Ray Manning moved through the South American jungle like a ghost. If it wasn't for the loud Hawaiian shirt Ray would have been impossible for the expedition team to follow.
"You mind not trying to lose us?" called Jeremy Warren.
"Are you trying to take all the fun out of this?" said Ray as he stopped, allowing the team to catch up. Ray pulled out a handheld GPS unit.
Jeremy moved up to stand beside Ray. Jeremy was six foot two inches tall and built like a pro wrestler while Ray was five foot seven with a slim athletic build. The two looked like Godzilla about to step on Bambi.
Terry Patton stepped forward to join them. Terry was fifty-two years old, but looked forty. "How close are we?" Terry asked.
"More like how lost are we? Ray, do you know how to use that thing?" asked Jeremy.
"Tell ya' what. You lead and I'll translate whatever we find when we get there. Sound good to you?"
"I guess I'll give you one more chance."
"Good, because we're about a mile from the site."
Fifteen minutes later the group was back up and moving. Progress through the jungle was slow with twenty people. Ray led the way with Jeremy following not too far behind. Every so often Ray would disappear ahead of Jeremy to scout ahead and Jeremy would keep the rest of the group on track.
The jungle got denser closer to the site. The location to which they were heading was one hundred miles from any known ruins. They had found nothing on their trek towards the site that would indicate they were heading towards anything but jungle.
"How can there be ruins here?" said Alan, one of the newest members of Terry's team.
"If it was obvious someone else would have found it by now. What we're looking for wasn't meant to be easy to find," replied Terry.
"There's not even a rumor of a city or village existing out here in this forsaken jungle. Are you sure this isn't some sort of wild goose chase?" said Alan.
"We'll know soon enough if this is the spot. Terry doesn't waste effort like this if he's not sure," replied Angela Simons, Terry's assistant. Angela was five foot four inches tall with curly blonde hair. Anyone who didn't know them assumed Terry had picked Angela based on her looks; anyone who knew Angela knew her looks had nothing to do with it.
Two hundred feet from the expedition site the trees began to thin out, twenty-five feet after that Ray found a small stone pillar. The pillar was overgrown with vines and impossible to see until you were on top of it. Jeremy moved forward to take a look at it. As Jeremy uncovered the pillar it became apparent that the pillar was ancient. There were only a few partial symbols visible. "It's hard to tell, but these symbols look Atlantean," said Jeremy.
Terry came rushing forward to take a look at the pillar. He looked the symbols over carefully. "You may be right, but I can't be sure. Ray, how close are we to the coordinates?"
"One hundred seventy feet or so."
"Perfect, we'll set camp here. Angela, survey the site. Tomorrow we start excavating."
Terry made his way out of the chamber. Three months of excavating had finally paid off. Just past the entrance he met up with Angela. "What did you find Terry? Were we right?"
"It's not how we thought it would be. But I think we've found our map to Atlantis," said Terry as he handed over a digital camera. There was a picture on the display of a triangular stone tablet. Angela shrieked with joy and gave Terry a huge hug. "Time to celebrate later, right now we need to get the team ready. I want that room documented and searched as soon as possible. We need to get started on translating that tablet."
Angela knew the translation of the tablet would take months or even years, they knew a few of the characters but that could still leave a lot of translation. Even with that knowledge it was hard to contain her excitement, she was about to be part of the greatest discovery in history. She could barely believe this was really happening.
It was late when Angela and Terry made it back to the camp. Some of the team had already gone to sleep but Terry woke them. He rallied them all around the planning tent. "Ladies and gentleman, we have found what we came for, and I'm here to tell you it's amazing."
The expedition broke into a dozen conversations and a few cheers. Money changed hands as bets were paid off. The total crew for the dig was just over twenty; the only person not speaking was Terry. Terry raised his hand to silence everyone. "This is just the beginning people. We still have to translate it, and hope it's really what we are looking for. You all know what to do, I want the room prepped and catalogued by tomorrow evening. We need to start translating as soon as possible. Jeremy and Ray, I need to see you two. Everyone else get some sleep. It's not time to celebrate yet." Terry headed off towards his tent and Angela went off with a small group to start laying out plans for preparing the room. Jeremy and Ray followed Terry.
)
