Three authors started with the writing prompt: The old dog, faithful as always...
In this story, Tapley discovers more than he wants to know about man's best friend.
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The old dog, faithful as always, stayed with Tapley when Hicara trekked back to the outpost with the skeletons. Tapley scratched the dog's head.
"Let's see what the last hieroglyphs in Section 7 reveal, Gabs." The soft pitch of Tapley's voice, and his interest in archaeology, rendered him punching bag material more than once in his youth. Hicara insisted on leaving Gabs behind. The shaggy mutt didn't have much zest for fighting, but he made an excellent early warning system.
"Glad Hicara went to Farraweigh instead of me." Tapley preferred the solitude of their newly discovered cavern to the roughened folks who inhabited the remote settlement. He welcomed Gabs's company all the same.
Tapley traced his sensory pads over chisel marks made by obsolete digging tools as they progressed down the corridor. His dark skin, scarred by years of field work, stood out against thick veins of white quartz, all but ignored on the journey to the core of the mountain. Each indent represented thousands of hominids who cut the passage. Judging by the range of skeletons he and Hicara found here, entire families spent their lives underground.
Their bones, escorted by Hicara to the transport depot at the outpost, wouldn't see the light of day until the exhibit opened in the mainland museum.
"If the exhibit opens," Tapley muttered. Gabs, trotting ahead, paused and looked over his shoulder. Tapley pushed on, the weight of the world they left behind heavy on his shoulders. In light of their work, perhaps the laws would change. Tapley hoped his lifelong search through layers of dirt in far-flung places proved that the Bipeds once had its own thriving culture, and weren't a lesser species genetically bred for servitude.
The solo hike with the bulky supplies exacerbated Tapley's fatigue. Pausing for breath, Tapley re-shouldered three of his four equipment bags. He inhaled deeply through his respirator, prepping himself for the final leg. If he used all eight tentacles, he'd make it to the mouth of the cavern in twenty minutes.
