Ann was in the antechamber trying to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes she had nightmarish visions of Penny's punishment, Don's death in a fight with Yaotl, her own public denouncement as a false god, with Ollin cutting out her heart, and Dr. Smith driven insane meandering in the garden babbling inanities to himself. With her eyes open, there wasn't much of an improvement. Both Dr. Smith and Don had impressed upon her the importance of her role as Nenetl, but the tension of playing the part was bringing her close to the breaking-point. She needed to do something, not just be something, to help them out of their plight. She sat up on the couch, put her elbows on her knees and held her head in her hands.240Please respect copyright.PENANArulAcptT4t
"Come on, Ann MacGregor," she said out loud, "you must not crack." She stood up and clutched her arms across her chest. Then she heard Dr. Smith arguing with the temple guard outside.240Please respect copyright.PENANAEABDP4sX7K
"But I must speak to Nenetl," Dr. Smith snapped.240Please respect copyright.PENANAz9SllHQGog
"It is forbidden." The guard was adamant.240Please respect copyright.PENANAT5Tuy8ao6n
"Rot and rubbish on being forbidden!" Dr. Smith exploded. "Get out of my way, you nefarious Neanderthal!"240Please respect copyright.PENANAxquLo6zxua
Quickly, Ann opened the door. "Let my aged servant pass," she commanded.240Please respect copyright.PENANA63uXnKNawV
In obedience the guard stood to one side, but said that Dr. Smith's presence would be reported.240Please respect copyright.PENANAXOboT0WxNn
"So be it!" Ann slammed the door in the guard's face. Then she looked at Dr. Smith. 240Please respect copyright.PENANAora3d0WnKt
His face was ashen.240Please respect copyright.PENANAmx00lLWiYi
"Dr. Smith, those stairs..." she began.240Please respect copyright.PENANAlFQ3cMATqR
Dr. Smith shook his head. "It's young West," he said.240Please respect copyright.PENANAftDGH1AUNx
"What about Don?" Ann asked in alarm.240Please respect copyright.PENANA7a2AcIVXiV
"I think he's dead," Dr. Smith replied in remorse, "drowned by Yaotl. And it was all my fault. Oh, the pain!"240Please respect copyright.PENANAcwfZ80X1Lm
For a moment Ann was stunned, incapable of grasping the enormity of Dr. Smith's statement. Then, as it sunk in, one word came through to the forefront of his mind. 240Please respect copyright.PENANApvFx9x7Trf
"You said "think," Dr. Smith. Does that mean you don't know, that you're not sure?" she asked, clutching at a mental straw.240Please respect copyright.PENANAfZ2TXDx4LL
Dr. Smith told her everything that had happened in the garden.240Please respect copyright.PENANAl1OD14wfNi
"Then there's still hope," Ann said, taking Dr. Smith's hand, "but this isn't the place to be," she added and led him up to the temple.240Please respect copyright.PENANATnGKLhf6Fc
Inside the TARDIS Don looked for some cord, string, even a length of flex would do, but no, there were only printed circuits. Enough of sophisticated electronics that keep going wrong, he thought. Wherever we land next, let's get back to Boy Scout basics: a length of string and a knife with a thing for taking stones out of horses hooves. He went out into the tomb and shone the torch around. Under Nenetl's skeleton was a cotton sheet with a narrow silk border sewn into it. Don found the join, unpicked it and then carefully ripped the silk away from the cotton which had rotted over the decades. He carried the strip of silk over to the fresco and looked for someplace to attach it. The eagle's neck stood proud from the wall, like the eye of a needle, so Don stood threaded one end of the silk through it and tied a nice knot. He tugged the silk several times to make sure that it would hold. Then he pushed outwards on the wall and stepped into the temple.240Please respect copyright.PENANAmoHQw1Zcog
"West, my dear chap, you're alive!" Dr. Smith exclaimed and embraced him. "I was afraid you were drowned.240Please respect copyright.PENANApzMWU2CCEq
"And I nearly was," Don replied and began to recount his adventure in the tunnel.240Please respect copyright.PENANAs6SHkJAHZm
Suddenly, Ann interrupted him. "The wall's closing," she cried in alarm.240Please respect copyright.PENANAS8ci0cQqHk
Don held up the strip of silk.240Please respect copyright.PENANAARzzro1psR
"It doesn't matter," he said, "the other end is attached to the fresco on the inside and, as the wall is counterbalanced, all we have to do is tug on this end and we're home and away."240Please respect copyright.PENANA62nrvTFraR
Dr. Smith thought this was an over-simplification but he said nothing as he still felt guilty about the tunnel.240Please respect copyright.PENANA2Frg3RJMPD
"Why don't you go through to the TARDIS while I go to the seminary and fetch Penny?" Don suggested.240Please respect copyright.PENANAT2GD9wTct9
"No." Dr. Smith was adamant. "When we go to the other side of that wall we all go together. Splitting up is bad, bad idea."240Please respect copyright.PENANAeEvvb83IAO
Ann agreed and added that fetching Penny might not be as easy a task as Don imagined.240Please respect copyright.PENANACemOFMrgc9
"Why not?" Don asked.240Please respect copyright.PENANA1KypTf8oRc
Ann explained about Penny's refusal to marry the Perfect Victim and described her punishment for denying his wish. "Knowing Ollin, she's bound to be guarded," Ann concluded.240Please respect copyright.PENANADiaQWxbdmi
"And knowing Yaotl, she won't be in the seminary," Don added. "He'll keep her a prisoner in his quarters. So, wait for us in the antechamber, it's more comfortable up here." He winked at them and started towards the brocade curtain.240Please respect copyright.PENANABFh0geo5rA
"Beware of Yaotl, West," Dr. Smith felt obliged to warn him. "He's a sly, wily devil."240Please respect copyright.PENANAcCeg7VjKA6
Don stopped and grinned.240Please respect copyright.PENANAsmnczaRsz2
"But I'll have the psychological advantage, Dr. Smith. He thinks I'm dead," he replied and hurried away.240Please respect copyright.PENANA1dySLf19rX
Ann and Dr. Smith hid the silk strip behind the curtain in praise of Tlaloc, the God of Water, which still covered the entrance to the tomb.240Please respect copyright.PENANAhV9oQK6PYn
Ann and Don were right on all counts. Ollin had two guards accompany him and Penny from the seminary to the barracks and Yaotl's quarters, where he told the warriors to stay outside with Penny until he commanded them to enter. He went inside and Yaotl, after paying his respects, told the High Priest of the events in the garden. Ollin congratulated him on his success and added that, with Don dead, the others were at their mercy.240Please respect copyright.PENANA53MBTtNa6I
"The rewards I promised you shall be yours," Ollin said. "And when the Perfect Victim is sacrificed to Huitzilopochtli and the sun's light shines again on our land, then I shall proclaim you commander of our armies."240Please respect copyright.PENANAuWrpfpyI8v
"I shall serve the High Priest well," Yaotl assured him.240Please respect copyright.PENANA3UT3uTbU9t
"Let your service begin now," Ollin said and ordered the warriors to bring in Penny. "I leave her in your charge, Yaotl," he continued. "Do not let her escape nor release her to Tetzal, whose faith in Huitzilopochtli falters."240Please respect copyright.PENANAdfnQ8ExdRv
Penny demanded to know why she had been taken from the seminary, but Ollin was evasive and would only say that it was for her protection.240Please respect copyright.PENANAhEbRtrYLwB
"Does Nenetl know that I am here?" Penny insisted.240Please respect copyright.PENANATww8tuR49v
"A true god is all-knowing, and all-seeing," he sneered.240Please respect copyright.PENANAdWPb6juXhg
"As the Great Spirit's handmaiden, I demand to be escorted to the temple and shown into her presence," she persisted.240Please respect copyright.PENANAN2F7LY7hhT
"And so you shall, at the appointed time."240Please respect copyright.PENANAVrnJxgGUXw
Penny shivered involuntarily at the cold menace in his voice.240Please respect copyright.PENANAEhDEOzbQMJ
He turned back to Yaotl. "Guard her," he ordered, and limped out of the quartes with the two warriors.240Please respect copyright.PENANAtQowW4t03u
Yaotl pointed to the bedroom. "You may rest in there."240Please respect copyright.PENANAYnJBByic1W
"I'm not tired," Penny said and sat on a cushion.240Please respect copyright.PENANASUiqlTP4ze
Yaotl shrugged. "Nor am I, nor shall I be, while I'm charged with you," he warned, facing her with his back to the entrance.240Please respect copyright.PENANAJtHdNYBbWo
Don had just enough time to tuck into the shadows of the main barracks when he saw Ollin and the warriors coming through the passageway from the courtyard. He waited until they had gone past before he slipped into it and stealthily made his way, back pressed against the wall, towards Yaotl's quarters.240Please respect copyright.PENANAr7KZGfC5Zh
"Do you know where Don is?" the Chosen Warrior was asking Penny.240Please respect copyright.PENANAwzGMZtgpYH
"You'd be surprised," Don thought, but he didn't catch Penny's reply.240Please respect copyright.PENANA2IFiRGa2Um
"Then I shall tell you. He's dead," Yaotl announced.240Please respect copyright.PENANAA2q4YZHoYR
"I don't believe you!" Don heard Penny shout.240Please respect copyright.PENANAOcr1IrIdUj
"The old man was there when he died," Yaotl continued. "He knows it to be so. Now have seven warriors, one whom was the servant of a god, challenged my right to command," his voice rang with pride, "yet I alone survive."240Please respect copyright.PENANAoaBDUzOU8m
"Not true," Don said as he stepped up behind Yaotl and hit him with a cross-handed, double-razor chop on either side of his neck which made the Chosen Warrior's eyes almost pop out of his head before he collapsed unconscious on the floor. "Good commanders never jump to conclusions," Don added, grinning.240Please respect copyright.PENANAHS4Y3d4Ngx
"Don!" Penny gasped. "I knew he was lying. He tried to make me believe you were dead."240Please respect copyright.PENANAyaUM9fDZCl
Don put his arm around her. "He was a couple of seconds short of being right," Don replied and then asked if she had her everyday clothes with her. Penny pointed to a bundle on the floor.240Please respect copyright.PENANASyYSQpQSoJ
"They made me bring everything from the seminary."240Please respect copyright.PENANA2lVLyOWzHh
"How terribly obliging of them." Don picked up the bundle and led her across the courtyard to his quarters, where he gathered up his ordinary clothes.240Please respect copyright.PENANAbdD2i6vliH
"Where are we going?" Penny asked.240Please respect copyright.PENANAXLJOMOzA2X
"To the TARDIS. Where do you think?" he answered.240Please respect copyright.PENANAnVpgxV2lBQ
As they left Don enquired how Penny had found her school. She made a raunchy face. "Not much better than yours in 1960s England."240Please respect copyright.PENANAkrm4SVjPXg
Dawn streaked the sky as Ann waited anxiously in the antechamber with Dr. Smith, who was scribbling mathematical formulae on a pocket notepad.240Please respect copyright.PENANADRwCgcHl51
"I hope they're all right," Ann said.240Please respect copyright.PENANAETwqRvtNBc
"I've come to the conclusion that young West is a remarkably resourceful chap," Dr. Smith remarked, grimacing as he rechecked his calculations.240Please respect copyright.PENANA9LW8D0138c
"I just want us to get away as quickly as possible," Ann confessed.240Please respect copyright.PENANAAXNT16m7q3
Dr. Smith looked up a them. "And history?" he asked.240Please respect copyright.PENANASsbYcui7YV
"Can remain unchanged," she replied.240Please respect copyright.PENANAOhSQlfOwng
"No rewriting?"240Please respect copyright.PENANAlKEYozYbff
"No rewriting."240Please respect copyright.PENANAa7O8SDMCnc
Dr. Smith nodded and tapped the notepad with his pencil.240Please respect copyright.PENANAeZFoue5h5f
"It won't be easy, my dear. It won't."240Please respect copyright.PENANA5dw0KY6Jgc
Ann looked puzzled. "What won't?" she asked.240Please respect copyright.PENANAeWQvGU6wD5
"Opening up the wall. I've been doing some calculations and I don't believe we have the strength," he replied.240Please respect copyright.PENANAg5786MOdTf
"Dr. Smith, I barely touched the wall and it began to swing open."240Please respect copyright.PENANAeltlTsMtFi
"From the inside, Ann," Dr. Smith reminded her, and explained that the pressure of her hand upon the inside of the wall was both a force outwards and upwards because of the counterbalance but now with the strip of silk attached to the fresco, the first force was downwards to the foot of the wall and the second one was outwards.240Please respect copyright.PENANAX8xDcGY3Ur
"But where is the upwards thrust?" he asked her.240Please respect copyright.PENANAXlwRRLN9ud
"The counterbalance swinging down will supply it," Ann replied.240Please respect copyright.PENANAhN8lXnNCh1
Dr. Smith shook his head. "No, my dear, things don't tend to move unless..."240Please respect copyright.PENANAwhmkEftL95
"....you start the ball rolling," Ann finished for him.240Please respect copyright.PENANAfTWbz9OhMg
"Well put, Ann," Dr. Smith said. "And downwards and outwards is not the same thing as outwards and upwards. What's more," he added, "that bit of silk is almost one hundred years old and it won't take too much strain."240Please respect copyright.PENANAdJpXKNWiOp
"What can we do?" Ann asked.240Please respect copyright.PENANA3o2jbkOUwm
"Try," Dr. Smith replied, as he slipped the notepad back into his pocket.240Please respect copyright.PENANALNxbVa1Avu
At that moment Penny and Don came breathlessly into the antechamber. "Anyone for the Skylark?" Don gasped.240Please respect copyright.PENANAutNByYh368
Ann and Dr. Smith exchanged a quick apprehensive glance and the four of them went up to the temple. Ann took the silk from behind the curtain as Dr.Smith looked at Don.240Please respect copyright.PENANAtItJva07BJ
"I'm sorry, my dear fellow, but this may not work," Dr. Smith said apologetically. "And we can't put too much load on the silk because it will break."240Please respect copyright.PENANA8OA5dTajtr
They began tugging on the silk, but nothing happened.240Please respect copyright.PENANAQ4iM8JKFSf
"What if I push in at the top of the wall while you pull out at the bottom?" Don suggested.240Please respect copyright.PENANAyM4dHxL4eN
"It's from the inside out, West, not from the outside in," Dr. Smith said. "You're up against the law of..."240Please respect copyright.PENANA65qj2mY3wD
"Inertia!" Don exploded. "Of all the stupid things to overlook. I only had to put it around the doorknob of the TARDIS or something and it would have pulled the counterbalance in."240Please respect copyright.PENANAwsmgCTbLb0
None of the others said a word.240Please respect copyright.PENANA7j6wsiyFM6
"All right." Don looked at each of them in turn. "I'll do the tunnel and the climb again and open the wall from the inside."240Please respect copyright.PENANAnJXtEdlAvY
"The stone has handgrips on the back. Fit it in the wall again, just in case," Dr. Smith cautioned and gave him the pencil-torch. "And, West, a final warning----Yaotl."240Please respect copyright.PENANAGngU5ZYCd5
Don grinned and looked at Penny. "When last seen the Chosen Warrior had deserted Huitzilopochtli for a Greek God whose name is Morpheus. Right, Penny?"240Please respect copyright.PENANAZeC2VP1mwl