<em><strong>Ancient Revenge - Waldorf Hilton, London, August 14</strong></em><br/><br/>(http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad212/cere33/80267582.jpg)<br/><br/>Professor Josh Nakhti walked down Drury Lane to where his favourite shop was buzzing, manically turning out hundreds of espresso, cappuccino, latte and other exotic coffee derivations for, actors, academics and accountants who daily occupied the surrounding buildings. This place knew how to make coffee; indeed, they actually roasted the beans themselves. The aroma given off by their oils was heady, almost hypnotic even from a hundred yards away.<br/><br/>Josh enjoyed this exciting part of London, and looked forward to returning here from his academic responsibilities in Oxford and his annual Egyptian sabbaticals that took him away for three months of every year. He was here this time to lecture in a conference theatre at the Waldorf Hilton, located at the other end of Drury Lane from the British Museum. The organisers liked the historical Waldorf because many of the attendees, he couldn’t really call them students because they were mostly highly qualified already, came from all corners of the globe and the Waldorf was centrally located amidst London’s rich panoply of museums, theatres and shops.<br/><br/>His lecture was just one thread in a series of lectures comprising<strong>‘The 2010 Symposium on The Ancient Egyptian Civilisation’</strong>that was running over the next three days.  He was planning to stay in his Chelsea townhouse this week and use the rest of the time to attend to his much neglected personal affairs. One of the problems with having two domiciles was the problem of collecting ‘snail’ mail.<em>Why everyone can’t use email these days is beyond me – we might as well be back in ancient times!</em><br/><br/>Sitting alone at the small, cramped, wooden table drinking his large cappuccino, an hour before the lecture was due to begin, he sifted through the list of attendees as he always did to assess the level at which he could pitch to his audience. He scanned the folder of the forty applications and about half of them he knew, either personally or by reputation, and the others were all new to him. He would mentally catalogue them for next time; the security photographs of two particular attendees caught his eye…<em>Andrea Peyton, olive skinned, she looks like she has mixed blood lines…beautiful looking, I wonder if her mind matches her beauty? I’ve seen her name recently, now where was it? In an artefact catalogue somewhere, maybe?  Kate Hassan?…no, she’s new, and she definitely has mixed blood lines! It’s amazing how nature chooses only the best genes when lines are mixed. She looks good enough to eat. Careful Josh! You haven’t time to be messing around with sex or women, remember your Cleo charm translation work! And, remember the urgency, and your recent dreams…  Oh fuck off! I’m getting tired of this fucking sexual abstention…it’s been two years now…and no masturbation either!</em>It was all or nothing for Josh, in every aspect of his life.<em>But Josh, you know that you have to finish the work, it’s important…</em>Josh’s obsessive, compulsive nature got the better of him again, as it always did; he would knuckle down.<br/><br/>Slightly irritated with himself, he finished his coffee and strolled back to the Waldorf arriving with fifteen minutes to spare; just enough time to make his way into the small theatre, switch on his slideshow, flick once through the deck and leave the introduction projected on to the white wall behind him. He waited, watched and occasionally smiled at people as they drifted in and settled in their seats.  After a few minutes, the audience became quiet as Josh stood to make his opening remarks.<br/><br/>(http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad212/cere33/c75a7770.jpg)            (http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad212/cere33/papyrusfrombookofthedead125x95.jpg)             (http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad212/cere33/earlyegyptian00035533_005.jpg)               (http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad212/cere33/nebamun00013034_002.jpg)<br/><br/>“Good morning ladies and gentlemen and thank you for joining me here today. My name is Josh Nakhti and we are here, as you know, to look at some techniques that I have used for deciphering some of the lesser known scripts created during Queen Cleopatra’s time. You will now be aware whether you are in the right theatre or not, so if you have made a mistake but like what you see, please feel free to stay or you may choose to leave at this point.”  He smiled as he looked around, paused and prepared himself to continue.<br/>