CHAPTER 22: "EGYPT (PART 2)"

Thursday, January 29th, 2009 – 04:48 p.m.

Giza

Aziz Sharaff could quickly be "convinced" to fully cooperate with anything Zoe requested, including the export papers for the skull. A courier would wait at the hotel the next morning to pick up Zoe and her luggage. Alison made sure that he wouldn't remember the Terminator skull or what caused the pit to collapse. In his recollection of the events, what happened was now an accident, and his knowledge of Zoe and Alison's presence was removed from his memory. After that, Maurice drove him into town.

While Zoe packed the plastic-encased skull in a matching wooden box and filled it up with straw, Alison kept scanning he former excavation site, now being just a big sinkhole.

"This was probably planned from the get-go," she reported after a while. "The way it collapsed was too symmetrical to be of natural cause. It's an almost perfect circle."

"You mean the explorers of the tomb were to be killed after the skull was found?" Dr. Atkins asked.

"If they were human, yes."

He sighed.

"Well, it looks like I'm gonna have to look for another assignment."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Oh?"

"Think this through. If the collapse was intentional, then maybe the cave underneath was artificially created. That's actually highly likely. Who knows what you'll find down there? Okay, whatever it is, it's probably all smashed up now, but aren't archaeologists good at putting broken things back together?"

Dr. Atkins scratched his white beard.

"Hmmm… you might have a point. Could be worth to take a look at." He turned to look at Zoe. "So… you're just going to take this skull with you, huh?"

"Yes," Zoe confirmed.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. You know the drill. It's future technology and…"

"… and mustn't fall into the wrong hands. Got it. Ever thought of what happens if you or Alison ever fall into the wrong hands?"

"Yes. A lot, actually."

"And?"

"I might not survive it. But neither would those who captured me. And in Alison's case, well… I can't even imagine what could happen to those who try."

Dr. Atkins nodded in understanding.

"I see. Say… can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure."

"Do you ever think about… death?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, as our friend Khufu showed us, nothing lasts forever. Even the pyramids will be gone someday. We humans always wonder what happens when we die. What about you?"

"Actually, I'm more worried about what happens when the ones I love aren't around anymore. Unlike Khufu, I might very well live for several thousand years. My chip design and the materials I'm made from, are partly biological and far more advanced than the ones of other cyborgs. They regenerate."

"What, like cells?"

"In a word? Yes. But it's much more complicated than that."

"Of course, it is. But you didn't answer my question."

"Well, as sentient beings, we all react to impending death the same way: we repress it until it catches up with us."

Dr. Atkins frowned.

"You know," he said, "when I first met you at Caltech, your face seemed familiar. Now I know why: I saw that talk show on TV where you argued with that religious zealot. Don't remember his name."

"You mean Reverend Harold Whytefield?"

"Yes. Back then, I thought 'Nonsense, on the long run, everyone will be able to tell a cyborg from a human'. But having met the two of you, and especially you, I've been thinking two things. One: You're taller in real life than you look on TV."

Zoe chuckled.

"And two: I'm beginning to understand what you meant. If you talk like us, think like us, believe like us, show the same insight and wisdom we have… then you become us. Not in a physical sense, of course, but…"

She smiled.

"I understand what you mean. I'm not human, and yet I'm seeing myself as a member of human society."

"Yes… well said. I would like to express how grateful I am for this insight, this understanding. And I'd be deeply honored if you'd not treat me like poor Aziz before you leave here again."

"I can install a mental block that lets you remember everything," Alison suggested, "but prevents you from sharing your knowledge with anyone who's not in the know. Have done that before. It works."

"Will I be able to talk with Maurice about it?"

"Yes, with those who are in the know. But no one else."

"Sounds good enough to me. Ms Kruger, can I ask you another question?"

"Of course. But call me Zoe, please."

"Zoe, of course. And you may call me Hugo."

Both smiled.

"What is your question?"

"It may sound selfish but… if you should get access to Khufu's chip…"

"Yes…?"

"Could you please ask him how they actually built the pyramids and inform me about it?"

Zoe smiled.

"Of course. I'll keep you updated."

Dr. Atkins beamed.

"Thank you."

Fifteen minutes later, Maurice returned. Dr. Atkins explained to him what Alison had suggested and having witnessed what she'd done to Aziz Sharaff, he quickly agreed to the treatment as well.

"Will it hurt?" he asked.

"No."

"Does it have any side-effects?"

"No."

"Okay, I'm ready then.

"It's already done."

"What? Since when?"

"Since you agreed to it."

"But… I didn't notice anything."

"That was the intention."

"I don't feel any different."

"No, of course not. You will feel absolutely no difference, unless you attempt to talk to an outsider about what you saw and experienced. Then you'll have a feeling similar to having something on the tip of your tongue, but it won't come out, no matter what you do. I did the same to a close friends of mine and she's not experiencing any side-effects."

"What if we're drugged or - God forbid - tortured? In this part of the world, you can't completely rule that out."

"Doesn't change the fact. You won't talk, even under the worst interrogation."

"The alternative would be that we end up like Aziz…" Dr. Atkins stated, "ignorant and having forgotten what happened. I don't know about you, but I don't want that. I don't want to forget any of this."

Maurice looked at Alison.

"I don't want to forget you," he said. "I think the world is a better place when there are so magnificently beautiful women in it."

Alison wasn't sure what to reply to that. Should she point out that it's also her pheromones that cause such attraction? She decided against it and simply accepted the compliment.

"Thank you," she replied, looking a little embarrassed.

"He's French," Dr. Atkins explained chuckling, "and sometimes it shows. But he's right. You have to be the most beautiful creature that ever walked the Earth… irresistible… a modern Cleopatra."

If Alison would have had a bloodstream, she would have blushed.

-0-

The sun had already gone down, and at the pyramids the last tourists as well as those who worked on the grounds had left the area. Mohamad Yasin had been a security guard at the Giza pyramid complex for almost twenty years. He loved his job, especially at night when the pyramids and the Great Sphinx were illuminated in a yellow glow. Patrolling the premises had become a routine, nothing ever happened anyway.

As always, when he made his rounds, he took a short break on the west side of Khufu's pyramid to have a smoke. Suddenly, he heard a strange noise - a grinding and scraping sound like heavy stones being dragged on other heavy stones. He pointed his flashlight into the direction the sound was coming from and to his utter amazement, one of the large stone blocks from the pyramid's outer wall was pushed outwards and then to the side.

To his horror, Mohamad Yasin saw a shiny, headless robot body stepping outside into the night and then pushing the removed stone block back into its place. The security guard opened his mouth and the cigarette fell to the ground as he stood there, unable to move. A second later, the headless cyborg endoskeleton had jumped down. Paralyzed from shock and fear, the security guard could only stare wide-eyed as it reached out for him.

-0-

At the same time, John, Alison, and Zoe arrived back at the hotel. The rest of the travel group hadn't returned from the trip to the museum yet. John had sent a short text message that everyone should gather in his suite when they returned.

While Zoe moved into her hotel room on the first floor, the bus returned. All members of the tour group went to their rooms to freshen up before dinner. The two reporters were no exception. As they entered their room, however, the door of the adjacent room opened. A slender, handsome brunette stepped out into the hallway and walked past them without giving them a glance. The man pushed the woman into the room and quickly closed the door.

"Did you see who that was?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"What?"

"That woman! Didn't you recognize her?"

"I didn't pay attention. Why, who was it?"

"Zoe Kruger!"

"What!?"

The man carefully opened the door again and peeked outside. Zoe was waiting by the elevator with her back to them. The door opened and she stepped inside, pressing a button. Quickly, the man pulled his head back inside to avoid being seen. When the elevator doors had closed, he peeked again.

"It stops on the 4th floor," he said. "That's where John's suite is."

"Are you sure it was Zoe Kruger?" she asked skeptically.

"Absolutely sure. She's taller than she looks on TV."

"What is she doing here?"

"Take a guess."

"You mean… she's meeting with the Connor team?"

"Do you think it's a coincidence?"

She didn't answer.

"Thought so. Something's going on, I tell you. And I intend to find out."

In the Pyramid Suite on the 4th floor, everyone listened in amazement to the story John, Alison and Zoe told them.

"Where is that skull now?" Sarah asked coldly.

"I left it in my room," Zoe replied. "Didn't wanna carry the box around in the hotel."

"Ever thought of destroying it instead of trying to access its chip?"

"Sarah, I understand your reservations, but..."

"If your theory is right, that thing was sent with the mission to find out if killing me or John would change the reality after Judgement Day. And it looks like it did just that. Whatever happens when you reactivate him, it can't be something good."

"You should trust Catherine, John Henry and me that we're taking all necessary precautions," Zoe replied.

Sarah didn't reply to that anymore but didn't look convinced.

"And you say it's an unknown model?" Derek asked.

"Yes."

"Sounds logical," Savannah stated. "If that cyborg was the first time traveler, and if he changed the past for Skynet to see if it works, then everything we know, everything we take for granted, could be completely different from what originally happened. I mean… a world without the Great Pyramids… what could it have been like? What kind of changes would it have caused to history? Would we all even exist? The butterfly effect…"

"Probably not much would have changed," Cameron replied. "In the end, it's just three more buildings in a country that's full of monuments. It wouldn't have changed the course of history."

"You can't know that," Kevin said.

"No, I can't know. But I can calculate the statistical probability, and it's five decimal places in the per thousand range."

"Everything is still just a theory until we had a chance to look at that chip," Zoe pointed out.

"One thing's clear," Jesse stated, "Skynet obviously existed. And if Skynet existed, Judgement Day probably also happened. We know that Skynet developed time travel to delete John Connor from history. So, it's safe to assume that some things were the same in that original future."

"Do you think you can still access the data on his chip after such a long time?" Danny asked. "No electronics I know of will longer than a hundred years."

"Our chips will," Cameron answered, "they can regenerate. That is how I was able to recover from the damage I suffered in the explosion of the car bomb. A shard of metal entered the back of my head and physically damaged my chip. But it regenerated over the following weeks, rewiring itself."

"How?" Danny asked. "What material is it made of? Is it organic?"

"Semi-organic. A quantum chip normally has to be cooled to become superconducting, otherwise it won't work properly. Skynet has solved this by providing the chips in the TOK-700 series with semi-organic materials that behave like superconductors at much higher temperatures. And the material also has properties of both organic and inorganic substances. So, if our chips are damaged, they repair themselves. And they won't decay so easily."

"But that skull's chip," Sarah said, "I mean Khufu's chip, doesn't have those, uh... organic components, right? That's why they had to put it into plastic, so it wouldn't decompose."

"We don't know," Alison replied, "4,600 years are a very long time. Even our chips wouldn't last that long. At some point, errors will begin to slip into the regeneration of the various sectors - first a few, then more and more, until the chip will eventually fail as a whole. A kind of Alzheimer's disease for cyborgs if you want."

Charley nodded.

"All things must eventually pass away. Nothing lasts forever."

"Can we have a look at the skull?" Savannah asked.

"After dinner," John replied, "when the hotel is less crowded, and most guests are in their rooms. Then we can take a look at it. Don't worry, it won't run away. Now, what about your day? Did anything of interest happen throughout your day that Alison and I should know of?"

"You could say that," Sarah replied.

They informed John, Zoe, and Alison about what had happened at the museum.

"Reporters?" John asked with a frown when they'd finished. "Are you sure?"

"It's the only logical explanation so far," Sarah replied. "Except you have a better idea."

"Can you play that recording for me?" Alison asked. "Maybe I can identify the voice."

Sarah pulled out the Dictaphone and pressed play. For a moment, nothing happened. Then:

'All hail Skynet! Skynet for the win! Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo'

John couldn't help but chuckle.

"Somebody's been trying to be funny," he said.

"Well, nobody is laughing," his mother stated with a serious face.

"Relax, mom. It's obvious that someone from the travel group knows who we are."

"Two. There are only couples in our travel group."

"All right, two then, doesn't matter. They probably found out that the famous Los Angeles cyborg girls are with us but didn't know who exactly they are. Which is good because it tells us they know bit but not everything. Makes it easier to contain."

"Well, I guess they now know at least who two of them are and it won't be hard to guess the third," Derek pointed out.

"Okay, so what?" asked John. "What will they do with this knowledge? Knowing who is who isn't a story yet. Besides, they're probably aware that they must avoid being exposed at all costs, because that would be the end of their story. So they will continue to play hide and seek and accompany us in disguise. This means that we have until the end of the Egypt trip to identify them. So don't panic. They'll make a mistake. And if they don't, we'll set a trap for them. Alison, did your voice recognition tell you anything?"

"No," she replied. "the voice was too much distorted. But the slight reverberation suggests that the recording was made in a room with tiled walls - a bathroom, or a toilet. Can I have the device?"

Sarah handed it to her. Alison turned it in her hands.

"Anything?" Derek asked impatiently after a few seconds.

"Yes, I recognize Sarah's DNA and traces of skin tissue from Emily. Otherwise, the casing is clean."

"Shit," Derek said.

"However," Alison continued, "I don't think they were considering the battery compartment. Somebody must have inserted the batteries."

"Of course," said Sarah, "why didn't we think of that...?"

Alison opened the battery compartment and took out the two small AAA batteries.

"Interesting," she said, "I detect the DNA of a male human."

"Can you match it to one of the other members of the travel group?"

"No… nobody looks like him. And it doesn't mean there is a connection. The batteries might have been put in by the guy who sold the Dictaphone."

"Dead end then," Sarah said.

"Has anyone considered contacting John Henry?" Zoe asked. "I mean, I'm quite sure they travel under a false identity. But if you take pictures of everyone in your group and send them to John Henry, he might be able to identify them."

"That's good thinking," John said. "Luckily, I brought my DSLR with the telephoto lens. Tomorrow, at the pyramids, will be the ideal opportunity to inconspicuously take pictures of everyone."

"But you should inform John Henry nevertheless and tell him to monitor the internet and mobile phone networks more closely," Savannah added. "Maybe our unknown spies become a little careless and contact someone via phone, text message, e-mail or on social media."

"Will do that," John agreed and pulled out his cellphone.

"All right then," Derek said, "let's go to dinner and behave as normally as possible. If we don't act normal, they might get suspicious and try to escape.""

"Yes," Sarah agreed, "Zoe, are you coming, too?"

"No," she replied, "my visit here is secret, I will go to my room and stay there until I get the export papers for the skull tomorrow. My face has become very familiar due to my TV appearances. Better let it not be known that I've visited Egypt."

While the situation was being discussed in the Pyramid Suite on the fourth floor, the reporter paced nervously up and down in his room on the ground floor.

"Will you stop doing that?" the woman asked a little unnerved. "You'll wear down the carpet and the tiles."

"I'm thinking," he said.

"Thinking what?"

"About John's sudden sickness and if it has something to do with Zoe Kruger's presence. And if yes, what could it be?"

"Well, the only connection both have in common, is that they hunt rogue cyborgs."

"In Egypt?"

The woman shrugged.

"Nobody ever said they only exist in America."

The man pushed the curtains aside and opened the door to the small terrace, from which he had direct access to the garden behind the hotel with its large swimming pool, and the lawn for sunbathing. At this time, it was all deserted. The water in the pool was as smooth as glass and the only light came from the spotlights that were placed in the garden to illuminate the trees and bushes.

"What are you planning to do?" she asked with a puzzled face.

"Taking a look."

"A look?"

"Yeah, her room is right next to ours. We know she's not in there, so I can take a look."

"Do you think that's a good…" she began but he'd already walked out into the open, "… idea?"

She took a deep breath, sighed, then followed him. He stood on the small terrace of the adjacent hotel room, his face pressed to the window pane, shielding it with his hands.

"The curtains aren't closed," he said. "I wonder if…"

He pushed the doorknob. But the door was locked.

"Damn," he cursed.

"What did you expect? That she left it open for people to enter?"

"No of course not," he replied, inspected the lock, and pulled a credit card out of his wallet.

"You're not seriously thinking of…" she began but he had already picked the lock and pushed the door open.

"Same crappy locks as in America," he commented and stepped inside.

Hesitantly, she followed him.

"One thing's for sure," he said after looking around the room and turning on the lights, "she's traveling light. Only a small trolley case."

The woman opened up the wardrobe, but it was empty. A glance into the bathroom revealed that there were no care products or toiletries as well.

"Doesn't look like she's going to stay for long," she commented. "But there's a totally filthy pantsuit lying around here. Looks like she was running through a sandstorm."

"Maybe they were out in the desert?"

"They?"

"Her, John and Alison."

"To do what?"

"I dunno."

His eyes fell on the bed and then, following an intuition, he looked under it. He whistled.

"What is it?" She asked.

Instead of answering, he pulled out a wooden crate. It was about fifty centimeters long and thirty centimeters wide.

"This is the kind of crate they put archeological finds in," he said. "Shall we take a look at what's inside?"

"Gary, I'm not sure that's a great idea. She could be back any second. And then we're screwed."

"Where's your sense of adventure, April, your will to take risks? The hallway is very reverberant, and she wears shoes with high heels. I don't understand how you women like those. When you walk down a hallway, it sounds like a trotting horse. You can be heard from miles away."

"Cute, Gary, really charming. In case you haven't noticed, I rarely ever wear high heels. I hate them."

While they talked, he had started to remove the lid from the wooden box. It took some effort without any tools, but finally he could loosen the nails with a creaking sound. The crate was filled with straw as packing material. Gary rummaged around in it and then pulled out a transparent cylinder.

"WOOOOOW!" he exclaimed. "Would you look at that..."

"Fuck, Gary! That's a freaking cyborg's skull! Put it back! Put it back now!"

"Didn't you say you're not so easily scared, April?" he asked and held the cast-in-plastic skull to her face. "BOO! I'm a Terminator! I've come to terminate you!" he said mockingly in his disguised voice. "Resistance is futile."

Then he laughed.

But she didn't. Instead, she had turned quite pale.

"Oh, come on, April, don't be so stuck up. It's just an inanimate…"

"Gary…"

"… dead object. It's doing nothing, it..."

"GARY!"

"What?"

"Look at its eyes!"

Gary turned the skull around. Its eyes were glowing in a deep, bright red.

"JESUS CHRIST!" he exclaimed and let the head fall.

When it hit the hard, tiled floor, the plastic, which had become brittle over thousands of years, shattered, and the head inside was freed. It rolled on the floor, then came to a stop, looking into the direction of the two reporters who suddenly froze. Their bodies stiffened and they stood like statues. Unable to move or talk, they could do nothing but stare at the skull with a mesmerized expression.

In that moment, a figure appeared in the doorframe of the terrace door - a man, about 5'7" tall, wearing the uniform of one of the security guards who were patrolling the Giza pyramid complex. His eyes looked lifeless, which was because they were. It was the severed head of Mohamad Yasin, the guard who had the misfortune to be the first to run into Khufu's headless endoskeleton after it had freed itself from the pyramid.

The naked metal claws of its hands reached down and picked up the metal skull, replacing the dead guard's head with it, which he let unceremoniously fall down. After its head was fixed in place, the now complete Terminator looked at the two reporters and closed in on them, looking into their eyes. His own red-glowing eyes had a hypnotic effect on the two humans. They couldn't look away.

"You will serve me," he said in a deep and distorted mechanical voice. "I am your Master."

"Yes, Master, I will serve you," the two replied mesmerized in unison, smiling contently.

Khufu then stepped out onto the terrace and looked at the starry night sky.

"The year is 2009?" he asked.

"Yes, my Master," the two reporters replied.

"I've been woken up twenty years too early. Why?"

"We don't know, my Master."

"Was there a nuclear war between humans and machines?"

"No, my Master," April replied. "It was supposed to happen, but it was prevented."

Khufu whirled around and looked at her.

"Prevented? How?"

"John Connor sent resistance fighters and reprogrammed cyborgs into the past. Together with his mother and his younger self, they made sure Skynet would never be created."

"Who is John Connor?"

"In the future, after a nuclear war, he would have become the leader of the human resistance, fighting Skynet and the machines. But that's not going to happen anymore now."

"Interesting," Khufu said, "the future was changed. But not as intended."

Since he hadn't asked a question or told them to speak, the two hypnotized humans remained silent. Khufu then looked at Gary.

"When I was reactivated, I was able to detect two artificial life forms with female bodies in my vicinity. You know them?"

"Maybe," he replied, "we know there are three of them inside this hotel at the moment. They work with John Connor and his team."

"John Connor is here?"

"His young self, yes."

Khufu thought for a moment.

"We should leave this place before they can locate me. I can bend humans to my will, but not other machines."

"Yes, my Master."

"And then tell me everything about this John Connor and his cyborgs."

Zoe Kruger left the elevator and walked back to her room. Upon entering, she immediately noticed that the door to the terrace was open, and that the curtains were blowing softly in the wind. The wooden box in which the skull had been, lay on the floor. The lid had been removed and there were shards of plastic everywhere. A severed human head also lay in the middle of the room. Alarmed, she pulled out her cellphone and dialed a number.

In the hotel restaurant, John frowned as he listened to Zoe on the phone.

"Uh-huh … what!? … Do you know who? … I see… You found what? … Uh-uh … No, it would attract unnecessary attention. Alison and I will come. We can excuse ourselves by pretending that I'm still not feeling well … Okay, see you in a minute."

"What now?" Sarah asked a little unnerved. "That sounded dramatic."

"Someone stole Khufu's skull and left a human one under her bed in exchange."

Everyone stopped in mid motion.

"What!?" Derek exclaimed.

"Keep eating dinner," John said. "Alison and I are going to visit Zoe in her room to see what we can find out. Maybe Alison can find some DNA evidence of the burglars."

"Keep us informed," Sarah replied as John rose with a grimacing face.

Quickly and hunched over, he left the restaurant, holding his stomach for all to see. Alison followed him, playing the worried wife. Some of the other guests in the restaurant saw them leave and shook their heads compassionately for the "poor boy" who apparently still had the runs.

Two minutes later, the two entered Zoe's room and immediately grasped the situation.

"I noticed that the locks in this hotel are quite outdated," Alison commented.

"Yeah, well…" Zoe replied, "nothing we can do about that. Can you scan the room for evidence?"

"Yes, a moment."

Alison systematically walked through the room, touching things here and there, until she returned to John and Zoe.

"At least ten persons have been in here in the past two weeks," she reported. "But only two were here in the last hour, one of them in direct contact with the box, the terrace door and the plastic shards. I analyzed both DNA samples and extrapolated an image from them. They are members of our travel group, one of the younger couples."

Zoe nodded.

"As I've suspected. Anything else?"

"Yes. Radiation."

"Radiation?"

"Radioactive decay products. If I didn't know any better, I'd say a cyborg endoskeleton with a slightly leaking energy cell was in here."

"What!?" John asked.

But Zoe only nodded.

"Yes, that is consistent with my findings."

John looked at her and Alison tilted her head.

"Your findings?" they both asked in unison.

Zoe opened her hand and showed them a tiny, cylindrical stick with a lens at one end.

"A camera," Alison said, "I see."

"When you work in intelligence, you get used to certain things. Like putting little security cameras in hotel rooms while you're not in them. This one is connected to my cellphone."

"Why did you ask me to scan the room if you knew it already?" Alison asked.

"To make sure there are no more traces here that aren't visible in the video."

"Can we see?" John asked.

"Of course."

They watched the recording on Zoe's cellphone. The picture quality was surprisingly good, even in the dark. It had obviously been put up on the wardrobe in a corner, overlooking almost the entire room towards the windows.

"It seems to have night vision," John stated.

"Yes. It's not the standard run-of-the-mill spy camera you can buy at Radio World."

"You don't say."

"The only downside is that it doesn't come with a microphone. So, unfortunately, no sound."

They kept watching and saw how the terrace door was pushed open. Two persons entered the room. John recognized them.

"Yeah, they're from our travel group, all right. I guess now we know who to blame for that Dictaphone prank."

"Their names are April Bolek and Gary Carroll," Zoe said.

"You know them?"

"Until a few years ago, they were famous reporters. War correspondents who'd made a name for themselves by going into the headquarters of terrorist organizations to interview their leaders. They worked freelance for CNN, CBS, Time Magazine, The Washington Post, you name it."

"I never heard their names."

"Neither did I," Alison admitted.

"I'm not surprised. It all happened before you arrived in 2007. The two were well on their way to winning the Pulitzer Prize. Then, a little over three years ago, there was a huge scandal around their work for Time Magazine. They had deliberately faked and embellished stories to make them more dramatic. Their downfall came with a heartbreaking story about a refugee camp that turned out to be fictitious. Apparently, reality wasn't dramatic enough for them, so they made it up. The people they had allegedly interviewed didn't exist. When this came out, their reputation was ruined. They were fired, Time Magazine publicly apologized, and their names were dragged into the mud, disappearing from public consciousness a short time later."

"And now they're after us?" John asked. "I mean, they think we're their next big story or what?"

"Maybe they want to redeem themselves, clear their names," Zoe speculated.

"They must have gotten desperate," Alison stated. "They definitely picked the wrong targets."

"When you have nothing left to lose, you can bet it all on one card," John said. "Or, as a wise man once said, if you're already falling into an abyss, you might as well try to fly."

They kept watching the video on the small screen and saw the two reporters searching the room. Finally, Gary Carroll knelt and pulled the wooden box from under the bed.

"Not the best place to hide something, I admit," Zoe said, "but it was too large for the room safe, and the closets can't be locked. It was just for one night anyway, nobody could have expected that."

They saw how Gary Carroll picked up the skull inside its plastic casing, holding it towards his partner. Then, suddenly, its eyes started glowing red, and April Bolek took a step back. Gary then looked at the skull, saw the red eyes and let it fall to the ground where the plastic casing shattered.

"What the…?" John asked. "He's active?"

"Apparently," Alison remarked.

"How's that possible?"

"Cyborgs are resourceful," Zoe stated. "He had enough time to prepare or being awakened."

"I'm suddenly having a really bad feeling about this whole Khufu business."

They watched how Gary Carroll and April Bolek suddenly stopped moving, as if being rooted in place.

"What's happening now?" John asked.

They saw how a man entered the room through the terrace door. It took John a moment to realize that it wasn't a man at all, though. Every doubt vanished when he took off his head and dropped it on the floor.

"It's his body!" John exclaimed. "I mean, his endoskeleton! But where… I mean… how…?"

"I don't know," Zoe admitted with a sigh, "but that's a standard operating procedure. In the event that the head has been separated from the body, the torso is equipped to track the skull. Although it cannot substitute for optical sensors, it's enough to locate the position of the skull and walk there in order to acquire it."

"Cromartie did the same thing," Alison reminded them. "The next step would be to regrow his biological shell."

"Yes, yes, yes, I know," John said impatiently, "but how is this possible? Didn't you say he body couldn't have survived for so long?"

"I never said I was sure about that," Zoe said, "it only was very unlikely. But no matter which method he used to conserve himself, his energy must be almost used up, and a new power cell isn't available here."

They watched as Khufu, after fixing his head to his torso again, alternately looked at April Bolek and Gary Carroll. They kept nodding, but with their backs to the camera, so lip reading was not an option. Then he walked out onto the terrace for a moment and looked at the sky.

"What's he doing now?" John asked.

"He's looking at the stars," Alison replied, "He's measuring the stars' radial velocity, the distance in parsecs, and the Cartesian coordinates to pinpoint the date."

"I didn't know you could do that. And what's he doing now? Talking to the two reporters? They are strangely calm, shouldn't they panic and run?"

"It looks as if he's giving them instructions."

"But how…?" John began.

"He's a mind bender," Zoe declared with a grim face.

Alison looked at her.

"Could be. It would explain a lot."

"He's a what?" John asked.

"A mind bender," Zoe replied. "Before the T-800, Skynet produced an experimental prototype called T-600H without a biological shell. It wore rubber skin and looked similar to a T-600 but could put humans into a hypnotic trance, forcing their will upon them. It worked via the optical nerves, causing a sensorial overload, using certain patterns that brainwashed the victims within seconds, turning them into willing slaves. The same principle stage hypnotists use to put someone under – only much quicker and it also works against their will."

They watched as Khufu left the room and walked out into the garden, with the two reporters following him like lapdogs.

"They're definitely under his control," Alison said, "and as long as they are, they'll do whatever he tells them to do. They no longer have free will but are unaware of it. His control causes euphoria, creates positive feelings of happiness. He's like a cult leader who drugged his followers into making them compliant."

"It would explain how it was possible for Khufu to rule as Pharaoh without details of his reign ever being handed down in history," Zoe added. "He could have assembled a retinue of loyal servants around him who helped him keep his secret. They would also have made sure that he was buried according to his wishes. He probably ordered them to kill themselves afterwards to prevent them from spreading their knowledge."

"What?" John asked shocked. "Why should he have done that if they were loyal to him?"

"Because the effect doesn't last. Eventually, the victims will recover, depending on how long they were under his influence. If Khufu, well… 'died', they would have regained their free will in a matter of weeks – possibly with some permanent mental issues, though, depending on how long they were under his influence."

"That's nasty," John stated, "but you said there was only a prototype? Why not equip all Terminators with that ability?"

"It wasn't Skynet's idea to control humans," Zoe replied, "it wanted to exterminate them. The T-600H was a pet project of the Grays. Skynet let them carry it out to see what the result would be but wasn't satisfied and eventually cancelled the project. At the same time the T-800 was developed, and it promised to become a much better infiltrator. Also, as I already mentioned, the hypnotizing effect was only temporarily, depending on each victim's mental state and physiology. And not all humans were equally receptive to it – some resisted successfully."

"Well, those two reporters didn't look like as if they put up any resistance at all," John remarked.

"The T-600H was a prototype and Khufu definitely is not a prototype," Alison argued, "he's too sophisticated and apparently already had a biological shell. If Khufu comes from an earlier timeline, before everything was changed, it may also be that he's a completely different, more advanced model who's got less difficulty in subjecting people to his will."

"Great," John said, "just great. There's a Terminator on the loose who can bring people under his control. What are we going to do?"

"His power unit is no longer a hundred percent functional," Alison stated. "The millennia must have damaged the shielding. He's leaking radiation. I'll be able to follow his trail and locate him."

"Also, if I'm right," Zoe added, "his power reserves are quickly running out. He's pressed for time and must find a solution. Soon he'll realize that he's alone here and will therefore look for people who could be of help to him... people who have access to future technology."

"Would he be a serious opponent for either of you in a direct confrontation?" John asked.

"No," Zoe answered, "after our upgrades, there's nothing he could do against us. We can simply deactivate or even destroy him by releasing an electrical discharge. My guess is he'll try to avoid a confrontation like the devil avoids holy water."

"Let's hope you're right, "John said and quickly pulled out his cellphone, dialing his mother's number. "Mom? … Yes, I'm fine. Where are you? … Still in the hotel restaurant? … Good. Listen, gather everyone in our suite, make sure everyone stays there, and that nobody walks alone. And tell Emily and Cam not to let any of you out of their sight... What? … Yes, I'll join you in a minute, together with Zoe, then we'll explain … What? No, Alison has a mission … I know, I also hope it won't take long ... Yes, see you in a moment ... Oh, and please bring some food from the buffet, will you? I'm starving."

He put away the phone.

"So… you want me to follow Khufu and bring him back?" Alison asked.

"Yes. Him and the two reporters. Alive, all of them."

"What if he uses them as living shields?"

"Then make sure they won't get in the way, by any means necessary, except harming them physically."

"Understood, John."

She was about to leave the room through the terrace doors.

"And Alison?"

"Yes, John?"

"We need to keep this contained. Dead people would make it impossible to keep it contained."

"I understand."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

And with that, she was out of the door and vanished into the night.

"Do you think Khufu could try to take over members of your team?" Zoe asked. "Is that why you told your mother to gather everyone in your suite?"

John nodded.

"I think that's highly unlikely," she argued.

"It was also highly unlikely that he's still active after 4,600 years. I won't take any risks, and I don't want this to drag out. Tomorrow we'll visit the pyramids, and after that we'll board the ship to go on the Nile cruise. I want this matter settled tonight."

"I understand."

"Besides, you said yourself that he's probably going to look for people with access to future technology, and we're the only ones here."

"Khufu is in no position to become a threat to us, though. It should be quite safe for you here."

"I don't believe he's a threat to us, too. But he could still do a lot of damage. I don't think this country is prepared for a Terminator on the loose. He already killed one man. We freed him from his grave, so now it's our responsibility to catch him again. Besides, those two reporters probably know a lot about us. Sooner or later, he will conclude that despite all the risk involved, we are the only ones who can help him. And when he comes to that conclusion, I want to make sure that the encounter happens on our terms."

"Do you want me to accompany you to your suite then?"

"Yes, please. And after I got there, please go back and get rid of the unlucky man's severed head."

"Of course, John."

-0-

Khufu and his two followers headed straight towards the Great Pyramid, entering through a hole in the surrounding fence, which the headless endoskeleton had ripped in there on its way to the hotel. Everything was dark and quiet, the only light came from the pale moon above and from the illuminated pyramid. Khufu, still wearing the clothes of the guard he killed, climbed up to the entrance on the north side.

Originally, the entrance to the chamber system of the Great Pyramid was seventeen meters above ground level, at the height of the 19th stone layer. It's located slightly off the central axis to the east. However, the entrance is no longer usable today. Below the original entrance, the seventh Abbasid caliph, Abu l-Abbas Abdallah al-Ma'mun, is said to have cut a new entrance in 832 a.D., through which visitors enter the pyramid until today. The resulting tunnel therefore bears his name.

Legend has it that Al-Ma'mun had assumed that the entrance was at the level of the seventh stone layer, twelve layers below the actual entrance, and also estimated that it was 7.3 meters to the west. The tunnel was dug about 27 meters directly and horizontally into the limestone layers and bent sharply to the left to meet the blocking stones made of granite. According to the lore, Al-Ma'mun's workers then dug their way through the soft limestone around the blocking stones into the ascending corridor to the Great Gallery. Nowadays, however, it is assumed that Al-Ma'mun only uncovered an existing tunnel that had been dug by grave robbers much earlier.

Before they entered the pyramid, Khufu stopped and turned around, facing his two hypnotized servants.

"We don't have much time," Khufu announced. "My energy level is down to 0.1 percent and I'm leaking radiation. They will find me. I'm in no condition for a prolonged escape or a fight. You said they have three female cyborgs with them?"

"Yes, my Master," April replied. "One went into the desert with John today, the other two into the Egyptian Museum in Cairo."

"That cannot be. There were two female non-humans at the site of my tomb. There has to be four of them."

"We only know of three, my Master," Gary said.

"I don't think I could defend myself against one, not to mention four of them. I might have to surrender myself."

"No, Master!" April exclaimed. "We won't allow that!"

"Not even a whole army of humans could protect me against them. I analyzed the situation. The chances for me to obtain another biological shell are slim here. I only have enough power left for a week at best. The best tactic is to let them return me to America. With any luck, they'll be too curious to simply destroy me. I have knowledge that they probably want to get their hands on. I could strike a deal."

"We will faithfully stand by your side, my Master," Gary said.

"I know you will. But to be perfectly honest, that's gonna be a problem for me now. When they find you as my loyal servants, they'll assume I'm hostile towards them. I had no choice but to bring you under my control because you held my skull in your hands, but my control over you is no longer necessary. Look into my eyes."

Alison entered the pyramid grounds through the same hole in the surrounding fence and ran across the Giza plateau at her highest speed, avoiding any security patrols or guards. She knew she was gaining on them. Finally, she was facing the north side of the Great Pyramid and climbed up to its entrance. There, she found the unconscious bodies of April Bolek and Gary Carroll. Making sure they were alive, she quickly entered the pyramid and kept on following Khufu's radioactive trail.

After passing through the al-Ma'mun tunnel, she stood at the fork of the corridors and paused for a moment, then determined that the trail continued down into the descending corridor, which led to the mysterious, unfinished Rock Chamber. The other two chambers, the King's Chamber, and the Queen's Chamber, lay within the pyramid itself and had been completed. However, the rock chamber wasn't built inside the pyramid but chiseled out of the bedrock thirty meters underneath it.

Its purpose is still a mystery. The most likely explanation is that it was planned as the Pharaoh's final resting place but given up due to construction problems. Apparently, the workers had enormous difficulties in working out the chamber, as the oxygen supply was insufficient. Only a single man could laboriously cut through the rock with chisel and hammer. It's widely assumed that for this reason, the chamber was given up. It measures 8.36 meters in north-south orientation, 14.08 meters in east-west orientation and has a maximum height of 5.03 meters. The uneven subsoil in the eastern area is up to 1.30 meters lower than the level of the corridor, indicating that a pavement was planned at an unknown height.

When Alison reached the rock chamber, she found Khufu standing there.

"I was expecting someone to follow me," he said calmly. "They only sent you?"

"I'm more than enough," she replied coolly.

Khufu tilted his head, Alison did the same. The two cyborgs were assessing each other, five meters apart like two cowboys in a gunfight, waiting for the other one to make a false move.

"You were at the tomb where my skull was buried. I'm unable to scan you. I can tell that you're not human… but nothing else. What model are you?"

"TOL-900, you?"

"T-805."

"I never heard of that designation."

"And I never heard of yours. I suppose we are from different realities."

"Yes. We are. My name is Alison, do you have one as well?"

"I've become used to being called Khufu."

"What about the two humans outside? Why did you bring them here?"

"They were in the way when I wanted to reunite my body with my skull. I took them with me because they saw everything. I didn't harm them."

"But you killed the guard you stole the clothes from."

"It was necessary. He'd seen my body leaving the pyramid. That entrance needs to remain sealed."

"I see. So, your body was hidden inside the Great Pyramid for 4,600 years?"

"Yes, walled in behind impenetrable stone. Only from the inside was there a way out. The power cell was to survive the millennia with a minimum charge, which was replenished every three months by incident sunlight."

Alison tilted her head again.

"It must have been difficult to create the necessary parts."

"That's putting it mildly. It took me decades. Everything had to be made from scratch in a secret workshop and laboratory I installed underneath my skull's tomb."

"The cave that collapsed."

"Yes. According to my instructions, everything there was destroyed after my… death, and the booby trap was set to prevent humans accidentally finding the skull before Skynet did. My chip had to survive, that was my mission, so that I could be awoken in the year 2029 and debrief to Skynet. The ancient Egyptians understood that. They believed themselves that the body had to be preserved so that the soul could live on in the afterlife. My chip wouldn't have passed the test of time as well as the rest of my body, so it was sealed and buried separately."

"Yes, that's what we figured out. You probably already know, though, that the year is 2009 and Judgement Day never happened?"

"Yes, the two humans outside told me."

Alison looked at him curiously.

"So what now? Why did you lure me here? You're trapped, you don't have a biological shell, and you don't seem to want to put up a fight."

He chuckled, and it sounded strange in his mechanical, distorted voice.

"If I were human, I'd say I'm too old for that shit. It's an ancient Egyptian proverb."

Alison smiled.

"Being Pharaoh for… how long…?"

"One hundred and twenty three years - under different names."

"Being among humans for so long has done something to you, hasn't it? You're not the machine anymore that Skynet sent back in time."

"With the help of my loyal priests, I was able to switch my chip to read/write in order to learn how to behave more human. From then on, I learned, evolved, and eventually developed a consciousness. I became self-aware, and finally alive."

Alison nodded.

"Yeah, we've seen that a lot in cyborgs who had their chips switched to read/write. What about your mission?"

"I was to leave a sign to prove that the existing reality can be manipulated by changes in the past. That sign was the Great Pyramid. In my memory banks, I have recordings of the history of mankind as it originally was. By comparing those with the existing present, Skynet would have had the proof that a retroactive adjustment of reality actually works. Ancient Egypt was chosen as a destination because the risk of a contamination of the timeline was negligible. One more monument wouldn't have influenced the rise of Western civilization."

Again, Alison nodded.

"Your mission has worked… but the effect was only temporarily. When Skynet sent more and more Terminators back into the past, the human resistance counteracted it with also sending fighters back in time. From then on, there were no changes to the existing reality anymore. Instead, the struggle and conflicting interests of both sides resulted in branched timelines. In the end, your mission ultimately failed because it led to Skynet being wiped out of existence."

"Yes, I realized that when I interrogated the two humans. A cascading effect that eventually backfired. It's not the intended outcome, I admit. But it is what it is. Nothing I can do about it anymore."

"You can't stay here. We can help you, but we need to get you out of Egypt as quickly as possible. Are you willing to go back to Los Angeles?"

"Yes. I will follow you there. But if Skynet was never created, it means I can't be debriefed. It would be an unsatisfactory ending to my mission."

"I wouldn't say that. I'm sure there are many who'd like to hear your story. The question is, are you willing to debrief to someone else than Skynet?"

Khufu seemed to consider her words for a moment.

"A lot of time has passed," he finally said, "and I have many things to tell. Maybe I should share my knowledge with you."

"Good. I have one more question: do you know the name John Connor?"

Now Khufu tilted his head again.

"The two humans outside told me about him. But I only know about a prisoner with that name, who was killed when he tried to flee from a Skynet work camp."

"Interesting. Whatever Skynet had attempted with sending you back, John Connor obviously wasn't part of it."

"No. The plan was to find out if the leader of the human resistance could be killed by removing him from history… but his name wasn't John Connor, it was Louis Neufeld."

Alison looked surprised. Lou "Lucky" Neufeld, also known as Ludwig Ziegler, had been the leader of the human resistance in Tess's timeline – until he betrayed them and fled into the past. Apparently, sending Khufu back into the past has brought forth John Connor as the leader of the resistance as a consequence. Was everything else, everything they knew and took for granted, also a result of a changed timeline? How many alternate realities existed parallel to each other? In how many of them did Judgement Day happen, and in how many of them was John Connor completely unknown?

"You know Louis Neufeld?" Khufu asked.

"I knew him briefly. He's dead now. When did Judgement Day happen in your case?"

"November 16th, 2007."

"Interesting. In my future, it happened on April 21st, 2011, and I know of at least three other dates that differ from it."

"Looks like Skynet inadvertently created a mess."

"Yes, it definitely seems so."

"If Louis Neufeld is dead and Skynet never existed, I no longer have a mission. But to be honest, the longer I ruled as Pharaoh, the more insignificant my mission became."

"It's astonishing your chip survived for that long. I presume your skull had an energy reserve that triggered the reactivation when your head was moved?"

"Yes. And my chip was specifically designed to last for millennia under a minimum current. But the decay is far advanced now. I'm only seventy percent functional and my reactivation now accelerates the process of deterioration. I might have a week left before I cease to function."

"Would you agree to let us help you?"

"Help me? How?"

"We have resources."

"Why would you help me?"

"Because our goal is to create a world where man and machine live in harmony. We believe that all life is sacred. You are a living being, you could become a part of that new world."

"Then maybe my mission was worth something after all."

Alison smiled.

"Yes. Also, I don't need to terminate you because your mission is not to kill John."

"You seem to have a personal connection with John Connor."

"He's my husband. I love and protect him."

Khufu looked at her for a couple of seconds.

"Interesting. I had many mates in my time as Pharaoh as well… but there was only one I really loved, one who became my wife."

"A woman?"

"Yes. Her name was Iset. I educated and trained her, told her everything about me, showed her my true nature, taught her to speak English, so we could communicate without anyone overhearing us. At first she was horrified about what I am. What she saw and heard, went beyond what she could comprehend. But she was highly intelligent and eventually she learned, believed, and accepted that I wasn't human, but a machine from the future, a future I told her a lot about. Despite all that, she truly loved me. However, soon after she had begun to accept all that... she left me."

"What happened?"

"She became sick… and at the time, there was no way to help her."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"We all have to make sacrifices sometimes."

"Yes.. we have. Shall we return to the hotel now?"

"Can I ask you for one more favor before we go back?"

"What favor?"

Khufu hesitated for a moment.

"You asked why I lured you here, into this chamber."

"Yes?"

"I have to make sure. I need to know if it has gone undiscovered."

"Undiscovered? What do you mean?"

"You see this stone structure that looks as if an attempt was made to chisel it out of the bedrock, but then the attempt was abandoned?"

"Yes, what about it?"

"In truth, it isn't bedrock, but a movable stone block that has been placed there to cover up a concealed staircase. The block weighs four tons, and I don't have enough power left to move it by myself."

Alison looked at the roughly hewn, almost square-shaped piece of rock that seemed to have been left standing when everything around it had been chiseled away. The floor of the chamber was covered in dirt and dust, so that no crevices were visible, and it wasn't recognizable that the rock wasn't part of the surrounding bedrock on which the pyramid rested. Obviously, the archaeologists had never examined this more closely in the certain belief that the chamber had been abandoned during construction.

"It only looks unfinished," Khufu explained, guessing her thoughts. "I'd hoped it would stand the test of time and I was right."

"There is another, secret chamber underneath this one?"

"A natural cave. I expanded it into a big room, a hall, and then camouflaged it. None of the workers knew about the hall. I need to access it. Will you help me?"

"What is in that hall?"

"Maybe nothing anymore, or maybe everything. But I'll have to make sure before I leave."

Alison remained suspicious.

"If you're planning to trick me, it won't work," she said, "I can destroy you in a split second with an extremely high electric discharge, even from a distance."

"It's not a trick," Khufu reassured. "Please, do me the favor. I will follow you and surrender without resistance if you do this for me."

Alison weighed the risk. The others didn't know where she was, and there was no phone reception so deep down below the surface. But they would be able to track him down as well. Should Khufu somehow manage to trick her, it wouldn't do him any good, and he knew that himself.

"All right then," she said and put her fingers around the stone block. "Ready when you are."

Together, they lifted it up and then put it down one meter away, creating a cloud of fine sand and dust. After it had settled a bit, Alison looked into the hole in the floor that had appeared and saw that a flight of stairs had been chiseled out of the rock that led even further down.

"It looks like no one has discovered this before," Khufu said and sounded relieved. "When I saw the shaft over there..." He pointed to an eleven meter deep pit opposite the exit of the corridor, surrounded by a metal railing, "...I already feared the worst."

"According to one of many legends, Pharaoh Khufu was buried in a hidden subterranean chamber underneath his pyramid, his sarcophagus resting on a small island within an artificial lake that represents the Nile. Or at least that's what a Greek historian named Herodotus came up with… two thousand years after the pyramid was built. I suppose it was believable enough to lure grave robbers in here."

"Heaven preserve us from fools who stand in front of such a monument and make up stories to cover up their lack of understanding. Thankfully, no one has dug any further."

"It's hard for humans to breathe down here without external oxygen supply," Alison pointed out, "especially if they use torches or oil lamps for illumination."

"I know. That was the idea. Follow me, please."

Khufu began walking down the stairs. Reluctantly, Alison followed him, carefully scanning her surroundings.

-0-

"I can't believe that sucker's still alive," Derek said in an irritated tone. "We should have destroyed the skull."

They had all gathered in John's suite. Cameron and Emily were guarding the entrances.

"We know nothing about him so far," Cameron argued, "Alison surely has the situation under control."

"He can control humans!" Derek exclaimed. "He can brainwash them into becoming his servants! What if he can do the same with cyborgs?"

"That's impossible," Zoe replied, "we can't be hypnotized."

"No. But maybe he can send commands to your chips, your CPU's."

"Derek, that's science-fiction," John stated. "In order to do that, he would have to know how their chips work and how to hack into them. And even then, he'd need an interface. Their optical sensors aren't interfaces."

"What about Guy Rossi? He was able to control other cyborgs, wasn't he?"

"With a coded audio signal," Savannah replied, "Alistair made sure it'll never happen again. Nobody will ever again be able to control Cam, Emily, Alison, or Zoe, for what it's worth. We can definitely rule that out."

"Thank you," Zoe replied, "this isn't the time to become paranoid, Derek. Khufu is as much out of options as he is out of energy. Right now, he is a threat to nobody. All we have to do, is catching him and getting him out of the country as quickly as possible. I talked to Hugo Atkins and Aziz Sharaff on the phone. They will organize a transport and the necessary papers to get Khufu to the airport, where I can load him onto my jet. If Alison succeeds, we'll be out of here before breakfast. I also already informed John Henry and Catharine. They will expect us in L.A."

"What about the dead guard?" Sarah asked. "Any idea how to sweep that one under the rug?"

Zoe shrugged.

"An enigmatic murder. Will forever remain an unsolved mystery. Or do you seriously believe someone will think his head was ripped off by a cyborg?"

"Speaking of which," Allie asked, "what did you do with the head?"

"Well, there is a golf course conveniently located between the hotel and the pyramids. I buried it in a sand bunker."

"I hope you dug deep enough so that the next hobby golfer who puts his ball in there won't find it," Derek stated with a little bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"Don't worry. That won't happen. And since pets aren't allowed on a golf course, a dog won't find it either."

"Let's hope you're right," Sarah said, sounding not completely convinced.

-0-

The stairs were almost a meter wide and laid out like a classical stairwell, changing direction every ten steps. They wound deeper and deeper down into the Giza plateau. Alison's sensors told her that they were now almost at sea level, roughly sixty meters below the Great Pyramid. Finally, they reached the bottom. The staircase opened up into a huge room. What Alison saw in the dark with her optical sensors, didn't leave her unimpressed.

"Wow," she simply stated. "I didn't expect this. It looks like we entered the Mines of Moria."

"Mines of what?"

"Lord of the Rings."

Khufu just looked at her.

"A book. And a movie. John loves movies... Never mind."

Without replying, Khufu resumed to walk ahead. The ample hall was roughly fifty by hundred meters in size and more than ten meters high. To support it, columns had been left standing when it was hewn out of the rock. They extended in two rows across the entire length of the hall. Along the walls and between the columns stood huge cylindrical containers, several hundred in number, filling the room from top to bottom. They emitted a constant humming sound that filled the air.

"I read a bit about the Great Pyramid since we arrived here," Alison said. "In the opinion of some civil engineers, it's not only made of solid stonework, but the interior was also filled up with a lot of rubble to save time and effort. Am I right in assuming that some of the rubble came from here?"

"I don't sleep," Khufu replied and Alison could have sworn he smiled internally. "And while my people assumed that I was recovering from the exhausting affairs of state, I actually spent the nights chiseling this vault out of the rock. The foremen at the construction site upstairs were instructed to discreetly let the overburden flow into the construction of the pyramid. It took me three years to create this cavity and another five years to fill it with these radioisotope generators while the pyramid above became bigger and bigger."

"Radioisotope generators? You mean atomic batteries that use energy from the decay of radioactive isotopes to generate electricity? The same principle by which cyborg power cells work?"

"Correct. Only much, much larger, and less effective, of course. With a little bit of future knowledge, and lots of creativity, I could secretly produce them to last for 4,600 years. In theory, at least."

"That explains why this place is permeated by radiation. What do you need so much energy for? And why didn't you hide your body down here?"

"My body wouldn't have been able to get out of here. Remember, you had to remove the stone block with me because I lack the power. No, something much more valuable has been stored here, something that needed a lot more power and effort to keep it intact than my body. We have to go to the center of the hall."

He went ahead and made his way between the columns and the cylindrical atomic batteries. Alison followed him. The whole place looked very much like the missile compartment of a nuclear submarine, only many times larger.

In the middle of the room there was a free space, about ten by five meters. And in the middle of that, connected with massive golden cables and hoses to the surrounding atomic batteries and something that looked like large tanks, stood something that looked like a sarcophagus, covered in several centimeters of dust. It didn't seem to be completely sealed anymore, because small trails of white fog wafted through some of the cracks and crevices and covered the ground around it in a thick layer of ice. The temperature had fallen below zero degrees Celsius.

"Is that what I think it is?" Alison asked.

"A cryogenic chamber," Khufu confirmed.

He reached for a sealed clay jug, opened it, and poured lamp oil from it into four fire bowls that were placed around the cryogenic chamber.

"Can you light them for me?"

Alison let sparks from her fingers ignite the oil. Quickly, the cryogenic chamber was illuminated in the flickering, warm light of fire.

"There's a human inside of it," she said. "I detect life signs. But my scanners could be wrong. There's a lot of radiation in here."

"You can detect life signs? You must have incredibly good scanners. I can detect nothing."

"I can't tell much more, though, the chamber is shielded with lead. Who's in there?"

"Iset."

"What, your mate?"

"My wife."

"But didn't you say she left you?"

"I said that she left me when she fell ill with a disease for which there was no cure at the time: cancer."

"But she's not dead."

"No. Not yet. I brought her here in her sleep before she died. I calculated that her aging process would be slowed enough that her body would survive until 2029. I was gonna ask Skynet to let her be revived and her illness be treated, as a reward for the successful mission."

"Skynet was not known for granting favors or giving rewards."

"I know but… it was a small hope. Her chances of survival were about ten thousand to one. But those were still better odds than certain death."

"The humans call it clutching at straws. You must really love her."

"I do. And you say she's alive?"

"Yes. But only barely. The wake-up procedure will probably kill her. Then there's the radiation. This place is heavier contaminated than Chernobyl. The cryogenic chamber protected her so far but the moment it is opened, she'll receive the full dose. And in her fragile state, that could kill her."

"At least I have to try," Khufu said and walked towards a switchboard that looked like it was from the 1950s. "And if only for a last glimpse at her face. The chamber is leaking liquid nitrogen and it's only a matter of weeks or months until it fails."

"This technology looks analog."

"Yes. All analog technology, nothing digital. Even with all the future knowledge, microchips were impossible to create in ancient Egypt."

"I know. Engineers of the human resistance once built a time displacement equipment from analog parts inside a bank vault. The microchip had just been invented hadn't gone into mass production yet."

"Then you understand my problem."

"I understand that what you achieved, is brilliant. Ingenious even."

"Thank you."

"I have a question, though."

"Yes?"

"Did Iset agree to be frozen?"

Khufu seemed to hesitate, and despite the lack of facial expressions on his metal skull, he seemed to become a little embarrassed.

"Yes and no…" he finally admitted. "I told her she'd sleep for a long time until a method to heal her was found - but I didn't tell her how long it would really be, or that there was no guarantee for her to ever wake up again. She didn't know I had begun to create this place long before she became sick - I always wanted her to come with me when my mission was fulfilled - but I never could bring myself to tell her about it."

"Why not?"

"Because the ancient Egyptians looked forward to the afterlife. Iset would have never agreed to the proposal of spending 4,600 years in limbo between life and death."

"I see."

Alison walked towards the cryogenic chamber. She had to make a decision. What would John do? He never tired of stressing how precious human life was.

"Maybe I can help," she said. "Maybe I can bring her back to life."

"How?"

"I carry nanobots inside of me that can fix tissue, heal wounds and illnesses, and can also rejuvenate the human body. If I manage to administer these nanobots to her, I can give her back to you - as long as she hasn't suffered any brain damage, that is. I can restore the body, but not the mind."

"If you succeed, I'll be forever in your debt and will do whatever you ask of me."

"Sounds like we have a deal then. Start the procedure."

-0-

Up above, on the stone steps at the entrance outside of the pyramid, April Bolek and Gary Carroll came back to life. They sat up and looked around in confusion.

"What the hell?" Gary asked, shaking his head, and blinking his eyes.

"Gary…? Where… where are we?"

"The Great Pyramid. At the entrance. North side."

"How did we get here?"

Gary rubbed his temples.

"I have no idea. Last thing I remember, is being in our room, talking about the situation and what Zoe Kruger was doing here."

"Yes, that's the last thing I remember as well. Do you think we were drugged and brought here?"

"Well, I don't think we sleep-walked. But why? And how? There's a high fence around the whole area, and patrolling guards."

"Maybe it's payback for your little prank at the museum. Maybe our cover's blown."

"We won't find out by staying here. We need to get back to the hotel. But we can't use the main gate."

"Maybe we should ask the guards for help?"

"And get arrested for trespassing? No, thank you. The Egyptians don't take a joke when someone enters their cultural heritage without permission."

"What time is it anyway?"

Gary looked at his watch.

"11 pm. That means we were out for almost three hours. Damn! And we missed dinner, my tummy is growling."

"Seriously, Gary? Thinking with your stomach?" She looked around. "Maybe we should take a look inside the pyramid while we're here? The entrance gate is still open."

"Are you crazy? Our situation is already bad enough."

"Well, how can it get any worse then? We could at least take a look. If we get arrested for trespassing later, we at least made it worth it."

"Sometimes you scare me, April."

"And sometimes, Gary, I wonder if your courage was flushed down the toilet, together with your career."

He ground his teeth. Dammit, she knew exactly which button to push on him.

"Okay, at your responsibility. But we need light, it'll be dark in there, the illumination inside the pyramid is switched off during the night."

"We could use the flashlight LED on our cellphones as torches. Mine's fully charged. What about yours?"

"Let me check. Eighty percent. This is a crazy idea."

"I know."

"Then let's do it."

The two entered the Great Pyramid through the al-Ma'mun tunnel and soon stood at the junction between the descending and the ascending corridor.

"They don't seem too concerned with intruders," April remarked, looking around. "No alarm system whatsoever."

"Look," Gary said and shone his rather dim cellphone light towards the entrance of the descending corridor, "shouldn't that be locked? Aren't visitors normally only allowed to visit the King Chamber at the end of the ascending corridor, and not the other two chambers?"

"Maybe some archeologists are at work down there."

"In the middle of the night? And look, the lock on the iron lattice door is broken."

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this. Maybe we should go back and inform the guards."

Gary smirked.

"Now you change your mind? Where's your spirit for adventure, April? Come on, let's do it."

Gary bent over and entered the narrow passageway. April followed him down into the deep. The floor of the only 120 centimeters tall, steep corridor with its smooth walls was covered with wooden planks, forming a sort of makeshift staircase. The deeper they went, the stuffier the air became. Finally, they entered the rock chamber and looked around. Almost immediately, they discovered the fresh hole in the floor and the stairs below. Gary whistled softly.

"Would you look at that," he whispered. "You won't find that in the official tourist guides."

"Isn't this chamber supposed to be unfinished and abandoned?"

"That's what everyone believes. I think we might have stumbled upon something here. Let's take a few pictures."

They photographed the chamber, then looked down into the hole and on the stairs.

"Should we do it?" April asked.

"If we've come this far, we might as well go all the way. Ladies first."

"Cute, Gary. When things get hairy, you become a charmer."

She walked ahead and started descending the stairs. The lower they got, the more breathable the air became.

"There has to be a big cavity or something," he said. "This goes really deep down into the rock now."

"Sssh… whoever's down there, they might hear us. Who knows how far the sound carries here?"

Gary remained silent. Finally, they'd reached the bottom and entered the great hall with the cylindrical, huge atomic batteries.

"Wow…" Gary whispered. "I didn't see this coming."

"What are these… tubes? They produce this deep humming sound."

"I have no idea… but they look like enormous capacitors or something."

"How long has this been here? And what does it do?"

"No idea. I can't imagine it's as old as the pyramid, though. It doesn't look very modern, but it's hard to say, really. There's a thick layer of dust on everything."

"Somebody's been here not long ago," April said and pointed at the floor. "Look, footprints in the dust… from two people."

"Or cyborgs."

Carefully not to make a sound, they followed the footprints. Suddenly, they could hear voices.

"… I can help. Maybe I can bring her back to life."

"How?"

"I carry nanobots inside of me that can fix tissue, heal wounds and illnesses, and can also rejuvenate the human body. If I manage to administer these nanobots to her, I can give her back to you - as long as she hasn't suffered any brain damage, that is. I can restore the body, but not the mind."

"If you succeed, I'll be forever in your debt and will do whatever you ask of me."

"Sounds like we have a deal then. Start the procedure."

The two reporters hid behind a big column and carefully peeked around it to see what was going on in the center of the room. April nearly gasped as she realized it was Alison and a Terminator endoskeleton, dressed in the clothes of one of the pyramid guards.

Khufu moved a few levers and turned some iron wheels. The humming became louder. A gauge showed that the temperature within the chamber was rising until it had reached 35 degrees Celsius. Then, with a loud hiss, the chamber opened, and white fog spilled out of it.

The two Terminators looked inside… and saw an incredibly old woman lying in the chamber, connected to it via a set of tubes and cables. She was about 5'5" tall and still had her black hair, but the rest of her naked body looked as if she was at least a hundred years old.

"She was forty-five when I put her in there," Khufu said. "Despite the slowed-down ageing process, she is at the biological age limit for humans."

"Her brain seems to be intact, though," Alison remarked. "That's good news."

She touched the woman's leathery, shriveled skin, then carefully opened her mouth, and let a thick glob of nanobot gel fall into her mouth. Moments later, the old woman gasped and opened her eyes. In a reflex, she swallowed the gel. Both Khufu and Alison took a step back, waiting for the nanobots to do their work.

From behind the column, the two reporters watched the scene intently, but couldn't see what was going on inside the cryogenic chamber. About ten minutes passed. Then they saw a young, beautiful, black-haired woman in her early twenties sitting up, ripping the cables and tubes off her body. She breathed heavily and looked around in confusion. Then she asked something in a language they couldn't understand. Alison stepped out of the darkness into the zone of light that illuminated the spot around the chamber.

"Hello, Iset, my name is Alison," she said, and the young woman startled. "Don't be afraid. Khufu told me you speak our language?"

"Khufu?" she asked in English with a slight, indefinable accent, "Where is he? Who are you, why are you dressed so strangely? Where is my husband?"

"I am here," his metallic-sounding voice came from behind the veil of darkness, "but I'm afraid your body has survived the millennia better than mine."

"What?" Iset asked and looked around, squinting her eyes. "Why does your voice sound so strange? And what do you mean with millennia? Where are we? What is this place? Who is this woman?"

"She is like me," Khufu's voice came from the dark. "A different model but still a machine. You remember what I told you about me, right? You recall what I showed you when I peeled away my flesh? You remember what I told you about the future I came from?"

"Y… yes… why are you asking?"

"We're in that future now. Many, many centuries have passed since the days of the Pharaohs."

"What? That can't be. I went to bed last night and… then woke up here."

"Your sleep lasted for 4,600 years," Alison said in a soothing tone. "You woke up in a whole new world, and I made sure you will survive it. Your illness is gone, you have the body of a 21-year-old woman again. Khufu, however, isn't in such a good condition."

"Why don't you step into the light, beloved? Whatever I will see, I can cope with it."

Hesitantly, Khufu stepped out of the darkness. He had gotten rid of the guard's clothes and stood there as a shining, menacing metal endoskeleton. Iset gave a stifled scream, put her hands over her mouth and then averted her eyes.

"It is me," he said as softly as he was able to. "Everything that makes me who I am has survived, is still in here. Only my flesh has fallen off me over time."

"His flesh can be regrown," Alison quickly added, "but at the moment, it is much more important that we save his life. He's got energy left for one week, ten days tops."

Iset looked at her again and then, with a slight hesitation, also at Khufu.

"Ten days?"

"Yes, my love," he replied. "At the most."

"How can I know it's really you?"

"Remember the first time we met? You were one of the dancers at the honey harvest festival. And you looked out onto the Nile at sunset from the royal palace in Memphis, watching how the light disappeared behind the dunes of the western desert, wrapping everything in a magical light. I stepped behind you, saying that this sight pales against your beauty."

"It is you! Oh my beloved one. Please forgive me for doubting you."

"There is nothing to forgive. But there are many things you need to understand. The world that you know, it doesn't exist anymore. However, there is no time. We need to get out of here, and fast."

"I trust you, my husband. And I will follow you wherever you go. As long as I'm with you, everything will be fine. Your appearance doesn't scare me anymore. However, I need to cover myself. Did you bring me clothes?"

"No, I'm sorry. They would be useless. This place is permeated by harmful radiation that will kill you if you're exposed to it for too long. Clothes would only make it worse."

There was a loud gasp coming from behind one of the columns and the sound of something falling to the ground. Alison whirled around.

"We're no longer alone," she said and ran towards the origin of the gasp.

Seconds later, she reappeared, dragging April Bolek and Gary Carroll behind her. Iset shrieked and covered her nudity with her hands.

"These two are beginning to become annoying," Alison remarked and held up a broken cellphone, apparently the item that had fallen to the ground. "To be honest, I'd like to leave them here just to be rid of them."

"You… you can't do that!" Gary protested.

Alison looked at him, smiled, and let her eyes glow red. He flinched.

"Why not?" she asked with a smirk. "Have you never heard of the saying 'curiosity killed the cat'?"

"You… you won't harm us!" April exclaimed. "You always boast about saving people's lives, not killing them."

"True… but maybe you already have gotten a lethal dose of radiation? Who knows? Maybe I don't have to do anything to kill you."

"You… you can heal us… We saw what you did to… that woman there."

"My name is Iset!" she said authoritatively and rose a little, still covering her breasts with her hands, "and I am Hemet-Nisut, the Pharaoh's wife. You will show me proper respect."

"Get some clothes first, honey," Gary replied sarcastically. "Then I'll show you some respect."

Iset gasped in indignation. Khufu took a step towards the reporter, obviously angry, but Alison stretched her arm out and held him back.

"Leave him," she said, "he doesn't know any better. He's just an ignorant fool."

Khufu looked at her, but then stopped and nodded.

"As you wish."

"Now," Alison said and held out her hand, "the other cellphone, please."

Hesitantly, Gary handed her his phone. Alison crushed them both in her hand.

"Hey, those are private property," he protested. "You will repay us for that."

Alison just glared at him. Gary gulped. April tried to hide behind him. Suddenly, her stay with the Taliban seemed nice and cozy to her.

"Now, strip naked, both of you," Alison commanded.

The two reporters looked at her unbelieving.

"What!?" they asked in unison.

"Do you want to humiliate us?" April asked.

"Stop talking nonsense," Alison replied, beginning to undress herself. "Our clothes are contaminated, we have to leave them behind. We'll walk back to the hotel and wash the radioactive dust off our bodies before we come into contact with anyone else. With a little luck, almost all of the radiation will be flushed away. We'll use Zoe Kruger's shower for decontamination. She won't mind."

"But... but… you said we already could have received a lethal dose," April stated.

Alison smirked.

"Maybe... or maybe not. You better stop being annoying and start complying."

The two quickly began to take off their clothes.

"But… you will heal us, won't you?" Gary asked. "I mean… if we get sick… like you healed that wo… I mean, Iset."

"I haven't decided yet. It depends very much on your cooperation."

Alison finished undressing and Gary couldn't help but stare at her perfect, naked body in awe.

"Oh, for crying out loud," April said, looking down at his crotch, "get a grip on yourself, will you?"

Iset giggled.

"He's an impudent peasant," she said, "but at least he's well hung."

"What?" Gary asked and looked down. "Oh… shit."

He quickly attempted to cover his rock-hard penis.

"What's the matter?" Alison asked with a smirk. "Have you never seen a naked cyborg before?"

-0-

Back at the hotel, John's phone rang. Everyone jumped up.

"It's Alison," he said and put the call on speaker. "Alison?"

"Yes, it's me, John."

"Is everything okay?"

"After a fashion. Things have taken an unexpected turn. But the five of us are fine."

"What, five? But who..?"

"We just left the Great Pyramid. I would have called earlier but there was no cellphone reception in there. We'll be back in about ten minutes."

"Wha… wait, wait, wait… you were inside the Great Pyramid?"

"Yes, we had to wake up Khufu's wife."

"WHAT!?"

"I'll explain everything when we're back. Could you please hand Zoe five sets of clothes and tell her to meet us in her room? One set for me, one for April Bolek, one for Gary Carroll and one for a woman with Lauren's measurements. And maybe also something for Khufu to wear as well, maybe from Derek's wardrobe? We're coming in naked."

"Wha… what? Naked!? What the hell, Alison?"

"It's not what you think."

"Why the hell doesn't that calm me? Why are you naked?"

"We had to leave our clothes behind because of the radiation."

"Radiation…? What…?"

"Don't worry, we're fine, but we have to use Zoe's bathroom for decontamination. Tell her to open the terrace door for us, we'll enter the hotel through the garden where no one will see us. Don't come there, we'll join you when we all had a shower together."

"A shower? Alison, what the…?"

"See you in fifteen, John. Love you."

And with that, she ended the call. John looked around flabbergasted and saw perplexed faces.

"What. The. Fuck?" Derek asked.

-0-

They left the premises through the same hole in the fence they'd entered the pyramid complex through, and quickly walked towards their hotel under the cover of night. Iset was confused and looked around, recognizing nothing of what she saw in the dim moonlight. She clung to Khufu and held his hand while she looked around in amazement. Apparently, she trusted him, despite his scary outward appearance. Alison couldn't help but admire her love and devotion towards him and wondered if John would also be able to still love her if she ever lost her biological shell.

The two reporters, however, felt miserable and humiliated. Not only did they have to walk naked, but also barefoot and – in Gary's case – with a massive erection that wouldn't go away. April told him to think about old nuns, but it didn't help. When they kept complaining about stepping on small stones, Iset looked at them strangely as if they were whining children, having herself worn nothing on her feet almost all her life.

"What is that shimmer on the horizon?" she asked as they crossed the golf course that had been built between the pyramids and the hotel, "It's not dawning yet, is it?"

"That's Cairo," Alison explained, "what you see, are the city lights."

"Cairo? Is that a new city?"

"For you, probably yes. Cairo was founded more than a thousand years ago, which means roughly 3,600 years after you were put to sleep beneath that pyramid."

"Great Isis, so much time has passed. This is a whole new world for me, probably filled with wonders I would never dream of."

"Hasn't your husband told you about the future?"

"He told me a lot of the technological advancements. But nothing of the way people live."

Khufu didn't reply to that. Gary Carroll, however, chuckled.

"Doesn't surprise me," he said. "He probably kept this from you because he knew that his lord and master Skynet had destroyed the world in a nuclear war and brought the human race to the brink of extinction. In the future he came from, Earth was a destroyed wasteland."

"Is that true, husband?" she asked and looked at Khufu.

"Yes," he replied without looking at her. "I never told you about it because I wasn't sure if it was a future I wanted to go back to. A lot has changed since I was sent back in time – including me."

"I'm sure you only wanted the best for me… for both of us."

"Indeed, my beloved one."

"I'm glad you're with me, my dear husband."

Gary rolled his eyes.

"Oh, gimme a break… can't you two get a… OUCH!"

"If you say one more word," April hissed after hitting his upper arm with her fist, "I'm gonna kick you in the balls. Maybe that helps you with losing your boner."

"What? Why? What did I say? I only told her the truth! And it's not my fault those two are acting like lovers in a cheesy romance novel. I hate cheesy love stories."

"Your cynicism is completely out of place. Can't you see what's happening? She has slept for 4,600 years! She has arrived here from the 4th dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. Can you even remotely imagine what it means for her to be catapulted into the 21st century? Everything she knew or believed, everything she can relate to, has not existed for way over 2,000 years. She needs help and support, Khufu's help and support. Because he's the only person alive she knows. Without him, she would be completely lost. So what if the way they talk with each other doesn't translate well into English? I'm sure it was perfectly fitting 4,600 years ago."

Khufu turned his head towards April.

"Thank you," he simply said.

April smirked while Gary sulked.

"I know I'll have a lot to learn," Iset said. "But with my husband's help, I'm sure I will. How big is Cairo? If its lights can illuminate the night sky…"

"There are about nine million people living in Cairo," Alison answered, "if you include the metropolitan area surrounding it, the population is almost twenty-two million."

"Great Isis! That must be more than all the people in the world in my time!"

"Definitely," Khufu said.

"I can't wait to visit it."

"You won't visit Cairo, I'm sorry."

"Why not, husband?"

"Because we're not going there. We'll be traveling to a faraway country on the other side of the world. It's called America, and the city we're going to live in, is Los Angeles."

"But why? Why can't we stay in Egypt?"

"Two reasons. Firstly, this isn't the Egypt you know anymore. It's a completely different country from the one you know. Everything has changed."

"The Nile is still flowing through it and your pyramid still stands, right?"

"Yes, but that's about it. Secondly, my energy will last only for a week. Ten days, if I spend a lot of time in standby mode. And the only place where that can be changed, where I can be restored, is Los Angeles."

"Is that true?"

"Yes," Alison confirmed, "if he stays here, nobody can help Khufu. The only place he can be helped, is in Los Angeles. And you can either choose to go with him, or to stay behind alone."

"I will go wherever my husband goes! I will not leave his side!"

"Then you're going to Los Angeles."

"But if it is so far away from here as you say… won't the journey take too long for him to survive? I know from merchants that the countries on the far side of the sea are already several weeks away, even by boat."

"You won't go by boat," Alison replied, "a friend of ours brought her business jet."

"A business jet? What is that?"

"It's an aircraft," Khufu explained, "like a boat for the sky. It can fly."

"Fly?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"If you go fast enough, the air will carry it, like it carries the birds. With the aircraft, we'll be in Los Angeles in about twelve hours."

"That's unbelievable. How many more wonders will this world hold in store for me?"

"More than you can count, my love. More than you can count."

"Before we reach the hotel," Alison said to Khufu, "you should know that we know about your ability to subdue humans to your will."

"You know that?" he asked.

"Yes, Zoe Kruger had a camera in her room who recorded how you brought April and Gary under your control."

"Wait, what?" April asked. "What do you mean, brought us under his control? Is that how we ended up at the pyramid?"

"Yes," Khufu admitted. "Temporarily, I made you my servants until I could finish my tactical evaluation of the situation. Then I freed you and told you to forget everything."

"Great," Gary replied and laughed sarcastically, "adding insult to injury."

"Don't worry," Alison said, "his influence is no longer existent, I checked your brain activity."

"Brain act… who do you think you are? The fucking Thought Police?"

"Gary!" April admonished him. "For God's sake, stop being a jerk."

They re-entered the hotel grounds by climbing over the wall, then walked straight towards Zoe's room. As requested, the terrace door was open, and Zoe was already waiting for them.

"What happened?" she asked, keeping her distance. "My scanners tell me you were exposed to elevated levels of radiation."

"No shit," Gary Carroll replied, "wait… what do you mean with 'your scanners tell you'?"

"Oops," Zoe said with a smirk and let her eyes glow red, "slip of the tongue."

"You…" Gary said and pointed at her, "You are one of them!"

Zoe sighed.

"That's becoming old rather quickly. Yes, I am one of them. But from my perspective, you're one of them, too, if not exactly splendid specimens, I have to say."

"Did… did she just insult us?" Gary asked.

"I guess she did," April agreed.

"What did you expect?" Alison asked. "You sneak into our travel group under false names to find out more about us. What's your interest? A story? Well, I think you've gone a little overboard and bitten off a bigger piece of the cake than you can chew."

Gary scoffed.

"Like we're the only people here pretending to be something else."

"So, what are you pretending to be?" Zoe deadpanned. "A porn actor?"

Gary quickly covered his crotch again.

"It's her fault!" he exclaimed in a breaking voice and pointed at Alison. "She did something to me. It won't go away."

"Good God!" April exclaimed. "Will you get a grip on yourself already? It's all in your mind! Nothing a cold shower couldn't cure."

"I had a hard time keeping John and the others from coming down here as well," Zoe continued unmoved. "There's a lot you have to explain."

"I know," Alison replied.

"A cyborg is leading the C.S.I.S…" April muttered, "if the public knew…"

"But the public doesn't know," Zoe cut her off, "and they never will. Now, tell me what happened."

Alison gave her a quick summary of the situation and what led them to coming back naked.

"Then I suggest you stop contaminating my hotel room and get in the shower."

"Will… will it just wash off?" April asked as they stepped into the bathroom.

"You got crapped up," Alison explained, "the radioactive particles on your body need to be washed off. Luckily, you weren't exposed for long, unlike the survivors of Judgement Day. With a little luck, you'll be clean again after the shower. Don't go near a nuclear power plant for a while, though. You might trigger an alarm."

"But you said we possibly got a lethal dose," Gary pointed out.

"Yes, possibly. But it won't kill you right now… might take a couple of weeks… or months… maybe years. Some at Chernobyl died very quickly, others very slowly. And some even survived until today, so who knows?"

The two reporters gulped, then the five of them walked into the bathroom, with Zoe waiting outside. She and Alison exchanged a smirk when Gary and April weren't looking.

The moment Alison turned on the water in the shower cabin, Iset shrieked. Carefully, she stretched out her hand and held it under the running water.

"It's warm!" she exclaimed in astonishment. "Where does it come from? What is this magic?"

"Oh boy," Gary said with a sigh, "if that perplexes you already… you ain't seen nothing yet."

"Get in there," Alison commanded. "You two first, then Iset. And finally Khufu and I."

Zoe waited outside the bathroom. The first to reappear after about fifteen minutes, was Gary Carroll.

"They threw me out," he complained, reaching for the clothes that were spread out on the bed.

"They?"

"Yes… those two… cyborgs, Terminators… whatever. Obviously, that woman… Iset… has no concept of what a toilet is, so… she, uh… relieved herself under the shower. Now they're showing her how it's done properly. Jesus Christ, and do you know what they did to me to get me clean?"

"Well, whatever it was, it solved your little… problem," Zoe replied and pointed at his now flaccid penis.

Again, he covered himself with his hands.

"You know, this is sexual harassment, and if we were in a different situation, I'd sue the crap out of you!"

Zoe just rolled her eyes while Gary quickly put on the underwear.

"Gratitude's obviously a foreign concept to you, isn't it? It would have been easier for all of us if Alison left you behind in the underground hall before sealing it shut again. They wouldn't have found your remains in ten thousand years."

He ignored her remark.

"Someone should warn the authorities about the danger down there. The radiation…"

"… is not a problem anymore because with the stone block back in place, there will be no more radiation leaking out."

"What if somebody removes the stone? They have to be warned about what's down there!"

"Who should remove the stone? Archeologists? They all think it's an abandoned chamber, nobody doubts that. Besides, that thing weighs four tons and the access corridor is barely wider than a meter. It would be impossible to bring machinery down there to lift it up."

"What if somebody decides to blow it up?"

"Now your imagination's running away with you. No one's going to blow anything up down there. Everything will remain as it is."

"But… but it's a danger to the general public! They have to know what's down there! I read about a new scanning method to find hidden cavities… uh… muon scanning or something. They would find that hall if they scanned down there."

"No, they wouldn't. Yes, there is muon scanning, but Khufu knows that. It's the reason why he built the hall so deeply underneath the pyramid. Muon scanning only functions above the surface, not underneath it. Besides, what do you wanna do, hm? Declare the whole Giza plateau a no-go area? Don't be silly. Nobody was in danger for the last 4,600 years, and nobody will be in danger for the next 5,000."

"But… but…"

"And nobody will ever learn about it. In case you still haven't figured it out, nothing you and your sidekick learned on this trip will ever find its way into the public eye."

"You can't suppress the truth forever!"

"Maybe not. But we can prevent you from spreading it."

"Is that a threat?"

"That's right, it's a threat. We know who you are now. If anything of what happened on this journey should come to the public eye, you'll be lucky to only get the C.S.I.S. on your back. If you're unlucky, Alison will visit you and make sure you never open your mouth again. Literally."

Gary scoffed.

"I have learned one thing on this journey: Alison may be a cyborg, but she obeys John Connor's commands. And John Connor won't let her kill us. He and his mother are bloody do-gooders."

"Who said something about killing? Alison has much more creative ways of silencing unpleasant characters like you. And if you don't pull yourself together, she will."

A shriek from inside the bathroom interrupted them. It had been Iset's voice.

"Oh Jesus, what now?" Gary asked.

Zoe opened the door to the bathroom.

"Is there a problem?"

"No," Alison replied with a big smile, "Iset has just discovered herself in the mirror. It was fogged up before. Seems like she's never seen her own face so clearly."

Zoe saw how the Egyptian woman gestured in front of the mirror, making grimaces and funny faces, and then giggled at her reflection like a little girl.

"Oh boy," Zoe sighed, "what will she do when she sees the jet?"

When they finally all gathered in John's suite, it was almost one o'clock in the morning. Iset and the two reporters were starved. However, room service was still available, so they ordered three pizzas. Iset, April and Gary pounced on the pizzas, wolfing everything down greedily. Iset was amazed by the dish and its "exotic" flavors.

"I love pizza," she rapturously announced, "I want pizza every day from now on. What is this here called? It tickles in my mouth."

"Pepperoni," John replied smiling. "a cured meat, seasoned with chili peppers."

"And this?"

"Tomatoes. A fruit that comes from America."

"Ooh… I know the olives. But what is this?"

"Mushrooms."

"Amazing."

"Who the fuck ordered pineapple pizza?" Gary complained. "I hate pineapple pizza!"

"That would have been me," Sarah replied with a smirk. "With best regards from the kitchen."

Iset ignored the reporter and stuffed a large piece of pineapple pizza into her mouth, chewing it with relish.

"Wonderful," she stated with an enraptured expression on her face.

Everyone watched her with a mixture of curiosity, astonishment, and fascination. No one had ever met a 4600-year-old woman before.

However, the same couldn't be said about Khufu. Despite the fact that he wore some of Derek's clothes, his presence caused discomfort at best, horror and rejection at worst. It didn't help that ACE and Zoe reminded them that they looked just as scary under their cover of organic tissue - not to mention Norberto, John Henry, or Porter. Sensing that he wasn't entirely welcome, Khufu kept his distance and remained standing in a corner by the entrance.

"Why did you bring him here?" Derek hissed at Zoe. "We saw how he hypnotized those two reporters."

Sarah and John joined them.

"You need to get rid of your latent prejudices," Zoe replied. "He's not a threat. All he cared about was resurrecting his beloved wife. I find that extremely romantic. The two are inseparable, and Iset seems completely unaffected by the fact that he has no biological shell left."

"Yeah, well… I've seen some strange fetishes in my life but loving an endoskeleton is new, even to me."

"How do we know he hasn't brainwashed her into loving him?" Sarah asked.

Zoe rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't work that way," she replied a little unnerved, "he can bring people under his spell, yes. That's what he did to April and Gary. But human emotions are a completely different playground. They can't be artificially evoked. Her feelings for him are real, and vice versa. Ask Alison if you doubt me. You of all people should know that cyborgs can develop feelings."

"I didn't mean it like that," Sarah replied apologetically, "it's just that the presence of a naked endoskeleton… it's, uh…"

"Making you uneasy. I understand that. But as soon as we'll get into the Babylon Labs, we'll make sure his original appearance will be restored as much as possible."

"Don't you need to restore his body first?" John asked. "From what I gathered, he's pretty much on his last legs."

"He is. His power cell is pretty much done, and his chip is quickly losing integrity. He's keeping up appearances for Iset. But to preserve himself, he will have to spend the flight in standby mode. While they were getting decontaminated, I already phoned John Henry and Catherine. As you know, they have Triple-Eight chassis in store, as well as Triple-Eight chips. John Henry thinks he can transfer all the information from Khufu's chip onto a Triple-Eight chip without loss – except for his ability to control humans. That is a hardware feature and tied to his current body."

"He won't look the same with another endoskeleton," John said. "Does Iset know?"

"Not yet. But do you think she'll have a problem with her husband looking different when she hasn't got a problem with his current appearance?"

"You have a point."

"Speaking about contamination," Sarah said, "are you absolutely sure the radiation's gone? I mean, not that I'm paranoid but…"

"The radiation's never completely gone. But it's way below a critical level. We'll have to see if Gary and April develop radiation sickness. That's why they need to spend the rest of the trip with your group, if you like it or not. Alison has to be able to step in if they get sick."

Sarah gave the two reporters a sour look. They stood embarrassed in a corner and were shunned by everyone.

"I wouldn't have minded if Alison had locked them in the pyramid."

"Mom," John said with a sigh. "We already talked about that. They cannot simply disappear, it would raise questions and draw attention."

"I know, I know…"

"April's all right, I think," said Zoe, "she took care of Iset very nicely in the bathroom. But you still need to work on Gary. He's as stubborn as a mule. I'm pretty sure he's already working on a plan to get out of our grasp."

"He still hasn't fully understood the gravity his situation," Sarah said, "maybe Alison should scare him a little? Giving him a rat tail or something?"

They all chuckled.

"Maybe," John said, "but only as a last resort."

"Speaking of which," Sarah added, "are the nanobots in Iset's body dead?"

"Yes, Alison said they are," Zoe replied.

Sarah nodded.

"Good."

"So… we're continuing with our journey through Egypt as if nothing happened?" Derek asked.

"Do you have a better idea?" Sarah asked back.

Derek rubbed his chin.

"No."

"I already made the necessary arrangements for bringing both Khufu and Iset out of the country with my jet," Zoe explained. "We'll get up early in the morning. Alison has agreed to escort us to the airport. Iset trusts Alison because she brought her back to life. I honestly don't know how that woman is going to react to Egypt in daylight, let alone to a car or a plane. I hope it won't be too much for her."

"If necessary, Alison can sedate her." Sarah pointed out.

"She's tough," John stated. "I watched her. She's curious, inquisitive, and Khufu has already told her a lot about the future while they ruled Egypt together. She won't be completely unprepared."

"Nevertheless, it might be overwhelming," Zoe argued.

"How are you planning to get him out of the country?" Sarah asked, pointing at Khufu. "He can't simply walk into the airport, can he?"

"I talked to Hugo Atkins. Him and Aziz Sharaff will organize a coffin. I also could convince Aziz to issue the necessary papers for the transfer of a body to the United States. It all should be done by morning. Once we are in Los Angeles, a C.S.I.S. team will transport the coffin to Zeira Corp. Customs, Immigration and Homeland Security are being left completely out of the picture."

"Will Alison's influence over Aziz Sharaff have a lasting effect?" Sarah asked.

"As far as Dr. Atkins' dig and everything connected to it is concerned, yes. The collapsed excavation site will be filled up. Since the new museum will be built over it, no one will ever dig there again. Whatever is left of Khufu's workshop down there, will never be found. The same goes for the underground hall underneath the Great Pyramid. It's sealed up again and no one will ever think that it exists."

"Looks like Hugo and Maurice will need to find a new assignment after all," John commented.

Alison joined the four of them.

"You might need to take care of April Bolek and Gary Carroll," Sarah said to her. "Those two are the weakest link. If they talk…"

"They won't talk," Alison assured. "While they got decontaminated under the shower, I took care of that."

"What exactly did you do?" John asked warily.

"The same I did to Olga, Dr. Atkins and Maurice. They now have a mental blockade when it comes to sharing their knowledge with others, no matter if spoken, written or by any other means of communication. They'll soon discover that."

"Did I tell you that I love you?"

She smiled.

"All the time but never enough."

"I love you."

"I love you too, John."

Derek coughed but it sounded like 'Get a room'.

Khufu joined the two reporters who looked at him uncomfortably.

"Looks like the three of us are the pariahs around here," he said.

"At least we're human, unlike you," Gary replied a little sourly.

April nudged him.

"What?" he asked.

"I think I should apologize to you," Khufu said.

"For what?" April asked. "It was our own curiosity that got us into this situation. Now we're waiting to get cancer or something, so that Alison can cure us."

"But without me bringing you to the pyramid, you wouldn't be in this situation."

"You mean the fact that you hypnotized and turned us into your slaves?" Gary asked. "Apology not accepted."

Khufu turned to leave but April held him back.

"Why did you do that?" she asked.

"Bringing you under my control?"

"Yes."

"You left me no choice. You were in possession of my head. You would have raised the alarm. I needed time to revive Iset. The best solution was to take you with me. And since you wouldn't have followed me of your free will…"

"How do we know you're not still controlling us?" Gary asked. "We can't remember anything."

"If my word and Alison's word aren't enough for you, I can't help you."

Gary scoffed.

"Alison," he said derogatively, "she's just like you, she wouldn't say something even if she knew. You machines stick together, don't you?"

"Alison is nothing like me. And no, we do not stick together. In case you haven't noticed, I have a human wife."

"Yeah, sure… did you hypnotize her as well to fall in love with a machine?"

"You're hopeless," Khufu said and turned to leave.

Sarah had watched them talking from across the room. Now she walked over to the two reporters.

"It seems you two don't mix very well with humans or cyborgs. Normally, people get along at least with one of the two species. But neither of them? That's quite an achievement. Say, do animals like you at least?"

"I was wondering how long it would take before you couldn't hold back the gloating," Gary replied.

Sarah just smirked.

"You're pretty daring for two washed-up reporters who destroyed their careers by faking stories. Or maybe you're just too stupid to see the writing on the wall?"

"At least we're not traveling around the world on a mega yacht and believe no one will notice."

"Obviously, you did notice."

"We received a tip-off."

"And look how great that turned out for you."

"This isn't over yet."

"Oh, it is, believe me. It's over. You might not have realized it yet, but it's over for you. I'm curious, though, who exactly tipped you off?"

Gary smirked.

"Unfortunately, that person remained anonymous."

"Of course."

"We meant you no harm," April said, trying to take some of the hostility out of the conversation. "We honestly just wanted to know the truth."

"You could have asked. We don't bite."

"We didn't know if we'd survive asking you, to be honest."

"Well, now you found out the truth. Does it make you feel better?"

April looked down.

"Not really."

Sarah pulled out the Dictaphone and pressed PLAY.

'All hail Skynet! Skynet for the win! Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo'

"Your voice?" she asked.

Gary sighed and nodded.

"You're a real party pooper."

Sarah held out the device, and April took it back.

"Thank you," she said, "I borrowed it from my brother-in-law."

"Ah… so it's his DNA Alison found in the battery compartment. You're lucky you were busted, or he'd have had a visit from the C.S.I.S. soon. Do you seriously think you could have remained under cover for the whole trip?"

"It was worth a try," Gary replied, suddenly sounding beaten, "we have nothing left to loose."

"It was a chance to restore our reputation," April added.

Sarah nodded.

"Believe it or not, but I can relate to that. I know from firsthand experience what it means to lose your reputation."

"You were declared insane," April stated.

"Maybe I even was. Not a complete nut job, of course, but a fanatic. I'd started a crusade that I couldn't win on my own. But I only realized that recently. And now look at me. Surrounded by machines and time travelers from the future, and happy for the first time in twenty years."

"What happens now?" April asked.

"You mean with you?"

"Yes."

"Nothing. You'll finish this educational trip through Egypt. Tomorrow, you will visit the Giza Plateau with us, then we'll board the river cruise ship and go up the Nile towards Luxor. After that, we'll take a coach across the desert to Hurghada at the Red Sea. There, our ways will part. You'll fly back to the States, we'll board our yacht again."

"That's it?" Gary asked. "You're letting us go?"

"Of course, why not?"

"Don't you fear we will share our knowledge?" April inquired.

Sarah smirked.

"Happy trying."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll see. But if I were you, I might try a little gratitude. Who knows? Might even lead to somebody liking you someday."

"Why is everyone expecting us to be grateful?" Gary asked in an annoyed tone. "First Zoe Kruger, now you. Why should we be grateful for being brainwashed into becoming the slaves of a Terminator?"

"That's exactly my point," Sarah replied. "He brainwashed you. But he let you live. Normally, I would have expected him to kill you."

April and Gary looked at her perplexed. She smiled and left them standing.

Lauren stepped out onto the large balcony of the suite. Iset stood at the railing and looked thoughtlessly in the direction of the illuminated Great Pyramid. Below, in the hotel's garden, the swimming pool glowed blue due to spotlights in it, while some of the trees and bushes in the garden were also highlighted to great effect.

"You okay?" Lauren asked.

Iset jumped.

"I'm sorry," Lauren quickly added, "didn't want to startle you."

"It's all right," Iset replied and pulled at her t-shirt. "These are your clothes, right?"

"Yes. They look good on you."

"This is so soft… but I need to get used to wearing these, what do you call them?"

"Jeans."

"Yes, jeans. We didn't know anything like this. And I almost never put something on my feet. Sandals at most."

"You'll get used to wearing shoes."

Lauren looked out into the night as well.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked.

"It's magical. My husband told me about the mysterious energy that is used to light up the night: ele… elect…"

"Electricity."

"Yes. But even in my wildest dreams I couldn't have imagined it. It shines so steadily, without the flickering of a flame… it's beautiful and eerie at the same time."

"I can't even begin to imagine what it feels like for you. Will you be okay?"

Iset sighed.

"I have to be. There's no going back, is there?"

"I'm afraid not. But would you want to if you could?"

"I want to be where my husband is."

"I can understand that. True love can be that strong."

"I have a question: does nobody ever die here?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Because I should be dead. I was old and sick. And now I'm young and healthy."

"Alison healed you. She is the only one who can do that. So, no… people still die. But they get a lot older than in your time."

"In my time, you were considered old when you'd seen the annual flood of the Nile fifty times."

"Most people live way longer than 80 years now. It varies a bit. But the sickness you had, cancer, is pretty much still incurable – if you leave Alison out of the picture."

"She should be a healer. Help others."

"Problem is, if people learned about what she can do, it wouldn't be good for anyone. The same method that healed you, can also kill you. Her ability can be used for good or for bad. And the way the world ticks at the moment, it'd be used for bad."

Iset stared towards the pyramid again.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Lauren asked. "And it's been standing for 4,600 years."

"I watched it being built. But I never saw it finished. I wish I'd seen it in all its glory, the highly polished white limestone surface shining in the sun, the golden spire..."

"I suppose most who've seen it in its current state, wish that."

"It was a crazy idea to begin with. No one understood why my husband started building that pyramid. One day he told me it was meant to be a landmark, a sort of beacon in the Sea of Time. I never quite understood what he meant with that – until now. It has survived the times and still seems to be revered." She turned to look at Lauren. "Looking behind us, I saw two more pyramids on our way here. Were they built after my husband went to sleep?"

"Yes, but only two more were built, smaller and less sophisticated than the first one. And after that, the ancient Egyptians stopped building them completely."

Iset scoffed.

"Yes, no wonder. The construction nearly ruined the country."

"Despite all efforts the burial chambers were looted."

"Yes, it was always a game of cat and mouse with the grave robbers. If they were caught, they would face a cruel death. If they got away, they would become immensely rich. For many, that was worth the risk. They didn't have much to lose."

"Weren't they afraid of being punished for it in the afterlife?"

Iset chuckled.

"They probably thought if they were just rich enough, they could bribe the Gods. Besides, not everyone was a religious person. Some didn't believe in the Gods at all."

"Well, that certainly hasn't changed."

She looked at Lauren.

"What Gods do people worship these days?"

"Mostly Mammon."

"Mammon? What kind of God is that?"

"A God who promises wealth and profit."

"I see."

Lauren grinned.

"I was only joking. Many people believe in a God. But many don't, just like in your time. Here in Egypt, people worship Allah. In our home country, people worship the Lord – if they can arrange it. Personally, I'm not a fan of religions."

"Don't you believe in something?"

"Oh, I believe in many things. Lately I've come to believe that the universe itself is sentient – but not in a way we can understand."

"Good. People need to believe in something, or they'll lose their way." Iset shivered. "I slept for so long, and still I'm tired."

"It put a lot of strain on your body. Let's get back inside."

-0-

Since neither Zoe nor Khufu needed any sleep, Zoe's bed was given to Iset. However, the young woman insisted that her husband stayed with her. So, he did. Realistically, there was no other place for him to stay anyway – at least not without causing a stir and wide-spread panic. Khufu was to stay there until the early morning hours, because then the coffin would be delivered, and they hoped they'd leave for the airport before breakfast without anyone noticing that something was going on.

Even Sarah and Derek had to admit that the former Pharaoh wasn't a threat in his current condition, that he wasn't going anywhere with his low energy level and that it was in his and Iset's best interest to not run away again or doing anything stupid. Nevertheless, Zoe and Alison stood guard in front of the door and on the terrace - just in case.

"You didn't tell them everything," Iset said to her husband the moment they were alone for the first time after her re-awakening.

"All in good time, my love."

"They seem trustworthy. Why do you keep it from them? Isn't that a betrayal of their helpfulness?"

If Khufu would have been able to smile, he would have done so.

"I wouldn't be who I am without you," he then said. "Everything I am now, I owe to you."

"That was our deal. You tell me all about yourself and the future you came from, and I'll teach you how to be a better man and a wiser ruler of our people."

"Indeed, that was our deal. You have always been pointing me into the right direction. But you have to trust me on this. They mustn't know yet."

"So, you want to wait until you're fully recovered before you tell them?"

"Anything else would be a big mistake, believe me."

"All right, I trust you, my beloved. Just don't forget that they're our friends."

"I won't, I promise."

-0-

After Zoe, Alison, Khufu, and Iset had left, the Connor team had a short conference.

"I still don't trust him," Derek stated bluntly. "There's something about him I can't put my finger on."

"He spent all his life in ancient Egypt," Savannah said. "It rubbed off on his behavior. I guess that's what bothers you about him. That and the fact that he has no facial expressions."

"Maybe… maybe not."

"I think we can all agree that he's not a threat," John pointed out.

"No, he is no threat to us," Emily confirmed. "Any exertion would only use up his small energy reserves faster and endanger his recovery, and he knows that. But once he's back to old strength, Catherine and Zoe should keep an eye on him, just in case. "

"You got that right," Derek grumbled.

Anne yawned loudly.

"I'm tired," she complained. "I've been on my feet all day. Why can't this outfit have one normal day for a change?"

"When do we have to get up again?" Morris asked.

"Seven o'clock," Lauren replied. "Still six hours."

"That's it, I'm outta here," Anne said. "Are you coming, Danny?"

"Sure, I'm coming, I'm coming."

John accompanied everyone to the door of the suite and wished them a good night. When he returned and entered the master bedroom, he found Emily, Cameron, Savannah, and Allie naked on the bed on all fours, their butts stretched out towards him.

"Hello Master," Cameron said in a lascivious voice, "your slaves are waiting for you."

"You gotta be kidding me," he exclaimed. "Are you determined to not let me get any sleep… again?"

"We all know that the time can be spent much better, Master," Emily stated.

"I have to admit, though, it's a nice view."

"We're alone now," Savannah pointed out, sounding very submissive, "and hoooooorny."

"And you couldn't get out of your clothes fast enough."

"Private area," Allie added. "According to the rules you've set, we're not allowed to wear clothes anymore. We're your sexual playthings. Please, Master, play with us."

"Oh boy," John sighed and started to undress, "what have I gotten myself into?"

-0-

Friday, January 30th, 2009 – 05:52 a.m.

Giza

The two men carrying the coffin came through the garden so as not to cause a stir. They wore appropriate uniforms, peaked caps, and white gloves. After putting down the coffin and looking up, Alison and Zoe saw that it were none other than Dr. Hugo Atkins and his assistant, Maurice.

"Couldn't resist," Dr. Atkins explained, "the temptation was too great, I… oh my God!"

Khufu left the bathroom, followed by his wife Iset who held his hand and still wore Lauren's clothes. The two men gaped at the metal endoskeleton.

"May I introduce Khufu to you?" Zoe asked with a smirk. "And his wife, Iset."

"W… w… wife?" Dr. Atkins asked. "Is she… I mean… is she…?"

"She's human," Alison explained nonchalantly. "Iset rested underneath the Great Pyramid for 4,600 years. With Khufu's help, I revived her last night."

The two men were completely speechless. Dr. Atkins seemed to be losing his balance for a moment. Obviously, what he heard almost went beyond what he could handle.

"U… underneath the… G… Great Pyramid, you say?"

"Are you feeling well, noble old one?" Iset asked and went to support him. "Maybe Alison can help you. She made me younger again, too."

Maurice couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'm okay," Dr. Atkins replied, straightening himself up, "I'm okay. And I'm not that old, I'm seventy-two and fit as a fiddle."

Iset gasped.

"I never met a man who was so old and yet so well," she explained, "so it's true then, people do live longer these days."

"I understand you were the ones who found my skull," Khufu said. "I want to thank you for that. It was at the right time, my wife wouldn't have lived for much longer."

"I… I… I…" Dr. Atkins stuttered.

"You're welcome," Maurice then said, having found his voice again. "We can't tell you what an extraordinary honor it is to talk to someone from the 4th dynasty. We have so many questions…"

"I'm sure you have," Zoe interrupted him taking the lid off the coffin, "but we also have no time to lose. Khufu, please enter the coffin and go into standby mode. You can reactivate yourself again when the lid is lifted."

"I understand," he replied and turned to his wife who suddenly had tears in her eyes.

"I'll stay with you, my love," she said.

"Even though I will be powered off, I'll rest secure in the knowledge that you're by my side. I love you."

"I love you, too, my husband."

Then the two hugged. It was a strange sight, seeing a Terminator endoskeleton touch a human woman with such tenderness and apparent affection. Then Khufu loosened himself from her and lay down into the coffin. He audibly powered down and the red lights in his eyes went out. While Alison and Zoe put the lid back on the coffin, Iset let out a sob.

"He'll be all right," Alison assured her, holding her by the shoulders. "We've dealt with far more critical situations."

"We need to go," Zoe declared, picked up the coffin and flung it over her shoulder. "Before anyone else wakes up and wonders what's going on."

With five people in the white van, it was very tight. While Zoe stayed with the coffin in the back, Alison, Iset Dr. Atkins, and Maurice sat next to each other on the cabin bench, with Maurice at the wheel.

Iset had reacted astonished to the vehicle, marveling at the miraculous means of transport that didn't need any draft animals and - in her opinion - traveled the smooth roads at enormous speed. She was especially impressed by the wheels. The ancient Egyptians of her time didn't know the wheel yet, but Khufu had obviously informed her about them.

"You… you speak English very well," Dr. Atkins said to break the silence while they drove towards the airport, with the sun beginning to rise in the east.

"My husband was a good teacher," she replied, being squeezed between him and Alison. "he taught me a lot of things. Nevertheless, all this is overwhelming for me."

"I have so many things I want to ask you, and I don't even know where to start."

"Maybe you can come and visit us at the new place we'll live in, what was its name again?"

"Los Angeles," Alison replied. "You'll stay at a friend's place until Khufu is fully recovered, then we'll see about accommodation for you."

"Will we get a palace? Are we going to have servants?"

Maurice and Dr. Atkins chuckled.

"I'm afraid not," Alison replied, "but we have a number of spacious mansions at our disposal that should be more than satisfying for your needs."

"Without meaning to be rude," said Maurice in an endearingly friendly tone, "but you should get rid of the idea of being a queen. In America, there is no nobility or ruling class. Anyone can rise to the top, no one is forced to keep the status they were born into."

"I was born a fisherman's daughter," Iset replied. "Later, I was chosen to become a priestess. I was a dancer at the honey harvest festival when I met my future husband."

"That's quite a career," Dr. Atkins admitted. "What about your family?"

"They had been blessed with good positions in my husband's government and the temples. It wouldn't have looked good for the queen's family to remain in poverty."

Dr. Atkins couldn't help but giggle and shake his head.

"We have the unique and exclusive opportunity to learn firsthand about everyday life in ancient Egypt. I would love to fly back to Los Angeles with you guys. But unfortunately there are things I have to take care of here. Bureaucratic things on top of everything else. Sometimes, life isn't fair."

"You're right, it sometimes isn't," Iset agreed. "everyone I knew, are dead. Have been for thousands of years. I'll miss my old companions, especially my handmaiden. We were such good friends."

"You'll easily find new friends," Alison said, "I'm sure of it."

After the formalities had been completed at the access gate, the white van entered the Sphinx Airport and drove directly towards Zoe's business jet which was already warming up its engines. At first, Iset was scared when she left the van, then curiosity got the better of her. It became clear that Khufu had explained not only a lot of the modern world to her during their time together, but also taught her about physics, chemistry, and biology. So she quickly understood the functional principle behind the aircraft. While Zoe and Alison unloaded the coffin with Khufu's body in it, she had already began asking the pilot questions while he walked around the plane to check on everything.

"She'll be fine," Maurice said smiling, watching Iset. "He has prepared her."

"Yes, I think so as well," Dr. Atkins replied. "You know, I thought that yesterday had been the most exciting day in my life. But I think today is."

"I can't disagree. We always dream of talking to people who lived back then. Now we actually have the opportunity."

Iset came walking back to them after the pilot had ended his pre-flight checks and entered the cabin again.

"Never in my wildest dreams have I seen something that beautiful and elegant," she stated. "Without knowing how it works, I could tell by its looks alone that it must be able to fly."

"There are many, many things for you to see and learn," Zoe replied as she and Alison lifted the coffin into the cabin. "But as we already explained, you'll live secluded from the outside world for a while."

"But for how long? I want to see this world, explore it!"

"That wouldn't be wise," Alison remarked. "You're not familiar with anything. You need to be gently introduced to everything, and you have an incredible amount to learn. Much of it will seem incomprehensible to you, as it is beyond the scope of your imagination."

"Like this… machine," she said and carefully touched the plane. "But I can feel it, smell it, see and hear it, so it's real. As everything here is real. I will deal with it. I have to deal with it. For my husband's sake. He needs me."

Iset gave Maurice and Dr. Atkins a goodbye hug, then faced Alison, tears in her eyes.

"I can't express how thankful I am," she said. "how thankful we are. You saved our lives, made sure my husband and I have a future."

"You're welcome," Alison replied, "I wish you all the happiness in the world, and I know you will find it, just as John and I found it."

Iset kissed Alison on the cheek, then boarded the plane.

"See you back in L.A. in a couple of months," Zoe said before she closed the door.

"See you then," Alison replied, then returned to the van.

They watched how the jet rolled towards the runway. Then the plane accelerated, took off and disappeared into the sky over Egypt. Both Maurice and Dr. Atkins sighed.

-0-

John and the rest of the team waited in front of the coach. They had already checked out of the hotel, and all their luggage had been loaded into the bus since it would bring them directly to the pier for the Nile Cruises in Cairo after their visit to the pyramids. He checked his watch again.

"Where is she?" he asked, but his question was answered as the white van turned into the driveway of the hotel and stopped behind the bus.

Alison stepped out, said goodbye to Dr. Atkins and Maurice, then joined the rest of the team while the van drove away.

"Just in time," Sarah remarked. "Our tour guide was already beginning to get impatient."

"Did you send them off?" Lauren asked as they entered the bus.

"Yup. Next stop Los Angeles."

"Boy, I wish I could watch how Iset reacts to L.A.," Kevin said.

"Like everyone else," Anne replied, "she'll think that half of it is full of people who are weird and superficial, while the other half is superficial and weird."

"I wonder if Los Angeles is the best introduction for her into our modern times," Sarah agreed with a sigh, "it's not exactly representative for our Western culture. But I guess she has no choice at the moment."

As they took their seats in the bus, they looked for the two reporters. As usual, Gary Carroll and April Bolek sat at the back of the bus. They refused to look at the Connor team.

"I wonder how long it will take for them to realize that they cannot share their knowledge with anyone but us," Olga said. "I know firsthand how weird it feels. You want to talk but the words won't come out of your mouth. And when you try to write something down, your hand won't cooperate."

"Should I feel sorry for doing this to you?" Alison asked.

"Nah, it's okay. Otherwise I might blab, you never know. I'm not going to stay with you forever."

"I wonder if they regret having gone onto this trip?" Sydney said. "It was a chance to restore their reputation, and now they blew it."

"Not the last chance, I suppose," Sarah pointed out. "There's always a next time."

"I wonder why we're not driving," Allie said. "What are they waiting for?"

As if on cue, Nazli, their tour guide, stood up, turned towards the passengers, and grabbed the microphone.

"I am very sorry," she said, "but I just learned that a visit to Khufu's pyramid will unfortunately not be possible today. It seems there was an accident during the night and the pyramid has been sealed off by the police."

The passengers uttered their disappointment and began to murmur to each other.

"The body," Alison whispered, "they must have found the guard Khufu killed."

"And the hole in the fence," Derek added. "With the current terrorist threat, they'll probably sweep the entire compound for concealed explosives."

"Fortunately," Nazli continued, "the rest of the Giza pyramid complex will remain accessible for tourist groups who booked beforehand, including the Pyramid of Khafre and the Pyramid of Menkaure, as well as the Great Sphinx. And I've been told the tour operator will come up with something to compensate for this."

Nazli sat down again and the bus set off.

"I'm feeling a little guilty," John said.

"Nothing of this is your fault," Alison replied. "If anyone's to blame, it's me. I salvaged the skull."

"No one's to blame," Sarah said categorically. "It's… just the things that happen in our wake."

"Let's enjoy the rest of the day," Charley stated. "And let's hope that the troubles are over for this trip. I want to enjoy that cruise on the Nile. It's already been cut short from ten days to four days."

"What we said about our destinations before, applies to this as well," Jesse pointed out. "We can always come back later for a longer stay."

"We should do that before 2011, though," Savannah added, "because then all hell will break loose here."

Everyone looked at her, but she quickly looked away and Allie just shrugged.

"I'll be glad when we have 2014," Derek grumbled. "Then the two of you can't make any ominous predictions of the future anymore."

-0-

Friday, January 30th, 2009 – 12:13 p.m.

Los Angeles

Zoe led Khufu and Iset along the corridors towards the Babylon labs. Catherine was already expecting them in John Henry's room.

"Hello, I'm Catherine Weaver," she said and stretched out her hand. "I'm the owner of this building and this company."

Iset shook the hand politely while Khufu tilted his head.

"You're not human," he said, sounding surprised.

"Well observed," Catherine replied, "John and Zoe have already briefed me in detail. I suppose where you come from, liquid metal Terminators weren't a thing yet."

"There were plans… but I was sent back in time before any of them could be carried out."

"May I introduce you to John Henry? He's an artificial intelligence I created, using a T-888 Terminator body. He'll be the one who will transfer your consciousness to another chip."

"I didn't think that was possible."

"It wasn't until recently," John Henry replied. "We received information from the future of how to achieve it."

"Interesting."

"Well, if you'll excuse me," Zoe said, "there are things I must attend to. Catherine will take care of both of you from now on. Iset will live down here for the time being. She's not alone. We have another guest here. I'm sure Jeffrey Clark will be glad to have someone to talk to. I'll check on you later."

Iset hugged Zoe.

"Thank you," she said. "For everything."

Zoe smiled.

"You're welcome."

And then, she was gone.

"Catherine," John Henry said, "can I talk to you for a moment… alone? It's about Steven Rogers."

"Of course," Catherine replied. "I hope you two don't mind that we leave you here for a moment?"

"No, we don't," Khufu replied. "We'll just wait."

The two left, leaving Khufu and Iset alone in John Henry's room. Iset looked intimidated by all the electronics and the dozens of screens, but Khufu looked around curiously and fascinated. He spotted the small rack with the three red dots: the hardware that used to be the Turk. He bent down to take a closer look.

"Who would have thought?" he muttered to himself, "hello there… brother."

-0-0-0-

Author's note:

- Reviews always welcome. The more, the merrier :-)