The Project 01 - White Jade

wanted to create a real formula for staying alive forever. "
    " Why here in Tibet ? "
    " T he story on the walls says the priests started from here, went to Crete and then returned. It doesn ' t say when or why or how they could have known about the Minoans. The part about the emperor is clear enough. Huang was brought to this spot, to receive the elixir. That would have been in 210 B.C.E. "
    " I wonder what they did with him? We haven ' t seen anything that looks like a tomb. " His back was stiffening up. Time to get back to work.
    Ronnie looked at the mummy. The priest grin ned back . " What ' s next, Nick? "
    " Selena gets videos of everything . Y ou and I look for anything that might interest Yang. Selena, if you record all of the writing we can translate it later. Once you ' ve got your pictures we ' ll get out and blow the entrance. I don ' t want Yang down here poking around. "
    " You want to blow up that statue? "
    " We don ' t have a choice. We got in easily enough. Whoever Yang sends will have the same information we have. We ' ll just seal the top. In the future someone can re-open it, if that ' s the right thing. "
    She shook her head. " I never thought I ' d be part of destroying the archeological find of the century. I ' d better finish getting my pictures. "
    Carter reached out to take the piece of white jade from the mummy ' s hand. It didn ' t move. He tugged on it and the arm came up as the jade came free. As he turned to give it to Selena the floor shook under their feet.
    Something was happening deep under the stones. The room started to shake . B its of mortar and trails of dust fell from the ceiling. A glass bowl slipped from one of the tables and shattered.
    Taking the jade figure of the emperor had triggered some ancient mechanism. They ran out of the room, down the steps and into the great outer chamber. A thick silver fluid gushed into the channels cut along the sides of the steps and flowed down into the openings by the white slab on the platform.
    " That looks like mercury, " Selena called above the rumble of moving stone.
    It was mercury, a hell of a lot of it. They stood at the foot of the steps and watched a rectangular white block slowly rise in the center of the platform. After a minute the flow of mercury in the channels slowed to a trickle. The rumbling vibration died away.
    They walked over to the block. It was chest high and illustrated with elaborate scenes of life in ancient China . Selena ran her hands over the carvings.
    " This entire container is made of white jade. I think it ' s a crypt, or a sarcophagus. "
    Carter stood next to her. " What do you think is inside? "
    " Not what, who. I think the First Emperor of China "
    " Still alive, you think? "
    " Smartass. You want to take a look? " She trained her video camera on the sarcophagus.
    " Give me a hand, Ronnie. " The lid was sealed with a sticky resin. They used their knives to dig it out.
    They fumbled for a handhold and moved the lid away from one corner. Inside Nick saw a foot wearing an elaborate brocaded slipper. A foul smell seeped from the crypt.
    "Phew." Ronnie turned his head away.
    "No place for the stink to go after they sealed him up"
    " Slide the lid further over , Nick. "
    " It can ' t weigh more than a couple of hundred pounds. Let ' s set it down. "
    They lifted the lid off and rested it against the crypt. Nick looked in. The First Emperor of China lay on his back, on a golden pillow, wrapped in robes of golden silk embroidered with thousands of pearls. He wore a tall headdress of jade . On his chest lay a heavy disk of white jade, hung on a thick gold chain and inset with a large golden dragon . A small box of white jade was placed at his feet. But it wasn ' t the box that caught Carter's eye. It was the emperor's face .
    He looked as if he had died yesterday.
    " Jesus, " Ronnie leaned over the coffin. " My doctor doesn ' t look that good and he ' s a lot younger. He looks like he ' s sleeping. "
    The emperor ' s face was pear shaped and sallow. Thick black mustaches drooped down on either side of his mouth. His lips were full and his cheeks rounded. There was a hint of cruelty in his features.
    "How did they do this?" Nick said. "It makes the Egyptians look like amateurs."
    "It must be the formula." Selena laid a hand against the Emperor's neck. Soft. Cold as death. "The formula wasn't for living forever. It was for preserving the body. That fits with what I read on the walls."
    Nick reached down and