Egypt
I never thought in a million years I’d be flying over the Pyramids of Giza in a helicopter, but here I am, and there are the pyramids zipping by below me. I’ve mushed my nose against the window like a complete tourist, but I’m having so much fun I don’t even care. And besides, I am a tourist. I’ve worked hard to get where I am, and as long as I’m here I’m going to have a great time. A big smile breaks across my face.
It’s such a beautiful sight, watching the sunlight glint off the ancient stones as the helicopter zooms over them. And the pyramids look so much bigger from this perspective than I’d imagined. It’s hard to believe that people were able to build these in an age before modern engineering. No wonder there are so many alien conspiracy theories.
Seated around me are a group of girls I’ve recently made friends with, six of us in total. I wrinkle my eyebrows, trying to remember all of their names. I think they are Alex, Becky, Jess, Tina, and Susan. I’ve always been horrible with names and I’d really like to make friends, so I’ve been repeating their names over and over in my head.
We’re all here on travel abroad scholarships from various universities. I’d posted an ad for this tour in the student union lounge, and that’s how I came to meet them. Alex is definitely from Canada. She has a maple leaf sewn to her backpack and beautiful long blonde hair. She signals for me to look out the window, toward where a green strip of water serpentines deep into the desert sands.
“This is amazing Rin,” she says over the constant roar of the helicopter engines. “I’m so glad you invited me.” It’s hard to hear with the headsets we’re wearing, but the excited look on her face says everything.
The helicopter banks and I get a great view of the famous Nile River, flashing as the sun catches the water. It’s where Cleopatra seduced Caesar and Mark Antony, and where she sailed around in her ancient version of a luxury yacht. I imagine myself in her shoes, adorned with gold bracelets and flowing silk dresses, men drooling for my attention as servants feed me grapes and fan me with giant leaves. I sigh. Everyone treated her like the treasure that she was: a strong, badass woman who ruled an empire. I swear, I can barely even get a guy to hold a friggin’ door open for me.
I laugh. It must be nice.
The helicopter levels off a couple hundred feet above the desert floor and I plaster my face to the window again. Off in the distance the sky is pink and hazy, and the sun hangs big and red near the horizon. We fly over giant dunes and big droopy palm trees as we head back toward the main pyramid complex. Below us a group of people on camels make their way slowly over the white sands toward the Sphinx. I’m definitely doing that before we leave Egypt. I don’t know why but I’ve always thought it’d be fun to ride a camel. They call them the ships of the desert—just a little camel fact I pull off the top of my head. I get the girls’ attention and point down at the big humped animals.
“What do you all think? We can ride right up to the pyramid complex.”
Everyone smiles and nods excitedly except Tina. I think she said she’s from the mid-west—Kansas maybe. She crinkles her nose and shivers, yelling back to me. “I’ve heard they’re mean and spit at people.”
Susan leans in. “They’re nothing compared to camel spiders,” she says, a devious grin on her face. “Look them up when we get back to the dorms. I hear they are big enough to carry away small children.”
Tina grimaces and all the girls laugh. I put my hand on her should. “Susan’s just giving you a hard time,” I say. “It’ll be fun—no spiders, I promise.”
This seems to make her happy and she goes back to oohing and aweing out the windows.
The helicopter pitches up and arcs high over a giant obelisk, then back around so that we’re headed toward the pyramids again. I crane my neck up. I can see the one they call The Great Pyramid coming up quickly in front of us. That’s weird, I say to myself. It looks kind of fuzzy, like it’s out of focus. The pilot is doing his best to stay low and give us some excellent photo ops, but I have to admit being so close to the ground makes me a little bit uncomfortable. Especially now that the sun is setting and the air seems to be getting bumpier.
Seated directly to my left is a short redhead named... Becky, I’m pretty sure. I remember she told me she’s from London and studies graphic design and marketing. She taps me on the shoulder and points out the window. She’s saying something else but I can barely hear her over the noise so I just smile. Only she doesn’t smile back. She scrunches up her forehead and looks concerned. I squint, shielding my eyes from the glint of the sun with my hand, and then I see what she’s pointing at.
I’ve never witnessed anything like it. Strange white lights arc from The Great Pyramid, crackling and fizzling like bolts of electricity. At the same time, the sand around the base of the pyramid is disturbed, rising up in a funnel like a small tornado. Becky and I make eye contact for a brief moment, looking for answers. Judging by her expression, neither of us has a clue what the hell is going on out there. And then my headset chimes and the voice of the pilot comes over the comms.
“Make sure you’re all fastened into your seats,” he says. “It looks like there may be a few bumps up ahead.”
The helicopter gains altitude as the pilot pulls back on the stick, but then we start to shimmy. Little warning lights come on as the speed of the helicopter drops, and looking out the windows I see sand whipping around us. The hairs on my arms stick straight out as static fills the air. Bright blue flashes like lightning bolts explode all around us. I’m getting scared as the situation seems to be escalating out of control, but I can’t help my natural curiosity. I strain my neck, trying my hardest to see what’s going on.
I’m completely choked up with disbelief. A blue ball of energy is pulsating around the tip of the pyramid, and a great beam of light blasts into the sky. Someone grabs my arm, jerking my attention back inside the helicopter. An emergency siren comes on, and a second later we begin spinning. But instead of falling toward the ground, we seem to be rising, higher and higher, toward the beam of light.
“Look!” Jess yells, pointing in front of us. Through the cockpit window I can see something right above the pyramid’s tip, where the blue laser beam seems to be cutting the sky open. A few seconds ago it was all pink from the sunset, but now a giant black gap is opening up. Despite the best efforts of the pilot, we are getting sucked toward it.
“Oh my god,” yells Tina, putting her hands over her face. “I should’ve listened to my mom and gone to school in Nebraska.”
I look around at the other girls, hoping to find some semblance of calm on their faces, but it’s all pretty grim. My heart drops as the weight of the situation fully sinks in.
“Figures shit like this would happen,” Susan says, shaking her head as if this sort of thing happens all the time. She smiles at me sarcastically, her dark brown hair hanging in her face as the helicopter jolts around. “Thanks again for the invite, Rin. It’s been a really great experience.”
A static charge fills the helicopter as we’re pulled faster and faster toward the tear in the sky. The other girls grab their ankles and assume the crash position as the pilot screams something over the comms. It terrifies me to see what’s out there, but if this is it—if this is going to be the end for me—then I want to see it with my own eyes. My hands are shaking like crazy, so I reach out for the hands of the girls to either side of me. I’m on the verge of peeing my pants from fear, but holding onto them makes me feel at least a little better.
I nervously glance up into the opening in the sky, a thing that can only be described as a tear in the fabric of space. My jaw drops in wonder. Stars. So many stars are inside the otherworldly gash. We are directly in the path of the blue laser now, bathed in pulsing light. It’s pulling on us, sucking us in, messing with gravity and physics. Then a tremendous flash blinds me. The world goes completely black as stars dance in my vision.
I lose consciousness.