Several days later...
Minak-Osiris gritted her teeth. "What I don't get (pant, pant)... is why we (pant, wheeze) have to help with the constructions of Amisis' goddamned cube (pant, pant, wheeze)."
"Don't complain," Horei groaned as she helped her two friends pull the wooden cart with the incredibly heavy stone blocks to the construction site of the 'Cube of Amisis'. "After all, whose fault is it that we are in debt to the Pharaoh and queen?"
"Oh, just the fault a certain, blonde, very clumsy girl - whose name I diplomatically won't state - who turned the queen's last birthday festivities into a chaotic mess?"
"Oh sure, blame me for what happened," Minak grumbled. "How was I supposed to know that the Pharaoh keeps such dangerous pets in his palace?"
"Minak, you set the Pharaoh's captured crocodiles free," Ptah-Koto sighed. "It normally IS common knowledge that they are not as harmless as a kittycat, right?"
Minak-Osiris mumbled something intelligible, but decided to keep her mouth shut for now and continued to pull the stone blocks to where they were needed.
----
And after a month and several weeks of hard work...
"See, my Pharaoh?" Amisis proudly said as she looked up at the impressive, multi-colored cube that was looming over their heads. "It has been a hard piece of work, but in the end, we finally made it."
"We?" Minak grumbled. "She only stood at the sidelines and gave us commands..."
Pharaoh Mam-Or-Amun and his wife Serenitete were overwhelmed. "Yes..." the Pharaoh said with a smile. "This is truly a monument you can be proud of, Amisis."
Amisis beamed at her Pharaoh upon hearing the praise. She then gestured at six levers that were situated near the colossal block.
"The first three levers move the horizontal parts of the cube... and the other three move the vertical parts."
"Very interesting," the Pharaoh nodded. "I have to give it a try."
The Pharaoh, his wife, the young architect and the three servants approached the six levers, then Mam-Or-Amun stepped forward and took one of the levers into his hand.
He looked at Amisis and his wife, nodded... and pressed the lever forward.
A deep and hollow rumbling echoed over the small valley, in which the enormous cube was situated... as one of the multi-colored parts slowly turned around, as if moved by the invisible hands of the gods.
"Absolutely incredible..." the Pharaoh said in awe. He grinned and reached for another handle, slowly moving one part of the cube after another, until his wife joined the fun and moved the horizontal parts, while her husband was moving the vertical parts.
"Looks like they're having fun," Ptah-koto observed.
"Sure, the members of upper nobility always have the fun and exciting playthings..." Minak pouted.
In the late evening, the queen and Pharaoh were finally satisfied. Mam-Or-Amun stepped back and nodded. "It's impossible to find the correct combination," he proudly stated. "Truly, Amisis... you can be proud of yourself! No one will ever reach the treasures of our kingdom, hidden in there."
"You already brought your treasures into the cube?" Horei asked in surprise.
"Yes, the last sack of gold has been brought into the treasure chamber within the cube last night," the queen explained.
"Now I want to see if everything is were it's supposed to be," the Pharaoh stated. "Amisis, what was the combination again?"
"Um, I don't have it memorized... but that's no problem. Your servants should have the papyrus on which I wrote the correct combination."
"Oh, thank goodness," Serenitete sighed, then giggled. "I was almost afraid all of our gold would be trapped inside that cube, and we wouldn't be able to get in. Girls, can you please give us the papyrus?"
"Sure," Horei nodded. "Ptah-koto, you have it, right?"
"Me?" the brunette girl wondered. "I thought you were the one who had it."
Hore shook her head. "No, I gave it to you just before I got that nasty cold and had to call in sick for several days, remember?"
"Oh, you're right! Um, where did I put it...? Ah, right, I gave it to Minak, she seemed so fascinate with the cube."
The Pharaoh smiled. "Oh, good. Well, Minak-Osiris... can we have it?"
Minak-Osiris was already searching through the pockets of her clothes, and suddenly, she had a very alarmed look on her face. "Uh-oh..."
"Uh-oh?" Horei frowned. "What do you mean, 'Uh-oh'?"
Minak gulped. "Well... we have a small problem here..."
"What do you mean?" the queen asked in confusion.
Minak-Osiris laughed nervously. "Um, I just remembered where I put that papyrus..."
"And where?" the king asked with a frown.
Again, the blonde servant gulped. "Please, promise you won't be upset, my Pharaoh..."
"Enough of this! WHERE?"
Minak slowly raised her index finger. "I believe it's in there... in that big cube."
And only a few seconds later, the inhabitants of the capital city all wondered if there was an earthquake... not knowing that the vibrations they felt were just the result of five people falling down on their backs with a humongous facefault.
----
Setsuna took another sip from her cup of tea. "And so, poor Minak-Osiris was commanded to tear down the entire cube with a single hammer the queen handed her personally... all by herself."
Minako and Usagi blinked. The others simply stared.
"So... and how come they still built the pyramid instead of the cube?" Usagi asked. "They could have always rebuilt the thing, right?"
Setsuna shrugged. "Well, after all what happened, Pharaoh Mam-Or-Amun was fed up with such modern contraptions like the Cube of Amisis... and in the end, he ordered the skilled and adept - and very good-looking, if I may say so - architect Bastet-suna to build her pyramid. For several years, the Great Pyramid of Giza served as the Pharaoh's treasure room... but in the end, it was being used as a tomb for one of his descendants. That's all."
The other Senshi exchanged a worried look.
"Setsuna..." Rei carefully spoke up. "Please tell us one thing..."
"And what is that?" the Senshi of Time asked.
"Do you really think we believe one single part of your story?" the raven-haired Shinto priestess asked in irritation.
Setsuna took another sip before answering: "Well, believe what you want to believe. I can just tell you what I saw through the Gates of Time. Now, do you want to hear the rest of the stories? Or do you think it's a waste of time, as you wouldn't believe me anyway?"
"Oh no, please go on," Ami pleaded. "Your story was indeed very, uuuh... exceptional. But, to tell you the truth, it was such an exciting story... I don't care if it happened like this or not." The blue-haired girl smiled at Setsuna. "I must say I'm very curious about the other six stories."
"Ami's right," Usagi nodded. "That story was so cool..."
Minako huffed. "Sure, because you were the queen and Ami the architect... and who was I? The clumsy sidekick who always messes things up."
"Well, then not much has changed over the centuries, right?" Artemis asked. "OW!" He then rubbed his head, right where his blonde protege had just slugged him.
"Well then, the second story..." Setsuna spoke up. "It's about my favorite Wonder of the World, to tell the truth. It is the story of..."
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(Posted Thu, 08 Mar 2007 21:59)
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