Infernal Machine

ARTIFACT
The Infernal Machine
Origin
Culture	Mesopotamian
Location	Babylon
Discovery
Location	Babylon
Date	1947
Discoverer	Indiana Jones Sophia HapgoodGennadi Volodnikov
Collector	Indiana Jones (pieces found in Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Mexico, and Sudan), though the majority was not collected but rather left on site in Babylon

The Great Engine was a legendary device created by the ancient Babylonians, by order of their king, Nebuchadnezzar, to contact the god Marduk through an alternate realm called the Aetherium; since its initial activation and subsequent destruction, the Engine has been deemed the "Infernal Machine."

History

The Machine was believed to have been built and housed in the fabled Tower of Babel or the Etemenanki, with much of the engine itself located underground, below the ancient city of Babylon; however, it is also possible the tower was built after the Machine's dismemberment as a tribute to Marduk and collapsed later during Alexander the Great's conquest of Babylon. 

The Machine itself could only be operated when its four special, removable parts were brought together and placed in their proper locations.

It remains unclear whether Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonians ever accessed the Aetherium, though their reaction to the Machine seems to suggest that they did and that, in doing so, they discovered within the deity they called Marduk was, in fact, a terrible, power-hungry monster. In any event, it is only known that the builders of the Machine, for some unspecified reason, abruptly stopped their work and Nebuchadnezzar ordered that the Machine be dismantled. Afterwards, the Babylonians worshipped the aethereal monster as their supreme god, Marduk, perhaps even more vehemently and fearfully than prior to their believed contact with him.

Scripture seems almost deliberately vague or ambiguous on the matter; however, it is known that four faithful disciples (though faithful to whom remains uncertain), called Urgon, Taklit, Azerim, and Nub (whose names were unknown prior to Indiana Jones's important adventures), were each entrusted with one of the four essential, removable parts of the Infernal Machine. They fled from Babylon, taking the parts to various locations throughout the world, either in the hopes that the pieces would one day be reunited in Babylon by some worthy adventurer (who would be able to recognize the clues they left behind) or that they would never be found again, ensuring that the Machine could never be rebuilt. It is also unclear if these disciples were working for King Nebuchadnezzar or against him. Each of the four disciples built an elaborate series of traps and obstacles to prevent their respective parts from being stolen by common criminals, so that the parts would remain protected long after they had died. In addition, to ensure each part's security, each disciple also created or summoned a supernatural guardian to ward off thieves.

In 1947, wanting something to help them win the Cold War, the Soviet Union sent its best troopers and the mystic scholar/physicist Dr. Gennadi Volodnikov to dig up the remains of Babylon, locate the lost Machine parts, and reactivate the Machine. The newly-formed CIA caught wind of this and sent the archaeologist and ex-soldier Indiana Jones to find the parts first.

Jones recovered all of the parts (discovered, in Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Mexico, and Sudan respectively) and returned them to their home in Babylon. Jones, along with CIA agents Sophia Hapgood and Simon Turner, entered the Infernal Machine and returned each part to its proper place in the Great Engine . For the Machine to function, however, a human sacrifice was also required, a position involuntarily taken by Hapgood when she was pushed into a crystalline cage by the treacherous Turner. In the end, Jones was forced to kill Turner while he and the captive Hapgood were the only two humans to enter the Aetherium via the reactivated Machine.

After defeating the aethereal monster Marduk, Jones rescued Hapgood and the two escaped from the Aetherium as it fell apart and merged into reality. The Machine itself was destroyed when it was buried in the collapse.

The Four Parts

Each of the four removable parts of the Machine was a special device on its own. Each piece emitted a mystical energy (believed to be aether, an energy that does not normally exist in our own world, but originates from the Aetherium) that provided a specific, supernatural power. The powers could be both helpful and, if handled improperly, detrimental.

Urgon's part

Urgon had taken his given piece to the mysterious Shambala Sanctuary in Soviet-occupied Kazakhstan, specifically in the Tian Shan region. Indiana Jones discovered the part resting in Urgon's study within the Shambala inner sanctum (in the lair of the ice guardian); the skeleton of Urgon himself lay hunched over in a chair next to the piece. Urgon's part had the power to unleash a concussive wave of energy that could smash apart loose solid material such as weakened rock walls or large chunks of ice. Jones also used it three times on the ice guardian to smash its frozen body; the third time, the guardian squealed and exploded into a shower of icy fragments. Although about the size and shape of a corn cob, when activated, it would open up, looking like a large flower with blue energy resonating from its core. If excessively activated in quick succession, its vibrating power would begin to injure the user.

Taklit's part

Taklit had placed his piece on a pedestal in the Palawan Temple in the Philippines where it was discovered by Indiana Jones. This device had the power to emit a field of energy that made its user appear almost completely invisible. The part looked like a flat disc with a handle, adorned with one red crystal and one blue crystal.

Azerim's part

Azerim had brought his piece into a stone chamber inside the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, an Olmec pyramid in Teotihuacan, Mexico. If the user of this part stood beneath special blue crystals called the Jewels of Heaven and activated it, he or she would be able to levitate up or down through a spontaneous blue shaft of energy. The part was adorned with ring shapes at the top which extended when activated.

Nub's part

This piece was found, by Jones, in King Nub's subterranean tomb beneath the pyramids of the ancient city of Meroe in Sudan. Specifically, Jones found it crowning the zenith of a strange winged structure. It, like Urgon's part, was shaped like a corn cob, and its power was to act as a primitive yet enormously powerful battery for charging up specifc ancient machines that apparently ran on electricity.

Appearances

• Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (First appearance)