Sounds of the Forgotten

by Rayne W Grath

  “If you’re calling it wonderful, I’ll claim it. If you weren’t, I’d still claim it, but then I’d make you be responsible for making the coffee for the remainder of your stay,” she fired back with a devilish gleam in her eye.

  Kiya having been raised by her grandparents, recognized the challenge in her tone and responded appropriately. “I can make a mean cup of coffee, but yours is definitely superior. In fact it is so good that I was hoping you had to-go cups. I won’t last long without a constant source of fuel,” she asked sweetly, hoping to butter Doris up without overdoing it too much. Kiya’s grandmother could always tell when she was acting sweet instead of being sincere.

  “Well, aren’t you precious. What’s your name, child?” Doris responded, patting her hair back before she realized her movements and dropped her hands to the rag in front of her.

  “Kiya Brown, ma’am,” she replied respectfully with a nod.

  “You’re in luck, Kiya, I scored some stainless steel travel mugs at Costco on my last run into town yesterday. They say it keeps things hot or cold for hours. You can be the first to try it out and let me know how long they really keep the temperature for,” replied Doris, in a friendly manner as she flung the rag she was holding over her left shoulder.

  “You are a lifesaver!” answered Kiya, happily clasping her hands in front of her in exaggeration.

  “Don’t know if I’d go that far, dear. I’m pretty sure you’d survive without it,” Doris replied in a serious tone, searching Kiya’s eyes to see how serious she was.

  “It’s not my life you need to be worried about, Doris. Only the lives of those around me. I’m quite cantankerous without my caffeine and have been known to bite off a few heads and even make small children cry. It’s not something I’m proud of,” Kiya joked with a sly smile.

  “Let me go get that mug for you, and I’ll meet you by the coffee,” Doris replied, before shuffling away to dig through her plastic totes.

  Kiya headed back towards the coffee table and snagged a bagel to munch on while she waited for Doris. Aarik was just finishing up with his breakfast when she passed, and she couldn’t help but stop and grill him on his new friend. “Where’s your lady friend?” she asked playfully.

  Aarik looked around nervously before responding, “Not here, thankfully. I could have used a rescue, that’s for sure. Where were you? I thought my virtue was at stake,” he joked back.

  “I don’t see her around, so it appears you didn’t need to be rescued after all,” she fired back gleefully.

  “I should be okay, I think I scared her off, but don’t be surprised if I use you later as an alibi, when I need to escape her antics yet again. Perhaps you should be warned, I can be an asshole without food, probably something similar to how you feel without coffee,” he replied in warning, as he shoveled the last bite into his mouth and stacked his dishes to leave.

  Doris interrupted their playful banter when she handed Kiya a mug full of coffee and a steaming hot thermos and said, “This ought to hold you over, Kiya. I’ll see you at lunch, my dear.”

  “You’re the best, Doris. I’ll bring the cup back and let you know if the advertisement on this mug is any good,” Kiya quipped back happily. She smiled at Aarik and gave him a half wave with her hands full before leaving.

  “How do you rate so high on her list already?” questioned Aarik, as he placed his dirty dishes in the bin and hurried to follow her out.

  “I gave a compliment where it was due is all. Probably helped that I was raised by my grandparents and know how to handle the antics of that generation,” replied Kiya with satisfaction. She laughed out loud at the surprised look on Aarik’s face.

  “She came highly recommended, but is a bit gruff with people. It’s a good thing her food is delicious, otherwise I might have a problem on my hands. Sure makes it easier to ignore the attitude when you are stuffing your face with food like beignets,” Aarik said with a smile.

  “I get the feeling you are ruled by your stomach,” Kiya said kiddingly.

  “More than I would like to admit. I’m like a hobbit and feel secondsies should be recognized as an actual mealtime,” he replied goofily.

  “You continue to surprise me. I didn’t take you for a Lord of the Rings fan, Dr. Landon,” teased Kiya, hoping to kick start their conversation from the day before.

  “You are looking at a bonafide fantasy and science fiction fanatic, Ms. Brown. I read all the books, if I like the movie or series enough,” Aarik replied seriously and then added, “I better get going. I’m excited to reveal the entryway stones today and hope to find some type of writing that will help give me insight to who built these megalithic structures and when,” replied Aarik, giving no indication that he intended on pursuing their first name squabble from the day before.

  Kiya was disappointed but hoped he hadn’t given up his quest for friendship because, the more she got to know him, the more she realized she wanted one with him. “Sure, no problem. I should get moving as well,” she replied in a disappointed tone.

  “I’ll have to get some pointers from you later, on how you got Doris so easily wrapped around your finger today. See you at lunch,” Aarik said as he trotted off.

  Kiya watched Aarik until he was out of sight before she shook her head and headed off to her destination. She was happy to find Luke waiting by her equipment with two coffee cups in his hand that looked to be an espresso from town. Holding up the thermos and cup in her hand she looked between his cup and her stash and laughed. “Is that espresso?” she asked, in all seriousness.

  “Yes, a four shot mocha to be exact. I wanted to avoid the doc today and thought you might appreciate a pick me up but I see you already have more than enough. I can drink them both but then I won’t be held liable for my junkie-like movements,” Luke replied with a smirk.

  “I live by coffee, if you must know, and I will hurt you if you don’t hand over that cup right now,” she threatened jokingly.

  “Your hands are full,” Luke said, as he pointed out the obvious.

  Kiya emptied her hands and grabbed the still warm espresso with glee. “Thanks, Luke. Dr. Landon is mostly all bark, I think. Don’t let last night’s growl scare you,” she responded, as she turned around to start dialing in her instruments.

  “I’ll keep that in mind, next time he’s chewing me out.” Luke mumbled out the last part so quietly that Kiya almost missed what he said.

  “When did he chew you out?” she inquired, while continuing to work.

  “I over exaggerated maybe a little. He just reiterated that I was hired to work, not play around,” Luke explained and used his hands to quote the word play. “I assured him that you worked me hard yesterday. I guess I shouldn’t have used that particular vocabulary because he took it the wrong way,” Luke said, as he shook his head. “You guys got something going on? He acts like a jealous boyfriend,” Luke asked innocently, while sipping his mocha.

  Kiya was secretly pleased to know that Luke could see how Aarik acted around her. “Nothing, I can assure you,” she replied, glad her back was turned so he couldn’t see her goofy grin.

  “Well, let’s make sure you don’t get into any more trouble with Dr. Landon. Move the cannon into the clearing in the position we marked yesterday and turn it on. I need to do a test run and verify we can achieve standing waves at this configuration,” Kiya replied, changing the subject as she tried to put Aarik out of her mind and focus on her work.

  “What’s a standing wave?” asked Luke.

  “When a sound wave bounces off of something, it creates a reflection wave. As the sound waves cross each other they cause interference waves, like ripples in water, that cross over each other and either balance them out or amplify them. An interference wave and a reflection wave can combine to create a standing wave. Standing waves vibrate in segments back and forth producing a longitudinal pressure wave, where acoustic levitation can occur,” replied Kiya, in a matter-of-fact voice.

  “Alrighty then. Next time I as
k something like that, say, 'Luke, do you really want to know?' before you give me a science lesson,” Luke replied in a serious voice.

  “Sorry, I can get carried away. I’ll try to remember and dumb it down,” she joked, looking up from her computer and sticking her tongue out at him.

  Kiya supervised Luke as he maneuvered her baby within the circle and verified the gold plated reflectors were properly aligned before she placed a few pebbles, that ranged in size and weight, on a platform between the transducer cannon and the reflectors and moved back to her laptop. She populated the last fields in the program and said a small prayer to whoever was listening. She motioned to Luke to get behind her and handed him a pair of earmuffs for safety before she pressed go.

  The buzz that made its way through her body when the sound waves flowed over her was a welcome comfort, like coming home. The practice of using sound as healing energy had been passed down through the generations in her family. Kiya’s grandma had passed on all the needed knowledge while she was growing up, but Kiya had only been a bystander during the rituals, preferring to focus her attention on the other possibilities that sound waves offered. Her people were not the only ones to utilize this power and recently it had gained more ground in the United States under the field of vibrational medicine. She looked over at Luke and could tell he was experiencing a similar sensation as goosebumps appeared on his exposed skin and a peaceful expression crossed his face.

  “Let’s see what this baby can do,” she said, and smiled as she turned up the power one increment at a time. Luke stepped up to her side and watched the pebbles for any sign of movement. Kiya became alarmed as the ground underfoot began to rumble but the pebbles stayed stationary. She quickly shut down the program and waited for the tremors to subside. She took off her earmuffs and heard shouts coming from the main chamber. Kiya took off after Luke to find out what happened and to make sure everyone was alright.

  Luke was much faster than Kiya and as the main chamber came into sight, she could see dust rolling out in droves from the entryway as Luke raced in and was engulfed in the plume. Kiya scrambled to catch up as she frantically searched for any sign of a structural collapse before she rushed in after Luke. She reached the entrance just as the dust started to settle, letting her see headlamps shining through the darkness, giving her hope that no one was buried alive. The way the light hit the dust particles floating in the air made it hard to make out any details, so she entered the chamber and headed towards the first beam in a daze while she struggled to figure out what happened.

  Chapter Ten

  Aarik

  Aarik was pleased with himself as he walked away from Kiya, knowing she was disappointed that he didn’t ask her to call him by his first name again. He wanted her to bring it up next time and was prepared to let her stew about it until she did. He wasn’t used to having to work at getting a woman’s attention and even though they would be working together, he wasn’t opposed to the idea that they could be more than friends after this adventure was over.

  Diego was already hard at work by the time he arrived. That impressed even Aarik. He looked at his watch and calculated that within the next hour he would be able to see the surface of the pillars and verify if signs were left from the past to give him clues to what this chamber was made for. “Make sure to pace yourself, Diego. I wouldn’t want you to peter out before lunch,” said Aarik, as he picked up a bucket of sand and carried it to the sifting table.

  “I have plenty of stamina, if you know what I mean. I’ll bet I could run circles around you,” Diego taunted, while tossing a new shovel load of silt into a waiting bucket.

  Diego’s leaner build would make him quicker, but Aarik thought his strength would uphold longer and considered the challenge before he responded, “While that is a tempting offer, I would much rather ensure we use finesse around this ancient doorway instead of making it a race,” scolded Aarik.

  “Nothing like good old fashioned competition to make a job go by quicker, is all I was trying to say. Although applying that kind of work ethic in your field, I could see would be detrimental,” responded Diego, as he let go of the shovel and held up his hands in defeat.

  Aarik picked up the shovel Diego dropped and handed it to him as he passed to drop off the next full bucket. “No worries. That reminds me, what brings a fellow of your nature to a dirty dig site in the first place?” Aarik asked while the opportunity was hot.

  Diego smirked like he had been waiting for the question, “I’m not sure I know what you mean by my nature, but I can assure you my company…” Diego stopped mid-sentence and looked to the ground with a panicked expression as the ground began to rumble beneath their feet.

  “Everyone brace yourself,” shouted Aarik, as he dropped to the ground and covered his head.

  The sound of grounding stone echoed throughout the chamber as a large explosion of old air blasted past Aarik causing him to gasp for breath. The rush of air kicked up the silt still remaining on the floor and created a mini haboob as it rushed out of the only exit. He lost his crew in the billowing dust plumes but could hear their shouts of alarm echo in the room.

  The tremor subsided just as fast as it had begun. Aarik quickly raised his head as he searched for his crew and breathed a sigh of relief when he counted all ten lights moving thru the settling dust. He could hear the rest of his crew calling their names from outside but, before he could form an answer to let them know they were alright, his light caught the cause of the shake that left him speechless.

  A rectangular stone, ten feet thick had inched back a few feet into the wall as if on a track revealing a tunnel leading into darkness. Whatever had started the movement didn’t have a chance to finish because the entrance was only large enough for a man to fit through. Aarik never imagined in his wildest dream that he would make a discovery as big as the sphinx, even with the government’s documented evidence. He decided to wait to call Jones and Thomas until he had more to report on, banking on the fact they already knew he would find another chamber. He convinced himself that they only needed to be called if he found anything outside what they had already told him. A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his stupor. “Who touched something and where!” he demanded.

  Everyone looked at him in desperation as they all shook their heads one by one and looked at each other in confusion. He was about ready to interrogate everyone one by one when Kiya piped up quietly behind him. “I think I did it.”

  Aarik twirled around abruptly, “How?” he demanded.

  “All she did was turn up the power a little bit and it was only on for no more than 30 seconds at the most,” Luke offered in Kiya’s defense.

  “Thanks, Luke, but I can stand up for myself,” Kiya interjected and gave him a quick smile in gratitude before she continued. “When I turned up the power on my instruments, using 1.0467 as the frequency at a low resonance, it had more of an effect than I expected,” whispered Kiya, as she shrugged her shoulders and waited for Aarik to give her a lecture on safety. She was surprised when instead he picked her up and swung her in circles as he whooped and hollered in his excitement. When he finally put her down, she looked at him and said, “You’re not mad?”

  “Quite the opposite, Kiya. Look what you did!” he exclaimed and using his hands on her shoulders he turned her around and peered over her shoulder with his light to illuminate the very tunnel her work had discovered.

  “Oh...My...Gods! Do you know what this means! Because I don’t! But it worked! It really worked, Aarik! Can we go in there?” Kiya asked enthusiastically.

  Aarik squeezed her shoulders and said, “Yes, it appears it really did work. The question is can you do it again, it’d be nice to know for certain. Plus, I’d like to see the door fully enclosed and marvel at yet another ingenious invention that shouldn’t be possible. If you can do that, I’ll find you a hard hat myself and let you be the second to enter!”

  “Second, what do you mean second? If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t even know that
doorway existed!” Kiya demanded, with her hands on her hips as she waited impatiently for Aarik’s response.

  “I will forever be in your debt, Kiya, but if you think I would let you go in there first without us having any knowledge of what we might encounter in there, you’re nuts. We shouldn’t go in there at all, until we’ve had a chance to verify it’s safe, with the use of robotics, but dammit woman. I want to know now, so I’m going to ignore your last statement and pray the mountain doesn’t collapse when you turn it on again,” Aarik replied with as much calmness he could interject without sounding like he was annoyed.

  “Okay, if you put it that way, I see your point. If I were you, I would be chomping at the bit to get a peek inside. What would be the harm in having a look-see before I fire up my equipment and cause a possible collapse? I would hate to live out the rest of my life not knowing what was inside, wouldn’t you?” Kiya asked sweetly.

  “Of course, I would like nothing more,” responded Aarik in defeat. “Fine! Let’s get you a hard hat.”

  Kiya skipped happily behind Aarik and struggled with the clasp in her haste. Aarik stepped in front of her and snapped it into place. “Step where I step, please?” he pleaded gently, as he stared into her hazel eyes.

  Kiya nodded once and filed in behind Aarik. “For once, she's quiet,” he thought, as he entered the dark cavern cautiously, sweeping his light from side to side, revealing a precision-cut hallway with unlit metal sconces lining the wall every ten feet. The hallway looked like it was carved directly out of the mountain side using a laser, with extreme heat, to slice its way through. The ceiling was recessed and ran the length of the hallway. The quartz in the wall sparkled like rainbows as the light from his flashlight danced along the wall.

  Aarik turned around to ask Taylor and Cooper to grab more lighting when his flashlight caught sight of an engraving above the door that he knew would make Taylor drool with excitement. Calling out to give him more encouragement he said, “We need more lights. Oh and you might want to hurry Taylor. It seems your expertise will finally get to be used. There is writing above the door.” By the time he turned back around, Kiya was already ten feet in front of him reaching out to touch the sconce. “Kiya, what did I just say before entering?” he called out in surprise.