by Alton Gansky
“Your people?” Perry asked. “Just who are your people?”
“We are an ancient people. My fathers built the ziggurats. More importantly, they built the ziggurat, what you call the Tower of Babel. Have you heard of the Piri Reis map?”
“Dr. Curtis explained it to us,” Perry said. “It’s a sixteenth-century map showing a portion of Antarctica.”
“More specifically, it shows an iceless Antarctica,” Enkian ex-plained like a teacher with a slow child. “It shows the continent that lies beneath the ice sheet, a continent no man had seen until a joint Swedish-British expedition did a seismic profile in 1949. Piri Reis based his maps on older maps. Maps my people had in their possession.”
“You’re saying the ancient Babylonians built the Tower of Babel on this continent,” Griffin interjected.
Enkian’s face darkened. “No, Dr. James, that is not what I’m saying. We are not Babylonians. The Babylonians are descendants of ours. We were those after the Flood. Mr. Sachs and Dr. Curtis hit on it. Their Bible gave them enough information to be close to the truth.”
“Just close?” Jack said.
Enkian ignored him. “After the Flood, my people adopted a noble goal, to build a new civilization. Civilizations are built on shared goals and common interests. We built a tower to reach the sky . . .”
“And God sent you packing,” Perry said. “We know the story.”
“Not God, Mr. Sachs,” Enkian said. “Gods. Read the Mexican account, read the Babylonian version. The gods became displeased. My ancestors did not honor them as they should have. That is a mistake I will not make.”
“I think you’ve already made a big mistake,” Jack said.
“What you think means nothing to me,” Enkian said. He looked back at the cylinder. “The languages were confused, just as your Bible says. In fact, it is from that event we get our English word babble. Not only were the languages confused, but the people were scattered, literally transported to other areas. Those who were left continued building a civilization and great cities. They became the Babylonians. Others raised up vast empires wherever they were planted. Have you ever wondered why there are so many stone structures in the world?”
Perry spoke for the others. “It’s crossed my mind.”
“Incas, Mayans, Egyptians, Babylonians to name a few,” Enkian lectured. “Add to that stone monuments like the Callanish stones in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, the Avebury stone circle in England, the famous Stonehenge near Salisbury, England, and hundreds more. Stone is not lifeless; it is the foundation of life. Descendants of those first people erected monuments, some more successfully than others.” He looked down to the ice. “Below is the greatest of them all, the original.”
“I still don’t understand how the tower could be so far south,” Perry said. “It was built in Mesopotamia.”
“And of brick, not stone,” Curtis added.
“The material is the gift of the earth,” Enkian said. “We made stone where no stone was.”
“You speak as if you were there,” Jack said. “You don’t look that old.”
“I was there in my forefathers. Their blood courses through my veins. Their knowledge has been passed to me. I have taken their past; I return to them a future.”
“You could make millions writing pithy sayings for fortune cookies,” Jack said.
“Don’t trifle with me, Mr. Dyson.”
“You still haven’t explained how the tower came to be at the bottom of the planet,” Perry said quickly, drawing Enkian’s attention.
“Hapgood.”
“Oh, please,” Griffin said with disgust. “No one buys that nonsense.”
“Dr. James,” Enkian said. “There is a man-made structure two miles below your feet. If I had told you that was the case before you came here, you would have declared that nonsense.”
“What’s a Hapgood?” Jack asked.
No one spoke.
“Explain it, Dr. James,” Enkian ordered.
“Charles Hapgood of Keene College, New Hampshire,” Griffin said. “I believe he taught history of science or something like that. He published a book in the early fifties putting forth an impossible idea. He said Antarctica was at one time two thousand miles further north and, obviously, much warmer.”
“Then how did it get here?” Sarah asked. Her voice was shaky.
Griffin explained, frowning as if the words pained him. “He believed in something he called ‘earth crust displacement.’ He said the crust of our planet shifted over the Earth’s core. I believe he described it like the peel of an orange moving over the meaty part of the fruit. No orthodox geologist buys it.”
“Albert Einstein liked the idea enough to write the foreword to the book,” Enkian said.
Griffin didn’t respond.
“Why tell us all this?” Perry asked. “We’re not part of your group.”
“Because I can,” Enkian said.
“So what’s next?” Perry said. “You have the hole in the ice, and you know the ziggurat is down there. What next?”
Enkian turned to Tia. “Bring him.” Tia walked away, taking two men with her. She disappeared through the air lock that led to the Dome. A few minutes later she reappeared with a bound Lari-
more staggering before her. Even across the Chamber, Perry could see the man had been badly beaten. He was surprised to see him alive.
Tia pushed the commander through the circles until he stood by the altar and a few feet away from the ice shaft.
The beating must have been fierce, and Perry was moved with pity. Larimore’s left eye was swollen shut, and his nose was broken and twisted. Dried blood was caked beneath his nostrils and at the corners of his mouth. He leaned to one side, and Perry assumed that they must have beaten his body until ribs broke. He dragged one foot behind him.
Perry felt sick.
“Here is the man who tried to kill you, Mr. Sachs,” Enkian said. “Have any words for him?”
Larimore spoke first. His voice was hoarse and weak. “I’m sorry, Perry. I . . . I . . . didn’t mean to cut off your generator, just those to the Chamber and Dome. I hit the wrong one. I thought . . .” he broke in a spasm of coughing. “I thought I could force them to leave. I was going to stow away and get help.”
“After you made your escape,” Griffin complained. “Save yourself first, is that it?”
“Let it go, Griffin,” Perry said.
“But—”
“Let it go.”
“He could have killed you.”
“He didn’t.”
“It was an accident,” Larimore complained. “I had to act when I did. Everyone was focused on you under the ice. It was then or never.”
“It still looks like never,” Griffin snapped.
“I understand,” Perry said. He turned to Enkian. “Let Gwen help him. He needs medical help.”
“He killed one of my men.”
“So did Tia,” Perry said.
“That’s different,” Enkian said. “She was acting on my behalf. Commander Larimore was working against me. I can’t over-
look that.”
“There should be a sacrifice,” Tia said.
Enkian nodded. “As usual, you are right.”
“What kind of sacrifice?” Perry asked.
No answer came. Tia stepped to Larimore and delivered a crushing blow to his jaw. The man dropped to his knees.
“That’s enough!” Perry shouted and started forward. He was immediately jerked back. Several men from the circle had grabbed him, pinning his arms to his side. He looked to Jack. Four men had wrestled him to the ground before he could move a step. It took all four of them to hold him down. Gleason was held in place by a gun barrel at his temple.
Tia stepped to Larimore’s side and planted a vicious kick to his kidneys. He cried out in pain and fell forward. Then, with a strength that belied her size and gender, she grabbed Larimore’s hood and dragged the half-conscious man across the ice, dropping him next to the ice hole.
Perry watched in horror as she pulled the commander’s feet to the opening and positioned them over the hole. She motioned for the two men who had brought Larimore in. They each took a bound arm and lifted the man from the floor. Larimore’s head moved limply from side to side, and Perry could tell he was barely conscious.
“Don’t do this!” Perry pleaded. “There’s no need. I’ll take responsibility for him.”
“Very gracious of you, Mr. Sachs, considering he almost killed you.”
“You’re no better,” Perry said.
“No, but I am in control.” He turned to Tia. “Do it.”
In an act of cruelty Perry never could have imagined, Tia stepped to the semiconscious Larimore and gently patted his cheek until he came to. She stepped back and waited. It took a moment for the groggy navy commander to take in his situation. At first his eyes widened and he started to kick, but he stopped abruptly. He looked to Perry. “It really was an accident.”
“I know.”
“Maybe I’ll meet your God—”
“Now!” Tia ordered.
Commander Trent Larimore disappeared into the ice. Perry tried to drive the image of a man falling through nearly two miles of ice from his mind. He prayed the death would be quick. He turned angry eyes to Tia, who seemed disturbed.
She looked at Enkian. “He didn’t scream.”
Enkian shrugged then faced Griffin. “Tell me, Dr. James. How’s that for contamination?”
Griffin bent over and vomited on the ice.
Chapter 33
“What’s wrong with her?” Enkian asked.
Perry followed Enkian’s gaze and saw Sarah on the ice. She was having another attack.
“People faint,” Gwen said. She crouched next to the heap that was Sarah.
“Somehow, I think it’s more than fainting,” Enkian said. He looked at Perry and raised an eyebrow.
“Narcolepsy,” Perry said. “The stress of watching . . . The stress triggers it.”
“You brought a crewperson with a neurological disorder to this environment?” Enkian said with surprise. “I thought you a better leader than that.”
Perry started to explain then dismissed the idea. He owed this monster no explanations. He watched as Gwen moved from crouching to kneeling. She moved Sarah’s head to the side to make breathing easier and stroked the woman’s dark hair.
Suddenly, Sarah’s eyes sprang open. She mumbled something then sat up. A second later she was fully awake and on her feet. She looked embarrassed.
Enkian waved at the men who held Jack to the ice and those who restrained Perry. “Let them go. If they do anything foolish, kill them. I’ve grown weary of their antics.”
“So who’s next down the hole?” Perry asked.
“Amusing as that would be, Mr. Sachs, I still feel I owe you something for bringing back the brick.” Enkian stepped to the dark object that rested on the stone altar. “You have brought my ancestors to me. It goes against my better judgment and the advice of Tia, but you are all free to go.”
Perry wasn’t sure he heard right. “Free to go?”
“Yes, you may leave as soon as you like.” Enkian looked up, and Perry could see the man was serious.
“You’re giving us a plane to fly out of here?”
Enkian bellowed with laughter. “Of course not.” He looked at Tia. “Give them a plane, did you hear that?” She nodded and re-turned the smile.
“Then how do we leave?” Perry wondered.
“You walk, Mr. Sachs. You walk.”
“We’re hundreds of miles from any installation. We can’t survive out there like that.”
“That’s not my problem,” Enkian said.
“People will be looking for us soon,” Perry said. “We’ve been out of radio contact too long.”
“They think you’re dead, lying at the bottom of the ocean.”
“Why would they think that?”
“I’ve seen to it, Mr. Sachs. I have people everywhere and in high places. Your plane was reported crashing into the sea. No one is coming. The world thinks this is an empty place. There is no need for anyone to visit. The only aircraft flying in here will be mine.”
“Let us at least take the snowmobile.”
“No, no snowmobile. I’m being overly gracious as it is.”
“You call a slow death overly gracious?” Jack asked.
Enkian shrugged again. “Everything is a matter of perspective. To be honest, I don’t want your corpses around. I could drop you down the rabbit hole, but like I said, I feel a small degree of gratitude toward you for bringing me the brick.”
“How can I lead my people onto the ice knowing they’ll all be dead in a few hours? The wind is kicking up. Our cold weather gear won’t protect us for long if those wind speeds climb much higher.”
“You are probably right, but if you stay here I will have all of you killed and dropped down the shaft. The choice is yours: death here or death out there.”
“Doesn’t sound like much of a choice.”
Enkian shivered. The cold was finally getting to him. How he had remained so long without his parka and undergarments was beyond Perry. Their captor frowned as if inconvenienced by the chill. He turned to the altar, set down the glass container, and motioned for his clothing. Tia walked to the man who held the garments.
Perry’s mind churned like a blender. He looked toward the open loading door and saw the dim white ice lit by a sun that hovered just above the horizon. Wind whipped up ice crystals and swirled them through the air. Death waited outside that door, death by cold, a cold that would freeze the lungs and seep into the internal organs until they no longer functioned. He knew what would happen. Those less fit, those who carried less body weight, would be the first to go—Sarah first, then Gwen, then Griffin, then . . . He clamped his eyes shut and drove the image away, but it returned. As if perched on some hill, Perry could see the lifeless bodies of his friends laid out in a line as if held together by string. Images of the katabatic wind assaulting the still corpses with airborne razors of ice swirled past his mind’s eye.
Perry’s heart began to ache as if the deaths had already occurred. Turning, Perry glanced around the Chamber. Fifty-plus armed men stared back. There would be no fighting their way out of the situation. He looked at Jack, who returned the gaze. He could tell Jack had no ideas either. His eyes drifted to Tia, and he was convinced that she was a trained and merciless killer. He doubted if even Jack with his lineman’s size could handle her.
He thought about what Enkian had said, that no one was looking for them. Perry felt alone, more alone than he had ever felt and more hopeless than he could imagine.
Enkian slipped on his thick undershirt, then his thermal shirt. In a moment he would don the thick white parka. To Perry the man was the personification of evil. What bothered him most was the thought that evil would win, that this madman would get away with it all.
The images came back, haunting him like some ghoul that possessed his mind. Despair was knocking on the door, and defeat was climbing in the window.
The struggle to conceive of a way they could survive on the ice continued. Maybe they could make it to the crashed C-5. A few of them had made it through a rugged night there once before, but damp reality extinguished the thought. They had barely made it back on snowmobiles. Seven of them walking the distance was impossible.
The only way out was by air, and Enkian was certainly not going to allow that to happen. Not if he had . . . any . . . choice.
There was a tickle at the back of Perry’s brain, an urgent nudging. For some reason he was thinking of an event he had read about in the Bible, an event familiar to all Sunday school children. In the midst of a great storm the wayward prophet Jonah had said, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.”
That was how Perry felt. None of his crew would have been here had he not asked them to be. None o
f the dead strewn around the fallen C-5 would be such if he had not accepted the challenge of the mission. He didn’t mind dying, but he could not stand to see anyone else meet their end. “Toss me into the sea,” Perry mumbled. He looked at his feet.
“What?” Jack asked.
“Toss me into the sea,” Perry said.
“I don’t follow, pal.”
Perry watched as Tia lifted the white parka jacket and Enkian begin to slip his arms in—
Perry sprang forward and dove for the altar, his eyes fixed on the one object that Enkian held as dear as life.
A warning was shouted.
A shot was fired.
Out of the corner of his eye, Perry saw Tia shove Enkian to the ground and cover him with her body.
Perfect.
Perry hit the ice hard, landing on his side, the cylinder in his hand. As Perry slid he pumped his feet, trying to find purchase on the ice. He didn’t want to rise to his feet; he wanted to slide three feet further.
He heard voices, another shot, a man’s panicked voice, but he ignored it all. He rolled on his belly, pushing with his legs and clawing with his one empty hand.
The hole was two feet away . . . one foot . . . In what seemed an eternity of seconds Perry reached his goal, stretched out his arm, and held the cylinder over the open mouth of the ice shaft. His hand was shaking, and he could barely breathe. He waited for the gunfire, but no more came.
“Stand down! Stand down!” Enkian was screaming. “No one moves.”
The advancing footsteps stopped.
“Back off!” Perry shouted. “I’ll drop it. I promise you that. I’ll drop it.” His eyes drifted from the cylinder to the hole, not wanting to look but unable to stop himself. Two thirds of the way down the two-mile shaft, Larimore’s dead body floated. Perry was glad the shaft was too dark for him to see that far down.
The Chamber’s activity had come to a halt. No one spoke. No one moved. Keeping the cylinder hovering over the shaft, Perry wiggled and twisted until he was on his knees. He looked around. Enkian was still on the ice, Tia by his side on her knees, her eyes drilling Perry. Jack and Gleason were several steps closer. Three of Enkian’s army lay doubled over on the ice. Apparently, Jack was going to take on the whole bunch.
