CURATOR'S OFFICE - DAY
'The Curator sits at his desk, staring through a jeweler's eyepiece at the key/box. Evelyn hovers behind him, excited.'
EVELYN: See the cartouche there, it's the official royal seal of Seti the First, I'm sure of it
CURATOR: Perhaps
JONATHAN: Two questions. Who the hell is Seti the First? And was he rich?
EVELYN: He was the last Pharaoh of the Old Kingdom, said to be the wealthiest Pharaoh of them all.
JONATHAN Alright, good, that's good. I like this fellow, like him very much.
EVELYN: I've already dated it, this map is almost four thousand years old. And the hieratics over here.... (Inhales deeply) It's Hamunaptra.
'The Curator freezes, suddenly very nervous, then he recovers'
CURATOR: My dear girl, don't be ridiculous, we are scholars, not treasure hunters. Hamunaptra is a myth.
JONATHAN: Are we talking about the Hamunaptra?
EVELYN: Yes. The City of The Dead. Where the early Pharaohs were said to have hidden the wealth of Egypt.
JONATHAN: Right, right, in a big underground treasure chamber. Everybody knows the story. The entire necropolis was rigged to sink into the sand. On Pharaoh's command, a flick of the switch! And the whole place could disappear beneath the dunes.
EVELYN: All we know is that the city mysteriously vanished around 2,134 B.C.
'The Curator holds the map closer to the burning CANDLE-LAMP. CURATOR: As the Americans would say: it's all fairy tales and hokum.
'The map 'accidentally,' CATCHES ON FIRE. The Curator throws it to the floor. Jonathan drops to his knees and quickly puts it out. Lifts it up.The left third of the map is now missing.'
JONATHAN: You burned it! You burned off the part with the lost city!
CURATOR: It's for the best, I'm sure. Many men have wasted their lives in the foolish pursuit of Hamunaptra, no one has ever found it, most have never returned.
JONATHAN (devastated): You killed my map.
CURATOR: I'm sure it was a fake, anyway, I'm surprised at you, Miss Carnation, to be so fooled.
'The Curator reaches for the key/box. Evelyn quickly snatches it off the desk and gives him a very angry, suspicious look.'
EXT. CAIRO PRISON - GALLOWS COURTYARD - DAY
Cairo prison. One of the worst hell holes on earth. Every low-life form of scumbag can be found here. The Warden, a first rate scumbag himself, escorts Evelyn and Jonathan across the gallows courtyard.
Evelyn whispers to Jonathan.
EVELYN: You told us you found it on a dig down in Thebes!
JONATHAN: I was mistaken.
EVELYN: You lied to us!
JONATHAN: I lie to everybody, what makes the two of you so special?
EVELYN: We're your sisters.
JONATHAN: That just makes you more gullible.
EVELYN: You stole it from a drunk at the local Casbah?!
YOU ARE READING
The Princess of the Medji?!
FanfictionJuliette is the twin sister of Jonathan and the big sister of Evy. In a cave in Hamunaptra, she discovers a statue that looks exactly like her and why does everyone keep calling her by her second name. How do they know her second name? Who is the ha...
