CROSSFADE TO
The interior of the coverstone room, which has undergone a dramatic transformation since we saw it last. Though still cluttered with tools, equipment, documents, and various knick-knacks, the floors – and various other surfaces – have been swept clean of spent junk food packaging. The only person in the room is Barbara, who is busy running another computer analysis on the coverstone’s concentric lines.
SUPERIMPOSE: “PRESENT DAY”
The twin doors swing open and Daniel comes sauntering in. The Egyptologist has undergone a stunning transformation since we saw him last; with a short, stylish haircut, new glasses, and an outfit consisting of a pinstriped blazer over a black T-shirt with crisp blue jeans and blue high-top sneakers, he looks like an entirely different person.
DANIEL: (nods Barbara’s way) Good morning, Barbara.
BARBARA: (raises a hand his way) Mornin’, Danny-boy.
DANIEL: (looks about the large room) Where’s Meyers?
BARBARA: McKay’s suspicions proved correct. The lemon chicken’s not to be trusted.
DANIEL: (a pained expression on his face) Ouch!
Walking over to the bookcase, Daniel regards the titles on the shelf.
DANIEL: We really need to get some new books.
Barbara snickers.
DANIEL: (walks over to Barbara) So, how are the new calculations coming?
BARBARA: (sighs) We’ll just have to wait and see.
DANIEL: (looks up at the coverstone) I thought decoding the ancient Egyptian text would lead us to the answers we’ve been looking for, but it’s only brought more questions.
BARBARA: Well, I’m takin’ a break.
Sliding over to another computer, she opens a web browser.
DANIEL: (cocks an eyebrow) Taking a break? We just got here.
BARBARA: (choosing a search engine) You just got here. I’ve been runnin’ Permutation TMP-JDOPERW/53669 since 5:30 this morning.
DANIEL: (watching Barbara surf the 'Net) I’m surprised we’ve been able to get away with surfing the Internet on company hours.
BARBARA: I suppose allowin’ me to ogle jpgs of Crissy Moran fingerin’ herself is their way of saying “We’re sorry for giving you the shaft”.
Daniel’s eyes go wide as plates at her comment.
BARBARA: (notices Daniel’s reaction) Just a little dirty humour for a dirty mornin’, as my ex used to say. (beat) I’m 100.96% AC.
Refocusing her attention back to her computer, she types “YouHoroscope” into the search bar and presses “ENTER”. Her screen immediately goes black and a white diagram of the Zodiac fades into existence. There, arranged in a ring around an anthropomorphized sun, are the signs for Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.
DANIEL: (scrutinizes the computer screen) An astrophysicist who follows astrology. That’s got to be up there with practicing Christians who believe God is dead.
BARBARA: (smiles) I know it’s all just so much bunk, but what can I say? I’ve always had a superstitious streak.
Daniel rolls his eyes good-naturedly then leaves Barbara to her hobby. As he passes the table stacked with photos and documents, he suddenly halts. There, out in full view, is a photograph of the coverstone’s inner ring of marked-off concentric lines. Turning away from the photo, he looks up at the coverstone itself, eyeing the physical etchings himself. Without haste, he picks up the photo and rushes back to Barbara’s side.
DANIEL: (sets the photo down between Barbara and the computer keyboard) Barbara, look at this.
BARBARA: (looks at the photograph) The ring of concentric lines. (eyeing Daniel) We’ve been introduced.
DANIEL: (points at the screen) Look.
BARBARA: The Zodiac. So?
DANIEL: Can’t you see it?
Barbara looks back to the photo, then to the computer screen, then back to the photo. She doesn’t get what Daniel is driving at. Suddenly, her eyes light up with understanding – the images of the coverstone’s ring of lines and the Zodiac diagram are unmistakably similar.
DANIEL: Remember the last line in the inscription? Of the stargate?
BARBARA: You think the lines make up some sort of early Zodiac, a diagram of the stars?
DANIEL: A gateway to the stars.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Barbara returns to the computer she was working on earlier, cancelling the run of Permutation TMP-JDOPERW/53669. Typing a command into the keyboard, she calls up a fresh display of the coverstone’s concentric lines.
DANIEL: Remember, if this is a star map, it’ll be a map of the stars as they were seen ten thousand years ago. You’ll have to adjust for the changes caused by stellar drift.
BARBARA: You don’t have to remind this astrophysicist of that, Danny-boy.
Barbara goes to the menu of the computer program she is running and chooses an option. Seconds later it begins to compare the concentric lines to the night sky of Egypt as seen in 8000 BCE. Soon the analysis ends, “NO MATCHES FOUND” appearing on the screen in big red letters.
BARBARA: Maybe we’re underestimatin’ the original designers. We’re assumin’ they operated on the same limited playing field other primitive cultures operated on, but maybe they didn’t. (beat) This could still be a star map, just not one meant to be viewed on a two-dimensional plane.
DANIEL: Can the computer gauge potential for three-dimensionality in a two-dimensional representation?
BARBARA: Once I encode the right subroutines, yes, they can.
Barbara enters new commands in the computer program. Almost immediately, the ring of concentric lines is realigned into a three-dimensional form – first a cylinder, then a cube, then an ovoid, then a sphere – and compared against star charts of the nearby galactic neighbourhood in the same configurations. After a few minutes the simulation comes to an end; “ONE MATCH FOUND” appears on the screen in big green letters.
BARBARA: (grins) Tiger, we’ve just hit the jackpot!
There, displayed in ultra high-definition, is a spherical map of the Milky Way Galaxy 7000 light-years out from Earth. An uneven blue line – starting at Earth and running out to various stars and systems before coming to an end-point in the constellation Auriga – runs through the length of the map.
DANIEL: Where does it lead to?
BARBARA: Roughly 4,500 light-years from Earth, somewhere in the M37 cluster, on the opposite side of the galactic core.
Daniel looks up at the coverstone, focusing on the central cartouche containing the eight unusual glyphs.