The symphony of pre-dawn birdsong, chirps, and buzzing that filled the early morning hours woke me to a new day. I awoke and sat at my desk admiring Crystals tenacity to stay asleep through the sounds of the world waking up. Just as the first morning rays pierced the tent, all pretense of sleep led Crystal to pull the pillow over her head and mumble something about turning off the light.

I smiled and started brewing coffee. The sounds and the smell of the coffee being squeezed into a cup finally convinced Crystal it was better to wake up than sleep her day away. “What time is it?”

“Colorado time or camp?”

“UGH.”

“Close to six. Here, this should help you wake up. It’s around four in Colorado, but you’ll sleep like a baby tonight.”

“Is it always so loud?”

“You'll get used to it if you're here long enough and eventually find it relaxing.” She gave me a dubious look but didn't outright question my opinion. “Why don’t you get ready for the day? Do you remember how to get to the women’s shower?”

Crystal nodded her head and sipped on her coffee while I made me a cup. Once done, I sat at my desk and let out a sigh as I took in my morning elixir. We sat in silence for a few minutes before she cleared her throat. “Dad? What’s the plan for today? More drawing?”

“Well…breakfast first, then back to the drawing board. Until Francisco and his crew find anything new, we keep documenting what we have. However, don’t discount your importance. Illustrating our find will help not only us but others who are not able to see the pieces in person.”

“Can’t they just look at the pictures?”

“Sure, but there are things you see when illustrating that are hard to notice if there are shadows or slight impressions. It’s nice to have the illustrators perspective.”

“I guess.”

I finished off my coffee and rinsed both cups out from the water jug. “Ready to get some breakfast?”

Crystal sighed and gathered her things. “Give me a few minutes to shower and get ready.”

"Don't worry too much about your hair since there's a reason we wear hats and scarves in the jungle. If you want to use one of my hats, you can."

I couldn't help laughing as Crystal grumbled on her way to the showers. I hit the showers myself and wasn't surprised Crystal hadn't returned by the time I came back. Ruth and I were married for nearly 20 years ago, and I never figured out why women took so long showering.

My sister-in-law emailed last night asking if Crystal arrived. With plenty of time to kill, I shot off a quick response letting her know all was well. I knew the email wouldn't go out until later, but the server would store it until they connected to the satellite.

I closed my laptop as Crystal returned sporting a ponytail and more bobby pins than necessary. She walked over to my ball cap collection and grabbed my Buff's hat. I considered protesting since I loved my CU Buffalo's hat, but bit back my complaints. She hadn't cried about the humidity yet, so I kept the peace.

An early morning fog rose from the damp ground as we walked towards the mess tent. I turned my head when I heard a nearby tent door slam shut and hurried footfalls. Michael must have been waiting half the morning for a chance to see Crystal and me leave for breakfast. I knew everyone's routine, Michael never got out of bed this early.

"Hi, Crystal, I didn’t expect to see you this early.”

I glared at Michael, but he didn't seem to notice my annoyance.

"Oh hello, Michael.” I placed my hand on the small of Crystals back and pushed her along with me. “Are you having breakfast with us?"

“I don’t usually eat this early but if you insist I’ll make the exception for you."

I came close to throwing up in my mouth.

“Oh, that would be wonderful. Wouldn’t it Dad?”

“Sure. I’m positive we can find room in the mess hall for one more,” I said while rolling my eyes.

My daughter was either oblivious to the obvious ruse or pleased to see him. I'd have to remind Michael that my daughter is still a minor for a few more months.

###

Michael and Crystal didn't pause long enough for me to talk during breakfast. Michael spoke with his mouth full, and I'd lost my appetite after only five minutes. I would have left them alone if it wasn't considered bad parenting abandoning your daughter on her first day. Instead, I bit my cheek and suffered in silence while I counted the particles of food flying from Michaels' mouth. If he took a breath, I might have told him to swallow his food. It didn't matter since Crystal was oblivious to his poor manners and enthralled with every word he said.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

At around seven in the morning, we arrived in my office. It was still too early for Dr. Landry to be here, so her lost puppy continued following us. I showed Crystal a few of the artifacts I had locked up and gave her guidelines on how I expected the sketches to look. I suppose it was handy having Michael there since he was our in-house illustrator and provided better guidance than I would have.

They walked away from my workstation to an empty table on the far side of the room. Crystal drew while Michael gushed over every stroke she made. I considered throwing a paperweight at the back of Michaels' head but contained my violent urges. Instead of doing anything about his stupidity, I focused on the new artifacts lying in my Inbox.

I couldn't understand why we were finding so many pieces of jewelry and broken pottery that didn't fit with the area. The Mayan peoples fought many wars and looted often, but when Dr. Landry's team found a necklace from the Incan Empire, I knew something was wrong. I considered calling this whole project an elaborate hoax. If they brought me any more surprises, I'd talk to UNAM's board of directors and walk away. Such an intricate hoax would ruin my career if my name got associated with it.

A tapping sounded from my office door, and I watched as Dr. Banuelos and two of her graduate students walked in. Michael stopped kissing my daughter's rear end and joined Esmeralda’s entourage.

“You wouldn't be trying to steal students from Dr. Landry would you?”

“Esmerelda, I’d love to steal Michael since Hector sleeps until noon, but I’ll let Dr. Landry keep him for now.” I gestured to Crystal. “Michael joined us for an early breakfast and was helping Crystal understand what we expect from her work.”

“I see.”

“Crystal, this is Dr. Esmeralda Banuelos. She’s an archeologist from UNAM in Mexico City. These are her two grad assistants, Luis Espinoza and Rosa Sanchez.”

Dr. Banuelos was a renown genetic anthropologist who up to this point hasn’t had any bodies to study and has taken charge of the overall project. Her assistants worked more with the business side of archeology than fieldwork. I guess with all the Inca, and Aztec artifacts found thus far, Esmerelda felt it necessary to have two assistants.

“Nice to meet you.” Crystal held out her hand, and Dr. Banuelos shook it in one quick jerk.

Dr. Landry entered my ever-shrinking office at this moment so I felt I'd introduce her again. “You met Dr. Landry last night, and Michael is her assistant.”

“Nice to meet you, Michael.”

“Please, call me Mike. Your Dad is formal. It seems to be a disease of the Ph.D. types.”

###

After introductions and veiled insults were exchanged, my office emptied out quickly, and Crystal and I were able to work for four hours without interruptions.

”Dr. Haws they found the entrance!"

We were just preparing to head out for lunch when Juan interrupted us with the news. Juan has worked for Francisco as his foreman on several projects over the years. Juan wasn’t with Francisco in Guatemala, but I knew him for many years. The news of the entrance excited me and I wanted to run out the door, but it'd be amateurish and make me look silly in front of my daughter. Crystal looked at me in anticipation and rushed to clean up once I started putting my pottery shards away.

"I didn't get a chanced to take you to the temple yesterday. You want to see it?"

"Are you kidding? Hurry!"

Laughing, I moved a little faster as she put her charcoals away and wiped her hands clean. Juan smiled at me since he knew I was dying to get inside of the temple. He patiently waited for us and then escorted us to the temple. Laborers lined the path and looked afraid to approach. Something was wrong and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

"Don't tell me they're superstitious, Juan?"

"I won't say it." He chuckled, and I joined in after a moment.

Dr. Francisco Alvarez stood a few feet away from a pit, and I could see a rather large opening in the wall just below ground level. Dr. Alvarez was from Peru, and I've worked on at least six different projects with him over the years. Ruth and I flew down to Peru some years ago and stayed at his home. Our wives hit it off, and we've stayed close ever since that vacation. Well, until my wife’s death and then the Guatemala Incident, as I started to refer to my time in captivity.

"Guess what we found?"

I leaned my head to the side to catch a better look. "It looks clean from this angle. How long ago did you uncover it?"

"Ten minutes."

I raised my eyebrow at him. "Why do I believe you're meeting me outside the entrance for a reason? You seem like my dog waiting for me to throw the ball. What gives?"

Francisco laughed. "Well, inside the antechamber we found strange writings over a remarkable cover stone. I asked everyone to leave once I entered. I didn't want to disturb it or take any photographs until you examined the stone."

"You kicked everyone out of the chamber?"

"Well, a couple ran."

I laughed. "You said 'strange writing,' do you mean strange markings instead? You read Mayan better than most here."

"No. I meant what I said. It’s a written language; you remember Guatemala? I guess you’ll earn your pay now."

I felt a mixture of fear and excitement run through me. It's rare a linguist can discover a new language, and if Francisco were correct, I'd be the first to translate it. Dr. Alvarez and I had a running joke he does all the work while I sit in a chair and take all the credit. It’s not accurate, but when we’re asked to attend conferences, I’m the one who fields most the questions.

After I recovered and got back to work, I sent out some feelers regarding the Orb we’d found. I didn’t have the opportunity to study the writing for more than a few minutes in Guatemala, so I didn’t have any sample hieroglyphs to ask about. The whole incident caused the details to slip from me. However, nobody had seen anything like I tried to explain. I searched archive images and finally gave up my search. If this was like that orb…

I’d fallen behind and quickened my pace to catch up with Francisco. While walking through the entrance, a shiver ran down my back. The walls of the passage were smooth and unadorned like the outer wall. Matter of fact, I couldn't even identify any seams in the stone.

The tunnel appeared to be three meters thick which explained the ground-penetrating radar images or lack thereof. “Was this entrance carved out of solid granite? I don't see tool marks.”

"Dr. Haws stop staring at the tunnel walls and look in front of you."

"What—“ My words caught in my throat as my jaw popped open.

Crystal gasped from somewhere behind me.