stalagmites, like crystal fangs in a sparkling glass jaw. In this light, everything shimmered and pulsed. The ancient ice was translucent, and like the heart of a diamond it seemed to radiate with an inner brilliance.
Sebastian gasped. “It’s… beautiful.”
“Quite the way you have with words,” Lex said, approaching him.
Ahead, the grotto opened into a much larger space roofed by a vast ceiling vaulting into the darkness.
“No telling how large this cavern is,” Sebastian said.
Lex touched his arm. “By the way, thanks for the heads-up back there.”
Sebastian grinned. “Well, seeing as Antarctica is the most hostile environment on God’s Earth, I just figured we should be looking out for each other.”
Lex laughed. “Nice to know someone was paying attention to my lecture.”
Maxwell Stafford stared apprehensively into the darkness beyond the grotto. “Let’s get those lights up.”
“Any second now, boss,” Connors replied.
“How do those cables look?”
Dane grinned. “Nobody’s talking to us from up there, but the generator’s still humming.” He touched the wires together, and a spark leaped between them. “These cables are hot.”
“Good,” said Max. “Let’s start hooking them up.”
Charles Weyland rose and crossed the grotto. The descent had taken its toll on the man’s weakened constitution—his shoulders slumped, and he seemed more haggard and drawn than Max had ever seen him, even during the worst of the chemotherapy.
“I don’t understand,” Weyland said, breathless. “No equipment. No sign of another team—”
“Well, this tunnel didn’t dig itself.”
“We have power!” cried Connors.
Max nodded. “Let’s light her up.”
All at once, multiple banks of halogen floodlights blinked to life. For a few seconds the sudden brilliance and the twinkling reflections off the ice blinded them all. Squinting against the glare, it was Lex who slowly lowered the hand shielding her eyes.
“OhmyGod.”
Sebastian, who had turned his back on the intense light, spun around at Lex’s gasp—and was instantly transfixed.
“It’s awesome,” Miller cried.
A massive pyramid towered over them, its top brushing the roof of the cavern. The structure had smooth sides and a narrow stairway comprised of hundreds of steps running up one side. It was obvious to Sebastian that this structure was the largest pyramid ever discovered, dwarfing the Great Pyramid of Giza by half.
Sebastian lurched forward, eyes devouring every inch. The pyramid’s surface seemed intact and unblemished, though the icicles that hung from the stone blocks partially obscured the details beneath. The smoothly carved steps—each one shimmering with ice—led to a flattened pinnacle at the top. Along those stairs pictographs were visible, even from this distance—and Sebastian immediately deduced that the characters were neither Egyptian nor pre-Colombian yet seemed vaguely reminiscent of both.
“This is…” Thomas’s voice died.
“Impossible?”
“
Lex rested a hand on Weyland’s shoulder. “Congratulations. Looks like you’ll be leaving your mark after all.”
Weyland nodded, and despite his suffering, he managed to offer Lex a broad smile.
“Look! Farther in the ice,” Sebastian called. “A whole temple complex! Connected with a ceremonial road. The overall design looks like an amalgam of Aztec, Egyptian and Cambodian… but those hieroglyphics… I think they reflect
Thomas lifted his eyebrow. “Is that possible?”
“If it’s here.” Then Sebastian pointed. “It looks like an entrance down there, at the base of the pyramid.”
Weyland stepped forward to face the explorers. “Thank you all for this,” he said in a voice that sounded surprisingly vigorous. “Let’s make history.”
While Max gave orders for Connors and Dane to secure the base camp, the others gathered equipment— flashlights, lanterns and flares, mostly, but also cameras, chronometers and compasses, Miller’s chemical and spectrum analysis kits, extra oxygen tanks for Weyland, a first-aid kit, plenty of canteens and even a few provisions.
After departing the grotto, the group crossed the broad, broken ice plain stretching right up to the base of the pyramid. Along the way, their footsteps echoed hollowly, a dull and insignificant sound, swallowed up by the enormity of the ice cavern.
On the trek it became clear to Lex that Weyland was getting weaker. Max carried extra oxygen tanks, which Weyland hit on intermittently. Most of the time, the industrialist relied on his ice pole to walk, but as they crossed especially treacherous patches, he was compelled to lean on Stafford for support.
A short, ceremonial stairway—with thirteen steps, Sebastian noted—led to the pyramid’s yawning entrance. The door was somewhat narrow but very high. Through it, the pyramid opened into a long hallway lined with many more hieroglyphics than were etched on the exterior of the structure.
Thomas and Sebastian traced the ancient writing with their flashlights and pointed out various characters, pictographs, or cartouches, speculating on possible translations.
“I recognize the Egyptian, but not the other two,” said Thomas, pointing to three sets of inscriptions carved into the floor in front of the door.
“The second line is Aztec, pre-conquest era,” Sebastian explained. “Third is Cambodian. Looks like a mixture of Bantu and Sanskrit.”
Sebastian looked up to find Lex watching him. “Impressed?”
A smile tugged at the corners of her full lips. “Maybe.”
“Then you were right,” Weyland said. “The pyramid does contain all three cultures.”
“That’s what it looks like,” Sebastian said. “This goes against every history book that’s ever been written.”
Thomas got down on one knee and traced his fingers along the carved pictographs.
“ ‘You may… choose… to enter’?” He paused in his translation and rubbed his neck. “Or maybe it’s ‘Those who choose may enter…’ ”
“It’s like an ancient welcome mat,” said Miller.
Sebastian stepped forward and gazed at the inscription. “Who is the incompetent who taught you to translate?”
Thomas grinned. “Funny, he looks just like
“It’s not ‘choose,’ partner… it’s ‘chosen,’ ” Sebastian declared. “ ‘Only the chosen ones may enter.’ ”
While they theorized, Verheiden pushed Thomas aside and moved forward, into the pyramid. The first step he took through the door landed his booted foot on an ornate stone tile, activating a hidden trigger. No one noticed as the team moved across the threshold into the entranceway.
CHAPTER 15
Inside the darkest heart of the great pyramid, where none of the Weyland explorers had yet ventured, infernal machines awoke with a throaty rumble. Within a vast stone chamber dominated by a central pool of swirling, ice-cold vapor, clanging reverberations erupted from deep beneath the surface mist.
Barbed, razor-sharp chains dangled down from narrow slits in the high vaulted ceiling and extended deep into the pool’s billowing, spectral haze. The chains stirred and clanked, then were suddenly pulled taut as invisible pulleys hauled a massive object out of the simmering pool.
