Timeline 2: A Blast from the Past
Chapter 2
Demin Jackets and Cell Phones
As soon as the temple came into sight Dr. Mohammed Ilsad had a bad feeling about this. It was probably butterflies in his stomach. He got out of the cab and paid the taxi driver who drove off again. Mohammed walked over the rough wooden bridge that allowed workers to travel from shore to the excavation site. He saw his team-mates preparing to venture in making sure they had nothing to contaminate inside the pyramid. He walked over to Dr. Ben Jones, who was usually teased over his names because of the song by the Aqua group years ago, Ben embraced him warmly and said, "Finally we can see what has been hidden for thousands of years and we're the first people, can you believe it?" He was tugging Mohammed's arm to emphasise his point. After 20 minutes they were ready to enter and everything was packed, electric torches and walkie-talkies. The door had a very strange seal on it depicting a frog with a strange headdress probably worshipped at that time. When it was opened a the air rushed in and made a sucking sound and pulled at the men's clothes as if it was dragging them in. They stepped in cautiously remembering to take samples of items for carbon 14 dating but tried not to disturb the artefacts too much. They were trained professionals and this was just another tomb…They decided to first find the mummy and then the treasure; it was all clearly marked so they decided to go to the room which read 'Kaquar's Room' in ancient Egyptian. What they found dashed their hopes completely for lying in the room was a man wearing a denim jacket and holding something and as they walked closer they saw he was holding a Nokia 9020 model phone with camera features. They backed away at first and then Mohammed spoke, "Is this some sort of joke?" And he lifted his radio, "This is Tomb-Raider Alpha to zero zero, over?"
A static hiss and then, "This is Zero Zero to Tomb-Raider Alpha, over"
"Tomb-Raider Alpha to Zero Zero, possible contamination of 'Royal Bed', over?"
"Zero Zero to Tomb-Raider Alpha, we are sending in a clean-up squad, please wait inside, over?"
"Tomb-Raider Alpha to Zero Zero, Wilko out!"
Now they had to wait, staring in fear at the body that could end their careers.
Heliopolis
A long conversation had followed and several teams had drafted out since Rick had said those words 'Someone has changed history'. The President had squeezed every detail out of him even how many breathes he had taken at the time. Now all Rick could do was open his shop and wait for a reply on the telephone. His radio was on as usual, an old analogue one but it worked wonders in Egypt but now it was squawking so Rick turned the dial and accidentally pick up a strange radio conversation "This is Tomb-Raider Alpha to zero zero, over?"
, "This is Zero Zero to Tomb-Raider Alpha, over"
"Zero Zero to Tomb-Raider Alpha, we are sending in a clean-up squad, please wait inside, over?"
"Tomb-Raider Alpha to Zero Zero, Wilko out!"
"Tomb-Raider Alpha to Zero Zero, possible contamination of 'Royal Bed', over?"
He wrote down the frequency just in case and turned up the volume to see if he could find out more. He didn't have to wait long in less than five minutes a conversation was full under way and Rick learnt that the old tomb that had been found in the river had something in it, a body, wait a man wearing a demin jacket although no-one has been in the tomb for thousands of years. Carbon tasting was under way at a tent lab. He was holding one of the latest camera phone's? This radio conversation would have been strange to anyone else but not Rick, he knew that the same thing had happened to him. He picked up his portable radio and tuned into the frequency and said, "This is Red one to Zero Zero Over?"
"This is Zero Zero to Red one, what is your status, over?"
"This is Red one to Zero Zero, in the same problem as you, over?"
This is Zero Zero to Red one, Rodger, what problem have you had, over?"
And so Rick told them of his dilemma and they decided to meet up at Abu Seibel and discuss matters. Finally people who understand me Rick thought…
End of Chapter 2