Chapter 2

In the morning she had a dull headache and felt unrested but got dressed, reluctantly checked for the ring in her pocket and headed out to the mess hall for breakfast. Almost all the members of the dig were there and she was soon part of the group, sitting with other early career archaeologists and immersed in the unceasing flow of shop talk.

Director Soren rose to his feet and tapped a spoon against his juice glass. The group quieted and turned toward him. Dianora was surprised and apprehensive. Announcements were made in staff meetings, not at breakfast. The director was grinning, looking like an excited undergrad instead of the distinguished scientist. “Yesterday we finished clearing the debris out of the great hall,” he said. She knew it was a project which had been ongoing since before her arrival on the site, using the latest high tech methods. “I’m happy to announce the room is in a tremendous state of preservation and there are detailed wall paintings, statues and other astonishing artifacts.”

“No signs of a fire or battle?” asked one of the high ranking staff members.

It wasn’t exactly known what had ended the civilization many millennia ago, although there were numerous theories, based on the scanty evidence uncovered so far. War followed by a plague was the most popular theory among the staff although Dianora hadn’t heard whether the director had an opinion yet. She was too newly arrived on site to have a theory herself, not even a half baked one.

“As a special event this morning, I’m going to project the unedited trideo of the great hall here and now, for all of you to enjoy,” the director said as two of the expedition’s techs came in with equipment and began setting up.

With much excitement and chatter, the staff members adjusted their chairs so they were all facing in the right direction. Tension rose within Dianora as she waited with the crowd to view the tremendous discoveries. She couldn’t explain the feeling but after the dreams or visions she’d had, she was a bit unnerved by the Belmane.

“You’re all working so hard on this project,” the director said to the audience as the techs finished their task, “You deserve to be the first to view this. It’s going to cause quite a sensation at home, I assure you.”

The holo began, with no sound track other than the ambient noises of the site. The camera swept along the outside of the great hall, which of course Dianora had seen before. The walls were heavily weathered, showing signs of a fire at some point, and the frescoes and inscriptions were illegible, with pieces missing. There had been plinths at regular intervals for statues but the figures themselves were long gone, save for a few toppled and broken in the long grass.

There was a collective gasp as the robos swept inside the building and brilliant colors were revealed as magnificent wall paintings came into view. Dianora wished there was time to study the panels but today was meant to be only a glimpse. Intense work remained to be done by staff members much more senior than she was, to examine and preserve what lay inside the building.

“Of course we’ve sealed the space for now,” Dr. Soren said, “To prevent degradation of the art upon exposure to air after so many millennia.”

There were numerous groups of statues scattered inside the vast room, retaining their original coloration, and Dianora was enchanted by the intricate patterns of the clothing and the lifelike faces and hair. It was as if a group of the Belmane had frozen in place while at a party or religious gathering.

“Here’s my prime find coming up now,” the director said with pride. “We’ve seen his name inscribed on various monuments and in lists—it’s one of the few words we have deciphered as yet.” There was a pause while the camera circled the back of a statue and as the holo slowly scanned to the carved face, the scientist said, “I give you Garrin.”

“Garrin,” Dianora said at the same instant, stiffening as if she’d been struck by lightning. This was unmistakably the man from her vision and the dream, strong, proud and commanding, gazing above the head of the viewer. She was sure she was going to faint. How had she known what he looked like?

He had one arm extended, holding a box balanced in the palm of his hand. Nausea overcame her —it was the puzzle box she’d opened yesterday.

“An offering to his gods,” Dr. Soren said as the holo camera lingered on the details of the box.

“Or to his lady.” Dianora didn’t realize until too late she’d spoken aloud. Only she knew what was inside the box. The ring wasn’t made for any goddess. It was a gift to the woman Garrin would fight to the death to protect.

People stared at her in astonishment at her breach of etiquette and she struggled not to run from the tent.

Dr. Soren smiled in a rather forced manner. “Ms. Devlin raises a good point of course. Everything is speculation at this point in the dig and we mustn’t rush to conclusions without more evidence. I do rather doubt the Belmane would construct a statue of a ruler offering a gift to anyone of lesser degree than a god or goddess but we’ll see as we gather more clues and artifacts.”

“I’m sorry to have interrupted you,” Dianora said. “The statue is so amazing, an incredible find, sir.”

“Apology accepted,” Dr. Soren said with a gracious expression and a polite smile. “We value enthusiasm among our new staff members. There’s a bit more to the tour.” He kept talking as the camera highlighted various other frescoes and a few loose items on the floor of the hall, including a sword.

“Did you see any evidence of Ancient Observer influence, sir?” asked one of the specialists.

With a frown, Soren shook his head. “Not so far, Smythe, but of course we’ve barely scratched the surface here.”

Dianora remembered one of the reasons given by the Sectors for funding this dig were early indications the Belmane might have been visited by the enigmatic alien race. The Sectors always hungered to learn more about those who’d traveled and ruled the galaxy millennia before humans arrived on the scene and whose tech was so superior to anything modern day sentients had that sites had been found with equipment millions of years old still functioning. It was believed there had been a number of space faring races collectively known as the Ancient Observers, in different time periods.

Thinking of the huge gemstone in the center of the ring she’d found, Dianora understood with shock it could be an AO artifact, repurposed by the Belmane for jewelry. The AO were known to have favored the use of tremendous quantities of gems as functional parts of their technology. This made her temporary custody of the ring even worse, as no one was allowed to own anything associated with the AO. The Sectors swept up all such artifacts, which disappeared into the top secret labs trying to unlock the secrets the ancients had possessed.

She had to get the ring back in the box and the box to Dr. Soren this morning. She could say it was only after seeing it in Garrin’s hand that she suspected its importance and dug it out of the massive pile of minor artifacts she was assigned to catalog. Impatient to make her way to her assigned workspace, she didn’t pay attention to the rest of the director’s talk about the new discoveries and applauded by rote when the audience around her did.

Dianora bolted from the mess tent as soon as the director’s address ended and hurried to her assigned spot in a tent far from the active dig. Today she didn’t linger to admire the broken bits of Belmane architecture and weathered statue fragments. The box remained where she’d set it yesterday to focus on the ring and with a sigh of relief, Dianora dug in her pocket for the artifact.

“What do you have there?” Her immediate supervisor, Isabel, came all the way into the space and pointed at the box. With a gasp she asked, “Is that what I think it is?”

Heart pounding, Dianora picked up the small container. “I think it’s the same box the statue of Garrin is holding. When I watched the holo a few minutes ago, I remembered this was in my pile of items to clean and catalog.” Sticking to the truth as far as she could felt like the safest route.

Holding out her hand, Isabel nodded. “Let me see it.” As she carefully examined the box, she added, “You flew out of the meeting I was afraid you were ill so I came here to check on you. I can understand your excitement now. We need to get this to Dr. Soren immediately.”

Accompanying her boss across the bustling dig to locate the director, Dianora could hardly keep herself focused enough to walk. Impossible to put the ring in the box, out of the question to admit she’d found the jewelry yesterday—at this point if the ring was revealed it would be assumed she’d planned to steal it and nothing she could say would save her. She shoved her hand in her pocket and touched the artifact to reassure herself. Maybe she could plant it in the dig in a remote spot or perhaps she’d find another box or container in her pile of items to catalog where she could hide the ring and ‘find’ it. Of course doing so would compromise the integrity of the dig. The proximity of objects to each other was an important archaeological clue.

Sick at heart at the archaeological crime she’d committed and was now compounding, Dianora tried to think of any way out of the mess. Confessing would be the end of her career, the lifelong dream she’d barely embarked upon after all her studies and hard work gone up in smoke. At best Soren would dismiss her and blackball her and at worst he’d hand her over to the authorities, once they could be summoned to this remote planet.

Dr. Soren was in the chamber he’d so recently unburied and Isabel was senior enough to confidently enter the location, drawing Dianora with her. Any other time she would have been thrilled to view the chamber and its contents in person but right now she was sunk in misery and desperation. Of course the director was working on the statue of Garrin.

Dianora gazed into the face of the man she’d seen in not one but two dreams and wished he were here to defend her. The ring came to me, she told herself defiantly. The bauble probably hadn’t been out of the puzzle box since the time this statue was carved until she opened it.

“Ah, Isabel,” Dr. Soren said agreeably, with a nod for Dianora. “I think this statue may have been one of a pair.” He straightened. “Look at this inscription here and give me your preliminary opinion.”

Her supervisor squinted and leaned close. “Possibly. Perhaps the second one was never carved before the civilization ended. We’ll have to study the wording closely.” With a dramatic gesture, she flourished the small box under Dr. Soren’s nose. “Or maybe the answer is in here.”

He retreated a step, eyebrows raised. “What in space do you have there?”

“It’s from the rubble Dianora is assigned to sort and catalog,” Isabel said. “She and I found it this morning and of course after watching your holos, we recognized it at once.” She raised the box to the level of the one Garrin was holding and it was obvious the items were identical.

Dianora took note of how deftly her boss took credit for finding the box, even if Isabel did include her.

Soren took the box as if it was made of fragile glass instead of sturdy wood and held it reverently. “My word, an amazing find. What serendipity.” He turned it over and around, trying to figure out how to open the lid. Shaking it gently, he said, “Sounds empty, which is disappointing.”

Holding herself back from grabbing the box and demonstrating how to work the puzzle, Dianora had to bite the inside of her cheek hard. Soren eyed her. “Were you able to get it open?”

“No, sir. It was one of the things I was going to work on this morning actually.”

The director handed the artifact to her boss. “Have the scans done and give it priority, would you?”

She took the box, eyes bright with enthusiasm. “Of course. We’ll leave you to your work but I felt you needed to see it immediately.”

“Absolutely.” He addressed Dianora again. “If you find anything related to the box or with Garrin’s name on it—anything which could be significant—report it to Isabel immediately. Don’t wait for the weekly report.”

“Yes, sir.” The ring was burning a hole in her pocket, figuratively speaking. She fought the temptation to confess right now.

“Garrin is the key to everything, or so I believe,” the director said. “The references to a possible AO connection were found in conjunction with records pertaining to his bloodline. Wouldn’t have been in his time of course, too far removed from the known AO timelines but there may be information pointing to an AO site if we’re able to dig deeply enough.” He bent over the inscription on the statue again. “Frustrating we’ve only been able to translate about a tenth of the written material we’ve found.” His muttering became inaudible and Isabel drew Dianora away.

“Be sure to make a note in your records I took custody of the box today on Dr. Soren’s orders,” her supervisor said as they exited the grand chamber. “We have to maintain the chain of control, especially since this particular artifact is so potentially significant.” She stared at the box in her hand. “I hope there’s something in here. What a discovery it would be.”

“Yes. It would be.” Dianora parted ways with Isabel as the supervisor continued on toward her own work station. Her mood was black and she kicked at a small rock in her path as she trudged to the door of her assigned spot. Entering the room, she slumped into her chair and buried her head in her hands, tears of frustration flowing. How had the situation deteriorated so fast from her making an incredible find to now having to hide the artifact for fear of being branded a thief? I tried it on, against all the rules and standards I was trained on. She had only herself to blame but the knowledge burned. Fishing the ring out of her pocket, she held it carefully between two fingers and studied the gems, wishing there was a way to make them reveal their secrets.

Before she knew what she was doing, she slid the ring onto her finger again and was suffused with a wave of frigid cold so intense she couldn’t breathe. As panic raced along her nerve endings and the room went black in her vision for lack of air in her lungs, she fell from the chair and lost consciousness.