Canyon of the Sphinx (28 page)

 “One last thing,” he said as he
set the photo in front of them. “We found this inscription on the base of each
sphinx. If you notice, it’s on every one of them we’ve uncovered so far.”

Kathlyn and Marcus looked at the
close-up of the inscription. It was very faint, carved deep into the smooth
stone. It looked something like this:

我們在你的腳前睡覺

Kathlyn picked up the photo and
turned it sideways as if it would make more sense to her. She finally shook her
head.

 “What is this? Some kind of
Zapotec script?”

“Look closely at it,” Christopher
talked to her as if speaking to a student. “Think hard. What does it look
like?”

Kathlyn squinted at the picture
but had to shake her head. “I really can’t tell.”

Christopher looked at Marcus as
he spoke. “I had my people run it through a universal translator program to see
if we could pick up what it was. We started with all known Mesoamerican
hieroglyphs and worked our way out – like Dr. Trent said, we know what it
wasn’t. We wanted to find out what it was.”

“And?”

“It’s an ancient form of
Traditional Chinese.”

Kathlyn’s jaw nearly dropped to
the table. Even Marcus had difficulty containing his surprise.

“Chinese?” he repeated. “You’re
sure?”

“We had a Chinese scholar confirm
it. We didn’t tell him where it came from, of course, but he confirmed that it
was a traditional ancient dialect.”

“Did he tell you what it said?”

Christopher took a long, deep
breath. “From what he could tell, it says ‘(We) sleep at your feet’.”

Now Marcus couldn’t stop his
shock. “You must be kidding.”

“There’s no doubt. We had the
results confirmed by a second scholar.”

Kathlyn didn’t understand the
basis for their surprise. She looked back and forth between Christopher and her
husband. “What’s the big deal?”

Marcus looked at his wife.
“Remember when you had that episode at Site B and we accused you of
Channeling?”

“Yes.”

“I think Dr. Murphy just
confirmed it.” When she didn’t understand, he repeated the words she had said.
“’
Walk the path of
Homestone. We sleep at your feet’."

Her eyes widened. “I remember
now. You told me that I said that.”

Marcus looked back at the photo
with the writing on it. “I think we’re on to something here.”

Kathlyn was astonished. “Amazing,”
she breathed. “So what does it all mean? Did ancient Chinese establish a colony
in the Yucatan four thousand years ago?”

“Given this evidence, I suppose
that anything is possible,” Christopher shrugged.

“And the columns of water
flowers,” she continued, her mind chaotic with thought. “That means that they
are Chinese lotus blossoms, not Egyptian like we all assumed.”

“That would stand to reason,”
Marcus said. “It also brings a connection to something else; when we asked the
entity that you were channeling to identify itself, do you remember what it
said? Nuguiiu Naguchi.”

Christopher’s eyes suddenly
blazed with realization. “Yellow man.”

“As an Asian could be described.”

It was an amazing correlation.
The three of them sat in stunned silence for several moments, absorbing the
possibilities. Like a giant puzzle, the pieces were coming together in
unexpected places.

 Christopher finally broke the
quiet. “Like I said, anything is possible.” He paused, gazing between the two
of them. “Look, I pretty much knew the sphinx wasn’t Egyptian based on the
glyphs etched on the base, but I wanted Marcus’ confirmation. This is such a
fantastic mystery, and mysteries just aren’t my bag. I deal more in black and
white. But the two of you…”

Kathlyn stepped in. “Marcus deals
in black and white, too. I’m the one that deals with myths and legends.”

“Then I’m asking you, as one
archaeologist to another, if you will help me with this. I know it’s out of Dr.
Burton’s scope, but considering what’s gone on in the past, I didn’t think it
would be right for me to ask one of you to come without the other. I want us
all to get along and to work together, because I really want you to use
whatever gifts you have on my dig. Mine is as important to me as Egypt is to
your husband.”

Kathlyn sat back in her chair,
gazing steadily at him. “What, exactly, do you want me to do?”

Christopher sat forward, his pale
blue eyes like shards of glass. It was as intense as Kathlyn had ever seen him.

“The inscription. We sleep at
your feet. Someone is sleeping there. I know you can find them.”

“A tomb?”

“Or something more. If you were
to locate it, it would change the history of Mesoamerican culture. That the
Chinese had a settlement in the Yucatan is beyond belief.”

Kathlyn looked at Marcus. This
was what she did, what she had done for her husband those years ago. But
considering what they had been through, she would not make a spot decision as
she normally did. She actually showed some restraint in the face of an amazing
prospect.

“I really thank you for the
opportunity,” she said. “But I need to talk to my husband first, and I need to
talk to my university. Even if I get clearance from them, I still need
clearance from UIR. I can’t just walk on.”

Robert, so silent through the
exchange, cleared his throat. “Before you talk about any of that, we still have
to get through a pretty serious trial.”

They all looked at him as if they
had forgotten he was there. He smiled at his sister and patted her hand. “Sorry
to break up your exciting little meeting, but we need to get back to the
courtroom. They’ll be opening the doors and we need to take our seats.”

Kathlyn had been living in a
fantasy world, blissfully free of legal worries for the moment. But Robert had
cruelly brought her back to earth. She suddenly felt sick and depressed all
over again. She looked at Christopher.

“I guess we can talk more about
this depending on how the next few weeks of my life go,” she said solemnly. She
stood up, and the others with her. “Thanks for coming here and showing us your
photos, Chris. I’m very happy you found your city.”

Christopher shrugged his big
shoulders. “You found it. I didn’t do anything but follow your lead.”

Marcus took her arm as they went
to the escalator. “When are you heading back?” he asked, wondering if it
sounded like he was eager to get rid of him.

“Next week. I thought I’d stick
around and watch some of the trial. As small a gesture as it is, at least you’d
both know that you would have more than one supporter in the gallery.”

“Thanks,” Kathlyn smiled weakly.
“It means a lot to us.”

Christopher doubted that was
Marcus’ opinion, but he kept his mouth shut.

***

Kathlyn was truly amazed at the
people who had shown up to attend the trial. In addition to Dr. Murphy, there
were several archaeologists that she had worked with over the years, from
different universities, who had come to show their support. An archaeologist
all the way from Bejing had even flown in to show solidarity. She hadn’t seen
Dr. Tim Yu since excavating the additional cache of Caucasian mummies at Takla
Maklan and he warmly greeted her.

Surprisingly, the Vatican had
also sent a representative in the form of Los Angeles’ archbishop. He addressed
her pleasantly and told her had said a blessing for her in the mass that
morning. Her mother and several cousins also appeared, while her brother, Bill,
sat at the Defendant’s table to help out Robert. A pair of legal Trents was
better than just one, and it was apparent from their serious expressions that
they were gearing up for the fight.

Aside from her family and
friends, the person she most wanted to see entered the courtroom without pomp
or circumstance. No cameras followed the man around and no publicity hounded
him, but to Kathlyn, he was one of the most important people in her world. Dr.
Viktor Tyree, professor emeritus of the Biblical and Philosophical Sciences
Department for Southern California University, shuffled up the center aisle
towards the front of the courtroom. Kathlyn caught sight of him right away, a
tiny little man with a shock of white hair. She went over to the gate that
separated the gallery from the rest of the courtroom, unable to let him in but
certainly able to hug him. He grasped her face in his two gnarled hands and
whispered something to her, something that was his very favorite passage. As
Kathlyn heard it repeated from his lips, it had more meaning than ever.

Job 12:22: 'He reveals the deep
things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light'

She knew he meant it for her
comfort.

Last but not least, by far the
most poignant person in attendance was Al Burton, ill with cancer, being helped
into the courtroom by his enormous son and his aging wife. They all sat
directly behind Kathlyn, Marcus holding on to his father’s hand until the judge
entered the courtroom. It was all Kathlyn could do to hold back the tears when
Al gave her the thumbs-up.

Jensen Elder arrived almost when
the doors were closing. She sat by herself at the back of the room and appeared
strangely disheveled. Kathlyn had never seen the woman anything other than
completely put together. Her unkempt appearance was very curious; she thought
perhaps she had decided against presenting a professional front to go for the
pity vote from the jury instead. Poor, poor Ms. Jensen fighting the Trent
Machine. If the opposing lawyers had advised her to do that, then it was a
smart ploy.

Whatever the woman’s reasons,
Kathlyn gave it no further thought. When Lynn and Dennis slipped in behind
Jensen, in the very last row of seats, Kathlyn thought she had better turn
around. Whatever happened, she didn’t want to see it.

The opening arguments were all
morning affairs that, according to her brother, were actually cut short.
Sometimes opening arguments could last all day. Robert had been his usual
brilliant self, while the attorney for the Plaintiff, the IRS in this case,
sounded like he was describing the history of accounting from the Sumarians to
the present day. The jury got glassy-eyed, which received a grin from her
brother Bill. The youngest and least-serious member of the Trent family, he was
nonetheless the most brilliant if he could only keep himself contained.

After the lunch break, the
prosecution began their case that they estimated would take a couple of weeks
to present. It was a short presentation, but the lawyer assured the judge and
jury that he had everything prepared in a concise, presentable manner.
According to Robert, the Prosecution’s auditors and investigators hadn’t come
up with anything on their audits and subpoenas of all of Kathlyn and Marcus’ financial
records. Whatever was happening was completely local and related to the
operations of the dig in the Valley of the Kings. It was a point in their favor
and bolstered the defenses claim that Kathlyn had been set up.

Kathlyn sat through Day One of the
criminal case against her. She had remained strong and confident by appearance,
but inside, she was dying. To see Lynn, Juliana, Dennis, Debra Jo, Mark, Larry,
Andy and Otis pulled into this travesty with her was more than she could take.
When her career choice and methods were attacked by various outlets, she could
handle it easily because it was directed at her and only her. But this was
different; whatever was directed against her had affected all of them. They had
no jobs and an uncertain future because of her. It was crushing to see what had
happened.

That night, after dinner with
Marcus’ parents, she and Marcus had retired to her mother’s house because she
hadn’t wanted to go back to the apartment in Studio City. Although the Trent
family was one of the wealthiest families in the world with assets totaling
over forty-eight billion dollars though investments, real estate and other
ventures, and the home she grew up in reflected that enormous wealth, it was
still the one place in the world where she felt the most protected and
comforted. It was what she needed at the moment, the quiet peace of her
childhood bedroom that was as big as some people’s entire houses.

 As the babies slept in their own
beds on the far side of the room, Marcus held his wife in her old queen-sized
bed. Her body rattled with sobs and he wished that he could make it all go
away. As wracked as she was, his turmoil was doubled. He should have protected
her from this and he hadn’t. He’d just made it worse by being the vehicle by
which stupid things like paternity issues and sexual harassment had been
allowed to come into play. He felt like a failure. Today just brought it all
out in the open and it had been a painful day for them both.

“Do you want to talk about
Murphy’s dig?” he murmured into her hair, thinking to take her mind off of the
day’s events.

 She shifted so that she was
looking at him. Her honey-colored hair was a soft halo around her face, pale
from weeping. Marcus wiped the moisture from her temple.