The sound of the dull thump seemed to linger longer than the crack of the bullet had. The gun had flared, and thunder had filled the chamber momentarily, followed by a flash as the bullet skittered across the wall in between the Doctor and Indiana Jones. The gun had flared, but the red head's aim had been disturbed as something barrelled into her left side and knocked her to the ground. She had missed her targets, and dropped the gun. The 'something' turned out to be a rather bewildered and exasperated looking little man in a cream wool suit.

 "Marcus?" Indy frowned.

 "Hello, Indy."

 "Marcus, how the hell did you get here?" Indiana's hand went to the whip at his belt.

 "On the train." Marcus was beginning to pick himself up. He looked down at the redhead, noticed she was reaching out for her gun.

 "Train?" Indy lashed out with the whip. It snatched at Cleo's hand, carving a bright vermilion trail from her thumb to her wrist.

 Indiana saw the gun rattle across the room to the Doctor's feet. The strange little man speared it with the point of his umbrella, flicked it into the air and caught it with his other hand. Hooking his umbrella into his jacket's breast pocket he ran his fingers over the gun. Within moments various dismantled bits fell to the floor. Then he started blowing his powder-burned fingers.

 "Yes, train. There's a track ten miles away. We hiked in from there."

 "We?"

 "Myself and a pair of local guides. They kept me up all night, showing me the sights of Macapa, otherwise I'd have been here earlier on. Those tribesmen said you'd come in here, it wasn't too hard to follow your path."

 "You can't do this to me," moaned Cleo. Indy was binding the woman's hands behind her back. "I am a powerful goddess. The treasures of this place are mine, mine by right. You're hurting my wrists."

 "I suggest we continue this outside," said the Doctor, stepping forward.

 "How do you do," said Marcus, "I'm Marcus?"

 "We'd gathered that," grinned Benny. She glanced at Indy, then walked over and linked arms with Marcus. "My hero."

 "Why were you in such a hurry to get out?" she whispered to him.

 He pointed into the sky. Benny glanced up in the direction he had indicated, a short way across from the sun. The moon was very high in the sky.

 "Oh," he said.

 "This place is mine," screeched Cleo, "I am the true inheritor of its legacy. I was displaced from my rule thousands of years ago, I have come to reclaim my birthright and former empire, and you cannot stop me. Now, untie my hands and your deaths shall be swift." She looked menacingly at Indy, behind her. He gave her a sharp push and she stumbled down the steps to the grassy ground below.

 The Gumme tribesmen appeared from the forest, stalking forward and smiling at the group. As they got closer they noticed that Cleo was bound. They pointed the spears they were carrying at the Doctor, Indy, Benny and Marcus. Marcus looked especially put out. Indy's hand went towards the holster on his belt, then he remembered he had lost his gun to the Nazis earlier. Benny caught his hand anyway, and they exchanged glances.

 "She tried to kill us," Benny announced to the tribe, stepping past Indy onto the top of the steps. They turned their spears on the prone form of Cleo.

 "They were trying to desecrate the tombs," she said. The tribe turned their spears on the academics.

 "We were not," snapped the Doctor.

 "She's the one trying to steal the temple's secrets," added Indy. And then Benny translated for him (well, spoke the words again) when she noticed the frowning tribe. Indy frowned too. Benny could see some inventive explaining ahead of her and the Doctor. The tribe turned their spears on Cleo again.

 "You've known me for a long time, these people only blundered in today. Who are you going to trust?" They turned their spears on the academics.

 "Look," said Benny as she reached the ground. She chanced a subtle glance up into the sky again. "What if I told you I could..."

 Cleo cut in: "I could put the sun to sleep, darken the eye of Horus and the image of Ra!"

 The tribe lowered their spears altogether. Cleo looked up into the sky and started chanting some unusual incantation. Benny supposed, given the translation problems, that it was invented. The assembled group, now added to by two strapping young men with glowing dark skin and smouldering eyes who had wandered over and waved to Marcus, all squinted into the sky.

 The moon seemed to be speeding towards the sun. It ran across the star, blocked its rays. The tribe produced and lit torches.

 "Oh yes, very good," said Xicowl, somewhat sarcastically Benny thought. "An eclipse. Most impressive. What powers you have," he faced Cleo rather dismissively. "But I hardly think it's your doing. We do already have one moon god here," he glanced at the Doctor, who shuffled uncomfortably and turned towards Marcus.

 "Did you say you had some tea, Marcus" he asked.

 "Ah, yes, indeed old boy." He took his right hand out of the pocket of his jacket and pointed at a small group of tents and his two young guides. "We set up camp when we got here."

 "Shall we refresh ourselves and watch the rest the rest of the eclipse?" The Doctor trotted off, and the rest of his merry little band followed submissively. Benny started reaching for her diary. Some members of the tribe helped Cleo to her feet and took her over towards the camp while the others made themselves comfortable on the pyramid.

 Indy turned back to face them. "There are some dangerous men in the woods," he said, and Benny repeated his words again in response to the tribe's frowns.

 "We know. We will deal with them. We will protect the pyramid at all costs."

 Benny 'translated' for Indy. He swallowed hard, then smiled and turned away.

 Things don't quite add up.

 OK, an Egyptian pyramid in South America. The outside I can just about take - architectural similarities already exist between the two distant peoples, thanks to the general physical universality of geometry and architecture, and the influence of two non-terrestrial races on the different human civilisations is well documented and could cement it. But what little we have so far discovered and documented from inside, and the layout and decoration, is just too much.

 The reason such designs are identifiably Egyptian (or Martian, with another level of interpretation and translation included) is the Osirian influence, and all accounts indicate that that was confined to the African subcontinent - they just weren't interested in other areas of the planet.

 For this temple to exist here is, itself, not impossible. But for it to have existed here and had no influence on the indigenous people other than the Gumme? If the Osirians were here, had this pyramid built and left their mark on the Gumme, why is there no trace of their presence in the wider architecture and culture of this continent? And given their attraction to cultures which have already attained a certain level of civilisation and a certain flavour of imaginative world-construction, why would they be in this area at all? (My theories as to the date of this temple would suggest it is too early to be linked to any of the local death cults, it may even predate anthropomorphic worship in this area completely - by about a millennia or so unless I miss my guess.) Of course, the local religions do have warring brothers and consort sisters, but so do most creationist myths, and those characteristics were projected onto the characters of Horus, Sutehk and Nephthys by various hominid thought-processes.

 Why did the Gumme let that "graverobber" (if, indeed, it was one) into the tomb? I can imagine that he posed as a body to trick us, but what was he after, and did he get it?

 The Gumme have intimated three times now that the Doctor is their moon god. Initially, given the proximity of Venezuela, I thought the tribe might be related to the Yanomami, which would make the Doctor Periboriwa, whose blood gave birth to humanity. Of course, they are nowhere near as fierce and warlike as the Yanomami (who, I seem to remember, held the conviction that one of their Moon spirit's descendants gave birth to docile men and to women), but it wasn't an impossible link (no less likely than this bloody great pyramid I'm looking at). However, they've never heard of Periboriwa. The Mesoamerican moon god, Tecciztecatl, presides over the Aztec death day - now there's a link to the Doctor, eh? But I can't see any cultural links between these people and the Aztecs at all.

 No, it seems they belong to various Egyptian Dynastic cults, things which really shouldn't be here - even if there was an Osirian influence, there is no way the religion and culture that grew out of earlier Osirian presence elsewhere on the planet could come to be here. Is there? So, anyway, they think he is Thoth - or, for that matter, Yah or Khonsu (or, for that matter, all three of them, and their various sub-personifications), but Thoth seems most appropriate.

 Thoth, scribe to the gods, by turns the sacred ibis and the chattering baboon. Thoth the 'peace of the gods,' Ra's deputy and the champion of Horus. Thoth had tenderness and cunning enough to charm Hathor back to Heliopolis. But Thoth could also be merciless, decapitating the enemies of truth and cutting off their heads. I'm not sure which idea I hate most: That the Osirian cults were able to predict the future and the Doctor's involvement in the legacies of the Osirian empire, or that the Doctor had dealing with the Osirian empire during its time on Earth. Of course, the Osirians, snobbish megalomaniacs that they were, would never tolerate the Doctor, so it would seem unlikely that he was around to rub shoulders with them and be as powerful as Thoth is supposed to have been. But then again, nobody is quite sure as to how the Osirians died out. Now there's an idea.

 [End of extract]

 There was a sound of gunfire outside. Benny stopped writing and ran to investigate.

 The Gumme had disappeared as fast as the bullets when the gunshot had first been heard. So much for them. He didn't even know which direction they'd run away in. Marcus, his guides and the two strangers had run straight from the camp and into the line of fire. They were surrounded now, two-dozen or so soldiers in dark green crotch-length jackets, khaki jodhpurs and soft khaki caps.

 Behind them, two officers strode out of the forest. They wore knee-length black boots, green-grey tunics and matching jodhpurs with the material stiffened at the thighs, and flat-fronted caps. The caps bore a distinctive insignia - an eagle over a swastika in a wreath of oak leaves. The tunics had open collars below which the men wore thing grey ties over white shirts. One was a lieutenant, the other a captain. Indy recognised the captain.

 "Zeitflur," he spat. The German's anaemic aquiline features made Indy shudder. It was only hours since he had faced torture at the hands of the captain.

 "Captain Zeitflur, I presume." The Doctor stepped forward. "I'm the Doctor, and these are my friends Benny and Marcus. I take it you know Doctors Jones and Shea already."

 "Shut up!"

 "I say, that's not very..." Marcus came to an abrupt end when he noticed many more of the guns were suddenly trained on him. The Doctor sipped from the cup of tea Marcus had given him earlier.

 "So, we meet again, Doctor Jones."

 "I knew he was going to say that," whispered Benny to no-one in particular.

 "Let us go or she dies." Jones shook Cleo a bit. Zeitflur began to laugh.

 "Doctor Jones, do you really think I care what happens to that young woman?"

 "She's your agent."

 "Agent," Cleo gagged. "I may be working with the Nazis, but I am nobody's agent! I co-operate at my discretion, and for my benefit. How else can I re-claim my empire and my glory? How else can I wreak my bloody revenge on the humanity that spurned me?"

 "You see, Jones? She is insane. And she has outlived her usefulness." Zeitflur was getting closer and closer to Jones and Cleo.

 "Insane? Insane? I'll give you insane!" Cleo pushed away from Indy and tried to bite Zeitflur. He struck her across the face with the full force of his arm and she fell to the floor.

 "You call her insane," said Indy, "have you ever heard one of your Fuehrer's speeches?"

 Zeitflur stepped forward and raised his hand to strike the archaelogist. Indy dodged the blow, leapt forward and tried to take Zeitflur the way he had Cleo, but before he could touch the German he found the muzzles of two pistols at his neck - one Zeitflur's and one his lieutenant's. Indy dropped his weapon and stepped back. Zeitflur bent down and picked up the knife.

 "A crude weapon," he sneered. The lieutenant kept his gun to Indy's throat while Zeitflur held the knife against the archaeologist's eye. He pressed, running it down the side of his cheek. It cut lightly into the flesh, producing a run of small cuts like shaving nicks.

 Quick as a flash, Marcus stepped forward but Benny stopped him, then she herself stepped forward but the Doctor stopped her. He went to speak.

 "Hauptmann Zeitflur!" The voice came from the edge of the forest. The assembled crowd turned to face it. It belonged to a tall and bullish man with high cheek bones, sunken cheeks, a flat nose and thick lips. He wore a dark-grey double-breasted leather overcoat, buttoned from the waist to just below the collar of his tunic. It had silver shoulder boards and wide lapels and looked somewhat the worse for wear, exuding a rusty hue. The right sleeve hung loose at his side, a bulge under the coat indicating that his arm was held across his abdomen. The top of his tunic was visible beneath the coat. It was buttoned to the neck and had a dark green, flat collar bearing a colonel's insignia. He had a peaked cap on his head. Bandages covered the right side of his head, hiding his eye and ear on that side. Scars ran down his right cheek to the corner of his thick mouth.

 "Herr Oberst," Zeitflur spluttered, swinging round snapping his heels together and saluting. "These... these prisoners have... they have..."

 "Zeitflur, your emotions will ruin this operation." The colonel's accent was more marked than the captain's.

 "Doctor Jones cannot help us if he is dead, now, can he?" The second voice came from a woman to the colonel's left. She wore dark-green leather trousers and a khaki hacking jacket slit at the sides. She looked to be in her early 50s, had greying blonde hair and light lines on her face. Her voice was husky and had a distinct South African accent.

 "He may not be able to help us at all." Zeitflur checked himself. "These others, these spies, they will..."

 "Will be dealt with in due course." The colonel stepped over to Jones. "So, the infamous Doctor Jones who has caused so much trouble for my associates on previous expeditions of a similar nature, yes? And three Britishers. Spies? I don't think so. Fools who have no idea what it is that they are involved in. But I have great respect for academics, and I perceive you are such." He took the group in with a sweep of his left hand. "I am Kraushaar, and I assure you that if you co-operate your time with us will be amicable. Perhaps they can be of assistance to us."

 The woman helped Cleo to stand.

 "Is that so, dear?" she asked her.

 "Yes, yes they know a lot about my temple."

 "Do you think they can help us, frauline Kael?" the colonel asked the woman.

 "Undoubtedly. With their help, the secrets of the pyramid will be ours even sooner."

 "What exactly do you hope to find inside?" asked the Doctor.

 "Why, the secrets of the Osirians, of course."

 The Doctor's face fell.

 "Techishe Nothilfe," the Doctor whispered to Benny, crooking one of the fingers clasped on his umbrella's handle under his chin to point at the newly arrived soldiers. "Paramilitary technicians. Very interesting."

 "Zeitflur is even more interesting."

 "Why?"

 "First Cleopatra Sheba, now Captain Time-Tunnel."

 "Ah." The Doctor considered a moment and then grinned to himself. "Someone once told me that names mean nothing."

 "But come on, she's Mrs Jack-of-all academia. Look at wonder woman over there, she thinks the world is revolving around her." The colonel had pacified Cleo, assured her that the German army held her in the highest respect and esteem and would ensure that she would be the patron and most-honoured of the third reich.

 Some soldiers waved their guns in the time travellers' direction, and they turned and followed Indy, Marcus and the rest of the Nazis towards the pyramid.

 "Her skills could be learned naturally."

 "Oh, yes, and she's the thousand year-old queen of Atlantis."

 "Well, perhaps she's been reading too much H. Rider Haggard..."

 "And let's face it, a little is too much in his case."

 "... But I do think you might be reading a little too much into her name."

 "Maybe she just desperately wants to be obeyed."

 "People do have unusual names, you know."

 "But her claims. She seems quite sane to me, frustrated but not schizophrenic, yet she's so convinced. Mesmeric influence?"

 "She's a little too emotional for Osirian mesmerics. But perhaps... no, it's useless to speculate."

 "No it isn't."

 "I can't help thinking that someone is trying to send me a message."

 "So, it is a con, then?"

 "I don't know. It's a puzzle. A game."

 "Well, that makes a change. Not, I trust, a game which will require you to destroy an entire solar system this time."

 The Doctor winced at her words, she could tell she that she had hurt him.

 "Move along, you two," ordered a Nazi soldier. "Into the pyramid." He pushed them forward with the side of his gun, and they re-entered the darkness.

 Man rejected the high gods, spurned the sun. Ra, displeased, disappointed. Angered. He was counselled, saw what must be done. Humanity was to be punished. Sekhmet, the powerful one. The raging lioness.

 Sekhmet, sent from Ra, stalked the Earth. Sekhmet avenged the gods. Sekhmet slaughtered rebellious humanity. Waded in their blood, sucked the juice from their bones. Sang songs and slaved souls.

 Ra, his anger withdrawn, decided to save humanity. Beer was made, seven-thousand jars. The beer was dyed, the colour blood-red. It was poured onto the Earth, a lake formed. A lake coloured blood.

 Sekhmet saw the lake. The raging lioness fell to the Earth, came upon the lake with thirst and lust. She lapped up the beer, became drunk. She forgot the slaughter, forgot the desire to hunt and to kill.

 Humanity safe from Sekhmet now, but from her did disease and death come into existence. Humanity had payed the price for its rebellion. Would do so for eternity, the gifts of the gods lost from its eyes.

 Sekhmet, peaceful and sleeping. Protected and safe, humanity still young. The raging lioness, blissful and sated, lies in wait. Humanity threatens the gods again she will wake and ravage the world. Do not disturb her rest. Be warned.

 "If these hieroglyphics are so ancient and unusual, so dissimilar to recorded Egyptian work, how is it that you understand them so readily?" Zeitflur looked at Benny accusingly. More accusingly than usual, she realised.

 "Simple," Kael stepped forward and indicated the Doctor and Benny. "Like us, they have seen the Command nineteen report on the Scarman incidents and discoveries. And, I imagine, have been privy to information your spies failed to find." It was Zeitflur's turn to be the subject of an accusatory stare. "Compared those with the accounts of Dobtcheff's expeditions. It seems your guess was right, Hauptmann. They are spies. After a fashion."

 "Oh I wouldn't say that," said the Doctor.

 "But you have read your government's findings, the secret documentation of Osirian artefacts and legacies and the theories about there influence." Kael seemed genuinely interested.

 "Perhaps I wrote it," the Doctor grinned. Benny's best guess was that her friend was playing along, adding to the myth Kael was conjuring to explain the two strangers. Certainly a good distraction from the truth - a truth all too believable to an individual who had already accepted the existence of the Osirians and their shaping of humanity, a truth all too dangerous in the hands of such an individual. Time-travelling Nazis - now that didn't bear thinking about.

 "Wonder what they are trying to protect," Indy broke the silence.

 "The greatest treasures imaginable." Kraushaar spoke to the assembled crowd, clearly enjoying their avid attention. "Treasures that will give us power, a power to set ourselves among the gods."

 "Hitler thinks that the gods are returning. And that they will be on his side." Kael spoke mainly to the Doctor, while the crowd returned to cataloguing and securing the vast chamber they all stood in. Benny hovered, listening to their conversation. "Of course, if the realities of Suthek and his fellows are anything like their myths, the Fuehrer may well be right. But gods do not concern me. I'm much more interested in the technology they used. I'm a scientist, not an occultist." She indicated the largest of the room's four exits, the only one that was blocked, the 'great' door. The door was large, over eighteen feet high and at least ten across. "Beyond that door lies the power to rule this planet, the technology to overcome any army and all opposition. And it shall be the third reich's.

 "We shall sweep from this place with that power at our hands, and nothing will stop us." Kraushaar's eye swept over the Doctor.

 "Today Brazil, tomorrow the world," offered the Doctor mockingly.

 "Or worlds," said Kraushaar with a sneer. The Doctor's face flashed grim.

 "Do you know how unstable Osirian technology is?"

 "No. But obviously you do. It seems you will indeed be of use to us, Herr Doctor." Kael grinned and took the Doctor by the arm. "Since we will be working so close together, please call me Kathy. And I may call you...?"

 "Doctor."

 "So. Professional distance it is."

 "Professional? Your actions hardly come under that description."

 "Why Doctor, what do you mean?"

 "Cleo, for a start." He had made sure that the redhead was out of earshot. "What did you do to her?"

 "Do? I made her more suitable to our needs. When I met her at Cambridge, she was one of their most eminent Egyptologists. She understood the culture and religions with a depth and clarity I have never before seen."

 Oh God, thought Benny, here we go again.

 "She was an experienced and highly skilled archaeologist and academic. When the Osirian matters came to me, I realised that she would be perfect. But I knew she would never consent, and I decided that she needed a few qualities and abilities that would facilitate the success of this project. I... invented a new life story for her, a reason for wanting, no, for needing to find this place. She is able to pass through Britain and America without suspicion, and I gave her the skills that would make it easy for her to retrieve artefacts necessary to our quest. Skills that would keep her protected from those who might interfere."

 "You erased her real personality? Drove her mad and invented a whole new existence?"

 "Yes. It was quite an achievement."

 "Enough of this," Kraushaar came in between the two scientists. "We are wasting time. Open the tomb, Cleo!"

 "I can no longer trust you," said Cleo, backing away from Kraushaar. "I could hear what you and Kael were talking about, Doctor. I'm not sure I believe it, butÉ I know I've been manipulated. I will not give you the activation device, Kraushaar."

 Zeitflur's lieutenant grabbed the woman from behind and reached into the top of her blouse. He pulled out the necklace she had stolen from Waterfield College. "You don't need to," he said and then threw her to the ground. He kicked her sharply in the ribs for good measure. The Doctor ran to her side. "May I have the honour, Herr Oberst," the young officer asked, indicating the pillar at the centre of the room. Kraushaar raised his eyebrow and took a drag on his cigarette holder.

 "Why not?" he replied. "Well done, Oberleutnant." Zeitflur bristled as his junior stepped towards the pillar.

 The pillar was chest height, and on top of it was the bust of a human with a falcon's head. It stood a little above six feet. As the officer put the necklace around the bust's neck, lining it up with recesses carved into the stone, Benny got a good look at the artefact.

 The necklace was typical of the second dynasty, around 1200 years older than the style in which much of the pyramid was designed and decorated. But younger, Benny supposed, than the alphabet in which the glyphs were written, and the legends they contained. But the necklace fit perfectly onto the bust. "An archaeological anachronism of nightmarish proportions," she nearly said.

 The Doctor glanced across at the lieutenant, who was about to twist the large knob at the base of the bust.

 "No, wait, don't!" he called. But it was too late. The officer twisted the device, and the room seemed suddenly to glow. The flaming torches held by the soldiers flickered and died, leaving only the dull, ambient red glow of the walls and the high ceiling.

 The bust on the pillar seemed to shimmer, and suddenly it was moving. The head shot forward, the falcon's jaws snapping at the face of the young German officer. It pecked out his left eye, drawing blood, and he screamed. He tried to move, to fall back, but he was rooted to the spot. The falcon head continued to bear down, tearing at the flesh on the man's face. It's jaws opened around the lieutenant's neck, then clamped shut slicing open his throat and jugular. Finally, he fell to the ground, a pool of blood and viscera growing around him. The falcon head turned to take in the people in the chamber, then it fell to rest back in its original position.

 The soldiers were stunned for a moment. Then they moved forward and began shooting at the pillar.

 "Stop, stop, what are you doing? Stop!" shouted Kael.

 As the gunshots died down, the Doctor glanced around him, catching the eyes of Benny and Indy.

 "Run!" he shouted. He pulled Cleo to her feet and darted towards the corridor that was on the left of the chamber as they had entered - the entrance itself being too well guarded.

 Benny and Indy grabbed Marcus' arms and started dragging him backwards towards the corridor on the right. A little way along it, Indy let go and Marcus turned round.

 "Keep going," he said to Benny and Marcus. He turned back to face a group of soldiers who were just entering the narrow corridor. He pulled his whip from his belt - why did they always leave the whip, were these people purposefully stupid? - and lashed out at the young man at the front of the group. The whip easily covered the two meters between them, wrapping around the soldier's ankle. The soldier stopped and looked at it, puzzled for a moment. Indy yanked and pulled the man forward. His feet went out in front of him and he stumbled backwards, colliding with his comrades and knocking them onto the floor. Indy shot off down the corridor.

 Kraushaar removed his cap and dropped it to the floor. He began pulling at the bandages round his head. "Zeitflur, you follow Jones, the woman and the English fool. I'll take the Doctor and our little traitor."

 "Sir." Zeitflur indicated for half of the soldiers to follow him and they headed into the darkness of the corridor on the right.

 "I do hope we're going the right way," said Marcus. Benny and Indy paused to look at him, then proceeded further down the corridor they were now in. It was quite small, and ended in another stone door. But this one had a panel inset into it at head height, a translucent material. They tried to see what was on the other side, but it was too dark, so they opened this door too and walked through. This door seemed twice as thick as the last one.

 No sooner had all three gone through then that door slammed shut too. Their eyes adjusted to the new gloom.

 They were in a small chamber. There were no other exits. At one end of the chamber, facing a series of panels in the wall - glyphs at the bottom, panels of the translucent material in the door above - were two simple stone chairs. The chamber seemed slightly tapered at that end.

 "No way out. We need to back-track, quickly." Indy turned back and approached the door, looking for a lever. He glanced through the translucent panel, and saw the door beyond rising into the ceiling. Zeitflur stepped through and looked around the small corridor. He immediately strode towards the second door.

 "Damn," Indy stage-whispered. "Zeitflur. Get back against the walls, we'll try and rush him when he comes through.

 Benny and Marcus complied, heading towards the end of the chamber with the seats in. Marcus leant back against one of the panels of highly detailed glyphs. And something gave under his weight. The chamber was filled with lights - flashing from the panels of glyphs - and noises - a laboured creaking. There was a sound like something ancient suddenly coming to life. Benny turned to Indy and Marcus.

 "Hold on to something." She sat in one of the seats and began to strap herself in, scanning the shining glyphs in front of her.

 "Wh-what's going on?" said Marcus.

 "I think we're going to take off."

 "Take off?"

 "This is a ship. We're about to be launched into space."

 "Space?" Indy had strapped himself into the other seat.

 "Yes, space." The chip was suddenly rocked by a powerful force. It tilted up and Marcus was flung against the back wall. He crumpled onto the floor, then turned to face the door. He could see Zeitflur's face at the window. Then the window seemed to be moving - it seemed to slide into two, the one of Marcus' side eclipsing the one Zeitflur was fuming through.

 "Watch out for the zero-G when we-" Benny's words were drowned out by the echoing rumbles of the engines.

 The ship rocked again, and then was flying forward at an immense speed. Sunlight filled the chamber, streaming through the panels above the seats.

 From the jungle, the shuttle could be seen breaking from the side of the pyramid and passing into the sky, propelled by golden flames.

 In the depths of the pyramid, Captain Zeitflur fell back from the door in front of him, screaming and covering his eyes. "The light, the light!"

 "Was all that stuff Kael said true?" she asked.

 "I'm very much afraid it was," he answered.

 "IÉ I don't know who I am."

 The Doctor smiled. It seemed to be intended as a reassuring smile, but just looked a bit goofy and lost. Cleo had to suppress a giggle.

 "You refused to help the Nazis when it came down to it. I'm sure we can find out who you really are when this is all over."

 "But all that stuff about my background, my life, my skillsÉ all of it lies?"

 "Perhaps not all," said the Doctor.

 Then the door shuddered and a loud thump rang in their ears. They stepped away from the door and looked at it. A crack had appeared at head height. It looked as if a large hammer had been driven into the other side of the door with great precision by a very, very strong man. Or several very, very strong men.

 Another thump, and the crack ran further down the door. A third, something flashed in the gap and the crack ran down the length of the door. The door split open and fell to the ground at the Doctor's feet. He started pushing Cleo down the corridor, then glanced over his shoulder.

 Kraushaar was standing there. His coat and bandages had gone. There was a flat disc with a dilating centre where his right eye should have been. A series of flat discs and small squares sat on the side of his head in place of his right ear, a small wire protruding from the side.

 A thin leather strap ran across his diaphragm, and another diagonally from this to a thick metal ring, an artificial external joint encompassing his shoulder. His right arm wasn't human. From the shoulder came a thick cylinder ringed by three pistons running to the elbow. Below the elbow joint was another cylinder, and below this a pivoting wrist joint. A flat, square metallic hand stuck out from the wrist, and from this three chunky, clockwork digits. He pointed after the Doctor and Cleo, his powerful arm hissing and clicking as he moved it, and called to his soldiers.

 "Capture them! They will open the tomb for us!"

 "I think it's on automatic flight. Pre-programmed. The display clearly indicates that we are heading for Mars."

 "Can we turn around?" Indy asked.

 "I don't think so."

 "Take off again from Mars. We need to get back before the Nazis open that tomb."

 Benny turned to face him, and glanced at Marcus too. "We're facing months of travel to Mars on this rocket. Months! There are no provisions on this ship, no water."

 "What the hell are we going to do?"

 "Well, there is a chance. If the people who built this craft followed the Osirian plan exactly. The Osirians were a deeply impatient people, and these ships were fitted with hyperspace drives. Engines that will make us go really fast. If I can," she frowned and scanned the control panel in front of her. "If we can decipher these glyphs I may be able to re-program the computer."

 "Great. How hard can it be?" asked Indy.

 "There's more," Benny said. Indy and Marcus frowned. "Even if we can figure out how to speed up this ship, we can't alter its course. It will go to Mars."

 "So?"

 "Well, it doesn't have any landing controls. The people who travelled in these ships weren't meant to survive, they were supposed to kill themselves once they had left the Earth's atmosphere. Once they were free from planetary forces. The people were being sacrificed to the Osirians, to beings they thought of as gods. Sacrifices amused the Osirians, an entertaining conceit, but they insisted that if these things were done at all they should be done properly. Ritual was all-important to them. Sutekh-cult sites in Egypt contained similar launching mechanisms to the one we were launched from, and wreckage of ships like these were found on Mercury. Indeed, later Egyptian pyramids retained some of the design, albeit redundantly, though the 'launch ramps' and 'bay doors' tended to be smaller and aimed at the designer's favourite constellation."

 "Fascinating. Do you mean -"

 "Marcus!"

 "Sorry, Indy."

 "The ships' crew would commit ritual suicide at about this point in their journey. Then the shuttle would be brought safely onto a planet's surface by resident Osirians, or by priests who had travelled to the planetary pyramids through worm-holes."

 "Worm holes?"

 "Magic portals."

 "Ah."

 "Without anyone to bring us in, we'll burn up on re-entryÉ when we enter Mars' atmosphere, or crash on the surface.

 "Damn," said Indy.

 "Exactly," said Benny. She began fiddling with the controls, trying to identify the glyphs.

 "Oh dear," said Marcus. "But, how did they make sure the occupants of the ships killed themselves? Presumably, killing them once they were on Mars would be pointless, if it's the ritual that matters more than the offering itself."

 "Yes, well, that's the other problem."

 Indy turned to Marcus. "You had to ask."

 "They usually chose religious zealots, fanatics who would do anything for their gods. But, just in case they had a crisis of faithÉ" she paused.

 "Yes?" prompted Marcus and Indy in unison.

 "The ship only contains enough oxygen for a few hours flight. So, there is something of a time-limit on our little code-cracking and shuttle-piloting lessons here."

 "We're all going to die," said Marcus from the (relative) ceiling.

 Next installment: "Crash and Burn."