“The ravages of famine weren’t enough for the Anunnaki. They were forever in council. They kept swearing they would act in unison, as though they themselves were the first to doubt it. But there was one exception. Sitting in his corner, like a guest who has just arrived, one day Ea burst out laughing.

“Enlil was ever more enraged and announced the Flood. What could the others do but agree? Then Ea recomposed himself and said something frightening: ‘Can I raise my hand against those I have created?’ It was a way of reminding the Anunnaki that only he and Mami had been present in the chamber of destiny. And that the underground waters depended on him.

“So the Flood was decided on and brought about without Ea’s support. A punishment that would level everything in a vast expanse of mud. But Ea warned me in time for me to build the ship that was our salvation. This is common knowledge. What many don’t know is that before building the ship, Ea sent me on a secret mission to my hometown: Shuruppak. Only Ea could calculate how far the waters would reach. And in a ditch in Shuruppak I hid the scriptures, those clay tablets that would bear witness to what happened before the Flood. Few know this part of the story. Those whose task it is to pass on the scriptures. Of whom you, Sindbad, are only the most recent.

“Nobody now remembers the exact details of the Flood. And details are useful. First the Anunnaki went all over the place carrying torches and setting fire to everything they could find. But then, when huge volumes of water began to fall from the sky, one after another, and the earth was reduced to silence, the Anunnaki were so terrified they ended up huddling away in the heavens like so many dogs. They hadn’t fully realized what was about to happen. The first to complain was Mami, who had fashioned the first men. She yelled something that the other Anunnaki had thought but hadn’t dared to say: how could they have agreed to swear that the earth must be devastated by the Flood?

“If there had been no Flood, I could have gone on being one smart man among many. And Ea’s favorite. I had no ambitions beyond that. But the Flood did come, on a rash whim of Enlil’s. The Anunnaki soon regretted it. So Ea ordered me to build a strange square-shaped ship, sealed like a strongbox and packed full of animals. I didn’t know where to begin, but Ea drew plans on the sand to teach me the shipbuilder’s craft. So, when it was over, men and women found the land again. Not me, though; I vanished to a place that I alone inhabit: Dilmun. A magnificent place, but far removed from all other life. That’s why they called me Utnapishtim the Remote. I have no one to talk to. You are the first visitor I’ve been able to speak to about all this since Gilgamesh.