Part 45 (2/2)
Without preamble, Judah ordered the coffin opened, and four of his men stepped forward, grabbed a corner each.
Del Piero started forward, 'For pity's sake, do take care!'
The men ignored him, removed the gla.s.s lid of the coffin roughly.
Judah stepped forward, and with everyone watching tensely, reached in, dipped his fingers into the remains of Alexander the Great, and pulled from them...
...the top Piece of the Golden Capstone.
Pyramidal in shape, with a base the size of a square paperback book, it radiated power.
More than that.
It radiated a power and an artistry and a knowledge knowledge beyond anything mankind had ever devised. beyond anything mankind had ever devised.
It was beyond man, beyond the limits of human knowledge.
The crystal in its peak glittered like a diamond. This crystal array bored down the spine of the gold mini-pyramid, reappearing at the base.
Judah gazed at it adoringly.
He now held in his possession all seven all seven Pieces of the Golden Capstone, something no man had done since Alexander the Great. Pieces of the Golden Capstone, something no man had done since Alexander the Great.
He grinned.
'It's time to capture the power of Ra. Tartarus will arrive over Giza at noon. To Giza, and a thousand years of power.'
GIZA, EGYPT.
20 MARCH, 2006.
THE DAY OF TARTARUS.
THE GREAT PYRAMID AT GIZA.
It is perhaps the only structure on Earth known by name to every single member of the human race.
The Great Pyramid.
The most common misconception about the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World is that the three pyramids at Giza comprise a single Wonder.
This is not the case.
While Khafre's and Menkaure's additional pyramids are certainly impressive monuments, only one pyramid is known as the Great Great one: that of Khufu (or Cheops, as the Greeks called him). It is this pyramid alone that comprises the Wonder. one: that of Khufu (or Cheops, as the Greeks called him). It is this pyramid alone that comprises the Wonder.
In a word, it is breathtaking.
Its dimensions are staggering: 137 metres high, while each of its base sides is 140 metres long. With the addition of its missing Capstone-lost in antiquity-perfect symmetry would be returned and it would once again resume its original height of 140 metres and its intended shape.
It is estimated to weigh over 2 million tons, and yet, despite this unimaginable bulk, it contains within its ma.s.s the most intricate and beautiful pa.s.sageways, all built with an exactness that defies belief.
It has outlasted pharaohs and kings, tribal wars and world wars, earthquakes and sandstorms.
Devotees of the Pyramid swear that it possesses unusual powers: it is said that no bacteria can grow inside the Great Pyramid. It is said that flowers planted inside it grow with unusual vibrancy. It is claimed to heal sufferers of arthritis and cancer.
Whatever one's beliefs, there is something about this man-made mountain that draws people to it, that entrances them. It defies time, it defies imagination. To this day, it is still not known exactly how it was built.
It is the only man-made structure in history to defy the ravages of Nature and Time, and indeed the only one of the Seven Ancient Wonders known to have survived to the present day.
It is a building without equal in all of the world.
THE GREAT PYRAMID.
GIZA (ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF CAIRO), EGYPT.
20 MARCH, 2006, 1100 HOURS.
THE DAY OF TARTARUS.
The Great Pyramid of Khufu lorded over outer Cairo, absolutely dominating the landscape around it.
Apartment buildings constructed by men 4,500 years after it had been built looked puny beside it. It stood at the point where the lush river valley of Cairo met the edge of the Western Desert, on a raised section of cliffs called the Giza Plateau.
Beside it stood the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure-also magnificent, but forever inferior-and before it, crouching, eternally at rest, lay the mysterious Sphinx.
It was almost midday and the Sun was rising to the high-point of its daily arc. It was hot-very, very hot-even for Cairo: 49 degrees Celsius and rising rapidly.
Reports from around the world had told of oppressively warm weather across the globe: China, India, even Russia-all had recorded unusually high temperatures on this day. Many reported instances of people collapsing in the streets.
Something was wrong.
Something to do with the Sun, the TV commentators said. A sunspot, the meteorologists said.
In the United States, all the morning news shows had made it their story of the day and were looking to the White House, waiting for an address from the President.
But no such address came.
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