Although Aislin and Garai weren’t helpful, it turns out Austin has contacts who can arrange anonymous transport to anywhere in the world - for the right price. Despite protests from the staff, Martha’s hand-picked team includes three people from her first Four house in Nebraska. She assures everyone that all three can be trusted not to lead the rest of the Four network to Bethany to carry out my death sentence.
One of the three is a demolitions expert named Alfred, who carries enough explosives to ensure the machine is never used again. He’s friendly and outgoing. The other two are fraternal twin brothers named Geoff and James who have studied everything known about the time travel device. As we prepare for the mission, I often catch the twins staring at me and I notice they stop talking to Martha whenever I enter the room. It’s clear she has some history with them, but none of them will say what it is.
The transport is as high-speed as money can buy. Only a government space plane could get us there faster. Martha is so exhausted from the prep work, she passes out as soon as we’re in the air, but I can’t sleep. In my hand I hold the small storage device containing Jocie’s final message to me.
“Cephas?”
I look up. Geoff and James are staring at me from the doorway, saving me from deciding whether or not to watch Jocie’s final message.
You almost wouldn’t know they’re twins. Geoff has sandy blonde hair and a complexion to match, while James’ is much darker. They do share sparkling blue eyes and both have light-up-the-room smiles. They’ve been so consumed by details for the mission, I haven’t learned anything about them; but I already feel a certain familiarity with the way they work.
“Hey, guys. Please come in. Can’t sleep either?”
“We were about to rest,” Geoff says.
From what I’ve seen, Geoff is the more outgoing of the twins and usually speaks first, while James is prone to observation and thought before entering a conversation.
“We saw you were up and just wanted to say we’ve wanted to meet you for a long time.”
“I heard you two accepted the offer to go on this crazy mission without any hesitation. You must’ve wanted to meet me pretty badly to sign up for this.”
“You have no idea,” Geoff says.
Geoff’s lower lip is twitching slightly and he’s interlocked his fingers so tightly his knuckles are white. James continues to watch me, but other than furrowing and relaxing his brow, isn’t telegraphing his nervousness as much as his brother.
“Most members of Four who say they’ve wanted to meet me for a long time spent most of that time planning to kill me.”
I smile and they seem to relax.
“We’re definitely not on that list,” Geoff says; then returns to silence.
“Are you all set for the mission?” I ask.
I watched them pack and repack, check and recheck earlier. If anything, they’re both over-prepared.
“Everything we need is up here.”
Geoff unlaces his fingers and points to his head, but his lip is still betraying him.
“Speaking of which - I sense there’s something on your mind.”
“There was something I was going to mention, but maybe now isn’t the time. We should all just stay focused on the mission. We should get some rest.”
Geoff turns to leave, but James continues to watch me.
“Come on, James. Let’s go.”
James doesn’t move.
“We’re your cousins,” James says. “Your mother was our Aunt Hannah.”
Now it’s my turn to stare at them.
It’s true.
“James. You’re named after my Father.”
Those eyes. I should have seen it before. My Mother’s eyes sparkled like that.
“I’ve never had a family before,” I say.
It’s amazing how a single sentence can be tinged with both past sadness and newfound joy.
“Yes, you have. You just didn’t know it. When we would celebrate holidays, Mother would always set a place at the table for you. She prays for you daily,” James says.
“I’ll bet she’s gotten used to just picking up the extra setting and putting it back in the cupboard,” I say. “You think she’ll mind if the plate gets dirty sometime?”
Tears are starting to well up in my eyes.
“She has longed to wash that plate for a decade now.”
Geoff’s lips move from twitching to a full-out quaver as he says it and tears form in his eyes as well.
“Is it just you two? Or do I have even more cousins?”
“We have two sisters. Annie’s a year older than us and Cindi is a month younger than you. Only Annie is on grid. We were born at home, and Cindi was born in a hospital and her death faked when she was two.”
“Cindi Stone. Your sister is Cindi Stone from my class in Colorado. I see the resemblance now. My own cousin was in the audience, and I never knew.”
“We knew when we saw the proposal to get close to you that both Cindi and Martha would go. They’ve been friends since they were toddlers. Martha is like another sister to us.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” I say. “I haven’t told Martha, but I have a feeling this mission isn’t going to go as planned. If things get rough, please promise me you’ll protect Martha. Will you protect her like she’s your sister?”
“Yes,” Geoff says, while James simultaneously says: “Your safety is the higher priority.”
They look at each other like only twins can.
“Thanks for telling it to me straight. Both of you.”
****
As we approach Cairo, the flight crew informs us our landing has been delayed. Our plan was to land at about three am local time to minimize the number of people we’d encounter. A delay isn’t welcome. Nervousness runs through the cabin as we all wonder if someone figured out who is on this craft. It’s even possible that, despite the high price we paid, the crew decided to turn us over and make even more money. The pilot insists he has no idea what’s happening.
We’re still at a high altitude. As we sit in the darkened cabin, it feels like you can see half of northern Africa. Everyone who is looking out a window gasps as everything below us goes dark and we’re left straining our eyes, trying to see any pinpoint of light in the immense void. Perhaps if the lights had gone out a few at a time, or even in large sections, it would not have been so shocking. To have everything darken at once made it feel like the entire world was somehow wiped out of existence beneath us.
The captain announces they just received word that Sunspot Reactors Two and Three were taken offline for a planned maintenance procedure and would come back shortly. Sure enough, just a moment later the entire continent blazes back to life. For those who were staring at the void; it’s just as shocking as when the lights went out and we instinctively close our eyes.
They used two reactors? It looks like the plan has changed.
“We’re too late,” I say. “Whoever they sent, they just left. They did it at night to minimize the effect of the power drain from the device. Most people just slept right through it.”
****
The captain knows people who have access to the tarmac and we’re ushered straight from the plane into a private bus. I’m wearing a hat and glasses, but it’s hardly a real disguise. The porter who is moving our bags onto the bus watches me as I pass; so I look away from him. He loads the last bag and just before the door closes, jumps aboard. Geoff and James produce stun guns from nowhere.
“Those will not be necessary. Austin sent me.”
“We never told Austin our destination,” Geoff replies.
“Austin knows many people. I’m sure he has all the cities in the region under watch.”
He looks past the others and addresses me directly.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Paulson. My name is Moshe.”
He’s wearing a simple shirt and pants. In much of the world, people wear traditional garb for that region. For a long time after Sunspot automated the world and everyone could have anything they wanted, people everywhere explored wearing whatever the movies told them was the current fashion. In time, people settled back into wearing what had worked for generations.
I remove the hat and glasses.
“It wasn’t much of a disguise.”
“On the contrary, Dr. Paulson, speaking for a people who have hidden their faith for thousands of years, sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight.”
“We saw the lights go out. Someone’s gone back in time.”
“Yes. Austin says you believe the device is hidden somewhere nearby. I do not see how that is possible. We have watched over Egypt for countless generations and know all that happens here.”
“Then Austin sent the perfect person. Have you noticed any heavy equipment use that seemed wasteful or out of place? Anything you can think of would be helpful, but especially anything operating within a few kilometers of Giza.”
“There were an unusual number of people excavating for a new tube stop south of the city a couple of months ago. Robotic excavators can handle a job like that without anyone on site. We thought it was a dumb place for a tube stop, since there is another just three kilometers away. They must have agreed, because the work stopped after just a few weeks.”
“Can you show me on a map?”
Moshe orders a screen to pull up a general map of the city.
“It’s about here.”
He points to a spot along the Nile. To the west of the spot are the Giza plateau and the Great Sphinx.
“Where are the main power lines that feed Cairo?” I ask.
“They enter Cairo directly from Lake Victoria. They run underground about two kilometers from the Nile on the west side. About here.”
A tunnel dug west from the site of the “new tube stop” would intersect the power lines on its way to the Sphinx.
****
Cairo always has been, and still is, the jewel of northern Africa. It wasn’t hit by a nuclear strike during the Final Holy War, but was struck by multiple biological weapons that wiped out over ninety percent of its population. It lay in disrepair for decades while the city was gradually repopulated and then became a wondrous modern city of steel and glass when Sunspot Three came on line. Like their ancient ancestors who built the pyramids, the modern Egyptians embraced their unique art and culture in building the new Cairo. I wish I could spend a month here just being a tourist, to soak in their amazing architectural feats. Unfortunately, it’s upon one of their ancient wonders that I need to focus.
We had reservations to stay in one of Cairo’s luxury hotels, but Moshe convinces us the spot is too high-profile. Instead, he arranges for us to have a modest apartment overlooking the site of the new excavation. We take turns sleeping and watching the site until the sun comes up and into the next day. He’s correct that there’s no excavation happening, but we see regular patrols of armed guards.
“That’s pretty tight security for a hole in the ground,” Martha says, as she watches through binoculars.
“I know Cairo is a culturally diverse city,” I reply, “but every guard is a Caucasian dressed up in local garb.”
“They seem to work in four overlapping shifts and I’ve counted at least twenty different guys. I don’t see how the five of us are going to either sneak or fight our way into that facility,” Martha says.
“That’s because we’re not.”
“We’re not?”
“No. I was wrong about their plan. The power use for time travel increases exponentially with an increase in the mass sent and the distance through time being travelled. It wouldn’t take both Sunspot Two and Three to send someone back just a few months. Choosing Giza never made sense; but now I know why. They sent someone back much farther. I think someone was sent back to kill me during the Traveler’s Initiative. We’ll need to get to the time machine to be sure.”
“You just said we’re not going to fight or sneak in.”
“That’s right. We’re going to find a different way in. If they sent assassins all the way back to Christ’s time, they’ll need a spot just like the cave they used for me - someplace where a travel arena has laid hidden all this time. That means there must be an unknown chamber under the Sphinx. In 2020, a chamber was found under the right paw that turned out to be a burial chamber for some minor princess. Then in 2032 a passageway was found that led from the princess chamber to some other small chambers under the Sphinx. I’m guessing they found a new chamber under there and set up a travel arena.”
“I didn’t know you’d also studied Egyptology.”
“When we found the coordinates, I read everything I could find about the Sphinx. The best clue is that those chambers were closed for restoration not long after I returned from the Traveler’s Initiative, which was also about the same time the excavation of the new tube stop began.”
“But if an assassin was sent to a chamber under the Sphinx, he’d be buried alive just like you were, and would have no hope of digging himself out. The Sphinx was under tons of sand until Egyptologists excavated it. Besides, if an assassin breaks his way out of this new chamber, then wouldn’t it have been found back in 2032?”
“We don’t know that the Sphinx was buried in sand in Jesus’ time. An assassin may be able to just walk out. You’re right about breaking out of the chamber though; my hunch is that there’s some sort of a secret door or panel that we’ll need to find.”
“That’s a lot of guessing.”
“Not guesses. Hunches.”
I smile at her.
“Well I hope your hunches are right, because the longer we’re here the longer we risk exposure, and the greater the risk they’ll move the device again. We’ll make a plan and check out the Sphinx tonight.”
I’m not about to disagree. I look at the backpack I brought from Capon Springs. It’s packed with special items for the adventure I’m now certain I’m about to undertake.