The Space Mystery
There was an air of excitement at the project when the boys arrived
there the following morning. Everyone was busy on equipment, or studying
Sanborn tracings. Winston and Kerama were working a slide rule while
Farid read figures.
The boys waited until Winston gave a number, which Kerama marked on the
pad he carried. Then the scientist looked up and gave the boys a big
grin.
"Happy New Year both of you! Interesting news this morning. Take a look
at these."
They were teletype sheets. Rick saw that a machine was now in one corner
of the control room, where technicians had finished installing it during
the night.
He and Scotty read the messages. Translated from the cryptic notations
and abbreviations used by the astronomers, it added up to confirmation
of the Egyptian findings by both Jodrell Bank and Green Bank. Both
reported that they had also located a source of apparently modulated
hydrogen impulses. Both gave the same co-ordinates in space, in terms of
ascension and declination, the way astronomers locate the position of
heavenly bodies. Both stated that the finding was remarkable and
requested all available data from Sahara Wells, and both announced their
intention of concentrating on the object while it was in "view" of their
radio telescopes.
Rick looked at Winston, his eyes shining. "Boy! We're on to something
big. What's the next step?"
"Next is a precise fix and distance computations by all stations. At the
same time, we want two kinds of recordings. We'll continue making
Sanborn tapes, but we also want audio-tape recordings."
"You want to actually hear this thing?" Scotty asked. This was unusual,
since the radio telescopes ordinarily recorded the incoming signals in
trace form on Sanborn strips.
"We don't want to overlook any possibility," Dr. Kerama said. "This is
without precedent, and we are not sure how to proceed. Dr. Farid has set
up an amplifier on the output circuit, in parallel with the normal
system, and he has brought in a pair of tape recorders we borrowed from
the government radio station. It may be that listening to this signal
will give us clues that our eyes miss when we examine the tracings."
Winston added, "That's your job. I intended to keep you here together, a
half day at a time. But this is too important for such considerations,
and we haven't a large enough Egyptian staff to handle everything. So
I'd like to work you in shifts."
"That's okay," Rick assured him. "When do we start?"
"The object comes up on our horizon shortly after one. Suppose you start
then. The first shift can work until five, and the second from five to
eleven. One of the Egyptian technicians will take over then until we
lose the source below the horizon again."
Hakim Farid took the boys to the tape setup he had established and
explained it to them. It was simple enough. The output signal from the
receivers was fed into a regular tape-recording circuit. The tapes
themselves were on huge reels good for about four hours of recording. It
would only be necessary to watch the volume control and to see that all
was running smoothly. Changing tapes was only a matter of slapping a new
reel into place, dropping the tape into the recording head, and
threading it into the empty reel.
"How will we work it?" Scotty asked, while they rechecked the setup and
tried out the tape motors.
Rick frowned. "It kind of throws a monkey wrench into our plan, doesn't
it?" He and Scotty had worked out a way to recover the Egyptian cat,
again with Scotty distracting the guard.
"One of us will have to get it alone," Scotty said.
Rick watched the tape run through and searched his mind for a method.
There was only one way he could think of that would get the guard out of
the way. "Looks as if that third kitten is going to have a home," he
said finally. "I'll wrap it in an old newspaper, then pretend to find it
under something. I'll hand it to the guard. With luck, he'll get so
excited he'll run for his boss, thinking someone has tried to steal a
museum exhibit. Then I'll snaffle kitty off the shelf and hike out."
Scotty rubbed his chin. "Could work," he said finally. "Unless the guard
insists that you go with him."
"No speak Arabic," Rick said. "I won't understand. Let's hope the guard
speaks no English."
"Well, if anything goes wrong, Moustafa will just have to wait. So I'll
take the first shift and you go get puss. That means I'll be waiting for
ol' Kemel alone tonight at the hotel."
"Looks that way."
There seemed to be no solution except to turn the cat over. Bartouki had
approved, and the cat was his. Much as the boys hated to let go of an
unsolved mystery, there wasn't any other way.
Hassan drove Rick back into town, with the boy sitting in back. He would
have preferred to be in the front seat with the dragoman, but the taxi
meter took up too much room.
The guide parked directly in front of the museum and asked, "I go with
you?"
"Not this time, Hassan. I won't be long." If Rick's trick was to work,
no translator should be at hand.
He paid his piastres at the entrance and walked into the huge entrance
hall, very conscious of the kitten in his pocket. It was wrapped in a
week-old copy of a newspaper recovered from the debris around the new
barracks.
When he reached the second floor he acted like a casual museum visitor,
taking his time, and working from exhibit to exhibit. But his mind was
not on the wonders of ancient Egypt. It wasn't much use to think about
the cat, either. All the ground had been covered many times. Instead, he
spent the time speculating on the meaning of the mysterious signal from
space. Admittedly, he didn't have much knowledge of astrophysics or
radio astronomy. But he had never heard of any natural phenomenon in
space that emitted pulsed signals in random fashion. Some stars pulsed,
like the Cepheid variables, but in an orderly way.
A half hour of speculation led him nowhere so far as the space mystery
was concerned, but it did bring him slowly to the museum area that
interested him. He nodded politely at the guard, and continued his
examination of exhibits, moving finally into the little room where the
cat was hidden. Soon he was close enough to see that the Egyptian cat
and its antique friend were still in place. He continued on around the
room until he came to a glassed-in case that held some rare alabaster
figures. Directly before the glass case was a stone jar. It was big
enough to hold the kitten.
Rick got ready. His coat was unbuttoned. He put a hand in the outside
pocket, ready to swing the coat out so his other hand could remove the
kitten from the inside game pocket with one swoop. He watched the guard,
using the glass-case front as a mirror.
The guard bent his head to light a cigarette, and Rick moved. By the
time the cigarette was going well, the kitten was in the jar and Rick
was looking at the figures in the case again. He waited patiently, and
tried identifying the figures so he would seem to be genuinely
interested.
The figure with the stylized jackal head was Anubis, the god of death.
The hawk-headed one must be Horus. The female figure would be Isis. The
one with the solar disc over his head was probably Amon-Re. The rest he
couldn't identify at all. He wondered if one of them was Bubaste, the
cat goddess. It would be appropriate.
He drew back a little, first checking to see if the guard was watching,
then he bent down and looked into the jar. He put a hand in and brought
out the newspaper. He turned it over and hefted it. Then he started to
unwrap it.
The guard was at his side in a flash, watching. The reddish form of the
cat came into view and the guard snatched it from his hands. Rick turned
to him with a look of bewilderment.
The guard unwrapped the kitten completely and held it up, then he turned
swiftly and hurried out.
Rick was across the room in two bounds. He grabbed the Egyptian cat and
tucked it into his inner pocket, then he closed his coat without
buttoning it and hurried after the guard.
The guard hadn't gone far. Rick found him with another guard,
gesticulating and waving the cat. Apparently the other guard was an
officer, because he had tabs on his shoulder.
The guard with the cat saw Rick and beckoned to him. He walked over,
trying to keep his expression interested but unconcerned.
The officer spoke English, but not well. "He say you get this?"
"I see in big jar. Vase. Stone. In newspaper. Someone leave?" Rick did
his best to make his reply simple enough for understanding. He
apparently succeeded.
"Think someone try steal. Bad."
"Very bad," Rick agreed, straight-faced. "Hope you find. Steal from
museum no good."
"No good," the officer agreed.
"Good-by," Rick said. He held his breath waiting for the reaction.
Both guards gave him a half-salute, the courteous gesture he had seen
often in Cairo. He bowed and walked toward the stairs.
Not until he was outside did he breathe freely. The cat was a comforting
weight in his pocket as he got into Hassan's car. He wondered what the
museum officials would think about the kitten. A moment's examination by
one of the archaeologists would show that it was of concrete, and new
concrete at that. Maybe it would just end up at the _Lost and Found_
desk, if they had one.
"Let's go back to the project, Hassan," he directed. Scotty would want
to know if he had been successful. Then he could go to the Mena House
and have a late lunch while Scotty recorded signals.
If only he didn't have to give the Egyptian cat to Moustafa--until the
mystery was solved. He grinned at his own thought. The cat was no good
to him, was it? His only interest was solving the mystery. Why did so
many people want it?
He forced himself to think logically. It was old ground, but he went
over it again. The cat itself could have no real value. It was plastic,
and plastic is cheap. On the other hand, it was valuable as a model, as
Bartouki had explained, and Moustafa had confirmed again last night.
Rick wasn't satisfied. A professional thief like Youssef wouldn't be
interested in a model. He would want only objects of high value.
There was only one possibility, which Rick and Scotty had considered
before, that the cat contained something more than the piece of lead
Bartouki had described. But there was no seam in the cat, no sign that
it was anything but a solid casting. Still, Rick reasoned, if a piece of
lead could be cast into it, so could something of greater value.
He had it! Somewhere in Cairo there must be a company that used X-ray or
gamma-ray photography to check large castings. It was a very common
method of industrial quality control. Farid or Kerama would know of one,
and he could arrange to have the cat X-rayed! It could be done
immediately.
Pleased with the idea, he paid attention to his surroundings for the
first time since leaving the museum. Hassan was just rounding the corner
by Sahara Wells, turning into the new spur that led to the project.
Ahead, across the road, was a caravan of camels. Rick watched,
interested. There were a dozen camels, and Arabs in burnooses. Some of
the camels seemed to be carrying loads. Like a movie, Rick thought.
Hassan slowed, tooting his horn. The group on the road paid no
attention. They weren't going to get out of the way for any old gas
burner, Rick thought. Not these traditional ships of the desert.
The car closed the gap, and one of the Arabs turned. Rick gasped. Under
the desert headdress a pair of eyes were looking at the car through
steel-rimmed glasses.
Youssef!
And Youssef wanted the cat!