The CERN Revelation

The CERN Revelation: Chapters 10,11,12

CHAPTER TEN

West Bank of the Nile. Valley of the Kings. Egypt.

The Mortuary Temple of Queen Hatshepsut was located beneath the cliffs at Deir el Bahari on the west bank of the Nile near the Valley of the Kings. The temple was dedicated to the sun god Amon-Ra and was next to the temple of Mentuhotep II, considered one of the "incomparable monuments of ancient Egypt."

* * *

Pickaxes and shovels sang as they reverberated off rock and stone. Hundreds of Egyptian excavators tore at a wide expanse of desert, working furiously in the searing midday heat. As far as the eye could see, teams of diggers brought up clouds of dirt almost blotting out the sun.

Through the wind-whipped dust, a tall, thin, barefoot man rushed across the dig site, almost falling amidst the mounds of dirt, scattered rock, and scaffolding in his haste.

"Sahib, Sahib," he called out as he approached the tent of the expedition leader.

Father Vesteri, hearing the commotion, quickly stood and threw back the flap of the tent that was keeping out the worst of the heat and blowing sand.

The priest was forty-five years old, a shade under six feet, with the body of a day laborer rather than an ordained minister. His black hair, while still full, was cut short. He possessed patient, hazel eyes, a classic Roman nose, and a wide mouth with thin lips. Vesteri was a priest who questioned everything in the material world, while unequivocally accepting the word of God.

"Di cosa si tratta?" Vesteri asked, forgetting that the man only spoke broken English, certainly not Italian. "What is it, Anpu?" the priest asked in English, his attention diverted from the site plans covering the large wooden table.

The Father had now been at the dig three months every year for ten years. It was hard work in difficult conditions for a man approaching mid-life. He was still strong due to the requisite physical labor, but at times he asked himself whether he was an archeologist on leave from the Vatican, or a priest doing God's work in the desert.

And he often questioned himself further: had he made the right decision opting to become a priest against the wishes of his mother and father who saw in him the makings of a first-rate geologist after graduating MIT with degrees in geology and archaeology.

Even his sister pleaded for him to give up what the family called "the crazy idea of following the Lord." At the time, twenty years ago, he had no doubt the Lord was calling him, and that his family just did not understand. But every moment since then he had been haunted by doubts: did he let his family down? Did he disregard other voices and only hear God's? And who could say it was the Lord? Maybe it was just his subconscious. Every day, every assignment by the church provided another opportunity for reflection and his self doubt grew as he sacrificed ever more to narrow the distance between himself and his God.

"Sahib," Anpu began, then hesitated. He took several deep breaths and started again. "They have uncovered something."

Vesteri looked into the eyes of his head digger and saw something he had not seen before: fear. This in a man whose name meant "God of the Dead."

"Ciò che, Anpu? What?" Vesteri asked, rolling up the chart.

"It is a sign, Sahib," the man panted, struggling to catch his breath.

"Dove? Where?"

"On the fifth level of excavation."

Vesteri's head snapped up. "Show me now!"