Zero Point by Tim Fairchild

Turner,” Maria noted, coming to his side.
    “I’d never grow tired of this, Maria. Even if the tomb was empty,” he said in an awed whisper. “Knowing this crypt was last visited almost twenty centuries ago is quite a humbling experience.”
    “These mummified remains are well preserved,” Maria said as the two made their way over to the ancient, dust- covered corpse. She began taking photographs of the remains lying in the thickened dust of what was once bedding. “I’d say this was an adult male, but definitely not a Guanche based on his short stature.”
    “Maybe this was our friend Simon, whose name was found written on the parchment,” Eli offered. “I guess there's no way we'll ever know for sure.”
    “Look at the condition of that amphora,” she said excitedly as she carefully crawled over to the earthen vessel on the other side of the crypt. It was surrounded by the bones of an animal. “Early Mediterranean, and, based on the design, I’d date it around 30 to 60 A.D. Most likely Roman from the design of the two handles at the top and its broad middle. We found others similar to this off the coast of Lanzarote. The animal remains look to be that of a goat.”
    “Maybe that was this guy’s last meal,” Eli said with a laugh, pointing back at the human remains.
    “Always the pure scientist,” she said to him with mock disapproval.
    Eli noted that the amphora was slightly faded from its centuries of entombment, but its artwork was clearly visible through the film of dust on its exterior. The six-inch opening at the apex was covered by a material that folded down about five inches from the opening, and was wrapped by some type of cord that effectively sealed its contents.
    After she finished taking photos, Maria put the camera in her vest pocket and carefully placed her hand on the amphora’s cover, gently feeling the material.
    “This is most likely goat skin,” she noted, lightly brushing the centuries of dust from the cover.
    “It probably belonged to that poor fellow over there,” Eli said, pointing to the animal remains lying about. “Let’s see if we can get this out to the brighter lights of the cave where we can study it better.” Moving around to the back of the amphora, he said, “You take the top end and I’ll support the base.”
    “Okay, Dr. Turner,” Maria said as she gently pulled the top toward her. Eli grabbed the base with both hands and gently lifted it. With their prize in tow, the two slowly backed their way out of the crypt and into the main tunnel.
    After setting the amphora down on one of the backpacks, Eli gazed at the ancient relic that once used to hold items such as wine, salt fish, and olive oil. In the brighter light of the cave, he could see the intricate dark red pattern painted around the amphora at its center, with smaller curved pattern lines painted toward the opening.
    “Hand me my tool kit, Maria. I want to remove the cover skin and see what we have inside before we crate it up and send it to the university,” Eli said, kneeling down beside the ancient artifact.
    Maria dug out the small tool kit from Eli’s backpack and handed it to him as the two soldiers, now intrigued by the find, silently moved closer to get a better view.
    “Okay, here goes,” he announced as he grabbed the long nose pliers from his kit, then gently started to untwist the ancient twine from the amphora that kept its contents secure for centuries.
    “Are you sure you want to do this here, Dr. Turner?” Maria asked, questioning Eli’s decision as he continued working on the vessel.
    “It’s not holding up too well,” Eli said. He ignored her question as the two thousand year old twine, mummified by centuries of arid conditions, fell apart in small pieces. “Here we go,” he whispered as he gently grasped the petrified goatskin covering. Lifting upward, it slowly came off in one piece as Maria took some more photographs. “So far so good,” he said, setting the skin on