Belloq watches, amused, as Ben brushes the ancient ruins with probing interest every time the tour guide's back is turned. If the touches were destructive, or insulting to the old structures, Belloq might have been angry. But it's respectful, questing, a historian's touch. And these ruins are sturdy enough to handle a gentle palm here and there.

"Communing with the dead?" Belloq thinks of the lost alien builders who constructed this place.