Shiva (45 page)

Again
,
the passage ended in a blank wall. Not exactly blank. The limestone was carved in elaborate hieroglyphics. Hundreds of them. No, on second count
,
probably thousands of them. And that wasn
’
t counting the rest that lined the walls.

So Brandt wasn
’
t surprised when Rebecca asked,
“
Can I have a few minutes to translate?
”

Purposefully
,
Brandt yanked the Velcro off his watch face.
“
Five minutes.
”

Rebecca
’
s lips formed a firm line
,
but she nodded.

Actually
,
in their current circumstance
,
Rebecca could probably have as much time as she needed. God love her
,
though, the woman performed better under pressure. If you gave her a day, she might never get it done. Second-guessing and cross
-
referencing took over.

Give her five minutes
,
though?

The chick could perform miracles.

* * *

Rebecca tugged her lip between her teeth. None of this was making sense. She needed her laptop and about seventeen assistants. What in the hell could she accomplish in five minutes?

The line she was currently working on had a hawk, a squiggly water icon
,
and a farmer. Was the hawk an actual hawk
,
or was it the
“
a
”
sound? Or was it being modified by the little snake under it? Was that snake part of this sentence or the one beneath it?

Given the fact people were still arguing over the Rosetta Stone found by Napoleon troops in 1799, this task was hopeless. The Rosetta Stone
’
s black granite surface was etched with a decree from King Ptolemy V. It wasn
’
t the decree so much
—
as a matter of fact, Rebecca couldn
’
t remember what in the heck Ptolemy wanted so badly he had a huge block of granite dug up and put into a temple
—
but the fact that the words were written in three languages was the big deal for Egyptologists. Ancient Egyptian
“
priestly
”
(
or higher
-
form
)
hieroglyphics, Demotic script
(
which was considered the
“
commoner
”
form of the language
)
, and most important
,
A
ncient Greek.

Despite researchers having over two hundred years to translate the stone, you could still find arguments in the journals. Rebecca slid her eyes over the thousands of line
s
of inscriptions. The debate about these passages would probably rage until the next millenni
um
.

That was if they ever got out of her
e
.

“
Hey, do you mind if I film this?
”
Lopez asked.

“
I
’
m just going to be sitting here reading,
”
Rebecca answered.

“
I know,
”
Lopez acknowledged yet still pulled out his little flip camera.
“
I want to
record
something a little boring so that Ricki
Junior
can appreciate how exciting our escape on the other side is. You know, give him some perspective.
”

Yes, Rebecca loved being the straight man for Lopez. But who could resist the corporal
’
s devil
-
may
-
care grin?

“
Sure, why not?
”

Having her useless intellectual flailing recorded for all eternity seemed fitting.

“
Hey,
”
Levont said.
“
Brandt, what
’
s the English equivalent of the Russian word
lew
.
”

Her fianc
é
turned to answer.
“
It
’
s not Russian. It is Polish
,
and it means
‘
lion.
’
”
Brandt turned back to Talli, then cocked his head.
“
Why?
”

“
Yeah, why?
”
Rebecca added.

Levont pointed to the ground. Rebecca almost couldn
’
t see what he meant
,
since Lopez was right there with his camera, panning the area in question. Between his sweeps, Rebecca made out words written in the dust on the floor. Apparently
,
Vakasa had been hard at work on her own.

Only
,
the little girl had actually produced results. Again
,
it was a translation that required translation
,
though.

The point man added.
,
”
The African stuff says
,
‘
and here
’
”
—
he pointed halfway down another sentence
—
”
‘
Terrifying One,
’
and
‘
fear its wrath.
’
”

“
I can
’
t speak to the ancient Aramaic,
”
Talli said.
“
However
,
the Farci says
,
‘
union
’
and
‘
ever.
’
”

Lopez turned the camera on himself.
“
And the Latin
-
based languages
—
you know
,
the best ones
—
say
,
‘
have no,
’
‘
grovel,
’
and strangely,
‘
panties.
’
”
After Rebecca smacked him, he corrected himself.
“
My bad. It says
,
‘
lady coverings,
’
but come on, if that isn
’
t panties
,
what is?
”

Rebecca didn
’
t answer the corporal. She was too busy adding in her limited French and Swedish knowledge.

She read aloud as much as she could.
“
Quake before the Terrifying One
.
”
Off the men
’
s questioning looks, Rebecca explained
,
“
That was the Egyptian
’
s name for the Great Sphinx.
”

Could that really be? Could they actually be under the Great Sphinx? It seemed so improbable that the single
-
largest monolith sat over them. The thing had been carved out of a single limestone block. A feat of incredible engineering nowadays, let alone at the dawn of civilization.

Getting back to the passage Vakasa had translated, Rebecca continued.
“
Know this god, made of the union of the lion
,
and man shall live eternal. No veil shall cover him. No man can destroy
,
or damage, or harm him. Grovel before him and fear his wrath if you ever
…
I can only assume that the last word means
‘
try.
’
”

Rebecca rocked back on her heels. It was a brilliant translation of the ancient hieroglyphics
.
H
owever
,
it didn
’
t exactly get them out of here.

“
That
’
s it?
”
Brandt asked
,
obviously figuring out the same thing.

“
Um,
”
Levont said
,
moving out of the way.
“
No…
”

Vakasa had scrawled her writing all over the floor. Translating ten times faster than Rebecca could even
do
with her laptop. Getting over the sting to her ego, Rebecca stood up.

“
Okay, we can
’
t do this piecemeal,
”
she explained.
“
Everyone just chime in if it is a language you speak.
”

* * *

Brandt listened to the others as he prepared to translate the Russian, Polish
,
and Turkish. So far
,
it had just been more
A
ncient Egyptian hyperbole about how incredibly awesome the Sphinx was. Like just looking at the thing didn
’
t tell you that already. Even just flying by it, hanging onto the wings, the Sphinx
had
impressed
him
.

Lopez stopped his interpretation.
“
What about the Riddle of the Sphinx? Shouldn
’
t we be looking for something about old men crawling or something?
”

Rebecca shook her head.
“
No, that is actually a Greek fable. And the answer is the life cycle of man. First we crawl. Then we walk upright. Then we use a cane. Not exactly applicable here.
”

“
Are you sure?
”
Brandt asked. She seemed a little frazzled and really hated being interrupted.

She sighed before answering.
“
That riddle was written about a completely different sphinx that guarded Thebes. The sphinx was a
she
,
and the legend arose around
six hundred
BC. This sphinx, the one sitting on top of us, is speculated to have been carved before
thirty-four hundred
BC.
”

Little did she know how glad Brandt was that Rebecca was slightly annoyed with him. It usually meant brilliance was on the horizon. So he pushed.
“
Speculated, but not
known
?
”

You could see her hackles rise.

“
I
’
m not sure you noticed the water lines that striate the statue?
”

Brandt just shrugged. This wasn
’
t about what he knew or didn
’
t know. It was about Rebecca pushing herself past her rigid academic thinking.

“
Those were created by rains, heavy rains. Rains that
predate
three thousand
BC.
”

Oh yeah, she was getting up on her high horse.

“
So there
’
s a little rain damage?
”
Brandt pressed.

Her pupils dilated slightly
,
and her breathing increased. This was like academic foreplay or something. Brandt had no idea why she
’
d get so worked up, but hey
,
if it worked for her
,
and by extension
,
then it worked
for the entire team.

“
First, it
’
s not a
little
. The water erosion is significant, indicating flooding. Second, this implies that the Sphinx was actually built
before
the heavy
-
rain period.
”

As she went to take a breath, Lopez jumped in.
“
Because why would the Egyptians build such a huge monument on a floodplain? Right? That would just be stupid.
”
Off Rebecca
’
s nod, Lopez turned the camera to him.
“
Score one for Daddy-O!
”