EXT. GIZA PLATEAU – EXCAVATION SITE – DAY
As the Rolls Royce comes to a stop at the edge of a rock shelf, Langford climbs out of the vehicle and starts making the trek up the slope of loose rock and silt to the top, Catherine following close behind at his heels. Reaching the top of the shelf, the father-daughter duo surveys the landscape stretched out before them.
CATHERINE: (points; subtitled) Daddy, the treasure’s over there.
Langford follows the girl’s finger. Though the entire surface of the shelf is painted with the telltale signs of archaeological excavation, most of the site’s present activity is centred over at the far end of the shelf, where dozens upon dozens of FELLAHIN – Egyptian labourers – are working at a frenetic pace, carrying away bucket-loads of loose rubble and bringing in a large amount of ropes, pulleys, and cranes.
PROF. LANGFORD: (subtitled) We’ll go see Ed Taylor first.
Langford and his daughter make their way over to a parcel of land occupied by a large tent. There, a small group of men – ED TAYLOR included – stand hunched over a low table situated off to the side of the tent’s entrance.
PROF. LANGFORD: (approaches Taylor) Ed, if we’ve found a pet cemetery, I quit.
TAYLOR: (to Langford) We can’t decipher this writing. Take a look.
Taylor steps aside, making room for Langford to come in close to the table. Laid out over the table’s top is a large sheet of paper covered with charcoal rubbings of strange glyphs.
CATHERINE: (pushes in between her father and Taylor) Those aren’t real hieroglyphics.
TAYLOR: At least not the ones we’re used to.
PROF. LANGFORD: (edgy) Taylor, where did these symbols come from?
TAYLOR: I’ll show you.
Motioning for the professor and his daughter to follow, Taylor begins making his way from the tent. Working their way through the maze of excavated parcels, they soon come to the far end of the shelf, under a low rock wall beyond which lies the pit where the dozens of fellahin are setting up their cranes. There, resting in the sand, is a large coverstone.
Chiselled from a single large block of sandstone, the coverstone is perfectly round and 6.7 metres in diametre. The surface is engraved with etchings, each subdivided into distinct sections: a round centerpiece with three surrounding rings. The centerpiece contains an elaborate cartouche housing eight strange glyphs; the inner ring contains a series of concentric lines, some of the intersecting points of which are clearly marked while others are not; the middle ring contains lines of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic text; and the outer ring contains thirty-nine unrecognizable glyphs – eight of which match those contained in the central cartouche.
TAYLOR: It’s a coverstone, the largest one I’ve ever seen. (beat) When you bury something with a rock this size, you mean to keep it buried.
Langford begins circling the large coverstone, inspecting the engraved surface carefully, then climbs up onto the stone to scrutinize the centerpiece. The archaeologist furrows his brow and strokes his chin, his mind in deep thought.
PROF. LANGFORD: Very queer. (beat) This inner band is somewhat legible: this one here could be the symbol for years … a thousand years … heaven, the stars or something like that … lives Atum, creator god. (cont’d) But what in the world do you make of these outer symbols?
Before Taylor can answer, a shout rings out from the large pit. Leaving the large round stone, Langford, Taylor, and Catherine begin making their way around the stone wall to the pit beyond. As they come over into the pit, they see the fellahin pull the ropes threaded through their cranes taut. With immense effort, they hoist something out of the ancient earth surrounding it. As the strange object is pulled erect, the labourers prop it up with padded wooden poles, allowing it to rest upright on a ninety-degree angle.
CATHERINE: (looks up at her father in amazement) It’s one of God’s bracelets!
The unearthed artifact is a perfectly round ring composed of some sort of black stone, its entire surface engraved with meticulously wrought designs. 6.7 metres in diametre like the coverstone, the ring is lined with nine wedge-shaped jewels set apart at even distances and contains an inner ring etched with the same thirty-nine strange glyphs found on the coverstone’s outer ring. As sunlight hits it, some of the ring’s natural iridescence shines through its thick layer of brown dust.
PROF. LANGFORD: (to Taylor) What in the world is that?
TAYLOR: I wish I knew ….
The two archaeologists turn to one another, dumbfounded. Their eyes suddenly light up and they clasp hands roughly with broad grins breaking out on their faces.
PROF. LANGFORD & TAYLOR: (in union) We did it!
As the fellahin finish securing the poles supporting the large black ring, one of them notices something in the earth. Stepping into the depression where the ring had lain, he points down into a crack running through the bedrock.
ARAB LABOURER: (in Arabic, subtitled) Look at that! There is something buried underneath!
The fellahin erupt into excitement and they all crowd in in an attempt to uncover what their brother has spotted. Shouting orders to the workers in Arabic, Taylor takes off in a run toward them.
PROF. LANGFORD: (places his hands on Catherine’s shoulders; in Swedish, subtitled) You are not to move from this spot.
Langford rushes off to join Taylor with the fellahin. Catherine stands there, impatiently rocking back-and-forth on her heels, before deciding to disobey her father’s orders and join him at the site.
Pushing her way through the crowded Arabs, Catherine grimaces as she makes her way toward the epicentre of the frantic activity. There, Catherine sees Taylor directing three men as they pull up and remove slabs of broken stone, revealing what it was the Arab workman had glimpsed.
CATHERINE: (subtitled) Fossils!
There, in the open cavity the labourers have uncovered, lies a horribly twisted figure embedded in the stone. Though its bodies is humanoid, its exoskeletal head is unmistakably non-human; it sports the flinty eyes and wicked beak of a bird of prey. Clasped in the fossil’s one exposed hand, standing out against the surrounding sandstone, is a golden pendant on a chain, the design of a stylized human eye engraved on its surface.
PROF. LANGFORD: (angry) Catherine!
The professor hurriedly makes his way over to his daughter. Picking her up, he begins carrying the girl away from the unearthly discovery and the throng surrounding it. Setting the girl down, Langford makes his way out of the pit, pulling Catherine alongside him.
Making their way back along the way they came, they soon climb down the side of the rock shelf, returning to their Rolls Royce. As they approach the automobile, another Rolls Royce – this one white – pulls up alongside it. The side door opens and a foppishly dressed bureaucrat steps out; this man is the EGYPTIAN UNDER-SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF ANTIQUITIES.
E.U.S: (tips his hat) Good afternoon, Mister and Miss Langford. Has anything interesting happened today?
Langford and Catherine exchange glances.