Before Egypt

A hard-edged interstellar guide accepts a mysterious commission from an elderly scholar and his pretty daughter to charter passage to a distant planet in Orion that an ancient papyrus seems to indicate. Skepticism, pride, and greed complicate the venture: the guide’s hideous but articulate assistant unsettles clients, the patrons withhold precise coordinates while offering advance payment, and the small crew departs an isolated orbital port aboard a privately run vessel. The narrative follows the voyage and the mounting tensions, wonder, and questions about possible links between the distant world and antiquity as the unknown draws near.