by Petra James
‘Lots,’ said Arkie. ‘The pharaohs liked wives.’
TJ held the paper up to the light. ‘I’ve got a feeling there’s more of a clue here,’ she said. ‘Hold on.’
She took a bottle of nail polish remover out of her bag and poured it over the note.
‘VisiInk. My own formula for making invisible ink visible,’ she said as words appeared on the paper. ‘Made from the seed pod oil of the Kapok, the tallest tree in the Amazon Rainforest, and 100 percent guaranteed.’ She began to read:
‘Great – a riddle,’ said TJ. ‘Why couldn’t it be a mathematical hypothesis, or a philosophical conundrum? I’m hopeless at anything illogical like riddles.’
‘But I’m not,’ said Arkie. ‘I was Top of the Rhyming Tots in kindergarten. A golden queen. Well, that’s got to be Nefertari.’
She turned on her dad’s computer. ‘Dad’s got a list of all the missing treasures in the world so maybe there’s something listed for her.’ She scanned through the entries. ‘. . . J, K, L, M, N . . . Nefertari – yes, there is! There’s a gold statue of Queen Nefertari that hasn’t been seen for nearly 200 years. An Italian called Giovanni Belzoni took all the treasures from the temple of Ramses, and he listed this statue in his journals. But it hasn’t been seen since.’
‘But what does the rest of the riddle mean?’ said TJ.
‘Let’s ask DATAMAX,’ said Arkie. She typed in RAMSES II, GODS and LIGHT and a holographic image of the temple of Ramses appeared before them. Then, an electronic voice began to speak:
≥≥ Welcome to DATAMAX, Arkie Sparkle. Your search words have resulted in the following:
The temple of RAMSES II at Abu Simbel is positioned so that twice a year, on 22 February and 22 October, the first rays of the morning sun pierce the temple and LIGHT up the back wall of the inner shrine and the statues of three of the GODS seated there. The statue of Ptah, the God of the Underworld, however, remains forever in the dark.
Have you found the information you seek, Arkie Sparkle? ≤≤
‘I’m not sure yet but thanks, DATAMAX,’ said Arkie.
‘Poor old Ptah,’ said TJ. ‘Doomed to the dark.’
‘So we’ve got three gods bathed in light,’ said Arkie.
‘One lonely god forever lost from sight,’ said TJ. ‘And a golden queen who’s lost as well.’
‘I hope she’s not in the Underworld,’ said Arkie. ‘ “A place where the sun has never been.” ’ Arkie didn’t like cold dark places.
‘So we need to be in Abu Simbel for 22 February,’ said TJ.
They looked at the Archaeological Society calendar hanging on the wall above an 18th-century globe of the world.
‘That’s tomorrow,’ said Arkie.
Super Speedy
BLUR was fuelled and ready to go.
The supersonic mini-jet was always on standby. It was super speedy so a trip around the world took no time at all.
The Sparkles had flown to Venice for lunch last Sunday. They had moored their gondola with a rainbow canopy under the Bridge of Sighs and eaten pesce e patate fritte.
Last Sunday, thought Arkie, as she stored two treasure hunters’ backpacks in BLUR’s overhead locker. When we had cheese toasties for dinner and watched Great Treasure Hoaxes and Heists on TV. When everything was normal.
She was just placing some sandwiches in the mini fridge when TJ arrived back from her house with a small travel bag. ‘Was your Mum okay?’ said Arkie.
‘Well, of course I didn’t tell her exactly what we were doing,’ said TJ. ‘My explanation was more like an impressionistic painting with lots of smudgy bits and hardly any detail. Anyway, Dad’s away on business and Mum’s writing her presentation for an exotic fish conference so she said it was fine to hang out with you this week as long as Uncle Ted and Aunt Martha didn’t mind. She always says we’re like sisters anyway – just like her and Aunt Martha – which is perfect because you’re an only child, so you have a vacancy for a sibling, and although I have a sister, Isabella’s a troubled adolescent so she hates me.’
‘I know Mum and Dad would be really happy you were helping me,’ said Arkie. ‘And I’ve taken care of school. I emailed Mrs Malakoff one of the notes Mum sends when they want to take me out of school to join them on a treasure hunt.’
To:
From:
Dear Mrs Malakoff
I’m afraid Arkie and TJ will not be attending school this week. They will be learning from life instead, and will catch up on all missed homework when they return.
Yours sincerely
Martha Sparkle
Arkie flicked the switch for the steel doors of the THinc Tank and a dense thicket of trees and bushes opened up before them.
As they watched, the trees and bushes parted, revealing a short runway. Lights flickered on either side. The runway was ready for take-off.
‘I’ve been thinking about our code names,’ said TJ. ‘The NATO phonetic alphabet seems highly appropriate for this occasion. You’ll be Alfa Sierra and I’ll be Tango Juliet. Okay?’
‘Okay, Tango Juliet,’ said Arkie.
‘Flight time 2 hours and 20 minutes,’ said TJ, climbing into the pilot’s seat. ‘Buckle up, Alfa Sierra. You too, Charlie.’ Cleo pricked up her ears and looked around for Charlie.
‘I know you’re a genius, TJ,’ said Arkie. ‘But shouldn’t I fly BLUR? I’m usually in the back seat but at least I’ve been in BLUR before. You haven’t.’
‘But I’m a very fast learner,’ said TJ, ‘and I memorised BLUR’s flying manual yesterday when I had a spare ten minutes. Anyway, these A42-500 mini-jets virtually fly themselves.’
‘Well, okay, I guess,’ said Arkie, checking TIC, the Times International Clock, on the control panel. ‘Egypt is behind us timewise, so our ETA is 5.45 am, 22 February.’
She looked at the hundreds of switches and gauges on the control panel in front of her. ‘Are you sure BLUR flies itself?’
TJ nodded but didn’t answer. She was looking above, below and beside her.
‘What are you looking for?’ said Arkie.
‘The start button,’ said TJ. ‘I know it’s around here somewhere.’
‘I thought you’d memorised the manual?’ said Arkie.
‘I did, but I must have skipped some of the start section because I wanted to get straight to the chapter on isentropic flows,’ said TJ. ‘It was really fascinating.’
‘What about this?’ said Arkie, reaching out to a large red button on the control panel.
‘NO,’ shouted TJ. ‘Don’t touch that. That’s the turbo-charged start, only to be used when —’
There was a race of engines and a burst of brilliant light as BLUR shuddered and surged forwards.
‘WHHHHHOOOOOOAAAAA,’ screamed Arkie and TJ as BLUR rose suddenly up, up, up — a turbo blaze of sound and speed.
Arkie clenched the armrest as her head was flung backwards. Her eyes were wild and her mouth stretched open.
‘. . . rapid . . . exit . . . required,’ shouted TJ above the deafening noise of supersonic take-off – and Cleopatra’s howling.
They braced themselves against velocity as BLUR climbed higher and higher – slicing through the clouds.
Sixty slow seconds later, they began to level out.
‘PHEW,’ said TJ as they settled into supersonic cruise speed. ‘Not exactly a textbook take-off.’
‘At least we know how to make a quick getaway if we have to,’ said Arkie. ‘And I think we might have to on this treasure hunt.’ She frowned.
‘Don’t worry, Arkie,’ said TJ, smiling at her. ‘We’ll solve this treasure hunt. With my extraordinary brains, photographic memory, technological brilliance and your . . .’ She paused. ‘Your —’
‘I know how to find treasure,’ said Arkie. ‘I’m the best treasure hunter for this treasure hunt.’
She looked out the window as BLUR’s slipstream was swallowed by the clouds below. Wobbly moment thoughts were clanging and crashing in her
head:
I’ve never been on a hunt by myself.
I’ve never discovered a treasure on my own.
I’ve never co-piloted BLUR
I’ve never done any of these things without Mum and Dad.
Until this very moment.
She took a deep breath.
I’m coming, Mum and Dad, she said to herself as they sped across the world.
I’m coming to find you.
Egyptian Dawn
Arkie was being chased by a giant frying pan with slicing teeth and a staring eye.
She had seen that eye before in a book on Ancient Egypt: it was the eye of Ra, the Egyptian sun god.
She ran faster and faster, ducking and dodging as the frying pan threw knives, forks and plates at her. And still it came closer and closer.
I didn’t know frying pans could run so fast, she thought. It’s probably because they get very hot. They’re always on their toes.
Then Arkie came to a concrete wall, surrounded by high fences. Barbed wire glinted at the top. She was puffed. And trapped.
She turned to face the frying pan. ‘Where are my parents?’ she screamed.
‘I’m frying them up for dinner,’ the pan sizzled and a lick of oil leapt into the air and hurtled towards her – a dagger of fire.
Arkie shut her eyes tight as the flames fanned around her face, scorching and stinky. They smelt like . . . dog breath.
DOG BREATH?
Arkie jerked awake and opened her eyes. Cleo was licking her face.
‘OH, YUCK, Cleo,’ she said as she wiped her cheeks. ‘Stop it!’
‘She’s hungry,’ said TJ. ‘There are some dog treats in my travel bag, Cleo. Help yourself.’
Cleo snuffled into the bag and was soon snuggling under Arkie’s seat with a dried pig’s ear.
Arkie rubbed her eyes and looked at TIC. It was five o’clock in the morning.
‘Where are we?’ she said.
‘Just flying over the pyramids at Giza,’ said TJ. ‘Not that you can see much through this low-lying cloud. The temple is at Abu Simbel, about 800 kilometres away, across the Sahara Desert. There shouldn’t be too many people around at this time of the morning but I’ve activated Camouflage Option 7 just in case. We’re disguised as a cloud at the moment. A cumulus, to be exact.’
Arkie looked out the window. The edges of BLUR were shrouded in a fluffy cloud. ‘I went to school as a cloud once,’ said Arkie. ‘Mum wrapped me up in tons and tons of cotton wool.’
‘I remember,’ said TJ. ‘But I thought you were a meringue?’
‘I wondered why everyone said I looked so sweet,’ said Arkie.
‘While you were sleeping,’ said TJ, ‘I got to know BLUR better. Frankly, I couldn’t have designed it better myself. Professor Quince is an amazing inventor. BLUR’s got all the necessary features I could think of, and heaps of others besides. Here’s your molecularly compressed, protein-powered banana and berry breakfast smoothie.’ She handed Arkie a purple tablet.
‘Quincy wanted to develop blueprints for an A–Z of Amazing Aerodynamic Aircraft,’ said Arkie, swallowing the tablet, ‘but he only got to B and BLUR before he disappeared. It’s been more than six weeks since we’ve heard from him. He might be one of Dad’s oldest friends and my godfather but Mum says he’s never been the most reliable member of THinc.’
‘He’s a mad scientist,’ said TJ. ‘Isn’t he always disappearing?’
‘But never for this long before,’ said Arkie. ‘Dad’s really worried about him.’ She paused. ‘Or he was really worried about him because now Dad’s disappeared too. Don’t you think that’s strange, TJ? First Quincy, now Mum and Dad?’
‘Maybe,’ said TJ. ‘But Quincy disappeared weeks ago, and he has a pattern of erratic behaviour. It might just be one of those coincidences that seem too coincidental to be a coincidence but that is just what it is.’
She flicked a switch on the control panel. ‘I’m just activating the Radar Repellent so we don’t show up on any airport radars,’ she said. ‘We don’t want tricky questions from Egyptian airspace authorities, like what are two eleven year olds and a hungry dog doing in a supersonic mini-jet a long way from home? You can see how it might look a bit suspicious from their point of view.’
She looked out the window at the small town becoming visible in the distance. ‘Abu Simbel ahead,’ she said. ‘Time to slow down for our descent.’
TJ pulled the throttle hard and BLUR began to drop through the sky.
Arkie could feel her stomach rising towards her head as the pressure of their descent intensified.
She could see the altimeter on BLUR’s control panel plummeting:
35,000 feet
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5000
4000
3000 . . .
Then they were hovering.
‘That’s about as low as BLUR can go,’ said Arkie.
She pushed the third button on the left of the control panel, and a telescope dropped down from the roof. Arkie opened out its arms, and switched to NV for night vision.
The airstrip at Abu Simbel was deserted. A huge sign flapped in the wind outside the main airport building.
Arkie orientated the telescope towards the road leading to the airstrip. She could see dust clouds from buses that were already grinding down the dirt road.
‘Tourists at two o’clock,’ she said. ‘We’d better get to the temple of Ramses before it gets too crowded.’
‘OK,’ said TJ. ‘Ready in five. I’ll just get changed.’
‘Changed?’ said Arkie. ‘Into what?’
‘My desert daywear,’ said TJ.
‘You’ve got desert daywear?’ said Arkie.
‘Of course,’ said TJ. ‘I’ve always got several looks on the go. And, luckily, I’d just updated my desert range to include this year’s colour: camel.’
TJ was soon wearing pyramid pants that were clinched tight at the waist and ballooned out at the bottom, a tank top, a headscarf, a camel-coloured hoodie and a snake-skin cuff.
Arkie looked down at her cargo pants and t-shirt. There was a stain on the front of her t-shirt. She’d forgotten to put a clean one on this morning. She changed into the clothes TJ handed her.
‘What about Cleo?’ said TJ.
TJ’s Style File
HOT TIPS FOR DESERT DAYWEAR
Loose is Cool
Create your own breeze on a breezeless day by wearing light, loose clothing, such as pyramid pants. Guaranteed to be cool.
Be natural
Nature is full of excellent fashion ideas. Embrace your inner desert.
Camel is the new black
Although described disparagingly as muddy beige in some colour circles, camel-coloured clothing could save your life in the desert. If you ever need to bury yourself in the sand, for example, you will be instantly camouflaged.
Must have headscarf
Water is scarce in the desert and your next shower could be sand dunes away. Avoid DHS (Dirty Hair Syndrome) by always carrying a selection of headscarves. A headscarf can also be very stylish in a sandstorm.
Remember:
Someone, somewhere, always has a camera.
‘We’ll have to leave her behind,’ said Arkie. ‘The Egyptians aren’t really into dogs. They’re more cat people. In the really old days, they treated their cats like gods. They even mummified them and buried them in special tombs.’
Cleo looked up at them with big droopy eyes. ‘But cats don’t have your super snooper nose,’ said Arkie, tickling Cleo under all her chins. ‘Back soon.’
She handed TJ a treasure hunter’s backpack and a small umbrella.
‘Is it raining?’ said TJ.
‘This is a parabrella,’ said Arkie. ‘So we can come and go from BLUR without having to land. There’s a rotor motor in the spikes.’ She pointed to the two small buttons on the handle. ‘Just press PC for parachute to descend,
and PA for parascend to come back up.’
‘Excellent,’ said TJ, twirling her parabrella. ‘It goes perfectly with my outfit. And it can double as a parasol in the hot desert sun.’
‘It was Mum’s idea,’ said Arkie. ‘Mary Poppins is her favourite movie. We’ve watched it six times already this year. We’re going to watch it again this weekend.’ Arkie’s face fell as she suddenly realised this wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t going to see her mother again until they had travelled across the seven continents and found seven treasures.
TJ looked at her. ‘No time for doubts and dark thoughts,’ she said. ‘We’ve got a job to do.’ She tucked her hair behind her ears and put on her Super Enhanced Goggles.
‘Ready?’ said Arkie, adjusting the band of her SEGs.
‘Ready,’ said TJ.
They opened the hatch and the freezing air engulfed them.
‘On the count of chim chimn-ey eee,’ shouted Arkie, crouching into a jump position.
‘Chim, chimn-ey.’
‘EEEEEE’ yelled TJ.
They leapt into the clouds.
The Temple of the Gods
The blanket of night was retreating as the sky prepared for dawn.
The air was still and chilly, and the waters of Lake Nasser twinkled in the half-light as Arkie and TJ glided down beside it.
Arkie looked around her. This desert world seemed divided perfectly into two: sand and sky. Expanses of both stretched before her.
‘Have parabrella will travel,’ said TJ, folding the parabrella carefully and putting it into her backpack. ‘Did you know that the Chinese invented umbrellas about 2500 years ago? They are also called brollies, gamps and bumbershoots.’
‘You sound just like an encyclopedia sometimes,’ said Arkie, smoothing out the spikes of her parabrella.
‘Accurate observation,’ said TJ. ‘It’s just that I’ve got so much knowledge, I want to share it.’