“Now I wear the pschent and will rule all the lands of the Remeth in harmony and peace, and you will die like a scorpion king that brings only chaos.” He raised the mace above his shoulder and swung down in a powerful arc.
With a loud crack, Djar’s skull split wide with an erupting plume of blood. He slumped to his side. As everyone stared in stunned silence, Narmer motioned his commanders close to him and spoke in hushed tones. When he finished, the officers broke and hastily walked back to their units and gave their men his order. The troops brandished their weapons, and at Narmer’s command, they rushed among the defeated enemy warriors and killed them all.
The defeat of the Scorpion King and the unification of the land of the Remeth under Narmer’s rule ushered in a period of peace and prosperity that would give rise to the most culturally advanced and sophisticated civilization in the known world.
Narmer ruled the Nile with beneficence well into old age, and the people worshipped him as both their king and the living embodiment of Horus. When he finally passed away, it was with total acceptance that his throne, power, and authority were passed to his son Hor-Aha. It was a precedent that would establish a rule of ascension perpetuated for more than three thousand years by thirty-one dynasties of Egyptian rulers.
And as the centuries passed, Ott, Cha, Graf, and Yaan learned the ways of a civilization at peace and in balance with nature.
72
GIZA PLATEAU
2800 BC
The full moon hung like a silver globe beneath stars like polished diamonds strewn over a blanket of black velvet. The warm night air carried the sweet scent of lotus flowers mixed with the musky smell of the vegetation that grew along the banks of the great river. On the edge of their oasis home outside the white walls of Memphis, Ott, Cha, Graf, and Yaan reveled at a sight that always evoked awe.
The funerary complex on the raised plain had been completed over two hundred years ago. Ott, Cha, Graf, and Yaan had visited it more times than they could remember, but they never grew tired of the sight. This night was no different. In the clear light of the full moon, the pyramids rose above the plain like sculpted, symmetrical mountains faced with polished white limestone that sparkled in the pure desert air.
As part of their regular routine, they were relaxing after their evening meal watching the sun disappear behind the pyramids. Now, with the moon fully exposed and darkness all around, they were ready to retreat to the villa, but as Ott started to rise, he sensed a presence. He tilted his head up just as the leading edge of the craft slid overhead. Within seconds, its black underbelly obscured the moon and stars, engulfing the plateau in darkness like a giant sliding door closing below the night sky.
Surprised but not fearful, Ott and the others watched as the triangular craft centered over the complex and hovered several hundred feet above the pyramids with a soft red glow pulsating from each of its three points. Ott exchanged a knowing smile with Cha and then lifted his eyes back to the silent craft. He knew it was somehow connected to Barjeen and Robfebe. Unlike the gods of the Egyptians that could only be found in paintings and sculpture, his gods were real and traveled in ships like the one now darkening the sky. He wondered if their time in the land of the Remeth was coming to an end.
The craft looming above the pyramids had been assigned to monitor, record, and analyze geophysical anomalies with attention to volcanic activity indicating any impending eruptions that could emit enough debris into the atmosphere to interfere with photosynthesis. Maintaining a well-balanced and healthy biosphere was a priority directive of the planet-based mission-control team, and the monitoring ships flew at regular intervals every three hundred years. The pyramids registered as immobile symmetrical structures, so the craft commander knew they were not the result of any seismic activity. However, his interest was piqued, and he wanted a personal observation. A moment later, the craft was blotting out the moon and stars while hanging above the huge complex.
The craft commander and biosyndrone craft tech made their way to an observation pod on the bottom of the ship and looked down over the complex.
“I’m going to light it for personal observation while I initiate a full scan and analysis,” said the craft commander while tapping at a flat-panel screen at his side.
On the rise of the oasis, Ott and the others squinted as the entire complex was washed in a light as bright as the midday sun. Within and around the area, startled priests and hundreds of workers scattered in confusion and near hysteria, shouting and pointing up at the object that blotted out the sky. A few seconds later, the glaring white light was joined by ribbons of blue-and-black lights that snaked over every inch of the pyramids, including the shrines, temples, and workers’ quarters. The particle probes swept over the complex for over a minute while completing the interior and substructure scans, and then faded, leaving the complex illuminated in the white glare.
In the pod, the craft commander looked down at the brilliant-white triangular structures for a few seconds, then turned his attention to a holographic image of the complex with a data readout scrolling up the side. As he studied the rotating image, the craft tech stepped to his side.
“What are they?” the tech asked.
The craft commander acknowledged the question with a nod and tapped at the screen, pulling up any information on similar structures on other surveyed planets. He tilted his head and listened as the information was fed into his earpiece. He tapped the screen again before facing the craft tech.
“On other planets, they are called pyramids. If linguistic evolution continues the same on this planet, these too shall be called pyramids. It is a name taken from a language that will give rise to a common language that will become prevalent on the planet. The defining name refers to the shape they use to bake their processed grain. Pyramid means ‘wheat cake.’”
“Why do they build these wheat-cake structures?” the tech asked.
“They were built at the orders of kings to house their biological remains for travel to what they believe to be a life after biological functions cease. They have evolved a belief of multiple deistic entities. The kings believe themselves to be of these entities and wish to travel to the place they inhabit after death. On a more practical level,” the commander continued, “the construction of these structures provides goal-oriented activity to a population of many workers in a time of plenty.”
“What will happen to these useless monuments in the environment of this planet?”
The craft commander was surprised a level-one biosyndrone craft tech would ask such a question. “Your question indicates a high level of data interpretation and what I suspect is natural thought process. What is your current level capacity?”
“I have been developed to a level-two rating and possess a partial-functioning organic biosynaptic capacity,” the biosyndrone tech answered, lowering his brow and pointing to the transparent skull casing that enclosed his cranium from his forehead to the nape of his neck. The left hemisphere of the neocortex pulsed a soft blue with intermittent streaks of static energy, while the right appeared as normal organic brain tissue. The biosyndrone straightened and continued.
“A high degree of prolonged stimuli can result in increased nerve impulses from recently generated neurons and prompt brief intervals of free thought, leading to inquiries about the stimuli. It’s a normal response at this stage of my development, but I cannot act on it. It is just a means to store experience as knowledge in the organic sphere rather than entering it as data in the synthetic sphere. Someday, if I am completed and given limited free will, I will be able to contemplate the knowledge and act on it as needed, with thought rather than calculation.
“The stimulus that prompted my question was the lighting of the complex and the reflection from the white surface of the wheat cake–shaped monuments to dead kings. May I ask again what will happen to them?”
Somewhat bemused by the lengthy response, the craft commander pointed to the rotating holographic image. “Eventually they w
ill erode or be swallowed by the planet crust, or absorbed into a jungle or beneath a new body of water. Like all the artificial structures created, they will in time return to the natural elements from which they were constructed.”
“Then why do you scan, analyze, and store the images?” asked the biosyndrone.
“The council of galactic planetary cultural antiquities may wish to model and replicate them on a storage planet for comparable cultural-evolution studies.” He shrugged as the biosyndrone stared at the rotating image. “Now, let’s continue with the survey of our assigned grid.”
From their elevated vantage point, Ott, Cha, Graf, and Yaan watched as the white light faded, and the massive pyramid complex returned to the dark of a desert night.
Seconds later, the survey craft descended over the calm seas of the Mediterranean and disappeared beneath the surface.
73
THEBES
1323 BC
Ott slid his thumb over the inner facing of the bow, feeling for the slightest imperfection. By eye and touch, he was satisfied. He twisted the bow in his grip and repeated the procedure over the entire length of its symmetrical curves. The polished strips of ivory were smooth and flush against the ebony finish. The gilded wraps extending below the nocks were a precise match in size and configuration and added further glittering contrast to the shiny black finish. With a small smile of satisfaction, he ran his fingertips over the red glass orbs fitted in concave settings and secured with bitumen. The beauty and exceptional craftsmanship were obvious, but the significance of the orbs would be missed by anyone other than Cha, Graf, and Yaan.
Satisfied with his work, Ott placed the bow on a table with two others of matching beauty. He turned as Graf stepped through the entrance carrying the last component of the project: the case. With a smile, Graf set the case on the table next to the bows. It was exquisite. He had crafted the wedge-shaped container of cedar imported from the north and contracted the most-skilled artisans to complete it in tooled leather with gilded panels depicting hunting scenes. Ringing the entire edge and extending several inches down each side was a band of multicolored faience that glittered with each movement. The inside was lined with hand-tooled leather of geometrical designs and fitted with V-shaped wedges to secure the bows in perfect alignment. A carved ebony quiver held twenty obsidian-tipped arrows and fit snug at the lower edge of the case.
With a nod and smile to Graf, Ott positioned the bows in the fittings, closed the case, and secured the polished copper clasps. The commissioned work was complete, and Ott was satisfied that no finer bows existed anywhere. The following day they would be taken to the royal complex and delivered to General Horemheb, the supreme commander of the armies of Egypt, who, in turn, would present them as his personal gift to the reigning king, Tutankhamun.
The bows were more than a mere gift for the young king. They were a token of gratitude for a new title the boy king had bestowed on the general. Aside from being commander of the armies of Egypt, Horemheb had recently been appointed as Lord of the Land as Hereditary Prince to maintain law. It was an appointment above all nobles and priests of the royal court, making Horemheb second in power only to the king himself. The appointment came about because of two events that had threatened the peace of the land and the rule of Tutankhamun.
The previous year, the river had not crested as high as usual, resulting in less tillable land and a crop shortage. Even though there was enough surplus in the granaries to feed everyone, civil unrest broke out before distribution could begin and rioting flared up in all the major cities. It was the quick and well-executed response by General Horemheb and his troops that quelled the rioting and restored order before chaos ensued. His troops put down the rioting and took over grain distribution with a system that maintained order in all the cities.
Peace was restored, but to the north, a people known as the Mitanni got news of the rioting. They amassed an invading army to take advantage of the unrest and march on the capital city and royal court at Thebes. The Mitanni leaders had assumed the Egyptian army would be stretched thin trying to control the rioting and would not be able to mount a strong defense of the northern region of the river. Their assessment would prove disastrously wrong.
There was so much surplus grain available that once order was restored, the systematic distribution was taken over by city administrators with only a few troops needed to watch the crowds. When General Horemheb received word that a Mitanni army of over sixty thousand soldiers was advancing, he mobilized all forces, including the elite Maryannu corps of six hundred war chariots, and marched north to meet the invaders.
The Mitanni army moved steadily down from the north. The commanders wanted to advance as quickly as possible while Horemheb’s forces were occupied with the civil unrest. For that reason, they took the shortest route, which required passage through extensive reed-covered marshland. The route would save days of marching, but the ground was too wet and soft for chariots or horses. They left them behind with the intention of storming the city and overpowering the troops that were struggling to put down the food riots. They had no idea the civil unrest was over and Horemheb’s entire army was rapidly flowing north.
The Mitanni foot soldiers sloshed through the marsh, filtered through the tall reeds onto an open plain, and headed toward a long rise of dunes that stretched for several hundred yards across their front. Behind the long stretch of dunes and well out of sight of the advancing Mitanni force, Horemheb’s army, fronted by a single-line formation of six hundred chariots, stood in quiet wait. Four observers lay flat just below the top of the dunes, watching the advancing Mitanni army. They would give the signal when the time came.
Along the chariot formation, each driver, assisted by a horse handler, stood in front of the two-horse teams, securing them in place while rubbing their muzzles and stroking their flanks to keep them quiet. While the charioteers calmed the horses, the archers in each of the chariots readied their bows and made sure the arrow cases were secure and the arrows positioned for quick retrieval.
The Mitanni soldiers advanced in a loose formation to the center of the plain. Heat waves shimmered above the sand as a scorching sun glared down from a cloudless sky. Weakened by the difficult march through the marsh and further drained by the blistering heat, the Mitanni soldiers were showing visible signs of fatigue. From his vantage point, the leader of the soldiers watching from the dunes decided the Mitanni force had reached a place where the chariots would be most effective. The four observers scrambled down the dune, and the leader picked up a poled signal pennant and began waving it to his left. At the center of the chariot formation, Horemheb motioned to the charioteer to his right, who did the same to the driver to his right. The signal traveled down the entire line of chariots, and seconds later the lead charioteer at the far end of the line wheeled his chariot out and up over the dune, followed immediately by the next team. He slapped the reins and spurred the horses to a fast trot as a steady stream of chariots jolted over the dune and fell in a safe distance behind each other. At the sight of the emerging chariot formation, the Mitanni army pulled to a halt. They were exposed on the open ground, and they understood how devastating a chariot attack could be. There was no defense. The panic spread instantly.
On the plain and in full view of the Mitanni force, the chariot officer flared his two-horse team to the right, moving out and away from the exposed enemy formation. When he was satisfied that the formation would have enough room, he tugged at the reins and wheeled the chariot in a soft curve that would lead directly along the front of the enemy formation. Behind the leader, a steady stream of chariots executed the serpentine turn and trailed in tight formation. The surface of the plain was a hard-packed mixture of ancient salt bed and sand, giving tight purchase to their chariots’ wheels and a thundering cadence to the horses’ pounding hooves.
Approaching the front of the Mitanni formation, the lead charioteer raised his arms and slapped down on the reins. The horses lurched forward to a full
gallop while the archer to the rear readied his powerful composite bow. The three-foot double-edged bronze scimitars attached to the hubs of the chariot wheels twirled and flashed in the sunlight as the Mitanni soldiers came into bow range. Plumes of decorative ostrich feathers bobbed above the horses’ heads as the teams thundered forward. Within moments, the long line of chariots was charging along the exposed front of the Mitanni force. The archers began their onslaught. Skilled and well practiced with their war bows, the archers snapped off deadly shafts seconds apart. A steady torrent of arrows sliced into the Mitanni formation, which disintegrated to a panicked mass of wounded and screaming men trying to retreat to the marsh. When the lead chariot cleared what had been the front of the enemy formation, the chariot officer again flared wide, but this time veered up the enemy flank. With the enemy in full retreat, Horemheb ordered his army of fifty thousand foot soldiers forward in a full charge.
As the sword- and spear-wielding infantry overtook the retreating Mitanni from behind, the chariots rounded the flank, cut off the retreat, and started back down the opposite flank. Controlling their teams with expert skill and precision, the charioteers slashed in and out of the Mitanni force. Razor-sharp hub blades sliced through flesh and bone, and blood filled the air as the archers continued with a steady stream of arrows. With their retreat cut off and the Remeth infantry churning through, the Mitanni soldiers threw down their weapons and raised their arms in surrender. The ground around the flanks of the Mitanni force was blood soaked and littered with severed legs. The plain was more the scene of a massacre than a battle as the chariots pulled to a halt, encircling the enemy on three sides.
The Way of the Seed_Earth Spawn of Kalpeon Page 25