CHAPTER 17. WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

For the merest second there was a stunned silence. Indy had vanished, back into a time almost two thousand years ago. Then, as the trail of black nothingness receded toward the arch, there came the faint echo of the crack of a whip. A braided leather thong thrashed out of the void and wrapped itself firmly around the leg of the Roman statue. The black vapour seemed to shudder as if it were alive. The vortex was trying to close but something was hanging on to the present time, forging a link with the past. The portal was still open, if only for a time.

"RENE!" Marion cried. "For gods sake do something! Help Indy! Untie us!" She tugged at the ropes binding her and Rene looked at her, then the end of Indy's whip, a lifeline that would only hold for so long and in a split seconds decision, he ran and gripped the leather of Indy's whip.

From inside the vortex Indy was only vaguely aware of where he was but he had an incredible sense of youth flooding through him. He could feel his body being drawn backwards, sucked, pulled, like a thousand pairs of hands dragging him into the past but he was also aware of a faint light in front of himself. One hand gripped firmly onto his bullwhip handle and the whip stretched away in front, seeming to cut off at the tiny pinpoint of light. In the other he held the thirteenth cat. Somehow, it was in one piece, as if entering the time portal had somehow restored it to its original state. Indy knew that somehow he had to get back through that tiny space, or be lost forever in a time two thousand years before he was born. Even in this strange and terrifying situation he thought about the possible paradoxes of it all. If he were in the past, then would he ever be born in the future? Would his sudden arrival in the past change the course of future events? Was he, in fact, his own long distant relative? A kind of great, great, great grandfather, many times removed?

Then he felt it. A pulling forwards. Gently at first, then more and more strongly. He gripped the thirteenth cat in his free hand and hung on, depending upon what or who was pulling him back to the tiny speck of light. He was unable to help, for fear of letting go of the cat and somehow he knew he must not do that. If he did, he would be lost forever. There would be no way back. The sound of the vortex was like a million voices over the centuries, whispering and talking to him. It was as if he could hear every person who had ever lived in those intervening centuries. Then there was a different voice. Slightly louder and more familiar. He caught the word 'cat' several times.

It was Rene! He was urging Indy to do something. But what? Something to do with the final cat in his hand! He looked back toward the figure but could see nothing of himself or the statue in the impenetrable blackness that surrounded him. Again, he felt himself pulled forwards slightly. The speck of light seemed so far away and yet at the same time it seemed only just in front of his face. The pulling on his body from the past was inexorable, though. There was no escape. Indy could feel his grip weakening. He knew he was about to let go. Suddenly, in a sheer act of desperation, Indy brought the cat up and over arm, like a cricket bowler, he threw the cat with all his might at the light.

Rene hung on to the whip like a tug of war team captain. the whip seemed to be anchored into the black funnel in front but even though he was slowly pulling the whip free, he could sense the void growing smaller, further away with every second and he knew that Indy would not be able to hold on much longer.

"INDIANA!" Rene yelled. "THE CAT! THROW THE CAT BACK AGAIN!" There was no response. Marcus, Robert, Marion, Sallah, they were all screaming and yelling, urging Rene to pull harder whilst at the same time struggling to break free of their bonds. It was no good. The Germans knew how to tie knots.

"INDY! THE CAT! THROW IT TO US!" It was Robert who called this time. Again, Rene yelled the same instruction. Then, suddenly, in a small white flare around the end if the black tendril the figure of the cat burst out like a missile, and landed at the feet of Marcus. At the same instant, another tendril snaked forwards, like a finger, searching for the figure. Rene glanced back and yelled, "HOLD ON TO IT, DAMN YOU! DON'T LET IT GO!"

"HOW?!" Marcus yelled in frustration, trapping the figure with his feet against the statue behind him. Marion wriggled downwards, pulling at her clothes and her flesh against her bonds, grazing her skin unmercifully but not noticing the pain. The ropes bit deeply and as she pulled downwards, they cut into Sallah's stomach, tied on the other side of the Roman statue from where his view of events was severely restricted. "WHAT IS HAPPENING?" He yelled. "WILL SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT IS HAPPENING!" Marion's right hand stretched downwards, her fingertips brushing the cat just as the black snaking tendril found its prey. With a sudden surge born of panic and desperation, she thrust down, splitting the skin on her forearm and extracting yells of pain from both Sallah and Marcus as she grabbed the cat figure firmly by the neck. "I'VE GOT IT!" She cried in triumph, but her feeling of victory turned to one of blind panic as the tendril reached the cat and crept up to hold her hand in a vice like grip, pulling her toward the void. The cat lifted from the floor, stretched between her hand and the portal, drawn by the black, formless trail of the vortex. It could go no further. Marion's grip was cast iron as she knew that probably ALL of their lives depended on the cat not being drawn back into the gateway. At the very least, Indy would be lost forever if she were to let go. Then, Rene cried out and they all looked over toward him. "THE WHIP! INDY'S WHIP!" The end of the whip was slipping around the leg of the statue. It was slowly being pulled free. The others were powerless to help and inside the black void Indy felt himself slip backwards. He now had two hands and with a strength born of sheer desperation he began to climb up his bullwhip. With each inch he moved closer to the light, he slipped back half an inch but scrap by scrap, fragment by fragment, he reached the opening. He could hear the sounds of the voices outside. Clearly there was some drama taking place but he had no idea what was happening. With a sudden lunge he forced his hand toward the light and his hand disappeared from view.

"RENE! LOOK!" Marion screamed. They all stared incredulously at the hand that seemed to be coming from the end of the black funnel. Rene grabbed the hand and dropped the whip, pulling backwards with all the force his tired body could muster.

Indy was flung out of the void and careered into Rene who fell backwards with the impact. Such was the force with which Indy was ejected from the opening that he continued moving past Rene and ended up on his back, leaning upside down against Robert's legs at the statue. He lay gasping and panting for breath.

The vortex was not finished, however. The black tendril, now released of its fight to hold on to Indy, joined in the struggle to regain the statue and more frighteningly, Marion. A wind began to rise and dust was sucked from the floor toward the black void. The ropes binding her began to snap, one by one and she was yanked toward the gateway.

"INDY!" She screamed in terror. Indy grabbed at her legs and felt himself being drawn back towards the void as the wind increased in strength. "Oh shit!" He murmured, looking at the figure of Cleopatra, standing motionless, implacable in the archway, ready to step into the twentieth century as soon as the thirteenth sacrifice was made, dust swirling about her as the time portal fought to regain the final cat.

"RENE!" Indy cried, partly calling for help, partly aware of what Belloq was about to do next.

The Frenchman was galvanised into action by the plight of his friends and leaped between them and the portal, cutting the groping black mass in half with his body, shielding his eyes from the whirling, stinging dust amid the howl of the growing wind. Instantly the grip on Marion, Indy and the cat was released but Rene was gone, into the void!

Indy leaped to his feet and lifted the cat, jamming the figure into Robert's hands. "Don't let it go!" Indy barked above the noise of the gale as he raced toward the portal. A fine black tendril was growing outwards once more, probing through the dust and the wind, seeking out the final cat. Indy was banking on a vague hope, based on his experience inside the void. He reached the portal and wrapped one arm tightly around the pedestal to one side. He glanced up, squinting through the swirling, blinding dust and went cold to see Cleopatra standing on the threshold of the arch, only needing the cat to set her free. Forcing his eyes away from hers, Indy stared at the formless black void floating in front of him, sucking anything and everything not fixed down into it. Several times he felt his body hit by smaller flying statues and artefacts as they were drawn into the void. He took a deep breath and forced his free hand into the vortex, calling out, "Rene! Take my hand."

Instantly, he felt the pull of the void but he hung on determinedly to the pedestal. Something heavy hit the back of his hand and he almost lost his grip but he bit his lip and ignored the pain that shot up his arm. Feeling around in the void, he continued to shout, "RENE! RENE! GRAB MY HAND!"

From behind he heard Marion and the others yelling amid the noise and howl of the increasing storm for him to get free and escape the almost certain fate Belloq but Indy was determined. He knew he could not let Rene die in a time in which he did not belong. The black vapour began to creep up his arm, engulfing it, swallowing his body, steadily and inexorably. Still he groped about in the void calling for Rene, choking on the dust that filled his mouth and throat.

Then in the void, a hand grabbed his and held tight. Indy pulled for all he was worth and the vortex seemed to contract about him, as if it knew what he was trying to do. Still Cleopatra stared, seeming almost unaware of what was taking place at her feet. Then suddenly Indy felt a wave of calm come over him and the pull from the void lessened. He became almost unaware of the fury of the vortex and the wind and he heard Rene's voice quite clearly. Not as actual words but more as a kind of thought. As if he knew what Belloq was thinking.

"Let me go, Indiana. I told you once, I have been researching this for a long time. I want this, Indiana, as much as you wanted the Ark. This is my adventure. My voyage of discovery, if you will. Indy, my old friend. We are both adventurers, archaeologists. Think of the opportunity I am faced with. How can I not accept the challenge?"

Indy cried out, to the confusion of the others, "Rene, don't do this. Come back. We're a good team. We can research this together. The Queen will break through if you go. You know that can't happen."

Then the voice in Indy's mind was back, clear and unswerveable. "Indy, my dear friend. Release me. We cannot share this adventure, just as we could not share the Ark. You know that. It would never work. And anyway. I will learn far more in the actual time of events." Indy began to argue but he felt Rene releasing his grip. Something hard banged into Indy's back before being sucked into the void but he ignored it.

"Indy! You will be famous! You will discover great documents about Cleopatra's time! Trust me! You must break the thirteenth cat though and throw the pieces into the void. It must not be allowed to pass through whole! Do you hear me? It must be broken!" Indy nodded, sure in the knowledge Rene knew what he was thinking.

"Do it now, Indiana, and Indy! Look under the left pedestal and check the statue. Farewell, my old friend. You haven't heard the last from me......." Rene let go of Indy's hand and he was gone, his voice trailing off as an echo from the past.

Instantly, the vortex began to recede from his body and grow in strength around the cat still firmly in Robert's grasp. The wind howled ferociously and if the others had not been tied to the Roman statue, they would have been lost to the groping black fingers. Indy was on his feet and with no explanation, to the astonishment of the others, he raced towards Robert and grabbed the cat from him, dashing it to the floor, shattering it to pieces at the instant the vortex sucked it away like a giant vacuum cleaner, removing any trace that it had ever been there.

Indy's head snapped up to see the figure of Cleopatra fade from view, her hand outstretched as if trying to keep hold of the future and the portal became nothing more than a stone archway once more. The wind subsided, the dust settled and an eerie silence filled the room. Indy sagged to the floor, exhausted.

EPILOGUE

Two days had passed since the events in the library chamber and Indy, Marcus and Robert were seated at a table in Sallah's house. Marion was out somewhere with Sallah's 'friend', Celicia.

"I can't believe that Rene has gone into the past. It just doesn't seem real." Marcus said, pouring himself a third glass of wine.

Indy shrugged. It had all seemed real enough to him. He had recounted the terrifying events in the void as best as he could remember and the whole event had been their chief topic of conversation since they had carefully hidden the chamber again after their escape.

"One wonders." Marcus said, "Abners notes. you know. the part about the wheel. Travelling a circle. We've all been experiencing feelings of Deja vu recently. Do you think we've all done this before? Will someone find the parts of the cat again? You know, in the past? Was it actually you who broke it first time round, centuries ago, Indy, only to be rediscovered by you in that shop? Have you been breaking that statue over and over again, have we all been doing this every two thousand years? Is this all part of Abners wheel? Are we going to do it all over again in the future, or past, or whatever...." Marcus fell silent, in thought.

"So do you think Rene made it?" Robert asked a moment later. He knew little of Belloq other than what he had seen of him over the previous days but had liked what he had seen. He had noticed though, that whenever the events in the chamber were discussed, Marion was absent. This puzzled Robert as from what he had heard, Marion had been Indy's girlfriend some time ago, not Belloq's.

Again Indy shrugged. "Who knows?" He said. "With Rene, anything is possible." Robert, however, was like a dog worrying a bone. Something troubled him and he couldn't let go.

"Surely, he would leave us a clue. You know, some sign from the past or something." Marcus laughed. "You mean messages from the grave." He said. Indy joined in with the joke, laughing at the thought but then he remembered Belloq's final words. Something about looking at the statue, and the pedestal. He stood and downed the last of his wine, a determined look in his eye. "Follow me." He said. "Maybe Rene has spoken to us. We just haven't been listening."

The door swung open on the stairwell at Indy's gentle push and he, Robert, Marcus, Sallah and Marion descended the remaining steps into the outer chamber of the Library. The inner door and switch panel had been closed, hiding all evidence of the tomb beyond. "It's not really a tomb...." Marcus was saying. "I mean, Cleopatra's body isn't there." Indy nodded in partial agreement.

"That's the whole point." He said. "She never was, but at the same time, she always was." "I don't think I quite follow...." Robert said, confused. "You will, if I'm right..." Indy said cryptically, manipulating the hidden wall switch again.

They entered the inner chamber via the small opening once more and proceeded to light the wall torches.

"Rene told me to look for certain things." He said, moving toward the large Roman statue, examining the artistry and carving, hoping maybe to find some hidden panel or something. After ten minutes of scrutiny he had to admit to being baffled. "Rene said to study the statue." He said as they all looked at the folds and cavities of the carving for the umpteenth time for some hidden secret. Some clue or message. Then realisation hit Indy like a thunderbolt as he stepped back and looked up at the white carved figure.

"No. What he said was look AT the statue!", he murmured. One by one they turned and stared up, amazement flooding through them, at the towering Roman figure looking down, seeming to smile knowingly at them.

It was Rene.

"My God!" Marcus whispered. "He DID make it!" Then, wide eyed, he exclaimed, "Indy! Look at the inscription! Translate it!"

Indy pulled his reading glasses from his pocket and kneeled down, brushing the layers of wind blown dust from the letters, as if to be certain of what was written there.

"Mark Antony!" He exclaimed. "But that can't be!" Marion cried. "Mark Antony is well documented as Cleopatra's last lover. Even I know that." Then the import of what she had just said hit her and a smile slowly spread across her face. "That old smoothy...." She laughed.

"Mark Antony reputedly came from obscurity around the middle of Cleopatra's life." Indy said. "What if?......" He let the words trail off, looking up at the statue. The evidence seemed irrefutable. Rene WAS Mark Antony!

"Did Rene say anything else?" Marcus asked quietly, almost overcome by the strange turn of events. Indy jerked back from his wandering thoughts and ran to the pedestal by the arch. He put his whole weight against it and yelled, "Give me a hand!" The others gathered round and added their efforts to Indy's. The pedestal resisted for a time then gave up the fight with a loud crack and it came away from its seat at the base. The pedestal rolled to one side and Indy and the others stared at it. It was hollow!

Indy bent down and put his hand into the dark opening and feeling something inside, drew the contents out. In his hands he held a fragile wooden box of obviously ancient origin. Painted on the lid in exquisite gold with fine lapis lazuli adornment were the figures of two men. One wore a Roman officers uniform and bore a distinct likeness to the profile of Rene. The other figure wore what looked like an old jacket and a flat brimmed hat. In his hand was a coil of something. It could have been rope. It might have been a whip. Inside, carefully wrapped in the remains of a white linen shirt were four papyrus scrolls.

"Indy!" Marcus exclaimed. "You know you can never show this to anyone! You would be laughed all the way..." "I know." Indy said quietly. "I don't think Rene meant me to show anyone."

A year later, Indy sat in his office at Barnett college, musing over past events. He was on fairly good terms with Marion again and spoke to her frequently on the 'phone. She hadn't wanted to join him and was happy to go back to her small bar in New York. Indy hadn't minded. They were both a bit too old to change now. He was pleased to receive a telegram tellimg him of Robert's promotion to head of Antiquities at the British Museum and he and Marcus determined to pay him a visit in London next summer. He still could not quit get to grips with the events surrounding Rene, however. Had Belloq been Mark Antony before? Had he been aware of it all along, maybe having looked closely at images and statues of Mark Antony before? "I wish we had looked at the statue more closely BEFORE Rene went back in time. I wonder if it looked like him then?" He said quietly to himself.

"If the statue had always looked like Rene, then he must have been Mark Antony in the past. Before he went back. But is this the FIRST TIME we have done all this? Did Rene take Mark Antony's place? Or was he REALLY Mark Antony all along. Were they one and the same person?" All these questions went round in Indy's mind as they had done a hundred times over the months. Indy sighed and looked down. A copy of a new book lay on the desk in front of him. In heavy gold embossed print it bore the title, 'The life of Cleopatra and Mark Antony. By Professor Henry Jones and Doctor Rene Belloq'.

Indy contemplated the book and the wealth of information provided by Rene's three scrolls. He was indeed famous, as Rene had predicted. The information had turned many old ideas upside down and universities and museums world-wide pronounced them one of the finds of all time.

Three scrolls? Indy smiled and stood, locked his office door and moved to a bookcase of mundane everyday educational tomes. He released a hidden catch and the bookcase swung forwards, revealing a wall safe behind. Indy spun the wheel, entering the five figure code without thinking about it and yanked on the handle. The door opened silently on heavily oiled hinges. Carefully, he withdrew the decorative box he had found inside the pedestal. Inside was an ancient scroll. The fourth from Rene. He took the scroll to his desk and gently unrolled its cracked parchment. The writing was undeniably ancient and faded but what made this Egyptian scroll totally unique in the world was the language used. It was written in English. Indy began to read to himself, smiling.

"Hello Indiana. I told you I would write. Sorry about the delay. The postal service here in Alexandria is so slow. As I promised, I said I would tell you what happened to the Ark after the American Government took it from you. My contact in the Whitehouse informed me......" Indy chuckled, poured himself a large Bourbon, toasted Rene and continued to read, vaguely planning the next adventure.

R. Fitzsimmonds. Dec. 1999. 'The Temple of Tales'.