'Angelic Pyramid'
Chapter 2 'Racing the Sun' or 'Most Precious of All'
DISCLAIMER: OK Molly darlin', it's all yours. First I want to thank Haruko Takachiho (Kami bless him) for graciously allowing me to use his creations w/o which there would be no tale to tell.
Likewise a big domo arigatou (thank you very much indeed) to any other creators whose works, characters, creations &c. I may use now or in the future.
As always please feel free to use any of my own myriads of creations in your own works. I ask only that a similar disclaimer be posted with your works giving credit where credit is due.
Well you've all been on tenterhooks wondering about this big Galactic Hunt sequel and nai (no), we are not hunting DragonBalls again well not yet anyway but who knows what the future might bring eh? Here is the second chapter for your perusal.
CHAPTER 2
Servalan frowned and bit her lip.
"Nai (No), it can't be. It's too damned simple. OK. Open Sesame." she crooned and amazingly the wall dematerialized to reveal three passageways before them. On the wall to the right of them was more of the strange cuneiform script symbols which Gina translated, reading every 12th character in every fourth row.
"Look to where Ra (the ancient Terran Egyptian sun god) neither retires nor arises. Trust in His wisdom always. Have courage ye pilgrims of Iehovah." she translated and looked as confused as Hell.
"Oro (What) does that mean? Angie? Allie?" asked a perplexed Gina Phillips. Neither girl answered her.
"Compass onegai (please)." said Yuri and Han tossed her his Lensatic compass. Seems military guys always carry a compass.
"East is left and that's where the sun arises. West is right and that's where the sun sets or retires. Therefore, the place where the sun neither arises nor retires is a point midway betwixt dawn and dusk. We call it high noon. Oro's the time, Boss?" asked Yuri who was quickly fashioning a very crude sundial using bits of toppled masonry.
"Five before 1200 hours, almost noon." replied Kei. Yuri drew her minilaser sword hilt, ignited it and carefully positioned it upright in the centre of her little rock cairn. Then she set her Mark III miniblaster on its very lowest setting and fired at the wall.
Suddenly a shadow crawled across the chamber and climbed up the far wall just to the right of the Western corridor or passageway.
"High noon now." informed the Boss.
Yuri pointed and where, just moments before had been a bare rock wall, there was now illuminated a hitherto hidden cleft passageway in the rock face barely wide enough to accommodate them in single file and with a ceiling so low that most of the party were obliged to duck their heads to traverse it.
"I sure as Hell hope to Kami there's just one more riddle." grumbled Solo. Zach patted his shoulder and held on.
"Good idea. Keep your hand on the shoulder of the guy in front of ya. It's as dark as the 'Black Guardian's heart in here. Dammit to Hell!" drawled Han, cursing when his skull cracked aginst the lowered ceiling. There was no room in the cleft to use either a light sabre or a laser sword. Didn't these idiots ever hear of a torch or a flashlight one wonders?
"Ceiling's gettin' lower, folks. Be ! I think I see a light up ahead. C'mon!" shouted Han.
"Holy Mama of Christ! Will ya look at that!" cried Angie excitedly.
The 'treasure chamber' was just ahead of them. Angie ran so fast that she stumbled and almost pitched herself headlong over a high cliff jutting out above an ominous looking phosphorescent pool. Kei grabbed the kid by the belt and yanked her back to safety just in the nick of time.
The 'treasure chamber' was just opposite to them but separated from them by a chasm at least 450 metres across! That's more than 450 yards or about the length of a very long par 4 in golf or about four and a half NFL Terran football fields! Oh yeah and it was at least 3 kilometres deep.
Angie booted a small stone over the edge and watched it plummet straight down to its acidic grave far below.
"Remember the voice, kid? We don't get the same challenge twice. Spread out and look for more of those chicken scratchings- anywhere." drawled the ex-smuggler.
"Over here!" screeched Servie, pointing up at the ceiling where a long metal suspension bridge was suspended directly over the centre of the chasm.
"Great. And just how are we supposed to get it down here?" growled Zero.
"By solving this riddle." called Gina from a shadowy niche where she'd just discovered a chessboard rock floor. Beside the 'board' stood a mammoth obsidian obelisk covered with 'stelae' type hyroglyphic markings. They were written in letters of fire or so they appeared before Gina confirmed that they had been drawn using some form of luminous ink or paint.
"My first be Musashi's book.
My second be God's own name.
My third be the tales told in the night.
My fourth be when we were no more.
Be valiant and true for Providence rewards the steadfast.
Choose wisely, my children." translated Gina.
"It's like the 'Riddler' or the 'Joker's crap! I wish Batman or Robin was here." sulked Yuri who was not having any fun at all in this creepy mausoleum.
"Five, Eight, One Thousand and One, Thirteen. It makes no damned sense at all." mused Zachary Taylor Zero and everyone stared at him like he'd just escaped from 'Belarius VII', a space colony for the insane near Rygiel VI'.
"Musashi was an ancient Terran Samurai warrior who wrote the Samurai Handbook. It showed a warrior the path to true enlightenment and he named it 'The Book of the Five Rings.
"Jehovah or Iehovah is God's true name and it has eight letters.
"Scheherazade told Caliph Harun-alRaschid tales of romance and adventure every night for One Thousand and One night. The book became the 'Arabian Nights'.
"Friday the thirteenth day of April in I forget what year was when Philip the fair and Pope Clement VI began the purge of the Templars so Phil wouldn't have to repay his loans to them. It was also on that day that their leader Jacques de Mornay and his second in command were both burned at the stake. On that day the Templar knights were no more.
"Therefore, class, we have the numbers 5, 8, 1,001 and 13. That 'chessboard' floor is numbered and although I see 5, 8 and 13, I see no 1,001. MI are the Roman numerals for 1,001 and maybe '1' is 'I', however, there is no 'M'in sight." explained Zero disgustedly.
"How's about 5, 8, 2 and 13, sir?" suggested Allison Kurtz, the math whiz.
"Yeah! Ya just add the ones and zeroes together. Let's try it. Who's game?" asked Servie. The all shuffled their feet and looked around at each other fearfully. Finally the Boss tossed away her cheroot and advanced towards the 'chessboard'.
"OK. 5, 8, 2 and 13. That right, kiddo? (Allie nodded) Here goes. 5, 8, 2 and-" said Kei, placing her foot first on 5, then on 8 and lastly on 2. Just before she touched the 13 with her boot-
"Nai (No)! Boss, don't do it! If we had to ads 1+0+0+1 to get 2, then why not add 1+3 to get 4? Just the kind of sublety for which my ancient Terran family was known. Trust me, Boss. It's 5, 8, 2, 4 and not 5, 8, 2, 13." yelled the Templar maiden.
"OK. I'll trust ya, Angie, but if this backfires, you're gonna be ticketin' space carriages in 'Dolomite' until you're old and grey!"growled Kei.
'Dolomite' in the Westernmost region of 'Shimougou'is where they send tro-cons who screw up or step on too many toes in government! Angie paled but her gloved finger never wavered and she kept pointing at the '4' stone on the floor.
Kei's boot struck the '4' stone and-
"Duck!" warned Servie just before the bridge crashed down, spanning the gap betwixt them and the far shore perfectly. For some reason Kei recalled a similar incident long ago in a certain shopping mall! Do you?
While strolling across the new bridge, Kei tapped Yuri's shoulder. Yuri turned and confronted her superior.
"Where the oni (devil) did ya ever learn all that crap about the sun and stuff, kid?" she asked.
"Junior Cadet Scouts. You were in 'em too, ya know.(Kei grimaced and Yuri giggled) Oh yeah,that's ditched so darn many meetings and campouts and jamborees, Captain Sonnerstag (Sunday in German) kicked ya outta the troop. You were the Junior cadet Scouts' only dropout!" chuckled Yuri.
"Shut up, airhead!" growled her Boss.
"Dipstick!"
"Vacuumhead!"
This light-hearted banter continued back and forth nonstop until Han told both of 'em to can it!
An invisible 'wall' of some sort still separated them from the horde of goodies in the chamber. Han ran his hand up and down the 'barrier' a few times and shook his head.
"Nope. Not an energy barrier. Damned thing's solid and feels tougher than Kelvinite. No locks that I can see either." drawled Solo and Zach nodded in agreement. Kei unlimbered her Mark XXXIII and bent down to one knee.
"Don't even think about it, stupid! Remember what happened in that penal colony when you tried that? I mean well I guess that was my fault, not yours." admitted Yuri.
"Damned right it was your fault! Yours and Cueball the Screwball! OK Mommy, I'll put my toy away." said an angry Reds.
"No locks? How's about an electronic lock, Han?" asked Servalan.
"Or a positronic one. Look." whispered Gina whose tricorder scan had 'found' a long seam beginning high above the ceiling and descending below and through the floor. Where seam met floor there was an energy 'latch' that penetrated the stone floor.
"If we only had a lock pick we'd be in business." moaned Servie. Yuri brightened.
"One positronic lock pick coming right up. Ta Da!" she said and proudly displayed a weird looking implement.
"Hey! A 'sonic screwdriver'! 'Scarf Man's (Doctor 4) been lookin' all over for that thing. Where'd ya find it, mum?" asked Allie.
"I er sorta 'borrowed' it and forgot to return it." she replied sheepishly.
"Klepto." explained Kei.
"I am not a klepto, you baka moron!" cried the violet-maned minx vixen.
"Did he know that you borrowed it?" Servie wanted to know.
"Well er not exactly." stammered Yuri.
"Klepto." finalized the Boss.
"Who the Hell cares! Gimme the Kami shimatta thing!" yeleld Gina who was used to 'normal' shipmates. Yuri handed her the 'screwdriver'which looked nothing like a real one.
"Now we just gotta find the right frequency." she explained.
SCREECH! Everyone covered their ears.
"Turn that damned thing off!" yelled Kei.
"At least turn it down!" howled Angie.
Finally- blessed silence but then-
WOOF! GRR! OW-OOO! Dog Boy and Wolfie covered their ears and howled mournfully together.
"Too high-pitched for us to hear but not things like them. Sorry guys. I'll just be another few seconds and Voila!" apologized Gina. Miraculously the clear 'wall' shimmered, winked out and then vanished in a puf of smoke.
"Ye hath done well, brave pilgrims but there remains a final test to prove ye are worthy in His eyes. Listen ye carefully for I can say this but once. (Gene held out his vidcell with a built in recorder).
"In all the Universes wht be the thing most highly prized yet the most difficult to obtain? Good fortune be with ye and farewell, dear friends." boomed out the voice of the pyramid.
They all had their own opinion as to what the riddle was referring.
"Gold." said Servalan.
"Shopping credits." said Yuri who has a one-track mind it seems.
"Power." said Kei.
"Strength." said Zachie.
"Love." drawled Han, thinking of Leia no doubt.
Allie pursed her lips in thought before replying.
"Knowledge. Nothing is more precious and yet difficult to obtain." she said.
"Bull! What d'ya think 'Galaxynet's for?" objected Servie.
"Family. Ancestry." suggested Angie.
A small grid suddenly materialized in midair covered with more symbols.
Han spoke softly.
"What do you think, Contessa? We've not heard your opinion yet, Gina." he drawled.
"Knowledge was a good guess, Al, however, I think this is a trick question. Remember the number clues? Oro was the attribute to which every knight, holy man or warrior aspired to achieve? Even Musashi-San referred to it in his 'Book of Five Rings', this oneness of mind, body, soul and spirit first reached by Siddharta Gautama, the Buddha. Even Dog Boy and his friends are seeking this in their quest for shards of the 'Shi Kon no Tama' or Jewel of the Four Souls although only one of them probably knows this fact. The term for this quality, sir, is 'enlightenment'." explained Gina and Kei finally pointed her yeoman towards the grid.
"Punch it in, yeoman and may the Forece be with ya." whispered the Red Marshall.
"OK. Here goes, ma'am." she replied and she deftly tapped symbols until there was a faint click and the fabulous 'treasure chamber' disappeared! In its place were row upon row of vidfiles, Terran filing cabinets, banks of computers (some very ancient using DOS and Windows 12!), books, manuscripts, CDs, scrolls and all manner of writing implements, paper, papyrus, reeds, skin and even stone- anything upon which the written word could be preserved!
"Al had part of the riddle, gang. To seek true enlightenment, one must first possess knowledge. This 'Treasure of the Cosmos' is just that- knowledge collected from all the corners of time and space of all the Universes and then stored here to await the seekers of truth and noble enlightenment. That is the secret of these 'Knights of the Holy Temple', my tomodachis (friends)." explained Gina Phillips very quietly.
"No loot at all?" cried Servie, Yuri, Angie, Zach, Han and the Boss simultaneously.
"Knowledge and seeking true enlightenment were more important to them than mere material things like wealth, my dear friends." said Allison quietly.
"C'mon guys, I know a quick way home. Follow me." yelled Servie, heading for the far end of the huge chamber ehere the lava river flowed beneath them.
"I know an even quicker way. Get us the Hell outta here, Ari." trilled Kei and they all vanished only to reappear a few nano-seconds later in the Boss's 'deann's office. Already there awaiting her were the new temporary instructors Gene Starwind, Naomi Armitage, Blackfire of Tamaran, Rukia Kutschski and Genjo Sanzo.
What new adventures await our heroes and heroines? Fooled ya! No real cliffhanger this time. Maybe next chapter eh?
END of Chapter 2. Chapter 3 really soon I hope. Why not try and solve the riddle of the pyramid? Trust me, there are more riddles ahead for our intrepid explorers and none of the challenges they braved and bested in 'GT Hunt' will be repeated. All new challenges await the Academy gang- K&K