Hastelloy promptly leaned back and reached his hand down the front of his pants and pulled out the small device. He’d been tempted many times to hide the half inch thick, palm sized piece of metal somewhere else, but he couldn’t take the chance of it falling into the wrong hands. He handed the navigation unit over to Tomal.
Tomal immediately started running his calculations, and a few minutes later relayed the results to the crew. “Just as I thought, the height and placement of the pyramid on this planet is also significant. The Pyramid lies at the precise center of gravity for this planet.”
He hit a few keys, and a flat map of the planet was projected onto the table. A bright yellow triangle indicated the pyramid’s location. Tomal then added a vertical and horizontal red line indicating the latitude and longitudinal lines intersecting at the pyramid. “As you can see, the vertical line runs through the longest land meridian. Likewise, the horizontal line also passes through more solid land than any other parallel. There’s only one place on the planet where these longest land lines cross - the pyramid.”
Tomal hit a few more buttons and the projected image changed to display a relief map of the planet. The view of the image then rotated around so the crew was looking at a cross section of the map showing the rise and fall of the landscape. “The average height of land above sea level on this planet is 5,449 inches.”
Tomal then had a replica of the pyramid superimposed onto the image with a line calculating it’s height plus the height of its foundation above the sea level. “When the pyramid is complete, the tip will be exactly 5,449 inches above sea level. Tonwen, would you care to take a guess as to the significance of this?”
“Oh my,” Tonwen exhaled. “This is brilliant; whimsical even. The tip of the pyramid will be the focal point of both the planet and the sun’s gravitational forces. The amount of power harnessed at that point will be phenomenal.”
“Give the man a prize,” Tomal confirmed. He turned off the navigation unit and handed it back to Hastelloy. “There are five chambers under construction right now on the 35th level of the pyramid. Four are going to be sealed off in a couple of days, but the main one has a passageway that will remain open. The pharaoh is planning to use that chamber for his burial and resulting ascension to the heavens to join the gods.”
“How will the four sealed chambers be used then?” Hastelloy asked. “Is anything going to be put inside before they’re closed off?”
“I’m sure some sort of power converting equipment will go in them so the Alpha can harness and channel the gravitational forces properly, but I don’t know anything for certain” Tomal postulated. “I do know that it’ll take place during the mid day labor breaks. I’ve discovered that is when the gods come to inspect the work and verify everything is meeting their precise requirements.”
“The Alpha. They’ve been here every day and we didn’t even know it?” Valnor stated with venom. “Let’s attack them tomorrow, then all this mumbo jumbo about the pyramid becomes irrelevant. They can’t use it if they’re dead.”
Hastelloy gently put his arm in front of Valnor to cut him off. “I share your desire for fast action, but we need to know what we’re up against. Tomal, see if Mosa knows how many Alpha survived the crash. Also, find a way to get yourself invited to these mid day inspections. See what kind of equipment they’re putting in, and just for fun, see how vulnerable they might be to an ambush.
“With pleasure, Captain.”
Hastelloy gestured for the rest of the crew to head for the exit. Gallono was the last to reach the door and was passed by Mosa returning to Tomal. He stopped long enough to ask over his shoulder, “Not too much pleasure though, right Tomal?” and continued on his way.
Chapter 23: Liftoff
Mark looked on from the back of the NASA launch control room. There were sixty seconds left in the countdown and the room was buzzing with activity. Directing the frenzy was Dr. Kranz.
Whatever Mark may have thought about him personally, the man knew what he was about during a launch countdown. There must have been fifty people working different stations monitoring every system on the space craft, the launch tower, and even the weather conditions. Alfred Kranz had it all under control, or so he thought.
Witnessing how many things had to go right for a rocket launch to succeed made Mark wonder how any man-made object got more than ten feet off the ground. The fact that NASA succeeded in sending people to the moon and got them back to earth safely was an honest to goodness miracle.
Some lesser agents might have been concerned with so many people looking over every square inch of the rocket, but Mark knew the effects of his sabotage wouldn’t be noticed until the third stage engine was engaged. Then there’d be some serious fireworks.
Until that time, Mark just sat back and enjoyed his front row seat to the best show on earth. Mark worked with NASA countless times in the past, but he never had occasion to watch a space launch. He eagerly looked forward to it like a five year old waiting for Santa Claus to arrive.
Three . . . two . . . one . . . liftoff.
At first it was like watching a silent film. A massive plume of smoke bellowed out from under the launch pad. Soon the cloud grew to conceal half the rocket’s height. Next, the rocket began rising out of the cloud. As it did, a long trail of scorching flames from the booster rockets came into view. The flames were so bright Mark needed to squint to look at them directly. In its wake, the rocket left a thick trail of white smoke as it rose into the sky.
The rocket cleared the launch tower and Mark still heard nothing. He knew the launch control center was over three miles away from the liftoff point, and soundproofed as much as humanly possible, but he expected to hear something.
He was starting to feel disappointed a bit since one of the factoids given on a poster hanging in the visitor center stated a space vehicle launch was the equivalent of turning three million stereos on full blast at the same time. Maybe the person who created that poster used a wimpy sound system in his analysis.
Then a low rumble grew to an almost painful volume and was accompanied by the whole building gently vibrating under his feet. Mark was suddenly thankful to be inside a sound proofed building. If he were outside he’d most definitely be deaf and possibly shaken apart by the pulsing sound waves.
Mark turned his attention to the main view screen to visually track the rocket’s progress. A collective gasp fell across the room as the screen suddenly turned white. Air was let back into the room when the camera operator zoomed out to reveal the launch vehicle had simply passed through a cloud. The rocket was still going strong and gaining speed.
About three minutes after liftoff the first stage separation was executed causing the second stage engines to kick in. Six minutes later the fuel in stage two ran out. At an altitude of 110 miles above the earth, the rocket initiated final separation and the engines of stage three fired up.
Mark sat up in his chair anticipating the pending flurry of activity his sabotage would set off. Soon the corroded fuel line would rupture and leak liquid hydrogen. Once out of the fuel line the hydrogen would instantly ignite and turn the rocket and probe it carried into a rapidly expanding fireball.
“Dr. Kranz, we have a problem,” Jeremy shouted while still seated at his monitoring station. “A fuel line is about to rupture.”
Alfred dropped what he was doing and ran to look over Jeremy’s shoulder. The flight director took a few seconds to evaluate the readings while Mark fought back a smile at seeing everything going according to plan. He was a little concerned the flaw was spotted so soon though. Jeremy definitely knew how to do his job.
Alfred stuck two fingers into his mouth and let loose a high pitched whistle to get everyone’s attention. “Listen up. We have a fuel line about to blow out on stage three. If there is any fuel still on the craft when the line gives out we lose the probe. Throttle up to 100 percent burn rate right now.”
Alfred paused long enough to confirm his order was followed. During th
e silence a woman sitting in front of the flight telemetry station lodged a protest. “We were only supposed to use half the fuel to achieve lunar orbit to meet up with the reactor section. This is going to fling the probe right out into space. It’ll be lost.”
“Correction. The probe might be lost if we do this,” Alfred stated. “If we do nothing, the probe will definitely be lost. I’ll take my chances.”
Jeremy chimed in with his report. “Fuel will be completely spent in another thirty seconds, but the line pressure is reaching critical levels.”
Mark clenched his fists and reached out with every ounce of his being, willing the line to burst before the fuel ran out. This was not going according to plan any more.
“Yes,” Jeremy shouted as he pumped his fist in the air. “Full burn is complete. There isn’t a drop of liquid hydrogen left on the ship.”
“Very well,” Alfred said in a calm voice. “Separate the probe from the rocket.”
Alfred turned his attention back to the woman seated at the flight telemetry station. “Julie. Now that the probe’s course and speed are constant I need you and your team to figure out a way to use the reactor section’s remaining fuel to reach the probe.”
Mark could almost see the gears in Julie’s mind kick in to work out the details. “We might be able to do it with a couple gravitational slingshots around the earth and moon. We’ll get right on it.”
Alfred appeared to take comfort that the situation was once again under control. He slowly turned around and paced back toward his desk. The flight director didn’t sit down. Instead he walked past his seat and came to stand directly in front of Mark.
“The Delta II rocket has a nearly flawless service record. I’ve personally served on or led seventy-five launches with that model of lift vehicle and have never had something like that happen - ever,” Alfred spat.
“The launch was certainly more eventful than I anticipated,” Mark said with a hint of boredom shining through. “Maybe it was just bad luck that a part made late on Friday got installed. Lucky for us you were on hand to improvise such a rapid and effective solution.”
The doubt on Alfred’s face was all too apparent. “We both know this situation had nothing to do with luck - good or bad.”
“What if there isn’t enough fuel aboard the reactor section to escape orbit and chase down the runaway probe?” Mark asked in an attempt to steer the conversation away from any accusations of sabotage.
“We can always start up the fusion reactor and get more propulsion than we know what to do with.” Alfred stated.
“I’m afraid that’s out of the question,” Mark replied. “For reasons of national security I can’t allow you to start up that reactor until it’s out of orbit. Remember the tsunami that reactor’s predecessor caused?”
“Well then, Julie will just have to earn her paycheck this week won’t she,” Alfred said with a sneer. Abruptly he turned around and walked back to his desk to oversee his new plan of action.
Chapter 24: Mob Mentality
“You’re telling me all those ratios that mathematicians keep coming up with based on the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza are for real?” Dr. Holmes doubtfully asked of his patient.
“Not at all,” Hastelloy responded. “In fact most of those ratios are just plain ridiculous. I have a good laugh any time I read one of those conspiracy theory websites claiming the height of the pyramid to the fifth power plus the width of their aunt’s eyelash, divided by the third derivative of the radius of the hypothetical circle that fits inside the square base equals the weight of the earth. Most of that stuff is plain junk, but the relatively simple relationships are real.”
“What about these five rooms you spoke of on the 35th layer of the pyramid, why don’t we know about them?” Jeffrey asked. “Lord knows enough people over the years have spent time looking for other chambers. It stands to reason they’d be discovered by now.”
“Every day thousands of people go inside the pyramid and walk up to the main chamber I spoke about. It’s had many names over the years, but right now it’s referred to as the Queen’s Chamber,” Hastelloy answered. “The reason the other four chambers still remain hidden is because nothing leads to them. No air shafts, crawl spaces, or anything. Reaching those chambers would require blasting part of the pyramid away and there’s no way on earth the Egyptian government would allow that to happen. The pyramid is a national treasure.”
“What you’re saying is I could theoretically hop on a plane tonight and arrive in Egypt by morning. Then I could use some dynamite to blow away part of the 35th level, take what I find and catch a flight back here. That way I’d be sitting here tomorrow afternoon holding in my hands a piece of advanced alien technology?” Jeffery asked while fighting back the urge to burst out laughing. “Is it really that simple?”
“I think you’d miss your flight home and have to deal with an unpleasant 50 year sentence in prison from the Egyptian authorities,” Hastelloy chuckled. “The short answer though is yes. It would be that simple. Proof of aliens visiting earth back in ancient Egypt is right there for the taking.”
Jeffery had to admit he was getting a little frustrated with this game Hastelloy was playing. He kept hanging on to these notions that proof existed supporting his delusions, but it just so happened no one could reach them. It was a very convenient and frustrating way for him to insulate his story from challenges to its validity.
“What would I find in these four rooms? Was Tomal successful at infiltrating the mid day inspections to find out?” Dr. Holmes asked.
“Oh yes, he actually came face to face with the only two Alpha who survived the crash. They removed the gravity coils from the engines their ship used in planetary atmospheres and planned to install them in the four chambers. The Queen’s Chamber would then house the control unit, but that needed to be installed after the entire structure was complete to properly calibrate the coils, so they had to build an access path to that chamber.”
“Tell me, how would these coils work?”
“The technology is very complicated of course, but the concept is quite simple. The coils harness the planet’s gravitational forces and then bend it around the ship. The result is a field that’s subject to its own forces of gravity, independent from that of the planet itself. This made them ideal pieces of machinery to harness and direct the gravitational energy the pyramid was designed to harness.”
“It sure sounds like these Alpha beings really knew what they were doing,” Jeffery stated with a hint of frustration showing through. “How were you able to foil their plan?”
Hastelloy leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. “What makes you so sure I did?”
**********
Hastelloy consumed his morning meal with the world weighing on his shoulders. Today was the day each of the four chambers would be sealed over with the next layer of stones. Today was his last chance to implement a sabotage plan. A whole lot was riding on the next couple of hours, and a good portion of the action was out of his control. Hastelloy always got nervous when a battle plan relied on uncontrollable factors.
Tomal taught the other four crew men how to say the phrase, The god Anubis is coming today. He is coming during the mid day break, in the Sigma language.
All day long from the morning meal to the mid day break the crew spread the rumor to anyone who would listen - god was coming to inspect the monument.
When the mid day break finally came and the workers got escorted back to the camp, the entire compound was buzzing with excitement. The opportunity to see their god in real life couldn’t be missed. Hastelloy listened to the murmur of excitement all around him and felt his state of worry diminish. The crowd was practically chomping at the bit to unwittingly play their role in his plan.
Hastelloy scanned the top of the pyramid to locate Tomal and quickly spotted the man wearing a white skirt with a bright blue accent sash; the loud ensemble of clothing was difficult to miss. He waited, and he waited. Tomal f
inally gave the signal by crossing his arms behind his back; the Alpha were there. Hastelloy then crossed his arms behind his own back so the rest of the crew knew the mission was a go.
In four different areas of camp, the crewmen began shouting, “Anubis is here, god is here.” It took no effort at all to get the throngs of people moving toward the pyramid. The hordes began chanting “Anubis, Anubis!” The handful of guards standing their post was nowhere near sufficient to deal with the volume of people marching on the monument. The crowd didn’t even flinch as they moved right through the porous line of defense.
The noise and commotion must have reached the overseers on top of the half finished pyramid because the army divisions posted along the outskirts of the complex began moving in. Feeling time was short to get a glimpse of their god, the crowd transitioned into a running stampede up the sand ramp leading to the top level. Hastelloy had no trouble spotting the two seven foot jackal-like figures. Their menacing bodies towered over those around them.
Sensing the danger coming their way, the two Alpha gave Pharaoh some hasty instructions and bounded off the far side of the pyramid and vanished from sight. Not content with the brief glimpse of their gods, the mob took over the entire surface of the pyramid’s open top. Amongst all the chaos and commotion, Hastelloy spotted Gallono ducking into his assigned chamber. He could only assume Valnor and Tonwen were doing the same.
Hastelloy navigated his way to the chamber in the northeast quadrant and quickly lowered himself into the room. The gravity coil unit filled almost the entire chamber. It looked like a simple, dull metal box in order to avoid unwanted attention from the workers who were around it day after day. Hastelloy slid around the far side, opened a concealed maintenance hatch and proceeded to alter the transmission frequency.
The new frequency matched Hastelloy’s navigation unit. If all went according to plan, he’d be able to hijack control of the coils when the need arose.
Origins Page 16