The Circle and Star

by John Foster

  Madison in the meantime had imaged the potential feature area and was now documenting the tunnel walls. At the feature, Malena noticed a distant glow in the tunnel and hoped Madison had finished, a pensive smile forming as she thought of Madison alone in those long dark corridors with only a hand light for company. Malena realized that she felt comfortable working by herself because she was near the entrance where sunlight poured in and provided something of a comfort zone. On reflection, she wouldn’t want to do what Madison was doing which she considered somewhat spooky to be alone in the dark like that even if she did have a hand light. Malena knew that both West and Theo made regular visits to check on her progress which she realized was probably more for moral support, rather than a lack of confidence and in West’s case it might be even more than that and she smiled at that thought.

  West soon arrived and complimented her work as he inspected the proceedings from over her shoulder, giving a nod for her to continue. Malena ran the sonic trowel back and forth over the narrower end of the pit and gradually the soil crumbled away to expose a grouping of small articulated bones. She stopped, took a deliberate breath, and started to follow the bones in a very deliberate manner. West stood to one side, slouching casually against the cool smooth wall, and watched her move the device over what his practiced eye already recognized as human foot bones. Methodically, she continued to unearth the lower part of the skeleton and then work from the pit edge inward, looking for associated artifacts or other feature elements.

  By noon she had exposed three quarters of the remains and worked her way toward the head. She looked up at West who had watched in silence the entire time.

  In answer to her questioning grin he said simply, "Good job."

  The pleasure of the compliment was obvious on her face which was streaked generously with dirt.

  "You want to take over while I go for some lunch?” she asked, “I umm, was saving the skull for you.”

  "You're kidding.”

  With a sheepish duck of her head Malena admitted, “Well, actually I'm a little creeped out at the thought of an ancient face staring at me, nose to nose, while I work.” she said.

  Faking a dramatic roll of his eyes, West shooed her away and pulled his sonic trowel off his belt clip. He could hear a giggle as she escaped up the ladder and he settled himself contentedly into one of his favorite aspects of the job.

  Almost immediately he found the third eye.

  The camp was alive that night with speculation.

  The next morning, Malena began the next steps in the burial excavation with Volkum assisting. West detailed Madison to stay in the area to frequently document the skeleton exposure so the work could progress without delay. By the end of the third day, West received an urgent message from Volkum to come to the burial.

  “How’s it going?” asked West as he made his way through the tubes and wires that now snaked across the tunnel floor. He saw with satisfaction that the bones were neatly detailed in place with each skeletal element outlined. Every bit of dirt had been carefully removed. Flood lights stationed a meter from either end of the burial provided plenty of light.

  Volkum got to the point immediately. “We have another little mystery.”

  “What?” asked West, his eyes twinkling with delight, “are you kidding?” He rubbed his hands together in anticipation as Volkum explained, "There's a metal disc under the skull and we also found metal tips on the fingers of each hand. We didn’t see them initially because they were obscured by crusted dirt."

  "Come look!” said Malena, scooting over from her position next to the burial. West carefully positioned himself where he could peer around the skull. Partially obscured by the ancient cranium was what looked like a 10 centimeter round disc of some type of silver metal. There were tiny dots across the surface of the disc in what appeared to be a random pattern. Malena and Volkum sat back on their heels and watched West examine the object with obvious fascination and then looked at the metal tipped fingers. “That’s just amazing,” West said.

  Finally, he got to his knees and looked over to where Madison stood. “Okay, Madison, document this as much as you can. Volkum and Malena, you will assist. Take your time -- the documentation is extremely important as this will undoubtedly be headline news and I want everything scrupulously recorded. There will be no question of the authenticity of the find, got it?” West stood and shook off the sand, saying, “Good job you guys."

  After one more look at the burial, West reluctantly turned his back and walked to the ladder muttering, "Now I have a decision to make.”

  Malena and Volkum turned to look at each other and smiled.

  Madison didn’t mind the enveloping darkness that followed her as she walked the tunnel corridors, imaging the walls and ceiling. The cool, quiet surroundings made for a nice break from the oppressive heat on the surface. So far, the imager had found the same monotonous measurements for the ceiling height and width of the tunnel walls. She wondered if the tunnels had been used solely for storage because each section ended abruptly at a flat wall and the radar scans detected no voids beyond them. The tunnels were rounded at the top, with straight-sided white plastered walls and earthen floors. Her job today, and she smiled wearily at the thought of how many jobs she had had recently, was to document the tunnels so thoroughly that someone sitting in a cubicle at Harvard would see them as clearly as she could. A sudden, intense itch at her ankle made her wish she could transport some of the rather large blood sucking sand fleas to Harvard as well, so that the full spectrum of her experiences could be enjoyed.

  The digital imager had indicated that the distance between the tunnel walls was remarkably precise, no more than a variance of 1 mm, except in one spot, and that was where the burial was found. The walls there were narrower by 1 centimeter, a half centimeter on each side. This is where Madison now devoted her attention. She stepped over the legs of Volkum and Malena as they were lying parallel to the burial taking notes.

  She moved her hand along the wall feeling the grainy texture of the surface. The point where it narrowed was barely perceptible. The texture and color of the wall area was the same for all the tunnels, suggesting it had been applied at the same time.

  Madison knew that the change in tunnel width was not an accident in construction. The absolute precision of the rest of the walls argued persuasively that the constriction was intentional. The question was why? Why would they make this part of the corridor narrower? Then it occurred to her, what if they didn’t mean to make the passageway narrower; what if they were covering something up on the surface of the wall?

  A sudden, shadowy movement broke her train of thought and she spun to face it, her long tensed legs ready to kick or run. A moment's hesitation, and then a squat, familiar figure emerged from the curtain of darkness.

  “Dammit Dickens!”

  “Sorry,” drawled Dickens in a low voice. Madison's hands shook with the adrenaline rush, and the embarrassment of having him see her rattled like this irritated her further. She couldn't understand why this guy always seemed to get under her skin. He smiled oddly, still looking at her. A sharp creak from behind made them both turn as one to see West descending the ladder.

  Stopping with one foot still perched on the bottom rung, West looked from Madison's flushed face to Dickens' noncommittal gaze and demanded, “What?”

  “I’m afraid I frightened her when I came down the ladder,” Dickens said quickly.

  Madison, trying to tamp down her irritation, said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you, I didn’t know anyone else was down here.”

  After a moment of consideration, West approached them. “Okay, let’s get down to business, we’ve got a ton of things to do.” Turning to Dickens he said, “Theo is somewhere in the bowels of the Paradig and I can't reach him on my HDA. Please go find him and tell him to haul his hairy self down here to join the party.”

  “Right,” answered Dickens and with a small nod to Madison, he turned and walked to the ladder,
climbing it without a sound.

  While waiting for Theo to arrive, Madison had plenty of time to brief West on her findings regarding the corridor walls. The minute Theo's bulk touched the tunnel floor she went through it all again. Then, as if giving a lecture to recalcitrant students West said, “Okay kids, let's figure out a strategy for investigating Madison's observation and testing the hypothesis.”

  Madison nodded, and turning to gaze at the wall she said, “All right, we can guess that the wall is covered by a thick layer of plaster and that there is something behind it. Well, presumably.”

  Theo approached and ran his hand across the white expanse, feeling the texture and trying to discern where it narrowed. “We'll take a hand laser saw and cut a small section out of it and see what we can see,” said Theo. “If there is adhesive, we’re screwed. But I'm thinking there is probably a naked painting of Madison under there,” Theo said, his bush baby eyebrows wiggling humorously as he leered at her. Madison gave him her best withering look but there was a broad hint of a laugh there too, showing her devotion to her large bearded friend.

  Shaking his head, West closed his eyes and clicked his dusty boots together three times, mimicking something he had come across in an old archival story. Both Theo and Madison looked perplexed but then rolled their eyes and all three laughed.

  “We’ll start in the morning,” said West, “and we’ll need some form of protection for whatever is hiding under there."

  “I’ll get the image documentation first for current conditions, and then we...,” said Madison as Theo interjected, “then we’ll rip and tear into it!”

  The next morning the sun was as hot as always but West didn’t seem to notice it as he strode to the mounded dirt surrounding the tunnel's entrance, making it resemble an oversized gopher hole. He descended the ladder with practiced ease and made himself comfortable to watch as Madison and Theo performed preliminary documentation of the corridor. Ever since this investigation had begun, West had tackled it with his usual rigor and devotion. His job as the Principal Archaeologist was to manage the excavation, the research, the logistics, the crew and of course the bureaucratic nightmare that was the hallmark of every archaeological dig in out-of-the -way places. West's proficiency with all of these tasks resulted in his father's old mining consortium hiring him on as their sole archaeologist. That, plus his experience in space ships and alien civilizations gave him an unparalleled advantage over any competition. West smiled at the thought, it was amusing since there had been no competition in the first days when it was discovered that an ancient alien civilization existed in the Theron System.

  Wests’ grandfather had been a respected archaeologist at the Science Center and when Web Media asked him to represent what they called the “sane and sober viewpoint” of aliens visiting earth he had accepted and had quickly debunked the notion. That was of course before it was known there were aliens out there. James told his grandson West that it was his duty to investigate these sites and artifacts. It was an added benefit that West could accompany his grandfather as an intern.

  Madison started to cough which brought West out of his reverie.

  “Let’s take the first sample area near the beginning of the plaster anomaly and then work our way in,” said West, raising his chin and looking at Theo and Madison.

  “Huh. WE means us,” said Theo looking first at Madison and then at West.

  West simply arched his eyebrows, smiled, and tipped his head meaningfully at Theo.

  Theo grinned, then with feigned resignation he picked up his hand saw and cut along the small square outline he had drawn onto the wall earlier. A small white cloud of plaster floated up then quickly settled. The saw was connected to a jig that wouldn’t allow it to cut more than 1 mm into the wall, thus preserving whatever might be lying hidden just under the surface. With the overhead glow light turned up to maximum, Madison attached an adhesive tag to the defined square and glanced up at Theo and West. All three held their breath as Madison tugged gently and the scribed plaster surface popped cleanly off the wall. All three peered closely at what was revealed.

  “What the …?” muttered West, his breath suddenly escaping. Revealed before them was a dull red semi-circle about two inches wide. Madison and Theo, shoulder to shoulder, looked at each other, their eyes bright with excitement.

  “Document it?” asked Madison.

  “I just put that stuff back in storage,” Theo groaned, but he had already turned to the ladder to exit, moving faster than normal and that meant that good old Theo was actually excited about something. West smiled, thinking how calm and imperturbable Theo usually was.

  Madison turned back to the wall with a quizzical expression as her fingers came close but did not touch the surface. “What do you think it is?” she asked, “or more precisely what does it mean?”

  “I assume you mean why was it covered?” asked West, as he turned to examine the area closely.

  “Well, not just covered but covered so … subtly? Without our precision digital mapping array, we would never have noticed it.”

  West rubbed the ever-present stubble on his chin, trying to stifle his own excitement and think calmly. It was important to focus on the physical exposure itself and not fall victim to the temptation of romantic interpretations just yet. One miscalculation in this process, and the whole pictograph could break apart into a very large jigsaw puzzle. He grimaced at the thought of telling his boss how long it would take to attempt to piece it back together again, if that were even possible.

  Noticing his frown Madison said lightly, “Don’t worry, Big Boy, we’ll do it slowly so that you get to see the big picture.... all in one bright shining piece. And with a sideways smile she added, "Get it? The big picture?”

  West smiled back at her but was again drawn to his private thoughts, his eyes narrowing a bit as he focused on the task ahead, just barely hearing Madison talk. They would have to be careful that the image on the wall wouldn’t disintegrate or fade once exposed to the air. This little exposure would make a good test case and help them to decide on how to proceed. If there was no deterioration, they would strip off the rest of the plaster, otherwise they would have to completely seal off this part of the tunnel -- which could easily be done, he thought, gazing up and down at the corridor walls.

  Madison quieted, realizing West wasn't listening. He stood in front of the panel with his broad shoulders and short dark hair. He had bright blue eyes that held you when he looked at you.

  Turning to her, he grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, my mind is running in circles with all that we have found." He gestured to the panel and said, “Go ahead and take some infrared images of the exposure once you get set up and let's take a look at them.”

  “I wonder how big the overall image is?” asked Madison, now peering intently at the red blob.

  “Presumably it’s the size of the thicker plaster of the wall. At this point I’m not making too many assumptions.” said West his smile fading as he thought about all the different possibilities.

  Volkum and Malena left the tunnel and headed for the Paradig to input their notes. Theo returned with the gear and West watched him set it up with Madison's help as he leaned against the coolness of the corridor wall. It was like watching a scruffy bear and a sleek seal dance around each other, with one squeezing against the wall while the other maneuvered the supply box into position. They would use infrared scanners first to determine if there were any images hidden from the visible spectrum of light. It wasn’t likely, but then again, nothing they had found recently had been likely and West didn’t want to overlook anything that could cast doubts on this work, his work.

  West smiled as Madison's nose wrinkled when Theo’s massive hairy arm brushed against her face as he helped adjust the scanning helmet on her head. Madison had scratch-built the helmet to accommodate the increasing number of imagery components being used in recent excavations. With it, she could simultaneously take infrared images, digital photos, video, and spectroscopic
scans at one time. Each device had a miniature screen which displayed on the face plate of her helmet and a hand held remote allowed her to adjust, view, and record each image. With a breathing filter she could even use it underwater. The date, time, and provenience of each image was input for future reference. But just in case there was a breakdown in the technology, West always kept his grandfather's century-old felt board and plastic letters in the bottom of the imagery supply box.

  A slight buzz coming from Madison’s helmet indicated that she had begun taking images and her fingers deftly rotated the small wheels on her hand remote, refining and adjusting as she slowly and methodically moved across the area in question. When she was sure she had gathered sufficient data, she turned to face West.

  “Okay, I think that should do it.” Her voice sounded hollow in the confines of her helmet, “Your wrist HDA should be downloading the images now.”

  West raised his arm and saw that his own HDA was indeed blinking, indicating that it was receiving data. Placing a wireless eye connection patch from the HDA over his left eye, he could view the images as they downloaded.

  “They look good, nothing more than what we see in visible light. There’s no evidence of fade or disintegration.” West said taking the patch off and placing it back onto the HDA. “Okay, lets peel more of the plaster and see what this baby has to show us.”

  Theo grinned with anticipation and pulled a simple plastic face shield and respirator from his equipment box.

  “Okay, ladies and gentlemen, clear away, and let me do some work.” Theo said as he picked up his hand cutter and moved to the small patch he had cut away earlier. Madison moved to one side while Theo checked the saw jig to make sure it would cut to the proper depth. With a nod, he turned to the wall and raised the saw to the previously cut patch. West could hear the device whirring as Theo placed it above the patch to start his new cut. The sound became louder and higher pitched as its laser beam bit into the plaster, showering Theo with a light snowfall of powder. West moved back a bit to escape the white dust that was now floating in the air. Theo’s voice boomed out over his voice communicator in a metallic shrill which caused West to move farther away. “How much do you want cut away in this session?”