The Way of the Seed_Earth Spawn of Kalpeon

by Richard Dean Hall

  As the boy scurried away, the Hery Seshta stared quietly at the mummy. It had been exactly sixty-eight days since Ay had arrived with the body.

  91

  On a clear, hot morning exactly seventy days after the body had been delivered to the mortuary temple, a funerary procession wove through the Valley of the Kings. Custom dictated the new king lead the way, so Ay walked at the front to announce his ascent to the throne. Behind Ay came the Hery Seshta, followed by several other high priests. Behind them, lesser priests carried the mummy three to a side on a gilded ebony slab inlaid with silver and ivory. Behind the mummy followed a group of the high royalty and a like number of revered elder administrators of the city. Trailing the procession was a military escort of fifteen chariots and one hundred solders on foot.

  As instructed by Ay, the four-chambered tomb had been constructed a full month before the mummification process was completed. The entire structure was carved out of rock below the valley floor, the entrance consisting of nothing more than wide steps leading down to the subterranean entrance. All the chambers were filled with thousands of items the king would need in the afterlife.

  The inner burial chamber contained a large, golden shrine centered above a stone sarcophagus containing three coffins nested within each other. The innermost coffin, made of solid gold, would hold the mummy. On a table next to the sarcophagus rested the bow case and bows crafted by Ott and Graf. The case had been placed there by orders from Ay.

  When the procession reached the tomb, they realized they had arrived at a remote area bordering the wilderness. They were greeted by only a dozen necropolis guards standing beside the entrance. As everyone stood in place, Ay peered down at the opening of the underground tomb. Satisfied, he motioned the priests forward. They carried the mummy forward to an area in front of the stairs where Ay and the Hery Seshta stood side by side. With a silent nod, the Hery Seshta pointed to the mummy, and the priests lowered the bottom section of the platform to the ground, angling the top up until the mummy faced Ay and the Hery Seshta.

  The Opening of the Mouth Ceremony was the last ritual performed before any pharaonic mummy was entombed, and it was always performed by the new king. With the mummy secured in an upright position, the Hery Seshta bowed to Ay and extended a solid gold crook tipped with a small, crescent-shaped blade.

  As the Hery Seshta and the other priests began a slow incantation, Ay grasped the crook in both hands and incised a small slit in the mummy’s mouth area. He then softly touched the hooked area of the crook to the areas of the eyes, nostrils, and ears. When finished, the mummy was vivified and capable of receiving offerings and sustenance in the afterlife. The slit would also allow the king’s ka, or soul, to return to the body.

  The priests continued chanting the magical incantation for several moments, and then, as they fell silent, Ay motioned to the priests holding the platform. The priests reclined the mummy and descended the stairway into the tomb, followed by Ay and the Hery Seshta.

  In the burial chamber the mummy was placed in the golden coffin, and the magnificent gold death mask was positioned over the head and around the shoulders. Before placing the gold lid, Ay leaned closer and read the inscription he had ordered carved above and behind the mummy’s head. The inscription referenced Tutankhamun by his throne name, Nebkheperure. It read: “The good god, Lord of the Two Lands, Nebkheperure, given life for eternity.”

  As Ay straightened and looked at the mummy of the nameless boy for the last time, the truth and irony of the inscription caused him to slowly shake his head.

  With the gold coffin sealed and nestled within the two others, Ay ordered the priests from the tomb. He would be the last to leave. Alone in the tomb, he turned his gaze to the bow case. The sight of Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun gliding out over the river in the craft swirled in his mind. He knew he would never understand what he had seen, but he had fulfilled the king’s last request. Now he and Horemheb would use all their power to continue the way of maat in the kingdom of the Remeth.

  As Ay reached the top of the steps, he stared directly into the sky and muttered, “Un-k ar kes neteru. You exist at the side of the gods.”

  The funerary procession, led by Ay, retreated from the valley under the heat of a glaring midday sun. Workers walled up the tomb’s entrance, plastered it over, and marked it with a necropolis seal. By the end of the day, they filled the steps with sand. Unlike any other tombs in the valley, it was completely undetectable.

  92

  Ay’s reign was intended to last only until Horemheb fortified the major cities and borders of the kingdom, but an unexpected incursion of invading Hittite forces from the north pulled Horemheb into a protracted war that ground on for almost three years until Horemheb and his army of seasoned veterans, fronted by the elite Maryannu chariot corps, delivered a final, crushing defeat.

  A week after the decisive battle, Horemheb assembled his army for a triumphant return to Thebes. The borders and cities were secure, and there was no military force in the known world that could challenge the might of the Remeth. Horemheb led his victorious army on the two-week trek, his troops looking forward to the hero’s welcome that awaited them, but the celebration would be tempered by news brought by messenger.

  Ay was dead. He had died only two days before of natural causes, and his body was being prepared for the afterlife. Horemheb was saddened to learn his friend and ally of so many years had passed, but being sensitive to the needs of his troops, he ordered a weeklong celebration to welcome them home. Horemheb ascended the throne seventy days after Ay’s death.

  His military leadership and prowess proven, Horemheb was celebrated throughout the entire kingdom. His reign would last for almost sixty years, and through it all he would rule with a strength and benevolence that perpetuated the harmony of the people and the balance of the kingdom, just as the boy king had requested.

  On a starry night toward the end of his reign, Horemheb stood on the palace veranda overlooking the black stretch of water that flowed calmly north. Ripples snaked across the surface, shimmering in the light of a silvery harvest moon, and the pristine night air was heavy with the river’s earthy fragrance. As the now old king stared out over the serenity and beauty of the river, he thought back to a night almost sixty years before when he had watched as a young king and queen had raised their hands in farewell and glided out over the river on a ship from the heavens.

  Turning back toward the palace, Horemheb lifted his wrinkled old face and cloudy eyes to the sky and whispered, “Neteru.”

  With the passing of centuries, the shifting desert sands in the Valley of the Kings grew thick over a forgotten tomb containing the mummified body of a nameless boy. Throughout the kingdom of the Remeth, all memory of a young king and his queen faded to obscurity, and the names of Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun were lost to the passage of time.

  EPILOGUE

  Over thirty-four thousand years had passed since Ott, Cha, Graf, and Yaan had first been taken. Since that time, the population of the planet had grown to almost three hundred million people. Robfebe had been correct when she had predicted that the majority of the population would be naturals. Of the three hundred million people on the entire planet, slightly less than ten million had evolved from the seed. The retrieval and transformation process were continuous and would remain so into the future. Now Ott, Cha, Graf, and Yaan once again were living in a retrieval habitat until they would be reinserted into the growing world civilization.

  There were over fifty thousand of the seed living in the habitat, and all of them had been retrieved within the previous year. Everyone had been scanned and evaluated. Biological, genetic, and additional nanorobotic modifications would be completed after they had been placed in suspension. They would remain in suspended animation for varying amounts of time and reintroduced to evolving cultures at staggered intervals.

  Ott, Cha, Graf, and Yaan, now joined by Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun, were the last to be retrieved. Having undergone the accelerat
ed indoctrination and simulation programs ordered by Barjeen, they understood his mission and vision for the future of the planet. How and when that mission would be accomplished, and that vision made reality, was as unknown as the future.

  Two weeks after their retrieval, everyone sat on a grassy knoll on the far side of the habitat looking out through the transparent structure of the dome that extended over two hundred stories up and back until it disappeared into the ship. To their front, the reddish-brown desert sand rolled in undulating dunes to the distant horizon and met an azure sky bright with sunlight shining through the unpolluted atmosphere. Barjeen had asked that everyone gather along the knoll, and the entire assembled group awaited his arrival. Unbeknownst to everyone, it would be the last time they would see him or Robfebe for centuries.

  With Robfebe seated comfortably beside him, Barjeen guided the gravaeron through the colossal starcraft on a heading for the terraformed biodome containing the habitat. As the tiny craft approached the dome, he slowed it and descended several stories before centering on the entrance into the domed habitat. The gravaeron slipped through the large, ovular opening and continued across the top of the habitat to the far side, where Barjeen pulled it to a hover and then maneuvered it straight down while rotating the craft to face the assembly. The craft came to a rest in the thick grass a few yards in front of where Ott and the others sat silent and transfixed.

  Barjeen stepped from the craft. As he strode forward, his posture and demeanor hinted at a quiet ebullience. He walked fully erect and patted his palms together as though contemplating what he was about to say. The corners of his mouth tipped up in a closed-lipped smile, and his eyes shined with satisfaction as they darted from one end of the gathering to the other.

  He stopped a few feet in front of Ott, and as Robfebe joined him, everyone along the entire length of the knoll stood and looked in their direction. Though everyone remained silent and still, the anticipation was palpable.

  With a visage of pride and admiration, he gazed into the faces of Ott, Cha, Graf, and Yaan, and then looked to Asil and Ece, and last to the wide-eyed faces of Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun. These chosen ones and others like them would someday be responsible for this planet. When that day came, his mission would be complete—and successful. The chosen ones would be ready. Nodding to himself, he tapped at the comorb attached to the front of his chest to amplify his voice for everyone to hear.

  He spoke in Kalpeoni, the language of the home planet that all the seed had been taught through hypnopedia during their first suspension and enhancement periods.

  “All of you, from the very first taken to the most recent, have seen the way of life on this world so far.” He motioned to Ott and the others, and then to Tutankhamun and Ankhesenamun. “And all of you have experienced my vision for the final way of the seed of this world.”

  Barjeen paused, and his visage grew more somber. “But today, you shall experience this world in a different way. You will come to understand it for what it is.” Motioning everyone to sit, Barjeen tapped his comorb. He and Robfebe sat and faced the front of the dome.

  As everyone stared out in silence, a low hum filled the air and a barely perceptible vibration surged through the ground. A few seconds later, a thick, milky-white cloud curled down over the entire surface of the dome, obscuring the view.

  The initial ascent was virtually undetectable, and silent save for the low humming. At a height of three hundred feet, the last of the vapor rolled down over the dome’s surface and dissipated, revealing a magnificent panoramic view of Thebes. The starcraft continued rising until the full width of the river and all the brown-and-green-patched fields pulled into view, followed by the desert beyond. The rate of ascent continued to increase, and within a few seconds the entire expanse of the upper regions sprawled below. At three thousand feet, the craft glided forward, and moments later, Thebes and all the upper regions disappeared from view as the craft approached the coast. The giant ship sped low over the sparkling water, slowed over the center, and then accelerated straight up, diminishing the sea and pulling the entire landmass of the Mediterranean Basin into view. The ship again slowed to a hover, then powered north, flashing over the dark ocean waters. Barjeen’s tour of the planet was underway.

  In a deliberate pattern, the starcraft traversed the planet around the equator and circled the poles. In the habitat’s gravity-controlled and inertia-free environment, the only sense of movement was the imagery that flashed and crawled beyond the surface of the dome. It was enthralling.

  From vast savannahs teeming with huge herds of animals and pocked with shimmering lakes and rivers to barren, sun-scorched deserts and glistening mountain plateaus smothered in snow, the starcraft brought them all into view. It glided above endless canopies of tropical forests and hovered above the highest mountain peaks blasted by howling winds flecked with clouds of ice. All the beauty and grand scope of the planet’s natural environment was brought to bear on everyone’s senses, but an even more fascinating destination lay ahead.

  The ship skimmed just above the towering peaks of the Andes before turning out over what would someday be called the Pacific Ocean. Accelerating low over the calm water, the ship pulled up a turbulent geyser of whitewater in its wake. In just moments, the ship reached midpoint in the ocean, where it decelerated and hovered just above the soft, rolling swells like an island unto itself. The view from the knoll was nothing but dark water meeting the sky at the distant horizon, but then a second later, the ship descended, and a gurgling wall of frothy water streamed over the front of the dome. In seconds, the entire habitat was submerged.

  Illuminated in a gold-white curtain of sunlight filtering through the surface, the visibility was clear and the water alive with marine life. Sharks cruised in random circling patterns as thousands of smaller fishes darted in all directions. Huge schools flashed in perfect synchronized maneuvers like living, underwater clouds.

  The surreal view from the submerged habitat was intensified as a pod of ten sperm whales rose from the depths and angled across the front of the dome. The eight females were enormous, but the two males were absolute leviathans, stretching to over seventy feet in length and easily weighing over forty tons each. Along the knoll, everyone stared in awe as the massive mammals angled away from the dome and swam effortlessly away, fanning the water with their huge, horizontal flukes. As the whales disappeared into the murky depths, the starcraft ascended, and seconds later the dome broke the surface into brilliant sunlight and hung just above the rolling, blue-black swells.

  In the habitat, Barjeen turned his gaze to the knoll and adjusted the comorb. “Today you have witnessed this world’s vast and diverse natural beauty. Now you know it is much larger than you ever imagined, but it is also very small. Today you will start to understand just how infinitesimal it is in the sea of space we call the universe.”

  Barjeen adjusted the comorb and spoke to the flight crew. A second later, the water below the craft churned a frothy white and the vibration in the habitat increased as the entire surface of the dome sparked and popped with static-like blue streaks and the craft rocketed straight up. In seconds, the vast expanse of the ocean receded and the upper curvature of the planet came into view. The speed of ascent increased exponentially, the view from the dome a dazzling blur of blue and white that sped by before blinking to deep black as the craft flashed out of the atmosphere and into space. The mammoth craft sliced through the black vacuum for several more seconds, rolled under the moon, and decelerated as it climbed above the dark side and pulled to a hover.

  All along the knoll, mouths fell open at the sight before them. Earth had shrunk to a large, round orb with its blue surface shining through a wispy, dappled smattering of clouds. Spellbound, everyone sat motionless as Barjeen’s voice rose through the silence.

  “Today you have seen the beauty and size of your world from its surface, and now you see it as it is in the heavens.” He pointed out through the dome. “There are countless planets in the he
avens, but this one is your home for now. It provides you with everything you require. You have experienced the connectivity of the people of Kalpeon and the life we call the way. That life will eventually be the way on this planet. You may at times doubt that, but rest assured, it will.”

  Barjeen paused for a moment and then looked to Robfebe, who nodded in affirmation.

  “You will soon be back on the planet to live as you will until we return,” Barjeen said, sweeping an outstretched hand over the crowd. “Your will is free. Do as you wish, and learn.”

  Then, with Robfebe at his side, he stepped into the gravaeron. He gazed from one end of the knoll to the other, and a second later, the gravaeron soared up and shot forward through the opening leading to the interior of the ship.

  As Ott, Cha, Graf, and Yaan exchanged silent glances, the starcraft dipped below the moon and accelerated down. The black drape of space beyond the dome flashed to a blurred, brilliant blue, and a moment later the giant craft was sitting on the desert sand.

  That night as everyone slept, vapors wafted throughout the habitat. Moments later, teams of biosyndrones led by biotechs entered and began converting the domed structures to suspension chambers, where all the seed would be maintained and further transformed until reintroduced into the evolving cultures of Planet Earth. When the teams finished, Ott, Cha, Graf, and Yaan once again floated in dreamless sleep, this time joined by a young king and his queen.

  Later that night, as shadows of clouds played across the full desert moon, the biosphere disengaged from the starcraft, lifted above the desert, and soared south, where it landed in a dense, uninhabited area of thick rainforest. The following morning, as the starcraft lifted from the surface of the planet, Barjeen and Robfebe stood in the observation pod. They were satisfied that the journey of those of the seed was well underway, but they knew the final transition was yet to come—and it was never without remorse. But it would be done . . . when the time came.