literature

Egypt on Anur Khufos, part 4

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 Standing 5 feet from the crater with the cloaking device active on his shoulder, Elas weighed his next actions carefully. He was about to meet three humans face to face, without his disguise; humans that probably thought this whole area was abandoned right now. No one had known about his true identity as a Thep Khufan, and the protocol of his original research mission specifically said to stay undercover when around humans.

 But this time was different. Humanity had just narrowly dodged the apocalypse, and no one besides those three was around for a hundred miles or so. Anything could happen out here. Then again, he needed this person because he had the Omnitrix. Whatever power that device had, his master had made it seem like Ben had an entire army at his disposal, which in a sense was true. The Thep Khufans were dying, the resistance was outnumbered, and his people needed reinforcements now. Even so, he had to remember that just because this human had it didn’t mean he’d just drop everything and help this scribe. These people were sensitive to things they didn’t know, that much Elastamun knew from his research.

 Then the scribe mentally thought, “Wreck it,” and de-cloaked. He shouted, “Hello?” his translator conveying clear English in his voice, “Hello? Is anyone there?”

 The humans stirred in confusion, unsure as to where that noise came from. Realizing that he was too far away, Elas warily stepped closer to the crater.

 The girl heard his footsteps first and screamed, “Look out!”

 This was not what the scribe wanted to hear.

 Ben asked in a frustrated tone, “Another mummy?! I thought we were done with this!”

 Thinking fast, Elas held his hands up and called, “Wait, I mean no harm!”

 Hearing this, the elderly man asked, “Did that thing just...speak?”

 This caught the attention of the children; The scribe noticed Ben’s hand hovering over the Omnitrix’s initiation switch.

 Trying again, Elastamun beckoned, “Yes, I speak your language. Whatever happened up there with the space station, I took no part in any of it, for I am but a humble scribe.”

 “A scribe?” The girl asked, confused.

 Elastamun offered helping the humans out of that hole, but they managed to do by it themselves anyway. Now face to face with him, they looked his body over carefully. He was wearing his dark red cloak to protect from sand, and the blue glow from his bandages and eyes contrasted with the purple they were used to from the other one, on top of his elaborately decorated mask, a mark of higher Thep Khufan status.

 “You certainly look a lot fancier than the last mummy we fought,” Ben commented.

 Elas wanted to laugh, but simply commented with a hint of pride, “Ah, please. A mummy is what a human is made into when prepared for the afterlife. Whatever you dealt with must have been another member of my species: A Thep Khufan.”

 They were all surprised at how educated this alien sounded, prompting the old man to ask, “How do you know Egyptian culture?”

 “And how can you talk? The thing we fought off couldn’t do that,” the girl added.

 “Maybe because it was probably speaking in our native language. I am using a translation device to speak yours.”

 “Right...” the girl rolled her eyes.

 Elastamun felt a mixture of curiosity and concern. If he lost their trust, Ben would probably slaughter him with one of his alien forms. That couldn’t happen. He also couldn’t shake the fact that this kind of ‘first contact’ had never been done before as Elias. But that guise was gone now.

 He changed subjects and asked, “Forgive my manners, might I ask who you are?”

 The children hesitated, thinking this over. This mummy wasn’t attacking, but acting like an ambassador to some group, though they weren’t sure if the rest of these ‘thep khufans’ were as peaceful as he was. Eventually, curiosity got the better of them, and they introduced themselves as Ben, Gwen, and Max Tennyson. Then the scribe gave his name and why he knew so much about this country’s history. They also filled him in on what happened up on the station, impressing the scribe more than anything else.

 Finally, he jumped straight to the point, “Listen, what you call ‘Ghostfreak’ may have been defeated, but something else has afflicted my world and we need your help to save it.”

 This caught the Tennysons off guard again, prompting Grandpa Max to inquire, “What are you saying? Your planet’s under attack or something?”

 “I will have to show you,” Elastamun stated before asking the humans to follow him. Feeling that they were practically in the middle of nowhere for now, they complied.

 When they reached the satellite pyramid of Khafre’s, the scribe tapped the remote on his gauntlet to lower the entry ramp. All three humans were stunned at this kind of technology, and he wasn’t surprised, considering no one had seen this before. Then he led them down the ramp and into his inner sanctum below the pyramid.

 “This is so strange, no one’s found anything below this pyramid for thousands of years,” Max commented.

 “When you’re on Earth for fifteen years and need a place to live, I settled on something fitting. The large ones were more famous than this one, so I picked this as an out-of-the-way location,” Elastamun told him as he walked them into the room.

 Inside, the Tennysons marveled at his richly appointed living space, from the sarcophagus he slept in, to the Ra altar, comm deck, and table at the back, two shelves filled with books and scrolls, and strangely, a human-made couch and flat-screen television, complete with a video player. Gwen was enthralled by the elaborately carved murals and hieroglyphic bands on every wall.

 “For someone isolated here for a long time, you sure know how to decorate a place,” she commented.

 “Where’d you get that TV from? Or that motorcycle out there?” Ben asked with curiosity.

 “Would you believe me if I said I worked as a journalist here, and bought those items with the money I incurred?” Elas asked, having expected to say this, “I had to wear a disguise so people would not notice what I was.”

 “Not surprising,” Grandpa Max nodded. Then he noticed him working at the comm deck, and asked, “What are you doing?”

 “Look here, I need to show you this,” the scribe answered.

 The Tennysons gathered in front of the alien device, and by pressing a few buttons, he played back what his master had told him earlier, while checking that his gauntlets and necklace were still on. They stared intently at the footage of withering infant Khufans as the vizier talked, along with clips of the evil pharaoh.

 Finally, Gwen declared, “Let me get this straight: Something’s killing your...um, species, and you want us to save them?”

 “Maybe he wants ME to save them!” Ben interrupted, eager to show off his hero capabilities.

 “Exactly that, young girl,” Elastamun confirmed while reaching for the keypad. “I wish we had more time to explain, but this situation has grown gravely serious, so we must hurry.”

 Entering the code again, the portal on the altar sparked to life again, and he beckoned, “Come, time is short. There are people who wish to speak to you.”

 “Wait, are you serious? You want us to come to your planet?!” Ben gasped, realizing that this mummy wasn’t exaggerating.

 But the scribe had already gone through, waving his hand in a beckoning gesture as he crossed the threshold.

 “I don’t think we have a choice,” Grandpa Max stated.

 Gwen checked before moving forward, “Do you still have those hazmat suits?”

 “Same ones we used on the station, sure.” He checked his pockets for the 3 small discs that contained those suits, and found them.

 “Well, let’s go then,” Ben said as he walked towards the portal.

-----

 When the group arrived on the other side in the embalming room, they were surprised that the design of this place wasn’t far off from real Egyptian architecture. It almost looked like a real chamber where a mummy would’ve been constructed, complete with the designs on the walls.

 Ben took an interest in the numerous scarabs holding the Omnitrix symbol on one end. It being in religious depictions intrigued him.

 Elastamun was concerned that his master was not here. Then he remembered the falcon amulet still on his person. Unsure of what he meant about how it would guide him to Ja’Kaal, he brushed the center of it, and suddenly it glowed with a pulsing blue light. He guessed it worked like his own homing device, which made Valensen’s words accurate.

 He ordered, “Follow me up these stairs, the pharaoh’s guards could be here any minute!”

 “Wait, pharaoh? Guards? What’s going on here?” Gwen stammered as she tried to keep up with her cousin and grandfather.

 The four of them entered through the floor of an enormous temple chamber. On all four sides, massive stone columns lined the walls. In the center was a giant standing statue of Ra, a humanoid with the head of a falcon, and a disk representing the sun balanced on his head. However, unlike what humans showed on Earth, Ra’s body here was depicted in the somewhat hunch-backed form of a Thep Khufan. The material it was made of was too smooth to be stone, almost like some type of metal. The falcon head was certainly golden. Stelae bearing murals and lines of hieroglyphic Khufan language adorned the walkway leading to the statue, with obelisks behind them marking the path. This temple had to be one of the most advanced pieces of alien construction the Tennysons had ever seen, and it all coincided with an Earth culture. Gwen and Max were curious as to what this could mean.

 Meanwhile, Elastamun directed the group to a doorway at the far end, asking them to tread lightly, given how strong the acoustics would be in this place. Just as they reached the door, however, two red-glowing Thep Khufan guards jumped out, bearing long staffs tipped with the ankh.

 Since they didn’t have translators on, to the Tennyson’s ears they spoke in a series of low-pitched screeching noises. Elastamun heard them say, “Halt! Surrender yourself now, or be destroyed!”

 Ben noticed their staffs glowed with an increasingly bright light, so he impulsively reached for his watch, tapped the start button, rotated the faceplate to show the icon of Diamondhead, and pushed it back down. In a matter of seconds, crystals grew and enveloped his body, turning him into a Petrosapien.

 “I’ll handle these walking bathrobes!” Ben yelled before charging headlong at the guards. They opened fire at his crystalline form, but the projectiles simply ricocheted off his body. Realizing this, they both dropped their staffs and proceeded to stretch their fingers out in a way that would make a mummy out of him.

 “Ben, wait!” Gwen cried. But her cousin was too far away to hear her.

 Elastamun felt confused as to why one would deify someone who barrels into combat without thinking.

 Ben swiped and slashed at the two guards with his hands turned into crystal shivs. He actually did a good job at cutting most of their bandages, but they grew back almost as fast as he could cut them. Suddenly, smelling an opportunity, Grandpa max noticed that one of the staffs was close to the doorway. Being familiar with advanced weaponry from his time in the Plumbers, he grabbed the end of the staff and looked for its controls. As he did so, Ben tried another move by thrusting his heavy body onto one of the guards, effectively pinning it to the ground.

 Then Ben flashed a one-liner, his hands pressed up against the smooth stone tiles, “Eat this, gold-head!” and by his will, crystals sprouted through the floor, cracking the tiles and ripping through the guard’s body, even if it was almost done completely wrapping his bulky form.

 Meanwhile, Grandpa Max figured out how to fire the staff, and managed to get a few shots off at the guard still standing.

 Gwen turned to the scribe and asked him, “So what now? What’re we supposed to do, just stand here and keep firing at those people?”

 Elastamun thought carefully, and remembered two important things, “Firstly, I know for a fact that the weak point of any Thep Khufan is their heads. All their appendages grow from there. If you cut them off at that point, it will take much longer to grow back. Second, we need transportation to cross this planet’s terrain. Not only is it very hot, but also toxic because of the corrodium deposits. As far as I know, we don’t even live on the surface.”

 “Ben! Cut at the head!” Gwen called to her cousin.

 In his struggling, Ben managed to hear her words. He sharpened one hand into a spike once more, and rapidly sliced the guard’s bandages at the neck, completely severing it from the body. Before they could reattach themselves, he grabbed the guard’s head with his other hand and threw it across the sand banks like a football. Good timing, too, for the Omnitrix had drained its power, returning Ben back to normal.

 Elastamun urged the Tennysons, “We don’t have time for both of them, just run!” before sprinting out the doorway past the guard still standing.

 As Gwen, Max, and the mummy passed Ben, who was trying to pull himself free of the inert bandages, Max tossed him a hazmat suit module while he donned his own and Gwen wore hers. Breaking free, he placed the disk on his chest where it vacuum-latched to it, and immediately the suit expanded into place. He ran after his family members shouting, “Hey, wait up!”

Elastamun greets the Tennysons for the first time, and looks for a way to find the resistance forces on Anur Khufos.
© 2018 - 2024 Agent-G245
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NivekVonBeldo's avatar
That scene was perfect, natural in characther in action and reactions, and Now they are in the anur system... So an ancient drawing of Omnitrix symbol( this is before UAF era Retcon so that is a surprise for all and Nice playing the ancient alien theme pretty well.

Amazing chapter waiting next one