“So, what does that gizmo do?” Cassie leaned forward over the front seat and directed her question to Griffin. He was frowning at the digital display of an electronic device in his hand.
“This little object is how we’ll find Nabta Playa.”
“So, it’s a digital map?”
The scrivener smiled ruefully. “There is no map because there is no road which leads to Nabta Playa. We’ll need to rely on this GPS receiver to find the spot. The readout tells me our current latitude and longitude. Since we know the calendar circle’s geographical coordinates, by comparing our coordinates to those of Nabta Playa I can tell if we’re on course or off.”
Their conversation ended when the Land Rover shivered to life and sped out of the little town. It took only minutes before its tires were no longer riding on asphalt but on sand.
Cassie looked out through the windshield to see a narrow ribbon of black cutting across the dunes. In many places, it was completely buried beneath them. “So, there’s no road at all?” she asked Griffin in disbelief.
Bakri answered. “There is a road part of the way, but the wind sweeps the sand back and forth. Once a dune starts to form, it keeps getting bigger.”
Cassie slid back into her seat and looked out the side window. There were no trees. Just endless stretches of desert. Occasionally there were low ridges of rock against the horizon but nothing else to use as a landmark to find their way. She didn’t see how anybody could find a destination over this wasteland.
“How far away is Nabta Playa?” Cassie raised her voice to be heard over the sound of the motor.
“About fifty miles as the crow flies,” Griffin replied.
“Then we should be there in no time.” The pythia breathed a sigh of relief. The sun was getting very hot very fast.
“He said as the crow flies, toots,” Erik corrected. “Not as the Land Rover drives.”
On an American highway, the trip would have taken about an hour. But, as Cassie soon learned, this wasn’t anything like an American highway.
When Bakri tried driving over a very soft dune, the rear tires sank, and the Land Rover got stuck in the sand. The Arkana team had to dig out the wheels and push the vehicle out of its trap.
As the sun beat down on top of her head, Cassie wished she had worn a white turban like their driver’s. Wiping a trickle of sweat from her forehead, she said, “It must be a hundred degrees out here, and it isn’t even summer yet.”
Griffin consulted his hand-held GPS device. “Ah good, we’re still on course.”
The trio slogged up the sand hill and climbed into the now-freed vehicle.
“Remind me never to visit Death Valley when we get home,” Cassie confided to Erik.
They got stuck twice more over the course of the next hour.
Cassie assumed they had to be nearing their destination until Griffin said, “Oh dear.”
“That can’t be good,” Erik commented.
“I’ve lost my signal.” Griffin tapped the GPS. “Ah, there it is. Hmmm.”
“That ‘hmmm’ can’t be good either,” Cassie added.
“Bakri, would you stop up ahead, so I can get a proper reading?”
Their driver steered toward something Cassie hadn’t expected to see—a clump of forlorn palm trees in the middle of nowhere.
“How can these things even live out here?” She stared at them in amazement as she climbed out of the back seat.
Erik shrugged. “Underground stream, I suppose.”
By tacit agreement, they all headed for the meager shade provided by the trees while Griffin checked his readout. He then walked several paces away to consult with Bakri who nodded and pointed off into the vacant expanse of dune to their left.
“I sure hope he knows where he’s going,” Erik whispered to Cassie.
“You mean Griffin?”
“Either one of them.” His voice sounded worried. “They don’t look too sure of themselves.”
The two men returned.
Griffin smiled brightly at his teammates. “I believe we’ve sorted that out. It shouldn’t be much farther now.” Flopping down on the sand beside them, he suggested, “Why don’t we take a break for a few minutes?”
“Fine by us,” Cassie agreed.
Bakri murmured something about a mid-day rest. He then walked to the tree farthest from the Arkana team. Sinking down to lean his back against its trunk, he tipped his turban over his eyes and promptly dozed off.
“I wish I could sleep like that,” Cassie observed wistfully.
The scrivener passed around a canteen. “Our lengthy transit time through Egypt has given me an opportunity to read up on Nabta Playa. Fascinating place.”
“Oh?” Cassie took the proffered canteen and drank before passing it to Erik.
“Yes, it seems it was once a ceremonial center for the tribes that lived in this area. In recent years, archaeologists have unearthed numerous artifacts radiating out from the calendar circle, as well as stone carvings directly beneath it. This evidence suggests that the site was a major gathering place for thousands of years. Of course, that was millennia before desiccation set in. In fact, the calendar circle itself is situated near a natural basin in the desert. During the rainy season, it would fill with water.”
“Rainy season!” Erik snorted in disbelief.
“As incredible as it sounds, this region once had a rainy season. Grass, trees, wildlife, herds of cattle and a thriving human population.”
Cassie scanned the arid wasteland surrounding them. “Hard to believe that now.”
“Well nigh impossible,” Griffin agreed. “At any rate, the calendar stones at Nabta Playa were positioned to keep track of the equinoxes and solstices much like other megaliths around the world. Additionally, stones erected at the center of the circle were used to mark the position of stars in the constellation of Orion. That would explain why our
