Time Benders Read online

  He looked back at Zack, who had typed something into the computer and was now wearing the time-bending headset. “Hey, what are you doing over there? The tour guide said this thing only worked in theory.”

  “I know. I’m just messing around. Don’t worry.” Zack set the clock back one minute and flipped the switch.

  Nothing happened.

  “I wonder what he’s overlooking.”

  “Who?” Jeff picked up a clear fiber rod from one of the tables and looked through one end.

  “Dr. Cranium. This machine is amazing but it still needs something to make it work.”

  “I don’t know about you, but I think I hear the arcade calling. Are you finished yet?”

  “Almost. Let me just write down a couple more things and we can go.”

  Jeff came closer to watch what Zack was doing and noticed a small round hole in the top of the Time Bender. He stuck the fiber rod in it and absently wound the hands of the clock backward as he watched Zack write. “This thing looks better with an antenna, don’t you think? Makes it seem more scientific.”

  “What’d you say?” Zack said vaguely, picking up his bag. “We can go now. I’ve learned about all I can from what’s here.”

  “Good.” Jeff moved back to give Zack enough room to take off the headset and get out of the small work space. But when he did, he accidentally leaned against the machine’s power switch.

  “Whooaa! What’s happening?” Zack reached for Jeff’s arm. “Stop this thing. I’m … I’m disappearing.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Zack was still hanging on to Jeff’s arm. But they were no longer inside the laboratory. They were standing beside a sandy desert road.

  Jeff’s mouth fell open and his basketball thudded to the ground. A strange noise to his right made him jump. It was a large water buffalo—a whole herd of them was grazing on a clump of grass near a river. And in the distance he could see a tall pointed mountain. “I get the feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”

  “We’re in Egypt.” Zack pointed at the outline of the mountain. “That’s a pyramid. I can’t believe it! This is all my fault. I set the Time Bender back for one minute in modern Cairo when I was goofing around in the lab.” Zack turned to Jeff. “Do you know what this means?”

  “We’re in big trouble?”

  “No.” Zack’s bag slipped from his fingers. “It means it works. Dr. Cranium’s machine actually works! You and I are the first-ever Time Benders. That river must be the Nile, and the city of Cairo must be just over that rise.” Zack shook his head as if to clear it. “Just wait till we get back and tell the doctor his experiment is a success. Too bad we don’t have time to look around. We could get a souvenir or something.”

  “Why don’t we have time?”

  “I told you. We only have one minute. We better stay right here so the machine will pick us up again.”

  “Uh, Zack, about the machine …”

  “Get ready.” Zack looked at his watch. “It’ll be transferring us back any second now.”

  One of the water buffalo made a contented mooing sound. Zack tapped his watch. “That’s strange. It should have picked us up by now.”

  “What if the machine had a problem?” Jeff asked sheepishly. “You know, what if it decided not to take us back?”

  “I guess in all the excitement I hadn’t thought about that possibility. You could be right, though. It might be too much to expect the Time Bender to work perfectly on its first try.” Zack reached for his duffel. “Don’t worry. My dad gave me his credit card. We’ll just walk into Cairo and book a flight back to D.C.”

  “I hope we can.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s the machine. You see, just before we disappeared I—”

  Thundering hooves pounded up the narrow road and left them in a choking cloud of dust.

  “That’s weird.” Zack looked puzzled as the cloud of dust roared past them. “I didn’t know they still used chariots in Egypt. And did you see the way that guy was dressed? He looked like something straight out of the history books.”

  “I saw it,” Jeff said miserably.

  “What’s wrong? I told you I could get us out of this. It’s not like we’re stuck here or anything.”

  Jeff wiped the perspiration off his forehead and looked down the road. Coming toward them at breakneck speed was another small group of chariots, pulled by large black horses. “How much do you know about ancient Egypt, Zack?”

  “Some. My dad’s an archaeologist and he’s taught me a little. Why?”

  “I could be wrong but it looks like whatever you know is gonna come in handy about now.”

  The chariots surrounded them.

  A fierce-looking man with huge muscles, a shaved head, and a solid gold band around his arm stepped down. He was wearing a short white skirt with gold braid hanging down the front. The man walked around them but kept his distance. When he had completed his inspection, his chin went up and he folded his arms. “I am General Horemheb, the true scribe, well beloved of the king, the two eyes of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, vice-regent of the great and powerful Tutankhamen, the chief intendant and the greatest among the favorites of the lord of the Two Countries.”

  Jeff whispered to Zack, “Do you think we’re supposed to clap or something?”

  Zack squeezed his eyes closed and then reopened them slowly. “This can’t be happening. It’s not real.”

  The leader raised his arm and two soldiers leaped from their chariots and shoved the boys, forcing them to bow all the way to the ground.

  “Feels real to me.” Jeff reached for his basketball.

  “It can’t be,” Zack whispered. “Did you hear what he said? He works for Tutankhamen.”

  “So?”

  “Tutankhamen ruled Egypt around 1360 B.C.”

  CHAPTER 7

  The prison door clanged shut behind them. Jeff picked himself up from the grimy corner where the guard had thrown him. “Are you all right, Zack?”

  “Yeah. But I just can’t believe how wrong this whole thing went. If we had just stayed at the presentation dinner, none of this would be happening.”

  “Who wants a stuffy old dinner when we can take a ride in an ancient Egyptian chariot? Besides, none of this is your fault.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Right before we disappeared I got this brilliant idea to make the Time Bender look better. So I stuffed one of those fiber rods down a hole in the top of it.”

  “A conductor?” Zack jumped to his feet. “All it needed was a conductor.” He frowned. “But that doesn’t explain the difference in time, unless—”

  “I sorta messed with the clock too. I’m not sure how far back I wound it.”

  “Well, I guess the good news is at least now we know the Time Bender’s not defective.”

  “Why is that good news?”

  “Because if the Egyptians will give us our stuff back, I have a shot at getting us home to our time.”

  “If we live that long. Look who’s coming.”

  A solemn-looking guard appeared at the door. “The great pharaoh Tutankhamen desires an audience with the lowly foreigners.”

  “Amazing.” Zack grabbed Jeff’s sleeve. “I just realized another side effect of time bending. This guy’s speaking Egyptian, and somehow we’re able to understand it!”

  “Great. Then we’ll be able to hear for ourselves when the king gives the order to chop off our heads.”

  The guard unlocked the door. “You will come with me.”

  They followed him up the same stone steps they’d been pushed down earlier. Only this time they took a different turn and entered a spacious room with golden walls.

  On a high platform at the top of three steps, seated on a carved throne, was the pharaoh. He was wearing a blue-and-gold headdress, and around his neck was a golden collar that fanned out over his shoulders. His eyes were lined with black, making them look almond-shaped and somber.

&nb
sp; The vice-regent, Horemheb, a group of guards, and three female attendants stood still at the side of the throne. The pharaoh snapped his fingers at one of the women and she began fanning him with peacock feathers.

  “There’s our stuff.” Zack pointed at a pile on the bottom step.

  “Prisoners will not speak without permission in the presence of the mighty pharaoh.” The guard pushed them forward. “Prisoners will pay homage to the king.”

  Jeff and Zack bowed.

  A young voice spoke to them. “You have permission to rise.”

  Jeff raised his head and stared into the face of the pharaoh. He couldn’t have been more than twelve years old! “Wait a minute, he’s a kid.”

  “Quiet.” The guard jabbed Jeff in the ribs with a wooden spear handle.

  The young ruler raised his jeweled hand. “I will allow these prisoners to speak.” He gave them a bored look. “First you will tell me what land you are from and then you will explain the meaning of these strange gifts.” He pointed to the pile on the step.

  Zack inched closer to his duffel. “We have traveled far, Your Highness. Our country is a distant land in the West called the United States. But these things are not worthy enough to be gifts for the great pharaoh. They are our simple belongings. The only gift we have for you is to share our knowledge of life in the West.”

  “They are gifts,” Tutankhamen insisted loudly. He scooted to the edge of his throne with an angry frown. “And you will now explain to the court how they work.”

  “We better go along with this for now,” Jeff whispered. “The kid is starting to get upset.”

  “But I have to have that equipment or we might not get home,” complained Zack.

  “Let me try something.” Jeff picked up his CD player. “Listen to this, Your Highness.”

  Before he could get close to the pharaoh, though, the guard held out a long spear to stop him.

  “Let him pass,” Tutankhamen snapped. The guard immediately moved aside.

  “You wear these round things on your ears like this.” Jeff placed the earphones over the king’s headdress.

  “It does nothing,” the pharaoh said, pouting.

  Jeff turned the CD player on and Tutankhamen’s eyes widened. “It is magic! How do you do this?”

  “Simple.” Jeff hit the Off switch.

  “You must be considered a very wise man in your country. What else can you show me?”

  “I can show you how to play the best game in the world.”

  Tutankhamen sat back, still examining the CD player. “Games bore me.”

  “This one won’t.” Jeff picked up his basketball and twirled it on one finger. “I’m gonna need some help to show you how to play it, though, Your Highness. Can you loan me a couple of your guards?”

  The pharaoh impatiently waved his hand and two guards set their spears aside and came forward.

  “Okay. Here’s the deal. You two guys have to keep me from taking this ball and …” Jeff looked around. Near the ceiling at one end of the court was a stone ring built into the wall sideways. “It’s turned the wrong way, but we’ll use it anyway. You guys try and keep me from putting this ball through that ring over there.”

  The larger of the two guards grabbed Jeff around the middle with one hand and easily took the ball away.

  “No. Not like that. Rule number one—you can’t touch the guy holding the ball.” The big guard set him down. “That’s more like it. Everybody ready?” Jeff started to bounce the basketball. The second guard reached for it but Jeff bounced it under one leg and skillfully moved out of his reach.

  The young pharaoh clapped. “Very good trick. Now what happens?”

  “Now we make a basket.” Jeff faked to the left and charged up the middle past the guards. At the end of the court he made a bank shot off the wall through the center of the stone ring. “Ye-es! Brown does it again.”

  There was a hint of a smile at the corners of Tutankhamen’s mouth. “This is an unusual game. You will teach the entire king’s guard to play.”

  “Your Majesty.” Horemheb stepped forward. “Do you think it is wise to trust these foreigners to remain in the palace? They could have been sent here as spies.”

  “Silence. It will be as I command.” The king turned to Jeff. “What is your name, magician?”

  “Brown. Jeff Brown.”

  Tutankhamen stood. “Henceforth let it be known and understood throughout the land: Brown Jeff Brown is to be numbered among my chief wise men.”

  CHAPTER 8

  “Pretty nice room the king gave us, don’t you think? I mean, just look at the decorations. Who’s this statue supposed to be? The guy looks like a crocodile hanging on to a stick.”

  Zack didn’t answer. He had his duffel bag open and was busy taking out equipment. “Look, Jeff, my laptop computer still works.”

  “Do we have to do this now? I was thinking, since our lives aren’t in danger anymore, we could go but and have a look around. I thought we might check out some of the pyramids or the Sphinx or something.”

  “I don’t know. Did you see the way that Horemheb glared at us when Tut made you a wise man?”

  “The king’ll take care of him. What’s he gonna do anyway?”

  “If I remember my history right, Tutankhamen only lived into his late teens. When they found the body, his skull had been bashed in. The prime suspects were an elderly uncle, the queen, and Horemheb, who later became pharaoh.”

  Jeff cocked his head. “Did you say queen?”

  Zack nodded. “Tut’s married.”

  “To a girl?”

  “Of course to a girl. He married a twelve-year-old princess when he was nine or ten. They got married real young back then.”

  “I’ll say.” Jeff sat down on the hard wooden bed. “What makes you think Horemheb has it in for us?”

  “He just strikes me as the kind of guy who doesn’t like anybody to get in his way. To be on the safe side, I think we should get out of here as soon as we can.”

  Jeff sat for a few minutes watching Zack hook some wires up to the computer. He sighed. “Since one of us doesn’t seem to be of much use here, I’m going to go look around. But don’t worry, I’ll stay out of trouble.”

  Before Zack could protest, Jeff was out the door. He found a doorway to an open courtyard and was about to step into it when he saw a girl about his age sneak across the flower garden and stop at the gate. She carefully looked both ways and then slipped through.

  Jeff trotted across the courtyard after her and peered over the gate. He saw the girl’s back disappear through a door in the side of a large building down the road.

  It took two full seconds for him to decide to follow her.

  The door she’d gone through led to a dim corridor lit by a single torch at the far end. Jeff could hear muffled voices coming from somewhere in front of him, and he moved toward them.

  From out of nowhere a small hand slid into his and began pulling him through a hidden door. He started to protest but the girl put a finger to her lips.

  She led him up a flight of stairs to a dark balcony from which they could clearly see the room below. General Horemheb was talking with several men dressed like priests in white robes.

  “Isn’t it enough that his father was a heretic? Why can’t you use that against him? The people will revolt.”

  “My Lord Horemheb,” the oldest priest replied. “As you are fully aware, we are behind your efforts to unseat the boy. Egypt is far too great a prize for a child. The problem is that he is a favorite among the masses. They consider his reign to have brought good luck and prosperity to the land.”

  “Are you saying,” Horemheb stormed, “that you will not help me denounce him?”

  “We are merely suggesting, O wise and merciful general, that if the people were to perceive the young king as bad luck they would more readily turn against him.”

  “Hmmm.” Horemheb paced the floor. “We will start immediately. The work on the tomb will be stepped up
and food rations will be lowered. Grain prices will be increased and there will be stiffer penalties for nonproduction.”

  “Excellent plan, General.” The old priest coughed. “And when you have done these things we will step in and blame the boy. His days as ruler will be limited.”

  “Then, as vice-regent, I will be forced to take over as pharaoh.” Horemheb laughed. “And, of course, to assure my position as the new king I will naturally marry the grieving royal widow.”

  CHAPTER 9

  The girl pulled Jeff back into the hall, then led him through the courtyard to a maze of rooms and into a luxurious suite.

  “These are my private quarters, Brown Jeff Brown. We will not be disturbed here.”

  “How do you know who I am?”

  “Very few things can be kept a secret in the palace for long. I understand that you are a great magician and wise man from a distant land.”

  Jeff shifted uncomfortably as he looked at the girl sitting gracefully on a leather chair in front of him. She was gorgeous. Her hair was thick and black and her large eyes reminded him of dark pools.

  “The gods must have sent you to help me, Brown Jeff Brown. I am Ankhesenpaaten, wife of the pharaoh Tutankhamen.”

  “You’re the queen?”

  The girl nodded. “And now that you have heard for yourself the vicious treachery planned by the king’s trusted servant Horemheb, will you aid me in foiling his evil plans?”

  Jeff scratched his head. “That’s a tough one. You see, I promised my friend I’d stay out of trouble, and besides, he wants to leave as soon as …”

  A large tear slipped down the queen’s perfect face. “I suppose all is lost, then. I will simply have to adjust myself to the idea of marriage to … to General Horemheb.”

  “I don’t get it. Why don’t you just tell the king what’s going on?”

  Ankhesenpaaten wiped at her cheek. “It is not as easy as one might think. Horemheb was a great general under the king’s father. It was the old king’s dying wish that the general become the young king’s vice-regent. Tutankhamen would never believe that Horemheb would betray him.”