by Petra James
‘Gross ,’ said Arkie. ‘Remind me if I’m about to die.’
‘Well, your temperature is getting pretty high,’ said TJ. ‘I think you should timeslip back. It’s too dangerous. We’ll work out another plan.’
‘There is no other plan,’ gasped Arkie. ‘I’ve got to do this.’
‘I’m monitoring you closely,’ said TJ, ‘and switching Lexi onto Automatic Body Alerts. First ABA on its way.’
A robotic voice spoke in Arkie’s ear:
< ABA 1 >
ONCE YOU LOSE 1 LITRE OF WATER, YOUR BODY
FUNCTIONS BECOME IMPAIRED.
Arkie heard the words and strained to think what they meant but her brain felt muddled and gluggy. She trudged on through the sand and the heat, matching words to her footsteps:
< ABA 2 >
ONCE YOU LOSE 5 LITRES OF WATER, YOU FEEL TIRED AND DIZZY. YOU MAY BURST SPONTANEOUSLY INTO SONG.
‘All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth,’ she sang as her head began to feel light and airy, as if it could float away like a balloon on the breeze, racing to join the clouds.
< ABA 3 >
ONCE YOU LOSE 10 LITRES OF WATER, YOU CAN’T SEE OR HEAR VERY WELL.
YOUR BLOOD BECOMES THICK.
YOUR INTERNAL ORGANS START TO BREAK DOWN.
‘My kidneys are so HOT,’ Arkie shouted, slumping forwards into the sand. As she lay there in a heap, sand trickled into every little space around her, swallowing her. A black scarab beetle, its busy body half submerged in the sand, scuttled by her hand.
‘ARKIE,’ yelled TJ. ‘What are you doing? Get up! You can’t stop.’
‘I just need to rest for a minute,’ said Arkie. ‘Just a teeny little minute – it’s only 60 seconds.’
‘No, you can’t,’ said TJ. ‘Not in this heat. Every second is dangerous. Keep walking.’
‘Stop telling me what to do,’ shouted Arkie. She switched off Lexi.
Silly Sally shouldn’t sell sea shells, she hummed. To the walrus and the snail, and the whale with a tail.
‘I’m so sorry, Mum and Dad,’ she cried to the wind. ‘I tried. I really tried.’
But I didn’t try hard enough, she thought. I’ve failed on the very first test.
She could see a shadow ahead – a shadow with long legs and a short head.
It’s Ptah, she thought. He’s come to take me to the Underworld.
‘NO,’ she screamed. ‘I’m not coming with you. GO AWAY.’
And then the shadow spoke.
A Boy Called Abu Simbel
‘Am I dead?’ said Arkie.
She was sitting under a handwoven Egyptian shawl, stretched between two sticks, drinking water from a cowhide satchel. The water was sweet and cold. She had never tasted anything so delicious.
A boy was sitting opposite, watching her. He was about her age with curly black hair and a big smile.
Arkie had switched Lexi to RECEIVE and REPLY as soon as he had spoken to her in Arabic and told her his name. Now she could understand him and speak to him in Arabic.
‘No, you are not dead,’ grinned the boy called Abu Simbel. ‘I shall pinch you to prove it.’
‘OUCH!’ said Arkie as he leaned over and squeezed her arm. ‘Okay. I believe you.’
‘I think the gods are smiling upon me today,’ he said. ‘First, I meet a famous history man – Mr Burckhardt from Switzerland. And now I meet you – Arkie Sparkle, a spirit from the world beyond.’
Arkie smiled at him. ‘I’m not a famous anything though.’
‘Well, I have never met a spirit before,’ said Abu Simbel. He got up and started to pack the cowhide satchel away in a bag.
‘Abu Simbel was supposedly a legend,’ said TJ through Lexi.
‘Well, he looks pretty real to me,’ said Arkie, standing up and walking a few steps away so the boy could not hear her speaking.
‘According to DATAMAX,’ said TJ, ‘the site of the temple of Ramses was named after a local boy called Abu Simbel because he discovered it buried in the sand and told John Burckhardt. But no one knows for sure if Abu Simbel really —’
Arkie jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder.
‘It is time for us to leave, Arkie Sparkle,’ said Abu Simbel. ‘I am meeting Mr Burckhardt and his friend, Mr Belzoni.’ He lowered his head to hers. ‘They are on a secret mission,’ he whispered. ‘They told me not to tell anyone.’ He smiled at her. ‘For I have found something wondrous.’
‘I know,’ said Arkie, ‘and it is wondrous. You’re going to be famous. Your name will be remembered hundreds of years from now.’
Abu Simbel clapped his hands. ‘I would like that very much.’ He bowed to her. ‘You must be a great spirit to see so far into the world beyond, but I think the gods have sent me to look after you in this world.’
He offered her the shawl. ‘Please cover yourself with this. The desert sun is like no other.’
With the sun even hotter and higher, they walked across the dunes and into a valley of sand. Desert eagles swooped in the sky, high above them. Ahead, they could see a rocky outcrop and a small cluster of palm trees. Canvas awnings had been strung between the trees, and beneath them men were eating and drinking, checking supplies and roping packs onto camels.
A man with brown hair and glasses was sitting under one of the awnings, writing in a journal.
‘It is best if I talk,’ said Abu Simbel as they approached him. ‘The men are suspicious, and hot. They may think you are a spy.’
Arkie nodded. Good plan, she thought.
‘Ah, Abu Simbel,’ said the man looking up at them. ‘I was beginning to think you had forgotten me.’ He looked at Arkie. ‘And who is this?’
‘My cousin, Mr Burckhardt,’ said Abu Simbel. ‘She cannot speak. A tragic accident when she was a baby.’
Burckhardt nodded a greeting to Arkie, and Abu Simbel winked at her.
‘Are we ready, Burckhardt?’ said a huge man appearing at the side of the awning. His head was wrapped in a turban and he had a long black beard. He was the tallest man Arkie had ever seen. His shadow even blocked out the sun.
‘Giovanni,’ said Burckhardt. ‘This is the boy I told you about, Abu Simbel. And his cousin,’ he added.
Giovanni Belzoni – GB, thought Arkie. The man who took all the treasures from the temple of Ramses.
Belzoni stared at Arkie, and his deep brown eyes seemed to see right through her. She lowered her head and pulled the shawl further around her face.
‘Well, show us the way, boy,’ Belzoni said, after a minute. ‘You have kept us waiting long enough. Only a fool lingers in this heat.’
He yelled instructions at the men who quickly finished their packing, and they set off in a slow procession across the sand. Arkie and Abu Simbel walked in front, leading the way.
‘We do not have much further to walk,’ said Abu Simbel as they trudged up the side of a sand dune. ‘Once we reach the top, you too will see what I have found.’
Arkie looked ahead. Some of the men had already made it to the top of the dune and were standing still, transfixed. As she reached the top of the dune, she understood why.
There was an enormous mound before them, rising like a monster in the sand. And erupting from the mound – buried up to their heads and still guarding the entrance to the temple – were the four giant statues of Ramses.
Arkie could sense the excitement around her. She was excited too. Generations of treasure-hunting Sparkles knew all about the Treasure Hunter’s Thrill.
It was the exhilaration of being so close to history, of finding something lost to the eyes of the world for hundreds or thousands of years and being the first to gaze upon it – the first to walk in the footsteps of people from the past.
It was the moment time itself dissolved.
Belzoni pushed past her and tore down the dune, half running, half rolling, to the base of the mound.
He began to tear the sand away with his hands. His eyes glowed and he shouted, ‘DIG!’ he cried.
‘DIG! ALL OF YOU!’
Stealing Away
They dug for hours.
Until they dripped with heat and exhaustion. Until their eyes were raw from the glare of the sun. But the sand refused to reveal what it had claimed thousands of years before.
As soon the men made one pile of sand, the desert winds danced around them, teasing them, heaping even more sand before them.
Belzoni and Burckhardt willed the men on, promising great rewards to anyone who could clear the entrance to the temple.
Arkie and Abu Simbel watched from the shade of a tent.
‘TJ,’ said Arkie into Lexi. ‘This is hopeless. They’re getting nowhere. They need more men, more equipment. They aren’t going to reach the temple today. Can you Fast Forward me? I need to be when they’re inside the temple – taking all the treasures. That must be when the message was carved.’
‘OK,’ said TJ. ‘Programming parameters now:
Locking onto you in 10 seconds and counting, 9, 8 . . .’
Arkie turned to Abu Simbel. ‘Goodbye, Abu Simbel, and thank you. But I have to leave you now. What happens next is going to look really strange but if I tried to explain it to you the words would sound even stranger. You have to trust me.’
‘I know you are great and powerful, Arkie Sparkle,’ said Abu Simbel, smiling. ‘And trust is stronger than words.’ He grabbed her hand. ‘But I want to come with you – to see the world beyond.’
‘No, you can’t,’ yelled Arkie, trying to free her hand. ‘Let go. It’s too —!’
It was too late.
Arkie and Abu Simbel were inside the Grand Hall of the Temple of Ramses. The huge statues of Ramses lining both sides of the hall gazed imperiously upon the scene of men and movement.
Giovanni Belzoni was in the midst of it all, barking out orders for crates to be packed and transported out of the temple.
Abu Simbel looked around him in confusion. ‘Where are we?’ he said. ‘We are here but here is not where we were before.’
‘Exactly,’ said Arkie. ‘But I can’t explain right now we need to hide. Quickly.’
She dragged him behind a crate and they peeked over the packing materials.
John Burckhardt was striding through the temple, his face twitching with anger. He walked up to Belzoni and pushed him in the chest. Belzoni pushed him back, hard, and Burckhardt staggered into some boxes. He pulled himself up and both men started to shout at each other.
‘My friend Mr Burckhardt is not happy, I think,’ said Abu Simbel.
‘No,’ said Arkie. ‘I think they’ve had a big falling out. Let’s get closer so we can hear them.’
The men were standing close together, Belzoni towering over Burckhardt, their angry words encircling them.
‘I should be remembered by history, Belzoni,’ Burckhardt cried. ‘Not you. I discovered the temple. The treasures belong to me.’
‘You’re a trusting fool, Burckhardt,’ said Belzoni. ‘History favours those who are strong – those who win. And there can only be one winner here. Me.’
Belzoni signalled to two of his men. They grabbed Burckhardt, who was shouting, ‘You won’t get away with this, Belzoni,’ and dragged him to the front of the temple, where they threw him into the dirt.
Arkie and Abu Simbel followed. They watched as Burckhardt picked himself up and dusted off his jacket. He was shaking with rage.
One of Belzoni’s men was sealing up the crates by the entrance to the temple. Arkie and Abu Simbel watched as Burckhardt approached him, spoke quietly, and handed the man a huge wad of money. They shook hands and with a final angry glance, Burckhardt walked away.
The man waited until Burckhardt was out of sight, checked no one was looking, then took a gold statue out of one of the crates. It was a gold statue of Queen Nefertari.
Abu Simbel gasped. ‘What are —’ he began to shout but Arkie put her hand over his mouth.
‘Shhh,’ she whispered. ‘We have to see what he does next.’
Arkie and Abu Simbel followed the man as he crept through the temple, weaving in and out of the shadows, until he reached the innermost shrine.
There, they watched as he buried the statue, filled the hole back in and smoothed the dirt over with his shoes. Then, he measured out his footsteps:
Left 44, Right 19.
With a penknife, he carved GB L 44, R 19 onto the foot of Ptah.
Once satisfied with his handiwork, he hurried back to the Grand Hall.
‘So the statue never left the temple,’ said Arkie to TJ. ‘Burckhardt paid someone to hide it and leave him directions.’
‘But why did he write GB?’ said TJ.
‘I think I can guess,’ said Arkie. ‘The man who hid the statue was Italian – one of Belzoni’s men – and Giovanni is Italian for John. What if he just made a spelling mistake and GB actually means John Burckhardt?’
‘Arkie – you’re a genius,’ said TJ. ‘Well, obviously not a bona fide genius like me because I have the IQ to substantiate the term – but in the way that non-genius people can sometimes do something really really brilliant. You know – something out of character.’
‘Thanks, I think,’ said Arkie.
‘So Burckhardt meant to return to recover the statue – to claim at least one of the treasures – but he never did,’ said TJ.
As Abu Simbel kept watch, Arkie dug into the dirt with her trowel. She hadn’t dug very deep when she heard the twang of the trowel hitting something. Carefully, she pulled the dirt away from the hole and there it was – the gold statue of Nefertari, glimmering in the dim light.
‘Queen Nefertari,’ she said. ‘I’ve found you.’
She clutched the statue tightly. And if I can find you, she thought, maybe I can find Mum and Dad.
The Eye of the Storm
‘Can you take a photo of me with the statue, please?’ said Arkie.
She gave Abu Simbel her camera. ‘You just have to look through here and press this,’ she said.
Abu Simbel’s eyes were wide as he pressed the button. When the light flashed he dropped the camera in fright.
‘Great, thank you,’ said Arkie. ‘I just need a second to bury the statue again.’
She was smoothing the dirt over the hole as Abu Simbel came rushing back into the chapel.
‘Please hurry, Arkie,’ said Abu Simbel. ‘We must leave. The men are shouting from outside. There is a sandstorm coming. This is not good. We could be trapped inside the temple.’
Arkie grabbed her pack and they hurried through the chaos of the temple as treasures were packed and crates sealed in double quick time.
Outside the temple, they saw enormous clouds of dust forming on the horizon.
‘Did you hear what Abu Simbel said, Tango Juliet?’ said Arkie. ‘There’s a sandstorm coming and that’s not good. Can you timeslip us out of here?’
‘No, I can’t lock on to you,’ said TJ. ‘The storm’s interfering with TimeSlip’s locking system. I’ll keep trying to zero in on you but in the meantime I’ve downloaded all the information on sandstorms in How to survive a deadly desert. Here are a few tips:
1. Wear goggles
2. Run really fast
3. Find somewhere to shelter
4. Drink lots of water
5. Get to higher ground.
‘Is that it?’ said Arkie, as she and Abu Simbel fled across the sand.
‘No, there’s more,’ said TJ. ‘Sandstorms in the Sahara Desert are the largest in the world. Sometimes they can even be seen from space.’
‘Well, I think it’s too late for 2, 3 and 5,’ shouted Arkie, looking behind her. Clouds of sand were already racing towards them – a swooshing avalanche of dust, growing higher and faster.
The speed of the storm was mesmerising; its power so immense. Arkie was unable to move. There didn’t seem to be any point in running. There couldn’t be any escape from a storm like this. It might be the last thing she ever saw.
Abu Simbel grabbed her arm and yanked her from her daze
just as the storm overtook them in a thunderous cocoon of sound.
Arkie coughed as the sand clogged her throat and the wind stung her eyes. Her arms and legs were being lashed by waves of sand. Her pyramid pants billowed in the fury of the wind.
Abu Simbel wet his scarf with his water bottle and wrapped it around his head. Arkie put on her SEGs but all she could see was the dense brownish cloud swarming around them.
They couldn’t even see the temple any more. They couldn’t go back – they had to keep going forwards.
‘There’s a large rock ahead,’ said Abu Simbel. ‘It will give us some shelter. We must try to reach it.’
‘Okay,’ yelled Arkie above the wind. ‘I’ll follow you.’
‘Stay close,’ said Abu Simbel, shouting in her ear. ‘If we are parted, we shall never find each other again.’
They stumbled forwards, fighting against the storm. It was impossible to tell if they were going in the right direction.
Arkie fell and pulled Abu Simbel down next to her, resting for a moment. He looked at her. ‘I sense you are on a quest, Arkie Sparkle. May the gods guide you.’
And that was the last thing she heard him say.
alone alone alone alone alone alone
Abu Simbel had vanished.
And Arkie was trapped by a wall of sand; there was no way around or through it.
‘Abu Simbel,’ she shouted. ‘Where are you?’
The thundering wind replied.
‘TJ,’ shouted Arkie. ‘Can you hear me?’ She shook Lexi and sand dribbled from the earring. She tried again.
‘TJ,’ she said. ‘I’ve lost Abu Simbel. Can you get me out of this?’
After a few long seconds, TJ finally answered, but her words were punctuated by static.
‘. . .here . . . but . . . breaking up . . . sandstorm is . . .with . . . radar . . . still . . . zone . . . you.’
‘Hurry, TJ,’ shouted Arkie. ‘PLEASE. I can’t breathe.’ She coughed again and again as her nose and mouth filled with sand and dust, and her ears rang with the storm.
