by Collin Earl
*****
Somewhere in the gathering crowd of onlookers, a nameless man removes his tactical gloves and drops them to the ground unnoticed as he gawks with the multitude at the congregating influx of emergency, security, and medical personnel.
Treasure Time
Time: Late afternoon, five years, two days after the desert facility was destroyed
Scene: Sacred Temple deep in the Burning Plains
Using the old map he had borrowed off an older native, Dirk wound through the sparse underbrush of the plains. In this broken and godforsaken land, his lips were parched, his face was sweaty, and the sun bore down on him like a 16th century taskmaster. He was almost out of water, too. If he didn't find something soon... But the map, his little savior, showed he was getting close. If he could pull this off, it would be one of his biggest finds. Dirk could taste the credits now.
Dirk could have kissed the old wrinkled parchment. The old man's map was a boon from the gods and would save Dirk some serious time and effort. Combined with all the other information he had gathered about the relic, it was almost too easy. And that's what worried him.
Dirk had long ago accepted that he and fate were not on speaking terms. He had often wondered what personal vendetta fate was pursuing against him, and realized early on in his career as a relic hunter that he would have to work for everything he got. So when the old man had mentioned the map, the one thing that Dirk had not counted on having, he almost, almost let it go. The map could be a dead end, or a curse, or a portal to another dimension. Not that Dirk believed in any of that mumbo jumbo – gods, demons, aliens, and curses, nonsense every bit of it. But then again, he did believe in fate.
Ultimately, Dirk took the map; he couldn't help himself. His mother had always said, between sips of cheap vodka, that you should never punch a gimme bear in the face and never kick a gift donkey in the stones. He wasn't sure what that meant, but then again, his mother was drunk. A lot. Dirk just hoped the old-timer wouldn't start missing the map until he was far away from the plains.
He rounded the last outcropping on the map and saw the canyon that lay before him. He spun the map around in his hands, lining it up with the ledge of rock that he now stood upon. He studied the markings on the map and periodically looked at the rock formations in front of him. Then his skin tingled. Dirk looked at the map, and then at a spot one hundred meters across the canyon. He broke out his nocs and focused the lenses. A small opening in a cliff came into view. Dirk smiled. It was treasure time.
