Area 51: The Sphinx-4 Read Free

almost an inch thick, undisturbed as far as Burton could tell.

    This tunnel also descended, but less that fifty feet after following it, Burton noticed a change. The walls were no longer made of smoothly cut blocks, but rather had been burrowed though solid stone.

    Kaji confirmed what Burton was seeing. “We are below the Pyramid, into the bedrock of the Highland.”

    The English explorer ran his hand along the wall. “It is perfectly smooth.
    I have been in many mines and caverns and never seen such a well-constructed shaft. Who made these tunnels? The builders of the Pyramid?”

    "Some say these tunnels predate the Pyramid." Kaji paused and ran a hand across his forehead. Burton could see the sheen of sweat on the Arab. It was warm, but not that warm. He wondered what was causing the other man's fear.
    It is said the three pyramids above us were built in the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, between the years 2685 and 2180 before the birth of our Lord," Bur-

    -13-

    ton said. "The Great Pyramid, built by the Pharaoh Cheops, as the Greeks called him—Khufu in your tongue."
    "Before the birth of your lord in the West," Kaji amended. "Your Christ is just a prophet in the Koran. A man, not a god."

    Burton saw no need to get into a theological discussion at this place and time.
    Besides, he was hot a firm believer in the religion he had been raised in, and the many cultures and religions he had already witnessed in his life had shown him that if there was a god in heaven, there were many paths by which people might worship him. Becoming a Master Sufi had forced him to delve deeply into Islam, and he saw much in that faith that he admired—more than he did in his native belief. A Sufi adhered to no specific religion and dismissed no religion.
    The truth transcended such petty concerns of men.
    "Who built these tunnels, then, if they are older than the pyramids?" Burton asked. 'And were the pyramids built over them to hide the entrance to the tunnels? Or perhaps to mark the entrances?"
    "These tunnels were built by those who carved the Sphinx and built the temple around it." Kaji inclined his head in the direction the tunnel was dug. "We are heading toward the Sphinx now. East."
    Burton considered that information. "Then the Sphinx is older than the pyramids?" .
    "Much older."
    "How much older?"
    Kaji smiled for the first time since they had entered the Great Pyramid. "You would not believe me if I told you. Long before the Pharaoh Menes founded the first Dynasty."
    "How can that be? Who built the Sphinx?"
    "It was carved during the time of the Neteru who ruled in the first age."
    “Who were the Neteru?” Burton asked.

    -14-

    "The time of the gods, of Osiris and Isis. I do not have time to give you a lesson on the history of my country."
    "What of man during this time? Who lived here?"
    "Those who came before from over the sea," Kaji said, which meant nothing to Burton.
    The Englishman cocked his head. There was a very faint noise, a deep, rumbling sound coming from ahead. "What is that?"
    "The river of the underworld." Kaji was moving once more. "Water from the Nile flows through tunnels under the Plateau and then back to the river, farther downstream. It is the second Gateway of Rostau; there is one on land and one in water."
    They trod down the perfectly straight tunnel for another five minutes.
    "How deep are we?" Burton finally asked, but Kaji was counting to himself once more and didn't answer.
    The Arab paused and swung the light close to the wall on the right side. He pressed his hand against it. Burton stepped back in surprise as what had appeared to be unmarked stone changed and the outline, of a block, five, feet wide and the height of the tunnel, appeared. It didn't rotate like the others, but slid back two feet, then smoothly up into a recess above.
    "How did that work?" Burton demanded, but Kaji signaled with his free hand for him to go through. The other was still pressed against the wall. There was