The Wadjet-Man: The Future Adventures of Alexander the Great (FICTIONAL, c.2023) by Author, Michael J. Costa. Copyright 2023 MJC. This is a new novel, NOT "Eye of the Pharaoh" -- the Wadjet-Eye is the symbol of the Superhero in this novel.
ISBN: 9798398297478
Chapter
1: Frozen Memories
Long ago
in the sands of Babylon the General known as Alexander slipped into a
cave. He was searching for a solution to
his fever brought on by Malaria. Had he
not been so close to his diseased friend atop the funeral pyre last week he
would be fine. The cave existed
underneath his refurbished palace, just below the heated bath. A natural spring fed the bath from a
corridor leading into this cave. Within
its walls dwelt two naturally occurring features: one filled with salty,
brackish water; the other with liquid Nitrogen and a mixture of liquid Oxygen
and Helium.
He was
allowed access to the second pool and was instantly flash-frozen, not dead
quite yet, but encased in Time. His
body, asleep so to speak, was placed into a gold coffin and brought to Egypt by
a train of mules by his successor Ptolemy I Soter. In the Roman Empire era, he was moved again
to Italy by Caligula. There he waited to
be found underneath the foundation to a hotel built in the 1900’s CE. His gold coffin was replaced by one made of
glass and his items placed into this new Mausoleum fashioned of Marble.
Workers
penetrated the tile floor basement of the Royal
Pisa Hotel in central Italy with steel hammers and crowbars. A newly discovered tomb was mapped by Global
Positioning Satellites in orbit above the night sky. Dust settled, and then lights flickered. A Foreman said in rough Italian to raise the
foundation. This broke the pedestal and unveiled a solid granite sarcophagus
covered with golden rosettes on blue silk, from Ptolemaic Egypt.
“Can it
be…? Iskander?” asked the Foreman.
“Iskander Magnus?”
Someone
pushed the cracked sandstone lid to one angle and projected their electric
strobe light inside the sarcophagus.
“Yes…YES!
The Hieroglyphs are faint, but it does say ‘Alexander son of Philip and Zeus,
Conqueror of the East, Lord of the World.’ Romeo, cut the ties on the ropes to
lower the sarcophagus,” said an official.
“The
inside… It’s glass. It’s not gold at all.
That darn Caligula! He did this!” a worker exclaimed in disappointment.
“Then the
words of our ancestors are true. This is the tomb of Alexander the Great,” Romeo replied.
“Romeo,
cast your light onto the glass lid for a moment. Something doesn’t appear to be
right,” said Director Michel Constantine.
“Aye, sir,” Romeo replied as he did as he was
asked. The interior of the glass was
liquid. Alexander’s face was covered by
a linen shroud, protecting it.
“Hmm…
Romeo, undo the latch and open up the coffin,” Michel said.
“Sir?”
Romeo asked in confusion. “Do you want
me to open it?”
“Yes,
please. And be careful,” Michel replied.
The air trapped inside the glass coffin funneled out like a shaken
bottle of soda pop. There was a stench
from inside, but not of death. It
rather resembled the fact that Seven
Sacred Oils had been painted onto the body to insure an afterlife.
“Ah…
Frankincense, Myrrh oil, Sandalwood, Jasmine, Lotus, Cedar, and Mandrake oils
it appears,” Michel replied while typing onto his tablet computer. “And don’t forget traces of the anti-oxidant Honey.”
The lid
was raised up and set off to one side of the room. The workers placed an Oxygen mask onto the
body as they uncovered the linen shroud.
“These
gases… Oxygen, Nitrogen, Helium! Quickly, place these canisters near the
body. Romeo, grab me a defibrillator
from the Hotel’s First Aid kit,” Michel Constantine ordered.
The
workers carefully opened the wrappings around the face, which was encased in
rapidly-thawing ice. A number of
emergency hospital equipment devices had been lowered into the tomb. The hotel’s Doctor ushered inside the sepulcher,
and set up a pulse reader, statistics tablet, and an IV drip. The body’s skin became soft and clammy. The Doctor lifted both eyelids, and noticed
each eyeball was a different color, a sign of Heterochromia.
Michel
Constantine ordered the workers to obey the Doctor. The body was active, his head tilting from
side to side, his legs moving slightly. The
Defibrillator pumped four times, and the body reacted with a stable pulse. An Oxygen Mask was placed over his bronzed
face and ragged auburn hair. Two
distinctive tattoos had been carved into his skin: one was a Macedonian
Starburst; the other was a Ram, the symbol of Amon-Ra of Egypt.
The body
was heard mumbling in Ancient Greek.
“Romeo! Go
get our translator clasp. Make certain
it has all Ancient dialects programmed,” Michel Constantine commanded. Romeo fled the room and up the stainless
steel ladder into the hotel lobby.
Michel
inched closer to the body. Suddenly the
body’s right hand darted onto the Director’s throat and clenched his fist on
target, while saying something in Macedonian.
Michel struggled to free himself from the grasp. The Doctor injected the body with a sleep
additive into the IV Drip, loosening his grip.
Romeo
returned in time with an armload of devices.
Michel placed an auto-translator
onto the neck of Alexander that worked by hearing anything he said and coughing
up a response in English, both visual and audio. It was attached by a neck clasp made of gilded
titanium. A sub-screen displayed the message, with cellular phone technology. The clasp was GPS compliant and water/fire resistant. The device could also give translations into
any known language, shine a flashlight strobe in a dark room, display the
correct Time, an alcohol breath analyzer, calculator, color holographic camera and
attract fish.
“Romeo,
restrain Alexander’s arms as I attempt to awaken him…” Michel said slowly.
The body
was injected with a stimulant and an anti-biotic. Images came into his mind, contorting his
thoughts.
“Alexander!”
yelled Roxanne, his favorite.
“Alexander, your fever is increasing? Do you need some water?”
Alexander’s
memories came to him in a rush. Stateira,
the daughter of slain Persian leader Darius, reported that Alexander’s fever
was not improving. She suggested he
take a cold bath from the tunnels
below the Palace. There only Ahura Mazda would take refuge. She would show him the secret entrance. Alexander inched into the cold pool and then
the memories faded into the Present Time.
He awoke.
“Roxanne?
Stateira?” Alexander’s eyes adjusted to the dim light of the Mausoleum. “Where am
I?” he asked in Ancient Greek translated into English and Italian.
“Your
Majesty, you are not in Babylon. Much
has changed since your last memories,” Michel Constantine smiled.
Alexander’s
eyes widened. Fear ravaged his
mind. The surroundings seemed regal,
like a tomb or a foreign palace. “Where
is my beloved Roxanne? Where is my armor? My Soldiers!”
“You are
Alexander the son of Philip of Macedon, an Ancient Country…” Michel said.
“Ancient?”
Alexander’s eyes became wild with panic.
“When am I? Is this Hades?”
“No, this
is Earth. This is 2,400 years after
everyone whom you knew died. You are in
the Future. Your body was found in the
stagnant pools below your palace, according to the documentation found nearby…”
Michel explained.
Alexander crawled
to stand. He backed off until hiding
behind a robust Marble pillar. Looking
around he found himself surrounded by modern medical equipment, computers,
strange lights and sounds, devices. He
recognized the Caduceus symbol on the
jacket of the Doctor. He next noticed an
Eye of Horus, or Wadjet, drawn onto a computer screen. He pointed at it with a free hand.
Alexander
realized what had happened. He was not
dead or even glorified. He was displaced
by the Gods.
“Zeus,
Apollo, Achilles… Why have you forsaken
me?” Alexander cried to himself on the floor of the Mausoleum. He cried for an hour. The workers meanwhile cleared the Mausoleum
of all artifacts. The items were placed
into storage for now. No mention of this
was made in the Press. The Media only
knew that the hotel basement was ‘flooded with repair work being
conducted.’
The Italian
Ministry of Antiquities was consulted. This
was standard policy. Alexander was given
Naturalized Citizenship for Italy
with Dual-Citizenship for his removal
to the United States where Billionaire Director Michel Constantine was
from.
Michel
Constantine made his way from American Military Technology companies that he
developed and subsequently owns. He spent
his fortune funding Archaeological digs in Europe and Egypt, where he
spearheaded the search for the tomb of Alexander
the Great at Alexandria. He couldn’t
locate the real tomb. In Italy there was
a rumor about a feature found by GPS
in the central districts. So this led
him to the Royal Pisa Hotel. He brought Alexander to the USA on board a
private jet after first showing him Modern Italy and Italian cuisine.
