Atlantis Gold
Description
Vocal Characteristics
Language
EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
North American (General)Transcript
Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
pro long Great Pyramid of Giza, 1938 Salam Hassim was lost. He knelt on the stone floor of the chamber somewhere deep within the Great Pyramid and smoothed out a map on his knee while aiming a flashlight with his other hand. Drops of perspiration fell from his forehead onto the paper, pattering softly in the near silent space. The confusing array of mapped passages, rooms and chambers made his head spin as he tried to reconcile, where he presently found himself with hand drawn diagram. The room he thought he must be in had two exits, while the space he actually found himself in clearly only had one. So that must not be it, he thought, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a shirt sleeve. Unless Hamar made a mistake with the map, he shoved aside the grim thought and glanced at his wristwatch. The time of day meant little to him, for down here in the depths of the fantastic Egyptian structure, it was always dark. But the fact that nearly two hours had elapsed since he'd left his expeditions camp was most disconcerting. Indeed, he needed to get back before his associates noticed he was gone. As an archaeologist on a large, well outfitted expedition from the University of Cairo, Salam was part of a professional team devoted to thorough, methodical study of the ancient wonder. Not all of the pyramid had been mapped yet since new areas were still being discovered, and those lesser known sections were strictly off limits to everyone. Salam was well aware of this rule but had deliberately strayed from the authorized dig areas. Nonetheless, one major reason for this policy with safety many of the pyramids passageways had to be buttressed with contemporary building techniques to brace the walls, ceilings and floors against collapses and cave ins. Another reason Salam knew was that disturbing a new area without observing proper archaeological technique would compromise the integrity of the site. One wouldn't know whether items had been laying as they were for millennia or, if they're positioning was due to the recent disturbances. He looked around the space again to see if he had missed something. Sometimes new passageways were discovered, but then blocked off by moving stones back into place to prevent unauthorised persons from exploring them. But aside from the engineered tunnel that had led him to this room what he thought had to be a subterranean space beneath the actual ground. The pyramid sat on. He saw only four walls, a floor and a ceiling, all constructed from the same solid stone blocks as the rest of the pyramid. It was, of course, a marvel of human engineering that the Egyptians had been able to cut, transport and move all of these blocks into place to build such a lasting structure. But Salam was currently concerned with much more pressing matters. He stared down at the map once again, panic beginning toe well in his gut. If I'm not in this room here, then where the **** am I? He traced the tip of a finger along the solid lines, indicating horizontal passages, the dotted lines representing the vertical. And then it hit him hard. You're in a new chamber. He had been looking for a room that was known to contain artifacts that had not yet been catalogued. The pyramids and other ancient secret sites had long been the target of looters, and truth be told, Salam was not above making an extra buck or two if he could get to the off the books artifacts quickly enough. They were ripe for the taking and would fetch him a pretty penny in the black market antiquities trade. But his interest here today was something special. Even so, he had ended up in a different area altogether. In unchartered space, he was about to retreat back into the passageway that led him here when his gaze lit on a wall mounted figurine of a pharaoh's bust. These were not uncommon throughout the pyramid, but still, it could be worth something, since he'd likely never get another chance to be in this chamber again, at least not alone. He crossed the room to take a closer look. Carved from a single block of courts, the bust was about eight inches high by four wide. It protruded out from the wall by several inches. Salam directed the beam of his flashlight all around the statuette where it contacted the wall. He did not want to break it or even chip it. The less smart it was as a result of being extracted from its original location, the more money it would be worth. Still, he had not the time to be as thorough as he knew he should be. He thought something looked a little odd about how it was set into the wall. Something about the groove thickness. Usually the joints were tight enough not to permit a human hair inside, but these were much wider.