Excavating Ecstasy

[NecroZombieCourtesan]

An old cryptic illegible message, written in stone, detained her for the remainder of the evening. While the rest of the crew had gone into town, to examine the bar scenery, diligent little Ally opted to stay behind and attempt to unravel the Gordian Knot. Beneath old Rome, specifically Leptis Magna there existed a series of tunnels, only recently discovered by Alanna three days prior too her twenty fifth birthday. Most of the tunnels had stayed in tact. There were a few unopened doors, places where large amounts of rubble kept their old door cherry from popping. And most of what was left was virtually untouched by the human hand.

Thus was the reason why Alanna chose to stay at camp rather then tag along. All these untouched caverns, and beautiful archways had been purposefully collapsed, covered in what could only be warnings. While she had never been superstitious, caution was key when a hundred ton of marble began to shatter. The team was suppose to wait until professionals came down to excavate whatever was down in the largest catacombs. Maybe the long lost remnants of a rich Roman king was at the heart of it all. It would certainly be an explanation for all the warnings. No Roman King wanted his riches stolen.

After coming up empty handed with the old written documents she stood up and grabbed a flashlight. There was always exploring to do, as long as she didn't go too far inside. Safety was priority, Alanna wanted to live to see what was in the deepest sepulcher.

The shaft opening was about ten feet in circumference, but got increasingly smaller as one crawled further into the cavern. Eventually she was crawling on her hands and knees over rough rock before coming to an enormous room. This would have been a glamorous castle council room in it's glory days. Possibly fifty feet too the ground below. Attaching herself to a rope hook stuck in the rock she began to scale downwards before coming to a nice soft drop on the ground below. From here she could go one of three ways. The first two were dead ends, and the third was still unexplored. As they tend to say, 'Curiosity killed the Cat, and satisfaction brought it back'. Regardless of her previous yearn for safety she couldn't help but take a peek. That third tunnel was calling too her, a discernible reverberation echoing the sound of her thudding heart.

If the two tunnels were meant for kings then this particular tunnel was built for the gods. It winded downwards into a dark abyss that was covered in dust and cob webs. Cutting through the grime she followed slowly, testing the way ahead by tossing large rock into the murky distance to see if the impact would shake any rubble loose. After confirming that everything was well made and not falling apart one rock at a time, she walked a bit faster, realizing that her little tunnel was getting wider.

All in all she spent a couple hours walking. However the payoff was so much sweeter. Majestic Alanna had found an opening that much resembled a door. Taking a deep breath and calming her nerves she stepped into another room. This one was unlike anything she had seen before. It wasn't made of stone, or painted like the Sistine chapel. Instead many wires clung to the ground, their age told only by the dust and rubble stacked on top of them. The dark was perpetual, total darkness, darkness that could only be found in places so far beneath the earth's crust that no light touched it. It should be hard to breathe, but it wasn't, her lungs did not scream as if she was swimming in swamp water.

Perplexed was an understatement. Her mouth hung ajar as she followed wires around the room, flashing her light while she stepped carefully over them. What she approached next was enough to force a very shrill yet quiet whimper up from the pit of her stomach. Was that a giant...Bug?

 

[Friendly Alien]

The creature she saw was nothing of this Earth. It stood 8 feet tall, only inches from touching the cieling. It's head was bulbeous, and rested ontop of the torso, vertically aligned with the body and the legs underneath it. It had four limbs, a pair of strong carapace legs, and a pair of arms that where long and no doubt muscular, but the brown, chitninous armour made it impossible to know exactly how much muscle was contained under its bulk.

The head itself had two eyes, or what was assumed to be eyes, as its eyelids where shut. It seemed to be made out of soft, leathery skin. It had a pair of small mandibles, which had a large batch of brown bristles which covered the mouth. It seemed to be resting, standing on a small platform. It was this... Metallic surface that the cables where connected to. As an archeologist, this would be a striking find. This sort of metal working would not be seen until recent times, yet, these tunnels where pre-roman. Perhaps even Etruscan...

There where no Etruscan letters on the platform this bug was standing on, or anywhere inside the room itself. It was dotted by small markings, forming complex patterns unlike anything she would have encountered. No man had ever seen these markings for well over two thousand years. This last room was three thousand years old at least, and the latin giving her a warning would suggest that this 'bug' had been visited, or at least known of, for a long time.

Alanna's footsteps disturbed the catacombs. Her motions where monitored, by some ancient system that was still active in this unnatural chamber. This creature was not supposed to be here, but there he was. Whatever she did, she did something to stirr this place. Only moments after her incredible discovery, there was a flicker of lights. Around her, she would see small red dots of light comming alive. Electric lights. This was accompanied by a low, mechanical humming, and the wheezing noise comming from the platform on which the bug was standing on.

Then, before her eyes, it awoke. This incredible creature was first surprised by the stinging sensation in it's joints. It knew these where the symtoms of prolonged assisted-hibernation. This displeased it, and it's eyes started to wander. Red and white, they scanned the room... And saw a woman. It spoke, it spoke latin. It had a dialect which was either a sign it didn't speak the language fluently, or that she was the first person to hear real latin as it was meant to be pronounced and spoken, which was impossible. If this was true, then this... Monster would have learned it from the ancient romans.

What Alanna heard might have been surprising, as the chittering, deep voice expressed its displeasure at her failing her duties. It stepped down form the small elevated platform, and took a step closer. It demanded to know why she was here, as it always did when a woman entered its domain. While it noticed her volupteous shapes, its senses where stirred. For the first time in millennia, this room was being filled with an odourless drug, that would make her feel safe, relaxed... And abnormally aroused. The creature was releasing these pheremones, which had been the cause of its godlike status among women in the now extinct forgotten pre-latin tribes which worshipped it.