Oasis of Eden

It had taken several hours to go over every inch of the small room. When she finished, she’d handed the journal to one of Dr. Harper’s assistants and returned to her tent to collapse onto her cot.

With a brief half-hour nap under her belt, she emerged from her tent and stretched her arms toward the late afternoon sky, working out a few kinks in her neck and shoulders. The heat hadn’t lingered, thank goodness, and the temple room where she’d studied for the better part of the day sat just below ground, keeping it cooler than the outdoor temperatures. Still, it would be heaven to take a bath and sleep the rest of the afternoon and evening away. Not that she’d find a bath anywhere—

“Jade Anne!” Dr. Harper called to her not two steps from her tent. “I read your findings.”

“Come on in, Doc,” she said with a sigh.

He pushed his way through the entrance flap. “My dear, aren’t you the least bit excited?”

“You mean because of the blanks we filled in today?”

“No! Because you found the room itself to be pre-dynastic! Not a single ruler’s name, on record or otherwise, could be found on the walls of the temple room.”

She waved a hand. “Oh, that. Haven’t there been other pre-dynastic findings?”

Dr. Harper shook his head. “Nothing like what we have here. This is the first—or should I say yours is the first.”

“I see,” she said with far less enthusiasm than he displayed. What she hadn’t logged was that the glyphs may have been the work of some fanciful Egyptian, and this room was the first fiction novel ever written. She would bet a thirty-inch string of black pearls that this room was a hoax, a farce, an ancient practical joke someone had played and forgotten to dismantle. The pattern to which the information followed circled the painted scenes in loops and didn’t follow a vertical flow as did other hieroglyphs. There were travelers—beings from the sky mentioned—which she imagined caused the others involved to claim “conflicting views.” Had she the time, she’d wait until the Church muscled their way in and shut them down for heresy.

Interrupting her thoughts, Dr. Harper placed his hand on her shoulder. “Tonight we celebrate. The entire camp has been called out to enjoy dinner in costume and,” he dropped his voice low, “several celebratory barrels of aged French cognac are on their way as we speak.”

This perked Jade up like nothing else had since she’d set out on this little excursion. She couldn’t pass up a great party. It just wasn’t in her to do so. Perhaps she’d let the good doctor in on her personal theory tomorrow. “Er, Dr. Harper, is there any way to get a bath sent to me?” She smiled and batted her eyelashes.

He grinned. “Anything for our star archeologist.”