Free The Cydonia Objective (Morpheus Initiative 03) by David Sakmyster Page B

maglite beam glinting off the solid floor and making it seem like she walked on a star. "I got a call from your very concerned sister."
    "Phoebe!"
    "She was fine when I talked to her. In a helicopter, heading towards some mission for your American friends."
    "What friends?" Alexander was rubbing his head, shining his light from the newcomer to his father.
    "Not important now," said the woman as she took a moment to shine her light on the central apparatus, following the shaft upwards to where her more powerful light caught it merging with the precipitous ceiling. "I can't believe it. This really exists."
    "Who are you?" Alexander asked, but then his eyes adjusted, and he saw her more clearly, not as a ghostly goddess of the abyss, but as flesh and blood. He had seen her before, on rare occasions when all the Keepers would gather. When Lydia and Uncle Robert would send him off to play (or learn) in the upper levels of the Alexandrian Library while they met and decided the fate of the recovered scrolls. "You're-"
    "Rashi Singh."  Caleb stood and bowed to her. "Keeper, this was too dangerous, you coming down here. And how did you even bypass the guards up there?"
    There was a gleam in her dark eyes as she spoke. "Herodotus. The lost chapters. Deliberately cut from his Histories , preserved and sent away, according to his notes, because the priests at Thebes demanded that what he had seen below the Pyramids be kept secret."
    "I must not have seen that scroll," Caleb said excitedly.
    "You were too busy," Rashi replied, "apparently with your own secrets."
    Caleb let that slide. "So Herodotus was down here. He had spoken of legends about a labyrinth."
    "Hints, myths. The priests allowed such talk."
    "So the lost chapter had a map?"
    Rashi pulled out an iPhone and turned it so Caleb and Alexander could see the screen, where there was a scanned image, a hand-drawn pyramid, and a series of tunnels and chambers sketched beneath it. "It did, one that showed several other exits, including the one at the Cairo Museum."
    "Uncle Montross!" Alexander perked up.
    "I believe he's been captured," Rashi said quietly. "But you knew that already. I assumed he was your decoy, and you hoped to find one of the other exits."
    "That was the plan," Caleb said. "But first, this…" He motioned to the central chamber. "Did Herodotus mention what this was?"
    Rashi shook her head and raised the phone, scrolling over on the screen. "It's drawn here, and Herodotus relates in his scrolls that he has heard only half-whispered legends, rumors that it might have been a place of defense, a way for the king to send his divine wrath against any adversary, anywhere on the earth. Or in the sky."
    "A weapon," Alexander whispered.
    The Keeper stared at the chamber, moving closer and stooping so she could look inside. "Herodotus claims even the priests had lost all wisdom about its true function, and any clues had now been transformed into unrelated ritual and half-remembered purpose."
    Caleb nodded. "Then we're done here. I assume you got in through the more distant entrance point. From what I had RV'd, it was northwest of the city, not far from the Nile."
    "Yes. But come along quickly. Before they brave the traps to search for you. And before they once again try to RV you—and perhaps see us."
    Alexander shifted. "Maybe they've already done it and they're waiting by the exit like they were at the museum."
    "Maybe," Caleb said. "But hopefully they didn't ask the right questions and only got that hit for Xavier. But you're right, they'll be trying again soon. I just hope Nina's preoccupied and her kids… I mean our kids… aren't that focused."
    "We'll have to take that risk," Rashi said. "Now come on, I have a boat and a crew standing by to take you."
    "To where?" Alexander asked, giving one last look to the chamber, imagining himself in there, sitting at the controls, with godlike power dancing from his finger tips.
    The Keeper smiled. "I have a feeling you're going