Jason nodded. The Professors then asked Geseppo about some personal matters, and Jason drifted apart, not feeling entitled to hear reports on the fellow’s family. He felt his arm grabbed, and Franny smiled at him while she dragged him over to where her boyfriend was talking with the younger members of the dig. There were about ten all told, mostly males but two other females besides Franny. A slim brunette was facing away from him as he was brought over, and when addressed by Franny, the brunette turned and, seeing Jason, smiled. Ah. The brunette from the video call last year! Jason decided she was even prettier in the flesh, especially as he could see a lot more of her very nice figure.

“Katerina, you remember Jason?” Franny purred smiling, at something Jason clearly didn’t understand.

Katerina blushed and nodded, glanced at Franny with a frown, then turned back to Jason.

“Hi.” She offered, looking tentative.

“Hi, yourself,” Jason replied. “I finally get to meet the girl in the phone!” he tried to make it sound light and humorous.

Katerina’s smiled increased, and she bobbed her head.

“You look different somehow.” She offered. “He looked fatter in the phone call Franny.”

“Camera angle.” Franny put in, although she gave Jason a good once over.

 “Have you lost weight?” She asked, looking slightly puzzled.

Jason felt himself blushing slightly. “A little. I have been doing a lot more exercise recently, although I haven’t so much lost weight as toned up.”

Franny took hold of her boyfriend’s arm. “That is what it is. Oh, tell me. What happened on that island? Didn’t you get food poisoning or something?”

Jason nodded. “Ate something that didn’t agree with me. Nearly died, in fact. All good now, though. So, tell me, how far is it to the dig site?”

Franny might have wanted to ask more about the food poisoning from her expression, but Katerina piped in. “Only about thirty minutes or a bit less, depending on the traffic. We leave pretty early in the morning, though. Did Franny warn you?”

Jason play acted gulping in trepidation. “Um, no. How early is pretty early?”

“Bus leaves at five-thirty, so you need to be up and out front by then. They get a bit miffed if you hold everyone up by being late.” She nodded over to the professors. “Breakfast and lunch are supplied on-site by a contractor at seven-thirty or so and around one-thirty. The food is a bit expensive but not bad with a good range for such a small truck. Make sure you have lots of water handy.  It gets hot and dry this time of year!”

He found her slight Scottish accent rather charming as he listened to her. Mind you, Jason’s first reaction was to scoff at it being hot here in the north of England. As he was from southern California, he didn’t think English hot would be anything like Southern Californian hot! However, he decided not to say anything as he had no real experience of performing manual labor all day in the sun. He had packed sunblock cream, at his mother’s insistence, so that wouldn’t be too much of a problem if he was careful. He hoped!

He was then introduced to the other technical assistants. Most were post-graduate students, but there were two undergrads as well. They were Both from the University of Liverpool and obvious fans of Professor Armstrong. A couple looked a bit intimidated by having an academically famous person in their midst. Still, he was very careful to play down his achievements and point out he was as inexperienced as the two undergrads! Which was true. This admission helped ease the situation, and soon they were all on easy terms with each other.