Andy Mcdermott - Temple of the Gods

‘Think of it as a positive,’ she said. ‘It means you definitely will be back in the spring! The entire excavation can be extended, and you’ll still be in charge. If that’s what you want, of course…’

It was a transparent attempt at manipulation, and they both knew it, but Hayter had little choice except to go along with it. ‘I think that would tie in with my plans,’ he said eventually.

‘Great. So, what’s the situation with the Temple of Poseidon?’

Hayter, with occasional interjections from Matt, gave a report on the state of the dig that Nina had ordered. With both submersibles, the heavy-duty underwater excavation machine Sharkdozer II and the more exploratory-purposed but still capable Gypsy , working to clear the rubble from the altar room, progress had been relatively swift — by archaeological standards. ‘If you just wanted the stones moved, we could have done it in half the time, but you lot get so shirty about breaking the stuff underneath them,’ said Matt jokingly, making Eddie laugh and temporarily uniting both archaeologists in humourless disapproval.

‘What about any finds?’ Nina asked Hayter.

‘We uncovered more of the texts on the walls,’ he told her, bringing up a collection of images on a laptop. ‘Still nothing from the very end of the chronology, but we must be close now. The new translation software has given us a fairly good idea of what it all says; the team back at the IHA are working out the subtleties.’

‘Nothing new about the statues?’

‘Not so far. Nantalas was mentioned once, but only in reference to what we’d already found — her so-called visions. She was trying to persuade the king to let her use the sky stone’s powers for war again.’

‘She’s a nice lass, this Nantalas,’ said Eddie.

‘How close are we to the last section of text?’ Nina asked. ‘Eddie, you saw it in person when we first discovered the place; can you remember exactly where it was?’

‘Show me that computer graphic thing,’ he told Hayter, who brought up a program on the laptop. The numerous photographs taken in the ruins had been mapped on to the walls of a 3D model of the altar room, producing a patchwork wallpaper effect that could be viewed from any angle. ‘That’s the shaft that we first came though?’ He indicated a particular feature, and Hayter nodded. ‘Okay, I remember that there was a pillar about there,’ he pointed at another part of the virtual chamber, ‘so the writing ended… somewhere round here .’

The closest photograph was just a few feet from the spot. Matt compared the graphic to a wider shot taken inside the actual room. ‘We’re pretty near. Once we shift that last piece of wreckage, we should be able to clear these stones in… I dunno, not long. A few hours.’

‘And how long to move the wreckage?’ Nina asked.

‘It’ll be a bit of a long stint, but I reckon we could do it all in a single dive.’

‘How quickly can you have the sub ready?’

‘It’s already prepped — we still have to go through the safety checks and lower it into the water, but about an hour.’

‘Great! Let’s get going, then.’

‘Might have known you’d be in a rush! No worries — we’ll have pictures for you before the day’s out.’

‘I don’t just want pictures,’ she replied. ‘I want to see it for myself. I’m going with you.’

Hayter looked startled at the suggestion, Matt less so. ‘You want to come along?’ the archaeologist asked. ‘In the subs?’

‘No, I thought I’d put on goggles and flippers and use a very long snorkel. Yes , in the subs.’

‘Sarcasm isn’t really necessary,’ he said sourly. ‘It’s just that Gypsy only has room for two people in addition to the pilot. As expedition leader I’ll be one of them, and I’ll need Lydia in support, as she knows the site first-hand.’

‘Not a problem,’ said Nina. ‘Eddie and I can go in Matt’s sub.’

‘We can, can we?’ Eddie grumbled.

‘Oh, you knew it was going to happen. You got to go down to the Temple of Poseidon last time — there’s no way I’m going to miss the chance now. Anyway, Sharkdozer has room for three people, doesn’t it, Matt?’

‘Four if you don’t mind being up in each other’s armpits,’ the Australian told her jovially.

‘We’ll keep it to three, then. The only person who should put up with Eddie’s armpits is his wife. And even then…’

‘Oi!’ protested her husband.

Hayter was still displeased with the prospect. ‘Are you sure this is a good idea, Nina?’

‘This won’t be my first time underwater, Lewis. And if you’re worried about having your boss looking over your shoulder, don’t be. Until we uncover the last of the Atlantean text I’ll only be there as an observer, and even then it’s still your dig.’

That mollified him, however slightly. ‘Well, I suppose that if Matt’s happy to have you as passengers…’

Matt shrugged. ‘No problem for me.’

‘Excellent,’ said Nina. She got to her feet. ‘In that case, let’s go and find out the fate of Atlantis.’

It took more than the predicted hour, the safety procedures being slowed by the Gant ’s wallowing, but eventually both submersibles were descending towards the ruins of Atlantis.

Even though she knew there would be nothing to see until they reached the ocean floor eight hundred feet below, Nina nevertheless leaned round Matt in the central pilot’s position to watch their descent through the large acrylic bubble window. The light from the surface faded surprisingly quickly, the cold blue of the ocean outside becoming darker and more ominous before ultimately turning to darkness.

Matt switched on the sub’s spotlights. Nina experienced an oddly vertiginous feeling; the intense beams picked out particles in the water as the submersible dropped past them, the effect making it seem as though they were plunging like a falling elevator.

But she knew they were perfectly safe. Nothing might be visible through the viewport, but Matt’s sub was equipped with a LIDAR laser scanning system that swept the ocean around them far beyond the range of the human eye. The engineer had used similar systems in his previous craft, but this went a step further by covering a full three hundred and sixty degrees. Sharkdozer II was an odd-looking vessel: its main hull was a fairly standard cigar shape, but protruding from each side like the steroidal limbs of a bodybuilder were huge mechanical arms, almost comically out of proportion to the rest of the sub. Making them even stranger were the tool-equipped secondary arms sprouting from behind their wrists, designed for more delicate work than the brute-force claws of their parents. The whole submersible was mounted upon four helicopter-like skids, each of which could be independently adjusted hydraulically to give it as much lifting leverage as possible against the ocean floor. The LIDAR scanner, allied with the cameras on each of the four ‘hands’, meant the arms could be operated even if they were out of direct sight of a viewport.

The only thing currently on the LIDAR display was the expedition’s other sub. Gypsy was some thirty metres to their right, the spears of its own spotlights visible through a small secondary porthole. It was a much more conventional vessel, equipped with a single, far smaller manipulator arm and numerous camera mounts and sample racks. Hayter’s voice crackled over the radio. ‘Passing three hundred feet, confirm.’

‘Confirm,’ Matt replied. Radio communications were possible underwater, but only at very limited ranges, and the message was already distorted.

Eddie examined the controls for the arms. Rather than being simple joysticks, they were also able to bend and twist. ‘How much can these things lift?’