Afterlife: An Ideal Dimension (Part 1)

“Richards Gross calling Ton Cremers. Ton, come in. Come in Ton…” the walkie talkie echoed inside the large cabin labelled, ‘Head of Museum Security’.

“Go for Ton. I’m listening.” He said taking a big bite out of his perfectly buttered bagel.  

“There is an unusual sight at ‘Valley of Kings’ ground floor, West Wing. Do you copy? 

“Loud and clear, heading West. Gross this better not be a visitors gimmick, like last month. Out.” Ton said hastily finishing his bagel as he headed downstairs. 

Home to the oldest Ancient Seven Wonders of the World, Egypt is the most famous of all historical sites in the world. For almost 30 centuries, Egypt was the preeminent civilization in the Mediterranean world and has managed to preserve its charm in the beauty of its unparalleled art, the accomplishment of its architecture or the richness of its religious traditions. Egypt’s majesty has always entranced archaeologists, historians and millions of tourists. 

The National Egyptian History Museum, located in the heart of the capital city, Cairo, is one such place. Thousands of visitors from around the world pour in at the museum each day to experience the essence of these captivating artefacts. This multidisciplinary museum which has some rare collections from several disciplines such as history, archaeology and arts has a grand imperial building with a colossal entrance and a magnificent front garden and spreads across 17.9 acres of land exemplifying classical architecture with modern details. This magnificent building accommodates an extensive collection of extremely valuable ancient Egyptian antiquities ranging from the sarcophagi (Egyptian artistic coffins) of great emperors like Tutankhamun, Irunefer, Mastaba, their mummified remains and around 120,000 antique artefacts including Tutankhamun’s Mask, The Grave Mask of king Amenemope, Narmer Palette, Statues of Khafra, Khufu, Menkaure and legions of similar objet d'art. This abundant fortune has not only incessantly stunned the travellers but has also held in thrall the biggest smugglers.

The museum has witnessed small burglaries in the past but since then the Government has taken stern measures to up the security levels. The museum has been installed with numerous 24x7 CCTV cameras, laser detectors and has a multilevel team of security guards for the entrance, main building and the exit. Ton Cremers, the head of the security team of the museum for almost 5 years was a slightly plump middle-aged man with the temper of a sun-bear and the wits of an orangutan, believed that with his team of 15 highly competent guards and technology as their trusty assistant, the National Egyptian History Museum could easily qualify as one of the safest museums around the world. Today was the day he was about to be proven wrong… absolutely wrong and in such a manner that it would mark history.  

“Yes Richards, what’s the unusual site? Is the mummy of King Tutankhamun asking for a bagel? If yes, then get us a sesame one with decaf to go along.” Ton remarked in jest. 

“Seriously dude? Is he the Head of Security at this place, geez…? I can do his job—”  

“This is Nikita, she informed us about it all” Richards said trying not to infuriate Cremers. 

“Oh yeah dude, what exactly did you site? You little punk” Ton said bending over towards Nikita, a 15 years old solo visitor.

“The Tuta…ankha…muns coffin right there got a cell phone and it has been ringing like every 40 minutes. First, I thought that ‘Yo man, this is crazy Egyptians had cells, damn!’ but then when it started ringing, I was like what? Wait a minute this is getting sketchy and I informed my man Richards right here and then he called you.”

“A cell phone inside a sarcophagus? That’s not possible. They haven’t been touched since the last quarterly maintenance. Richards, did you actually see or hear the mobile phone ring?”

“Yes sir, I, in fact, did hear it ring. That’s why I informed you.”

“Did you cross-check with the lost and found Richards, someone must have dropped it by mistake—” 

Trin-trin… trin-trin… cell phone starts to ring again, the iconic cell phone ringer tune, known by almost everyone baffled the two guards as they inspected their surroundings but to their surprise, the sound was indeed coming from Tutankhamun's sarcophagus. Stumped by this unusual occurring, Cremers walked towards the coffin passed the laser barricades with his all access pass and peeped inside the sarcophagus, to only confirm their strangest doubt. He extended his masculine arm and reached for the cell phone which was still ringing.

“Hello…” he answered the call hesitantly.

“Hey! Did you give your mother the speakers? Don’t forget to bring the toys for the kids. Come back soon honey, I’m waiting. Beware of your dad, you know he is watching. B-Bye… bleep” said the female human-like yet very mechanical voice and the call ended before Cremers could answer or utter even a single word.

“Well, who was it? Was it the owner of the cell asking to return it? Why didn’t you tell him to collect it from the lost and found—”

“Excuse me Richards, but I am getting late for my movie show, I just came in here to pass a little time, not to play Sherlock Holmes, so I better get going. OK?” 

“Ok, Nikita you can leave for now but we’ll need your phone number in case we need your statements for further investigation.” Said Cremers with a bewildered look on his face.

“Geez! Am I in some kind of trouble? I swear I didn’t do anything in here—”

“Relax kid, you have got nothing to worry about. We are taking your number only for the precautionary measures. Richards please take down his number and let this young lad go.”

“Okay Mr Cremers, my number is (555) 657-782. Is that it? Bye and have a nice day…”

“Thanks, son, have a good day.” Richards said and quickly turned towards Cremers “Further investigation? Of what?”

“The female that answered the phone sounded a bit off, you know those mechanical voice generators, it sounded more of that. Also, she hurriedly said something about giving the mother the speakers, bringing toys for her kids, being careful of the father who is watching everything and to come home soon. Something about all this doesn’t make sense and she even cut the phone before listening to the reply. It’s strange, isn’t it Richards?”

“Well you can call her back and ask her who she is and how did she leave this phone here?”

“Yeah you are right Gross, let me call her back” Cremers open the call log and dials the last contacted number and puts the phone on speaker.

“The number you have dialled isn’t reachable. Please check the number you have dialled or call again later. Beep….” Said the automated voice reply.

“This keeps getting stranger and stranger, isn’t it Richards? First, a mobile phone is found deep-seated in Tutankhamun's coffin which is beyond the physical reach of the general public and hasn’t been touched since March, then a woman gives an anagrammatic message and now her phone isn’t reachable. What is the matter behind all of this?”

“I think someone is trying to mess with us, maybe it is just a prank…”

“I hope so. Well, now you may return to your duty and I’ll hand this over at the Lost & Found and check this areas CCTV footage in my cabin and maybe I’ll find the answer behind the sudden appearance of this strange phone.”

“Okay, sir. As you say.”

Richards returned to his duty and Cremers scanned the entire CCTV footage of previous evening and today morning only to be left with no evidence at all which would explain the abrupt appearance of that cell phone. He enquired his whole security team, the Lost & Found department, the cafeteria, the maintenance and in-house daily cleaning staff but had no luck at all in retrieving any information about that sweet-devil of a phone. 

Days passed and no significant development seemed to happen in this case and everyone forgot about it. Everyone, but Cremers, he was convinced that there’s a big conspiracy behind all of it and the occurrence of the cell wasn’t a mere accident but due to the lack of evidence he couldn’t prove it. This event never appeared to slip off his mind and was stuck to the back of his brain like a piece of chewing gum to the bottom of a shoe. 

On one fine calmly-chaotic Tuesday evening, news flashed on prime-time headlines, ‘“Ground-breaking case for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) — it is the first time an alleged cultural property network has been dismantled at Egypt. Remains of an ancient mummy were chopped and placed inside a stereo-speaker and was illegally being trafficked to Bilbeis city,” said James Hayes, the new special agent-in-charge with the Egypt Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations.’ Cremers memory snapped, it all made sense now. He sprung out of his sofa like a lion and pounced upon the pen and paper like it were prey. Adamant to solve this mystery he tried to jot down the exact information that the woman gave over that phone.

“Come on… come on… you are gonna do this. Aghhh! What was it? Speaker… mother… toys… and… and…? YES! ‘Did you give the speakers to the mother and get the kids some toys. Come back soon honey, I am waiting for you. Beware of your father he is watching,’ YES! YES! It’s over for you now. I’m gonna get you.” Cremers happiness knew no bounds, he couldn’t wait for the next day. He spent his entire night looking for and being impressed by James Hayes’s life time-line, his previous work and experience, his working methodology, his education and his office’s address and writing down all the possible plans and ways to find the real thug behind it all.

Next morning, he reached the museum at exact 8 in the morning, went in the Lost & Found department and got ‘that phone’. He quickly informed Richards about his findings and made him in-charge for the time being. He hurriedly sat himself in his car and went to the HSI office, he had already booked the first appointment of the day with James at 9 and eagerly waited in the hallway for his chance to arrive. As the clock struck 9 and James’s assistant called for Mr. Cremers, he quickly got off and entered the cabin.

“May I come in?” Cremers said opening the door halfway. He was taken aback by James’s appearance, the large number of accomplishments and the stature of his position along with the numerous google images and the face he saw on the prime-time headline didn’t quite seem to match with the very young appearing man, sitting behind the neatly organised profligate-looking teak-wood table in a crisp posh deep blue suit working on his immaculate desktop PC.

“Yes Mr. Cremers, kindly do. Please seat yourself. So, my assistant tells me that you are here regarding the recent cultural trafficking case.”

“Yes Mr. Hayes, I surely am” Cremer said hesitantly, freeing himself of the trivial thoughts he had about James’s appearance. People often alter their appearance at this point in life, he thought to himself and started to discuss his findings and deductions about the artefact trafficking racket with James. 

Cremer explained how the perplexing phone call on a phone that magically appeared at the museum closely interconnected with the current case and further the thugs might be in the pursuit of gathering more toys that is the artefact to sell in the black markets, speaker for mother that is the mummies to sell to pharmacies that manufacture ‘mummy powder’ which is believed to have medicinal properties that provide eternal life and finally how precautious they are of their fathers that is the intel police regarding the whole scam. James was stunned, he was in a state of utter awe for a moment.

“You Sir are without a doubt one hell of a dedicated security individual! Your inferences can surely play a vital role in the further investigation, kindly leave this file-work and the cell phone with me so that I can pass it on to higher authorities and devise a quick action plan combining your report, intel from our men and the confessions of the smuggler who was caught red handed. It was my pleasure meeting you. Thank you so much for stopping by and don’t forget to share your contact card with my assistant. We’ll surely be working on this case together in the near future.”

“Mr. Hayes the honour’s all mine, finding an opportunity to work with special agent-in-charge of HSI is once in a life-time thing. Thank you for your time. Good day.” Cremer said as he got off the chair, shook James’s hand and exited his cabin.

Returning to the museum he felt proud of himself and had a cheerful grin on his face throughout the drive. When he reached the museum, he found Richards eagerly waiting for him in his cabin.

“How did it go? Did you solve the case?” he asked in a single breath. 

“Calm down… I have handed over my file-work to James Hayes, he’ll look into it and let me know. He even offered me to work along him on this case.”

“Wow, that is remarkable! Mr. Cremers the whole security squad is proud of you…” Cremers smiled and shook Richards hand, “and so am I” he added to it. 

“Now let us all get back to our duties the smuggler might in hot pursuit of the ‘Toys’.” Cremers said in a jest leading Richards out of his office. The following days the security team worked with more attentiveness than an eagle, even the CCTV cameras and lasers sensors were on their best comportment. It had merely been a week, since Hayes and Cremers meeting and he received a phone call confirming a day and time to shut the museum for Mr. Hayes to visit it for investigation. This conversation charged Cremers with all the more enthusiasm to solve the mystery and cut the roots of this smuggling gang. The next day sharp at 10, the front driveway of this imperial building was flooded with cars and vans of the federal police, software-intelligence department and Hayes personal team. 

“Welcome Mr. James, I am delighted by the speedy investigation that is taking place over this case.” Said Cremers shaking James’s hand. 

“It has been possible only because of your key findings Mr. Ton, let’s go in and get started with the investigation, shall we?” 

“By all means Sir.”

“So, can you show the exact location where you said you found the cell”

“Yeah, sure. Please follow me.” 

Cremers showed the investigation team the exact location. The software-intelligence department analysed the CCTV footage facing the crime area and others around the museum. It was deduced that all the CCTV footage of the night before the discovering of the cell-phone has been tampered with and a fake one had been played over the real time one by hacking it from within the building. This provided the robbers with a window of 30 mins to execute their plan. Now the question arises that at night the museum is fully locked down with two guards each at the entry and exit gates of the property, then how did the robbers enter the property? James’s personal team and the federal police were adamant to find this secret entry and exit passage of the robbers. The blueprint of the museum was studied and it took no longer than an hour for the team to bust this secret passage.

 “Found it!” a man from the team exclaimed from the washroom. The whole team rushed towards the area and to their surprise a tunnel had been dug, beneath an out-of-work washroom.

“What? How can this be possibly happening? This washroom has been out of order for almost a month now and has been locked since then, how did they even get in and out of a locked room?” Cremer shrieked in panic.

(To be continued...)