True to his word, Yolanda was bound to the ship while the other three made the discovery of the century. They were gone for most of the day and by the time they returned, everyone was talking at once. Even Chen was as excited as a teenager.
“Yolanda it was everything you described and more! It's incredible. An entire civilization concentrated down to that one room.
“What did you see?!” Her frustration must've broken through their excitement because Muobo quickly sobered up and told the whole story.
“Well, we got to the Chasm and Isfaheem went in to retrieve the other sled. Then we both went back down to the cave.” He looked at her not a little severely. “I still can't believe you talked me into going in there. That thing was only a meter wide and not much taller. We barely got through on our hands and knees.”
Chen quickly interrupted. “And if it hadn't been for your footage, I never would have permitted them to do it.”
“Praise Allah for that.”
“Anyway.” Muobo continued. “We got into the cave and it was just otherworldly. The whole room was stacked from floor to ceiling with these plates. Yolanda, the plates were not only covered with the three symbols. There were others as well.”
“And the sarcophagi.” Chen interrupted.
“Yes. And scattered in the middle were the ornate boxes...er sarcophagi. At first we didn't open them. We returned to the surface and told Chen what we found.” He stammered for a second.
“What you found.”
Yolanda actually blushed at that. “Well thanks. But after our little fiasco, it's unlikely that I'll be able to fall back on that.”
Nobody said anything for a moment. But soon Isfaheen continued.
“Chen told us to take the laser rangefinder and survey the room. We made a detailed 360 degree 3D
representation before any object was moved. When it's set to high detail, this thing is really thorough and recorded every bump and crevice. But the biggest discovery was the one you caught at the edge of your lamp. It was a real alien, or at least the remains.”