If you look closely, you will see that the Mystery of the Circles contains ten planets...o...b..ting a central Sun. It also features-somewhat mysteriously-a strange black orb sitting outside the orbits of the ten planets, equal in size to the central Sun.

It is my belief that the Mystery of the Circles is indeed a depiction of our solar system, but not as we see it today. It is a picture of our solar system as it was a longtime ago.

Forget the planets for a moment and keep your eyes on the black orb hovering outside the circles.

This must be the focus of our inquiry.

For it represents our Sun's dark twin, and it now approaches, bringing with it our destruction.

THE MACHINE.

But a mechanism has been put in place to allow us to avert our destruction.

Unfortunately the knowledge crucial to our salvation-to the operation of this "Machine"-which was known to the ancients, has long since been lost through wars, dark ages, witchhunts, and holocausts.

However, great men and women throughout history have held pieces of this knowledge: Laozi and his famous student, Confucius Rameses II, the mighty pharaoh, and his priest builder, Imhotep II Cleopatra VII, the doomed Egyptian queen the great Mayan ruler, King Pakal and in more recent times, Isaac Newton, in his obsessive search for the secrets of alchemy.

In all their writings, there is one common feature. The Machine is always represented by this image: What the image actually means, though, remains elusive.

THE SIX RAMESEAN STONES.

Of all the impressive individuals who have known about this Machine, it is Rameses II- greatest of all the pharaohs, greater even than Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid-who has left us the most information about it and indeed identified the key to solving the mystery.

The Six Sacred Stones.

Six stones which, in his honor, we now call the Ramesean Stones. They are: 1. The Philosopher's Stone 2. The Altar Stone of the Temple of Ra's Dark Twin (Stonehenge) 3. The Twin Tablets of Thutmosis 4. The Killing Stone of the Maya 5. The Seeing Stone of the Southern Tribe (Delphi) 6. The Basin of Rameses II In his temple at Abydos in a remote corner of southern Egypt-not far from his famous list of seventysix pharaohs carved into a wall-Rameses left a tablet mentioning the "Six Guidestones of Ra's Dark Twin."

Now while it is not impossible that Rameses could have seen all of these stones, it is unlikely. Itis believed, however, that all six of the stones resided at one time in Egypt, even the Stonehenge and Mayan ones. Whatever the case, Rameses does seem to have been in possession of some advanced knowledge about them, and of all the pharaohs, he alone committed that knowledge to writing.

These guidestones, he said, once "impregnated by the SaBenben" would provide "the necessary wisdom" when "Ra's Dark Twin returned to wreak his vengeance on the world."

As you can imagine, for many years this confounded Egyptologists. Ra was the Sun. Who or what, then, was Ra's Dark Twin? Another Sun?

It took the technological wizardry of modern astronomy to find it: the Dark Sun now approaching our solar system.

So what do the Six Ramesean Stones do? Why did Rameses call them guidestones?

Simple: they guide us to the Machine.

And the Machine saves our planet.

We thought our troubles were over when we erected the Capstone atop the Great Pyramid, but no, we were only completing a necessary precondition for this, the main event: we "charged" the SaBenben.

And so now the SaBenben has been charged by the Sun. As such it is ready to interact with the Six. It is my belief that when the SaBenben comes into contact with each Sacred Stone, that Stone will provide a unique insight into the coming of the Dark Sun and the Earthsaving operation of the Machine.

The end of all things is near......but it's not over yet.

A DOOR SLAMMED somewhere. The a.s.sembled delegates looked up from their reading.

"Ahha! My son!" Sheik Abbas leaped up from his chair and embraced the handsome young man who had entered the room.

He was Captain Rashid Abbas, commander of the UAE's elite First Commando Regiment. The sheik's first son, he was a strikingly handsome man: with a chiseled jaw, dark Arabian skin, and deep blue eyes. His callsign was typically grand:The Scimitar of Allah, or justScimitar for short.

"Father," he said, embracing Abbas warmly. "Forgive my lateness, but I was waiting on my friend here."

Scimitar indicated his companion-who had entered the room almost invisibly, outshone by Scimitar's luminous presence. He was a delicate, precise fellow, with a bald head and a long ratlike nose. His shifting eyes swept the room, taking in everything, tense and edgy, suspicious.

Scimitar said, "Father, allow me to introduce Abdul Rahman al Saud from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from their esteemed Royal Intelligence Service. His call sign:Vulture. "

Vulture bowed to Sheik Abbas, low and slow.

Lily disliked Vulture on sight. His bow was too low, too obsequious, too deliberate.

As for Scimitar, she had seen him once or twice before-and then, as now, she noticed that Pooh Bear retreated into a corner of the room at the arrival of his handsome older brother. It seemed to Lily that the presence of his dashing brother clearly affected the younger and fatter Pooh Bear.

It made her dislike Scimitar, too.

Jack was also disturbed, but for different reasons. While he had expected Scimitar, he had not expected him to bring a Saudi spy along, the first of Sheik Abbas's uninvited guests.

"Vulture?" he said. "Not the Blood Vulture of Abu Ghraib prison fame?"

Vulture visibly stiffened. So did Scimitar.

During the official investigation into the atrocities at the notorious Iraqi prison, it emerged that Saudi intelligence agents had carried out torture activities that American soldiers were forbidden to do. One such Saudi intelligence agent had performed acts of torture so shockingly brutal that he had earned the nickname "Blood Vulture."

"I visited that prison on several occasions, Captain West," Vulture said in a low voice, his eyes locked on Jack's, "but not at the times the depravities took place."

"I will personally vouch for this man," Scimitar said irritably. "We have been through much together, over two Gulf Wars and more in between. The rumors of Abu Ghraib are unfounded lies. He is practically my brother."

At that, Lily saw Pooh Bear lower his eyes.

Vulture said, "I bring information that I am sure will be useful to you and your cause. For instance, I know the plans of the Chinese."

That got West's attention. "You do?"

The phone rang. Zoe got it, turned to West: "Jack. It's the hotel manager. He says there are a couple of people downstairs who would like an audience with you. He says they're American."

Moments later, the door to the suite opened to reveal two men: one a tall grayhaired gentleman in a suit the second a younger man dressed in plain clothes that scarcely disguised his military physique. A soldier.

From his chair, Sheik Abbas recognized the older man. "Why, Attache Robertson? What are you-?"

Jack remained standing between the two Americans and the meeting, blocking the way.

"Names. Now."

The older gentleman didn't flinch an inch. "Captain West, my name is Paul Robertson, special attache to the US amba.s.sador here in the United Arab Emirates. This is Lieutenant Sean Miller, from the United States Marine Corps, call signAstro. We're here to express our country's...concern...at recent Chinese actions, both military and archaeological, and hopefully a.s.sist you in some way."

Special attache,Jack thought,meant CIA agent.

"And how can you help me?" he asked.

Jack's relations with the United States of America were somewhat strained. His mission to locate the Seven Ancient Wonders had been in direct opposition to an influential group of Americans known as the Caldwell Group, who at the time had had the ear of the President. There had been some deaths involved, including people dear to Jack.

Robertson remained impa.s.sive, a cool customer. "We know, for instance, where the Chinese are keeping your friend, Professor Epper."

West stepped aside immediately. "Come on in. Take a seat."

At that very moment a windowless Boeing 767 cargo plane took off from Dubai International Airport.

On its flanks were emblazoned the words:TRANSATLANTIC AIR FREIGHT.

Its listed pilot: Captain Earl McShane.

And so now the representatives of six nations sat arrayed around the Presidential Suite of the Burj al Arab: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and the United States of America.

"You've all read the briefing doc.u.ment," West said. "Here is the translation of a carving that I received from Wizard in China just before he was captured by Chinese forces."

West distributed a new threepage handout. On the first sheet was Wizard's translation from China: THE COMING OF RA'S DESTROYER THE COMING OF RA'S DESTROYER SEES THESTARTING*OF THE GREATMACHINE**

AND WITH IT THE RISE OF THE SABENBEN.

HONOR THE SABENBEN,.

KEEP IT CLOSE, KEEP IT NEAR,.

FOR IT ALONE GOVERNS THE SIX.

AND ONLY THE EMPOWERED SIX CAN.

PREPARE THE PILLARS AND.

LEAD YOU TO THE SHRINES AND THUS.

COMPLETE THE MACHINE.

BEFORE THESECOND COMING.***

THE END OF ALL THINGS IS NEAR.

AMBIGUOUS TERMS:.

MATCH REFERENCE:.

Ref XR:512 Partial inscription found at ZhouZu Monastery, Tibet(2001) West said, "As you'll see, this decryption refers to a Great Machine and the importance of theSaBenben. 'The Second Coming' to which it refers is the coming of the Dark Sun."

"This Dark Sun, or Star, this bringer of the Apocalypse, why have astronomers not seen it before now?" Sheik Abbas asked.

"According to Wizard," West said, "it exists on a light spectrum unknown to humanity, so we can't see it through any of our telescopes, in any spectra, like infrared or ultraviolet or UVB. Its presence has only been verified by what itblocks from our view.

"From what I've read, it seems to roam the outer reaches of our solar system in a hyperelongated elliptical orbit. When it comes near, which is not very often, about once every six million years, Jupiter's movement shields us from it, blocks us from its deadly radiation. But even if this didn't happen, you couldn't see this Dark Sun with the naked eye.

"In any case, it's close now and this time-apparently-it will emerge from behind Jupiter, and that's when things get really ugly. That's when its constant discharge of radiationlike zeropoint energy will wash over our planet, killing every living creature on it-unless we can rebuild this Machine. The Machine, apparently, sends out a balancing response that counters the Dark Sun's energy stream, saving the Earth. It always comes back to balance, to harmony."

"Comeon, Jack," Zoe said. "Listen to yourself. Are you seriously saying that there is some kind of evil celestial orb out there bent on destroying the Earth?"

"It's not evil, Zoe. It just is. Call it antimatter, call it a singularity, call it a moving black hole. In the end, it is a netnegative void. A dense moving hole in the air. It's not evil and it doesn't hate us. We're just in its way."

Stretch said, "And yet somewhere,sometime,someonebuilt a Machine here on Earth that is somehowconnected to this Dark Sun. Are you talking about advanced technology, Jack?

Alien technology?"

Jack bowed his head. "I don't know. Wizard doesn't say."

Vulture mused aloud: "'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' Arthur C. Clarke."

"So how do we rebuild this Machine?" Sheik Abbas asked. "And why does China have a such a keen interest in doing so by itself? Surely, even the Chinese would realize that a united global coalition would be the best vehicle to achieve this?"

"As always, Lord Sheik, you go directly to the heart of the matter," West said. "Please turn to the second sheet of your handout."

They all did so. On it was a photocopy of Wizard's summarizing page.

West directed them to the center of the page. "To your first question, Sheik: how do we rebuild the Machine? Observe the six Pillars drawn by Wizard and described as 'oblong uncut diamonds.' Elsewhere in his notes, he states that these Pillars are each about the size of a brick. He also says-"

"A diamond the size of a brick?" Scimitar said in disbelief. "Just one alone would be larger than the Cullinan, the largest diamond ever found, and beyond value. And you claim there aresix of these."

"Yes, six. Wizard also says that each Pillar must be 'cleansed' by the Philosopher's Stone before being placed in the Machine, inspiring his exhortation that we 'musthave both the SaBenben andthe Philosopher's Stone. They are central to everything .'

"The way I see it is this: to rebuild the Machine, we must place the six Pillars-cleansed by the Philosopher's Stone-in position in this mysterious allpowerful Machine.

"Which leads me to your second question, Abbas, why does China want to do this alone?

They want to go it alone because it seems that whoever sets each Pillar in place in the Machine receives areward.

"You can see the rewards listed by Wizard: knowledge, heat, sight, life, death, power.

What these rewards actually are, I don't know. I a.s.sume Wizard knows, but there's nothing about their actual nature in his notes. But given what the Chinese have already done-grabbing Wizard in China and trying to steal theSaBenben from me-I imagine the rewards are pretty d.a.m.n rewarding."

West threw a sharp glance at the two Americans, Robertson and Astro.

Robertson cleared his throat. "I am not privy to my country's research on this matter, so please don't even ask me about that. But yes, the United States is unwilling to allow China to obtain the benefits you so describe."

"We'll be wanting to talk to someone about your country's research soon," West said pointedly.

"Wait, wait, wait," Zoe said. "I need to backtrack a bit. The Six Ramesean Stones plus theSaBenben give usinformation about this Machine. The Philosopher's Stone, once charged by theSaBenben, cleanses the Six Pillars, which then have to be placedin the Machine. So what is this Machine? And how big can it be?"

West tapped the image that signified the Machine: After reading Wizard's notes these last couple of days, he'd been thinking about the Machine a lot: about this image and Wizard's scribblings around it.

At last he said, "Wizard doesn't say what or how big the Machine is. But I have a theory."