Upper Egypt, 1700 BC

The small, copper ball hovered in the air.

Then slowly it descended onto the floor of the temple chamber and began to roll.

Changing directions several times, stopping and looping back, it traced ever more complex patterns over the smooth stone, the flickering tongues of flame from the open braziers of the shrine dancing on its shiny surface.

Sweeping a wide arc, it ran only a hand-span away from the delicately-woven, palm-leaf sandals of the four men who stood along the chamber wall watching its progress in awed silence. Each one of them took a quick step backwards as the ball rolled past them, bowing their heads slightly and secretly clutching at protective amulets hidden in the folds of their white linen shawls.

Seti, the last man in the line, watched with a swirling mixture of fear and fascination as the ball moved towards his own feet. Like the others, he felt the strong urge to move back, to bow his head, but curiosity kept him rooted where he was.

The ball rolled past him. . . but then looped back, slowly coming to a stop only an arm's length in front of his sandals.

It levitated again, rising to the level of his navel where it stopped, hanging motionlessly in the air. The urge to reach out and touch it, to stroke the reddish metal, test the air around it with his hand, rose in him like the tensing of a muscle. Was it hot? Cold?

Before he could make a decision, it began to slowly float away back across the chamber to nestle into the out-stretched hand of the petite High Priestess gazing at him from under a voluptuous, dark wig.

"What you have just witnessed is a demonstration of the power of the Star of Bekumen on an object when it is joined with the mental discipline of an adept of the Goddess," she said. 

The bodice of cylindrical, green-glazed faience she wore over her dress rattled faintly as she moved the ball from one hand to the other.  

The priestess hurled the ball directly up into the air.

The men gasped and retreated another step back as it halted abruptly, locked into place as if caught by an invisible hand. 

"Over one thousand years ago, the Sky Goddess gifted the Star to us," the priestess continued, ignoring the ball floating above her head. "You have all heard of its powers to cure sickness and purify water, but the Star is capable of far more than that."

Seti looked from the copper ball to the famous Star resting in the large shrine that spanned the entire length of the east-facing wall. He had never considered what the Star of Bekumen actually looked like because he'd never dreamed he'd be allowed to see it. He looked now, though, committing all of it to memory. 

The Star was a long, black rock with a deeply-pockmarked surface, as if it had been struck by a thousand random hammer blows. One side extended up like a finger and the base was uneven and cracked. Its asymmetrical, damaged form sharply contrasted with the clean, linear lines of the shrine that was designed to look like a spacious house.  Painted carvings of gardens, orchards and animals grazing in fields decorated the walls along its sides, giving the house a lush, welcoming appearance.

Above, a huge sun disk stretched its vibrant wings of green, red and blue feathers down either side of the shrine, as if the sun were embracing the gift of the Sky with its warmth and affection.

Although not a particularly pious man, Seti felt a tingle of religious awe at the sight. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and considered stepping back in line with the others. 

"The Star is too large and too holy to be moved for experimentation. Even we adepts are unaware of the extent of its powers."

Seti turned his attention back to the priestess and his brow furrowed slightly. Too holy? Why had she stressed that?

"The temple at Dendera has sent us a message. The Sky will be sending down new stars with the same properties as the Star of Bekumen. They will fall to Earth -- not here in Egypt -- but on an unknown island. Unfortunately, we lack the knowledge to calculate the exact location where they will land. Not so the Babylonians! They already know exactly where the Sky's gifts will land and are making preparations to retrieve them."

The priestess held out her hand and the hovering ball dropped into it like a piece of ripe fruit falling from a tree, underscoring her words with a fleshy smack. The man closest to Seti drew in a sharp breath.

"Pharaoh," the priestess continued, her voice echoing somewhat louder from the chilly stone walls, "has great respect for the skill of the Babylonians to chart the sky. He believes they will find and claim these new stars for themselves. That can't be allowed to happen."

She shifted the ball from hand to hand, staring at each of the men in turn. 

It's hot, thought Seti. That's why she keeps moving it around. 

"It is prophesied that with the help of the new stars, we will develop a higher functioning, healthier society than we already have. Egypt is great, but it can become even greater! The ability for unknown breakthroughs in technology will be at our fingertips and the fame of our architects and healers known throughout the world! This is why Pharaoh, in his divine wisdom, has decided to send a group of diplomats to negotiate for half of the stars."

Once her eyes had passed him by, Seti's attention was drawn to the small group of junior priestesses standing at a respectful distance behind their superior and his brow furrowed again.

Although they stood still, one hand elegantly resting on the outermost fold of their pleated shawls, their eyes darted like nervous birds around the illuminated shrine end of the chamber, meticulously avoiding the opposite end which lay in heavy darkness.

What was lurking outside of the flickering light of the braziers? 

Seti knew better than to turn his head and stare into the deep blackness. He would see nothing and possibly draw the attention of whatever was making the priestesses so nervous to himself. High-ranking priests and priestesses were able to perform any number of tricks and sleights of hand. The moving copper ball could well be one of them. Were others coming from that direction?

Instead of staring, he allowed his gaze to drift up to the painted ceiling, keeping the dark end of the chamber just within the edge of his vision.

A beautiful, multi-hued depiction of the Sky Goddess stretched over him. Her naked, golden body was speckled with black, five-pointed stars and behind her, in a vastness of vibrant dark blue, constellations of golden five-pointed stars lined the heavens of the chamber. The sun, an orange disk, could be seen travelling down the centre of her body to be birthed at the dawning of each new day, and on her lips the smile of eternity rested.

But then, instead of the darkened end of the chamber on his left, the Star on his right fell into his peripheral vision without him consciously having done anything.

And then the ceiling began to move.

The dark blue background fell back and deepened into an arcing dome of stars that flickered and gleamed, pulling the golden body of the Goddess with it until she truly did seem to be supporting herself on her hands and feet. The golden tone of her body quickly paled into an almost transparent, milky white. Her arms, breasts, hips, legs and face rounded, gaining form, shadow and weight. The thick hair that fell away along either side of her forehead sharpened into darkly shining braids that looked more real than any human hair Seti had ever seen.

And then the Goddess turned her wide, benevolent face towards him and winked.

A second later, sharp streaks flashed across her stomach as a cluster of the black stars fell, streaming long trails of brilliant white and red light behind them.

Seti snapped his eyes shut. When he dared to open them again a few moments later, the ceiling was as it had been. The Sky Goddess stretched over him as a golden painting. Beautiful, but no longer alive.

Seti sighed in relief and dropped his gaze to the High Priestess.

She was looking at him, her eyes slightly squinted and thoughtful, as if she'd caught him doing something he wasn't supposed to. A rush of embarrassment made him look away and he felt the tops of his ears burning.

"Each of you are candidates to head the most important diplomatic mission in hundreds of years. Egypt's fate will be entrusted to one of you. In the coming days your suitability will be assessed, but the ultimate decision of which one of you will be blessed with this historic mission," she paused to let her words sink in, "rests with Pharaoh and Pharaoh alone."

Seti felt a chill creep over his limbs. He would be known to Pharaoh? Not just as a name on a clay tablet, but his history and insignificant achievements as well? The Brother of the Gods would have his all-seeing eye on him? Why? He was neither important enough nor connected to anyone influential through blood or marriage. Why was he here? This couldn't be right. 

Seti felt like a dormouse that had just been spotted by a viper slithering towards it through the grass. 

The High Priestess turned brusquely and exited the chamber by a low door in the wall next to the shrine. The nervous priestesses fled in her wake, closing the wooden door soundly behind them. 

The four men were alone. A minute or two passed in silence as they looked questioningly to each other, attempting to decide what to do next. Seti knew all of them by sight, but only one of them by name. They were all from different government departments with vastly higher ranks and competencies. Far higher than his, all of them. Why had the blue stone scarab with the invitation scratched into its clay underside been resting on his work tablet, of all people? How did he fit into this group?

The door in the wall behind them opened with a hollow pop like a jar being unstopped and an older priest gestured for them to come out. Seti hesitated, letting the others go out first. 

Before he left, he wanted an answer to at least one of the questions teeming in his mind. 

Just before he ducked through the doorway, he cast a quick, sharp glance over his shoulder into the dark end of the chamber. For a second, he thought he heard a scraping noise. Then a glimmer of dull light flashed in the gloom, and there was the faint sound of what he thought was a door shutting.

Ah ha. Someone had been watching from the shadows. And judging by the nervousness of the priestesses, someone important. 

The feeling of having been spotted by a viper returned. 

Seti followed the other courtiers, trailing after the priest as they were led back through a series of narrow chambers and out into the open-pillared central hall of the temple where they were dismissed into the leaden, midday heat of the temple forecourt.

Returning to his office at Court would be pointless. He would be fidgety and unable to concentrate, replaying events and sentence fragments from the demonstration over and over until he could fit them into some kind of meaningful pattern. Spending the rest of the day bent over provincial dispatches waiting for the bronze dial of the water clock to raise the Hour of the Crocodile was simply out of the question. 

As he left the temple complex through the high, gleaming white Gate of the Sky, its four blue flags on their golden poles cracking in the stiff wind from the Nile, Seti decided that he would avoid work and take the ferry back across the river. 

The sooner he got home and talked to Seshat about all of this, the better.