Beneath a sandstone ceiling, atop construction material, the form of a man rises from an unplanned slumber. Only a small slit of light passed through a crack in the ceiling.
“Hello… Uh, Sir?” A woman’s voice calls.
Frustrated grunting is the man’s only response.
“Do you remember how you got here?” She calls out again.
“Oh I remember just fine.” The man replies.
“Why do you seem so confused then?”
“I don’t understand why, nothing has been logical as of late.”
A hand reaches out towards him, one which would be totally concealed if not for the reflective bracelet wrapped around its wrist.
“You offer me a hand? Mind telling me where we are?” He asks in a terse voice.
“How reassuring, you remember how you got here, yet question about the end result as if I’d know any more than you do.”
“Ehh, worth a shot.” He says, turning his head away while grabbing the unknown woman’s hand.
“Already probing for more information? You must be the analytical kind.”
“Just practical. Some may call it investigative, or whatever other words people like to ascribe to themselves. But I can’t gather much else from what you tell me, so what use does that have?”
“Oh? That’s the most I’ve gotten out of you so far, Mr. Suit-and-Tie.”
“Hm.” He makes the effort to respond, now getting up from where he originally was.
“But it’s good! We could use some investigative prowess around here.” She says, changing focus.
“Sorry, but I don’t know you. Remind me why I should do anything around here. And no, giving me a hand doesn’t count.”
“Do you take me for someone transactional? Maybe the fact there’s no obvious exit.” The woman chuckles to herself lightly, her hand placed slightly below her lips. “Well it seems you might have the attitude to get out of here, the question is, can you do it?”
“Oh, so you’re not here by choice either; we’re both trapped. My concern should be asking you for leads on an escape route then.”
“I told you, I don’t know any more than you do.” She stays firm on her stance, but quickly softens up. “Although… I do know what seems to be the way out, I just can’t solve it myself. So, uh, not much difference in the meaning of my phrase.” She scratches the back of her head sheepishly.
“Well, we’re in a room the size of about a large bedroom and a half, with the verticality of three half men stacked on top of each other. How hard can it be to find a door with an exit sign on it?”
“And you made that useless comparison how exactly?” She giggles.
“Unfortunately that’s not the end of my useless knowledge.”
“Then let me give you some more useless info for you to think over, you see that pillar over there?”
“Yeah?”
“There’s a wall with hieroglyph-looking things behind it, which I assume to be some clue to get us out of here.”
“I see, I’ll go investigate it then.”
“Hey! There’s one last thing I should tell you… There’s a man wrapped in, well, mummy wrap. He was trapped here with me shortly before you arrived, but he died, trying to solve the puzzle.”
“Do you know how he died?”
“Well, he agreed to give solving it a shot at solving this, much the same as you’re doing right now. What we didn’t know was if he got it wrong even once, an arrow would come flying at him from a hidden chamber, striking him in the neck, almost as if it knew where he was… It was terrifying to witness, so I hid him beneath the wrappings. I couldn’t bear to see his agonized face any longer, frozen in time as a reminder of what I still feel is partially my fault.”
“Uh… I’m-”
“Don’t say you’re sorry now, not like it can help us.”
“No, I wasn’t going to apologize, I was just going to say I’m much sharper than he could ever be, neither of us are dying here… Just- don’t try to solve it yourself, or touch anything related to this… contraption. Doesn’t seem safe.”
“Sharper?” She says humorously, “I can see that.” Although he only knew her approximate location from the sound of her voice, he found it all too obvious that she was glaring at his sand-powdered suit.
“You’re quite good at talking aren’t you?”
“Pfft, I have to make up for you, silly Mr. Short-spoken man.” She scoffs, “Oh, but it would be helpful to know your name.”
“Oh, you can call me Cal.”
“It suits you!” She waits for a response… “Ahem, yeah! Well, my name’s Nuri.”
Cal seems to acknowledge her words, despite his body not reacting whatsoever. He’s already moving forward to dispel the mystery of the room. As he approaches the wall Nuri mentioned, he strides in his usual confident gait - one hand resting on his belt - swinging his broad shoulders with each step, like a seesaw.
Sweeping his head slowly from left to right, Cal stands still in front of the raised symbols protruding from the wall, though seemingly indecipherable, he nonetheless seems to absorb it like a layman reading the newspaper. After only a few seconds, he turns around to look at Nuri, “Alright, this is how we’re going to get out of here.”
{END OF SECTION} | Next Page >> 1.4 - Intern Meeting