one who taught me that. There’s no way I’m looking this gift horse in the mouth, not when we get to both be part of history and line our wallets for once. I just paid off my house.”
“ I care and you should too. They know something about this place they aren’t telling us. They put together the team in an awful hurry, and they’re not sparing any expense. No one does that for science,” Sheila countered, biting her lip as she stared in the direction of the pavilions. She knelt and zipped the tent shut in one smooth arc.
“So they sell off all the artifacts and make a tidy profit. Isn’t that always the case? Pure research is dead. Besides, our names will still be in the history books even if we don’t make another dime.”
“Keep your voice down. This goes much deeper than profit,” she whispered, locking gazes with Blair. “Commander Jordan drove Steve to get into the central chamber as soon as possible. He hounded him to work long hours down there. Here’s the really scary part. He didn’t seem concerned or surprised when Steve’s behavior began to deteriorate.”
“Deteriorate? What the hell does that mean?” Blair whispered, finally catching a bit of her paranoia. If Bridget and Sheila were both worried, there was genuine cause for alarm. They disagreed about everything on general principal.
Sheila’s jaw snapped shut, trapping the unspoken words he could read in her gaze. Footsteps crunched outside.
“Knock, knock.” Bridget’s voice came from outside the tent flap. She unzipped it, revealing a tentative smile. She looked ready to bolt, especially when she saw Sheila. “I hope I’m not interrupting. Blair, I figured you’d be eager to see the pyramid. Do you want a tour of the site? I can come back if this is a bad time.”
Sheila bristled, eyes narrowing as she sucked in a breath. It would soon birth one of her legendary tirades, sending Bridget packing and raising tension for days. As much as Blair shared Sheila’s anger he wanted them focused on solving this thing.
“Sheila was just telling me a bit about the site,” he interjected, rising to block Sheila’s view of Bridget. “I’d love a tour, though. Sheila, do you want to join us?”
Both Bridget and Sheila stiffened, but neither objected. The two had been inseparable once, just like he and Steve had been. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
“Of course I’ll come. Bridget can barely tell the New Kingdom from the Old. You need a proper guide, not a jumped-up grad student. She can tag along though. Might even learn something instead of riding her boyfriend’s coattails.”
Bridget replied as if Sheila hadn’t spoken. “We should start with the lowest level. There are stunning passages of hieroglyphs. The colors are mind boggling.”
This was going to be a very awkward tour.
“It could take years to decipher their script, but the sheer volume of symbols will yield the key. It has to be here somewhere. I simply cannot wait to find out what they’ve been waiting so many millennia to tell us,” Sheila said, clapping Blair on the back with one of her calloused hands.
“We’ve got the best team in the world,” Bridget agreed, beaming one of those smiles his way. It stung, but having seen several similar ones so recently dulled the impact. “There’s a Rosetta stone in there somewhere. There has to be.”
“It took five different scientists a half century to unlock the Mayan language. I seriously doubt they left Ancient Peruvians for Dummies ,” he said. It was far more likely they’d merely catalogue everything here, and that the translation, if it ever came, would be made by someone decades from now.
“They didn’t have Google. Or image analysis. Our benefactors provided a computer that can read images and find common sequences,” Bridget said, with a bit less enthusiasm. She was short enough that there was no way he could miss her cleavage. Was the low-cut top for his benefit, or was he reading too
“ I care and you should too. They know something about this place they aren’t telling us. They put together the team in an awful hurry, and they’re not sparing any expense. No one does that for science,” Sheila countered, biting her lip as she stared in the direction of the pavilions. She knelt and zipped the tent shut in one smooth arc.
“So they sell off all the artifacts and make a tidy profit. Isn’t that always the case? Pure research is dead. Besides, our names will still be in the history books even if we don’t make another dime.”
“Keep your voice down. This goes much deeper than profit,” she whispered, locking gazes with Blair. “Commander Jordan drove Steve to get into the central chamber as soon as possible. He hounded him to work long hours down there. Here’s the really scary part. He didn’t seem concerned or surprised when Steve’s behavior began to deteriorate.”
“Deteriorate? What the hell does that mean?” Blair whispered, finally catching a bit of her paranoia. If Bridget and Sheila were both worried, there was genuine cause for alarm. They disagreed about everything on general principal.
Sheila’s jaw snapped shut, trapping the unspoken words he could read in her gaze. Footsteps crunched outside.
“Knock, knock.” Bridget’s voice came from outside the tent flap. She unzipped it, revealing a tentative smile. She looked ready to bolt, especially when she saw Sheila. “I hope I’m not interrupting. Blair, I figured you’d be eager to see the pyramid. Do you want a tour of the site? I can come back if this is a bad time.”
Sheila bristled, eyes narrowing as she sucked in a breath. It would soon birth one of her legendary tirades, sending Bridget packing and raising tension for days. As much as Blair shared Sheila’s anger he wanted them focused on solving this thing.
“Sheila was just telling me a bit about the site,” he interjected, rising to block Sheila’s view of Bridget. “I’d love a tour, though. Sheila, do you want to join us?”
Both Bridget and Sheila stiffened, but neither objected. The two had been inseparable once, just like he and Steve had been. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
“Of course I’ll come. Bridget can barely tell the New Kingdom from the Old. You need a proper guide, not a jumped-up grad student. She can tag along though. Might even learn something instead of riding her boyfriend’s coattails.”
Bridget replied as if Sheila hadn’t spoken. “We should start with the lowest level. There are stunning passages of hieroglyphs. The colors are mind boggling.”
This was going to be a very awkward tour.
“It could take years to decipher their script, but the sheer volume of symbols will yield the key. It has to be here somewhere. I simply cannot wait to find out what they’ve been waiting so many millennia to tell us,” Sheila said, clapping Blair on the back with one of her calloused hands.
“We’ve got the best team in the world,” Bridget agreed, beaming one of those smiles his way. It stung, but having seen several similar ones so recently dulled the impact. “There’s a Rosetta stone in there somewhere. There has to be.”
“It took five different scientists a half century to unlock the Mayan language. I seriously doubt they left Ancient Peruvians for Dummies ,” he said. It was far more likely they’d merely catalogue everything here, and that the translation, if it ever came, would be made by someone decades from now.
“They didn’t have Google. Or image analysis. Our benefactors provided a computer that can read images and find common sequences,” Bridget said, with a bit less enthusiasm. She was short enough that there was no way he could miss her cleavage. Was the low-cut top for his benefit, or was he reading too
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