INT. PALACE OF THE ELDERS/ATRIUM – DAY
Sometime later, O’Neal has met up with Brown inside the palace atrium. As Brown fiddles around with his radio, trying to re-establish contact with the men at the base camp, O’Neal takes a gander at his watch, which reads 20:00.
BROWN: No use – I can’t raise ‘em.
O’NEAL: More interference?
BROWN: (shakes his head) Nothing but dead air. There should at least be a tracking signal, but I’m not getting anything at all.
KAWALSKY: (O.C.) Colonel!
Twisting around, O’Neal finds Kawalsky just coming in through the atrium’s main entrance, carrying a green military jacket.
KAWALSKY: Jackson’s not in his quarters. I’ve been looking everywhere, but I can’t find him.
O’NEAL: What’s that you’re holding?
KAWALSKY: (holds up Daniel’s jacket) His jacket.
Looking over to the fountain located at the centre of the atrium, O’Neal spots Skarra loitering there with his friends, entertaining them with his recently acquired lighter.
O’NEAL: (takes the jacket from Kawalsky) Wait here.
Walking over to the fountain, O’Neal presents the green jacket to the teenaged cadre.
O’NEAL: We’re looking for Jackson, the guy who wears this jacket?
Blank stares.
O’NEAL: Jackson … Jackson. We’re looking for Jackson.
More blank stares.
O’NEAL: (sighs) Jackson – wears glasses so he can see? (mimes wearing glasses)
The kids mime his gesture.
O’NEAL: (sighs) I guess the word “dork” doesn’t mean a thing to you guys, does it? (beat) I’m on Tatooine, looking for a dork who wears glasses, who wears this jacket, and (fakes a sneeze) sneezes.
SKARRA: (realization dawning) Ah! Bock! Bock, bock, bock!
Skarra and the others break out in a series of clucks and arm-flapping, imitating Daniel’s chicken impression at the feast last night.
O’NEAL: (grins) Yeah, that’s right. Chicken Man. Where’s Chicken Man?
Skarra brings the impromptu chicken dance to an end. Taking the green jacket out of O’Neal’s hands, he gestures for the colonel to follow him.
INT. MASTADGE STABLES – DAY
Entering the stables, Skarra, Nabeh, and a few of the other palace servants lead O’Neal, Kawalsky, and Brown inside. Moving up to one of the stalls, Skarra holds Daniel’s jacket out to the mastadge enclosed inside, letting the creature take the aroma of the doctor’s dried, stale sweat deep inside its large nostrils.
Once Skarra is certain the mastadge has caught Daniel’s scent, he opens the stall, allowing the animal to lumber out. As the mastadge leaves the stables, the kids and the airmen are quick to follow after the creature.
INT. RUINS/HALL OF HIEROGLYPHS – DAY
Daniel is sitting in the dust with Sha’ure, exchanging words, when O’Neal and the others emerge from the darkness.
O’NEAL: Looks like you found what you were looking for.
Startled by this newfound, completely unexpected, presence, Daniel nearly leaps up out of his skin.
DANIEL: (startled) You scared the hell out of me! (stands) How did you get down here?
Frowning, O’Neal steps up close to Daniel.
O’NEAL: I thought you didn’t speak their language.
DANIEL: It’s related to ancient Egyptian. Like the rest of their culture, it’s evolved independently. But once you start to learn the vowels –
O’NEAL: (irate) Just answer the question.
DANIEL: Well, I can’t – not yet. I’ve found some common words between the two languages, though – words which, in spite of the thousands of years of linguistic drift between them, still remain remarkably similar.
O’NEAL: (frustrated) Give it to me in English, Jackson.
DANIEL: (sighs) I’ve just started to learn how to pronounce it.
BROWN: (examining the hieroglyphic inscriptions) This place is a damn trip. It looks like King Tut’s tomb got turned into a subway station full of graffiti.
Noticing the hieroglyphs for what seems to be the first time, O’Neal, too, begins to look them over.
O’NEAL: What does it say in here, Jackson?
DANIEL: Well, it’s … it’s, well, it’s simply unbelievable. (beat) These walls tell the story of the original settlers of Abdju – this planet – who came here some twelve thousand years ago.
Moving up to one of the lines of text, Daniel begins to read.
EXT. DYING WORLD – SUNSET (FLASHBACK)
ZOOM OUT
From a pair of twin white moons situated in a violet sky and through the open torus of an inactive stargate. The stargate stands erect on the end of a long, wide, stone causeway – a causeway which stretches out to meet a complex of five metal pyramidal docking stations situated in the distance. Save for one solitary pyramid, all the stations have inert pyramid ships docked atop them.
DANIEL: (V.O.) A traveller, from distant stars, escaped a dying world looking for a way to extend his own life ….
INT. THE OTHER’S STARSHIP – BRIDGE
Leaving the controls of his ship, THE OTHER walks up to what appears to be a highly complex mechanical sarcophagus. A five-foot-tall humanoid, the creature has wrinkled, brown-gray skin; a pair of featureless black eyes; a striated, reptilian mouth; a small, black extrasensory organ between his eyes; and a pair of sponge-like olfactory organs upon his gaunt chest. He also has a missing arm, the remaining arm bearing a hand missing all but two of its fingers.
Once the lid of the sarcophagus has split apart and opened to expose the glowing white interior, the Other climbs in, lying down and allowing the sarcophagus to close up again with him inside.
DANIEL: (V.O.; cont’d) His body was decaying and weak, yet with all his powers and knowledge, he couldn’t prevent his own demise. Apparently his whole species was going extinct ….
SPACE – MONTAGE (FLASHBACK)
The pyramid ship makes the voyage from the Andromeda Galaxy to the Milky Way Galaxy, coming across a multitude of worlds along the way.
DANIEL: (V.O.; cont’d) So he travelled or searched the galaxies looking for a way to cheat death ….
EXT. SPACE – EARTH (FLASHBACK)
The Other’s starship has entered into high orbit over the blue-and-white globe of Earth.
DANIEL: (V.O.; cont’d) It says he came to a world, rich with life, where he encountered a primitive race, perfect for his needs ….
INT. THE OTHER’S STARSHIP/BRIDGE (FLASHBACK)
At the controls of his vessel, now clad head-to-toe in a protective stasis suit which keeps his ever-failing body alive, the Other looks over a holographic projection; displayed before him, in hues of normal and ultraviolet light, are live-feed images of humans – primitive hunter-gatherers clad in loincloths – all going about their business oblivious to this surveillance.
DANIEL: (V.O.; cont’d) Humans! A species he could repair and maintain indefinitely. (beat) He realized that within a human body, he had a chance for a renewed life ….
EXT. VILLAGE – EVENING (FLASHBACK)
The pyramidal craft has made its descent, coming upon a small village. Heavy winds billowing, currents of artificial lightning discharged to the ground, the villagers flee in terror of this incomprehensible harbinger.
DANIEL: (V.O.; cont’d) He came to a village, where he found a young boy ….
One of the villagers, a handsome BOY barely out of his teens, remains behind as his tribespeople escape towards their hill of refuge. He isn’t afraid; in fact he is very calm, serene.
DANIEL: (V.O.; cont’d) As the frightened villagers ran, night became day. Curious and without fear, he walked towards the light ….
The youth approaches the descending starship, shielding his eyes from the intense silver light radiating down from the craft’s burning engines. As he walks directly beneath the ship, a ball of intense white light passes down through the belly of the vessel and comes upon him, enveloping and consuming him completely.
INT. BARQUE OF HEAVEN/THRONE ROOM – DAY (FLASHBACK)
Within the throne room of his refurbished and rechristened ship, the Barque of Heaven, the man-child is now cleaned and groomed, garbed in gaily coloured robes and fine jewellery. No longer a mere human peasant, he stands tall, his stance that of a regal monarch.
PTAH, a fellow clad in a brown kilt and golden skullcap, approaches the man-child with a gold necklace in his hands. Securing the necklace about his master’s neck, he takes a reverent step back, bowing his head in obeisance.
A moment passes, then the man-child undergoes a stunning transformation. Powdered crystal emerges from the pores of his face and envelopes his head, taking shape to form a large headdress and plaited beard, replacing his visage of soft, olive-toned flesh with one of rigid, iridescent gold.
ZOOM OUT
To reveal the OTHER THIRTEEN FIGURES amassed within the throne room, bowed before Atum, all attired in their own exoskeletal helms of iridescent crystal. There is ANAPA, the Jackal; APIS, the Bull; ASET, the Woman; AUSIR, the Man; DIHAUTI, the Ibis; HAPI, the Baboon; HARU, the Falcon; KHNUM, the Ram; SEBEK, the Crocodile; SEKHMET, the Lioness; SOKAR, the Corpse; UBASTE, the Cat; and WEDJAT, the Asp.
DANIEL: (V.O.; cont’d) He took the boy and merged with him – kind of like the Trill from Star Trek. (beat) Together they became Atum and appointed themselves ruler ….
IUNU – MONTAGE (FLASHBACK)
We watch as Atum, working through his godlings, acclimates the proto-Egyptians to writing and science, allowing them to build Iunu, the first human city. In gratitude for all the god-king has given them, they willingly build a large pyramid in his honour, the underlying granite blocks hidden beneath casing stones of smooth, polished, white limestone. This is the Great Pyramid, docking station for the Barque of Heaven.
DANIEL: (V.O.; cont’d) Atum gifted mankind with the knowledge of magic – writing and science. (beat) That’s when he built the stargates ….
INT. GREAT PYRAMID/KING’S CHAMBER (FLASHBACK)
Within the stone room which will one day into the future come to be known as the King’s Chamber, The stargate stands directly before the entrance into the chamber, chevrons, glyphs, and engravings aglow as hundreds of people are shepherded through the open portal to another world.
DANIEL: (V.O.; cont’d) Erecting stargates on both Earth and Abdju, Atum had thousands of people brought here. It was his final gift to humanity: the heavens themselves ….
INT. BARQUE OF HEAVEN/BATHING ROOM (FLASHBACK)
Atum reclines naked within a spacious bathing pool, smiling lazily as several beautiful palace servants – men and women alike – bathe with him, alternating between washing and kissing his hybridized body.
DANIEL: (V.O.; cont’d) Something happened over the thousands of years following Atum’s coronation; he grew less invested in running the empire he had built and shepherding the humans he had adopted in favour of spending his time absorbed in the hedonistic pleasures of palace life. Sequestering himself away with his servants and lovers, he relinquished control of the Imperium to the godlings ….
EXT. INCOMPLETE PYRAMID – DAY (FLASHBACK)
Within the depths of a rainforest – perhaps on Abdju, perhaps elsewhere – hundreds of thousands of labourers are put to the task of erecting another pyramid, supervised by the artificers of Ptah and the asp-helmed Wadjet Guards. When the labourers slip up or fail to meet certain quotas, the Wadjet Guards beat them with pain sticks and bullwhips.
OLD NAGADA – MONTAGE (FLASHBACK)
Finally fed up with the abuse and neglect heaped upon them, the inhabitants of Old Nagada – a mining colony – take up arms against the forces of Atum’s Imperium.
DANIEL: (V.O.; cont’d) Finally, there was a rebellion or uprising on this planet, here in this city.
As the original Nagadans wage a valiant but ultimately futile war, a medium-range bomber – a vaguely pyramidal craft with a saucer-shaped base – comes down out of the yellow sky. Passing over Old Nagada, it unloads a single plasma bomb. The bomb detonates in the heart of the city, releasing as much destructive power as a FOAB bomb, obliterating the entire city and incinerating its inhabitants in the span of less than one minute.
CUT TO
Daniel and the others, back in the ruins of Old Nagada in the present.
DANIEL: (cont’d) The rebellion failed. The colonists were exterminated, their city razed to the ground. (looks upon the skeletons reposing underfoot) A handful must’ve survived, trapped down here while the rest of the city burned. They must’ve spent their final days writing all this down, preserving the truth for any future generations brought here to replace theirs.
KAWALSKY: (O.C.) Jackson? I think you’d better take a look at this.
INT. RUINS/CARTOUCHE ROOM – DAY
Following Kawalsky’s voice, Daniel, O’Neal, Sha’ure, and the others step inside a small room. At the back of the room, where several skeletons lie in a heap upon the floor, a large cartouche has been painted on the wall. Laid down in broad strokes of rich red ink, it contains nine black glyphs – glyphs which line up with those found on both stargates.
DANIEL: That’s it! That’s what we’re looking for! They must’ve placed it here in hopes that one day the gate on Earth could be reopened.
Stepping close to the wall, Daniel takes out his pad of paper and copies down the gate address. Meanwhile, Brown examines the ancient skeletons; clutched in the hands of one of the skeletons is an energy rifle, similar to Sihathor’s but evidently a much older model, lacking the secondary barrel.
O’NEAL: (satisfied) Alright, that’s it. Kawalsky? Brown?
With those words said, the colonel turns and leaves the room. As the others leave with him, Daniel lingers a moment, taking a final gander at the contents of the room before joining them.