The machines sift through the last of the soil as the sun begins it descent in the sky. A nice reprieve from the monotony of he day. Right on time a hover container arrives to carry the cart and its contents back to the museum for testing, and the eventual opening of the ancient relic. I stand by the old hunk of wood and suppress the urge to reach out and run my hand along the worn carvings. My people are back among the land of the living. The machines do a last check of the soil and are packaged back with master's lab. They did not find any trace of animal remains. The guards had take the little time they had to save the horses as the cart sank. Horses had been a higher priority to them than the lives of the twenty people they left to die. The ancient cart was carefully loaded into the carrier by robots and the guiding hands of the two scientists. With a few swipes of his hands the carrier was on its way to the museum. "Very good. Our job here is done." We all gather everything back into the hover cars, and begin our return. I look one more time at the site of the excavation and say my last goodbye to the area. I will probably never come here again.
We return Carl to Bob and continue back to the city of Meridian. I don't pay much attention to what we are passing by this time. I sit and let myself sink into memories.
I am sitting in an old hovel. My assigned quarters next to the building operation I am a part of. I am surrounded by thousands of other hovels and even more people, but I have no mind for them. I am alone in the single room with my lover. Her name was Caroline. I had been born a man in this lifetime and had taken a fancy to her when we were both children. We grew up together in this encampment, and matched together as adults. She and I would hold each other in our bed and whisper sweet nothings. We lay this way now. I run my hand down her soft cheek as she curls a strand of my hair around her finger. Here black gaze piercing into my very soul. Her skin was almost the same ebony as her irises and I always felt she was like a walking void. You had to be careful or she would pull you right in. That is what happened to me, I fell into her so deeply my love still has not wavered. Even after countless lifetimes. She would look into my eyes and tell me, "You have the universe in your gaze. The stars in your eyes show how beloved you are of the gods." I would laugh. Not being a believer in religion, I would tease her that her governess had let her have too much imagination as a child. She would smack me in the arm and scrunch her nose. "Shame on you boy of the stars!"
My eyes were the only thing I am able to keep forever. No matter how many lives I have lived, faces I have worn, or bodies I have lived through my eyes are the only things that never change. Same honey colored brown, same sunflower pattern around the pupil. When I look in the mirror even though I am Meredith now I still look into the same eyes my love did. Ironic how she associated the only thing that marked me as a slave with a mark of love from the gods. I have had many lovers and loves through my many lives, but she was one that always stood out to me.
I bring myself back from my thoughts in time to watch the hovercraft land on an unfamiliar landing pad. Confused I turn to my master just as he opens his door and exits the vehicle. I follow suit and trail after him the assigned five paces behind. Sir Finley is already entering a tall building ahead of us and master enters as well. I barely have time to process my surroundings as I follow the men through one giant room after another filled with the wonders of the world past and present. I realize that we are traversing through the museum Sir Finley created and now maintains. We pass giant and terrifying skeletons of creatures that came long before people, we zigged and zagged through dioramas of ancient man in caves lit by holographic fires. There is one whole room designated to the coronation of the first emperor and the subsequent birth of the empire. The whole scene covered in silks died the riches hues of burgundy and mauve. We then enter a long hallway hidden behind glass cases showcasing ancient swords and spears. It is all white with nothing on the ceiling walls or floor. The emptiness of this place was disconcerting. We soon enter another room through a door that went from invisible to having slid itself apart from the rest of the hallway in a matter of moments. The room we arrive in is very much like the hallway, but the white here is broken up by a dozen or so scientists fiddling with giant machines along the edges of the room. In the middle of the cavernous space is the transport craft carrying the cart. One scientist, a man who looks to be in his mid- forties with tousled brown hair, notices our entrance and stalks over to us. He does not look too pleased. "Sir Finley, Mr. Connely." He nods to each man in turn. "I hope you have an explanation for this. An ancient artifact, one that could contain the remains of ancient people, was removed from its place of rest and sent here without being inspected by a team to make sure it was in good enough shape to travel? Or even to be dug up?!" The man's voice echoed around the spacious room and the other scientists stopped their work and turned to watch the scene. The man's eyes skewered my master and his friend before coming to rest on me and setting ablaze. "And you have brought a slave woman into the lab?!"
Sir Finley rested his hand on the man's shoulder and smiled reassuringly. "Oh Tobias. Calm yourself. Willy and I did all of the field tests on our own and took every precaution. the cart is fine. And this woman here is our guest. Don't you think that such a momentous occasion as this that an actual descendant of these people should have a chance to see them revealed once again to the light of day?" Tobias bristles more and more as Sir Finley speaks until he seems like he might actually start steaming from his ears. His reply comes out even and calm, though, showing his skillful ability to keep a civil tongue. "We have finished scanning the integrity of the slave cart and have determined that it is safe to open. I advise you to put on your personal protective equipment before we do." He stalks off again much in the same way he came.
Master turns to me and grabs my elbow, steering me into yet another room. I feel uncomfortable. I don't want to see what became of the people who sank into the bog. I don't want to be here. But here I am with my master and Sir Finley as they remove the suits that hang along the walls of the small space and start to slide them on. I follow every step master takes as he puts on the suit and I immediately copy his movements until I am covered head to toe in the baggy fabric. A plastic visor and steady flow of cool air protecting me from airborne pathogens. When we are each in our respective suit we file back out into the other room. All of the scientists have already left or donned similar apparel to us and have already removed the ancient cart from the confines of the transporter. They move very quickly.
We gather around the back of the recovered cart and watch as a group of scientists bring a large piece of machinery over to pry off the sealed door. They hook the ends of the machine to each side of the carts entrance and back away. With a whir and a click the machine ran its way up the side of the cart and back down again, ending where it had started. The scientist return to the device, gripping both ends and nodding at each other. On the count of three they pulled the device off of the cart, taking the doors with it. Crumbles of dirt fall and smash on the immaculate white floor and the feeling of a light breeze brushes past us like the ghosts have finally escaped their prison. The scientists holding the door shuffle a little ways with it before gently lowering it to the ground. I peer into the cart and am met with darkness. My eyes slowly adjust and like an image becoming clear on a screen, the scene of horror unfolded. Twenty perfectly preserved mummies stare back at me mouths wide in screams of horror. Eye sockets empty and gaping, tatters of clothing still hanging from their emaciated bodies. I flinch and backpedal, slamming into the scientists behind me. They shove me aside as I continue my escape so they can observe the horrors themselves.
I turn away and walk as far away from the scene as I can. The images of that fateful day flash through my mind in swirls. The new images of their bodies now mixing with those memories. I steady my breaths and try remembering something else. Anything else. Thousands of years of memories I cannot escape from and now I cannot conjure up one?
A hand softly brushes my back and I turn with a start. Sir Finley stands behind me with a large goofy grin on his face. "There were twenty just like you said! Can you believe it? Just like you said!" His smile grows even larger. "You are going to be a big resource during this investigation!" I can only stare at his smiling face with horror. Does he not understand that there are people in that cart? Crushed together and trapped in their wooden tomb. His smile dampens slightly as he looks closer at my face. "Are you alright?" I can only sit and stare, obviously making him uncomfortable. I never let emotion get to me like this, and now within only a few days I let the horrors of another lifetime affect me enough to where someone important is noticing. I might not last a lot longer in this life. They might put me to death for this insolence. I can see master approaching from behind Sir Finley but I can't bring myself to look up at him. My eyes are glued to the young man and I am unable to look away. His smile is now completely gone and he is looking at me with concern. "Meredith what is wrong?" He places his hand on my back again. Master stops beside me and gives me the same look of concern. I finally peel my eyes from the two and stare at the floor. "Please do not mind me, I am just shocked. Please enjoy your discovery and I will restore composure." Please, please, please.
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