feet in diameter. The neighbouring buildings, abutting it at the base, appeared identical. ‘No windows . . . no doors, either. How do you get in?’
They moved round the group of structures, finding that they were arranged in a circle. Other domes nearby were clustered in the same way, between seven and ten to each group. Eventually they came to a paved road, one of the small branches Nina had seen coming off the main route running through the centre of the city; a gap between two of the buildings led into a kind of courtyard. Smaller domes, presumably for storage, filled the gaps between the clustered groups, the entrances of which were finally revealed: tall, thin archways facing the centre of the courtyard.
It was Chase who realised the logic behind the design. ‘It’s for shelter,’ he said. ‘Valley like this, near the coast, you’d get a lot of wind blowing through it. Put ’em all together in a circle and you get some protection.’
‘They’re houses,’ said Nina. ‘Maybe each cluster was for one particular family group.’ She went to one of the archways and switched on her flashlight, moving cautiously inside. The entrance was over seven feet high, but somehow it still felt cramped.
‘Anything inside?’ Chase called to her.
‘Nothing.’ The interior, like the guardhouse, was empty, puddles frozen on the stone floor. The Veteres had apparently taken everything with them when they made the long voyage back to Australia. ‘Doesn’t look like we’re going to find anything here,’ she had to admit, turning back. ‘Let’s try that main road.’
They moved along the side road, passing more groups of domes before emerging on the central route bisecting the city. The first things that caught their attention were the statues along its sides. The larger than life figures were oddly stylised, tall and thin with high foreheads, long necks and small mouths. ‘They look like African tribal art,’ said Nina.
Chase nodded. ‘Like that ugly bugger you used to have.’
‘It was a lot nicer than your stupid Fidel Castro thing,’ she said defensively, aiming her torch at another statue across the road. The first had been male; this was female, a woman holding what looked like one of the clay cylinders they had found in Australia. It stood on a small plinth - with writing on it. ‘Now, what does this say?’ she wondered, crossing the road for a closer look.
Sophia came with her. ‘That’s the word for “prophets”,’ she said, pointing it out. ‘The other word is “keeper”, or “holder”.’
‘Keeper of the prophets? A priest?’ Nina turned. Uphill, the temple rose imposingly, the cold light glinting off the copper strips at its summit.
They continued, passing more statues. Men and women, some holding objects that apparently denoted their role in the ancient society while others simply stood in poses of authority, but all clearly figures of great importance. The line came to an end at a high, free-standing archway; some sort of ceremonial gate, Nina guessed. Beyond it, they followed the road to the temple. More statues lined it, apparently representing the same people as the ones further downhill - but this time, they were not in poses of authority. Quite the opposite.
‘What’s wrong with this lot?’ Chase asked, leaving the sledge to regard the bowed, kneeling figures with curiosity. ‘Lost their contact lenses?’
‘They’re praying,’ Nina said. She looked to each side of the road, seeing only open land. ‘No more houses. This whole section of the city’s devoted to their religion. The statues are people the Veteres considered important in their society . . . but even they bow to their god.’
She tipped her head back to take in the full height of the temple. Even with the torch beam, she still couldn’t tell how much of the building was buried within the overhanging ice. She brought the circle of light down to the massive open doors. It disappeared, swallowed by the darkness within.
‘Maybe he’s still inside,’ said Chase. ‘You know, their god. Frozen.’
‘I hardly think these people would take every last chair, plate and spoon with them but leave their god behind,’ Sophia said.
Nina walked to the entrance. ‘Only one way to find out.’
Chase and Sophia switched on their own torches as they followed her. The sound of ice crunching beneath their boots changed as they moved inside, echoing from the inner walls of a large, high space.
Nina suddenly stopped, flashlight aiming upwards. ‘Eddie?’
‘Yeah?’
‘You know you said their god might still be in here?’
‘Yeah?’
‘You were right.’
23
The other two torch beams moved upwards to join Nina’s. ‘Christ on a bike,’ said Chase, amazed. ‘That’s a
The stone figure before them was at least sixty feet tall, a giant standing against the back of the high circular chamber, reaching almost to the domed ceiling. It was male, carved in the same elongated, blocky style as the statues outside, but on a much greater scale. Its right arm hung down by its side, holding what looked like a sickle; the left was extended across the chamber, palm upturned as if scattering seeds. It wore a necklace of copper, or possibly gold, the style reminding Nina of an ancient Egyptian
And between its feet, at floor level between the statue’s heels, was a low opening, less than three feet high, leading to another chamber behind it. The rest of the room before the mighty figure was empty, an open space in which the faithful could worship.
Nina directed her light at the statue’s head. It had the same high forehead and narrow jaw as the smaller statues outside. She was about to look at the necklace when something else caught her attention - not on the statue, but just behind it. ‘That remind you of anything?’ she asked.
‘It’s a stained-glass window,’ said Sophia unenthusiastically, more interested in the gold adorning the statue’s accessories.
‘No, I don’t mean the window itself - I mean its shape.’
Chase saw what she meant. ‘Lofty’s got a halo.’ The window was circular, lines of coloured glass radiating outwards. It was unmistakably a representation of a light or fire surrounding the figure’s head.
‘Yeah. Now that
‘What, so the sixty-foot-tall bloke inside a temple buried in Antarctica isn’t?’
‘You know what I mean. Haloes are an almost universal piece of religious iconography - they appear in ancient Egyptian, Roman and Greek art, as well as Buddhist. But they’re most closely associated with the Abrahamic faiths, even Islam. Modern Muslims don’t portray Muhammad in artwork, but ancient Muslims did, and he was almost always shown with a halo or heavenly fire around his head.’
‘But this predates any of them,’ Sophia pointed out. ‘By a long time.’
‘I know. That’s why it’s so interesting.’ She crossed to the hole between the statue’s feet. ‘The way to the tree of the gift . . . Let’s take a look.’ Small icicles hung from the top of the low opening. She swatted them with one hand, sending them tinkling to the ground, then crawled through the gap. ‘It
The passage was short, emerging in a circular room about fifteen feet across. She stood, finding that the room was actually a shaft, extending upwards. Unlike the enclosed temple, the open shaft was blocked by a roof of ice. She could make out the other side of the stained glass window, but of more immediate interest was a set of steps, blocks of stone protruding from the wall at roughly two foot intervals, spiralling upwards. Icicles hung from them, thicker and heavier than the little ones she had dislodged.
‘Come on through,’ she called. Chase and Sophia soon appeared. ‘I think I know what this is for - apart from being a stairwell, obviously. It was open at the top, so if you were inside the temple, daylight would come in and light up the halo behind the statue’s head.’
‘Fascinating,’ said Sophia in a bored tone. She examined one of the stone blocks. ‘Are we supposed to climb up these? They look rather slippery. Maybe we should go back to the sledge and get the climbing gear.’
‘I thought you were the one in a hurry,’ Nina countered.
‘That was when we were on solid ground. I’m more than happy to slow things down if it means not
