those involved in them. Are you any relation to Paul Trout, the deep ocean geographer whose name was also listed?'
'Yes, Paul is my husband. The site probably didn't mention that we met in Mexico. We were on a field trip to La Paz. Otherwise, I'd say you did your homework'
'It's my strict academic training, I'm afraid.'
'I tend to retain details, too. Let's see if I can remember.' Gamay dosed her eyes. 'Dr. Jose Chi. Born in Quintana Roo, Yucatan peninsula. Father was a farmer. Excelled in his studies, sent by the government to private schools. Undergraduate studies at University of Mexico. Graduate degrees from Harvard University, where he is still affiliated with the prestigious Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Curator at Mexico's National Anthropological Museum. Winner of the MacArthur Award for his work in helping to, compile a corpus of Mayan inscriptions. Now working on a dictionary of the Mayan language'
She opened her eyes to see Chi's toothy grin. He dapped his hands lightly. 'Brava, Dr. MorganTrout.'
'Please call me Gamay'
A beautiful and unusual name.'
'My father was a wine connoisseur. The color of my hair reminded him of the grape of Beaujolais.'
'Well chosen, Dr. Gamay. I must correct something, though. I'm very proud of my work on the dictionary, but the corpus is actually the work of many talented people. Artists, photographers, cartographers, catalogers, and so on. I contributed my skills as a 'finder.' '
A finder?'
'St. I'll explain. I've been hunting since I was eight years old. I've roamed throughout the Yucatan and. in Belize and Guatemala. In the course of my wanderings I frequently stumbled across ruins. Some people say I must carry a Ouija board around in my head. I think it's a combination of the alertness to his Surroundings a hunter must have, and simple mileage. If you walk long and far enough in these parts, you'll trip over a remnant left by my busy ancestors. Now tell me, what interest does a marine biologist have in the work of a landbound bonedigger?'
'I have an odd request, Dr. Chi. As you noted in my CV, I was an underwater bonedigger before I switched to living things. My two areas of interest have combined through the years. Whenever I'm in new territory, I look for ancient artistic renderings of marine life. An obvious example is the scallop. The Crusaders took it as their emblem. You can find paintings and carvings of scallop shells dating back thousands of years to the Greeks and Romans, and even before.'
'An interesting hobby,' Chi said.
'It's not really a hobby, although I find it fern and relaxing. It gives me an eye into the past, before the age of scientific drawings. I look at a painting or a carving and get an idea of what a species looked like hundreds or thousands of years ago. By comparing it to the creature as it exists today I can see if there has been genetic evolution or mutation. I'm thinking about doing a book on my collection. Do you know of any archaeological sites that have depictions of marine life? I'm looking for fish, shellfish, coral. Any sea creature that may have caught the eye of a Mayan artisan.'
Chi had been listening intently. 'What you're doing is fascinating. And worthwhile because it proves that archaeology is not a dead science of use to no one. Too bad you didn't .mention exactly what you wanted on the phone. It would have saved you from coming way out here.'
'It was no problem, and I wanted to meet you personally.'
'I'm glad you did, but the Maya's artistic subjects tended toward birds, jaguars, and serpents. Chances are that any renderings of sea life will be so stylized that you wouldn't recognize them as anything you'd seen in a biology book. Like those parrot carvings that some people say look like elephants.'
'That just makes the subject more interesting.. I have some time off from the tektites project. If you could point me toward some ruins I'd be grateful.'
He thought for a moment. 'There's a site perhaps two hours from here. I'll take you there. You can browse around. Maybe you'll find something.'
'You're sure it's not too much trouble?'
'Not at all.' He looked at a dock. 'We'd be there about lunchtime, spend a couple of hours, and be back here by late afternoon. You could drive to the research vessel while it's still daylight.'
'That would be fine. We can go in my Jeep.'
'No need to,' he said. 'I have a time machine.'
'Pardon?' She wasn't sure she heard him correctly.
'There's a bathroom in there. Why don't you freshen up while I pack lunch?'
Gamay shrugged. She retrieved her rucksack from the Jeep, then came back inside and rinsed her face and combed her hair. Chi was closing an Igloo cooler when she came out of the bathroom.
'Where do I catch the time machine?' she asked, getting into the spirit of things.
'It's in the temporal transport module,' he said seriously, leading the way out the door. He took the shotgun with him 'You can never tell when you might run across some birds.'
They went around behind the lab building to a path that led to another native shelter. This one had no walls, the roof supported by poles at each comer. Under the palm roof was a blue HumVee four-wheel-drive vehicle.
Gamay let out a whoop. 'This is your time machine?'
'What else would you call a contrivance that can take you to cities where ancient civilizations once flourished? I'm aware that it looks very much like the civilian version of a military vehicle used in the Persian Gulf War, but that was done on purpose to discourage the curious.'
He placed the cooler in the rear and opened the door for Gamay. She got in the passenger seat, recognizing the airplane-like dashboard instrumentation. She and Paul owned a Hummer back in Georgetown. Designed to replace the Jeep, its imposing width made it a formidable force in Washington traffic, and on weekends they weren't remodeling their brick townhouse they liked to drive offroad in rural areas.
'The route we came in with the Jeep is actually the back way' Chi explained. 'There's a track here that leads out to the road.' He got in and started the engine. His head barely made it above the wheel.
This was going to be some adventure, Gamay thought. She leaned back in her seat and said, 'Take it to warp six, Mr. Sulu.'
'Warp six it is,' he said, putting the Hummer into gear. The vehicle lurched forward. 'But if you don't mind, first we'll take a detour through the twelfth century.'
Tucson, Arizona
17 THE RUGGED PEAK OF MOUNT LENNON rising from the Santa Catalina range was visible out Austin's window as the jetliner made its approach to Tucson International Airport. The landing was smooth, and minutes later he and Zavala shouldered their duffel bags, stepped from the terminal into the hard Arizona sunlight, and looked for their ride. A dusty silver Ford F150 pickup tooted its horn and pulled up to the curb. Austin, who was nearer the truck, opened the passenger door. And blinked. Behind the wheel was the last person he expected to see. Nina Kirov.
Nina had exchanged the dressier outfit of the NUMA meeting for tan cargo shorts and a pale blue shirt. 'Can I give you boys a lift?' she said in a deep Southern drawl. 'I never paid you back for that exciting sea scooter ride.'
Austin laughed, partly to hide his amazement. 'I could say we've got to stop meeting like this, but I wouldn't mean it.'
Zavala's mouth dropped open when he saw who Austin was talking to.
'Hi, Joe,' Nina said. 'If you and Kurt throw your bags in the back, we can be on our way.'
As the two men tossed their duffels behind the cab Zavala whispered with unveiled admiration, 'How'd you arrange this one?'
Austin grunted noncommittally and gave Zavala a knowing wink. They got in the cab, and the truck joined the traffic leaving the airport. As they turned onto Tucson Boulevard heading north Nina said, 'I really should explain things. I really do have a new assignment. I'll be working with you and your team on this project.'
'I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm just curious why you didn't mention your plans when I saw you in Washington this morning.' .
Admiral Sandecker asked me not to say anything.'
Zavala chuckled. 'Welcome to the weird and wacky world of NUMA.'
Nina went on. 'He said you had been out of the picture for a while, and he wanted to introduce you to what
