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They rose early, as soon as the first rays of light touched the forest canopy. They were eager to explore. And, although no one said it, they were all tense. The fact that the fastidious Igor hadn’t recorded anything about his exploration of the temple was unsettling. And what about these so-called “Blood Apes” had frightened him so much that he preferred an encounter with Mokele-mbembe to a return to the crater.
They made a quick inspection of the ruined buildings. Virtually all had been reduced to rubble. The few that still stood, even partially, were empty. No artifacts and certainly no gold lying everywhere.
“This is weird,” Mack said. “Do you think whoever it was just packed up and left?”
“It’s possible,” Bones said. “But in a scenario like that, things get left behind. We haven’t found a single artifact.”
“Any other ideas, then?” Mack asked.
“Maybe it wasn’t a place where people lived year-round. They might have made pilgrimages here. You’re less likely to leave your garbage behind in a sacred place.” He paused. “Well, people back then respected sacred spaces.”
Mack nodded. “I think we’ve seen everything except this mysterious temple. I say we check it out.”
Bones brushed the sweat from his forehead and looked up at the sky. Though it was late morning, the sky was turning gray.
“Looks like a storm is rolling in,” he said. A distant peal of thunder underscored his words.
Mack looked up at the sky and nodded. “In that case, I don’t think we should try climbing out of the crater until it passes over. That trail is precarious enough as it is.”
Bones couldn’t disagree. What was more, he didn’t want to leave without exploring the temple. To come all this way, risk death time and again, and leave a major portion of the city unexplored? He couldn’t do it.
“There has been no sign of the Blood Apes,” Mack offered, misinterpreting his silence.
“All right, Red. We’ll check it out. But if at any point I say we have to turn back, you do it with no argument.”
For a moment, he thought she would argue, but finally, she nodded. “I don’t want to meet the thing that frightens you enough to make you want to turn back.”
“Just hope Angelina Jolie isn’t waiting down there. You’d probably get away, but she would definitely try and adopt me and Pepsy.”
“I thought you speak no French, Mister Bone,” Pepsy said. “Who is the pretty angel?”
“No, that’s a person’s name,” Bones said. “Never mind. We’ve got a temple to find.”
Igor was correct. It was easy to find the entrance to the temple now that they knew there was one to look for. They found it on the back side of the earthen mound, hidden beneath a curtain of vines and long grasses. It was a stone door without lock or key.
“Here goes nothing,” Bones said. He threw his shoulder against the door. It gave way slowly, with a dull scraping sound, to reveal stone steps that spiraled down into the darkness. Another thunderclap, this one much closer, boomed out.
The air inside was cool and musty. A whiff of a foul odor made him crinkle his nose. They confirmed that the door had no latch, then let it close behind them. They stood there in silence for a moment, listening, but the only thing Bones heard was his companions’ rapid breathing. They were more frightened than they let on.
Finally, Bones took out his flashlight and flicked it on. He longed for his Mini-Maglite, but Igor’s old-school model did in a pinch. Mack and Pepsy produced their own lights, and the stairwell was bathed in light.
The staircase was constructed of black stone, all of which sparkled with glittering gold. The walls and ceilings were lined with polished quartz. The reflected light made it seem bright as day.
The height of the ceiling and the breadth of the steps caught Bones’ attention. Judging by what they had seen already, the dimensions were much larger than what would be needed for the people who built this city. Perhaps the builders were larger than the natives?
“How long did it take them to build this place?” Mack asked quietly as they descended the stairs. They instinctively spoke in hushed tones, although they had no reason to believe they were not alone.
“No idea. Hundreds of years?” Bones replied.
She paused to take a photograph. “Why a temple, though? They buried the meteorite safely. They added the altar on top for religious purposes. So, why this underground temple?
That was a good question. Bones knew how the minds of men worked. When it came to places of worship, some built them out of devotion to, or fear of their deity. But places of worship like this could have more sinister uses. Conditioning a populace to participate in unified rituals and hold to a single religion was a useful way of controlling their thoughts and actions. And in some cases, a place like this reflected an individual or society’s desire to leave its mark.
“Could be superstition,” he began, “or politics, or ego.”
“Ego?” Mack replied.
“Okay, maybe that’s the wrong word. They wanted to leave their mark on the world, and maybe this temple is it?”
“Why bury it, then?”
Bones shrugged. “Not sure. Maybe the aliens told them to do it.”
The stairs ended at what Bones figured was five stories or around fifty feet. Whatever created the impact crater, it was now buried deep. Before them lay a long corridor. In the distance, their lights glinted off the surface of something gold.
“What could that be?” Mack whispered.
“Only one way to find out.”
The golden glow proved to be four of the oddest suits Bones had ever seen. The suits consisted of a gourd-shaped, gold-plated helmet with a single, narrow eye-slit, a leather vest covered with thin gold foil, and what looked like leather chaps covered with the same fine sheets of gold. Each hung from a faceless stone statue.
“They don’t look alien,” Mack said.
Bones laughed and clapped himself on the forehead. It was so obvious now. “That’s because they weren’t aliens. Gold blocks most radiation, and this crater supposedly had plenty of it.”
“They made their own anti-radiation suits so they could safely deal with the meteorite!” Mack said. She snapped a few photos and they moved on.
They turned a corner and found themselves face to face with a Spinosaurus. Mack gasped and sprang back, her hand going to her machete.
“Just a statue,” Bones said. Damn, the thing was lifelike. “Let’s see what’s on the other side.” Heart in his throat, he rounded the statue and froze. “Holy freaking crap.”