The Signal Vanishes
Rick studied the Sanborn tracing. He could see where the pulsed signals
gradually disappeared into a much stronger, steady 21-centimeter signal.
"We lost it at 4:02 yesterday," Winston said. "It hasn't reappeared.
Apparently the signal source moved into, or behind, a globular cluster."
Rick's brows knit. "That's more evidence that it was moving contrary to
normal direction?"
"It is," Dr. Kerama agreed. "What's more, the calculated velocity was
simply incredible. The only velocities we know of that approximate it
are those of galaxies at the very limit of our instruments."
Rick said what was on his mind. "It was a spaceship. What else would
travel across normal star directions giving out signals?"
He grinned sheepishly. It wasn't strictly proper to blurt out his own
theories.
"The possibility has occurred to us," Kerama said slowly. "It is
certainly the most appealing explanation, and it is natural that it
should come to your mind, Rick. But it is not the only possible
solution."
Winston agreed. "There are others that are difficult to explain, unless
you have a good background in astrophysics, Rick."
Scotty said, "I'm sure you have lots of theories, but honestly--what do
you really think?"
The scientist glanced at his Egyptian colleagues. Farid urged, "Tell him
what we talked about last night. It may not be subject to any real
proof, but I think the boys have a right to know what we've concluded."
"All right," Winston nodded. "To put it as briefly as possible, we agree
that the most likely explanation is that we intercepted intelligent
signals, sent out for some reason by some beings we can't even imagine.
For one thing, the space object is so small that we can't even give it a
dimension. Neither can the other telescopes. Mount Palomar can see
nothing."
"A spaceship," Rick said soberly. The implications of it were
tremendous!
"It's as good a name as any. And now, boys, let's start folding up our
part of the operation. We have reservations on tomorrow's flight. That
will put us into New York just about suppertime."
"We hate to leave," Scotty told the Egyptian scientists. "Unfortunately,
thanks to that Egyptian cat, we didn't get to see much of Cairo."
"At least I saw a piece of the Sahara Desert," Rick said with a grin.
"Anyway, let's move. I have some shopping to do for my folks, and for
Jan Miller, and especially Barby."
"Going to take her a bouquet of Egyptian poison ivy?" Winston asked with
a smile.
"Nope. I'm going to buy her some nice things, but I'm also going to take
her the remains of the Egyptian cat. Just as a reminder."
He turned to glance around the control room before leaving. The plaster
on the ceiling would need repairing where the Sten gun had chipped it
down to the concrete roof slab, but there was little real damage to show
the effect of last night's fight. Even the window broken by Youssef had
been repaired.
How simple it all had been--once Ismail ben Adhem had taken over. Rick
knew why he and Scotty had failed to solve the mystery. There was too
much information they did not have, such as the disposal of the Kefren
necklace and knowing that the Moustafas were the prime movers in a
revolution.
Farid and Kerama had not been surprised. "There are some who do not like
the controls on trade and exchange that our government had to impose,"
Farid explained. "Mostly, they are people who had things pretty much
their own way before the Republic was formed. They used to get special
treatment from government officials who were in their pay, and they grew
rich. Now, that's impossible. So they plot revolution to bring the bad
old days back again--bad old days for most Egyptians, that is. The
Moustafas and Bartouki used to be pretty powerful. I suppose they wanted
that power back."
Dr. Kerama added, "This is probably not the last try at revolution the
police will have to stop. But our country grows more stable all the
time, and the would-be revolutionaries grow older and perhaps wiser."
"Time goes on," Rick agreed. "Things change." He thought of Kemel
Moustafa the revolutionary, the only one of the three brothers they had
met--and he thought of Hassan's saying. He added, "The little jackal
barks, but the caravan passes."
Hakim Farid laughed outright. "We'll make a good Egyptian of you yet,
Rick."
* * * * *
The time along the Greenwich meridian, from which all world times are
measured, was 9:30 P.M.
At Spindrift Island, it was 4:30 in the late afternoon. Barby Brant sat
with her close friend, Jan Miller, before the roaring fire in the
library.
"I'll bet Rick and Scotty are having a marvelous time," Barby said.
There was no envy in the statement. She always protested volubly at
being left behind, but that was more a matter of principle than anything
else. Once the boys had gone, she always simmered down enough to be glad
they could go, even if she could not.
Jan, a slim, attractive dark-haired girl, said, "I'll bet they're glad
you suggested that Rick deliver the Egyptian cat, too. It was an
introduction to a real merchant, right in the bazaar."
Barby smiled. "They probably made a lot of new friends from just that
one thing!"
It was 5:30 in the afternoon on a tiny island off the coast of
Venezuela. Two elderly men looked up from their inspection of a hot
spring. The smaller of the two shrugged. He spoke in Spanish.
"I will keep watch. If new signs develop, I know where to go for help.
It is the Spindrift Scientific Foundation. If anyone can help us, that
group can. If they can't--well, we are doomed."
In Cairo, it was 11:30. Rick Brant hauled himself to the top of the
great pyramid of Khufu. Scotty and Hassan joined him.
The view was magnificent. Cairo sparkled like a million jewels, and in
places they could see the silver ribbon of the Nile. Rick turned and
looked at the radio telescope at Sahara Wells, its great parabolic
reflector gleaming in the brilliant moonlight.
He was content. As a last adventure, and with the permission of Winston,
the three had decided to climb the pyramid by moonlight. Now the
mysteries of the Egyptian cat and the strange signal from space were
behind them. In eleven hours they would be air-borne, and tomorrow night
they would sleep at home.
Hassan spoke. "I sorry to see you go. You come back, maybe?"
"Someday," Scotty said.
Rick added, "When we show my sister that picture of you with the fancy
clothes and that scimitar you borrowed, we'll have to bring her to see
you in person. She won't believe her eyes."
Hassan chuckled softly. "Tell her I will be her bodyguard, to protect
her from Youssef, if he ever gets free from jail. I will even protect
her from our so terrible Egyptian cats!"
The three sat down on the rough stone at the top of the pyramid. Once
the great monument had risen to a sharply pointed capstone, but the
blocks had been removed and only a tall wooden pole showed how high the
pyramid had once reached.
Rick looked up at the stars and traced the outlines of the familiar
constellations, Orion, the Twins, Taurus, the Big Dog, and the Little
Dog.
Out there, far beyond those constellations, a spaceship had once passed,
sending unknown signals to an unknown destination, eventually to be
intercepted here, within sight of the pyramids.
"I wonder what it was," he mused aloud.
Scotty needed no explanation. "Does it matter, if it was some kind of
intelligence?"
Rick shook his head. "Not really. It was nearly five thousand light
years away, so it took five thousand years to reach us. So when the
signals were first sent, this pyramid hadn't even been built. Egypt
hadn't been united."
Scotty added, "And in the Upper Nile Kingdom, people were worshiping
Bubaste...."
"... and Egyptian cats," Rick finished.
The boy glanced up at the stars again and saw the tight cluster of the
Pleiades. Across the world, the constellation was just coming into view
of anyone standing on top of the mountain known as El Viejo, the Old
One.
The slow stirring in the earth deep under El Viejo would take a few
months to grow, but already events taking form would plunge Rick,
Scotty, and the Spindrift scientists into the midst of mob violence,
armed revolt, and one of the most daring scientific feats of all time, a
story to be told in the adventure of THE FLAMING MOUNTAIN.
_The_ RICK BRANT SCIENCE-ADVENTURE _Stories_
BY JOHN BLAINE
THE ROCKET'S SHADOW
THE LOST CITY
SEA GOLD
100 FATHOMS UNDER
THE WHISPERING BOX MYSTERY
THE PHANTOM SHARK
SMUGGLERS' REEF
THE CAVES OF FEAR
STAIRWAY TO DANGER
THE GOLDEN SKULL
THE WAILING OCTOPUS
THE ELECTRONIC MIND READER
THE SCARLET LAKE MYSTERY
THE PIRATES OF SHAN
THE BLUE GHOST MYSTERY
THE EGYPTIAN CAT MYSTERY
End of Project Gutenberg's The Egyptian Cat Mystery, by Harold Leland Goodwin