‘I find it hard to believe and I was there!’ Manetho emphasises. ‘When Poseidonis sent only half his fleet into combat against my people and we were outnumbered two to one, I thought our aim impossible. Still, our vessels were smaller and easier to manoeuvre, and despite all the strategies and sorcery of our enemies the weather was with us and our adversaries suffered an overwhelming defeat. When the rest of the Emperor’s fleet was sent into battle, again we drove them back, but this time with heavy losses to my people.’
Manetho did not mention his brothers, but I perceived mental images of how he had lost them all to terrible deaths.
‘With the second wave of ships came the Nagas and their transparent otherworldly creatures,’ Manetho continued. ‘They possessed weapons the like of which I have never seen and were relentless in their use of them. They inject a spike into their victims, by which they can literally suck out their life!’
I am horrified by this, but Master Hermes does not look at all surprised.
‘I nearly fell victim to one of the death spikes myself,’ Manetho tells us, ‘but my attacker spotted this.’ He grabs the glyph of his name hanging from the chain around his neck. ‘After inspecting it closely, the serpent warrior retracted the deadly spiked weapon, slapped me on the back and announced to his brothers-in-arms, “This one lives”. Whereupon one of them clobbered me over the head with a plank of wood. When I awoke, the Emperor’s force had retreated. I was told that the Emperor himself had been forced ashore and, with only a small band of warriors to support his retreat, had fled overland back to his island.’
I applaud Manetho’s bravery, but the Master appears concerned. He turns Manetho around and pulls a small metal spike from his cloak.
‘What is it, Master?’ I ask.
‘It is a means to find me,’ he replies. ‘We must act swiftly. Aleka, you must put our evacuation plan into immediate effect.’
‘But why?’
‘The fault is all mine,’ Master Hermes assures Manetho and myself. ‘But we have no time for discussion. Do exactly as I have instructed…I am depending on you both.’
Then he notices a weak vibration emanating from the tiny metal spike in his hand. He points us towards one of the pillars in the temple and commands, ‘Hide!’
I grab hold of Manetho’s hand to speed his compliance.
‘I am so sorry,’ he tells our mentor, horrified at having brought danger to him.
‘Fear not, Manetho, I foresaw this also.’ Master Hermes waves him to hide and Manetho conceals himself close to me behind the pillar.
A company of lizard-like warriors appear out of thin air! I understand the theory of superconductive teleportation technology, but this is the first time that I have seen it in practice. Our Master stands tall in the face of the enemy.
‘A direct route, my friend,’ the reptilian says once he is fully manifest, indicating the spike still in Master Hermes’ hand. ‘Much easier than fighting through several nations to get to you.’
‘Why do you seek me, Taejax?’ The Master is polite but to the point.
The reptilian lowers his weapon, although his companions keep theirs trained on Master Hermes. ‘I want to give you the opportunity to make up for your treachery. Tell me the frequency codes of the Arc shields and I will forgive you for abandoning me all those years ago, for betraying the rebellion that you helped to start!’
‘I must try to be fair to both my human tribe and my reptilian brothers,’ the Master reasons.
‘Save the speeches,’ hisses Taejax. ‘All I want from you is the codes.’
‘How many catastrophes must you live through before you learn this lesson, my friend?’ the Master asks. ‘How many more times will your kind try to abuse the power of the blue flame before you realise that it cannot be used for base purposes?’
‘As many times as it takes to achieve our objective!’ Taejax grabs hold of the Master by the collar of his robes. ‘Poseidonis will get the codes out of you, old friend.’
The intruders and the Master vanish from sight.
My heart pounds in my chest as I mentally run through what I must do. I move away from the pillar to find Manetho still pressed hard against me. ‘I must be about the bidding of the Master,’ I say and shrug him off.
Manetho pulls me around to face him. ‘Before I left, Master Hermes said something about not being able to save my brothers’ lives but that I could save their immortal souls,’ he says. ‘Do you know what he meant?’
‘I do,’ I say, and a kiss is my reward. ‘Stop that!’ I put a little distance between us in order to maintain my focus. The memory of his last kiss has been distracting me for months! ‘We are a little pressed for time.’
He suppressed a grin. ‘What do you need me to do?’
‘Report to the Pharaoh on the Master’s behalf and tell him to evacuate every soul he can to the inner Earth territories before dark and then seal the portholes closed.’ I look to the sun beyond the temple and note that I have the better part of the afternoon to achieve all I must. ‘Then meet me in the Hall of Time Codes,’ I tell him, and start towards the Master’s quarters beneath Giza.
‘Where are you going?’
‘To fetch a few items that I must deliver into safe hands,’ I call back. ‘I promised Master Hermes that, if all else fails, I will see these treasures to their appointed places of safekeeping before it is too late. So hurry—we have much to do!’
‘But what will happen if the Emperor gets the information he desires from the Master?’
I realised that Manetho hadn’t really understood the reptilians’ demands, which meant he was going to find it difficult to convince the Pharaoh that such an evacuation was necessary. I began to explain.
‘The Master suspects that Poseidonis has pirated some ankh tools and plans to use them to channel fifth-dimensional energy into the main crystal generator under Poseidonis. This will create a massive electromagnetic pulse that will shoot through the Earth’s crystal grid and into the Arc Porthole. With the Arc shields deactivated, the massive pulse will be channelled towards the Sphere of Amenti. When the Sphere is destroyed, the Emperor and his allies plan to extract the blue flame back down through the Arc Porthole and use it as an inexhaustible energy source.’
‘What?’ Manetho is perplexed, for he has not integrated the final time code and so has no knowledge of his work on the Amenti Project; something I hope to remedy before this day is out.
‘Trust me,’ I urge him, as time is wasting. ‘If the Sphere of Amenti is destroyed, humanity’s evolutionary blueprint will be erased forever. Every soul on Earth will be trapped in the lowest three dimensions of creation and continue to reincarnate as part of a slave class. Poseidonis and his minions will use them as miners to dig up the minerals they need for their potions of immortality and their technologies. They also use humans for genetic cross-breeding, and to feed to their drones to keep them strong.’
‘That doesn’t sound good,’ Manetho grants. ‘But what should I tell the Pharaoh?’
‘Tell him that by nightfall the known world will have disappeared. The Master will give Poseidonis false codes and the Arc Shields will deflect the blast back to where it came from, but this means Atlantis will be destroyed.’
Over the last couple of months, since my full integration of the time codes, Master Hermes and I have been working on ways of isolating the damage of the forthcoming disaster and reinforcing the Amenti system from future attack.
Via my super-conscious contact with Solarian, I was able to instruct the Staff of Amenti to decommission all the remaining power-generating crystals in the Earth’s power grid. These giant superconductive crystal clusters were set in place beneath the twelve stations of the Signet Grid to form an artificial energy matrix to distribute blue flame energy around the globe. Unlike Amenti, which grants access to different time–space locations upon Earth, the twelve stargates of the Signet system lead to different time–space locations on other planets within our universe. The matrix has a
lso powered the civilisations of surface Earth until now. The risk that the matrix might be abused by Poseidonis in the future poses a far greater threat to humanity’s evolution than being cast back to a primordial existence for an extensive time. So all the crystal power centres are now concealed within the Earth or beneath the oceans or icecaps for reactivation at a later date. All twelve Signet stations have fallen into darkness, as have all the great cities of surface Earth, bar the isle of Atlantis. The residents of the Earth believe that Poseidonis is to blame for the power failures, and ultimately he is.
Master Hermes and Solarian have also devised and implemented new security measures for the Amenti system. All the passages to the inner Earth territories are to be sealed and shielded, leaving only one way for a human being to physically enter the Sphere of Amenti from this time forth.
They have fashioned two objects to link together to form a key that will lock and unlock the Amenti system. One of the objects is a coiled ring, charged with the energy of the orange-gold flame of Earth’s morphogenetic field that is held in density two at the core of the planet. The second object is a staff charged with the blue flame morphogenetic field of Tara. Individually these tools can be used for healing, directing weather patterns and for construction purposes—much as the ankhs have been used in the past. The tools are stored within two lead-lined golden boxes constructed from imperishable wood, which are also batteries that serve to recharge the objects within when they are not in use.
It is my job this day to see these tools and their containers delivered into safe hiding at separate locations upon the globe, until such time as the rightful key-holders incarnate to open Amenti’s doors to all humanity. The Arc of the Ring will be taken with the Pharaoh and his royal family into the inner Earth territories, where it will be safeguarded by the Priests of Ur. The Arc of the Rod will be hidden on surface Earth, somewhere beyond the time and place of the pending disaster. But first I need Manetho to integrate the twelfth time code to help me arrange transportation for the Rod.
Manetho joins me in the hall of codes and reports that the evacuation is underway. Then he curiously eyes the golden box I have with me.
‘Afterwards,’ I say, and point with my torch towards the time code he must integrate. ‘The souls of all, including your brothers, are in peril.’
‘Lead on,’ Manetho says, and submits to my lengthy instruction. When it is completed, he feels as giddy and euphoric as I had. He staggers backward, then takes a seat on the ground to steady himself. ‘What have you done?’ he demands.
‘Try not to resist,’ I advise him, as the Master advised me.
‘I could never resist you, Solarian.’ Suddenly Manetho is acutely coherent.
I realise Manetho’s integration of the twelfth code has been successful as I feel Solarian come over me and take control of the situation. ‘Polaris?’ I say in her voice.
‘At your service, my lady.’ He grins broadly and I breathe a sigh of relief.
‘I need you to contact your key-holder and send him to this time–space location,’ I tell him, ‘at Mathu’s request.’
Just as he advises the task is done, a great rumbling comes from within the labyrinth. I fear that the Master has not been able to withhold his information from Poseidonis until dusk as planned. Then silence. I strain my ears and hear the sound of hurried footsteps approaching the Hall of Time Codes. For a moment my heart is gripped by the fear that Poseidonis has tortured Master Hermes to reveal our plans and now the serpent warriors are on their way to finish us off.
‘Fear not, it is the key-holder as requested,’ Polaris informs me.
I gasp as a fair, strangely clad version of Manetho enters the hall of codes. But I am not as surprised as Manetho, who leaps to his feet, dumbfounded.
‘Aleka.’ The fair-skinned stranger tips his hat to me, then looks to my stunned companion. ‘Manetho,’ he grins. ‘Captain Henry Sinclair at your service.’
‘Who are you?’ Manetho the man is perplexed, and yet his soul knows the answer.
‘I am a future you, who has walked the Halls of Amenti and been given the liberty to overcome time and death. Now, I believe you have something for me?’
‘Ah yes.’ I snap out of my stunned state and motion to the Arc.
‘There it is.’ Sinclair admiringly inspects the famous treasure. ‘Is the other Arc safely away?’
I nod, still in awe of this super-being.
‘Excellent.’ He stands, and the Arc levitates into the air beside him. Manetho and I gasp in amazement. I have mastered moving objects at will, although for me it takes great preparation and all my concentration; for this man it appears as simple as breathing in and out. Then I remind myself that he is more than human; he is an angel.
‘Where will you take it?’ I ask.
‘Do not fear, this treasure is taking a little trip seven thousand years into the future, to the time of Akhenaton, Pharaoh of Egpyt. He will be your Master incarnate, who will come to be known by his enlightened followers as the Mosis—the true and rightful heir to Egypt and to this.’
‘But how will you deliver it?’ Manetho is curious.
Sinclair waves us to follow him. ‘Allow me to show you.’
Manetho relieves me of my torch, enabling me to collect the Master’s Emerald Book, and we follow the captain through the labyrinth to a huge cavern. Stairs lead down to an earthen bridge that gives access across an abyss and into the porthole chamber that grants passage back to Giza. Beneath the bridge is a huge vessel, just floating in mid-air.
‘My ship, Kleio,’ announces Sinclair proudly. ‘Named for the Goddess of History.’
It is unlike any ship I have ever seen. Its body and sails are constructed from a dull silver metal and gold, and appear far too heavy for catching the breeze.
Manetho, being something of a seaman himself, is fascinated. ‘How do you power this?’ he asks.
‘It has many different sources, but at present it is running on the blue flame energy of the Earth grid. And as the grid is about to be shut down for a very long time, I had best be going, while the going is good.’ He walks onto the bridge, leaps from there to one of the metal sails and slides all the way down to the deck. The Arc of the Rod floats down to land on the deck also. ‘I would offer you a lift somewhere, but the ramifications on history…well.’ He shrugs in apology. ‘Besides, I believe that book needs to be somewhere else?’
I look at the Master’s Emerald Book of Knowledge, which I have sworn to deliver to a tomb inside the labyrinth; the Master has left me a map to find my way. ‘Dear heavens! I must hurry,’ I say. Nightfall cannot be far off. I turn to leave, but Manetho is still gazing at the Kleio.
‘I am going to be him some day,’ he says proudly as, without so much as a breath of wind, the huge vessel disappears in a blaze of light. Then he realises I am about to head in the opposite direction from that which leads to our salvation. ‘Where are you going?’ he says.
‘I promised the Master,’ I call back, already climbing the steep staircase that leads to the labyrinth.
Manetho tries to reason with me. ‘These tunnels may survive the forthcoming deluge, but without a society to sustain us, we will perish. We must return to Giza before the porthole to the inner Earth is closed!’
‘I know,’ I yell back, ‘but I need to do this first.’
I pause to pull out the Master’s map, and wait for Manetho to catch up as he is still in possession of the torch. The path marked leads to a set of open double doors at the end of a corridor. My heart begins to pound in my chest as we run towards them.
We enter a huge rounded shrine carved out of the natural rock. There is a round altar in the centre holding a large metal bowl filled with oil. Manetho ignites it with the torch; by its light we are able to see that the central altar is at the head of an oval sarcophagus. Its lid is inset with a fullbody sculpture of the Master Hermes.
‘The Master is going to die.’ My tears well as I realise this truth.
‘We
are going to die if you do not dispose of that book,’ Manetho says sternly, wishing to avoid a sentimental scene.
I lift the Emerald Book to place it on the sarcophagus. The stone hands of the sculpture reach out to take it from my grasp and I gasp, jumping back into Manetho’s embrace.
‘The Master’s magic knows no bounds,’ he says, grabbing my hand. ‘Time to get to safety.’
I run with Manetho back through the maze, down the stairs, across the cavern bridge and into the porthole that leads to Giza.
Upon entering the altar room, we are thrown from our feet by the violent shaking of the Earth. Guards are ushering people down a staircase that runs beneath the altar block, the huge stone pushed back this day to allow passage. ‘Hurry, your Holinesses,’ the leader calls upon seeing us. He is ready to order the altar stone pushed back into place in his wake, but stalls the command to wait for us.
The stairs fall into darkness as the entrance is closed over, and for the longest time we descend in confined blackness, the passageway around us shaking violently. My only comfort is in knowing that these stairs have withstood this kind of abuse many times throughout history. Below, I see light and hear voices yelling warning of their intent to close the porthole.
‘We are the last,’ the guard with us calls out to stall them.
The light comes from an open porthole made of solid gold. We step through it into a long tubular passage with walls lined with running liquid-light, yet not one drop falls upon those who traverse it. I am running with all my might when a great rumble resounds through the tunnel and I am thrown to the ground. The passage begins to collapse behind us and the liquid-light swirls towards us at a frightening pace. Manetho drags me to my feet and I am gripped by fear as I realise we are not going to make it to the antechamber beyond the porthole.
Manetho embraces me as the pulverising force of the collapsing liquid-light field engulfs us. In an instant all the burdens of my mortal life are crushed into blissful oblivion. And Atlantis disappears forever.
The Dragon Queens (The Mystique Trilogy) Page 37
