she was naked, and was, at least according to the Spaniards' accounts, a witch-hag, who rode a broomstick and carried a sacrificial knife, a severed snake's head and a pulsing human heart."
I gave an involuntary shudder at the word 'snakes', but continued. "The cult of Tlazoltéotl raised the Spaniards' disgust more than any other save that of Tezcatlipoca, whose cult gave them their chief defence for exterminating the Aztecs. They claimed that Tezcatlipoca's dark secrets and rituals were typical of the whole people, and set about butchering an entire nation in the name of their own redemptive God. I think that was kind of like slaughtering a nation of fundamentalist Christians on the grounds they believed in Satan..."
I realised that I was drifting from the subject of the goddess, and coughed. "Well, Tlazoltéotl... the Spaniards' description of her fits rather oddly with her other attributes. She was also the Aztec goddess of beauty, wearing a mask because her face was so beautiful it was said no human could see it and survive, the patron of fidelity in marriage and of demure femininity, symbolized by her holding a distaff and spindle, as well as the goddess of the Aztec equivalent of the sauna."
"See, I told you we came to the right man for the job, Graham" said Michael.
"Job?" I asked, cautiously.
"The Mask of Tlazoltéotl is, according to our sources, a real artifact. Of course, the Spaniards' took most of the Aztecs gold with them, but we believe the Mask was smuggled out by the Aztecs and hidden away before any of Hernan Cortés' men came across it. We want you to find it for us."
"I'm sure there are other archaeologists who could help you" I said.
"Not one with your talents, I'm sure, Dr Jones. After all, you recovered the Ark..."
"How do you know about that?" Marcus quickly asked, voicing the question for me.
"We have our sources, Dr Brody" replied Graham, "we work for the British war office. We believe the Nazi's are looking for the Mask as well."
I sighed, looking at Marcus. "What did I tell you?" I said. Marcus rolled his eyes and gave a laugh.
"I'll be right back, gentlemen, if you could excuse me please" I said.
I strode out of my office down the corridor to my private apartment, to collect some things.
It was quarter to five in the afternoon of a cold, damp day. The outside college campus was quiet, save for the odd student who dashed through the rain with their coats held above their heads, towards the museum faculty.
Inside was also quiet, in a library kind of way. Various college professors stood here and there with small groups of students huddled about them, listening to the lecturer as he or she explained the relevance of a particular artifact or relic to them.
Around a tall, dark-haired man, whose glasses only seemed to add to his air of wisdom, one such group was listening. He was handsome, in a rugged wather-beaten kind of way which was admired by the girls and envied but respected by the boys.
"So, find out about this piece, where it was first discovered, who led that expedition, and make sure you discuss the importance of it compared to the other pieces that were also recovered alongside it. Work to be in next Tuesday. Class over for today - if you need to see me about your dissertations, I'll be in my office all day tommorrow."
The students drifted off, a gentle murmur of idle banter striking out between them. Some passed a stocky, older gentleman walking towards their lecturer.
The professor looked up from packing papers into a worn shabby briefcase, as the older man smiled.
"Indy, I was looking for you, I didn't know you were taking a lesson this afternoon."
"Hello Marcus, just catching up on some of last semester's work. Want a coffee?" I replied.
"Actually, there are some men who have come to see you, they're waiting in your office. That's why I came to find you" replied Indy's friend, Dr Marcus Brody.
I sighed. "Now what, whenever anyone wants to see me, it usually means trouble."
"Don't be such a pessimist" laughed Marcus, as we headed together back to my office.
* * *
The two waiting men got up and smiled as I entered with Marcus.
"Ah, Dr Jones, good to meet you at last" said one, offering a hand. He spoke with a heavy british accent.
"Likewise, um..." I said, taking his hand and shaking it.
"Michael Giddings" he replied, "and this is my associate, Graham Edgars."
"What can I do for you, gentlemen?" I asked.
"Well, Dr Jones, what do you know about Tlazoltéotl?" asked Graham.
"The Aztec goddess?" I said.
From one of my shelves, I brought down a heavy book, flicking through the pages until I reached the right one, laying the book down on my desk for them to see. A picture of an Aztec temple, about which a bloody battle was being fought between some Aztec warriors, and Spanish conquisidors, filled one page, underneath which was the caption 'The Temple of Tlazoltéotl.'
"Tlazoltéotl, which translates as 'dirty woman', was the goddess of uncleaness, and especially of lust - which the Aztecs thought created a moral miasma, a stench which only the gods could smell. She was also known as Tlaelquarni, 'cleanser', for she could eradicate filth as well as cause it, as the goddess of confession and absolution.
"The Spaniards' claimed her temples were centres of prostitution, where young girls, torn from their families, where taught every kind of sexual perversion before being sent into the barracks of young army recruits... then, when they were 'used up', sacrificed to their grim mistress. Once a year, at each of her temples, a chosen young man was flayed alive, his skin used to clothe the statue of the goddess. For the rest of the year, she was naked, and was, at least according to the Spaniards' accounts, a witch-hag, who rode a broomstick and carried a sacrificial knife, a severed snake's head and a pulsing human heart."
I gave an involuntary shudder at the word 'snakes', but continued. "The cult of Tlazoltéotl raised the Spaniards' disgust more than any other save that of Tezcatlipoca, whose cult gave them their chief defence for exterminating the Aztecs. They claimed that Tezcatlipoca's dark secrets and rituals were typical of the whole people, and set about butchering an entire nation in the name of their own redemptive God. I think that was kind of like slaughtering a nation of fundamentalist Christians on the grounds they believed in Satan..."
I realised that I was drifting from the subject of the goddess, and coughed. "Well, Tlazoltéotl... the Spaniards' description of her fits rather oddly with her other attributes. She was also the Aztec goddess of beauty, wearing a mask because her face was so beautiful it was said no human could see it and survive, the patron of fidelity in marriage and of demure femininity, symbolized by her holding a distaff and spindle, as well as the goddess of the Aztec equivalent of the sauna."
"See, I told you we came to the right man for the job, Graham" said Michael.
"Job?" I asked, cautiously.
"The Mask of Tlazoltéotl is, according to our sources, a real artifact. Of course, the Spaniards' took most of the Aztecs gold with them, but we believe the Mask was smuggled out by the Aztecs and hidden away before any of Hernan Cortés' men came across it. We want you to find it for us."
"I'm sure there are other archaeologists who could help you" I said.
"Not one with your talents, I'm sure, Dr Jones. After all, you recovered the Ark..."
"How do you know about that?" Marcus quickly asked, voicing the question for me.
"We have our sources, Dr Brody" replied Graham, "we work for the British war office. We believe the Nazi's are looking for the Mask as well."
I sighed, looking at Marcus. "What did I tell you?" I said. Marcus rolled his eyes and gave a laugh.
"I'll be right back, gentlemen, if you could excuse me please" I said.
I strode out of my office down the corridor to my private apartment, to collect some things.
r.Alex Agar-stop- Need your help-stop-Dr.Bates missing-stop-have info on current dig-stop-will share with you-stop-please contact-stop-have reason to suspect foul play-stop- request your assistance-sop- will await your reply-stop- tell Marcus I said hello-stop-
) She also divulged that they had suspicians that an agent had been sent to interfere with Indy, a woman. "We may get a chance to have some fun yet." *a smirk on her face* 
