Bubba And The Mayans

The Underworld

I awoke just after sunrise the next morning. Arlo was on his bedroll beside me sound asleep. I quietly cleared the tent and went in search of the coffee I smelled brewing.

Besides coffee I found a simple breakfast of eggs and hominy with some bacon on the side. A few of the archeology students were up and milling around.

I had finished breakfast and was enjoying a second cup of coffee. I was surprised to see a groggy Danny Boy sit down beside me.

“Any success,” I asked.

He looked at me for a moment trying to decipher what my intent was.

“College girls,” I prompted.

“Getting there,” he offered with a quick smile. “I was semi focused on our mission though. I did some scouting yesterday and found a dry cenote not far from here. I could see old watermarks on the walls. I did not see any water on the floor of the entrance though.

“The Maya believe they are entrances to the underworld. With the recent lack of rain in the area some of the water levels are lower than normal and we may be able to explore some of the caves that they lead to. I am not really sure what we are looking for.”

“I’m not either,” I admitted. “The Maya pyramids do not have the central burial chambers that I am used to from what I know of Egypt. I am going to suggest Arlo talk to Ariana about hidden passages and if they are common to the Maya buildings.”

“Did I hear my name,” Ariana asked as she slid into a spot at our table. She was nursing only a cup of coffee.

“I was wondering if there are secret or hidden passages in the Maya pyramids. I know some have been discovered in Egypt. I did not know if they were common here.”

“I’m not sure secret is the right word,” Ariana said thoughtfully. I had noticed she often paused before answering questions. Perhaps it was hard to sift through that vast reservoir of Maya knowledge. Or it could be she wanted to consider her answers carefully.

“What do you mean?” Danny Boy asked.

“Well, we have found passages between rooms that have doorways. That is a little uncommon. I am not sure I would call them secret though.”

“Why not?” I inquired.

“They may have been common knowledge when the city was occupied. It has been a thousand years since these buildings were in regular use. Any door that had not been opened in a thousand years might be difficult to recognize and open.”

“A valid point,” Danny Boy observed.

“But there are passages that go deeper into the buildings?” I asked.

“Yes,” Ariana admitted. “Most of them are unexplored though. We do not want to send people into them until we are sure they are stable. Unfortunately, we do not have the money for remote operated probes or robots either.”

“We have stuff on the ship that could probably do that,” Danny Boy suggested.

“How long would it take you to get to the coast and back?” Ariana wondered.

Danny Boy looked at me for an answer. He realized Ariana assumed he meant a naval vessel.

“Too long perhaps,” I said. “How long are you going to be here on site?”

“We have about a month left,” she replied.

“Let me make a call to a friend of mine,” I offered. “We may be able to get something here in a few days.”

“Osned?” Danny boy questioned.

I nodded my head. “He may be able to figure out what is appropriate.” We had stuff on the spaceship that was far beyond anything earth had developed. In a remote location like this there was still some risk in using it though. A long-range scan from the ship might be able to give us a map of passages into the earth. Osned would have to fly up and run the scan though and I did not know when he would be able to do that.

“Has anyone tried to use ground penetrating radar to search for passageways?” Arlo asked as he sat down next to Ariana.

“Again, something we don’t have the money for,” she replied sadly. I saw her give a light smile to Arlo. It appeared their talks were bringing them a little closer together.

“One of the local boys told us there are rumors of strange noises in the area,” I offered. “Have you heard anything while you have been here?”

“There are some low frequency noises our equipment is picking up,” Ariana answered as she nodded slowly. “What was their reason for the noise?”

“They believe some of the gods from the underworld may not have been killed by the brothers. “What were their names again?” I directed to Arlo.

“I’m not sure they were mentioned,” he replied.

“Also, they spoke of lights in the jungle and people who have disappeared in the area.” I continued.

“We have heard things like that too,” Ariana answered. “Some believe these ruins are haunted by ghosts from the past.”

“What about you,” Arlo asked playfully.

“I don’t believe in ghosts,” she answered with a smile.

When Felicia and agent Smith both appeared in the tent, they headed our way. I knew it was time to end the conversation. I stood up as they approached and offered Felicia my chair.

“You don’t have to run off,” she said.

“Limited space,” I said indicating the small area inside the tent. “Besides, I need to make a phone call.”

I wandered outside and saw Bubba and Mikimo outside their tent. They waved me over. The warriors had made a meal for them. It was fresh fruits and juice from the jungle.

Mikimo indicated a seat and I joined them. No food or drink was offered to me.

“I don’t like this Jack,” Bubba said as he took a bite of something deep orange.

“Well, they have eggs and hominy over in the tent.” I suggested.

“I ain’t talking about the food,” he replied. “What’s hominy?” He said as an afterthought.

“It’s a type of corn,” I answered. “What are you referring to then?”

“Being surrounded by all these warriors all the time,” he replied. “I can’t do nothing without five of them following me.”

“They are here for your safety and protection,” I offered as I looked at Cadmael.

“I have been protecting myself for a long time without any help. What is different now?”

“No one knew you were a god before,” I answered. Bubba shot me a dirty look. He did not slow down his eating though.

“Perhaps,” I again looked at Cadmael, “your contingent could be limited to a single warrior to stay by your side. I do not know how much danger you face in this remote location.”

“Perhaps,” Cadmael replied after a moment. I could see he did not like the idea. It could not be easy watching over someone who did not want to be watched in the first place.

“Danny Boy has found a cenote that we were going to explore today. Is that something you would be interested in?” I asked as I looked first to Bubba, and then to Mikimo.

“What’s a cenote?” Bubba asked.

“It is a cave that leads to a spring. Your people believe they are entrances to the underworld.”

“My people,” Bubba said with surprise and confusion. “You must be talking about my mama’s side of the family. I am redneck, but I ain’t Arkansas redneck.”

“I’m talking about the Maya my friend,” I said as gently as I could.

“Oh, them people,” Bubba replied as he nodded and took another bite of fruit.

“And being out of site underground you might be less exposed to those who would like to do you harm,” I offered as I looked at Cadmael. “Maybe a single warrior could accompany us. A few could remain at the opening,” I suggested.

“That sounds like a great idea,” Mikimo stated. “I assume it will be cooler underground too?” She inquired.

“Yes, it should be,” I responded.

“Okay, I guess it’s settled,” Bubba said. ’Just get us when you’re about ready to go.”

I nodded and turned away to head back to the rest of our group. On the way I called Osned to see if he could get up to the ship and give us some ground penetrating scans overnight. I did not think he would be taking the shuttle out in the daytime. It had a cloaking device, but humans tend to shoot at things they cannot identify and then ask questions as they poke around the wreckage.

We gathered our group together about forty-five minutes later. We had flashlights and some short range rfid tags that we could use as markers to find out way back. Everyone had water bottles and something for lunch if we needed it. Danny Boy led the way to the cenote he had found the day before.

We were lucky that a steep slope led the way down into the earth. We did not have rappelling gear with us. It required us to climb down using hand and foot holds but we were able to descend fairly quickly and safely to a somewhat uneven floor.

Sunlight filtered through the dense jungle canopy above us and even the mouth of the cave was in shadow. We checked our flashlights and began a careful exploration of the entry. The rock looked stable enough to me. The flashlights beams probed the darkness before us and revealed a wide passageway deeper into the rock.

Dingo took the lead with Danny Boy following close behind him. Arlo and I were next. Bubba and Mikimo were at the back along with a single Mayan warrior named Actar. He was not too happy about accompanying us to the underworld.

He had the option to stay behind, but there were four other warriors in the jungle above us. He drew the short stick this time.

We had only gone about fifty feet when my phone rang. Osned told me the info I wanted was available to download from the ship’s computer.

I was surprised he had taken the shuttle to the ship during the daytime. He explained that a friend of his from Pilifino who visited had programmed his shuttle to look like a large helicopter. Osned had done the same thing to ours. I was not even aware something like that could be done. I would have to talk it over with Danny Boy and Arlo later.

Everyone had stopped while I talked to Osned. I told Arlo we had a possible cave map available from the ship and he quickly brought it up on his tablet.

He moved to the front of the pack with Dingo. We followed them deeper into the darkness. I downloaded the file. It looked like there were a few natural chambers ahead of us.

I did not say anything, but it also looked like there was an unnatural chamber about two kilometers away. I did not know if we could get there.

The scans were taken from overhead. They did not really offer a good perspective of the depth of the passageways and rooms. It looked as if some passages overlaid others. There were also branches that seemed somewhat uniform in their construction but did not seem to lead to anything.

“We’ve got water,” I heard Dingo call out from ahead.

The rest of the group made our way up to where he stood at the edge of a pool that stretched fifty or sixty feet across from us and was maybe a hundred feet long. The roof of the cave was ten to twelve feet above us.

A narrow strip of dry surface headed off to the right of where we stood. The mountainous terrain above us made it hard to guess how deep we were already. Shining a flashlight into the water did not allow us to see the bottom of the pool.

We spent a few minutes enjoying the natural beauty of the space. Arlo and Dingo began to wander down the dry path and we followed.

We continued for about forty minutes going through tight passageways and various chambers until we came to a room with a fairly flat wall. We had descended a couple of hundred feet below the room with the pool of water. No other water source had been seen though. I went to consult with Arlo. Our maps showed a passageway on the other side of the wall. We shared that with the rest of the group and began to look for any type of opening.

A close inspection of the wall offered some inconsistencies. From a distance of just a few feet it looked like the rest of the rock in the chamber. No moss or mold was growing on it though. These were prevalent on the other walls throughout our journey.

After several minutes of examining the wall, we moved to the rest of the chamber. Danny Boy called out excitedly and we moved to stand beside him. He was to the left of the flat wall by about twenty feet. On the ground was a stone carved to look like a serpent.

“Looks like a dragon to me,” Dingo stated as he shined his light over it.

“We must turn back,” the Maya warrior stated nervously.

“Why?” I asked as I turned towards him. There was enough ambient light from our flashlights to see everyone.

“Creatures from the underworld,” he said reverently as he pointed to the carving. “It is not safe here.”

“Booby traps?” Arlo wondered.

“We aren’t going back yet,” I directed. ’Let us see what else we can find. As a group we began to study the area near the carving. Pulling moss and other detritus away from the walls we found a few more carvings.

Near the end of the flat wall as it curved back into the natural rock Mikimo found symbols carved into the wall. We used our hands to pull away the dust and dirt that covered them.

Eight symbols were arranged in two perpendicular rows. There were other figures carved into the stone showing depictions of men and the Mayan gods interacting.

“What does this mean,” I asked turning back to the warrior Actar.

“We must go now,” he answered weakly. “We should not be here.”

“Can you tell us what this means,” Mikimo asked softly.

“This is an ancient place,” he said as he focused on her. “Sacrifices were brought to the gods here. We should not be here,” he stated.

Arlo had taken a picture of the symbols with his tablet and was linking with the ships computer to try to translate them.

“How long are we gonna stay here?” Bubba asked. I turned to look at him. He was easily bored when there was no fighting or other action going on.

“Give us a few more minutes,” I coaxed. “None of this has been seen in several hundred years most likely.

“Ariana would love this,” Arlo said absently as he shifted attention between his tablet and the walls.

“Any of them symbols mean open sesame?” Dingo asked as he flicked his light across the symbols.

“Still letting the computer try to figure that out,” Arlo replied.

A couple more minutes passed. Bubba wandered away from the group to the opposite wall. I was not sure what he was doing. I saw him slump down on top of a large rock. Mikimo went over to occupy him.

I noticed Actar had backed away to the opening of the cavern. He wanted as much distance between him and the carvings as possible.

Mikimo was leaning against the wall talking to Bubba. When she moved away to sit beside him a few more carvings were revealed where she had leaned against the rock. Arlo went to clear away debris from them. I went back to inspect the wall. I used my hands to dig away near the base and about four inches deep I found flat stones fitted together.

I recruited Dingo and Danny Boy to help me clear away as much dirt as possible. We cleared an area of about twenty feet square in front of where the passage should be. I used a bit of water to see if there was any writing on the stones. There were no symbols on the stones.

“Look at the water,” Danny boy recommended. He had his flashlight trained on it. A small rivulet of water was flowing towards the wall and under it.

“Hey Jack,” Arlo called out.

I went over to where he stood near bubba and Mikimo.

“You see this symbol,” he said as he pointed towards one on the wall. I nodded. “Okay, there is one just like it on the other wall. The layout is different here on this side. See if you can press on it or something. I am going to do the same over here.”

I took a good look at the symbol and made my way back over to the other wall. I began probing the symbol, but there was no outline around it. I was a carving in solid rock.

“Jack,” I heard Bubba call out nervously. I turned towards him and immediately noticed what had caused his concern. The cavern had begun to glow with a light that was hovering between green and blue.

I heard a muffled cry from Actar as he turned and fled down the passageway away from us.

“Now we are getting somewhere,” I said with satisfaction.

“What was that symbol?” I asked Arlo.

“The closest thing the computer could produce was a Hindu symbol for open. There are some deviations between the two.

“So now you need to figure out the Sesame part,” Dingo offered.

I could see Bubba had grown bored again quickly. “Why don’t we have lunch while we try to figure it out,” I suggested.

“Best thing I’ve heard in a while,” Bubba stated as he pulled off his backpack. I had been able to get some of the bacon left over from the morning and we had it on flat bread with avocado and some local fruit.

The glow in the cavern was not bright. It did offer enough light that we could turn the flashlights off. We were about five minutes into our meal when we heard a grinding noise and a doorway opened in the wall. It was just where the map indicated the passage should be.

An ancient looking man about seven foot tall stood in the opening and looked at us. He was dresses in what I guessed was ancient Maya ceremonial robes with a headdress of feathers and gold.

All of us were so shocked that no one even moved or spoke. After about thirty seconds of silence, he dropped his head a little bit.

“You are disappointed, aren’t you?’ He asked sadly.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized after a moment. “We are just a bit surprised to see you.”

“You’re the ones that rang the doorbell,” he stated defiantly.

“How the heck does he understand us?” Dingo asked.

“I know all the modern languages,” the old man answered. “Heck, I even know all the old ones. I miss Latin. I was such a melodic language.”

“You want a sammich?” Bubba asked as he offered up one from his pack.

The old man looked at Bubba dumbfounded for a moment. It was a look bubba got quite a bit. “Sandwich?” he asked.

Bubba nodded.

The old man shook his head.

“Can I ask your name?” I inquired.

“English,” the old man said thoughtfully. “Why don’t you call me Elias?”

“Are you Mayan?” Arlo asked.

Elias thought for a moment before he answered. “Well, yes. But, then again, I suppose it depends on how you define Mayan. You are not Mayan.”

“That’s not much help,” Arlo said after a moment.

“You’re disappointed,” Elias repeated.

“No! No, not at all,’ I answered. “As a matter of fact, we would like to come inside and talk; if that is okay?” I almost begged.

“Well, you did ring the doorbell,” Elias said with a shrug of his shoulders.

We quickly put away our lunch and followed Elias into the tunnel. About fifteen feet down he touched the wall and the door behind us closed. This passageway was lined with straight walls. We followed it for about a hundred feet until we came to an industrial sized elevator.

We all entered. Elias again touched the wall as the doors closed. We descended for almost two minutes. When the doors opened again, we were in a large underground city. Most of it looked abandoned and decaying.

“What happened here?” Danny Boy asked as he looked around.

“Atlantis,” Elias said as he waved his hand absently and walked off into the city.

“This is Atlantis,” Arlo asked with excitement.

“No,” Elias answered. “This is the reason there is no Atlantis.”

“What do you mean?” I inquired.

“All in good time,” Elias responded. He led on but dismissed any further questions that we asked. All of us were overwhelmed by what we saw. It was something out of story books. An ancient city actually existed in the middle of the earth. This was Jules Verne stuff. Then I remembered that Jules Verne was not an earthling.