“Please, come in,” Akil said with a wide smile after opening his house door.
Margaret sighed with relief. «He hasn’t recognized us.» To tell the truth, the probabilities of him remembering them were really low. Every week he taught the wonders of the Egyptian culture with pinpoint accuracy to hundreds of people, maybe thousands. «It’s impossible that he remembers us,» Josef said with confidence. The fake interview started with compulsory questions. How is the postwar being lived here in Cairo? How many monuments have been damaged? Do you think the current political situation is reliable? Are you receiving help from western countries? Josef, showing a lot of interest, took notes in a small notepad that he would later throw in a rubbish bin. The complicity was full. They had been there for two hours and the fake journalist thought the moment to «attack» had come.
“As a professional Egyptologist, what is the conclusion you have reached after so many years admiring the pyramids?” Josef asked with his body slightly slanted backwards.
“What do you mean?” Akil asked moving in his chair.
The room, as the rest of the house, was totally rustic. The walls were painted in a worn out white color. The floor was dressed by a huge reddish carpet. An enormous cupboard made of oak wood crowded with books completely occupied one of the walls. On one of the sides, an antiqued rocking chair was gently moved by the morning breeze. On the other side, there was a rectangular table made of pine wood with two chairs on each of its sides.
“What do you think they were built for?” He asked intertwining his hands and resting his elbows on the table.
“That’s the most difficult question of all,” he answered forcing a smile. “I don’t know what to tell you. To be honest, I don’t agree with any of the current theories. Neither do I think they are funerary constructions nor monuments of the ancient civilization of Atlantis that were inherited by the pharaohs, even less rests of crafts, as some kook said.”
“What are they, then?” Margaret asked.
“If I knew it… I wouldn’t be here debating it,” he kidded. “To answer that question we’d have to reach an agreement about what each of the new chambers and tunnels we continuously find are.”
Josef smiled. The fake interview had been thought with the idea of eliciting information from the guide about the mysteries that had been found but that had not been revealed to the world yet.
“Are new things still being discovered nowadays?” Margaret asked astonished.
Akil nodded.
“Why aren’t such discoveries of public domain?” She asked taking control of the interview.
“There are several interests that could result affected by a mismanagement of the information. Can you keep a secret?” He whispered.
“Of course!” Josef exclaimed.
“A few months ago, one of the walls of the subterranean chambers partially collapsed. To be exact, two centimeters of the coating that covers the north wall. Do you know what it appeared?” He asked raising one eyebrow.
Both of them shrugged.
“A gold plaque of eighty centimeters tall by sixty-eight centimeters wide. Each of the hieroglyphics that form the Egyptian alphabet was drawn on it.”
Josef let out a choked shout. The scene the Egyptologist had described matched the one of the dream that tormented him every night: the stairs that led to the subterranean chamber he hastily went down, the gold plaque on the wall…
“What’s the experts’ opinion on that plaque?” Josef asked.
“The first hypothesis is that Keops sent to build that alphabet so that his eldest son could learn how to read and write. Once the teaching was over, it had to be hidden behind a coating. This way, no one would ever know he was taught inside the pyramid. In those times, the Egyptians believed that the son of Keops was a demigod. Therefore, he was born literate.”
“Would there be any possibilities of seeing this wonder in person?” The fake journalist asked.
“Impossible,” Akil answered without hesitating. “The subterranean chamber isn’t open to public. Only a reduced group of people perfectly identified have access to that area.”
Chapter 49
“Over there,” Palac pointed.
Despite the darkness was complete, he remembered the diagonal traced by his grandfather to reach the spherical building perfectly well. Suddenly, a strong, reddish light shone making the path visible. «He already knows we’re here,» he thought, aware of the invasion they had performed. Both midarians barged in the building without hesitating. When they were almost in the middle of the room, their bodies remained paralyzed. A moment later, they recovered mobility and they realized they had been imprisoned into an energetic invisible dome. Beiler started to throw rays desperately, but the barrier didn’t seem to be affected at all. It absorbed the light spears without leaving any track at all.
“We’re trapped!” The novice shouted.
The radiance descended of a sudden. The Cyclops silhouette could be seen. Both intruders looked up terrified at seen such colossal figure moving in the air.
“Who and with what purpose dared enter my domains?” He asked with a strident voice.
“We’re sorry, Crizal,” Palac answered. “We’re…”
“How do you know my name?” The Cyclops quickly surrounded the circumference formed by the dome. “I’ve never seen you in my life. As a matter of fact, it’s been a long time since somebody last…”
“Where’s my mother?” Beiler interrupted.
The monster looked at him contemptuously. The saliva flowed from its jaws like a waterfall. I wanted to devour them right there.
“We come from Mida,” Palac said. “My grandfather was…”
“I know who your grandfather was perfectly well,” he said hardening his expression. “Why have you penetrated my domains?” He shouted out loud.
None of them answered. «We’re going to die.» The terrifying appearance of the Cyclops shown in the niolar was nothing compared to reality. The two rows of teeth crashed against each other provoking a strong intimidating crack.
His body, amorphous and useless, swung gently from side to side, eager to hunt his prey. Suddenly, a forked tongue came out from inside him and crashed violently against the dome. Both midarians were prepared to receive their fate.
“Plisalet died short after she came here,” Crizal said with a calmer tone. He turned his back to the invaders and started to move slowly all over the room.
In an instant, Beiler’s dreams and illusions faded away completely. He had dreamt of the moment in which he could see her again since their farewell. Although his mother had discouraged him to, he had always maintained hope.
“We tried to have offspring, but she couldn’t resist my energy. When I started the process, her body began to disintegrate. In a few seconds… she vanished and I remained alone again. Alone!” He shouted making his voice resound beyond the building walls.
“How is it possible that such a thing happened?” The captain asked shaking his head.
“I don’t know,” the Cyclops answered. “I’ve tried it with dozens of females coming from a great number of planets and the result has always been the same.”
“Why did you think you would make it with Plisalet?” Palac asked.
“Yewut assured me with conviction that I would. However, I honestly can’t blame him since your mother wasn’t an ordinary female,” he stopped and stared at Beiler. “Plisalet was…was…my…the…the last female of Mida.”
“Sadness floods every corner of my organism. The only satisfaction I still have is to think that she died for our people’s sake.”
“Follow me,” he ordered.
The Cyclops went outside quickly. He threw several rays that created small light sources that shed a dim light over the landscape. The surroundings were even more rugged and arid than Mida. However, contrary to this one, there still remained some huge trunks scattered over what one day was a forest of labats, which were very tall trees with a very leafy crown and b
lue branches that occupied the two thirds of Zelapon.
“Midarian!” Crizal shouted looking at the most long-lived one. “Show your mother’s death wasn’t in vain. Try paralyzing me!”
Beiler, quite upset due to the tone he had used to address him, closed his eyes and focused all his inner energy on trying to control the Cyclops’ mind as he moved in the air and passed at very few meters from their heads. Several minutes later, he stopped in front of him gasping.
“Have you seen? You two are weak!” He shouted celebrating his victory.
“Can I try?” Palac, who had so far stood aside, asked.
“Go ahead, try.”
The Cyclops soared in the air of Zelapon once again and just when he started to descend to get closer his spot and celebrate his triumph, he fell fulminated. The impact against the ground was terrible. Palac ran to help him, but just before touching him, an invisible strength pushed him back.
“How is it possible?” Crizal muttered getting up from the ground.
“Haven’t you noticed anything?” The novice asked Beiler.
“I couldn’t move either.”
“I’ve concentrated and I paralyzed both of…”
“Stop flattering! Why have you come to my planet?”
Chapter 50
Josef checked his watch. «6:58.» Although it was an hour left until they opened the doors to the public and they could buy their tickets to visit the pyramids, they had decided to wake up very early in the morning. «I have a plan,» he had told his friend the night before. «Akil said it’s impossible,» she answered. Steadily heading towards the counter, they stopped in front of a dormant employee who was preparing the change to face another working day.
“Hello,” Josef said smiling.
“It’s closed!” The ticket seller shouted. “We open at eight.”
The man was bald. He had almond eyes, aquiline nose and with a barren mouth with no teeth. His face had been eaten away by a difficult childhood.
“Watch me,” Margaret whispered. “Sir,” she said with an extremely forced smile “we’d like to buy the ticket now. We want to have a walk in the surroundings until you open.”
“It’s closed!”
“Let’s see,” Josef said hardening his gesture. “How much do you earn?”
“What are you doing?” Margaret muttered pulling his arm.
“My monthly salary is five hundred Egyptian pounds —Approximately eighty American dollars—. Why?”
“I offer you a thousand Egyptian pounds if you allow us to go to the subterranean chamber,” Josef said showing the money. “You have my word that at eight in the morning we’ll be outside it.”
Margaret looked at him. She couldn’t believe her hears. The worker started to show signs of nervousness.
“I’ve been working here for twenty years and I’ve never accepted a bribe,” he said without taking his eyes from the succulent wad of bills.
“Ten thousand pounds.”
“That’s a lot of money.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Put these accreditations on,” he said giving them out to them under the glass that separated the window from the street.
Josef gave the money out to him and after he had counted it carefully, the worker went outside. Both of them hanged the accreditations on and followed him up to the north gate. For several years, that gate had been closed, but owing to the insistence of some Egyptologists, it was open again to carry on with the investigations.
“I want you outside at five to eight,” he said with a threatening gaze.
He then opened the door and the fake Egyptologists started to go down the stair that led to the subterranean chamber. Once there, the plaque’s glare hypnotized them. For several minutes, they stayed in front of it admiring its beauty and observing each of de hieroglyphics that formed the alphabet very carefully. Josef informed the girl the real reason of his visit.
“This panel must be a kind of lock. In my dream, after touching it, the wall disappeared and showed a new room.”
“You see… nothing has happened.”
“Maybe it’s a kind of lock with a password, as the one of my grandpa’s chest. We have to form words.” Josef said looking at the panel from a few meters of distance.
“In such case, what word shall we type?” Margaret asked dubious
“Do you remember the Egyptian alphabet by heart? Do you think you could type the words on the panel in the same order I tell them to you?”
Margaret nodded. For half an hour, they typed hundreds of options without obtaining any positive result at all. «Pharaohs, Egypt, Kephren, Keops, Osiris, Ra…»
After the frustrated try, they continued typing letter sequences at random for some minutes without obtaining better results.
“Well, let’s suppose it’s a door. In that case, the combinations would be endless,” she said visibly fatigued due to the reigning heat and wetness.
“Let me try.”
Josef approached his hand and, as soon as he touched the panel, a strong discharge shook his body throwing it several meters backwards. Instinctively, he opened his eyes and started looking around him. The landscape he saw had nothing to do with the one in the subterranean chamber. Lying in the middle of the way that led either to the light or to the dark, he tried to organize his ideas.
“Josef, wake up, please,” the phrase resounded in that place without him being able to identify where it came from.
“Margaret, where are you?” He asked.
Under the dim light coming from the bottom of the panel, Margaret was shaking the immobile body of her friend. «He’s not breathing.» Without thinking it twice, she overlapped her palms and pressed his breastbone with them. Then, and remembering the emergency protocol she learnt at university, she started with the resuscitation. Nothing. Her friend’s body was lying in the middle of the room as she repeated the procedure over and over again at the same time as she cursed the time in which they decided to come back to Egypt.
When the owl goes out hunting the night will have fallen
On the sugar cane, it’ll hide
But don’t be afraid, my hand will protect you
And the small vulture will look after you
At listening to his mother’s son, Josef got up and started to run along the path towards the light. A silhouette started to appear in the horizon. It was coming closer every time. «Mum!» He shouted ecstatic. When he was at only fifty meters from her, she smiled at him and opened her arms to receive the so long-awaited touch.
As soon as their bodies made connection, the librarian breathed deeply, as if he had never done it before. His eyes opened and Margaret’s face appeared at very few centimeters from his lips.
“Get up!” The girl said helping him to sit up. “We have to go to a hospital.”
Josef made a slight grimace of pain and sat up. He told Margaret what had happened and she was astonished to hear it. «Your mother received you again with the song?» Troubled and aware of the fact that the adventure had come to an end, he checked his clock and cursed how unlucky they had been. «7:52» They only had three minutes left before having to leave the pyramid without having any problems. The ticket seller had threatened them sliding his forefinger across his neck if they didn’t keep to the bargain.
“We have to leave!”
“And what if your mother’s song were the password to open that door?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why don’t we list the most representative elements of each of the phrases and we substitute them by hieroglyphics?”
“I still don’t understand,” he answered still dizzy.
Margaret took out of her bag a small notepad and started to write on it.
She showed him her notepad and he looked at her with skepticism.
“Mida o Midas?” Josef asked in a mocking tone.
“I don’t know. Maybe the password is Midas, as the king of Macedonia. Everything his hands touched was turned into gold. Despite no
t knowing what his connection with the Egyptians was… I’ll try it!”
The golden-haired girl pressed hastily each of the five hieroglyphics that formed the word Midas. Nothing happened. The silence in the room was complete. They looked at each other and he pointed to the exit. His friend shook her head.
“We have to leave.”
Josef started to go up the narrow stair that led outside when he suddenly heard a crack. He looked back to see if his partner had tripped, but he realized that she wasn’t following him.
“Margaret, we have to go!” He shouted four times without getting an answer.
He stepped back and noticed that the light coming from the subterranean chamber had intensified. The sensation that invaded him at descending and not seeing his partner was terrifying. The panel had disappeared. A strong light that was projected on the walls with a blinding intensity substituted it. He was invaded by a lot of negative thoughts derived from that perturbing dream that barged in his mind every night without warning. He crept with his back against the wall and leant out through the opening.
Chapter 51
The Cyclops of Zelapon accepted the explanation, but not without any doubts at all. However, to tell the truth, he did not care about that. The only thing he wanted was them to leave his reign. Unintentionally, loneliness had accompanied him a great part of his life and that was something difficult to change.
“When your grandfather informed me about Cabolun’s visit to install the cabin, I had a bad premonition,” he said looking at Palac. “He stayed here for a short time, but it was enough for me to realize about the offensive attitude with which he address the ones who came with him. Now that I remember…”
The World's Game Page 25
