Chapter 3
Excavation
“Cave-in! Cave-in!Run!We have a cave-in!”
Dr. ChetKellingheard the warning and immediately beat a hasty retreat back through the narrow depression, to higher ground. He felt the earth rumble beneath his feet as dirt and sand flew upward, filling the air with dust and debris. He barely made it back behind the retaining wall beforethe ground where he’d been walking shuddered and collapsed as if a trap door had been released.
Holding his sleeved arm over his nose and mouth to keep from inhaling the detritus still floating around, he eyed the aftermath. It didn’t look too bad, but looks could be very deceiving, especially when it came to excavations. He walked over to where his associate stood nearby, alsochecking out the damage.
“Any idea what caused it?”
Dr.IrmineCauseway shook his head.Kellingnoticed the man’s eyes were red and watery from the aftereffects, and figured his must look the same. They itched and stung from the fine particles.
“I’m thinking it’s because of those air pockets the GPR discovered yesterday.” He shrugged. “Of course, we won’tknow for certain until we hollow out in that area.”
“How much time have we lost?”
“A week. Maybe two at the most.”
Sighing,Kellingturned around to mentally count heads.Irminenoticed and guessed what he was doing.
“They all got out in time.”
“You sure?” He trusted his assistant, but he had to ask anyway.
Irminedidn’t seem to mind. “It wasBoteefwho gave the alarm. I saw him and the others scramble out of there in record time.”
The air appeared to be clearing in spite of the fact that there wasn’t a lick of a breeze on this blistering summer day. Lowering his arm from his face,Kellingtook a tentative sniff.Irminefollowed suit.
“All right. Let’s get back to work.”
Irminecalled out to the scattered workers, speaking in Arabic to the locals employed to work the dig.Kellingwatched as they brought forth more buckets, shovels, and wheelbarrows to carry out the loosened dirt and sand.
While the crew removed the excess, he sauntered over to the tent pitched near the road and took refuge under the white awning. A young man was sittingat a table and pouring over the latest photographs taken by the ground penetrating radar.Kellingnoticed the cord running from the laptop computer and under the tent where the solar power pack propped outside kept it running.
Arnie glanced up when the Egyptologist entered and dropped into a canvas chair. “I heard the rumble. Everything okay out there?”
“Yeah, thankGod. Hopefully the only thing we’ve lost is a little time.”
The archeologist didn’t answer. He jotted a memo to himself in the spiral notebook sitting by his elbow and resumed studying the photographs.Kellinggot up and went over to peer over his shoulder.
“Anything new?”
The young man shook his head. “Not much, but I’m beginning to believe this isn’ta burial tomb.”
Kellingwasn’t surprised by the comment, although he was a bit disappointed. Still, he knew they’d found something out of the ordinary. Just what it was remained to be seen.
“What makes you say that?”
“Look here.” Arnie pointed to the screen. “See those dark spots? Those empty chambers? There’s two parallel rows of them, ending with largerspots at both ends. A typical tomb never has parallel rooms. Adjacent, yes, but not like this. For another, those chambers are tiny. Eight by five meters at the most. Now this larger one, it’s around fifteen by fifteen. Same for this one at the other end of the row.”
“Couldn’t those two end chambers be burial chambers, and the parallel ones contain the paraphernalia that would beburied with the person entombed? I agree, it’s totally unlike any of the tombs discovered in the past, but you yourself said we could be looking at something that predates even King Menes and the First Dynasty.”
“I said it’s possible. And it could explain the vast differences in what we’ve already encountered. Then again, this could just be an extension of the city that was abandonedages ago, and allowed to be reclaimed by the desert.” Arnie leaned back from the table. “You want my educated guess?”
“Shoot.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say we were looking at two possibilities. One is a market or storage area.”
