by BBCi Cult
Everyone started talking at once. Margaret Evans screamed and clung to Simons, which seemed to surprise him even more that the Shabti. The others drew back along the corridor, with the exception of the Doctor.
'Fascinating,' he said. 'You know, I doubt there's any real danger.'
Then the door at the entrance of the pyramid slammed shut. Everyone fell silent, exchanging frightened and puzzled glances in the flickering torchlight.
The voice was melodic, almost musical. It resonated within the corridor, seeming to be born out of the air itself. 'Intruders, you face the twin guardians of Horus.'
Tegan looked round. The voice seemed to be coming from above, from the corridor ceiling, or an upper floor of the pyramid, but she could not be certain.
'The corridor is now sealed, and has become a Decatron crucible. The answer you will give the guardians controls your fate - instant freedom, or instant death. Where is the next point in the configuration? This is the riddle of the Osirans.'
The sound echoed off the stone walls for a split second after the words were finished. There was silence for a while.
'Doctor?' Kenilworth said eventually. 'What does it mean?'
'It means we're in trouble. The corridor is in effect an airlock, and they can pump out the air, or unseal the entrance, depending on our answer to the riddle.'
'But what riddle?' Macready asked.
The Doctor smiled. 'Let's ask, shall we?' He strode up to the two Shabti figures and inspected them closely. 'Now then, I assume you two have a question for us.'
In response, the two female statues raised their arms in unison. As they did so, the ceiling of the corridor glowed into life, small squares pulsing into brilliance on the illuminated background. A curved line cut across the roof, the squares of light arranged along the right side of it.
'Just as I thought,' the Doctor said with a nod. 'Thank you.' He turned back to the others. 'Now all we have to do is work out the next point in the configuration.'
'But what's it a configuration of?' Tegan turned her head sideways to try to make sense of the image.
'Well, if we knew that there'd be no riddle.'
Kenilworth craned his neck to see. 'It does look vaguely familiar.'
Macready and Evans both nodded.
'I've seen it somewhere before too,' the Doctor admitted. 'Wish I could remember where.'
At the back of the group, Simons began to copy down the image into his notebook. Tegan could see him framing it up and checking he had the proportions approximately correct. The snake-like ribbon curled down the left side, and several squares were arranged to the right. The three most central were almost aligned. But the top one was offset slightly to the left. Three squares were apparently randomly arranged to the left of the central cluster, two to the right.
Simons stared at what he had drawn, then back at the high ceiling. 'It's a map,' he blurted out in surprise.
Tegan was not convinced, but Atkins was nodding thoughtfully beside her.
'Good grief,' Kenilworth said. 'And we all know what of.'
'Do we?'
'The thick line curling down the left is the river Nile,' Atkins explained. 'The squares are the major pyramids.'
'Of course,' Evans was standing on tiptoe to get as close as possible. 'This is fascinating. Look Margaret,' he waved his hand at the roof, nearly losing his balance. 'This shows the main pyramid complex at Giza, plus the pyramids at Abu Ruwash and Zawyat-al-Aryan.'
Margaret seemed less impressed. 'So what is the next point?'
Macready addressed them all. 'That, I think is a problem. These points mark the positions of the greatest pyramids, the first rate ones, if you will. Each of them is marked.'
'So we need to show where there's another first rate pyramid,' Tegan suggested.
Macready shook his head. 'As I said, Miss Tegan. Each of them is marked. There are no other points in the configuration.'
'Unless,' Kenilworth said, 'there is one we don't know about.'
'Yes, that's possible isn't it? Why not this pyramid?'
The Doctor coughed. 'This pyramid is minuscule by comparison to those. And he's right Tegan - there are no more pyramids of that scale to be found.'
'Great. Terrific.'
'So,' the Doctor said, 'I suggest we turn our attention to this.' And he turned to indicate an illuminated section of wall behind them.
The hieroglyphs meant nothing to Tegan, but the more learned members of the party swarmed over them. After ten minutes the noise had subsided and everyone was back to staring glumly at the wall.
'Can't they read it?' Tegan asked the Doctor quietly.
'Oh yes. That's the easy bit. It's a series of eight numbers, starting at seventy and finishing at twenty-three hundred. The values in between seem to be random. At least, they don't conform to any pattern or sequence I can think of.' He leaned forward. 'And I can think of lots,' he added.
Tegan grunted. 'Well we should thank our lucky stars you're here then.' She looked back at the glowing ceiling and the silent figures standing motionless below, arms raised as if in adulation. 'Who are these Osirans, anyway?'
'Hmm? Oh a super-powerful race from the dawn of time. They come from Phaester Osiris, which is -' The Doctor broke off. 'Of course, I should have realised.' He clapped Tegan on the shoulder so hard it hurt. 'You're brilliant.'
'I am?' She was not convinced.
But the Doctor was already gathering everyone round. 'Right, I think I've got it, with a little help from Tegan. It is a map, and the figures are distances. But it isn't a map of Egypt.'
'Not of Egypt?' Macready was surprised. 'Doctor, you can see for yourself how accurate the positioning of the pyramids is.'
'Exactly. But this is a map of the geography from which the pyramids' positions are copied. Look, see how the line of points in the middle is slightly skewed, with the topmost point slightly left of true.'
Kenilworth was shaking his head. 'It's baffled scholars since Napoleon's time that the later pyramid is smaller and is not on the line of the other two, Doctor.'
'Precisely. Why would any Pharaoh build a pyramid smaller than his predecessors if he didn't have to? And why not continue the line so incredibly accurate between the first two?'
'All right,' said Tegan, 'why?'
'Because the pyramids themselves are a map.' The Doctor pointed up at the ceiling. 'That isn't the Nile,' he said, 'it's the Milky Way.'
'What?'
'And the points are the stars in the constellation of Orion. Rigel, Mintaka, Betelgeuse...' the Doctor reeled off the names as he pointed them out. 'The numbers are the distance of each from Earth in light years, or more importantly the distance a thought can travel in a year, which is pretty much the same thing. Rigel, for example, is nine hundred light years away. And the three points almost aligned are what you know as Orion's Belt.'
'Then where is the next point? What star is missing?'
'Like the pyramids, I'm afraid, they are all there.' The Doctor thought for a while. 'Orion was important to the Osirans, and hence to the ancient Egyptians. The Osirans taught them all they knew, after all.'
Evans and Macready were exchanging looks which suggested they thought the Doctor was insane.
'Go on, Doctor,' Tegan encouraged, glaring at Macready.
'Well, it's something to do with a power configuration. Looping stellar activity through a focus generator and aiming at a collection dome. Or rather pyramid, knowing the Osirans. I'd say the final point in the sequence is Phaester Osiris itself.'
The Doctor drew an extendible pointer from his top jacket pocket. Tegan wondered if he was about to continue his lecture with slides as he pulled it to its full extent. But instead he pointed it at the corridor ceiling.
A point of light flared into existence as the rod touched the stonework. The final point in the sequence.
'Of course,' Kenilworth said. 'The great Sphinx.'
But before anyone could comment, the twin Shabti figures lowered their arms and steppe
d aside. The ceiling dimmed, and the glowing section of wall faded back into the stonework. Far behind them, the main door clicked open and remained ajar, a thin line of daylight forcing its way into the passage.
'These Osirans - ' Kenilworth started.
'Time for that later, Kenilworth,' Macready pointed to the far end of the corridor. 'The tomb!'
They made their way warily along the rest of the corridor, scanning the walls for other alcoves or figures. But they reached the double doors without further incident. Macready had a pocket knife open, reaching for the red cord which bound the door handles. Simons was head down again scribbling in his book and keeping a safe distance from Margaret Evans.
'Er, I wouldn't be so hasty, if I were you,' the Doctor warned, tapping Macready on the shoulder.
'Nonsense, man.' He continued to pull at the cord with the knife blade. 'Nearly through now.'
Tegan stood arms folded with the others, clustered round the doorway. Light strobed across the face of Macready as he hacked at the rope, and Tegan looked round puzzled trying to locate its source. The effect was regular, not like the flickering of the torchlight.
'Doctor,' she said. 'The light.' And then she saw the source, and pointed to the stylized eye glowing in the floor at her feet.
'The Eye of Horus,' Atkins breathed.
'Stop!' the Doctor shouted as Macready cut through the last strand of the cord and pulled open the doors.
The eye flashed brilliant red as the hurricane swept down the corridor. The Doctor had grabbed everyone he could as he dived for cover. Macready was holding on to the door handle, braced against the rushing force of the air as it was forced past him. Tegan grabbed Margaret as she was blown past, and pulled her down to the ground.
Simons, still scribbling in his notebook, had reacted slower than the others. He was caught full in the blast and hurled down the corridor, bouncing down the slope and crashing into the walls. His book burst apart in a frenzy of whirling paper, pencil clattering across the floor. He rebounded from the wall and slammed into the ground, head cracking open on a flagstone. A dark trail followed his body as it was tossed like a ragdoll along the passageway.
Tegan kept low, feeling the force of the wind tugging at her short hair, as it struggled to dislodge her. She felt her grip on Margaret slipping, and fought to keep hold. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the Doctor holding Atkins and Kenilworth back with one arm, and holding firmly to the doorpost with the other. Beyond him the doors to the tomb stood open.
From his vantage point, Sadan Rassul watched the door to the black pyramid blown open and the pages of Simons' book blasted into the heat of the day. And he smiled.
* * *
London, 1986
Rejected Applications
10557/86 Structural alterations and renovation of grade two listed domestic residence. See full application for details and appendix 2B for reasons of rejection.
* * *
The British Museum, London 1996
Henry Edwards swept his torch round the darkened room once more. The beam of light glanced off the polished floor and strayed over the tables of relics. It peered into corners, and licked round the feet of a sarcophagus standing against the far wall.
Edwards closed the door behind him, and for a moment the light from his torch continued to stray under the door. Then all was dark again.
A faint glow in the corner accompanied the crashing vibration of sound which echoed through the room. The glow resolved itself into a flashing light as a shadowy form solidified beneath it. The ground to a halt, and the TARDIS door opened tentatively.
The Doctor's head appeared round the door for a moment. Then it disappeared again. A few seconds later, the Doctor stepped into the room. He was holding a lantern. He made his way from table to table, letting the pale light pool around him as he examined and then discarded various vases and jars. He shook his head in annoyance and exhaled loudly. 'Should have paid for a catalogue,' he murmured.
He looked round for another display of relics, and set off towards the door. As he passed close to the sarcophagus, his foot caught something, sending it into a spin. Standing on the floor, close to the sarcophagus, was a canopic jar. The Doctor knelt down, catching the jar as it continued to wobble on its uneven base. He patted the top and stood up again.
Then he frowned, and bent down to examine the jar once more. The stopper was carved into the shape of a jackal's head. The Doctor lifted the jar and held the lantern close to it. He sniffed at it, shook it, then turned it over to see the base.
'That should do nicely,' he said quietly. 'An Osiran generator loop, rather the worse for wear, but it should do very well indeed.'
The Doctor stood up, hefted the canopic jar in his hand, and smiled at the jackal. Then he went back inside the TARDIS. A short while later, that too was gone.
Author's Notes: Instalment Four
Instalment Five
Chapter Six
If Tegan had thought the excavating was boring, she was now looking back on it as a time of excitement and intellectual stimulation. Since solving the Osiran riddle and being half torn apart by the hurricane of what the Doctor described as a 'psychic typhoon', the archaeologists had settled into a well-rehearsed schedule.
The wind had died down after several minutes. They had rushed to Simons' aid, but it was too late to help him. Tegan had tried to comfort Margaret Evans while Atkins and the Egyptian Nebka laid out Simons in one of the tents where the supplies were stored. The dry desert air would preserve the body for the time being - just as its preserving properties had given the ancient Egyptians the first clues about the possibilities of mummification.
Once the archaeology started in earnest, the Doctor was in his element. He rushed from each archaeologist to the next checking their notes and reviewing their sketches and catalogues. He helped with measurements and suggested theories. He carried relics and copied down hieroglyphics.
Tegan, by contrast, was bored out of her brain. And she wasted no opportunity to tell him this. 'Can't we just take Nyssa and leave?' she asked him as they examined the tomb chamber yet again.
'Leave?' It seemed as though the thought had not occurred to him before. The Doctor continued to sketch a copy of the hieroglyphics which covered a whole wall of the tomb into a notebook.
Tegan watched him for a while. She had initially tried to relieve her boredom by sketching scenes of the excavations. But her interest in expanses of sand, makeshift wooden scaffolding, and stone-floored rooms had foundered after a morning. 'Yes, leave,' she said eventually. 'As in push off and leave them to it.'
'But we didn't,' the Doctor pointed out. 'Did we?'
'You mean we can't?'
The Doctor closed the notebook, pushed his pencil down the gap between the binding and the spine, and stuck it in his jacket pocket. 'Probably not. But think about it, Tegan. We know one future set of events - or part of one, anyway - in which we stay with the expedition. And at the end of it, Nyssa is alive.'
'But if we leave now, we don't know what will happen.' Tegan turned away. 'I get the picture.'
The Doctor's hand clapped down on her shoulder. 'So why not enjoy it while you can.' 'You're joking. A load of crumbling brickwork?'
'It's stone, and it's not crumbling. Tegan,' the Doctor's voice betrayed a hint of exasperation, 'the pyramids are the oldest and the last surviving of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Each pyramid, including this one so far as I can tell, is exactly aligned along the points of the compass. The base of each is a perfect square. There is not enough space between the stone blocks in the Great Pyramid to insert a razor blade, but if you took those stone blocks and used them to build a wall a foot high and a foot wide, it would stretch two thirds of the way round the equator.'
'So they're impressive.'
'Awesome.' 'Great. I'm impressed and overawed,' Tegan told him. 'And now I want to take Nyssa and leave.'
'So do I,' the Doctor said quietly. 'So do I.'
They wa
ited in silence for a while, standing beside the casket that contained their sleeping friend. It was against one wall of the large room. The wall itself was adorned with row after row of hieroglyphics. Above the level of casket on its raised dais, a shelf ran the length of the wall. On it, labelled and ready to be packed for shipping with the other relics stood several items. There was a wide, heavy bracelet made of thick metal. The lower half was semi-circular while the lot was flattened into less of a curve. Across the top was a carved beetle of brilliant blue stone.
Beside the bracelet, a ring with a large blue stone set in it rested on a small cushion of dusty, faded red velvet. Further along, a wooden cobra reared up from its coiled base, throwing a huge shadow of itself on to the wall behind.
Further along the shelf was a statue of a what looked like a black dog. It was about eight inches long, paws facing forwards as it sat upright. Its collar, eyes and tall pointed ears were picked out in gold. Its tail was curled back along its body.
'That's interesting,' the Doctor said as he looked along the shelf.
'What, the dog?'
'Dog? More like a jackal. That's Anubis, king of the dead. Watching over his own, no doubt.' The Doctor pointed at the other relics. 'No, I meant the spacing. The bracelet, ring and snake are evenly spaced. Then there's a gap of over twice the size before the statue of Anubis. Interesting.'
'Why?'
'The Egyptians, like their Osiran mentors, were into measurements in a big way. Exact measurements.'
'Like the pyramids.'
'Yes. The topography and geometry of the pyramids is phenomenal.' The Doctor was examining the shelf closely, peering at the gap between cobra and jackal. 'This chamber, for instance, like the King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid, is at a point in the structure where if you extended the floor to the outside walls, then took the perfect pyramid rising above that plane, you would have one precisely half the size of the original.'