two
.
Christen feels the coolness rush at her as she enters the small entranceway of the tomb. This area is newly constructed for the tourists to have a little shelter and listen to their guide before entering the depths of the actual tomb. While the air is cool, it’s also stale. This tomb has been closed to the public for a few years due to financial issues. With tourism down, staffing was down and that led to the less popular tombs being closed down. One of the engineers chocks the door open to get some air circulation into the area, mentioning they’ll get the air pumps and lines in once they arrive later today from Cairo.
Christen reminds the students to wear their helmets and turn on their headlamps and then Ari spiritedly leads the students into the darkness of the corridor down to the end where the tomb of Thutmose II lies. Christen grins at Jurgen who smiles and wiggles his eyebrows as his head pokes out from behind his camera as he walks past her. She remains in the entry area with the engineers while the noise of the group begins to slowly fade as they walk down into the dark corridor.
She slides her backpack off and unsnaps the long cardboard tube from it while two of the engineers set up a table and she opens the end of the roll to let multiple papers slide out onto the table. They smooth it out and place four small rocks in the corners to view the schematics of the tomb. They consider where they should start looking for a new chamber, rehashing old tales from the past and bringing up chambers found hidden in other pyramids. They look at the high-resolution images taken last week with a drone, trying to determine if there were any depressions or unusual ground formations that would be a clue. Nothing is obvious. The problem with finding a depression or anything unusual is the sudden slope of the mountain that isn’t far from the tomb opening. They know the corridor works down in that direction, so finding something behind it would be challenging.
Christen has no problem when they decide the methodical approach is best and that two of the engineers will use ground penetrating sonar and work the perimeter of the tomb outside, seeking any abnormalities in the layers under the sand and rock. She knows these four men are the best in the Egypt and she's lucky to have them on this trip. She knows Ari pulled strings to have them join this expedition and she very easily agrees with thier opinions and suggestions. They are complete professionals. They’ll begin with an inspection of the ground structure around the tomb where Hatshepsut’s body was originally found and work their way back this entrance on the off chance there is an off shoot from the corridor. Christen and the other two engineers will perform a physical inspection the inner chambers, starting with the main corridor, looking for any possibly previously missed secret entrances to an undiscovered chamber.
The KV20 location was built in two separate times with Hatshepsut adding to the existing tomb when she had been elevated to ruler. The original tomb, the one only a short walk down the tunnel, was constructed for her father, Thutmose I. It’s thought the second one was intended for Hatshepsut and her husband, Thutmose II. While two of the engineers are outside and the other group of students are with Ari in the newer tomb where Hatshepsut’s coffin was originally placed, Christen and the two other engineers decide to each work a third of the corridor and Christen offers to take the final third of the corridor.
She's glad she remembered to bring her fleece jacket this morning, the air in here, while somewhat stagnant, is cool. The plan is to do a physical search first, looking for changes in the walls, a variance of patterns in the chisel marks or anything that might indicate a subtle difference in the existing walls. If anything looks suspect, they’ll mark it and use the sonar to detect if there’s a void behind the area. If they don’t find anything, then they’ll begin to examine the reliefs carved within the tomb walls, looking to see if there are any clues indicating another location of the remaining burial items.
The corridor walls are approximately four feet wide and seven feet high, certainly large enough yet still giving her a slightly claustrophobic feel as she slowly treks down. Her headlamp is bright, reflecting light and allowing her good footing on the slightly uncertain floor. The echoes from the Ari and the students ahead of her still bounce off the walls, Ari probably stopped along the way down to talk about the construction of the this channel. The ceiling is cut from limestone and is smooth and in good condition, having been excavated in the early 1900’s in an effort to find the tombs and burial cache.
This burial site is rather unique in that the walls and floor are from shale. The walls are fine but the floor has flaked off over the years and become slightly unstable and Christen uses care as she navigates deeper down. The slivers of the rock that has flaked off crunches underfoot. The makers of this tomb followed the natural line of the limestone as it somewhat sharply slanted down, the workers finding it stronger for the ceiling and the shale was softer to cut through with their primitive tools for the walls and floors. The shale isn’t conducive to having reliefs carved into them since they're so soft and they’re plain with a consistent slightly wavy look from the chisel marks and age. She’s disappointed there are no reliefs attached to these walls, thinking of the amazing stories they would have chiseled into the stone telling the story of Hatshepsut’s reign. She slowly picks her way to the very end of the tunnel, just in front of the final burial chamber. When she glances at her watch, she realizes it took almost thirty minutes.
She pokes her head in the chamber, smiling as she hears Ari giving instructions to the six students about how to handle the relics available and producing a laminated sheet of the cartouche of Hatshetput’s name. The interior burial chambers typically had reliefs adorning all of the walls, but since the walls are shale, limestone slabs were transported in and affixed to the shale walls. In this tomb, only one wall has panels affixed to it.
Beams of light from headlamps flash around the room as the students are digging into their packs to remove their white cotton gloves and fine haired paintbrushes, excitedly chattering about actually being here and doing this and it makes Christen smile. She steps deeper into the chamber to address them, “You know,” she grins wildly at them when they turn to look at her, “what you’re feeling now,” she says knowingly, “it never goes away.” Ari loudly agrees in a near giddy tone, sharing the same sentiment. The students exclaim with happiness and rush to prepare themselves for the work at hand, their eager voices echoing off the walls as Christen departs after sharing a smile with the dark haired, middle-aged man.
Just outside of the chamber, Christen, still smiling, shrugs off her backpack and squats down, setting her flashlight on the ground while she opens the pack and pulls out her notebook, a pen and a piece of chalk to mark the wall in case she finds something during her inspection. She sets the pack along the wall and adjusts the headlamp to her safety helmet, wearing one due to the nature of the being so deep in the tomb. It’s not that she’s in grave danger of falling stones or a cave in any time soon and normally it wouldn’t be an issue, but since she’s technically leading this team, she wants to instill best safety practices for the students to mimic. Plus, with the flooring being rather uneven, it would be easy to slip and fall. One can never argue about being safe, she thinks, even if the plastic construction helmet is making her scalp itch already as the tunnel begins to get hit with the warmth of the day.
Their voices are hushed after that as Ari and the students set to work, the same with the engineers up the hallway and out of her sight, leaving Christen to feel as if she’s alone. The tunnel curves and dips upward so she can’t see anyone and she’s surrounded by complete darkness. She’ll work her way up to the curve and then down back to the chamber. From start to finish this corridor is over nine hundred meters in length. She’s got a three hundred meter section to inspect and that includes both sides and the ceiling and floor.
She begins. She lets out another huff of disappointment that the walls are blank, still regretting the lack of additional reliefs would possibly tell the story of Hatshepsut or at least Thutmose I or II. She’s hoping to find a seam or an indication of any marks in the wall as clues to possibly a riddle or a tale that would elicit some clues to Hatshepsut’s possessions. She works methodically, using the powerful flashlight to methodically scan the interior hallway wall and ceiling. As she begins, she sees no evidence of manmade seams, no evidence of any unusual marks left by the chisels that would lead her to believe another chamber exits behind the surface. The chisel marks are consistent, there’s no changing of direction or any detectable difference. There’s actually some beauty with how consistent the work is, it looks almost machine like in its perfection.
She plans to do the ceiling and the left side of the corridor, working her way up to the sharp turn. She would only need to scan just the wall and floor on her return to the tomb going back down. She figures her adrenalin with being here would carry her up to the curve, so she chose to do the ceiling with one side of the wall. Having to do just the other wall and floor second would be much easier on her neck and back. It’s the little things like that she’s learned over the years from more experienced archeologists and she likes to share those tricks with the students she works with.
As she scans the wall, she imagines what it would have been like when this channel was being constructed, the darkness, the workers chiseling by hand under torch light. How the amber firelight would flicker and illuminate the walls with the harsh sounds of Coptic being spoken as they worked. A bucket brigade constantly moving and sweeping out the gravel, the workers perhaps singing a song while they performed the tedious and repetitive movements. The noises echoing off the walls as the talented stone workers finish the tunnels to make the walls as smooth as possible and for fit royalty. A look at the ceiling shows the remnants of soot from the torches in spots and nothing but smooth limestone.
In her head she begins to let the language come back to her. She had read her notes about Coptic imagery and speaking while she was on the plane hoping she’d get a chance to use it while she was here. Hoping it would come in handy. Especially if she finds her soulmate.
When she hears something echo in the hallway, her head turns swiftly to her left, back down towards the tomb. She shines her light to cut through the darkness past the light of her headlight, but nothing comes into view. It sounded as if some loose rocks had moved, the noise is similar to when she shifts her feet to move up the corridor. Perhaps Ari or a student stepped out of the tomb and into the hall for some fresh air, she reasons. She takes a moment to remove her fleece jacket, it’s getting much too warm now. She ties the sleeves around her waist and adjusts her helmet back on her head. Something draws her to look over to her left again, she isn’t sure why, but she doesn’t see anything in the inky blackness.
An hour later, she estimates she’s only a quarter of the way to the curve. She’s in complete silence, the only sound is from her feet shifting on the shale when she moves. She’s no longer hearing the mumbling echoes from the students and nothing from the nearest engineer, yet she still feels drawn to keep checking over her shoulder towards the noise she heard earlier. She had briefly contemplated pulling out her earbuds to listen to music while doing this monotonous task but dismissed it. She wants to be present in the moment. They didn’t build this tomb with music and she feels it would be disrespectful to examine it with earbuds now.
Another hour passes and she’s thirsty and aggravated with herself for not bringing her water bottle with her. It’s sitting in the mesh side compartment of her backpack that she left down the hall near the tomb entrance where the students are. She pauses in her search to roll her neck and shoulders, the repetitive nature of her looking at the wall and ceiling is beginning make her muscles stiff. She decides to take a break for moment and carefully sits down on the rocky ground, bending her neck down to her chin.
“Ugh,” she sighs, “I’m so thirsty,” she mumbles, unaware she spoke aloud in Coptic. She's been reciting lines from Coptic poems in her head to keep herself focused as she works.
Slowly she does head circles, loosening up the muscles and shrugging her shoulders to relax herself. She hears the noise again not far from her, swiveling her head quickly to the left, her headlamp shining on the walls and seeing nothing. While she hasn’t seen or heard any small animals down here, the noise certainly sounded louder than a mouse or rat. It resembled feet on the loose stone floor. She turns on her flashlight with the intent to inspect the floor for scat. She gasps.
There sits her water bottle.
To the left and right she sweeps her flashlight, suddenly not feeling alone anymore and then looks in front of her. It’s her bottle, a beaten up Hydro Flask that's weathered and scratched from use. She extends a shaky hand to grasp the metal container. How did it get hear, she wonders? Have I been carrying it with me and am just being scatter minded, she wonders? Her bottle does have a carabiner on it, perhaps she attached it through her beltloop, doing it by habit and not registering she was even carrying it because she was excited to get started? She certainly would have heard it fall to the ground. Is the heat getting to me?
She unscrews the cap and drinks from it, relishing the cold water. She takes another moment to gather herself and then stands and makes sure to clip the bottle to her belt, still uncertain on what just happened. She dismisses it as being excited about starting this task and just forgetting that she had her bottle with her. She gets back to work.
She’s now maybe halfway to the curve of the wall. She’s beginning to feel this is a fruitless task, yet a necessary one. It doesn’t take away from her becoming careless; she remains meticulous in her work. This is the monotonous part of her job, the type of menial tasks usually left for students to perform but Christen didn’t want to do that to them. She wanted them to get right in it, to examine the artifacts from the display and treat them equally. She’s been on enough expeditions as a student and remembers how she would want to be treated and she’s making sure to provide them with a mix of responsible and menial tasks equally. They need to eliminate the possibility of a secret opening on this main corridor and she doesn’t mind being part of the crew to determine that.
She does want to get into the tomb at some point and refresh her memory of the items left there. She’s only seen them in photos and she wonders how different they look from her memories of them. Something in her wants to inspect every single item herself, but that would defeat trusting the students to take their job seriously. She also intentionally chose for the students to enter the tomb first as a matter of respect to them and their abilities and as a sign of trust. She doesn’t want to make them feel as if they’re only contributions to this expedition will be ones of grunt work and boring tasks. She knows and trusts Ari is there to supervise and he would be certain to catch anything that remotely looks interesting to their project and he has such a fun nature, he will certainly keep their spirits up. They set guidelines and the student know that any items with any questionable markings would set aside for her or Ari to look over. She trusts this group, their egos are in check and their willingness to admit not knowing something is evident. They are a cautious bunch and very much aware of the importance of their work here.
Christen notices a change in the somewhat stagnant warm air surrounding her. A scent is lightly wafting towards her. It’s clean, like a warm towel from the dryer with a scent of salt water. It raises the fine hairs on the back of her neck. She turns to look down the into the darkness, shining her light and again, seeing nothing. While she sees nothing, she feels something.
“Who’s there?” she calls out, tilting her head as if it would improve her vision.
Nothing.
She shakes her head, thinking she’s just experiencing a phenomenon of being in the dark for too long and goes back to work. It happens.
She’s now about a quarter of the way to the turn and taking another water break when the scent returns and draws her away from the wall. It's stronger this time and again, the hairs on the back of her neck stand and she feels goosebumps break out on her sweaty arms. She caps her bottle and clips it to her belt and then slowly turns, not even using the flashlight, just her headlamp and she vaguely sees something a few yards away. She raises her flashlight slowly and trains the light on it and gasps.
There’s a figure leaning against the wall looking at her and it’s not anyone from the group.
Christen screams.
Then she faints.
XXXX
Christen is she’s lying on her back on the rocky uneven floor, aware of a cool hand on the side of her cheek, gently caressing her jaw. Her eyes flutter open and she sees a woman, the woman who was leaning against the wall and she’s wearing a white tunic with an intricately embroidered collar, looking down at her. A short necklace dangles from her neck as she looks down at her, the colorful beads catching Christen’s eyes following them as they lead to a gold ankh pendant swinging gently to and fro. The headlamp on her helmet illuminates the stranger’s face and she sees warm brown eyes exuding kindness, squinting from the bright light as she looks down at her.
“Be still,” the woman speaks calmly, her voice low and comforting. Christen realizes she’s spoken to her in Coptic and her mouth drops open, dumbfounded and yet feeling calm. The stranger gives her a closed mouth smile, removing her hand from her face and turns to look over her shoulder. Christen blinks rapidly, struggling to make sense of what is happening. She hears the scramble of rocks echoing from both directions of the corridor and the calling of her name as the crew rushes to her. She pushes herself up on her elbows, she as she sees the scared faces of the Jurgen and Vero approaching and she turns her head to the side to see the stranger.
The woman is gone.
“Are you alright?” Vero shouts as she scrambles over the uneven shale floor.
“Yeah,” Christen replies, slowly sitting up and feeling slightly bewildered. She doesn’t feel in any pain, nothing hurts. She’s not sure how she ended up on the ground, yet she’s not very concerned either, which is highly unusual for her.
“What happened?” Jurgen asks breathlessly as he comes to her side, rocks sliding under his feet.
“I don’t know,” Christen shakes her head, “I thought I saw something,” she furrows her brow, “then I was on the ground.” She realizes how ridiculous that sounds and decides to not say that again. She doesn’t want the team to think she’s crazy or something.
“See a ghost?” Vero asks, her lips curl into a smile.
“I guess?” Christen shrugs with a chuckle, brushing it off. She extends her hand and Jurgen assists her in standing.
“You didn’t hit your head, did you?” Asim, one of the engineers asks with concern.
Christen shakes her head and then removes her helmet and runs her hand on the back of her head, smoothing her straight hair down to the low ponytail she had put it in this morning. “No, I feel fine,” she reports honestly, “no headache or anything,”
“Maybe the heat,” Vero murmurs, bending down and retrieving Christen’s water bottle and offering it to her. Christen could have sworn her bottle was clipped to her belt yet decides not to question it in front of everyone.
Christen takes it and uncaps it, “Thanks,” she says and swallows down a heathy amount, “I’m fine, guys,” she assures them, “I don’t know what that was, but really,” she nods at them, “I’m good.”
“Well,” Asim scratches the back of his head, not looking completely convinced, “we’re both almost done with one side of the corridor,”
Christen nods, jerking her thumb over her shoulder, “I’ve got to end at the curve and I’ll have this side and the ceiling done,”
“Need a buddy?” Vero asks, trying hard to not let her crush come across.
Christen smiles at her, already embarrassed at the incident occurring and the attention it’s bringing, “Thank you, but I’m fine,” she states kindly, “we should get back to it,” she nods at them.
Asim lays a hand on her shoulder, “We’ll get lights in here tomorrow,” he promises, “I should have gotten them in here for today,” he adds apologetically.
Christen gives him a warm smile, “It’s fine,” she states, “we’re all too excited to get started,”
“How about we break for lunch when you finish the first half?” Ari suggests, looking at her with concern.
“Yeah, that sounds fine,” Christen agrees easily, giving him what she hopes is a reassuring smile.
The group disperses with the Asim walking up the corridor and Ari and the students shuffling off down the corridor with Vero looking back and giving Christen a cheery nod. Christen takes another drink of water, her thoughts on the woman she saw. Did she encounter a ghost or did her own mind make the image materialize? She just disappeared into thin air. Her touch felt so solid against her cheek. She clears her mind, deciding to think about it later knowing she needs to focus on her work and twists the cap back on her water bottle, frowning at her shaky hand. She takes a few deep breaths and then clips the bottle to her belt, adjusts her helmet and picks up her flashlight, intent on getting back to work.
Hours later, they shuttle down the mountain to a camp city that has been constructed for them at the foot of the road where the ground is level. It’s here they will base their operation. Situated just off Kings Valley Road, which the security team has closed off down at the parking lot for the duration of the expedition per norm, it’s a flat piece of the desert, partially shaded at times by the height of the Theban Hills which rise sharply to the west. Looking to the east, the views of the desert is dotted with other tombs and mortuary temples. It’s located at the halfway point between the KV20 and the parking lot and out of sight from tourists in the area. It’s an intentional, semi-permanent camp location with water, electrical and internet access connected to the tents for the professionals that come to the area.
In the mess hall, they gather around a large table, enjoying a delicious meal from the kitchen staff. It’s the heat of the day and that means lunch time is extended for four hours. Christen is grateful nobody brings up her incident, instead they speak about he items in the tomb they cleaned and examined, the thrill in their eyes about handling artifacts from long ago. Tired from the heat in the tombs and corridor, they use the break to retreat to their tents after lunch. Christen and Ari having their own and the others grouped in pairs per tent.
There are twelve tents total, the large mess hall with kitchen area, separate men’s and women’s showers and bathrooms, Christen’s, Ari’s, three for the students and two for the engineers. The security team has one tent and the kitchen crew has the other. The mess hall will be used for meetings and gatherings during the evening. The tents are constructed from heavy canvas, with flaps and zippered window screens for ventilation, updated and yet similar to the those used by expedition crews since the early 1900’s. The mess hall is located in the center with the men’s bath tents followed by the men’s tents spaced along the right side. The left side is similar, with the women’s tents and bath facilities. The tents are spaced about thirty feet apart to allow for some privacy.
Christen is informed by Ari that her tent is the final one in the row, the one with the best view, he had said with a charming smile. It’s the first time Christen has her own tent, she usually shares with the other women on expeditions. She knows Ari arranged this as a sign of respect to her and she appreciates it. He had quietly asked her if she was alright during lunch and she had brushed it off, joking that her imagination had been working overtime and she was fine. He gave her a weighted look before smiling and nudging her shoulder and telling her sometimes the corridors and tombs played tricks on people.
Her tent is on a wooden platform and she takes another step and hears her boots clunk on the wooden floor. She opens the wooden door to enter and takes a moment to let her eyes adjust to her surroundings. The side flaps have been lifted to allow fresh air into the tent, the hot breeze gently blowing through and hitting her skin. She looks up to see the wooden frame construction of the tent and how the canvas is affixed and lashed to it. A single light is in the center of the pitched roof with a pull cord dangling from it.
In the east corner is a plain wooden desk with a chair and a small lamp with a power stick on the floor and a plug for internet. A queen-sized poster bed is in the center with mosquito netting draping the four uprights. The bedding looks fresh and clean and the bed looks comfortable. There’s a nightstand next to the bed with a small lamp and an ancient looking fan with large blades to circulate the hot air. Next to the nightstand is a wooden wardrobe with three drawers at the bottom for her clothes. Her luggage rests on the floor before the wardrobe. A small rectangular wooden table with two wood chairs complete the sparse furnishings of the tent.
She sets her backpack on the table and then unties her fleece jacket from around her waist and drapes it on the chair and pulls out the other one to sit down. She unlaces her boots, removes her socks and curls her toes, thankful for the fresh air hitting them. She stands up and unbuckles her belt and removes her pants, draping them over her fleece, intending on wearing them when they resume their work. She sheds her shirt, grimacing at how damp it is and walks over to the wardrobe, opening the door and balling it up and tossing it in the corner. She’ll get her laundry bag out later.
She walks back to the table and opens her pack, removing a t-shirt to wear later and leaves it folded on the table. She pulls her hair up in a messy bun and then grabs her phone and walks over to the bed, using her hand to pull back the netting and slides onto the mattress. She sets an alarm for a two hour power nap and lets the phone drop on the mattress beside her. For a minute she lays sprawled out on her back, the breeze cooling her skin. She’s only clad in her sports bra and no nonsense panties. She rolls on her side, breathing deeply with her eyes shut. She’s worn out from the heat and is too tired to let her mind linger on her strange incident. It doesn’t take long for sleep to find her.
The second session goes without a hitch. As they had gotten back to work, nobody brings up Christen’s scream and fall and she’s grateful not to have to explain it again. She considers what she would say, that she saw a ghost? Who would believe her? Perhaps she would confide in Ari, maybe ask him if he’s ever had some strange experiences within the tombs. She’s heard stories about uncanny incidents happening within the tombs before and while she used to dismiss them as being far reaching coincidences or people being over superstitious, now not she’s not so sure. She doesn’t exactly want to broadcast what she saw either for fear of any of the crew being superstitious and leave the expedition.
While most scientists have dismissed the curse of King Tut’s Tomb as being a string of normal illnesses and accidents, there are those who still believe in it.
While she doesn’t see anything unusual, she feels a different atmosphere in the corridor than before. She senses something lingering in the darkness. Like someone watching her. She doesn’t feel threatened, however. It’s an almost peaceful, calming presence. It keeps her company as she works, working on her wall inspection without finding anything amiss.
The first official day ends with dinner in the mess hall, everyone talking about their day with the students mostly leading the conversation, talking about the artifacts left in the tomb. It ignites an interesting conversation about how the ancient Egyptians would entomb their dead with most of their possessions, since those items would help them in the afterlife. Ari regales them with tales of the unusual items he’s found within a tomb. The mummified remains of beloved pets and horses. Large jars of grains and beer, primitive board games and sex toys. He speaks of an elder in one family of importance whose reliefs depicted his lover, another man, and how the love story of the two were carved into the walls sharing their passion for one another. He proposed that back in the day, as long as a Pharaoh took on a wife or wives to produce heirs to the throne, it wasn’t unusual for same sex couples to have a relationship.
XXXX
May 16th
Day two of the expedition brings more of the same. Christen in the lonely corridor as she inspects each square inch of her section, methodically looking for any clue to an opening. The students are still in the tomb with Ari, inspecting and cleaning the items left for display. The engineers are still outside in the heat, using their sonar equipment to inspect the perimeter of the tomb with Jurgen bouncing back and forth filming the work being done in the corridor and tomb. The air system had yet to arrive to place in the corridor and Asim promises it should arrive before nightfall from Cairo.
Yesterday, she met with the engineers Asim and Dakarai who had nothing of substance to report and honestly, none of them expected to. Manu and Ziyad, the other two engineers were speculating on any ground disturbances using a drone and ground penetrating radar and have some areas of interest but nothing obvious or concrete. They agree to meet and discuss it further after dinner tonight in the mess hall when they can show their findings on a computer screen.
In the afternoon, Christen lets the engineers take off back to camp so they can analyze the footage and prepare to present what they’ve found after their meal. She joins Ari and the six students in the burial chamber, anxious to get a close up look at the relics she’s only seen in photos. She slips on her white cotton gloves and begins to look over the nearly four thousand year old funerary items. The majority of the cache that was found by Howard Carter in 1903 when he discovered the tomb and had been taken back to England and some items sent to Cairo’s Egyptian Museum for display. After the body of Hatshepsut have been removed in 2007 and positively identified, the Museum placed some of her belongings back in the tomb for display to the public. There was nothing new here that hadn’t been carefully examined by previous archeologists. What they brought back for display is an interesting mix. There are canopic jars that once held Hatshepsut’s organs. A small footrest that still had the stitched cushion attached. Jewel encrusted gold plated jewelry. A brass chalice encrusted with jewels. A series of statues depicting Hatshepsut and Thutmose II. There was a beautiful knife with a grip with intricate leatherwork. It seems rather random to Christen, there is no rhyme or reason to the items chosen to keep under glass cases.
All of the items were in cases under lock and key and Ari held the keys. He would open each item and remove the case from the pedestal, allowing the students to stand and examine each artifact. The cases and glass would be cleaned and the artifact dusted and examined. They would return each item to the correct case and it would be locked up again. It was a time consuming process yet necessary. They wanted to leave no stone left unturned. Literally.
Ari explains that in the next five years, he plans to renovate this tomb redone as a proper tribute to Hatshepsut and Thutmose II. First, they’ll have to safely put in flooring for visitors with lighting and a ventilation system. In time, he wants all of the public to have access to all of the tombs but gathering the proper relics will take time to track down from the multiple museums the antiquities are displayed. With frustration he speaks of the delicate relationship they have with the British Museum system who had taken so much from their tombs in the past and were not exactly willing to send them back now.
They have an interesting discussion down in the tomb about the political and religious implications of archeology and how countries work together now by loaning artifacts for a set period of time. Museums around the world are now communicating much better than before and creating calendars for touring collections to pass throughout their countries before being returned to the country of origin. The British are typically the ones who have held out of this with the explanation that Egypt had been a colony of theirs when the items were discovered. It’s a thin excuse and one that is now being objected to by many of the influential British archeologists themselves. It’s the Monarchy that is holding them back.
Not incredibly disappointed they didn’t discover a new clue in their efforts, the group takes pride in knowing they have given the artifacts a proper cleaning and return down the mountain to their camp, hungry for dinner, anxious to hear if the engineers found anything and ready to get a good night’s sleep.
XXXX
“So, here’s the image,” Manu says as he clicks the remote. A sonar image is displayed on the large flat screen monitor. “It shows a disruption at a hundred and three meters.”
“Wow,” Christen’s eyes widen, “I wasn’t aware you could get that far down,” she says, feeling impressed with their work already. The whole group has stayed after dinner to hear their findings.
Ziyad smiles bashfully, “We drilled down,” he admits humbly, “and then sent a sensor down the tube,” he explains. “It’s relatively new technology.”
“So, what are you thinking about this disruption?” Ari asks.
“Let me show you this,” Manu nods, clicking the remote again. “Here you see I’ve overlaid the map of the tomb, showing it’s depth how it tunnels down.” He explains, “What we find curious is that the void or disruption, is about three feet wider than the tomb.”
The next image shows the diagram of the tomb and tunnel system and the marker of the disruption they found. It clearly shows that there is a void of some sort going past the tomb they were investigating.
“Now,” Ziyad picks up again, “the terrain won’t let us scan the rest of the area effectively. There is only a small area of flat land and then the rocky slope sharply leads upward to the ridge and prevents us from getting any additional readings. So, we can’t say for sure how large the void actually is. This could be a short tunnel to the opening of a new chamber or it could be an anomaly.”
They group nods, wondering how they could figure out where the entrance would be to this void. Ari speaks up. “What would you propose for us to get in there and open it up?”
“We would have to find the entrance,” Manu shrugs, “if we just start going through the wall, we may damage whatever is on the other side. There has to be a clue to get in there. Plus, we have to respect the existing relief panels in the tomb.”
Christen stands up and moves to the side of the screen, looking at it thoughtfully. “They would tell us somehow,” she murmurs, “there’s always a clue.”
Ari stands beside her, nodding as he contemplates the image, deep in thought.
“We must look at the reliefs within the tomb, no?” Vero asks, “Maybe they tell the story?”
Mark, another grad student nods, “It would be coded or something,” he states, “like, so grave robbers wouldn’t know how to get in there.”
“Jurgen,” Christen states, “how about first thing tomorrow morning you take some high res photos of the reliefs, panel by panel.” she suggests, “We’ll take some time to analyze them and see if there’s anything unusual, like a repetitive story or an out of place symbol,”
“Perhaps something cypher like,” Ari suggests, “maybe transcribe the reliefs and run them through the analytics.”
“I don’t remember that being done before,” Christen comments, “this tomb hasn’t had as much attention than some of the others,” she nods, “It might turn up something,”
“You’re going to need some larger screens,” Manu reminds them, “this isn’t something you can do with the laptops,”
“I’ll have everything we need here by ten tomorrow morning,” Ari promises, then he cracks a smile, “I’ve got some pull.” They chuckle with him, as Head of Antiquities, his word goes.
“Okay,” Christen turns to the group, “let’s discuss the tasks at hand and assign duties.”
Together they come up who feels more confident strictly transposing the reliefs and who would review them and look for anomalies within the writings. The group of students are genuine and Christen appreciates their honestly of their own strengths and weaknesses. After the students have their assignments for tomorrow, Manu and Ziyad propose that they will work with the sonar tomorrow on the tomb up near the front, the one for Thutmose I, Hatshepsut’s father. They would look to see if the ground showed any disruptions for a possible unknown chamber off that tomb.
“I will be going to the city,” Ari announces, with a quick glance to his watch, “I’ll rush the permits for a possible excavation.”
Christen is thankful he would be taking care of it as she isn’t a fan of the paperwork involved. Ari arranges for Manu to email him the presentation so he can expedite the permit. He expects to have all of the proper paperwork in hand in two days when he returns to the worksite on Thursday. Christen considers what she should do and feels an overwhelming urge to return to the tomb and try to interpret the reliefs as they stand. Maybe she’ll be inspired by the ambiance of her surroundings to find the answer.
If there is one to be found.
“Wait!” she exclaims, startling the group, swiveling quickly to face them. “Hatshepsut was originally found with her nurse in KV60,” she states, raising an index finger, “is it possible that the nurse’s funerary items might hold a clue?”
Ari looks at her with surprise. “I never thought of that,” he admits, “many of her items are at the museum,” he states, “while I’m there, I’ll have a group look the over. They can email us their findings.”
“I’m going back to the KV20 to look over the panels as they stand,” Christen declares, “see it with a new perspective.”
“We’ll get you lighting down there in the morning,” Manu promises.
Satisfied they have a solid plan for the next day, Christen bids everyone good night and exits the mess hall. She intends to unwind and write in her journal and record the events of the day. She likes having a calm evening before she sleeps. She didn’t do it last night and doesn’t want to fall behind. She hears the students laughing when she’s steps away from the hall, overhearing the “wine” and “late morning”. She knows they won’t go overboard and be irresponsible or hungover in the morning. She likes that they want to socialize. She thinks she’ll join them tomorrow night for a bit. She packed a few bottles of wine and some bourbon she had purchased at the hotel. Tonight, she wants to write down her thoughts and analyze what happened in the corridor with the woman she saw. She needs to get it on paper before tomorrow begins and sweeps away the details of the incident. She didn’t do it last night because she lingered after dinner too long and was exhausted by the time she got her tent. She needs to do it tonight while the details of yesterday are still fresh in her mind.
She walks along the hard packed sand to her tent, the sky black and the stars bright. Each tent has a dim light above the door. She’s grateful for it because she doesn’t have a flashlight on her. As she stands outside her door, she takes a moment to look out on the starry sky above, thinking about how different and yet similar it looks here than it does from California. The thought stray thought enters her mind about how the Egyptians held the number seven in high regard and viewed it as lucky. It was due to them being able to only see seven planets in the sky. She smiles when she recognizes the constellation of her zodiac sign in the northern sky. Capricorn, the Goat of Fear, portrayed as a goat’s head with horns made of simple lines.
She looks to the horizon and a something catches her eye. About thirty yards away she can barely make out a figure in the desert. She isn’t startled, thinking it’s one of the security team doing a nightly walk around camp. But then the figure moves towards her and she holds her breath. It moves closer and Christen sees the distinct white tunic.
It’s the woman from the corridor.
When she comes to a stop about thirty feet away, Christen still isn’t scared. She’s curious. In fact, she doesn’t realize she takes a few steps towards the woman, now standing about ten feet from her. Silently they stare at each other and then the woman takes a few steps closer and Christen does as well.
She catches her fresh scent with the breeze, inhaling it unconsciously, feeling calmed by it for some reason. The woman’s white tunic nearly shines in the moonlight and Christen begins to notice details. She’s barefoot and has muscular legs. Her hair appears long in a braid over one shoulder. She has an amazing jawline, sharp in the moonlight’s shadow. It’s strange that she’s wearing a typical men’s style tunic as opposed the women’s gown, although she wouldn’t argue how good it looks on her.
“I am not here to harm you,” the woman speaks, her voice low, yet earnest in timber. It’s in Coptic again, Christen notes.
“Thank you,” she replies back to her in Coptic and the woman gives her a soft smile, as if she's grateful to be understood. Christen suddenly hears laughter spilling from the students exiting the mess hall.
She glances back at them, wondering how long she’s been standing here.
When she turns to face the woman again, she’s gone.
XXXX