The chamber was a void filled with darkness, parted only with light from the small porthole on the door. Frozen air pumped in to keep Cal Ritter from suffocating. He sat in the darkness holding tight to the cheap pleather chair in the center of the chamber. An unfamiliar voice echoed through an intercom. The man or woman, the intercom was so dated he couldn’t quite tell, he came through and asked if he was ready.
Cal gave a hesitant nod to the porthole and then a low hum began to echo,engulfing him. Swirling around him. The hum echoed in his ears like an inferno ripping and tearing through his mind. For a moment he thought his head might burst open from the noise. But, at the moment he thought that he would surely die, the sound faded out. Silence prowled through the chamber, his heartbeat the only thing that made a sound.
A white light burst through the backs of his eyes. This pain felt as if they were on fire.The fire worked its way through him,running rampant. Cal screamed but produced nothing audible. Soon, he blacked out,succumbing to the pain, and the cold embrace of darkness welcomed him.
He wasn’t sure of how much time had passed since he had blacked out but now he was drenched in sweat, his clothes soaked through, sticking to his skin. He laid face down in the dirt.Cal rolled over, blinded by the scorching sun. He squinted away the sweat from his eyes, sat up.His eyes struggled to focus. Given a few minutes he gathered that he was in a small clearing surrounded by a dense jungle rumbling with life and death.
It took him a moment to realize that it had worked, that piece of scrap metal actually worked. Now it was time for his real work to begin, He put his life on the line for this he wasn’t going back empty handed. His knees were weak but he managed to get to his feet. Cal wasn’t entirely sure of the time but he could tell it would soon be nightfall, he had to make it to El Mirador before then.
He shouldn’t be too far east of it (If the machine actually put him where he was supposed to be that is) so Cal turned his back on the Sun and began walking towards the horrors that awaited him in the jungle, impatiently waiting for darkness to fall so they could strike.
Darkness came faster than he expected and with it came the monsters. His body ached all over. He knew if he kept going through the night he might make it to El Mirador but the chances were slim, there was a greater chance of something getting to him first. No real shelter was nearby and it was too late to make one (nor did he know how to even make one). His only thought was to get off the ground and into a tree where he could maybe get a few hours of sleep (Only if he could calm his nerves though). Cal found a tree that he thought he could climb but wasn’t sure if his arms could hoist him up. He jumped and grabbed one of the lower hanging branches; the harsh bark gnawed at his palms. He tried to swing his leg over the branch but missed and threw his weight out of balance, lost his grip, and scraped deep gashes on his forearms. His limbs burned like fire and ice all at once, but if he didn’t get up soon the bullet ants marching towards him would surely change his definition of pain.
He got up to his feet, leapt up, grabbed the branch once again, the bark digging deeper this time making his hands into raw flesh. He swung his leg over this time and pulled himself up. Carefully, he inched his way up and found a decent spot to huddle down in for the duration of the night.
He sat in the tree,deep in thought. His heart pounded at his ribs like the bars of a prison cell, The strange world below him bellowed with noise and the threat of death. Cal thought to himself for what seemed like eternity shrouded in the darkest dark. What if he had gotten turned around when he was searching for a tree to rest in. What if the things below didn’t stay below. He wasn’t sure where in hell he was, all he could pray for was the things that stalked him and didn’t know where he was either.
Cal wasn’t sure when he had fallen asleep but daylight reached its hands through the canopy. The jungle was now slumbering (except for insects and a handful of other things). His limbs felt a bit less sore but his back ached from the seriously uncomfortable tree. He swung down from the tree instantly regretting it because his hands were still extremely tender. He stretched and began his walk towards El Mirador, this time facing the Sun.
Only a few hours passed before he began to see remnants of harvested crops (The machine got him closer than he expected, maybe it wasn’t the big of a piece of junk). Cal was extremely hungry, he hadn’t eaten since a few hours before he left his time. But he didn’t have time to be hungry. He had only a day left before the Organization would pull him back (or at least try to, he doubted it could actually work). He kept walking and made it to fields of maize that looked like they were currently being cultivated but no one was here. That made his job a lot easier because he couldn’t be seen or he risked changing the course of history. That’s why they chose this date. This was the day that the White man came to the “New” World. The Organization had hoped that with the arrival of the Spaniards the people of El Mirador would be preoccupied and Cal could slip in without detection.
He made his way to the main city with towering pyramids outstreathing to the Gods above with intricate writings sprawled on all sides of them. From where he was standing he could see at least 7 of them. Each taller than the last. Cal’s breath was taken away by the site. He didn’t expect to be this awestruck but the beauty of it all was astonishing. No time to get distracted now though he had to get back on track .
He could hear large crowds yelling in the distance. He assumed this was the Spainards and the Mayans meeting on some not so good terms. He strode past them making sure to steer clear of any people still wandering the stress who wanted nothing to do with the new intruders. He walked for a bit longer taking note of the sun being at high noon. He didn’t have much longer, he had to find it. Cal turned a corner and saw the biggest pyramid of all. This must have been the holiest site in the city for them.
If it were really in El Mirador then it had to be here. At the base of the Pyramid he could see small cut outs which looked like strange arch ways. That had to be where it was. Only one problem. There were 4 guards outside the entrance. He had to wait for a shift change or night fall. But he didn’t have that time to wait. The sun would set within the next 5 hours and he only had till dusk. He had to make his move now or he would return empty handed and if he did that he didn’t want to find out what the shady Organization would do to him if he failed. Cal only took this job because he needed money after being fired from the University of Oklahoma (and the Organization was paying huge amounts of cash for this) and the job seemed easy enough. When he took this job he never thought that time travel would actually be possible, much less when he saw what they were using to do it. But it had worked. He was here, not in his time but in the time of the great Maya.
BANG!!!! BANG!!! BANG!!!
Cal jumped back around the corner. Those were gunshots. The Spainards had actually fired on the people. There were screams and he could see people running through the wide streets. He froze in horror of what he witnessed but he had to regain focus. He turned back towards the guards who were running towards the gunshots. Perfect. Now was the time to move. He spirited towards the arched openings and down a hall to the heart of the pyramid. Little light was in the hall itself but at the end he could see a faint fire light. He made it to the end of the hall and could see it. It was real. The Lost Fortune of the Snake Kings was real. Mounds of gold, obsidian, and jade filled pots of different sizes. Cal’s eyes widened, the primal instinct of creed was creeping inside. He was told to take nothing. But could one really hurt? He stepped into the large chamber then became frozen with fear. There were guards in the chamber (of course there were). They stared him down with strength but also confused his appearance was undoubtedly strange to them. One of the guards ( he looked like their captain or leader) readied his weapon and began running at Cal. He turned and ran as fast as he could fear mixed with adrenaline in his blood. He made it outside where the rest of the still fleeing civilians were along with what looked like half their army. They turned and looked at him. They all charged at once and Cal darted left and jumped onto the first ledge of the pyramid. All of the men gasped in disbelief. “Shit” Cal thought this is one of the pyramids that was not meant to be climbed. It was the place of their gods, he had no other choice though. He kept climbing and heard the Captain bark and order to the men in a language Cal had no idea how to speak. Cal turned and saw the men begin to climb. He scrambled up the sides each section getting harder to climb then the last but the protruding writing and art of the side provided good foot holds. He went from studying and admiring the Maya to stepping all over their pyramids, how the times have changed.
He made it to the top with the army a few steps behind. Night must have fallen while Cal was in the pyramid but he had only taken notice now. The Organization would pull him back soon but it needed to be now. The men began making it to the top where Cal was. He was trapped with no way out. This was it he would die at the hands of the very people he spent his life studying. They prowled around him like a great jaguar then in almost perfect unison, like they were one powerful force they readied their weapons ready to strike. They pulled back their weapons and swung all at once.
Cal saw nothing but white light. This was surely death. He felt a freezing chill on his skin that penetrated deep into his lungs. Then Darkness. Then the sound of a man or was it a woman he couldn’t tell?
