Transcript

1: Several scientists sit patiently with tablets or notebooks in a large stone room. The ground and ceiling are built in raised, stair-like layers on which folding chairs have been arranged. On a stage already carved into the room, reminiscent of a church or theater stage, Julia and Melissa prepare.

2: Up on stage, nervously sorting her paper notes on a lectern, Julia prepares to speak. Melissa is off to the side, working a small computer hooked up to the projector.

Julia: Um… ah… Good morning everyone! We are here to present our findings on… EA-055-b’s position under the Cairo University Library and its relation to EA-055-a.

Over the past several months, we’ve collected and analyzed journals, letters and articles related to the previous iteration of our organization, The Order of the Black Dog, and their association with the so-called “Black Idol”.

3: Projected onto a screen behind her are two photographs. The first shows a false wall in a closet being broken down and removed; the second shows the Black Idol, the one found in the library, in an open wooden crate.

Julia (off-panel): In 1966, the Order, led by Timothy Baten, discovered a false wall in one of the storage rooms in the C.U. Library’s basement.

In this secret compartment was an antique wooden crate containing what we refer to as the Black Idol. The Order, citing the disturbing nature of the Idol, decided to keep its discovery a secret.

I speculate this secret room to be one of several undocumented renovations to the building, which may imply the influence of conflicting groups’ interest in the library.