It's been thirty minutes since we've left the port, Sophia has been surprisingly quiet the whole time. I'm not sure what's going through her head right now but she's definitely trapped in there.
At first I tried to occupy myself by writing in my notes or drawing, but after a while I grew bored and ran out of ideas. It's been a while since my focus has been so out of sync, I'm too excited to concentrate, and too bored to stay interested in anything.
Looking around the cabin, there were eight of us in total. Me, her, Chandler the first expeditioner, and the guards.
During a small briefing, the two of us were assigned two guards, while the last one went to Chandler. It made sense to me since, Sophia and I would be at the head of the charge, and he was only there to tag along after leading us to the entrance.
Everyone seemed calm and relaxed, they talked amongst themselves. At some point they even brought out a deck of cards while they enjoyed their drinks, they tried to invite us as well. Sophia was in her own world, so she didn't hear. Chandler seems quite uncomfortable around other people, and I declined so I could watch over her.
They were pretty understanding and didn't hold it against any of us, they seem like pretty good people overall.
Although there was one guard who stuck to himself, he seem like the serious type whom took their job very seriously. Every so often I would watch as he would disassemble and reassemble his gun, it seemed as though he was studying every part of it as he did.
It was an interesting watch, to say the least. I watched as he started timing himself, he had only fallen short once.
His finger placement was a little off, causing him to nick his finger with the barrel. He waited till after finishing, then sat back taking a deep breath he stood and walked away to bandage the small cut.
Since he was done for now, I decided to look back out the window and watch the clouds.
"He's a serious one."
"Who is?"
Looking over I could see Sophia watching me:
"Look who made it back, we missed you out here."
She looked at me confused for a moment, then I watched as her face turned a little red. She reached for her phone to check the time, it a been an hour now since we've left.
"Sorry I didn't realize, I was just so lost in thought."
"It's fine, I was just messing with you. Glad you're alright..., don't worry I won't pry, it's none of my business."
She gave a soft smile as she turned to look out the window:
"Thanks."
"Anyway I was talking about that one over there by himself, gotta be team leader or something, right."
She looked over to see the man walking back to his seat, after a minute of nothing he went back to his routine.
Looking away from him she scanned the rest of the room and came to the same conclusion as I did.
"How long till we land?"
I checked the time on my watch, it was two o'clock:
"I'd say about an hour, give or take."
"Hmmm.... Can I ask you a question?
I looked out the window noticing a plane passing under us:
"Shoot."
"Why did you become an archeologist..., or rather why do you want to be one? What drove you to want to find this stuff?"
I turned to her and smiled:
"That's two questions."
I could see her mouth twitch, either she almost smiled, or I almost got cursed out. Who could tell.
"I don't have a speach prepared or some little story about some bedtime stories my parents use to read me or anything like that."
She didn't say a word, her eyes would shift between my own and my lips. I had her full attention, and not a single thing would slip past her.
"Well..., I guess to put it simply, I just enjoy learning new things and enjoy a good unsolved mystery. There's no mystery bigger than the world we live in, there are so many stories we're told as children, so many things we learn as we grow older.
We believe every bit of what we're told, but who's to say if any of it is actually true. There are so many theories out there, so much evidence of this and that.
I really just want to learn it all for myself, you know..., See it with my own eyes. This book that I'm looking for, is the one thing that could answer all of my questions. For all I know it could solve every problem this world as ever had....., or create more.
I... don't like being left in the dark, this expedition could be my first step out and into the light of the universe."
I looked into her eyes as she read my expression, she studied my body language, noticed every small gesture.
After a moment of nothing, she turned away and smiled:
"Okay."
"Okay? What's okay?"
"I'll help you solve your mystery."
She looked back at me not breaking eye contact, her smile grew warmer. What ever was troubling her mind seemed to have vanished in that moment.
"I... wasn't asking for help."
"Don't worry you don't need to."
My face turned to confusion for a moment then a smug looked covered it.
"No, I'm saying I don't need the help. I'll be fine on my own, I prefer it that way."
"Too late, I already agreed. No take backs."
"What? How's that even fair!?!?"
After a little back and forth we laughed, it was nice to see her smiling again. I guess she really isn't so bad to hang around after all.
We ended up talking more and getting along better, we were so consumed in our own little world, we hadn't noticed the man had long stopped his practice to listen in and watch us.
---
[Log #1
The date is January 21st 2021. This is day one of the expedition, I'm not sure what to expect but with a little luck we'll find the book of Eden.
We are currently making our way to the landing zone, where we'll meet up with a few soldiers whom will lead us to the site.
My partner and I will then lead the charge into the cave and try to learn and find anything of use. My goal is to find anything pertaining to the lost history of this world. The book being my main focus, but if it is not in this specific area, anything that could help find it would truly be useful.
On a side note Sophia and I have gotten a bit closer, and I... regrettably, seem to enjoy her company. Hopefully it is just a faze but if not, I guess a new friend is not so bad.
I will keep you posted on what happens, we shall talk again soon. Good luck.]
"What're you writing this time? That's not your usual notebook."
"Oh, yeah, thought I might as well keep a log of everything from here on out. Could be useful for when I need to look back on my adventures."
"Really, that's a good idea. Let me see what you've got so far."
Before I could react she grabbed the notebook and started reading through it. She looked up without a word then handed it back.
"Just a faze huh..., regrettable as well.., you don't like me that much.?.?"
"No, it's not that I don't like you. I just don't...., how do I say this..... I'm really just not that much of a people person is all.
It's nothing against you, I promise. Sometimes I just don't.... can't...., do people, I guess. I don't know it's hard to explain."
"Right..... It's fine I won't kill you over the disrespect.... I have a better idea. I'll make sure we stick close so I can talk your ears off the whole time."
She had a devilish smirk on her face as she spoke, I looked at her with a stunned expression. Couldn't help but think the log was a mistake and this was the price I had to pay for it.
As we finally made our descent, the guards started getting ready, one of them went to wake Chandler up and the from before walked over to us; letting us know it was time to leave.
We made our way out of the door and down steps, the man stayed close behind us; at the head of his group.
He walked over to greet the soldiers and get the information we needed; to head out. We were then escorted and given two vehicles for our trip, the man and one other drove with us, while the rest were in the other car.
The soldiers led to the site, then went back on their way. They were given a time frame in which to come back and retrieve us, since their post was close by it wasn't too much trouble.
Getting out of the car the man assigned us our guards. Sophia was given a young man and woman, Chandler was assigned an older man.
The man then walked over and introduced himself to me:
"Dr. Sun, I was assigned to you personally from the Bryne Company. My name is Raymond Carter, but you can call me Ray.