The Sphinx a5-4

by Robert Doherty

  “I believe UNAOC would pay for any Airlia-related information,” Yakov said. Thick bushy eyebrows lifted in mock amazement. “Are you trying to bribe me? That is a crime.”

  “I cannot bribe you,” Yakov said, “because you say you do not have the information I am seeking. I just mentioned that UNAOC would probably pay for that information. It is you who are making the connection between that statement and yourself.”

  “Very cute.” Lyoncheka leaned back and steepled his thick, sausagelike fingers. “I do not enjoy playing word games. Tell me, do you know who destroyed Stantsiya Chyort?”

  “I do now. The Ones Who Wait.”

  Lyoncheka nodded. “It is a terrible shame. The Americans are having trouble also. Their Area 51 was attacked from the sky, was it not? And there have been reports of a nuclear explosion in the… what do they call it… their heartland? And one of their shuttles destroyed on the ground. Their government vehemently denies such stories, of course. I also understand their fleet off Easter Island has had some trouble?”

  “I know nothing of any of that.”

  “But you want information from me?” Lyoncheka pulled a bottle out of a drawer and two glasses. He poured a generous amount into both. He shoved one across his desk, and Yakov picked it up.

  “To Mother Russia,” Lyoncheka proposed.

  “To Mother Russia,” Yakov agreed, but his hand paused at Lyoncheka’s next words.

  “I do not think you put your country first.”

  Yakov put the glass down on the desk and waited for the other man to continue. “You will toast our country, yet you work for the Americans.”

  “I do not work for the Americans,” Yakov said.

  “You let your Section Four comrades get killed, yet you immediately go to the American Area 51 instead of coming home. You seem in no desire to avenge the deaths of your comrades.”

  “There are larger issues,” Yakov said.

  “Larger than Russia?”

  “Larger than Russia.”

  “There is nothing larger than Russia,” Lyoncheka said flatly.

  “The world is larger than Russia,” Yakov argued.

  “Not to me.” Lyoncheka took a drink. “Not to me, comrade. I served the Soviet and I serve the new state, but it is all the same to me. The old women cleaning snow off their steps with whisk brooms, the children playing in the parks, the men working in the factories. I serve them.” He abruptly changed directions. “The Americans’ Majestic-12 was infiltrated by these aliens, was it not?”

  “Yes. Their minds were affected by an alien computer they uncovered at Tiahuanaco in Bolivia. They brought it back to their lab at Dulce in the state of New Mexico. It directed them to fly the mothership, working most likely because of a program that was activated when they uncovered the guardian.”

  “I know all that,” Lyoncheka said. “Don’t you think it highly likely that maybe some of our own people have also been so affected?”

  Yakov nodded. “I have always considered that a possibility.”

  Lyoncheka lifted his glass, unwrapped his index finger from around it, and pointed it at Yakov. “You think me, perhaps?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Would I know if I was?”

  Yakov blinked. “I don’t know.”

  “And if you were, would you know? Would I?”

  Yakov didn’t say anything. He wondered where this was heading.

  “Section Four caught one of these human-alien creatures… didn’t you?”

  “Years ago,” Yakov acknowledged. “It chose to die rather than be questioned. We autopsied it and found evidence of cloning. And some nonhuman genetic material.”

  “Yes, but the others, the humans affected mentally by this guardian computer, they are not so easy to discover. They are just like you and me. The Americans had one on their shuttle crew who killed his shipmates,” Lyoncheka said. “And then there are these Watchers… who blew up that other shuttle. So many groups, so many enemies. And now they are tightening the noose. The American President is threatening our president with retaliation if Stratzyda is used against his country, even though we no longer control the satellite and can do nothing to stop it.

  “I am neither progressive, saying let us work with these aliens, nor am I isolationist, saying let us ignore them. You cannot ignore a threat. I am Russian. I say we fight them.” Lyoncheka leaned forward and his voice dropped. “But they are all around us. They have tried to get to me before. You can trust no one.” A large meaty fist slammed down on the top of the desk.

  “To stop them we need something,” Yakov said. “Something from the Archives.” Lyoncheka cocked his head. “What exactly do you need?”

  “A key. With it we can stop Stratzyda.”

  Lyoncheka remained still for a minute before he spoke. “The Archives you look for exist. I can give you some help. But you must remember, Russia comes first.” Lyoncheka slid a piece of paper across the desk. “Meet me there, this evening.”

  Area 51

  D — 17 Hours, 30 Minutes

  Quinn turned the scepter so that the ruby eyes glittered in the overhead lights of the conference room. It was not what von Seeckt had described. “It’s heavy. There’s something inside.”

  Mualama nodded. “I suspect it is some sort of machine that functions as a key.”

  They both looked up as the door to the conference room slammed open and Lisa Duncan walked in. She had raced back to Area 51 from the Nellis hospital after getting Major Quinn’s report that Professor Mualama had withheld an artifact… a key.

  Quinn placed it down on the table, and Duncan picked it up. She wasted no time on recriminations. They had seventeen hours before Lexina’s deadline.

  “What do you think it opens?” she asked Mualama.

  “I’ve made a barely legible translation of the marker. Knowing that this”… he tapped the scepter… “is a key pulled it all together.”

  Duncan had no more patience. “It goes to the lowest level of Qian-Ling?” Mualama frowned. “Qian-Ling?”

  “The tomb in China.”

  “Dear lady, I know what Qian-Ling is. And there is a reference to China on the tablet.” He pulled out a notepad and flipped through it. “Here. It says: ‘Admiral Cing Ho… In the Year 2038… brought the power and the key. The power stayed. The key was passed on to the ones from the inner sea.’”

  “Is this the key to Qian-Ling?”

  “I do not think so.”

  Duncan closed her eyes to collect her thoughts. “What is 2038 from the Chinese calendar in the Western calendar?” she asked.

  Mualama thought for a few moments. “Six fifty-six B.C.”

  “Who was this Admiral Cing Ho?” Duncan asked.

  “I do not know.”

  Duncan looked at the translation for a few seconds. “The power… could that be the ruby sphere we found in the Great Rift Valley?”

  “Very likely,” Mualama agreed.

  “But if the Qian-Ling key was passed on”… Duncan tapped the scepter… “what is this?”

  “A different key,” Mualama said.

  “‘A different key.’” Duncan sat down and put her head in her hands. After von Seeckt’s disclosures, she had to force herself to focus. “One thing at a time. You say this isn’t the Qian-Ling key?”

  Mualama was patient. “No, I don’t believe so. According to the marker, it is… ”

  Duncan held up her hand. “Okay. Do you know where the Qian-Ling key is?”

  “If it is the key discussed on the stone,” Mualama said, “it was passed on to those from the inner sea, which means the Mediterranean. In 656 B.C., that could be one of several groups of people. Rome was not yet founded, but the Greeks controlled a good portion of the Mediterranean. The Assyrian Empire, which ruled from Turkey along the crescent of the eastern Mediterranean to Egypt, was still in power, although its capital, Nineveh, was sacked not long afterward, in 612 B.C.”

  “In other words, you have no clue where the key mentioned o
n the stone went,” Duncan summarized.

  “That key, yes. Although I suspect there may be other ways to try to track it down.”

  “How?”

  “This key might lead us to information that will lead us to that key,” Mualama said. “In fact, this key may lead us to the truth. The entire truth.”

  “What do you mean?” Duncan asked. “If not Qian-Ling, What is the scepter a key to?”

  “I suspect a room. A hiding place.”

  “A room where?” Duncan demanded.

  “I believe it is the key to the Hall of Records.”

  “What Hall of Records?” Duncan asked.

  “According to legend,” Mualama said, “there is a hidden chamber that contains the entire lost history of mankind. Going back much further than our current recorded history. To the island of Atlantis and a fantastic kingdom on the island.”

  “We know Atlantis did exist,” Duncan said, “so maybe this Hall of Records exists. But wasn’t the Hall destroyed when Atlantis was blasted?”

  “Not according to legend.”

  “In what form are the Records kept?”

  “I don’t know, but whatever form it was, I believe it was kept in the Ark of the Covenant,” Mualama said. “Ms. Duncan, you must bear with me. I have spent many years tracking down legends and rumors. My translation of the runes was tainted by my own knowledge, so some of what I think I know will disagree with some of what your UNAOC scientists think. I don’t… ”

  “Professor,” Duncan interrupted him. “I have seen many strange things in the past month. Things I never dreamed existed. So please, speak freely. My belief is that by the time our scientists figure all this out, it will be much too late. As you say, perhaps this Hall of Records will tell us where the Qian-Ling key is, and we desperately need that. I trust your intuition… you did find the grave site, after all. And I do want the full story of how you did that when we have some time.”

  “All right,” Mualama said. “I believe this record of history is contained in the Ark of the Covenant. I believe for most of its existence the Ark was stored inside the Hall of Records. I also believe, though, that this record may have had other names throughout our history.”

  “Where is this hidden Hall that holds the Ark?” Duncan asked.

  “According to the marker, it is located under the Highland of Aker, in one of the six divisions of the Duat, along the Roads of Rostau.”

  Duncan simply stared at Mualama, waiting for him to say it in English.

  “I believe what we are looking for is hidden underneath the Great Sphinx on the Giza Plateau.”

  Giza again, Duncan thought. All the more reason to go there now.

  Mualama continued. “The Sphinx has always been something of an enigma. Archaeologists can’t agree on when it was built, but they do agree that it was constructed at an earlier time than the three large pyramids behind it.”

  “How much earlier?” Duncan asked.

  “Anywhere from five to six thousand years before the pyramids,” Mualama said.

  “So it could have been built at the same time that Atlantis was flourishing under the Airlia,” Duncan said. She signaled with her hand to Major Quinn, who began quietly accessing one of the portable computers built into the conference tabletop as they spoke.

  Mualama responded to Duncan’s statement. “Yes. There are those who claim the Sphinx is twelve to thirteen thousand years old, dating to around 10,000 B.C.”

  “Do you think it is that old?” Duncan asked.

  “I have been there,” Mualama said. “I believe it very well could have been built that long ago. Have you ever thought about Egypt’s history?”

  “What do you mean?” Duncan asked.

  “Egyptologists.” Mualama’s voice showed his contempt. “There is so much they ignore or don’t think about. The alignment with the stars of the entire Giza complex. Even though the pyramids were indeed built around the time they say, they never quite explain the alignment with the various star systems that the shafts in the three pyramids have. The alignments suggest that while the pyramid complex was built in the Fourth Dynasty, between 2613 and 2494 B.C., it was planned around 10,450 B.C. With modern computers that can scroll back through the star charts… using a method called precession… this is obvious, but no one speaks of it.

  “But the most fascinating thing, the most amazing ignored fact, is the lack of development in ancient Egypt. It’s as if we are supposed to believe that for almost four thousand years of rule, nothing changed, nothing developed. The civilization just sprang fully formed into being with the reign of the Pharaoh Menes and pretty much stayed at the same technological level all that time. Think of it. If you were an archaeologist a thousand years from now and you excavated Cairo, would you not be able to see a vast difference between buildings from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries? Just a hundred years. But we look over the course of thousands of years in ancient Egypt and all is the same. You know how they date the Sphinx? Someone scribbles a name in hieroglyphics somewhere and the ‘experts’ say, aha, it must have been built then!

  “They ignore the state of the rock, the construction, the weathering, and they focus everything on the stela between the paws. The dating of the Sphinx, according to the experts, is all based upon a single syllable on a stela found between the paws. Even though the experts agree that the stela is not of the same age as the Sphinx, that it was placed there later. It is dated to the Pharaoh Thutmosis IV, who ruled from 1401 to 1391 B.C., who tried to clear the Sphinx of the sand that constantly surrounded its body.

  “He put a stela, a stone tablet, between the paws, and on the thirteenth line it has the word Khaf, which Egyptologists say refers to the Pharaoh Khafre, who ruled between 2520 and 2494 B.C. and thus must have built the Sphinx, according to their inductive logic.

  “I have seen this stela. You cannot even read the writing anymore, as the stone has deteriorated so badly over the years. The only way they even have an idea what was written there is that someone made a copy of what was written. So it is a case of a copy of writing on a stone not contemporary with the Sphinx, all relying on one word, being the leading case for dating the Sphinx to the realm of Khafre.

  “Something that is interesting about the stela is a line that says the Sphinx is the embodiment of great magical power from the beginning of time. Even most Egyptologists agree that there were three eras to ancient Egypt if one studies the texts of the early Egyptians. The first was the time of the Neteru, or gods. Most people consider this not a real time but rather a mythological time, which saw the gods go through various struggles, ending with the accession of Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris. The second phase was that of Shemsu Hor, which means the followers of Horus. This ended when Menes unified the Upper and Lower Kingdoms and started the first dynasty of pharaohs. All our focus has been on the time from Menes forward, because it was believed that the two earlier ages were mythical, but what if they were real?

  “What if the Neteru were the Airlia? In myth, the Neteru were said to have fair skin and red hair, most unusual for that part of the world, but very fitting for the Airlia, don’t you think? And what if the Shemsu Hor were the humans who survived Atlantis and began civilization in Egypt?”

  “What you’re saying,” Duncan interrupted, “is that if the Great Sphinx was built around 10,000 B.C., then it might have been made by the Airlia.”

  “Or humans who followed the Airlia’s orders. There is much about the Sphinx that is strange. Because it lies in the shadow of the Great Pyramid, the Sphinx has not had as much attention paid to it as it should. It is quite remarkable in its own right.

  “First you must consider what a sphinx is. No one quite knows whose face is that on the Sphinx. In fact, it is very likely that the original face was altered at a later date during one of the many restorations of the Sphinx.

  “The Great Sphinx is called the ‘father of terrors’ by the Arabs, which is a strange title. One has to wonder where that name came from. It s
its on the west bank of the Nile and looks to the east, into the rising sun.

  “The main body of the statue was carved out of a huge, solid, limestone rock. I don’t know the exact dimensions,” Mualama said, “but it is quite large.”

  “The face is nineteen feet from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the chin.” Major Quinn was looking at his laptop screen. “It’s slightly wider than high. The body length is a hundred and seventy-two feet and the total height from base to top of the head is sixty-six feet.

  “According to official and accepted records,” Quinn continued, “it was built around 2,500 B.C. and the likeness is that of King Khafre. But we all know that we have to read official records with a jaundiced eye,” he added.

  “That is indeed so,” Mualama said. “One interesting aspect about dating the Sphinx is that a study of the surface concluded that the base and the stones on the temple wall around it were eroded by water. As we all know, the Giza Plateau lies on the edge of the Sahara Desert, a region which has been dry for nine thousand years. However, there is speculation that before that time, about ten thousand years ago, the area was heavily vegetated and the Nile much larger than it is now, forming lakes. Which might account for the water erosion.

  “Another interesting aspect is that although the main body of the Sphinx was carved out of a solid block of limestone, the base, the paws, and the wall around it were made of blocks of limestone, much like the Great Pyramid. The difference is that the blocks around the Sphinx are much larger than those used in the pyramids. The largest weigh two hundred tons. If one wonders how the ancient Egyptians moved the blocks that made the pyramids, you truly have to marvel how these huge blocks were transported so long ago. Modern engineers are stumped as to how this could have been done, as there are only two cranes in existence today that could move such heavy stones.

  “It is believed that there is an entrance to a network of underground tunnels between the paws of the Sphinx. If the Ark is hidden anywhere, I would say it is underneath. According to legend, there are two gateways to the Roads of Rastau, one on land and one in the water.”