Torrent (Cy Reed Adventure) by Meyer David

Author:Meyer, David [Meyer, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Guerrilla Explorer Publishing
Published: 2014-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 60

"You think the death gods are real?" Graham made a face. "You can't be serious."

Heavy rain struck the limestone and cascaded down the pyramid's southern face. From there, it spilt onto the ground, mixing with the marsh, and forming an ever-larger quagmire.

"I know it's just a myth. But it could still have a basis in reality."

"Unless it was just dreamt up by Hunahpu to improve productivity. Think about it. He needed workers to spend eighteen years building the pyramid. That's a long time. Spreading false stories about sealing up death gods would be a good way to keep people motivated."

"That's pretty cynical."

He shrugged. "The truth is educated Mayas had little use for the plethora of Maya gods. They knew the gods were just a convenient way for divine ajaws to exert control over peasants."

My eyes traveled up the south wall. Darkness and misty haze surrounded the ancient structure. Suddenly, my gaze tightened. "Did you see that?"

"See what?"

I pointed at the southwest edge. "I think I saw an animal up there."

He gave me a doubtful look."

"There could be a crevice. Maybe we can use it to get inside."

"We won't need it."

I twisted toward him. "What do you mean?"

A giant grin crossed his wrinkled face. "I fixed Alice."

He pulled a camera out of his bag and handed it to me. I pushed the power button and an image appeared. For the most part, it was colored blue. However, I noticed traces of slanted light red lines on the upper half of the pyramid. They were parallel to each other and spread evenly apart.

"Nice work. This is from the north wall, right?"

He nodded.

I took a closer look at the image. Light red blobs were gathered around the edges of the wall. They were evenly spaced and relatively close to the ground. I estimated the lowest one was just ten feet off the marsh.

My heart skipped a beat. "You know what this is, right?"

"Well, of course. It's—"

"It's the answer to how Hunahpu built the pyramid."

He frowned. "It is?"

"Remember the mural from the summit shrine? It showed an exterior ramp leading to the pyramid. But in the picture, the ramp had already reached the edge of the clearing and the pyramid was only about a quarter of the way to completion. There simply wasn't room to build a longer ramp. Plus, we haven't found any traces of it."

"That's right." He nodded slowly. "And as I recall, you didn't think a spiraling ramp could finish the job."

"Not an exterior spiraling ramp. But an interior one could've done it."

He gave me a puzzled look.

"As the pyramid got taller, Hunahpu must've built a spiraling ramp inside it. At that point, the first ramp was no longer necessary. Most likely, it was broken down and the limestone blocks were hauled up the internal ramp to build the rest of the structure." I nodded at the slanted red lines. "I think those lines are what's left of the internal ramp."

"Well, I'll be damned. But what about those blobs around the edges?"

I stared at the blobs for a long time.

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