46 Faceslapping 102

"I'd like to apologize for not picking up the phone before, I really thought you were a saleswoman." Uriel awkwardly apologized after taking a seat at their table.

"Please, don't apologize Mister Sage, it's only because of my incompetence that I couldn't find you before. We've been looking for you for a long while and... My! My! Now I realize I haven't even formally introduced myself. I'm Nika Garcia and I'm currently in charge of the Mapple corp. security. I've been tasked to find you and recruit you for this important expedition, but I must admit I never thought you'd be a student." Nika said, sipping on her wine every once in a while.

"I think me being a student is public record." Uriel shrugged, not knowing how to lead the conversation in a way that allowed him to understand what did she want from him without being rude.

"That's not it, my mission was to bring back 'Sage' the archaeologist, no one mentioned that you'd be a student. I was puzzled by this for the longest time because there wasn't any professor by that name on the college. Anyway, now the misunderstanding is cleared I feel that I owe you a full explanation before continuing. How much do you know about the Mapple project?" She asked.

"I know quite a lot actually. Before 'the arrival' there were still many archaeological sites to be discovered and the Mapple corp. initiated a worldwide project to uncover every single one of them by scanning the whole world. That caused archaeology to become obsolete because there wasn't much to discover anymore, which left me without a job even before signing up for college."

"Yes, it was a mapping project and its intention was to uncover archaeological sites. Thanks to the new technology devised by our corporation it was suddenly possible to scan every inch of the planet without lifting a finger. Pyramids, totems, ancestral buildings, aqueducts, if some ancient culture had placed a stone on top of another, we knew. We also found something different, something that... changed our project's mission. We found that some POIs had strange structures underneath and, of course, we sent many teams to uncover their mysteries, but it was completely impossible to open the way." Nika explained.

Although Uriel knew a lot about the Mapple project, he was still taken aback by her claim. Just the possibility of hidden underground structures below ancient buildings could rewrite history as he knew it. "Did you try opening them with explosives?" Uriel finally asked an obvious question.

"We did, but that didn't work." She replied. "The material they're made of is highly resistant to anything and everything, we even attempted to nuke a POI but that... that's classified information. Anyway, apparently one of our scientists found something odd online. It was a wild theory about all of human civilization possessing a single language at some point in time, he thought it was funny and dismissed it until..."

"Until another Vlog entry was posted with some sort of evidence to back that theory up, am I correct?" Uriel continued her words, instinctively knowing where she was heading.

The tanned woman nodded in reply just as their food got to the table. How tasty and rich, how luxurious and expensive food was didn't matter, because Uriel gobbled it up without even noticing. All he wanted was to fill his resented belly that had been grumbling down for hours and to get to the point of the conversation as soon as possible.

"Let me guess, someone found my Vlog online and now they want me to help them translate what's inside those places?" Uriel didn't know how to feel. On one hand he was in glee that someone other than bots visited his Vlog, not just that, apparently it must have been a well renowned scientist since he or she was currently hired by the Mapple corp. On the other hand, he didn't really want to participate in dangerous adventures, all he wanted to do was get enough money to finish his studies and then start researching as a freelance.

"Well, I asked if it was possible to show you drawings or pictures, but these POIs are very particular." The young woman said with a serious tone. "It's not as dangerous as most lost cities, in fact, only the way to these places is dangerous. Once inside the site there's not a single cryptid nearby, unfortunately, these structures emit a field of disruption of their own making it impossible to take pictures or get regular vehicles to its vicinity. Because of that, we really need you to come along."

"You guys really want to take an evolved to such a place?" Uriel didn't know the reason why he was antagonizing her. As soon as she mentioned the possibility of a mystery to be uncovered he wanted to jump in and accept, but it was his self preservation instinct acting up. Even if he himself didn't notice it, his last experience outside city walls left him traumatized. Despite not apparently caring for Atomic's death, he was actually troubled by regret, not just for not being able to save him but also because he never got to know him better or make friends with him.

"I didn't even know you were an evolved until I finally realized you were a student, we actually thought you were just a regular human." She shrugged. "It's great that you're an evolved though, it'll make the trip a lot easier since there will be a lot of walking and your enhanced physical attributes will speed up the progress."

"Hold your horses." Said Uriel. "I still don't agree to join whatever it is you're planning, I still have college and I can't just go. I just came back from an incursion that lasted for the weekend and I almost didn't make it back alive."

"Let's do this... I'll leave this piece of paper here and go freshen up in the restroom. If by the time I come back you can't give me an answer then I'll stop bothering you." Nika didn't mind making such promises, because she was certain that if she failed her boss will absolutely send someone else to persuade him.

Uriel watched the pretty woman leave the place with a deep frown on his face, mindlessly picking up the piece of paper and almost choked on his own saliva when he read it. The amount of money offered to him exceeded his wildest dreams, he stared at the piece of paper dumbfounded, trying to figure out the exact amount. It was a sum so incredibly high he didn't even know how to pronounce it. 'I can't let this opportunity pass. Even if it's dangerous, if I manage to come back my life will be sorted out!' Were Uriel's last thoughts before Mark arrived at his table.

"Oh, I see she dropped you like a bad habit." Mark said with a nasty grin on his face.

"What are you up to now? Can't you see I'm busy?" Uriel replied.

"All I see is you sitting by yourself after your date dine and dashed you. Can't you see a woman like that can only be a scammer or a prostitute. Since she got a free meal out of you, I don't think it's the latter." Mark pretended to hold back his laughter.

Uriel's face went pale at the sudden realization that he was indeed stuck with the bill. The only silver lining was that at least he did get to eat something. 'Stupid! I'm so stupid! Why would a woman like that want to buy me dinner?' Still he tried to keep appearances and replied coldly. "It's none of your business anyway."

"Oh! But it is. You see, I called Mister Flanagan to let him know what that woman said and he assured me he was the only one with the clearance to invite people to the Mapple corp. expedition. You've totally been scammed dude." He finally laughed mockingly at Uriel.