The Zondon: Terrorists and Aliens (an International Suspense Thriller)

  Arriving in Cairo, they went directly to Abdul's flat. They would need another night's rest before proceeding. In the meantime, Abdul went about the town and obtained things like rope, some high powered torches with bulbs that fit on one's forehead with a strap, a large supply of batteries, water containers and anything else he thought they would need. This was no ordinary archaeological expedition. Ibrahim would have to go it alone for part of the distance, and Abdul had no idea what that would entail, apart from crawling through a passage no one knew existed.

  Chapter 55

  The simple act of carrying the things down to the four-wheel-drive van, the rope, the torches, the water, made Ibrahim's stomach feel tight. The rope was to hoist him down into the dark pit. The headband torch was for him to use in the endless dark passage with the many turns.

  Having packed everything they could possibly need, they set off early the next morning for the pyramids of Giza.

  As they approached it, Ibrahim had a feeling akin to when he turned around on the mountain trail in Afghanistan deciding to follow Allah's will. There was the call, and there was the fear. He was now to go inside this stone monstrosity and do what had never before been done by a human.

  Being a Zondon was one thing, but now the crystal was broken, and he didn't feel like a Zondon any more. Apart from having read something inside a crystal, he felt thoroughly human, and a twelve-year-old one at that.

  It so happened that Abdul had just obtained permission on behalf of someone from a university in Germany to do research in the Great Pyramid. The team wasn't to arrive for another couple of weeks, but the permission was already in effect, and he, as the holder of the permit had the authority to make a preliminary trip. That way, they could do what they wanted without an official guide looking over their shoulders.

  They got out of the van and walked to the front of the pyramid and began climbing up the giant stones to the entrance carrying the equipment. Abdul showed the guard the permit, and after some small talk, they went into the rock formation that ought to have been hidden in white casing stone, complete with a hinged gate.

  The two adults walked in first and Ibrahim followed. He wondered whether he would walk out this way or by a new way that no one had ever heard of, or not at all.

  They began descending by a way Uncle Abdul called, 'the descending passage', with smooth walls and ceiling, though the floor had a trench worn down the middle. They proceeded until they came to where there was obviously another passage ascending upward through the ceiling, but had a large granite plug. There was a tunnel crudely dug around it in the softer limestone.

  Now they were in the 'ascending passage', where the walls were worn down and chipped in places. They went for a much longer distance this way, until they came to another junction. In middle of the path leading upward, there was an opening to a level passage. They continued upward by walking along either side of the opening.

  'That leads to the "Queen's Chamber",' said Uncle Abdul.

  'The "Queen's Chamber"?' repeated Ibrahim, incredulously.

  'They probably named it that after your time,' said Ed. 'Your crystal called it the "middle chamber".'

  'We go on up to what they call the "King's Chamber",' said Abdul.

  After the junction, the passage they were in continued in the same direction, but with a much higher ceiling.

  'I suppose this is what you called, "the Hall of Time",' said Uncle Abdul, 'but it's been named the "Grand Gallery".'

  '"Hall of Time" certainly goes along with a few of the current popular theories,' said Ed. 'Some people have plotted the whole history of the world by the notches in some of these panels. But then again, the "blowing on the pipe" idea would confirm another recent theory, which is that this whole thing is a generator that picks up the vibrations from the earth, and sounds them against a series of granite slabs above the Kings Chamber.'

  'How does that work?' said Abdul.

  'The high quartz content in the granite generates electricity when it vibrates, so if the pipe is tuned to something approximating C-sharp, that would be the same tone the earth naturally produces, and would be picked up by the granite slabs.'

  'What do they think the electricity was for?' said Abdul.

  'Some lost, ancient, highly advanced city, I suppose, but the purpose of transmitting a message into space makes much more sense than lighting up a city,' said Ed. 'Who ever builds an electrical generator that outlasts the city by several thousand years, I'd like to know?'

  'Hah! The bureaucrats I know, the problem is building anything to last a week!,' said Abdul.

  As they continued to climb, it occurred to Ibrahim that if the passages that were already opened were this long and arduous, what about the hidden one he was supposed to take to somewhere even higher up?

  Finally, they reached the top. There was a big step, and beyond that, a passage where they had to stoop down to get through. That led into an ante chamber, and beyond that, a much larger room. In the far end was the granite box.

  Now, it was time to do what they had come for.

  Ed quickly placed four small microphones, one in each corner of the room, strung them to the tape recorder and then got the video camera ready for action. Then he began shooting

  Ibrahim took the crystal and set it in the box. Then, he prepared to blow the pipe.

  Two long blows with his full breath. He was only a child. One of the others could surely give it a longer blow.

  'Maybe you blow it?' he said to Uncle Abdul. 'You could blow longer than me.'

  'But the instructions said you are to blow it. Just take as deep a breath as you can, and blow.'

  He prepared himself. He took a deep breath, and poised the pipe.

  He blew.

  It didn't seem to him like a long blow, but the echo immediately began to resound so that it sounded as though he hadn't stopped.

  Meanwhile, he took another deep breath and gave seven short blows.

  The original blow was still echoing from different directions, and the seven short ones repeated themselves and overlapped forming rhythmic patterns.

  Now, the granite box was filled with a white light, and they could see something like lightening flitting back and forth over the ceiling and straight down to the crystal.

  Other tones besides that of the pipe were sounding through the walls, and the whole structure was vibrating.

  The experience was akin to being in a great concert hall where strange exotic musical instruments were playing music, weird and wonderful to the ear and to all the senses.

  Gradually, it all died down. Suddenly, the pipe in Ibrahim's hand crumbled into many pieces. Some popping sounds came from the granite box, making it sound as though firecrackers were going off inside a church bell.

  They went and looked in.

  The pyramid was now broken into many pieces, and each piece was breaking up yet more until there was no more trace of it except for fine dust.

  'So much for our ancient artefacts,' said Ed. 'At least I got it all on video.'

  Now, it was time for the difficult part.

  * * *

  A lone scientist manning an observation post in Antarctica observed the following phenomenon:

  While inside his capsular residence, he heard and felt some rumblings which he thought could be an earthquake. As he glanced out his window, he saw something that told him otherwise. He put on his overcoat and hat and went outside for a better look.

  It was a clear day. The sun was behind him, though below the horizon, and the full moon was straight ahead.

  What he saw at first was snow and ice being thrown up as though blown by some underground force. Then, out of the resulting cloud, emerged what looked like a globe of some sort -- somewhat like a giant drop of water, which should have been invisible had not the moon shone through it.

  He watched as it flattened slightly, and then suddenly split into about seven smaller globes that shot outward in seven directio
ns. The action reminded him of watching a slow motion video of a drop of water landing on concrete and spitting into smaller droplets.

  They shot outward, and then began to rotate around their common centre while moving upward, where they began to catch the rays of the sun. Faster and faster they spun while moving into a single file formation, and proceeded upward until they disappeared from his sight.

  When he walked out to where he had seen the explosion, the ice and snow had settled back, and it was hard to find where it had happened.

  He decided not to report the incident, as most probably no one would believe him.

  * * *

  Now, the three had again arrived at the intersection of the ascending passage and the way into the Queen's (or middle) Chamber.

  Going into that passage, they found a hole over to the side, leading straight down. That was the way to the grotto, where the new door should have opened. The hole continued farther to what was called the Subterranean Chamber.

  Ibrahim looked at the hole and gulped.

  Ed suggested they have a bite to eat first, but Ibrahim wasn't hungry.

  They began to outfit him in the gear they had brought, strapping he light to his forehead and the battery pack on top of that. They placed spare batteries, along with food and a water bottle in his carry pack. This, he could either sling about his shoulder, or else lengthen the strap so it dragged behind him if the passage were too narrow. He wore a good pair of climbing shoes. Over his blue jeans and denim shirt, he wore knee and elbow pads. Also in his carry bag was a rope with a three prong hook -- a ninja rope, Ibrahim called it.

  If Abdul and Ed had qualms about sending a frightened twelve-year-old boy down into a deep pit, from which he wasn't intended to emerge, they bravely kept it to themselves.

  'Remember, you are "well chosen" for this task,' said Uncle Abdul. 'Believe what the crystal told you. You are on a mission from Allah.'

  Ed instructed, 'This rope is long enough to reach to the Descending Passage leading to the Subterranean Chamber. After we let you down as far as the grotto, and you have gone inside, we'll let the rope down the rest of the way. It will be securely tied to this bar here, so if anything happens, you can let yourself down the rest of the way if you need to. It's a sloping passage -- about like this -- so it won't be difficult.' He indicated the grade of the slope with his hand.

  Uncle Abdul repeated it all in Arabic and simpler English.

  Ibrahim, with a burst of resolve, which Uncle Abdul helped him to muster, stepped to the hole. Abdul let him down while Ed held the rope securely in his hands. He then began to let him slowly down.

  Ed had earlier put a marker on the rope at so many meters to let them know when Ibrahim should have reached the grotto. When that came into Ed's hands Ibrahim shouted from below that he had found it. The rope suddenly became lighter and Ibrahim confirmed that he was inside and had untied himself. Ed let the rope down the rest of the way.

  After a while, Ibrahim shouted up that he had found a passage just big enough for him to crawl through. That was the last thing they heard from him.

  Ed went outside and began to climb to the top of the pyramid, while Abdul waited a while just in case Ibrahim should need to turn back.

  Much later, Abdul decided to go down himself and look at the new opening.

  He descended via the rope and climbed into the grotto. He searched every wall, but there was no sign of anything. Everything look just as it always had. Nor was there any sign of Ibrahim.

  Abdul descended further to the descending passage. All along the way, he looked for openings. There were none.

  Now there was nothing to do but to go outside to join Ed.

  Chapter 56

  The moment Ernie opened his eyes his mind began trying to work out where he was.

  He was lying on his back. Above him was some sort of roof made from leaves held together with thin sticks of bamboo. He turned his head and he could see a valley spread out below him with mountains in the distance.

  Under him was a slit bamboo floor -- a platform of some sort; above him, the thatch roof. Next to is left arm was an earthenware jar with a long handled coconut shell dipper lying across the lid -- a water jar obviously. He propped himself up, took a drink of the refreshing mountain water and looked about him some more. He was on the edge of a tribal village. Some children were playing in the distance, wearing their blue embroidered tribal costumes. Further on, were people milling about. He could smell a wood fire burning somewhere.

  How did he get here?

  Suddenly, he remembered -- the confrontation, the crystal exploding, his hand on fire -- that was the last thing he remembered.

  He looked at his right hand. It was just fine now. If anything, the skin looked even fresher than before, with pink skin like a baby's. He could distinctly remember the pain.

  Was it a dream? He didn't think so.

  How long had he been out? he wondered.

  Then another fact intruded on his consciousness -- the crystal! It was destroyed!

  He had chosen wrongly. The mission was finished.

  Where were the others? Would they forgive him? Were they dead?

  What about the nuclear briefcases?

  Where was Wisdom?

  He heard footsteps. He looked up, and there was the old man they had picked up in the jeep.

  'Ah, you awake now?' said the man in heavily accented English.

  'Where am I?'

  'You have mercy on me when I'm tired and hungry, so I help you. I bring you here.'

  'And my hand. Wasn't it injured?'

  'Yes, it almost fall off, but I put some medicine on it.'

  'Who are you anyway?' asked Ernie.

  'I have many names. Which name do you want to know?'

  'What do they call you here?'

  'These people in this village, they call me Khun Pateep,' said the old man

  A little boy wearing no pants came running by rolling a hoop with a stick. Pateep called to him and said something. The boy went off running to one of the huts.

  'What about my friends?' asked Ernie.

  'The boy go to call them. Also, you are hungry.'

  'Well, yes,' said Ernie, just now realising that he was, indeed.

  'They bring food.'

  'What happened to the Russian and his men?'

  'Mr. Stanovitch? I chase them away. Their guns not work, so I use my stick.'

  Ernie looked at him disbelievingly. How could an old man chase a squad of soldiers away with a stick, guns or no guns? But there must be something to the claim. The soldiers were obviously gone.

  Then he saw Les, Joseph and Gil coming out of the hut. Some women were following, carrying dishes of food.

  'What about the other man and woman?' asked Ernie.

  'They follow Mr. Stanovitch. They try to help him.'

  'They -- what?'

  Now the others had reached the shelter.

  The other three expressed joy at seeing Ernie alive and moving.

  The girls laid the food out in front of Ernie. It was similar to Chinese food, with stir fried vegetables, pieces of meat and a bowl of rice with chopsticks laid in from of Ernie.

  'This is Akah village. Food much like Chinese. I think you can use chopsticks,' said the man.

  How did he know?

  'What are your other names?' Ernie asked.

  'Ah, my other names. I have many. I think you know one of my names. I am the one some call, the "Wandering Jew".'

  All four of them looked surprised.

  'But that's just a legend!' said Joseph.

  'Ah, yes, many legends told about me. Many many! No truth to them, only that I am a Jew and I wander these many many years looking for places to rest, but I find very little. Every where I go, I ask for just a bit of shelter, just a bit of food and drink for a hungry and thirsty old man, but only a few help me. This village, they open their doors to me. And you, you take pity on me.'

/>   Ernie remembered how they had almost driven right passed without stopping. On one hand, had they known how crazy this man now appeared to be, would they have stopped at all? But he did save their lives.

  Gil spoke, 'But the legends say you were cursed because you insulted Christ as He carried the cross to Galgotha.'

  'Ah, the legends. But the truth is opposite of the legend. The legends are many. Here is a legend that maybe you know,' he went on. 'The story of the prince. To test the woman he loves, he goes to woo her dressed like a pauper, because if he goes dressed as prince, whom does she love? Does she truly love him? Does she love the crown he wears? Does she love kingly status? Or does she desire comfortable life of queen? He knows that if as a pauper, she could love him, then her love is true, and she will love him also as king. That is the only true story of the Wandering Jew.'

  Ernie dug into his food. It was delicious.

  'Another name that I have, I think you know very well,' the old man went on.

  'Which is...?' said Joseph.

  'Wisdom.'

  The four stared at him. He had uttered the word in Zondon.

  He paused as he looked from one to the other.

  'Ah! So you still think "Wisdom" is only a concept. You think that because the crystal is no more, that Wisdom is now inaccessible to you. I've told you many times, Wisdom comes in many forms. Only some Wisdom comes through the crystal. It's because you used Wisdom that didn't come through the crystal that you are alive now. Otherwise you would surely be dead in middle of the jungle.'

  'How?' said Les, 'I mean, how did we use wisdom?'

  'By stopping to help an old man begging for mercy. By showing hospitality to the Wandering Jew. Yes, you very nearly didn't stop. You saw the look of sadness on my face. It was sadness for you.'

  After a pause, Ernie said, 'Was it Wisdom to do what we did to Stanovitch -- I mean, instead of blowing him out of the galaxy?'

  'That also was Wisdom from deep inside. That was true Zondon Wisdom, and Wisdom from the dawn of the human race. Yes, maybe you could have blown him out of the solar system, but he has three other bodies to return to. And, you would have lost a valuable ally, one who understands the mind of the Glaat, and knows the technology they have. When Mr. Stanovitch conquers himself, he will be a great force of good in the world, and a vital ally of the Zondon. (Thomas and Rosa drove your jeep to find him, and they will help him to emerge from his prison which you began to unlock. I gave them a gift to help them in their mission.) But above all it was Wisdom to recognise the high value of the living soul, and the fact that you did make him a promise.'