For Sand, God, and Blood

[Mergerberger II]

The grass rose in random tufts around his sandals, as the sounds of birds rang out from the three trees. The gravestone before him read [i]Ahmed, son of Ja'far, born in the year of the longest Autumn, died in the year of the shortest spring.[/i] Cryptic, he thought, as he kicked the soil of kings, and some small grain lodged itself beneath his largest toenail. The sound of a car could be heard off in the distance, and he looked upon the other two graves in the cemetery. He had known them all at one point, shared in their dreams and their goals, and now the broken man put his hands in his jacket, turned about, and walked through the iron gate to where his car was waiting for him. His day here was done, but the night was ahead, and there were many things yet to be done.

[hr]

King Harun al-Fulan sat uncomfortably in his chair as the eastern sun beat down on his bronze neck. Sweat beaded upon his forehead although it was a modest seventy degrees in his office, and a single drop fell from his nose to the paper below, creating a distinct circle of grey around the 'c' in 'archaeology'. He looked up and to his right, reading the titles of the books on the bookcase, all books he had never read. The sun was very hot, but he could not leave this room for many more hours. Already he had delayed his obligations by lunch, family, and dinner, and now he had to finish and make a decision. He had consulted as many people as he possibly could have, and was certain that he had approached this event from all possible angles. There was no new way he could look at this, no remaining microscope he could examine it with, he simply had to make a decision. People were waiting on the outcome, he knew, many people. This decision could very well affect the lives of every person in Naharayim.

He knew that decisions were often made quite quickly, usually his first instinct upon hearing advice was what he decided on, and he had always trusted himself in the past, but now Harun kept second-guessing himself. There were so many reasons to sign it, and so many reasons to not sign. He sat back in his chair, leaned his head against the warm black back, closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and sat up. He picked up his finest fountain pen, and made the lines on the paper that put into effect the Archaeological Appropriations Act. He called in his aide, poured a strong drink, and turned to see the world he had just destroyed.

[hr]

[img]http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s45/kansasrules/babylonianlogo.png[/img]

[b]King al-Fulan Signs Archaeological Appropriations Act, 'AAA'[/b]

King al-Fulan today announced that he would, as promised, sign the somewhat controversial Archaeological Appropriations Act into law. It was passed in Parliament 456-1 with 7 abstentions. The Act allocates one hundred billion canadians to the newly-created Department of Archaeology, a sum which several pundits find outrageous. "There are many big problems in Naharayim today," one said, "and wasting billions of dollars on digging up old ruins is not something that we should be prioritizing and spending our money on."

In an interesting twist, the bill actually allocates only four billion canadians directly for the Department of Archaeology. The other ninety-six billion has been given over to 'discretionary spending'. There is nothing in the act, sources say, that requires the money to be spent directly on Archaeology, and the expenditures have been made unavailable to the public. The Director of Archaeology is former Defense Minister Cassim al-Bahruit.

[Mergerberger II]

"Allahu Akbar," the words were whispered to the soft threads of the mat on which Ahmed rested his glistening brown forehead. As he lifted himself into a kneeling position, turned his head to the right and to the left, and completed his Salah, Ahmed became aware once more that this was the heat of the day in the desert, the sweat dripping from his bearded face. He stood, gathered his things and returned to the camp with the rest of the devout, who had all left camp in different directions to perform the Salah individually and separately, returning to where Iago, a rare secular man who was not afraid to show his atheism, sat with glasses on, focused on the opened notebook in front of him, in which he appeared to be sketching. On the table in front of him sat an object that no one could place, found earlier by Razoul. It was in the shape of a crescent moon, made of pure gold and inlaid with many invaluable jewels. They speculated that it was some sort of elaborate neck piece.

The sketch looked professional. It was clear that Iago had spent a lot of time doodling and drawing in his life, and the pencil outline of what had been called the Necklace of Souls by Abu, due to the fact that they had been digging in the Cave of Souls, looked like an exact black and white replica of the piece. Iago was just finishing as the rest of the group walked into his tent. Lunch had been served, and they gathered their supplies and entered the Cave once again. A buzzard circled overhead, and inside could be heard the faintest dripping of water from the ceiling. They had not been to the deepest part of the cave yet, having prioritized the excruciatingly precise mapping out of the cave itself. But now, they were ready to descend.

Abu led. This part of the cave was laid out in a way that made it clear that this area had seen visitors some thousands of years ago. There were stone stairs, but they were crumbled and broken. Some were missing entirely, and the zig-zagging pattern as well as age meant that the archaeologists had to be tied securely to a rope which was fastened to a rock inside of the cave at the top of the stair. Abu jumped from stair to stair, moving slowly as Ahmed followed, lights revealing only what their next jump was. The wall of sandstone behind them and the stairs at their feet kept their movements very deliberate, as the passage was narrow. Ahmed estimated that Abu was probably five flights down when he found the bottom. And it was just as Ahmed's foot touched the ground next to Abu's that the floor collapsed, and Abu tumbled down with it.

Ahmed's rope held fast as he watched his friend fall. He saw now that the floor he now hung next to was also the ceiling of a small room below. He shined his light on the moaning figure of Abu below him, "Abu!" he yelled, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, fine. Get down here right now. Right now."

Ahmed obeyed and slid down next to Abu. He looked in the direction of Abu's flashlight, his eyes lit up, and he could not believe what he saw.

[hr]

"This place will be fine, Cassim."

"Are you sure? Aren't we a little close to the base?"

"The building is far enough that they won't be able to tell what's going on. We'll put up a big electrified fence between us and the base anyway, and being adjacent to the base is good location too, since it is out here in the middle of the An Nafud. No one is ever going to come here that isn't already military personnel, and military personnel aren't going to disobey an electrified fence and orders."

"Alright, how long until it can be ready for use?"

"For our purposes? Two months."

"That soon?"

"Yes, it was built for chemical weapon research back in the 70's, and was used until about 2005, but was abandoned since then. We can easily fix it up, especially on the budget we have."

"Then I will see you in two months, General."

Edited July 8, 2012 by Mergerberger II