x
"It is my great pleasure to announce that the TARDIS has materialized," Dr. Smith said authoritatively.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnCT02wz4g
"Where are we now?" asked Penny, Dr. Smith's fifteen-year-old niece.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSqpIMCBHFa
Dr. Smith moved around the central control deck of his marvelous, though, at times, quirky, time/space ship to the digital time/place orientation printout and pressed the correct button. Alas, nothing happened.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1S1k9sK2EG
"Well?" Penny arched her eyebrows. 531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7s3TBlycZl
"West, hand me a screwdriver," Dr. Smith said testily.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffxF2FmfuA
Don took one from the toolkit, and gave it to Dr. Smith, remarking that with any luck they were on Earth during the 1990s in an aerospace factory where the TARDIS could be thoroughly overhauled. Dr. Smith was not amused and he began furiously unscrewing the front panel of the printout.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkq2ZmQJpO6
"We could always stick our heads outside the door and look," Ann MacGregor suggested.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEgvzk1zvhB
"And be devoured by a dinosaur, or dictated to by a Dalek, perhaps?" Don added.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9LQkHhP2Jn
"Let's check the atmosphere," Penny said.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZhxbLsDSuc
"Good idea." Don turned to Dr. Smith. "May I?"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQC931QwLV
The only reply was a grunt which Don took to mean "yes," so he switched on the atmospheric sensor. A display screen gave a breakdown of the gases outside. Don studied it for a moment and then said that it appeared that they were on Earth, but the air was stale.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz3TsGxKs2T
"Stale?" Penny echoed.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDQXOjjfiR
"That means breathable but musty."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFoq8fxqou
"Then we can take a peek," said Ann. "Are you coming with me?" she asked Penny.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTbd8qDJA3
When Penny asked her uncle if she could go, he waved one hand rather vaguely at her and told Don to help him to remove the panel. When it was off, the Doctor began poking at the electronics with his screwdriver, making the 28-year-old scientist wince with despair.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCRBxmPaj2n
Cautiously, Penny and Ann opened the door and peered out. Apart from the light inside the TARDIS, they were in total darkness.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgtSkLn0jVp
"Where do you think we are?" Penny whispered.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYza6jL6mRj
Ann shook her head, but as the light from the TARDIS diffused and their eyes got used to the gloom, they stepped outside and looked around.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8Nuno3Jyy
They were (apparently) in a large tomb, and in the middle was a raised stone slab on which lay a superbly cloaked skeleton with a magnificent gold mask covering the skull. On the floor around the slab were earthen bowls and jugs, as well as ornaments, statuettes, bracelets, ear-rings, and brooches, all of them made of jade. 531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFitaPKWzQ
But it was the cloak, geometrically woven with silver and golden threads, and the superb mask that fascinated Barbara.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡci95pd0sF9
"Look at that, Penny," she murmured.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUzSvSwIS0g
"I am," Penny shuddered with a sense of foreboding, anticipating the evil to come.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpQD6Cwjln
"It's an Aztec mask of Quetazcoatl, the Sun God, who was driven into exile by Huitzilipochtli, the God of Darkness," Ann looked down at the skeleton again. "He must have been a High Priest." Beside one skeletal hand was an oblong rod of carved jade with six beaded threads of silver, each about six inches long, attached to one end. Ann picked it up and smiled. "Do you know what this was?"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgPvDtKkNCj
"No."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1bTFVMxrW
"His personal fly-swatter."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdrUxl2Ovq
Penny giggled. Since the Aztecs were Mexicans, the TARDIS must definitely be on Earth. "But what year is it?" she asked.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI2iB1ErSYx
"I can tell you when he died." Ann pointed to the objects strewn on the floor. "About 1430. These things all come from the Aztecs' early period." She picked up a gold bracelet shaped like a coiled snake that lay on the slab above the mask and turned it over in her hands. This indicates that after he died he was revered as a god."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIwT0FL9zL
"You really do know your subject," Penny exclaimed. Ann smiled and admitted that when she was in college she had been particularly interested in the Aztec Indians and their civilization.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQ9r5p3o1w
"What little I know about them doesn't make me feel very well disposed towards them," Penny replied with a grimace. "They used to cut out people's hearts while they were still alive, didn't they?"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3e2eu6FeK7
Ann picked up the razor-sharp knife hewn from stone which lay at the skeleton's feet. "They did it with this," she said. "It's called an obsidian knife. But there was another side to their nature----a highly civilized one."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaBGFT6cz3A
"The Spanish didn't think so when they came here."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnkmqTh9ldw
"Hernando Cortez and his conquistadores saw only wealth for themselves and barbarous acts of savagery by the Aztecs," Ann replied. "That was the tragedy of the race: their civilization was totally destroyed, the good as well as the bad." Ann put down the knife and picked up the bracelet again.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrnMr0ffVY1
"The Spanish landed in the early 1500s, didn't they?" Penny asked.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJbpN91qkKg
"1519, to be exact." Still holding the bracelet Ann pointed to the wall behind the head of the slab. A colored fresco depicted an eagle clutching a coiled snake in its claws, surrounded by warriors in loin-cloths, cloaks, plumed headdresses and sandals, who held shields, spears and short-swords slung from their hips. From their mouths cam bubble filled with hieroglyphs. Ann studied the fresco and, almost without realizing it, slipped the bracelet onto her wrist.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxDXABTHHX
"They're just like cartoon strips," Penny remarked. "But they're all the same. What does it mean?"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUcVYcVH9S5
"That the warriors will protect the High Priest's spirit until he rejoins his people."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsjoezcSokM
"Did the Aztecs believe in reincarnation, then?" Penny sounded surprised.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4i9oD10Aqj
"Oh, definitely." Ann moved closer to the wall. "This painting has hardly faded at all." 531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPubmgXKRvn
She touched the mural, then quickly withdrew her hand.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKbpLQuHsQ
"What's wrong?" Penny asked.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJkfUrJ4v5
"It may be my hyperactive imagination at work," Ann replied, "but I think the wall moved when I touched it."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg0silV18Ev
"Let's both push it and see."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwMNMG8cSXR
They put their hands to the wall and started to push. The wall swung slowly outwards and upwards. Light trickled into the tomb and then flooded in as the wall rose higher and higher. Both of them blinked as their eyes adjusted to its intensity.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeffBpWyBOw
"This tomb is part of a temple," Ann whispered.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmh2LY1lKLO
"Hadn't we better go back to the TARDIS?" Penny asked nervously.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnANeOb0HJq
"No, it's all right," Ann replied, "there's nobody here."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwkCCgTsCU
"I think I'd better fetch uncle and Don anyway," Penny said and ran back into the tomb.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVAyoCIVEGh
Ann left the tomb, walked to the middle of the temple and looked around. The temple itself was not large---about fifty square feet. Three sides were painted in white and blood red, decorated with sculpted skulls and coiled snakes, and hung with elaborately woven brocade curtains. The fourth side opened onto a terrace, in the middle of which stood the sacrificial altar. Ann shivered involuntarily as she approached the terrace to see what lay beyond it.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1Nf6pnZcJ
"Woman!"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFce0lcras
The man's voice was firm and Ann spun around to face him. He was in his mid-fifties, just like Dr. Smith, with a craggy face and long, gray hair. He wore a loincloth, a cloak similar to the one that enveloped the skeleton in the tomb, sandals and a head-dress of multi-colored plumed feathers. In one hand he carried a posy of flowers. "How came you here?" he asked.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuZS28IlroX
Ann looked towards the entrance to the tomb in the back wall of the temple, but it had swung closed.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVS6g0qcg4
"This temple is sacred to the memory of the High Priestess Nenetl," the man said. "You trespass, and you shall be punished for it. Warriors, guardians of Nenetl's tomb," he called out. Four young Aztecs, who Ann thought bore an uncanny resemblance to those on the mural, emerged from behind one of the curtains. "Take her!" They advanced towards Ann who backed away to the closed entrance. It was only when she reached it with her arms outspread that the man saw the coiled-snake bracelet on her wrist.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7ERsETVy5
"Wait, warriors!" he cried out with an expression of incredulity on his face. "Wait!"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYacwP2kZZW
Dr. Smith and Don had just finished replacing the front panel when Penny burst into the TARDIS and told them excitedly where they were. The Doctor pressed the digital time-orientation button and the number 1507 lit up.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLnvHRHDkE
"Cortez isn't due for another twelve years," Dr. Smith observed. "But the Aztecs have some rather gruesome habits, and the sooner we collect Ann and move on, the better." The three of them went out into the tomb.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhEyG2tkbG
"The wall's closed," Penny exclaimed.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25cwFScvYN
"Which wall?" Don asked.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9MiXmaf7eH
"The one with the mural," Penny replied.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgre9HPOwpF
"I can't see anything," Dr. Smith complained, and went back into the TARDIS to fetch his pencil-flashlight. When he came out again he switched it on, but the beam of light was too narrow.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbVFRbH53g
"I still can't see anything," he grumbled.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuwbmLNNeNX
"Give me your hand, Uncle Zachary," Penny said and led him past the raised slab.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW2YZxHYsVl
"What's that?" Dr. Smith asked.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxj0pt7ud9X
"According to Ann, he was a High Priest now revered as a god," Penny replied.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4A99jBtkR
Dr. Smith snorted.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbcPS9gFc1i
"We push it up," Penny explained when they reached the wall, and a few seconds later they were standing in the temple.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡutZhsYexj9
"Ann's not here," Don said.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0R3woZdb8g
"But----she was here when I came to fetch you," replied Penny defensively.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡARxvbwrHtI
Don called out Ann's name. "There's no sign of her now," he said, "unless she's out on that terrace." He walked to the sacrificial altar and glanced down either side of the terrace. "She's not here." Then he looked down. "Good Lord, Doctor, come and see this," he exclaimed.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJdNouCvzf
Both Dr. Smith and Penny went to Don's side. As they passed the altar the Doctor muttered that they had better find Ann soon as he didn't fancy being carved up on it by some Aztec High Priest of Sacrifice, concluding his statement with his inevitable "Oh, the pain, the pain."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSi0FjtIVc0
"Just look at the city," said Don. The temple was on the top of a pyramid and the city lay two hundred and fifty feet below them, patterned like a chessboard, with broad avenues between the squares of houses. There were gardens, irrigation aqueducts, and several markets.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIhMiu3D8i
"The Aztecs knew how to build as well as kill," Dr. Smith observed dryly. "We must find Ann and leave." He looked back into the temple and saw the wall sliding back into place. "The wall, West! Quick! The wall!" he cried, and Don raced across the temple in a vain attempt to reach the wall before it shut them out. Dr. Smith and Penny hurried after him.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRYjhyei5Y
"I was too late. There was nothing to grab onto." Don felt ashamed at his failure.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF20WZXBRdD
Penny looked perplexed. "But it must open somehow, Don."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbBp8unNRu
"It does, my dear," Dr. Smith said with a shrug, "you push it from the other side. Tombs like this were designed to stop grave-robbers, not help them."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEeOAEDI8Gh
"But how shall we return to the TARDIS?"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27g0EN2gyT
"That, Penny, is a very good question."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBti2AeicPL
Don cleared his throat. "Dr. Smith, we've got company," he murmured.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOdRn38wfp
The man whom Ann had met and the four Aztec warriors were standing by one of the brocade curtains. The man raised in salute a hand which held a posy of flowers.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiwYsSsBSPw
"I, Tetzal, High Priest of Knowledge, most humbly greet the servants of Nenetl," he said, while the four warriors bowed reverently.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7J3WxyjvYv
Dr. Smith glanced at Don. "The servants of what?" he asked.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHqNjwUt8EU
Don shook his head and looked at the High Priest. "Where is Ann?"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqrCN3B2gUt
"Of whom do you speak?"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfd18CX6uu2
"The young woman who was here a few minutes ago."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntMB8xfBd2
The High Priest smiled at them. "In due course, you will meet Nenetl again. But first, grant us our courtesies. Be assured that we harbor no evil towards you in our hearts. Indeed, we honor you."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDi7vPKJ6Tm
Dr. Smith looked at Tetzal for a moment. "Er, what did you say your name was?" He sounded suspicious.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡooGu3m827c
"Tetzal."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyyHq1cPeES
"And you're the High Priest of Knowledge?"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8xjf8THy4h
"I serve as such."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTUOzXMA0m
"Do you know where we came from?" Dr. Smith persisted.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVEAgeZpeDJ
"Nenetl's tomb."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJtyB0xI4W
"How does one enter it from the temple?"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvV3XeWJE1w
"One cannot. It is sealed." Tetzal gestured toward the four warriors. "Go now with these attendants and soon you shall see the coiled serpent of Nenetl again."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAx6kIa7AeG
Dr. Smith scratched his head. "I don't know what he's talking about," he said as they crossed the temple to where a warrior held aside one of the curtains.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQReFVgzph9
"Ann, I think," Penny hissed. "I'll explain when we're alone."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡabnvfEdhsE
Just before they reached the drawn curtain, the deformed figure of a powerfully built man limped into the temple from the entrance. He was younger than Tetzal and far less elaborately dressed. He wore a priest's loose-fitting robe which at first glance seemed to be caked in mud, but a second look told Penny it was dried blood. The plumes on his head-dress were splattered with it and his long hair was matted. He had a hard, thin, almost lipless mouth. But it was his eyes that commanded the attention----they were jet black, piercing, and totally fanatical. He stared at Dr. Smith, at Penny and at Don, then bowed curtly to them and limped to the back of the temple where Tetzal stood.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92Sy2Foh9T
"You know who he is, West," Dr. Smith said as they were escorted from the temple.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqq7yANuECL
"The local butcher, by the look of him," Don replied.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSByzkYBp2
"Exactly."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSPdELRCWYJ
Tetzal waited until they had gone before he spoke.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRpLBRHfnJ
"You have seen her, Ollin?" he asked.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8wb4SIBV10
"A vision is with us, Tetzal," Ollin replied and, turning away, he limped back to the sacrificial altar. He looked up at the sky. "When does it rain?"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsZikhL0aEJ
Tetzal came halfway along the length of the temple and looked with disgust at Ollin's back. "This day when the sun's fire first touches the horizon to the west," he replied.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBjyQua8WdM
"At that moment we shall present her to the people. A vision shall stand before them, and I, in supplication to Tlaloc, the Rain God," Ollin stretched out his left hand over the altar, "I shall offer human blood. And the rain will come. No more talk of Tlaloc being angered by us and bringing drought to the land. There will be ra n," he exulted, "and all power shall be ours again." Facing the altar, Ollin raised both hands and shook his clenched fists to the heavens.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdxyhwzhsFb
"I tell you, O' High Priest of Sacrifice, there will be rain," Tetzal spoke gently and hesitated before continuing, "...with or without human blood."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf79mLZrikc
Ollin spun around, his eyes ablaze. "Does the High Priest of Knowledge serve only Quetzalcoatl, the banished God, and not Huitzilopochtli who has made us strong?"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcreVpNUmYL
"I serve the same god as you," Tetzal's voice was even.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1DWF9p6iwh
"Then, above all else, honor him. He demands blood," Ollin shouted, "and blood he shall have!"531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaOwFmUsGhj
Dr. Smith, Penny and Don were in an antechamber below the temple. The walls were covered with colorful tapestries; the stone floor was carpeted; there were three couches to recline on, and a legless table laden with food and wine. Penny and Don sat down while the Doctor paced up and down.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtA3uIYSh23
"So you think Ann may have been wearing the bracelet when she went into the temple, is that it, Penny?" Dr. Smith didn't stop to look at her.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavn0QgHw8Z
"I know Ann picked it up and I have a feeling she may have put it on," Penny replied half-apologetically, "but I can't be sure, Uncle Zachary, it was dark in the tomb."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡug1vW0OYuZ
"If she were wearing the bracelet and came out of the tomb then that fellow Quetzal...."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGXyqZ6D4DH
"Tetzal," Don corrected him, and was ignored.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXrEd6aMU7O
"....must associate Ann in some way with that skeleton, Yentl."531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOzCI7FfQ5
"Nenetl."It was Penny's turn to put him ri ght.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3jin8uLC7G
"Oh, the pain," Dr. Smith muttered.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSAN3ThG0XN
"Well, they've treated us all right so far," Penny said brightly.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKdCGguMxhe
Dr. Smith stopped in his tracks and glared at her. "The Aztecs always showed the utmost courtesy to their intended victims," he observed icily and continued pacing the room.531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvvKwQ9Pijp
531Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu7mrgdopBB
