It has been a few days since Chi-yin decided to leave the Clive expedition.
At first the expedition seemed to go fine on its voyage from England to Alexandria. But as they progressed to Cairo, and then Giza, sh felt something was amiss. Starting with Sir Clive. She felt she was being treated more and more poorly by some of the members of the expedition (although not especially badly by James Garners and Agatha Broadmoor) as time went on. Eventually it became clear that Sir Clive was only interested in her and her family's wealth and how it could be used to fund his expedition, even though funding was already supposedly secured through the prestigious Penhew Institute.
There were some astounding findings in Giza, like the discovery of an unknown hidden burial chamber in the pyramid of Menkaure (the smallest of the three) containing a sarcophagus. But this sarcophagus mysteriously disappeared! Soon after the Clive expedition traveled south to Dashur, the royal necropolis site upriver where several more pyramids (including the Red Pyramid, White pyramid, Black Pyramid, Bent Pyramid and the Lesser Bent Pyramid, among others).
Recent article in the Cairo Gazette on the theft:
quote:
MYSTERIOUS MUMMY THEFT STILL UNSOLVED
by Nigel Wassif
Cairo - Investigation continues into the theft of a newly-
discovered mummy and its three-ton sarcophagus from their resting place by brazen
tomb robbers three months ago in January. The mummy had been discovered just
three days earlier by the newly-arrived Clive Expedition.
According to expedition spokesman Martin Winfield, a previously unknown chamber in
the Pyramid of Menkaure at Giza proved to be the burial chamber of an unknown
Egyptian queen. No hieroglyphs identified the body, but the rich funerary
trappings indicated that this was the resting place of a great ruler. The only
item removed from the tomb was an ornate gold coffer containing papyrus scrolls.
Unfortunately the scrolls proved to be illegible due to improper sealing. Mr.
Winfield refused to speculate as to the mummy's identity, although sources close
to the expedition believe it might have been that of the legendary Queen Nitocris.
According to our reporter, the theft was accomplished using unknown means of great
sophistication. The dust in the corridors leading to the chamber was undisturbed
except by the identifiable footsteps of the expedition members and antiquity
authorities, and there were no signs of roller marks or of wear at inclines and
elevations along the corridor where winches would have needed bracing.
The two Egyptian policemen assigned to guard the mummy are also missing.
Inspector Hussein Ibrahim of the Cairo police has vowed to find them and the
missing mummy. Police have not yet revealed any suspects so far.
After a couple months, the Clive expedition relocated from Giza to Dashur. After a month Chi-tin parted ways with Sir Clive. He expected her to return to Cairo via the Nile on the supply boat but she decided to stay and pursue her own investigation into the many pyramids of Dashur.
Soon afterwards , Chi-yin was woken by Mah'mud's voice calling her softly from outside her tent in the dead of night.
The latter Lesser Bent Pyramid is similar looking but suspected to be a relatively recent addition and not an authentic royal burial pyramid. Perhaps only centuries old and not dating back to antiquity due to a strange lack of aging and absence of identity markings. That said no records exist as to who built it or why.
