Arabesque Page #6

Now they're back again.

Duck.

Oh, it's all right.

We lost them.

Next time let me know

so I can fasten my seat belt.

Where is the inscription?

May I see it?

Why do you want to see it?

I don't know.

I've never seen it.

Believe me,

when you've seen one, you've seen them all.

- As long as you have it-

- Well, I don't have it.

- What do you mean?

Of course you have it! - Look out!

Would you like me to drive?

What have you done with it?

Relax. I haven't forgotten your mother and sisters.

I mailed it to myself.

Oh, no. How will you be able to work on it?

I won't have to.

I know what's in it.

What does it mean?

Tell me.

It said, "The plague shall not

pass until the swans...

fly high

in the kingdom of Vesta."

"Vesta"?

What does that mean?

How should I know?

My job was to translate it

into English. I didn't guarantee the results.

Well, I suppose it will

mean something to somebody.

I'll call the embassy

and tell them, but I'd better drop you off first.

Where are you staying?

Right here with you.

It's not safe for you

to be out on the streets.

- What if the police stop us?

- The way you drive?

Why should they

stop us?

All right, David.

I'll look for a phone box.

No, no, I'll look.

That way maybe we can keep from hitting it.

Want me to come with you?

What for?

Think how cozy

it would be.

But so hard to dial.

Don't tell me that

the ambassador spoke with you at this hour?

As a matter of fact, he did.

They are preparing

for Mr. Jena's visit tomorrow.

What did he say?

He didn't

understand the message. He said to come right over.

Uh, it's all right.

You can get out here. I'll meet you later.

Why?

Oh, please stop

asking so many questions.

There are police

at the embassy.

They'll recognize you.

Do you want to be arrested for murder?

All right.

I'll meet you in Knightsbridge

at the Kelly Hotel.

I'm registered there under the name of O'Malley.

O'Malley?

Yeah, there's a discount

if you're Irish.

Follow that car.

All my life I've waited

for somebody to say that.

Thanks, gov.

I enjoyed that.

Yussef?

Yasmin! Get down!

David, you followed me.

No, I didn't.

You went to the embassy,

and I came here to my hotel.

There. Over the wall.

Wait!

Down here.

Can't say I care much

for your embassy.

David,

I wasn't deceiving you.

I had to find out

what the message means.

Yussef is

the only one who knows. That's why I came here.

Not one of your brighter ideas.

You stay here.

David!

Oh, David! Oh, David!

I couldn't let you die...

without hearing the end

of your story.

Come on!

But it's true.

Everything. I swear it.

As true as your poor old mother and your three sisters?

Of course.

I went to Mrs. Ragheeb.

Oh, no.

She was very well-informed

about you.

You told her that you and I

were working together?

Naturally. What?

No wonder.

She'd say anything to keep you

from trusting me.

She's an agent of Yussef's,

like her husband.

Don't you see

what you did?

The moment you let her know

I was double-crossing them,

she called Yussef

to warn him.

That's why he lured me

to the construction site: to kill me!

What is there about you that

makes you so hard to believe?

Perhaps it's because

I'm such a terrible liar.

But never with you, of course.

I wish I could say the same.

"The plague shall not pass...

until the swans fly high

in the kingdom of Vesta."

- You made it up?

- Uh-huh.

What's the real message?

I haven't been able to work it out yet.

We'll have to do something.

I packed a suitcase. It's in the back.

I can't very well go back

to my house. Nejim isn't the understanding type.

Haven't you any ideas?

Yeah.

Darling?

Mm-hmm?

I got the message.

Oh! Yasmin!

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning,

my darling.

You pass bachelor's

requirement number one.

You're lovely in the morning.

I was dreaming of someone much more romantic: you.

No, come back here.

I have something else.

I've cracked the cipher.

David, that's wonderful.

What does it mean?

It's a phony,

It isn't Hittite at all.

It's an ordinary, commoner grade-school code.

Look. Here, you want these?

No, certainly not.

You see, bird sign,

bird sign, bird sign.

Sex differentiation factor.

You mean it's dirty?

No, a three-year-old child

could understand.

Female bird:
goose.

Female bird:
goose. Male bird: gander.

"Whither

do you wender-"

No, that's "wander." Yeah.

Wander.

"Upstairs, downstairs-"

"Or in my lady's chamber."

What does that mean?

I don't know.

We've got Beshraavi,

the British constabulary,

the whole human race

howling after our blood...

just for a lousy nursery rhyme.

It's got to mean something.

It must.

Who wrote it

in the first place?

Ragheeb, I imagine.

Exactly. Ragheeb.

"Upstairs, downstairs,

in my lady's chamber."

Mrs. Ragheeb

must have the answer!

But she couldn't have.

She would have told Yussef.

That's right too.

When I showed her a copy

of it, she tore it up.

She looked at it,

and she didn't give a damn.

- Wow!

- David...

what are you

talking about?

A copy

of the message means nothing, the translation means nothing.

The message is a screen.

It's a doodle.

All that matters is the original piece of paper.

The original?

Of course.

It isn't the cipher.

It's something else

on that paper.

Something

underneath the cipher.

Arise, arise,

oh, my beloved.

To the Hammersmith

post office.

Have you got it?

Don't you trust me

with anything?

No watermark.

What do you see?

Gander, goosey, goosey.

Just keep your eyes

on the road.

It must be here someplace.

Are you burning it?

That's how you detect

invisible ink.

Weren't you ever in the Boy Scouts?

I flunked the physical.

You should have

tried my troop. We'd have waived it.

Wait, wait!

Stop the car!

What are you doing?

I'm about to invent the wheel.

Well, there it goes.

No, no, wait. Look!

I don't see anything.

The eye.

The eye of the third bird.

What's that?

A microdot.

What do you see?

Take a look.

- She's a real beauty,

isn't she? - She certainly is.

But the microscope's

a trifle small.

Haven't you anything larger?

Certainly, sir.

So that's what they

wanted Yussef to know.

Something on this order, sir?

I'm afraid not.

Haven't you anything larger?

I'll look, sir.

What do we do now?

It says when,

but it doesn't say where. When is the 18th?

Monday was the 14th. Tuesday, Wednesday-

It's today.

Today?

Come on!

Come on!

I'm afraid this is

the largest we have, sir. Shall I-

Hey, David,

look!

- Oh, no! Do something!

- Lift it out of the way?

I don't care.

Do anything!

Good afternoon,

ladies and gentlemen.

Mr. Jena will be happy

to answer your questions now.

All right, mate.

Lots of room, lots of room. That's it.

Keep on going.

Lots of leeway back there.

Bring her on back, mate.

Okay, fine. Plenty of leeway.

Plenty of leeway. Lots of room.

Right on back. Good.

Right on back, mate.

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