When Earl arrived, Tanis asked “What took you so long?”. “I had to make sure everyone was getting it in gear and making commitments to be here
before noon”, and after a short pause Earl said, “um, well, plus I wanted to give you some time with the little lady”. “Little lady?, what the
hell are you talking about, there is nothing going on, besides, it could never happen, I am married to my work” Tanis asserted. “Too bad, you two
would make a great couple” Earl answered while he giggled under his breath. “Listen buddy, your match making abilities could easily be defined as
a serious act of negligence” Tanis returned. “Negligence!, Impossible!, I change my underwear daily” Earl proclaimed as he began to laugh.
“What is so funny?” Janet asked, surprising the two, as she walked up from behind them. “Oh, Doctor Burrfoot was just humoring me of a tail
about two rabbits and an act of negligence, it was quite funny if I might add”. As Janet looked over at Tanis, he quickly raised his hand and
responded, “I’ll tell you later”. “Good, because we don’t have time, the equipment is here and they are coming into the compound now”
Janet said as she anxiously awaited a response. Tanis was ready and began immediately to issue directions “Get the trucks lined up in 2 horizontal
columns on the south side of the dig and park them about 20 feet apart, and have the back-hoes and loaders on the west side with everyone on standby,
I’ll be one my way shortly”.
Tanis issued the orders like he knew what he was doing and gave some additional directives then Janet turned around and moved out like she was a man
on a mission. He turned to Earl and said, “Earl, I need you to do me a favor if you would”. “Anything” Earl answered. “The men have worked
like dogs and I think it is time for them to get some R and R, so, go see Maxine and have her do whatever she does to requisition a couple of cases of
liquor plus 2 nice kegs of beer”. “Have a tent set up on the far end of the compound with plenty of chairs and ice, add some games like dice,
darts, and cards, because tonight we are going to let the help cut loose!” Tanis declared.
“You do realize that they are not going to be worth a hill of beans tomorrow, don’t you?” Earl said while he was turning around in preparation
for departure. “Yes, yes, and I am also betting on them not having to dig tomorrow”, responded Tanis, “Oh, and by the way, grab a couple of men
to give you a hand setting everything up, and swear everyone to secrecy as I want this to be a surprise for all”. Earl turned around and confirmed
the orders with a singular wink then carried on about his way. Continuing to give himself progress reports, Tanis was pleased with the progress that
had been made thus far.
He commenced on his hike through the hot sand towards the dig as the sun mercilessly pounded down on the planet and cooked everything within its rays.
He began to think about what the supervisor mentioned and wondered if there was really any truth to that old tale.
As the story goes, in an ancient time, gods ruled this land and the surrounding areas to include nearly 50 square miles, to be precise. They offered
safety and security to every man, woman, and child to which, the only stipend was to pick 2 sacrifices for each moon phase. The gods provided a
monumental alter for which these sacrifices were to be preformed and they were said to radiate light energy during the process. No one knows for
certain how the sacrifices were carried out, as there are no further details to the legend, and no records were kept of the routine. What is said from
the legend is that the gods will come out of the sky and swallow the sacrifice and carry them off to the heavens.
After studying the map, researchers were able to determine from carbon-14 dating that the map was penned sometime around 3000 years ago using
techniques that were a millennia ahead of its time. Fortunately, Dr. Frankenheimer was able to surmise from the symbology, that artifacts were to be
used during the sacrificial process. We do not know exactly what artifacts, or what roles the artifacts played, however, Earl, did in fact discover a
riddle hidden in the symbology that was interpreted to read “Entangled and pure connected through posts”.
Mulling over the challenge, Tanis speculated that the riddle must somehow describe the 3 interlocked gold rings that were found some 2 weeks ago, but
figuring out how they integrated into the process was still a mystery. Arriving at the dig it was obvious that Janet had taken control of the
situation and fulfilled his orders as well as issuing directives to have some of the fresh workers relieve those who had already been working these
past hours.
edit on 3-9-2013 by ShadellacZumbrum because: (no reason given)