‘I wasn’t going to touch anything,’ she said, annoyed. ‘Besides, if they just wanted to stop anyone from reaching the Temple of the Gods, they could have filled in the lava tube. There must be a way in, otherwise why even bother with the test?’
‘What test?’
She pointed at the orichalcum plate. Visible on it was an indentation in the metal: a handprint. ‘I think that’s how you find out if you deserve to go through. Nothing’ll happen as long as nobody touches it.’ She started back towards the doors. ‘Probably.’ Eddie winced as she crossed under the hammer… but it remained still. Warily, he followed her.
Nina peered at the metal plate. The handprint, fingers splayed, was not large; a woman’s. Nantalas? There was something set into the centre of the indented palm. A piece of stone.
Purple stone. Part of the meteorite, the same substance from which the statues had been made.
She stared at it, thinking. Why place a material that could conduct earth energy on a door?
The answer was obvious. It was a lock, one that could only be opened with a biological key. Someone who could channel earth energy would be able to unlock it simply by pressing their hand against the panel.
Someone like Nantalas.
Or herself.
‘I know what it is,’ she told Eddie. ‘This place must be an earth energy confluence — maybe it’s why the meteorite ended up here, because it was following the lines of energy. So if I touch the stone, it’ll charge up just like the statues, and release the lock.’
Eddie did not share her confidence. ‘And if you’re wrong, it’s hammer time and I have to mop you off the floor.’
‘I don’t think I’m wrong. But just in case, you should go back over to the entrance. Take this with you.’ She gave him the bag of supplies.
He didn’t move. ‘We can blow the thing open.’
‘We don’t know how thick the doors are. And what if doing that drops the hammer? It’s huge — we’d never clear it without using all the other charges, and if we do that we won’t be able to destroy the meteorite. Eddie, I know what I’m doing. It’s the only way to get into the temple.’
Reluctantly, he backed up. Nina gave him a look of reassurance, then turned to the metal plate. She raised her hand and let it hover over the indentation as she spread her fingers to match the print.
Slowly, she moved it closer, about to press her palm against the stone—
‘
‘Jesus Christ, Eddie!’ she cried. ‘What is it?’
‘The hammer’s not the trap.
‘What do you mean?’
‘The whole point of building this place was to make sure nobody could ever use the meteorite’s power again, right?’
‘Yes…’ she said hesitantly, unsure where he was leading.
‘So why would they make a door that only opens for the exact people who can do that? It’d be like building a bank vault that can only be opened if you’re wearing a stripy jumper and carrying a bag with “swag” written on it! The last person they’d want to let in would be someone who can actually channel earth energy. Someone like you!’
She was silent for a long moment. Then: ‘Eddie?’
‘Yeah?’
‘I’m an idiot.’
He grinned. ‘I didn’t want to say it myself, but…’
‘No, seriously. I. Am. A. Moron! How the hell did I not figure that out? Oh, my God!’ She clapped both hands to her forehead. ‘I fell right for it. I’d be a quarter-inch thick right now if it wasn’t for you.’
‘Well, you’d have been able to slide right under the door.’ That triggered a thought, and he looked back towards the lava tube before regarding the doors quizzically.
‘You just saved my life, Eddie,’ Nina went on. ‘Again. Thank you. You know, I don’t appreciate you enough. When we get home, you can do that thing that I don’t normally…’ He was still looking at the doors. ‘Hello, hi,’ she said, waving a hand in front of his face. ‘Wife, right here, offering free perversions.’
‘It’s a kink, not a perversion,’ he said. ‘And yeah, I’ll definitely take you up on it. But have a gander at this first.’ He went to the door and knelt to peer at the crack beneath it, then took out a penknife and opened its longest blade. ‘Shine your light in there.’
Nina illuminated the narrow gap — and was startled to discover that it was not what it seemed. ‘It’s a fake!’
Eddie probed it with the penknife. The blade only went an inch deep before its tip found solid stone. ‘I thought there was something weird about the room,’ he said. ‘It must have been part of the lava tube before the Atlanteans dug it out — but if they built these doors to block the tunnel, why don’t they actually line up with it?’
It was true; the doorway was offset from the entrance opposite by quite an angle. ‘The lava tube twists about, though,’ Nina said.
‘Not by that much.’ He returned to the entrance and faced into the chamber, pointing directly across it at a patch of plastered wall over six feet from the doorway’s edge. ‘Even if it were twisting, the tube should have come in somewhere over there.’
‘What are you saying — that there’s another door?’
‘No — they didn’t want anyone to get in, so it’s probably blocked off. But I bet the tunnel carries on behind that wall.’ He crossed the room again and stood before the inscriptions. ‘This is a closed room, but I can still feel a breeze blowing through. Where’s it going?’
Nina directed her light higher up the wall. At the top of the plastered section were several holes, each a few inches in diameter. ‘Through those, maybe.’ She gathered a handful of dust and tossed it at the small openings. The motes swirled in the torch beams — then were sucked into a vortex and vanished through the vents. ‘There’s definitely something back there. How are we going to get to it?’ Eddie drew his gun. ‘Oh, I see. You’re going to shoot it open.’
‘Not exactly.’ He turned the gun round in his hand — and bashed its grip against the wall, cracking the plaster.
‘Aah!’ Nina cried, appalled. She rushed to him as he chipped away at the ancient inscriptions, larger chunks breaking loose. ‘What are you
‘Sorry, but if we want to get through here, this wall’s going to have to come down.’
‘Well, yes,’ she said, flustered, ‘but at least let me photograph it first!’ She hurriedly rummaged through the bag for her camera.
Eddie sighed, but moved back so she could take several pictures. ‘All right, you done?’
‘Yes, okay.’ She hung the camera’s strap round her neck and grimaced. ‘I really wish we didn’t have to do this, but… go ahead.’
He returned to the wall and continued his attack. After a few minutes, enough plaster had been smashed away to expose a section of what was hidden behind it.
A wall. But not solid volcanic rock. This was built from stone blocks — another barricade, sealing the entrance to the Temple of the Gods.
Eddie used his penknife again to explore the cracks between the stones. Unlike his examination of the fake door, this time the blade went all the way in without obstruction. He also noticed something else. ‘It’s warm.’
Nina put her hand against the exposed wall. It was noticeably hotter than the chamber’s ambient temperature. ‘Well, we
‘Yeah, but if it’s warm on this side, God knows what it’ll be like on the other. We don’t know how thick this wall is. Only one way to find out, though.’ He looked at the bag of explosives.
Nina’s shoulders slumped in dejection. ‘Guess I’d better take photos of the rest of the room…’
‘Ready?’ Eddie asked.
Nina cringed, covering her ears. ‘Yeah. Do it.’
