The World's Game

by Jacobo Izquierdo

  “Great!”

  Both of them remained in silence. Margaret looked at him hesitantly and contained herself as he looked the soles of his new running shoes with attention.

  “Is everything ok? You seem weird.”

  Margaret blushed and she took some seconds to answer.

  “I’d like to propose something to you.”

  “Tell me. What is it about?”

  “Do you remember the last conversation we had before you left to San Diego?”

  “Yes. What happens with that?”

  “And do you remember what book I was reading?”

  “That one about the Egyptians. Can you stop making questions and go straight to the point?” He demanded impatient.

  “During the long nights I stayed at hospital, among many other things, I studied the Egyptian alphabet. I learnt how to interpret and draw hieroglyphics. I even learnt to pronounce them.”

  “Do you already know how to draw my name?” He kidded.

  “Of course. Those long and lonely nights allowed me time to think and imagine a lot of things. One of the things I decided to do if you recovered was to visit Egypt and getting to know its culture.”

  Josef turned his smile into a disapproval expression. He got up from the chaise long and without pronouncing a single word, he went to the kitchen. The girl was very surprised by his reaction. So much surprised she was that she got up and went after him. There he was, sitting on a stool in front of the central kitchen island, holding a glass of water.

  “I know it,” Margaret said sitting by his side. “I’m sorry. It’s crazy. I shouldn’t have told you anything.” She said this without even vocalizing. She spoke as fast as she could. “I imagine the accident must have made you very afraid of flying, but I…”

  “STOP!” Josef shouted drastically interrupting her apologies.

  Margaret looked at him scared. Since the day they first met, she has not seen him angry again. «I shouldn’t have told him anything.»

  “When are we leaving?” He asked smiling.

  Margaret shrugged.

  “It was a joke!” He said laughing out loud. “A moment ago you made me believe you had failed your exams and now it has been me who tricked you.”

  “You scared me,” she breathed deeply. “What do you say then? Your face shows a resounding no.”

  “When I was a child, my grandpa showed me the mysteries and the characteristics of the Egyptian culture. Being able to see the pyramids in person would be awesome.”

  “Thank you,” she said hugging him. “As soon as you’re completely recovered, we’ll go there.”

  “I’m perfectly well, so we can go whenever you want. Look!”

  Josef separated from his friend and started to run around the island.

  “Keep still or you’ll hurt yourself. Do you think you’ll be capable of flying again?”

  “Of course.”

  Chapter 33

  The Cyclops looked at Plisalet with distrust. He was fully in love with her. Millions of years waiting for that moment, so now she was his he felt happy. «I’ll never be alone again.» She was the exchange coin the midarian had used to obtain his so longed learning. After being requested, it took only a second to Crizal to express what his condition was. «I have to think it over,» Yewut answered him. «It’s not negotiable,» the Cyclops expressed from the beginning. Once again, the last woman was due to play an essential role in the history of Mida. Her sacrifice was going to allow a new way of defending themselves. Without weapons. Only their mind power. She accepted without weighing the consequences. Her decisions have always been conditioned by the common good of the planet. Now that she was in front of him, she seemed to regret.

  “Let’s go on!” Crizal said.

  Palac observed how his grandfather nodded in acceptance.

  “The following power allows paralyzing whoever for certain time. It may be the easiest. Come here, female midarian!” He shouted with contempt.

  “My name’s Plisalet!” She answered furious.

  Yewut approached the Cyclops and their heads remained in front of each other.

  “When I accepted your condition of giving her to you, I only demanded that you treat her with respect. If you don’t do it, she’ll come back with me,” he added making his tone of voice harsher.

  An uncomfortable silence grew between them. «He’ll kill him.» Palac thought when observing the Cyclops’ single eye. From its edges, small luminous microparticles emanated. It was as if he was containing himself not to throw a ray.

  “You’re right,” he finally said. “I may have talked to her in a somehow arrogant way. Can you accept my apologies?” He asked looking at Plisalet.

  She nodded, but her face still showed an unusual sadness.

  “I hope this won’t happen again,” Yewut said. “How is paralyzation performed?”

  The Cyclops looked at him defiantly. He was not used to interacting with anyone, even less to receiving orders or demands.

  “To show you how to master this power I need her help. Can you help me?”

  Plisalet nodded.

  “I want you to walk towards that place as fast as you can,” he said pointing to the north.

  “Only that?”

  The Cyclops smiled showing his tenebrous teeth rows. The female midarian started to move at top speed. When she had moved about two hundred meters, her legs blocked and she fell to the ground. «What has that monster done to her?» The vision shown by his grandfather’s eyes did not allow him to know if she was alive.

  “What have you done to her?” Yewut asked scared.

  The Cyclops started to laugh. Fearing the worst, the leader ran up to the spot where she was. She was paralyzed. Upside down.

  “Plisalet!” He shouted.

  The female midarian continued without moving. Yewut turned her face up and saw her eyes were shut. He called her name several times without obtaining any response at all. Crizal, who had observed from the distance the situation he had provoked himself, went closer to them.

  “Don’t continue. No matter how much she’d want to, she wouldn’t be able to answer you,” the Cyclops said.

  “Why have you killed her?” He shouted furious.

  The Cyclops looked at him and smiled. He seemed to be enjoying the situation. Seconds later, Plisalet started moving and stood up.

  “Are you all right?” A relieved Yewut asked.

  “I wasn’t able to move,” she answered a bit confused. “My mind went blank and I wasn’t able to think or to send orders to my body.”

  “First of all,” Crizal said. “Do you master telepathic communication?”

  “Yes,” the midarian leader answered.

  “In order to master this power it’s essential to master telepathic communication at its best, because we need it to leave our mind blank of our aim and so block brain activity. Once this has been achieved, the individual will be unable to send orders to its body and will remain at the mercy of its attacker.”

  “Was it because of that that I wasn’t able to move?” She asked.

  The Cyclops nodded.

  “Is it possible to escape from that state?” Yewut asked.

  “Yes. If you lose concentration, even for a second, the mind of the paralyzed one will regain activity and it’ll unblock. You’ll only be able to block those individuals whose mind strength is weaker than yours.”

  “Plisalet, can I try?”

  “No!” Crizal shouted. “Try blocking me.”

  The Cyclops flew away hastily and started to move from one place to the other. He was sure that the midarian leader wouldn’t be able to paralyze him. «His mind strength is totally weaker than mine,» he said to himself.

  “Come one!” He encouraged his countryman.

  He looked at her and immediately nailed his gaze in his target, who was still surfing the Zelapon skies at top speed.

  “You can’t take me down!” Crizal shouted laughing.

  Yewut did not get into his game and to
ok advantage of his distraction to attack. «It’s now or never.» Suddenly, the Cyclops, who was very far away from the ground at that moment, started to fall at top speed. He seemed a meteorite. The crash against the ground was terrible. «Congratulations, grandpa. You’ve made it,» Palac celebrated from the Golden Pyramid.

  “I’m impressed,” the monster covered with dust and stones said. “I had underestimated your mind power.”

  “I don’t understand its usefulness very much. What is paralyzing someone useful if we can’t use another power?” The midarian leader asked.

  “When you’re fighting alone, it’s very difficult to combine quickly this ability with the others and achieve an effective attack. Paralyzation is usually used to fight in group. Imagine for a moment that, in a future, your army masters all powers perfectly well and you are fighting a very powerful rival. In such case, you’ll be in charge of neutralizing him while your soldiers kill him.”

  “Seen that way, it makes sense. This power will be very easy for us to learn since us, the midarians, have been communicating telepathically for millions of years.”

  “Interesting,” Crizal said. “The following one can’t be learnt. It’s transmitted from one body to the other. I’ll transmit it to you and you’ll have to decide to which warriors to transmit it.”

  “What’s the ability obtained?” Plisalet asked.

  “With this power you’ll be able to heal any being suffering a disease or a wound as long as you act in good time. You’ll see.”

  The Cyclops went to where the midarian was and his neck started to stretch several meters. Suddenly, as if it were a snake, it started to wrap around his neck. Yewut tried in vain to escape. He was trapped. The suit made of gold and plistor started to creak. So did the helmet. Plisalet tried to prevent Crizal from killing the man who had been her leader so far. Finally, Palac heard a strong crack and the vision went black.

  Chapter 34

  A sweat drop started to roll down Josef’s forehead. His salivary glands worked nonstop trying to segregate a bit of fluid that moistened his mouth. The floor seemed to move under his feet. His head was about to explode and his body was burning due to a distressing heat feeling. His lungs were incapable of counteracting the lack of oxygen and his heart was beating so fast that is seemed it would explode at any moment.

  “Are you all right?” Margaret asked. “You’re white!”

  He did not answer. All his energy was being used to keep his verticality. He was trembling. He felt as if he were going to vomit and what was worst of all, he felt panic. A panic comparable to the one provoked by an earthquake or to the one suffered by civilian people in a war zone.

  They were in front of the boarding gate of the plane that was going to take them to Egypt. Margaret was pulling his friend’s arm when a flight attendant asked them to identify themselves. The librarian’s legs started to move slowly towards the counter.

  The machine scanned their fingerprints and the image of their passports automatically appeared on a small monitor. The green light indicated that both of them were authorized to board the plane and the woman in charge invited them to go through the boarding gate.

  As soon as the plane started soaring in the air, Josef closed his eyes. Margaret realized about the bad moment he was having and she held his hand tightly in an attempt to calm him down. Two minutes later, he opened them again. They were full of tears.

  “Are you all right?” Margaret asked.

  “I am now,” he answered agitated. “I’m very hot,” he added taking his jacket off.

  “What has happened to you is normal,” the young girl took his jacket and put it on her lap. “You’ve been very brave,” she smiled.

  Four hours were enough to cross the Atlantic and to do an intermediary stop in Madrid. Seventy minutes later, they retook the trip and a few minutes past five they landed in Cairo. They were received by a suffocating African heat when they got off the plane. Hundreds of Egyptians approached the newly arrived tourists at the airport exit.

  «Don’t give them anything. The authorities want to prevent this situation from happening, and if they get money by doing this, they’ll never stop bothering,» one of the workers told them.

  A worn out and aged bus took them up to their accommodation place. A two-storey office building that had been remodeled and refurbished to accommodate a few tourists. Only twenty single rooms whose highest value lay in their location. Only twenty minutes separated the hotel from the three pyramids of Giza. Two stars embellished a battered façade of chipping paint. «It smells to feet,» Margaret thought when entering the hall. An obsolete computer located on an eaten away wooden table was enough to verify the booking. «Simplicity still works,» Josef thought remembering the innovative verification systems of American hotels.

  A boy of about ten years old led them to their room. He patiently waited for several seconds until Josef opened his wallet and offered him a ten-dollar tip.

  “Thank you,” he said through clenched teeth.

  The room had the same style as the hotel: an unknown simplicity for them. Two single beds, a chest of drawers, also eaten away, red unraveled curtains and a tiny bathroom that lacked some tiles.

  “What’s this?” Margaret asked showing an expression of disgust.

  “I think they are feces of rat,” he answered. “It seems that we share the room with them,” he kidded.

  The hotel cleaning service seemed not to exist or to be poor. Remnants of dirt could be seen on every corner. «Where have we got ourselves?» Margaret thought. Both friends decided to go for a walk in the surroundings and get informed about the excursions they could do. When it started to get dark, they got into a restaurant to have dinner.

  Josef asked koshari, a dish made with macaroni, rice, lentils and tomato sauce. Margaret chose kobeiba, which was made with meat, fish and some nuts. Both decided to try a Stella, the local beer served in Cairo and its surroundings.

  The following morning, they asked at the hotel reception about the excursions they had been looking at the previous day. The receptionist told them that a local company organized a tour to see the three pyramids of Giza and they decided to hire it. Owing to a failure in the bus, the trip took longer than what they had expected and they had run out of tickets by when they arrived.

  What shall we do now? Josef asked disillusioned.

  “My name’s Akil and I’m here to tell us about our culture,” the guide said raising his right arm. “Every day at eight in the morning one hundred and fifty tickets go on sale and other one hundred and fifty at once o’clock, which is exactly in ten minutes,” he said after looking at his watch. “Each of you will be able to get your ticket.”

  Akil was a fat a man with very marked facial features. He had a trimmed moustache and his hair was totally white. When he was only seven, he lost his whole family in the Egyptian civil war in 2021 and was brought up in an orphanage. Egyptologist and expert in ancient tongues, he worked at the Egyptian museum of Cairo, where the main relics inherited by the ancient Egyptians were exhibited, for twenty years. A chain of earthquakes occurred several years before, destroyed the museum and some adjacent buildings. The lack of budget to rebuild the gallery led to his job loss. Now, with almost sixty years old, he worked for an excursion company explaining the enigmatic curiosities of their culture.

  Margaret, Josef and the rest of the tourists crowded around the gate sighed in relief. They waited for some minutes and they bought their tickets along with a small booklet containing a map of each of the pyramids and a detailed explanation.

  The Pyramid of Menkaure was the smallest of the three. Following a strict rotating shift, that year it has been closed to be restored and preserved.

  The first one they visited the Pyramid of Jafra (better known as the Pyramid of Khafre). The heat inside it was suffocating and the high humidity made it difficult to breathe. The floating dust coming from the desert sand made Margaret cough. Owing to the amount of people circulating in the corridors, walking
in there was burdensome. «How claustrophobic!» Josef thought almost fainting. Akil led them to the funerary camber where they could see the granite sarcophagus. They remained there for several minutes listening to his explanations and then they went outside to continue with the tour.

  “They’re huge,” the golden-haired girl said walking backwards to behold their greatness.

  “It’s the biggest construction I’ve even seen,” Josef said amazed.

  Pressured by the rest of the tourists, they had a photo taken by the Great Sphinx. Margaret pulled his friend’s arm and they walked up to the Great Pyramid. The Pyramid of Cheops was the only of the Seven Wonders of the World that still existed. It alignment with Orion’s belt and the perfect location of its two million and three thousand blocks were something that, almost five thousand years after having been built, still represented a mystery for the experts.

  “Let’s go inside!” Akil ordered raising his tone of voice.

  The visitors finished taking some photos and were led to the north side of the pyramid. Making a neat line, they entered through the tourist door or the Al-Mammum tunnel. Its inside, a passage of one meter wide by one meter and twenty centimeters high known as the ascendant canal, astonished Margaret.

  “How narrow!”

  Akil looked at her a bit upright and smiled:

  “I come inside this place every day.”

  A wooden ramp placed to enable tourists to go up easily cracked when they walked on it. They continued to the background and they got into another tunnel, this time a horizontal one. Its dimensions were almost identical to the upward one. A half-meter step obstructed the passage and obliged its visitors to enter almost completely upright to the Chamber of the Queen. It was a five-meter long and six-meter tall room.

  “We’re in the Chamber of the Queen,” Akil said. “Here is where the stature of the pharaoh was kept. A statue made to his likeness, to which theoretically life would have been given through the Isis rites of opening its eyes and mouth.”

  “The mummy!” One of the visitors shouted.