Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 Where did he come from? Dan wondered. He didn't see a door anywhere. It was like he'd just appeared out of nowhere. Creepy. "I had the pleasure of hearing that you made a reservation in my name. I thought it might be my nephew. What a pity not to see him. I was looking forward to it." Bae smiled, but it was more like he'd bared his teeth at a dentist. "Not that it isn't delightful to see you two." Dan didn't believe him for a minute. He thought about the locked exit door. If they had to run, where would they go? He saw Amy's glance dart beyond Bae. She was looking for a way to escape, too. Bae's weird grin grew wider, as if he'd smelled their fear. "Do you like the stronghold of the

第六章他从哪里来？ 丹奇怪。他没有看到任何地方有门。 就好像他不知道从哪里冒出来的。 令人毛骨悚然。“我很高兴听说您以我的名字预订了房间。 我还以为是我侄子。 没见到他真可惜。 我很期待。” 裴笑了，但那更像是他在看牙医时露出了牙齿。 “不是说见到你们两个不高兴。” 丹一分钟也不相信他。 他想到了那扇锁着的出口。 如果他们不得不逃跑，他们会去哪里？ 他看到艾米的目光越过了小裴。 她也在想办法逃跑。 贝奇怪的咧嘴笑得更大了，仿佛嗅到了他们的恐惧。 “你喜欢要塞吗？

Ekaterinas?" he asked, waving his jeweled cane. "I must confess I'm proud of it. I designed it myself." "It's not exactly standing room only," Dan said. Bae's grin vanished. "Even Ekats can be jealous of genius. They don't realize this has nothing to do with my own glory— I designed it for all Ekats. Nevertheless, am I wrong to point out that it was I who had the foresight to buy this hotel? It was I who had the vision? Cairo always had an Ekat stronghold, but it was nothing like this. A shabby house found for us by Howard Carter back in 1915, when he was searching for the second Sakhet. During the Second World War we had to hide the objects here and there, and I saw the wisdom of building a better stronghold. No one else understood the great need. It took me years. And as technology advances, I make improvements. This is as good as a museum, don't you think? Better. Such a fitting tribute to the many geniuses of the descendants of Katherine." "Including your nephew," Amy said. "Bah." Bae's thin mouth curled in distaste. "I thought your name was Bae, not Bah," Dan

叶卡捷琳娜？”他挥舞着镶着珠宝的手杖问道。 “我得承认我为此感到骄傲。 我自己设计的。”“不是只有站着的地方，”丹说。 裴的笑容消失了。“即使是Ekats也会嫉妒天才。 他们没有意识到这与我自己的荣耀无关——我是为所有Ekats设计的。 然而，我是否应该指出，正是我有远见地购买了这家酒店？ 是我看到幻象的吗？ 开罗一直有伊卡特的据点，但不是这样的。 霍华德·卡特在1915年为我们找到了一所破旧的房子，当时他正在寻找第二个萨基特。 在第二次世界大战期间，我们不得不到处隐藏物品，我看到了建造一个更好的据点的智慧。 没有人能理解这种巨大的需求。 这花了我很多年。随着技术的进步，我也在不断改进。 这里和博物馆一样好，你不觉得吗？ 更好。这是对凯瑟琳众多天才后代的恰如其分的致敬。” “包括你的侄子，”艾米说。 “呸。”裴的薄嘴厌恶地卷了起来。 “我以为你的名字是巴，不是巴，”丹说

said. "My bad!" Bae turned his dark gaze on Dan. Dan felt a chill shudder through him. It was like having a close-up view of a shark's eyes. Right before he opened his jaws and cut you in two. "I have heard that you are something of a wise guy," Bae said to him. "I'm sure it will get you far in life." He returned his attention to Amy. "Alistair has been a grave disappointment to me. Such a brilliant mind and such a silly man." "Th-then why are you so interested in meeting up with him again?" Amy asked. She might be cornered, she might be scared, but she wasn't going to let this evil guy push them around. "I am his uncle. I promised my dear departed brother I would watch out for him. When Alistair was younger, he had such promise. He was the one to discover how to open the third Sakhet. Then he goes off to become an inventor, and what does he invent? A tasteless, indigestible piece of frozen cardboard masquerading as food!" "I heard he made a couple of cool million on that piece of cardboard," Dan said.

说。“我的坏!”裴把阴沉的目光转向丹。 丹感到浑身打了个寒战。 就像近距离观察鲨鱼的眼睛一样。 就在他张开大嘴把你切成两半之前。 “我听说你是个聪明的人，”裴对他说。 “我相信它会让你在生活中走得更远。” 他把注意力转回到艾美身上。 “阿利斯泰尔让我非常失望。 这么聪明的头脑，这么愚蠢的人。” “那你为什么这么想再和他见面呢？”艾米问。 她可能被逼得走投无路，她可能很害怕，但她不会让这个邪恶的家伙摆布她们。 “我是他的叔叔。我答应过我亲爱的哥哥我会照顾好他。 当阿利斯泰尔年轻的时候，他有这样的承诺。 是他发现了如何打开第三扇门。 然后他成为了一名发明家，他发明了什么？ 一块伪装成食物的无味、难以消化的冷冻硬纸板！”“我听说他在那张硬纸板上赚了几百万，”丹说。

Bae leaned on his cane. "You must understand something. Money is not a sign of achievement. Not to the Ekats. That's why we're superior to the others. What do we value? Not power, like the Lucians, or physical strength, like the Tomas. Not even the cleverness of the Janus. No. It is something greater. Ingenuity. Inspiration. And channeling it to usefulness." He waved his stick. "You see what we have done!" "We just saw some pretty horrifying examples of what Ekat ingenuity came up with," Amy said, gesturing back toward the black shadow-curtain. "I thought you were smarter than that, young lady. That remark was not worthy of you." "Why is that?" Amy challenged. "Am I supposed to be impressed with concentration camps and atomic bombs?" Bae thumped his stick. "That is an emotional reaction! Ekats are not evil. They are not good. They invent. They challenge. They lead. Some lives lost? Those are petty concerns. What is important is the discovery. The invention. Do you understand?"

裴拄着手杖。“你必须明白一些事情。 金钱不是成就的标志。 不是对Ekats。这就是为什么我们比其他人优越。 我们看重什么？不是卢西亚人那样的力量，也不是托马斯那样的体力。 甚至连双面神的聪明都比不上。 否。它是更伟大的东西。 聪明才智。灵感。并将其转化为有用的东西。” 他挥了挥手杖。“你看我们做了什么！”“我们刚刚看到了一些非常可怕的例子，展示了埃卡特的聪明才智，”艾米指着黑色的阴影窗帘说。 “我还以为你比那聪明呢，小姐。 那句话配不上你。” “为什么？”艾米的挑战。 “我应该对集中营和原子弹印象深刻吗？”裴捶打着他的手杖。 “这是一种情绪化的反应！”猫并不邪恶。 它们不好。他们发明的。 他们的挑战。他们领先。 失去了一些生命？这些都是鸡毛蒜皮的小事。 重要的是发现。 这项发明。你明白吗？”

"Yeah, we get it," Dan said. "Here's the four- one-one— you are one creepy dude." Bae Oh moved closer to them, and they backed up a step. "You are Cahills, too. You know that what makes us extraordinary can sometimes make us dangerous. Your ancestors are proof of that. It is your job to learn from their mistakes as well as their triumphs. Isn't that true?" Amy didn't want to listen to him. But at last he'd made sense. He took another step toward them, holding out one arm in a genial way. They backed up again. No way did Dan want to get close to this evil, ancient dude. "Come," he said, in a tone he probably thought was warm and fuzzy. Instead, it was a total creep- out. "We are all one family. We should be allies. You've come far on the search for the thirty-nine clues, but we all need help. How about a simple exchange of information? I will tell you what I know of the great Sakhet mystery. You will tell me the whereabouts of my nephew. I know he is fond of you."

“是的，我们明白了，”丹说。 “这是4 - 1 - 1 -你是一个令人毛骨悚然的家伙。” 裴五走近他们，他们后退了一步。 “你也是卡希尔家的人。你知道让我们与众不同的东西有时也会让我们变得危险。 你的祖先就是证明。 从他们的成功和错误中学习是你的工作。 这不是真的吗？”艾米不想听他的。 但他终于说明白了。 他又朝他们走了一步，和蔼地伸出一只胳膊。 他们又后退了。丹绝对不想接近这个邪恶的老家伙。 “来吧，”他说，他可能觉得他的语气温暖而模糊。 相反，这是一个完全令人讨厌的地方。 “我们都是一家人。我们应该成为盟友。 你在寻找这39条线索的过程中走了很远，但我们都需要帮助。 简单交换一下信息怎么样？ 我会告诉你我所知道的关于萨凯特的大秘密。 你得告诉我我外甥的下落。 我知道他喜欢你。”

"You first," Dan said. Bae inclined his head. "Gladly. I will show you trust, and you will do the same, I am sure." He pointed with his cane to the first Sakhet. "Here is what we Ekats know for certain. Our glorious ancestor Katherine, the queen of ingenuity, left Europe for Egypt. Can you imagine what kind of courage it took for a woman to travel alone in the early part of the sixteenth century? We know she came to Cairo and purchased three small statues of Sakhet. One had ruby eyes, one lapis, one emerald. She then disguised herself as a man and left Cairo. We know she met up with a family of tomb robbers and hired them to take her on a trip up the Nile. She hid each Sakhet, and each one hid a secret." Bae stared at the statue. "She's beautiful, isn't she? It's no accident that Katherine chose a goddess. She believed she was never given her due as a woman. And she wasn't." He sighed. "We don't know how the other branches found out about Katherine's clue, but we know they have been searching for centuries. That horrid little Lucian, Napoleon, instructed his scholars to keep

“你先说，”丹说。裴低下了头。 “很乐意。我会向你表示信任，我相信你也会这样做的。” 他用手杖指了指第一个沙吉特。 “这是我们Ekats所确定的。 我们光荣的祖先凯瑟琳，聪明的女王，离开欧洲去了埃及。 你能想象在16世纪早期，一个女人独自旅行需要多大的勇气吗？ 我们知道她来过开罗，买了三尊萨凯特的小雕像。 一个是红宝石的眼睛，一个是青金石的，一个是绿宝石的。 然后她乔装成一个男人离开了开罗。 我们知道她遇到了一个盗墓贼家庭并雇佣他们带她去尼罗河旅行。 她把每个沙基都藏起来，每个沙基都藏着一个秘密。” 裴盯着雕像。“她很漂亮，不是吗？” 凯瑟琳选了一位女神并非偶然。 她认为自己从未得到过作为女人应有的待遇。 但她没有。”他叹了口气。 “我们不知道其他分支是如何发现凯瑟琳的线索的，但我们知道他们已经寻找了几个世纪。 那个可怕的小卢西安，拿破仑，指示他的学者们保持