Setting the Wheel in Motion
Even if a storm came raging down, the construction never fell behind schedule.
All it took was a pair of colossal hands to raise a roof or a windbreak, and the work simply continued beneath them. And Sunya's own stamina and endurance were nothing to dismiss, either.
In the end, the city Adapa and his brothers had planned was finished far sooner than any of them had expected. More astonishing still was the fact that, for all that breakneck pace, not a single detail had been left shoddy or incomplete.
"I suppose this much will do for now."
In a mere half year the city had taken shape, yet Sunya stood lost in thought. Buildings and roads — a place for people to live — had been raised well enough. The problem was that the most essential thing of all was still missing: the people themselves.
"What's left is filling it with the right people…"
Adapa, his brothers, and their disciples alone could never populate a city of this scale.
"You look like you've got a lot on your mind."
A spray of water whirled through the empty air, and Enki appeared. The entrance was abrupt, yet Sunya showed no surprise. He had already known Enki had been watching them.
"Father!"
"What brings you here all of a sudden?"
"I missed you, Dad!!"
"…"
"I missed you too, kids."
Enki accepted his sons' greetings with easy warmth, then turned his gaze on Sunya.
"Sorry for spying. Though it seems you already knew I was looking, so I won't bother bowing my head over it."
"Haha…"
Faced with Enki's shamelessness, Sunya could only manage a sheepish smile.
"In exchange, I think I might be able to lend a hand."
"I'd be grateful for any help. Might I ask the reason, though?"
"Pure goodwill? Hardly. I've got my own interest in this. In that 'city of learning' you've been talking about, Sunya."
The light in Enki's eyes was not mere imagination. After a long stretch of dull days, he had found a subject that genuinely excited him — and his heart was pounding with it.
Enki summoned the gods at once. Anunnaki or Igigi — he made no distinction. He called them all. With time to spare in abundance, almost no one declined.
"What is that? A city?"
"Was there a city out here?"
"It's clean enough, but…"
"Empty."
"Does no one live here?"
The gods reacted to the unfamiliar city in a dozen different ways. Even Enlil the God-King and An the Highest God were no exception.
When the atmosphere had ripened enough, Enki brought Sunya forward and began to explain.
"This city was planned from the first stone to the last. My sons — the ones called the Seven Sages — designed it, and Sunya here built it with his own hands over half a year."
A considerable stir ran through the assembly. Design was one thing; the fact that a single god had raised a city of this scale alone in six months left them stunned.
"A god who builds cities, then?"
"I knew he had clever hands… but I never imagined this."
The way the gods looked at Sunya shifted. They were an arrogant breed, yet they were also ones who gave credit where credit was due.
"As expected of Lady Inanna…"
"Lady Inanna must have recognized his talent from the start!"
"So he's no ordinary kept husband, is he?"
Eyes turned toward Inanna. She was heavily pregnant now, her belly round as a full moon — and still her beauty had not dimmed in the slightest. A soft maternal radiance that should have clashed with her nature sat upon her instead in perfect harmony.
Her close attendants gazed at her with open reverence. Even those who had once dismissed her as a wild, headstrong tomboy wore expressions that said they were seeing her anew. Inanna's shoulders rose of their own accord.
See that? That's my husband.
She wanted nothing more than to say it out loud and crow. But that would have been inelegant, so for the moment she kept her mouth shut — though her bearing was so triumphant that everyone present could guess exactly what she was thinking.
One after another the gods offered their respect for the achievements of Enki's sons and of Sunya. Then someone threw cold water on the moment.
"But no one lives in that city. No matter how splendid the exterior, a place without people is useless."
It was Enlil, the God-King. As always, anything connected to Enki received his automatic negative appraisal. The observation itself was not wrong, and many gods nodded in agreement. An empty city held neither meaning nor value.
"True enough. However grand and glittering a city's face may be, if no one lives there, it means nothing."
Enki agreed without resistance. That only made Enlil's brow furrow. When his snake of an older brother conceded a point so readily, there was always a reason.
"In fact, the reason I called you all here has everything to do with that."
Enki cleared his throat once and spoke again — a rhetorical device to gather the full attention of the room.
"Have you ever heard of a city of learning?"
The unfamiliar phrase set the gods murmuring.
"Of course you haven't. Put simply, a 'city of learning' is a city built for the transmission of knowledge and skill."
What was he talking about? Confusion among the gods threatened to swell further, so Enki pressed on without pause.
"This city may have a representative, but it will have no king. Nor will any standing army be garrisoned here. Most of its citizens will simply be people passing through. They will not remain for a lifetime. The sole purpose of this city is the spread of knowledge and technique."
"Is there such a city anywhere in the world?"
One of the gods could not hold back the question.
"There hasn't been until now. But everything has a first time. Perhaps no other city like it will ever rise again — though that hardly matters. What truly matters is what role this city can play from this day forward."
"And what is that?"
"Stop circling and get to the point!"
As the gods pressed him, Enki's mouth curved into a sly grin. Watching his brother's expression, Enlil clicked his tongue. He could see that every god around them had already been drawn into Enki's words. At this stage, one might as well say they had already been won over.
"Do any of you know the fastest way to advance a civilization?"
"That would be…"
"You already know, I expect. Sharing information. The more people share what they know and spread it widely, the faster civilization advances. It's so obvious I won't bother explaining why."
"As if anyone doesn't know that."
Ninhursag needled him. She found his swaggering air thoroughly irritating. To Enki, that very irritation only made her look all the more endearing.
"But people do not share the skills and knowledge they possess. Of course they don't. Hand over what you know, and it can return at any moment as a dagger aimed at your own throat."
He was right. Humans had built cities for safer lives, yet all that had truly changed was the scale of conflict — from small bands to large ones. What fool would willingly place a blade in the hands of a force that might become his enemy?
"But this city is different. It is not a city humans built for themselves. It is a city a god built for humans. And so it stands completely free of human disputes and self-interest."
"Ohh…"
"Indeed!"
The gods murmured in admiration once more. Freed from human interests, the city could devote itself wholly to the transmission of knowledge. That was what Enki was saying.
"The answer is that it can be done — so all that remains is to do it. We gather the finest teachers here and educate talent worthy of the place. We create an environment where those talents can exchange knowledge and skill, and grow."
"And who are these 'finest teachers' of yours? Your own children, the so-called sages?"
Enlil undercut him again. From Enki's perspective, the objection was almost laughable.
"Talent raised on the knowledge your sons pass down, then scattered across the world… Worship of Enki would only grow."
"Come now. Thick-skinned as I am, would I really pull something that transparent? Of course each of us will recommend teachers of our own choosing. Including you, little brother — our God-King."
Enki needled Enlil without the slightest pretense of subtlety. To those watching, sparks seemed ready to fly between the two.
"And you still haven't mentioned the most important thing."
"Which is?"
Enlil pointed a finger at the city Sunya had built.
"Who owns this city."