Sphinx

Prologue

2500 B.C, near Cairo, Egypt

The two men quietly conversed in the dull light of the moon. They stood on the soft sand next to the amazing pyramids of Giza. The sun had just gone down and some of the light remained. Their silhouettes were dark black against the orange sky. The copper deben chinked together as each one was counted and dropped into the brown sack. Khufu’s son, Khafre, dropped the seven thousandth copper deben into the bag and sealed the top.

‘You deed will be carried out,’ said Khafre in Egyptian.

‘Make sure of it or I’ll have you cut to pieces,’ said Gregire.

‘What do you want it for?’ asked Khafre.

‘None of you business. Now go.’

The two men parted, and walked in opposite directions. No one saw them.

Cairo, Egypt, 31st of July, 2007, 5:00 p.m

Sean Rohalt stepped out of the private jet onto the tarmac. The hot Egyptian sun burned down on his neck. Rohalt had a thin body with tight skin. His brown hair was covered by a broad brim hat that flopped down over his face. Rohalt was an archeologist that had come to Egypt to study the tomb of Khufu. It had been opened but he wanted to look at the hieroglyphics on the walls. He believed that Khufu had not been a Pharaoh at all. Rohalt believed that the mummy that had been in Khufu’s tomb had been a mere servant. Rohalt thought that the real Khufu was in another chamber of the pyramid because he feared that his tomb would be robbed and his body stolen. Having his body stolen would mean that he would not have the proper afterlife.

So Rohalt was here to find the real Khufu. On the tarmac, he was greeted by an Egyptian. The man walked over to him and held out his hand, ‘Hello, you must be Sean Rohalt.’

‘Yes that’s me. And here is my team.’

Rohalt pointed to the three men standing behind him. The one on the right was a tall South American by the name of Paul Dinio. He had very tanned skin and dark black hair. The middle one was a short Australian called Joseph Rooney. Joseph was plump and had light brown hair. The last man was an old man called Greg Keamy. He was the brains of the team.

The Egyptian man, whose name was Harold Lankure, led the men across to the main airport building. The five of them stepped inside and were relieved of the heat by a high-tech air-conditioning system. There was hardly anyone in the airport, about ten.

‘I will leave you now,’ said Lankure. ‘Just go to the customs and they’ll tell you what to do.’

Rohalt led his team over to the customs desk.

‘How are we today?’ asked a lady at the counter.

‘Quite well,’ replied Rooney.

‘And what is your business here?’ asked the lady.

‘We are archaeologists searching Khufu’s tomb.’

‘Alright. Do you have anything to declare?’

Rohalt shook his head, ‘No.’

The lady opened their bags and started searching through them. She pulled out a few things: a toiletry bag, a t-shirt and a pillow slip.

She searched through the rest of the bags and then they were taken through all the weapon checks.

After about an hour, they were let free and they made for their hotel, the Sofitel Le Sphinx. It was a five star resort that had two suites; Rohalt and his team were occupying one of them. A quick ride in a taxi and they were walking through the front doors.

After checking in they caught the elevator up and arrived at 20th floor. The two suits were own the end of a long hall. Theirs was the one on the right and Rohalt pulled out the keycard. He swiped it through the door and opened it slowly. The inside was extremely plush. It had been specially equipped for his team with an extra two beds having been put on the other side of the room. They dumped their stuff on their beds and sat down.

‘Let’s check out who is in the other suite,’ suggested Dinio in his heavy accent.

‘Alright.’

They headed out the door and knocked on the door next to theirs. A man opened the door and smiled at them, ‘Hello.’

‘Hi, we have just moved into the room next to you,’ said Keamy.

‘Oh, right.’

‘So what are you guys doing here?’ asked Rohalt.

‘We are checking out the pyramids of Giza. You know, we are archeologists.’

‘Oh really?’ replied Rohalt. ‘That’s what we are here for too. Can we meet your team?’

‘Sure come in, come in.’

The man opened the door and let them in. ‘By the way, my name is Brad.’

Inside, were two other men.

‘This is Michael and this is James,’ said Brad pointing to the two men.

Rooney, Keamy, Dinio and Rohalt waved to him.

‘We better be getting off to have some dinner,’ said Rohalt.

The others nodded rubbing their stomachs. They all waved goodbye and went back into their suite. They got changed and went down to the restaurant for a buffet.

They all filled their stomachs with the delicious food and went up to bed.

The first shafts of light penetrated through the curtains at about six ‘o’ clock in the morning but it wasn’t until seven ‘o’ clock that Rohalt and his team woke up. They got up quickly and got changed into their archaeologist gear. Packing their bags they went down to the restaurant to get some breakfast. Each of them shoveled down some beacon and eggs before grabbing their bags and leaving the hotel.

The taxi ride took them all the way to the edge of the sand and then they had to catch a camel to get to the pyramids. Rohalt hopped on top of his camel and held on tightly as it walked over to the pyramids. Twenty minutes later, the camel bent down and Rohalt jumped off. He looked up at the amazing sight of the pyramids of Giza. No matter how many times you see it in pictures, you have to see t with your own yes to believe it and experience it, thought Rohalt.

Lankure walked up to greet them, ‘Hey guys, how are you going?’

‘Good,’ replied Keamy.

‘Come this way,’ said Lankure gesturing them to follow him.

He led them through the mounds of tourists gathered around the entrance to the pyramid. A small man was trying desperately to get their attention but failing horribly and eventually giving up to the flash of cameras. Rohalt and his tem pushed through the crowd finally arrived at the front. It was there that he saw Brad.

‘Hey what are you guys doing here?’ asked Dinio.

‘We are looking for the real Khufu,’ he said coolly.

‘Hey that’s-’ started Rooney but he was cut off by Lankure pulling him inside the pyramid. They were faced with a long passage. Brad came up beside them followed by Michael and James.

From that point on, Rohalt knew that it was a race. Both teams sprinted off down the passage in hot pursuit of the real Khufu. At the first turn Rohalt’s team went right and Brad’s team took a left. But the race didn’t slow because they couldn’t see each other, it kept on going. The path sloped upwards and Rohalt knew that they were heading up the ascending passage. Rohalt knew this pyramid like the back of his hand. At the end of the ascending passage was the grand chamber. This is where Rohalt thought that the real Khufu was: buried somewhere underneath the grand chamber. They began to tire, and slowed to a walk. About halfway along the ascending chamber they heard a loud yell.

‘Brad’s team is in trouble,’ said Keamy. ‘They must have gotten caught in a crevice or something.’

‘That’s good. It gives us a head start,’ said Rohalt.

Rohalt felt sort of guilty that he was feeling good about the fact that others were in trouble. The ascending passage ended and they walked into the grand chamber. It was a long, low roofed room that sloped upwards. At the back of the room was an opening. It had been once sealed but it had long ago been opened by archeologists. Keamy pulled out the thermal radar and set it up on the ground. It had a small camera on a tripod that was hooked up to a screen that was now in Keamy’s hand. He moved the camera around the room searching for any abnormalities in the heat of the ground. The screen mostly showed up blue, which meant cold. What Keamy was looking for, was something that was a darker blue. Something that was slightly hotter than the rest of the ground. If the ground was hotter than it meant that there was somewhere for the air to heat up, which meant that there was a hole in the ground, which meant that there was possibly a casket under there. Keamy’s eyes searched the screen and he found nothing. He was about to pack It up when he noticed a small irregularity. It was only small and it was up the back of the room but at least it was something. They rushed up to the back of the room.

‘It’s in the middle,’ shouted Keamy from the back of the room.

The bent down in the middle of the room and Dinio pulled out a scalpel. He started to brush away at the loose rubble that was sitting on the ground and the others followed.

‘How far down is it?’ asked Rohalt.

‘About three centimeters,’ replied Keamy.

Dinio then pulled out a small shovel and began digging. After a while he found what had shown up on the thermal radar. It was a crumpled up piece of paper that had been preserved by the perfect conditions of the inside of the pyramid.

Carefully, Dinio unfolded the piece of paper and read it out to the rest of the team:

‘Looks like they forgot to check that it been completely burnt before leaving,’ said Rooney.

Rohalt read it out again and frowned. Something was wrong; there was something wrong with the grammar.

Confirming your deal to hollow out the for 7000 Copper Deben.

Rohalt knew that Copper Deben was the currency back then but he realized that a word had been burnt off. It was confirming a deal to hollow out something. But the question was: what was it.

‘I say we go back to the hotel and call a meeting,’ said Rohalt.

‘Yeah, good idea.’

They packed up the thermal radar and began walking down the ascending passage. As they were walking though, Rohalt saw something that they hadn’t noticed before. It was some hieroglyphics carved into the wall.

Rohalt translated it and found that it said: Gregire is using the Sphinx, Khafre.

When they arrived at their room, Rohalt sat on his bed and thought about what the letter and hieroglyphs had said. He read it over and over in his head but couldn’t figure why they were using the Sphinx. Questions were pouring into his head, who was Gregire, why would Khafre, son of Khufu, let someone bribe him, why was Gregire using the Sphinx, why did Khafre let him use the Sphinx.

‘So we know that the thing that is being hollowed out is the Sphinx,’ said Rohalt. ‘But we don’t know why.’

‘I think we should check it out,’ said Keamy. ‘Besides, no one has bothered to check it out before.’

‘Alright, tomorrow we will go and check out the Sphinx but we need to get back to our original goal,’ agreed Rohalt.

‘Deal.’

Two hours later, Brad and his team arrived back at the hotel. Rohalt went over to see them and found that they hadn’t found out anything. They found out that it was Michael who had screamed because he had gotten his foot stuck in a small crack between two rocks.

Rohalt walked proudly over to the Sphinx. He had had a good sleep and was fully energized for the day’s exploration. They had been given access to the Sphinx by Lankure and now he led them to the space in between the front legs. Keamy pulled out his thermal radar and pointed it at the Sphinx. After a quick glance at the screen, he found that the Sphinx did indeed have some hollow space inside it as the air was warmer form the sun beating down on it and heating it up. He also found that the rock that was exposed on its stomach was extremely thin.

‘Can we enter the Sphinx?’ asked Keamy.

‘I don’t think that the authorities would let you,’ said Lankure. ‘I will call them about it.’

Lankure pulled a mobile from his pocket and dialed up the Pyramids of Giza authorities.

He spoke in Egyptian and Rohalt caught a few of the words: hollow, enter, hole.

‘The authorities said that they will come down. If it is worth it then you may bore a hole in the base and enter the Sphinx.’

‘How long will they be?’ asked Rohalt glancing at his watch.

‘They said about ten minutes.’

Eleven minutes later, a white Ute pulled up next to the Sphinx. Two men, dressed in formal suits stepped out onto the sand and walked over to the team.

‘So you want to get into the Sphinx because you believe that it is hollow?’ asked the first man in Egyptian.

Lankure translated and Rohalt replied with a yes.

The man requested to see proof that it was hollow, so Keamy showed him the thermal radar image.

The man nodded and rubbed his chin in thought. ‘Would you be able to patch up the hole?’

‘Yes. We could make it look as if no one had been in there.’

The man walked over to the Sphinx and drew a small circle with his hand. ‘This big only.’

Rohalt smiled and clapped Rooney and Dinio on the back. We’re in!’

Keamy pulled out a boring drill from his backpack and walked up to the Sphinx. He knelt down beside and began making a small hole in the Sphinx. The two men from the authorities winced as one of the most precious statues in history was bored into.

Keamy began making a circle and found that the rock was actually only twenty centimeters thick. It took him about ten minutes to finish the circle and then he pulled the cut out piece of rock out and laid it carefully on the ground. He pulled out a torch and shone it into the inside of the Sphinx.

Keamy beamed; he was the first person to look inside the Sphinx. Carefully, Keamy squeezed through the hole and looked around. There was a long chamber that was the body of the Sphinx and the walls were rough. The roof sloped down at the back just like the body of the Sphinx did. It was pretty much empty but down the back was a small table. Keamy walked over to it as Rohalt came into the Sphinx. He gasped and followed Keamy to the table. On the ground next to the table was a small emerald and a topaz but Keamy knew better then to touch such ancient artifacts. He slipped on some gloves and blew away the dust on the desk. Underneath it was a piece of paper. He carefully picked it up and found that it was a map:

‘A map?’ said Rohalt confused.

‘Yeah. You know those things that show you where other things are? They’re maps,’ replied Rooney sarcastically.

‘There’s a cross at the end of the middle prong on the fork of Khefren’s temple, also known as Valley Temple.’

‘Well I guess we go there and see what we can find,’ said Dinio.

Rohalt was getting excited about this and realized that he’d totally forgotten about the main reason that he’d come here: to find the real Khufu.

The man from the authorities poked his head in through the hole, ‘Nearly done in there?’

‘Yeah,’ replied Keamy. ‘We are just heading out.’

The four of them filed out through the hole and told the man from the authorities and Lankure about what they had found.

‘We need you to take us to the Valley Temple,’ said Rohalt looking towards Lankure.

‘Sure,’ replied Lankure.

‘Great!’ replied Rohalt. ‘Let’s go.’

They left the Sphinx and promised to come back and patch it up later.

The camel ride was bumpy but at least it wasn’t very far. Five minutes later, Rohalt hopped off the back of his camel and went down into the Valley Temple.

They turned and twisted through the labyrinth but eventually came to the fork. The temple had already been explored so they had a proper map but it was much bigger then they had expected. Rohalt went down the middle fork and was confronted by a dead end. ‘Looks like it’s under here,’ he said as Dinio pulled out a shovel and started to dig.

They all watched holding their breaths until finally: CHUNK! Dinio had hit something hard. He carefully scraped away all the sand on top and found it was a chest. The whole team grabbed smaller shovels and began to dig around the edges so they could lift it out.

Ten minutes later, there was a neat hole in which the chest sat.

‘1…2…3…Go!’ yelled Rohalt.

They all sat heaved on the two side handles on the chest and it came up out of the hole. They rested it on the ground beside the hole and Keamy got to work on the lock. He had it opened in seconds and they carefully lifted the lid.

Rohalt closed his eyes.

Rooney bit his lip.

Lankure held his breath.

Dinio leant on his shovel.

Keamy opened the chest and they were confronted with hundreds of jewels.

Lankure gasped, ‘The Pharaoh’s jewels!’

‘What?’ asked Rohalt.

‘The Pharaoh’s jewels,’ repeated Lankure. ‘They have been lost for many years and many pictures of them have been found but no body has ever seen them. You will be famous!’

‘Quick close the lid,’ said Rohalt. ‘Let’s take it up to the surface.’

Keamy put down an emerald and closed the lid. They all lifted up the chest and began walking it out of the temple. They had to take rests every twenty steps but eventually they got it out of the temple.

Lankure had called the authorities and they were waiting for them when they came out. The man clapped Rohalt on the back when he came over to talk to him,’ Well done! You have opened up many opportunities for us.’

Rohalt could only smile and watch as tourists’ camera’s flashed at him.

Epilogue

Egyptian Museum of Cairo, 23rd of January, 2008

‘Look at these mummy,’ said Emily Waters.

She was pointing to a display of the Pharaoh’s jewels. In front of the display was a plaque:

Discovered by Sean Rohalt and his team, Joseph Rooney, Paul Dinio and Greg Keamy in 2007, these Pharaoh’s Jewels have been missing for thousands of years. Rohalt and his team had originally been looking for the real Khufu but got carried away when they found a letter from containing information about something that had been hollowed out. This ‘thing’ was the Sphinx in which they found a map that led to the Pharaoh’s jewels. This find would not have been possible if Gregire, an ancient Egyptian, had not bribed Khafre (son of Khufu) to let him hollow out the Sphinx. He then used the Sphinx to watch the pyramids before he stole the Pharaoh’s jewels. He then stored the jewels in the Sphinx before taking them to Khefren’s Temple (also known as Valley Temple.

Emily’s mum came over and looked at the display. She smiled and thought pf the great work of people that helped other’s learn.