Free The Lucifer Code by Charles Brokaw Page B

city. If someone went to the trouble to create a new language, then I need to know if the mind that created that language was European or Eastern or African in origin.’
    ‘You think this is an artificial language?’ the young woman asked.
    Qayin didn’t look happy about her asking questions.
    ‘I don’t recognize this language,’ Lourds said. ‘I know all the languages of this region. But throughout history a number of people have created artificial languages to keep their secrets.’
    ‘Did you think the language that led you to the discovery of Atlantis was artificial?’ the woman asked.
    ‘For a time I had to consider that possibility, yes. As it turned out it wasn’t artificial.’
    ‘Then you could be wrong about this one as well.’
    ‘You should listen to me here. You’re out of your area of expertise.’ Lourds sighed. ‘We’re not kidnapping anyone here now. This field is where I’m expert.’
    ‘The way I hear you, if you don’t understand something, you can always cop out and just say, “This language isn’t real.” ’
    ‘Even an artificial language is real. Star Trek fans insisted that the Klingon language be made real. Tolkien invented languages for his characters, human and non-human. People are always creating languages. It’s one of the things we do that sets us apart from every other creature on this planet. We communicate via language. Look at cellphones. Only a few short years ago they didn’t exist.’
    ‘Maybe at your age they didn’t exist.’
    Lourds ignored her snarky attitude and continued. ‘People had to come up with a name for telephones that were fully portable. The term “cordless” had already been taken. So people started calling them “cellular telephones” at first. That quickly became bastardized to “cellphones”, and that gave way to just calling them “cells”. Mention “cell” after 9/11 and many people think of terrorism. However, the cell terminology didn’t take in Britain. Over there, they call them “mobiles”.’
    ‘I’m aware of that. I’m not a child.’
    ‘I have no doubt that you’re aware of it. Your accent tells me you’re acquainted with Ulster. I’d go as far to say that you’ve been in Ireland often. Probably grew up there.’
    From the way her face went blank, Lourds knew he had hit close to home.
    ‘But being aware of language and thinking about it are two different things,’ he continued. ‘Just because you know something doesn’t mean you’ve thought about it. Language was created to express thoughts and ideas, to hand down education and history, to paint pictures of things that could only be imagined. Words have such an ephemeral quality to them because language is so organic that many words quickly pass in and out of usage and disappear. Or the way they are employed changes. Take the word text . Until that function was created for cells, it was never used as a verb. Now when people think of a text, they don’t think of books. They think of electronic messages they receive on their cellphones.’
    ‘Professor,’ Qayin interrupted sharply, ‘you don’t have time to give a lecture.’
    ‘I wanted to make a point. Not only is language geographical, but the time a document was written is also tremendously important.’
    ‘You are running out of time.’
    Lourds fixed the man with his gaze. ‘Fine. Then tell me where this rubbing came from and when it was made.’
    Qayin’s hot, angry gaze held Lourds. All the fear the professor had been holding at bay returned in a gut-twisting rush.
    You’ve just got yourself killed . Lourds tried not to be sick, but his mouth turned dry as cotton.
    After a moment, Qayin said, ‘I’m told that the rubbing was taken from somewhere inside this city. The writing is from early in the second century after the death of Christ.’
    The enormity of the statement settled over Lourds. Almost two thousand years had passed since these words were written. He focused on the