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I read this book many years ago and it had a nice plot. For the life of me I can't remember the name or author so I need help.

Story: one asteroid shaped object appears close to Earth orbit or in the Sol system.

People get on board and start exploring. They find machines/computers that can teach them anything in a very short time (languages, crafts etc).

Towards the end, something happens and one of the characters goes into a long tunnel where he/she opens a portal in time with the help of a device he/she has.

In the epilogue it states that he has been transported back in time to Egypt. I think there were no pyramids.

Sorry for being brief but this is all I remember. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

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    No need to apologize for being brief. I think you did a good job listing some easily recognizable details without unnecessary extraneous info. i.e. from what you described, I am 99.99% sure terdon is correct and it is Eon. Had terdon not suggested it, I would have.
    – beichst
    Commented Jul 4, 2013 at 15:24

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Could this be Greg Bear's Eon? A mysterious artifact arrives in Earth orbit; it is a long cylinder. As the book progresses, the main characters start traveling down the Way, the inside of the cylinder, where they find various wonders, including "portals" that allow them to travel in time and between alternate universes I think.

If I recall correctly, one of the characters does indeed end up in an alternate ancient Egypt but I don't remember if the pyramids were there or not.

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    This was the book that I immediately thought of as well.
    – Xantec
    Commented Jul 4, 2013 at 15:42
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    Definitely Eon. Actually, at the end it's Patricia Luisa Vasquez who gets transported - not back in time, but to an alternative present where the Egyptian culture is still dominant, and there are too many pyramids.
    – Daniel Roseman
    Commented Jul 4, 2013 at 17:37
  • ty so much... it has to be Eon coz the name rings a bell and the cylinder sounds more right to me than an asteroid as i stated previously.
    – Cherubel
    Commented Jul 4, 2013 at 22:17
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    No, you're right, it is an asteroid that appears in Earth orbit. The asteroid has been hollowed out, and segmented into seven chambers; the seventh chamber "goes on forever" and is, in fact, the Way.
    – Pat J
    Commented Jul 14, 2013 at 3:05

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