Temple of the Inscriptions

by Humphrey Price

Table of Contents

Chapter 7: The Key

At the base of the pyramid were two other jeeps and another vehicle that I would later learn was called a Sports Utility Vehicle. A guard was sitting on a folding stool in the shade of the SUV. Walkie Talkie Man spoke briefly with him, and I got the feeling they had never met before. SUV Man gave me a long, lingering look and had a longer and more lingering look for Karyn. I did not get a good feeling about him.

Apparently, everyone else was already inside, where it no doubt was much cooler. Walkie Talkie Man led us up the winding stairs to the entrance one-third of the way up the Red Pyramid. There was another guard just inside the entrance who waved the three of us on in.

An Egyptian in white cotton clothing with sunglasses was sitting on the floor of the entrance. As we stepped inside, he got up and moved behind us, carrying a large, thin flat disc. I could see from reflections on its face that it was a highly mirrored surface. He positioned himself just outside the entrance, in the brilliant sun, and then turned it so that it reflected the sunlight straight down the passage.

With the mirror guy providing a light beam, we didn’t need to use our flashlights. Walkie Talkie Man had us descend down the passage to the first large chamber. There was another mirror guy at the bottom, and he used his disc to reflect the sunlight coming down from the first mirror guy around in the large room and toward the next passage. We took that into the next chamber, and the gang was all there: Sneferu, Hetepheres, Jangsu, and the beefy guard. There was an oil lamp on the floor, providing illumination.

Hetepheres greeted us in English. “Thank you for coming.” She nodded at me and said, “Hello, Scott.” To Karyn she said, “We are relieved that you arrived safely. I trust that Jangsu and Scott have explained many things to you. I am Hetepheres, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, Karyn.” She extended her hand.

Karyn took her hand with an expression of awe and replied, “Well, it’s nice to meet you, too. I just can’t believe... you were born over five thousand years ago. I read about you in an ancient history book.”

Hetepheres laughed, “Well, you already met Jangsu, but he was born only fifteen hundred years ago, so I guess he’s a youngster.” That was bizarre because Hetepheres glowed with youthfulness while Jangsu was so elderly.

Jangsu greeted Karyn in Chinese, and then I was astounded to hear Sneferu also speak to her in Chinese. Karyn was surprised and hesitated momentarily before answering. Sneferu extended his hand to her, and she briefly held it. Then the three Chinese speakers conversed for several minutes. Sneferu wanted to take a look at Karyn’s pendant. Then he and Jangsu each showed her the stones that were set in rings they were wearing.

Later, Karyn told me that Sneferu had said, “Horus gave each of us a stone embedded in a ring like mine. Yours is different. It is on a necklace. But you are the first woman to have a stone. Perhaps that is why.”

While they were talking, Hetepheres took me aside. “Although Sneferu has mastered the Chinese language, I have not. Let me explain what our plans are. As you probably remember, the other chamber you came through has the secret passage down to the travel throne.

“There is also a secret doorway in the same location in this room, and it leads to another room. We don’t know Horus’s purpose for that chamber, but my beloved Sneferu has decided to use it for his burial chamber when that time eventually comes.

“There is also a vault in that room, and we want to see if Karyn’s stone can open it. As Jangsu explained to you last night, we hope that it contains more vials of the Drink of Life. If it does not, then Jangsu will be near the end of his life, and my Sneferu will soon follow.”

The Chinese speakers ended their conversation, and Hetepheres told me, “Come, we are ready.”

Sneferu took something from his shirt pocket. It looked like a fat pen, with a pocket clip on the side. He gave it to Jangsu who walked over to the far wall. There was a round hole in the wall, about chest high, and he placed the cylinder in the hole. Jangsu pressed an inset button on the side, but I didn’t see anything happen. He looked at me and motioned to the wall behind me. I turned and saw a very bright red spot about the size of a BB on the wall exactly opposite the black cylinder, which I recognized to be a laser.

A friend of mine in high school had a kit and built his own ruby laser. It made a beam that looked just like this one. The difference is that it was in a case the size of a large shoe box, and it plugged into a wall outlet. I was amazed that Sneferu’s laser was the size of a pen and ran off of batteries.

Sneferu guided Karyn to the red spot on the wall. He spoke to her in Chinese, and she held her pendant out to the spot. Snap! It stuck to the wall right where the red dot was. Sneferu smiled as the rumbling sound began, and the stone slab next to them rose up into the ceiling revealing a set of steps leading downward at a shallow angle. The guard stayed in the large chamber, and the rest of us followed Sneferu down the stairway into another chamber.

Hetepheres switched on battery-powered lanterns that were in the room, and Karyn and I both gasped at the magnificence before us. The room was about four meters wide and eight meters long and piled with treasures. My eyes were drawn to the classic-looking ancient Egyptian sarcophagus raised off the floor in the center of the chamber. Only it wasn’t ancient. It was brand new and covered with brilliant shining gold.

Sneferu spoke to Karen, and Hetepheres paraphrased in English for me. “My husband is preparing for the possibility of death. He thinks that immortality is perhaps not such a wonderful event, that over time it makes some men, like Pakal, become evil, to think they are gods when in fact they are just corrupt men. He will achieve true immortality by being embalmed in the ancient tradition and passing on to the afterlife that awaits him. But now we will see if your friend can open the vault that is hidden in this chamber.”

I was awestruck by the splendor and wealth of the future burial chamber. The value of the riches within were incalculable. There were statues and funerary objects of gold, silver, and brilliant jewels. I could see that Karyn’s eyes were drawn to a magnificent pair of heavy jeweled swords hung on the wall next to the doorway we had come through. Sneferu gave us no time to take it all in; he motioned us over to a bare spot low on a wall in the far corner of the room.

Jangsu did the laser trick once again from a hole on the opposite wall, revealing the location of a hidden button. Karyn held out her meteorite pendant and positioned it over the glistening bright red spot. Everyone held their breath. This was the moment of truth. Snap! It stuck to the wall. Then, just to the right of the spot, a stone block lowered into the floor, leaving a square opening about twenty centimeters on a side.

Sneferu had a flashlight and put his head next to the floor so he could peer into the opening. His face remained passive. With great dignity, he stood up and looked around at all of us. He shook his head and then spoke, first in ancient Egyptian and then in Chinese, so everyone knew what he said except for me, but I could tell that no one looked very happy. I decided to take a look for myself. Crouching by the opening to the vault, I picked up Sneferu’s flashlight from the floor, and searched inside.

It was a perfectly smooth square alcove about thirty centimeters deep, and it was perfectly empty. Either someone had already beat Sneferu to the punch, or it had never contained any supply of the Elixir of Immortality. I stood and saw Sneferu, Hetepheres, and Jangsu huddled together in conversation.

Suddenly we were jolted by the sound of two gunshots in quick succession from just outside the room. I frantically looked for Karyn, but she had disappeared. A man burst into the room sweeping a pistol around in all directions.

He was a strong man of modest height, slightly overweight, with a large round head and puffy cheeks. He had short dark hair, a hooked nose, wide fat chin, and cruel eyes.

Proceed to part 2...

Copyright © 2023 by Humphrey Price