by V. S. Holmes
“Dar?”
“Yes. It appears Komodor Muda Nalawangsa has requested you personally. Shall I tell him you’re on your way?” Probably just to rub in his new rank of Komodor Muda and the fact he’s now senior enough to just ‘request’ me. “Thanks, Phil. I’ll see you there.” She unwrapped the plastic from her uniform and slid it on. After seven years of drifting naked in a vat of saline, the stiff electro-fiber felt cumbersome. She flexed her hand, aligning the contacts inside with the conduits tattooed on her skin. A hum. A rush of energy not-quite-her-own. Paired. The word wasn’t spoken, not heard in the traditional sense, nor was it a thought. It least, not hers. Increase temperature by 0.5 degrees C.
Her goosebumps sank back into her skin. She slid the door open and slithered from her cryotube. The lights here were brighter, the snaking lines of green and blue illuminating the stark white of walls and the sharp silver of glass. Her finger brushed the pad in the wall, changing a panel from cycling photos to a mirror. She scraped her hair back and straightened her collar. It was always alarming how little her face changed during years of cryosleep.
“Opsir Nalawangsa—”
“Yeah, Phil, I know. On my way.” She shoved through the next door into a corridor. The steep curve told her still-disoriented mind she was on the interior of the ship. A gentle press indicated they were just inside the gravitational field. Planet-side is starboard. She kicked off the floor and sailed along the corridor. Other than several bots and the usual techs, the hall was deserted. Debriefing already started then. It took days for the ship and crew to recover from a cryo-trip to open space. Longer when they arrived at a planet’s orbit. She found the first drop-door to the exterior rings of the ship and pressed the symbol for Trajectory. The ground trembled with the rings’ gentle turning. When the doors between the outer rings and a transport shaft were aligned the door slid open. Lin dropped, her grin broad. This was her favorite part. The slight artificial gravity brought by the rotation grew the farther from the core she got, so what started as a gentle drift accelerated into a true free fall.
WARNING: Falling from high places can result in damage or expiration. Engage mag-catch. She ignored the suit for another moment, enjoying the rushing air. Lights flickered past as she hurtled through dozens of levels. She clenched her teeth against biting her tongue. Suit: Engage mag-catch. Electromagnets in her suit kicked on with a hum and lurch. By the time she arrived at the door emblazoned with the symbol for Trajectory she was floating. A panel slid across the transport tube and she touched down. Gravity settled over her like a blanket. Even her organs felt heavy. Her palm on the door granted access to the waiting area. Another palm on the next door prompted a cheery robotic voice very unlike Phil’s.
“Good morning! Please state your rank, full name, and purpose clearly into the speaker.”
Lin leaned forward. “Opsir Muda Udara First Class Lin Nalawangsa, to see Komodor Muda Udara Dar Nalawangsa.”
“Accepted, have a lovely day!”
Lin smiled, wondering if the security bot’s voice grew irate when you weren’t allowed through. The door slid open and she stepped through. Trajectory was as messy and chaotic as the rest of the ship was tidy. The bank of screens to the left showed their past trips, and those of other ships in the fleet. One blinked with a digital scan of Phil’s face as he debriefed the crew and discussed issues with other ships’ minds. The right was a whirlwind of orbit physics and gravitational maps. Her brother stood within the ring of navigation and communication computers that dominated the center of the room. He snarled something at the image of Phil’s head on one of his screens. “I don’t really care what the ISS has to say. Our orbit takes precedence. It’s much harder for us to navigate then for them.”
“Sir,” Phil offered, “I think they feel differently. They’re expecting a shipment and new crew. Their flightpath has been planned for months, and the weather won’t hold forever—”
“I’ll show them fucking weather...” His mutter almost drowned in a chorus of beeps that rose from Navigation. “Then put me on the com with NASA.”
“Paging NASA.”
Lin saw her opening and stepped up to the raised floor of the Captain’s Ring. “You wanted to see me, Dar?”
Dar frowned, but did not look up. He could have been her twin: black, smooth hair, warm beige skin, and deep oval eyes. Their features and parents, however, were the only things they shared.
“I need you to go planet-side.”
Lin’s stomach lurched. The tingle crawling up her arms had nothing to do with electromagnets or her suit maintaining temperature. “Excuse me?”
CHAD
THE CHARACTER OF CHAD is born from a man of the same given name—Chad Di Gregorio. I met Chad in Greece during my first dig. While I only knew him for a short time I learned quickly that he was a man of kindness, dedication, and intelligence. He was a fantastic archaeologist who impacted many lives. He left this world far too soon, and it is in his honor I wrote Nel's colleague.
Chad was a wonderful human, of whom I can only hope to portray a fraction.
GLOSSARY
Alluvial sands - Soil deposited by running water, such as streams, rivers, and flood waters. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
ALMA - Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array is the largest astronomical project in existence. It is a single telescope of revolutionary design located on the Chajnantor plateau of northern Chile. (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, 2015)
Artifact - A portable object manufactured, modified, or used by humans. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Backdirt - The excavated, discarded material (sediment, dirt) from a site that has generally been sifted for artifacts and is presumed to be of no further archaeological significance. This material may later be used to refill test pits, an action referred to as “back filling.” (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Beringia - land bridge between Asia and North America exposed by low sea levels during the last Ice Age 110,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is now under the Bering Strait. (National Geographic Genographic Project. 2015)
Biface - Stone tools that have been worked on both sides or faces, meaning that flakes have been intentionally (not naturally) chipped off from both sides of the stone. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Chert - Chert and flint were the main sources of tools and weapons for Stone Age peoples. Because of the uniformly fine grain, brittleness, and conchoidal fracture of flint and chert it was relatively straightforward to flake off chips to shape them, leaving razor edges. (Bonewitz et. al., 2005)
Chipping debris - see debitage
Clovis - Clovis is the name archaeologists have given to the earliest well-established human culture in the North American continent. Clovis were the first big game hunters of the Paleoindian tradition, although they were probably not the first people in the American continents. Clovis archaeological sites are dated between 12,500 and 12,900 calendar years before the present and they are found pretty much throughout North America. (About Education. 2015)
Contract Archaeology - archaeological research, survey and excavation undertaken under contracts with government agencies, private organizations or individual landowners. (Central Archaeological Group Inc. 2016)
CRM - Cultural Resource Management. Profession that focuses on the management and preservation of cultural resources, such as archaeological sites or artifacts, protecting them for future generations. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Debitage - Small pieces of stone debris that break off during the manufacturing of stone tools. These are usually considered waste and are a by-product of production. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Diagnostics - artifacts that are indicative of a specific culture or time period.
Feature - A structure or physical element, such as a living surface, hearth, or pit altered or made by humans or human habitation. Features cannot be transported from a site, unlike an artifact
. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Fishtail point - A projectile point with a leaf-like blade and a narrow stem that flares out at the very base, giving it the appearance of a fish's tail. Fishtail points are associated with the earliest hunter-gatherers in South America.
Flake - A piece of stone removed from a core for use as a tool or as debitage. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Fluted point - spear or dart points that have been bifacially flaked, characterized by a central flute or channel flake and a concave base enclosed by small, thin ears. (Museum of Anthropology. 2015)
GIS - Geographic Information System is a computer system for capturing, storing, checking, and displayingdata related to positions on Earth’s surface. GIS can show many different kinds of data on one map. This enables people to more easily see, analyze, and understand patterns and relationships. (National Geographic Education. 2016)
Hematite - a dense, hard iron oxide often red in color. Sometimes used to make ceremonial red ocher. Due to a high iron content of 70% it can be magnetized. (Bonewitz et. al., 2005)
Knapping - A technique for making stone tools and weapons by striking flakes from a core with a hard (stone) or soft (antler) percussion instrument. Individual flakes or cores can be further modified to create tools. Also called flintknapping. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Lithics - artifacts made from stone. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Mapuche - The Mapuche people are the original inhabitants of a vast territory in what is now Chile and Argentina. In Chile the Mapuche live mainly in the provinces of Bio-Bio, Arauco, Malleco, Cautin, Valdivia, Osorno, Llanquihue and Chiloe. (Intercontinental Cry, 2015)
Molcajete - traditional mortar and pestle from Latin American countries. Has three, often conical legs and a broad, shallow bowl and is typically made of ground stone.
Monte Verde - Archaeological site located in Acclaimed in 1997 as the earliest known site in the Americas and the first undoubted pre-Clovis site (Archaeology Archive. 2015)
Munsell - The Munsell Soil Color Book is filled with colored tiles carefully organized into families and rows/columns of reds and yellows as well as a few other, rarer soil colors. It allows universal identification of soil colors.
Osteology - The study of the structure and function of bones. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Paleolithic - The early stage of the Stone Age, beginning about 750,000 years ago. During this time humans relied on stone technology to sustain their scavenging, hunting and gathering lifestyle. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Perimortem - at or near the time of death; in perimortem injuries, bone damage occurring at or near the time of death, without any evidence of healing. (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. 2015)
Phase II - archaeological testing of a site previously identified through Phase I survey. Phase II survey determines horizontal and vertical boundaries of a site as well as significance.
Prehistoric - The period of human history preceding written records. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Projectile point - stone point affixed to the shaft of an arrow, dart, or spear.
Protein residue analysis - Protein residue analysis is used to identify the presence of prehistoric, historic, or even modern proteins, both animal and plant. (PaleoResearch Institute. 2010)
Radiocarbon dating - An absolute dating technique used to determine the age of organic materials less than 50,000 years old. Age is determined by examining the loss of the unstable carbon-14 isotope, which is absorbed by all living organisms during their lifespan. Dates generated by radiocarbon dating have to be calibrated using dates derived from other absolute dating methods, such as dendrochronology and ice cores. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Scoria - Scoria is a dark-colored igneous rock with abundant round bubble-like cavities known as vesicles. It ranges in color from black or dark gray to deep reddish brown. It is often carved into molcajete, ceremonial artifacts and, most famously, the heads of Easter Island. (Geoscience News and Information: Geology.com. 2015)
Shovel Test Pit - An excavation unit used in the initial investigation of a site or area, before large-scale excavation begins, that allows the archaeologist to “preview” what lies under the ground. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Silicate - silicates contain silicon and make up about 25 percent of all known minerals, 40 percent all the most common ones. (Bonewitz et. al., 2005)
Spectroscopy - Spectroscopy pertains to the dispersion of an object's light into its component colors (i.e. energies). By performing this dissection and analysis of an object's light, astronomers can infer the physical properties of that object (such as temperature, mass, luminosity and composition). (University of Arizona. 2015)
Strata - The layers (strata) of sediments, soils, and material culture at an archaeological site. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015) (See Fig. 3)
Stratigraphy - The study of the strata at an archaeological site (also used in geology for the study of geological layers). (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Total station - An optical surveyor's instrument that combines a transit and an electronic distance measuring device. A total station calculates angles and distances for surveyed objects. This information can be used to create topographic maps. (Archaeological Institute of America, 2015)
Unit - An excavated area measuring 1m or 2m square. Multiple units will make up a larger grid.
YBP - Years Before Present
Sources
ABOUT EDUCATION. 2015. “The (pre) History of the Clovis - Early Hunting Groups of the Americas.” Retrieved July 23, 2015 (http://archaeology.about.com/od/clovispreclovis/qt/clovis_people.htm)
Archaeological Institute of America. 2015 “Introduction to Archaeology: Glossary.” Retrieved Dec. 3, 2015 (https://www.archaeological.org/education/glossary)
Archaeology Archive. 2015 “Online Features: Monte Verde Under Fire.” Retrieved June, 4, 2015 (http://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/clovis/)
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. 2015. “About ALMA.” Retrieved Aug. 9 2015 (http://www.almaobservatory.org/en/about-alma )
Bonewitz, Carruthers, and Efthim. 2005. Rock and Gem. New York, NY: Dorling Kindersley Limited
Casanova, Salazar, Seguel, and Luzio. 2013. The Soils of Chile. New York, NY: Springer.
Central Archaeological Group Inc. 2016 “What is Contract Archaeology?” Retrieved Jan 4 2016 (http://www.centralarchaeology.ca/what-is-contract-archaeology)
Geoscience News and Information: Geology.com. 2015 “What is Scoria.” Retrieved Dec. 5 2015 (http://geology.com/rocks/scoria.shtml)
Intercontinental Cry 2015 “Indiginous Peoples Archive, Latest Articles: Mapuche.” Retrieved January, 1, 2016 (https://intercontinentalcry.org/indigenous-peoples/mapuche/)
Museum of Anthropology. 2015 “Paleoindian Archaeology: Clovis Stone Tools.” Retrieved Dec. 3 2015 (https://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/minigalleries/clovistools/intro.shtml )
National Geographic Education. 2016 “Geographic Information System.” Retrieved Jan 3, 2016. (http://education.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/geographic-information-system-gis/)
National Geographic Genographic Project. 2015. “Bridge to the New World.” Retrieved Sept. 24 2015 (https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/land-bridge/ )
PaleoResearch Institute. 2010. “Protein Residue.” Retrieved Nov. 14 2015 (http://www.paleoresearch.com/services/pra.html)
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. 2015. “Definition: Perimortem.” Retrieved Dec. 3 2015 (http://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/comic/activity/pdf/Perimortem.pdf )
University of Arizona. 2015. “What is Spectroscopy?” Retrieved Dec 3 2015 (http://loke.as.arizona.edu/~ckulesa/camp/spectroscopy_intro.html)
Whittaker, John C. Flintknapping: Making and Understanding Stone Tools. 1994. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
THANK YOU TO DR. TOM Strasser of Providence College in Rhode Island, who led my first dig on Crete. Without you, I never would have known how amazing archaeology is.
Thank you to Dr. James Stemp of Keene State College in New Hampshire. Your guidance, your incredible knowledge and passion for other peoples—particularly the Maya of Belize—changed my path forever.
Thanks to you Dr. Richard Boisvert, State Archaeologist of New Hampshire. Your field schools gave me the valuable tools for my career and your continued humor and drive is truly inspiring.
Lastly, but certainly not least, thank you to the phenomenal people I work with every day protecting the cultural resources of our world. Your stories, antics, and kindness have built this series. Perhaps you will see your own tales woven into the fabric.
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Also by V. S. Holmes
Nel Bently Books
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About the Author
V. S. Holmes lives in a Tiny House and owns too many books for such a small abode. Her favorite genres include fantasy, science (of both the non-fiction and fiction varieties), and anything with diverse protagonists. When not writing, she works as a contract archaeologist doing Cultural Resource Management throughout the northeastern U.S.