Revelations

by Robert Storey

  The next day came and went and then on the third, Jason found what they were looking for – a telltale void deep underground. This time, though, there was no cave and no excavation machine. They mapped it out and then transferred the data to Sarah’s computer phone. Unfolding a larger screen, she brought up and analysed the new image.

  ‘It looks bigger than the other one we found,’ Jason said, looking over her shoulder.

  ‘You’re right. Do you see this section?’ Sarah pointed to the right hand side of the void. ‘It looks like there might be another, larger, structure further down, and not a natural formation, either, like the cave in South Africa.’

  ‘That’s pretty wild. I wonder what’s down there?’ Trish said, when they showed it to her. ‘Perhaps the one back in South Africa had extra chambers, too; that tunnel had to lead somewhere, the one that had collapsed.’

  ‘Maybe, we’ll never know now.’ Distracted, Sarah rotated the image in a manner almost akin to the ancient parchments they’d found.

  ‘Whatever’s buried under these Mayan ruins, we’re not going to be able to get at it, either,’ Trish said in glum realisation as Sarah passed the image to her so she could take a closer look. ‘Even if we had the equipment, no one is going to allow us to disturb this site.’

  ‘Unless there’s a secret door or something we’ve missed,’ Jason said.

  Sarah smiled at the thought while Trish gave a despairing sigh at his naive optimism.

  ‘What? There could have been,’ he said defensively, noting the two women’s scepticism.

  ‘Now that you mention it,’ Trish said, trying to keep a straight face, ‘I did see an ancient jewel in the wall; perhaps if we’d turned it anti-clockwise, it would have opened the secret passage to Narnia.’

  ‘Very funny,’ Jason said, lacking his usual retort.

  Sarah experienced a sense of achievement at the find, but utter frustration that they could do nothing with it. If a chamber, or even a whole complex, existed down there, who knew what treasures might lie waiting to be discovered? It was too much to bear; she jumped up and went outside to walk off the gnawing irritation that sought to drive her mad.

  The day drew to a close as she moved amongst the ancient ruins. Exotic birds sang sweet music in the dusk, deep shadows casting themselves across her path as the sun dipped and hid behind monuments and trees alike. As she walked, her mind wandered along with her body. She passed a stepped pyramid and a few stelae, narrow stone structures rising up out of the ground, perhaps five metres in height and one in width. On one side the stelae consisted of intricate relief carvings of a deity or king and on the flat reverse, or other three sides, detailed hieroglyphic text adorned the surfaces. Each one was a wonderful work of art and yet also acted as an ancient record of events over a thousand years past.

  As she moved back the way she had come she passed close to a stela near to the area they’d been scanning. This one had a lot more detail than the others she’d seen and the limestone had been carved more in the round, too, a high relief. An imposing image of a man with a huge feathered headdress threatened to leap out from the substrate itself, such was the craftsmanship. And then she saw it, a lone symbol. She stopped dead in her tracks and took a backwards step. Peering up at the figure, she saw a familiar form, one she had seen recently. And based on her limited knowledge of the subject, it was not Mayan – at least as far as she knew it wasn’t. She held out the larger of her two pendants; the top symbol was identical to the one on the statue before her. The Mayan had no alphabet and so the symbol she was looking at could not be there by chance. She walked around the stela, delving into its detail with her eyes. No other unusual markings appeared evident on the front, so she moved around the other three faces which brimmed with hieroglyphs.

  It was a few minutes before she spotted another anomaly amongst the norm, a shape she recognised this time from the parchments they had been using. The location of this letter, if that’s indeed what the symbols were, was lower down than the other, close enough to reach. She touched it with her fingers, tracing its outline. What did it mean? Did the earliest Mayans have direct contact with Homo gigantis? Surely not. What was more likely was that they knew of their existence. Perhaps they had found or accessed the chamber that even now sat undisturbed below them.

  Eyes straining in the fading light, she reached the final side, on which something much more amazing greeted her. Yet another familiar symbol, but below it a shape embedded deep in the stone. It would have looked innocuous to anyone else, but Sarah knew this shape and its size well, very well. It was pentagonal and seemingly identical in size to the large pendant that even now hung around her neck. Hers fingertips caressed its features as her other hand instinctively went to her chest to touch the metal artefact.

  Unclipping it, she looked at it and then at the hole. She then slowly but purposefully sank the pendant into the stone. Nothing happened except for the arrival of her disappointment. What did she expect; the statue to light up and open out to reveal a hidden staircase? Well, yes, that really was what she’d been hoping for in the deep recesses of her mind. This, however, was real life and things were never that easy or convenient. Their recent successes had woven a sense of fantasy into her life and she’d begun to ride its heady wave. Stop daydreaming, you fool, she admonished herself. Taking the pendant back out, she clipped it back onto the chain. Then she had an idea and she hurried back to camp to collect the scanner.

  ‘Doing another sweep?’ Jason said as she came in.

  ‘Something like that.’

  ‘I’m doing a cup of tea in a while, do you want one?’

  ‘Sure,’ she said, her mind elsewhere, and disappeared back outside again.

  Back at the stela she heaved the scanner upright after adjusting its settings and started a sweep of the stone. Due to its weight and the position in which she held the machine, the screen wasn’t visible, so she made one complete three hundred and sixty degree pass and then put it down to inspect the results. Disappointingly most of the interior appeared to be plain limestone, but directly behind the statue’s front face, twelve inches in from the surface, was a dense metal object. To make sure this wasn’t a normal occurrence within these stelae, she quickly scanned three more which stood close by. After looking at the results and seeing no such objects buried underneath these surfaces she concluded it highly likely the first one was unique and worth investigating further; especially considering the gigantis symbols weren’t apparent on any of the other stelae, either.

  She returned once more to the camp and dropped off the scanner, telling Jason to download its data onto her computer.

  ‘What have you found now?’ Trish said.

  ‘I’m not sure; I’ll let you know.’ Sarah grabbed a small pick and some hand tools from one of the packs, along with a torch, and departed out the front of the temple once more.

  Intrigued, Trish got up and followed her.

  When they reached the stela, Sarah passed Trish the light. ‘Can you point that on the carving, please?’ She indicated the face of the Mayan king.

  Trish powered up the beam and shone it on the location, as instructed. ‘Sarah, what’s going on? What have you found?’

  Sarah didn’t reply, too wrapped up as she was in concentration and purpose. Dropping the hand tools to the ground, she grasped the pick and swung it with full force at the statue’s face. The point bit deep and the light Trish provided jerked to one side.

  ‘Are you mad!’ Trish screamed at her. ‘You can’t do that, it’s a priceless relic!’

  ‘That,’ Sarah said, emphasising the word and pointing at the stela, ‘is not ancient. This,’ – she grabbed her large pendant and brandished it at Trish – ‘is. Now, put the damn light back on it, will you? There’s something in there that doesn’t belong.’

  ‘Like what?’ Trish said, still fuming.

  Jason sauntered up to join them. ‘Like a metal plate of some description.’

  ‘I don’t care what it is,’
Trish said, outraged. ‘You can’t go around desecrating ancient monuments. I don’t care what else we’ve found, this is humanity’s history, we can’t destroy it!’

  ‘Trish, look, I have to dig this thing out,’ Sarah said in a conciliatory tone. ‘You’ve got to understand, this is huge, it may even link early human civilisation to Homo gigantis.’

  Trish wasn’t having it, however. ‘I don’t care; I won’t let you do it.’

  ‘Won’t let me?’ Sarah said, each word loaded with defiant incredulity.

  Jason couldn’t help but notice the tone of the discussion had taken an ominous turn. ‘Look, it won’t hurt, will it, Trish? There’s loads more of these things and what we’re discovering is almost out of this world. I’m sure we can dig out the stone and then replace it again, right, Sarah?’ he said, almost pleadingly.

  Sarah didn’t say anything as she locked eyes with her friend.

  ‘Fine, take her side as usual!’ Trish shouted at him. ‘I’m having no part of this.’ She switched her light off and walked back to camp without another word.

  ‘I don’t always take your side, do I?’ Jason said, watching Trish storm off.

  Sarah ignored him. ‘Put your light back on here, will you?’ She collected the pick, drew it back, and then sent a shuddering blow thumping into the stone carving.

  This time a large chunk fell away at her feet.

  More strikes rained in as she went to work, breaking into the interior of the statue.

  ‘I don’t think we’ll be able to repair that,’ Jason said looking at the mess on the ground.

  Sarah didn’t hear him as she’d swung once more; this time a metallic impact was heard as the pick end struck a different type of material. Breathing hard now, she swapped over to a flat-ended mallet, which she used to beat the area at varying intensities for a few more minutes until most of the metal was revealed. She then discarded that tool and took up a hammer and chisel.

  As dusk turned to night, Sarah finally managed to pry out the object she’d seen revealed on the scanner. With care she pulled it clear, limestone dust and debris falling off its surface as it came. Jason brought the light in nearer so they could get a better look.

  Measuring just under a foot wide and nearly the same in height, it felt quite heavy as Sarah hefted it. The metal, as that’s clearly what it was, had a matte, almost beaten, look. Its thickness was about the width of Sarah’s finger, which accounted for its weight. She stroked its coarse un-worked surface, before turning it over to inspect the smooth reverse which had been etched with fine lines. Tilting it, indistinct markings glinted in the torchlight. No circle or letter-like symbols adorned it; however, dusting it off further revealed hieroglyphs surrounding a single line.

  ‘This isn’t like the other things we’ve found,’ Jason said at last.

  ‘No,’ – Sarah continued examining it – ‘it’s a Mayan design, although I don’t think I’ve heard of anything like this being found before, have you?’

  Jason shook his head.

  ‘I felt sure it was going to be something like our other finds,’ she said, disheartened.

  ‘Me too; but perhaps it’s still linked to them in some way. The symbols on this statue and this metal plate must be connected somehow; it can’t be coincidence, surely.’

  ‘Can you read it?’ Sarah said, suddenly hopeful.

  ‘No, but Trish should be able to.’

  Sarah sighed. ‘That’s if she’s still talking to me.’

  It soon became apparent that Trish wasn’t talking to either of them, although after many apologies and much pleading she eventually came around.

  ‘Give it here, then,’ she said irritably, holding out a hand.

  Sarah passed the metal plate to her and, under the powerful glow of a lamp, Trish angled the object so she could read the glyphs.

  The seconds ticked by as she analysed it and Sarah felt her impatience grow.

  ‘I’m not an expert in these by any means,’ Trish told them.

  ‘Just tell us what you can,’ Sarah said.

  Trish assessed it for a while longer and then laid a finger near the start of the line. ‘These hieroglyphs stand for Oxwitik, which is probably what the Maya called Copán. These ones here,’ – she pointed further along the line – ‘are the place name for Holtún, the lost city discovered late in the twentieth century in Guatemala. These I’m not so sure about.’ She indicated inscriptions higher up. ‘But I think one might be El Zotz, another Mayan city. It’s some kind of map, yet operating in a linear format rather than a typical two dimensional one. At the end of the line there is something quite interesting. These glyphs appear to represent the words large peoples or perhaps a better translation would be—’

  ‘Giants,’ Sarah said in hushed excitement.

  Trish looked down at the mysterious relic which gleamed in the half-light. ‘Yes,’ she said, unable to contain her wonder, ‘giants.’

  Chapter Twenty

  A bright new glistening morning greeted Sarah the next day, and while their search hadn’t found any primary evidence of Homo gigantis, the metal plate with its obscure reference to giants was perhaps the next best thing. It also posed a number of interesting questions, both about ancient human civilisation and that of Homo gigantis. With modern day technology moving archaeology into a new golden age, ground-breaking discoveries were being made across the world in many fields. Sarah’s own breakthrough in the last few weeks, however, might prove to be the greatest in human history.

  She inhaled a deep breath of fresh mountain air, soaking in the mystical vision that was the Copán Ruins at dawn. Rays of sunlight glittered on tiny water droplets that had accumulated on surfaces overnight, while sluggish mists slowly eddied around the Mayan buildings and caressed the statues, stelae and carvings that adorned and surrounded them.

  It had been decided the previous night that further exploration of the site would prove fruitless, given the tools and manpower available to them and not forgetting that they didn’t even have permission to be there in the first place. No, it would be wise to move on to pastures new and to determine the location at the end of the map depicted on the metal Mayan tablet. The underground chamber that lay so tantalisingly close would have to be recorded and investigated at a later date through proper channels.

  They had attempted to repair the stela that Sarah had literally defaced, but without the expertise of a stonemason it had been an impossible task. Instead, they’d put the interior debris into one box and the pieces containing the artistic detail in another. Sarah was confident the surface of the carving could be restored to its former glory, although she had to admit it would be a painstaking job. Using her computer, Trish had found the location of the visitor centre for the ruins, due north of their camp and a short walk away, and she’d personally taken the boxes to the building and deposited them outside the main entrance, along with a note of apology.

  With reparations complete, their attention returned to the mysterious final location on the metal tablet, but before they could find it they needed to translate all the hieroglyphs. Trish had suggested they visit the renowned Mayan university in San Benito, Guatemala; however, after some research on her computer, they deduced that no rail lines ran north across the Honduran-Guatemalan border. Traffic crossings had been blocked by the Guatemalan government to prevent the Honduran rebels entering their territory, and taking a boat ride from the Honduran Atlantic coast to enter Guatemala was also restricted, by coastguards from both nations carrying out GMRC control orders.

  That left them with one of two options: travel on foot for five miles across unforgiving mountainous jungle terrain and then catch some form of transport within Guatemala’s borders to cover the extra two hundred miles to San Benito – a journey they simply weren’t geared to tackle – or alternatively, take a plane. The choice was an easy one. Trish had quickly found that Santa Rosa de Copán, where they were staying, had an airport. Although it resembled a field more than anything else it suited thei
r needs, as all they wanted was a small plane to take them across the border and on to San Benito and the university.

  With a plan in place, they stowed their kit and made their way back to the bus stop they’d arrived at a few days earlier; making sure to stay back from the road itself in order to hide their presence from any rebel patrols. As they waited for their transport a handful of hours came and went, and they spent their time chatting and sitting in quiet contemplation until Javier arrived in his bus. No local townsfolk waited to be picked up, but quite a few disembarked when the coach finally came to a halt nearby.

  ‘Did you find what you were looking for?’ Javier asked them when they boarded.

  ‘We did,’ Sarah said, ‘but we weren’t able to get to it. We’ll have to come back another time, I think.’

  ‘That’s a pity,’ he said with genuine sympathy.

  ‘You live in such a beautiful place, Javier, you’re very lucky,’ Trish said, a tad sycophantically; most likely out of guilt that they’d just defaced a priceless local monument, Sarah assumed, her own shame lying heavily upon her.

  He smiled. ‘Thank you. It is nice, but like anything you get used to it and if you’ve grown up with it you know no difference. It is home, though, and I try to appreciate its good points over the bad.’

  Once they got back to the town they quickly packed up their belongings, paid their dues, and asked Javier if he could take them to the airport. After boarding the bus once more, a short five minute journey to the airstrip had the three explorers ready for the next leg. They thanked Javier once again, gave him something extra for his troubles despite his protestations, and went into the small airport office to arrange a flight.

  Due to the rebels not enforcing some GMRC protocols, air services were still operating, and even flights across the border were available, albeit for a much greater fee.