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- Feb 12, 2007
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This is from a piece I've been revisiting recently. It's the second half of an opening scene - the whole scene is too large to post here.
In the first half we are introduced to Sarah York. She's an archaeologist who's just lost her funding and is a bit depressed. She's using her phone to make voice recordings of recent discoveries.
-----
She glanced through the paperwork. “Carbon dating of the samples we’ve found is not conclusive enough to support my theories. These items may be several thousand years old but unfortunately, they’re not from the period I’m looking for.” She sighed. “I guess the great leap forward will just have to wait for another time.”
“Doctor York, Doctor York,” Aziz’s voice crackled over the radio.
Sarah looked over at the out of reach walkie-talkie. She felt like ignoring it but knew Aziz would persist. Lazily, she leaned over and grabbed the radio.
“What is it Aziz?” she said unintentionally sounding annoyed.
“Doctor York, we have found something.”
“Aziz there’s no point —“
“Please, come quickly Doctor York,” said an excited Aziz, interrupting her.
“Where are you?”
“Area four, section F”.
She looked at the map pinned up on a notice board. Section F was at the furthest end of the encampment. Area four, barely inside the boundary, was hashed out as the ground was unusually hard going.
Now she really was annoyed. She pressed the talk button on the walkie and was just about to give him a bollocking when the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. “Alright, give me a minute.”
What the hell was he doing out there?
She wanted to curl up in a ball, but knew it wouldn’t solve anything and Aziz would just keep at it until she caved. She took a deep breath to compose herself. Her boots felt heavier than before. She pulled them on and marched off to find Aziz.
The small band of workers waited patiently around a recently excavated pit. Aziz stepped forward as she approached.
“Aziz.” She took another deep breath. “Look, we need to talk.”
“But first you must see this.” He handed her a brush and directed her to the ladder.
She felt a bit self-conscious as everyone watched. Usually most of them would be busy elsewhere and she wouldn’t have such an audience. She stepped forward and peered into the pit. The whole base of the pit glistened as if full of diamonds. There was a horde of red markers clustered together, but she couldn’t see anything specific among them. She looked back at Aziz and frowned. “We weren’t planning to dig anymore in this area. It’s too hard going on the equipment and every change of drill head costs a lot of money.”
Aziz ushered her towards the ladder. “Yes, but every time I passed this area something made me want to look again. You’ll see. Please Doctor York.”
Reluctantly Sarah took hold of the ladder and made her way down. A cold chill washed over her as she descended. She looked at the goose bumps on her arms and at first thought it was anxiety about how she would tell Aziz it was all over. Although it was more than that; as she continued down the ladder she felt genuinely cold. This was by no means the deepest pit on the site, but something felt different. Perhaps the something Aziz was referring to.
She stepped away from the ladder to allow Aziz to climb down. The sand was coarse and sounded like walking on gravel. She could feel the cold emanating from the ground as she crouched down. She scooped up a handful of sand; it was like holding a load of tiny ice cubes. Rather than melting with the heat of her body she could feel the cold penetrating her hand. She opened her fingers and brushed the sand off, whilst rubbing her hands together to warm them up before turning her attention to the cluster of red markers.
Buried in the sand was a skull, staring up at the sky. It glistened with a thin layer of ice. She pulled a pair of rubber gloves from her pocket and struggled slightly to pull them over her cold fingers. She slowly began to expose more of the skull using the brush Aziz had given her.
“Certainly human, although the brow seems more prominent than I would expect.” She said curiously.
The thin plastic gloves offered no protection at all from the cold. She had to keep flexing her fingers just to be able to feel them.
“Is this enough to renew our funding?” Aziz enquired.
She sat up and took a deep breath of cold air. Was it getting colder down here? She didn’t want to have this discussion right now.
“All we have is a frozen skeleton in the middle of the desert.” She raised an eyebrow, “Granted that’s very unusual, but on its own it doesn’t mean anything.”
As she waved her hand over the skeleton, it passed through a column of freezing air, more so than the surrounding air. She turned to Aziz, “Do you have a bottle of water?”
Aziz shouted up to the onlookers and a plastic bottle was quickly passed down. Sarah held the bottle on its side and slowly passed it over the skeleton. As the bottle passed over the chest area a portion of the water quickly froze. They both looked at the lump of ice in amazement.
She brushed away the sand to find a pendant around the skeleton’s neck; no not a pendant, more of a shard of broken glass or metal. As she brushed more of the sand away the shard reflected the light perfectly like a flawless mirror.
She pulled out her phone to record her findings.
“A jagged piece of what looks like metal; perfectly smooth on top; not a single imperfection that I can see.”
She used the brush to flip the shard over.
“Also smooth on the underside. No layer of dirt, in fact it looks brand new, besides the fact it appears to be a broken shard of a something larger.”
Sand was starting to stick to her gloves. She removed them, reached out, and touched the shard, intending to pick it up. As she touched it an extreme cold filled her bones, as if she had just jumped into a pool of freezing water. No sooner had the sensation arrived had it gone. Her fingerprint was as clear as day on the surface of the shard; but as she watched, it slowly faded into her reflection and left the pristine surface that had greeted her.
She touched it again. This time she felt only the physical touch of the shard, and no visible fingerprint. She gently lifted it from the skeleton's chest.
“Doctor York.”
Aziz’s voice startled her and caused her to cut her thumb on the edge of the shard. Although she was holding the shard vertically she watched as the blood from her thumb rolled up the surface of the shard and pooled in the centre of the object and then dissolved, leaving the pristine surface once again.
The cold that filled the air quickly receded, replaced with the usual warm desert air. The thin layer of ice covering the skeleton started to melt and Sarah felt herself sinking into the sand.
“Crap, Aziz we need to get out of here.” She said as she stood up.
Aziz quickly stood and began shouting up to the onlookers. He pushed her up the ladder while several hands reached down from above.
The ladder moved as she climbed and the once solid walls of the pit began to crumble as the onlookers pushed back from the edge. Once in arms reach she was quickly hauled up and manhandled out of the pit, almost yanking her neck back in the process.
Lying on the sand she turned back to see Aziz pulled clear as several planks of wood were swallowed up by the pit. He had a large grin and she looked at him somewhat puzzled.
“Now I feel like Indiana Jones,” he said laughing.
In the first half we are introduced to Sarah York. She's an archaeologist who's just lost her funding and is a bit depressed. She's using her phone to make voice recordings of recent discoveries.
-----
She glanced through the paperwork. “Carbon dating of the samples we’ve found is not conclusive enough to support my theories. These items may be several thousand years old but unfortunately, they’re not from the period I’m looking for.” She sighed. “I guess the great leap forward will just have to wait for another time.”
“Doctor York, Doctor York,” Aziz’s voice crackled over the radio.
Sarah looked over at the out of reach walkie-talkie. She felt like ignoring it but knew Aziz would persist. Lazily, she leaned over and grabbed the radio.
“What is it Aziz?” she said unintentionally sounding annoyed.
“Doctor York, we have found something.”
“Aziz there’s no point —“
“Please, come quickly Doctor York,” said an excited Aziz, interrupting her.
“Where are you?”
“Area four, section F”.
She looked at the map pinned up on a notice board. Section F was at the furthest end of the encampment. Area four, barely inside the boundary, was hashed out as the ground was unusually hard going.
Now she really was annoyed. She pressed the talk button on the walkie and was just about to give him a bollocking when the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. “Alright, give me a minute.”
What the hell was he doing out there?
She wanted to curl up in a ball, but knew it wouldn’t solve anything and Aziz would just keep at it until she caved. She took a deep breath to compose herself. Her boots felt heavier than before. She pulled them on and marched off to find Aziz.
The small band of workers waited patiently around a recently excavated pit. Aziz stepped forward as she approached.
“Aziz.” She took another deep breath. “Look, we need to talk.”
“But first you must see this.” He handed her a brush and directed her to the ladder.
She felt a bit self-conscious as everyone watched. Usually most of them would be busy elsewhere and she wouldn’t have such an audience. She stepped forward and peered into the pit. The whole base of the pit glistened as if full of diamonds. There was a horde of red markers clustered together, but she couldn’t see anything specific among them. She looked back at Aziz and frowned. “We weren’t planning to dig anymore in this area. It’s too hard going on the equipment and every change of drill head costs a lot of money.”
Aziz ushered her towards the ladder. “Yes, but every time I passed this area something made me want to look again. You’ll see. Please Doctor York.”
Reluctantly Sarah took hold of the ladder and made her way down. A cold chill washed over her as she descended. She looked at the goose bumps on her arms and at first thought it was anxiety about how she would tell Aziz it was all over. Although it was more than that; as she continued down the ladder she felt genuinely cold. This was by no means the deepest pit on the site, but something felt different. Perhaps the something Aziz was referring to.
She stepped away from the ladder to allow Aziz to climb down. The sand was coarse and sounded like walking on gravel. She could feel the cold emanating from the ground as she crouched down. She scooped up a handful of sand; it was like holding a load of tiny ice cubes. Rather than melting with the heat of her body she could feel the cold penetrating her hand. She opened her fingers and brushed the sand off, whilst rubbing her hands together to warm them up before turning her attention to the cluster of red markers.
Buried in the sand was a skull, staring up at the sky. It glistened with a thin layer of ice. She pulled a pair of rubber gloves from her pocket and struggled slightly to pull them over her cold fingers. She slowly began to expose more of the skull using the brush Aziz had given her.
“Certainly human, although the brow seems more prominent than I would expect.” She said curiously.
The thin plastic gloves offered no protection at all from the cold. She had to keep flexing her fingers just to be able to feel them.
“Is this enough to renew our funding?” Aziz enquired.
She sat up and took a deep breath of cold air. Was it getting colder down here? She didn’t want to have this discussion right now.
“All we have is a frozen skeleton in the middle of the desert.” She raised an eyebrow, “Granted that’s very unusual, but on its own it doesn’t mean anything.”
As she waved her hand over the skeleton, it passed through a column of freezing air, more so than the surrounding air. She turned to Aziz, “Do you have a bottle of water?”
Aziz shouted up to the onlookers and a plastic bottle was quickly passed down. Sarah held the bottle on its side and slowly passed it over the skeleton. As the bottle passed over the chest area a portion of the water quickly froze. They both looked at the lump of ice in amazement.
She brushed away the sand to find a pendant around the skeleton’s neck; no not a pendant, more of a shard of broken glass or metal. As she brushed more of the sand away the shard reflected the light perfectly like a flawless mirror.
She pulled out her phone to record her findings.
“A jagged piece of what looks like metal; perfectly smooth on top; not a single imperfection that I can see.”
She used the brush to flip the shard over.
“Also smooth on the underside. No layer of dirt, in fact it looks brand new, besides the fact it appears to be a broken shard of a something larger.”
Sand was starting to stick to her gloves. She removed them, reached out, and touched the shard, intending to pick it up. As she touched it an extreme cold filled her bones, as if she had just jumped into a pool of freezing water. No sooner had the sensation arrived had it gone. Her fingerprint was as clear as day on the surface of the shard; but as she watched, it slowly faded into her reflection and left the pristine surface that had greeted her.
She touched it again. This time she felt only the physical touch of the shard, and no visible fingerprint. She gently lifted it from the skeleton's chest.
“Doctor York.”
Aziz’s voice startled her and caused her to cut her thumb on the edge of the shard. Although she was holding the shard vertically she watched as the blood from her thumb rolled up the surface of the shard and pooled in the centre of the object and then dissolved, leaving the pristine surface once again.
The cold that filled the air quickly receded, replaced with the usual warm desert air. The thin layer of ice covering the skeleton started to melt and Sarah felt herself sinking into the sand.
“Crap, Aziz we need to get out of here.” She said as she stood up.
Aziz quickly stood and began shouting up to the onlookers. He pushed her up the ladder while several hands reached down from above.
The ladder moved as she climbed and the once solid walls of the pit began to crumble as the onlookers pushed back from the edge. Once in arms reach she was quickly hauled up and manhandled out of the pit, almost yanking her neck back in the process.
Lying on the sand she turned back to see Aziz pulled clear as several planks of wood were swallowed up by the pit. He had a large grin and she looked at him somewhat puzzled.
“Now I feel like Indiana Jones,” he said laughing.
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