The Thrones of Eden 3 (Eden) by Rick Jones Read Free Book Online Page B

the eye of the Ankh, that’s the riddle. The problem is I can’t piece enough of it together that makes any sense.”
    “You’ve done well so far.”
    She studied the lettering along the teardrop-shaped eye of the Ankh—the symbol of the womb. She then scribbled the archaic symbols on the scratchpad, trying to come to a determination as to their meaning.
    After translating, she was left with more questions than answers.
    John Savage looked down at what she wrote on the pad. “Were you able to figure it out?”
    She shrugged, obviously unclear as to the translation. “A lot of this is based on assumptions of what I think the symbols mean. It’s like taking a redacted statement and inserting words to make it whole again. But an incorrect word here” –She tapped the pad with the point of her pencil—“can alter the riddle’s entire meaning. I’m not exactly confident about this, John.”
    “What did you come up with?”
    She stared at the scratchpad for a brief moment. “Paraphrasing, I think it says: Four Wise Men from the four separate corners of the (Earth) meet at a junction. Since none of the Wise Men can determine who got there first, they all move forward in (unison) without (colliding) into each other. Choosing the possibility of this act will provide you with a half-chance of using the Key wisely. Use the Key poorly, then darkness shall you forever see.”
    John took the scratchpad and studied it. “From the four separate corners of the Earth,” he said more to himself.
    Hillary knew immediately. “I believe its mention is about the four major points of the compass: North, South, East and West, where the points finally converge to a single point at the junction, or at the crossroads.”
    Savage agreed.
    “Should the Four Wise Men continue on without stopping,” added Hillary, “then they would eventually collide into one another. But they don’t, each Wise Man choosing a method so that this does not happen. So the question is: how do they do this?”
    “It’s a direction riddle,” said Alyssa. “Since the Wise Men move forward simultaneously, they eventually have to change direction in order to avert a collision, yes?”
    Savage nodded. “And that leaves only two directions,” he said. “They either have to turn left or right, in unison. That means that the base of the Ankh has to move in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise motion.”
    “But why give four directions in the riddle if the Ankh can only move in two, and not four?” asked Alyssa.
    “There are four directions,” Hillary confirmed. “Think about it. Perhaps in the riddle’s meaning the structure can move upward as well, to the North. And perhaps it can be lowered into the floor just the same, to the South. If this is true, then that means that a clockwise motion, the Wise Men moving to their left, represents East, whereas the counter-clockwise motion, moving to their right, represents West. So if the Wise Men are forced to move to their left or right to avoid collisions, to their East or West, it obviously means that they must move in either one of the two clockwise rotations. But which way do you turn the screw?” 
    John examined Alyssa’s translation further. Choosing the possibility of this act will provide you with a half-chance of using the Key wisely. Half-chance? And suddenly it came to him. Half-chance was a fifty-fifty scenario. “There has to be something else,” he finally said. “There has to be a definite direction, left or right. It can’t be a fifty-fifty deal.”
    Alyssa knew what he was talking about. “It specifically says half-chance.”
    John knew she was right.There was no other alternative. Use the Key poorly, then darkness shall you forever see. It didn’t say use the Key wisely, it said ‘poorly.’ A poor decision, or wrong decision, meant obvious death: darkness shall you forever see. “I don’t like the odds,” he finally stated.
    Alyssa concurred. “Neither do I.”
    “Are you