by Petra James
‘Thanks, I guess,’ said Arkie pulling her hoodie tight around her neck. ‘Brrrr.’
‘Double brrrr,’ said TJ. ‘It’s because we’re in a desert. They get very cold and very hot. And the Sahara Desert is the hottest desert in the world. Temperatures can get up to 58 degrees Celsius.’
‘Doesn’t your head hurt with all those facts constantly bumping into each other?’ said Arkie.
‘No, I’m very neat and my brain is too,’ said TJ. ‘Everything’s filed in the right cortex. And that’s just as well because did you know that the average human has about 70,000 thoughts a day? Of course, considering I’m not your average human, I probably have at least double that.’
She squeezed out some cream from a red and white tube and handed it to Arkie. ‘I found this in BLUR’s glove box. We might need it.’
‘What is it?’ said Arkie. ‘Kidnapper repellent? Invisibility cream?’
‘No, it’s sunblock,’ said TJ. ‘I wear it every day.’
Arkie looked at her watch. It was nearly six o’clock. Buses were pulling up in front of them and excited chatter in many different languages jostled in the air as the tourists spilled into the desert morning.
‘Come on,’ said Arkie. ‘Let’s mingle. Mum says a crowd is the best camouflage.’
As they walked up the hill from the lake, they could see a small temple on their right, nestled into the mountain.
‘That’s Queen Nefertari’s temple, also dedicated to the goddess Hathor,’ said Arkie, reading from DATAMAX. ‘Nefertari is one of the best-known Egyptian queens, along with Hatshepsut and Cleopatra.’
‘I hope our Cleopatra’s okay by herself,’ said TJ.
‘She’ll be fine,’ said Arkie. ‘I left her watching Stuart Little on Dad’s iPad.’
‘She loves that mouse,’ said TJ.
They were now standing in front of the temple of Ramses II. Four giant statues of the pharaoh guarded the entrance, while smaller statues of Ramses’ children, and Nefertari, stood at their feet.
Arkie had seen pictures of the temple before but a picture was nothing like the real thing.
As she gazed at the enormous statues before her, so solid and ageless, she was overwhelmed. I am a tiny speck of nothing, she thought. This temple has been here for thousands and thousands of years! I’ve only been here for eleven years. How can I find seven treasures and rescue Mum and Dad – in seven days?
TJ didn’t say anything but Arkie could tell she was thinking the same small thing.
But no one else is going to find Mum and Dad, thought Arkie. We’re all they’ve got.
‘Come on, TJ,’ she said, shaking her thoughts away as people pushed behind them, eager to see inside the temple. ‘We’ve got a treasure to find.’
They walked into the Grand Hall, a cavernous space – tall and wide – filled with more massive statues of Ramses II. They stood on both sides of the hall, attached to pillars that supported the roof. Their hands were folded across their chests and they were all holding the hook and scourge – the emblems of the god Osiris.
‘Do you think there was a typo on the order form?’ said TJ, counting the statues. ‘Maybe Ramses asked for two statues in total and an ancient scribe with a dodgy reed wrote twelve by mistake.’
‘They had lots of statues to show their power,’ said Arkie. ‘Ramses is saying: “I am so mighty I am ME times twelve.”’
‘Hey, I like that idea,’ said TJ.
They walked further into the temple – through the fusty air and the dimming light. As they passed the many side chambers, the rooms became smaller.
Finally, they reached the innermost chapel, which was cordoned off by rope. It was dark and gloomy, and people were squeezing into every corner. Pictures of the king in his chariot, shooting arrows against his enemies, covered the walls.
The four gods were sitting against the back wall of the room, waiting.
‘What are we looking for exactly?’ said TJ.
‘Something that doesn’t fit,’ said Arkie. Her dad always said treasure hunts were like jigsaw puzzles. But you had to find all the pieces first.
‘Doesn’t fit how?’ said TJ.
‘I don’t know yet,’ said Arkie. ‘But just keep looking. We’ll know it when we see it.’
I hope, she thought.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ said a guide, holding his hand up to silence the crowd. ‘The great sun god Ra is about to begin his journey across the sky. We shall begin the countdown to this momentous event.
10
9
8 . . .
Everyone began to count with him. The numbers boomed through the temple and around the statues of Ramses as though he too was joining the chant.
Arkie glanced around her nervously. She touched her THinc ring for good luck. This was it. There was no turning back.
She took a deep breath. And the mighty sun began to creep through the gloom of the temple.
Sun Ray, Sun Say
At first, it was a tiny toe of light, peeking around the entrance to the temple.
Then the light surged forward – powerful and growing even more so – swift and precise, like an arrow seeking its mark.
Everyone was hushed, following the path of the sun’s rays through the temple.
And the gods sat immobile, unblinking; watched and watching.
Arkie held her breath as the light edged closer and closer to the gods.
Then, it struck.
As the shrine was illuminated by the sun, Ramses, Ra and Amun suddenly shone, as though lit from within.
People gasped. They clapped and shouted in excitement, cheers echoing around them. It was a moment of the gods – a gift for the mortals.
TJ and Arkie clapped in delight too. TJ was even speechless.
As the light blazed around the three gods – the chosen ones – Ptah retreated further and further into darkness.
Arkie imagined him scowling in the shadows as his companions basked in the glory of the sun. And the words of the clue ran through her head:
What does Ptah know? she thought.
She put on her SEGs so she could see Ptah more clearly.
His hands were folded in his lap but as Arkie looked closely, she could see a glimmer of light on his finger – as though his finger was moving up and down – pointing to the base of his statue. It was like a shadow puppet – the kind she used to play when she was little.
Was it a trick of the light, or was someone sending her a message?
Arkie watched carefully. No, it couldn’t be a trick of the light. The glimmer was too insistent, too regular, and it was always pointing to the same spot – Ptah’s foot.
Arkie looked behind her. The faces of many strangers stared back. And when she turned to look at Ptah once more, the flicker of light had gone.
Arkie took off her SEGs and rubbed her eyes. Maybe I’m trying so hard to see things I am seeing things, she thought. But then she saw a movement to her right. A quick parting of the crowd.
Everyone was still staring at the statues, mesmerised by the scene before them, but someone was leaving – before the show was over.
She could see the back of a stranger, weaving through the crowd. Was it a man? Or maybe a woman? Arkie tried to untangle herself from the crowd to follow the stranger, but she was locked in on both sides by people pressing forwards – eager to see all they could of the spectacle before them. She tried to signal to TJ for help but TJ was now stuck behind a tall man in a Texan hat.
And just as the stranger was nearly out of sight, he or she turned. Their head was covered completely by a scarf and Arkie could see only their eyes – green eyes that were staring straight at her. Then the stranger turned, and hurried out of the chapel.
As the sun began to move higher in the sky, the light of the gods began to fade.
The magnificence of the moment had passed, and Ramses, Ra and Amun joined Ptah once again in darkness. People began to talk excitedly.
‘TJ,’ said Arkie, ducking by th
e tall Texan, ‘did you see that?’
‘Yes, it was brilliant,’ said TJ. ‘Just like that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.’
‘No, not that,’ said Arkie. ‘Did you see Ptah?’
‘No one saw Ptah,’ said TJ. ‘Isn’t that the point? Poor old Ptah – forever out of sight.’
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ interrupted the guide. ‘The Festival of the Sun – celebrated for more than 4000 years – has now begun. Please leave the temple to enjoy the festivities.’
The sounds of music and smells of food wafted through the temple, enticing the crowd – and TJ – outside.
Arkie hurried after her, pushing through the people. ‘Excuse me. Sorry. Whoops, was that your foot?’ she mumbled before she managed finally to grab TJ by the arm. ‘We haven’t finished yet, TJ,’ she said. ‘Where are you going?’
‘To find a stall selling kushari,’ said TJ. ‘I’m so hungry I could eat a camel.’
Arkie dragged TJ behind a pillar. ‘We can eat later. Right now we need to take a closer look at Ptah. I think he’s trying to tell us something.’
‘OK, but we need to hurry in case they run out of kushari,’ said TJ. ‘My holiday research has determined that tourists are at least 25 percent hungrier than normal people.’
They walked quickly back to the shrine, and the four gods. Arkie took out her Vision x 400 torch and shone it at the base of Ptah’s statue, inspecting every millimetre of it. ‘There’s something inscribed on Ptah’s foot. There,’ she said.
They both crouched closer to look. ‘There are some letters and numbers: GB, L 44, R 19.’ Arkie looked up at TJ. ‘It’s a message from the past.’
‘Looks more like some random old graffiti to me,’ said TJ. ‘Did you know that the first graffiti was found —’
‘No, this is important,’ said Arkie. ‘I know it is.’ She took out DATAMAX from her backpack and scanned it across the markings. ‘DATAMAX can analyse the geological residue of the markings and narrow down when it was done to within a few years.’
Soon, a date flashed up on DATAMAX’s screen:
‘But that still doesn’t tell us what it means,’ said TJ. ‘And who wrote it?’
‘Maybe it was Giovanni Belzoni,’ said Arkie. ‘His initials are GB and he was the one who took all the treasures from the temple after it had been buried in the sand for thousands of years.’
‘So it is a message from the past,’ said TJ.
Arkie nodded. ‘And it must have something to do with our treasure. If we can find out why this was carved here, it might help us find the treasure. We have to go back to the first possible date – 1813. We have to timeslip.’
TimeSlip
‘I’ll go,’ said TJ.
‘No, I’ll go,’ said Arkie. ‘It’s my mum and dad.’
Arkie and TJ had parabrelled back to BLUR and were getting ready to program TimeSlip.
‘Let’s both go,’ said TJ.
‘We can’t,’ said Arkie. ‘It would overload TimeSlip. It’s too unstable at the moment. Dad had to wait a day for his right arm to rematerialise after one hunt. Quincy promised to sort out the re-entry reconstruction sequence on TimeSlip ages ago but he never got around to it. Anyway, you need to keep BLUR ready in case we have to fly out of here quickly. And Cleo needs dinner at four o’clock. You know how barky she gets if it’s late.’
‘But have you ever timeslipped before?’ said TJ.
‘No, Mum said I have to be able to drive a car before she would even consider letting me go back in time. And possibly not even then.’ Arkie sighed. ‘But Mum’s not here, is she?’ Where is she?
TJ was inspecting TimeSlip. ‘Interesting,’ she said. ‘It looks just like a shower.’
‘You can shower in it,’ said Arkie, packing her treasure hunter’s backpack for the timeslip. ‘You just have to remember to switch the gauge on the nozzle from PAST to PRESENT otherwise it could be really embarrassing. Quincy likes his inventions to resemble everyday things. He says it’s the best way to disguise them. Then you’ve always got the element of surprise. And a treasure hunter should always be one step ahead.’
She did a quick check of her backpack. ‘Camel pack topped up with water, GPS, trowel, camera, SEGs and Lexi,’ she said, clipping the language communicator to her ear.
Lexi had a voice synthesiser and a lexiconic program that coded and decoded words so Arkie would be able to speak and understand any language in the world. It was also a two-way radio so she and TJ could communicate with each other.
‘Okay, stand by,’ said TJ as Arkie climbed into the shower and closed the door. ‘Activating the molecular reconstruction sequence and keying-in sequence parameters now.’
TJ crossed her fingers as she watched the time count down on the TimeSlip clock:
TimeSlip was steaming up as a red light started to flash on its control panel.
‘Arkie, wait, don’t move,’ said TJ. ‘There’s a light flashing. I don’t know what that means. I’m just looking it up in the TimeSlip manual. Don’t go anywhere.’ She thumbed through the pages of the manual. ‘Do you think it’s under Red Light Flashing or TimeSlip Malfunction?’ she shouted.
‘WHAT?’ yelled Arkie. ‘I can’t hear you.’ She was surrounded by steam.
‘I SAID: DON’T MOVE. Something’s not right,’ said TJ. ‘ARKIE. Get out of the shower. NOW.’
But Arkie was already disappearing from the feet up.
TJ watched in horror as Arkie was swallowed by steam. The last thing she saw was Arkie’s mouth moving – saying one word over and over again. She couldn’t hear Arkie but she knew what the word was:
Arkie breathed in relief. She was all there. She rubbed her tummy. She felt okay on the inside too.
Then she patted her head and rubbed her tummy at the same time. Excellent hand-eye coordination.
Her mum and dad always had a CAT scan when they returned from timeslipping – just to make sure all the important organs were still in the right places.
‘I don’t want my heart in my mouth,’ her dad had used to joke. ‘Or my kidneys on top of my head.’
Once, he laughed that he had returned without a heart – like the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz.
Arkie had laughed too but thinking of his words now she suddenly realised just how that would feel:
Because that’s how I feel, she thought. Without Mum and Dad, part of my heart – part of me – is missing.
As the sand and sky stretched before her in an endless landscape, fear nibbled at the edges of her thoughts. The world is so vast. Mum and Dad could be anywhere. There must be thousands – millions – billions – billion of billons! – of places to hide two average-sized humans.
Arkie so wanted her mum to be with her right now, to kiss her on the forehead, to tell her it would all be okay. Her mum always knew what to say in times of deep despair.
And as she thought of her mother, Arkie suddenly knew just what she would say if she were there: Don’t be afraid, Arkie. Fear is only courage pausing in the shade.
As the sun burned deep into her, Arkie knew there wasn’t a skerrick of shade in which she could pause. I have to be brave. For Mum.
She took out her SEGs and put them on. They had high-frequency binoculars so she could see a long way ahead of her.
Then she switched on Lexi. ‘Tango Juliet. Come in, Tango Juliet. Can you hear me?’
The sound of static greeted her.
Temporary transmission hitch, that’s all, she thought, trying to stay calm.
Arkie looked around. The sun was high in the sky and bleached white heat shimmied around her. The whole desert seemed wrapped in bright light.
It’s much later than early morning, she thought. It’s more like midday. Something’s not right.
She checked the temperature on her THinc ring – 35 degrees Celsius and rising. It was supposed to be the middle of winter but, already, it was unseasonably hot.
In biology last week, Mrs Malakoff told them that the human body is so finely balan
ced it’s only ever 5 degrees from overheating. Overheating means:
Arkie knew she had to get moving. Quickly. She had to find the temple.
She took out her GPS, and trudged through the sand, following its instructions: 62 steps northeast.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 steps . . .
Her feet sank deep into the sand, becoming heavier with each step forwards. It was like walking through layers and layers of porridge.
The heat bit at her face and hands. The wind swirled into dust devils that whipped around her ankles and stung her legs.
She kept walking: 51, 52, 53, 54 steps . . .
Right foot, left foot she said to herself, over and over again. 12 steps east.
Her feet were concrete poles. Unbending. And heavy. So very heavy.
Arkie was sweating. She needed water. She knew that sweat without water = very bad.
She guzzled some water from her camel pack. A dribble escaped and sizzled down her chin, evaporating in a second.
Lexi hissed and fizzed in her ear, and then she heard TJ’s voice.
‘Alfa Sierra,’ she said. ‘It’s me, Tango Juliet. There was a technical problem with reception but I’ve got your vitals on screen now. But what’s happening? Your core temperature is way too hot.’
‘That’s because I’m in the hottest desert in the world in the hottest part of the day,’ snapped Arkie.
‘Yeah, sorry about that,’ said TJ. ‘The six and twelve buttons are next to each other on the control panel. A mistake waiting to happen, I reckon.’
Easy to say when you’re not the one stuck in the mistake, fumed Arkie.
‘Latest barometric news is not good, either,’ said TJ. ‘There’s a heatwave travelling across Africa and we seem to be in the middle of it. But I’ve been reading How to survive a deadly desert so I can be an exemplary mission controller and did you know you can drink camel urine if you run out of water?’
