Sandstorm/Part 4 plot

Part 4

Omaha slowed the van at the top of the pass. This was the last palce. Omaha was a little cautious. The place was Wadi Dhikur, the vale of Remembrance. The cliffs to either side are an ancient graveyard, said Barak. There were five of them. Omaha, Danny, Coral, Clay, and Painter.

Only the local Shahra tribe had known this route down the mountains to the desert, collecting frankincense from the trees.

He drove forward and stopped when a pair of bedouin appeared. They hit a pillar when Omaha stopped too quickly. Ancient Prayer stones. He continued down the road. More and more refugees left with camels and items as they fled the storm, heading to higher storm. Just now, they reached the Rub' al-Khali, the empty Quarter. With the distance they covered, they had enough for 30 kilometers, maybe. With the storm looming, they had no time for wrong turns.

7.14 A.M.
Safia marched with Kara down another tunnel. They had been walking for the past 3 hours. The entire clan was on the move. All the rahim was hooded in cloacks. Safia took note. The entire tribe looked almost identical to each other, although with minor variation. Some with long hair and others shorn short – despite that, basic features were strikingly similar.

Lu'lu, the tribe's hodja, kept pace. She had to organize the tribe to go along with them as it was a momentous occasion. Kara asks questions and the hodja revealed. They are of the blood of Biliqis, the Queen of Sheba, although there many descendants, only 36 remained. They are blessed with the gifts of Ubar, and possibly half-bloods had some. They had tested it on Safia, who had it after she had survived a bombing in Tel Aviv. Lu'lu reveals that they were the ones who tried to collect Omaha and Danny earlier but they had broken out due to talents. Although this failed, they had sent a carpet viper to test Safia, although it posed no risk. Lu'lu also reveals they are able to reproduce without a man. They are able to redirect their gifts inward, allowing them to concieve with their own genetic code. Essnetially the daughter is a genetic duplicate of the mother. They traced their ancestry to one woman: the Queen of Sheba After the explanations, things had to be done.

One carried the spear and another carried the iron heart. The carried the items to a statue. They reached the Gates of Ubar.

7:33 A.M.
Painter had to get moving. The road gave way to sand, causing the van to get stuck. Looking around, the group could only see dunes and desert.

Omaha spots the Oasis of Shisur. Painter spots a helicopter. The cargo they had were helpful, including a ground penetrating radar. They set off climing dunes, and were exhausted when they climed a low dune and found buildings. They reached the village of Shisur.

The village was deserted. Omaha and looked around.

Painter inquires where are the ruins. Omaha points it out. A small tower of crumbling rock poked above the flat sands. The Citadel of Ubar. Most of the ruins are hidden below, out of sight. As they looked at the citadel, crackles of static electricity danced where the storm met the sands.

8:02 A.M.
Safia had not expected this mode of transportation, especially for a clan whos bloodline ranback to the Queen of Sheba. They rode on dune buggies. Everyone else followed in dune buggies. This was unexpected, as Kara nad Safia expected camels. Safia was worried the ruse she gave Cassandra would not last long.

Scouts reported a bluie eurovan stuck in sand. It was their friends Painter anf riends, in Shisur. The drove to Shisur. Empty. To the north sat the ruins of the Citadel of Ubar.

Looking around, Safia looks at the village, movement having caught her attention. A figure appeared with his head wrapped in headdress. Omaha.

Safia ran to him with tears in his eyes. However, he warned her to “hold it right there”, right as rifles appeared.

It was a trap. Someone grabbed her by the air and stuck a knife to her throat. Omaha explains someone, who looks like her, took a friend of hers, saying he doesn't forget the face of someone who tried to kidnap him. Taking her headdress off, Omaha realizes it was Safia, and Painter lets go. Safia explains there is a lengthy story to the friends.

8:22 A.M.
Cassandra stepped up to the tent. They had a plan to dig real soon and leave before an yone knew of their excavation. That was the intended goal. Kane reports they picked up her signal, only six miles away in the town of Shisur. She immediately realizes Safia duped them, commanding everyone to get everything ready within 10 minutes, regardless of the incoming storm. As much as she wanted to press the detonator to kill Safia, she doesn't as she wants Painter to see.

The gift of the Rahim allowed them to project their will on the minds of other minds: The sipler the beast, the easier to control. The Rahim were able to hide their own forms, although clothes hampered their efforts, so they had to it naked. mmmmmmmm

Chapter 17 Picking a Lock
=== December 4, 9:07 A.M. Shisur Safia is ready. Stories were exchanged and Painter was indeed intrigued. They climbed the steep trail to the hilltop fortress. In the 10 years since Safia visited the site, archaeologists had cleaned some of the ramparts and partially rebuilt some stuff. The piled stones had been fitted back together like a jigsaw puzzle.

The stories were somewhat difficult to believe. Safia notied Painter was somewat incrdulous and was impressed at the technology the Rahim had. Everyone had split into teams and agreed to split up to search for an ything of significanceo. After 45 minutes, they all meet up.

Ubar had stories. They being their search. Barak started searching. Painter and Clay set up ground-peetrating radar as she instructed.

Safia tried to think of something that would involved the keys to solve something, although it would be “too modern”. Safia soon realizes the answer.

9.32 A.M.
Painter got the Rad-X scanner that was found in the SUV used by Cassandra. It was around a pit in the main chamber. The main pit trigered reactions on the sacnners and they dug. Thinking forward, th team realizes the sinkhole was a reason Ubar was sealed, and the wealth of Ubar lay elsewhere. The Queen of Sheba had prepared keys and locations to protect the source of the power from the rest of the world. The queen deliberately caused the sinkhole to collapse. Soon enough, something was discovered. Frankensense.

9:45 A.M.
Cassandra clutcher he rlaptop as the tractor went over dune after dune. They were only 20 minutes away from Shisur. On her computer were feeds for data. One of them was the location of Dr. Safia al-Maaz. Within were John Kane and his men, reading weapons. They were the best of the best. Safia had discovered treasure and she was to steal it from her. She then tensed. Dr. al-Maaz disappeared from the map.

9:53 P.M.
Safia hung from the caving ladder. They climbed down. Triliths were everywhere. Safia and omaha tells Painter he needs to guard th eplace as Cassandra will come and that the field was their expertise.

Safia and Omaha go to search for clues. Symoblism was important and they discovered them.

10:18 A.M.
Painter fought the storm outside. Listening around, he momentarily heard a deeper rumble sound. This was different from the constant sandstorm roaring around him. He walks up to Coral, who asks him “What's wrong”

10:22 A.M.
All the trucks gathered in the lee of a dune.Men got out. John Kane notifies Cassandra the team reached the town and have took positions on it. They need two helicopters in the air, and they had brought two of the best pilots.

10:25 A.M.
Omaha watched Safia crwal on her knees, looking around. They laid out keys, to figure out which ones match celestial bodies, the one being Venus. Feeling the wall, Omaha pulled his ifnger free and helped her insert its end into the hole. Swalled away, The iron heart fit in indentations in the wall, ina manner that is to the queen. Now, they needed shining to work. Flashlights shown onto the wall, shining and showing a mass of iron in the shape of a bull. Sada, the moon. The sun shines through and lights up. The chamber soon received new wind from the roof as a new light shone.

10;47 A.M.
Omaha pushes Safia aside as a helicopter shown a light through the roof. As they notice, the three k keys are drawing electricity out of the air. The bull gew to glow a bit in the room's center. Sandstoe was a great nonconductive insulator. The room was forming into a ball of energy, trapped. This reminded Safia of the British Museum. Omaha tells Safia to leave as a they think a bomb was close enough to be activated, is it is about to explode.

Death waited above and as surely as it did below.

Chapter 18 Down the Rabbit Hole
=== <small December 4, 11:02 A.M. Shisur Painter lay flat on the roof ot he cinter-block building, bundled himself together. He didn't want any tell tale flapping of material to reveal his position. He waited to try and shoot the helicopter.

Coral radios saying the hostiles are doing a building-by-building search. The others are ready. The storm could cover their retreat. He had set a plan and waited to put it in motion. He tells Coral to set the thing loose. It was a sand cycle to run by itself, running by itself through an alley through the buildings. The helicopter followed and shot. Painter used the sniper to shoot a the helicopter, feeling the recoil. He didn't wait as he pulled off 3 more shots. A heartbeat later, an explosion lit the story, the helicopter exploding. It fell from the sky and crashed. He yells into the radio to go.

11:12 A.m.
Omaha and Safia ran. The helicopter was behind the.

11:13 A.M.
Cassandra was mad things went wrong. They went forward. Cassandra tells the forces to attack. == 11:15 A.M. === Painter lead the others out of the village. Rockets and mortars were fired, some firepower that surprised Painter.

11:17 A.M.
Safia huddled with Omaha. An explosion was heard. A crack occurred above and a rocks fell around. The earth shifted. The citadel was coming down.

11:21 A.M.
Painter reached the edge of the sinkhole. A column of cerluean fire exploded. The fire struck the last helicopter, knocking it skyward. It crashed in a wash of red flame. From the sinkhole's south rim, Painter watched the ruins of the citadel being a slow tumble into the pit. As it tumbled, Safia and Omaha appeared.

11:22 A.M.
Both were dazed. They had to ru n.

11:33 A.M.
Painter raced into the sinkhole. Coral came to the rescue on her bike. She gets Painter to get on and they head out of the immediate vicinity.

11:23 A.M.
Cassandra was surprised. They needed everythin to be all in or nothing. ==11:26 A.M. === everything was calm for now. Now that the Ubar now open, the Rahim would not leave as they would bring the whole tribe down.

Cassandra wanted a fight. Safia lead the people. They realize a sinkhole was covered by a tractor and a sandbike. The sinkhole was vulnerable and the tunnel entrace had rock. Cassandra realizes the sand bikes there was a ruse and they had been used as a diversion. And Painter had come.

11:52: A.M.
Painter fought Kane. He had come to fight and when Cassandra left the vehicle, allowing him to enter. Now he entered the truck, fighting to kill each other. Painter managed to get into achoke hold on John Kane, and slammed the man's head against metal, knocking him out, and dead. The leopard had injured the man earlier so it helped him.

Before he couldu do much, automatic gunfired hit the truck. He took the truck and moved it. However, Kane woke up and pulled his leg. He got up, kicked Kane and snapping his neck, killing him. He got the tractor toward the sinkhole. Unfortunately, he fell and was taken captive by Cassandra.

To be continued
in Part 5