Ante Mare et Terras et Caelum, Chaos est...or The Buzzing

Sallah sat still and pale.  He let the knowledge he had recently glanced at seep into his psyche.  He knew he had only been told the merest hint of what his visitors knew; yet what he had heard had revived certain dormant memories.  Recollections of ancient Arab myths...at least he had thought them myths when he had heard them as a child.  Strange stories told to frighten children, and caution them against the ways of evil -- doomed Sarnath, Kadath in the Cold Waste, and Irem.  The latter had sent chills up Sallah's spine.  The reaction was irrational.  It was just a myth.  But now....Sallah just wasn't sure.

  "Will you help us?" Professor Armitage was the first to break the silence.

  "Please Professor.  Give him time." Marcus Brody had accompanied the professor and Indiana Jones.  His linguistic skills would prove invaluable.

  Indy turned from the doorway and fanned himself with his hat.  He had forgotten just how hot and dry the Cairo air was.

  "You're the best digger in Cairo, Sallah.  You know I can't do this without you."

  Sallah's deep voice split the silence.  "You could Indy.  I almost wish you had."

  Brody chimed in.  "But it's not like this is that different from the other artifacts you've gone after."

  Sallah paused.  "On the contrary, Mr. Brody.  This is very different.  You speak of the tomb of Nephren Ka, a pharaoh whose existence is dubious at best.  And if he did exist, he was accused of some of the foulest abominations of religion known to man.  Then you speak of the many-pillared city of Irem!!  You are westerners, you do not know what...." He trailed off.

  "If you believe in that sort of stuff.  It's not like we've never gone after anything really powerful.  We got the Ark of the Covenant for crying out loud!!  And we could have had the Holy Grail.  Those were the greatest artifacts ever to grace the earth.  This is no different."

  "It is different Indiana.  The Ark and the Grail were both holy things, meant to do God's work! This is different.  What you are seeking were things never meant for the eyes of man.  We would do better to let these things lie alone...forever."

  Indy tore his gaze away from the Cairo cityscape, "I would like nothing better Sallah.  The problem is that there are other forces at work against us.  And if they get to it first...."

  "Mankind would suffer an eternity of darkness." Armitage spoke up.  "We know that the Old Ones are awakening.  We've seen signs of their messenger.  Sitting at the threshold is Yog..."

  Sallah jumped to his feet.

  "Do not speak blasphemies in this house!"

  "I apologize.  I forget myself.  The point is that we are well aquatinted with..."

  Sallah's booming voice interrupted again.  "You are aquatinted with nothing!  You claim to know this book...Necronomicon but you do not know.  The very name of the text Al Azif is a reference to the sound demons make at night.  It means 'the buzzing'.  The author Abdul Al-Hazred...the name is non-sensical."

  Brody interrupted, lending his considerable expertise to the problem.  "Yes, we are aware of that.  Abdul is a western concoction...not a true Arab name.  Olaus Wormius most probably made the error in the 13th century...who translated the said tome into Latin from the Greek.  The correct name is most probably Abdullah, which translates roughly to 'servant of Allah'"

  "A very astute observation Mr. Brody...but the name could just as well be Abd Al-Azrad which is 'servant of the demon'.  In fact the author is most often referred to as the 'Mad Arab'.  The word for 'mad' in Arabic is majnun.  Now it means 'Mad' as in crazy...but in the Eighth century, the time in which the Necronomicon was written...the word majnun meant 'possessed by djinn'!"

  A long silence followed Sallah's narrative.  And his revelations surprised both Professor Armitage and Marcus Brody.

  "Apparently, we've come to the right man."

  Sallah glared at Armitage.  He turned to Indy. 

  "I wish you had never come to me with this Indiana...but I will help you.  I cannot let you face this terrible evil alone.  And besides, if you fail, and the evil is awakening after all this time...."

  He didn't need to finish the sentence.  "What we could really use is a powerful artifact..."

  "Like the Ark," Brody added.

  Sallah became energized.  "Yes! Yes! The Ark.  It could vent the cleansing fire of God upon these unclean beasts."

  Armitage looked lost.  "Come on...that's just a myth.  Besides...the Ark of the Covenant has never been found."

  Everyone in the room stared at him in disbelief.

  "Oh.  Apparently there are secrets even a Miskatonic professor is not privy to."

  "Where is the Ark now Indy?"

  "Top men are looking at it."

  Brody interjected, "Who?"

  "Top men."

  No one spoke for a very long time.  Indy stared at the cloudless Egyptian sky...at the billions of stars.  He had once found them beautiful...now he saw them as harbingers of doom...horrible pinpricks of light leaking in from a place that should not be.

  Sallah's voice broke the tomb-like silence.

"Come my friends.  We must rest.  We dig in the morning!"

"One never gets accustomed to the terrible heat."

Armitage nodded, "It is a far cry from the climate at Arkham."

"My friends, you heat too easily.  The sun has hardly risen."

"Easy...we should be getting close."

"How do you know Indy?" Sallah saw the look on Indy's face.  "Never mind...you have told me too much already."

But Indy knew because he had seen numerous hieroglyphs, which pointed out the location of the tomb of Nephren Ka.... Not in Egypt.  But in America...Nevada.  At a place called Area 51, which, if anyone asked, did not exist.

He glowered at the silhouette of the Sphinx sitting placidly, guarding the Valley of Kings.  A shiver ran through him as the thought occurred to him that Egyptian imagination might not have created the Sphinx...maybe they had carved what they had seen.

Indy shook the thought away as Sallah's diggers hit stone.  "That's it.  Come on...okay...watch your fingers...Heave!  Heave!  Heave!"

Slowly the cover stone moved.  Then finally it slid away.

Indy expected the dark pit of the Well of Souls...instead he saw a long downward sloping passage.  Of course!  This is a tomb, not a city buried in a sandstorm.  

Indy lit several gas lanterns and took the lead.  He quickly found the cartouche he was looking for.  He read aloud as his finger traced the dusty hieroglyphs.  "'Whosoever disturbs the sleep of Nephren Ka shall suffer a terrible fate.' Your standard curse really.  But we're in the right place."

On any other occasion Indy would have been celebrating the archaeological find...but not now.  He pressed on.  The passage opened up into a large room.  The light from the lanterns casting harsh shadows.  Armitage ran forward towards a large chest.

"Look...the Elder Sign! And this name...K...N...I...H...E...A...R...I can make this out....OTEP...NYARLATHOTEP!"

Indy and Sallah moved closer to the chest.  Marcus Brody crossed the room.

"Indiana...look at this statue of Anubis.  I never seen one like it before." Indy turned.  The eight foot tall statue of the jackal-headed Egyptian god of the dead loomed over Brody. 

Brody continued, "It has a strange cartouche on it.  It looks like it says 'KHOL TAHN!'"

Indy snapped around, his face drained of all blood.  "Kolton?  Kolton!  Oh no!  We've got to get out of here!  Damn Hurry!"

Suddenly a dark shadow blotted out the sunlight coming down the tunnel.  Moments later the screams of the workers left topside reached their ears.

"Too late!"

But Marcus Brody already knew that, for the statue he had been looking at had begun to move!!

Kirk knew he needed help.  He moved toward the old house where he knew he would find it.  He lifted the old and worn knocker and banged three times.  Kirk had almost given up when he heard the bolt being slid back.

An old man he guessed was at least in his nineties greeted Kirk.  He had an eyepatch over one eye and numerous scars covered his old face.

"Can I help you young man?  You must forgive me, these old ears aren't what they used to be...didn't hardly know anyone was at the door..." the old man paused, "Say...you look Kinda familiar...but it couldn't be...too long ago." Then the old man almost got hostile.  His entire demeanor changed.

"State your business sonny!"

Kirk paused, not entirely sure what to make of the old man, "I am looking for someone who used to live here."

"And do I look like a wizard?  What was his name?  I have to know his name if I'm going to help you.  Young folks today...so addle-brained...expect folk to do everything for you."

"His name is Henry Jones, Jr."

The old man stopped muttering.  "Henry Jones Jr.  you say!  Ha.  Well that's a hoot.  There's a name I haven't heard of in an age.  Henry Jones Jr.! Hehehe...I haven't heard that name in a long time."

Kirk started getting a little annoyed, "Well do you know where I can find him?"

“Oh you can stop looking son."

"Is he dead?"

"Nope." The old man looked amused.  "I'd say you found him.  You see...I'm Henry Jones Jr.  Used to go by the name of Indiana.  And you are?" Kirk struggled...but his addled mind couldn't come up with a name...not one that fit completely.  He managed the only name that sounded remotely right. 

"I am Kirok."

It wasn't the first time he'd pissed his pants, and he wasn't proud of that, but at least this time no one could blame him.  Mulder cowered as the gelled-fish-thing monstrosity swung its bulbous head towards him.  His eye caught something shiny smack the thing in the chest.  The resulting explosion knocked him to the ground.  The air was filled with the sound of grenade launchers and machine gun fire.  Someone ran up to him.

"Shit man what are you waiting for."

Mulder looked up.  It was a man from Delta Green!

Mulder stumbled to his feet.  Then struggled with Scully's half-conscious body.  The Delta Green man peppered the Deep Ones with M-16 fire.  More Delta Green men ran past him.

"The grenades have no effect against that new thing...They just piss it off!!"

"There are to many of them!  Let's get the hell out of here."  The man nearest Mulder spoke, "They're coming out of the water.  Get your friend to the hummers...that way!  I'll cover you."

Mulder raced in the direction the man indicated, never looking behind him.  If he had he would have seen the man who helped him get swept up and mashed in Dagon's flabby claws. 

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