‘It’s happening,’ Goodwin said.
‘What’s happening?’ Kara looked at him. ‘What have you seen, Richard? Tell us.’
‘Genesis,’ Goodwin said, as a build-up of purple energy swirled around the tower’s base. ‘Chapter one, verse one. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”’
Bolts of lightning hammered down into the city.
‘Verse two,’ Goodwin said, raising his voice as the tempest increased in volume. ‘“The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep—”’
Goodwin moved forward into roaring winds and pointed towards the city. A swirl of energy spiralled up the tallest tower and a single orb of pure, radiant light appeared at its peak and floated through the air towards the chamber’s highest vaults. The sphere of energy disappeared into the clouds before it impacted the ceiling and flowed outwards like a sea of sparkling jewels.
‘“And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters!”’ Goodwin said.
The air in the chamber was sucked into the city with a great whoosh of noise. The ground shook beneath their feet and more lightning lanced down.
‘Verse three!’ Goodwin raised his hands to the heavens. ‘“AND GOD SAID!!”’
A shockwave exploded from the city and an endless blast of power erupted up from every spire. The stored energy roared forth, igniting the ceiling with a mass of seething electricity. With a tremendous flash, Sanctuary’s dormant ceiling blazed into life. Light streamed out and a wall of energy swept through the chamber and down into the tunnels beneath. Down and down the electricity spread, increasing in speed as it flooded the pitch-black depths with a blazing radiance. Ancient monuments and buildings, hidden for untold millennia, emerged from the gloom beneath the racing brilliance.
Darklight and Terra Force soldiers alike paused to gaze up as the phenomenon streaked past like the essence of life. Tunnels, chambers and long forgotten caves, none were immune to the ceiling’s power. Light filled Sanctuary’s endless halls like time immemorial in an unstoppable, expanding wave.
Goodwin shielded his eyes as the city flared brighter before the towers’ luminance faded and the final stream of energy released into the heavens.
Hilt and Captain Winter moved to his side to look up at the storm of electricity that continued to unfold above. Thunder rumbled and the howling gale died back to a strong breeze as dark clouds flowed out into a white blanket.
Goodwin couldn’t quite believe his eyes. He’d been proven right once more. And yet, he thought, did I really figure out the entity’s motive, its end game, or did it implant the idea in my mind, leaving clues for me to find?
As he struggled with the concept, Kara came to stand by his side and her fingers slid between his as they clasped hands.
He looked down at her before looking back at the chamber’s ceiling and the clearing clouds. Blue skies peeked out through the haze and the glare of a yellow sphere bathed them in its warm, shimmering glow.
‘Genesis,’ Kara said, awestruck.
Goodwin couldn’t prevent a smile from breaking through his depressive mask. ‘“And God said”,’ he whispered, drinking in the sight of the Anakim sun, ‘“let there … be light.”’
Chapter Sixty Two
Blinding light and the rush of air died away to a pitch-black calm. The silence was deafening, but out of the quiet the sound of dripping water could be heard plip-plopping with an audible echo through a concealed space.
Sarah opened her eyes and groaned. The heat from her pendant faded to a dull ache and she reached out a hand in search of her friends. Pain-filled moments passed, but her fingers found nothing except a cold, flat surface.
Time had no meaning in the dark and Sarah’s consciousness slipped in … and then out … of existence. In with pain … and then back out with relief.
In this twilight state, strange images returned to haunt her and she drifted inside the clutches of delirium.
♦
The sound of drip … drip … dripping water told Sarah she’d returned to her waking dream. She opened her sand-dry mouth to speak, but she could only manage to emit a faint croak of noise. I’m alive, was the first thought that worked its way into her battered psyche. By all rights, she shouldn’t have been. Before they’d activated the transportation device she’d been knocking, perhaps hammering, at death’s door. If even a hint of her body’s bioelectricity had been removed she would have died. So how, then, she thought, did I survive?
Perhaps you didn’t, said another voice inside her head. Perhaps you’re dead.
Sarah closed her eyes against the all-consuming dark. How can I be dead? I’m in too much pain.
Perhaps you’re in hell, said the voice, perhaps you’re destined to live an eternity alone in endless suffering.
The thought sent a shock of panic racing through her mind.
Where am I? The thought echoed through her head. WHERE AM I?!
The trickle of falling water continued to conduct its monotonous rhythm and Sarah felt herself slipping back into darkness.
Chapter Sixty Three
‘Trish!’ Jason said. ‘Sarah! Where are you!?’
‘Where are you?’ said the distant echo. ‘Are you … you … you … you … ou … ou?’
Moving his head, Jason angled the torches on his Deep Reach helmet around the cave system he now occupied. He glanced back down at the stone platform on which he’d been deposited by the Anakim transportation device.
That the rectangular stone was not ceramic told him something was different. And that Sarah and Trish were nowhere to be seen, told him something had gone very, very wrong.
You’re alive, aren’t you? he asked himself. Surely that’s better than where you were? His response was swift: Not if I’m alone and trapped!
Bombarded by unwanted thoughts, Jason adjusted the visor on his helmet and approached the edge of the large square structure on which the platform sat. It was ten feet to the ground, so he lowered himself over the edge to hang down and let go.
He landed on his injured ankle and cried out in pain as he collapsed to the floor. In agony, he rolled onto his back and stared up at the cave’s gloomy ceiling. ‘FUCK!’
‘Fuck … fuck … uck … uck … ck,’ said the echo.
‘Jason?’ a voice said.
He peered up from his prone position to see the upside down figure of Trish emerge from the dark.
He sat up and turned towards her in relief.
She rushed to his side and embraced him. ‘Where’s Sarah?’ she said, anxious.
‘She wasn’t with you?’
Trish shook her head. ‘I woke up on a stone plinth a hundred yards that way.’ She pointed back the way she’d come.
Neither voiced their deepest fear that Sarah might not have survived the journey.
‘The device must have separated us for some reason,’ Jason said. ‘If we’re both here, she must be close. Come on.’ He struggled up and hobbled forward to go in search of their lost companion.
After a few minutes of walking they rounded another bend in the rock formation to enter a narrow passage. Up ahead the ceiling had collapsed, but a small opening at the top of a steep mound of dusty earth gave them the opportunity to keep moving forward. Jason scrambled up and wormed his way through. He slid down the other side and Trish joined him moments later.
A metallic dampness permeated the air and Jason licked his dry lips as they surveyed the scene by the light of their helmet torches.
Trish pointed to the left. ‘There!’ she said, and sprinted forward.
Jason chased after her as best he could and soon found himself kneeling down beside a glistening ceramic platform and its single occupant.
Sarah lay on the pale surface of the transportation device, unmoving. Her chest remained scarred with congealed blood and her palms were a bloody mess.
Trish leaned in to listen for a sign of life.
‘Is she …’ Jason felt his stomach
clench tight and he reached out to feel for a pulse, ‘alive?’
♦
Sarah opened her eyes to blinding light. She blinked against the glare. The intensity of the radiance shimmered and pulsed like an ethereal being. Gradually the outline of a blurred figure emerged from the white and she reached out to it.
‘Mother,’ she whispered.
‘Sarah, can you hear me?’
The voice sparked recollection and Sarah fought for clarity. ‘Trish?’ she said, through cracked lips.
Her eyesight cleared and she focused on her friend.
‘Yes, it’s us,’ Trish said, and Sarah felt water touch her lips.
She coughed and swallowed as the glorious fluid flooded her mouth.
‘Can you sit?’ Trish said.
Sarah felt her strength returning and gave a tremulous nod.
Jason helped her into a sitting position and Trish fed her more water from a small canister to quench her thirst and soothe her parched throat.
Able to sit up on her own, Sarah looked into her friends’ concerned faces. ‘Did we … did we make it?’
‘Yes.’ Trish touched her cheek. ‘We made it, thanks to you.’
Sarah looked round to see the form of a crumbling statue a few feet away from the platform on which she sat. Its shape seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it.
She looked down at the wound on her chest and remembered the agony when the pendant had seared through flesh and into bone. Horrified by the sight, she brushed the area with the tips of her fingers.
‘I don’t understand,’ Jason said, ‘she’s stronger now than when we left.’
Trish glanced at him. ‘We don’t have to understand it, just be thankful.’
He gave a nod and squeezed Sarah’s hand. ‘Can you walk?’
Sarah sipped some more water and pondered the question. ‘I don’t know.’ She struggled to rise before dropping back, out of breath.
Trish turned to assess their surroundings. ‘It doesn’t matter if she can, there’s no way through.’
‘You didn’t see any other way out before you found me?’ Jason said.
Trish shook her head. ‘No, we’re trapped here, wherever “here” is.’
He pulled off his rucksack and delved into its contents to produce a circular case. ‘Then it’s just as well someone came prepared.’
‘What’s that,’ Trish said.
Another flash of recollection entered Sarah’s mind, a recollection of a structure made of glass and steel: Sanctuary’s Exploration Division. ‘It’s a shaped charge,’ she said.
Trish shook her head in amazement. ‘I thought you’d lost that days ago.’
‘Give me some credit; I’m not a total idiot.’
Trish leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. ‘I know that.’
Bemused, Jason opened the case to read the instructions. ‘This says we should be at least one hundred feet away before detonation.’
‘That’s if we’re close enough to the surface for it to work,’ Trish said.
Jason stood up and moved to the far side of the dark cave, where a mass of old tree roots hung down from the ceiling. ‘Trees don’t grow underground,’ he said, giving them a tug.
‘Unless we’re still in Sanctuary,’ Sarah said.
‘No, those were dead, these are alive.’
‘There’s only one way to find out.’ Trish looked at Sarah before gesturing to him. ‘Do it.’
He nodded and secured the device to the ceiling of the cave, entered a code into a digital display on the reverse, and then snapped shut the case and rejoined them.
‘This doesn’t look like one hundred feet away,’ Trish said.
‘It’s as far as we can get from it in this part of the cave,’ – Jason pointed to the steep mound of dirt where they’d entered – ‘or we manhandle Sarah up that incline.’
‘We could wait until she’s got the strength,’ Trish said.
Jason gave her a meaningful look, his expression grave.
Sarah knew they were worried about her condition. She was, as well, but Jason obviously thought her life was still in immediate danger.
‘I’m fine.’ She tried getting up again and dizziness swamped her.
Trish grasped her shoulder to keep her upright. ‘We’ll stay here,’ she said, giving Jason a nod of approval.
They carefully moved Sarah as far back as they could to gain a few more precious feet of room between them and the shaped charge. Jason then discarded the shattered helmet given to Sarah by Goodwin and swapped it with his Deep Reach headgear. When Trish and Sarah had deployed their breathing masks, Jason dialled another code into the case, which doubled as the wireless detonator. A red light appeared on top and a transparent cover slid back to reveal a red button.
The light switched to green and Jason looked at them. ‘Ready?’
‘No,’ Sarah said. ‘You two go, there’s no point all three of us being this close.’
‘Not a chance,’ Trish said, and positioned herself over Sarah to create a protective shield with her body.
Jason did the same, linking arms with Trish to form a joint barrier against the blast.
Sarah looked up into the faces of her friends as they huddled over her and felt an upswell of love for them.
Trish smiled at her and Jason gave her a wink before holding out the detonator.
Sarah lowered her visor and raised a shaky hand. ‘Here goes nothing,’ she said, and depressed the button.
Chapter Sixty Four
A massive blast thundered through the cave. The ground shook and a dense cloud of dust enveloped the three friends. Small stones ricocheted around them before the air cleared and the aftershocks dissipated.
Jason shook the debris from his hair and retrieved his helmet from Sarah so he could survey the damage.
‘Well?’ Trish said.
Chunks of rock continued to thud to the floor of the cave, but eventually the area stabilised, allowing Jason to take a closer look.
The section of shattered rock appeared to be quite small in size, dashing Sarah’s hopes that their endeavour had been successful.
‘It’s gone higher than I thought it would,’ Jason said, peering up, ‘and I can feel warm air.’
‘But can you see way out?’ Trish said.
‘I’m not sure; there’s a hole, but if it’s the surface it’s night time as I can’t see any light.’
‘What about the dust cloud?’ Trish said.
Jason muttered a curse. ‘I forgot about that.’
He returned to Sarah’s side and with Trish’s assistance, helped her up.
‘Does that look like a sphinx to you?’ Sarah said, gesturing to the statue she’d noticed before.
‘A little,’ Trish said.
‘That was amazing wasn’t it,’ she said, her speech slurring.
Trish shot Jason a look of concern.
‘What was?’ Jason said, as they moved towards the newly formed hole.
‘The sphinx, the standing stones, everything … it was like a dream.’
‘I’ll go up first,’ Trish said, propelled by a sense of urgency and she left Jason propping up Sarah.
Trish climbed up through the hole and a moment later she dropped a short rope back down to them.
‘Can you see anything?’ he called up.
‘It looks like the inside of an Anakim building.’
‘We’re still in Sanctuary?’ Sarah said in dismay.
‘Let’s get her up,’ Jason said to Trish.
He secured the rope to Sarah’s harness, and with great difficulty, they wrestled her through the crumbling opening.
When they reached the top Sarah felt a strange sense of light-headedness, almost as if she was floating beyond her body.
They rested her against a wall and Jason shone his helmet’s torches around the building. ‘There’s an opening,’ he said to Trish, ‘help me.’
Sarah squinted through the dark. A curtain of dead branches blocked a half-coll
apsed entrance and Jason and Trish hacked and pulled at it in a frenzy.
When they’d cleared it, they returned to Sarah and carried her through the gap.
As they squeezed through the tight space, Sarah reached out a hand and touched the carvings on the wall. ‘May—’ she said, finding it hard to speak, ‘may—’
‘I don’t think she’s got long,’ Trish said, on the edge of tears.
‘Keep going,’ Jason said.
Sarah felt herself slipping back into the dark. Her vision narrowed and she grasped Jason’s arm.
‘Hang on, Sarah,’ he said.
She reached out as they entered a narrow passageway and her hand brushed against more carvings.
Trish glanced down at her. ‘Oh, God, she’s bleeding from her eyes.’
Sarah swallowed and cleared her throat.
‘Jason,’ Trish said, ‘stop – STOP!’
‘We need to get help!’ he said, sounding desperate.
‘There is no help, we’re still trapped underground!’ Trish looked down at Sarah. ‘What is it, sweetheart? What are you trying to say?’
Sarah summoned her last ounce of strength and pointed a shaky finger at the wall. ‘May … may … Mayan.’
♦
Jason looked at Trish in shock.
‘She’s right;’ Trish said, ‘these inscriptions aren’t Anakim, they’re Mayan!’
‘We’re on the surface?’ Jason said.
Trish got them moving again. ‘There’s an opening.’
Moments later they rounded a corner and emerged out into fresh air.
Jason stared out at the dark scene before him in disbelief.
‘It’s the Copán ruins,’ Trish said, ‘we’re back in Honduras.’
They stumbled down a set of stone steps before Jason halted their advance. A strange flickering light had appeared two hundred yards away and it glided across the ground towards them at high speed.
A second later the shimmering vision veered left and Trish let go of Sarah and sprinted into the dark to intercept it.
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