Bubba And The Mayans

The Battle of El Mirador

It was twilight when we emerged from the cave. Two of Cadmael’s warriors waiting for us. They led us on a quick run back to the ruins of El Mirador. There we found a large crowd chanting, arguing, and camped in small groups.

We approached Bubba and Mikimo’s tent. We were met by the rest of the warriors assigned to Bubba and several villagers who had joined them.

“What is going on?” I asked Cadmael as he stood before the door of the tent.

“Waziki and Alejandro have spread lies about Ubah Kan to the people. They say he is a false God who tricked Waziki.”

“I’m amazed he would admit he was wrong.” I said with surprise. “I thought the thing with Alejandro was taken care of,” I said as I looked at Felicia.

“It wears off Jack! You should remember that from Sesterisia. Arlo got his memory back after he was away from Oz for a few days.”

I nodded my head. “You are right. I should have remembered. Or you could have reminded me.” I pointed out. “It doesn’t matter now.”

“I’m going to take Ariana back to her students.” Arlo stated. “I think she would be safer there.”

“Good idea,” I agreed. “Once we know what the situation is here, we may have to get in touch with Osned for a quick extraction.”

“What do you mean by extraction?” Ariana asked with trepidation?”

“Arlo will explain it to you,” I offered. When they left the tent, I turned to the group. “Give me the details,” I directed to Cadmael.

“As I said before, Waziki and Alejandro have convinced a large group of followers Ubah Kan, duped them. They demand he perform a miracle to demonstrate his power.” Cadmael explained.

“What miracle?” I inquired.

“They do not know,” he admitted.

“What do you think Ubah Kan?” I asked as I turned towards Bubba and Mikimo.

“I don’t know nothing bought birthin no babies,” Bubba replied. I was stunned he knew the reference! It was not helpful, however. Mikimo looked at him, and then me, in confusion.

“Cadmael, what would it take to impress you?” I asked. “What would you consider a miracle? What does the prophecy say about the return of Ubah Kan? What will he accomplish?”

“He moves on the wind and appears before the rains in the ancient stories,” Cadmael offered. “If he directed the skies to rain violently, it might change some people’s minds.”

“How much time do we have?” I inquired.

“The tribal leaders will expect an announcement tomorrow.” Cadmael declared.

I did not know how much we could affect the weather with anything on the spaceship. Then it hit me! I had to find Arlo and Dingo. Danny Boy was in the tent with us. Felicia had disappeared when we reached the outskirts of the village.

I reached for my phone and called Osned.

We did not get a chance to rest! I spent a substantial portion of the night scheming with Arlo, Dingo, Danny Boy, and Osned on the phone. I pulled Ariana in due to her vast knowledge of the Maya history. She did not like many of the ideas I threw out to the group.

Osned’s knowledge of advanced technology was critical. I was thinking of using the ship in ways I had never dreamed of before. I did not know what it was capable of.

I was spent by the time the sun rose. Bubba and Mikimo slept peacefully once I assured them, they would be safe.

One of Cadmael’s warriors went to meet Waziki and Alejandro. Waxaklahun Ubah Kan would make an announcement when the sun reached its zenith in the sky.

Surprisingly, they sent back a list of demands. I responded with a message stating mortals did not demand of gods. I hoped they would not make any rash moves until after the proclamation.

While Cadmael and his warriors stood watch, our crew, and Ariana, were finally able to get some sleep.

The peace lasted a couple of hours. I was awoken before eleven by the chanting, yelling, and screaming outside.

Several thousand villagers were gathered at the ruins of El Mirador. The crowd was much larger than the one which witnessed Bubba entering the snake pit.

Snippets of rumors we heard let us know all the snakes we had transported from the pit invaded several villages after they were dropped into the ravine and pit.

They were snakes! How were we supposed to know where they were going to go? We removed them from Chief Rugaru’s village, which was the main concern at the time. Bubba was supposed to be a serpent god! What did they expect?

I realized a vast number of those in the crowd would not understand Bubba when he spoke his Kansas English. It was not a problem we could deal with easily. Another rainstorm from the shuttle shooting out water seemed a little too obvious to try a second time. Fool me once and all that. No one noticed the initial rainstorm had come without a cloud in the sky.

Ariana and Arlo tried to get back to the rest of the archeologist. The crowd was so thick around Bubba’s tent they soon returned. They had been bombarded with questions as soon as they appeared. The crowd was unwilling to let them pass.

Chief Rugaru appeared before the warriors near noon. The respect he commanded allowed him to get through the crowd.

He let out an audible expletive when he gained entry to the tent. He fell to the ground and began praying and sobbing. I was perplexed. I understood he was praying to Bubba. I did not know why. After several minutes of coaxing, I convinced him to return to his feet.

He only arose to his knees, begging for Ubah Kan’s forgiveness. I went to Bubba and suggested he grant forgiveness and tell Rugaru to rise.

After Bubba did so the chief stood on wobbly legs. He let his gaze rest on one of the crystal skulls Ariana had been showing to Mikimo. Ariana halted her explanation of how it worked when Rugaru entered the tent. He now stood with his gaze transfixed on the skull.

I had another idea. I asked Chief Rugaru if we could have two small platforms built to carry the skulls. I thought he was going to faint when we pulled the second skull out.

“Those should not be touched,” he said fearfully and reverently.

I set the second skull on a small table by the first. “Which is why we need the platforms to carry them,” I explained. I gave him rough dimensions and he slowly backed out of the tent torn between gazing at Bubba and the two crystal skulls.

“I’m an idiot,” Ariana stated after he left.

“You’re brilliant,” Arlo countered.

Ariana appreciated the compliment but shook her head as she smiled. “I didn’t even think about how they would react if we just showed them the skulls,” she said.

“Nor did any of the rest of us,” I offered.

“But I am the Mayan expert,” she argued. “The crystal skulls are legendary! By legendary I mean that they are only legend. The one in the museum is highly controversial. There are as many detractors as believers. I do not know what will happen if we present two of them to these people.”

“Especially when they see the eyes glowing,” I stated with a smile.

Ariana looked at me for a moment. “That’s why you want the platforms to be four inches thick at the base,” she said with understanding.

“Why?” Bubba asked.

I reached into my bag and pulled out one of our flashlights from the ship. They could produce far more light than the best LED models earth had to offer. I turned it on and balanced one of the skulls atop it. The empty eye sockets glowed with white light.

I adjusted the settings on the light and the whole skull turned crimson with glowing red eyes.

“That is freaky!” Dingo exclaimed. “It would make a dang good Halloween decoration!”

“This is not a toy,” I explained. “Danny Boy, you and Arlo see what you can do with the other skull while Dingo and I play with this one.”

“It’s not a toy!” Dingo repeated to me.

“No, it’s going to be a weapon,” I answered.

“These won’t hurt anyone,” Ariana argued.

“Psychological weapon,” I answered with a smile. “How does our enemy counter this?”

“These people are not our enemies,” she countered. “We can’t hurt them,” she pleaded.

“I don’t intend to do them any physical harm,” I offered. “Just a few mind games. Never let them see what is behind the curtain, right Felicia?” I spoke. It took me a moment to realize she was not there to get the reference. A little magic could have come in handy.

I called Osned to modify our plan.

It only took about thirty minutes for Chief Rugaru to return with the platforms.

“The people want to see them,” he stated as he pointed to the skulls.

“Soon enough my friend,” I answered. His face betrayed he was not sure we were friends. I did not let it bother me.

He left the tent. I could hear him telling people we had two crystal skulls in the tent with Ubah Kan. Soon we could hear arguments breaking out about the truth of his statements. The crowd was demanding to see them. I could hear their voices rising.

I looked at my watch. It was almost two. Just as my watch reached the hour, we heard several booms outside. Osned was in the cloaked shuttle. He was releasing water vapor over El Mirador from twelve thousand feet. It was forming clouds in the clear blue sky. The booms were just explosion sounds from the shuttle I had asked Osned to throw in to gain attention.

No one noticed the shadow racing crazily over the ground as the shuttle blocked the sun’s rays. All eyes were on the sky when I left the tent. Within moments the rest of the crew joined me to watch. Bubba and Mikimo stayed out of sight. He was stripping down to don the ceremonial outfit he was given.

From the archeological tent I saw Felicia and agent Smith staring our way. They seemed unimpressed by the clouds.

After all the water vapor was released, Osned cracked open the rear cargo door of the shuttle. Dry ice and silver iodide were dropped into the cloud mixture. The dry ice dropped through the clouds and dropped toward the ground as it evaporated.

The tight circle the shuttle was flying in was producing a wind vortex. I did not know if that would concentrate the mixture or disperse it.

We had tried cloud seeding in Kansas during a drought with limited success. I did not need it to rain today. I just needed it to look like a storm might be coming. When the shuttle was finished Osned sped off into space to get our ship.

We ducked back into the tent. We quickly set the skulls on the small bamboo platforms. I set my light to produce a crimson effect and Arlo set his to make the other skull glow a blue green mixture.

The empty eye sockets seemed to concentrate and magnify the light, making the eyes glow brighter than the rest of the skull.

I called Cadmael into the tent and asked for two warriors. They fell to the ground before the glowing skulls. I explained Ubah Kan had chosen them to bear the skulls before him.

It was not quite three yet. I assumed it would not matter. I called Osned and told him to stand by.

Cadmael led the way out of the tent. The two warriors followed bearing the glowing crystal skulls. Like channel markers leaving port, red on the right and the blue green on the left. The warriors stood behind Cadmael about three feet, four feet from each other.

The crowd grew silent. Cadmael walked forward to the ruins of the pyramid. We emerged from the tent and followed behind the warriors. Danny Boy and Dingo were first in the group. Bubba and Mikimo followed them. Ariana fell in close behind. Arlo and I were in the back, weapons at the ready. The remainder of the warriors surrounded our group. The sea of people in front of us parted in shock as they saw the crystal skulls.

We were three quarters of the way across the distance when one of the warriors fell with an arrow embedded in his chest. It had not killed him. He had fallen at the shock of the attack. The remaining warriors formed a circle around us to protect Ubah Kan.

As I searched the crowd, waiting for the next move, I saw agent Smith with Waziki and Alejandro a few hundred feet away. Everything was at a standstill for several tense seconds. I heard a war cry behind me. I turned to see a group of fifty or so warriors heading towards us.

They were met with resistance from the crowd as believers engaged them. Within seconds fighting had broken out everywhere.

“You’ve got to do something,” Ariana screamed at me. They are killing each other.

I grabbed my communicator. “Now,” I yelled into it.

Osned flipped a switch which jammed all electronic signals for several miles. A few seconds later he switched off the cloaking device. A thousand feet above the crowd my ship appeared in the sky. I heard Ariana gasp beside me.

The Apochairetismos is not impressive when parked beside other ships at a spaceport. Materializing in the sky above the jungle in Guatemala was a different story. Between the screams of terror, and the screams of the injured and dying, the specter of the ship took almost everyone’s attention.

Osned threaded a few laser beams into the forest. Chunks of earth and trees blew apart to cover people with debris without harming them. It began to rain.

Osned used the ship’s computer to train gravity beams on the crystal skulls. They rose into the sky above the stunned crowd to fifty feet and floated there, eyes glowing in the light rain.

Pandemonium broke out as people began to scream. They soon scrambled to be clear of the area. Osned piloted the ship to a mere two hundred feet above the ground.

I pushed my way out of the circle of warriors. As the field cleared, I saw agent Smith, Felicia, and Waziki striding towards us.

When they were twenty feet away, I pulled my weapon out and shot both men. I heard Dingo yell an expletive beside me.

“I wanted to shoot Smith,” he bemoaned.

“Go ahead,” I encouraged. “I just used the stun setting.”

Felicia stopped when she saw the two men drop. She looked into my eyes and tentatively took a step forward. I shook my head no. She came no closer. She did not move away either.

I did not know what had transpired in the last twenty-four hours between Smith, Waziki, and her. I knew whatever it was could not be to my benefit. I did not trust her. I probably never would.

The dig site was littered with relatively few bodies. It was a tragedy. I knew it could have been much worse. Not may paid with their life at the battle of El Mirador.

I called Osned. He dropped the ship down to ground level. He opened the access door. Bubba and Mikimo were ushered onto the ship after some argument with Cadmael. I told him Ubah Kan was an alien, not a god. We retrieved the crystal skulls and stowed them on the ship.

Danny Boy, Dingo, Arlo, and I returned to the ground. Osned took the ship back into space. He would take the shuttle back to town. I told him I would contact him later to pick us up.

Once he cleared the area, he engaged the cloaking device and turned the signal jammer off. There should be no video of the ship to broadcast.

We made our way back over to the archeology tent. Ariana directed students and staff to try and help any of the wounded who had been abandoned. The crisis seemed to have given her a sense of purpose she lost after discovering the truth about the Mayans.

We helped with first aid where we could. Luckily, none of the group had been injured. Most of the wounded were carried off by their tribes.

There were fourteen bodies in the field. We wrapped them in plastic and left them, hoping someone from their tribes would return for them.

Chief Rugaru approached us as the sun was beginning to set.

“What do I tell everyone about Ubah Kan?” He asked me. “We saw him enter the flying ship.”

“Bubba,” I emphasized the name, “is not a Mayan god. He is just not from here. Tell everyone Waziki was wrong.”

“What about those who believed in him?” Rugaru asked.

I shook my head. “I do not know what you should tell them. Ariana,” I called to her. “What should they tell the people about Bubba not being Ubah Kan?”

Ariana looked at me in confusion. I knew she did not believe the interpretations of previous archeologist, or her own, anymore. “It doesn’t matter,” she finally answered. She turned away from us. I saw Arlo go over to her.

“What I originally proposed,” I answered. “Bubba was not Ubah Kan. He is a sign that Ubah Kan is coming. It may be a few more generations before he appears.”

“They believed us,” the chief stated sadly.

“They believed Waziki,” I replied. “They wanted to believe. Develop the council and work together for unity and healing.”

“Where is Waziki?” Rugaru asked.

“I do not know. He was in the field next to agent Smith last time I saw him.” Both disappeared after they recovered from being shot. Dingo shot them again when they started to come around and he could enjoy it. Afterward they were unseen.

Rugaru shook his head sadly. He looked into the jungle for a few moments. “I am taking the warriors to our village. We all need time to think about this.”

I nodded my agreement. I watched him walk away. The warriors joined him. They faded into the jungle in the last of the day’s light.

When I turned back to the tent, I found Felicia standing there. I walked back to my own tent. I found Dingo and Danny Boy tending a small fire. They shared a bottle of whiskey.

I poured some into a cup and took a seat when Dingo pointed to Felicia approaching us. She came and stood a few feet away.

“We need to talk,” she stated.

“Not now,” I answered brusquely.

“When,” she asked softly.

“Maybe tomorrow,” I replied. “Not too early,” I added. “I will find you.”

She stood there for a few minutes before she walked away.

“I don’t trust her Jack.” Dingo stated. Danny Boy shook his head in agreement.

“I don’t either,” I admitted. “I do not think she will do anything rash. She still wants us to take her off the planet.”

“We aren’t going to, are we?” Dingo asked with surprise.

“I don’t know yet,” I answered and took a swig of whiskey. It was not as good as the asha, or my preferred scotch. It hit the spot well enough.

Two hours and another empty bottle later I went to my tent. I did not see Arlo. I knew he was with Ariana somewhere. I did not know where they were going as a couple. I was not particularly concerned with it.

We all had a few things to wrap up before we left earth again. I had a feeling we would have at least one guest along for the ride.