"Apotheosis"

[Guest Sar'vek t'Jhiin]

Sar'vek wandered around the interior of the temple, multicorder in hand, and studied the intricate carvings adorning the walls. If it was supposed to be her home, after all, she figured she had every right to investigate, explore, document, and analyze to her evil scientist's heart's content. To be honest, she wasn't sure that the anthropological institutes on ch'Rihan would necessarily approve of her methodology -- after all, posing as a goddess wasn't exactly in the ethnography textbook

 

She ignored that pesky whispering from her conscience, blotting it out with more sketches of the petroglyphs. Most were representations of the same trio of gods -- two males and one female -- but some seemed to stem from another ideology. Beneath the carvings were faint traces of an ancient pigment. Sar'vek focused on those pictographs for a little while, playing with the recordings she was getting to enhance tint and bring them out a bit more.

 

Hmm... now that was interesting. The same symbols were basically present in both cultural periods, but in the older, they were much more prevalent -- and the three-deitied anthropomorphs were replaced by a single god. That was unusual -- usually the progression between polytheism and monotheism was the opposite direction. Also intriguing were the symbols themselves -- a spiral (the sun, Sar'vek could only guess) and wavy, blue-etched lines were the most prevalent. The allusion to the Elements could scarcely pass by any Rihan, and she took careful notation of those images in particular. They'd probably end up starting some new cult back on the homeworld, leaked to the wrong tabloid that gave them as definite proof of religion's basis in fact... ah well. Maybe she'd emerge as a goddess figure on ch'Rihan too... Quickly, she squashed that thought out of mind, grimacing.

 

T'Jhiin smiled, running her fingers over one of the unetched blocks of limestone. It was truly lovely to be so welcomed into a culture, and she planned to make the best of it. She was looking forward to the chance to observe their banquet, especially, and hoped that a subtle multicorder analyzing the nutritional content of the food would not be too... impolite. She leaned against the wall, smiling slightly.

 

Something creaked. Something groaned. Something was... opening. The floor a meter away was depressing into the ground, a circle of stairs going down... and down... and down...

 

Naturally, Sar'vek started down them. She was nothing if not an investigator, after all, and the part of her that liked mysteries simply wouldn't let her ignore the opportunity for adventure -- even if adventure meant going into a dusty old anteroom.

 

It was dark down the stairs, and only the faint glow of her multicorder lit her way. The farther down she descended, the mustier the air became, and the less light there was. Finally the staired passage started to widen, and a light breeze hit the Rihan woman. She played the light off her multicorder a bit brighter, fumbling for a porto-luminator. And even once it finally activated, it took Sar'vek awhile to place her surroundings. A cave.

 

And not just a simple cave -- Sar'vek's discovery was lined with half-natural, half-carved altars to representations of now-familiar gods; all of these were then heaped with... beautiful things. She recognized "herself" at one of the altars, but soon was distracted by what was piled around her idol. Beautiful, intricate stone and lightly braided metals draped around the statue's limbs and throat -- wasted on a statue, the scientist thought to herself. And although most of the offerings looked ancient, there were some lovely-looking drapes of woven cloth that were certainly not more than a few months old.

 

A slow smile spread on her face as she reached for one of the reptilian-shaped bangles. If she had to be a goddess, well... there was no harm in looking the part.