She took a deep breath in. “You want me to perform a challenge?”
“Of course. But for you, it is merely a formality. As a God, it is simple. Do you dispute that you are indeed an Atlantean God?”
Billie had no idea what she was going to do, but judging by the spears pointing right at her friends and her, there was no doubt about the alternative. “Yes, of course I know how to retrieve it. I will go in and retrieve the code to Atlantis, and then I will tell you what you will do for me. Do I have your word that your people will obey me once I return?”
“Of course. My name is Zanzibe, and I am the leader of the Makan tribe. We have lived here for thousands of years, only to serve you.”
Billie looked at the other two men in her party. “Can I bring my companions?”
“You may take only one of them. Choose wisely, for once you’re inside the temple, there is only one way out, and that is through the other side. We hope that you are the true chosen one, and that you don’t fail where the many others have. Once you’re inside, even if we wanted to, we cannot allow you to leave the way you entered. Do you understand?”
Billie nodded her head. She understood perfectly well. She was playing Russian roulette with her life, and with the lives of Mark and Edward. One of the two men left may have the ability to save all three of their lives. The only question was, which one? Edward was the only person on the planet who knew as much as she did about Atlantis. But then, Mark was a career soldier — a mercenary who had trained every day of his life. He would be by far a better choice for overcoming the strength obstacle.
“You will have three tests. One to prove your strength, another your wisdom, and finally that you are brave.”
She smiled honestly for the first time since meeting the pygmies — because she’d been to Atlantis, and had already overcome the all three tests.
Chapter Fifty-One
After careful consideration Billie made her choice.
The chief seemed pleased. “Very good Dr. Swan. So you’ve chosen the older man. I wonder how you plan to overcome the strength obstacle.”
“We will see.” Billie said, immediately wishing she had chosen the soldier. “And what about Mark. What happens to him?”
“Nothing. He will wait here, and he will be treated like the god that he is. But if you fail to exit the temple of Poseidon by nightfall, we will kill him.”
She nodded her head.
Billie watched as the water that surrounded the dome of what she predicted to be Poseidon’s Temple, like a moat, disappeared. One of the chief’s men must have removed the plug. The entire swamp-like moat was gone in a matter of minutes, leaving several large crocodiles and one small door.
An army of pygmy men, eager to prove their worth, ran down the stairs and forced the ancient beasts into a corner. Billie and Edward slowly followed Zanzibe down the hundred plus stairs until they reached the door.
“Are you going to follow us inside?” she asked.
The chief spoke with sincerity but not unkindly. “No, we are but caretakers. It is forbidden for us to follow you. I do wish you good luck. I know that the time is coming near when the true Gods must return if any of us are going to survive. So I pray that it is you.”
My God, he knows the truth!
Billie examined the door for a moment. It was made of papyrus reeds bound together, but had obviously been maintained or installed recently.
The chief walked down to that door, and in a mixture of wicked laughter and turmoil, he kindly offered the suggestion, “I would make a start. The sun sets in three hours! And the entire place becomes automatically flooded at sundown.”
Billie shivered at the reminder. “Thanks for the advice. Tell your people that we will need to leave immediately after we have the code to Atlantis. We have a ship waiting for us on the edge of the Congo River. We need a path cleared so that we can reach it without any delay.”
“If you live, you have my word it will be done.”
Billie attached the second lithium battery to her dwindling shoulder light and Edward did the same. Then she stepped into the tunnel — to begin her challenge.
She walked confidently into the tunnel, which was still wet from being drained only minutes earlier. She felt as though she’d just entered an underground pipeline, which wasn’t far from the truth. It was dark, but their shoulder-mounted LED flashlights lit up the place adequately.
Edward looked back up at the hundreds of white pygmies who guarded the entrance, as though he were judging if his chances would be better if he tried to escape now. One look, and he turned and ran to catch up with her.
“Sweet Jesus, Billie, didn’t you listen to the little pygmy?”
She turned and smiled at him. “Every word. We’ve got three hours. We probably shouldn’t waste too much time with chit-chat.”
The door behind them closed, leaving them silent in the dark. “The three challenges of the temple of Poseidon involve strength, intellect and an act of bravery. Now, I’m not doubting the thoughts of the blessed savior of Atlantis, but wouldn’t Mark have been the better choice for strength?”
“Relax, I’ve already been through these challenges.”
Edward’s face visibly relaxed. “You have? How?”
“When I entered Atlantis. It too had three challenges: strength, intellect, and bravery. I bested all three, and I’m betting my life that if this is an identical recreation of Atlantis, the challenges will be the same.’
“You better hope you’re right.”
The tunnel reached an opening. A quick scan of the room revealed it to be a large square, perhaps fifty or more feet wide. At the far end, the tunnel continued deeper into the temple. Only the tunnel didn’t continue forever. Instead, its ceiling, hinged on large hidden bolts, dipped in height in a gradual downward direction until it touched the floor. The roof space was covered in wooden spikes that gave Billie a clear indication of what the roof would do to a person who failed the challenge.
At the center of the room a steel bar hung from the ceiling above a stone chair and table in which a person could lock his legs. The mechanism had obviously been maintained and updated to more current materials, but there was no doubt in Billie’s mind — the purpose of this device was the same as in Atlantis.
Billie looked up and said, “The first room is the test of strength. See that steel bar?”
A large crease formed at the center of Edward’s sweat-covered forehead. His evident fear of being drowned in the cavern had now been replaced by the more immediate likelihood of death by crushing spears. “I see it, Dr. Swan.”
“It’s basically a cantilever that runs through a series of mechanisms hidden in the ceiling in order to balance the weight of the hinged ceiling that’s blocking our progress through to the next room.”
“How do we do that?” Edward interrupted.
“At the other end of that tunnel a lever needs to be pulled from an upwards to a downward position and then held there, long enough for the pulleys to fully open a secret part of the wall, thus letting us through to the next level.”
“And I take it the strongest person needs to pull down on the cantilever long enough to allow that person to reach the lever?”
“Yes, but it’s not that simple. You see, for every ten seconds you hold the cantilever, the fulcrum moves an inch closer, thus increasing the strength required to lift the opposite ceiling.”
“Okay, so we move quickly?”
“It’s not about running to the other side of the tunnel. Once you’re there it takes nearly two minutes to bring open the secret door.”
Edward looked frustrated. “Dr. Swan! May I remind you that in less than three hours this entire place is going to be flooded again, and you and I are going to have a pretty shitty day, if we don’t work this out! So, how about you just tell me what I have to do!”