Chapter 30
"I just spoke to Dr. Wu." Emily sat down and buckled her seatbelt. "We'll be on the ground in twenty minutes. But before we land, I'd like to give you some information."
Eagerly, I leaned forward.
"What about them?" Graham nodded at Miranda's team.
"They prepared most of the information. Now, as I said before, our destination is a closed-off canyon. It's located deep in the Montañas del Oriente, or Eastern Mountains." She held up her tablet.
I leaned in for a closer look. A satellite image took up the entire screen.
"The canyon covers an area smaller than one square mile," she continued. "It's shaped like a rough circle. Sheer rock walls surround it on all sides. We haven't figured out the exact height of the walls yet, but they could be as tall as five hundred feet in places. There's a small marsh in the middle of the canyon. Thick jungle surrounds it. The land between the marsh and the jungle is firm ground. Our camp is located on the southern part of that land."
"Where's the pyramid?" Beverly asked. "In the jungle?"
"Actually, the jungle appears to be devoid of manmade structures. The pyramid is situated in the middle of the marsh. Since it's the only building in the area, we believe the library is stored inside it."
Emily swiped her finger across the screen. A new image materialized. It looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. Blotches of dull textured colors covered every square inch of the screen. I saw turquoise, red, and yellowish-green, among others.
"I didn't take any pictures during my initial visit," Emily said. "So, this will have to do. You're looking at a high-resolution, false-color satellite image of the canyon. I've also got some old images taken by high-altitude planes as well."
"What are all those colors?" Graham asked.
"The yellowish-green areas indicate color and reflectivity variations in the foliage."
"So, the vegetation isn't all the same color." He frowned. "Is that important?"
"It indicates a disturbance at ground level. Hunahpu used materials — limestone and lime plasters from the look of it — to construct the pyramid. After he left, the marsh started to reclaim the land. But limestone doesn't hold moisture well. So, plants had difficulty gaining traction above and within the pyramid. At the same time, chemicals from the plaster leaked into the marsh, altering its chemical content. Some plants lived, others died, still others changed colors. The differences are tiny. You wouldn't be able to notice them from the ground or even from our helicopter. But from space, they're quite clear."
I pointed to a brown splotch in the center of the screen. "So, this square-shaped thing is the pyramid?"
She nodded.
"Are the other images as clear as this one?" Graham asked. "Because if they are, I'm surprised no one ever thought to take a closer look."
Emily's smile faded. "Let me show you."
She touched the screen again. A new image appeared. It was covered with different shades of grey and looked completely different than the previous picture.
"What's that?" I asked.
"It's a close-up of the canyon. It was taken two years ago by a team of geomatics experts using lidar, which is a remote sensing technology. Essentially, an airborne laser sends pulses. The pulses bounce off the ground and return to the sky. The longer a pulse takes to reach its origin, the lower the altitude level. And—"
"We know how it works. With enough pulses, you can build a fairly accurate three-dimensional map." Graham studied the image. "That's odd. This picture looks nothing like the other one."
"That's correct. Apparently, the geomatics team discovered a small gap in their lidar images after flying sorties over the area."
"Sounds like the laser malfunctioned."
"That's what they thought. So, they commissioned another sweep of the area. But the laser malfunctioned again over the exact same chunk of land. It took them two more tries to get something that resembled a traditional lidar image." Emily looked pensive. "We noticed similar problems while looking over other images. The vast majority of them are blurry. Some of them appear completely different from other ones. But none of them show anything resembling a pyramid."
"Any idea what caused the disruptions?" Beverly asked.
"There are no settlements or military installations in the immediate area. So, my best guess is the cloud forest plays tricks on the equipment."
"There's another possibility," Graham said. "Something within the canyon could be causing electromagnetic interference."
"That's possible. But it would have to be emitting an awful lot of energy to interfere with overhead aircraft, even ones that are flying low."
"I know."
A hush fell over our small group. All I could hear was the beating of the blades and the whirring of the engine.
"Are you sure there aren't any settlements in the area?" I asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. The pyramid was built in an extremely isolated location. There's nothing around for miles. In many ways, the canyon is an entire world onto itself." She paused and her look became distant. "A lost world."
Chapter 31
The helicopter jolted. I lurched into the aisle. Air shot out of my lungs as my chest crashed into Emily's knees.
The chopper dropped a couple of feet before slamming to a halt. The impact jarred me to my bones.
The helicopter dropped a few more feet. Emily lost hold of her tablet. It bounced across the floor.
I tried to stand up. But the chopper reeled to the left. The sudden shift pitched me to the ground. My forehead smacked against the metallic floor.
Cries rang out as the chopper jerked forward. Then backward. Then side to side in a circular motion. I struggled to return to the bench. But the winds showed no mercy, causing the helicopter to shift erratically.
Metal clinked as a seatbelt came loose. I looked across the aisle and saw Emily ease off the bench. Crowley grabbed at her, but she evaded him.
"Are you crazy?" I shouted. "Get back in your seat."
She dropped to her knees. The helicopter pitched forward. With a soft yelp, she rolled toward the cockpit. I grabbed her hand, but it was slick with sweat. I lost my grip and she swept toward the cockpit.
"We can't stay here, not with these winds." Dr. Wu's voice growled from an overhead speaker. "I'm going to descend and see if we can make an expedited landing. So, I need every butt buckled in its seat, pronto."
Screams and shouts died out. A quiet terror took hold of the cabin as I fought my way back to the bench and buckled my belt.
The wind screamed an ear-piercing shriek. Emily scrambled away from the cockpit, tablet in hand. With Crowley's help, she pulled herself back into her seat. As she hunched over her tablet, a deep frown materialized on her visage. "That's odd."
"What's odd?" I asked.
The helicopter swung to the side, then dropped like a stone. It came to a sudden stop, jarring me all over again.
"It doesn't work." She gritted her teeth as the helicopter dropped another few feet.
"It's the turbulence," Beverly said. "It must've thrown the system out of whack."
"No way. It's survived worse conditions than this." Her brow furrowed as she tapped impatiently on the tablet. "I can't believe it. It's dead. Completely, utterly dead."
Chapter 32
The clouds grew thicker as we started our descent. Thunder roared in the distance. Lightning flashed across the sky. I could no longer see traces of jungle. The edges of cliffs were still visible, but just barely.
"I think I see the canyon." Beverly peered out a window. "Well, part of it anyway. Looks like a big chunk of land."