[Video]

[una_persson]

[On screen: a handsome woman with chestnut-brown hair and grey eyes, wearing a tailored tweed blazer over a plain blouse. She smiles, offers a little wave in greeting; when she speaks, she has a crisp, cut-glass British accent.]

Hello. My name's Una Persson. I'm a new arrival—just accepted a post as a Travel Agent.

[A beat; her gaze flickers down for a moment.]

I've been here before, but you'll have to forgive me; my memories of that time are hazy at best. Something to do with the trans-temporal travel. [She says, as if this is somehow strange or a surprise to her, which it so very much isn't. People don't need to know everything about her.] So for all intents and purposes, you may consider me a complete newcomer.

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[archeologue]

[Oh la la. Belloq puts on a charming smile.]

Welcome, Miss Perrson. I am Doctor Rene Belloq, archaeologist. I don't believe we crossed paths before.

[una_persson]

[Well, at least this one's charming. Or at least polite.]

Thank you, Dr Belloq. A pleasure to meet you.

[archeologue]

The pleasure is all mine.

Would you like someone to show you around the town? I would be more than willing to lend a hand to a new arrival.

[una_persson]

That would be delightful, thank you. I haven't had a chance to get out much yet.

[archeologue]

Then perhaps we can meet in the resort gardens, and from there walk to the town.

[una_persson]

I'd like that. Half an hour?

[archeologue]

I'll be there.

[Perhaps a bit dusty from the dig site, but she looks like the sort of women who wouldn't take offence at that sort of thing.]

[una_persson]

[She certainly isn't.

And in half an hour, Belloq will find Ms Persson admiring the flowers in the garden, wearing a subdued tweed trouser suit and looking rather more comfortable than you might expect of a newcomer.

[archeologue]

Miss Persson.

[He extends his hand, palm-up to take hers for a kiss on her knuckles]

You're even more lovely in the flesh than on the screen. Forgive my less than pristine attire. I've recently come from the excavation site by the ruins.

[una_persson]

[Una is not invulnerable to charm. The immediate compliment and the kiss on the hand (quite Continental!) is the sort of thing that she responds to with her own charm—a smile, a slight tilt of the head, though she doesn't avert her eyes or blush like a more timid woman might—even as she privately puts up her guard.]

Consider yourself forgiven, M. Belloq. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day.

[archeologue]

Not at all. I want you to feel most welcome here. My diggers can take care of the site for a few hours, and can always call me on the little telephone machine if something urgent arises.

[He offers her his arm.]

What would you like to see first? The resort, the village, or the ruins?

[una_persson]

[She takes his arm, politely ladylike, not too familiar.

Actually, if you don't mind, I would like to see the ruins. I've made my way around the resort a bit and seen a little of the town, but nothing of the rest.

[archeologue]

You are in luck. I dare say I know the ruins better than anyone. I spend much of my days there. It would be a pleasure to show you our little lost civilization.

[una_persson]

Wonderful. I'm not too overdressed, am I?

[The suit is the sort of thing that might be worn out on a hunt, and she's actually wearing rather sturdy boots.]

[archeologue]

Not at all. We'll only be walking by the trenches today, not digging in them. What you are wearing now is perfectly appropriate, and most becoming.

[una_persson]

Are you always so aggressively charming to ladies you've just met?

[It's said so lightly, so theatrically, that it must be a joke.]

[archeologue]

[He laughs.]

No, not always. Just those who have a certain je ne sais quoi.

[The beautiful as a rose and hard as nails ones.]

[una_persson]

I'll take that as a compliment, then.

[There's that flicker of caution again. Innocent until proven guilty, of course, but best be on guard all the same.]

So what's the easiest way to get out there?

[archeologue]

Good, because it was meant as one.

[He turns to the northwest and points.]

The fastest way there is to cut straight through the edge of town and past the museum. I usually walk; it's not very far and I find the outdoor air refreshing.

[una_persson]

Very well. Lead on, then.

[And fast-forward to when they get there?]

fast-forward sounds good!

[archeologue]

[The current dig site was in the midst of a vast spread of old excavations. Whole buildings unearthed, empty, ancient. Desolate streets. An abandoned and dead city, like Pompeii. As Belloq takes Una through the ruins, he points out items of interest here and there.]

You see the carvings above the lintels of some of the buildings, the death's head and archer's bow. We thought it was merely symbolic before, until skeletons armed with bows and arrows attacked the village a few months back. The carvings are probably apotropaic. "We respect you, now go away from my home." Or possibly invoking the creatures as guardians. "Do not rob me or may the skeletal archers get you."

[una_persson]

[The skeleton carvings give her a faint sense of déjà vu.]

The—skeletons, yes. They mentioned...

[She passes a hand over her face, and the slight dizziness subsides.]

Apotropaic?

[archeologue]

Are you all right, Una? May I call you Una?

[But whatever brief spell she has seems to pass quickly.]

Believed to have the ability to ward off evil or ill fortune. Sometimes pictures or symbols, sometimes gestures--the most famous of which, a finger gesture to ward off the evil eye, is now considered obscene, its old purpose forgotten.

[una_persson]

Yes—thank you, I'm fine. Yes.

[Answering both questions, more or less. Recovering herself, she nods at the explanation.]

Ah, of course. The concept I know well; the word was new to me. [She moves closer toward the carvings for a better look.] Are there other motifs common around here?

[archeologue]

I apologize for tossing around the obscure technical terms. It's a fairly new word for the old concept. Anthropologists decided that we should have a name for it, and once I saw it in a journal a few years back I became quite taken with it.

The skeleton motif is the most common, and was the most mysterious up until a few months ago. Spiders feature heavily, and other native animals. Interestingly, there are no depictions of warfare or fighting among anything we've found. A most unmilitaristic race. Rare, in my experience.

But the strangest icon of all was one that I saw in a temple. It was a figure, long and emaciated of limb, and burning eyes like a demon from the infernal reaches. I've never seen anything like it among the artifacts, before or since. It was terrible to behold.