Read Online Alien's Concubine, The by Kaitlyn O'Connor - Free Book Online Page A

it is mummified, it won’t
last long in this kind of weather.”
    Dr. Sheffield nodded when Dr. Oldman
had finished. “You’re right. We’ll send for a container. In the
meanwhile, we can study the chamber itself and focus on unearthing
the remainder of the temple. Sheila was right. Considering the size
of this chamber, we’re looking at an enormous tomb.”
    Gaby felt like rolling her eyes. She
could’ve figured out the temple was huge from looking at this one
room and she wasn’t even an archeologist, or majoring in
archeology! It was easily forty by forty feet and near the top of
the temple. The footprint must be staggering!
    She stayed to watch, basically, while
they measured, photographed, cataloged, studied, exclaimed, and
theorized. This wasn’t exactly her field, but she still found it
fascinating. She was relieved that she wasn’t the only one who’d
noticed the craftsmanship and artistry indicated a civilization
more advanced than the Aztecs, the most modern of the ancient
civilizations.
    It worried everyone, but it was a find
unlike any before and they were determined to follow procedures
carefully so that they wouldn’t have their ultimate theories about
the place shot down in flames by the scientific
community.
    The sense of being watched crept over
her from time to time. Each time the hairs on the back of her neck
prickled, she would glance again at the statue of Anka. Finally,
deciding she was rapidly becoming obsessed, she left.
    She confined her visits after that to
exploring the ruins slowly being uncovered. A week after her wild
little adventure, the native workers uncovered a third outcropping,
supporting the original theory that the building had been built in
a very similar fashion to the pyramids of the Aztecs.
    Within weeks of the first discovery,
Dr. Sheffield had rounded up twice the number of workers he’d
originally hired and the great pyramid began to take shape as yet
another level was revealed.
    The container Dr. Sheffield had
ordered arrived at the site nearly five weeks later, flown in and
lowered by helicopter.
    Gaby hadn’t realized that this was
what she’d been waiting for. For weeks, she’d been debating whether
or not to return home, chafing at having very little to do beyond
assist the other scientists at their work. She would have left
directly after the accident if not for the fact that she realized
that there was a good chance that rumors would follow her forever
afterward.
    No one had even questioned her about
the remarks she’d made in the chamber when she’d disputed the
theories of the other scientists, which made her feel as if,
rightly or not, they were united in an opinion of her that wasn’t
likely to enhance her career. Not that she thought that staying was
likely to change that estimation of her, but she realized she
needed a reason to go that wouldn’t have the appearance of
fleeing.
    It would’ve been fortunate if the
Museum had recalled her to her duties there, but they didn’t and
Gaby wasn’t really surprised. In the first place, good fortune had
never followed her. In the second, her assistant, she suspected,
was making hay while the sun shone, making the most of the
opportunity presented to him by Gaby’s absence to try to worm his
way into her position.
    The container, though, that was the
break she’d been waiting for. Dr. Sheffield and the others would
set about removing the remains in the crypt to examine it and ship
it off to the states where it could be studied under optimal
preservation conditions.
    And she would accompany it, because
that was what she’d been brought for to begin with.
    Or rather, she would accompany
him.
    Because she knew who had been interred
in the crypt.
    Anka, she realized, would finally be
released.
    * * * *
    No one was more dismayed than Gaby
when the helicopter, after releasing the guy wires supporting the
container, moved to the landing area that had been cleared and
leveled in anticipation of their arrival.