Seven Ancient Wonders Part 14

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 shieldmaiden 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 ships 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.

In the main cabin, Lily scanned another entry of the Callimachus Text. The symbols on the page were ancient, alien.

Then suddenly she squealed, 'Hey!'

West snapped up. Wizard also spun.

'This entry here. I couldn't understand it before, but for some reason, I can now. It's more complex than the last one. Uses new symbols. But I can read it now.'

'What's it say?' West leapt to her side.

Lily read it aloud: 'The Pharos.

Look for the base that was once the peak of the Great Tower In the deepest crypt of Iskender's Highest Temple, Soter's ill.u.s.trious House to the Muses, Among the works of Eratosthenes the measurer, Hipparchus the stargazer, And Archimedes and Heron the machine makers, There you will find it it EUCLID'S INSTRUCTIONS EUCLID'S INSTRUCTIONS Surrounded by Death.'

Lily frowned. 'The word "it" has been crossed out and replaced with "Euclid's instructions". I don't know what they are.'

'I do,' Wizard said, reaching for a high-tech stainless-steel trunk behind him. It opened with a vacuum-sealed hiss hiss. The trunk was fitted with many pigeonholes, each pigeonhole containing an ancient scroll. Wizard's collection was huge-there were at least 200 tightly rolled scrolls.

'Now where is that index? Ah, here it is.' Wizard pulled a computer printout from a sleeve in the trunk's lid. On it was a very long typewritten list. 'Now, Euclid's Instructions ...Euclid's Instructions. I'm sure I saw that t.i.tle once before. Ah, good, there we are. Just a moment.'

Wizard proceeded to rummage through his scrolls. As he did so, West typed out Lily's translation of the Text.

Stretch entered the main cabin, noticed the activity immediately. 'What's going on?'

'We may have had a development,' West said. He read one line from the translation. '"Soter's ill.u.s.trious House to the Muses". A House to the Muses is a "museion" or "museum". Soter was Ptolemy I. Soter's House to the Muses Soter's House to the Muses is the Library at Alexandria, otherwise known as the Museion.' is the Library at Alexandria, otherwise known as the Museion.'

'So,' Pooh Bear said, 'in the deepest crypt of the Alexandria Library, among those works mentioned, we'll find "the base that was once the peak of the Lighthouse", whatever that is. I thought the Library was destroyed in antiquity.'

'It was,' Zoe said, coming into the main cabin. 'By the Romans in 48 BC. The Biblioteca Alexandrina was the centre of all learning in the ancient world, possessed of over 700,000 scrolls and the writings of some of the greatest thinkers in human history, and the Romans razed it to the ground razed it to the ground.'

She saw West's translation. 'G.o.d. Look at those names. It's like a Who's Who of history's greatest minds. Eratosthenes: he calculated the circ.u.mference of the Earth. Hipparchus mapped the constellations. Archimedes figured out volume and was a prolific inventor. And Heron. Well. Heron invented geared cogwheels and a primitive steam engine 2,000 years 2,000 years before James Watt was even born.' before James Watt was even born.'

Pooh Bear asked, 'And now?'

Zoe sighed. 'The Library is gone. Long since buried underneath modern-day Alexandria. They know where it stood-and the Egyptian Government recently built a new library not far from the old site-but the Romans did their work well. Just as they had done with Carthage a hundred years previously, the Library was removed from existence. Not a single brick, text or crypt remains.'

'So all its scrolls were destroyed, then?'

'Many were, but a large portion of them was spirited away from the Library in the days before the Roman invasion. The scrolls were reputedly taken to a secret location, deep in the Atlas Mountains- and to date, have never been officially found.'

When Zoe said this last sentence, she threw West and Wizard a sideways look.

'Not everyone announces it to the world when they find something important,' West said.

'What-?' Pooh Bear said, whirling to face the scrolls Wizard was rummaging through. 'Are you telling me that those scrolls are-'

'Ah-ha! Here it is!' Wizard exclaimed.

He extracted an ancient scroll from a pigeonhole. It was beautifully made, with ornate rollers at each end and thick cream-coloured parchment.

Wizard unrolled it, read it.

'Hmmm. Greek text. Handwriting matches that of other known Euclidian texts. One of the greatest mathematicians in history, Euclid. He created plane geometry, you know, a grid with an x x and and y y axis, which we now call Euclidian Geometry. This scroll is undoubtedly written by him, and its t.i.tle is simply "Instructions". Which makes it Euclid's Instructions, I suppose.' axis, which we now call Euclidian Geometry. This scroll is undoubtedly written by him, and its t.i.tle is simply "Instructions". Which makes it Euclid's Instructions, I suppose.'

'What does it say?' Pooh Bear asked.

Wizard scanned the scroll. 'It just seems to restate some of Euclid's more mundane discoveries. No reference to any ancient wonder or Golden Capstone.'

'd.a.m.n,' West said.

'b.u.g.g.e.r,' Zoe said.

'Wait a second ...' Wizard held up his hand. 'Look at this.'

He had unfurled the scroll to its edges, revealing a small handwritten notation at the extreme bottom of the parchment, right where it met the lower roller.

Written across the bottom of the scroll were a few lines of text, not in cla.s.sical Greek, but in another language: the cuneiform-like strokes of the Word of Thoth. It read: 'Lily?' Wizard said.

Lily scanned the ancient doc.u.ment for a moment, then read it aloud: 'Base removed before the Roman invasion, Taken to Hamilcar's Forgotten Refuge.

Follow the Deadly Coast of the Phoenicians To the inlet of the two tridents, Where you will behold the easier entrance to The sixth Great Architect's masterwork.

The Seventh has lain there ever since.'

'There's that word again,' Pooh Bear said, 'base. Why do they call it a base?'

But West wasn't listening. He turned to Wizard, his face alive with excitement. 'The Callimachus Text doesn't give the location of the Pharos Piece ...'

'No,' Wizard said. 'This scroll does. And this is the only copy. Which means-'

'-neither the Europeans nor the Americans can possibly know where this Piece rests. Max, we've got a clear run at this one.'

They stared at each other in amazement.

'Holy s.h.i.t,' West said, smiling. 'We might just have a chance in this race.'

The Halicarna.s.sus Halicarna.s.sus zoomed through the dawn, arriving at the northern coast of Libya, soaring over the frothy white line where the waters of the Mediterranean met the sh.o.r.es of the North African desert. zoomed through the dawn, arriving at the northern coast of Libya, soaring over the frothy white line where the waters of the Mediterranean met the sh.o.r.es of the North African desert.

Inside it, West, Wizard and Zoe were making swift progress on Euclid's Instructions.