Nicasio furtively looked at his watch. He could not believe so much time had passed in the professor's office without even mentioning his proposed thesis. It was too clear the professor was now preoccupied with something he felt was far more urgent.

Dr. Simons paused only momentarily, shuffling his photos and notes. He then went on in earnest.

"If any of these classically designed stones and ancient Greek inscriptions turn out to have any connection at all to pre-colonial New Spain . . . or even the Mission Period, it will be a discovery of monumental attention. I'm sure you see the potential of that cultural intersection and how it would affect the current thinking of historians internationally."

"OK, professor. You're right. And I do. But what about my thesis on Drake? An entire two year's worth of dedicated work for this proposal was put into that. All the new research I put in on the physicalities of Drake's Bay? I have compelling evidence that confirms the location as Drake's point of coastal contact."

Dr. Simons forcefully slid the entire sheath of photos and diagrams he had taken out across the cluttered desk toward Nicasio.

"From this day forward, Nicasio, consider this your doctorial thesis. I'll make sure your efforts in the write up of this find, as a full associate will qualify as your PhD project. You have my word on that, young man."

Nicasio had never seen such emotion in his professor before.

"But . . . why me, exactly professor? You must have colleagues you can. . ."

"Trust? Fully collaborate with? On something of this caliber my boy? No. My experience tells me, sadly, no. As surprising as that sounds, I truly don't have complete faith in my 'colleagues.' Not even those at the highest level of respect otherwise. Not with something as incendiary as this."

Nicasio was surprised at the professors candor with him.

"Some such remarkable finds, young man, whether turning out to be true or spurious, come about once in a lifetime. I can tell you that with complete authority. What this discovery suggests has not even been proposed. Not in four centuries of historical research and analysis. Nowhere in the Americas has such a nexus between the ancient world and the new one been considered."

The young researcher held the packet of photos in his hands and began to nervously thumb through them again as the professor continued.

"I can tell you, the enormous egos of people working around something like this . . . not to mention the university rivalry from other institutions, is just too explosive to not expect trouble from. It would be an avalanche of egos all competing for the recognition."

"Well, yes. I can see it being very volatile."

"No, Nicasio . . . I've been in this land of theories and research long enough to know. It becomes a battle of personalities at some point. In spite of what it could someday present to the public to digest. And you are just the researcher to assist me in this. I have already singled you out among a number of others . . . I have no doubts about my decision, young man. It's a win-win for both of us."

Nicasio again remained stunned and silent.

"Trust my wisdom on this. In the end, Berkeley, you, and I will be where the initial recognition goes. Despite the myriads of disciplines, departments and other institutions that will be involved later. Right now it just needs some good, hard and careful investigation. It depends upon the historical integrity of what ever we bring down there . . . and come back out with."

He thought for several long moments. "I just don't know what to say, Professor."

The professor smiled more comfortingly.

"Besides, my young associate, if you haven't already noticed . . . I'm getting a bit 'long in the tooth' for such work. For such sublime excitement . . . I could use someone with a youthful frame and an able mind to help me. To fully extract the information this find possibly holds. Priceless as it is . . . or otherwise."

Though he was fighting it, Nicasio was now letting his imagination roam. The professor's offer would certainly be an honor and an opportunity he might never have again. His full-time teaching and further research at Cal would be certainty established if he joined in.

"In addition I'll need someone to travel . . . both to the Big Sur site as I am planning now, and to a few distant places. Maybe immediately. I will need to count on you for that as well. Do you understand?"

Nicasio was having difficulty concentrating on what the professor was saying. He looked at his own weighty notebook of the Drake evidence, all he had prepared to write up over the next year. He then looked more closely at the detailed photos now directly in front of him. It was an enlargement of the white sarcophagus, and the curious bas relief of female warriors on horseback and in combat. They paraded gracefully around its perimeter. He could see the lithe, helmeted Amazons from mythology, heaving forward on their steeds with spears, bows, and moon-shaped shields. All seeming to be in anticipation of some imminent attack, storming across the smooth surface of the marble ossuary. They were at full gallop on horseback-beautifully and heroically rendered.

"Well Nicasio?" The professor interrupted his reverie. "Can I expect your full support in this . . . as of today?"

The young man's head was still reeling and his stomach was dangerously close to an unpleasant event. After one final moment of serious contemplation he answered in the affirmative, while his voice revealed a lingering uncertainty.

"Yes, professor. . . I would be honored to assist you in this."

"Splendid!" The professor reached across his desk to secure the decision with a handshake. Seeing his old professor unabashedly smiling so fully was again unnerving. Nevertheless, he took the recently sun-burned, frail hand of his mentor into his. The partnership was secured for better or worse with this formal gesture.

Satisfied, Professor Simons began to quickly collect his papers and secure them back into his large, war-worn satchel.

"But, Sir," Nicasio asked, as he suddenly realized their meeting was being brought to a conclusion. "Just what did you actually mean by . . . 'far away places'?"

"Oh, yes. . . Well, after the Big Sur site, where we'll put in three, maybe four days of more detailed measurements and some light excavation, you'll spend a week or so cloistered in the Bancroft Library."

Nicasio's stomach began to turn once more.

"There are details there waiting for us which can be found probably no where else. I want you to spend time as well in the main Doe Collection here at Cal running down some loose ends."

Nicasio blinked his eyes. "Oh. OK. I thought you were referring to a trip to . . ."

"But think of that week much like a reference perusal, Nicasio, nothing more. Then you'll begin a whirlwind trip abroad. Greece for sure. Maybe Spain. Possibly Turkey if we need to checkout some leads I have into this. I'll be in the process of arranging those plans over the next week."

"Turkey?"

The professor stood up suddenly with his weather-beaten satchel ready to exit his office. It pulled him over into his characteristic bent stance. "No time to explain all that now, young man. Just know that I have only this morning, in an emergency meeting . . . received full cooperation and preliminary budgetary details from the UC Board of Regents. Straight from the Office of the President. We may now proceed as we see fit. Our research will be funded Carte blanche."

Nicasio was now even more stunned.

"You see, young man, this find has suddenly become a high priority issue with the UC System administration. And the focus so far will remain here at Cal. Only with us. I assure you . . . money will be no hindrance for us now as we proceed."

"Are you serious?"

"The California Studies Center has always struggled for greater legitimacy and while this thing is potentially an explosive find . . . they just want to keep it low-profile for now. But, believe me, son. The Board or Regents President sees the potential of what this find could mean to the entire California UC System."

"Wow. So 'institutional rivalry' really still is alive and well."

"Let's just say I personally know a few folks over at Stanford and some fair-weather colleagues in the Northeast who would love to jump on board this thing . . . and then take it over. They all would love to beat us badly on this, Nicasio. It's our job not to let them."

"I see." Nicasio smiled. Now a little more ambitiously.

"You see. . . It's also more about the whole California thing, Nicasio."

"Meaning?"

"This unprecedented find might just shed some new light on a certain mystery which has been floating around California Studies programs . . . not to mention the halls of Spanish and Portuguese Lit departments . . . for more than a few centuries."

A look into the professor's old eyes, set deep into his weathered face, revealed some concealed element in his thoughts as he spoke. His look was now even more alert than before. Almost playfully youthful. Perhaps, Nicasio thought, he was still reveling from the good news he had received from the UC Board of Regents office. But it was obviously something else. Something Nicasio, as he listened to the professor's description of the find, had himself become immediately aware of. It was evident the moment there was a mention of Amazons in the context of the California coast.

He decided now to boldly bring it to the surface himself.

"So this is really all about . . . the name . . . isn't it professor?"

"You mean Cal's reputation in the field . . . Who would get the credit?

"No, professor . . . the name . . . California."

"What are you saying, young man?"

"The Latin descriptor in the name California."

"Explain?"

"The name as you know means 'The land of Califia' in it's Latin and Spanish. More precisely, 'Califia's Island.'"

As if in a poker game, the professor's eyes looked back at him with calculated reserve. They seemed to smolder now with repressed excitement. It was a well-controlled look. His expression was holding back something which was obviously intended to be hidden or perhaps revealed later. His wise eyes only lightly blinked once.

"Just what do you mean by that, Nicasio?

"The name of this place we all share . . . the name scratched onto the uncharted maps of the continent's western coastline from around 1533 onward. . . California . . .'The Land of Califia.' Isn't that what this find is really all about? California's name as it associates with the Amazons from antiquity?"

The professor's eyes widened momentarily. And then, even more guardedly, his expression turned pensive and calculating again as he put his satchel back down on the floor. Nicasio was surprised at this subtle, revealing gesture.

"So I guess you're curious about the implications here as well," the professor said to him in a soft, almost secretive tone. Where we could be going with all of this . . . if it reveals more information about . . . Califia."

"I am aware of the controversy, sir. Exactly what this find might be alluding to. I learned of it years ago . . . actually from one of your own lectures . . . when I was an undergraduate."

An irrepressible and nostalgic grin came across the professor's face, instantly shattering his guarded expression.

"Since then I have had to read Montalvo's works in Spanish as part of my grad research. You're aware of that. Califia was the name of a fictionalized Amazon queen the Medieval Spanish writer invented," he proudly recited. "She was featured in the last of Montalvo's early sixteenth-century collection of five romances. They were extremely popular among the Castilian aristocrats and well-known to most of the explorers who visited our coastline at the edge of the world for the first time."

The professor looked up and continued smiling at Nicasio, quite proud of what he was hearing from his former student. Eventually he began to beam with delight.

"Right you are, my boy. It was indeed those very tales that took hold of the Spanish Empire's imagination when they came to the New World."

"Yes. Even something like a Castilian 'urban legend' . . . brought over by ship."

"Well, I never quite heard it put that way before. . . but that's good. Really good!"

The old man actually chuckled under his breath.

"Nevertheless," Nicasio continued, "Montalvo did compile and create quite an imaginative series involving an Amazon queen named Califia. Living here on the other side of the world."

"The last two books in his compilation he wrote himself. The earlier writings were created by others, probably in the fifteenth century, maybe even earlier. They probably intended as lessons in chivalry."

"Yes. The legends of Amadis, the heroic crusader. He edited those stories for some kind of continuity and entertainment."

But also to espouse the religious and political values of the day. Originally the romances of that series were quite disjointed as a whole, but carried a message."

"Thanks to Montalvo the story ends with some real fireworks . . . an Amazon queen namedCalifia ruling a mysterious island . . . a Trojan-like war between Christians and pagans. And all of this out on a gold-rich kingdom somewhere in the unexplored sea at the edge of the world."

"Precisely, Nicasio. And let's not forget, this island was supposed to be populated by only women . . . whose pet creatures were man-eating griffins!"

"How few of the state of California's thirty-five million people today actually even know the origin of its name? Or anywhere else in the world today?"

"Yes. That's a fact which has baffled me my whole career, my boy. However briefly this Califia walked out across the pages of his Montalvo's legend . . . she inspired many men's imaginations in the sixteenth century to go find this edge of the world . . .this island of all women, ruled by a beautiful queen."

"Apparently so," Nicasio added. "The Spanish conquistadors were always searching for her . . . whether in their treks through jungles or on their explorations by sea."

"Indeed, young man. I'm inclined to believe that in all their incursions into the New World, there were probably very few who hadn't heard of the beautiful Queen Califia."

"Then, it was no accident that when they reached the Baja Peninsula . . . the very western edge of the known world in those times, that her name showed up on the maps as California-"Califia's Island."

The professor was looking across at Nicasio more pensively now. Hearing him put into context exactly what was most intriguing about the recent-a mysterious tomb with Amazon markings on a cliff side in Big Sur. Precisely at the edge of the continent.

Nicasio went on, himself now caught up in the excitement.

"Historical readings of the ships' logs during this period suggest we should give credit to one of Cortes' mutinous captains in 1533. It was probably Bezerra de Mendoza the pilot or Ortuna Ximenes himself who penned the name onto the poorly charted map of the area. 'Califia's Island,' he wrote on that day-California."

The professor now spoke almost in a trance. "And the name California stuck for the entire territory north of it . . .and for centuries to was believed to be one large island."

Dr. Simons reached down and took out the photo of the sarcophagus with the lovely Amazons galloping around its perimeter once more. He looked at it wistfully.

"Our dear Montalvo," the professor recited almost in a whisper. "He appears to have created the fantasy of Califia out of the blue. But I ask you young man . . .where did he get the idea for her? How aware was he of the classical images of the Amazons? What inspired him to infuse those myths with his own writing? "

The young researcher, now the professor's assistant, could only wonder himself.

"These are precisely the questions this find asks us, my boy. And what exactly is the connection of this enigma to our sixteenth century armor-bearing Spanish explorers?"

Professor Simons looked directly into Nicasio' eyes. This time with his former poker gaze dissolved. He spoke again definitively and clearly.

"Well, I can see now that I have indeed picked the right research assistant for this project in you, Nicasio. You have definitely passed all your exams today."

The young man smiled self-consciously and took a deep breath for the first time that morning. It was a rare moment when his past academic efforts were able to bring such immediate and positive recognition.

After a strange pause, the professor collected his satchel once more, stood and characteristically leaned over from the weight of it. In a reserved tone-almost to himself, he lastly commented.

"Yes, Nicasio . . . this discovery might well be about the Califia-California name connection. But it may also be about . . . a whole lot more."

* * *