"What country is Pincoya in?" Indy asked.
"Pincoya. The city, the island on which it is built, and the entire region are the same. All Pincoya. Welcome to our world."
He turned away from his view of the city and peered at Salandra. "What is this about your world and my world? Unless we went to the moon when I was sleeping, we're both from the same world."
"No, we're not," she answered. "Yet, we are all one. That is what is most important."
"Tell me about it."
"Very well. Imagine a globe that is your world, and you can see all of the continents. Now slice the world in two at the equator, and look inside. In the lower half you see a bowl-shaped depression, and on this bowl you see continents, islands, and a great sea. Now if you were in that land, there would be no horizon as you know it, and the land in the distance would look as if it were turned on its side."
"Are you telling me that we're inside of the world?" Indy asked. "If you are, I don't believe it."
Salandra smiled. "You're going to find my answer to your question even more confusing, because it is both yes and no."
"You're right." Indy smirked. "I don't get it."
"A few years ago, you went into a jungle looking for a man who was lost. You found a city and many strange things."
"What do you know about that?"
"That city, Ceiba I think was the name, is like Pincoya. We are part of a legend and a dream. You could call us dreamers who are awake. In fact, that is our present condition."
"Well, if that's the case, I'm ready to wake up." Indy wasn't as interested in her analogies as he was in her source of information about him. "How do you know about Ceiba? Tell me that."
"I told you, Jones, I'm an investigator. I've found out a lot about you since you came to my attention."
A dozen questions popped into his mind. He still didn't understand what it was he had done to deserve this free ride into a nightmare, and he was determined to find out. But before he could say anything more, they were interrupted by shouts from the crew as they scurried about.
"We're almost to Pincoya," Salandra said. "I'll be back in a few minutes," she said, and walked away.
They were entering a bay, and Pincoya was coming into view as they rounded a massive boulder. To his relief, the city appeared normal, with the buildings pointing in the right direction. Nothing seemed askew as his earlier glimpse had suggested, and he had to admit that Salandra's explanation, however outrageous, was one way of explaining what he'd seen.
The idea of a hollow earth was not unfamiliar to Indy. It permeated the beliefs and the legends of many ancient peoples. When Gilgamesh, the legendary hero of the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian epics, went to visit his ancestor Utanapishtim, he descended into the bowels of the earth. Orpheus also traveled there to seek the soul of Eurydice. After Ulysses reached the furthermost boundaries of the Western world, he offered a sacrifice so that the spirits of the ancients would rise up from the depths of the Earth and give him advice.
Pluto, who was also known as Hades, was said to reign over the underworld, and the early Christians believed that the souls of the damned went to live in caverns beneath the Earth. The ancient Egyptians thought the waters of the ocean flowed into the underworld, the abode of the dead, which was a mirror of the heavens. The Anasazis, Hopis, and other American Indian tribes believed that they had emerged into the outer world from an underworld.
But none of that mattered, Indy thought. Today, only crackpots believed the earth was hollow, and those who said they made visits to the interior of the earth ended up in asylums, and as far as Indy was concerned that was where they belonged. There had to be another explanation.
He took a closer look as they plied into the bay. It wasn't a fortified city like those dating back to the Middle Ages. There were no signs of walls to prevent an invasion from sea. Yet, the city didn't appear modern, either. The buildings were closely clustered together, almost as if the city were one huge building with many parts.
"I want you to meet my father when we go ashore," Salandra said as she rejoined him.
"Your father lives here? Is he a sailor?"
She laughed. "My father is the king. He rules this land."
Indy was taken aback for a moment. "I didn't know I was in the company of a princess. Or should I say a fairy princess?"
"Actually I'm what you would call a sorcerer and a healer. That's why you survived. When the men found your body in the water, you were as good as dead. I brought you back."
Swell. If he was to believe Salandra, she was a private investigator, a princess, and a witch doctor. What next, he wondered, but he decided to keep his doubts to himself. "Thank you," he muttered. "I'm always glad to be alive."
The ship had no sooner dropped anchor in the sheltered bay when they were met by several smaller sailing vessels. Maybe the Caleuche was a ghost ship to the people of Chiloe, but the Pincoyans didn't seem to find anything unusual about it. Indy also noticed that the crew treated Salandra with deference, which suggested to him that she might well be telling the truth, at least about being a princess.
As they stepped down to one of the boats, Indy saw containers of the fish eggs being loaded into a couple of the other vessels. "What do you do with all of the fish guts?"
Salandra sat down next to him. "We make nalca from the embryonic matter. It's the drink I've given you while you were asleep."
"Nalca. Tell me about it?"
"The eggs are from a fish which lives far below your southern continent in icy cold waters. Each spring the fish migrates north to spawn near the island of Chiloe. We go there to harvest the eggs." The city loomed closer as Salandra continued her tale. "You see, the same substance that keeps the fish from freezing far below Antarctica allows us and you to pass safely between worlds."
Here we go again, Indy thought. "What happens if I don't take your drink?"
"The liquids in your body will dry up and you will shrivel and disintegrate. So you must take a swallow of the drink when you pass through a portal and every few days afterwards, or face the consequences."
The boat eased up next to a pier. "If Sacho had told me about this drink, I don't think I would've believed him. I would've taken the chance that he was lying."
"Well, you had better believe me."
He didn't know quite what to believe. Or what to expect. He helped Salandra from the boat and they headed toward the city. But he was as curious about Pincoya as he was skeptical about the explanations he'd heard. Hopefully, he'd make some sense of it all when Salandra spilled her motives for bringing him here.
They'd no sooner stepped from the dock when three long-haired men in uniforms blocked their way. Their clothing was of a sort that Indy had never seen. They wore tunics and leggings that were shiny, silver and shimmered like fish scales.
"Nice outfits," Indy said to himself. "Goes along with the fish eggs."
The men each carried the same sort of crossbow that Salandra had used on Sacho. He saw a slender tube affixed to the bow, through which the darts were shot. The weapon seemed to be a blend of bow and arrow and blowgun.
"What is it?" Salandra asked tersely.
"Come with us," the brawniest of them said.
"Not until you tell me why," she answered.
"Your father is no longer the ruler here," the man said. "He has fled to Roraima."
"I don't believe you. Get out of our way."
Salandra pushed through the men. One of them grabbed her, and Indy slammed a fist into his gut. He was about to land a second punch when he ducked a wild swing from one of the other men. The blow struck the brawny one in the jaw, knocking him down.
"Thanks," Indy said, and he smacked the man in the nose. "See ya around."
They dashed through a stone archway and up a wide stairway to an open corridor which overlooked a massive plaza. Indy was stunned by what he saw, and momentarily slowed to take in as much of it as possible. The plaza was surrounded by buildings, which were not made of brick o
r stones, but were carved from a single gigantic rock. Then he realized that the entire city was a sculpture, hewn from a mountain. At the far side of the plaza, a waterfall spilled three or four stories over the top of the rock building, dropped into a pool, and apparently disappeared into an underground river. Surrounding the pool, and spaced throughout the plaza, were stone statues of strange creatures with human and animal parts. Men with antlers. Winged women. Fish heads and bird heads on human bodies. Some of them were doubles, with one strange creature stacked atop another. Moving among them were exotically dressed but perfectly normal-looking people. Two legs, two arms, one head each.
"Hurry!" Salandra shouted.
Indy glanced back and saw that they were being pursued, and raced after Salandra. They sprinted through more people, turned down another corridor, and dashed to a wide stone stairway. They descended several steps before Salandra pulled up short. Several more armed men waited at the bottom of the steps.
Salandra shouted to the crowd that had gathered. "Stop them. They are traitors."
But no one moved. The men raised their weapons.
"Don't shoot!" Salandra commanded. "You know who I am." The men at the bottom of the steps wavered, then lowered their weapons. But Indy felt a stabbing pain in his leg, and saw a dart sticking out of his calf. The men who had chased them had fired on them from the top of the stairs. He pulled out the dart, and saw Salandra jerk one from her side.
"Nice try," he said, knowing that they were as good as caught.
"You won't get away with this," Salandra shouted. "My father... my..."
Indy dropped to one knee, and saw Salandra crumple over and tumble down the steps. He wanted to rush down to help her, but his legs wouldn't work; his body felt as if it were made of rubber. Darkness closed in around him; he heard a clamor of voices, then nothing at all.
10
Maleiwa's Message
It was hard to say how much time had passed before the heavy door on the barren cell opened for the first time. Until now, Indy's days had been marked by the bowl of tasteless gruel and the pitcher of water that were shoved through a slot in the door. The light in his cell was feint, filtering through a narrow metal grid in the ceiling high over his head. There was no way to reach it, and no way to squeeze through it, even if he did. The only other hole in the cell was the one in the corner, his toilet, which was inhabited by rats and cockroaches. He slept on his cot from time to time, but never for long. Mostly, he paced apross the floor of the twelve-foot-long, eight-foot-wide cell. Right now he wanted water. He'd drunk his supply and was still thirsty. He'd been pounding on the door off and on for the last hour, and was surprised when it finally opened.
Two guards filled the entrance, then moved into the cell, his first visitors. They each grabbed one of Indy's arms, and he futilely tried to pull away from them. A third guard stood back with his dart gun ready to fire. "You want to walk or be dragged?" the one with the dart gun barked. He was a burly, fierce-looking man with broad shoulders, leathery skin, and white bushy-hair. One of his eyes stared off at an odd angle, adding a kind of savagery to his already brutal appearance.
"Where are you taking me?" Indy asked.
"A new cell, with your friend."
"I don't believe you," Indy spat.
The guard pressed the dart gun to Indy's throat. "I don't care what you believe."
No sense fighting when there was nothing to gain, Indy conceded. He was taken down a corridor, then up a winding staircase. His feet barely touched the stone floor as the guards wisked him along.
Another door opened, and he was shoved forward. The door slammed. "Jones!"
Salandra leaped up from her cot, and hugged him tightly. The guard had told the truth, but what did it mean? At the moment, Indy didn't care. A warm tingling spread over him. The feel of Salandra's body pressed against him was worth every minute he'd spent in the cell.
Finally, she pulled back from him. "How do you feel?"
"Pretty good right now. You do know how to heal, don't you?"
"Are you feeling ill?"
"Just a little thirsty. That's all."
Salandra quickly picked up her pitcher of water, and Indy drank it all. "Sorry, I didn't leave you any."
"That's all right. We've still got time." She took him by the hand and led him to the cot.
"Time for what?"
Salandra wasn't smiling. "Sit down. There are some things I have to tell you."
"You can say that again," he said as he sat next to her.
They were in a circular cell with a single, barred window high over their heads. Indy guessed they were inside of a tower. "What happened, anyhow? No one's told me anything."
"My father has been deposed. He's in hiding in Roraima."
Indy had no idea where Roraima was, but it didn't matter. "Who deposed him?"
"Maleiwa. He's put traitors in charge."
"Who's Maleiwa?"
"He's the ruler of the Wayua. My father has been concerned about him. He was worried that Maleiwa*s supporters had infiltrated our ranks and were stealing shipments of nalca. Now I know it's true, and Sacho must have been one of his couriers."
"Why is this Maleiwa so fond of fish eggs?"
"I've already told you that with nalca anyone can travel to the exterior world. But they must gain the consent of the United Council, and few win favor. Maleiwa, though, has been acting on his own. He's attempting to make a pact with one of the most dangerous men in your world, and thanks to you, he may have the bargaining tool he needs."
"Thanks to me? What are you talking about? I couldn't tell a Wayua from a Maleiwa."
Salandra touched a finger to her mouth. "Not so loud. They could be listening. I don't expect you to understand everything right now, or even to believe everything I tell you. But the reason you're here is... the alicorn."
"What alicorn?" He already knew, but he didn't want to believe it. He'd hoped he'd seen the last of that thing, but he'd known that he might somehow be touched by its poisonous legacy.
Last summer, Indy had gone to the American Southwest to study Anasazi Indian rock art, and had become entangled in a scheme to recover a so-called unicorn's horn or alicorn, a staff made of twisted ivory with a silver crest shaped like twin eagle heads. It was an ancient relic that had been appropriated during the sacking of Constantinople in 1201, and then was kept for a couple of hundred years in St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice. Much later, it fell into the hands of an English family, who migrated to America. Great luck and greater misfortune had come to each of the owners of the staff, and finally it had been hidden in an Anasazi ruin where Indy had recovered it.
"You left it at the entrance to the Channels of Paradise," Salandra said.
As if that explained everything, Indy thought. He didn't really believe that the relic held any particular power, but after a series of incidents in which he'd narrowly escaped death, he'd decided to put it back where he'd found it. No sense tempting fate, especially when it was his own. But he didn't know a thing about any channels.
"I left an ivory staff in a crevice between two rocks at the ruins of Hovenweep, in Utah."
"I know," Salandra said. "Then you set off an explosion that closed the entrance."
"Dynamite," Indy said. "How did you—"
"I saw it happen... from the inside. I'd followed Maleiwa without his knowledge, and saw him procure the alicorn."
Indy didn't know what to make of her story. Except that she did sound like a private eye. "So this Maleiwa has the staff, and he wants to make a pact. With who?"
"A man named Adolf Hitler. His people call themselves—"
"Nazis," Indy finished. "I've heard all about them. They're rabble-rousers, and they won't be around long. Hitler will probably end up in a looney bin."
"Don't be so sure. We have a better perspective on things than you do. Hitler will soon become the most feared man in your world."
"Right." Indy had heard a few fear-mongers say the same sort of thing. And yet he
was curious. "So what kind of pact are you talking about?"
"Maleiwa wants scientists on the exterior world to create a drug which will replace nalca. He wants a massive, continuing supply so that he can bring an army into your world."
"This Hitler may be ruthless, but he's not stupid," Indy said. "What's in it for him?"
"Simple. Maleiwa will give him the alicorn, which will help Hitler gain great power very fast, faster than he would otherwise. It will seem as if there is no stopping him. And there won't be. At least, not until Maleiwa overpowers him. And that is his ultimate plan."
A familiar scenario, Indy thought. A stranger with some sort of powerful weapon befriends a warring leader, then the stranger turns on the leader. The downfall of the Inca Empire was a case in point. At the time of Pizarro's arrival, the empire was in chaos as two brothers fought for control. One of them accepted the help of the mysterious warrior from another land. But Pizarro soon turned on Atahualpa, his ally, taking him into custody. He demanded a huge ransom for his release, then killed him after the ransom was paid.
All right, he'd play along with Salandra, as if what she said was true. "Has Maleiwa met Hitler?"
"Not yet. He's been using an intermediary, Hans Beitelheimer. He was Maleiwa's messenger and go-between. He told Hitler all about the interior world and promised him the staff."
"Beitelheimer?"
She nodded. "That's right. The man you were looking for. But Beitelheimer didn't follow through on his promise to Maleiwa. He was supposed to take Hitler to the interior world to meet Maleiwa. Instead, Beitelheimer went into hiding in the forest on Chiloe. But Maleiwa didn't forget about him, and his men caught up with him before you and Brody arrived."
"And now he's dead. So what's this got to do with me?"
"Don't you see? There are forces at work that on the surface look like coincidence, but there is deeper meaning and form to them. That is the way the Great Mother works."
"The Great Mother. Yeah."
"Let me put it another way. Your connection with the alicorn and with Beitelheimer, who was linked with Maleiwa and the alicorn, is no coincidence."
Indiana Jones and the Interior World Page 8
