However, memory eradication is only ninety-five percent effective, and while the pharaohs and the priests and the slaves and everybody else forgot about my activities, they didn't quite forget about me. I suspected as much but I wasn't sure until this afternoon when I read your mind while I was carrying you to Ahura. Fortunately, their memory of me was ambiguous at best, and although they associated me with the Gizeh pyramids, it simply didn't occur to them that I might have built them. So they adapted me to their religious needs of the moment and sculptured a statue of me in the Gizeh Necropolis, identifying me with the Harmachis version of their sun-god, Amen-Ra. Their other "sphinxes," as you call them, can undoubtedly be traced to me also, and the nonGizeh pyramids with which Egypt abounds were undoubtedly modeled after mine, although before the reign of Cheops an architect named Imholep had devised a ' 'step pyramid'' that may very well have resulted in simitar structures. As for the non-Egyptian pyramids and "sphinxes" which are scattered over your planet, some of them can be traced to me also. but I daresay that in most cases they have religio-socio backgrounds of their own. In any event, the only pyramids I built on Earth are the ones on the Gizeh plateau. My sister, you see. foresaw not only the Terran-Uvelian Armageddon but also the future sites of the Terran and Uvelian capitals.
And your other sister, Halt said. The one who went to Uvel when you went to Earth. You say she built a set of pyramids too?
Exactly like my Gizeh set. In addition to looking and acting alike, Terrans and Uvelians have almost parallel pasts. In a general sense, of course.
The Sphinx had turned her head and was looking at a region of the heavens just above the eastern horizon. Following her gaze, Hall saw the first group of Pleiades rising into the sky. The distance was such that only the dreadnoughts attained the status of "stars." The thousands of smaller craft were invisible.
He counted six bright points of tight, but the number told him nothing. Both the Terran and Uvelian fleets had six major vessels. Facing west, he was not surprised to see the second six climbing slowly above the mountains- Looks like we're going to get a good view of the proceedings anyway, he said. Just the same, I wish they were meeting above the dayside. That way, we might stand a chance.
Not enough of a one to worry about… You don't even know which fleet is yours, do you, Daniel Hall?
I'm better off not knowing.
Yes, I suppose you are. The Sphinx was "silent" for a moment. Then, Don't you think it would be a good idea if you went to Ahura and lent her one of your broad shoulders to lean on? she asked. She's going to need it. There's no terror that can compare to the fear of the unknown.
Hall was annoyed. Surely you could have briefed her on what's coming off!
Again, the Sphinx laughed. Tell me. Daniel Hall, how do you explain a battle between two huge space navies to a child who visualizes the creation of the universe as a trio of anthropomorphic deities in the midst of a fantastic handbalancing act? As Shu the air supporting his sister. Nut the sky, with their brother. Keb the Earth, lying beneath them. I did well in the little lime I had since reviving her to supplant her native tongue with yours.
I see your point. Hall said. Nevertheless, it can be done.
And it will be done. But not in hours, Daniel Hall, nor in days nor weeks nor months, and not by me, but by you. Ahura has an excellent mind, and given time she can learn all you can teach her, and then some. And with the aid of the special textbooks and other teaching aids contained in the first step of the smallest pyramid there's no limit to what you can teach her-nor to what you can leach yourself.
Wait a minute. Hall objected. Even assuming I decide to cooperate in this project of yours, how am I going to make use of textbooks I can't read ana that are probably too big for me to open?
The textbooks are printed in APE and are no larger than those you are accustomed to. My sisters and I have had thousands of years to prepare for this crucial point in our history. Daniel Hall. and we've prepared for it well. However. at this juncture it's futile to discuss what you are or aren't going to do. The battle hasn't been averted yet, and there's a good chance that it may not be. If it is averted, come to me afterward. In the meantime, go to Ahura. You can take shelter in the Temple of Hathor if you wish, but I guess you know as well as I do that without a system of deflectors to protect you, the death rays of either fleet can reach you regardless of where you are.
Hall looked up into the mysterious golden eyes. Was there sadness there? Concern? He could not tell. And if the battle isn't averted?
Then this is goodbye. I have enjoyed knowing you, Daniel Hall. Basically, your race and mine are very much alike.
Certainly, we share the same major character trait, and moreover we share it in common with the Uvelians. It's only in the matter of terminology that we differ. My sisters and I call the trait "selfishness," and your race and the Uvelian call it "patriotism." It's right for a man to love his country, but he should never forget that his country is only an extension of himself and that the intensity of his love for if is an infallible index of the intensity of his love for himself. We can't change the way we are, but it helps the cause of reason if we face the truth. Go now, Daniel Hall-Ahura awaits you.
Ahura's Tale
Ahura was sitting on the bottom portico step. Hall sat down beside her. "Behold, I am here," he said.
She said, "Behold,! am aware of it."
Her almond eyes were fixed on the eastern Pleiades, which by now were quite high above the horizon. In the starlight, her classic face had a statuesque quality about it. At length, she lowered her gaze to his face. "I will prepare thee food if thou wish."
"Later on-I'm not hungry right now."
"I did not make thee the offer out of my heart. I made it because She-who-builds-sepulchers desired me to do this for you."
"That's all right," Hall said easily. "You probably can't even boil water anyway."
She looked at him. "Thou speakest in riddles, slave."
"The name is Daniel," Hall said, "and you'll do well to call me by it. A cog in one of the wheels of the Terran war machine I may be, but a slave I am not."
"Dan'el?"
"That's pretty close."
"I am Ahura-as no doubt She-who-builds-sepulchers hath told thee."
"Among other things. Incidentally, I've got a hunch she's tuned in on us now."
"She-who-builds-seputchers is all-knowing," Ahura said.
And then, "With thy strange garments and thy uncouth ways, from what far land dost thou come, Dan'el?"
"From a land you've never heard of, so the less said about it, the better." Noting that she had returned her gaze to the eastern Pleiades, he pointed to the sky above the mountains"There's another swarm of them over there," he said.
She nodded. "I know. But the sky hath donned a strange dress. It is even stranger than the dress she wore last night." Ahura raised her eyes to the crocodile constellation within whose confines, if the present trajectories of the two fleets remained unchanged, the encounter would take place- "Behold. Sebek hath left the river bottom and now rules the world. All is not well, Dan'el."