Beg, Steal or Borrow – Artefacts
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
“Yes, yes,” Giles said as the delivery man shoved a padd under his nose. As he waved the man away Giles lifted a metal bar and turned away leaving him to lean on his hand trolley until he was ready.
The crates were battered and structured from crudely cut planks nailed over a solid wooden frame, what looked like straw poking out here and there from gaps in between. Their origin a colony that despised the technologies of the twenty fourth century, that deterred the majority of visitors which was desirable because that little world was also home to a team of archaeologists who in secret were digging and tapping their way across a valley and into a mountain, uncovering the traces of a lost civilisation, as yet unnamed.
Giles inserted the bar into one of those gaps at an angle and pushed the lever sharply down, the wooden board splitting away with a crack. Placing it aside he removed a second and a third then dropped the bar to the floor with a clang.
“I’ve got other places to be,” the delivery man said.
“I’m not signing for anything until I’m happy I’ve got the right merchandise,” Giles said without turning. His arms were deep in the first crate digging out handfuls of crisp, dry straw until he reached something cold, hard and round.
“Sulek,” he called to his assistant as he pulled the object out lifting it with both hands and resting it on the edge of the crate, “Pay the man,” Giles said as the Vulcan emerged from the back room, “then come and tell me what you think of this.”
‘This’ was a humanoid head carved from a single piece of smooth blue stone; it stared back at them with empty eye-sockets, grinning.
“What is it?” Sulek asked, his fingers touching one of its pierced ears.
“Once the first results from that dig are published, my retirement,” Giles said. Crouching he brought his head level with the head’s empty eyes, poking a finger into the holes. “There should be stones in here, fixed behind this groove,” he muttered, “and the piercings in the ears and the nose should be hung with artefacts. My supplier is a bloody crook,” he observed rubbing his hand over his chin.
“Need I point out that a member of an archaeological dig who is willing to appropriate artefacts to be supplied to private collectors rather than register them in the official records of that dig can hardly be expected to be honest in his dealings,” Sulek remarked.
Giles straightened and ran a hand through his hair, “And Vulcans have a habit of stating the bloody obvious. Let’s check the others. He’ll have left one intact for marketing purposes, he just wants to squeeze more latinum out of me before he gives me the accessories.”
“Others?”
“Hmmm,” Giles nodded as he began to rip open the other cases, “There are four, they stood on plinths at the back of some form of audience chamber, one remains in situ, otherwise there’d be no link between these and the site would there.”
Sulek pursed his lips as Giles picked straw from the earrings that adorned the second blue head. “I can see I am going to have to renegotiate my contract, Mr Prendergast,” the Vulcan said as its eyes glittered at him, “Forty percent is commensurate with the level of risk involved.”
“Let’s get these things into the back before you start trying to extort extra latinum from me, shall we, my avaricious friend,” Giles said lifting the head in both arms and carrying it through to the back room, “then we’ll talk about contracts.”
OFF
Giles Prendergast
Sulek
NPCd by Louise
by Commander Isha t'Vaurek
Post Details
| Title | Artefacts | |
| Mission | Beg, Steal or Borrow | |
| Author(s) | Commander Isha t'Vaurek | |
| Posted | Sat Feb 07, 2009 @ 10:40am | |
| Location | 'Curio' Upper Promenade, level 3 (deck 143) | |
| Timeline | SD7 - 11:00 |
The crates were battered and structured from crudely cut planks nailed over a solid wooden frame, what looked like straw poking out here and there from gaps in between. Their origin a colony that despised the technologies of the twenty fourth century, that deterred the majority of visitors which was desirable because that little world was also home to a team of archaeologists who in secret were digging and tapping their way across a valley and into a mountain, uncovering the traces of a lost civilisation, as yet unnamed.
Giles inserted the bar into one of those gaps at an angle and pushed the lever sharply down, the wooden board splitting away with a crack. Placing it aside he removed a second and a third then dropped the bar to the floor with a clang.
“I’ve got other places to be,” the delivery man said.
“I’m not signing for anything until I’m happy I’ve got the right merchandise,” Giles said without turning. His arms were deep in the first crate digging out handfuls of crisp, dry straw until he reached something cold, hard and round.
“Sulek,” he called to his assistant as he pulled the object out lifting it with both hands and resting it on the edge of the crate, “Pay the man,” Giles said as the Vulcan emerged from the back room, “then come and tell me what you think of this.”
‘This’ was a humanoid head carved from a single piece of smooth blue stone; it stared back at them with empty eye-sockets, grinning.
“What is it?” Sulek asked, his fingers touching one of its pierced ears.
“Once the first results from that dig are published, my retirement,” Giles said. Crouching he brought his head level with the head’s empty eyes, poking a finger into the holes. “There should be stones in here, fixed behind this groove,” he muttered, “and the piercings in the ears and the nose should be hung with artefacts. My supplier is a bloody crook,” he observed rubbing his hand over his chin.
“Need I point out that a member of an archaeological dig who is willing to appropriate artefacts to be supplied to private collectors rather than register them in the official records of that dig can hardly be expected to be honest in his dealings,” Sulek remarked.
Giles straightened and ran a hand through his hair, “And Vulcans have a habit of stating the bloody obvious. Let’s check the others. He’ll have left one intact for marketing purposes, he just wants to squeeze more latinum out of me before he gives me the accessories.”
“Others?”
“Hmmm,” Giles nodded as he began to rip open the other cases, “There are four, they stood on plinths at the back of some form of audience chamber, one remains in situ, otherwise there’d be no link between these and the site would there.”
Sulek pursed his lips as Giles picked straw from the earrings that adorned the second blue head. “I can see I am going to have to renegotiate my contract, Mr Prendergast,” the Vulcan said as its eyes glittered at him, “Forty percent is commensurate with the level of risk involved.”
“Let’s get these things into the back before you start trying to extort extra latinum from me, shall we, my avaricious friend,” Giles said lifting the head in both arms and carrying it through to the back room, “then we’ll talk about contracts.”
OFF
Giles Prendergast
Sulek
NPCd by Louise