***** Vol.3 Chap.47 Subsequent days *****

Frank had a peaceful rest until the sun broke through the early morning fog.

He decided that during the day, with all the tourists coming around, he would stay out of sight by visiting other pyramids normally not open to the public. At dawn, when the tourists were gone, he would come back to the Sphinx and spend his nights at his favorite spot.

Packing up his stuff quickly, he looked at the Sphinx in hope of some sign or change, but the Sphinx remained as elusive and cold as ever. He walked around the Sphinx, and the stones were just as they were yesterday. Nothing had changed.

Disappointed, he picked up his backpack and headed towards an excavation site on the far side of the plateau. When he was a way off from the Sphinx, he found a little rising. Having climbed to the top, he sat down. The desert was beautiful and serene. He could see the Sphinx, standing majestically at the front, guarding the way to the plateau. The head was standing tall, proudly showing the ingenuity of its maker. The body was wide and encompassing, showing the wealth and riches of its maker.

What treasure and wealth lie within? He wondered.

There was just an insatiable urge and curiosity to find out the mystery of the Sphinx. Why was the Sphinx built? What secrets and mystery were harbored within the statue?

Of course, he knew the traditional legend of the Sphinx well since he was young.

Somehow, the legends did not satisfy him. There was always an itch within him to understand the mystery. He knew there got to be something more, but do not know what he was searching for and much less what he would find. He stared at the statue for a long time as he feasted on his provisions. No vision came this time. The statue did not transform or morph into a living tiger, just the same old statue, standing tall and majestic, holding tight its secrets.

As the sun rose further above the sky, he joined a team of archeologists who were excavating a neighboring pyramid. After offering his services, he was taught, like a novice, how to use a brush and a small pick to slowly and painstakingly uncover the remains in one tomb. As he worked, he was constantly amazed at the story being told by his partner, a young graduate student named Irene from his alma mater.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

After learning that he was an alumnus, she became very talkative, telling him everything she knew about archaeology. He was sure that she would make up stories about the life of Pharaoh and his men. Naturally, he was quite entertained. In fact, he thought his progress was too slow because he was listening to her more than he should have. Though the job was tedious, his partner made the job interesting with her imaginations and stories and make-beliefs.

The morning passed quickly. During lunch, she brought him to the headquarter to meet with some of the other diggers on the site. Frank was intrigued by the scientific equipment that one scientist was using. His name is Joe, one of the head scientists. He found out that archaeology has been substantially modernized in recent years.

After finding out that Frank was an alumnus of the National University of Cairo and a prominent scientist in the US in computer science, Joe immediately enlisted his help in developing software for their new equipment. Of course, Frank was more than happy to do so. His first task was to interface the sonar equipment to a laptop computer for instant data acquisition.

The sonar penetration machine was used by the archeologists to probe the grounds and walls of the pyramids. Using ultrasound, the scientists were hoping to look for caverns and empty spaces inside the rock structures. Since any rooms or caverns would contain air, these rooms would show up as dark spots in the sonar scans.

Using the sonar scans from different locations, a three-dimensional (3D) view of the insides of the pyramid can be constructed. This 3D view could then guide the archeologist to plan their dig. The task was tedious and was analogous to taking a computerized tomography of a human body. Presently, the tasks were accomplished by a team of trained archeologists who half-guessed and half-derived scientifically what the 3D picture would look like.

Recognizing the need and Frank’s skills, Joe immediately recruited him to the task. The interface task was quite easy. He got that done in an afternoon. With the interface done, the images from the sonar scans can be directly transmitted to the laptop computers for storage and later correlated together to form a cohesive picture. That was his second task which was quite a challenging task, especially when he did not have all the tools that were available to him back at the Carnegie Institute.

But with a little ingenuity, he developed what he needed and so worked tirelessly for four days and four nights with hardly any sleep at all.

Towards the end of the fourth day, he got the program finished. He was so proud of his program that he rushed to show Joe the result. What was most exciting was that as he put all the collected images together, Frank discovered a small room at the side of one of the main rooms, a side room hat was easily overlooked.

Joe was so excited that he halted their planned excursion to the other side of the pyramid so that they could concentrate on the digging towards the newly discovered room. After a nice and jovial dinner,

Frank strolled outside, contented that he had done his good deed with the team.