A/N: This is my third chapter of Time Net but anyways do the usual stuff like reviewing and reading and enjoying and breathing. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or the character but I did try to convince them into giving it to me by holding them hostage but I held a 54 yr old Wal-Mart employee on accident instead. Oh well…
Chapter 32020 hours, January 6, 2005
University of Houston Archeology Building
Houston, Texas
Colors and numbers swirled around her eyes, as she looked in wonder. Her father appeared out of nowhere, she saw him playing with herself but as a child. She knew that it was a memory but she wanted to rap herself around it like a blanket, to roll around in its warmth. Someone then said her name over and over, but she held on to the memory for dear life but slowly she regained consciousness. Her steel gray eyes opened slowly and focused on a man that was hanging over her. She looked around at her surroundings; she was in a rather messy office, lying down in a couch. His voice suddenly spoke, he sounded like a jackhammer in her head; she tried to stop the pounding on her head by closing her eyes but it seemed to become worse and worse. She suddenly sat up as soon as she saw the man hold a bottle of aspirin over her head. She quickly put two pills on her tongue an swallowed them without water. The pills went down her throat hard but soon the pill took effect and the pounding in her head slightly relaxed.
"Where I'm I?" she asked the person sitting next to her. At 5'11 and 150 lbs he looked rather nerdy, especially with his black-rimmed glasses and lab coat. He looked like he was preparing himself.
" You're in my office, but allow me to introduce myself, I'm Dr. Christopher P. Garcia," he said timidly. He shifted in his chair, causing it to creak. Elaine looked at him for a moment, giving her head a chance to stop pounding.
"What happened?" she asked remembering being knocked out but nothing else.
"You blew up a police car," he said flatly
"It blew up?" she exclaimed.
"Yes it did," he said in a neutral tone. He shifted again and looked out the window, panic now starting to fill his green eyes. "The police are looking for you."
"Why?"
"Well for one thing, you blew up a police car, you raced across downtown Houston, and you caused an accident with the light rail," he said in an exasperated tone. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes unenthusiastically.
"Then why I'm I here?" she asked looking straight at him. A thought then raced through her mind, how does he know my name? She then looked at her pistol that was right next to the couch on a table. With lightning speed she picked up her pistol and aimed at the doctor.
"How do you know my name?" she said as she pulled the hammer back on her handgun.
"Whoa! There's no need for that," he said fearfully "I looked at your badge, Elaine"
"Oh, I'm sorry… I overreacted " she said as she lowered the gun." You see I was being chased by these criminals and I'm still jumpy from it."
"I understand" he said relieved "I found you in the parking lot after hearing the explosion. I was about to call the police until I saw the file lying right next to you. I picked it up and realized it was about me then I saw your badge." He walks back to the window and looks outside into night. " I knew your father, Elaine. He was a good man and I respected him but he never did listen to me," he said in sadly. Elaine felt tears starting to form in her eyes; she held back the sob now heavy in her throat.
"Do you… think… he suffered?" she said in a meek voice. Chris kept looking out the window; his silence subtly answered the question.
"Elaine, I think you should rest, after all you survived an explosion. We'll talk about this in the morning," he said
" I guess you're right, I'm pretty tired," she said tiredly. In the back of her mind she was glad the conversation was over.
"Are you ok with sleeping here?" he asked
"Yeah, I'm ok," she said
"Good night," he said while getting his keys. Elaine laid down it the couch silently as Chris turned the lights off and left his office.
The smell of eggs drifted slowly towards her, reinforcing her need for nourishment. She concentrated on the eggs frying in the pan, the oil sizzling and bubbling.
"Hungry?" Chris said as he noticed Elaine staring at the eggs on the hotplate.
"I'm famished, I could kill and eat a horse," she said calmly
"I could tell by that death stare your giving those eggs," he said with a laugh. The eggs solidified as he lowered the heat and served them on a plate. Elaine took her fork and wolfed down the eggs on her plate. With calm precision Chris ate his eggs slowly and savored the taste of it.
"So you knew my father?" she asked with her mouth full
"Yes, we went to college together and we were good friends."
" What exactly led to him unearthing the building?" she asked, now finished with her eggs
"It all started when we analyzed picture from the new GO satellite launched back in 1996…"
"What is the GO satellite?" she interrupted.
"The GO satellite was launched by Berkley and NASA to map out and to detect underground objects. The military took a subtle part of the experiment, since they could use it to detect enemy underground bases. But it could only detect up to 25 ft, which made it useless to NASA and the military since buildings and object are usually deeper than that. But it is very useful to an archeologist, since it could be used to find items or bones. Dr. Clancy, your father bought the satellite with a research grant," he said scientifically.
"Ok keep going"
"After he bought the satellite he decided to pick a random place to test it. He finally picked it after receiving a call from the company that gave us the grant, Kinder Inc. He chose the Valley of the Kings in Egypt and so he took some pictures of it. We were amazed at what we found, a building 20 ft underground. You see the Valley of the Kings is one of the most explored sites in the world. Ever since the 1800's the Valley was dug up and looked at by almost every Western country, even the Nazis dug there. Nowadays most people assume that there's nothing there, imagine our surprise when we found the building there. So we the company sponsored the expedition and we started digging at the site." The fork clanked on his plate as he finished his eggs. His hand went to his pocket and took out pictures. The Polaroid's showed the expedition in steps, which he laid down in chronological order on the table.
"Here is step one, we taped off the area and started the preliminary digging. Now let me skip the rest of the steps to show you the last step, here we are in front of the building," he said as he gave here the Polaroid. Elaine concentrated on the picture, noting the size and architecture of the building.
"What kind of architecture is this? This doesn't look Egyptian," she said giving the picture back to Chris.
"We were baffled by the Architecture, it was nothing we had ever seen. It looked very advanced but natural but all I know is that someone very intelligent made this building."
"How big is it?"
"According to the satellite the top level of the building is five stories long, but we don't know how far down it goes."
"Wow how can anyone miss something that big?" she asked in a wondering tone.
"Don't know, just destiny I guess," he said as he took a drink from a flask he hid in his lab coat. "Want some?" he asked offering the flask.
"I could use some," she said as she took the flask and took a big swig of the hard liquor. "Bourbon?" she said in an inquiring tone.
"Yep, aged 23 years, my favorite," he said as he closed the flask.
"Anyways, can you tell me the events leading up to the incident?"
"Well we uncovered the entrance after digging for a few days, the whole crew was ecstatic about it, the building itself gleamed like it was made yesterday. Dr Clancy was especially excited, he quickly gathered the team to explore the building, but I warned him because of the sheer size of the building. But he never did listen to me, even in high school. I stayed behind while the rest of the team explored the building. Well after a while one of the workers came out with a picture of a hieroglyphic, he told me to email it back to his office. He also told me that the main chamber was door less, so they couldn't access any other part of the building. He described the room as an open chamber, lit with special mirrors that bounced light into the room, the walls covered with writings that were very alien. But there was one sentence on the wall that can be translated. Here let me show you," he said as he took the aged Polaroid and handed it to her. The photo showed the wall with the Egyptian Hieroglyphic on it.
"It says the key of the forerunners is here," he said as Elaine looked at it once more before giving it back to him (A/N: Finally a Halo reference!).
"What does that mean?"
"I did some research on it a while back, the 'forerunners' phrase can be backtracked to the Mombassa tribe in east Africa, which refers to their god. According to legend the 'forerunners' came from the stars and planted the fruits of knowledge into the mind of man. Strange, eh?"
"Strange as this case anyways," she mumbled as she started to think. 'What does all this have to with my dad?' She thought.
" I suggest that we investigate this at the scene of the crime" he said abruptly
"What!"
"Well whatever happened, we need to look at the scene more closely to see what went on."
"I think you're right, but I can't just leave the country, I'm with the FBI."
"But what choice do you have, remember their looking for you," he said with a knowing tone.
"Well if were going to Egypt, I think we'll need some firepower."
"That can be arranged," he said with an all-knowing grin.