Area 51: The Reply-2 by Robert Doherty Page B

rebellion?"
    "There is fighting. Especially among the Muslim people who live in this province. They owe no loyalty to Beijing."
    "I have heard nothing."
    "That is the government's desire." Lo Fa had a small metal cap in his hand that he was attaching to the end of the blue cord. "It is not hard for them to suppress news from such faraway places as this province. When thousands die here in

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    floods the world never knows because the government doesn't want them to know.
    You can be sure they do not want word of fighting to spread."
    "How serious is it?" Che Lu asked.
    Lo Fa was done rigging the blasting cap. "I would be very quick about your business here and be gone as fast as you can. In fact, old lady, if I was you, I would go home now."
    "I can't do that," Che Lu said.
    "I should have never sent you those oracle bones." The old man's voice lowered. "There is something else."
    "What?"
    Lo Fa looked about the mountainside above them nervously. "I've heard there are foreigners about the area."
    "Foreigners?"
    "Rumors. The army was on the mountain four days ago. There were explosions and weapons firing on the other side. I don't know what they were doing. That is all I have heard. That is all I know."
    The cord was laid and Lo Fa put the cord from the blasting cap into a small detonator. He waved them all back. He looked at Che Lu. "I hope you know what you are doing, old woman. This tomb has not been opened since the emperor's retainers sealed it. Perhaps it is best to leave it be."
    "Superstitious?" Che Lu asked.
    "No," Lo Fa replied in a strangely serious tone of voice. "It is just that I do not like meddling with things beyond me."
    "This is not beyond me," Che Lu said confidently, but inside she wondered. She had been teaching too long and it had been many years

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    since she'd been on a dig, and never in her many long years had she been on one as potentially important as this one.
    Lo Fa hesitated for the briefest of seconds, then pulled the ring on the top of the detonator. There was a flash and crack, the sound confined in the courtyard.

    Che Lu winced when she saw the damage done to the doors, but there was no other way. A black line was singed into the bronze along the seam, with a small opening about chest high.
    "The jack from the Jeep," Lo Fa ordered. He took the jack and, jamming it into the hole, began cranking the handle. With a groan the doors slowly swung open. A dry rush of cool air swept over the small party standing in the courtyard, causing all to shiver.
    "Your tomb," Lo Fa said with a wave of his hand. "I am done here." He slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Che Lu, I would leave now."
    Before she could respond, he had already disappeared out of the courtyard.
    Several students turned on flashlights, and with Che Lu leading the way, they entered the tomb. Right inside the doors was a large anteroom. The light of the lanterns flickered off the walls. They were painted with many pictures of women and men in royal garb. Che Lu had seen similar pictures many times before. There was something different about these, however, something that caused her to pause, before moving on, but she couldn't put her finger on what troubled her.
    A wide tunnel beckoned, leading into the heart of the mountain. With firm steps Che Lu led the students down the tunnel. It ran ten meters wide 107

    and was perfectly straight as far as the glow from the lights would penetrate the inky blackness. One of the students put his light next to the wall and they all stared at the smoothly cut stone. Che Lu tried to imagine the state of craftsmanship that could make such smooth walls with hand tools, and she felt a chill run down her bent spine. The Old Ones had certainly been masters of the stone.
    There was no dust and the air was dry, the slightest odor of decay carried on it. Che Lu paused after about two hundred meters. There was writing on the walls where two smaller tunnels split off to each side at ninety-degree