Chapter 2: The Dig

Dr. Clancy Sarkans examined the artifact and blew gently on it to remove a final few flecks of dust. The sparkling faceplate of the lens caught the light and reflected it back into a cascade of rainbow colors. She held it up closer to her left eye and squinted. The surface was completely scratch-free and looked like it had just been manufactured. She knew that when examined under powerful magnification, it would appear just as smooth and perfect.

Even though she had found that she could never injure or damage these artifacts, old habits were hard to break. She carefully placed the artifact into the foam lined case and sealed the lid. So far the material analysis of the clear substance had yielded little information. They simply could not remove any samples for destructive analysis. The hardness of it was so far off the existing scales that it had no real meaning. There was a matching substance on some pieces that was mirror bright. It appeared identical in material properties except that it seemed to be a perfect reflector as opposed to transparent.

She had named the clear substance "lux" and the mirrored substance "relux" in homage to her obsessive old science fiction addiction. She loved those old pulpy stories. Campbell was one of her favorites. She wondered what the characters Arcot, Morey, and Wade would think of this planet.

Dr. Sarkans was especially interested in this dig site since the markings and characters on the artifacts were unlike any previously known forerunner civilization. This planet may have been just at the edge of this culture's influence. She expected that they certainly would have found other sites on other planets given how durable the artifacts were.

Or ... again she wondered if perhaps this find could be the first with real artifacts from the mythical Warribraggans. The Warribraggans, or "Warries" as most researchers called them, had left many sites that showed extensive installations, but this could only be inferred from the various disturbances in the ground where they had their compounds. And there wasn't much of those left as they appeared to have been abandoned at least 3,000 years ago. No known Warrie city had ever been found. When the Warries left, they pretty much took everything with them, including the buildings. Based on the projected age of the artifacts, they would be right about the time of the abandoned Warribraggan installations found on other planets.

It was tough to tell just how extensive this site was or if it was truly laid out like other Warrie compounds. The jungle had pretty much moved in and now covered the mountainside where the dig was located. It was going to take some time to uncover the hidden treasures buried here for millennia.

She slapped a tag on the box and punched in commands onto the gravpad's control interface. She watched the floating truck move slowly away to the temporary warehouse they had constructed to hold the finds from the dig.

As she fully stood up, stretching and groaning, she felt her muscles and joints complain from being held in one position too long. With a quick flick of her right hand, she brushed her deep red hair out of her eyes. Limping slightly, she moved off towards the residential domes that were her temporary home on the dig site.

Dr. Sarkans entered her dome and immediately felt relief from the oppressive heat and humidity that never seemed to let up. She quickly stepped out of her shorts and shirt that were plastered to her body with sweat and tossed them towards the auto wash. The last of her underwear quickly followed and she strode towards the fresher fully nude. She was quite petite and didn't need the support of a bra for her small breasts. She stopped at the mirror and took in her freckled form, turning to look at her profile through her bright green eyes.

She examined herself critically and frowned slightly; she needed to remember to eat more often. She just got so absorbed that she often skipped meals and it showed. She burned a lot of energy during a dig. It didn't look like she was too thin, but she was at that edge. Her muscles showed clearly as she moved.

She turned the water on as hot as she could stand and just stood under the needling spray - luxuriating in the feel of the water as it danced off her skin and into the drain. Hours of grime and sweat cascaded off her body as she applied liberal amounts of soap and shampoo. After a hard day in the field she loved the feel of the soapy suds as she worked them over her curves. She exited the fresher feeling invigorated and refreshed as she toweled off the droplets of water adhering to her alabaster skin.

Clancy threw on a fresh pair of coveralls and went towards the communal kitchen area to see what her team had cooked up for dinner. There were only four of them on this dig currently and they rotated the kitchen duties.

It was Noah's turn and the undergrad student archeologist often assaulted their palates with fiery concoctions that should have blistered the plastic on the dome walls. She sniffed the air cautiously and, unable to identify the odor, asked what was on the menu for tonight.

"Oh Dr. Sarkans! I didn't see you there. It's a new recipe I've wanted to try. It's a kind of curry, you'll love it." Noah replied in his nasally, high pitched voice – talking too fast as usual.

"Noah, I've told you before, you don't have to call me Dr. Sarkans when we are out in the field. Please call me Clancy, and that certainly does smell interesting." She moved over to look into the pot he was stirring.

She wished that Noah wouldn't annoy her as much as he did. He unfortunately fit that nerdy student stereotype just too well. He had a phenomenal intellect and a good eye for spotting artifacts and patterns in them. He just needed to be more social and grow up a little bit. The funny thing was that she had been told that exact same thing by her mentor nearly fifteen years ago.