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Wasted

“Hey Jim, have a gander at this, would you? Looks like some of the Ancient English pictograms on this entry have survived. Any idea what they mean?”
“Didn’t bring my translator with me, but the pictures are reasonably easy to decode. Latest theory on the block is most Ancient Humans were illiterate – the symbols were understood by all of them, so they used them on signs and the like.”
“Whatever, just tell me what they mean!”
“Lessee, here we have their warning symbol – and some other one I’ve never seen before. Lots of pictures of dying humans though – it might be a curse on those who enter, or possibly a depiction of the punishments for unauthorised entry. Either way, not a problem for us.”

I motioned at Jim to move over so I could look at the pictograms myself. Nearly the entire column was covered by pictures of humans dying, wasting away, and sporting all kinds of unnatural deformities. No matter what the pictograms showed, I wasn’t going to turn back now. I’d worked hard on this dig, and if all went well, it may reveal more about mankind’s mysterious ancestors. They seemingly disappeared off the face of the Earth – leaving little of themselves behind. Here was the greatest discovery since the Washington dig, an Ancient Human building set deep inside a mountain. It had taken weeks to uncover the entry, and finally we could go inside.
“Jim, got your flashlight?”
“I’m not totally incompetent you know – I even brought spare cells in case this thing goes in deep."
“Well then, let’s go!”
The building seemed to be some kind of storage facility. All the walls had the same carvings as those on the entrance pillars, as clear as the day they were chiselled in.
“What do you think this place is, Jim?”
“Temple perhaps? Seems to go in pretty deep, it’s a good thing I brought those spare cells.”
“If this is a temple, I don’t want to meet the gods they were worshipping.”
I motioned at the carvings.
“Is it just me, or are they getting MORE gruesome?”
“No, they’re definitely getting worse. That other symbol is getting repeated more often too. What’s that!”
Jim’s flashlight illuminated a rusted pile of metal, the remains of some kind of machinery still distinguishable amongst the other scraps.
“Dunno, but I bet it’s important. Look at this, will you?”
I walked over to the pile of metal, and right past it, focusing on something else altogether. Strange cylindrical containers loomed out of the darkness, made out a corrugated metal, badly rusted. There was a strange symbol on the barrel, the same symbol that had been repeated so many times in the carvings, as well as some genuine Ancient English words!
“What do they say?”
“Damnit, why the hell do I always forget my translator? Ok, at least there are only two words. Lessee, D..A..N.. oh, it says Danger! The other word though, I got no idea. I’ll make a copy of it to show to the guys back at the lab, and to see if the translator comes up with anything.”
“Well, hurry, the people back home are gonna want to see this!”
I began the walk to the surface, already making notes to get a tech to get a sample from one of those containers, as Jim sketched out the words on the barrel.

DANGER! RADIOACTIVE!