Chapter 44 Chapter Six

Rachel and her lover, Melio Arundez, set out to map the Sphinx, using a method that has been used for at least 100 years since it was first pioneered in the survey of Egyptian pyramids in the 20th century. Seven hundred years.They installed sensitive radiation and cosmic ray detectors in the Sphinx, adjusted the frequency to the lowest, recorded the arrival time and deflection mode of the moving particles in the vaulted boulders, and observed whether there are deep imaging radars that cannot be displayed The secret room or secret passage.Because it was the peak tourist season, and Hyperion's local self-government council was extremely concerned about the possible damage to the Time Tombs caused by this kind of research, Rachel and Merio had to set off to the ruins every night in the middle of the night, walk for half an hour, and then climb over the equipment. A hallway maze of nice blue fluorescent balls.There they could sit under thousands of tons of stone, watch the instruments all night long into the morning, and listen to the whirring sound through headphones that signifies the birth of new particles in the bellies of dying stars.

The tides of time have little effect on the Sphinx.Among the entire group of tombs, it seems to be the least covered by the anti-entropy field. Only when the tide of time comes in large numbers will it pose a threat to people. Physicists have carefully listed the timetable.The high tide appeared at ten o'clock, and after only twenty minutes, it would recede towards the Emerald Tomb, which was 500 meters to the south.Sightseeers are not allowed near the Sphinx until exactly twelve o'clock, and to ensure safety they must leave the entire site by nine o'clock sharp.The physics team placed thermal sensors at various points along the trails and walkways between the various burials, both to alert observers of an anomaly in the flow of time and to alert visitors.

Rachel woke up in the middle of the night one day when she had three weeks left in her research at Hyperion, and without calling her sleeping lover, she drove a ground-effect jeep from the camp to the cemetery alone.She and Melio agreed that it would not be wise for the two of them to observe the instruments together every night; so now they take turns, with one working on the site and the other collating data for the final project: the Emerald Tomb and Radar mapping of the dunes between the obelisks. The nights are cool and beautiful.The sky full of stars stretched at both ends of the horizon, four times or even five times as many as what Rachel had seen in the Barna domain since she was a child.The strong wind blowing from the southern hills, the low sand dunes made a slight sound and moved with the wind.

Rachel discovers that the lights in the ruins are still on.The physics team said it was a good time to load the car.She chatted with them for a while, and when they drove away, she drank a cup of coffee and walked with her backpack for twenty-five minutes into the basement of the Sphinx. Rachel has been curious more than a hundred times about who and why the tombs were built.Because of the effect of the anti-entropy field, it is meaningless to trace the history of building materials.Only by analyzing the erosion of the canyon and other features of the surrounding environment can it be deduced that the tombs are at least half a million years old.In a sense, the architects who built the Tomb of Time should belong to the human branch, although there is no evidence in the whole building except the overall scale.Of course nothing can be concluded from the walkways in the Sphinx: some of them are perfectly human in shape and size, but after walking a few meters along it, this same corridor may shrink into a tube , the same size as a sewer, and then transformed into a place larger than a natural cave, with strange rocks.Doorways are usually rectangular, but many are triangular, trapezoidal, or even decagonal, though calling them doorways is a bit of a stretch, since no room can be reached through them.

With the last twenty meters to go, Rachel slid the backpack over her head and began to climb down a steep incline.The cold light of the fluorescent ball reflected a bleak and lifeless blue on the rock and her skin.She finally reaches the "basement," which looks like a sanctuary of human chaos and reeks.A few fold-out chairs fill the center of the small space, while detectors, oscilloscopes, and other paraphernalia are lined up along a narrow bench against the north wall.On a board on the sawhorse opposite were coffee mugs, a chess board, a half-eaten donut, two paperback books, and a plastic toy in a grass skirt that looked a bit like a dog.

Rachel went in, put the coffee warmer next to the toy, and checked the cosmic ray detector.The data looked unchanged: no hidden rooms or corridors were found, just a few alcoves that eluded the deep radar.In the morning, Merio and Stefan will activate the depth probe, implant the imaging filament, take air samples, and then use the micromanipulator to dig deep.The dozen or so niches explored so far have turned up nothing of value.So the camp joke went around that the next hole the size of a fist would contain miniature sarcophagi, small urns, pocket mummies, or—as Merio said—"a palm-sized Tut Carmon".

Out of habit, Rachel tried the communication link in her commlog.no response.Forty meters of stone blocked the signal.They had discussed whether to extend a telephone line from the crypt to the surface, but firstly, the problem was not so urgent, and secondly, their research work would soon be over.Rachel adjusted the input channel on the comlog, monitored the detector data, and then sat back to prepare for the long lonely night. There's a fascinating legend about the old pharaohs - Cheops, right? ——ready to build his large pyramid, agreed to let his tomb be buried deep in the center of the pyramid, but since then he began to suffer from insomnia for many years, thinking about the tons of boulders that would hang over his head forever, falling into A pang of claustrophobia.In the end, the pharaoh decreed that the tomb was relocated two-thirds of the way from the Great Pyramid.Totally out of courtesy.Rachel can understand the king's situation.She wished—wherever he was—rest in peace.

At 2:15 in the morning - when Rachel was almost falling asleep - her comlog chirped, the probe screamed, and she jumped up.Sensors showed that more than a dozen new rooms had suddenly popped up inside the Sphinx, some larger than the entire building itself.Rachel tapped the screen quickly, closely observing the blurred models displayed in the air, which were constantly changing.The diagrams of the corridors twist around each other like spinning Möbius rings.External sensors showed that the superstructure was also twisting and deforming, like chemical fiber flex belts in the wind—like wings, too.

Rachel knew it was some kind of multiple malfunction, and she hadn't forgotten to voice data and thoughts into the comlog as she recalibrated the instrument.Then, several things happened together. She heard slow, heavy footsteps in the corridor overhead. All monitors went black at the same time. Somewhere in the maze of corridors, a time tide alarm suddenly sounded. All the lights went out. This last thing doesn't make sense.The instrument packs housed their own electrical power supply, which kept them lit even in the event of a nuclear attack.The lights they use in the basement also have batteries that last a full decade.The fluorescent balls in the corridor are all bioluminescent and do not require a power source.

However, the lights were all off.Rachel pulled the laser flashlight from the lap pocket of her jumpsuit and flipped it on.no response. For the first time in Rachel's life, fear approached her like a hand around her heart.She couldn't breathe.She tried to keep herself still, not to listen to the voices, just to wait for the panic to subside on its own.Ten seconds later, the fear gradually receded, she no longer gasped for breath, her breathing gradually became steady, then she fumbled for the instruments and knocked on them.no response.She held up the comlog and fiddled with the touch display.There is no response... Logically speaking, it is impossible. Things made of this transistor are already invulnerable, and the battery is also strong and efficient.But, no matter what, there was no response.

Rachel could hear her own pulse beating, but she still struggled with the panic and began to feel her way to the only exit.The thought of making her way through the maze in absolute darkness gave her the urge to scream, but she couldn't think of any other way. etc.There were ancient lamps throughout the Sphinx Labyrinth, but the research team tethered fluorescent balls.They are chained!There is a Peron Rope that connects them all the way to the surface. Well done.Rachel fumbled for the rope toward the exit, feeling the cold stone beneath her fingers.Was it this cold before? There was the crisp sound of sharp things scraping against the wall of the entrance shaft all the way down from the front. "Merio?" Rachel called into the darkness. "Tanya? Kurt?" The scraping sounds close.Rachel backed away slowly, knocking over an instrument and a chair in the dark.Something touched her hair, and she gasped and raised her hand. The roof is lowered.The solid stone, five meters square, slid lower just as she reached out and touched it with her other hand.The entrance to the corridor appears halfway up the wall.Rachel staggered past, waving her hands in front of her like a blind person.She tripped over the folding chair, touched the workbench, and followed it to the far wall. The roof of the cave gradually lowered, and she felt the elevator shaft in the corridor disappear.If she hadn't retracted her finger, it would have been cut off in a second. Rachel sat down in the dark.An oscilloscope scratched the ceiling until the table beneath it creaked and finally fell apart.Rachel shivered, her head shook with despair.There was a metallic grinding sound—it sounded like breathing again—less than a meter away from her.She backed away again, sliding across a floor that was suddenly littered with debris from the instrument.The breathing was getting louder. Something sharp and extremely cold gripped her wrist tightly. Rachel finally screamed.