I secured my sheath to my belt and looked to the sky. A few rays of sunshine managed to pierce the thick clouds. But for the most part, the clearing remained dark.
I strode to the dome tent. I saw Graham and Tum. They stood close to each other and appeared to be arguing.
"— is an untouched paradise," Tum said. "What if we ruin it?"
"What if it ruins us first?" Graham retorted. "You might love nature. But trust me. It doesn't love you back."
I cleared my throat.
Graham glanced at me. "You look like hell."
"I feel like it too." I stretched my aching muscles. "Did you set the traps?"
"Yeah. Crowley and I placed about thirty snares just inside the jungle, near where we found the tracks. The snares are made from braided metal cables so if something steps into one of them, it's not getting away."
"Good job."
"I thought so." Graham jabbed a thumb at Tum. "But he disagrees."
Tum exhaled.
I didn't feel like getting involved so I nodded toward the marsh. "Let's go check the cameras."
"Sounds good. Let me get my tools."
"I'm sorry," Tum said softly as Graham hurried out into the rain.
"For what?" I asked.
"All the arguing. I like Dutch. But he sees nature in purely scientific terms. He doesn't recognize its magic, its balance."
"Balance?"
"The amazing thing about nature is how it self-regulates. If it gets out of whack, forces take over to bring it back into equilibrium."
"What do you mean?"
"Nature is filled with self-regulating mechanisms called feedback loops. When something disturbs the natural order, the change is detected. This information then feeds back to the source of the disturbance, allowing nature to adjust itself in order to eliminate it."
The explanation seemed awfully simple but I nodded anyway. "Then why do you care what happens here? Shouldn't these feedback loops of yours fix everything?"
"Yes, but only on a small scale. Take the Mayas for instance. If they'd only chopped down a few trees, the Classic Maya Collapse would've never happened. Nature would've just swallowed up the trunks and regurgitated more trees." He brushed away a swarm of flies. "It was a whole other story when thousands of trees were destroyed. The feedback loops couldn't work fast enough to correct the problem."
"That won't happen here."
"Maybe not. But this place is fragile."
"Oh?"
"Invasive species are common elsewhere. But I imagine they're exceedingly rare here. This canyon is practically a closed ecological system." His brow furrowed. "Only now, that's changed."
"How so?"
"An invasive species has arrived," Tum said sadly. "Us."
Chapter 56
"Damn it." I glared at the camera. "It's broken just like the others."
"It must've been the storm," Graham replied.
"Aren't these things waterproof?"
"Let me see her." He took the camera from me. Using a pocketknife, he twisted off some screws. "Well, that explains it."
"What?"
"She's fried."
"Fried?"
"These parts have melted a bit."
"How'd that happen?"
"Probably lightning."
"No way." I pointed at the camera's exterior. "If lightning had struck it, the casing would've burnt to a crisp."
"Actually, I think it happened on the plane."
"You mean the ball lightning?"
He nodded. "It probably caused a localized EMP, or electromagnetic pulse. That led to a tremendous surge in voltage."
"But the cameras were off," I said.
"On or off, it doesn't matter. Electrical systems contain all sorts of potential conductors. When the EMP happened, those conductors must've seized the energy and converted it into voltage."
"Then how come Beverly's equipment wasn't damaged?"
"It must've had proper shielding."
I frowned. "But Alice worked earlier. You used her to take a photo of the helicopter."
"True. And I wouldn't be surprised if she succeeded in taking a few photos of the pyramid too. But the extra voltage, combined with the heavy usage these last twenty-four hours, must've caught up with her."
I shook my head. "Where'd that ball lightning come from anyway?"
"I've been thinking about that. Tall buildings attract lightning and the pyramid is the tallest — and only — building for miles."
It made sense. But it didn't help my mood.
A soft sucking noise filled the air. I turned to my right just in time to see the long camera pole fall to the marsh.
My fury intensified. Graham's cameras were in ruins. And the stupid pole still wouldn't stay in the soil. "Can you fix her?" I asked quietly.
"It depends on whether I can scrounge up the right parts." He stared into the camera's interior. "I don't know if I can get her in full working order. But I might be able to recover any pictures she took."
He gathered Alice and the other cameras in his bag. As he walked back to camp, I turned to look at the fallen pole. It irked me.
I picked it up and shoved it back into the ground. It remained steady for a moment. Then it tipped over again.
I dropped to my knees and began to scoop away mud. My hands hit a rock-like object. I dug my fingers underneath it and yanked it upward.
Mud slurped at the object. I pulled harder and finally yanked it clear. My veins iced up as I laid eyes on it.
I dropped it into the marsh. Then I started digging again. Less than a minute later, I pulled another object out of the mud. It was different than the first one, but clearly connected to it.
My fingers returned to the mud. I dug up another object and pulled it out of the marsh. It was a skull.
A human skull.
Slowly, I turned it in my hands. Like the other bones I'd found, it was smudged with dirt and grime. The marsh, I realized, wasn't just a marsh.
It was a massive burial ground.
Chapter 57
Dr. Wu looked up as I walked into the clinic, followed by Graham and Beverly. "We need your help, doc."
"With what?"
I placed a large duffel bag at his feet. "With this."
"Hang on a second." The doc turned back to Rigoberta. "I think you're developing a new infection. You should really take it easy."
"Don't worry." Her eyes looked red and puffy. "I'll be fine."
He sighed and twisted back to us. Bending over, he opened the bag. Instantly, he recoiled. "Where'd you get these?"
"From the marsh," I replied. "And that's just from one little area."
My nerves tingled as he gently pulled the skull from the duffel bag. It appeared curved and brittle. Clumps of dirt stuck fast to it.
He produced a small light and pointed it into the skull's interior. "This person sustained massive injuries." He shifted the beam to the bag. "The skull is crushed and the limbs are broken. Maybe a block fell on him."
"That was my thought too," Beverly said. "He was probably a worker."
"Maybe." He sorted through the bones. "How'd they look coming out of the ground?"
"Pretty much like you see them now," I replied.
"These rib cages are intertwined." He held up the broken bones. "Were they like that when you found them?"
I nodded.
"I doubt Hunahpu would've buried his workers in a mass grave." He picked up the skull again. "And do you see that?"
He passed it to me. It felt hard and rough against my fingers. I breathed on a clump of dirt, blowing away the particles. "It looks like a wound."
"Probably a spear wound. These people were injured during battle. And then they were sacrificed. The skull is clearly scorched in multiple places. And I saw similar marks on the other bones."