El Cairo
Sultanate of Egypt
Friday, June 14th, 1940
‘I’m glad you were able to hold on to this!’ Indiana Jones said, fondly weighing the Headpiece of the Staff of Ra in his hand. ‘It might be impossible to show it in a museum yet, but one day… one day…’
It was late afternoon in Cairo, and yet the heat was enough that the roof of Sallah’s house was the best place for a talk among old friends. Sallah’s wife had prepared iced mallow tea and water pipes and quietly retired to allow the men to speak in peace. Falken was off to visit the Bazaar but would join Indy and his host for dinner later.
Sallah, slightly greyer and thinner than the last time Indy had seen him in Hatay (which was now annexed to Turkey), smiled somewhat bitterly. ‘
Insallah, Indy. It’s strange, isn’t it my friend, that you and I have found the Ark of The Covenant, and yet no one has heard of us… at least not of me… while Carter and Schliemann are hailed as the great archaeologists of our time?’
Indy shrugged. ‘What disturbs me the most is that I don’t know what happened with it. The government never told me who it was that would be examining it. Probably some team of high-browed scientists who’ll take it apart as if it was some ordinary machine! One would think that if they had found out the first thing about it, now would be the time to bring it out! We’re being conquered, Sallah!’
‘Indy, no.’ The Egyptian master digger shook his head. ‘The Ark was never for that. It’s good that Hitler didn’t get his hands on it, but you should have known it could never have been used as a weapon of war, not by the Nazis and not by you. Do you honestly believe Allah can be compelled to take part in our squabbles, or that He would choose to do so? All right, I don’t like the Nazis much, and Hitler or Fu Manchu are despotic tyrants. But frankly, the same could be said of King David, and as for the noble British, they have conquered and oppressed many other peoples, including my own. Tell me, when you joined the Belgian army during the Great War, did you ever consider that the vaunted “rape of Belgium” by the Germans utterly paled in comparison to the Belgian rape of Congo?’
Indy’s mouth fell open in amazement. ‘Sallah! I can’t believe you’re saying this? Don’t you think Fu or Hitler are evil then?’
Sallah shrugged. ‘Of course they are evil. But does that mean their enemies are good? To be totally frank, a great many of my countrymen were sorely disappointed when Britain and Germany made peace, because they were awaiting the arrival of the Wehrmacht as liberators from the British. Tell me Indy, are the peoples of British India any less conquered than the Poles? Are the natives of your own country, half-exterminated and confined to reservations, so much better off than the Russians will be if Hitler wins? My point is, do you really think that you are so much better and purer than the Pan-Asians that Allah will take sides for you, that he will smite your foes because your cause is just?’*
Indy sighed. ‘You’re right of course. It’s just that… we’ll, we’re used to see our country as somehow… special, ordained by fate to bring freedom to the oppressed, that we’re the chosen people of God or something. I think that’s the main reason why most of my countrymen haven’t fully realised what’s happening to us. I guess in their minds, this is just like a movie where things look the darkest before the hero comes to save the day. But this isn’t a movie or a comic book. Nobody saved Poland or France or Norway or Latvia… and apparently, no one is going to save the United States of America.’
‘Everyone thinks they’re the chosen ones, my friend. As an Arab and a Muslim, I have a special disdain for that notion. We too thought, and many of us still do, that we were something special, that we had been called by Allah to bring salvation to the world and that our Empire would last forever. And look at us now – defeated, conquered, our lands mostly divided up between the European powers. And yet we were not innocent victims, we too in our time conquered, subjugated and oppressed. Egypt was once Christian land, as was all of North Africa, Syria, Asia Minor… There are no special nations or peoples, Indy. In the eyes of Allah, we’re all just men, sinful and imperfect.’
Indy sighed and leaned back in his chair. The sun was setting, and from various points in the great city of Cairo, the
muezzin called the faithful to prayer.
‘So Sallah… when are you going to tell me about this business in Arabia, huh?’ The smooth transitions from socialising to business that seemed to be second nature for the likes of Sallah had always eluded Indy.
The master digger picked up beautifully though. ‘Ah, my friend! What interesting rumours have spread from Arabia! Apparently, there’s a great Nazi excavation going on in the south end of the Rub Al Khali, the Empty Quarter. It’s said that they have found the lost city of Iruma, of which the Quran speaks. It’s also said that their leader, a Nazi officer called Al-Dorn, is a demon in league with Iblis himself.’
‘Al-Dorn?’ Indy’s sprang up from his slouch. ‘Duhrn?
Sturmbannführer Günther Duhrn?’
‘You know this man?’ Sallah wondered.
‘Do I ever! I met him in Antarctica with Otto Skorzeny, and by the way, he tried to kill me! He’s a top man in Himmler’s
Ahnenerbe, you know, the guys who were after the Ark and The Holy Grail. I’ve heard some rumours about him and Skorzeny working together, although it’s highly unclear with what. Apparently, they were involved in some sort of military debacle earlier this year, although I wouldn’t know what it was about – Germany was at peace then. And he’s found Irem of a Thousand Pillars?’
‘So the rumour says. This Al-Dorn led a small scouting party that coerced the Imam of Saana into helping them locate the city, and now they’re bringing in more… shall we say more palatable people… regular academics and the like through the port city of Salalah. They’re not advertising it, but not keeping it a secret either. King Abdul Aziz has allowed them to set up an armed camp around the dig… I guess he’s trying to cultivate The Reich now that it’s ascendant.’
‘Hmmm…’ Indy scratched his chin. ‘Duhrn is a sticker for secrecy, he would have had me shot on principle in Antarctica if it hadn’t been for Skorzeny. Why would he allow a find like this to be known, I wonder? Except… Sallah, what was it the Quran said about Irem, or Iruma?
‘It was a rich and decadent city, filled with wicked people who dabbled in the occult.’
‘That would explain what Duhrn’s interest in it is… but something is not right here. Klaus and I better go see what Duhrn’s up to. Can you fly to Salalah?’
‘There is an airport, so I’m sure it can be arranged… for a price. In fact, my brother-in-law has a cousin who runs a small cargo flight company. I could set you up with him if you like.’
‘Enterprising people, your family!’ Indy commented, smiling.
‘Allah helps the man who helps himself, Indy. Did you not know this?’
*
NOTE: Sallah doesn't know about the Holocaust or Generalplan Ost. Otherwise he wouldn't be so quick to dismiss Hitler as just another despot.
