James Rollins - Excavation

With a wave, Norman and Ralph set off.

“C’mon,” Maggie said behind him.

Sam and Denal followed her as she ducked through the doorway. Sam noticed Denal quickly touch his forehead and make the sign of the cross, a whispered prayer on his lips, before passing through the threshold.

In silence, the trio returned to the edge of the tiled floor. Gold and silver reflected their light brightly. The Incan king stood bright as a yellow star against the black granite stonework. The ticking of the machinery echoed in muffled time to Sam’s own heartbeat. Tilting his Stetson, he studied the pictograph, tracing the flashlight’s beam from the golden rectangle that represented the physical world, cay pacha , to the distant square that represented the upper world, janan pacha . A zigzag of gold tiles connected the two bases. “Well?” he asked. “What now?” Sam purposely kept the light away from the two bodies upon the floor.

Like a caged lioness, Maggie stalked back and forth before the puzzle. “There has to be a way across,” she muttered. “Solve that and whatever prize lies here will most likely be revealed.”

“The Serpent of Eden?” Sam asked.

Maggie turned to him, eyes bright in the reflected glow. “Don’t you want to know what he meant?”

“Honestly, right now I’d just prefer to get our butts out of here.”

“Well, until then…” Maggie swung back to the tiled pictograph. “I’m going to keep working.” Without another word, Maggie stepped upon one of the gold tiles that made up the rectangle of gold at this edge.

“No, Miss Maggie!” Denal shouted.

Sam reached for her at the same time, but Maggie stepped onto a neighboring gold tile, out of his reach. “What are you doing?” he yelled.

She turned back – not to Sam, but the boy. “What’s the safest path, Denal?”

Sam glanced to his side. The young Quechan stood trembling by the edge of the floor, eyes wild. “Maggie, what are you talking about?” Sam asked. “He doesn’t know.”

“He knows,” she said. “He warned me from stepping on the floor the first time here.” She stared intently at the boy. “I saw a look of recognition on your face, Denal.”

The boy backed a step away.

Maggie continued. “I’ve solved part of the riddle. I stand on the section of the pictograph that represents our world.” She pointed a hand toward the distant rectangle of gold on the far side of the room. “And I must reach janan pacha , the upper world. Isn’t that so? But how do you move across the floor safely? The gold path is too obvious.”

Denal just shook his head vehemently.

Sam lowered his flashlight. “Maggie, Denal can’t know -”

Maggie’s face hardened, and she swung away. She moved to step on one of the gold tiles that stair-stepped toward the distant rectangle.

“No!” Denal called out suddenly. Tears in his eyes. “I’ll tell you.”

Stunned, Sam stared at the teenager.

He seemed to sag under his gaze. “The old amautas of my people. They speak stories of a bad place like this. Very old stories. I no know for sure. But they say that life be balanced between janan and cay . To walk between them, you must balance the sun and the moon.”

“The sun and moon?” Maggie said. She turned to the floor. “Ah sure! Of course.” Maggie stepped onto a neighboring silver tile.

“Maggie! Don’t!”

She ignored Sam and moved back to a gold square. “To follow the gold staircase of tiles, you have to alternate each step with a silver one. Balance the silver an’ gold, the moon an’ the sun.”

Sam called out. “You can’t know that for certain.”

“I’m sure.” Maggie continued across the room, stepping from silver to gold and back to silver again. She spoke hurriedly as she worked across the pattern. “Gold was considered by the Incas to be the sweat of the sun, while silver was the tears of the moon. Sun an’ moon… gold an’ silver…”

Sam stood at the edge of the floor, unable to breathe.

Denal mumbled in his native tongue, fear strong in his voice. “She goes… she no come back.”

Sam barely heard him, his heart in his throat.

He tugged on Sam’s arm. “Miss Maggie must stop,” he beseeched. “The amautas say who travels to janan pacha can never return. She must stop!”

The boy’s warning finally sank into Sam. He jerked as if he had touched flame. “Maggie!”

The surging panic in his voice drew her gaze.

“Denal says that if you cross the room, you can’t come back!”

Maggie glanced toward the far wall, then back at Sam. She still stood on the same tile, but her voice shook. “Th… that makes no bloody sense. Why would the room be one-way?”

“I don’t know. But now is not the time to test it.”

Maggie sighed. “Maybe you’re right…” She stepped back onto the silver tile she had just vacated.

“No!” Denal yelled.

The boy’s scream saved Maggie’s life. Flinching, she yanked back her leg just as the silver tile hinged open under her boot.

“Watch out!” Sam yelled. “Above you!” He had spotted the corresponding gold tile on the roof drop open. A thick rain of spears shot out, whistling, and disappeared into the pit opened under the silver tile.

Maggie had backed from the cascade of blades, legs trembling fiercely. She fell to her knees as the silver tile swung closed again. “Sam…?”

Gesturing wildly, Denal explained, “She must no come back. If starts, Miss Maggie must finish.”

The woman’s eyes were wide with fear as she stared back at Sam across the six yards of floor. Sam could see a glaze of panic beginning to set in. What was he to do?

Suddenly the entire room shook violently. A thunderous roar accompanied it. Sam was thrown to the floor. Maggie ducked, covering her head with her arms. Two metal tiles dislodged from above and crashed with loud clangs.

Only Denal managed to keep his feet. The Quechan boy glanced toward the room’s entrance. Dust and clouds of silt rolled toward them. “The temple! It falls!”

Sam rolled back to his feet as the floor settled. “Oh, God… Norman and Ralph…”

As if hearing his call, two figures suddenly burst through the cloudy silt. Coughing, Ralph skidded to a stop beside Sam. From head to foot, the large black man was grey with granite dust, as was Norman behind him. The photographer sneezed loudly.

Ralph was out of breath. “It’s all coming apart!”

The groan of shifting stones seemed to come from all around them. Occasional loud crashes still erupted regularly, as close as the antechamber next door.

Norman wiped his nose on his sleeve. “There’s nothing above us now.”

Ralph pulled Sam to the neighboring wall of the short passage. “Feel.”

Sam placed his hand on the wall of stacked granite stones. It trembled under his palm as the stresses from the tons of granite blocks and clay strained these last bulwarks. “All that’s holding this place together is a lick and a promise,” Sam realized aloud.

Norman suddenly drew their attention with an urgent call. He pointed toward the patterned floor. “Maggie!”

Sam swung around. Across the tiles, he spotted the Irish student sprawled on her side on the same gold tile. Her limbs twitched and spasmed. She was having another seizure.

“What the hell is she doing out there?” Ralph asked angrily.

“I don’t have time to explain.” Sam unslung his rifle and passed it to Ralph. “Stay here!” He darted onto the gold tiles.

Denal yelled a warning, but Sam ignored the boy. Sam danced from silver to gold as he climbed the staircase pattern toward janan pacha . Reaching Maggie’s tile, he knelt beside her and cradled her head in his lap. His touch seemed to calm her slightly. Using this cue, he stroked her hair and called to her softly. Her trembling limbs quieted. “Maggie… if you can hear me, come to me. Follow my voice.”