wasn’t a fluke, and now we have three things associated with the name of Khufu. I’m going down in history.”
“We’re going down in history,” Jake corrected. “Let’s get this open. And while we’re doing that, you’re going to tell me the parts about the pyramid that you haven’t gotten around to yet.”
Chauncy carefully traced out the edges of the doorway and felt his ears burning. “What do you mean?” he asked, as innocently as he could.
“Come now, Chauncy, I’ve dealt with much better liars than you. You’ve been holding something back the whole time. Yes, yes, the pyramid is a precise structure, good for it. You mentioned it was a machine and then immediately regretted it. I could see it in your face. So tell me what kind of machine the Great Pyramid is.”
Chauncy took a deep breath and wished he hadn’t; the dust down here was ancient and thick. After a moment of choking he was finally able to speak. “How about we trade secrets. Why are you living in Cairo instead of America?”
There was silence and for several heartbeats Chauncy was afraid he’d crossed a line.
Jake let out a long sigh. “Well, why not? It’s not like it’ll hurt anybody. A senator and a congressman decided to raise their bribe requirements to levels I wasn’t willing to pay. They were just the end of a long line of reasons the US government and I didn’t get along. The congressmen made it rather impossible for me to stay, so I found a new life here.”
“Easier to bribe people here?”
Jake made a strange choking-laugh-sound. “Most of the bribery here is done in blood. But we’re straying off-subject. What kind of machine was the pyramid?”
Chauncy found the spot he was looking for: two small indentations on either side of the door. “Get me a crowbar and I’ll tell you.”
Jake reached into his satchel and brought out two crowbars. They placed their tools in the small indentations and Chauncy looked across the way at Jake.
“We’re about to open a door to the past,” he said, feeling both elated and saddened. “This is what I live for, Jake.”
“Any solemn words you’d like to say?”
Chauncy grinned. “Take a deep breath and close your eyes.”
With a great exertion they pulled the door off as a rush of ancient air mingled with the modern sky for the first time in millennia. They waited a few minutes for the dust to settle down before grabbing their flashlights and entering the long dark hallway.
Chauncy walked carefully, trying to watch everything at once. Booby-traps might be an invention of Hollywood and action-thrillers, but that didn’t mean there couldn’t be any. He was struck by how many hieroglyphs filled the walls, the floor and even the ceiling. There was a story being told here and he only wished he could spend a decade or two studying it.
“It was the limestone coating that first tipped me off,” Chauncy said as he brushed his fingers across the wall. “Almost all of it is gone now, looted or lost through the ravages of time. But when the pyramid was complete it would have been covered in a white limestone, a type called Tufa, which lacks magnesium. That means it has highly insulating properties.”
“Insulation,” Jake said from behind Chauncy. “Electrical or weather?”
“Electrical. It’s like the entire pyramid except the capstone was covered in a wrapping, like electrical cords are covered except their ends. The blocks inside, however, are a different type of limestone. That limestone is slightly conductive, allowing electricity instead of hindering it. Also, the granite used in the internal chambers is a specific type that contains a slightly radioactive substance which causes ionization of the air. And finally, the capstone itself would have been made of solid electrum, which is a gold/silver alloy that is extremely conductive.”
“Huh,” Jake said. He sounded a little more interested than last time. “So the pyramid has the properties of an electrical device. Doesn’t prove anything. Last I checked, the battery wasn’t invented until the 1700s or something. How would the Egyptians have generated electricity?”
Chauncy looked over his shoulder. “I was wondering when you would ask that question. Do you know about the subterranean chamber in the pyramid?”
“Don’t have a clue.”
“Well, nobody knows why it was built. There’s no real reason for it, at least not in conventional thinking. But if you expand your horizons just a little bit it becomes obvious. The subterranean chambers have shafts dug down into limestone aquifers where water from the Nile runs past them. Running water produces an electrical current that was then sent all the way up to the capstone.”
They came across another sealed doorway, this one covered in as many hieroglyphs as the rest of the chamber. Chauncy stopped his dissertation and carefully studied the Egyptian symbols. “Well, I’ve got good news for you,” he said. “There are no booby-traps.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Khufu placed a curse instead. This is really it, Jake. They didn’t curse just anything. Something really important is behind this door.”
“You don’t believe in curses, right?” Jake asked a bit nervously.
“My first dig was cursed. I’m still here. The indentations are in the same place. Take another deep breath!”
They popped the door off and a rush of air blasted past them into the new chamber. “Negative air pressure,” Chauncy said once they’d caught their breath. “Very interesting.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know. Let’s see what’s in here, shall we?” He stepped into the room, his heart beating and his palms sweating. A long stairway leading down greeted his flashlight beams. He started down the steps, testing each one to make sure it would hold his weight. He had no doubts, really. The pyramids had lasted this long and these steps looked like they were made of the same type of limestone.
He stopped suddenly. The same type of limestone...he took the rest of the steps much faster. Every few feet he felt the air getting thicker, more ionized. He could hardly contain his excitement as he reached the bottom and stared into the chamber that awaited him.
The chamber was an almost perfect cube, perhaps thirty feet in every direction. Perfect design was evident in the evenly-space pillars that filled most of the room. The walls were again absolutely covered in hieroglyphs. But none of that was nearly as important as the large, gleaming pyramid that sat on a pedestal in the exact center of the room.
The missing capstone.
“I don’t believe it,” Jake said with difficulty.
“Neither do I,” Chauncy said, feeling like he was in a trance.
“Do you feel the electricity in the air?” Jake asked. “It’s...it’s almost a physical presence.”
“I know,” Chauncy said. “And that’s what the Great Pyramid really was, Jake. It was a power generator for the entire Egyptian kingdom. We can feel the energy here in this tiny room, imagine it amplified by the entire Great Pyramid.”
“But that’s impossible,” Jake said as he walked slowly forward. “Wireless energy...it’s impossible.”
“Not really. Nikolai Tesla did it in 1917. He built a tower that was powered by aquifers and generated electricity. There’s even pictures of him holding a lit lightbulb that isn’t attached to anything. The Egyptians figured it out four millennia ago.”
“So if we put this capstone back on top of the pyramid, will it generate power again?” Jake asked as he took a few more steps forward.
Chauncy stepped up next to Jake and felt the sudden increase in electricity. “I don’t think the pyramid will ever work again; the limestone skin is gone. Hold it a minute. You feel that, right?”
Jake nodded. “Every step we take it feels like we’re being pushed back. How is the capstone generating power in here? This isn’t a pyramid.”
“No, but the limestone is the same, and we’re not that far from the Nile. There must be aquifers here too. I can’t believe it. I spent all that time and all of my money on this one giant gamble. I mean, I knew it made sense, and I knew everything was a
s it should be...but to actually see the capstone...to actually feel its power...”
He paused as his flashlight illuminated the series of hieroglyphs on the pedestal. He took a few steps forward and felt all the hair on his body stand straight on edge. He had to be reading these wrong. He had to be.
“What’s the matter?” Jake asked. He was practically rooted in place.
Chauncy looked between the hieroglyphs and at the capstone, shaking his head. “I was right, Jake, but I was also very wrong. See this inscription here? It’s talking about the Uraeus Was-Staff projecting the power of the pharaoh anywhere in Egypt, destroying the enemies of the gods.”
“Uraeus, I know that word. That’s the rearing cobra, isn’t it, usually seen on a pharaoh’s headdress?”
“I really don’t want to know how you know that, Jake. But yes. The Uraues was said to protect the pharaoh by spitting fire or lightning. A staff that can spit fire or lightning and destroy the enemies of Egypt. If you combine that with a giant pyramid that generates power...”
“You get the world’s first super weapon,” Jake finished with a heavy sigh.
Silence descended on the chamber. Chauncy stared at the inscriptions, re-reading the hieroglyphs over and over again. He played his light over the rest of the hieroglyphs but it only made it worse. Everywhere he looked there were gloats and descriptions of the power of Ra captured by the pharaohs and used to enforce the rule of Khufu.
“I had this idea,” Chauncy