Time Benders (6 page)

Jeff tugged on the stone and opened the tunnel. “Where exactly are we going?”

“Back to our room. If my equipment’s still there I’m going to try contacting the Time Bender.”

“What if it doesn’t work?”

“Then we better look for a fast camel.”

“It’ll just take a minute,” Jeff said.

“We don’t have time. The guard could sound the alarm at any second.”

“That ball is special,” Jeff insisted. He moved out from their hiding place behind a giant urn. “I’ll just sneak it out of the dining hall and then we can go.”

He crept up next to the door and peeked around the corner. Everyone had gone and the basketball was sitting on the table in plain sight. Jeff tiptoed over and grabbed it.

“So, you have managed to escape.”
Horemheb was standing in one of the side doorways. He pulled a sharp, short sword from his belt. “How appropriate that I shall be the one to catch you.”

Jeff edged toward the main entrance, where Zack was waiting. “Wait a minute, General. Can’t we talk this over?”

“Only if you find yourself able to speak without a head on your shoulders.” Horemheb started for him.

“Run, Jeff!” Zack shouted.

Jeff blasted around the table, trying desperately to keep some space between himself and the general.

“You cannot escape me!” Horemheb jumped, landing in the center of the massive table. “Your fate is sealed.”

Jeff slid beneath the table, crawled to the end, and came out on the other side.

“No more games.” Horemheb waved the sword.

Jeff raised the basketball over his head, drew back, and slammed it as hard as he could into the general’s stomach. Then he ran like mad for the door.

“Guards!” Horemheb choked out. “Stop him!”

Zack led the way down the hall and almost ran head-on into two guards who had heard Horemheb call for help. “This way,” he shouted, and ducked into the closest exit.

The angry soldiers stood at the opening but did not attempt to follow them in.

Jeff looked behind him. “That’s strange. They’re not coming after us.”

“It’s not strange considering where we are. Look around. We’re in the girls’ section. The harem.”

Jeff stopped running.

Several frightened females dashed behind tall screens to hide themselves from the intruders.

“Go after them!” Horemheb had recovered and was standing in the doorway. “That’s an order.”

“This way, Jeff!” Zack found a passageway leading to one of the courtyards.

“Right behind you.”

They came to two doors. Zack chose the left
one. It was locked. He quickly tried the right. It was locked too. Horemheb and the guards were right behind them.

“Jump, Zack!” Jeff hopped up on the wall and helped Zack over.

They found themselves in another garden.

“Great. Now what?” Zack searched for a way out.

“This way.” Ankhesenpaaten was sitting in the garden. She pointed to a passageway. “It leads to my rooms. Brown Jeff Brown will know the way from there.”

Horemheb and the soldiers scrambled over the wall.

“Hurry,” Ankhesenpaaten whispered. Then she shouted, “The prisoners have escaped! Help!”

Jeff ran through the queen’s suite and down the hall. “Here’s our room. You fire up the computer and I’ll try and keep them out.”

He edged the heavy bed over in front of the door and stacked a wooden table and two chairs on top of it.

There was a creaking noise outside the
door. It was Horemheb and his men. “Call the entire king’s guard and bring a battering ram,” Jeff heard Horemheb order.

“I don’t want to rush you or anything,” Jeff said, leaning with all his weight against the door. “But we have a little problem here.”

Zack wiped his forehead. “I don’t get it. I was sure it would work. The satellite dish
should
function as the necessary conductor.”

There was a loud thud and the door opened a few inches. “Again! Hit it again!”

Jeff’s mind raced. He had been responsible for getting them here. Now he had to do something. His eyes fastened on the crocodile statue. “That’s it!”

He grabbed the crocodile and jammed it by its tail into the satellite dish.

The door broke off its hinges and crashed to the floor, smashing the furniture to kindling.

Horemheb stepped into the room.

It was empty.

“Now, if you’ll all come this way …”

Zack opened his eyes. “We’re back!”

A big grin spread across Jeff’s face. “You did it, genius.”

“It was your quick thinking that did the trick.”

“Excuse me, gentlemen, but you’re holding up the tour.” The guide cleared his throat. “In this area we are conducting experiments dealing with time and space. Once again, feel free to look, but don’t touch.”

“Do you get the feeling we’ve been here before?” Jeff asked.

Zack nodded. “The Time Bender must have a glitch in it. We came back earlier than we left. This is the same tour we took before.”

The group of students wandered through the room looking at the various workstations.

Zack and Jeff rushed to the back and found Dr. Cranium seated at the Time Bender. He glanced up at them. “Are you the ones interested in time bending?” His eyes traveled to the fiber rod sticking out of the top of the machine.

“He knows,” Jeff muttered.

The old scientist’s eyes lit up. “What was it like? You found the secret!”

“We have a lot to tell you, Dr. Cranium. The main thing is that your machine definitely works. We traveled all the way back to the time of King Tut.” Zack beamed.

“Shhh!” the doctor warned. “We can’t tell anyone about this yet. They would try to steal it. I’ll meet you later, after the presentation, and you can tell me all about your adventures. Go now. Your group is leaving.”

“Right,” Zack agreed. “We’ll meet you here as soon as it’s over.” The boys drifted out the door behind the rest of the group.

“He sure is gonna be surprised when we tell him what we’ve seen.” Jeff pretended to bounce a basketball down the hall.

“Too bad you didn’t get to bring your ball back with you,” Zack said sympathetically. “I feel kind of bad about that.”

“Aw, don’t worry about it. Someday I’ll get another one.” Jeff stopped. “Wait a minute. Are we going where I think we’re going?”

Zack nodded. “To the presentation dinner.”

“Not me.” Jeff turned and started back in the direction of the laboratory.

“Where are you going?”

“Back to the Time Bender. I’m gonna try and talk it into taking us to the future. Maybe it’ll drop us off at an arcade.”

“Us?”

“Sure. You don’t want to go to that dumb old dinner any more than I do.”

“You’ve got a point there.” Zack hurried to catch up with him. “You know, theoretically,
we could spend the whole rest of our lives doing this.”

“Why not? I just happen to be free for the next hundred or so centuries.” Jeff stopped at the laboratory door. “
Time Benders
—it has a nice ring to it.”

WRITE LIKE AN EGYPTIAN

The ancient Egyptians had their own unique form of writing called hieroglyphics. They used pictures and symbols in place of words. For example, a picture of an owl was used to represent the sound of the letter
M
. A bow-shaped drill for making fire meant
prosperity
. And a drawing of an index finger stood for the number 10,000.

You and your friends can invent your own hieroglyphics, or secret code, that only you can understand. It isn’t hard. First, make up symbols to stand for each of the letters of the alphabet. Once you make up this code, you’re ready to begin writing messages that will keep everyone guessing.

Here’s one to get you started. Each number in the following message represents a letter. (Hint: The most commonly used vowel is replaced by the number 5.) If you get stumped, turn the page for the answer.

Once you’ve cracked this code, you and your friends can create your own secret code!

Dear Readers,

I sincerely hope you enjoy the World of Adventure series. Happy code breaking.

Gary Paulsen

Don’t miss all the exciting action!