I sighed. I knew my reputation. "It's because they don't understand."

"Yep. But I do."

I shifted, uncomfortable, not really knowing what to do or say. So, I switched the topic. "So, you want to explore a little more? I don't know how far I'll be able to go, though."

She shined her flashlight around, taking in the smoothness of the walls. She reached out to run a hand along one. "This is incredible, truly. But, I wonder why there aren't any decorations on the wall. There's no hieroglyphics at all! That's very unusual."

"Well, maybe there's just no way to explain what lies ahead?" I conjectured.

"But, you'd think that, even if they couldn't explain it, they'd offer warning."

"True."

She looked down the passageway, which continued until it took another left turn. "Do you think it's safe?" she asked.

"I don't know. I didn't do a full mapping to get out here. I do know that it starts to spiral around counterclockwise until it reaches some kind of door to the chamber."

"Well, I don't want to go back." She shivered at the thought. "It seems silly, if that's the case, that we don't go forward."

"Okay, come on then, let's go." I took the lead and we began the journey to the center.

Around and around we went, always turning left, traveling along oddly bare walls that were nearly as smooth as glass.

"Hey, Tony?" Cally called.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think this passageway is... well, is manmade? I mean, I don't want to suggest aliens or something, but..."

"They seem a little too perfect, don't they?" I asked.

"Yeah. I don't know of anything they might have had to do this kind of work unless they were just really, really patient with their polishing."

"It'd have to take lifetimes to do all this," I pointed out.

"I know. But, then, didn't it take lifetimes to create all the pyramids?"

"Good point."

"So," she returned to her original question, "do you think they're man-made?"

I thought about it for a little while. "I don't know. I mean, we can definitely say they're not made by nature. Nature doesn't do square except in crystalline structure," I explained, stating the obvious that we both knew. "If it were made by say, water, or lava, it'd be uneven and rounded."

"Right. It has to be artificial. And, unless we're on an episode of Ancient Aliens or something, it has to be man-made. But, do you think that what you experienced could be man-made?"

"Fuck no," I said immediately. I stopped and she almost bumped into me. "Wait," I said as I turn my flashlight on her, making her shield her face, "are we saying the only logical conclusion is aliens?"

"Tony, put the light down a bit," she instructed and I did, but it landed on her chest, which was awkward, so I finally just shined it on her feet. "I think we have to be open to the possibility. It seems far-fetched, though."

"A little. But, also logical," I said.

"Well, now I'm really curious. Can you go further?"

"Yes. I don't feel any of what I did the other day. Odd." I headed onward toward the next left-hand turn. After it, the passageway straightened for a considerable length. At the end, we saw a wall, but couldn't tell if it was just before another turn, or if it was a door of some kind.

"How are you doing?" she asked me. I appreciated her concern.

"I'm okay. Nothing weird happening. Yet."

At the end, the passageway turned one last time. When we turned and stepped into the doorway we found there, wall sconces on the walls lit by themselves with a soft a glowing light.

Cally and I looked at each other. She shrugged and moved forward. I followed behind.

The doorway opened up into a vaulted chamber. Here, the room was as one would expect; the upper walls were decorated with hieroglyphics, with real gold and jewels embedded, elegant statuary and many chests of what I would assume to be treasure. The only thing missing was the sarcophagus.

Instead, there was a circular door spanning some twenty feet at the end of the chamber. It looked big enough to drive a tank through, literally, in my estimation. In front of the door was a stone pillar about waist high sticking up out of the floor. We were standing at the top of a set of stairs that lead down into a central sunken floor. At our level, there was a wide ledge that went all around so that we would be able to get excellent photos of the walls.

The room was flawless. The walls were precision smooth, the glyphs almost alive especially in the softly glowing light of the sconces.

I looked at Cally as she looked at me. "Well, what do you think?" I asked.

"I think I could spend a lifetime here just studying."

"Agreed. So, shall we take pictures? Maybe some video? And swear to keep what's here a secret from Mr. Sheridan for as long as possible?"

"Deal," Cally answered.

"Actually, that leads me to a question. How come you're willing to work for Mr. Sheridan?"

"Well, I know that people like him are going to loot these places as soon as they find them. And, if not him, then someone else. I've tried to stop them legally, but they just steal it anyway. So, while I don't work with them, I'm willing to work for them in order to try and preserve something of what we find."

"In other words, the least you can do is get there first."

"You got it," she said before narrowing her eyes at me. I wasn't sure what that meant. "So why do you work with him?"

"He pays me a lot of money," I said honestly. "I like money."

"You're—You're serious?" her eyes went wide. I took that to mean she was surprised by my answer. "Don't you care about the artifacts?"

"Of course I do. What he doesn't know is that I often buy things that he sells. He pays me a horrendously high fee. It more than covers my expenses plus the cost of a few sarcophagi. I donate them back to the country they came from. All anonymously, of course."

"Of course,"

"I also sometimes call the authorities, just to be a pain in his ass."

She giggled. "I do, too."

"Like, on this job. They're supposed to be here the day after tomorrow. I had Jeff arrange to go into town tomorrow so that he could call."

This time, Cally laughed outright.

I continued, "So, if I were you and your team, I would make some excuse to be gone when they raid the place."

"Point taken."

"So, you want to take some pictures? I wish I'd brought my actual camera. I guess our phones will have to do," I said, fishing mine out of my pocket.

We started on opposite sides and worked our way around, taking pictures of entire sections of wall. Then, I went around with her and took pictures of specific glyphs she wanted.

It was then that my stomach growled. It practically echoed in the chamber. Cally laughed and dug into her backpack, handing me a granola bar.

"Here. It's not much, but it's something."

I took it. I didn't much like granola bars, but I was hungry. "Thanks." I dug around in my own backpack and fished out two bottles of water. "Here."

She took one and we sat on the stairs to eat and drink for a bit.

"What do you think is behind that door?" She asked.

"I don't know."

"Are you feeling anything?"

"Nothing."

"It's too bad there's not a room above it so you could map it," she commented.

"Agreed. It would be cool if my gift worked in any direction but down between my feet."

She was quiet for a while longer. "Hmm. Hey, is it that it only works in the down direction or is it that it only works between your feet?"

"You mean, like, if I laid on my back and put my feet on the wall, could I map the next room that way?"

"Yes. Could you do that?"

"Huh. I don't know. It never occurred to me to try."

"Feel like trying?"

"I guess so. It just seems like a weird idea." I didn't want to admit that laying on my back with my feet on the wall didn't seem like it'd be the most manly position to be in. But, on the other hand, I was as curious as she.

"But, weird is okay... for science, right?"

I smiled. "Yes, for science, a lot of weird is okay." I dug my sketchpad and a pencil from my backpack and headed toward the door.

I got as comfortable as I felt like I could, laying on the floor, backpack as a pillow, and feet against the door. I took a deep breath and reached out tentatively.

I immediately felt like I was falling. I dropped my feet from the door before I screamed, breathing hard.

"Hey," Cally said, waving at me to get my attention. I was more grateful that she probably knew that she didn't touch me. "You okay? What did you feel?"

"I felt like I was falling into the Void."

"You're shaking. Do you want to stop?"

"Kinda, but I want to know what's there more," I said, gathering my courage.

"So, logically, we know that it is unlikely there's a vast Void in there, right? Can you focus on that and see if you can get through it?"

"Right. Yeah. I'll try that."

"You can also talk to me. Maybe that will help?"

"Okay. Thanks." I certainly wasn't feeling very manly at the moment, but I was glad she was there and I was determined to see if I could make this work. I put my feet back up on the door.

"So, what do you feel right now?"

"I haven't started yet," I explained.

"I know, but tell me anyway. Like, what do you physically feel?"

"I feel my feet on the door. I feel my head on my backpack and my sketchpad on my chest. I feel the pencil in my hand."

"Cool. Focus on all those things when your emotions start to go haywire."

"You've dealt with panic attacks before," I said, looking at her.

"Yep. Had a few of my own, too."

For whatever reasons, that made me feel better. "I'm going to start."

Again, I was falling. I opened my eyes and saw that I was still on my back, with my feet on the door, in the chamber with Cally. The falling sensation began to subside and I focused harder on what was around me. I shifted my position a little and pushed my feet into the door a little more. It seemed to help.

The sensation faded and I began to sense the room beyond. "There's a room!" I said, excited. I grabbed my sketchpad and, rather awkwardly, I began to draw.

The room was perfectly square with the same glass-smooth walls as the passageway. In fact, the only thing in the room was another stone pillar. I concentrated on it.

Unlike the pillar out where we were which was devoid of markings, the pillar in the new room was covered with carved symbols. I drew the symbols that I saw. The ones facing me were easy. The ones facing away I drew as I saw them, knowing I could take a picture with my camera and flip them so they were the right way. But, I couldn't see the two sets on the sides that were parallel to me.

"What do you see, Tony?" Cally asked, watching me draw the symbols.

"The room is absolutely empty except for a stone pillar in the middle. One side faces toward me and one side away, then the other two sides face left and right. I can't see those two sides.

"Well, I suppose half of the symbols are better than none, right?"

"Agreed." I continued to sketch until I had the last nuance of the bottom symbol facing away from me. Then, I went into the pillar, just on a which. "Hey! There's like wiring and stuff inside the pillar! Things that look like crystals on a circuit board maybe. Wow, it'll take me a long time to draw that."

"Maybe we should just work on the symbols first? Then come back to the pillar?" Cally suggested.

I dropped my feet and, after a brief moment, sat up. I handed her the notebook and fished for my camera again.

Having flipped the opposite side symbols, we studied what I'd found.

"I don't recognize any of those, do you?" Cally asked.

"No, I've never seen them before, ever. But, look, the second and last ones are the same."

"Wait. Hang on. Didn't we see them in some section of the wall?"