in doing so by itself? Surely, even the Chinese would realize that a united global coalition would be the best vehicle to achieve this?”
“As always, Lord Sheik, you go directly to the heart of the matter,” West said. “Please turn to the second sheet of your handout.”
They all did so. On it was a photocopy of Wizard’s summarizing page.
West directed them to the center of the page. “To your first question, Sheik: how do we rebuild the Machine? Observe the six Pillars drawn by Wizard and described as ‘oblong uncut diamonds.’ Elsewhere in his notes, he states that these Pillars are each about the size of a brick. He also says—”
“A diamond the size of a brick?” Scimitar said in disbelief. “Just one alone would be larger than the Cullinan, the largest diamond ever found, and beyond value. And you claim there are six of these.”
“Yes, six. Wizard also says that each Pillar must be ‘cleansed’ by the Philosopher’s Stone before being placed in the Machine, inspiring his exhortation that we ‘must have both the Sa-Benben and the Philosopher’s Stone. They are central to everything .’
“The way I see it is this: to rebuild the Machine, we must place the six Pillars—cleansed by the Philosopher’s Stone—in position in this mysterious all-powerful Machine.
“Which leads me to your second question, Abbas, why does China want to do this alone? They want to go it alone because it seems that whoever sets each Pillar in place in the Machine receives fareward.
“You can see the rewards listed by Wizard: knowledge, heat, sight, life, death, power. What these rewards actually are, I don’t know. I assume Wizard knows, but there’s nothing about their actual nature in his notes. But given what the Chinese have already done—grabbing Wizard in China and trying to steal the Sa-Benben from me—I imagine the rewards are pretty damn rewarding.”
West threw a sharp glance at the two Americans, Robertson and Astro.
Robertson cleared his throat. “I am not privy to my country’s research on this matter, so please don’t even ask me about that. But yes, the United States is unwilling to allow China to obtain the benefits you so describe.”
“We’ll be wanting to talk tosomeone about your country’s research soon,” West said pointedly.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Zoe said. “I need to backtrack a bit. The Six Ramesean Stones plus the Sa-Benben give us information about this Machine. The Philosopher’s Stone, once charged by the Sa-Benben, cleanses the Six Pillars, which then have to be placed in the Machine. So what is this Machine? And how big can it be?”
West tapped the image that signified the Machine:
After reading Wizard’s notes these last couple of days, he’d been thinking about the Machine a lot: about this image and Wizard’s scribblings around it.
At last he said, “Wizard doesn’t say what or how big the Machine is. But I have a theory.”
“And?”
West turned to face Zoe. “I think ‘the Machine’ is another name for our planet.” He pointed at the image: “This circle is Earth. And these dark triangles are sites located around the Earth, six sites at which the six Pillars— properly ‘cleansed’ or activated—must be set in place, thus restoring the Machine to working order before the Dark Sun emits its fatal burst.”
“Good God…” someone said.
“Yes. And if we don’t rebuild this Machine by the appointed time, our planet will be destroyed. People, the end of the world really is nigh.”
SHEIK ABBAS breathed, “The end of the world…”
He glanced around the room—only to see that the American, Robertson, was unmoved by Jack’s conclusion; likewise Scimitar and his Saudi companion, Vulture.
Jack said, “You’ll recall that in his article, Wizard mentioned the black orb depicted in the Mystery of the Circles. He suggested that it was a Dark Star, a twin of our own Sun, its opposite. He also mentioned that the Mystery of the Circles depicts our solar system with ten planets instead of nine.”
“Yes…”
“Today, our solar system possesses nine planets plus an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter,” Jack said. “But this may not always have been so. Later in his article, Wizard postulates that that asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter was once a very small planet not unlike our own. Now. If a planet were to be somehow destroyed, its pieces would coalesce into a floating belt of asteroids similar to the one found between Mars and Jupiter.”
There was silence in the room.
“Yes,” Jack said, reading their thoughts. “This has happened before.”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he went on, “we need to pool our resources and fight this menace. We need to restore this Machine before that Dark Star arrives.
“But at the moment there are too many pieces of this puzzle missing, such as when this Dark Star will arrive and thus the time by which the Machine must be rebuilt. Wizard knows many of the answers to these questions, but I imagine your own researchers know some of them, too. And that’s not even mentioning the rewards and China’s interest in this situation and whatever she might know.”
Jack eyed the group arrayed before him. “I need to know what you all know.”
There was an uncomfortable silence. It was time for some of them to reveal their secrets.
Someone coughed, clearing his throat.
It was the Saudi spy, Vulture.
“My family, the High House of Saud, possesses one of these Pillars you describe,” he said. “It is indeed a large uncut diamond, oblong in shape, translucent to look at, yet still breathtaking to behold. We have held it for
