I Am Robert Langdon: All Bound For Mu Mu Land |3| There Is A Crack In Everything
In February 2000 I emerged from my underground bunker, a converted passage tomb near The Hill of Tara, to discover that the world had not ended and the dreaded Y2K bug had failed to wipe out our species. I was relieved but lost. Months later I discovered a novel called Angels and Demons by Dan Brown and consumed it numerous times because the lead character, Robert Langdon, shares my name, Robert Langdon. It changed my life and gave me a purpose. I have followed Robert and Dan on their adventures ever since and have penned several stories featuring my hero, my companion, my teacher…Robert Langdon. These are my stories. I am Robert Langdon.
Robert Langdon sits in deep meditation as the submarine carries him past the Chilean coastline. His student, and technological savant, Marius Toth had purpose built the vessel to meet Langdon’s specifications.
Langdon opens his eyes, stands and walks to the bridge where Marius is controlling the sub with a skeleton crew of only seven men. Langdon needed to keep things completely secret so had demanded Marius work with as small a crew as possible.
Langon enters the bridge as Marius sits staring at the large display screens which show the deep blue wine of the Pacific ocean.
“How much longer,” enquires Langdon.
“Jesus you scared the shite out of me Robert,” exclaims Marius.
“My apologies Marius. I’ve been working on my stealth walking so much it has become second nature.”
“Well wear some clogs or something, will you?”
“Perhaps.”
“Anyway, we’re travelling north and we’re just about to start heading west. The south eastern entrance to Mu is only one hundred kilometres away. We’ll be there in a matter of hours.”
“Excellent. The Deuce won’t suspect a thing. He thinks he shattered my mind after shifting me through time and showing me my parents death. I killed a version of him in Siberia but that old bastard has mastered time and space…but he hasn’t mastered Robert Langdon.”
“You’re a hard man to master. Oh, speaking of masters, I have a surprise for you. Something that I’ve been working on for a long time that no doubt will revolutionise the world but I thought you should use it first. Follow me.”
Marius takes Langdon deep into the bowels of the submarine to a storage area where a large cylinder blinks with neon green lights. Langdon looks inside.
“Is that what I think it is,” asked Langdon.
“Yes. It’s an android,” replied Marius.
“But the face, that’s…”
“Yes…yes it is. And you can control him with this series of voice commands.” Marius hands Robert a laminated sheet of paper. “You better go and memorise them and get some more rest. We’ll be arriving in a matter of hours.”
Marius leaves Langdon and returns to the bridge where he immediately begins to doze in his captain’s chair.
Five hours later Langdon wakes from another deep meditation as he feels the submarine slow down. Moments later he rejoins Marius on the bridge. The screens show something not seen by living eyes for tens of thousands of years: the southern entrance to Lemuria, the lost continent of Mu.
The submarine glides through the huge steel gates that are not beautiful, they are in fact utterly terrifying. On either side of the gates stand two gargantuan statues that have humanoid bodies but the heads of angler fish. Their giant maws hang open, their eyes full of murder and their bodies in attack positions. The gates themselves are a gigantic mess of steel teeth covered with hundreds of human skeletons.
“Robert, I thought this was supposed to be Eden,” whispered Marius.
“A brilliant lie spun by the Lemurian’s as the world joined together to destroy them seventy thousand years ago. They lost everything but they never lost control of the myth of Mu. The greatest evil mankind has known still exists within this land of the dead. They live on…and The Deuce means to use them.”
“Use them? Use whom?”
“The Lemurians. Beneath these waters are caverns with breathable air. A vast network spread around the globe. They have been trapped for millennia but The Deuce means to liberate them.”
“Jesus.”
“That plastic prophet has no dominion here. There are no Gods. There is only survival and death Marius. Steel yourself and guide us through the city into the pit at the centre, you can’t miss it.”
“But how do you know all this?”
“Rome, the catacombs. Dublin, the Dubh Linn. Siberia, Svyashchennoye Mesto Naukograd. All these places are connected not only by heavy symbols but also by pools of water that are hidden from the public. These pools are portals. And once you know the correct symbols, the correct language, you can control these portals. You can travel wherever you want, whenever you want. There are several in Mu. Most have been destroyed but two remain here in Lemuria. The Deuce has access to one and if he releases the elders, the Lemurians, he will have access to their portal deep within the earth, as close to the core as humans can get without burning up. The Lemurians cannot access it themselves but The Deuce now has the means to help them. He has The Trinity.”
“Robert this is madness.”
“This is reality Marius. This is happening. Our world is just one version Marius, just one. I’ve seen things Marius. I’ve learned things you wouldn’t believe.”
“I find it hard to believe any of this, I’m a scientist Robert.”
“Yet here we are in the heart of a fantasy, but it is real and now we approach the pit.”
Marius looks at the screens and can see a great dark void appearing in the centre of the great Lemurian city. It is vast, miles across and who knows how deep.
“Robert I’m not sure if the submarine can take the pressure,” said Marius.
“Don’t worry about the submarine Marius, we haven’t far to go. Begin descending and give me three hundred and sixty degree visuals. I need to examine the symbols on the walls to guide us to the true lost city. And I need complete silence.”
A ring of screens comes from the ceiling and surrounds Langdon. As the submarine falls softly into the void Robert begins speaking in a very ancient language as he reads the archaic symbols that drift before him.
Half an hour passes. Marius is beginning to worry as the submarine groans and screams under the pressure.
“There,” said Langdon.
“Where? I see nothing.”
“Trust me, it’s there. Forward, now!!”
Marius hits the thrusters and the submarine is propelled forward into nothingness. The submarine glides forward into what looks like a wall but suddenly light shimmers from what looks like a large aperture. The sub rushes through the hole and scrapes against rock before coming to a complete stop. The crew is thrown through the submarine and eventually stand dazed and confused.
“We have arrived,” says Langdon who stands fantastically before the crew. He begins to climb the ladder to the hatch disregarding cries from Marius. He opens the hatch with complete abandon. Warm air rushes into the submarine and Langdon climbs out of view.
Marius calls after him and finally follows him with tentative steps. The warm air feels sticky against his face, the air is heavy and acrid. Marius reaches the hatch and looks out at what must surely be an impossible sight. A vast archaic city.
He sees Robert Langdon standing on the surface below looking back at him. The rest of the crew push Marius out onto the viewing deck and they all gather there looking down at Langdon. They are all in utter disbelief and feel a terrible, dreadful awe.
Langdon calls to the crew from below.
“This is the real lost world. The city that sank itself to escape annihilation. A people so powerful and dangerous they made the generations to come believe that this was Eden. Well my friends this is not Eden and this is not hell. This my friends…is Lemuria!”
The crew begin to weep as they try to comprehend what they are experiencing. They try to climb back into the submarine.
“Stop,” shouts Langdon. “I failed to mention, this is a one way trip. Now you can either make yourself useful and come with me or stay here and await your certain death.”
“Robert you’ve lost your mind,” shouts Marius.
“This is reality Marius. Look around.”
Marius takes in the hellish city before him. A vast network of gigantic natural rock formations that jut sharply from the ground like a maniacal mouth ready to devour the crew.
Langdon starts whispering words and almost instantly Marius can hear something coming from the submarine. It is of course the android Marius created for Robert. The android made in the image of Leonardo Da Vinci.
Da Vinci emerges from the submarine and jumps down the seven stories to the ground and lands beside Langdon ready for instruction. Langdon whispers in his ear and he immediately runs into the city.
The rest of the crew stay where they are, Marius stares at Langdon.
“You’re on your own Robert. We can’t go any further.”
“I’m not surprised. Stay here and die then. The Lemurian sentries should be here shortly, they guard the elders. Automatons much like Leonardo, my thanks Marius, he is an abomination but useful. I made a few changes to his programming. Anyway, I hope you die honourably. Farewell.”
Langdon walks into the city leaving Marius and the crew to their fate.
In the distance Robert sees Leonardo waiting for him, he holds several stone tablets and as Langdon approaches Leonardo hands them to him. Upon inspection Langdon takes out a piece of chalk from his pocket and draws several symbols upon the tablets, he then hops on Da Vinci’s back and whispers a command. Leonardo begins running through the bizarre city streets, past the marching sentries, who continue towards the submarine, and finally they reach a great towering building that appears to be pure calcite.
Langdon hops off Da Vinci’s back and the two of them stride into the building. In the centre of the massive, hollow calcite building Langdon can see three figures sitting in a triangular formation facing each other, within a large circle of salt and blood.
The Trinity.
Langdon approaches slowly and sees the trio of Deuces. He feels awe and revulsion in equal measure. A man he loved so much, who taught him so much, who has taken so much from him, who has perverted himself through time and space, who is on the brink of completing his life’s work and unleashing a devastating power upon the world.
Robert looks around the building and sees that within the walls of the calcite are the bodies of the Elders. A self inflicted stasis now about to be ended by The Trinity.
Langdon closes his eyes. He must stop The Trinity, he must stop The Deuce.
He commands Leonardo to protect him and begins chanting ancient symbols.
“Uiwsh…Jdreth…Simp…Bbws…Ovath…Udddddddddddd…”
The Trinity begins to twitch.
“Bigggyy…Aicvex…Mpolteth…Graaaahhhhhhh…”
The old Deuce opens his eyes and stares at Langon. His dead eyes are unnatural, he is utterly inhuman. He must be obliterated.
“Zubbb…Operdinth…Lemuria…Dvlsbt…”
“LANGDON!!!!!”
The Trinity stands in unison led by the soldier Deuce and charge at Langdon. Da Vinci stands before Robert and immediately strikes out at the soldier. He punches him is the jaw and Robert looks on in horror as the entire lower jaw hangs from the soldier’s face. The soldier screams a garbled jawless scream and falls to the ground gushing blood and life onto the crystal floor.
The boy and the old Deuce stare on in shock. The Trinity broken.
“What have you done Robert,” asks old Deuce.
“I’m putting a stop to you master,” replies Langdon. “I’m ending you…brother.”
“No, please Robert you don’t understand this is the only thing that can save humanity.”
“Enough! Leonardo, kill the boy!!”
Leonardo does as he is asked. Robert and his brother weep as the boy lies motionless.
“Robert you’re killing me, your own brother. You’re killing humanity, only the Lemurians can save us from ourselves.”
“You’ve taken everything from me.”
“Yes, so that you would have no distractions and finally join me by my side. Brothers together again, changing the world. You made me kill our parents, you made me kill Penelope, if you just had of joined me!”
“You’re the villain here Deuce.”
“No Robert…it’s you, it’s always been you. And if you kill me you’re dooming the planet and yourself.”
“Brother. I am doom. Leonardo…”
“Don’t do this Robert.”
“…kill my brother.”
The Deuce screams momentarily but Da Vinci extinguishes it immediately as he wraps his cold machine hand around his neck and suffocates the life out of The Deuce in seconds. Langdon stares at the bodies of his brother, The Trinity of The Deuce and feels nothing, nothing at all. He looks around at the Lemurians trapped within the calcite.
“Tear it down Leonardo, tear it all down.”
Langdon makes his way back to the submarine but as he nears the location he sees it is gone. He turns to Leonardo.
“Well…it looks like it’s just you and me Leo. Let’s get to work and crack this code!”
“Code,” asks Leonardo.
“Yes…the escape code. We need to get back to the surface and crack everything. We need to crack the world in two.”
Langdon collapses on the ground. Leonardo picks him up and carries him back into the city of the dead.
Robert Langdon is a neo-transcendentalist, a Sadhu of Samhain, an historic detective and a conspiracy factualist. He lives in Drogheda with his husband, wife and a dule of red eared slider turtles.
