BASE CAMP – SUNSET
Hours have passed, and the triple suns have dipped low in the sky, turning the sky on the horizon a deep green. O’Neil, Kawalsky, Brown, and Daniel are set to head off down the road which leads into the unexplored desert beyond the pyramid. The other men are with them to see them off.
O’NEAL: Feretti, I’m placing you in charge while we’re gone. Keep base camp secure until we return.
FERETTI: Yes, sir.
O’NEAL: (to Daniel, Kawalsky, and Brown) Let’s move.
The three men leave.
DESERT ROAD – MONTAGE
For the next several hours, the colonel, lieutenant colonel, lieutenant, and Egyptologist trudge along the long, wide, empty road. As sunset leads into twilight, as twilight leads into night, and night leads into dawn, there is naught to be seen but featureless dunes as far as the eye can see.
Daniel sneezes all the while.
DESERT ROAD – MORNING
Finally, the trinary suns rise, colouring the sky yellow and bathing the dry sands in bright sunlight, revealing what lies at the end of the road, several metres into the distance: the front gate of an enclosed city.
Bringing up his binoculars, O’Neal peers through the scopes.
O’NEAL’S P.O.V – CITY GATE
Up close, we can see that the blocks making up the walls and gate of the city are cut from red granite, just like the pyramid. Atop the gate, shaded from the sun under a tiled roof, are a pair of watchmen. The watchmen have apparently noticed the Earthlings, as one of them quickly puts his lips to a great horn and blows, sounding a large, low, foghorn-type call through the air.
KAWALSKY: Fall back. (beat) Should we fall back, sir?
O’NEAL: What would that accomplish? We might as well meet the neighbours.
O’Neal starts off for the city gate.
BROWN: What the hell is he doing now?
KAWALSKY: Let’s trail him.
Kawalsky, Brown, and Daniel follow in the colonel’s wake.
EXT. NAGADA – CITY GATE – MORNING
As the Earthlings come to the gate, Daniel takes it all in, awestruck. The architecture is very similar to that of ancient Egypt.
O’NEAL: Put your tongue back in your mouth.
Daniel obeys. They all then slip inside.
EXT. NAGADA – MARKET SQUARE – MORNING
As the four Terrans file into the city of Nagada, they are met with an astonishing sight; the townspeople present, numbering in the hundreds, are human. All olive and dark-skinned people of Hamitic and Nubian extraction, they wear clothes which appear to blend the styles of Bedouin and Indian dress. Busy setting up their shops and preparing for a day of commerce, they all stop what they’re doing when they spot their four unfamiliar visitors.
O’NEAL: Alright, Jackson, you’re on.
DANIEL: Me?
O’NEAL: You’re the linguist. Try to talk to them.
Shrugging, Daniel steps forward, placing him between his comrades and the curious onlookers. Choosing one of the onlookers at random – a fifteen-year-old boy named SKARRA – Daniel strides up to him.
DANIEL: Um … hello?
Skarra has no response to this.
DANIEL: (laughs nervously) Dan-iel. I’m Daniel. (points to himself) And you?
Met with only a blank stare, Daniel makes a formal Japanese-style bow. This meets with more success, as Skarra awkwardly returns the gesture.
DANIEL: Essalat imana. (bows again)
Skarra apparently doesn’t understand Aramaic.
DANIEL: Neket sennefer ado ni.
He doesn’t appear to understand ancient Egyptian, either.
Daniel repeats the greeting again – reciting it in Berber then Omotic then ancient Hebrew then Chadic – but none of the languages he tries seem to be at all familiar to Skarra or any of these other humans on the other side of the stargate.
Sighing with frustration, Daniel looks up to the sky, absentmindedly fiddling with the gold pendant around his neck as he does so. As Skarra notices the stylized human eye emblazoned on the pendant, he almost wets himself.
SKARRA: Naturru ya ya! (turns to his townspeople) Naturru ya ya!
Hearing Skarra’s loud proclamation, the people gathered in the market square quickly get down on their hands and knees, prostrating themselves before the Earthmen. Skarra is quick to join them.
O’NEAL: What the hell did you say to him?
DANIEL: Nothing. All I said was hello.
O’NEAL: Dammit, I told you to communicate with them.
DANIEL: How?
O’NEAL: Oh, fer chrissakes, Jackson, just communicate!
Stepping forward, O’Neal pushes Daniel out of the way, placing himself directly over Skarra. Bending over, he tugs Skarra to his feet with one hand while offering a handshake with the other. When the boy fails to understand, O’Neal takes his hand and gives it a vigorous shake.
O’NEAL: Hello, Col. Jack O’Neal, USAF.
Alarmed and confused, Skarra cries out. Pulling away from the colonel, he breaks off into a terrified run, disappearing into the crowd.
DANIEL: (dry) So much for communication.
Minutes pass, and then the crowd gathered before the Terrans parts as a greeting party arrives on the scene. KASUF, a gray-bearded man dressed in a fine red robe and violet headdress, comes forth atop a hairy steed which looks like an absurd hybrid of mastodon, camel, and water buffalo, escorted by a small group of women and an honour guard armed with what appear to be flintlock muskets. Bringing his steed to a halt metres before the four offworlders, Kasuf steps down; as one of women hands him an ornate wooden staff, Kasuf approaches the Earthlings. Bowing before the visitors, he presents them a greeting, then steps aside to allow the women to come forward.
The women, dressed in simple white dresses, come bearing soft cloths and pitchers of water. Moistening the cloths, they proceed to clean the dirty, sweaty faces of the Earthmen. One of the women, a lovely twenty-year-old girl with curly black hair, attends to Daniel. As she tenderly wipes the grime from Daniel’s face, they make eye contact. Her deep brown orbs peering into his of piercing blue, Daniel is struck dumb; not only does he find this extraterrestrial woman attractive, but also strangely, inexplicably familiar.
DANIEL: Thank you.
Finishing her work, the girl bows her head once in acknowledgement, then takes a step back.
Once the job of cleaning up the Earthmen is complete, Kasuf approaches them again. Deciding now would be a good time to return Kasuf’s gesture of friendship, Daniel reaches into a front pocket and withdraws one of his 5th Avenue bars; unwrapping the half-melted bar of chocolate, he presents it to Kasuf.
DANIEL: Here.
When Kasuf proves oblivious to the bar’s purpose, Daniel makes a “YUM” and then an eating gesture. Finally getting the picture, Kasuf accepts the bar and takes an apprehensive bite.
KASUF: (amazed) Bonni! (smiles) Bonniwae!
DANIEL: (grins) Bonniwae.
KASUF: (ecstatic) Bonniwae!
DANIEL: Bonniewae … bonniwae ….
KAWALSKY: What does that mean?
DANIEL: I have no idea.
Once Kasuf has overcome his initial reaction to his first taste of chocolate, he utters something in his tongue, making a gesture with his arms for them to come with him.
DANIEL: He’s inviting us to go with him.
KAWALSKY: How can you be so sure?
DANIEL: Becomes he’s (mimes Kasuf’s gesture) inviting us to go with him. (beat) We were looking for signs of civilization. Obviously, we’ve found it. If we want to find the gate symbols and get back home, we’ve gotta go with them. This is our best shot.
O’NEAL: Alright, there’s no alternative. (to Brown) Radio base camp. Tell them where we are, where we’re going, and that we’re going to be staying awhile.
BASE CAMP – MORNING
Back at base camp, Freeman is stationed at the radio when Brown’s transmission comes in.
BROWN: (O.S.) Base camp, come in.
FREEMAN: Hold on. (takes off headset) Feretti! I’ve got the lieutenant!
Feretti hurries over to the radio. Accepting the headset, he slips it down over his ears.
FERETTI: Yes? (beat) What? Could you repeat that, sir? (beat) Okay … yes.
Taking off the headset, Feretti sighs.
FREEMAN: So, what’s the story?
REILLY: They find anything?
PORRO: What’s happening? What’s going on?
FERETTI: They’re not coming back, okay?! (shakes head) This is not good, I’m telling you guys!