Aguilar.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“You didn’t get this stone from the site,” said Aguilar. “I am as good at my job as anyone you might have brought from the States.”
For a moment Miller looked genuinely taken aback.
“No one doubts your credentials, Aguilar,” she said.
“So what’s this about,” he shot back, with a curt nod at the red stone. “Where did it come from?”
“I was there when she went in,” said Bowerdale, as if his word was worth more then Miller’s. “She got it from the chamber under the acropolis.”
“Where did you find it?” said Aguilar, his eyes still on Miller.
“In the tomb,” said Miller. She said it carefully, emphatically, and held his eyes. He held them for a long moment and then shrugged.
“I don’t understand how that could be possible,” he said, his voice carefully neutral.
“And yet,” said Bowerdale, with a smug smile.
There was a long silence. Aguilar shrugged.
“OK,” he said, “I need to do some tests but I am as sure as I can be that the stone isn’t Mayan. My guess is that it’s from Europe. I’d need better equipment than I have here to estimate its age, but I’d say it was mined a long time ago. It’s clearer than any natural stone I’ve ever seen. Then there’s the metal, yellow and malleable.”
He gave them a pointed look and they glanced at each other, but he still saw confusion rather than amusement. He decided that maybe this wasn’t a practical joke after all.
“This isn’t Mayan,” he said, becoming more serious. “It’s gold.”
“It’s not the only piece,” Miller said. “The stone—what is it?”
“Corundum, probably,” he answered. “The red kind, which makes it...”
“Ruby,” said Bowerdale.
“Of a sort,” said Aguilar. “Paler than usual.”
“What’s it worth?” said Bowerdale. “The stone.”
“As jewelry? Less than you’d think. The color is too watery. So,” he said, and paused, “you want to explain how an early medieval European crystal shows up in a Mayan tomb?”
“Someone must have gotten inside fairly recently,” said Bowerdale.
“And put artifacts
in
the tomb?” Miller replied, studying the crystal. “That would make a change. And besides, I’d swear that entrance has been covered up for a long time.”
“That’s your opinion as an archaeologist, is it?” said Bowerdale.
“I’ve seen packed earth before,” she said. “It takes time to settle as densely as the dirt over that passage. At least a hundred years, maybe five times that.”
Aguilar watched her closely, trying to see how sure she was.
“You said you’ve never seen anything like it before,” she said, turning to him.
“Natural crystals are almost always flawed at the microscopic level,” he answered. “This is clean.”
“You think you could search for these same properties and see if anything comparable has been turned up elsewhere?”
“I can try, but I can’t do much more than look at it and do some rudimentary chemical tests here. I’ll need to send it to a more advanced local lab, then to the US for further tests, which means clearing it with the government first.”
Mexico owned everything that came out of the tomb regardless of who found it.
“Do it,” she said.
“You’re going to have to lock the site down, you know,” he added.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what this is,” he said, nodding at the gem, “but it complicates what was already a remarkable find.”
“There’ll be a feeding frenzy,” Bowerdale said, cutting in. “We need to manage publicity.”
“Probably so,” she said.
“So we talk to no one,” Bowerdale pressed. “Strictly
need to know
.”
Miller took a breath as if to steel herself. “I’ll make that call, thanks, Martin.”
Bowerdale’s eyes hardened and his smile quivered, as if threatening to turn into something nastier, but then he recovered his composure and snapped his smile back into
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“You didn’t get this stone from the site,” said Aguilar. “I am as good at my job as anyone you might have brought from the States.”
For a moment Miller looked genuinely taken aback.
“No one doubts your credentials, Aguilar,” she said.
“So what’s this about,” he shot back, with a curt nod at the red stone. “Where did it come from?”
“I was there when she went in,” said Bowerdale, as if his word was worth more then Miller’s. “She got it from the chamber under the acropolis.”
“Where did you find it?” said Aguilar, his eyes still on Miller.
“In the tomb,” said Miller. She said it carefully, emphatically, and held his eyes. He held them for a long moment and then shrugged.
“I don’t understand how that could be possible,” he said, his voice carefully neutral.
“And yet,” said Bowerdale, with a smug smile.
There was a long silence. Aguilar shrugged.
“OK,” he said, “I need to do some tests but I am as sure as I can be that the stone isn’t Mayan. My guess is that it’s from Europe. I’d need better equipment than I have here to estimate its age, but I’d say it was mined a long time ago. It’s clearer than any natural stone I’ve ever seen. Then there’s the metal, yellow and malleable.”
He gave them a pointed look and they glanced at each other, but he still saw confusion rather than amusement. He decided that maybe this wasn’t a practical joke after all.
“This isn’t Mayan,” he said, becoming more serious. “It’s gold.”
“It’s not the only piece,” Miller said. “The stone—what is it?”
“Corundum, probably,” he answered. “The red kind, which makes it...”
“Ruby,” said Bowerdale.
“Of a sort,” said Aguilar. “Paler than usual.”
“What’s it worth?” said Bowerdale. “The stone.”
“As jewelry? Less than you’d think. The color is too watery. So,” he said, and paused, “you want to explain how an early medieval European crystal shows up in a Mayan tomb?”
“Someone must have gotten inside fairly recently,” said Bowerdale.
“And put artifacts
in
the tomb?” Miller replied, studying the crystal. “That would make a change. And besides, I’d swear that entrance has been covered up for a long time.”
“That’s your opinion as an archaeologist, is it?” said Bowerdale.
“I’ve seen packed earth before,” she said. “It takes time to settle as densely as the dirt over that passage. At least a hundred years, maybe five times that.”
Aguilar watched her closely, trying to see how sure she was.
“You said you’ve never seen anything like it before,” she said, turning to him.
“Natural crystals are almost always flawed at the microscopic level,” he answered. “This is clean.”
“You think you could search for these same properties and see if anything comparable has been turned up elsewhere?”
“I can try, but I can’t do much more than look at it and do some rudimentary chemical tests here. I’ll need to send it to a more advanced local lab, then to the US for further tests, which means clearing it with the government first.”
Mexico owned everything that came out of the tomb regardless of who found it.
“Do it,” she said.
“You’re going to have to lock the site down, you know,” he added.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what this is,” he said, nodding at the gem, “but it complicates what was already a remarkable find.”
“There’ll be a feeding frenzy,” Bowerdale said, cutting in. “We need to manage publicity.”
“Probably so,” she said.
“So we talk to no one,” Bowerdale pressed. “Strictly
need to know
.”
Miller took a breath as if to steel herself. “I’ll make that call, thanks, Martin.”
Bowerdale’s eyes hardened and his smile quivered, as if threatening to turn into something nastier, but then he recovered his composure and snapped his smile back into
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