Egyptian Tahtib: Bienvenue...
Their self-appointed guide, whose name turned out to be Selim, pulled Jared and Rose along yet another dusty street to a small adobe building on the outskirts of town. "He says he's going to show us the bad wolf?" Jared told her, as bewildered as she was, but thereafter couldn't get another word out of the previously-loquacious Egyptian.
Ducking under the lintel into the gloom, they blinked for a few moments to adjust their eyes, then followed Selim through yet another doorway into an inner room. And there they stopped dead, jaws dropping.
Crouched on the dirt floor before them, teeth bared, a split-second before the spring, was a life-sized, completely realistic, obsidian statue of... Tock. A very angry, ferocious Tock.
The dog himself stuck his nose in through the door at their heels, caught sight of "his" image, and then strangely, ducked and whined softly, before he crept backwards all the way back into the sunshine.
His owners exchanged an utterly mystified glance, then Jared turned back to Selim, shooting him questions and translating the replies for Rose. "He says it was found in the desert a very long time ago, in..." He paused, shooting a sharp word at their guide before continuing, raising his eyebrows at Rose in surprise and dawning excitement, "... in a mysterious pyramid, which only appears once every hundred years or so, then vanishes again."
"A mysterious, disappearing pyramid," she repeated, then bit her lips to squelch a snort. "Well, I guess that settles where we're headed next, then, doesn't it? Where is it, exactly, when it does appear?"
"Southwest, beyond the Red Sea, near Ayun Musa – the Springs of Moses," was the reply. Jared thought a moment, then nodded. "I think we're going to need camels." Rose smothered another snort. He was having way too much fun – and so was she.
Jared turned again to stare at the statue, taking a step closer and beginning to bend over to examine it more closely (Rose saw his hand creep towards his pocket, where he'd stashed the sonic screwdriver) – when suddenly the doorway to outside behind them was filled with figures. A dozen French soldiers marched quickly into the room, rifles at the ready in their hands, although not pointed directly at anyone – yet. Their officer entered last, his epaulets glimmering with gold threads, and he marched stifflegged straight up to Jared and crashed to a halt. A quick conversation in French ensued between them, then Jared turned to Rose and held out his hand.
"General Bon wishes to make our acquaintance, my dear."
^..^
The French General had apparently taken over the largest, grandest house in Suez for his headquarters. The couple were swiftly conveyed through an outer courtyard (telling Tock to stay there), and then an inner one, and into a large, airy room at one side of the shaded inner court. A fountain played in the center, while transplanted palms and other potted plants lent cool, soothing green touches, a lush natural opulence utterly at odds with the brash desert outside the walls.
The General was seated behind a large table, assorted papers in neat piles on its inlaid tile surface. Short and slightly pudgy, his mid-length light brown hair curled almost girlishly around his ears, yet his eyes were bright and piercing, belying a quick intelligence. Not for nothing had he made high rank, and Rose knew instantly he could be quite dangerous to their own mission.
He shot a quick question at Jared, obviously asking for his name, and Jared spluttered for an moment. They'd flung themselves so fast into this adventure that he hadn't taken even a moment to come up with an alias. He spat out the first French name that came into his head. "Jean-Luc Picard, Monsieur Général."
It was all Rose could do to keep a straight face. She clenched her jaws tightly shut and stared at the wall over the General's head for a moment, letting the next few sentences flow past her unnoticed. Then, suddenly, she realized the General had directed a question at her.
She stuttered. "O-oui, Monsieur," and instantly knew it was the wrong thing to say. Bon's eyes hardened, and he spat out, "Vous êtes Anglais?" You're English?
"Oui, Général," Jared took over for her, squeezing her hand gently. "My wife is English," he continued in French. "And now you know why we are out here, in the middle of nowhere." He paused. "I chose love, over country," he quietly 'confessed', then waited to see how much of a romantic the Frenchman was underneath the uniform.
Apparently, he was enough of one for the idea of the love of a woman overcoming staunch patriotism to not be instantly condemned. His face slowly softened, just a bit, and he returned to questioning "M. Picard" about the couple's doings in Egypt. Rose heaved a silent sigh of relief while Jared presented a swiftly-conceived cover: he was a surveyor by trade, who was searching on his own for traces of the rumored ancient canal said to have connected the Red Sea to the Nile near Alexandria a thousand years before. No, he answered the General, he hadn't found them yet, and unfortunately his equipment had all been stolen by Tuareg tribesmen sweeping out of the Arabian desert. "We were lucky to escape with our lives, and a few scraps of clothing" he embroidered, "and had to purchase new clothes, even, just today."
At length, Bon seemed to accept the story, and told Jared that he was releasing them from custody, but that they were to stay in town, as the his superior, General Bonaparte, was arriving soon, and would no doubt wish to interview him. Jared allowed excitement (unfeigned) at meeting the legendary Napoleon to show on his face, and promised enthusiastically to stick around. Satisfied, the General called for an adjutant, and told the man to find the couple a house near the square, then dismissed them all. Jared barely restrained himself from tossing a snappy salute.
"I was right," he told Rose softly on their way back across town to their newly assigned quarters, Tock once more trotting at their heels. "Bon said that most of the inhabitants did flee the town as they arrived. The French have simply 'requisitioned' housing all over the town."
"Are we really waiting for Napoleon?" Rose asked, just as quietly.
"No," came the reply. "We need to get out there and check out that pyramid."
"Have you ever met him before?"
"Yes, but obviously not with this face, and not this early in his life. He was already Emperor. He won't know me now, or the Doctor."
The adjutant saw them to a tiny but clean adobe brick house and left them there, reinforcing the General's command to stay in town. Jared blithely agreed, then winked at Rose. Once the man had finally left, he turned to her with a question.
"Do you think you could handle getting us some supplies on your own, while I go find us some transportation?" She nodded, smiling confidently, and he split the remaining local cash with her, trading it for another gold coin from the pouch she'd hidden under her new clothes. "I might need it to have enough."
They walked together a few blocks towards the marketplace before they spotted Selim once more. Jared hailed him and asked about the availability of riding camels, and the Egyptian's face lit up. He knew just where to go, of course. Waving goodbye, Rose let him go and turned towards the market, grinning. Tock gave her an uncertain bark, then decided to follow his master instead, apparently to find out what these 'camels' were, thought Rose.
She'd only gotten a few blocks when, turning a corner, she brushed absently by a couple going the opposite direction. And then stopped dead, her bones turning instantly to ice, her breath dying in her chest, as their conversation hit her ears.
In English.
But that wasn't the earthshaking part.
"I don't even know what we're looking for," complained the man, tired exasperation evident in his voice.
"Let's just get back to the TARDIS," the woman replied, equally irritated "and ask the Doctor."