TURNED TO STONE
Chapter Five "Oh boy, that doesn't sound reassuring," Rory said as everyone went outside. When he got outside, he realized what was wrong. They were several feet from the base of Khufu's Pyramid, except the pyramid was no longer in ruins. In fact, it looked brand new. The limestone blocks gleamed in the sun and atop the pyramid was a soild goldstone cap that served as the point of the structure. He looked at Rick, Evie and Jonathon, noted their stunned looks and knew his best friend would probably have to come clean on who he was and what the TARDIS was. "Wow, that was one hell of a move you just did," Rick said, finally looking at the Doctor. "Yes. The pyramids look brand new," Evie said as she, Rick and Jonathon walked over to the Doctor. "What did you do?" The Doctor sighed and as Rory predicted decided to come clean since there was no way he could explain how he moved the TARDIS to Ancient Egypt without lying. While he told them about the TARDIS and who he was, Hannah wandered over to the base of the pyramid, fascinated by the jump in time. Rose, who was standing near the Doctor, glanced at her to see where she was going but Hannah walked up to the limestone base and put her hand against it while she looked at the structure in silent awe. Rose was standing by the TARDIS with everyone else while the Doctor explained to an incredulous Rick and his family who he really was. She glanced again at Hannah and noticed she was now looking towards the Nile, again in silent awe at what she was seeing. She walked over to her and Hannah pointed across the Nile when she noticed she was walking towards her. Rose looked where she was pointing and stopped; awed by the sight of the modern city of Giza now reverted back to its original settlement. Scattered in between the limestone buildings on the other side of the Nile were stone obelisks and statues of people and animal gods. Hannah was pointing to a large statue of Anubis next to a three story limestone building. "I like the dog statue," Hannah said to her mother. "Actually, that's a jackal, love." Hannah looked at Evie when she said that while walking over towards them with Jonathon. She noticed Rick was still standing with the Doctor, Amy and Rory but he seemed to be chatting with them and didn't look as shocked as he did. Evie and Jonathon stopped and stared at the city. "They'll never believe this at Bembridge," Evie said to Jonathon. "What the Doctor was saying sounded unbelievable but we're actually standing here in Ancient Egypt and seeing it with our own eyes." "Unless he drugged us all and we're hallucinating," Jonathon said. "Well, if he did, we're all sharing the same hallucination," Rose said while Hannah giggled. "Trust me; what he said was absolutely true." "And you just travel around, seeing time and space?" Evie said. "And fighting evil," Rose said. "And your daughter fights evil as well?" Jonathon said. "Actually, this is her first trip back in time," Rose said. "We were going to a rock concert in the year 1983 and we got sidetracked." "Rock concert, what's that?" Evie said. "What year did we just leave from?" Rose said. "1933," Evie said. "Oh, well that explains why you don't know about rock and roll yet," Rose said. "Rock and roll?" Jonathon muttered to Evie who shrugged. "So, are we gonna look for the hidden room, Mum?" Hannah said to Rose. Rose gave a questioning look to Evie and Jonathon and they turned and looked at the pyramid. "Could you find that hidden button again, Jonathon?" Evie asked her brother. "Not if the pyramid is complete. I was climbing on the ruins and stepped on a button on top of one of the blocks. I'm betting it's hidden now." "Maybe there's another way in?" Rick said as he and everyone else walked up to them. "They had to get the body inside, didn't they?" "Well…" Evie said, "that's the problem. They never found a body of any kind. Just a stone sarcophagus in a tomb in the middle of the pyramid." "But was there an entrance into this tomb?" Rory asked her. "If it is, it's well hidden," Evie said. "Allow me, I'll see if I can find it with my sonic," the Doctor said. "Sonic?" Rick said when he pulled out his screwdriver and went past everyone. "It's a…device for finding hidden entrances…among other things," Rose said, not quite sure how to explain a sonic device to them. "One of his alien doodahs then?" Jonathon asked. Rose nodded. "Question," Jonathon said. "If he's alien, why does he look like us? Is it a disguise?" "No, that's just how he looks," Amy said. "He has two hearts though." "And he can regenerate and change his body when he's near death," Rose added. "Okay, not quite sure what that is but I'll skip the explanation since my head is about to explode now from learning he's a time traveling alien," Rick said. While they were talking, Hannah watched her father scanning the sand and the base of the pyramid. She walked over to him and the Doctor smiled when she approached. "You find anything, Daddy?" she asked, stopping beside him. "Not yet but there has to be an entrance somewhere," the Doctor said. "They need a way to get the body inside, if there was a body. Come on; let's see if the entrance is on the side." He told everyone where they were going before walking towards the side of the pyramid. The base was huge and Hannah kept looking up at the pyramid in awe. "Daddy, do you think this statue is us?" Hannah said while they walked. "Dunno, love. But it's worth checking out," the Doctor said. "Just stay by someone and mind everyone's instructions since I'm not sure how safe this time period is." "Okay," Hannah said, happy to be on an adventure with her family and friends. When they rounded the corner, Hannah was able to see the Sphinx and the other pyramids and it took her breath away. Everything was brand new and the Sphinx was intact except that it had a lion's head on it instead of a human head. The Doctor stopped by her side, putting his hands on her shoulders while they admired the view together. "This is brilliant, I love time travel!" Hannah squealed while the Doctor chuckled. The Doctor resumed his search for an entrance while Hannah turned her attention back towards the city. On both sides of theNilewere fresh muddy soil and there were a few people dressed in linen loincloths with bare heads working it. She watched them in fascination while they planted crops and sang and chanted to themselves. She noticed a few people were on the roofs of their houses, preparing food or relaxing and chatting. She also noticed other smaller limestone structures scattered around the pyramids and stone pathways that led down from the pyramids and Sphinx to the river. She was so interested in what was going on that she jumped when she heard a rumbling behind her. She turned around and watched while limestone blocks moved back to created a huge doorway in the side of the pyramid. The Doctor looked at her. "I think I found the entrance," he said to her while he pointed at the doorway. "Do you want me to tell everyone?" Hannah said. "Yes. Run and get them," he said. Hannah ran around the pyramid, calling out to the others. The Doctor walked up to the entrance and looked inside but he couldn't see very far into the darkened pyramid. By now, Hannah was coming around the corner with everyone else and the Doctor looked at Rick. "Is this the entrance?" he said to Rick. "Yeah, that's what we found," Rick said while they walked towards him. "I'm glad it's still here." "Have you been here before?" Evie asked the Doctor. "I've been to Ancient Egypt before, yes," the Doctor said. "Did the stones move away from the entrance?" Evie said. "Yes." "Is that normal?" Evie said. "Because I've never read anything about the Egyptians being able to engineer stones to move back from an entrance like that." "That's because the Egyptians didn't do it," the Doctor said, giving her a meaningful look. "And you're saying…aliens built this?" Rick said. "Look at this structure, look at the blocks," the Doctor said, pointing to the base. "Notice how the blocks have been moved into place so that not even a piece of paper can get between them. D'ya really think humans of this time period could have built a structure like this with such precision? Not to mention the size of the structure. If the Egyptians hauled every single block into place with just wooden rollers and a dirt ramp, it would take them countless years to get it done, far longer than archeologists think." "So aliens built this?" Rick said. "No, humans built it with alien assistance and technology," the Doctor said. "Look at the Sphinx, the head is the wrong size in proportion to the body which means that there was another head before the Egyptians put Khufu's likeness onto it which means another civilization existed here before the Egyptians long, long ago. Aliens founded places like Atlantis and Lemuria and when they fell into the ocean, they migrated to other places on the Earth and helped out the humans who were living here. They coexisted for a time in peace and the humans even worshipped some of them as gods. But the gods began to enslave the humans and treat them like cattle and the humans revolted and made war with them and the aliens were killed or fled. After that, the humans settled here and eventually forgot about the past after many generations. When the Egyptian dynasties started, the pyramids and Sphinx were already ancient history to them and they were already falling apart." "But they look brand new here so…is this part of the time when aliens coexisted with humans?" Rick said. "Look at the Sphinx," Jonathon said, pointing to it. "Just like he said, it's not the proper head. It's a lion's head." "So the Sphinx was originally just a gigantic lion?" Rick said. "Yes," the Doctor said. "And I'm willing to bet that we are far enough back that alien lifeforms are coexisting with the humans." Rick, Evie and Jonathon exchanged excited looks. "But…" Rick said, "first we need to see if this statue is inside the pyramid before we go alien hunting." "My thoughts exactly. Come with me. We'll go back to the TARDIS and get some equipment for exploring," the Doctor said.
Back Home Doctor Who Main Page Next