***** Vol.3 Chap.49 An open door *****

Frank could not wait to get out of the tent site. He took a circuitous route just so that no one would notice what direction he was going. He felt peaceful and purposeful as he started towards the Sphinx again. It was clear that he had to get inside, but he did not know how. He kept playing his dream repeatedly, but found no interpretation or further insights.

As he arrived at the Sphinx, it was already early evening. He was tired since he had little sleep the night before, but he could not resist the temptation of solving the puzzle.

He kept reminding himself that there had to be a way in as directed by his dream. He walked around the Sphinx pushing at every stone. Each one is as solid as the earth. None of the stones moved. He tried to feel the cracks around a few stones, but it was too dark to be of use. For the few stones that he tried to feel around the cracks, there was nothing but some loose sand around the cracks. There were no hidden levers, no moving stones.

He refined his program to provide a better estimate of the 3D picture from the sonar scans. Then, with a few additional interpolation routines that he recalled from memory, he set his program to re-generate the inside of the Sphinx with four times the resolution. It was way into the evening when he set his program into motion and as he was waiting for the program to work; he re-examined all the legends about the Sphinx looking for clues, but found nothing.

With nothing else to do, he took a rest and slept soundly this time. There was no dream and no visions.

Beep, beep, beep.

Awaken by the computer alarm, he rushed over to his laptop to examine the results.

This time, the computer displayed a much better picture of the room inside the Sphinx. An oblong shaped room in the middle of the Sphinx could be seen with one end of the room closer to the front wall than the other side.

That must be the opening at the front of the Sphinx. He thought to himself. I can now narrow my search to the front of the Sphinx.

Armed with new enthusiasm, Frank concentrated his search towards the front of the Sphinx. He pushed on every stone at the front of the Sphinx.

Nothing happened.

He touched every crack.

Again, nothing.

He yelled and cried out and spoke to the stones.

Nothing.

After an hour of pushing and yelling, he was exhausted, but mostly frustrated. He took out his sleeping bag and sat down. His provisions were running low, so he ate sparingly. Puzzled for now, though not given up.

He found a nice, cozy spot in front of the Sphinx. It was a clear night and he could see the stars. He remembered a single astronomy course he took in college and could pick out the big dipper and the North Star. Beyond that, he could not remember the names of any other star constellations. He was drifting slowly into sleep, counting the stars with a nice soft wind over his head. He wished he would know more about astronomy, especially in times like this, so that he could better appreciate the vastness of the universe.

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As he gazed at the sky, he felt very puny.

Suddenly, he jumped up. He felt a draft of fresh air blowing over his pillow. From where he was situated, the air should be still. He did not expect a draft to blow over his head. He used his hand to feel the draft. Yes, there was definitely a draft. He groped around and noticed that the draft was coming from the cracks near one of the smaller stones at the front base of the Sphinx.

He pushed on the stone and it slid inwards a bit. Puzzled, he was sure that he had pushed and kicked that stone countless times before and it was always rock solid. He pushed the stone some more. The stone gave way a little more. He pushed some more, and the stone slid aside, exposing a small tunnel where fresh air was pouring out of the tunnel.

This must be the door!

He picked up all his stuff, switched on the flashlight, and squeezed himself through the tunnel, which opened to a small room that was about ten feet wide, twenty feet deep, and eight feet high. Elated, he forgot all about being tired. He was like a little kid in the candy store. With his flashlight, he was looking around the walls, the ceiling, and the floor.

Literally, he was in a different world.

On the walls, there were many murals painted. Most of the paintings depict the construction of the Sphinx. There were Egyptian taskmasters supervising the construction of the structure, slaves moving blocks and blocks of stones from nearby quarries. At the end of one wall, there was a painting of the dedication of the Sphinx by one of the Pharaohs. It was an elaborate outdoor ceremony in front of the Sphinx with the Pharaoh offering sacrifices to the gods.

On the opposite end of the wall, there was a single mural with the Egyptian Pharaoh kneeling before a stone structure that was erected upright from the ground. A ghostly being dressed in skin with a shepherd’s crook stood in front of the structure, receiving the worship from Pharaoh.

He recalled no mention of this in any of the legends. He examined the mural again. There was no Sphinx in the picture. But from the topology of the landscape and the background, it was clear that the site must have been where the Sphinx now stood.

If so, there must be an upright stone structure somewhere inside or outside the Sphinx. He looked around the room. There were no upright structures, but he saw that there was a stone slab on the floor in the middle of the room. He thought little about the stone slab before, but now was wondering if that slab was the same stone structure in the painting.

On top of the mural, there was a short poem written in ancient hieroglyphics. After some great difficulty, He managed to half guess and half translate parts of the poem:

…great universe…

…countless stars…

…bright sun…

…living creatures…

Nice poem, He thought, but he did not understand what it meant. It must be a legend of the ancient gods visiting earth and Pharaoh bowing down to the visiting deities. He moved on.

He looked at his watch. It was close to daybreak. He knew the tourists would come soon, and he was not about to divulge his discovery to the world. But there was so much more to explore in the room here.

After considering his predicament for a minute, he preferred to stay inside the Sphinx and sealed the entrance so he could spend the day exploring. He thought that surely there were more secrets than just the murals.

He crawled back to the tunnel and carefully moved the stone back to its original place.

Click!

The stone seemed to lock into place. No matter how hard he tried to move the stone afterwards; he could not budge the stone again. He threw some sand around the crack. Magically, the sand seemed to stick to the stone and seal off the cracks. He tried once more to move the stone, but it would not budge.

Guess I’ve found my sarcophagus. He thought.

He was getting tired and so he lay down and slept soundly till what must be late morning outside. There was no way to tell since He was inside the Sphinx. He would have to trust his watch to tell him the time from now on. When he awoke, he revisited the small tunnel and tried in vain to move the stone again. Then he sat down and laughed at himself.

He thought to himself; I try so hard to get in and now I want to get out no sooner than I got in. This is crazy.

So, he resolved to take time to look around the room and explore.