Prologue

Doctor Jordan Grady was on a mission. Her mission was simple. Evade the guerillas, the automatic gun toting guerillas. Simple enough, and yet, her field projects never were. It was like danger was a life form and it was drawn to her.

As an archaeologist and a consultant to the Smithsonian, she had to wonder how she got herself roped into this. She was in the Congo, a place invested with snakes, bugs, spiders, and rebels, and lots of them. Civil war had been raging for years, and yet, here she was, because recent satellite photos taken after seismic activity revealed what looked like to be the ruins of a very old Roman city.

She couldn't say no to an opportunity like that, could she? Absolutely not. She was going stir crazy sitting in an office, looking at the remnants of ancient worlds under a magnifying glass. She was bored of classifying, of talking, of writing. She needed adventure.

Adventure was what she got, and maybe, a little more than she bargained for.

Chapter 1

Field Log of Jordan Grady

May 8, 2009, Eastern Congo

After three days of trekking through dense brush, through humidity and intense bug storms (I was at a loss of what to call the large black swarms of bugs), I've found it. This is unlike anything I've seen before; it's something new. Something unique.

I'm at a loss as to what it is. It's a structure, a swan like structure or the head of a cobra, well what remains of it. Huge, massive Absolutely massive. I'm awestruck at this discovery that I cannot even describe it in a scientific and detached manner.

Whatever it is, it's been buried in the loose soil for quite some time, however I fear carbon dating will not tell me how long; it's not a natural material. It's something, something, dare I say, more ingenious than man has invented to date. I fear if someone should read this now, they would think I have gone crazy.

There is a large hole in the top of the cobra head (the large rounded bit at the top of the neck) and what looks like electrical burns along the top. In the morning I intend to clean this massive surface, and see what I can figure out. I'll need to get more gear to go inside it, at the least, some rope.

May 9, 2009, Eastern Congo

The theme today is 'Basket Case' by Green Day. I feel like I'm turning in to one. I've excavated the entire surface of the cobra head (what I've decided to call this large circular portion of the structure) and am extremely shocked/aggrieved at my findings. If I was confused and yesterday, I'm even more so today. It's modern. This is no fossil. There is writing on the cobra head. Great large bold typed letters and number. NCC-1701.

I don't know what to make of this. It's nothing I've, or I'm sure any one has ever seen before. It's truely....

Gunshots rang out in the woods, echoing through the clearing where she sat, atop the flat surface of the structure, typing her notes. She quickly powered down her laptop, slid it in her bag, and stood, crouched, and made her way to the edge of the surface, and jumped to the ground, hoping to find some cover in the brush.

Her heart was racing a mile a minute as she reached down to the holstered hand gun on her thigh, sliding the safety off, and cocking it. Prepared.

She wasn't prepared for them to come at her from her side. Wasn't prepared for the assault of French, and although she spoke fluent French, they didn't give her a chance to respond, before they shot at her. She ran, and leaped, pulled herself back up on to the cobras head, and ran, forgetting the hole, completely.

She fell, screaming, bleeding and in pain. She landed with a loud thump and the cavern in which she landed, came alive. Crawling, pulling herself along the carpeted floor (a fact she would only remember later) she muttered to herself, "Come on Grady, strength and energy".

She fainted as the world around her was suddenly full of shooting stars, and as shots rang out from above, she was gone.