The mysterious StarGate is 10,000 years old. When a group ofsoldiers go through it they travel millions of miles to a world where they have to fight to stay alive. Will they live? Will they find a way to get back to Earth? Or will they die?
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StarGate
from the screenplay and novelization by
DEAN DEVLIN &
ROLAND EMMERICH
adapted by
SHEILA BLACK
Level 3
Retold by David Wharry
Series Editors: Andy Hopkins and Jocelyn Potter
Pearson Education Limited Edinburgh CJ.te, Harlow. E""ex CM20 2JE, England and Assocldted Compatuc s throughout the world
Contents first published III Crc,u Britain by Puffin Books 1()95
page
ISBN 0')')7 HOS7~X
This adaptaooo first published by Penguin Books 1~~6
Published by Addison Wesley Longman LImited and Pengum Books Ltd. 1~9H New edition first published 1999 This edition published 2006
v
Chapter 1
8000 BC
Chapter 2
Cairo, Egypt, 1928
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Chapter 3
Los Angeles, Sixty Years Later 2
Text copyright © David Wharry 1996 Illustrations copyright © Rowan Clifford 1996 All tights reserved
Chapter 4
Top Secret 6
Chapter .3
The Seventh Sign 7
The moral right of the adapter and of the illustrator has been asserted
STARl;'.TE1MTM & 1~~4 Le Studio Canal+(US).AII RIghts Reserved Copytight (C) Dean Devlin & Roland Emrucrich. 19~4. All RIghts Reserved TM designates J trademark of Le Studio Canal-t (US). All Rights Reserved. Photographs (C) 1~~4 Le Stud", Canal+(US). All RIghts Reserved.
Chapter 6
Through the StarGate 10
Chapter 7
The Bomb 12
Chapter 8
'Little Bit' 14
Typeset by RefineCatch LImited. Bungay. Suffolk Set m 11i14pt Monotvpc Bcmbo Printed in China SWTCl01
Chapter l) All rights reserved; no partof this pub/icatiml may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, ortransmitted in any form orby any means, electronic, mechatljeal, photocopying, reeordmg orotheni'ise,without the priorlvrirtftl permission of the Publishers.
The Sand Storm 16
Chapter 10
The Goddess in White 17
Chapter 11
The Blue Light 21
Only One Ra 24
Chapter 13
Published hy PcMS OIl Education Limited in dSSOCIJ.tlOn WIth
Penguin Books Ltd. both companies bung cuhcidiaric- of Pcarson Pit
Chapter 14
To Know Is to Be Strong 26 2l)Nowhere to Run Chapter 15
Countdown 3()
Chapter 16
00:03, ()():02,()O:() 1 36
For a complete list of litles available in the Penguin Readers series. please write to your local Pcarson Education offlce or to: Penguin Readers Marketing Department. Pearson Educalion. Edinburgh Gate. Harlow, Essex CM20 2JE.
Activities
40
Introduction
Daniel shut his eyes, walkedinto thewallo.(light, and suddenlysawhimself fiying amongstars, millionsofthem.He seemed tofiyfor thousands 0.[years, until . . .
The StarGate lay under the sands of Egypt for ten thousand years.
Then, in 1928, some archeologists found a mysterious stone. The
writing on it said, 'A MILLION YEARS INTO THE SKY IS RA, SUN
GOD.'
Sixty years later, in the USA, a young archeologist called Daniel Jackson finds a way to open the StarGate again. What is on the other side? Daniel and some soldiers from the United States Army go through the gate to find out. Millions oflight years from Earth, they find another world where Ra, the Egyptian Sun God, is king. But his people are not free - they are his prisoners.
Ra knows that he must kill the visitors from Earth and close the StarGate for ever. Daniel and the soldiers must fight Ra to stay alive, and then find a way to get home ...
StarGate is a film by Roland Emmerich. It was one of the most popular films in America in 1994. It starredJames Spader as Daniel Jackson, Kurt Russell as Jack O'Neil (O'Neil works for the US Army in the film), and Jaye Davidson asRa.
People have been interested in the life of the Egyptians for thousands of years - their gods, their writing, and their pyramids. The biggest pyramids are at Giza,just outside Cairo. The largest one is that of Pharaoh Khufu. It was built in 2550 BC and is also called the Great Pyramid. The pyramid in StarGate looks like Khufu's pyramid.
Chapter 1 8000 BC
The boy painted the animal on the wall of the cave. He could see it hiding in the grass. He moved closer. Outside, men did the same, knowing the boy could see the animal with his eyes that always burned with a strange, cold fire. The boy said the animal's name, 'Khet!', hit the painting, and the real animal fell dead, killed by a stone. The men lifted their arms and shouted the boy's name, 'Ra!'
That night, everyone dressed as animals and danced. Ra never danced with them. He never laughed or played. People said he was born without a heart.
Nobody saw a dark shape cross the sky. Ra had a strange feeling and looked up, but it was already gone. Later, as everyone slept under the stars, a strong wind came and a light, as bright as the sun, shone in the sky. Everyone ran to the cave except Ra. He walked towards the light, smiling, feeling happy for the first time.
The car left Cairo on the road to Giza. Catherine Langford sat in the back with her father, an archeologist. She was only nine but he was already teaching her the writing ofthe Egyptians. He was going to see his friend Ed Taylor. Eight years ago he and Ed found some writing in the pyramid ofTi. It said someone hid a 'mysterious and terrible thing' near the pyramid. Ed and her father searched for years. Other archeologists said they were wasting their time. Then, that morning, Ed phoned from Giza. 'We've found something!' was all he said.
The car stopped in the desert by a large hole. Workers were trying to lift something out of the ground. Ed was studying old Egyptian writing on a large stone. There were thirty-nine unknown letters in a circle on it. In the middle there was a group of six ofthe unknown letters. Ed pointed to some writing underneath. 'It says a thousand years . . . the stars, something like that, then ... Ra, thesungod . . .'
The workers were lifting a large stone ring, about five metres wide, out of the ground. Catherine followed Ed and her father down into the hole. She saw the same mysterious writing round the ring. 'It's made of an unknown kind of stone,' Ed said. Catherine noticed something gold shining on the ground by the ring. She picked it up. It was a small udjat eye, half-man's, half- bird's, the eye ofthe god Ra. Quickly, she put it in her pocket.
The workers were shouting, frightened by something under the ring. Catherine went closer and saw shapes like a broken hand, and a strange head, like a dog's, burnt into a piece of stone. And she immediately thought ofAnubis, the dog-headed god ofthe Dead.
Chapter 3 Los Angeles, Sixty Years Later
Daniel cleaned his thick glasseswhile Doctor Ajami, his old teacher, spoke to the meeting of the world's top archeologists. 'Please welcome DanielJackson, our youngest Doctor ofArcheology - he is not yet thirty. He speaks eleven dead languages and I'm sure you've all read his most ... interesting ideas on Egypt.'
Daniel knew that nobody agreed with these ideas. He got up to speak and heard Rauchenburg, a world-famous archeologist, say, 'The boy needs to see a doctor.'
When the room was quiet, Daniel said, 'Men made the first cars
over a hundred years ago. Do you agree that we make better ones today, Doctor Rauchenburg?'
Daniel cleaned his thickglasses while Doctor Ajami, his old teacher,
spoke to the meetino <ifthe world'stop archeologists.
'Er ... yes, of course,' Rauchenburg replied, a little
uncomfortable. 'Yes,' Daniel said. 'We make things much better today than, say, three thousand years ago, don't we? So why, then, didn't the science and language of the Egyptians change for three thousand years? And why, at the beginning of that time, did their writing suddenly change from cave paintings to a full written language?'
People were talking openly now: 'What are you trying to say?' Rauchenburg asked.
'Khufu's pyramid, the greatest of all the pyramids, is another example,' Daniel went on. 'An example ofwhat?' someone said. 'Please explain.' 'Ofcourse,' Daniel replied. 'Every pyramid but Khufu's is full of writing. There isn't a word or a date anywhere on it. So, can we really be sure the Egyptians built it?'
People laughed loudly. Some were already leaving. An old woman got up at the back. 'Most interesting, Doctor]ackson. And perfectly right. So,who do youthink built it?’ ’1 have no idea who built it,’ Daniel replied. ‘Or why.’ ‘Maybe it was little green men from Mars,’ someone said. Everyone was leaving. Doctor Ajami came over to Daniel, angry. ‘Why did you bring up that stupid idea, Daniel? You’ll never find a job anywhere now: Goodbye!’
Daniel walked home thinking about Ajami’s last words. There were more bills in his letter box. Upstairs, the door of his flat was open. He ran in, hoping to catch a robber. Instead he saw the old woman from the meeting looking at unpaid bills on his desk. ‘Hey!’ he shouted. ‘How did you get in here?’
She smiled. ‘My name is Catherine Langford. I’ve come to offer you ajob, Daniel. With the Army.’ He laughed. ‘The Army! Are you trying to be funny?’ ‘No. You have no job, no money, and after today no
‘.’H}’ IWIIIC is Catlierine Lal1gford. I’ve (OIIlC to L!f{cr yOIl ajob,
Daniel. With tlie Arllly. ,
university will ever give you work again. But that isn’t why you’ll say yes. You’ll say yes to show that your – our ideas are right.’ She gave Daniel some photographs. His mouth fell open when he saw the stone. She put an aeroplane ticket on his desk and left.
High in the Rocky Mountains, the car left the road and stopped at a gate. The driver showed papers to a soldier, drove on into the forest and stopped outside a cave. Ten soldiers were guarding it. The biggest said, ‘Pleased to meet you, Doctor Jackson. I’m Lieutenant Colonel Kawalsky. Follow me.’ They went into a small metal room inside the cave. The door closed and the room went
down …
Underground, Kawalsky took Daniel into a room the size of a church. In the middle, Catherine Langford was waiting next to the stone. She smiled and the unknown signs in the said, ‘I’ve shown photographs of circle to some of the archeologists who were at your talk – and nobody can understand them.’ Daniel listened while she read out the known signs inside the
nng.
Daniel smiled. ‘No, no.’ He pointed to a group of signs. ‘Here, it really says a million years into thesky is Ra, sungod. And, here, the last word isn’t door into the nightbut StarGate.’ ‘The stoneisten thousand years old,’ Kawalsky said. ‘Impossible!’ Daniel replied. ‘The earliest Egyptian-’ ‘The Army’s scientists never make mistakes,’ them said. They turned. ‘I’m Colonel O’Neil, a man behind from General West’s office,’ said a hard-looking soldier at the door. His cold blue eyes studied Daniel. ‘Doctor Jackson, you are here to help Doctor Langford tell us what the signs round the ring mean. I must warn you that everything here is a secret of the United States Army.’
Daniel started immediately, working day and night, trying every idea that came into his head. On the third night he went outside to get some fresh air and to talk to Kawalsky, who was reading a newspaper. Daniel looked over his shoulder to see what he was reading – it was the part ofthe paper about star signs.He suddenly realized: the shape made by the stars above him in the sky was very like the shape of one of the signs in the newspaper, Orion. He hurried back underground, found a photograph of an Egyptian painting of the night sky … and saw immediately: the unknown signs were groups ofstars!
General West came into the room, followed by O’Neil and a line of soldiers. ‘Okay,’ he said, ‘Let’s hear,Jackson.’
Daniel pointed to a photograph of the stone. ‘The signs round the outside ring are groups ofstars. So, the group ofsix signs in the middle probably mean a place, a kind of address. I’ll explain. If a place isn’t on the ground but in the air,then to know where it is we need to know three lines that meet in that place. Each line must have two ends – so, six places. See?’
‘Six isn’t enough,’ O’Neil said. ‘To go to a place in the … air, you need a seventh place – to start from. ‘
‘Ofcourse,’ Daniel replied. He pointed to a small picture next to the six signs: the sun shining on a pyramid. ‘Here it is. In Egyptian, the sign ofa pyramid means “Earth”.’
‘He did it!’ Catherine shouted. ‘You’ll have to show him the ring now.’ ‘Show me what ring?’ Daniel asked. Minutes later, deeper underground, they went into a cave bigger
6
7
than a football field. The beautiful stone ring shone like silver in the middle of lines of computers and machines. ‘There’s your “StarGate”,’ Catherine said to Daniel. ‘What is that strange white stone?’ Daniel asked. ‘Nobody knows. It’s harder than anything on Earth.’ ‘Okay, let’s see ifjackson’s right,’ West said to a scientist at a computer. A machine moved the seven signs round the ring. ‘Stop!’ said the scientist, watching the computer. When the last sign came to its place, there was a sudden noise, like a strange music. Seven lines of light began to shine from the white stones towards the middle ofthe circle. A circle oflight began to grow where the seven lines met. The circle oflight grew until the stone ring was full ofit. ‘Quick, send our machine into it!’ West shouted. The scientist started a strange-looking machine on wheels. It moved slowly into the circle of light and disappeared. ‘Where’s the machine? Where’s it gone?’ West shouted.
The scientist was watching another computer. ‘The machine is already several light-years from Earth. It’s going towards the Cirrian group ofstars.’
Catherine threw her arms round Daniel. ‘You see: a StarGate, a gate to the stars! You’ve done it!’
O’Neil joined them. ‘You’ve done your job,Jackson. Go home now and don’t forget this is top secret.’ He went to watch the
computers. Daniel ran after him. ‘You can’t keep thissecret!’ ‘Who needs to know?’ O’Neil replied coldly. Suddenly, Daniel understood. ‘And you’regoing to go through the StarGate, aren’t you?’ O’Neil said nothing. ‘Take me and Doctor Langford with you, O’Neil, please!’ ‘We don’t need archeologists now,Jackson.’ ‘Come and look at this!’ West shouted. ‘The machine’s camera is
‘There’s )’ol/r “StarGate”,’ Catherinc said to Dal1iel.
sending pictures back to Earth.’
They saw a stone wall and part ofanother StarGate. ‘The signs on it are different,’ O’Neil said. ‘The machine says the air there is the same as Earth’s,’ said the General. ‘But 1won’t send men over there if I’m not sure they can get home again. You’ll have to go too now,Jackson – to read those signs. You will leave tomorrow at 06:00 hours.’
Chapter 6 Through the StarGate
The time was 05:44. Daniel, O’Neil, Kawalsky and three other soldiers, Feretti, Brown and Porro, stood waiting with boxes full of things they needed. Catherine put her’ gold udjat eye round Daniel’s neck. ‘This will bring you luck,’ she said. At 05:45, the scientist began to move the white stone signs. When the seventh sign came to its place, seven lines of light shone into the middle of the ring and a ball of bright light grew and filled the circle.
They pushed the boxes through the StarGate first. O’Neil seemed to be the only one who wasn’t frightened. He was the first to walk into the circle of light and disappear. Kawalsky ordered Feretti, Brown and Porro to go next. ‘I’ll see you soon,Jackson I hope,’ Kawalsky said before he went through.
Daniel shut his eyes, walked into the wall of light, and suddenly saw himself flying among stars, millions of them. He seemed to fly for thousands of years, until … someone shook him. It was Kawalsky. He went and shook the others. Like Daniel, they weren’t hurt. They lay next to another StarGate, in a large, dark room with walls of shiny black stone. ‘Let’s go!’ said O’Neil. Brown opened a box, took out lamps, then they went into a much larger room. It was more beautiful than anything Daniel knew on Earth, but he had a strange feeling that he
already knew this place … They went through more dark, emptyO’,,’cilll”u thefirst to walk into the circle (?(li,Rht mid disappear.rooms, then outside into bright sunlight. Daniel saw three suns shining in a deep blue sky, and an endless sea of sand. He looked round. They were standing at the bottom of a pyramid. Daniel looked up at it and knew now why he felt that he already knew the rooms inside. The pyramid was the same as Khufu’s pyramid on Earth.
Near the pyramid, they stood at the top of a sand hill. O’Neil, looked round with field glasses and saw only desert. ‘There’s nothing here but the pyramid. It’s time to go home.’
‘We can’t,’ Daniel said. ‘First, we have to find the seven signs, the address. On Earth it was on a different stone.’ ‘I told you to search inside the pyramid,’ O’Neil said. ‘I did. And it’s empty. There isn’t a single sign on it – just like Khufu’s pyramid on Earth.’ He looked round at the sea of sand. ‘Now where do we search?’
Kawalsky picked Daniel up by his shirt. ‘Listen you little rat, you make that StarGate work or I’ll break your neck!’
‘Be quiet Kawalsky,’ O’Neil said and thought for a few seconds. ‘Okay, let’s put the tents up by the pyramid.’
They went back to the StarGate room and took some of the boxes outside. While the soldiers were putting the tents up, O’Neil went back alone to the StarGate room and opened another box. He opened a secret door at the bottom ofit and took out the pieces of abomb. He put the bomb together,put an orange key in his pocket, and went outside again.
While O’Neil and the others put up the tents, Daniel went to the top ofa sand hill. He noticed shapes in the sand, like a horse’s feet, but much larger. He followed them to the top ofanother sand hill, and saw a strange animal looking at him. It was the size of a small lorry and had long, dirty hair. He went nearer. The animal smelt
“‘C::.- ).
~~:c:-::–,>
~l7lile 0 ‘”"‘cif and the others pili lip the tents, Danirl u.cntto the
top ora sand hill.
12 
terrible but it seemed friendly. It went down on its knees and ate
some chocolate from Daniel’s hand. O’Neil, Kawalsky and Brown ran over the hill pointing their guns. ‘Don’t shoot!’ Daniel shouted. Frightened, the animal ran away.
They ran after the animal until, at the top of a sand hill, they suddenly stopped. They were looking down into a deep, narrow valley. Thousands ofmen, women and children were mining white stone in it. They had dark skin and wore dirty clothes. One of them saw the soldiers and cried out. Thousands of eyes suddenly looked up. O’Neil told his men not to point their guns and to follow him down. ‘I want you to try to talk to them, Jackson,’ he said.
‘Urn… hello?’Jackson said to the first miner. ‘I’m Daniel.’ The man smiled, but seemed to be frightened. He suddenly pointed to the udjat eye round Daniel’s neck. ‘Naturru ya yaf’ he screamed wildly, dropping to his knees and putting his face in the sand. Thousands ofminers below did the same. ‘I said speak to them, not frighten them,’ O’Neil said. An old man in red clothes and two young women came to Daniel. One of the women, who was very beautiful, offered him water. The old man pointed, smiling. ‘He’s asking us to go somewhere with him,’ Daniel said to O’Neil.
They left the valley with the old man, followed by thousands of miners. Daniel asked questions in Egyptian but the man didn’t understand. All Daniel learned was the animals’ name – they were mastadyes – and that the old man’s name was Kasuf.
Kasuf, who was head of the miners, was not sure ifthe strangers
were really gods. But he hoped they were, because their arrival The old man pointed. sllliling. ‘He’s asking I/S togo sotncuihcrc stopped the mining and this meant that his people were in trouble. with liini,’ Daniel said to O’Neil. His son, Skaara,who looked after the mastadges, walked next to him. The beautiful young woman, who was Skaara’s sister, walked next to Daniel. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She looked like an Egyptian goddess, he thought.
The smelly mastadge put its nose in Daniel’s pocket, looking for chocolate. ‘Only a little bit,’ Daniel said, giving it some. Skaara laughed and said, ‘Little bit . . .’
‘Hmm … not a bad name for a smelly thing,’ Daniel thought. Then, miles away, he saw the walls ofa city.
The gates ofthe city opened and they went through narrow streets to a square. Kasufshowed Daniel a large udjateye, the Eye ofRa, the Sun God, on a wall and everyone went down on their knees. ‘They probably think Ra sent us,’ Daniel said. The sky grew suddenly darker and people began hurrying from the square. Something was wrong. Daniel, O’Neil, Kawalsky and Brown ran to the city’s gates and saw a dark cloud over the desert. ‘It’s a sand storm,’ O’Neil said. ‘It’s over the pyramid and it’s coming this way.’
Miles away, Feretti and Porro ran through the flying sand to the pyramid. Inside, Feretti tried the radio but it didn’t work because of the storm. They heard a strange noise above the sound ofthe storm, and when the pyramid began to shake they thought the earth was moving. They couldn’t see the golden, pyramid-shaped star-ship landing on the pyramid they were in. It came down to sit perfectly on top. Deep inside the pyramid below, in the great room next to the StarGate room, a blue light began to grow inside a stone circle on the floor. Seconds later, Feretti heard something behind him. He turned and saw someone much larger than him…with the head of a dog.
Chapter 10 The Goddess in White
After the sand storm they ate in the square with Kasuf and other heads of the city. Daniel was trying to talk to Kasuf when his daughter brought them fruit. She smiled at him and suddenly he knew he was in love. Looking into her dark eyes, like the udjateye, he remembered the first Egyptian sentence that he ever learned.He put his finger in water and wrote it on the table: Ra camefrom thesky. When Kasuf saw the writing he got up, frightened. Quickly, he took Daniel away through the streets.
Later, Daniel lay on a bed, washed, smelling nice, wearing clean white clothes. He heard women’s voices outside the room. The beautiful young woman came in, alone, wearing white clothes like his. She looked frightened and Daniel suddenly understood: they were giving her to him to be his wife. ‘Please,’ he said, ‘I really like you, you’re very beautiful, but .. .’ He opened the door.
Kasuf and other heads of the city were waiting outside. ‘Khha shima ne/ay?’ Kasuf said angrily. The young woman began to cry. Daniel smiled uncomfortably.
‘I … er …just wanted to say thanks for … my beautiful new wife. Goodnight now.’ He pulled her inside. ‘Please, don’t cry. Stay here ifyou want. I’m Daniel.’
‘Dan-yur,’ she said slowly and pointed at herself. ‘Sha’uri.’ He repeated her name and she smiled. ‘We came from the pyramid,’ he said. When he made the sign of a pyramid on the floor Sha’uri put her hands over her eyes, frightened. The gods killed anybody who tried to write. Her people had no written language. And so nobody knew the story of their people. If Dan-yur is a god he will kill me just for looking at writing, she thought. But was he really a god? Her people were prisoners of gods, and this man didn’t speak to her like a god to a prisoner… She made a line on
16
17
She made a line Oil top oitlu: p)’I'<1IlIid. then ,I circle. It was the (1111)’
S(I;II that she lencu; and Daniel S,ll!’ inuncdiatclywhat it Ims. It Ims
the S(I;IIJ”. Earth.
top of the pyramid, then a circle. It was the only sign that she knew, and Daniel saw immediately what it was. It was the sign for Earth.
Sha’uri took Daniel secretly to a building. They went down some stairs, deep underground, and she opened a door. Inside a small, empty room, she pointed at the stone wall. Daniel saw the same sign for Earth, which also meant Ra, the sun god. It was the only writing in the room. Daniel felt the sign, pressed it, and they jumped with surprise when a secret door opened. They saw writing all over the walls inside, and as soon asDaniel saw it he was sure: Sha’uri’s language was almost the same as Egyptian. The writing told the story of war against animal- headed gods. There were pictures of Anubis, the dog-headed god, pushing people through a StarGate and making them travel across the sky to another world … Daniel asked Sha’uri about a picture of a pyramid shining in the sky. A boy stood below it, lifting his arms to the light.
‘I see you’ve learnt to speak their language,’ said O’Neil, behind them. He was standing at the door with Kawalsky, Brown and the boy, Skaara. ‘How did you find us?’ Daniel said. ‘The boy showed the mastadge yourjacket. It smelled it and came
here. What do the pictures say,Jackson?’ ‘They tell a story that began ten thousand years ago. A traveller escaped from a world where he was weak and dying. He searched the stars, looking for a way to live longer. Look, here it says he came to a world rich with I(re – Earth – and cliall,l;ed his hod)’ into the shape <?f their people us! so that he could live until the cud or time. He took the body of a boy, called himself R,a, the Sun God, and brought thousands of prisoners here mine the wondcrtul white stone, Then through the StarGate to there was trouble. Once. while he was here, people on Earth killed Ra’s guard and hid the StarGate under the ground, so he couldn’t return. Ra did not
‘TIle seventhone - the address ~fthis world- will beat the bottom, here, ‘ said Daniel,pushing awaysomesand until he saw . . . The bottomwas broken into hundredsifpieces.
want his prisoners here to know anything. He didn’t want them to know the true story about him. So he stopped all reading and writing.’
While Daniel was talking, Kawalsky saw part of a stone in the floor. ‘Maybe this is what we’re looking for,’ he said. It was. The stone was just like the one that Ed Taylor found at Giza. And all six signs in the middle were the same as the ones on the StarGate in the pyramid. ‘The seventh one – the address of this world will be at the bottom, here,’ said Daniel, pushing away some sand until he saw … The bottom was broken into hundreds ofpieces.
‘The StarGate will never work without that seventh sign,’ O’Neil said. ‘We’re going back to the pyramid now, before those suns come up!’
Chapter 11 O’Neil, Kawalsky, Brown and Daniel left the city without noticing that Skaara was following them on Little Bit. Soon they saw the golden pyramid sitting on top of the stone one. ‘It’s the star-ship!’ Daniel said. ‘Remember the pictures in the room?’ O’Neil felt the key to the bomb in his pocket. He had secret orders to use it if they found danger to Earth and that star-ship looked like big danger! When they came closer they saw the tents, broken by the sand storm. ‘I’m going inside,’ O’Neil said. ‘Jackson, you come with me. Kawalsky, Brown, stay here.’
Inside, O’Neil and Daniel saw Feretti’s hat next to the radio, then they heard shouts. They hid quickly and watched a large man with the head of Horus, the Egyptian bird-god, walk past. His clothes were metal and he carried a long, straight weapon with a piece of the shining white stone at its end. When the bird-man was gone they hurried to the StarGate room. O’Neil gave Daniel his gun. ‘Watch behind us,’ he said. He quickly opened the secret part ofthe box … and saw that the bomb was not there.
Suddenly, two Horus men were standing at the door. Between them was a much bigger man, with the head of the dog-god, Anubis. He came towards them, pointing his strange weapon, his metal clothes shining. Daniel was so frightened he dropped O’Neil’s gun. The dog-man pushed Daniel and O’Neil into the next room and into the circle of white stone on the floor. Immediately, a strange blue light began to grow inside the circle, and the next thing Daniel knew, he and O’Neil were standing in a different room.
They saw a golden chair, shining with white stones. A golden statue ofRa sat in it. Children dressed in gold stood near the statue. The statue’s face was like the masks ofthe dead kings ofold Egypt. Above the chair was a golden circle with the udjat eye, the Eye of Ra. The eyes of the mask were the same, but so real that they seemed to be looking at them. Then the statue got up. It was alive!
Ra’s mask smiled at the prisoners. More children came in, carrying pieces of the bomb. They put them down in front of O’Neil. Daniel didn’t know what they were.
Anubis touched a shining stone on his throat and his dog’s mask opened to show a man’s head inside. Daniel noticed that the Sun God’s skin wasn’t gold now but light brown, and his mask was opening too. Inside was the face ofa handsome young man, about twenty years old. He pointed at O’Neil and said in Egyptian, ‘Kill him.’ Daniel saw Anubis point his weapon at O’Neil and jumped to
stop him. A line oflight shot from the white stone on the weapon’s end.Daniel felt something hit his heart, then everything went black. Another line oflight shot from the weapon and O’Neil fell to the The dog-mall pushed Daniel and0′Neil into the circle ofwhite stone on thetioot. Immediately, a strange bluelight begatl togrow insidethe circle.
floor. Ra smiled. ‘And have you killed all the other Earth men, sweet Anubis?’ ‘Yes,Great God from the Sun. These two make six.’ Ra smiled and pointed to O’Neil’s body. ‘Take that away and put it with the others.’ He went to Daniel’s body and saw something that didn’t please him. His smooth brown hand went down and angrily pulled Catherine’s udjat eye from Daniel’s neck.
Skaara searched in the sand near the tents and found a box. He opened it and saw guns inside. He pulled the box behind a sand hill. Little Bit was waiting there. While he was tying the weapons on the mastadge’s back, he saw a door open in the side of the star-ship. Three aeroplanes, like Horus birds, flew out carrying bombs. A minute later, when he was leaving, Skaara saw clouds of black smoke coming from the city.
Near the city’s gates, one ofthe Horus bombers came out ofthe smoke, flying low over Skaara. The pilot studied Little Bit and the boy carefully and flew away only when he was sure that Skaara was returning from the mine.
Inside the city, houses were burning everywhere. The streets were full of the dead. Skaara saw his sister, Sha’uri, busy helping people. ‘Where’s Dan-yur?’ she asked. Skaara was sure that Daniel was dead, but he said he didn’t know. She turned away, crymg.
A large stone coffin lay in a room in the star-ship. Its heavy stone top slowly opened. Daniel’s body lay inside. The hole in his heartA large stone coffin layin a room in the star-ship. Its heavystone was gone. His eyes opened. And Daniel sat up, reborn.topslowly opened. Daniel’s body lay inside.
Minutes later, he followed a child into a room with a pool. Ra got out of it, young and handsome, not looking like someone ten thousand years old. ‘I died?’ Daniel said in Sha’uri’s language. ‘I can mend your bodies so easily,’ Ra said. He smiled and pointed at some pieces of the bomb on a table. ‘Your world has changed much since I left. Now you have the science to make a bomb that can kill many thousands ofpeople in a few seconds. But you still don’t understand the science of my wonderful white stone!’ His golden eyes shone suddenly. ‘You were wrong to open the StarGate! I will send your stupid bomb back to Earth, made a thousand times stronger with one small piece of my white stone. Thousands of years ago I went to your world. I was millions of light-years away from home, searching for another body to live in. I was dying. My people were dying. I took the body ofa young boy and made myself into a god. It was so easy – Earth people are so stupid! I gave you science, a language, everything. And now it is time for me to take them away again. I am going to end your world!’ ‘Then why am I alive again?’ Daniel asked.
’1 have a body like yours, but I’m not like you inside. I have no love, no kindness. You are alive again because I must show my people again that there is only one god, one Ra. Tomorrow, in front of the miners, you will kill your soldier friends for me.’
Chapter 13 To Know Is to Be Strong
Sha’uri was sure that Daniel was dead. After dark, she went to the secret room and cried for hours. Skaara came and she dried her eyes, knowing that she had to tell him the hidden story of their people. She explained the pictures to him and, like his sister, he understood that Ra was not born in the sun, that he wasn’t a god. He felt suddenly strong. He wasn’t frightened ofRa now. His people didn’t have to live as Ra’s prisoners …
When the three suns came up, a Horus guard came to the city. ‘Take Ra’s people to the House of their God,’ he ordered Kasuf. An hour later, thousands of people were waiting outside the pyramid. They watched two Horus guards push out O’Neil, Kawalsky and Brown and knock them to their knees. Then Anubis came out, pulling Daniel by the arm. Sha’uri’s heartjumped when she saw him, and Skaara began to move closer through the crowd.
Everybody shouted ‘Ra!’ as the golden boy-god came outside. He sat down in his golden chair and Anubis walked over to Daniel. The crowd was sure that the dog-god wanted to kill him. Skaara was trying hard to make Daniel notice him. There wasn’t much time …
Anubis put his weapon in Daniel’s hands and pointed at O’Neil, Kawalsky and Brown. Something in the crowd shone in Daniel’s eyes. He saw Skaara using a piece of glass to shine sunlight at him. Skaara opened his coat, and showed the gun hidden inside. Daniel showed Skaara he understood, then shouted, ‘Great Ra orders me to kill my brothers!’ He pointed the weapon at O’Neil, but instead of shooting him, he turned suddenly and shot at Ra.
O’Neil jumped up, hit a Horus guard, took his weapon and shot at Ra too. Skaara did the same. But Ra was already inside the pyramid. O’Neil killed both Horus guards with his weapon, but more guards were coming at him. Anubis took another weapon and shot at the soldiers. He looked round for Daniel and O’Neil but couldn’t see them. He guessed that they were hiding among the miners. He called a pilot and told him to go out and search the crowd. Another sand storm was coming so they had to be quick.
26
27
As thesandstorm came nearer, a shadow like a bird moved slowly
over thefrightened crowd.
As the sand storm came nearer, ashadow like a bird moved slowly over the frightened crowd. The pilot looked down at every face, until he saw a mastadge running away into the sand storm, carrying people on its back …
Minutes later, Ra called the pilot to his room.’We lost them in the storm, Great Ra,’ the pilot said.
Ra smiled and put a small ring of the white stone round his hand. The ring began to shine. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said, his hand coming up to touch the pilot’s head. For a few seconds, the man shone brightly, shaking, screaming, before he turned into nothing.
Daniel, Sha’uri, O’Neil, Skaara and the soldiers fought through the flying sand, following Little Bit up a hill into a cave. As soon as they were inside, Daniel said, ‘Why didn’t you tell anybody about the bomb,O’Neil?’
‘My orders are to send you home, then to search for any possible danger to Earth. If I find any, I have to blow up the StarGate. Well, guess what? I found danger, a lot ofit!’
‘The bomb is Ra’s now,’ Daniel said. ‘Tomorrow he’s going to send it back to Earth, a thousand times stronger.’ ‘He told you this?’ O’Neil said uneasily. ‘Listen,’ Daniel said. ‘The real danger is not the bomb here but the StarGate on Earth. As long as it’s working, he can always go there. We have to close it again, for ever!’
O’Neil laughed. ‘Very clever, Jackson. But thanks to you, we can’t, can we? All we can do is wait for this storm to stop and try to plan what to do next – any ideas?’
29
When Daniel woke up the next morning, Sha’uri came to him and O’Neil, ‘Skaara has an idea,’ she said. ‘Today is one of the special days when we take the white stone to the House ofRa and send it away through the StarGate. We can hide in the bags of stone.’
Later, Daniel saw Skaara painting a pyramid on the wall of the cave. When he painted three suns above it, Daniel jumped up and joined the suns and the pyramid into a shape. ‘Look!’ he shouted. ‘That’s the seventh sign.’
Chapter 15 Countdown
The miners left the mine with their mastadges, going towards the pyramid. They were so frightened of the Horus guards that only one guard was with thousands of miners. A man fell down in the heat. The guard came over to hit him. Suddenly, the miner turned over and shot the guard dead. It was O’Neil. Daniel and Skaara pulled guns from their miner’s clothes. ‘Stop!’ Kasufshouted. ‘The Sun God will be angry again!’ The other miners, who were as frightened as Kasuf, didn’t know what to do.
Daniel pressed a stone on the dead guard’s mask. It opened to show a man’s face. ‘Is this a god?’ he shouted. ‘Look, he’s like you!’ Everywhere, miners began talking: if the guard wasn’t a god, then maybe Ra wasn’t either…
Soon the miners arrived at the pyramid. Ra watched the long line ofpeople from a window. He was sure that the Earth men were among them. He called Anubis. ‘Take the bomb to the StarGate room. If the Earth men get inside, kill them all again and send their bomb to Earth.’
Outside the pyramid, Skaara ordered everyone to go down on
their knees. He sang the usual song, ‘R,a who comes from the sun,Ra watched the longlineofpeoplefrom a unndouiwe bring you your white stone!’ Three Horus guards searched the bag on the first mastadge’s back. Daniel and O’Neil, hidden inside, jumped out and shot them dead. Immediately, the stone door ofthe pyramid began to close, but not fast enough. O’Neil, Daniel and Sha’urijumped insidejust before it closed.
They ran to the StarGate room. The bomb was in pieces on a table. Daniel pushed the first sign round to its place then saw O’Neil putting the bomb back together. ‘What are you doing?’ he said. ‘It’s the StarGate on Earth that we must close.’
‘That’s yourjob, Jackson. I’m staying here to finish mine.’ He pushed the orange key into the bomb’s lock and turned it. A clock began counting down: 12:00, 11:59, 11:58, 11:57 … He put the key back in his pocket. ‘[ackson, you have twelve minutes to work the StarGate. Take the girl with you if you want to.'
Suddenly,the room was full ofwhite light and Sha'uri fell down. A Horus guard was shooting his weapon from the door. Daniel shot him, then ran to Sha'uri. She was dead. He put his arms round her. 'Get up!' O'Neil shouted. 'You've got to go through the StarGate. Now!'
Daniel noticed blue light in the circle in the next room and suddenly remembered the coffin. He lifted Sha'uri's body and ran into the light. 'No, wait!' O'Neil shouted, but it was too late. He saw that part of Sha'uri's dress, which was outside the circle, was lying on the floor after she and Daniel disappeared. O'Neil heard something, looked round and saw Anubis. The dog-man knocked O'Neil across the room then ran to him. On his feet again, O'Neil hit him as hard as he could and ran towards the bomb. He had to stop it to give Daniel time to get back...
•
Inside the star-ship, Daniel hurried to the coffin and put Sha'uri in
it. He watched the stone top close softly over her. When he looked
O'Neil hit Anubis ashardashe could and rail towards the bomb.
up he saw Ra in the room, his golden skin shining. Too frightened to move, Daniel watched him come nearer. The coffin opened and Daniel saw Sha'uri, alive,sleeping. 'Wonderful!' Ra said. 'Now you can both die again - together.'
•
In the pyramid below, Anubis ran to O'Neil and knocked his arm away before he could put the key back into the bomb's lock. The key went flying into a dark corner. O'Neil pulled Anubis's metal arm up behind his back and broke it. 'Bad dog!' O'Neil said, kicking the metal mask. The big man fell and lay still. Again, O'Neil noticed the piece of Sha'uri's dress next to the circle in the next room and he had an idea. Quickly, he pulled Anubis to the circle and left him with his head inside it. The blue light began to shine inside the circle while O'Neil ran to look for the key. In the StarGate room, he looked at the clock: 7:39, 7:38 ...
•
In the star-ship, Daniel picked up Sha'uri and carried her into the room with the golden chair. He noticed the white stone circle filling with blue light. He stood in the centre of the circle. Ra smiled. 'This will be the great Anubis, "God of the Dead". He has killed your friends and sent your bomb back to your world. And now I will kill both ofyou.' Ra lifted his hand. The shining white ring was round it. Light shot from it and knocked Daniel down. Ra came nearer, put his hand into the circle and touched Daniel's head with the ring.
The stone's terrible white fire burned brighter and brighter inside Daniel's head. Seeing the blue light growing brighter, Daniel suddenly remembered how it cut through Sha'uri's dress. Forgetting the burning fire in his head, he took Ra's arm and held the burning ring on his head. Ra didn't understand: why
Fo~?ettilli< the bl/mill.?jire ill his head, he took Ra '.I'arm and
held the IJllmilli< rilli< 01/ his head.
did the stupid man want to do this? Did he want to die more quickly?
Ra saw the blue light growing brighter and tried to pull his hand out of the circle. 'Let go!' he shouted. But Daniel held on. The room was swimming round him now. All he could see was Catherine's udjat eye round Ra's neck. He caught it in one hand and pulled hard. The last thing he saw was the blue light cutting cleanly through Ra's arm ... Then everything went black.
Ra stood by the circle, holding his arm and screaming for help. The blue light in the circle grew brighter, and suddenly, in place of Daniel, lay the head ofRa's terrible killer, Anubis.
Ra knew he had to get to the coffin. It could grow back his lost arm ... And he knew that he had to escape: the miners knew now that he wasn't a god. He could hear the angry crowd outside. A line of blood followed him to the golden chair. He touched a white stone on the chair's arm, and the star-ship's machines started.
Chapter 16 00:03,00:02,00:01 ...
At last O'Neil found the key.He ran to the bomb,put the key in the lock, turned it. And nothing happened. 01:09, 01:08, 01:07 ... The clock kept on counting down! Why didn't it stop? He could feel the pyramid shaking. What was happening? He noticed blue light in the next room and saw Sha'uri and Daniel lying in the circle.
Daniel woke up, looked round and saw Sha'uri waking up too. They were both alive! He saw Ra's cut-off hand lying in the circle in a pool of blood and felt the pyramid shaking. Ra was leaving ... Then he suddenly remembered the bomb. He looked into the StarGate room and saw O'Neil busy with it. He could see the bright red numbers counting down: 00:22, 00:21,
00:20 ... He helped Sha'uri to her feet and they ran to O'Neil. 'Turn it off!' he shouted, 'Can't you hear the star-ship? Ra's leaving!'
'Don't you understand?' O'Neil shouted. 'I can't! The Army put a special one-way lock on it and they didn't tell me! It won't stop!' 'Then I have an idea,' said Daniel. 'Quick, help me!' He picked up the bomb and put it in the circle oflight...
•
Inside the star-ship,Ra waited for the machines to lift the star- ship offthe pyramid. Out ofthe corner ofhis eye, he saw something in the white circle: the bomb! He saw the red numbers counting down: 00:02, 00:01 ... and he knew it was too late.
Outside, the crowd watched the star-ship lift off the pyramid. 'He's leaving, father!' Skaara shouted to Kasuf. 'We're free at last!'
Inside, Daniel, Sha'uri and O'Neil hurried to the pyramid's entrance. It was still closed. Daniel saw a small circle of white stone on the wall, pressed it and the great door slowly opened. The crowd screamed with happiness when they saw Daniel, O'Neil and Sha'uri come out. Kasuf and Skaara pointed up above them.
They watched the star-ship fly higher and higher. 'He's going,' Daniel said to O'Neil.
Suddenly the star-ship turned into a great white ball offire in the sky. 'And he's never coming back,' O'Neil replied.
Kasuf came to Daniel. 'For thousands of years we were his prisoners,' the old man said. 'Now, thanks to Dan-yur, he is only a cloud ofsmoke.' He lifted Daniel's arm in the air and thousands of miners shouted their thanks.
•
An hour later, thousands of people went to the StarGate room to watch the Earth men leave. Daniel turned the signs round the great stone ring. When he pushed the last sign into place, the seven lines oflight shone into the middle. O'Neil watched the shining pool of light grow into a great white ball,then he turned to Daniel and said, 'You first,Jackson?'
'No,I'm staying here, O'Neil,' Daniel said,putting his arm round Sha'uri,
Daniel saw the soldier smile for the first time. 'Good luck to all the family,' O'Neil said, and shook hands with Daniel, Sha'uri, Skaara and Kasuf.
'Come and visit us when you want,' Daniel answered. 'It's not far - only a few million light-years away.And give Catherine this.' He gave O'Neil the udjat eye. 'Tell her it brought us luck.'
'We needed it,' O'Neil said. 'Goodbye.' Quickly, without looking back, he walked into the pool of light and was gone. The soldiers quickly followed him. The light inside the ring disappeared and the StarGate stopped. And Daniel, Sha'uri, Skaara, Kasuf and their people left the pyramid and began the long walk back to the city.
O'Nci! said, 'Goodbye.' Quickly,without lookingback, he walked
into thepool(:f/ight and II'£1SgOl/e.
ACTIVITIES
Chapters1-6
Beforeyou read 1 Find Egypt on a map. What do you know about Egypt? What is the weather like? What do you know about the country's history, people and writing? Tellanother student.
2 Find these words in your dictionary. archeologist army cave god pyramid Now use the words to finish these sentences. a Many people go to Egypt to see the large . b He joined the..... because he wanted to fight for his country. c The..... found some old gold in a..... by the sea. d Yearsago the Egyptians believed in Ra, the..... of the sun.
Afteryou read 3 Put these sentences in the right order. a Catherine Langford offers Daniel a job with the Army. b Daniel walks through the StarGate. c Catherine Langford finds a small udjat eye in Egypt. d A boy paints an animal on the wall of a cave. e Daniel speaks to some important archeologists. f Daniel knows what the signs round the ring mean.
4 Work with another student. Have a conversation. Student A: Youare Daniel.Tella friend about what you saw when you
first walked through the StarGate. Student B: You are Daniel's friend. Ask him questions about his
adventure. What did he see? How did he feel? Which word means: a something people hold in their hand when they fight? b something you can put over your face to hide it? c something people use in wars to destroy buildings? d something in the shape of a person or animal, made of stone or
metal? e working underground to get, for example, gold or silver?
Afteryou read 7 Who are these people or animals? Put the names on the left with the words on the right. a Little bit b Skaara c O'Neil d Sha'uri e Anubis works for the US army. is a man with the head of the dog-god. is Kasuf's son. is an animal with a terrible smell. is Kasuf's beautiful daughter. 8 Do you think that there are people or living things on other worlds? Why/why not? Talkto another student.
Chapters 12-16
Before you read 9 Look at the last picture in the book. Where do you think the people are? Who do you think is walking through the StarGate? Can you see Daniel and Sha'uri? Do you think they will go through the StarGate too? Why/why not?
10 Find this word in your dictionary: coffin. In your country, what are coffins usually made of? Who makes them? Who carries the dead person in the coffin?
Chapters 7-11
Beforeyou read
5 Look at the pictures in Chapters 7-11. What do you think will happen
to Daniel? What will he see? Who will he meet?
6 Find these words in your dictionary.
bomb mask mining statue weapon Afteryou read 11 Answer these questions: a Daniel dies and he is put in a coffin. How does he become alive
again? b Why does Daniel say that they haveto close the StarGate? c Why does Daniel put Sha'uri in a coffin? d Why can't O'Neil turn the bomb off? e How does Ra die? Who goes through the StarGate and back to Earth at the end of the story? 12 Do you think Daniel is right to stay behind at the end of the story? Do you think he and Sha'uri will have a happy life? Why/why not?
Writing
13 Write a short description of three of these people:
Daniel / O'Neil / Ra / Sha'uri / Anubis
14 After Ra dies, Daniel decides to stay with Sha'uri in her world. Write a
description of his first week, after the others have gone back to Earth.
15 It is a year later. You are Daniel and you are still living in Sha'uri's world. Write a message to Catherine Langford on Earth. Write about your life and how you feel.
16 Have you seen the film of this book? If you have, which did you like better the film or the book? Why? If you haven't seen StarGate, have you seen a science fiction film like it? Write about the film.
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Teacher's notes
1
StarGate
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3
4
from the screenplay and novelization 5by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich, adapted by Sheila Black 6
PRE
SUMMARYINTERMEDIATE
For most of Egypt's history, the authority of the King, or thought that when he died he would achieve everlasting life. Ra, the sun god, was the creator of the world, and according to one tradition was himself the first Pharaoh. But many other gods were important to the Egyptians: almost as important as Ra was Horus, the falcon-headed sky god. They also worshipped Osiris, the god of death; Isis his sister; and Anubis, the dog – or jackal-headed god, who led the dead before Osiris to be judged. Incredibly, as Dr Daniel Jackson points out in StarGate,
Pharaoh, was unquestioned. He was a god – the son of Ra
– upon whom the whole life of Egypt depended, and it was
the Egyptian way of life continued almost unchanged for
ABOUT THE FILM 'STARGATE'
Directed by Roland Emmerich, 'StarGate' was a joint United States/French production, and was one of the most popular films in America in the year of its release, 1994. It starred Kurt Russell as US Army colonel Jack O'Neil, James Spader as Dr Daniel Jackson and Jaye Davidson as Ra. Much of it was filmed in the terrible heat of the Arizona desert, which provided the landscape of the planet on which most of the action takes place. The actor Jaye Davidson had given up working in films before he was offered the part of Ra, but became interested in the film when he learned that he would actually be speaking his lines in ancient Egyptian. 3000 years. For much of this time the Egyptians were regarded with great admiration in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern world. They were thought to be great magicians, and certainly they placed great importance on what nowadays we might call 'magic'. For example, they believed that the written word – or the written symbol had great power. In the tombs of the Pharaohs and other important people they wrote numbers of 'spells' which were intended to give power to the dead to live after death. However, what most impressed the ancient world, as they still impress us today, were the country's buildings. Egyptians were master builders, and the most spectacular of all their achievements were the pyramids. These were the tombs of the pharaohs. The first was built around
BACKGROUND AND THEMES
The ancient Egyptian civilization was one of the first in the world, and has fascinated people from its own time down to our time. The beginnings of the Egyptian people were the tribes that lived along the Nile and who began farming the river's banks from about 5000 BC. In about 3200 BC, they created a kingdom which stretched from the mouth of the Nile river to Abu Simbel, nearly 1000 kilometres to 2500 BC. They were not built by slaves, as has often been assumed, but by the Pharaoh's people themselves who were made to work on them every autumn, when the Nile had flooded their fields. The biggest pyramids are at Giza, just outside Cairo, and the largest of all the pyramids is that of the Pharaoh Khufu, or Cheops – built in about 2550 BC. It is also called the Great Pyramid. It is 137 metres high, and made of between five and six million tonnes of stone. The accuracy with which it was built is still today a
Teacher's notes
source of amazement. The sides at the bottom are almost exactly the same length, to within a difference of only a few centimetres, and face almost perfectly north, south, east and west. A recent theory about why the Egyptians used the pyramid shape for burying their kings is that the sides, coming down from a point, represented the rays of the sun – and they believed the dead king walked up the sun's rays to join Ra. The pharaoh was also said to travel to the stars. In the Great Pyramid there are two passages which lead up through the stone from the King's tomb – one at an exact angle of 31 degrees, the other at 45 degrees. Every 24 hours the star Alpha Draconis – the pole star in Khufu's time – passes over the entrance to the first shaft, and Sirius, the dog star, in the constellation of Orion, passes over the second.
Communicative activities
The following teacher-led activities cover the same sections of text as the exercises at the back of the reader, and supplement those exercises. For supplementary exercises covering shorter sections of the book, see the photocopiable Student's Activities pages of this Factsheet. These are primarily for use with class readers but, with the exception of discussion and pair/groupwork questions, can also be used by students working alone in a selfaccess centre.
ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK 1 Ask students to look at the cover of the book, which shows a pyramid. Find out what students know about
pyramids by putting them into small groups to discuss the following. (a) What were pyramids used for by the Egyptians? (b) What is interesting about the size of the pyramids in Egypt? Then check their answers as a whole class. 2 Tell students that stories about the future are known as 'science fiction'. In groups, students discuss whether they like science fiction books and films. Why/Why not? As a class, students talk about science fiction stories they have read or films they have seen.
ACTIVITIES AFTER READING A SECTION Chapters 1-6
1 Put students into pairs. They imagine that Catherine Langford tells Daniel Jackson what happened in 1928 (she went to Giza with her father, found the stone ring in the ground, she found and kept the udjat eye, the workers were frightened). They role-play the conversation between Catherine and Daniel. Catherine tells the story. Daniel asks as many questions as possible. 2 Ask students to work in groups. They discuss 'star signs'. Do they know what their sign is? Do they know what it looks like? Do they believe that people can know someone's future because of star signs?
Chapters 7-11 1 Ask students to work in pairs. They are a miner and a friend of the miner. The friend of the miner wasn't
working when O'Neil and the other men came. The miner tells the friend what happened and the friend asks as many questions as possible. 2 Explain that 'arranged marriages' are marriages where the family of a girl and boy decide that the girl and boy will get married. Ask students to work in groups and to discuss these questions: (a) Would you like to have an arranged marriage? Why/Why not? (b) Do you have arranged marriages in your country?
Chapters 12-16 Put students into groups of three.
Tell them to imagine that O'Neil has to report to Colonel West and Catherine Langford when he returns to Earth. Students role-play the conversation. O'Neil gives details of the following and the other two ask questions: Ra wanted to send the bomb back to Earth to end the world; Daniel and O'Neil escaped with the help of Skaara; they hid in the bags of stone; O'Neil started the bomb and couldn't stop it; O'Neil killed Anubis; Ra escaped and the star-ship turned into a ball of fire; Daniel stayed with Sha'uri. Before starting the role-play, tell students to look at these chapters again and make notes about what they will say.
ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK Ask students to work in pairs. They discuss these questions: (a) Has your opinion of science fiction stories changed now you have read this book? (b) Do you think that it is important to believe that a story is possible?
Glossary It will be useful for your students to know the following new words. They are practised in the 'Before You Read' sections of exercises at the back of the book. (Definitions are based on the Longman Active Study Dictionary.) Chapters 1-6 archaeologist (n) a person who studies very old things made by people who lived a very long time ago army (n) the people, guns, etc that fight for a country on land when there is a war cave (n) a large hole in the side of a mountain or rock god (n) a 'person or thing' who people believe has power over the world pyramid (n) a huge stone building which is square at the bottom and pointed at the top Chapters 7-11 bomb (n) this has 'dynamite' in it, which will make it break into thousands of little pieces and will destroy people and buildings mask (n) this covers part or all of someone's face mine (v) to dig stone or metal out of the ground statue (n) this looks like a person but is made of stone or metal weapon (n) people use weapons to fight with and hurt other people Chapters 12-16 coffin (n) a box to put a dead person into
Published and distributed by Pearson Education Factsheet written by David Penn and Tony Garside
Student's activities
Photocopiable
Students can do these exercises alone or with one or more other students. Pair/group-only activities are marked.
Activities before reading the book 1 Read the introduction in your book. Then close the book and answer these questions. In what year… (a) was the film of StarGate made? (b) did some archaeologists find a mysterious stone in Egypt? (c) did Daniel Jackson find a way to open the StarGate again? (d) was the pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu built? 2 Do you know what life was like in Egypt, thousands of years ago? Are these sentences right or wrong? (a) The Egyptians had writing. (b) They had no pictures. (c) They had thousands of gods. (d) Some Egyptian gods had animal heads. (e) They had ships. (f) They had stone buildings. (g) Most ordinary Egyptians were farmers.
CHAPTERS 1-6 Chapters 1-3
1 Close your book. Can you remember all the people in the story? Put the names on the left with the descriptions on the right. (a) Ra … (b) Catherine Langford … (c) Doctor Ajami … (d) Daniel Jackson … (e) Dr Rauchenburg … (i) is Daniel Jackson's old teacher. (ii) is a world-famous archaeologist who thinks Daniel is ill. (iii) is the old woman who gives Daniel Jackson a job. (iv) is the boy who killed the animal, and also the name of a god. (v) is a young archaeologist. 2 Answer these questions. (a) In 1928 in Cairo, what does Ed find near the pyramid? Write a description. (b) What does Catherine find? What does she do with it? (c) Sixty years later, Catherine shows Daniel Jackson some photographs. What are they of, do you think?
StarGate
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3 Why do the archaeologists at the meeting get angryPREwith Daniel? INTERMEDIATEChapters 4-6
1 Answer these questions. (a) Kawalsky tells Daniel that the writing on the stone is ten thousand years old. Why does Daniel say this is impossible? (b) The stone ring is now in the Rocky Mountains, in the United States. How did it get there? What are they doing with it now? 2 What do we know about the 'StarGate'? Here are some notes, but some of the information is wrong. Change it to make it right. Use the pictures on the front of the book and on pages 8 and 11 to help you.
The StarGate is a metal ring, softer than anything on Earth. It is about five metres wide. The Americans are keeping it in a small cave. There are signs around it, and seven stones. There is also another stone, which has some signs on it. These signs give you an 'address' in the sky. When you move the seven stones on the StarGate to the right places for that address, fourteen lines of light shine into the middle of the ring, and a square of light grows from there until the stone ring is full of it. If you go into the square of light, you travel to the sun. At the other end is another StarGate. That StarGate is inside a pyramid which is different from Khufu's pyramid on Earth.
CHAPTERS 7-11 Chapters 7-9
1 Can you remember what happens in these chapters? Close your book. Then number the sentences below. What happened first? What happened second? etc. (a) A star-ship lands on the pyramid. (b) O'Neil makes a bomb in the StarGate room. (c) Kasuf's beautiful daughter offers Daniel water. (d) Daniel, O'Neil, his men and the miners leave the valley with an old man in red clothes. (e) Someone with the head of a dog comes out of the StarGate. (f) O'Neil and his men frighten the mastadge. (g) They see thousands of men, women and children mining white stone.
Student's activities
(h) The men take some of their boxes outside the pyramid. (i) The miners go on their knees when they see Daniel. (j) Daniel meets a mastadge. (k) The mastadge puts its nose in Daniel's pocket, looking for chocolate. (l) Kasuf takes everyone to a city. (m) Kasuf shows Daniel a large Eye of Ra in the city square. 2 Join these beginnings and ends of sentences using because. (a) Daniel and the other men can't get back to Earth yet…. (b) The mastadge runs away… (c) O'Neil tells his men not to point their guns at the miners… (d) Kasuf hopes the strangers really are gods… (e) The radio doesn't work… (f) Feretti and Porro don't know that a star-ship has landed… (i) of the sand storm. (ii) he doesn't want to frighten them. (iii) they have stopped work, so they will be in trouble. (iv) they can't find a stone with Earth's address. (v) they're in the pyramid. (vi) O'Neil and his men frighten it. 3 What's going to happen next? Guess. (a) The people tell Daniel that he is Ra, and he stays on their world as their king. (b) The man with the dog's head is from another world. He and other men like him go back through the StarGate to Earth and make Earth people their prisoners. (c) The man with the dog's head is a friend. He wants to go to Earth and make everyone happy. (d) None of those things. Write down your idea, or work in a group. Try to agree on one idea.
Chapters 10-11 Answer these questions.
1 Why do Kasuf and the heads of the city give Sha'uri to Daniel as a wife? 2 How does O'Neil find Daniel? 5 Who were the people who hid the StarGate on Earth under the ground? Where did they hide it? 6 Who kills Daniel, O'Neil and all the soldiers?
3 Who are Sha'uri's people really?
4 Why did Ra stop all reading and writing?
CHAPTERS 12-16
Chapters 12-13 1 Answer these questions. (a) What does Skaara find in the box? (b) Why do the Horus aeroplanes bomb the city? (c) How is Ra going to make the bomb stronger? (d) Why does Ra want Daniel to be alive again? (e) What do Sha'uri and Skaara know about Ra?
2 Look back at page 1. What was the 'light as bright as the sun' in the sky? 3 Work with other students. Which of these words describe Ra, Daniel, Sha'uri, Skaara and O'Neil? selfish intelligent dangerous honest too perfect sensible funny stupid useless kind boring good-looking a murderer beautiful sick a soldier surprising friendly brave clever hard nice handsome serious strong terrible young When you've finished reading the book, look back at this question and see if you think differently.
Chapters 14-16 1 Are these sentences right or wrong? (a) O'Neil has kept the bomb a secret.
(b) Ra keeps all the white stone that the miners bring him in his star-ship. (c) Ra, Anubis and the Horus guards really are gods. (d) When Ra loses his arm, it doesn't hurt. (e) Sha'uri's people are happy that she, Daniel and O'Neil are alive. 2 Explain in your own words the importance of the circle of light. How do Daniel and O'Neil use it for Anubis, Ra and the bomb? 1 Look back at question 3 on Chapters 12-13, above. Do you think differently now about any of these people? Does everyone in your group agree? 2 Did you enjoy the book? Think of the beginning, the middle and the end. Were these all good?
Work in pairs or small groups.
Published and distributed by Pearson Education Factsheet written by David Penn and Tony Garside
P e n g u i n
StarGate
Answers to book activities 1 Open answers b He joined the army because he wanted to fight for his country. c The archeologist found some old gold in a cave by the sea. d Years ago Egyptians believed in Ra, the god of the sun. 3 d A boy paints an animal on the wall of a cave. c Catherine Langford finds a small udjat eye in Egypt. e Daniel speaks to some important archeologists. a Catherine Langford offers Daniel a job with the Army. f Daniel knows what the signs round the ring mean. b Daniel walks through the StarGate. b Because he doesn't want Ra to go back to Earth again. c Because he wants her to come alive again. d Because it has a special one-way lock on it. e The bomb is in his starship and it goes off. f O'Neil and the other soldiers go through StarGate. Daniel stays behind. 12-16 Open answers
2 a Many people go to Egypt to see the large pyramids.
4 Open answers
5 Open answers
6 a weapon b mask c bomb d statue e mining 7 a Little Bit is an animal with a terrible smell. b Skaara is Kasuf's son. c O'Neil works for the US army. d Sha'uri is Kasuf's beautiful daughter. e Anubis is a man with the head of the dog-god.
8-10 Open answers
11 a Ra can mend people's bodies in the coffin so that they come alive again.
R e a d e r s A n s w e r K e yl e v e l
Answers to Factsheet activitiesChapters 10 & 11 1 Because they think Daniel is a god. s Communicative activities Open answers except: 2 Skaara shows the mastadge Daniel's jacket and it follows the smell. (b) It seems impossible that people thousands of years ago could build these buildings. This is because the buildings are very, very big and the length and height of the sides are exactly the same. 4 He doesn't want his people, who are his prisoners, to know anything. at Giza. Chapters 12 & 13 stone. (d) He wants Daniel to kill the soldiers. 1 (a) 1994, (b) 1928, (c) 1988, (d) 2550 BC (a) true, (b) false, (c) true, (d) true, (e) true, (f) true, (g) true. (e) They know that he isn't a god. Activities while reading the book Chapters 14-16 Chapters 1-31 (a) right1 2 (a) (iv); (b) (iii); (c) (i); (d) (v); (e) (ii). (a) He finds a stone with Egyptian writing on it. There are 39 unknown letters in a circle on it. In the middle of it there is a group of six of the letters with writing beneath them. He also finds a large stone ring, about five metres wide. This has the same writing round it and is made of an unknown kind of stone. (b) She finds a small udjat eye – the eye of the god Ra. She puts it in her pocket. (c) They are probably of the above stone and ring. Because he suggests that somebody gave the Egyptians their language and writing, perhaps from another world. (b) wrong. It is sent away through the starship, (c) wrong. They are not gods, they are Egyptians (d) wrong, Ra is screaming (e) right 2 They learn that anything inside the circle disappears. O'Neil uses it to cut off the head of Anubis. Daniel uses it to cut off Ra's arm. Daniel uses it to make the bomb disappear. Activities after reading the book 2 3 (a) He's probably thinking that the oldest Egyptian writing is 'only'five thousand years old. (b) Catherine Langford's father and his friend Ed Taylor found it in 1928 at Giza and took it to the USA. Scientists are looking at it. The StarGate is a stone ring, harder than anything on Earth. It is about five metres wide. The Americans are keeping it in a big cave. There are signs around it, and seven stones. There is also another stone, which has some signs on it. These signs give you an 'address'in the sky. When you move the seven stones on the StarGate to the right places for that address, seven lines of light shine into the middle of the ring, and a circle of light grows from there until the stone ring is full of it. If you go into the circle of light, you travel to the stars. At the other end is another StarGate. That StarGate is inside a pyramid which is the same as Khufu's pyramid on Earth. Chapters 7-9 (h), (b), (j), (f), (g), (i), (d), (c), (k), (l), (m), (a), (e). (a)(iv), (b)(vi), (c)(ii), (d)(iii), (e)(i), (f)(v). Open answers
PRE-INTERMEDIATE 3
3 They are Egyptians. Ra took them from Activities before reading the book Earth thousands of years ago. 1 (a) They were used as places for their dead pharaohs (kings) to lie.
5 The Egyptians. They hid it in the ground
6 Anubis, the dog-man.
1 (a) Guns. (b) Because the miners stopped work. s Student's activities Activities before reading the book (c) He is going to use a piece of his white
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2 Probably Ra's star-ship
3 Open answers
Open answers
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Chapters 4-6
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2
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