CARTER – The Staff
The Chronicles of Samuel Carter – Chapter Six
Foreword
This is the sixth of seven chapters of Part One of The Chronicles of Samuel Carter, in which our main protagonist, Samuel, learns more about The Staff and its origin.
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Part One
1 The Call | 2 The Expedition | 3 The Chamber | 4 The Nightmare | 5 The Invitation | 6 The Staff | 7 The Cage
The Staff
Samuel woke in a spacious, lavishly decorated room. He felt refreshed from a dreamless slumber. Heavy curtains were drawn, a beam of light shining on a tapestry, depicting a medieval battle. He sat up with a jolt. The door opened, and light from outside stung his eyes.
“Oh good, you’re up.” Jackie entered.
“You drugged me!”
“You’re welcome.”
“What?”
“You needed to remember,” said Jackie with a sly grin.
“Did I?”
“Well, sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“The tea was laced with poison from the chamber.”
“You poisoned me?” He jumped to his feet.
“Pish posh! It acts like a hallucinogen in smaller doses. Before you passed out, you said something. I recorded it. Here, listen.”
Talha Ka Ran Bara’da Kan.
“What does it mean?”
“We ran it through every linguistic database – no match.”
“I should call the police. You tried to kill me!”
“Be my guest. Since you are alive and well, it would be quite the story to tell, Lazarus. Whatever was inside that altar, it brought you back to life.”
“I don’t remember saying those words.”
“You remember opening the altar?”
“Yes, but after that, nothing.”
“I told you before that Aziz got us out.”
“You mean he didn’t?”
“No.”
“How did we get out of the chamber?”
“After you collapsed, I tried to open the silver tube – to save you – but nothing worked. Aziz couldn’t get to us, and the comms were down again. I didn’t know what else to do, so I sat there next to you, dictating final instructions to no one, hoping help would come. For hours I waited. Imagine my surprise when you came back to life, speaking in an ancient language.” Jackie paused.
Samuel stared at her.
“The cylinder opened, revealing The Staff. You took it and held the staff into the light, chanting. The floor trembled, a bright bolt of energy split the boulder in two, and you passed out again, and when you came to, Aziz was there and well… here we are, Doctor Samuel Cornelius Carter, the man who wouldn’t die.” Jackie concluded.
“That’s ridiculous. Wait, what?”
“We found the staff,” she nodded with a broad smile.
“But… a bolt of lightning?” Samuel was irritated, his mind a maze of the strangest words.
“Do you realise what this means?”
“That you’re crazy?”
Jackie scoffed, “Right. And you came back from the dead. That’s perfectly normal?”
“Allegedly, maybe you made it all up.”
“Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t even know you were a Beaumont.”
“Had you known, would you have come?”
“Where is the staff?”
“Secure. Why?”
“Because I need it!” Samuel was pacing the room, pondering whether to tell her about the dream. “Whatever this is, it needs to stop.”
“Stop what?”
“I… something is happening to me,” said Samuel.
“And you think you can stop it?”
“If what you say is true, it started with the staff – it can end with it. I have to try.” He turned towards her. “Where is it?”
“Calm yourself. I told you, the staff is safe. Besides, there is more.”
“More?”
She walked over to the mahogany desk and touched the surface with her index finger. With a chime, a holographic depiction of the staff appeared.
Intrigued, Samuel read the information on the holoscreen: 13,000 BCE.
“Impossible. That predates Amun-Ra by more than eleven thousand years!”
“We ran the carbon dating three times,” she zoomed in. “And there is also this,” Jackie pointed at a specific hieroglyph. “The decay and manipulation of the surface indicate another layer underneath.” She isolated the glyph, and it morphed.
“This is not Egyptian. I have never seen anything like it,” Samuel stared at the new glyph in confusion.
“No one has,” with a swipe of her hand, the image disappeared.
“If it’s not the staff of Amun-Ra, then what is it?”
“That is the million-dollar question. Ancient civilisation? Aliens? Time travellers? Take your best guess.”
Samuel snorted, “You can’t be serious.”
“At this point, I believe anything is possible.”
She swiped to another image on the holoscreen.
“There are seven glyphs hidden on the staff. Recognise any of them?” Jackie watched him intently.
He pointed, pale as ash, “That one.”
Jackie stood up briskly, “Just as I thought. Let me guess, you saw it in a dream.”
He stared at her, “How do you know?”
“I have the same dream, seeing that same shape.”
“The same dream?”
“It would appear so. Come.”
“Where are we going?”
“To get your Holy Grail.”
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Tune in next week when Doctor Carter explores the Beaumont family crypt and learns about X-Points before facing his final test.
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Well, I was going to say "aliens", but Jackie got there first 😅
Another snappy chapter that continues to dangle the carrot of "what is going to happen?!!"
Already looking forward to next week's instalment!
Really enjoyed the great dialogue between the two characters this week, Alexander. Cracked along at a fair pace and was almost an adventure scene in its own right 😁
Looking forward to the finale next week 👍🏼