Amazon Moon Read Online Free PDF Page A

Then they bathed with cloths soaked from the camper's water tank, and made love in the small bed. They worried briefly that local hooligans might find the locked camper in the isolated valley, but they shrugged and slid into sleep.
    Next morning they dressed fast, ate fast, and couldn't stay away from the vault. Using buckets, they carefully carried away dirt until the rectangular structure stood by itself, clearly a tomb for a single body. The stones were well-cemented and dry in the elevated location. They took more photos.
    "I know what you're thinking," Carolina said. "You're dying to chisel out a stone and peek inside."
    "You read my mind. But we can't. Trainees don't grab the action away from the chiefs."
    In mid-afternoon, three panel trucks arrived bearing Dr. Chichester and Dr. Kamal Zotek of the Turkish Antiquities Ministry plus a research team. A video cameraman filmed everything as the leaders explored the site and crew members set up gear.
    "Wonderful, wonderful," Chichester kept repeating. After consulting Zotek, he announced a plan: Carolina and Jack would remain in the camper to guard the site. He and the Turks would drive back to the coastal town where they had reserved hotel rooms. They would order a mobile field office and more campers brought to the location for a rapid dig before the highway work resumed. First and foremost, they would return in the morning to chisel open the tomb and learn its contents.
    Carolina and Jack could barely sleep that night. They speculated about what might be in the vault and how it might affect their careers.
    "It's probably full of mud and rotten papyrus," she muttered.
    At midnight they made love again and sank into slumber. Next morning, they didn't wake until the roar of motors arrived outside the camper, as the caravan returned. They dressed hastily, grabbed bagels, and joined the assembling team. Dr. Chichester was practically bouncing with excitement. He and Dr. Zotek decreed that removal of the skeleton would wait until after the tomb was opened.
    Hammers, chisels, flashlights and storage crates were readied. Cameras, still and video, were poised to record the moment. Selected workers descended into the pit and began chipping. An upper stone forming a corner of the vault roof was first to break loose. It was lifted aside cautiously and lights were shone inside. Glints of gold and jewels reflected. A Turkish worker whooped. Glee spread through the group. More stones were removed. More lights and cameras were brought to the opening.
    The find was superb. The tomb was dry and always had been. It contained a female skeleton, still wearing shreds of leather garments, surrounded by adornments collected more than two thousand years ago. In a corner, on a raised shelf, lay the greatest treasure of all: stacks of parchment filled with clear, precise writing. The parchment was folded and stitched into book-like codexes, an improvement that replaced ancient scrolls.
    Chichester and Zotek clutched hands and laughed. Jack embraced Carolina intensely. Shouting and congratulations rang around the site.
    The opening proceeded and calm returned. Item by item, the contents were lifted out, filmed, and stored in padded boxes. Great care was given to the parchment books, which were lifted delicately into separate containers.
    Parchment is the inner layer of sheep hide, stretched tight, rubbed smooth, and dried in the sun. It is sturdy writing material, much more durable than ancient papyrus made from Egyptian reeds. Early scribes sewed parchment sections into long scrolls rolled on two handles. Codexes, or codices, were an advance, a primitive forerunner of modern books. Rectangles of parchment were placed atop each other, laced together down the middle, and folded over, making pages to be lettered on both sides. Two sheets of parchment provided eight pages, three sheets made twelve pages, and so forth.
    The first hasty examination of the books revealed that the writing was ancient Attic