Part 14 (1/2)

And from those readings of The Lord of the Rings The Lord of the Rings, Lily got her own callsign.

Sky Monster bestowed it on her, naming her after her favourite character in the epic.

Eowyn.

The feisty s.h.i.+eldmaiden from Rohan who kills the Witch-King of Angmar, the Ringwraith whom no man man can kill. can kill.

Lily loved her callsign.

And still, every day, she would enter the kitchen and get her juice- and see the sheet of paper with the strange writing on it stuck to the fridge door.

Then one morning, a few days before her tenth birthday, she looked at the uppermost box on it and said, 'Huh. I get it now. I know what that says.'

Everyone in the kitchen at the time-Doris, Wizard, Zoe and Pooh Bear-whirled around instantly.

'What does it say, Lily?' Wizard said, gulping, trying not to show his excitement.

'It's a funny language, uses letters and pictures to create sounds. It says, Colossus.

Two entrances, one plain, one not, Carved by the fifth Great Architect, Out of Great Soter's tenth mine.

The easier route lies below the old mouth. Yet In the Nubian swamp to the south of Soter's mine, Among Sobek's minions, Find the four symbols of the Lower Kingdom.

Therein lies the portal to the harder route.'

The next day, the entire team left Victoria Station on board the Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus, bound for the Sudan.

That same day the Sun rotated on its axis and the small sunspot that the Egyptians called Ra's Prophet appeared on its surface.

In seven days, on March 20, the Tartarus Rotation would occur.

TUNISIA.

15 MARCH, 2006.

5 DAYS BEFORE TARTARUS.

THE PHAROS.

As a Wonder of the World, the Lighthouse at Alexandria has always been, terribly unfairly, the perennial runner-up.

It is second in height to the Great Pyramid at Giza-by a mere 29 metres.

It stood, intact and functioning, for 1,600 years, until it was. .h.i.t by a pair of devastating earthquakes in 1300 AD. Only the Great Pyramid survived for longer.

But ultimately it would defeat the Pyramid on one important count: it was useful.

And because it survived for so long, we have many descriptions of it: Greek, Roman, Islamic.

By today's standards, it was a skysc.r.a.per.

Built on three colossal levels, it stood 117 metres high, the equivalent of a 40-storey building.

The first level was square-broad, solid and powerful. The foundation level.

The second level was octagonal and hollow.

The third and uppermost level was cylindrical and also hollow- to allow for the raising of fuel to the peak.

At the summit of the tower stood its crowning glory, Sostratus's masterpiece: the mirror.

Ten feet high and shaped like a modern satellite dish, the mirror was mounted on a st.u.r.dy base and could rotate 360 degrees. Its concave bronze shape reflected the rays of the Sun to warn approaching s.h.i.+ps of the dangerous shoals and submerged rocks just off Alexandria.

By night, a huge bonfire was lit in front of the mirror, allowing the great lighthouse to send its beam twenty kilometres out into the darkened sea.

Interestingly, like the Colossus of Rhodes a few years later, it was built at the request of Ptolemy I of Egypt-Alexander the Great's close friend and general.

AIRs.p.a.cE OVER AFRICA.

15 MARCH, 2006, 0200 HOURS.

5 DAYS BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF TARTARUS.

The Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus roared toward Kenya. roared toward Kenya.

The huge black 747, with its bristling array of missiles and gun turrets, cut a mean figure in the sky. It looked like a gigantic bird of prey-death on wings.

Inside it, West's multinational team was still recovering from their disastrous mission in the Sudan.

In the main cabin of the jumbo, West, Wizard, Lily and Pooh Bear all sat in contemplative silence. The cabin was fitted with couches, some tables, and wall-consoles for radio and communications gear.

Wizard stood. 'I'd better call the Spanish Army attache. Tell them about Noddy ...'

He went to a nearby wall-console, grabbed the secure sat-phone there, started dialling.

West just stared into s.p.a.ce, replaying in his mind everything that had gone wrong in the Sudan.

Lily sat with Pooh Bear, gazing at the team's original copy of the Callimachus Text.

As for the others, Fuzzy and Big Ears were in the infirmary in the rear of the plane, being treated by Zoe; and Sky Monster was up in the c.o.c.kpit, flying the plane, with Stretch keeping him company.