Second Chances
By Rob Rosen
The dig had gone well. The Inca, vanished but not forgotten, left valuable clues. As had the Anasazi and the Clovis People. As had numerous other seemingly lost civilizations, empires that spanned vast terrains only to somehow fade into oblivion. After twenty years in the field, I had come to my own conclusions as to where they disappeared to, ideas that had been, up until that very moment, mere conjecture, with no confirming scientific evidence. Ideas that, had I published them, certainly would’ve ruined my career.
Now, as I stood before the wall of ancient etched rock, my heart beating furiously, my career seemed anything but ruined. In fact, I was sure to make history. Or perhaps not.
The etchings ran down a massive partition. It took me days to decipher
