I drove my shovel into the sand, sending into the air an ominous shroud of yellowed dust. The relentless Egyptian sun scalded my neck and arms, which were raw and trembling under all the heavy lifting and swinging. My crew shared in the exhaustion and hobbled along, weighed down by tools and machinery. I was going to call it for the day if we didn’t find anything in a few minutes. Then my shovel stopped short with a clunk! and revealed something hard and smooth. 

“Look! We got something!” I shout to my teammates.

Everyone came rushing in, redirecting their dig in a new direction until they revealed a diagonal trap door. Underneath it was a black, gaping pit. The entire crew congregated around it in awe, marveling at the endless abyss hidden under golden sands, previously unbeknownst to them. Everyone was looking for me to lead the way—I was the leader of the expedition, after all, though it was my first time having such a position. All of our flashlight batteries were dead, and there was nothing out here to light as a torch. Hoping our hard work was not in vain, I tied a rope around my waist and rappelled down. 

To my surprise, my feet hit the ground almost immediately. No light surrounded me except for a little blue square six feet above my head. I got on all fours and felt the ground around me until I reached a stone wall. It was rough and left my palms feeling dry, so it must have been limestone. I made my way around the room until I felt something cold and metallic.