Chapter 11 chapter Ten

Saul, Braun, Martin Silenus, the Consul and his party carried the equipment, Heit Masteen's Moebius cube, and Rainer Hoyt's body down the long slope, Go to the entrance of the Sphinx.Now the snow and ice are falling like crazy, twisting and twisting between the still churning dune surfaces, dancing intricate dance steps with the wind-driven sand grains.Even though their comlogs proclaimed that the night was drawing to a close, there was no sign of sunrise to the east.Repeated calls on the comlog's radio link also received no response from Colonel Kassad. Sol Winterberg paused for a moment before the entrance to the Tomb of Time called the Sphinx.He felt the presence of his daughter under the cloak, the warm little thing leaning against his chest, the warm body rising and falling with his breath, leaning against his neck.He raised a hand, touched the small package, and tried to imagine the young Rachel, who was twenty-six years old. As a researcher, Rachel, who was about to go in to detect the mysterious anti-entropy phenomenon of the Time Tomb, was precisely Stop before this same entrance.Sol shook his head.Twenty-six long years have passed since that moment, the time of a lifetime.Four days later was his daughter's birthday.Unless Thor can do something, find the Shrike, and deal with the creature, unless he can do something, Rachel will be dead in four days.

"Aren't you coming in, Saul?" Braun Lamia called.Others have put their gear into the first room.The house is located six to seven meters deep inside the narrow corridor, surrounded by thick stone walls. "Just come." He replied loudly, and then walked into the burial tomb.Fluorescent balls and electric lights came out of the tunnel along the road, but they were already dimmed and covered with dust.Only Thor's flashlight and the light from one of Kassad's lanterns lit the way. The first room is very small, about four meters wide and six meters long.The other three pilgrims had all lowered their luggage against the back wall, spreading tarps and bedrolls in the middle of the cold floor.Two lanterns hissed and cast two beams of cold light.Thor stopped and looked around.

"Father Hoyt's body is in the next room," Braun Lamia said, though Saul didn't actually ask the question. "That room is colder." Saul sat down beside the others.Even in such a deep place, he could hear the sound of gravel and snow on the stone. "The Consul will go out and try his comlog later," Braun said. "Clarify the situation to Gladstone." Martin Silenus laughed. "It's useless. It's fucking useless. She knows what she's doing, she'll never let us out of here." "I'll go out and try it when the sun comes out," said the consul.His voice was very tired.

"I'm on guard," Thor said.Rachel moved and wept weakly, "I have to breastfeed the baby anyway." Everyone else seemed too tired to answer.Braun leaned against a backpack, closed his eyes, and breathed heavily after a few minutes.The Consul pulled his three-cornered hat down over his eyes.Martin Silenus folded his arms, watched the door, and waited. Saul Winterberg grabs a milk pack hastily and places it on the heating plate with icy, arthritic fingers.He looked at his bag and realized he had only ten milk packets and a few diapers left. While the baby was sucking, Sol dozed off, and when he was about to fall asleep, a voice woke everyone up.

"What?" cried Braun, fumbling for her father's pistol. "Shh!" snapped the poet, opening his hand for silence. Somewhere beyond the grave, the voice came again.The monotonous sound cut off abruptly, piercing the sound of wind and sand scraping. "Kassad's rifle," Braun Lamia said. "Or someone else's," Martin Silenus whispered. They sat in silence, straining their ears to listen.For a long time, there was no sound.Then, all of a sudden, there was a sudden burst of noise in the night... a sound that made each of them flinch and cover their ears.

Rachel cried out in terror, but her cries were completely inaudible over the explosions and tearing from beyond the tomb.