CH 68
Kaede, who was focused on the statue, Professor Perkins, who'd been breathing heavily with the thrill of discovery and Hakim who was already winded from the walk up the tunnel all dropped to the floor. Lucky for them, Ian had held his breath long enough to see Perkins drop first and yelled his warning. He got his mask on, then got Kaede's on her first, then tended to the others.
While he waited for them to come around, he inspected this larger room. The place was amazing. Every wall had pictographs on it, tables of devices lined both walls and near one end was a raised portion that held a carved relief of the Sphinx with a lion's head on it and two of the three Pyramids.
Kaede was the first to let out a moan and come around. She'd knocked her hat off . Opening her eyes, she sat Jinn back upright and eyed the other two.
"Bad air," Ian explained.
Kaede looked up at him and nodded. She moved to get up, he helped her back to her feet. Hakim came around, then Perkins did. "Rest a moment fore ya try to git up," Kaede told them. She then opened two small portals to the outside air Using mind hands to stir the air, she got fresh air into the chamber then closed the portals. She took her mask off. Seeing her hat on the floor, she left it. Returning her attention to the statue that greeted them upon entry, she wondered aloud, "Who was he?"
The Artifact of knowledge glowed. a whispy blue vapor came from the device and grew until it solidified into a medium blue shape of a naked woman with chains on her wrists. she was completely blue, even her hair and eyes. Kaede stared at this. The chains were anchored to the globe of the artifact. The blue woman spoke.
"Dame Kaede, that was the builder and designer of the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid, as well as the complex that lay beyond the feet of the Sphinx," the Blue woman said in a pleasant voice.
"Jinn?" Kaede asked, staring at her.
Jinn nodded. Holding up a finger Jinn said, "Remember, if you are asking questions, you only get three per hundred years."
"What?" Hakim asked from the floor and sat up as he gaped at Jinn.
Jinn looked down on him and let out a giggle. "If you wish to ask a question, you must be more specific than that."
Perkins sat up and asked, "Ahh, blue lady? Can you tell us about this room and what's in it?"
Jinn nodded. "Now THAT is a real question!" she beamed. Spreading her arms out, she said, "This room is part of the grand carving known as the Sphinx now, but originally it was the Maahass. The Lion! It was finished 12,750 years ago by Dame Kaede's ancestors. Everything in this room is from their culture, the shape of the whole giant carving we're in was made in the form of their closest animal friend to show how big the bond was between them. You know this animal as a Lion. This room in particular holds their language, artifacts from their daily lives and miniature models of they things they made and what the land looked like then. The whole grand Lion we're in was formed to face the rising sun and the constellation of stars they named the lion, in honor of their most trusted friend."
"Wow," Professor Perkins breathed out blankly.
Hakim got up, still staring at the blue woman. "The Egyptians didn't make it?" he asked.
Jinn shook her head. "No, they knew it was here, and changed the face to show one of their leaders. The outside of the lion has changed much over the many centuries. The interior has not. It is as it was when first constructed."
Hakim's dazed eyes wandered over to Kaede. "You have small horns, like that statue does," he said blankly.
"Mike, you getting this?" Kaede asked.
"Now that I'm awake, yeah. Who's the blue woman?"
"Her name's Jinn. She's the keeper of knowledge," Kaede explained. "And before anyone else asked a question of her, she will only answer three questions from any person in a century, so think hard before you ask her anything!"
"I understand it!" Professor Perkins announced. "Dame Kaede is the key, because she has a direct lineage to the makers of the Sphinx! It was designed so only those of their own people can gain access! Who else could have zapped us here, or lifted that big solid stone door all by herself?"
"Zapped us here?" Kaede asked with a raised eyebrow.
Ian chuckled. "Look above his head, the light bulb just turned on."
Hakim shook his head as he muttered, "This, the Pyramids, they were made in the first and second Dynasties. They are 4000 to 4500 years old."
"Nay, much older than that," Kaede said. "Jinn can only tell facts and truth. If she said they are nearly 13000 years old, then they are. Tell me, Hakim, when was the last time you saw anyone, or even a picture or hieroglyph of anyone with horns on their heads?"
Hakim shook his head weakly. "You are a witch, this is all an illusion. There is no way any of this is real!" he spat.
Kaede tensed. Hakim was about to crack, and this was a bad place to go nuts. "Hakim, do you want to go back?" she asked.
He glared at her. "Yes, stop messing around in my head!" he yelled.
Hakim was looking like he might become violent. Kaede did the only thing she could to prevent him injuring himself, them, or this chamber. She opened a portal behind him to the ground someplace outside, then pushed him through.
.
Hakim flew backwards as sunlight blasted into his eyes. He fell and tumbled. When he stopped he struggled to his feet and found himself in the basin around the Sphinx. He was halfway down the body. Right about where those rooms inside were supposed to be. He stared at the Sphinx. What he experienced was unreal. A woman with horns on her head that could do the impossible, a completely blue woman who appeared out of an orb shaped artifact. A chamber that had bad air in it, then suddenly, the air was fresher and clean.
It had to be that witch was manipulating his mind, making him see things. Then again, how did he get here?
Feeling confused, Hakim headed for the front of the Sphinx and was met by a guard. Since he was confused, and talked about a blue woman who claimed a man with horns on his head had designed and build the Sphinx, and a witch had taken them inside, the guard called an ambulance for him.
At the hospital, Hakim was checked over, and other than a couple scrapes from his tumble, he was medically fine. He called the Curator from the gurney he was on.
"Hakim, are you done already?"
"She tricked us! That woman used some kind of mind trick on us to hide where we really were. We never went into the Sphinx!" Hakim cried.
The Curator let out a huff and said, "Yes you did. We have a tracker on you. Somehow, you went from in the hotel above ground to underground right in front of the left paw. We tracked your progress up into the middle of the Sphinx. You were there for a short while, then you appeared outside the Sphinx in the basin. HOW did you do that?"
"No, It had to be a magic trick!" Hakim insisted. "She made a blue woman appear out of no where and the first statue inside the chamber to the south had horns on it's head just like Dame Kaede has! That couldn't have been real. Then I told her to stop messing with my mind, and suddenly, I was in the basin!"
The Curator let out a huff. "So you all came back out? Where is Dame Kaede and her group now?"
Hakim paused, then said, "I don't know. I was pushed hard and ended up in the basin. The last I saw…"
"They are still inside, by themselves," The Curator concluded unhappily.
"No, what I was seeing couldn't be real," Hakim insisted. "There is no way the Sphinx is over 12,000 years old!"
"When you are done at the hospital, come to my office. We need to talk," The curator said and hung up.
.
"Where'd he go?" Professor Perkins asked.
"I tossed him out, it looked like he was losing his mind and about to start trouble. We can't have that in here." Kaede stated. "He landed in the basin, I think."
Jinn smiled at Kaede. "That was a good thing you did. He might have harmed something in here, and this is lost knowledge that can't be replaced. Shall I continue telling about this room?"
"Yes, please!" Professor Perkins said eagerly.
Motioning to their left, Jinn pointed at the far wall. "Those pictographs on the wall are their form of writing. Under each are stick figures to show what each one means, if the pictograph does not explain."
Mike quickly zoomed to get a video of the whole end wall. He had to move a little closer. Once he got a good video of the wall, Kaede and the Professor moved closer.
"This is easier to read than hieroglyphics," Perkins noted. He pointed to a pictograph of what looked like a rounded hut. "See, this hut represents a single dwelling, next to it is a hut with many roofs, under it, it looks like a small village. And … all these are very easy to read! Simple, yet very informative."
Ian looked closer, then touched one of the tiny figures. "These are done by relief, not carved. They must have taken great care to carve this entire wall while making them."
"Astounding!" Perkins said in a breath.
Jinn pointed to the inside wall. "This is a pictograph of how the Lion looked after it was carved out of the ground, under it is how they did it. To the right here, shows the star formations and lower is a sun just up on the horizon."
Jinn took then around the room, and they learned language, how and when the Sphinx was build, basically how their society worked as well as how their relationship with Lions worked. Their huts were not just for the people, but also for the lions as well when the rains came.
At the other end of the room on a raised platform was the sphinx and it's basin carved out in miniature, the not collapsed buildings beyond the sphinx, and only one pyramid, the Great Pyramid. The land wasn't all sand though, it was forested, and showed roads running through the forest. Five collections of huts were also shown to the sides. All the huts, trees and buildings looked like they were made of gold.
Kaede noted Professor Perkins leaning over the diorama.
"Don't even think about it!" she warned.
He cast her a surprised look. "But, there are many finely made trees, just one…"
"Touch ANYTHING and you get a fast trip outside!" Kaede said in a growl.
He stood back up and raised his hands in surrender.
Ian chuckled.
Mike said, "Hey, look at this on the wall over here. It looks like a whole sentence, or message."
They all saw the writing he was videoing. Immediately, Professor Perkins tried to decipher it. He looked at the first part, then back at the wall that showed their language, then back to the writing. Going back and forth, he said, "The new age … will come … when the," he pointed. "Three figures stacked up. What I'm getting is like this, they all describe one person." He then ran back and forth, continuing his translation. "The mother … the great leader, I think, 'the one' but it doesn't say what one refers to … the world, and it's either shaker or breaker, returns to seek the truth … and none will be able to, defy or deny, her wisdom."
Kaede left out a snort. "Wow. Whatever they were drinking must have been potent."
Jinn beamed a smile at Kaede. "Yes, Kaede, that is you!"
Ian said, "Yeah, Kaede is the One."
"The one what?" Perkins asked.
"The One Immortal with power and wisdom!" Jinn beamed. "That's two questions for you, Professor."
Perkins gaped at Kaede. "You're immortal?"
Instead of answering him, Kaede asked Mike, "Have you gotten video of everything in this room?"
"I have, let me do a slow sweep of the whole room before we go."
While Mike did his slow pan around of the entire room, Kaede kept an eye on Professor Perkins to make sure he didn't grab anything. When she opened the door, she also made sure he was out right after Mike, who was taking video.
This time, before the entered the room across the passageway, Kaede had everyone put their air masks on. Only then after inspecting the door to be sure it operated the same, she lifted the door and they went in.
The room they went in was a little larger than the one they had just left. On the far wall was a wide ledge filled with little statues and carvings of huts and what looked like water, since blue stone was in the depressions.
"Their daily lives," Kaede said, understanding what she was looking at.
"This must have taken a long time to make," Ian noted. He also saw the wide ledge in the inside, interrupted by the door they had come in. "Hey, the inside wall has some pottery and artifacts also."
"I'm going to start and one end and slowly pan over the figures first, then make another of the whole room," Mike said.
Kaede nodded vacantly. The scenes of their lives were highly detailed. One was men and Lions, she suspected they were hunting together. Another was of a village, kids and lion cubs running around, women doing laundry at a stream, a couple male lions taking a nap by huts. Another was of men skinning kills, other men and women cooking and the lions laying nearby, she guessed, waiting for dinner. Another scene was a hut with no roof. Inside the hut it showed people and lions sleeping. The detail on all of these was very fine. In the sleeping hut, she noted a lion cub nestled between a man and a woman near their feet while a child also laid between them. Another child was cuddled up with two more cubs, sleeping between a pair of lionesses.
"Kaede, look at this!" Perkins said.
She went over to see he was looking at a 'zodiac', that showed the stars and connected the zodiac signs. Next to it was a sun carving, and showed planets.
"They knew about the signs of the Zodiac, and all the planets!" Perkins said excitedly. "But … here it shows ten planets Including the rings, and on Jupiter here, it shows the bands. HOW could they know that 13000 years ago! They even have the asteroid belt here!"
"Not nearly as dumb as science thinks they were, huh?" Kaede asked.
Perkins stared at her. "This is monumental!" he cried.
Kaede grinned. "Calm down, Professor. Everything we're seeing here is monumental. Obviously that past was much different than we thought it was."
"Hey guys," Mike called, "Down here I think it's a map of Northern Africa."
They all went over and looked. It looked mostly like North Africa, but it also showed many lakes and rivers running through the land that was now dry desert. The western end of North Africa also had a big divot out of it and showed a tiny circular city.
"Atlantis," Ian proclaimed. "See, it's right on the edge, look close, they even put in the rings of the city, just like Plato described."
"It's called the Eye of Africa now," Perkins said. "I went to that formation, there is no geological explanation why it is there. We were searching for hints and never found anything."
"These are truly halls of knowledge," Kaede said. On the ledge on this wall were whole pottery and tools. Above each were pictographs of how the item below was used. "If civilization was destroyed and lost everything, everything is here to help rebuild society as they knew it."
Ian had been looking thoughtfully at everything. He asked, "So, they built a huge statue of a lion, obviously to honor their closest animal friend. By why put so much effort into describing their daily lives? 13000 years ago was the tail end of the ice age, Northern Africa was green, and usually cultures didn't make it a point to show daily affairs. Only important events, deities, kings and such."
Jinn slid over to him as far as her chains allowed. "They knew a great flood was coming. That is why they put their knowledge in such a well hidden and guarded place." she said. "How they knew was watching the stars. They figured out a catastrophe was on it's way."
"A large meteor strike?" Perkins wondered.
"Possibly," Ian replied. "From what science has determined, the Great world wide flood was caused by something making huge amounts of ice melt all at the same time. An impact crater has been found in Greenland. Especially during the ice age, Greenland was covered in miles thick of ice. It wasn't rock that blew skyward, but melted water and blasted ice chunks, as well as cracked open glaciers. All that water being added to the ocean all at once could well be the cause of the Great flood. The impact would be like setting off many megatons of atom bombs."
"Causing a Tsunami of biblical proportions," Perkins agreed.
"At least a very big one," Kaede commented. "Mike, you got everything recorded yet?"
"Hang on… OK got it all." Mike told her.
"OK, let's move on down the passage and see what else we can find," Kaede said and opened the door.
.
Continuing on towards the back of the Sphinx, the passage ended with nothing but a square vertical shaft.
Shining lights up it, Ian noted, "Up there, that cover looks metal."
"We should be about halfway down the back of the Sphinx, that was probably the air shaft on it's back," Perkins said.
"I'll go see." Kaede then lifted herself up the shaft to the block. She called down, "Yes, it's a metal cover" She pushed on it, it opened. Bright sunlight entered. "Yes, it's an air shaft." she said and closed it before she lowered herself back down.
Professor Perkins bore a frown. "That is a known opening! It seems very strange no one has been down here before to find those rooms."
Kaede grinned. "And how would they open the doors? I had to reach under the floor to open them, and they slide straight up and are very heavy. If whoever explored down here was careful, they would not be able to open those doors. They would have had to destroy them, and possibly bring the ceiling down on themselves in the process." She pointed back the way they came. "Let's go see where those stairs down in the first chamber lead to."
Kaede made sure they were indeed at the end of the passage, then they headed back down to the chamber under the paw. Here, Kaede changed the order of how they proceeded.
"I go first. Mike, you get behind me. Ian and Perkins, follow us and everyone, watch your step!"
.
The stairs were in decent shape and went straight down quite a ways, then turned left in a long circle to keep going in about the same direction. Kaede went slow, eyeing the steps and the walls as they went.
They ended in what looked like an underground beach.
In the large chamber, sand was in front of them that sloped down into water. Kaede stepped to the side and pointed at the sand. "Mike, look here. Someone's been down here, the sand just past the steps has been disturbed."
Pointed at the area with his camera, Mike said, "Yes, can't tell how many, but someone was here. I don't see any tracks into ot out of the water though."
Kaede passed her flashlight over the black looking water. The beam was eaten by distance. Shining it on the water in front of her, the beam went in to show the water was clear.
Ian asked, "What do you think, five, six feet deep?"
"At least. Hokay, where to drain it to," Kaede said in a mussing tone.
"Drain it? How?" Perkins asked.
Jinn came out of the artifact again. "Kaede can use a portal to drain the water away. The best place would be back into the Nile. That is your third question, Professor."
Ian laughed.
Kaede grumbled, "That is going to take a while, it's a lake down here."
Ian motioned to the sand. "We got food and we got a beach. We just wait until it drains away."
Kaede studied the water looking for floor besides sand. There wasn't any close by. She held the Artifact up. "Ian, take this for me and watch me please."
Ian took the artifact. Kaede waded in slowly until she was mid thigh deep in the water, then concentrated on making a portal between as far out in the water as she could reach, right on top of the sand and the other end right above the Nile river. She made her portal.
When the portal was active, sand around the edges began flowing out with the water. Kaede backed up out of the water quickly. "Back up to the steps!" she snapped.
They scrambled onto the steps. And watched water and sand flow down through the portal. Kaede kept a close watch on the water level. It took a while before the water level began to very slowly go down.
"Yeah, this is going to take a while," she noted.
"MRE's anyone?" Ian asked.
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The Curator of Egyptian Antiquities informed Nadim Shadid that their representative to the Kikumura expedition was ejected from the Sphinx by some unknown means.
"Where is Dame Kaede and the others?" Nadim asked.
"They are still inside, and now we have no way to track them."
Nadim let out a huff and said, "The permit specifically said that one of our people must be with them. Cancel their permit and bring them out."
"Sir, we can't. We're not sure how they got inside to begin with! They went from their hotel room directly into the Sphinx! They didn't walk to it, Dame Kaede somehow opened a portal from the hotel directly into the underground chamber under the Sphinx! They have been in both rooms near the middle of the Sphinx no one has been able to access. We can't go find them to pull them out."
"So, Dame Kaede does have the knowledge to enter forbidden places then," Nadim concluded.
"The most we can do is arrest them when they emerge."
"No," Nadim said firmly. "That would be a fatal error on our part. When they come out, fine them for being inside without one of your men accompany them as the permit states. From what I discovered, Dame Kaede is not one to challenge with violence. Fine them."
"As you say, sir."
.
The explorers had lunch in the steps, sat and talked, wasting a good two hours. Mike had stopped recording. By the wetness on the wall near her as the water receded, the water level had only dropped not even a foot. Eight, ten inches, maybe.
"We really are draining a lake here," Kaede grumbled.
"How big is that portal?" Ian asked.
"I made it six feet around," Kaede replied.
"That is a lot of water," Perkins commented. "It also means that this is a very large complex down here."
Ian thought for a moment, then said, "It has been theorized that the Sphinx is connected to the Great Pyramid by an underground passage. It may well be you're trying to drain both."
Kaede let out a snort. "Wonderful."
"We need a boat," Mike stated.
"Got one in your back pocket?" Ian asked.
"Kaede, can't we go back out and get one?" Perkins asked.
Kaede eyed him. "If I leave, the portal that's draining the water collapses. That will make this take longer."
"We could say that this area is inaccessible," Perkins said.
Kaede eyed him. "At first when I was roped into this, it was just a job. Seeing those Halls of Knowledge, I found out that it was my ancestors who lived here. Guess what, for me this has become much more than just a job. I want to find out all I can about how they lived, what they knew and possibly where they went to after the Great Flood. What I'm thinking is they somehow knew it was coming, that is why the Sphinx was built in the first place. It's a monument and record to what they had, and maybe down here was like a refugee center to escape the flood. I need to see what's down here. If you want to call it quits and leave, fine. I'm staying."
"Whirlpool's forming," Mike said.
Kaede looked. Over the portal, a whirlpool was forming. OK, that made sense. Water being drained did that. She also noted the portal had kicked up enough sand that the portal was now above the bottom. She lowered it down some so it was just up off the bottom.
The water level now had maybe dropped a whole foot. Yes, this was going to take a while longer. Possibly days. Damn it. Kaede knew she needed to be here, unless they were ready to move, they all didn't need to be here.
Kaede turned to Ian. "I'm going to close the drain so I can pen a portal to get you, Mike and the Professor out of here. I'll sent you back to the hotel. Let the Curator know where we're at, and stick close to my room. When I get this drained out, I'll come get you so we can continue."
Ian frowned. "Kaede, send Mike and the Professor back. I'll stay here with you. Just in case."
"I'll leave you the video camera and my supplies," Mike said.
Kaede closed the portal then opened one on the stairway wall to her door in the hotel. Mike and Professor Perkins went through. Kaede again walked mid though deep in the water to open a new portal to the surface of the Nile, and backed up and water began sucking down into the large hole.
Ian got up and stretched. "Well, Kaede, we got nothing else to do for a while so I'm going to stretch out on the beach here and take a nap."
Kaede watched him go lay down on the sand. As long as she was here, that portal would stay open. She decided to do the same.
.
The moment Mike and Professor Perkins appeared in the hotel, they noticed two things.
It was night time and a couple police were striding towards them.
Taken down to the conference room they had originally left from, the Museum Curator was there. He frowned at them a moment, then asked, "Where are the other two?"
Professor Perkins looked confused, so Mike said, "Still under the Sphinx at the bottom of the stairs from the chamber under the left paw."
"How did you get there?" the Curator asked.
Ian shrugged and said, "Walked down the stairs."
"Into the Sphinx!" The Curator barked. "How did you get in?"
Mike pointed to the far wall. "Dame Kaede made a portal, is the best I can describe it, on that wall, and going though we were in the chamber under the left paw …" He told where they went and the fact their last guide lost his mind when he found out how old the Sphinx was, and Kaede threw him outside. He finished by saying, "The lower chambers are full of water, Kaede's draining it out, so she sent us back to get some rest and resupply. She's going to come get us when she gets that area drained."
"What has she collected in her wanderings?"
Mike shrugged. Video, that's about it. She won't let anyone touch anything inside. I got good video of everything. I'd show you but I left my camera with her."
"Sir," Perkins said. "We discovered it was her ancestors who made the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid. 13,000 years ago! It's all documented in the Hall of Knowledge. Even their written language was there with pictographs to help translate it. We found they recorded everything, even their daily lives! The Sphinx was originally built with a lion's head to honor lions, who were their closest animal friends. They even shared their huts with lions."
"That is preposterous!" The Curator barked.
Mike said, "I got everything we found on video. It's the truth."
The Curator frowned at them. "So, you come to perpetuate a fraud," he said in a grumble.
Mike frowned at him. "No, Sir, we came and recorded the truth."
The Curator motioned to them and said something to one of the guards. The guards went over and pulled Mike and Perkin's hands behind their backs and cuffed them.
"You will be put in holding until the other two come out and this video is confiscated. Then you all will be ejected from the country."
"Wow! So even with evidence what you think is wrong, you're going to hide it so your version of the story is protected and you can continue to lie."
"Take them away!" The Curator snapped.