The chance that there would be a find of two sets of tablets detailing the same things was pure serendipity, but it gave him the means to hide what he was actually doing. And more fool him, he was dropping his thesis after he had spent two and half years of struggling to come up with either positive proof or even clear dis-proof of his original thesis argument that Mycenean invaders had taken over the Minoan administration, adopting their alphabet and spreading it to the mainland cities like Mycenae only after the occupation. After close to eighty thousand words and hundreds of hours of study, he was going to start a new thesis! Sigh.

In the event, he didn’t find it hard to write about his find at all, detailing the supposed steps he followed to make the breakthrough and the implications of the closeness of the two texts. The words flowed and flowed. He compared his translations of other Linear A tablets with the attempted translations and drew up detailed charts showing how his translation always gave readable and consistent results where others didn’t. Chapters on syntax, trying very hard to show a consistent evolution rather than the magically generated jump courtesy of Urasmian.

In the next two months, he did more typing than he’d done in the previous two years, but in the end, his new thesis was done and was submitted for review. His defense of his new thesis proved to be easy as the two scholars were too enthusiastic over his breakthrough to try very hard. Then, after many corrections and several subtle changes, the thesis was finally accepted, and in due course, he was awarded his Doctorate in Minoan studies. And then the furor that filled the academic journals about his breakthrough also filled his days and even his nights, given the international nature of the discussion. Five different offers to print his thesis!

Throughout the period, he had become so focused on getting the new thesis done that he lost track of the others and where they were up to with their own studies. He found he worked best at home in isolation when doing the type, type, type thing, so didn’t see much of them anyway, and they didn’t really grasp what he was doing until the graduation ceremony. There were actually two journalists from archaeology magazines there wanting photos and interviews! Franny had gone back to France after finishing her thesis but had returned barely in time for the graduation ceremony with her parents. Even the boyfriend turned up for the ceremony. Jason’s mother came to support him, but his father was interstate and couldn’t get back, which was disappointing. But hey, life was like that.

Franny’s parents were nice, and even the boyfriend seemed bemused by the journo’s wanting a piece of Jason. Photos and notes were also taken for the University Journal that was published monthly, and he even got a small article on the local TV channel news site, although not their actual TV news. In the following weeks, he spent most of the time responding to emails and phone calls from academics worldwide. In the third week after receiving his doctorate, he received an invitation to speak at a conference on Minoan affairs at Knossos in Crete! Oh, man! And then he realized he would be only a short hop from Santorini. I wonder if that plant still grows there? He thought to himself. He considered that thought at length. Oooh!