[b][centre][color=f7941d][h2]Nataza Beata Stepanova. [/h2][/color][/centre][/b] [b][centre][color=f7941d][h3]The Unkown Temple[/h3][/color][/centre][/b] [hider=Dr Natasza Beata Stepanova. Post marked London England.] [i]Dear Dr Natasza Beata Stepanova. We are pleased to confirm and invite you to join the expedition to the newly discovered Artic structure. Please find details enclosed and make your way to McMurdo Sound by timelines enclosed. Accommodations at the American station are provided. Again all details will follow in a larger package sent alongside this letter. Your payments are as agreed in the last meeting and all on contract. Please read carefully , sign and return using pre pre-paid envelope. Upon return your pre-payment for expenses will be paid within 3 working days. Kind regards and good luck. Professor L Croft. Department of Antiquities. University College London. CC: Professor D Jackson. Egyptology Section. US Air Force Strategic Command. [/i] [/hider] … [b]D -14 to D -5[/b] Natasza only just caught her flight having to take a roundabout route. The new Temple in what was long considered a dead continent to human life and uninhabited was no longer the case. A stone temple of unknown age and origin drew every eye possible and any academic with more than a Masters seemed to be applying to join the expedition at the US run polar outpost. Watching London vanish beneath as she caught the special flight provided by UK Military to Falklands then linking up with an convoy of ship's loaded heavily with station supplies and some of scientists on a research vessel , HMS Shackleton joining to study under sea regions, An modern Russian behemoth of an icebreaker the Pavlov, and fuel tanker for station. The direct flights were harder to get so Natasza was on a slow boat there taking the old fashioned route. Their little convoy made a steady pace arriving 9 days later at the busy Artic station. It did give her a chance to brush up on her scrabble game with a French Geologist and an fun evening with their own mini Titanic themed grand ball of sorts aboard on the trip dancing into the night that you never get flying direct. She was not a people person but the atmosphere was infectious that evening and embraced it somewhat against her norm. [b]D -2[/b] Settling into life on the busy station waiting for her chance into the structure so was studying some photos sent back from outside , they did not do the discovery justice though and was very much like a kid in a lego store waiting for a chance to see it firsthand. However the dramatic news had meant the media , though pretending to speak limited English and talking in deliberately accented Polish had put them off bothering her as she struggled to not laugh while doing it. "Oh please… seriously? That quick? We barely know anything bar it exists yet." Replying to an email rumour that said they had someone from one of the big tv channels doing a documentary already. Rumours were rife around the station. Pulling her ushanka hat and hood up for protection as despite global warming the area was not most hospitable, heading from her lodging to a dining area and a screening of Aliens… scientists really did have a sense of humour despite popular belief otherwise. Keeping to herself somewhat with a glass of wine, Natasza was enjoying the quiet movies and smaller events. Not so much forced socialising as on other expeditions though from seeing a few held hands and whispering the base would probably end up with a few extra residents from biological reproduction experiments. If you put enough healthy adults in a place with no real place to go… well it happened. [b]D 0 (Dig day) [/b] Packing the last of her kit for the 3rd time, SKS checked and readied for the 2nd fully oiled and cleaned, extra clips all tossed in the backpack. Leaving live ammo unattended was a bad idea. Everything had to be done in a certain order, the books and other reference stuff could be left behind. Ushanka secured, everything closed and zipped. It was a 10 minute walk to catch a short helicopter flight to the site of the temple. It was good to let you get a view overhead and that could be rather useful and important to understand the nature of people who created the Temple. Terrain for such sites was chosen extremely carefully. Dressed in her practical gear, very glad for her new winter boots and sunglasses as the Polar sun shone low and brightly glaring at your eyes reflecting off all the lighter colours. It was not a fancy outfit nore particularly colourful but it was warm and would keep you safe from the various hazards on a dig site or odd errant tool or chip. Ducking low and getting out the rotor wash of the helicopter with sks slung over shoulder and her backpack tightly strapped she could finally see the Temple for the first time and the advanced workmanship that covered the structure making some small talk but more drawn to the window. The inside was very much almost like a Indiana Jones movie, deliberate unknown carving work and complicated forms, characters showed whoever made this placed great value upon this building. It was like Howard Carter opening his tomb only way Colder, an entirely unknown new thing. Placing her hat in backpack for now and sorting her short hair, walking the room and documenting to get some idea of what was there and general arrangement for a few hours to start with. The designs ran collectively across multiple walls and took a lot of work but one eventually stood out in particular as patterns began to slowly emerge and form.[color=f7941d] "Anyone got a dig kit? There's an interesting glyph set zere but iv needs cleaning?" [/color] Her native accent coming pronounced in excitement, every culture often laid things out in certain understanding of symmetry. This was larger and often in a place regarded as important. In line with the main altar of sorts and sitting on what seemed to align with other carvings in supportive forms and architecture. Much as she could do some excavation, times like this required a pro. [color=f7941d]"Vi do not want to damage it, and much seems to centre on zis glyph set." [/color] Scraping at dirt carefully with her glove it did not give much, requiring a little more persuasion to reveal the main body of carving. The team was as varied as expected, more tuition fees round room to buy a mansion from all parts of the globe. Natasza had yet to get to know anyone that extensively yet and mostly knew everyone at least by professional basis. Humming along to 40-1 Natasza waited studying her notes and rough initial drawings confirming her theory that whatever this was may be interesting. Definitely patterns and reason or deliberate intention to then but what they meant would take far longer to understand their meanings.