Curse of Atlantis (35 page)

“I’ll tell you what happened. The bastards messed with the wrong comrade,” Jack replied
proudly
.

“What?” Javier said, Jack’s response not registering in his mind.

“Jack, you had a hand in this?” Burt asked, still unable to think clearly.

“To quote the great electronic gaming
character
, Duke Nukem, ‘No one messes with our chicks… and lives
,
’” he responded back in joking fashion. “You don’t think I was just going to stand around and let them sell Serena into slave trade, do you?”

“Slave trade?” Serena blurted out, completely unaware for her fate.

“Yup, that was their plan,” Jack replied in disgust.

“But Jack, how’d you know about the trap?” Burt pressed further.

“Well, I’ll tell you. After being pushed around by those bastards for months, then hearing about their twisted plans for Serena, I got real angry… the kind of anger that makes you do stupid things. So, after the collapse, I went back to the villa and grabbed the scrolls. I came back here to the pyramid and searched inside for anything I could use against them.”

“You went back in, alone… after they rushed me to the hospital? That was an awful risk, Jack,”
Javier said, in light protest.

“Hence, the ‘stupid things’ comment,”
Jack shot back in good humor.

“Dad, you were rushed to the hospital? Oh my God, what happened?”

“I got caught in a trap, but that’s not important now,” he replied. Turning to Jack, he pressed further, “Jack what’d you find?”

“As I was investigating this room, I studied the etching on the front of the altar. Take a hard look at it. What do you see?”

“I see the crystal shining on the door,” Javier replied.

“Yeah, me too,” Burt responded.

Jack smiled and said, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought to
o
. But, the more I stared at it, the more something didn’t seem right.”

“Like what?” Serena asked, now equally puzzled.

Jack walked behind the altar, picked up a small backpack
,
and set it on top. He opened it and pulled out a newspaper. Separating out a couple of large sheets of it, he crumpled them up into two balls. On each side of the pedestal were two shallow concave indentations. He placed one of the balls of paper in each. Reaching back into his pack, he pulled out a small canister of lighter fluid and squirted it over the top of the two balls.

“Ok, notice the image on the front of the altar. The crystal is upside down, with the pyramid inside it pointing down,”
Jack pointed.

“I’ll be… you’re right, Jack. I never would have noticed that if you didn’t just point that out,”
Burt responded.

“Great eye, Jack,”
Javier said, proudly.

Jack placed his hands on both side
s
of the crystal and rotated it around so the internal pyramid was pointing downward. Pulling a lighter from his backpack, he held it over one of the balls of paper.

“Ok, I think we’re all set. One more thing. Look at the image again. It shows the crystal shining on the door, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, so,” Serena said, now growing impatient.

“How can it shine without light?” he asked, cryptically.

He flicked his thumb over the dial on the lighter and a flame ignited. Quickly, he lit one ball of paper, then the other. As the fires grew larger, their light was absorbed by the crystal
,
reflected off the internal pyramid
onto the “eye
.
”
Like a high intensity flashlight, a beam of light shot out from the crystal and onto the wall next to the open door. Jack adjusted the crystal slightly and pointed out his discovery.

“Look… there on the wall. What do you see?”

“I’ll be darned,” Burt s
aid
, completely taken by surprise.

Javier and Serena darted quickly to the wall and examined a small round tile that blended in perfectly with its surroundings.

“In low level light, it’s impossible to see. I suspect that even in bright light, it’s probably still difficult to see,” Jack said.

Walking over quickly to the tile, Jack placed his hand on it and rotated it to the left. Instantly, a
"
hissing
"
noise could be heard.

“Hear that? That’s more sand locking the trap and unlocking the door to the final chamber,” he explained.

From inside the pentagon chamber, all four looked into the rectangular chamber and watched the far door slowly open.

“Unbelievable,” Burt said in amazement.

“Jack, I can’t believe you came in here and did this all by yourself. Weren’t you scared? Weren’t you worried about dying in one of those traps?” Javier asked

“Every second.
I think I went through several pairs of underwear before I was finished,” Jack joked.

“Ok
,
Jack, I understand how you worked through the problem and figured it all out, but I’m still confused. How’d you know the ceiling was going to collapse?” Javier asked
.

Jack smiled and said simply, “I didn’t
.
”

“You didn’t?” Javier responded incredulously.

“Nope.”

“Then how’d you know about the trap
?
” Javier asked.

“Remember the engraved sunburst in the first chamber that almost killed us, and then the one that triggered the collapse that almost killed you?” Jack asked.

“How could I ever forget?” Javier joked.

“Well, there was one of the sunbursts directly in front of the doorway. The minute I saw it, I knew there was a trap in that room.”

“So what did you do?” Burt asked.

“Simple: I went back, reset the trap
,
and waited for the Russians to enter the chamber alone.”

“Simple… right. Nicolae almost shot you. The only thing that saved you was the safety on his gun,” Javier said. “You were very lucky that time.”

“Eh, sometimes you have to take chances,” Jack joked, then added, “But to be honest, I thought I overplayed that one too. Imagine my relief when he only clubbed me.”

“I can relate, Jack. That animal did that to me too,” Serena responded.

“He beat you?” Jack asked, now angry.

Serena nodded simply.

Shaking his head in disgust, he replied, “If he weren’t already dead, I’d kill ‘em again.”

“Well, it’s over now. I’m safe… we’re all safe,” Serena said, trying to stay positive.

“Thanks to you, Jack,” Javier said. “We owe you our lives.”

“Aw, it was nothing,” Jack joked.

As the four stared into the rectangular room, a sudden quiet developed as they considered the four men crushed beneath the large stone floor.

“
It’s a real shame those piles of filth are stuck underneath this floor. They’re going to be stinking up our pyramid,” Javier said acidly. Looking to Jack, he asked, “Do you think that crystal works in reverse?”

“Only one way to find out,” Jack replied.

He walked over to the altar and lifted the crystal key. Suddenly, the sound of flowing sand began and the heavy stone floor began to rise.

“Wow, that is impressive,” Burt shouted over the roar of the rising floor.

All watched as the floor rose to the top of the rectangular chamber and became the ceiling once again, as the heavy door simultaneously closed.

“Now what?” Javier said, speculating aloud to their next move.

“If I’
m
not mistaken, I think it’s probably just a simple matter of placing the crystal on
to
p
of the pedestal again, but this time, engaging the locking mechanism,” Jack replied.

Without waiting
for
word from the others, he immediately lowered the crystal onto the pedestal and watched it descend. A moment later, the sound of flowing sand could be heard deep within the walls and the heavy door began move. As it slid across the doorway, Jack ran over and searched for the hidden tile on the wall
that
he
had
pointed out earlier. As the door came to a stop, he pushed the tile into the wall, engaging the lock.

“That’s it
,
guys. The tomb’s reset and
locked
,” Jack announced confidently.
“Who wants to go first?”

Stepping
into the now open chamber
, he loo
ked back at the others and said
, “Coming?”

“Jack, hold up. What if there’re more traps?” Burt asked, now growing skeptical.

“There’s not.”

“You’ve been in the King’s Tomb?” Javier asked, surprised.

“Sort of.”

“What do you mean sort of?”
Javier
pressed further.

"
What? And spoil the surprise?” Jack said, smiling
cryptically
.

~~~~~  ~~~~~  ~~~~~

Stepping around
the crushed bodies,
each person averted their eyes, forcing the
ir minds to block
the horrific sight that spread out on the tomb’s floor.

Jack led the group across the rectangular chamber and into the darkened corridor. Shining their flashlights into the far chamber, their hearts raced with excitement as the golden artifacts reflected the light. After fifteen feet, the corridor opened up into a circular chamber. With the lights scanning the ancient artifact
s
that adorned the room, they stood in awe of such beauty.

Immediately upon entering
,
they noticed a similar altar like
the one in the pentagon
-
shaped chamber. On the left side
,
stood a golden statue of a brawny man, nearly six feet tall with robes draped from his waist. His long beard and flowing hair had the appearance of an older man. In his hands, he held a scepter that contained rubies and emeralds around its crown. On the other side, a similar golden statue stood brilliantly in the beams of the
ir
flashlights. Standing just over six feet tall, his muscular frame was adorned with robes draped from one shoulder. He too had a long beard and flowing hair and like the other, appeared to be middle aged. In his right hand, he held a three-pronged spear that sparkled as the light refracted off the diamonds and rubies.

“Wow, look at these. Absolutely brilliant,” Burt commented first.

Serena immediately walked over to one and ran her hand over the surface.

“These are gold. They’re exquisite,” she said in awe.

Javier stood beside Serena. He was nearly speechless.

“Unbelievable,” he said, simply.

“Anyone have an idea who they are? One of them has to be the King of Atlantis
,
I’m guessing,” Jack asked. “I’m taking bets. I’m thinking the taller guy with the really cool pitch
fork
is the King.”

“Why’s that?” Serena asked.

“He’s taller and more muscular. He just looks more impressive,” he responded.

“Jack, that’s not a pitch fork,” Burt said, his voice quivering. “It’s a trident.”

Javier flashed Burt a knowing stare and said, “Do you really think it is who I think it is?”

“Who else could it be?” Burt replied, excitement growing in his face by the second.

“Can you guys let us in on your little secret?” Jack asked, now growing impatient.

Turning to Jack, Burt replied, “Mind you, I’m only guessing, but if I was a betting man, I’d say this guy with the trident is Poseidon.”

“And if I had to guess, I’d say this guy here with the scepter is none other than Zeus,” Javier cut in, excitedly.

“Cool,” Jack said blandly, only mildly interested in their historical significance.

“No way, how could that be?” Serena shouted, incredulously.

“That’s what’s so amazing about this,” Burt said.

“You guys are doing it again,” Jack joked. “Zeus and Poseidon… what’s the big mystery?”

“Jack, Zeus and Poseidon were mythical gods in
the Greek poet Homer’s essays, Iliad
and The Oddessy. They were reportedly written sometime around the seventh or eighth century B.C. When Homer wrote these essays, it’s believed their storylines took place in the twelfth century B.C.” Serena explained.

“I just know you’re trying to tell me something important,” Jack responded sarcastically.

“What Serena is saying, Jack, is that reference
s
to these mythical gods has been dated back three thousand years ago or so,”
Javier
cut in. “Finding these statues is important because we can now prove belief in these
gods
dated back much further, as much as seven thousand years ago.”