The Riddle of the Sphinx: Solved (standard:fantasy, 1594 words)
Author: Victor D. Lopez	Added: Jul 02 2013	Views/Reads: 2822/2118	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Historians and Egyptologists have long debated the origins of the sphinx, its purpose, and the incongruity of its enigmatic face. This story provides the answers, along with its single most important secret to be revealed in the very near future.

The midday sun blazed in blinding glory directly over the Great Sphinx
of Giza as Dr. Zahi Hawass, the famous Egyptologist whose love of 
Egyptian antiquity seems rivaled only by his love of the camera, faced 
the score of reporters with his well worn Indiana Jones hat and best 
cat-who-swallowed-the-canary-smile. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. 
This is a great day for Egypt and the world,” he began with an 
enthusiastic smile and eyes sparkling like a sleepy child's on 
Christmas morning. “Our efforts over the past year to excavate the 
recently found chamber under the right paw of the Sphinx is complete 
and we are ready to reveal its content for the first time. Please, come 
with me that we may share this moment together.” 

Without further ado and in an uncharacteristically brief fashion, Dr.
Hawass turned to his left, gesturing for the cameras to follow. As he 
walked, he continued, turning to the cameras and beaming contentedly. 
“We have uncovered a portal but have not yet broken the seal as we wish 
to share this moment with the world.” 

“Zahi,” a reporter following closely to his right called out, “Can you
tell us what you expect to find?” The Egyptologist stopped and turned 
to the reporter, with a patient, avuncular smile, and stopped, facing 
the cameras directly. “I have no idea, but I expect it will be 
wonderful things.” He then turned and took several steps before 
stopping and turning to the camera once more. “You will see that there 
are no artifacts in the small antechamber we have uncovered, nor any 
artwork or extensive writing. There is, in fact, no traditional writing 
of any kind but for a line of undecipherable writing above a sealed 
doorway that is unlike anything I have uncovered in the past.” 

“You mean the writing is illegible?” the reporter interrupted. 

“No,” Dr. Hawass replied, dabbing at his damp forehead with a
handkerchief.” “The writing is quite legible but is unlike any writing 
in the ancient or modern world. There are no glyphs, but symbols over 
the doorway. The writing is not painted but etched onto the stone and 
glows quite visibly in low light. I expect it will take us quite some 
time to decipher its meaning and the means utilized to achieve the 
bright glow, though we suspect it is some type of radioactive material 
similar to that used in instruments and watches in the past, though no 
trace of radiation has been picked up by our instruments.” He then 
began walking again towards the excavation, still some fifty feet away. 
“It is all part of the mystery and augers well for whatever 
archeological treasures may be secreted beyond the sealed wall, don't 
you think?” His statement ended right on cue at the foot of the 
vertical tunnel that resembled more a well than the traditional 
entrance to a burial chamber. “You must be careful descending the 
wooden ladder. There is only room for a few people down there as the 
antechamber is only approximately two meters by two meters and we 
already have two workmen down there ready to breach the sealed door. I 
can only take a camera operator down with me and will be happy to hold 
an extensive news conference later once what lies beyond the seal is 
uncovered.” 

Dismissing the numerous questions shot at him by members of the media
present with a wave of the hand, he pointed to the closest Egyptian 
camera operator and said “You can accompany me. Careful, though. The 
workmen will steady the ladder below, but it is a long way down and the 
ladder will be unsteady.” He then stepped onto the ladder protruding 
above the meter-wide circular hole with the camera operator first 
filming his descent, and then following carefully, holding onto the 
ladder with his left hand as he balanced his the light but awkward 
camera on his shoulder harness with his right hand, filming nothing but 
his handhold on the ladder as he descended, not wanting to break the 
suspense. 

Approximately three stories down, he finally hit solid ground, finding a
chamber that appeared dug out of bedrock, with perfectly smooth walls 
everywhere but for the circular hole through which they descended on 
the ceiling. The cameraman immediately swept his camera around the tiny 
room panning back to the limits of his camera's wide angle view. Two 
workmen could be seen to each side of a wall directly opposite the 
ladder with hand-held jackhammers from which pneumatic lines snaked out 
and disappeared rising behind the ladder to the surface. The cameraman 
focused on the recessed symbols that arched above the perfect outlines 
of a rectangular door approximately a meter in width and two meters in 


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