Some choice.
'Screw it,' West said. 'Grab the rungs . . . Go!'
And out they swung, over the deep quicksand pit,
The eighth handrung broke in West's grasp . . . and he fell.
Pooh Bear avoided it—but the tenth one got him, and he also dropped, down into the quicksand, joining West in the Pit from which there was no escape.
West and Pooh Bear landed in the quicksand with twin goopy splashes.
West made to lie on his back, to spread his body-weight and thus avoid sinking . . . when abruptly, four feet below the surface of the quicksand, his feet struck the bottom.
They could stand in here . . .
So he and Pooh Bear stood, chest-deep in the deep pit.
The walls around them were slick and sheer, made of diorite.
'This isn't so bad . . .' Pooh Bear said. 'I don't see why Imhotep said this was escape-proof—'
It was precisely then that the
The intention was clear: the lowering ceiling—itself a two-ton slab of stone—pushed you down
It was only a lightning-quick swoop from Horus that saved her from the descending ceiling. As the trap sprang into action, she darted like a rocket for the exit tunnel and zoomed into it just as the lowering ceiling rumbled past the tunnel, closing it off.
From her position here, she could see the ceiling's operating mechanism on the
Just then in the Pit, Pooh Bear spotted movement.
Saw the spotted body of an outrageously enormous python come slirhering out of a wall-hole and dive into the quicksand pool!
'Huntsman!'
'I know, there are three more on this side!' He called up at the ceiling: 'Horus! Reset the bucket! Reset the bucket!'
There were three more wall-holes arrayed around the Pit. . . and they too were spewing forth the long speckled bodies of pythons.
The ceiling was halfway down and closing fast.
The snakes slithered across the surface of the quicksand pool, moving with intent.
One wrapped itself around West's right leg and reared up around him, jaws bared wide. West, since he had no gun to shoot it with, just jammed an X-bar into its wide-open mouth. The snake froze in confusion, its mouth now held bizarrely open, hyper-extended, with no way of dislodging the X-bar in it. It slithered off West's body, shaking its head violently, disappearing into the sand.
'Horus!' West yelled. 'What are you doing up there?'
Horus zoomed up the chain-shaft, following the ceiling's mighty chains as they stretched upward, bent over a large bronze pulley, and then
Folding over the pulley, the chains shot down this new shaft, where at their other end they upheld ... a gigantic clay bucket. It was easily ten feet wide: the world's biggest bucket. And next to it flowed a healthy little waterfall, pouring out of a man-made drain.
Right now, the bucket hung askew, at right-angles, tipped over on some hinges, its open top facing sideways. If it had been sitting in the upright position, it would have
Known as a 'water-based mechanism', this was the standard operating system behind all Egyptian moving- wall traps.
It was an ingenious system devised by the first Imhotep, and was remarkable for its simplicity. All it needed to work were three things: gravity, water . . . and a pulley.
When West had grabbed the wrong handrung, he had triggered a catch which had tipped the (full) bucket.
Now, when
There was a second trigger stone on the floor of the Pit—the 'reset' switch—which, when eventually hit by the lowering ceiling stone, would right the giant bucket, and allow it to fill again, thus raising the ceiling back to its resting position, ready to strike once again.
As such, there truly was no escape from Ningizzida's Pit. It offered no tricks, no riddles, no secret exits. Once you were in it, you did not leave.
Unless you had a companion like Horus.
Flying fast, Horus swooped up the chain-shaft, past the pulley, and down toward the big clay bucket.
There she landed and hopping around, searched for the reset catch that righted the giant tub.
In the Pit, the ceiling was still lowering fast. It was only seven feet above the surface now and closing quickly.
The pythons circled, moving in on West and Pooh Bear.
Without warning, one dived under the surface—and reappeared slithering up Pooh's body with frightening speed! It constricted violently, trying to crack his spine—just as Pooh Bear swiped hard with his K-Bar knife and the python froze in mid-action. Then its head fell from its body.
The ceiling kept descending.
Five feet.
West was very worried now.
Four feet.
The pythons cut and run—fleeing for their wall-holes, knowing what was about to happen. Three feet. . .
In the bucket-shaft, Horus searched patiently, just as she had been taught.
And she found the reset catch: a little hinged hook that, when released, righted the empty bucket.
Horus bit into the hook with her tiny beak . . .
Two feet. . .
West called: 'Horus! Come
One foot. . .
He and Pooh Bear now had only their upturned faces above the surface of the quicksand.
Six inches . . .
'Take a deep breath, Pooh,' West said.
They both sucked in as much oxygen as they could hold.
In the bucket-shaft, Horus continued to bite at the reset hook. It wouldn't budge.
In the Pit, the lowering ceiling met the surface of the quicksand . . . and touched it, pushing West and Pooh Bear under—
—just as Horus got a good grip on the hook with her beak . . .
The response was instantaneous.
With a silent lurch, the great empty bucket rolled upwards on its hinges, offering its open mouth to the cascade of water pouring down above it.
The bucket immediately began to fill with water.