Space Witches 1: The Book of Witches

12. The Entrance Examination

And I hadn't a clue about anything regarding ancient Egypt. Well, in a way that was good as I had no plans on spending my next years at a university when I could be making a decent salary as a shuttle hostess. But still, I did not want to look like a total idiot.

I took the papers out of the envelope and read the first question.

"Analyze one likely contribution to the birth of a united Egypt during the predynastic age."

Predynastic age? When the heck was that? I tried to remember anything I had heard about ancient Egypt at school, but nothing much came to the fore. Pharaohs, sure... Pyramids... The Nile... The Nile? That might be it. I took the pen with the intention to write that people needed water in the desert areas and so came to the river.

I never had the time to do so – suddenly a burning sensation covered my whole right hand, and someone else began to move my hand.

"The Predynastic period covers thousands of years, during which time the climate of Africa changed considerably. What was to become the Sahara desert was at first a lush land with lakes and plenty of game to hunt. At that time the Nile valley itself was so marshy it was unfit for habitation for most of the year. People living in the area that would later be dry desert, began to domesticate wild cattle and their herds had plenty to eat. As the climate became drier, it became necessary to herd cattle during the dry season to wetlands where there would be grass. At this point the banks of the Nile could be inhabited during the dry season. So people brought their cattle there and began to remain for part of the year by the river."

"Ow, slow down," I muttered, receiving a few cross looks from the invigilator and the people around.

"When the waters rose again as a result of the yearly rains south of what was to become Egypt, the desert areas turned green again. The nomads returned there with their cattle. Thousands of years went by, and the drying up of the deserts continued. Eventually the cattle could only survive along the Nile, and people moved there permanently. This reliance on cattle was later formed an important part of the religion of Egypt – the king wore a bull's tail in ceremonies, and the mother-goddess in the form of a cow was among the oldest and most loved goddesses throughout pharaonic times – first as Bat, later as Hathor. So the need for the cattle herders to come to the Nile for water did not only affect the birth of a physical nation, but also its religion."

I stared at the paper. Had I really written that?

Well, no, obviously I had not. I had a pretty good idea who had, though.

"I told you to keep her hands off me, George..." I whispered.

This caused a few heads to turn in my direction again. I was surprised to see that not all the applicants looked geeky and nerdy. There was one good looking young man three rows down from me. He had dark hair, strong eyebrows over dark brown eyes, and olive-colored skin. He looked as though he might be Egyptian to me. When he winked at me I dropped my pencil in surprise. By the time I had fished it from the floor again, he had already turned his attention back to his papers. Which was just as well, as my cheeks were burning red.

The exam questions spanned the whole of ancient Egyptian history, and my hand – or rather the cursed soul's – wrote the answers for me. After it became clear she was not attacking me this time, it became rather interesting to read what she wrote. Who knew that slaves did not build the pyramids? Or that the king's palaces were not made of stone but mud brick? Or that there were no camels in use until the Roman age? Or that the water clock or clepsydra was perhaps invented as early as the 16th century BCE and was certainly in use in the 14th century BCE? I had a faint recollection of my history teacher crediting the Greeks with that invention. I remembered her explaining that the water clock was invented as a way of limiting the speaking time of politicians. That had stuck in everyone's mind, because it was hilarious, of course.

My paper was complete within an hour. The burning sensation in my hand ceased, but it remained all inflamed. Not to mention the cramps all that feverish writing had caused. I shook my hand vigorously.

I put my exam papers in the envelope, got up and went down the stairs of the lecture theater. I gave the envelope to the middle-aged man who was paying no attention to me. He literally jumped when I had to push it under his nose to get his attention. He was too deep in making notes from the book he was reading. He banged it shut ("The Ptolemaic Dynasties") and stared at me with an almost furious expression. As I stepped back, he suddenly realized where he was, and grabbed my envelope. He checked the time and shook his head when he saw I had only used an hour (at least I thought that was the reason). He then wrote down the time I had returned my paper, and then waved his left hand in dismissal, while already opening his book again with his right hand.

I stepped backwards, right onto someone's toes.

"The five underneath are mine," a voice announced.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said out loud and as a thank you got many shushing noises from the people still completing their papers. Two flies pirouetted around my head.

"Never mind. I can still walk, I think."

It was the dark-haired and dark-eyed young man. He was about the same height as I was, maybe a tad taller. If I had had high heels, I'm sure I would have been taller than him.

I nodded, cheeks red with embarrassment and hurried up the stairs and out of the lecture theater.

I breathed in deeply – it seemed the university's gardener loved roses. I walked into the middle of the square, sat down on a bench and looked up into space.

The sun came from behind me and lit up the Earth. The site of impact was not visible as it was on the other side. It had hit Siberia - the irony of it was that the impact was near Tunguska where a meteorite had hit in 1908. The dust cloud had darkened the surface of the planet for years. Volcanos had erupted, adding dust to the atmosphere. Winter had arrived, almost destroying life on the planet.

Thankfully technology had been at such an advanced state that the approaching asteroid was detected long before it hit. Space travel had already begun, and when calculations showed that the asteroid would indeed hit Earth, a miracle happened. Wars ceased and all nations poured their resources into building the plates so that humankind – and many of the animal breeds and plants – could be taken to safety before the impact. The first Plates were crude, like big space ships that could be steered out of the way of the asteroid's path. They had plants planted in rows in nurseries and animals confined in cages, waiting for bigger Plates to be built.

Great care had been taken to make sure that human culture would survive, and so from the very beginning valuable buildings were stored on the first plates in pieces. Cathedrals, ancient monuments, libraries, palaces... These huge puzzles were then reassembled when the more advanced plates were constructed.

Many things couldn't be moved, of course, and we lost a lot, but much survived. And now we – humankind in space – were working on making the planet habitable again. Some areas had been covered with big domes before the impact. Caves were used as well to build biospheres. Those domes and caves that had survived were heated to keep nature alive, but despite our best attempts, not everything could be saved. Old monuments were still being brought up to the newer Plates being built.

But I had not come here to admire the scenery. My right hand was still glowing red. I pushed it into the water pouring out from a small fountain in the middle of the garden. Only when it had cooled down did I get to my feet.

It was time to find the Library of Ancient Tomes.