Andy McDermott - The Hunt For Atlantis

“Give me your flashlight,” Nina ordered Starkman, all but snatching it from his hand as she bent down to read the rest of the inscriptions.

“You’re welcome,” he said sarcastically. She ignored him, focusing on the ancient letters.

“They were dying out,” she realized as she read on. “They thought they could sustain a new empire from here, rule the lands around the Himalayas and use the mountains as a natural fortress. They were wrong.”

“What happened?” asked Qobras.

“What happens to every empire?” Nina replied. “They overstretched themselves, got lazy, decadent. And let’s face it, they didn’t pick the breadbasket of the world to settle in. I guess they thought they could just have the peoples they conquered bring what they needed as tribute, but it didn’t work out.” She almost laughed as she worked through the text. “This place? The last outpost of the great Atlantean empire? They abandoned it. The king and queen here were the only reason anybody stayed. As soon as they died, everyone else hightailed it out and sealed the place up behind them. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if they actually killed the king and queen themselves to speed up the process.”

“Where did they go?” asked Starkman.

“I’d guess they went right where your boss here always thought they did-into other societies. Except…” this time Nina actually did manage a hollow laugh, “they didn’t take over as conquerors. They were assimilated the same way as people are now-as immigrants, refugees. They moved in at the bottom of their new societies.”

“That can’t be true,” Qobras growled.

“That would be an accurate interpretation of the text,” confirmed Philby. “The people who wrote this knew their society was dying out, and that the only way to survive was to integrate into the other cultures in the region.”

“So much for your conspiracy theory, Qobras,” said Nina, not bothering to conceal her contempt. “This Brotherhood of yours, it’s been spending thousands of years fighting something that didn’t even exist.”

“It exists!” Qobras asserted. “The Atlanteans would never accept subjugation by people they considered inferiors. It’s how they think, it’s in their genes. They would work their way back up-it would take generations, but they would regain power.”

“Where’s your proof?” Nina cried, jumping to her feet and jabbing the flashlight at him like a sword. “So Kristian Frost is tracing the Atlantean descendants from their DNA, and wants to find Atlantis itself, the greatest legend in human history-that doesn’t mean he’s trying to take over the world!”

Qobras wheeled on Nina, dazzling her with his light. “You don’t know what Kristian Frost is capable of doing.”

“He can’t be any worse than you!”

His eyes narrowed. “You have no idea…”

Any elaboration was interrupted by Starkman’s radio. “They’ve brought the bomb,” he announced after responding to the call.

“Tell them to prepare it for detonation immediately,” Qobras snapped. “Let’s go.” Everyone moved to the temple entrance, but he held out a hand to stop Nina. “Not you.”

“What?”

“You’re staying here. It seems the appropriate place.”

The full horror of Qobras’s words squeezed her chest like an ice-cold vice. “Wait, no… you’re just going to leave me in here? You’re going to leave me in here until the fucking bomb explodes?”

Starkman put a hand on his holstered pistol. “We could just shoot you in the head if you like.”

“You won’t have time to feel any pain,” said Qobras. “You’ll be vaporized instantly.”

“Well, that makes me feel so much happier! You can’t leave me in here!”

“Good-bye, Dr. Wilde.” Qobras tossed an unlit glow stick at her feet, then left the temple. The others followed. Philby glanced back with an expression of pained sorrow as if about to say something, but then walked silently away.

Nina wanted to run after them, to punch and kick them as they tried to scale the wall, tear down the lines and trap them inside with her… but she couldn’t. Her body refused to cooperate, admitting defeat even as her mind demanded that she fight on. She sagged against the king’s sarcophagus, sliding down to the dusty stone floor.

The men scaled the wall, leaving her in darkness.

This was it? This was how she was going to die? Trapped in a tomb with the last rulers of Atlantis?

She drew in a long, trembling breath, then felt for the glow stick, cracking it to unleash a sickly green light. Not knowing what else to do, she turned around and regarded the text carved into the coffin once again.

So this was how the story of Atlantis ended. Not with a crash of waves wiping a great power from the face of the earth, but in mundane ignominy, dying out through decay and corruption like every other fading empire in history.

In some ways, it was a good thing. The legend would remain exactly that, a story of wonder. The greatest mystery of all time.

But it didn’t make her feel any better.

Nina heard sounds from over the wall, clankings and clatterings as Qobras’s men opened the crate and prepared the bomb. She wondered how long she had left to live. Fifteen minutes? Ten?

Raised voices outside. She lifted her head. Their tone had suddenly changed: confusion mixed with concern.

The glow stick in her hand, Nina quickly descended the steps to stand by the wall, straining to hear the voices outside. Qobras was demanding answers, Starkman talking into his radio.

And getting no reply.

Then Qobras shouted something all too clearly, freezing her breath in her lungs. “Start the timer!”

Running footsteps. The sound quickly faded as they hurried up the road towards the tunnel.

“Oh, shit…” The urge for survival kicked back in; she ran around the wall, looking for any sign of an exit.

There was none. It was a solid ring of metal, the gold supported by iron, completely enclosing the temple.

The temple…

Maybe there was some hidden escape route like the one in the Temple of Poseidon! She raced back up the steps into the mausoleum, a flicker of hope in her heart.

But it was quickly extinguished. The interior walls and floor seemed solid, the only possible place anything could be concealed being inside the coffins-and she quickly found she wasn’t strong enough to open the heavy stone lids.

Helpless minutes passed, and the bomb was still ticking down to detonation-

A sudden noise made her jump. Not the bomb, but… gunfire!

The distant rattle of automatic weapons. Distant-but getting closer.

What was going on? She ran down the steps, listening at the wall. More gunfire echoed through the huge chamber-as did the thud of an explosion. A grenade? Another followed moments later, a scream abruptly cut off by the sharp bang.

Red light flooded the cave above her. Flares. She rushed back to the top of the steps to see over the wall.

A group of people-Qobras and his men, though fewer than before-were running towards her, firing wildly behind them at a larger force that was spreading out between the surrounding buildings. Muzzle flashes licked out from the new arrivals. One of the running men fell.

Other weapons fired, deeper thumps followed by explosions ahead of Qobras and his team. Their attackers were using grenade launchers! Debris flew in all directions. Nina ducked.

Qobras had been trying to reach the bomb. But he was now cut off from it, hemmed in by grenadiers who had his range.

The attackers had much greater firepower than the Brotherhood’s team. More weapons joined the fray, new notes added to the symphony of destruction. Dazzling bursts of light and piercing bangs came from flash grenades, blinding the defenders. Machine guns opened up, streams of bullets ripping into the ancient palaces and the men hiding behind them. More grenades exploded-followed by a thunderous crash as one of the buildings collapsed. Screams echoed through the cavern.