Through space and time - part 3
The slave traders caravan
I sat for a while until I got cold. Hunger and thirst also set in, but there was absolutely nothing here, except dust and rocks and the grandiose starry sky with its mysteries.
Luckily I had photographed the coordinates of the panel before I turned it around. So I decided to come back here better prepared, but to jump back into my time and place. I entered the pyramid and adjusted the wheels according to my photo.
Then I noticed that one of the wheels had an engraving that reminded me of the Egyptian sun god Chepre and the moon god Chons.
Should that be a time wheel? It wasn't very precise to set, but I tried to rotate it like in the photo. Then I stepped onto the middle of the floor between the pylons and waited for them to come to life. It didn't take long... then everything dissolved again and the stars flew past me in ribbons of light.
When everything was building up in front of me again, I immediately recognized the stuffy smell of the pyramid. I was back in the desert.
I hurried to get out, hoping to catch the caravan. The gate opened much more easily this time. I expected to feel the dust from the sandstorm on my face. But that seemed to have subsided. The air was clear again and the sun was at its zenith. So the place was right again, but what about the time? I stepped out of the shadows and looked into the distance. Nothing - absolutely nothing but sand and desert could be seen. Well, this time there was a plan B- I had roughly understood how to operate the space/time teleporter. So I walked around the pyramid looking for shadows to think.
I found no shade in the vertical sun, but on the back of the pyramid a tent camp was visible in the distance. So my Bedouins were wrong after all. No one built a pyramid in the middle of the desert where there wasn't at least one spring. I was beginning to suspect how the pyramids were connected, going back to an intelligent earlier species. Then I narrowed my eyes and looked at the camp in the distance.
The camp consisted of 5-6 tents, and looked much too well developed to only testify to an overnight stay. Apparently, nomads from another tribe camped here at a spring they knew. A large number of camels lay scattered on the sand around the tents. There was also sparse vegetation, scrub, some date trees and large cacti, which suggested water. A vulture circled nearby. Otherwise there was no movement, no sign of life to be seen in the sweltering midday heat.
I approached them cautiously, but couldn't see anything clearly. Suddenly I was grabbed from behind with strong arms. 2 dark-looking nomads had approached me from behind unnoticed and now grabbed my arms. Fighting back wouldn't help, so I made no move to flee. So they loosened their grip and took me to the camp.
They looked different from the Bedouins I had traveled with in the caravan. Her clothes were of much rawer fabric, and all black. All had long unkempt beards. As a child, this is how I always imagined Ali Baba and his thieves. There were also no modern things to discover about them.
At least my Bedouins had worn modern hand watches, vacuum flasks and also radios. These ones, on the other hand, seemed like the Middle Ages to me. I should realize right away that I wasn't all that wrong.
When we got to the camp I heard their voices for the first time. The Arabic they spoke sounded very foreign to me, like a foreign dialect. But I could still understand it with great effort. They took me to the fireplace they had set up between their tents. Of course, this only burned at night. Hand-knotted simple Berber carpets were laid out all around. These were also sold out in the midday heat, but there were still traces of nighttime use.
A tall man emerged from the shadows of one of the tents. Like the others, he was dressed in all black. The men who found me reported to him.
They had been on watch when they saw the bright green of my clothes in the distance. So that had betrayed me. The captain looked me up and down, then smiled. With a nod of his head, he had me taken to a tent.
I won't describe what went through my head. In the tent I was surprised. All around sat women with iron shackles.
Her ankle cuffs were tied together with a long chain. They were dressed in single-colored, poor-looking cloths.
Apparently I was stranded in a slave trade camp. I was upset. But no one cared about me.
Sometime before sunset there was a barren mark and flat-tasting water for all. I followed the other women and drank as much as I could.
After that it got busy. Men came in and unlocked the chain, after which they loaded the women onto a camel in pairs and tied them up.
I guess I had a special status and got my own camel. I tried to be silly so as not to show that I was used to riding camels.
I had repeatedly wondered what the men were assuming about me, turning up in the middle of the desert - unequipped, unaccompanied.
Eventually I came to the conclusion that they simply didn't care, the main thing was that business was good.
Anyway, everyone treated me like a precious commodity. For the moment I might be right.
At sunset the caravan rode off. I rode somewhere in the back third. The camel found its way on its own, so I had plenty of time to think.
I wondered what had gone wrong with the teleport. Certainly a stupid transposed number. Anyway, I landed wrong about 800 to 1000 years ago.
I must have arrived sometime in the Arabian heyday around 1200. Countless caravans traveled the Silk Road. Depending on the direction, other goods were transported. From the east, mean precious silk, porcelain and spices. From the west, hardware and slaves. I had seen heavy boxes on several of our camels, which also jingled when they were loaded.
The camels groaned under the load. In addition, the Bedouins all carried iron weapons. I concluded that this time we were heading east.
The next morning at sunrise I should get certainty. The sun came out from behind a dune right in front of us. Exactly at this point we reached another camp. This tribe was brightly dressed, but even their dialect was foreign to me. But they were friendly and entertained and good. I saw the leader of our caravan disappear into the tent with one of the men. Some time later they came out laughing, picked up two of the slave girls who had traveled with us, and disappeared into a better-looking tent. Laughter rang out.
In the meantime we had been dismounted and taken to a tent that offered us sun protection. Through the open front, however, we could watch the hustle and bustle of the men. They unloaded the loads from the camels and took them to the neighboring tent. Then they took care of the camels. At last they too received provisions and lay down to rest in a third tent. Many of them had walked the entire route. The camels were used to transport valuable goods.
The brightly dressed Arabs took over the guard duty in the camp. The women were not allowed to talk to each other.
One of the Bedouins brought me other clothes. I was now less conspicuous among the women.
I spent the day dozing and sleeping in the sweltering heat. I knew that at night I had to walk through the desert again.
....
The slave traders caravan
I sat for a while until I got cold. Hunger and thirst also set in, but there was absolutely nothing here, except dust and rocks and the grandiose starry sky with its mysteries.
Luckily I had photographed the coordinates of the panel before I turned it around. So I decided to come back here better prepared, but to jump back into my time and place. I entered the pyramid and adjusted the wheels according to my photo.
Then I noticed that one of the wheels had an engraving that reminded me of the Egyptian sun god Chepre and the moon god Chons.
Should that be a time wheel? It wasn't very precise to set, but I tried to rotate it like in the photo. Then I stepped onto the middle of the floor between the pylons and waited for them to come to life. It didn't take long... then everything dissolved again and the stars flew past me in ribbons of light.
When everything was building up in front of me again, I immediately recognized the stuffy smell of the pyramid. I was back in the desert.
I hurried to get out, hoping to catch the caravan. The gate opened much more easily this time. I expected to feel the dust from the sandstorm on my face. But that seemed to have subsided. The air was clear again and the sun was at its zenith. So the place was right again, but what about the time? I stepped out of the shadows and looked into the distance. Nothing - absolutely nothing but sand and desert could be seen. Well, this time there was a plan B- I had roughly understood how to operate the space/time teleporter. So I walked around the pyramid looking for shadows to think.
I found no shade in the vertical sun, but on the back of the pyramid a tent camp was visible in the distance. So my Bedouins were wrong after all. No one built a pyramid in the middle of the desert where there wasn't at least one spring. I was beginning to suspect how the pyramids were connected, going back to an intelligent earlier species. Then I narrowed my eyes and looked at the camp in the distance.
The camp consisted of 5-6 tents, and looked much too well developed to only testify to an overnight stay. Apparently, nomads from another tribe camped here at a spring they knew. A large number of camels lay scattered on the sand around the tents. There was also sparse vegetation, scrub, some date trees and large cacti, which suggested water. A vulture circled nearby. Otherwise there was no movement, no sign of life to be seen in the sweltering midday heat.
I approached them cautiously, but couldn't see anything clearly. Suddenly I was grabbed from behind with strong arms. 2 dark-looking nomads had approached me from behind unnoticed and now grabbed my arms. Fighting back wouldn't help, so I made no move to flee. So they loosened their grip and took me to the camp.
They looked different from the Bedouins I had traveled with in the caravan. Her clothes were of much rawer fabric, and all black. All had long unkempt beards. As a child, this is how I always imagined Ali Baba and his thieves. There were also no modern things to discover about them.
At least my Bedouins had worn modern hand watches, vacuum flasks and also radios. These ones, on the other hand, seemed like the Middle Ages to me. I should realize right away that I wasn't all that wrong.
When we got to the camp I heard their voices for the first time. The Arabic they spoke sounded very foreign to me, like a foreign dialect. But I could still understand it with great effort. They took me to the fireplace they had set up between their tents. Of course, this only burned at night. Hand-knotted simple Berber carpets were laid out all around. These were also sold out in the midday heat, but there were still traces of nighttime use.
A tall man emerged from the shadows of one of the tents. Like the others, he was dressed in all black. The men who found me reported to him.
They had been on watch when they saw the bright green of my clothes in the distance. So that had betrayed me. The captain looked me up and down, then smiled. With a nod of his head, he had me taken to a tent.
I won't describe what went through my head. In the tent I was surprised. All around sat women with iron shackles.
Her ankle cuffs were tied together with a long chain. They were dressed in single-colored, poor-looking cloths.
Apparently I was stranded in a slave trade camp. I was upset. But no one cared about me.
Sometime before sunset there was a barren mark and flat-tasting water for all. I followed the other women and drank as much as I could.
After that it got busy. Men came in and unlocked the chain, after which they loaded the women onto a camel in pairs and tied them up.
I guess I had a special status and got my own camel. I tried to be silly so as not to show that I was used to riding camels.
I had repeatedly wondered what the men were assuming about me, turning up in the middle of the desert - unequipped, unaccompanied.
Eventually I came to the conclusion that they simply didn't care, the main thing was that business was good.
Anyway, everyone treated me like a precious commodity. For the moment I might be right.
At sunset the caravan rode off. I rode somewhere in the back third. The camel found its way on its own, so I had plenty of time to think.
I wondered what had gone wrong with the teleport. Certainly a stupid transposed number. Anyway, I landed wrong about 800 to 1000 years ago.
I must have arrived sometime in the Arabian heyday around 1200. Countless caravans traveled the Silk Road. Depending on the direction, other goods were transported. From the east, mean precious silk, porcelain and spices. From the west, hardware and slaves. I had seen heavy boxes on several of our camels, which also jingled when they were loaded.
The camels groaned under the load. In addition, the Bedouins all carried iron weapons. I concluded that this time we were heading east.
The next morning at sunrise I should get certainty. The sun came out from behind a dune right in front of us. Exactly at this point we reached another camp. This tribe was brightly dressed, but even their dialect was foreign to me. But they were friendly and entertained and good. I saw the leader of our caravan disappear into the tent with one of the men. Some time later they came out laughing, picked up two of the slave girls who had traveled with us, and disappeared into a better-looking tent. Laughter rang out.
In the meantime we had been dismounted and taken to a tent that offered us sun protection. Through the open front, however, we could watch the hustle and bustle of the men. They unloaded the loads from the camels and took them to the neighboring tent. Then they took care of the camels. At last they too received provisions and lay down to rest in a third tent. Many of them had walked the entire route. The camels were used to transport valuable goods.
The brightly dressed Arabs took over the guard duty in the camp. The women were not allowed to talk to each other.
One of the Bedouins brought me other clothes. I was now less conspicuous among the women.
I spent the day dozing and sleeping in the sweltering heat. I knew that at night I had to walk through the desert again.
....