Picture the sphinx, but sitting up, and big enough that a highway runs through it.

 

Table of Contents:

  1. Introduction
  2. Origins
  3. The Other Openings
  4. The Observation Eyes
  5. Location & Layout (Images Begin)
  6. Lion Head
  7. The Highway In and Out of It
  8. Cliff it Rests its Paws Upon
  9. Interiors
  10. 2022:  Scale-model in Minecraft
  11. 2023/+

 

Introduction:

Based on the Sphinx of Egypt, this up-scaled version stands (sits, rather) a full mile high.  

Unlike the Sphinx of Egypt, its head is not that of a human’s; rather, it is of a lion -whose yawning maw is the opening to an interior corkscrew super-highway channeling traffic from the highest of the two desert plateaus of Inisfree down to the gently rolling green foot-hills of the Castles Neighborhood three quarters of a mile below.  

Also unlike its form-sake, this Sphinx is not made of stone capable of being weathered.  Instead, like all Inisfreean constructs, it was sung into existence and formed as a single piece of one of the rarest elements, making it remarkably strong and resistant to any damage.  

Should any sort of issues occur with its appearance, internal workings, or other aspects, the Grid Mind of Inisfree will simply ‘sing’ into it again, using the city’s equivalent of a nervous system to pass signals and materials in and out of it to perform what the Inisfreeans call ‘biomechanical healing’; the building will literally regrow and reshape itself as needed.

 

Options:

Traveling through this gigantic structure are the standard mass-transportation lanes of the Inisfreean Glowing Art Highway (GAH); lanes for personal vehicles, commercial vehicles, mobile-homes (houses with tracks (like military tanks utilize) and Repulsines), the sight-seeing trolleys, and the cavitating bullet-trains.

 

The Other Openings:

While the open mouth resting at the edge of the higher desert plateau serves as the most obvious of traffic entry and exit points for this construct, two other traffic openings complete this Titan-Sphinx design; the first of these other two openings is at the end of the tail which extends out toward the Titan-sized Cathedral on the way past the Kathedrom.  

The second of these other two openings is at the tip of this statue’s penis (yes, all Inisfreean constructs are anatomically correct), with the lanes curving out and toward the circular base of the Auzdome.  

This (the presence of three openings instead of two) means that the Inisfreean Sphinx is so large and tall that it easily contains, with much room on all sides to spare, the Inisfreean 16-lane super-highway vertical-corkscrew which is more than twice the height of the tallest building in the Outlands; the Burj Khalifa which stands at one half of a mile high, and that the Inisfreean Sphinx is large enough to contain the ‘highway clover’ design which regulates merging traffic lanes between all three of these GAH sections.  

The lower section of this Sphinx houses a three-way intersection of a 16-lane super-highway.

 

The Observation Eyes:

From the Observation Deck, one can look out through gigantic floor-to-ceiling window panels making up the ‘lenses’ of this Sphinx’s eyes.  At nearly one quarter of a mile above the adjacent desert plateau, this is a very wonderful spot for observing the air-and-Space traffic of Inisfree’s Military Aerospaceport, including many of Inisfree’s equivalent of Red Flag and Top Gun exercises.

 

Location & Layout:

Lion Head:

The Highway In and Out of It:

Cliff it Rests its Paws Upon:

Interiors:

2022:  Scale-model in Minecraft:

2023/+:

We call it the Highway Sphinx, not the Highway Mega-lion, because it is there to remind us how quickly we, being as naturally perceptive and smart as we are, get through predators and other threats so quickly and smoothly, and from multiple directions, they unable to close their jaws on us, thus unable to challenge us with riddles. This is evidenced in my many expeditions, during which many wayward humans tried testing me with implied challenges to see if I would pointlessly attempt the impossible out of excessive pride, etc., yet I always smoothly immediately disregarded their clearly-vibing tests every time, not concerned at all about earning favor in their lame eyes.
Also, this megastructure is to remind us that before Egypt’s sphinx structure was a sphinx, it was a lion, indicating when it was built; millennia ago, during the Age of Leo (~10,001 to 8,000 BC).
Also, it bridges the gap/cliff between two distinct levels, both symbolically, regarding adjacent collective mental-focus eras, and literally/physically, by protecting/housing the GAH-‘corkscrew’ from civilian meadow level to lofty military/rescue level.
While the sphinx allegedly challenged humans, it does not challenge us, nor do any creatures, for we work together; “We are one.”