DIG #235

“Seek and ye shall find…” The script in English was cut deep into the wall of the ancient structure recently revealed at Dig #235. The young archaeologist trembled as her brush swept sand from the last word. How long ago had humans lived on this world? This was always a key question in the work of interstellar archaeologists. She had been assigned to this section of the dig to search for clues about the human diaspora as historians had come to call the centuries of humans migrating across the Universe. There was documentation from archaeological evidence collected, sifted, cataloged, and archived that told the story that after the first starships left Earth, the human species had indeed sought and found new habitats far distant from Earth. Lorena, the young archaeologist, had herself been born, raised, and trained on Zondonia and now here she was on Krylonia, light years away looking at an inscription written in English on an ancient wall. To her, it seemed that the boundary between the known and unknown had retreated a little more with this find.

“Lorena, what have you found?”

The question broke her reverie and she looked up into the eyes of Dr. Farzakane, the Dig Boss.

“An inscription in English,” she replied and pointed at it.

“Seek and ye shall find,” Dr. Farzakane read aloud. “I believe there are records of that message having been found elsewhere and elsewhen,” he mused. “Lorena, check the known inscriptions database for what is archived about this one.”

“Now, Sir?”

“Now, I shall sit here in contemplation until you return.”

Lorena nodded her head and moved away, walking at a fast clip toward the database tent, a must on any serious archaeological dig. She kept thinking: Seek what? Find what?

The database brought forth much information pertaining to the message. It had been passed around amongst human cultures in all the thousands of years of archaeological evidence of human history on Earth and beyond. Clearly without more artifacts and dating tests, there was no way to pinpoint the date of this particular culture revealed at Dig #235 on Krylonia.

The big question which always arose in such interstellar archaeology was when did humans arrive on the planet being researched. Everyone knew that the first ships left Earth in 2492 to colonize planets within Earth’s solar system. It hadn’t been until the 32nd century that colonizers left Earth’s solar system and sought other solar systems with habitable planets. It took that long to solve the many problems of interstellar travel for humans. The first interstellar ships to explore other galaxies were documented as beginning near the end of the 34^th century. This development of interstellar travel by humans led to many changes in human understanding of what had previously been considered unknowable. Her field of study, interstellar archaeology, had begun to flourish in the 35^th century and here she was on Krylonia in the 39^th century working on Dig #235. She mused upon all this as she walked back to where the Dig Boss sat contemplating and awaiting her return.

“Sir,” Lorena began and stopped when the Dig Boss held up his hand.

“You found data showing this directive has circulated amongst human cultures from the beginning of recorded time, yes?”

“Yes, sir, I did all the way back to the Harappan civilization in the Indus Valley on Earth in about 6000 BCE. All the documents of all the civilizations since then show some version of this directive. I didn’t have time to follow all the research trails possible.”

The Dig Boss nodded and said, “No one thought we would find any evidence of an advanced human culture this far from Earth, but here is the evidence carved into this wall. A significant find indeed. We must get busy, find, and record other artifacts, set up a field lab for dating and recording everything.” He spoke quietly almost as if she weren’t there.

“Yes, sir,” responded Lorena who was very much there.

Dr. Farzakane, the Dig boss, continued, “Secure this site and pass the word to have all the archaeologists and their teams gather at the main base. I have taken the necessary pictures and will explain the next steps to all,” he paused and then looked deep into Lorena’s attentive eyes, “This is indeed a very significant find. Good work.”

“Yes, sir,” complied Lorena as she spread the protective field material over the words and placed markers thus securing the site. Dr. Farzakane watched and then nodded, turned, and walked away toward the main base.

Lorena switched on her communicator and spread the word.

About an hour later, all were gathered in the main Field Tent. The pictures of the find were already up onscreen. There was a buzz of excitement amongst the interstellar archaeologists gathered there.

Dr. Farzakane raised his hand. All attention went to him. He pointed to the pictures.

“This is a very significant fine,” he began stating what was obvious to everyone already. He continued, “Our work now is to continue with rigorous field work to find other evidence to support and elucidate what this find means to extend our knowledge of the human diaspora.”

He paused taking in the reaction on the faces of his colleagues, and then went on speaking, “None of the members of The Board of Interstellar Archaeologists thought we would find evidence of humans on a planet in this far-flung distant galaxy, but we have. In many ways, we are living proof of the directive you see in these pictures. We have sought and found. Now, we must go to work. Any questions?”

There were none. Everyone knew what was required when a significant find was identified. They rose from their seats and huddled with their dig teams to plan.

Dr. Farzakane with Lorena by his side circulated amongst the teams, listening, occasionally making a practical suggestion, and always giving encouragement. Lorena took notes for him on each team’s preparations to be entered later in the Dig Log. After a couple of hours, he again brought the whole group together.

“Team Leaders, if you are ready, raise your hand.” he commanded.

All the Team Leaders raised their hands, acknowledging their readiness.

“Then go, get some supper and sleep. We start at dawn when the first sun appears on the horizon.”

They all left the tent. Dr. Farzakane signaled to Lorena to stay with him.

“Excellent work today, Lorena. Enter your notes in the Dig Log and then you too get supper and sleep. At dawn, I want you to return to the significant find and seek further artifacts as your next phase of the work. I will bring others to help you in the morning.”

Lorena replied, “Yes sir,” and left his side to make her Dig Log entries. She thought it was a little odd the way he had said that he would bring others to help rather than explicitly stating that her team would continue at the significant find site. But, Dr. Farzakane had his own way of doing things and who was she to question that. So, she did as she was told.

Nearly 6 months passed. The work had been rigorous and rewarding. The dig was finding many artifacts and producing many questions, as well as some answers. It had been established that the site they were excavating with great care could be dated to somewhere toward the end of the 37^th century. Dr. Farzakane had posited a theory that humans had arrived on Krylonia around 3600 CE. Some of the important lingering questions they were now focused on were: 1. What did the physical structure of this outpost look like? 2. How was the culture organized? 3. Was there any evidence of interspecies contacts? Most of all, 4. What happened to end habitation that had resulted in these ruins?

During the last month, Lorena and others had noticed rumblings from underground in the area surrounding the dig. The seismological engineers had been monitoring these rumblings to see if there was a pattern of frequency and intensity. At last night’s weekly summary meeting to discuss what was known so far, the seismological engineers had presented their data showing a frequency pattern as well as steadily increasing intensity. Couched in technical terms and numbers, it came down to the strong possibility that an earthquake of unknown magnitude was building. This real time data supported the story steadily being revealed from the artifacts that this area had experienced repeated earthquakes in its past. Had there been a catastrophic one from which the people had not been able to recover? Were there survivors? Where did they go? Had they lost their technological ability to engage in interstellar travel or had they simply abandoned this site and moved elsewhere on this planet that was more hospitable to human habitation? Lorena knew this had happened numerous times on Earth and other planets. Dr. Farzakane was committed to finding answers, but Lorena and others worried that his commitment might prove fatal to Dig #235, and also to the team of interstellar archaeologists. Their escape via starship was still possible, but a massive earthquake could eliminate that possibility. If that happened, they would be marooned on this planet or worse. They knew there were parts of the planet that were more habitable for humans than this sandy wind swept plain, but those locations were far away, especially if they were forced to travel on foot.

Lorena shook her head to clear it and forced herself to focus on slow breathing to calm herself. Worries and fears of “what if” were never productive. She eyed the patch of wall she was about to brush and examine more closely as preliminary examination had suggested this spot might reveal more writings. She settled in and began to meticulously brush away the sands of time from her patch of the wall. As bits of script began to appear, her fingers trembled. She steadied herself and focused all her attention and energy on carefully removing each grain of sand to reveal writings from the past. When finished, she read.

“We sought. We found. We thrived here. But now we must seek again. The ground is shaking. Our ships are ready. We go.”

Lorena could barely breathe as she read these words. She opened her communicator and called Dr. Farzakane.

“I’ve found more words, sir. Please come immediately.”

She closed her communicator when he acknowledged he was on his way. She used the standard issue photographing equipment and photographed her find.

Dr. Farzakane arrived as she snapped her last photo. He brushed the wall lightly, reading the message silently first and then, aloud softly.

“Lorena, contact all the team leaders. Have everyone meet in the main tent as soon as possible.”

Everyone gathered in the main tent. There was tension in the air. Dr. Farzakane rose from his seat, cleared his throat, and announced, “The seismological engineers’ latest data shows that it is time to leave. Please look at this slide on the screen. This is another significant find that was revealed today and supports the findings of the seismological engineers. You all need to work with your teams. Pack everything up and load it all into our starship. The starship captain will oversee the loading. We have enough data to build a theory of this piece of the human diaspora which will encourage more exploration of this galaxy. My fellow interstellar archaeologists, we sought and we found. Now it is time to leave. We will get close enough to a space station in our home galaxy to send digital data by relay through our space station network back to the Interstellar Archaeologists Headquarters on Earth. We will store the physical artifacts on that space station until such artifacts can be transported to headquarters. I want us ready to leave within two hours. Any questions?”

There were no questions.

“Right, get to work. Thank you all for your excellent work and commitment to our science.”

Two hours later as the starship lifted off, Lorena took a last look at the small, humble planet where beneath her hands the farthest known boundary of the human diaspora had been revealed. Only time would tell what would happen next.