The temperature is soaring as I use the slasher to cut down all of the long grass to prepare it for bulldozing. I can feel the sweat as it trickles down my spine. Nothing worse than working in this heat in the middle of the day. The site manager, George Daltry is sitting in his donga enjoying the cool air conditioning while those of us that need the money are working our arses off.
I was making my way through University until my finances took a dive, now, I’m doing any type of work just to get by. The plan was to finish my degree in archaeology and go on to do great things. What a joke. In Australia, there aren’t very many jobs in that field, and for every position, hundreds of applicants apply. I could go into teaching but it’s not my passion, mind you neither is sweating my arse off on a slasher.
I’m working my way up a hill when something in the grass catches my eye. Goddammit, now I have to climb down and make sure it won’t damage the blades. Georgie boy is already pissed at me for the gearbox on the dozer crapping itself; I need this job, so I’m not willing to risk the slasher.
As I climb down, I can feel the sun as it scorches the back of my neck, at least in the cab of the slasher I had protection from it. Keeping my eyes on the ground as I don’t need a frigging snake bite, I walk toward the object in the grass. I kneel down and discover a small stone statue; it resembles a pillar, intricately carved with various pagan symbols on it. The wind blows, and the grass moves revealing another one. Standing I walk toward it, and then I see that there are actually a few of them. The next one closest to me has Celtic designs engraved on it.
I walk around them examining them as I go, all are from various periods of history, it doesn’t make any sense. I walk backward and run into another one that is significantly away from the rest; this has early depictions of Christ on it. My archaeologist mind wants to believe I’ve made a significant find, that these are old, older than anything we’ve ever found in Australia but they can’t be, and there’s no way that all of these can be from different periods in time.
I pull out my camera and take some photos, my ego gets the best of me, and I send some to my old professor. Within minutes my phone begins to ring.
“Hello?”
“Tyson? This is Gertrude Wool; you sent Professor Hide some photos? What are you doing in Peru?”
“I’m not in Peru. I’m at Little River in Victoria, Australia.”
“Well, how did you get a picture of the dig in Peru? Did someone send it to you?” Gertrude asks with suspicion.
“Gertrude, I took these pictures in a paddock in Little River. I’m clearing it for some development. The pillars look old but they are from different periods in history, they must be fake, right?”
There’s a pause on the line, and I can hear muffled voices. “Tyson, we need your exact location and whatever you are doing, stop. I can’t go into it over the phone except to say they aren’t fake,” says Gertrude with urgency in her voice.
“I’m working for a company, Little River Constructions; they aren’t going to like it. They have a lot of money invested in this scheme.”
“Don’t worry about that; we’ll make the necessary arrangements. Please, don’t disturb the site. There should be eight pillars, five in the shape of the Southern Cross and the rest should be near by.”
“Hang on.” I put my phone in my pocket and climb onto the top of the cab on the slasher and look down. She’s right, it’s the Southern Cross with two pillars positioned further down the hill toward the river. “Yeah, it is. But I’m only seeing seven pillars. Are there other digs with eight?”
“Soon Tyson, for now, keep everyone away from the dig. We’re sending a team, we’ll take care of everything.” She hangs up and I’m left staring at the pillars wondering what the hell I’ve discovered.
“Marshall! What the fucking hell are you doing? I’m not paying you to stand around all day! I need this fucking field cleared!” bellows my dickhead boss, George Daltry.
I look down at his rotund form with distaste. “You should be getting a call soon. This site is now shut down. It’s an archaeology find.”
