Chapter 21 Egyptian Island, USA 6

At ten o'clock in the morning on August 15, 1986, the building of the Crystal Pyramid finally played its own dramatic significance.The bright sunlight in the morning shines through the cracks in the rocks that cover the ceiling, and hits the whitish dirty air left by the smoke effect machine, and hits the sandy ground inside the crystal pyramid. Small tents for two or three people were lined up on the sand, and the staff slept in them. Since most of them work until dawn, they wake up very late.Behind the temple, the chef hired by the location team is already preparing lunch for everyone.

Art director Eric Bernard climbed out of the tent, landing on all fours before slowly rising to his feet. The entrance gate of the pyramid is open, and the Gulf of Mexico in August is like a picture frame.At this time, it swept away the brutality of last night, calm and sparkling, which reminds people of alcoholic dual personality patients, as if it would say to the microphone: "I don't remember what happened last night." Strolling outside the pyramid, the surrounding rocks are still wet, with traces left after last night's rain, but the top of the rocks has begun to dry and whitish.

Standing at the corner of the pyramid, the sun in the morning of August is dazzling, and the waves gently lapping on the rocks are as gentle and lovely as a kitten snuggling at your feet.Eric couldn't help laughing at the huge change. "Good morning!" Director of Photography Brian Whitney greeted him. "A woman's heart, a cloud in the sky. It's a beautiful day at Cape Wicked! Don't you want to brush your teeth?" He said, and went back to the pyramid tent. Eric also returned to the tent, took out his toothbrush and towel, and walked towards the circular tower.

These two buildings on the island of Egypt are probably the most difficult places in the world in terms of living conditions.Eric thought, Paul Alexon, a heretical archaeologist, lived here for three years, and he really could bear this kind of life!Compared with here, the residence in "Robinson Crusoe" can be said to be a mansion. First of all, neither the pyramids nor the circular towers have electricity inside, so not only are there no televisions and radios, but there are also no washing machines, vacuum cleaners, or even electric lights.Lighting is entirely dependent on kerosene lamps, which is no different from life in the previous century.

Even kerosene lamps are not prepared everywhere, and there is not one inside the pyramid.There are in the circular tower, but only on the first, second, third and top floors, as well as the floor below the top floor, and there are only a handful of them. The archaeologist is said to live alone, so there is no need for him to turn around and light all the kerosene lamps at night. The top floor of the circular tower has the best view. It is used as a bedroom and a bathroom on the first floor. Only these two places are often lit with kerosene lamps.Even if you look at the lighting facilities inside the circular tower now, you will find that the kerosene lamps other than these two places are not very dirty.

The third floor of the circular tower is the library. Although a large number of books, notes and other materials are preserved, the kerosene lamps here are also brand new.It is impossible for a scholar not to read and write books, so it is estimated that he conducted academic research under the natural light of the sun during the day. There is a simple bathroom on the first floor, next to the warehouse.There is a gasoline engine generator made in Japan in the warehouse, which seems to have been sitting here and has never been used.Some of the plastic oil drums next to it contained kerosene, but no gasoline.There is no bathroom on the pyramid side, so there is only one bathroom on the entire island.

Next to the bathroom is the sink.The rainwater collected by the bucket on the top of the head flows out along the faucet. The top of the rainwater bucket is a semicircular funnel connected to the outside of the circular tower, so the bucket is of course rainwater and cannot be drunk. You can also use rainwater showers here, but surprisingly there is no bathtub. The second floor is a simple kitchen.Drinking water bottles and beer bottles are piled up on the ground.What you can drink here is mineral water, juice and beer.As anyone who goes camping knows, humans are not animals that drink water all day long.

There are cooking utensils using liquefied petroleum gas in the kitchen, and there is still a rain bucket with an outdoor funnel above the vegetable sink. It seems that rainwater is also used to clean the dishes.There was a small window beside it, and in front of it was a rough dining table, stronger than even a backwoods schoolteacher's desk.Because no one visits, the host may always eat alone, so there is only one chair. There is also a small refrigerator next to the vegetable sink. Because there is no power supply and the generator is covered with dust, it is certain that this small refrigerator has never been used.

The chefs of the location team used the kitchen here, but the liquefied petroleum gas cylinders, cooking water, a large number of tableware and cooking pots were all brought in from outside.Ling Wangnai's mobile bathroom and shower water were transported to the island alternately by several male staff and placed behind the foam temple. What exactly do archaeologists eat every day?If you want to buy food, you have to walk for 30 minutes on the rocky area by the sea, get on the highway and drive for half an hour before you encounter a grocery store. So does this man named Pohl own a car?It's hard to imagine him owning a car.So where does he buy food from?Are you asking for home delivery?Is there any store around here that can satisfy his request?Even if there is, it will only be sent once or twice.

If you think about it this way, then Ball is living on easy-to-preserve food, such as canned or compressed food, eating a little every day for three years.In fact, in the corners of the kitchen, and around the circular tower, were countless empty food cans.Life here is probably more boring than life imprisonment. How old is Paul Alexon?Although this point is not clear, but he is the elder brother of the fifty-year-old diamond king, Richard, so he must be over fifty, maybe he is already close to sixty?Almost an old man. In a place far away from human habitation, like a person drifting alone, the old archaeologist has been living here, and the thought of it makes one feel infinitely sad.

After going to the bathroom and brushing his teeth, Eric Bernard stood on the rock, facing the sea and taking a deep breath.Workers started coming out of the pyramid in twos and threes, and they went to wash. Eric walked to the bottom of the pyramid, sat down on the lowest stone steps, took out a small harmonica from his waist pocket, and played a chapter of ancient Italian music.While it was blowing, I watched the calm sea and the staff waiting on the rocks for taking turns washing. There was a scene of peace and tranquility in front of me.Relying on the heroine's efforts, all the scenes that must be filmed last night have been completed without any omission.By now, director Ivy Tefula should have woken up from a comfortable sleep, right?Let’s start eating now, and in the evening, we will shoot scenes of hundreds of people dancing on the stage of the temple and on the sand.If all goes well, tomorrow you can return to the city with its high-end nightclubs and luxurious bathrooms. This place can only appear in the fantasy of Ling Wang Nai who plays Aida, so the star is only Ling Wang Nai.Once actors become famous, they often become arrogant and difficult to serve. Only Ling Wang Nai has a relatively strong endurance, so the staff should feel lucky. Eric looked up at the circular tower, a seven-story building, and Richard Alexon was supposed to be sleeping in the uppermost room.I haven't seen him this morning. He may have gone for a walk somewhere, or he may not have gotten up yet. It is not for nothing that Richard chose the topmost floor to sleep in a circular tower without an elevator.The seventh floor is the circular tower, no, it is the only clean and comfortable place on the entire island including the pyramid, which looks like a human living room. Strange archaeologists have also used the topmost floor as their bedroom.The circular tower is cylindrical, and the interior of this room is of course also cylindrical.The comfort is that the walls, floor and ceiling of this room are all granite for some reason, so it is luxurious.Richard was used to expensive things, so of course he chose to make his nest here. Eric visited the circular tower yesterday and found that the surface of these granites has been carefully polished and coated with a thin wax film, which is as slippery as a mirror. Not only the walls, but also the floor and ceiling have also been carefully polished, as if you can shave your face as smooth as you get close to it.Eric didn't have to shave today, and if he did, he might as well think about brushing the smooth walls of Alexon's bedroom on the seventh floor. The seventh floor serves as its own site, and archaeologists decorate it with polished granite. It is said that because the pharaoh's tomb inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Giza is also made of granite.His younger brother Richard explained that his elder brother slept in this room like the owner of the pyramid, so he could get the inspiration to solve the mystery of the pyramid. Eric also remembered reading several books on the subject.Although he has never been to Giza, he has more knowledge about the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Tomb of Tutankhamun and the Temple of Abu Simbel than ordinary people because of his interests.This time, because of the shooting of the movie, he specially found the previous materials and read them again. The pharaoh's tomb in the Great Pyramid of Khufu is a simple rectangular space with a movable sarcophagus inside.The same is true of the place where archaeologists sleep at the top of the tower. In a cylindrical space surrounded by polished granite, a single steel frame bed is placed alone. Besides, there isn't any furniture here.There are no wardrobes, shoe boxes, underwear boxes, etc.A steel-framed bed in a room as uninteresting as a Japanese tea caddy.There are no famous paintings or reproductions hanging on the bare walls. The only entertaining thing on the black glowing wall was a window facing the sea.But it is very small, only one meter high from top to bottom, and 40 centimeters wide from side to side at most. And the glass of this small window is embedded in the window frame.Even if I really want to breathe fresh air during the sleepless night, there is not even a gap of one centimeter square.There is also an iron net sandwiched between the glass, which is very strong.It is impossible to enjoy the sunset of the Gulf of Mexico here, but if you just want to watch the sea or the pyramids, you only need to open the door, go up the spiral iron ladder and go up to the terrace, which can be viewed at 360 degrees Expand your horizons.The pyramids, the Gulf of Mexico, and the rocks of Cape Villain are all in sight. Such a boring room can indeed give people a sense of modern simplicity and can stimulate the inspiration of artists, but if it is simply used as a bedroom, it will be very bad.After changing into pajamas, where do I put my daytime clothes?Where are the pants and shoes?What about your beloved cigar? In fact, when Eric Bernard first entered this room, he remembered the room of "Water Lilies" in the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris.It was also a spacious cylindrical room, and there was only one of Monet's famous paintings "Water Lilies" in it. The changing of clothes actually seems to take place on the sixth floor, a simple dressing room for old archaeologists light-years away from fashion.Large, old, scratched wardrobes and dirty wooden boxes filled most of the room, cluttered with plaid tops and outdated old jeans that southern men often wear.There is not a single suit that can be worn out to a party, and all the clothes stored there are less than one-third of the clothes that Matsuzaki Reo brought to the island. In short, last night, Richard Alexon did as the Romans did. In the dressing room on the sixth floor, he changed into the high-end silk pajamas he brought, gave up his cigars, wore only his shoes, and put on the stylish painting given to him by the location team. Ramon Films mountain-patterned plastic poncho, ready to jump excitedly to the seventh floor, he told his valet. I am afraid that industrialists do.Because he said that there are relatively eye-catching cushions and sheets and other bedding on the sixth floor, which can be spread on the bed on the seventh floor.Richard's only interest in life was women, so he was still single in his late fifties.He can actually take care of himself, which is very rare among middle-aged rich people. This is the case on the seventh and sixth floors.Clothes, shoes, rain gear, blankets, pillows and other bedding are piled up in the closets and wooden boxes on the sixth floor. There are even a few book boxes here, but there is not enough room for people to sleep.If anyone is willing to tidy up these furniture and wooden boxes and move them downstairs, there should be room for people to sleep here too.But under the hurricane last night, no one, including Richard, was willing to foolishly arrange such heavy labor. The first floor is the bathroom and washroom, the second floor is the kitchen, the third floor is the library, and the fourth and fifth floors are vacant.Although there are also rooms on the fourth and fifth floors, they can only be talked about.The concrete blocks on the wall were exposed, and the gaps on them were particularly conspicuous, and the ground was not smoothed. There were cement fragments, empty boxes and bottles everywhere on the ground, worse than the trumpets in the detention center.Richard's bodyguards all got into sleeping bags, two on the fifth floor and one on the fourth floor. If someone unwanted wanted to get close to Richard on the seventh floor, there were only two ways.One is to go up to the seventh floor through the door of the bodyguards on the fourth and fifth floors, and the other is to walk from the pyramid to the circular tower through the sky plank. But the latter approach is difficult to achieve with human skill alone.Because there are only two ways to climb this sky plank road.One is to climb up the artificial rock wall inside the pyramid, first go up to the top of the stone cliff, then climb up the glass along the sunken path leading to the circular tower, open the iron gate like an animal cage, and go out to the sky plank road .Although this is a way, it is physically impossible to climb along the rock wall inside the pyramid to the platform above.Because the artificial rock wall protrudes outward as it goes up, and finally becomes a ceiling. And the iron gate leading to the sky walkway is locked, and only Richard has the key.What's more, there are a large number of outdoor crews inside the pyramid, and no one's suspicious behavior can escape the eyes of everyone. Another way to climb the skywalk is to climb directly from the outer stone part of the pyramid, which is still not possible with bare hands.Because the skywalk is at least five meters higher than the stone part of the pyramid.In this distance of five meters, there is a lot of rain flowing down the glass on the surface of the pyramid, and it is impossible for people to climb up. But if you hang a rope on the sky plank, can you climb up with the help of the rope in a storm?Maybe, but there are still hurdles ahead.Like spider webs, barbed iron nets are densely arranged on the plank road in the air. Because of the above difficulties, the possibility of reaching the roof of the circular tower through the skywalk was ruled out.The three bodyguards also considered the same, so they slept on the fourth and fifth floors of the circular tower.Of course, there is no one who must take Richard's head.Despite this, the three professional bodyguards are still very dedicated, without any slack. The bell from inside the pyramid indicated that the morning meal was ready. Eric Bernard stood up and put the harmonica back into the back pocket of his jeans. He happened to look towards the circular tower and noticed three bodyguards standing outside Richard's door. Since they were far and high up, Eric wasn't quite sure.Three men appear to be standing and talking outside the door of their industrialist employer.On the slow platform of the spiral iron ladder in the open air, two people stood in front of the door, and the third person sat on the handrail.From Eric's point of view, half of the bodyguard sitting on the railing dangled beyond the spiral staircase, which made people feel a little worried, but the bodyguard himself did not seem to be afraid. The bodyguards seemed to be waking Richard Alexon up and talking there.The lecherous industrialist is very interested in Matsuzaki Lingwang Nai, and this matter is well known among the film crew.It is said that Richard himself also paid for the film. After he heard about the plot of "Aida 1987" and learned that the building left by his brother on the Egyptian island was an ideal location, He spent a lot of money and bought this island.All this is out of the intention of Ling Wang Nai.Now there are even rumors that the relationship between the two is quite deep and extraordinary. It's unimaginable that filming is about to start now and Mr. Richard hasn't come downstairs yet.Eric thinks that no matter how busy he is, he will come to watch the filming of Ling Wang Nai's dance scene tonight.Maybe the bodyguard went to wake him up according to Richard's instructions. Erik stuffed his hands into the side pockets of his jeans and idly walked across the puddle-strewn rocks and returned to the entrance of the pyramid. Stepping on the sand inside the pyramid, just like last night, I saw a large row of tables covered with white cloth in front of the front temple, and Ling Wangnai was sitting in the middle of the table just like Jesus Christ in "The Last Supper".The seats on both sides of her were still empty, and there was no sign of director Avi Tefula. Director of photography Brian Whitney showed up, as did art assistants Stephen Olson and Harrison Tyner, two of Eric's men, and the location assistants were dismantling and folding the small tents and putting them in the After entering the special cloth bag, pile it in front of the rock in the corner.At such a time, the chief director will definitely not be asleep somewhere, maybe he is already washing up, or looking for locations around the island. "Eric, are you feeling okay?" Director of Photography Brian Whitney greeted him from his seat. "Good!" Eric replied, walking across the sand, still sitting where he had been last night. "You look like you didn't sleep well last night." Ling Wangnai joked with him. "Really? What a coincidence, I slept soundly. Tonight is a group dance, will many dancers be brought here? Success or failure is tonight. If you are tired now, it is impossible to complete today's performance." Work. The most important thing is you, how is your body feeling? You don't have a cold? If you can't dance, it will be bad." "I'm okay, I slept very well in the tent. I seemed to have a fever last night, but I'm fine now, very energetic. I was still taking dance lessons not long ago for today's performance. If I don't work hard, I will dance professionally Lost in front of the actors." "I'm relieved when you say that." Director Ivy Tefula appeared on the stage of the temple and said loudly.I saw him slowly coming down the steps and sitting on the chair on Ling Wangnai's left. "Thanks to everyone and Ling Wangnai's hard work, we shot a very good scene last night. No matter how many fire trucks and large fans are used, it is difficult to create a realistic hurricane scene. Especially the 123rd, Scenes 121 and 125, I hope everyone can be excited about these clips. Guys, if you haven't buried your head in your meal and your left and right hands are still empty, please support our director of photography Brian Whitney and his first photographer Edward Flimble and his assistant Tenard Osman, second photographer Steve Mira and his assistant Frith Terra, third photographer James O'Conan, his assistant Yolanda Freeman, and finally Reo Matsuzaki and Wang Nai's extraordinary courage and applause!" There was immediate applause around the dining table. "Oh, Steve Mira hasn't arrived yet. In addition, everyone who fought in the rain, please allow me to pay tribute to you with a faint applause. Thank you very much." The chief director applauded alone. "Okay, let's eat! The storm outside has passed, and our battle will continue tonight." At this moment, three of Richard Alexon's bodyguards approached the table across the sand and sat down in the places where they had been the night before.However, the chair on their left, that is, the chair on Ling Wangnai's right, was still empty. "What are you celebrating?" asked Rich Spidink, the oldest of the bodyguards. "We're celebrating the passing of a hurricane. Would have liked to have champagne, but I'd better save it until tonight. Where's your boss?" "He might have a headache, let him sleep for a day." Ling Wangnai's eyes widened: "Are you talking about Richard, who is known as the strongest industrialist on the East Coast? Headache? Why does he look like an adolescent female student?" "After all, he's getting old," Director Tevela said. "Does he always have headaches?" The bodyguard smiled wryly with his thick lips crooked. "Please refrain, everyone," Rich Spidink put on a serious face, and said cautiously, "This world is full of misfortunes!" At this time, the second photographer Steve Milla, Ling Wang Nai's costume designer Margaret Fusta, and small prop designer Tom Kelly and others came to the table in twos and threes. "Everyone, eat a little bit of light food, and you will be full of energy after eating. Tonight is another war!" Director Tefula said to them.