An Unethical Practice

She was a famous archaeologist and with her team roamed all around the world especially the virgin spots to unearth past life wonders and had reserved in her name many accolades. Her interest in history, since her school days, inspired her to be in this profession and was so engrossed in excavated sites that could manage to stay with her family hardly two to three months in a year.

Till date she had made great discoveries and solved many mysteries. Being enchanted by the magical powers of ancient civilizations her most favourite locations were caves. Once she entered any of such sacred, isolated cave, she totally forgot the outer world and with her torch explored the entire vicinity. With her eccentricity and a dedication to painstakingly record finds at digs, she had created a respectable place for the profession among the youth.

This year she was in an evergreen dark forest after noticing a trace of an age-old cave, known to the locals only. She was warned against entering that as it might be filled with poisonous snakes, bats and there could be other life-threatening objects. She was indifferent to all these as she was highly adventurous. She commanded her team to wait outside so that if any emergency occurred she could get their help. 

Inside the cave, there was complete darkness, among the sensory organs only her skin and ears were the reliable sources for gathering information. She wished to keep the cave unlighted by avoiding torch sharp light as it could disturb the elements there. She could feel stones as it was rattling, dripping sound of water was heard, and roughness of walls was felt. She threw dim light of the mobile phone on the walls and was surprised to see arrow marks indicating to move in the right direction. She followed it. After a five minute walk, she visualized a sitting figure totally covered with green leafy climbers with ant mounds on body. She thought it was a statue. She silently crossed the figure and moved ahead.  

She was a little disappointed and thought nothing mysterious would be found there. She was, however, relaxed that snakes and bats were not in the cave. After a few more minutes, she saw another opening of the cave by going down through stony stairs.  She went ahead and felt the presence of a water body. She used her torchlight this time and to her utter disbelieve, she discovered a mermaid looking at her amazingly. She was well known about this wonderful creature but never dreamed of encountering it. A beautiful blend of female and a fish figure. She was over thrilled at this discovery and realised how the sign on the wall showed her the right way to reveal the mystery. 

She captured her pictures, and after a few minutes, the mermaid swam in the other direction. She didn’t want to disturb their life so without going further, she turned backward. She followed the same path and reached the statue again. This particular moment she glared at two bright objects, reddened like fireballs. She was scared when that figure opened its mouth to utter, ‘Nobody could find this cave, my meditation centre. When you go out cover the opening properly to protect family of mermaids. I am guarding them for centuries and would be here for many more in future.” She gave her assurance and left the place. She promised to herself that this revelation would be revealed to the trustworthy environmentalists only who had vowed to save miracles of Nature.

At the entrance she instructed the team to cover the opening properly as inside the cave there was nothing amazing to explore. Her orders were followed. She was superbly excited for this never- to- be - forgotten discovery in her entire life. Later, at her residence, she created the replica of the cave with the sign on the wall and the mermaid. As she kept the secret with her the pristine cave was never intruded by the adventurous human beings. She could be awarded many prestigious awards for the discovery, but her love for those innocent souls encouraged her to sacrifice such momentary pleasures. Ethically, she had done wrong to her commitment towards the profession, but this selfishness was valued more by her than any other moral virtues.