183. Back in the Sitting Room
Amy decides to head back to the sitting room. “There are so many knick-knacks and artifacts in there, one of them is bound to be useful,” she reasons. The place is still a mess, with holes in the door and the furniture and shattered glass all over the floor. Amy's eye is drawn to a large golden sarcophagus standing against the back wall.
“How did I miss that before?” she wonders as she wanders over. It looks Egyptian. If she didn't know better, Amy would swear it came from King Tut's tomb. A plaque next to it reads “Retrieved from the Lesser Pyramid of Cheops, 1902. Believed to hold last remains of the Pharaoh Amenthotep.”
Amy is excited. She always was interested in Egyptology. The presence of such an awesome artifact sends her train of thought completely off the rails. Soon she finds herself pacing the floor and giving a mental lecture to an imaginary audience of students, all of whom are, of course, enraptured by her flagrant act of pedagogy.
“...Fascinating thing about Egyptian society was how heavily it depended on the seasons. The Nile delta was literally flooded for months of the year, then when it dried up people moved in and planted and harvested in the dry months. Indeed, far from the desert we know today, ancient Egypt was known as the breadbasket of the region. Now, if we consider...”
Amy eventually snaps out of it once she finishes reciting all the facts she learned in her Intro to Archaeology class. Returning her attention to the matter at hand, she considers the sarcophagus once again.
Try as she might, Amy can think of no possible way that opening this sarcophagus will get her closer to rescuing Shannon and leaving this place. “On the other hand,” she thinks, “why should this whole trip be a parade of horribles? Can't I do something for ME, just this once?”
What should Amy do?