Old Magic

“What are we doing here David?” Melody asked, starring as the vine coated, grated door, “it’s not like this place is 'high priority. I mean, it’s barely even on the map, more of a curiosity.” “I just had a feeling,” David said, his hands grazing across the bars. “You and your feelings, and here I thought it was girls who were supposed to make that excuse.” David smiled. “You’re just jealous that my hunches have paid off, whereas yours haven’t produced so much as a stray line of code.” Melody rolled her eyes. He was right though, he’d managed to find some of the greatest anthropological sites in generations; they’d already discovered a ton of magnificent artifacts for the museum. They’d developed great renown amongst the Grave Diggers and it was all thanks to him. “One of these days David, it’s going to be my turn,” she said. “And one of these days you’re going to realize that you’ve been in love with me this whole time and regret the fact that you never took me up on my offer,” he replied. Melody chuckled. “Yeah, you wish,” she said, “and we’ve been over this. I’m just not attracted to you.” David raised an eyebrow at her. “You mean that you won’t admit that you’re attracted to me,” he said, “that’s not the same thing.” “How you can be so delusional, I’ll never know. So, are you going to get that thing open, or are we just going to stand here all night?” David squatted down by the grate and ran his hands around the edge. “To be honest,” he said, “I’m not even sure this thing opens. Maybe there’s another entrance somewhere?” Melody activated her holo-map and pulled up the schematics. “Not that we know of,” she said, “I suppose it’s possible. But while your instincts have worked thus far, do you really think you possess the power to find an entrance that the drones didn’t?” “Probably not,” David said, “we could pry it open.” “Oh, talk dirty to me,” Melody said, playing up the idiocy of his last words, “you’re such a bad body to risk damaging precious anthropological artifacts. It’s hot.” David scratched his chin. “I supposed you’re right,” he said, “I mean an iron grate shouldn’t even exist here. This site is over 800,000 years old and I’m pretty sure they didn’t have the technology to make something like this.” “Are you serious?” Melody asked, walking over to examine the grate herself, “800,000 years? Are you sure?” David held out the reader. “I mean, yeah, that’s what the gauge says. And then you’ve got these markings…” He pointed to several marks on the grate and Melody switched to a magnified view. Sure enough, the markings contained particles that they shouldn’t. This gate alone was a find so rare that they both could go down in history books just from discovering it. “Damn it,” she said, slapping David’s arm, “you just had to do it again, didn’t you? The find of the century and you found it with a freaking whim. This is ridiculous. You’re getting insider information, right? Who’s your contact?” David chuckled and Melody wrapped an arm around his shoulders as she stared down at the grate. “You know we have to get down there,” she said, “we would be idiots not to. Do you have your laser-blade?” David rolled his eyes. “Most people just call them knifes,” he said, handing her the tool. “Yes,” Melody replied, “but most knives are used for cutting vegetables these days, and one of these bad boys would turn a vegetable to ash in milliseconds. These are laser-blades.” She spun the blade in her hand a few times before tilting it toward the stone surrounding the grate. She pressed the starter button and sliced through the wall. It was slow work, and very hot. As she reached the last side, she wrapped a cable around the bars and harnessed the other end to a tree before making the final cuts. “Heave-ho,” she said, switching the laser-blade off. David shook his head at her phrase but wrapped his hands around the cable. Melody joined him and together they strained to pull the grate from the rock face. “This would be so much easier if we didn’t have to be gentle,” David said. “That’s so like a man to say,” Melody quipped, sweat dripping down her forehead. “Are you sure you cut all the way through?” “Oh, my god dad, stop pestering me.” Inch by precious inch, the grate slid from its stone casing. As the grate drew clear of the wall, Melody got her first look at just how thick the stone was and her eyes widened. She glanced back at David and saw his furrowed brow too. With the grate finally clear, Melody let go of the cable and went to inspect their find. “This shouldn’t be possible,” David said, bending down next to her, “they shouldn’t have been able to cut through the stone. It’s almost four feet deep.” “It shouldn’t have been possible, but clearly it was. Who were these people though, they are so far ahead of any other group from their time. How is it that we haven’t seen anything like this before.” “Maybe they lived underground?” David offered, but looking at his face, Melody knew that he doubted that theory just as much as she did. There had never been a humanoid creature that could survive in complete darkness before. Even now, they only survive due to technology and all signs indicated that no historical humans had reached their current level of tech before. But there was the grate, so maybe it had? “We really shouldn’t be here,” David said, backing away from the new hole in the ground. “Are you kidding?”Melody said, “we can’t leave now. Just imagine what else could be down there.” “That’s exactly what I’m doing,” David said, “who knows what could be waiting for us down there.” Melody waved away his concerns. They’d all been well trained for these missions, they all knew how dangerous these places could be, and they’d all agreed that it didn’t matter. “You know you’re not going to run away from this,” she said, “so stop fooling yourself. We’re here because you said you wanted to check it out, so let’s check it out.” As she spoke, she placed a protective sheet around the grate before moving down to stare into the hole they’d just made. Her flashlight reflected off the floor of the cave below. It didn’t seem like too far of a drop, but she decided to attach a rope anyway; at the very least it would help them get back out. She pulled on the rope a couple of times to make sure it was secure and then turned back to David. “Come on,” she said, “are you really going to leave me hanging? You’re going to let a poor, innocent young girl drop down into a dusty, scary cave all by herself?” “Innocent my a*s,” David said, but he moved over to join her by the entrance. “Want me to go first?” Melody asked. David looked like he wanted to say yes to that, but his sense of honor got the better of him, just like she knew it would. He dropped into the cave without another word. She didn’t leave him hanging though, dropping down beside him the moment he’d cleared the line.