<strong>Lotsa Pasta /Thatsa Pizza</strong><br/><br/>Doug grins sheepishly.<br/><br/>"Oh, we get by.  Little by little.  Ain't like we haven't seen hard times before, being all the way out here.  But since you mention it we did sort of have this earthquake thing a couple of weeks ago.  Shook up the mine.  Nobody got hurt, nothing fell down."  He thinks for a moment.  "Same day as that weird thing in Tokyo, now that I think about it.  What are the odds?"<br/><br/>He laughs. There's a hint of nervousness in his voice.<br/><br/>"Nothing interesting ever happens in a sleepy little town like this."<br/><br/>(sweep cut to...)<br/><br/>It's a few hours later.  You're fed and a bit rested.  The sun is sinking down toward the horizon.  You haven't seen either Alex or Irina since before lunch, but he left your room keys for you at the office along with a vague note about pursuing personal business around town.<br/><br/>Carlos, your Google search is part of what has led you here, up a winding dirt road to a site overlooking the actual mine on the outskirts of Cortez.  It looks like every bad Hollywood cliche of an archaeological site, complete with assault-rifle toting guards walking the perimeter.  Not fifty feet away, you can see a young man with black hair pulled back into a tight braid, denim shirt soaked through with sweat, arguing with one of the two militia types at the front gate.  His battered jeep has US government plates, looks to be at least forty years old, and has a lot of gear in the back secured by bungie cords.<br/><br/>"...bloodsucking moron of a boss of yours that I can't guarantee the safety of the dig site if I'm not allowed to come in and have a look, for crying out loud!  So no, I'm not going to renew his dig permit and I don't care  how much money he flashes at me!  He wants me to okay the site, I have to inspect it."<br/><br/>You can all feel that there's something down there, too.  It's weird.  Nothing you can put a finger on, but somehow you know that this place is<em>wrong</em>.<br/><br/>The guards seem to be mostly ignoring the guy.  They aren't ignoring you, but so far they haven't taken action.