“Oh my god, Liz,” as she scrambles to climb the short distance to the opening and continues into the newly created crevice.

Once through the opening and standing upright in the cave Claudia is relieved to find Liz safe and unharmed. But that relief soon turns to concern for her granddaughter when the source of the bright light is isolated to a storage chest that Liz has opened.

“Grandma, Look at my discovery,” Liz looks up to her grandmother and expands her hands out toward the metal chest with the pride of a true archeologist.

Claudia looks around the cave for any structural flaw that may resort in a cave in but it appears sound. Still, they should leave until she can get a team together to explore it properly.

“Come on Liz honey, we should leave because I don’t know how safe it is in here.”

“But Grandma, how about all the artifacts,” as she nods towards the baskets lining the wall and the pottery stacked near the entrance.

It suddenly occurs to Claudia that this isn’t a cave at all but an interior storage room of a “Great House.” Further perusal of the room reveals an opening in the ceiling, which was probably accessible with a ladder.

The abundance of pottery and baskets suggest that the room was used for storage but everything appears to be intact with very little deterioration. These items are at least 700 years old. How can this be?

“Liz, come on. Lets wait outside for John and as soon as we establish that it’s safe I may let you help me catalog these for the University, Okay,” as she reaches for the girls hand.

“Grandma, can I take this with me?” She is picking of the large 4X4 chest effortlessly.

“Liz, what are you doing?" Runs over to relieve the child of her burden, “that chest is too heavy for you to be lifting.”

“No it isn’t, see,” places the chest in her grandmothers outstretched hands.

To Claudia’s amazement the chest is extraordinarily light and brings to the forefront the fact that it is also the only source of illumination in the room. She was so thrilled at the discovery of the artifacts that she had forgotten the mystery surrounding this metal chest and the light it emits.

Letting the lid of the chest hang over her arm to keep it open and provide light, until she and Liz can safely leave the cave, she propels her granddaughter towards the entrance and out into the welcome daylight of the canyon.

Once outside Claudia closes the lid to the chest and led by Liz continues on to the Range Rover some 20 yards away. Liz hops into the back seat and retrieves a fruit drink from the ice filled cooler for herself and a diet coke which she takes to her grandmother near the back of the SUV.

Claudia is inspecting the outside of the chest trying to determine what metal was used in it’s construction for the Ancestral Pueblos were not known for metal work. It is not like anything she has ever seen before.

“Grandma, do you think it’s a treasure chest?” as she hands her a diet coke.

“Honey Bear, your guest is as good as mind. Why don’t we take a look?”

Claudia opens the chest only to find that the light no longer illuminates from the chests’ cavity. Closer inspection reveals several unrecognizable items not associated with the Anasazi. She looks to her granddaughter and back to the items in the chest and then to the skies.

She braves removing what appears like a book, primitive in construction and made out of the same material as the chest. There’s an emblem on the front cover but no words. Once opened the characters and symbols are cut through the material as if stenciled.

“Let me see too, grandma,” Liz is pulling on her sleeve to get a better look.

Claudia is struck speechless when she turns the page to a set of pictures and she stares into the pretty face of her granddaughter embossed in a book that has gone undiscovered for over 600 years.

“That’s looks like me, doesn’t it?” The little girl looks up to her grandmother for confirmation.

“Yes, sweetie it does but it’s not possible,” looks down at her granddaughter and cups her face in her hand. “Liz do you feel okay because you’re kind of warm?”

“Uh huh, I feel okay but I’m getting tired. Can I go to the pool when we get back to the hotel? From the now flushed little girl.

“Sure. Why don’t you hop in the back seat and lay down and we’ll leave in a few minutes. I just want to mark the area and leave a note for John in case we pass him on the road back to town.” She replaces the book and closes the lid of the chest and quickly writes a note and instructions for her assistant.

Normally she would never deface a site by removing its contents but there is something abnormal about this chest and it somehow involves her grandchild. She covers the chest with a blanket and they head back to town.

John Nez is turning off of the main highway on to the road leading to the site when she stops to tell him of her find. He is to set up a preliminary base and contain the area until she can get a team here from the University.

In the meantime she wants to get Liz back to the Hotel because she fears she may have gotten too much sun and is suffering from heat stroke. She purposely does not mention the chest she has commandeered.

The chest and its contents are forgotten once back at the hotel and Liz has developed a fever. The local doctor diagnosed a possible stomach virus but Claudia opts to fly back to Roswell so the family doctor can eliminate concerns of anything more serious.

The drive from the Chaco Canyons to Roswell would take 6 hours however Claudia had chosen to fly her Cessna to the site because after returning Liz to Roswell she will be attending a conference in Dallas next week and hated commercial flights.

Three hours later Claudia and Jeffery wait outside Dr. Sanchez’s office while Nancy and Liz are in the examining room with the doctor.

Liz slept the entire flight and her temperature has not escalated past 100 degrees. Nancy insisted on a cool bath for the child before the trip to the doctor’s office when she noticed a rash developing on her shoulder.

Doctor Sanchez takes blood to run tests and eliminates any of the childhood diseases. He checks her body for insect bites and inquires as to what she has eaten over the past several days.

The family returns home with a directive from the doctor to call if her fever rises or if it hasn’t subsided by tomorrow. They can give her Tylenol and make sure she drinks plenty of fluids.