A Million Little Pieces Of My Mind

Bradley wasn't allowed to sleep nearly as long as he needed to. The sun had risen far into the golden sky when Dawn quietly awakened him. Groggily he looked around at the approximately twenty people who, like himself, were sleeping on the terrace. "Who are these people?" he whispered.

"Refugees, of course. Shhh."

Bradley followed the woman into the apartment; there were more people sprawled on the floor and the furniture. Dawn gave him a robe and a pastry cake; he crammed it into his mouth and changed out of his ragged safari outfit as they walked to the parking garage, where they got into Jewel-like's groundcar. Bradley was almost surprised to not see someone sleeping on the seat, but he said nothing.

"Where are we going?" he asked when they had left the garage and were speeding along the road. There were many detours and roadblocks due to the damage the city had suffered that morning. You had to give the priests credit for efficiency, Bradley thought; even in the face of total and multiple disaster of beliefs and property, they still could keep things running. "What's happened since the flood?"

"Much," the young woman replied. Bradley thought she looked as close to being haggard as ever she could be; yet the radiance of her beauty shone through. "The lower city residents took advantage of the situation to invade the Lod Zu itself. There aren't too many priests, at least high-ranking ones, left alive, I'm afraid.

"Blessed escaped in a helicopter with a few of the High Priests; they flew to the Pyramid of Isis and attempted to enter through a hole they discovered, made by the tidal waves; fortunately Mother had gotten there first with what was by comparison a virtual army; she arrested Blessed in the name of the people, who took him away. The Gods alone know what will become of him."

"And we are going—?"

"To the Pyramid of Isis. Mother won't let anyone in until you get there: she knows you'll want to see it first."

The Pyramid grew larger and larger in the windshield; soon it completely filled their view and still the people standing at its base were too far away to see clearly.

The rushing waters of that morning had taken their toll here, as well as in the city; a great, gaping hole marred the side of the otherwise perfect pyramid before them. And what would they find within—?

They left the roadway, skimming above the newly-deposited silt to reach their goal. Jewel-like was waiting for them when they got out of the groundcar. For once she was smiling, although she was looking older than Bradley had ever seen her.

"I took one step inside," she said; "as soon as I realized the significance of the place, I left it for you. You deserve it—besides, you're the only archaeologist on Kiri."

Bradley stepped toward the enormous maw, as deep as it was wide. Then he turned, and reached for New Dawn. "You, too," he said. The woman took his hand.

Together they plodded toward the rear of the cavern, following the footprints Jewel-like had left in the damp earth. The thick walls of the Pyramid suddenly appeared to be composed of wet sand, and Bradley began to feel closed in, as though the mouth would close on them at any moment.

But then the sensation passed and they were at the rear of the cavern, facing a small, broken opening into an unknown blackness beyond. Bradley removed a light-globe from his pocket but Dawn motioned for him to replace it. "Mother said you wouldn't need one," she said.

Bradley gauged the size of the hole, then dropped to his hands and knees and crawled into it. In a moment he could hear Dawn crunching the sand behind him as she did likewise. The tunnel was short, and widened; Bradley could feel no ceiling with his upraised hand and cautiously rose to his feet.

From somewhere deep in that death-like darkness, there was the faintest of clicks, as if an eons-old sensor had detected his presence—and then the darkness was gone: the Son of God had come to claim His own.

Let there be light—!

Bradley felt his knees buckle beneath his trembling weight, heard Dawn's startled gasp and involuntary moan.

The floor extended, unbroken, to the horizon. It was littered with artifacts of every description, machinery, dinnerware, paintings and vehicles; but at first magnificent look the museum building carried more awe than that which it contained. Some of the artifacts were much taller than Bradley, yet they all seemed utterly insignificant, lying as they did beneath the miles-high ceiling that appeared to need no support, and the moon-sized glowing globe that dominated the immense chamber.

"The ALL," Dawn whispered reverently. "The lost energy source. Kiri will have a new Golden Age!"

A thunderous voice then filled the air, huge to match the immensity of the place, yet unmistakably human. Even—kind.

"Welcome to Isis," the voice said. Bradley was not at first aware of the significance of this; but at New Dawn's blank look he turned the greeting over in his head, and suddenly found his heart trying to beat its way out of his chest in surprise and excitement:

The greeting had been spoken in English!

"What did it say?" Dawn was asking, but Bradley shushed her.

"By your presence here you have demonstrated the maturity of our people: for this Pyramid was designed to withstand the forces of Man, to succumb only to the touch of Man and Nature in harmony." The builders, for all their knowledge, had hardly been omniscient, thought Bradley wrily, although Blessed's tremendous waves had certainly been man-harnessed nature.

"Your forefathers," the voice went on, "came from a sheltered valley on a world called Earth, where they became schooled in the most hidden wonders of the universe. They left their valley to share their knowledge with their brothers, but the other people would have none of them, exposing them instead to hatred and death. Finally, they returned to their homeland, which was even then on the verge of discovery by the other races of Earth, and devised a way to pass across the dimensional barriers between Earth and this world, which we called Kiri. The time line of Kiri is sharply angled in the direction opposite to that of Earth; when the Perfect Kirian is born, the 'Son of the Highest', he will be able to return to Earth centuries before we left, and perhaps remold the future generations of that world, saving them from the unnecessary tragedies we know they faced."

If anyone tried it, Bradley thought, what paradoxes would result!

But did that mean there was one of those translators here?

During the speech of the Voice, Bradley and Dawn had begun to wander about; the Voice seemed to be everywhere and there was so much to see! And—there was the Device.

Two pointed cones, and more. How simple it was! With his computer-gifted knowledge, Bradley knew instinctively that, having seen this, he could build another one. Why, he could have returned to Earth a week ago; Kirian science was easily up to building inter-dimensional translators if one knew how to go about it...and, now, Bradley did.

Closely he inspected the translating device. This is at least ten thousand years old, he thought, adding lightly to himself that it didn't look a day over a thousand. There seemed to be no dust in this place; Bradley reached forth his hand to verify.

Dawn was nearby looking at a two-wheeled vehicle when the sharp premonition hit her. She jerked her head towards Bradley, wordless terror forming in her throat, when she saw his hand touch the ancient cone that was still vibrant with the endless energy of the ALL suspended overhead. There was a crack and a glow of light; then the sharp smell of ozone was all that was left of the man.

She staggered a few steps forward; she didn't know the purpose of the device but it had clearly been used for executions.

She dropped to the ageless floor and screamed again and again, oblivious to the still-droning voice that thundered on and on.

There would never be another man like Bradley Hunter.

Interestingly, the sky wasn't quite as deep a blue as he had remembered it. But, then, his memory had probably exaggerated the recollection.

The river was wide and deep and beautiful, and dotted with the rough papyrus boats of the primitive local fishermen. Bradley approached a group which was wrestling with nets on the shore. It would take him years, he knew, to be accepted into ancient Egyptian society, to be made pharaoh, to lead followers to the meteor crater in Chad (was it even there, yet?), to build from memory the inter-dimensional translator. Still, he knew that he could do it—history showed that he had. It might take years, but he would accomplish all that.

The fishermen were gathered excitedly about each other, pointing at the sky; Bradley involuntarily followed their gaze.

A shooting star, amazingly bright enough to be seen in the daytime, was leaving a golden trail in the western sky. The trail continued full length as it passed below the horizon; in minutes the shock wave hit, overturning papyrus boats as the Nile waters reacted to the crashing of the mighty meteorite thousands of miles away.

May as well start this now, Bradley thought, as he arrived at the nearest group of red-skinned fishermen, undoubtedly descended more purely from the red Atlanteans who had settled Egypt than later generations would be.

"Greetings, my children," he said in a verbal approximation of ancient Egyptian learned from his archaeological studies. "That was my star; I am your new god and pharaoh. You may call me Khufu."

The fishermen knelt. Bradley had the Kirian light-globe and the designs for a thousand inventions in his head. There would be no trouble.

Forty Earth-years forward equaled only a few Kiri-minutes backwards. Dawn would be waiting for him.

Her Tshunai would return!

—30—