by Edward Marin
He put the stone tablet down before he finished reading it and walked toward the central structure where the anti-gravity machine was located. He placed himself in position, braced himself, and pulled the attached bar in the semi-circular motion needed for maximum effectiveness. Nothing happened. He desperately tried several more times--still nothing. Something was very wrong.
He took another look at the central structure and noticed that the cylindrical metal blend piece that was supposed to be under the safety lock wasn’t there. He immediately understood what that meant. The safety lock couldn’t be released and he wouldn’t be able to activate the anti-gravity machine. Even if he could find the right materials and equipment, there was no time to build a new piece. He reread the instructions on the stone tablet to verify that his memory wasn’t failing him in some way. It wasn‘t. He wondered if one of the scientists had forgotten to replace the piece or if, with time, it had somehow faded away. Neither possibility was likely, but it no longer mattered. He had failed his mission.
He thought of the explosion that would come in a few hours and felt more wretched than ever before in his life. His only comfort was that most people wouldn’t be able to tell what was going to happen to them, because the capsule was traveling too fast to be seen. He wondered if he should even inform Holcomb and Robertson, if they would want to know. He then remembered his promise to return within half an hour and decided to make his way back.
He no longer deserved the sculpture the pharaoh had awarded him, so he took both parts out of his pocket, placed them on the shelf, and returned to the exit passage. After crawling to the special block, he was able to open it with surprisingly little effort. Once outside, it took his eyes a few seconds to adjust to the light from the mid-day sun and see that Holcomb and Robertson were hurrying toward him.
“What took so long?” Robertson said.
Tonemcadu shook his head, not knowing how to tell him the bad news.
“I think some tourists saw you go in,” Holcomb said.
“It doesn’t matter now. I wasn’t able to activate the machine.”
“What happened?” Holcomb said.
“An important piece was missing,” Tonemcadu said.
“Sounds like we need to get out of here and warn the authorities to evacuate as many people as possible,” Holcomb said.
“Too late for that,” Tonemcadu said. “There’s nowhere to go. The explosion will affect a huge area.”
“We could have the capsule shot down before it hits,” Robertson said.
Tonemcadu remained silent. He felt unable to endorse firing at his friends and yet he was aware that Robertson’s suggestion could be the only way to prevent mass destruction.
“Shooting it down is easier said than done,” Holcomb said. “We‘d have to convince big shots at the Pentagon, who‘d have to convince the President, none of whom would believe the story. It’s not as if Mr. Tonemcadu can give his little anti-gravity demonstration. Besides, none of our weaponry can stop a capsule traveling at close to the speed of light.”
“Then...what?” Robertson said. Tonemcadu saw the fear in his face, which was mirrored in Holcomb’s.
“I’ll go back to make sure I didn’t miss anything,” he said. “Wait here.”
Robertson pulled out his cell phone. “And I’ll call an old buddy who works in the Pentagon and see what happens. At this point we have nothing to lose by at least trying.”
Back in the chamber, Tonemcadu again inspected the anti-gravity machine and the surrounding area--
And froze. The sculpture he’d placed on the shelf was no longer there. He clearly remembered leaving it before exiting the pyramid. He checked around the room, but couldn’t find it. Was he losing his mind? That would at least explain why he hadn’t been able to get the machine to work.
He heard footsteps behind him, turned around, and decided he really might be losing his grip on reality. Citupohet, one of his training partners when he’d been a mummification candidate, was standing a few feet away, holding the cylindrical piece that was supposed to go under the safety lock.
“Is that you, Tonemcadu?” the man said in Citupohet’s unmistakable northern drawl.
“What are you doing here?” Tonemcadu said.
“I’m trying to complete the last step of the anti-gravity activation process,” Citupohet said.
“No one told me you’d also been selected for the mission.”
“I didn’t know the whole story either at the time.” Citupohet looked amused by Tonemcadu’s astonishment. “I found a papyrus from Xufu that explained everything this morning, when I awoke from my mummification. It turns out that he put both of us through the same procedure without letting the other one know. I guess he figured if one of us didn’t make it, the other would be there as backup. And by not telling us about one another, he was making sure each one thought the fate of the mission depended on him alone.”
So Citupohet was responsible for the missing piece and for the sculpture’s having been moved. Tonemcadu recognized Xufu’s foresight as well as his tendency to be secretive. And he had to admit that the decision to select two people had been wise, considering how close he’d come to not making it back in time.
Citupohet walked toward the machine and attempted in vain to replace the cylindrical piece under the safety lock.
“This morning, I noticed the piece had expanded,” Citupohet said, “so I put it under some sand to try to lower its temperature. It has almost regained its normal size, but it still doesn’t seem to fit. You were always the strongest among us; why don’t you try it?”
Tonemcadu took Citupohet’s place in front of the machine and, after a couple of tries, was able to put the piece in place. Working together, the two men continued the activation process. It took less than a minute before they saw the huge gold and ivory parts of the machine start rotating at a tremendous speed.
Then Tonemcadu remembered there was a chance that the capsule might get shot down if he didn’t hurry and let Robertson know the good news. He explained the situation to Citupohet and led him out of the pyramid through the makeshift shaft.
When they got outside, Holcomb and Robertson were no longer standing by the special entrance. It took Tonemcadu several minutes to spot them behind a group of tourists, about a hundred yards away.
He ran toward them, Citupohet trailing a few feet behind.
“Call your contact and tell him to cancel the shoot-down,” he yelled as soon as Robertson and Holcomb were within earshot.
“What?” Robertson said.
“The machine is now activated, and everything’s fine.”
The relief on their faces was almost comical.
“No need to cancel the shoot-down,” Holcomb said after a few moments. “Robertson wasn’t able to convince anybody of anything except that he’d lost his marbles.”
“What was wrong with the machine when you first went in?” Robertson said.
“Nothing. I just didn’t know that another man had also received the special mummification and had removed a part.” Tonemcadu nodded toward Citupohet.
“So how old is he?” Holcomb said. “Wait, don’t tell me. Thirty-three hundred years, right? And that outfit he’s wearing looks even older.”
Tonemcadu smiled.
“Actually he’s younger than me. He’s thirty-three hundred forty-seven and I’m thirty-three hundred forty-eight.”
Their conversation was suddenly interrupted when several dogs started to howl, and a few camels executed a series of nervous skitters. This was followed by an almost imperceptible whistling sound, then a humming that caused a few people in the crowd to look up in the sky. Seconds later a deafening noise equal in intensity to that of several supersonic jets split the air, and a huge fireball hurtled from the sky to land in the desert about half a mile from the Great Pyramid.
The impact was so dramatic that Tonemcadu thought something must have gone wrong. Had the capsule been shot down by the military after all?
He began making his way toward the point of impact.
Many people ran in the opposite direction of what had looked like an explosion. Others, paralyzed with fear, remained where they were. A few dropped to the ground and prayed. A group of young men started to walk toward the place where the fireball had landed. Shouts warning them to get back could be heard over the general chaos.
After a few moments, the smoke and dust cleared, and a shape started to take form at the point of impact. Tonemcadu, who by then was only a few feet away, noticed that the large black oval capsule was intact and realized that his fears had been unfounded. He looked back and saw that Citupohet was close behind him, while Holcomb and Robertson had stayed at what they apparently considered a safe distance.
Seconds later, the door of the capsule opened, and Tonemcadu heard a noise coming from the inside. Then, there was silence. Almost everyone in the crowd had shifted their attention toward the capsule and seemed transfixed by what was taking place.
After a couple more minutes had passed, Tonemcadu saw that a man dressed in a yellow tunic was about to exit. He soon recognized him as an older but still vigorous Xufu who, despite obvious difficulty in adapting to the change in gravity, walked out with characteristic energy. Then, one by one, the rest of his crew left the capsule, each carrying a piece of wood they placed on the sand in such a way as to eventually build a chair. Once all of them had done their part, they took a seat in a circle on the sand, men and boys on one side, women and girls on the other.
Soon afterwards, another shape appeared at the door of the capsule, and Tonemcadu and Citupohet looked at each other in astonishment. From his presence, his shape, his height, his attire, there was no mistake possible. The pharaoh Akhenaton had just exited the capsule and was walking toward the chair which, they could now see, was a makeshift throne.
CHAPTER 32
Tonemcadu and Citupohet hurried over to where the other subjects of the pharaoh were sitting and joined the circle. As he waited for what would come next, Tonemcadu wondered why the pharaoh had traveled to Orion. Xufu had not only misled him about Citupohet’s mummification, but also about the pharaoh’s trip. In any event, he now understood why modern archeologists referred to Akhenaton’s sudden and mysterious disappearance.
The pharaoh raised his right hand and motioned for Tonemcadu and Citupohet to approach. Hoping he would tell them why he’d made the trip, Tonemcadu got up alongside Citupohet, bowed deeply in the appropriate official manner, and advanced to within ten feet.
“Congratulations on completing your mission,” pharaoh Akhenaton said.
Tonemcadu and Citupohet bowed again.
“Did you encounter any serious obstacles?” the pharaoh said.
“A few,” Tonemcadu said, “which we were fortunate to overcome.” Citupohet remained quiet.
“Very good. After my trip to Orion, I can better appreciate the sacrifices you made in abandoning everything you knew in order to do your duty.”
In the meantime, the crowd had calmed down. Holcomb and Robertson were among the first to move toward the capsule. They were soon joined by a large number of observers who formed a circle around the group, which grew to several feet deep.
All of a sudden, several military vehicles rolled in and surrounded the area. Dozens of armed men jumped out and pushed their way through the crowd toward the travelers. A short man in a uniform with decorations shouted something in the direction of the other soldiers. They held their weapons, ready to shoot.
The short man, whom Tonemcadu assumed was a field commander, took a few steps toward the new arrivals.
“Move forward with your hands up,” he said in heavily accented English.
Tonemcadu translated for the pharaoh who looked stunned at having received what might have been his first order ever.
“No one will do anything unless I tell them to,” the pharaoh said, “Now tell them to take us to the present-day pharaoh.”
As Tonemcadu tried to tactfully explain to Akhenaton that the era of the pharaohs no longer existed and to inform him of what would happen if the soldiers used their firearms, he saw that the field commander was becoming more and more incensed that his command wasn’t being obeyed.
“Where are you from? What do you want here? Identify yourselves!” he yelled before Tonemcadu had finished talking to the pharaoh.
“They come in peace,” Tonemcadu said. “My friends have returned from a trip into space, and I helped guide them back.” Tonemcadu knew he risked angering the pharaoh by not involving him in the conversation, but he also knew that there was a greater danger if he failed to diffuse the situation.
The field commander looked disoriented by a situation for which he couldn’t have been trained. Then he seemed to gather his wits.
“This is nonsense,” he said.
Just as he seemed ready to order his soldiers to take more drastic action, his cell phone rang. Tonemcadu didn’t know what he said, but his words were heated, and he waved his arms while looking at the new arrivals and at the capsule. The soldiers’ guns were still aimed at the pharaoh and his subjects. Tonemcadu prepared for the worst.
The field commander closed his phone and addressed his soldiers, who as one lowered their weapons. Then he turned to the travelers.
“There has been a mistake for which I must apologize,” he said. “Please follow us to our vehicles so we can take you to a more comfortable place.”
CHAPTER 33
Tonemcadu pointed to a female reporter standing to his left. Having received the agreed upon throat-cutting sign from the hotel special-events coordinator informing him that he’d fulfilled his commitment for the day, he’d decided to end the press conference with her question.
“You told us earlier that the last time you saw your girlfriend Barbara was when you were still in Chicago,” the young woman said. “Do you know where she is now?”
“No, but I intend to find out,” Tonemcadu said.
A heavy-set reporter in the back of the room stood. “Mr. Tonemcadu, could you tell us--”
“We’ll have another press conference tomorrow at the same time. Thank you all very much.”
Being interviewed under the circumstances hadn’t been fun; it had felt as if the reporters drained him of some of his life force along with his knowledge. They wanted to know everything about his life, ancient and modern, often posing the same questions again and again in different ways. He’d spent a lot of energy trying to respond without giving away any secrets, aware from his readings that a number of organizations had acquired secret knowledge of ancient Egypt over the years. From what he’d seen of the modern world, he didn’t think it would be wise to give them information that could be misused if in the wrong hands.
Were it not for the pharaoh’s orders, he would never have agreed to give a press conference every day for a week and would have found another way to show the group’s appreciation for the authorities having become so accommodating after a rough start. He’d been able to gather from some of the reporters’ questions that the transformation had taken place due to NASA’s having spotted the capsule as it entered the earth’s atmosphere and informed the Egyptian government.
After walking out of the conference room, Tonemcadu decided to find Holcomb and Robertson. They were the two people most likely to help him locate Barbara, and now that he’d completed his mission, that was his priority. It took him a little over an hour before he saw them sitting in a coffee house a few blocks from the hotel.
“I need a favor from you guys,” he said, after approaching their table. “I’m trying to get in touch with my girlfriend in Chicago, but I don’t know her new address or phone number. I was wondering if you could help me find her. Her name is Barbara Covell.”
“We know who she is,” Holcomb said. “We met her while we were trying to locate you. Here’s her number--feel free to use my cell phone.”
Tonemcadu took the sleek handset from Holcomb and dialed the number. At the second ring, Barbara’s reco
rded voice came on and said she’d left the country for a few days and would check her messages as soon as she returned. He left a message including the phone number at the hotel, then gave the phone back to Holcomb.
“When are you guys leaving?” he said.
“Tomorrow, on the first flight back,” Robertson said.
“How about sticking around for a few more days? There’s plenty of stuff to see here. I doubt you’ve had time to do much exploring.”
“Not possible,” Holcomb said. “We didn’t get fancy complimentary accommodations like you, and at the rates these hotels are charging, I don’t think the Stovals would just sign off on our expense accounts if we stayed longer. Our bill already looks like the national debt.”
“If you stay until Sunday, I’ll be able to return with you as I promised.”
“Actually, we’ve talked to the Stovals, and they said not to worry about bringing you back. After it came out in the news what really happened, the museum dropped the case and even hired them back. They’re presenting a paper on you at some kind of conference.”
Tonemcadu returned to his hotel and took the elevator to the twenty-fifth floor, where four connecting suites had been set up for his group. When he got outside the one he shared with Xufu and Citupohet, he heard them in the middle of an animated conversation about their respective experiences. He opened the door and saw the sketch of a strange landscape, which he assumed to be somewhere in Orion, on a piece of paper hanging on the wall.
“Come join us,” Xufu said. “There’s more we want to hear about your adventures.”
“They continue,” Tonemcadu said. “It seems that every day presents a new trial.”
Xufu looked a little puzzled and shook his head. “Let me congratulate you again for having completed your mission,” he said.
“It was an honor to serve, specially since the pharaoh himself made the trip to Orion.”
“Citupohet and I have been catching up on things,” Xufu said. “I was telling him what an amazing place Orion is. Right away, when you land there, you feel an incredible sense of peace and balance. It’s like being out in nature, only it’s a thousand times more powerful. And then, on the way back, seeing the earth as a tiny planet in a corner of the universe was magical. In the next few days, I’ll have an opportunity to tell you much more about our experiences, but first I need you to tell me about yours. Citupohet says you awoke several months ago on the other side of the world. Learning more details will help me figure out how moving your sarcophagus affected your mummification.”