by Larry Hunt
Frowning Gabby asked questioningly, “This is where XM-78 was discovered?”
Babu answered merely by an affirmative nod of his head.
“Well Jacque, we can take a few pictures but there’s nothing here; nothing to offer any clue to XM-78 back with Lou and LJ. Any thoughts?”
“No, but I think you are right Gabby there’s nothing here for us to discover. I’ll get a few pictures of the area and we will return to XM-78 and see what’s going on with her.”
The return trip could have been a re-play of the first; however, it seemed Gabby and Jacque sat closer than before, if this was possible, and whispered and giggled more also. Their actions were like the flirtations of two high schoolers in the back of the school bus. As the mini-bus returned to the road back to Bahariya Gabby and Jacque’s concentration slipped from the cemetery and riveted itself upon each other.
Later that day at the Antiquities Department Lou and LJ were beginning to remove Mrs. Friedman’s outer wrappings when Gabby and Roche came storming through the door into the ‘autopsy’ room, leaving Babu outside.
“Wait...wait,” said Gabby to her brother. “Hold on I want to see a real mummy un-wrapped.”
“Okay Gabby…okay, but why are you both back so soon?”
“Later, lets get on with this unveiling.”
To satisfy Gabby and more importantly to keep her quite they began on XM-78.
Dr. Wallasi began by explaining how the tomb was discovered on the side of the mountain; the excavation process and the removal of XM-78 from her stone sarcophagus. He stated the locket was found draped on the outside of the wrappings, between the plaster and the linen wraps so the shroud had not been disturbed.
“Lou, Lou, there’s something... “ Gabby tried to explain the site Babu took them to was not the one Dr. Wallasi was describing but Dr. Scarburg cut her off abruptly.
“Later Gabby, later... first we will remove the outer linen strips holding the last shroud around the body. There are usually seven layers of wrappings.”
Dr. Wallasi added, “Seven had mystical qualities to the Egyptians.”
Lou assisted while the others removed yards and yards of linen strips finally getting down to the covering shroud. Painted on this shroud was a beautiful picture of the Egyptian god Osiris.
The Egyptian embalmers used hundreds of yards of linen to wrap a mummy - XM-78 was no exception. “Gabby, notice how the wraps are a high grade linen and elegant, she was someone important, maybe even royalty.” As the last linen shroud wraps were beginning to be un-rolled, Dr. Lou exclaimed, “Whoa! What do we have here?”
Gabby excitingly responded, “What…? What Lou? What is it?”
“Look at the right arm. It is across her chest.”
“Yeah, so? Is that important?”
“An arm bent across the body like this denotes royalty. Only royalty could be embalmed and wrapped in this method.
“XM-78 is now getting REALLY interesting.
“Notice Gabby how the legs are tied together; how the fingers and toes are wrapped separately. As we begin to unwrap the final layers we should find beautiful amulets. Priests placed these amulets, as they said prayers, to protect the body in its journey through the netherworld. The last wrappings will be the ones around the head and neck.”
Dr. Scarburg was explaining the Egyptian embalmer’s technique but his mind was on XM-78’s hands! A scroll had been placed in her hand. ‘Usually’, he thought, ‘this would be a papyrus scroll with spells from ‘The Book of the Dead.’ What did this one contain?’
With all attention focused on the papyrus scroll no one noticed Isis slip one of the amulets from the mummy’s linen covered body and conceal it in her lab coat pocket.
“Gabby, the papyrus scroll clutched in her hand should have quotes from ‘The Book of the Dead.’”
“What is this ‘Book of Death’?” Gabby asked.
“No Gabby. It is ‘The Book of the Dead’ or translated as the ‘Book of Coming Forth by Day’. Another translation calls it the ‘Book of Emerging Forth into the Light.”
“Explain Lou.”
“The Book of the Dead has magic spells which were intended to help the dead person on his or her journey through the underworld and into their new afterlife.
Darn Gabby stop asking questions. The suspense is killing me. I have to read the scroll right now.”
“Okay Lou - go for it - unroll the sucker and tell us what it has to say.”
Lou slowly slipped the papyrus from the mummy’s centuries old death grip. He moved it to an empty table then slowly and carefully unrolled the fragile papyrus document. “No. This can’t be. No, this is not right.”
The others, standing on the far side of the table, could not read or even see what was written on the scroll. “What is it? What does it say?” Gabby questioned.
Dr. Scarburg could not answer he merely pushed the papyrus across the table so all could see for themselves. Gabby was the first to pick the scroll up. “What is it?” Lonnie Joe asked.
“It’s...it’s written in English.”
“Can’t be. English wasn’t even invented 3000 years ago. Even if it had been invented Egyptians could not have read or would have known how to write it.”
“Regardless, either Mrs. Friedman or someone who knew Mrs. Friedman did because it reads: “1st Section, Book 26, Chapter 1, Paragraphs 5-26 and 2nd Section, Book 27, Chapter 8, Paragraphs 8-11.”
“What does that mean?” They all asked in unison.
“I don’t know, but I know someone who DOES.”
“Who?”
“Pa...Remember he and Papa Scarburg were there when Mrs. Friedman disappeared back in 1967.”
“Right, now lets finish undressing our subject and get an MRI of her entire body.”
The un-wrapping continued on Mrs. Friedman - Dr. Scarburg explaining every detail in the procedure. They were all so absorbed in XM-78 no one noticed Anhur slip in the door and stand un-noticed against a sidewall. He did not move nor did he speak. Silently he waited for Dr. Scarburg to look in his direction.
In a slack moment, Lou walked around to the other side of the table directly facing Anhur. Catching Dr. Scarburg’s eye Anhur nodded with his head for the doctor.
‘What...what could Anhur want’? Thought Lou. ‘I hope he’s not quitting, we do not have another driver nor bus available.’ Dr. Lou walked across the room and approached Anhur. “Are you not hot in all your wraps - why don’t you take off some of your outer clothing and get cooler?”
Making no effort to answer Anhur reached his gloved hand out and passed a note to Dr. Scarburg. A note written on a piece of cellophane type sheeting about the size of a standard 8”x10” piece of paper, read simply: “Wrong tomb.”
Speaking, almost in a whisper, Dr. Bud asked, “What…? Anhur what does this mean?” Anhur gave no answer. He turned and walked out of the exam room leaving Lou standing there with nothing but a puzzled look and a piece of plastic sheet in his hand.
Hearing the ‘click-clack-click-clack’ of Doc’s shoes on the cold tile floor the group looked up briefly from XM-78 to see Lou returning from across the room after his brief encounter with Anhur.
Dr. Scarburg spoke to the group, “Anhur gave me a note written on a piece of cellophane. It read simply: ‘Wrong tomb.’ What in the devil does that mean? What is he trying to tell us? Gabby, Roche what’s the story on the tomb site? Did you see anything that might explain this note?”
“Something’s not right, as far as Jacque and I could tell there was no story at the place we were taken to. All we found was a bunch of holes in an old cemetery - we didn’t even know which hole to look in, they all looked the same. There was no mountain, nothing, just big holes in a sandy, wind swept desert cemetery.”
The last of the wrappings were finally removed. Lying there before them was a 3000 year old shriveled up, leather skinned body of a once beautiful young woman. Now she was barely recognizable as a human much less a woman.
Lou directing his request to no one in particular, “Open our instrument chest and find the biopsy needle. I need the one with the removable collector cup. It will catch all the autogenous bone marrow material.”
LJ, the “real” doctor, jumped at this opportunity to demonstrate his real “doctoring” knowledge, opening the medical chest he performed a quick search. Standing back up he had something clutched in his hand like a gleaming kid who had found the prize Easter egg. The prize was the stainless steel object Lou requested - the biopsy needle.
Gabby again, the inquisitive one asked, “Lou what’s the purpose of this particular biopsy needle and what are you going to do with it?”
“We’re going to drill into the pelvic bone and extract enough material to perform a mitochondrial DNA test. The pelvic bone will be the best place to find DNA, if any exists. Next I will extract bone marrow from the upper tibia. As you all know mitochondrial DNA is maternally inherited and can be used to trace the mother’s linage far back in time. It is also used in paternity determination cases today also.
“I will send about six different samples to Egypt’s National Research Center at Cairo. Their molecular geneticists will try to extract enough DNA to compare this ancient mummy of Mrs. Friedman to her modern daughter, Dolores, who lives in Mannheim, Germany. She is 44 years old and has already undergone DNA testing. We have her DNA results.
“Applied BioResearch Labs has developed a process named MiniFinder that increases the ability to obtain DNA results from compromised samples that previously would have yielded limited or no genetic data. Unless this an elaborate fraud the new testing procedure applied to XM-78’s DNA samples should prove conclusively, one way or another, whether this mummy is, in fact, Mrs. Helga Friedman.”
The retrieval of DNA material was completed and she was returned to the glass case and refilled with nitrogen gas. Both the glass coffin and the DNA samples were sent by a special courier of Dr. Wallasi to the Cairo Museum to await the DNA tests and MRI examination. In the meantime Dr. Wallasi suggested another trip be undertaken to see XM-78’s tomb. As he did so he apologized profusely for Babu’s feeble first effort.
* * * ~~~ * * *
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE ‘REAL’ TOMB
Leaving the Department of Antiquities Dr. Lou, Gabby, Roche, LJ along with Dr. Wallasi boarded the bus to drive the few kilometers to a small hole in the side of one of the black mountains that guard the Bahariya Oasis.
Babu and Isis were not included on the invited list this time.
According to Dr. Wallasi, their guide, XM-78’s tomb was not in the desert but was discovered in this mountainous area they were headed toward. Gabby and Jacque once again in the rear seat.
A southwestern drive over a rough, bumpy, unpaved road led the party to their destination. Lonnie Joe commented that the ‘road’ might be better traversed using a camel. Dr. Wallasi heard the remark but staring straight ahead did not offer a response. Gabby heard also and yelled, “I heard that! Remember what I said LJ... death...death!!”
After parking the bus Anhur swung open the door. Turning in his seat Lou hollered, “Saddle up!!”
The SCAR team retrieved their gear and stepped from the environs of the cool bus out into the blistering hot, dusty desert sand. Dr. Wallasi indicated he had already seen this tomb and instructed the group to take their time. He thought he would remain on the cool bus and take a nap.
Standing in the hot sun facing east the group of Americans surveyed the landscape. To the north, east and south was a view of a barren desolate landscape - sand, sand and more sand. To their rear or toward the west was a section of the Jabel Ingleszi Mountain exhibiting a large outcrop of black granite rock.
Leaving the scorching desert floor the SCAR group began an ascent up a narrow trail etched, almost invisibly into the face of the rock wall. The tomb’s entrance was imbedded in the side of an almost vertical cliff approximately fifty meters above the valley below. In fact, from the ground the original architects had totally obscured the entrance by their ingenious design. A large natural rock outcrop protruded from the cliff’s face. The tomb’s entrance was hidden behind this rock. Originally a set of steps had been carved into the cliff’s face; however, to ensure the tomb remained undiscovered the ancient priests had the steps chiseled away when the tomb was sealed.
Snapping on their flashlights the visitors opened the temporary door covering the entrance and stepped into the cool darkness of the 3000-year-old hole in the mountainside.
At first they encountered a musty smell of centuries old air. The same air where workmen three millennium ago labored to chisel out of solid rock this final abode of the dead.
A step or two into the darkness the yellow glow from the flashlights illuminated a long narrow set of stone steps leading down deep into the cold rock of the Jabel Ingleszi Mountain. The hewed stone staircase descended to the entrance of a long narrow corridor approximately four foot wide and nine feet tall.
The first thought to cross Gabby’s mind was the elaborateness of the painted walls and the ceiling. Egyptian hieroglyphics covered every square inch of the interior.
The corridor extended about thirty meters ending in a large burial chamber approximately twenty feet by thirty feet and fifteen feet high with a stone sarcophagus positioned in the very center. The stone casket was too large to pass through the narrow passageway - it had to have been carved right where it sat.
Until this time no one had uttered a word.
The elaborateness of the tomb was mindboggling. “A shawabti - a servant girl,” said Gabby. “Give me a break Lou. If this was designed for a servant girl I must be Cleopatra. Even the INSIDE of the sarcophagus is elaborately decorated. This art would compete with the works I’ve studied in the Louvre! It is breathtaking!”
LJ was walking around the walls reading the hieroglyphics. “Doc what did you say Mrs. Friedman’s occupational was in recent life?”
Dr. Lou turned from examining the sarcophagus to address Lonnie Joe’s question. “She was a chemist. Why Lonnie?”
“These hieroglyphics explain why they buried her in such an elaborate style.”
“Interpret them for us Lonnie Joe.”
“She wasn’t a chemist in ancient times... according to these writings she was what we would call today a medical doctor, a pharmacist and a prophet. Her patients were the elite of Egypt including the Pharaoh himself. This woman was renowned throughout Egypt and hobnobbed with the Pharaohs. As we know Pharaoh’s names are always displayed in an oval hieroglyphic figure called a ‘cartouche’. There are dozens of cartouche’s on these walls!!”
“There might be another reason,” Lou said as he brushed away the ancient dust from some of the hieroglyphics on the sarcophagus. “LJ would you mind coming here and deciphering this cartouche?”
“Cartouche? Cartouches are only used for Pharaoh names,” LJ responded. “But yeah Lou, it reads “Maatkare.” Does that mean something?”
“I’ll explain in a minute.”
“Whoa!” Gabby chimed. “Lou I thought Pharaoh’s were like kings - everything stayed in the family, right?”
“Right - most of the time but not always. Sometime the Egyptian’s elite would pick the person to be Pharaoh. They would select an individual such as a war hero, a scholar, or as in Mrs. Friedman’s case someone in a favored position. This process usually took several years.”
“Your right Lou,” LJ responded, “and Based on the story on these walls the progression of events took place with XM-78 in the 18th dynasty, but for some unknown reason she unexpectedly died.”
“This means we have to add another test to XM-78 - cause of death.”
Roche asked, “Lonnie Joe when WAS the 18th dynasty?”
“Somewhere between 1300 to 1500 B.C.”
“So, Mrs. Friedman is actually older than three thousand years, right?”
“Exactly, she’s at least 300 to 500 years older. But this story on the walls is totally overshadowed by
the information I found when I cleaned the dust from the writing OVER THE DOOR.” LJ exclaimed. “Have any of you noticed the paintings over the entrance to this chamber? I see everyone just looked at the door so I’m assuming none of you have.”
Turning and looking at the beautiful painted wall Dr. Scarburg, a man never accustomed to using profanity, could say nothing but, “Damn...! Damn...!”
* * * * * *
Painted, above the doorway to the entrance corridor, in perfect stylized English text barely readable under layers of dust was the date -
21 December 2012.
If Dr. Scarburg had not known better he would have thought this was painted yesterday. He knew though, from the recorded date the tomb had not been entered for over thirty centuries. “What is the significance of this date? Does anyone know?”
“Well, uh, uh,” said Roche, “we know it’s the first day of winter in 2012.”
“Okay... right... winter... first day,” said Lou. “No...! There must be more to it than that simple explanation.”
Lonnie Joe continued, “Your right Lou, I haven’t explained the rest of the hieroglyphics. That date is only a part of the story on this wall”
“Come on LJ - I don’t believe I can stand your suspense,” said Gabby.
Anxiously awaiting they all stared at LJ. “Starting at the left corner - notice the large object - it looks like the sun with trailing smoke behind it. It is falling into water.
Pointing at each beautifully drawn character LJ described the hieroglyphics, ‘Quail chick,’ ‘quail chick,’ ‘mouth,’ ‘owl,’ ‘quail chick,’ ‘quail chick’ and ‘hand.’
“What does it mean?”
“The Egyptian word translates in English to the word ‘Wormwood’.
“Wormwood...?’ ‘Wormwood...?’ Gabby exclaimed, “What is ‘Wormwood?”
The next hieroglyphics are a ‘basket,’ ‘quail chick,’ ‘owl,’ ‘vulture,’ and ‘mouth,’ the closest English word these figures represent is ‘Comet’ or maybe ‘Asteroid’. Next is a ‘viper,’ a ‘reed leaf,’ a ‘mouth’ and a ‘vulture’ this is ‘Fire’. The next set of hieroglyphics is really strange.”
