The Jade Talisman

"THAT my boy," Maelyn admonished, "is why we're gonna fill that hole up with some foam spray and dig out around it so we can get a better idea of what went on here before we jump to ANY conclusions!"

Before she had them start to insert the spray foam Maelyn had them scan the area with their spectrometer and other devices to record it in detail before potentially altering what was inside& the room. Having seen the effect that the talismans had on the seismometer Maelyn was expecting to see a similar effect on them as well. As each device was used she watched the screen and was amazed to see how this talisman affected each device differently. One of the most notable differences of each was the spectrometer showing the body at the bottom as having the same spectral emissions as the talisman. The other notable difference came from the radiometer and it showed readings coming from everything except for the talisman and it only emitting certain wavelengths of radiation. All of the other wavelengths seemed to be getting absorbed by the talisman.

When they had then filled the hollow cavity with the foam Maelyn told the team that had been digging the site, "Mac, Bryan, congratulations on discovering this hollow cavity and letting us know before you broke through. If you hadn't, one of you still dighing full force would have fell through and ruined this."

"Well it wasn't hard to hear that hollow sound as we got close." Mac told her, "I mean Bryan was hitting so hard that it was sounding like a drum!"

"I wouldn't have been having to hit so hard if mister music major hadn't been tapping so lightly!" Bryan told her, "I mean he was hitting so lightly he'd have to hit like three times before he'd even knock some dust loose!"

"Well, no matter how hard or how light you two were hitting, you BOTH have to hit lightly the rest of the way down. we CANNOT damage this foam figure until we have recorded it and checked every MILLIMETER for anything other than basalt. That way we can maybe figure out how they were able to deflect that lava until it hardened."

"Right on boss!" Bryan replied as he put the sledgehammer he had been using back into their tool bag and pulled out a smaller hammer with a pointed end.

Maelyn patted them both on their shoulders as she then walked back to her site on top of the block of lava. As she got to the top and looked out towards the city she started laughing and changed direction as she saw Harmon finally starting to head up the hill to the site followed by the secretary she had talked to.

As he walked up she was smiling as wide as she could before visibly checking her watch and asking the secretary, "Miss undersecretary, you have SIX property deeds with right?"

"I am sorry Miss Khadim. Mister Second Minister told me I was only going to need five and so was unaware of the sixth one you are wanting."

"Dear, I apologize for forgetting to explain the agreement I have with Anton, but Harmon is to turn over one property for every hour he is late and that he is supposed to be here AT sunrise at the latest. So, with sunrise this morning at six forty five and it now being twelve fifty I COULD demand SEVEN due to us being at the start of the seventh hour, but I will be nice TODAY and only require six."

"I will as soon as I can ma'am." the undersecretary sighed, "And I will make sure to have Second Minister Harmon sign it when I return."

"Girl!" Maelyn stressed, "I am punishing lazy butt Harmon here NOT you! You can just bring it when you bring the ones for tomorrow."

"NO NEED TO!" Harmon angrily promised, "I WILL be here at sunrise tomorrow!"

"Really?!?!" Maelyn laughed, "How about a round of double or nothing then? You get here AT sunrise tomorrow and I will give these SEVEN back. BUT! If you are even ONE MINUTE late you will give me SEVEN MORE! plus TWO for each hour you are late tomorrow! You confident enough to take that bet?"

"I am so confident that I will double THAT!" Harmon arrogantly assured her.

Smiling knowingly Maelyn turned to the undersecretary and asked, "You heard that dear? Please make sure to have thirty deeds ready to go if his slow butt isn't walking past your office by six fifteen. And I will save you the trip if he isn't here and I will come and get the pile he is bound to accumulate tomorrow. "

"More like I will be taking back possession of my properties." Harmon assured them as he walked past them towards the site he had observed yesterday. Nearing the site he saw the site where they had just finished scanning and stopped to loudly demand, "Why wasn't I notified of you taking these actions?! And who was observing this site and allowed them to do all of this without my presence?!?!"

To save the observer from getting unnecessarily disciplined Maelyn told Harmon, "YOU allowed it! He was following YOUR orders to me and Abjul that you would be here! So the one you need to get onto is YOU!"

"Since you're so willing to stand up for my employee that YOUR orders to work I will punish him by including his house in the set of deeds if I am EVER late again!" Harmon growled, "So you can look forward to paying rent to someone who knows NOTHING of how to care for their tenants!"

"I am sorry sir." the observer answered while bowing his head, "Abjul told us that you had said you were on your way and to expect you soon. Then when they gained access to the hollowness I sent a messenger to your house but you weren't there so I thought you would be here in a couple of minutes and allowed them to do the testing. By the time they had gotten to the point of filling it with the foam I thought it would be best to preserve what was there instead of leaving it open and starting to decay while waiting on you to finish your task and getting here. Again, I am sorry Second Minister sir."

"Yes you ARE sorry! And I want you to remember this day when you owe your FULL rent to TWO people this month because of ownership transferring in the middle of the month!" Harmon scoldingly informed the observer.

After Harmon continued on to the site he had been observing Maelyn told the observer, "Do not worry Jonteel. Come talk to me if your property IS included in any of these batches of deeds he will be handing over during this project."

"Thank you for your concern ma'am." Observer Jonteel sighed, "I am worried now about being able to afford monthly rent twice this month if my house is one of the ones handed over."

"Do not worry, buddy." Maelyn reassured him, "His idea of monthly rent is different from mine."

"I will try ma'am." Jonteel replied, "But I cannot promise not to."

"Just try your best to concentrate on observing during the first discovery." Maelyn told him, "We will figure out the rest later. And trust me, what I have in mind will work out to your benefit."

"yes ma'am." Jonteel replied as he spread his arms in the traditional greeting and bowed down as he said, "May you carry the flame."

"May you also carry the flame and let the fire burn away the fear and worry." maelyn told him as she gave him the traditional greeting in return before returning to Joseph and Abjul atop the block of basalt.

As she walked up to the two of them she told them, "Sorry Joseph. You know me and how I don't like to start working without everyone present and at task. And Sorry for having to rile your father's feathers even more today too Abjul."

"Ah it's ok. We're good ma'am." Joseph chuckled, "I just hope you hurt that posket a little bit more today."

"And I must apologize to my fellow observers." Abjul worried, "I heard what he said about us not working under his orders and I must apologize for getting them in trouble for me trusting father to keep his assurances."

"Don't worry about that." Maelyn told him with a smirk accompanied with a laugh, "If you heard him I am sure you also heard me letting him know that we BOTH had taken im at his word. So any heat from this is going to fall squarely on his shoulders."

"If it makes you feel better Abjul," Joseph told him, "it's starting to sound like we are nearing the edge of that gazebo looking type porch. So all of the excitement and attention might be on us tomorrow,"

"I don't really care if we are or not." Maelyn confessed, "I am here for the discovery NOT the attention that Harmon always seen to crave."