NARRATOR: Geeta and Paul are final year archaeology students who don’t get along very well. They are working together on their final piece of coursework, and while arguing over which location to study, they are suddenly contacted by a mysterious character called the Professor, who says that he can help them. The Professor shows them a virtual reality machine, called Virtually Anywhere, which can transport people to anywhere in the world. Having travelled to the Terracotta Army in China, they use Virtually Anywhere to go inside the Emperor’s tomb – a place which has remained sealed since the Emperor’s death, thousands of years ago.
PAUL: I think I’m starting to get the hang of this.
GEETA: I can’t see anything. It’s very dark in here. Wait a moment, I’ve got a torch on my phone.
PAUL: Yeah, me too.
PROFESSOR: So here we are then, deep inside the famous tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang – no one has been in here for a very, very long time.
GEETA: Look! Paul, come over here – this is an ancient Chinese musical instrument! Fascinating! I’ve seen pictures similar to this in books, but to see one so perfectly preserved ...
PAUL: Yeah, just look at the detail in the decoration! The others on our course would be amazed if they could see this!
PROFESSOR: Now listen, I think we should do a bit of research about what the tomb contains before going any further. Let me just connect to the internet with the Virtually Anywhere remote control. Hmm, I’m getting a weak signal – I just need to check something. Don’t move. I’ll be back in a minute or two.
GEETA: Wait Professor! He’s gone!
PAUL: Erm ... shall we ... um ... explore a bit?
GEETA: Well ... I don’t see what harm it would do to go a little bit further down this tunnel.
PAUL: Check out these pots!
GEETA: Yes, they’re wonderful. And what’s this? Looks like some kind of door.
PAUL: Well there’s no way back now. I guess we should keep moving forward – the Professor will find us eventually.
GEETA: This looks like some kind of entrance. I’ll just ...
PAUL: Wait!
GEETA: You saved me Paul! My goodness, if you hadn’t pulled me back that arrow would have hit me.
PAUL: I’m just glad you’re all right. Look at it, I think it’s a crossbow bolt – I’m amazed it still works after all this time. It must have been a trap to protect the tomb from, er ...
GEETA: People like us ... Paul, shine your torch over there. Are they ... what I think they are?
PAUL: Human skeletons. Hundreds of them.
PROFESSOR: Ah, hello again! Oh, you’ve moved! Oh well, never mind – listen, I’ve got all the information I could find about the tomb. Let me see ... Now the first thing is that we need to be very careful, apparently there are booby traps, like crossbows, all designed to go off if anyone walks near them.
PAUL: You don’t say ...
PROFESSOR: I do say! And what else? Hmm. Now, you need to prepare yourselves for this: after the tomb was completed, the people who worked on it were sealed inside. They were trapped and left to die. No one could escape. It might shock you, but we can probably expect to find a few skeletons around.
GEETA: Professor.
PROFESSOR: Yes?
GEETA: Look!
PROFESSOR: Ah. I see ... Well it looks like you found the main tomb then – shall we investigate?
GEETA: Look at all this treasure! The Emperor must have been so rich.
PAUL: Check this out, there’s some kind of liquid over here – what do you think it is?
GEETA: It looks like a metal of some kind, would it be ... mercury, or something like that?
PROFESSOR: Let me look it up ... Qin Shi Huang’s tomb is thought to be surrounded by rivers of liquid mercury, which the ancient Chinese believed could make you immortal.
GEETA: Isn’t mercury really poisonous?
PROFESSOR: Er, yes, especially when there is a lot of it.
PAUL: Like here.
PROFESSOR: Yes. I think we should go right ... now. The signal ... is very weak.
GEETA: I’m feeling ... I’m not feeling very well. I think I might be sick.
PROFESSOR: It’s very, very weak.
PAUL: Yeah ... Everything’s gone a bit blurry. I think I’ll just sit down for a sec. Is it supposed to ... feel this real Professor?
PROFESSOR: Come on! Useless computer! Work!
PAUL: I think I need a little nap. So I’ll just have a quick sleep if that’s ... OK with everyone.
PROFESSOR: Got it! Right, hold on everyone, here we go!