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127 guardians of Heaven's parts open the Gate of Heaven for him!" The inscriptions within the tomb of Pepi explain to those who were left behind, the king's subjects, what had happened: This is the king Pepi who flies away from you, ye mortals. He is not of Earth; he is of the Heaven. This king Pepi flies as a cloud to the sky. Having risen in the Ascender toward the east, the king is now orbiting the Earth: He encompasses the sky like Ra, He traverses the sky like Thoth. . . He travels over the regions of Horus, He travels over the regions of Seth... He has completely encircled the heavens twice. The repeated circling of the Earth provides the Ascender with momentum to leave the Earth for the Double Gates of Heaven. Down below, the priests' incantations tell the king: "The Double Gates of Heaven are opened for thee!" and assure him that the Goddess of Heaven will protect and guide him in this celestial journey: "She will lay hold of your arm, she will show you the way to the horizon, to the place where Ra is." The destination is the "Imperishable Star" whose symbol is the Winged Disc. The sacred utterances assure the faithful that when the de- parted king shall reach his destination, "when the king shall stand there, on the star which is on the underside of heaven, he shall be judged as a god." The incantation utterances envision that when the king shall approach the Double Gates of Heaven, he will be met by "the four gods who stand on the Dam-scepters of Heaven." He will call out to them to announce the king's arrival to Ra; and without doubt, Ra himself will step forward to greet the king and lead him past the Gates of Heaven and into the Celestial Palace: on The Gates of Heaven He flies who flies: