The Cult of Osiris

by Andy McDermott

  Great. Like we're not wet enough already.' Dripping, they entered the next sloping passage.

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  245

  The tunnel spiralled deeper into the pyramid. More Egyptian gods adorned the walls, warning of certain death for intruders

  Nina was less concerned about supernatural threats than physical ones. Experience had given her painful first-hand lessons that the more grand and important an ancient edifice, the more sadistically ingenious the traps protecting it.

  And the Pyramid of Osiris was very grand and important.

  Pillars marking the next arit appeared in her flashlight beam - but there was no new chamber beyond them, the steep passage continuing. 'I just realised something/ said Eddie. ThisTl take us underneath the room we were just in.'

  Nina mentally backtracked through the turns. 'Think it'll be a problem?'

  'Well, the next trap's about rainstorms, and we'll have a big pool of water right over our heads.'

  'Good point.' She directed her light at the ceiling. Unlike the painted walls, it was just blocks of plain stone. T don't see any holes.

  Eddie performed his own examination. Ceiling looks okay . . . but these are new.' He turned his light to the floor. On each side against the wall were recessed channels, about four inches wide and somewhat deeper.

  'They look like gutters,' Macy observed.

  'Nothing like em up there,' said Eddie, looking back past the pillars. 'Yeah, I think we're going to get wet again.

  'But what's it going to do?' Nina asked. 'Turn the place into a giant waterslide of death?' 'Don't give them ideas,' said Macy, with a nervous glance at the watching gods.

  'This is the only way down,' said Eddie, 'so we'll find out sooner or later. Unless you want to turn round - ah, who am I kidding? I shouldn't even bother asking/

  It would be a waste to give up after getting this far,' Nina pointed out with a smile. Besides, the First trap was broken, and we got through the second one without too much trouble/

  Oh, yeah,' he snorted, holding up his reddened hand, wading through a lake of fire was a doddle!'

  Okay, a little trouble. But we've been through worse. So long as we keep our heads, we'll be fine/

  Macy raised a finger. 'You remember that the final trap was called the Cutter-o/Fof Heads, right?'

  Then we'll duck!' She shone her flashlight down the slope. The passage continued in a straight line for some distance. 'We'll just be really careful and take things slow, okay?

  Eddie put a hand on her damp shoulder. Okay, squishy. But I'm definitely going first, okay?'

  Lead on, squashy,' she replied, clapping a hand to his butt.

  Get a room,' Macy muttered. Or get a tomb) Ha!' Nina and Eddie both groaned. 'What, he's the only one allowed to make jokes?'

  That's cause all mine are good,' said Eddie as he started down the slope.

  Nina followed. That's a matter of opinion, honey.

  Tchah.' His expression became more serious as he went on, alternating his torch beam between the floor and the roof. Something caught his eye, and he stopped. 'Ay up,' he said, indicating part of the ceiling. 'The gaps between the blocks are getting bigger.

  Nina ran a fingertip along the joint. Fine dust trickled out. The mortar's crumbled.

  Macy bit her lip. 'Just what you want when you've got giant stone blocks right above you, huh?'

  Definitely take it slow,' Nina suggested as Eddie set off again.

  He nodded, noticing that the apparent shoddy workmanship continued along the ceiling -and also the floor. 'Whatever this Lady of Rainstorms business is,' he said, T think she's about to piss down on us any sec—'

  The paving slab beneath his foot dropped slightly.

  Everyone froze. From behind the walls came a faint clicking, a domino effect working upwards to knock out a final trigger . . .

  A hollow clonk, wood being hit with metal - then an unmistakable rushing noise.

  Water.

  Bollocks,' Eddie just had time to say before streams gushed from the cracks in the ceiling.

  The downpour emerged from about a thirty-foot stretch of the roof, growing in strength -but not nearly enough to sweep anybody away down the slope. 'I don't get it,' Nina said. 'This couldn't hurt anvone.'

  This isn't the trap,' Eddie said with alarm. He pointed down the passage. ' That s the trap!

  She saw the cracks in the floor widening rapidly as the water rushed over them. 'Oh, crap. Forget taking things slow - run.''

  The substance binding the blocks together wasn't mortar or cement. It was a mixture of sand and finely crushed limestone, just barely strong enough to hold everything in place . . . and now being rapidly eaten away as the limestone dissolved and the sand was washed out by the flowing water. The slabs shifted, clonking against each other as the trio raced over them, sinking—

  And falling.

  With the fragile binding disappearing, the floor did the same. Slabs dropped away into a deep pit below.

  And as each slab plunged, the remainder became even weaker.

  Eddie realised the gutters were staying intact, but they were too narrow to traverse -especially at a run. Get ahead of me!' he yelled. He was the heaviest of the group - if he went through the floor, they all would.

  J can't!' Nina shouted from behind. Just go, go

  With a colossal boom, the entire upper end of the sabotaged floor collapsed into the pit. The flood turned into a waterfall, dropping after it, but the damage had already been done. The remaining stones tumbled one after the other into the void, a ripple gaining rapidly on the running figures.

  There!' Eddie shouted. The water sweeping down the slope had revealed the last line of weakened blocks - and beyond them, the floor was reassuringly solid. Just a few more yards, come on!'

  He dived as the blocks under him shifted, landing hard just past the corroding section. Nina also made a flying leap, barely staying on her feet as she bounded over her husband.

  Behind her, Macy started to jump—

  The last slabs fell away under her.

  She screamed - then the scream was knocked out of her as she fell short and slammed against the newly exposed edge of the pit.

  Her torch rolled down the passage as she clawed at the wet floor, unable to find a foothold on the sheer wall. Her elbows slipped over the brink, wrists—

  Eddie grabbed her hand just as she lost her grip. 'Nina!' he gasped as Macy's weight crushed his knuckles against the stone edge. 'Get her other hand!'

  Nina scrambled back up the slope, seeing Macy flailing below. She reached out for her other hand. 'Macy! Here!

  The young woman looked up at her, terrified. 'Please don't let me fall!

  You're not gonna fall,' Nina promised. Their fingers touched - then slipped apart.

  Eddie was losing his hold. 'Nina, come on . . .' he begged.

  Nina dropped to her knees, leaned out over the abyss - and lunged.

  This time, she caught Macy's wrist. Straining, almost overbalancing, she hauled her up -taking just enough pressure off Eddie for him to bring round his other arm. 'Got her!' he

  barked. 'Pull!'

  Leaning back, Nina pulled with all her strength. Eddie forced himself upright and dragged her up. She cleared the edge, and all three fell over, Macy landing on top of Eddie.

  Nina sat up. 'You okay?' she asked Macy, who nodded. Good. Now get off my husband.

  Macy's chest was on Eddie's face. 'I'm fine with it,' he joked, muffled, before helping her off him.

  Thank you,' she whispered, shaking.

  A low, crackling rumble made them all look up. Don't thank us yet,' said Nina. She aimed her flashlight at the ceiling, and saw water leaking from more cracks above them. Come on!'

  They jumped up and ran down the slope—

  An entire section of ceiling smashed to the floor where they had just been - and thousands of gallons of water followed, the remaining contents of the pool above bursting out. The deluge exploded down the passage after them.
r />   No way to outrun it—

  Macy was scooped off her feet as the churning maelstrom caught her, crashing against Nina and Eddie as they too were swept down the passage. They bounced painfully off the walls and floor, pieces of shattered stone pummelling them.

  And there was a new sound audible even over the frothing thunder - a rhythmic pounding, growing louder . . .

  Macy's flashlight had been caught by the wave's leading edge, a glowing point spinning ahead of them. Eddie saw movement, something rising up past another set of pillars - then the light vanished, crushed flat as the object slammed down with a monstrous boom. ShitT he yelled as they were carried inexorably towards it. Grab on to me!'

  Nina clutched his arm, Macy a leg as he jammed his other heel into a gutter. The force of the torrent was too great for him to stop them, but he could slow them just enough to pass through the pillars while the crusher was moving upwards.

  If his brief glimpse had been enough for him to judge its timing . . .

  Another echoing slam of impact. He raised his foot—

  They whipped between the columns, hitting a flat floor. Something huge plunged at Eddie's head—

  The crusher smashed down an inch behind him as the water flung him into the chamber beyond. The room was much wider than the passage, the wavefront quickly spreading out and losing its power. The three unwilling watersliders were deposited on the floor, coughing and flapping like beached fish.

  The crusher kept pounding, slowing down. Nina retrieved her flashlight and shone it at the source of the noise. It was a stone block, painted with the figure of a woman raising her feet as if stamping on ants. The gutters had channelled the flood into a pair of water wheels; not large enough to power the crusher itself, but capable of tripping some mechanism. T guess that's our Lady of Might,' she said, wiping wet hair off her face. She really does try to "trample on those who should not be here".

  Women with big feet, not my thing,' said Eddie tiredly. The heavy tools in his pack had bashed against his back, bruising him. 'Is everyone okay?'

  Macy stood as the crusher juddered to a standstill. 'Not feeling so good,' she admitted. She held up her hands, unable to stop them shaking. Oh, God, I think I'm gonna puke/

  Eddie stood in front of her, resting his hands on her upper arms. 'Hey, you're okay. And you're not going to puke. Know why?'

  She looked into his eyes, uncertain. 'No?

  ' Cause you'd puke on me! And then we'd have to have words, and that'd be bad all round. So you're going to be fine.' He smiled. It took a few moments before Macy managed to respond in kind, and then only faintly, but it was at least genuine.

  Nina smiled as well. It's okay, Macy. We beat this trap - two traps, actually.'

  Yeah, but there're another three to come,' she glumly reminded them.

  Four-nil to us, so far,' said Eddie, searching for the next exit. Another passage, this one stepped, led downwards. And I bet we can make it seven-nil. This Osiris bloke can shove his traps right up his mummified arse!' A grin broke through on to Macy's face.

  Okay, so the next arit was the Goddess of the Loud Voice, right?' Nina asked. Macy nodded. 'Let's see if we can shout her down.

  At the entrance to the inverted pyramid, nothing moved except for sand drifting in the breeze. The Land Rover waited silently for its passengers to return, no sound disturbing the emptiness of the desert.

  Then ... a noise came from the northeast.

  Growing louder.

  A cloud appeared on the horizon, dust swirling through the shimmering heat haze. But it was not o sandstorm. It was too small - and moving with purpose. Heading directly for the ruins.

  Something became visible through the rippling air, a slab-like grey and black shape. The noise increased, a roaring thrum of powerful engines and the rasp of whirling propeller blades.

  But this was no aircraft.

  Sebak Shaban gazed through the bridge windows of the massive hovercraft, a Zubr class assault vehicle designed to corry tanks and other armoured vehicles over almost any terrain. After observing the abilities of the four Zubrs bought by the Greek navy, the Egyptians had recently decided to follow the example of their friend/rival across the Mediterranean and purchase two of the enormous craft from Russia.

  Officially, this Zubr was currently undergoing trials before entering full service. That it was almost one hundred kilometres from the isolated desert range where said trials were supposed to be taking place was down to one of the other men on the bridge. T like this a lot,' said Shaban to General Tarik Khaleek When the plan is successful, perhaps you could loan one to the Temple. Though I'm not sure where we would park it.

  Anywhere you want, my friend!' laughed Khaleel. And if anyone complains, it has rocket launchers and Gatling guns.' He nodded at the turrets on the foredeck below. 'It's amazing how quickly people shut up when you point a six-barrelled cannon at them.'

  The threat of death is always persuasive, isn't it?' Both men shared sly, knowing smiles. How much further?

  Just under two kilometres,' said the pilot.

  Good.' Shaban entered the weapons room behind the bridge. 'We are approaching the coordinates,' he announced. As well as a member of the Zubr's crew, the room contained Osir, Diamondback, Dr Hamdi. . . and the group's newest addition.

  Dr Berkeley,' Osir asked the IHA archaeologist, are you absolutely sure they're correct?'

  As sure as I can be,' said Logan Berkeley, annoyed at being doubted. 'The inverted pyramid on the zodiac, the marking representing the Nile, the symbol in the Osireion, the position of Mercury relative to the end of the canyon - it all fits together.' He indicated his laptop, which in one window displayed a satellite image of the desert overlaid with lines marking distances and directions, a photo of the Eye of Osiris inside the Osireion pulled from the IHA's massive Egyptian database in another. 'Either the Pyramid of Osiris is here, or it's somewhere that'll never be found.'

  I hope it's the former,' said Shaban, with a menacing undercurrent.

  Berkeley's annoyance increased. 'I'll do what I'm being paid for,' he snapped, 'so there's no need to threaten me.' He looked at Osir. It's funny. If you'd tried to buy me off a week ago, I would never have accepted. Now? Ijust want to get something out of the whole fiasco at the Sphinx.' His face clenched with anger. T should have been on the front page of every newspaper in the world, but that bitch Nina Wilde turned me into a joke. At least the money will make up for some of that.'

  The weapons officer called Khaleel into the room to point out something on a monitor. Osir raised an evebrow. 'Funnv that vou should mention Dr Wilde.'

  Why?'

  Because I think she's beaten you again.' The screen displayed an image from one of the hovercraft's targeting systems; the Land Rover would have been unmissable against the blank plain even without the cursor the weaponry computer had locked on to it.

  What? God damn it!' Berkeley glared at the monitor. Diamondback sniggered.

  Who is this Dr Wilde?' Khaleel asked.

  A competitor,' Osir told him. He looked more closely at the ruins. 'But she may have done us a favour. There's nobody there, so she must have found a way in. We won't need to use all those bulldozers and diggers we brought after all!'

  He went into the bridge, Khaleel, Shaban and Diamondback joining him. Ahead, the faded yellow void of the desert was broken by the spot of colour that was the Defender. The pilot eased back the throttle to slow the 500-ton hovercraft, the three huge propellers above its stern losing speed. 'Your men,' Osir quietly asked Khaleel. 'Are they totally reliable? If one word of this gets back to the government. . .'

  I will vouch for Tarik,' said Shaban firmly. T owe him my life.'

  And I will vouch for my men,' added Khaleel. 'We only have a skeleton crew, but I hand-picked them. They will keep your secret... for the price you're paying, certainly.'

  Good.' Osir looked back at the ruins as the Zubr wallowed to a stop, settling on its huge rubber air cushion in a cloud of billowing sand. 'Let's fi
nd Osiris . . . and Nina Wilde/

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  'Wow,' said Nina, aiming her flashlight upwards and finding no end to the black void above. ■Tnat's tali:

  'You know where we are?' Eddie said, indicating the two pipes running down the far wall. 'Right under that bridge. If the trap'd been working and we'd been chucked off, this is where we would have ended up. It's at least a two-hundred-foot drop. Splat.

  Nina tried to picture the whole pyramid in her mind's eye. 'Jeez. This place must be as big as the Great Pyramid. Maybe even be bigger.'

  'That'd explain why nobody tried to out-do Khufu's pyramid,' said Macy thoughtfully. 'If the Great Pyramid was almost, but not quite, as big as Osiris's, no other pharaoh could make their monument bigger than Khufu's without insulting Osiris. And nobody would dare do that.

  'So the pyramids were really just giant dick-waving exercises?' asked Eddie. 'People haven't changed much over five thousand years, have they?' He turned his attention to the pipes. They were connected, one narrowing considerably at its base before widening out conically below a broad horizontal slot. A woman's face had been painted around it, the opening forming her mouth.

  'It's like a church organ,' Nina realised. 'They must blow air through it somehow - and that's where the loud voice comes from.

  'If they dropped something down the other tube, it'd work like a piston.' There was another passage near the pipes, this one blocked by a barred metal gate. 'Let me guess. Try to open the gate, the trap goes off, and the whole room gets as loud as a Led Zep concert.'

  'The who?' Macy asked.

  'No, Led Zep.' Ignoring her blank look, he moved towards the opening. 'Careful, Eddie,' Nina warned.

  Don't worry, I'm not gonna move it. I just want to find the trigger.'

  'No, I meant the gate might not be the— A slab shifted beneath his foot. '—trigger,' Nina concluded.

  Get into the other tunnel!' Eddie shouted, turning back the way they had come—

  A second gate slammed down inside the entrance, making Macy jump. No sooner had its echo faded than another sound began to rise, a deep, mournful note, quickly becoming louder.

  And louder.

  Air gusted from the slot, the sound resonating up the pipe's length and bouncing back, amplified. The whole room vibrated, dust dancing from the floor, paint and plaster cracking off the walls.