Mysterious Cairo by Edited By Ed Stark, Dell Harris Read Free Book Online Page A

in and see the show!"
    The room beyond the curtain was bare stone. Four stone walls proclaimed the limits of the room. A stone ceiling pressed down from above, and a stone floor was laid out hard beneath his feet as Cage stepped forward. The bare stone was decorated in arcane symbols — circles, stars, triangles and other geometric shapes were drawn on every surface in dried smears of brown, rust and black. Thick black candles provided light, while oily black wax dripped and pooled at their bases. Eleven pedestals formed a circle around the edge of the room. A huge glass bell jar rested atop each pedestal. Some of the jars were filled with gray smoke. Stars twinkled in the smoke, shimmering like living fireflies. But the main portion of the exhibit rested within the circle of pedestals and bell jars. There, bathed in the light of the black candles, sat two opened sarcophagi. The sarcophagus on the right was empty, but the one on the left contained a partially-mummified body.
    "What is this?" Cage asked, trying to understand what his eyes were seeing.
    "This," Payne said, "is my prize exhibit."
    The partially-mummified body was obviously male. The dried, withered portions of its anatomy were still wrapped in prepared cloth, but on the healthy, full portions the wrappings were ripped away to reveal living flesh. Around its neck it wore an amulet shaped into the head of a crocodile — the sign of Sebek!
    "Who is that?" Cage asked, unable to keep the questions from falling past his lips.
    "Have you not guessed yet, my friend?" Payne shot back. "I imagined better from you."
    "Sebek?" Cage stumbled over the word, realizing that his mental processes were still sluggish from the liquor he had consumed. "Sebek is Mobius' patron deity ."
    "How true," Payne laughed, "how true!"
    Cage continued to examine the body, marveling at its contrasts of vibrant, living flesh and dried, mummified remains. As he watched, the body tried to force open its encrusted eyes, but it couldn't quite manage the feat. Fascinated, Cage stepped closer. Then he remembered the empty sarcophagus.
    "The other one," Cage stammered, "what about the other one?"
    Someone stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the stone chamber and stopped beside the empty sarcophagus. It was a young woman with raven hair, raven eyes, and shapely form. She wore a simple dress that was gathered at her waist by a simple belt. The effect, however, was far from simple. It was stunning, the way the dress draped across her ample curves. Cage recognized the woman instantly, and his heart beat faster.
    "Is this the man you were telling me about, Mr. Payne?" the young woman asked in a smooth, silky voice.
    Quentin Payne stepped between the two, his face lit with amusement. "Yes, my dear," he said, "allow me to introduce the two of you. Angus Cage, I have the pleasure of presenting to you Clemeta, Royal Concubine to the Pharaoh Amat-Ra."
    * * *
    "While there are striking similarities between the history of this Earth and of your own Terra, there are also remarkable differences," Payne explained, making the confusing notion of nearly-parallel dimensions sound simple. "Take Amat-Ra, for example. On Terra, he was a powerful and evil Pharaoh who eventually died at the hand of his bastard son, Sutenhotep. On Earth, his reign left no mark on history, and few records concerning him remain. But you can find information on anything, if you know where to look for it. And I definitely know where to look."
    Angus Cage heard Payne's words, but he wasn't really listening. He was staring at the woman who looked so much like his Clemeta that it hurt. She was sitting across from him, at a small table the three of them shared, sipping tea and regarding Cage with her large, expressive eyes.
    "Why is he looking at me like that, Mr. Payne?" Clem-eta asked, wrinkling her nose as though she smelled something foul.
    "Pay him no heed, Clemeta my dear," Payne said. "He is simply captivated by your beauty. Be a dear