Professor Levi Weizman removed the priceless jade figurine from the large wall-safe in his study and placed it on his desk. The intriguing milky-green sculpture had been carved in the shape of a ceiba tree, a tree revered by the ancient Maya as the Yaxche, ‘tree of life’. The powerful figure of a male jaguar was etched amongst the tree’s buttress roots, and through the roots there was a hole in the shape of?, the Greek letter phi. At the apex the Mayan artisans had faithfully reproduced the ceiba tree’s distinctive flat crown. Long, intricately carved branches radiated horizontally in the four directions of the compass. Levi had encountered the tree many times on his field trips. In the highlands of Guatemala the ceiba soared above the jungle canopy, providing a roost for the harpy, the largest of the eagles, but for the figurine the Maya had replaced the eagle’s nest with a black-and-gold obsidian cup in which rested a large shimmering crystal.
The Weizmans’ third-floor apartment overlooked Sterngasse and Judengasse in the old Jewish sector of Vienna’s fashionable Stephansdom Quarter. It was early evening and light snow was falling, the flakes drifting onto the cobblestones below. Deep in thought, Levi thrust his hands into his pockets. The Mayanist scholar was well into his fifties, but he maintained the fitness of a much younger man. His grey hair was brushed straight back from an oval face, and his white moustache and beard were neatly trimmed. Levi adjusted his square rimless glasses and stared at the figurine. The markings on it were, he knew, consistent with it being made around 850 AD, a time when the Maya had occupied the great city-state of Tikal, deep in the jungles of what was now Guatemala.
In the summer of 1936 Levi had discovered the figurine in a secret chamber in Pyramid I, one of Tikal’s many tombs. The trip had been a sabbatical from the University of Vienna, and Levi knew that eventually he would have to make his find public; but he was convinced the figurine held an ancient secret which he was determined to unlock before he made any announcement.
‘ Es ist fast Abendessen. It’s almost dinnertime, sweetheart. The children are getting restless.’ Fifteen years younger than her husband, Ramona Weizman had maintained her own career as one of Vienna’s leading fashion designers and milliners. Her label was sold exclusively from her street-level boutique beneath their apartment and her ‘Greta Garbo-style’ Fedora slouch hats were the toast of Vienna, rivalling those of the Parisian milliner Schiaparelli. Tall and slim, with dark curly hair and deep-brown eyes, Ramona was a woman of warmth and charm.
‘You’ve been in here all day, Levi,’ she remonstrated gently, rolling her eyes as she spied the myriad mathematical calculations lying beside the figurine on her husband’s desk.
‘I’ve been looking at the figurine and trying to work out what it means,’ Levi said. ‘Do you remember that stela I found in Pyramid I at Tikal?’
Ramona looked sheepish. ‘Vaguely,’ she said, perching on the only corner of the desk not covered by papers and crossing her elegant legs. ‘You showed me photographs. The stone monument with all those squiggles and dots and dashes?’
‘Hieroglyphics and Mayan numbers,’ Levi responded with a smile. ‘I’m pretty sure the Mayan hieroglyphics were referring to the winter solstice, and it’s occurred to me that the solstice and this figurine might somehow be connected.’
Levi took the figurine over to the large table on which he’d constructed a model of Tikal’s major pyramid temples and placed it on top of Pyramid I.
‘You know, even without telescopes, the Maya were accomplished astronomers, and their buildings reflect that. At the winter solstice the pyramids in Tikal and the sun are aligned with Victoria Peak in the Mayan Mountains,’ he said, pointing to the wooden models. ‘Each pyramid is part of a matrix, see? If you stand on top of Pyramid IV before dawn on the solstice of 21 December, for example, the sun will rise directly over the top of Pyramid III and vice versa for the sunset.’
‘So what does that have to do with the figurine?’
‘I’m still not sure, but I suspect part of the answer lies in this crystal at the top.’
‘You’ll have to forgive me, Levi,’ she said, sensitive to her husband’s fascination with all things Mayan, ‘but it’s a very ugly reproduction. I thought the ceiba tree was tall and stately. That one’s squat and stubby.’
‘Exactly 33.98 centimetres high and 21 centimetres wide,’ Levi agreed, ‘but I think these dimensions are no accident. If you divide 33.98 by 21, you get 1.618.’
Ramona smiled as she raised her eyebrows.
‘Which is the value of?, the Greek letter phi, or the “golden mean”. It comes from the Fibonacci sequence, which is at the core of the natural world -’
Ramona held up her hand, just as Levi was getting into stride. ‘And I’m sure good old Fibonacci won’t mind if you take a break to eat.’
Levi gave his wife a hug. ‘You do ground me.’
‘Someone has to. Come on. The children are famished and so am I.’
Levi reluctantly turned out the light and followed his wife out of the study.
‘ Ow! Stop it!’ Rebekkah said, pushing her brother away. ‘Mama, Ariel’s hitting me with a cushion!’
‘That’s enough you two. Go and wash your hands; dinner’s nearly ready.’
The two silver candles represented God’s commandments, and Ramona positioned them both on the simple white tablecloth. She placed a covered loaf of braided challah bread alongside a silver six-pointed Star of David. Once they were all seated, Levi intoned the blessing in Hebrew: Barukh atah Adonai Elohaynu melekh ha-olam Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the Universe Ha-motzi lechem min ha-aretz. Amein Who brings forth bread from the earth. Amen.
Levi poured one of Ramona’s favourite Austrian white wines, a gruner veltliner, and raised his glass. ‘ Prost, meine Liebling. Good health.’
‘ Prost,’ Ramona replied, giving her husband a loving look. ‘Here’s to cracking the code of your figurine. What do you think it means?’
‘I suspect the Maya were trying to leave us a message. At the time that figurine was made, over a thousand years ago, the Mayan civilisation was thriving. Its pyramids and temples stretched from the Yucatan Peninsula in what is now Mexico to the jungles of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. But less than fifty years later, the entire civilisation just disappeared, leaving its city-states and pyramids to the ravages of the jungle.’
‘Do we know why?’
‘There are theories, ranging from a catastrophic viral haemorrhagic fever to a meteorite, but none of the evidence stacks up. A lot of us suspect that the warring between city-states, coupled with deforestation, did so much damage to the environment that the Maya were no longer able to grow the crops they needed to survive. Whatever the cause, it remains one of the great mysteries of the ancient world. Do you remember that Mayan elder I got to know the last time I was in Guatemala?’
‘The one from Lake Atitlan? Roberto?’
‘Roberto Arana. He told me it’s a great honour to have found the figurine, although he urged me to keep it quiet. The figurine’s existence is a closely guarded secret, known only to the elders. But he also told me there are two more, each with a crystal embedded in the crown. The one I have is ah-ton, or male, but neutral and female ones are still to be found.’
‘Any idea where they might be?’
Levi smiled ruefully. ‘If only… I asked Roberto, of course, but he was very cryptic. He said, “The remaining two will not be found until they’re meant to be found.” A divine timing, if you like.’ Levi glanced at the children and decided against revealing all the details of his conversation with the Mayan shaman. ‘He also said the figurines will lead the way towards a very important secret codex – the Maya Codex – but whoever searches for the codex will need all three of the figurines to find it.’
‘What’s a codex, Papa?’ eight-year-old Rebekkah asked, her soft blonde curls shining in the candlelight.
‘A codex is a very old book, sweetheart, made out of bark, and it folds out like a concertina.’
‘Funny stuff to make a book out of,’ Ariel declared. Tall for his ten years, and already a brilliant student, Ariel had inherited his mother’s dark curly hair, olive skin and warm smile. This evening, though, that ready smile was not much in evidence.
‘Not really, Ariel,’ Levi said gently. ‘Paper was invented centuries ago in China, but the printing press wasn’t invented until 1448. You see, a German by the name of Johannes Gutenberg -’
‘Suffice to say,’ Ramona cut in with a smile, ‘the Maya had to use what was available.’
‘So, how was school today, Rebekkah?’ Levi asked.
‘It was all right,’ Rebekkah murmured, her eyes suddenly downcast. Levi exchanged glances with Ramona. Their daughter was normally an effervescent ball of energy, but tonight, like her brother, she was strangely subdued.
‘Just all right? And you, Ariel?’ Levi asked.
Ariel played with his food.
‘Was your day all right as well, young man?’
‘Sort of. We’ve got a new teacher,’ Ariel said finally.
‘And he’s horrible and mean!’ Rebekkah made a face.
‘Really? What happened to Herr Lowenstein?’ her mother said, surprised there had been no warning to parents. Ariel shrugged. ‘The new teacher is Herr Schweizer, and he says Herr Hitler’s Third Reich will last for a thousand years.’
Levi and Ramona exchanged glances again, but any further conversation was interrupted by the phone ringing in the study.
‘Professor Weizman.’
‘Ein Moment, bitte, Herr Professor. Berlin ruft an.’ The line crackled while the operator made the connection.
‘Guten Abend, Herr Professor. Mein Name ist Standartenfuhrer Wolff. Stabschef auf Reichsfuhrer Himmler.’
Levi listened intently as the German SS Colonel outlined Heinrich Himmler’s proposal for an archaeological expedition to Guatemala.
‘ Gute Nacht, Papa!’ Rebekkah and Ariel each gave Levi a hug.
‘Who was on the phone?’ Ramona asked after the children had tripped off to bed.
‘Standartenfuhrer Wolff, Himmler’s chief of staff in Berlin. Reichsfuhrer Himmler wants to see me next week at his SS headquarters in Wewelsburg.’
Ramona was instantly alert. ‘What on earth for?’
‘Apparently he’s thinking about mounting an expedition to Guatemala to search the Mayan tombs and pyramids for archaeological evidence of Hitler’s master race. Hitler has yet to approve it, but if he does, the expedition will be led by a young SS officer, Haupsturmfuhrer von Hei?en, and Himmler wants me to assist him.’
‘You’re not going to, are you?’ Ramona asked, suddenly alarmed. ‘I wouldn’t trust them, Levi. Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels – they’re all just beer-hall thugs.’
‘I know. But if they’re prepared to fund a full expedition back to Tikal, it will give me an opportunity to search for the other two figurines.’
‘Are you sure you’re not walking into a trap, Levi? Why would they be asking you to help them? Hitler and Himmler both think Jewish intellectualism is dead; they’ve said so publicly. All our friends… Einstein, Schrodinger… all of them have left. If it gets any worse, we might have to go as well.’
‘Well, let’s just see what Herr Himmler has to say,’ Levi responded gently. ‘I think I should do everything in my power to discover the other two figurines – and prevent them from falling into the hands of the Nazis.’
Ramona put her arms around her husband. ‘I don’t know, Levi. I was listening to the radio yesterday: Chancellor von Schuschnigg was warning us not to trust the Nazis. I have a very bad feeling about this.’
‘It’ll be all right. I promise, Liebchen.’
‘Are you coming to bed?’ Ramona asked, her eyes moist.
‘Soon,’ Levi promised. ‘I just want to test the crystal on the figurine.’
Once Ramona had left, Levi set up a slide projector to simulate sunrise at the winter solstice. He checked the figurine’s position on top of the model of Pyramid I and switched on the light beam.
Levi’s pulse quickened. The crystal on top of the figurine became strangely energised. A laser-like beam of deep-green light deflected at a precise angle, irradiating the top of Pyramid IV.