Raiders of the Lost Ark Page #2

Indy begins picking up little pocket-sized artifacts from the

niches and ledges of the Temple. He continues to do this as

the men penetrate the Temple. His collecting is quick and

expert, evaluating the pieces in an instant, discarding some,

stuffing others into his clothes, and never stopping his

forward progress.

5 CHAMBER OF LIGHT 5

The men reach an arch in the hall. The small chamber ahead,

which interrupts the hall, is brightly lit by a shaft of

sunlight from high above. Indy stops, looks it over.

SATIPO:

What’s wrong? Are you lost?

Indy picks up a stick and throws it through the shaft of

light. Giant spikes spring together from the sides of the

chamber with a ferocious CLANG! And impaled on the spikes are

the remains of a white man, half-fleshed, half skeleton, in

explorer-type garb. Indy reaches out and takes hold of the

man’s carcass. As the spikes slowly retract, Indy pulls it

free and seats the remains gently on the floor.

INDY:

Forrestal.

SATIPO:

(gulps)

We can go no further.

INDY:

Now, Satipo, we don’t want to be

discouraged by every little thing.

Indy steps sideways into the chamber. His back pressed

against the very points of the retracted spikes, he moves

along the edge of the light beam, and steps clear on the

other side. Satipo grimaces and begins sweating his way

through.

STAIRWAY:

6

6

6.

Indy and Satipo come down stone stairs to a tight landing.

Framing the entry are a carefully strung network of dead

vines, each somehow hooked into the wall, narrowing the

opening even more.

INDY:

(taking the torch)

Let me see that.

He lowers the torch to the floor of the landing. The landing

is carpeted with human skeletons, one on top of another, all

squashed flat as cardboard. Satipo gasps. Indy looks up at

the ceiling of the landing, then steps onto the skeletons,

which make a cracking noise under his feet.

INDY:

Try not to touch the vines.

7 FOYER OF THE SANTUARY 7

The men are in a high, straight hallway 50 feet long. The

door at the end is flooded with sunlight.

SATIPO:

Senor, I think we are very close.

Indy stands still looking at the hall.

SATIPO:

(impatient)

Let us hurry. There is nothing to

fear here.

INDY:

That’s what scares me.

They begin walking down the hall side by side. Satipo has

inched a little ahead. Suddenly his lead foot comes down and

through the floor! As Satipo beings to pitch forward, Indy

grabs him by the belt and pulls him back. They both look down

at the “floor”.

Indy swings his whip across the floor. Fifteen feet of it

cuts open beneath the lash, falling away to reveal a black

pit as wide as the hall. The illusory floor was made of dust-

covered cobwebs. Satipo picks up a stone and drops it down

the pit. No sound. The two men exchange glances. Indy looks

up at the high roof of the hall. He swings the whip up around

a support beam, tests its strength with a pull and swings

over the pit on the whip. From the other side he swings the

whip back to Satipo, who throws Indy the torch. Satipo swings

across.

7.

When they are both standing on solid floor there is a moment

of quiet in which they hear, from far, far below-- SPLASH!

Indy wedges the whip handle into the wall and leaves it

strung to the beam for quick retreat.

.

8 THE SANTUARY 8

A large, domed room. Ten evenly-spaced skylights send their

shafts of sunlight down to a unique tiled floor: white and

black tiles laid out in a lovely, intricate pattern. Indy and

Satipo stand at the door and look across the wide room at the

alter. There, in the supreme hallowed spot, is a tiny jeweled

figurine, Indy’s real objective.

Two torches, many years old, are in holders by the door. Indy

takes one down and lights it. He gives the regular torch to

Satipo.

SATIPO:

There’s plenty of light, amigo.

Indy kneels and uses the unit end of the torch to reach out

and tap a white tile. It is solid. He taps a black tile.

There is a whizzing sound and a tiny dart sticks in the

torch. Satipo points to the wall nearby: there is a recessed

hole there.

SATIPO:

From that hole!

Indy nods, stands and looks around the sanctuary. The entire

room is honey-combed with the same kind of hole. Satipo sees

it too and is properly impressed.

INDY:

You wait here.

SATIPO:

If you insist, senor.

Torch in hand, Indy beings his careful walk across the

sanctuary. Stepping only on the white tiles, he almost

appears to be doing a martial arts kata. Before each big move

he waves the torch in front of him head to toe, looking at

the flame. Halfway out, he sees something on the floor and

kneels to look at it.

A dead bird lies on one of the white tiles. Its body is

riddled with little deadly darts.

This has great significance to Indy and he stands with even

greater caution. He waves the torch ahead of him and at waist

height an air current whips at the flame. Indy ducks under it

and leaves a burn mark on the white tile beneath it.

.

8.

Satipo watches, wide-eyed and mystified.

Indy reaches the alter. The tiny idol looks both fierce and

beautiful. It rests on a pedestal of polished stone. Indy

looks the whole set-up over very carefully. From his jacket

he takes a small, canvas drawstring bag. He begins filling it

with dirt from around the case of the alter. When he has

created a weight that he thinks approximates the weight of

the idol, he bounces it a couple times in his palm

concentrating. It’s clear he wants to replace the idol with

the bag as smoothly as possible. His hand seems ready to do

that once, when he stops, takes a breath and loosens his

shoulder muscles. Now he sets himself again. And makes the

switch! The idol is now in his hand, the bag on the pedestal.

For a long moment it sits there, then the polished stone

beneath the bag drops five inches. This sets off an AURAL

CHAIN REACTION of steadily increasing volume as some huge

mysterious mechanism rumbles into action deep in the temple.

Indy spins and starts his kata back across the sanctuary at

four times the speed.

9 THE RETREAT - INTERCUTTING INDY AND SATIPO 9

The sanctuary has begun to rumble and shake in response to

the mysterious mechanism. Just as Indy goes out the door, a

rock shakes loose from the wall and rolls onto the tile’s

floor. Immediately, a noisy torrent of poison darts fills the

room.

IN THE FOYER, Satipo swings acorss the pit. He makes it just

as the whip comes undone from the beam, leaving Indy without

an escape. Satipo, extremely nervous, regards the whip a

moment then turns back to face Indy, who has run up to the

far side of the pit.

.

SATIPO:

No time to argue. Throw me the

idol, I throw you the whip.

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