Origins (16 page)

“
Tomal has ordered
us to join him for dinner tonight,” Valnor reported to his Captain.

“Ordered?”  Gallono repeated.

“Basically, yes.  Apparently he has some profound news to share.”

“Well it’s about time,” Gallono said with a huff.  “For three weeks now he’s been with the overseers.  So far he’s gotten nothing useful from them except lavish foods and gifts to make him feel important.  Who the hell is he to order us to go anywhere, we’re his commanding officers.”

“He is getting a little big for his britches isn’t he?” Hastelloy said with frustration.  “If he discovered something about the monument plans, or the Alpha, then it will all be worth it though.”

Hastelloy stood up from his cross-legged sitting position and proceeded to stretch his aching muscles. “At least that’s what I keep telling myself anyway,” he said offhandedly as he started off walked toward the overseer side of camp.

The guard outside Tomal’s tent announced the group’s arrival as they entered Tomal’s opulent abode.  Hastelloy silently took in the room. 

The front third boasted an impressive receiving area complete with a large area rug and four floor lamps set ablaze.  The middle third of the room consisted of a large table set less than two feet off the ground surrounded by overstuffed pillows.  The back portion of the tent contained an enormous pile of pillows and animal skin blankets.  He stopped counting, but he was fairly certain several new pillows were added to the sleeping area since he was there last.  Hastelloy took particular notice of a scantly clothed female occupying Tomal’s bed.

Tomal turned to greet his guests.  “I have great news!  I finally got to meet Neferhotep yesterday.  He is moving Nofru to lead the stone placement and inspection detail.  As a result, I was promoted to overseer of stone transportation.  You four will work for me now.”

“Well
yay for you.  You met the king and he gave you a pretty title,” Gallono grumbled.  “If that’s all, I’ll return to my bedroll now.”

“Of course that’s not all,” Tomal barked back.  “By the way, the title Neferhotep bestowed upon himself is Pharaoh.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Hastelloy said with a chuckle.

“Hmm, I see he gave himself a pretty title too,” Gallono mocked.

“Enough,” Hastelloy snapped.  “What else have you learned, and why is this woman here listening to us speak?”

“Ah, Mosa was a gift to me from Pharaoh.  She has many,
many
talents,” Tomal boasted with his face positively aglow like a child who’d just been handed his favorite candy to eat.

Gallono did an about face and started pacing toward the exit.  “I’m out of here.”  He glanced back over his shoulder at Tomal with
disdain.  “Seriously?”

“
Stop him
,” Tomal commanded in the sigma species language.  With those two simple words uttered, the guard stepped into the tent with his sword drawn and put a halt to Gallono’s progress.  “Sit down, all of you.  Among Mosa’s talents, she is a rather gifted poet.  I thought one piece in particular might interest you.”

Turning his attention to the woman on the bed,
“Please join us, and bring that special tablet you showed me earlier.”
  Tomal spoke in the Sigma language once more.

Gallono shot Hastelloy a look that was begging to let him dismantle the armed guard and use the blade on Tomal.  The captain shook his head slightly and gestured for the commander to take a seat among the fluffy pillows around the dining table.  Seeing the need for his presence now passed, the guard returned to his post outside the tent.

Mosa gently grabbed a clay tablet from the corner and glided over to the dining area.  She handed Tomal the mysterious writing and then floated down to take her seat by his side. 

Had Hastelloy been attracted to Sigma women he’d have found her irresistible.  Her long black hair and athletic figure were striking, but the grace with which she moved was simply mesmerizing.  To top it all off, her every action expressed a willingness to do whatever was asked of her.  Behind that submissive façade was a look in her eyes that displayed an unmistakable intelligence.  Hastelloy could tell she played the quiet fool, while observing and retaining everything.  She would bear watching in the future.

Hastelloy’s attention was snapped back to the room when Tomal slid the tablet into the middle of the table for all his crewmates to see.   Hastelloy quickly realized the Sigma used a picture based written language.  His first instinct was to dismiss this as Tomal showing off his ability to read the language. 

He saw nothing remarkable on the tablet until his eyes moved to the middle of the sla
te.  One particular hieroglyph leapt off the clay tablet when comprehension set in.  The picture showed a being with the body of a man and the head of a jackal.

Observing that Hastelloy now understood the importance of what he saw, Tomal spoke up.  “That is a depiction of their god, the one for whom we’re building the pyramid.  They call him Anubis; look familiar?”

“The Alpha,” Hastelloy said slowly.  “These people worship the Alpha.  That explains their use of the word Pharaoh then; someone has a sense of humor among their crew.”

“Indeed,” Tomal said while bringing the groups attention back to the tablet.  You understand that part.  Now let me read the rest of the poem to you.”

Streaks of fire crossed the bright blue sky.

Thunder struck from way up high.

We looked about, there were no clouds

But gathering to watch the show were crowds

With rattling force an object landed near

Most ran off, they ran with fear

One brave sole, he chose to stay

He approached the object in a careful way

Out stepped Anubis, a great god from above

He did not come to punish; no, he came bearing gifts of love

The gifts were food, and ways to grow it

For the people of Egypt, this was a perfect fit

In return for these gifts, the gods did ask

For the brave soul to complete a difficult task

Build for me a great pyramid of stone

Then the path to heaven for you shall be shown
             

No one in the room spoke for several minutes.  The impact Mosa’s poem made on the crew was profound.  Finally, Tonwen broke the silence.  “This is a complete disaster. They have irreversibly altered this planet’s development.”

“It could’ve been worse,” Hastelloy pondered.  “The Alpha could have opened the hatch, made themselves gods, and then handed out wave blasters to their followers to have an army waiting for us.  They’re showing some restraint when it comes to interfering with this civilization.  They’re disrupting things just enough to accomplish what they need.  The next question we need answered is why they need a giant pyramid built?  What does it accomplish for them?”

Hastelloy stopped speaking as his eyes met those of Mosa.  She may not have comprehended the words his crew spoke, but her eyes showed she knew this wasn’t a simple poetry reading session.  “Your lady friend should leave now.” 

Tomal seemed to agree as he promptly whispered something to the young woman.  Without a word, she rose to her feet and gracefully floated out the front door of the tent. 

Once she was gone, Hastelloy spoke again. “Tomal, do you have any notion how this pyramid will be useful to the Alpha?  That question goes for all of you?  I don’t care how crazy or outlandish the thought, I want to hear it so we all can debate the merits.”

Gallono opened the discussion with his take on the situation.  “Could the pyramid be used somehow as an amplifier so they could send a transmission to their people, asking for a ride home?”

Tomal shot down the idea by pointing out a power source would be needed to send a transmission, particularly one able to cross thousands of light years.

Tonwen spoke up next. “Could the Alpha be setting themselves up as rulers of this planet?  They could accelerate the technological development and eventually reach the point where they could fix their ship, or send a message.  Maybe the pyramid does not do anything for them except solidify their place as gods in this culture.”

Again, Tomal had a rebuttal that dismissed the notion.  “That’s a good thought, but the pyramid is being built to extremely precise calculations.”

Hastelloy felt himself suddenly grow enraged.  “Tomal, have you seen the official plans for the pyramid and not told me about it?”

Tomal sat with a smug look on his face for a moment.  “I guess I did get a little ahead of myself in this discussion and failed to mention that.  Yes, Nofru is now in charge of inspecting the stone placements, and he needed my help.  He showed me the plans yesterday.”

“Before you enlighten us about that, are there any other little nuggets of intel you think might be useful for us to know?”  Gallono asked, with his frustration pot about to boil over.  “Like you managed to twist two wires together and send a message home, and we are being picked up tomorrow.  Something like that?”

“Nope,” Tomal responded, clearly enjoying the power and control he had over the moment.  “As I said, the plans for the pyramid are extremely precise.  I won’t bor
e you with all the math, calculations, and astronomical observations so here are the highlights.  Each side is exactly lined up with the cardinal points of the compass.  All for sides are 365.24 cubits long which is the exact number of days it takes this planet to orbit the sun.  The length of the four sides is an exact scale correlation to this planet’s circumference, and the 35
th
level of blocks, which we are building right now, correlates to the exact distance of this planet to the sun.”

“To me, those relationships imply this pyramid will be used somehow in conjunction with the sun and the earth’s orbit,” Tonwen added.

“That is exactly my thinking as well.  I also have another hunch that I need your navigation unit to prove, Captain, may I have it?”  Tomal asked.

Hastelloy promptly leaned back and reached his hand down the front of his pants and pulled out the small device.  He’d been tempted many times to hide the half inch thick, palm sized piece of metal somewhere else, but he couldn’t take the chance of it falling into the wrong hands.  He handed the navigation unit over to Tomal.

Tomal immediately started running his calculations, and a few minutes later relayed the results to the crew.  “Just as I thought, the height and placement of the pyramid on this planet is also significant.  The Pyramid lies at the precise center of gravity for this planet.”

He hit a few keys, and a flat map of the planet was projected onto the table.  A bright yellow triangle indicated the pyramid’s location.  Tomal then added a vertical and horizontal red line indicating the latitude and longitudinal lines intersecting at the pyramid.  “As you can see, the vertical line runs through the longest land meridian.  Likewise, the horizontal line also passes through more solid land than any other parallel.  There’s only one place on the planet where these longest land lines cross - the pyramid.”

Tomal hit a few more buttons and the projected image changed to display a relief map of the planet.  The view of the image then rotated around so the crew was looking at a cross section of the map showing the rise and fall of the landscape.  “The average height of land above sea level on this planet is 5,449 inches.”

Tomal then had a replica of the pyramid superimposed onto the image with a line calculating it’s height plus the height of its foundation above the sea level.  “When the pyramid is complete, the tip will be exactly 5,449 inches above sea level.  Tonwen, would you care to take a guess as to the significance of this?”

“Oh my,” Tonwen exhaled.  “This is brilliant; whimsical even.  The tip of the pyramid will be the focal point of both the planet and the sun’s gravitational forces.  The amount of power harnessed at that point will be phenomenal.”

“Give the man a prize,” Tomal confirmed.  He turned off the navigation unit and handed it back to Hastelloy.  “There are five chambers under construction right now on the 35
th
level of the pyramid.  Four are going to be sealed off in a couple of days, but the main one has a passageway that will remain open.  The pharaoh is planning to use that chamber for his burial and resulting ascension to the heavens to join the gods.”

“How will the four sealed chambers be used then?”  Hastelloy asked.  “Is anything going to be put inside before they’re closed off?”

“I’m sure some sort of power converting equipment will go in them so the Alpha can harness and channel the gravitational forces properly, but I don’t know anything for certain” Tomal postulated.  “I do know that it’ll take place during the mid day labor breaks.  I’ve discovered that is when the gods come to inspect the work and verify everything is meeting their precise requirements.”

“The Alpha. They’ve been here every day and we didn’t even know it?” Valnor stated with venom.  “Let’s attack them tomorrow, then all this mumbo jumbo about the pyramid becomes irrelevant.  They can’t use it if they’re dead.”

Hastelloy gently put his arm in front of Valnor to cut him off. “I share your desire for fast action, but we need to know what we’re up against.  Tomal, see if Mosa knows how many Alpha survived the crash.  Also, find a way to get yourself invited to these mid day inspections.  See what kind of equipment they’re putting in, and just for fun, see how vulnerable they might be to an ambush.