The Seventh Scroll - Smith Wilbur - Страница 101

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rode down with them in the specially installed elevator.

While they unpacked the crates, von Schiller returned to his suite in

the north tower. He bathed and ate a light breakfast, prepared by the

Chinese chef. When he had eaten, he went to his wife's bedroom. She was

even frailer than she had been when last he had seen her. Her hair was

now completely white, her face pinched and waxy. He sent the nurse away,

and kissed his wife's forehead tenderly.

The cancer was eating her away slowly, but she was the mother of his two

sons, and in his own peculiar way he still loved her.

He spent an hour with her, and then went to his own bedroom and slept

for four hours. At his age he never needed more sleep than that, no

matter how tired he might be. He worked until midafternoon with Utte and

two other secretaries, and then the custodian called on the house

intercom to tell him that they were ready for him in the vault.

Von Schiller and Utte rode down together in the elevator, and when the

door slid open both Herr Reeper and Nahoot were waiting for them. One

look at their faces told von Schiller that they were beside themselves

with excitement, bubbling over with news for him.

"Are the -rays completed?" von Schiller demanded as they hurried after

him down the subterranean passageway to the vault.

"The technicians have completed their work," Reeper told him. "They have

done a fine job. The plates are wonderful. Ja, wunderbar!'

Von Schiller had endowed the clinic, so any request of his was treated

as a royal command. The director had sent down his most modern portable

-ray equipment and two technicians to photograph the mummy of Lord

Harrab, and a senior radiologist to interpret the plates.

Reeper inserted his plastic pass card into the lock of the steel vault

door, and with a soft pneumatic hiss it slid open. They all stood aside

for von Schiller to enter first.

He paused in the doorway, and looked around the great vault. The

pleasure never palled. On the contrary, it seemed to grow more intense

every time he entered this place.

The walls were enclosed in two metres of steel and concrete, and were

guarded by every electronic device that genius could devise. But this

was not apparent.when he viewed the softly lit and elegantly appointed

main display room. It had been planned and decorated by one of Europe's

foremost interior designers. The theme colour was blue. Each item of the

collection was housed in its own case, and each of these was cunningly

arranged to show it to its best advantage.

Everywhere was the soft glimmer of gold and precious gems nestling on

midnight-blue velvet cushions. Artfully concealed spotlights illuminated

the lustre of lovingly polished alabaster and stone, the glow of ivory

and obsidian. There were marvelous statues. The pantheon of the old gods

were here assembled: Thoth and Anubis, Hapi and Seth, and the glorious

trinity of Osiris and Isis and Horus, the son. They gazed out with those

inscrutable eyes which had looked upon the procession of the ages.

On its temporary plinth in the centre of the room, in pride of place,

stood the latest addition to this extraordinary hoard, the tall,

graceful stone testament of Taita. Von Schiller stopped beside it to

caress the polished stone before he passed on into the second room.

Here the coffin of Tanus, Lord Harrab, lay across a pair of trestles. A

white-coated radiologist hovered over her back-lit display board on

which the ,ray plates were clipped, Von Schiller went directly to the

display and peered at the shadowy pictures upon it. Within the outline

of the wooden coffin, the reclining human shape with hands crossed over

its chest was very clear. It reminded him of a carved effigy atop the

sarcophagus of an old knight in the precincts of a medieval cathedral.

"What can you tell me about this body?" he asked the radiologist without

looking at her.

"Male," she said crisply. "Late middle age. Over fifty and under

sixty-five at death. Short stature." All the listeners winced and

glanced at von Schiller. He seemed not to have noticed this solecism.

"Five teeth missing. One front upper, one eye too and three molars.

Wisdom teeth impacted. Extensive caries in most surviving teeth.

Evidence of chronic bilharzia infection. Possible poliomyelitis in

infancy, withering in left leg." She recited her findings for five

minutes, and then ended, "Probable cause of death was a puncture wound

in upper right thorax. Lance or arrow. Extrapolating from the entry

angle, the head of the lance or arrow would have transfixed the right

lung."

"Anything else?" von Schiller asked when she fell silent. The

radiologist hesitated, and then went on.

"Herr von Schiller, you will recall that I have examined several mummies

for you. In this instance, the incisions through which the viscera were

removed appear to have been made with more skill and finesse than those

of the other cadavers. The operator seems to have been a trained

physician."

"Thank you." Von Schiller turned from her to Nahoot.

"Do you have any comments, at this stage?"

"Only that these descriptions do not fit those given in the seventh

scroll for Tanus, Lord Harrah, at the time of his death."

"In what way?"

"Tanus was a tall man. Much younger. See the portraits on the coffin

lid."

"Go on,'von Schiller invited.

Nahoot stepped up to the display of -ray plates and pointed out several

solid dark objects, all of them with clean outlines, that adorned the

body.

"Jewellery," he said. "Amulets. Bracelets. Pectorals.

Several necklaces. Rings and earrings. But, most significant," Nahoot

touched the dark circle around the dead brow, "the uraeus crown. The

outline of the sacred serpent is quite unmistakable, beneath the

bandages."

"What does that indicate?" Von Schiller was puzzled.

"This was not the body of a commoner, or even of a noble. The extent of

ornamentation is too extensive. But most significant, the uraeus crown.

The sacred cobra. That was only worn by royalty, I believe that what we

have here is a royal mummy."

"Impossible," snapped von Schiller. "Look at the inscription on the

coffin. Those that were painted on the walls of the tomb. Clearly this

is the mummy of an Egyptian general."

"With respect, Herr von Schiller. There is a possible explanation. In

the book written by the Englishman, River God, there is an interesting

suggestion that the slave Taita swopped the two mummies, that of Pharaoh

Mamose and his good friend, Tanus."

"For what earthly reason would he do that?" Von Schiller looked

incredulous.

"Not for any earthly reason, but for a spiritual and supernat urat

reason. Taita wished his -friend to have the use and ownership of all

Pharaoh's treasure in the afterworld. It was his last gift to a friend."

"Do you believe that?"

"I do not disbelieve it. There is one other fact that tends to support

this theory. It is quite obvious from the Xrays that the coffin is too

large for the body within. TO me, it seems obvious that it was designed

to accommodate a larger man. Yes, Herr von Schiller, I do believe that

there is an excellent chance that this is a royal mummy."

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