Incarnate: Mars Origin "I" Series Book III (15 page)

The
murals in San Bartolo that I found in the book about Bacabs didn’t reveal
anything new about what we had translated or our stone slab. Still Logan stared
at it for an hour. We did learn that the murals had first been found in 2001
and dated back from 100 BC making it older than the one in Logan’s observatory.

Nothing
more than interesting facts.

The
murals were interpreted by a well-known iconographer, so we knew would could
rely on its interpretation. Unlike what we had translated, well the part I
translated, which Logan seemed reluctant to believe.

Especially
since I decided the “they” in that sentence were the Ancients.

“How
come your picture that’s like the mural we saw today isn’t in a museum, Logan?”

“It’s
carved into the wall of the observatory. Part of the structure. It’s been
catalogued, though. A long time ago. You’ll see.”

Logan
was driving. She was pensive on the long drive back, those few sentences was
about all she said. I sat next to her and Jairo in the back seat. He had been
our constant companion since our run in in the jungle.

We
were on Western Highway headed to Caracol from our little road trip that tuned
out no to be so “little.” It was an eleven hour trip and with leaving after we
toured the murals we wouldn’t get back until dark, which was fine with Logan.
Instead of taking me back to my hotel in Tikal, we were going to her dig site
so I could see the picture in the observatory. The dark was good she had said
because she didn’t want anyone to see me.

 I
had picked up a bunch of brochures while we were there and I tried to read over
them on the drive back.
But Jairo
was
making up for Logan’s silence and I couldn’t concentrate long enough to read a
paragraph.

He
talked nonstop and was so animated the whole way back. I don’t know where he
got the energy. He talked about Guatemala and the Maya on our ride back until
we crossed over into Belize, then he talked about Belize and the Maya.

So,
since I couldn’t read the brochures, I decided to see what he knew about what
was inside of them.

“Jairo,
this brochure says that the mural we saw has been interpreted to
suggest that the maize god scenes refer
to Gulf Coast myths.”

“Yes. I saw that.”

“Do you know what that is?”

He took in a breath. “It is believed
that the Maya traveled to Georgia and assimilated into what is known as the
Creek Indians.”

“Really? Maya in the United States. I
never heard of it before. Logan, did you know that?” She shook her head.

“It’s strange though.” Jairo continued,
“because evidence of the Maya only show up in the one place. No settlements on
the way. No remnants or evidence of them along a trail from Central America to
Georgia. So then you ask: How they got to that place without leaving a trail?”

“Maybe they flew in those little golden,
aerodynamically correct airplanes you told me about.”

He laughed.

Caracol
was reportedly one of the most challenging ruins to get to set amidst hilly
forested terrain. The entire city is comprised of the ruins. So no modern day
streetlights to guide us through the pitch black night once we finally arrived.

The
ride in was bumpy and I was all rattled by the time we got to the site. Logan
had us stay in the car while she fetched us each a hand-held searchlight.

When
our lights hit the site, memories came flooding back.

 “Logan,
you remember when you were little and I used to take you, Micah and Courtney on
digs with me? Who’d a thought we’d ever be doing this again.”

“Shh!”
Was all I got from her until we reached the observatory.  We crisscrossed
over stringed-off grid lines and around mounds of dirt and cut across the
grassy field that led to the structure. “Watch your step, Ma. Lots of stuff on
these stairs. Easy to fall, especially in the dark,” she whispered.

I
scanned my light up the stone staircase to the observatory. “I can’t walk up
all those steps,” I said in a normal voice.

“Shh!”
She tugged my arm. “You have to,” she said and started climbing. Jairo stood
next to me, apparently not going if I wasn’t.

“C’mon,”
her strained voice came back down to us.

I
cast the light over the stairs again. And then on Logan as she made her way up.
I could just picture myself sprawled out across the steps half way up,
clutching my chest, having a heart attack.

 This
was worse than climbing into the caves at Qumran.

“Oh
my God,” I tied to keep my voice down. “Can’t you just take a picture and show
it to me?” I said to her.

“No
you have to see it. And stop talking so loud.”

I
wonder what she’ll say when I scream bloody murder as I keel over.

“I
don’t know. Logan, this is too much for me,” I said as I started up the steps.
“This is going to take me all night.”

I
think it must have taken me an half hour to reach the top.

“”Here
it is. Look, Ma.” She shone the light on the wall. “Just like the one we saw
today.”

I
was leaning on the door to the observatory, trying to catch my breath. I had
finally made it up the million steps to the observatory. Jairo and Logan had
practically pushed me up the last twenty.

“Gimme
a second.” I took in a couple of deep breaths and did the best I could at
standing upright. “Okay. Show me.”

It
looked just like the one in the book. And like the one in San Bartolo. Why I
had to climb all those steps to see this one was beyond me.

A
shaky, “Mmm hmmm,” was all I could say.

“What
do you think?” She asked me.

I
rolled my eyes. “It’s nice,” I said. I hope she didn’t catch the antipathy in
my voice.

“Nice?
Do you think it’s a clue?”

“A
clue?” I sucked in a deep breath. I was still winded. “To what?”

“Follow
the corn. The translation. Ma, don’t do this to me. I have the Assistant
Director on my tail and I gotta figure this out before I get into trouble.”

“I
don’t know. Let me think about it.”

“For
how long, Ma.”

“I
don’t know. You know things just come to me. They hit me all of a sudden.”

“So,
you’ll think about it?”

“Yep.
Take some pictures of it. I’m going sit down before we head back. I can’t catch
my breath.”

“Well,
don’t have a heart attack, I’d never be able to carry you back down those
steps.”

She’s
such a sweet and caring child.

I
sat on the steps. It was so dark out and we were so high up. Not really keen on
heights, I was starting to feel dizzy.

I
put two fingers over the pulse in my wrist. Felt normal. O inhaled and held it.
Then I exhaled. I flashed my light down the steps. Not looking forward to that.
Then I flashed it out across the expanse. Yep we were high up, I could see over
the top of the trees. I let my light land on the observatory behind me. With
its rounded roof, it looked just like one from modern day. All it needed was a
telescope. I shut off my light and listened to the sounds of the night.

I
heard Jairo come out first.

“Justin,
are you okay?”

“Yeah.
I think so. Still a little shaky. But, I’m good. We ready to go?”

“Yes,
Mother,” I heard Logan as she came out of the observatory. “We’re ready to go.
C’mon old lady.” She pulled on my arm and helped me stand up. Letting me go,
she headed down the steps on the side where we had ascended. Jairo walked down
two or three steps in front of me. Turned sideways, he put his hand out to
protect me from falling.

“Ma,
walk on this side.”

“I’m
fine.”

“This
side has less rubble. Trust me, I walk here every day. You’ll trip over there.”

Why
did she say that?

I
tripped. And I started sliding down steps. Jairo was trying to catch me and I
was trying to hold on to him and the steps, but all I was doing was pulling up
stones. I scratched my arms and face on the stones and then one leg went over
the side as did my searchlight. The inside of my thigh scraped across the
stones as I descended. I couldn’t stop, and I was picking up momentum it
seemed.

“Ma!”
Logan dropped her light and scrambled over to me in the dark.

I
just knew I was going to go over. “Logan!” I was grasping at the stones that
made up the steps.

“Jairo.
Catch her,” Logan screamed the words.

He’d
been running alongside of me, trying to grab a leg or an arm. After Logan
yelled at him he threw himself on top of me and his weight stopped my roll. It
stopped me but not the rocks. They pounded us and I let out a screech.

“Oh
my God, Mommy. Are you okay. Oh my God. Jairo, I thought you had her? I told
you to walk on the other side.” She stooped down next to me. “Are you okay?”

My
hands were shaking. I felt gravel in my skin and warm blood trickling down the
side of my face. I had had my eyes closed, and thought my tumble may have
caused blindness when I opened up my eyes and couldn’t see a thing.

Logan
got up, retrieved her flashlight and shined it on me. “Can you get up?” she
asked.

“Uhh.
Not with Jairo on top of me.”

Logan
pulled a pair of pants out of the top drawer of the dresser, and bumped it shut
with her hip.

“You
have to see this,” she said, excitement exuding from every pore. She grabbed a
shirt off the rack by the door, pulled it off the hanger and tossed both to me.

“Put
these on.” She dug in my overnight bag for shoes. “Where are your shoes?” I
pointed to a corner of the room.

“So,
it was such a mess where you fell that I couldn’t leave it. Someone would
notice. You know?”

I
was trying to lift myself out of the bed. “Do I have to go?”

“Yes.
You have to go.” She pointed. “Get in the bathroom and get yourself together.”

“I’m
not climbing up any steps.”

You
won’t have to.”

I
shuffled off, holding my back and trying not to let the one thigh rub against
the one I had scraped.

I
hadn’t seen Logan in two days. Which was fine with me because I spent every
moment of it tucked under the covers trying to heal from my fall. She called
all day every day to check on me, but Room Service fed me, Advil soothed me,
and Guatemalan cablevision kept me company. I had been happy.

“So
like I was saying, there were stones that were out of place, where you pulled
them out.”

“I
fell. I was trying to grab hold of them to stop my fall.”

“And
underneath there was this . . . I don’t know – like hook, for lack of a better
word. It went to like this trap door.” She was making gestures with her hands.
“I guess no one ever saw it because when a site is excavated you try to keep
everything intact. You know. Uncover from the top down. Not tear out the
steps.”

“I
fell.”

“Anyway.
I had Jairo shimmy down-”

“How
is Jairo?”

“Mom,
are you listening to me?”

“Yeah,
I just asked -”

“He’s
fine. He’s been trying to get here to see you.” She peeked her head in the
bathroom. “Seriously, do I need to call my father?”

I
laughed, and with a mouth full of toothpaste, said, “He’s already sending Micah
down here.”

“For
what?

“To
see why you’re trying to kill me.”

She
sucked her tongue. “Anyway. Listen.” She leaned against the door jam. “So we
were thinking he was going to run into a wall – a dead end. And guess what he
found?”

I
stepped into the shower. “What?”

“Can
you hear me?”

“I
said, ‘What.’”

“A
tunnel! Can you believe it?”

“No.
I can’t believe it.” I really didn’t find it all that surprising. There were
always tunnels under pyramids in Egypt.”

“No
one’s ever found a tunnel here before. They always thought the Maya used the
caves.”

“Caves?”
I stuck my head out the shower.

“Yeah.
It’s always been known that the Maya were big on nature. They’d build
structures like the observatory based on the alignment of the stars. Their
calendar based on agriculture -.”

“What
does that have to do with caves?”

“Wait
a minute and I’ll tell you.”

I
wrapped a towel around me and got out the shower. She followed me into the
bedroom and plopped down in a chair. I grabbed my bottle of Nivea lotion off
the dresser.

“Underneath
Belize there is this massive cave system. They were always considered to be
important portals to the underworld for the Maya. In them you can see Maya
artifacts strewn about. Evidence of them using them extensively. But that may
be wrong now after what I’ve found. I may have discovered something about the
Maya that no one ever knew before.”

I
raised my eyebrows. I hated to tell her that it had been rumored that there
were tunnels underground in and around Ecuador. But she was right, this was the
first time that I knew of that they had been found in Central America.

 “Okay,
so wait back up,” I said. “No one noticed this before? The trap door or
whatever it is.”

“No.
I told you.”

“And
this led to a tunnel?”

“Yes.
A tunnel system” She paused. “You know, I guess I should say that I don’t think
anyone’s found it before.”

“That’s
hard to believe, Logan.”

“I
know.” She took in a breath. “There is no definitive record of anyone finding
it. I looked in everything I could find on past excavations at Caracol.”

“How
many times has that place been excavated?” I had finished dressing and was
putting on my shoes and socks.

 “Practically
every year since 1985.” She stood up. “That is until 2010. That was the last
excavation and no other sessions were scheduled here until this one.”

“Why?
Why they stop excavating? And why did they start again?”

She
hunched her shoulders. “Instead, of coming back to excavate as they had done
every year for the past twenty-five years, the reports say that the
archaeologist decided not to return. They decided to take the materials they’d
excavated over previous seasons and study them in the lab.”

“Oh.
Well. I guess that makes sense. Did you ask for any of that research?”

“I
did. They said there wasn’t any. And they gave no definitive reason why they
retreated to the laboratory and why there are no reports of the results of that
laboratory research.”

“You
like that word definitive, don’t you?”

“Ma.”

I
fluttered my eyelashes and shook my head. “I’m just saying . . .” I mumbled.

“But,
mommy I haven’t told you the best part yet.” She plopped down on the bed next
to me and bumped her shoulder into mine. There was a gleam in her eye. “There
are depictions of corn every fifty feet or so on the walls of the tunnel.”

“Really?”
I sat still thinking about that. “Corn. On the walls, huh?”

“So
you ready to go?” She hopped up, and grabbed my purse and room key. She pulled
me up and started pushing me toward the door.

“I
am not climbing up any more steps.”

“I
told you, you don’t have to.”

“Then
where exactly are we going?”

“To
follow the corn.”