to the jungle, Jack? To find Katya’s uncle? To find what he was after? The elusive treasure?”
Jack stared at the map for a moment, then looked out of the lab at the open door of his day cabin. “There’s more to it than that. A lot more.” He glanced at the clock. “We’re due at Arikamedu early tomorrow morning. Before that, there’s something I want you all to see. A little treasure trove of my own.”
T HE GREAT BRONZE DOORS OF THE CHAMBER SWUNG shut, and the heat and smell of the desert were instantly gone. The man inside pressed the remote control, and a thin shaft of light lit up the long black slab of the table and the high recesses of the ceiling above. Then it was gone, and darkness enveloped him, a darkness so complete it seemed to suppress his very being, to make him at one with the elemental force around him. He was sitting cross-legged on the cool marble floor, his palms turned upward in the lotus position, the silk of his robe sliding against his skin when he reached down to the control pad. For years he had played, created, in front of a screen, always yearning to be within, and now he was here, controlling a world of imagery and sensation that seemed one step from the celestial existence that would soon be his.
He had already set the sequence in motion. It would prepare him for what was ahead, cleanse him, focus him, as it had done countless times before when he had come to this place. From somewhere in the darkness came a trickling sound, then the noise of a small waterfall, just enough to conceal the sound of his own breathing, to remove all sense of himself He felt the strength course through him, shuide , the power of water. He closed his eyes, and sensed them all, wu de , the five powers, earth, wood, metal, fire, water, each one overcoming the last, just as the dynasty of Qin had overcome the reviled Zhou, the power of water extinguishing the power of fire. And with the power of water had come darkness, a time of inchoate forms, of endless winter, of death, a sweeping away of all that had been. And into this emptiness had come Shihuangdi , the First Emperor, the Celestial One, who had remade the universe in his own image, a universe where his will was felt in every corner of existence, a will that none could escape. And now the Brotherhood, in the sixty-sixth generation since the tomb had been closed, prepared for the moment when the celestial universe of Shihuangdi would fold out into reality, when his earthly warriors would ride once again. But before then they had one final task. That was why he had summoned the others here today.
The man opened his eyes. A cool alpine breeze had come upon him, bringing with it the sweet fragrance of mountain flowers. The darkness was gone, replaced by a thin, crepuscular light, and he had the sensation of being raised high into the sky, of levitating. The image of a mountainous landscape appeared, projected as if wrapping around him, gnarled turrets of rock jutting out of a sea of cloud below, serried peaks visible in the distance, olive-green and pastel-brown, surmounted by leafy groves of emerald-green, coursed through with a fantastic architecture of villas and courtyards and pagodas, structures that blended in as if they were natural protrusions of the rock. This was what the First Emperor had seen. Shihuangdi , who went to the highest peaks in his realm, who claimed this space between heaven and earth as his own, who inscribed the rock with the record of his accomplishments, who proclaimed his power over earth and cosmos. The image receded into the background, and an inscription took its place, lines of white Chinese symbols against a dark background. The man began to whisper the words, sacred expressions of power:
Great is the virtue of our emperor
Who pacifies all corners of the earth ,
Who punishes traitors, roots out evil men
And, with profitable measures brings prosperity .
Tasks are done at the proper season ,
All things flourish and
Jack stared at the map for a moment, then looked out of the lab at the open door of his day cabin. “There’s more to it than that. A lot more.” He glanced at the clock. “We’re due at Arikamedu early tomorrow morning. Before that, there’s something I want you all to see. A little treasure trove of my own.”
T HE GREAT BRONZE DOORS OF THE CHAMBER SWUNG shut, and the heat and smell of the desert were instantly gone. The man inside pressed the remote control, and a thin shaft of light lit up the long black slab of the table and the high recesses of the ceiling above. Then it was gone, and darkness enveloped him, a darkness so complete it seemed to suppress his very being, to make him at one with the elemental force around him. He was sitting cross-legged on the cool marble floor, his palms turned upward in the lotus position, the silk of his robe sliding against his skin when he reached down to the control pad. For years he had played, created, in front of a screen, always yearning to be within, and now he was here, controlling a world of imagery and sensation that seemed one step from the celestial existence that would soon be his.
He had already set the sequence in motion. It would prepare him for what was ahead, cleanse him, focus him, as it had done countless times before when he had come to this place. From somewhere in the darkness came a trickling sound, then the noise of a small waterfall, just enough to conceal the sound of his own breathing, to remove all sense of himself He felt the strength course through him, shuide , the power of water. He closed his eyes, and sensed them all, wu de , the five powers, earth, wood, metal, fire, water, each one overcoming the last, just as the dynasty of Qin had overcome the reviled Zhou, the power of water extinguishing the power of fire. And with the power of water had come darkness, a time of inchoate forms, of endless winter, of death, a sweeping away of all that had been. And into this emptiness had come Shihuangdi , the First Emperor, the Celestial One, who had remade the universe in his own image, a universe where his will was felt in every corner of existence, a will that none could escape. And now the Brotherhood, in the sixty-sixth generation since the tomb had been closed, prepared for the moment when the celestial universe of Shihuangdi would fold out into reality, when his earthly warriors would ride once again. But before then they had one final task. That was why he had summoned the others here today.
The man opened his eyes. A cool alpine breeze had come upon him, bringing with it the sweet fragrance of mountain flowers. The darkness was gone, replaced by a thin, crepuscular light, and he had the sensation of being raised high into the sky, of levitating. The image of a mountainous landscape appeared, projected as if wrapping around him, gnarled turrets of rock jutting out of a sea of cloud below, serried peaks visible in the distance, olive-green and pastel-brown, surmounted by leafy groves of emerald-green, coursed through with a fantastic architecture of villas and courtyards and pagodas, structures that blended in as if they were natural protrusions of the rock. This was what the First Emperor had seen. Shihuangdi , who went to the highest peaks in his realm, who claimed this space between heaven and earth as his own, who inscribed the rock with the record of his accomplishments, who proclaimed his power over earth and cosmos. The image receded into the background, and an inscription took its place, lines of white Chinese symbols against a dark background. The man began to whisper the words, sacred expressions of power:
Great is the virtue of our emperor
Who pacifies all corners of the earth ,
Who punishes traitors, roots out evil men
And, with profitable measures brings prosperity .
Tasks are done at the proper season ,
All things flourish and
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