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Chamber of Time (Vocabulary Word Short Story Assignment) Diane stood in the shadow of the spreading tree, away from the heat of the noonday sun, tapping her foot impatiently. "Where is he?! We are already behind schedule!" she thought, a hint of annoyance crossing her tanned features. She saw him approaching then, heading toward the scree near her. The debris at the base of the hill was left over evidence from the volcano that had erupted several years before. "Sorry I'm late," Alex puffed, an apologetic look in his ocean-blue eyes. "Umm…, Alex, why are you wearing that ZOOT SUIT?! We are on a dig here, not playing in a jazz band!" Alex held up his hands. "Well, hold on and let me explain. You see, I went to talk to the head curator at the museum this morning, to find out about getting an extension on the deadline. By the time I was done with that, there was no time to go home and change," he told her. She looked at him expectantly, "Well?!" "Well what?" he asked with mocked confusion, casually removing the thick shouldered jacket. "Did he grant the extension?!" Diane blurted with an exasperated tone. It was going to be a long day, she knew. "Well, at first he was concerned about the profits he would lose by the delay…" She sighed, "Lucre… it always comes down to that. Fame and fortune instead of getting the job done right." Alex continued. "After some persuasion, he finally gave in to another two weeks," he told her, hoping the blond haired woman would calm down a bit with the news. It worked. "Well, two weeks is better than nothing. Let's get started." Alex and Diane headed toward the dig site. The artifacts that had been found recently were uncovered by the eruption and led the archaeologists to believe that something bigger lurked, waiting to be unearthed. And after many frustrating months, today would be the day they discovered everything they dreamed of… and more. "Diane!" Alex called. "I think I found it! The entrance to the burial chamber!" Alex was now digging frantically, trying to remove the dirt from his finding. Diane ran over, beads of sweat dripping from her orehead. "This is it! I can see the markings!" They labored over the next few hours, with the help of their crew that consisted mostly of college kids here for a grade. Finally, they broke through. There was a eerie bioluminescence emanating from the moss that lined the ancient walls of the passageway. "Man, I hope we don't get pneumonoultramicrosopicsilicovolcanoconiosis from this dust!" Alex coughed. It usually annoyed Diane when Alex showed off his medical schooling like that, but in her excitement, she let it pass. "We have to get in and disinter one of the coffins." Diane turned toward the group. "You all stay out here and dig for more artifacts. Alex and I will go and have a look around before anyone else goes in." Which pleased the crew more than she knew. None of them really felt like entering… just some feeling about the place. But Diane was never one to be superstitious, herself. Grabbing their gear and flashlights, the two stepped through the entrance. Silently they trod the narrow hallway, their footstep echoing in the half-light. Then, Alex and Diane gasped as they entered the main chamber. The room was a huge cavern, but perfectly rounded, with several similar tunnels like the one they just came from going off in all different directions. Strewn all around the place, the containers that would hold the remains of the mysterious race that vanished. Alex walked a desultory path along one side of the massive cavern, while Diane went to the thither wall across the way. Looking at the inscription carved above the coffin that was there, she thought she heard the tintinnabulation of bells faintly to the side. "Alex, " she called, her voice sounding louder than the whisper she meant it to be. "Yeah?" he answered. "Do you hear that?" "Hear what?" "Those bells…" she told him. "What bells?" "Oh, nevermind. I must have been imagining things," she said, shaking her head. "Let's take a look at the one in the center." She indicated an ornately decorated sarcophagus seated on a raised dais. "Yeah, it looks important…" Alex replied. They both wandered toward it, looking at the detailed runes that covered the outside. "Let's get it opened and get a preliminary report," Diane said, taking a collapsible lever from her pack. The top of the casket came off easily. Diane and Alex stared amazed at the sight before them. "Why, he's perfectly preserved!" gasped Alex. "And he looks to be like something straight out of he Dark Ages!" Diane added softly, just as surprised as Alex. For, the man inside was dressed in shining chain mail, his heaume worn proudly upon his head. On his chest, his hands clutched the hilt of an engraved claymore. Overcoming her shock, Diane ordered Alex, "Get a scan. Let's see if we can figure out what a knight from the Middle Ages is doing in here." Alex took out his bio-scanner, a portable medical device that could tell him anything from the sequence of the DNAin a person's cells to the structure of the ossadigitorummanus in the hands. But, what showed on the scanner was not anything he expected. "Umm…. Diane?" But Diane was staring off down one of the other tunnels that connected to the room. "Diane?" he repeated, his voice shaking. "Shhhh… do you hear it?" "Diane! Stop with the ringing in your ears and come and take a look at this, would you?!" Shaking her head once more, "What is it?" "I don't know how, but this man's cells are in a state of zygomorphic phasing!" "What?!" The knight chose this moment to open his eyes and say, "At last! Somebody hath been sent to replace me! I thought I heard the Bells of Awakening." "Thy friend seems to have lost his feet," he said to the speechless Diane. "Thou'rt the one?" he questioned. Diane tried to shake her head no. "But thou didst hear the Bells, didst ye not?" She nodded, not being able to deny it. "Then thou art surely the one." The knight climbed out of the coffin so gracefully, none would know by watching him that he had laid within it for thousands of years. He stepped over to Diane and handed her a bottle. "Thou wilst be able to travel spiritually whilst asleep. When thou'rt in the box, sniff the contents o' the bottle, and journey to far away lands and times." He moved her gently toward the coffin. "Someone wilst come to wake thee, just as thou hast done for me. Listen for the Bells, and thou wilst know when it be time." Diane could not refuse, had she wanted to. Something was compelling her to do what the knight told her to do. She sniffed and as she lay down, saw the lid being replaced over her. Then, without warning, she left her body and floated above, outside, the casket. She saw the knight gently lifting Alex's inert body, and bearing him away toward the tunnel that she had heard the Bells from... ...the passage that would lead back to the knight's own time. |