“Only Sam can answer that question.”
Tom focused and then said, “So, where did these Master Builders go? What killed them off?”
“We have no idea. In fact, there have been theories to suggest that they never died, but there has been no evidence.”
“An entire civilization more advanced than we are lived 4000 years ago and there’s no proof that they existed or died out? Seems pretty farfetched to me.”
“Not an entire civilization… only a handful of people.”
“What do you mean? I thought these people built the pyramids?”
“They were the engineers. They were hired by the kings and rulers of the day to build grand things and then instructed thousands of slaves to perform the tasks. Slaves who, without their guidance, could never have built anything so mighty.”
“So what was the most recent build of the Master Builders?”
“The Pyramid of Giza — nearly 4000 years ago. Until now. Sam tells me this pyramid appears to be less than 1000 years old. Now, unless there was some kind of cataclysmic oceanic event that no one has even heard of in the past 1000 years, which has submerged this pyramid, I would say the ability to build more than 200 feet underwater a perfectly-shaped pyramid, so exacting as to entrap air inside its three chambers so that 1000 years later we are able to breath unaided here, makes this place pretty much impossible.”
“If Sam knew they were here, why did he involve you, or anyone for that matter? Why not fill the entire place with concrete, cocooning it for another 1000 years?”
“Because, like me, he needs to find the answers.”
“But, if he’s so obsessed with secrecy, why not stay here himself?”
“I’ve no idea why he’s chasing the Mahogany Ship, but he brought me in on the secret, and knows that I won’t betray him.” Billie took a photo of the ancient text on the wall above her.
“What is it?”
“It’s an old text, written in a very old language.”
Tom looked around the room.
It appeared to be cram packed with pictographs and hieroglyphics. He hadn’t even considered whether it was a language. “Egyptian?”
“Sort of — to anyone other than an expert in the Egyptian language, it would appear to be just that.”
“But?”
“Most of this room is filled with Mayan texts, but not this one here. This one stands out as something entirely different. It’s much older than Egyptian, more difficult to understand, and only ever used by the Master Builders.”
“How many people know this language, if it even exists?”
“I’m not sure. There’s myself, Sam, and an unidentified man from the NSA. We think Russia and France may have their own team working on it. Even we don’t fully grasp the meaning of all of it. But, I’m pretty certain Sam and I are ahead in the race to crack it fully.”
“What does it say?”
“I don’t know precisely. It’s just words. Nothing that makes sense. I’ll have to put it into my laptop to get a better translation.”
“And it’s definitely created by the Master Builders?”
“Sam thinks so. We don’t even know for certain the Master Builders were real. In some Egyptian texts, they are referred to as the Ancient Ones.”
“All right. Why don’t you finish taking these pictures and I’ll go retrieve the laptops. Then, maybe we can get to the bottom of this damn thing.”
“Sounds good, thanks.”
Tom spent the next half an hour carrying her laptop and equipment up to the King’s Chamber. Walking into it, he noticed her tall, lithe figure standing on top of the sarcophagus. She was in her element. And she looked happy. He stood there quietly for a minute or so, and then realized he could have watched her all day.
She was beautiful, intelligent, and one of the most single-mindedly focused people he’d ever met. And she had by far the foulest language of any person holding a doctorate. The thought made him laugh.
“What the fuck are you laughing at?” she asked, leaning a little further outward.
“The fact that, for a leading expert in an ancient language, you have the worst use of explicit English words.”
Above, Tom could hear her chuckle at his comment without taking her attention off what she was doing. As she leaned further out, the back of her loose fitting shirt lifted up, revealing a slim back and a tattoo of a pyramid on top of a mountain.
He couldn’t help but feel that it made her look sexy, while at the same intriguing his imagination. Where did that pyramid come from? He wanted to ask her, but there were too many other questions on his mind, and besides, he didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that he’d been staring.
She took another couple of pictures and then turned to climb down again.
Tom’s eyes, distracted by her tattoo and the top of her black sexy underwear, now noticed, tucked into the back of her pants, a Glock.
Why the hell would she be carrying that?
Billie then jumped down and switched on her laptop. Her camera was automatically synchronized with her computer.
She ran the data.
“What do you think?” Tom asked, careful not to mention that he’d just noticed she was carrying a weapon.
“I’m not sure yet. It’s currently running a decoding program,” she said. Tapping a number of keys in quick succession, Billie turned and said, “Okay — that proves it. They’re definitely a match. This chamber was built by the Master Builders.”
“That’s great. Do you have any idea what those words say?”
She pressed enter, and the screen started to flick through the images, comparing it to all previous known texts by the Master Builders, before stopping. “Got it.”
“What did it say?”
She turned the laptop so he could see it.
Ajtzak waits for his lost twin in the final revelation.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Ajtzak was the name of the king who’s buried here,” Billie mused, “By the sounds of things, he was a twin. But he lost his brother before he died? I don’t know how, where, or why.”
“That’s great, so he lost his twin brother, but that doesn’t bring us any closer to understanding who they were, where they achieved their knowledge and most importantly, why they disappeared.”
“No, but the fact it was written in the ancient language shows that this man was a Master Builder, and so was his twin brother. Wherever the hell he is.” She looked up at the walls, and then said, “I’m just hoping to find those answer somewhere within these walls before the NSA removes them.”
“What do you mean, removes them?”
“Every time we find a clue to the puzzle, they destroy it.”
“Then we’d better make sure we get the answer quick this time,” Tom said, still wondering how he was going to get her handgun.
Chapter Ten
Over the next two weeks Sam made extensive developments on his expedition, but little to suggest the Mahogany Ship ever entered the waterway. His silt samples now numbered more than a hundred, and with the exception of some signs of iron ore, nothing indicated the fabled ship had even passed through the water system. And that could have easily been explained by the natural formation of iron oxide within the natural rocks further upstream.
Sam and Frank split the tunnels into three separate sections, dividing them so that each person could cover more ground. Each of them would explore two small tunnels for a distance of two miles or until the tunnel became too difficult to dive. Afterwards, both of them would dive the fifth and largest of the five tunnels. Michael Rodriguez had left to attend to company business for a few days. He had made it clear that if any discoveries were made, they were to wait for him, because he wanted to be there when the Mahogany Ship finally revealed herself. Byron, the only one who appeared positively out of place below ground, remained at the Mahogany Cavern to maintain communications, and make projections based on the data being brought in.