I should have listened to my mother.

Adam Finch sat on his park bench outside the Downport Tower and wondered how his life had come to be upended.

The Imperial University Research Authority had tasked him with travelling to Overnale and checking in on a dig in progress.  Someone had sent a letter to the RA requesting another set of hands to certify a find of significance regarding pre-Imperial Aslan heritage.  This was exactly the type of assignment that recent graduates were foced to endure as field learning experiences and so Adam had been given a stipend for a medium passage and a little extra for expenses until he could hook up with the dig.

Unfortunately, since arriving on Overnale, he'd been completely unable to learn anything about the alleged work in progress.  Nobody at the local level had even heard about an Aslan dig.  The local Imperial University official - the only local official - was a lifer named Odan Kudra and he was completely MIA.  Messages to him went unreturned, and a visit to his office found it closed both times Adam had gone.

The "extra" credits he'd been granted by the RA had been long gone, and now Adam had been forced to dig into his own meager savings to pay his rent at the dicey hostel he'd found and which he could afford.  He looked longingly at the park bench and wondered if maybe it might have been a better, cheaper alternative.

His roommate at the university always claimed Adam was a walking black cat.  His luck ran the full gambit from bad to horrific, or so it seemed.  He looked around again.  It was funnier at the university.  He was close to calling Dr. Williams, but he really didn't want to admit defeat.

"Adam Finch?"

The young man looked up to see a well-dressed, seemingly respectable man standing before him.  He wore a stylish black suit wth a colored shirt - the uniform of the casual professional - and he removed his gold-framed sunglasses to regard Adam again with a charismatic megawatt smile that was friendly and oddly reassuring.

"Pardon me, but you are Adam Finch the archaeologist, yes?"

Adam smiled and stood up.  "Yep, that me, in all my glory."  He offered his hand to the man while studying him.  Maybe his luck was changing.  "I don't suppose you are from the dig?" he asked hopefully.

"Ah, I don't think so," the man answered with a disarming tile of his head.  He took Adam's hand in a firm handshake and introduced himself as, "Duncan Danacava."

"Mr. Finch, I need your help," the man, Duncan, explained.  "May I sit with you so we can talk?"

"Of course," Adam gestured to the bench, concerned.  "I'll help any way I can."  After a second he added with a laugh, "As long as it's nothing illegal, of course."

"Oh, no, nothing like that."  The suggestion of impropriety seemed to throw off the newcomer, but he rallied gracefully, the smile slipping for only a moment.

"I am the business agent of a collector of rare antiquities," Duncan explained.  "As with any purchase of this kind an expert must verify the authenticity of the pieces in question - it's expected.  Unfortunately, the person I typically rely upon to do this is unavailable.  Things being what they are, reputable archaeologists qualified by the Imperial Uiversity to do this kind of work don't grow on trees."

Duncan leaned forward a bit.  "While searching for someone qualified I ran across your name and figured I got lucky.  Are you available for this kind of work?"

"Sure," Adam smiled again.  It wouldn't be nearly as exciting as actually working a virgin dig, but it would be something to do.  Plus you never knew exactly what you were going to get to see. 

"I'd be happy to help out.  What sort of artifacts are they?  Do you know what culture they are from?" 

"Pre-Imperial Aslan," Danacava revealed with a slow incline of his head and raised eyebrows, expecting Adam to recognize this as being as impressive as it was.  Aslan digs were extremely rare given that the lion-people's culture placed little to no value on underground structures. 

"There's a lot of three pieces and they'll all need to be verified as authentic at the time of the transaction.  You'll be provided all the tools you need, of course - densitometer, AM spectrometer, computer, and so on."

"Pre-Imp Aslan?  That is quite a find.  There shouldn't be any problem with verifying them.  Do you happen to know where the artifacts were found?"  Although Adam's personal focus had been on the Ancients, he had studied digs from all the different cultures, including Aslan.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Duncan admitted somwhat sheepishly.  "I'm afraid I'm not up on my archaeology.  But all the certifications will be delivered electronically and my client is satisfied with that.  All you need to worry about with this job is verifying that the artifacts are the genuine article."

"Sounds great," Adam responded.  "When do I start?"  He hoped it was soon.  Food was getting a little hard to find and this should tide him over, at least for a little while.  Plus it would be fun.

"I'll contact you in the next couple of days with the location and time," an obviously pleased Duncan replied.  "The standard fee of one percent will be paid at the completion of the job.  Is that acceptable?"

"With the standard 100 credits if it falls through, I assume?"  Adam asked and received an affirmative nod from the patron.  "Let me know when and where and I'll be happy to help out."

"Splendid.  I'll have the contract drawn up and sent to you in a couple of hours.  Just endorse it and send it back as soon as you can."  Danacava stood and offered his hand to the young man.

Adam stood up as well, grinning from ear to ear.  "Sounds wonderful.  I look forward to working with you."  He shook Danacava's hand enthusiastically.  Inside he mentally counted his remaining money to see if a celebration was in order.  With a mental shrug he decided a hot dog and beer would count as celebrating.