Tomb of Zeus (Atlantis) (30 page)

“Fifteen feet!”

Javi, Jack, Duni and Helena moved in closer. As the drill bit was removed from the hole, they all lean over and peered inside. Standing over the top, they shined a light down to the bottom.

“Still solid ice, Javi,” Jack said.

“Yeah, the radar data said nineteen feet, so we still have another four more to go… give or take a few inches,” he responded.

They backed away several feet and watched the men drill two more feet. Ten minutes later, the auger was removed and the team of four examined the hole
once again. Shining the light down at the bottom, the previous color of the ice had now changed to a darker shade.

Jack’s heart began
to race. He grinned at the other team members.

“Almost there,” he said, simply. He looked over to the foreman and shouted, “Another foot.”

The foreman nodded in understanding. The team moved back in again and watched the drill bit reenter the hole. Five minutes later, they auger was removed. Jack rushed to the hole and flashed the light in again. Looking down, his hands began to tremble. His eyes widened and he felt his stomach churn. There at the bottom, mere inches below the ice, a brilliant shade of gold beamed skyward and illuminated the hole’s interior.

“Wow!” was all Jack could say, caught up in the moment.

Helena rush to his side. She stared down at the golden surface beneath the ice and smiled.

As Javi and Duni stepped in, Jack’s mind was already moving into action. He shouted instructions to the foreman:

“I need the awl and someone to lower me down the hole.”

“Right away, Sir,” the foreman shouted back.

Minutes later, Jack was lower down inside the ice shaft. At the bottom, he began to use the five-foot long metal pole to chip away at the ice. Slowly, delicately, he raised the heavy awl up and allowed it to fall under its own weight. Every minute, a bucket was lowered and he scraped up the excess material, raising it to the surface.

Ten minutes later, a large
chunk fractured from the floor. As he kicked it out to the way, the edge of a golden block was finally exposed. Smooth and brilliant, he bent down and touched it surface.

“Amazing,” he said to himself.

“Jack, is that it?” Helena shouted down impatiently. Without an answer, she shouted his name again, “
JACK!
”

He stared up at the three and smiled.

“What a thrill. I’m probably the first guy to touch this pyramid in seven thousand years,” he shouted up through the narrow hole.

He placed his back along the wall of the hole, giving those above just enough room to see past him. As they stared down at the edge of the golden block, they all gasped in awe.

“We did it!” Helena shouted. “That’s it. That’s definitely it. We’ve found Zeus’ pyramid.”

“That’s pr
oof positive for me,” Javi said through his wide smile.

Duni looked over to the foreman and said jokingly, “We’ll take another ten thousand holes just like this one, please.”

The foreman rolled his eyes and said, “I’m thinking about moving my family up here, permanently. We could be here for years.”

“Not if I can help it,” Helena cut in. “Time to make some phone calls.”

New York City

Wall Street…

Karl Sita sat in his penthouse office and leafed through a portfolio for a future investment. As he studied the information, he nodded agreeably. When he was done, he reached for his desk phone and began to dial a number. Suddenly, his cell phone rang. He stopped short of placing his call, and checked the number on his cell. Instantly, his face grimaced. He considered ignoring it, but took the call anyway.

“Yes, what is it?” he said, his tone sharp and callous.

“It’s me. I’ve got some good news for you,” Helena said, ignoring the all too familiar greeting.

“I’m listening.”

“We’ve found the pyramid,” she responded excitedly.

“Are you sure you found it? The last time you made a claim like that, Zeus’ chamber was empty and fou
r of my men died,” he responded acidly.

“Sir, Zeus’ chamber wasn’t empty. It turned out to be his shrine and had valuable data in it that led us to this location. It was a necessary step. Without it, we never would have found this pyramid,” she countered.

“Just the same, how can I be sure your claim is genuine?” he asked.

“Sir, all the equipment confirms it. In addition, we removed a core of ice twenty feet down to the structure.
I saw it with my own eyes: a surface made of gold,” she explained, still enthusiastic.

“That’s it then. You
have
found it,” he said, his tone softening, now sounding relieved. “So how tall is it? How long before it’s uncovered? Have you found a way into Zeus’ burial chamber yet?” he rattled off in quick succession.

“Sir, it’s not tall. It’s deep… and no we haven’t found a way into his chamber yet. We haven’t even begun to excavate,” she responded. “That’s why I’m calling.”

Karl heard her reply. Something about it was wrong.

“What do you mean, ‘deep’?” he asked suspiciously.

“Sir, the pyramid isn’t conventional… what I mean to say is, it doesn’t point up. This structure is pyramid shaped, but points down into the ground: basically, it’s an inverse pyramid,” she explained.

Karl thought about her answer a moment, then reality struck him.

“You mean to tell me it’s basically a triangular hole in the ground?” he asked incredulously.

“Yes Sir, that’s exactly what I’m saying. It…”

“Oh Shit! That means all that internal debris will have to be excavated. How long does Mr. Arista estimate its completion?” he asked, his voice now growing edgy once more.

Helena paused moment, almost afraid to say the next sentence.

“He thinks it’ll take two years,” she said, reluctantly.

“
TWO YEARS!
” he blared into the phone. “Bullshit! That’s not acceptable. We’re on the brink of greatness and you tell me I’ve got to wait two years? This is why you’ll never be anything more than a mule. I knew I should’ve planted someone competent in that position,” he spat angrily.

Her father’s words cut through her like a knife. She felt rage at the injustice, but held her temper.

“Sir, you can’t blame me for this. I didn’t create the problem,” she shot back trying to sound confident and credible. “We have only two months before the summer is over. After that, the daylight hours grow shorter and the weather becomes much more volatile. If we act fast enough, I think we can complete the full excavation in only a few months.”

Karl smiled in relief. His plans would only be delayed slightly.

“Ok, what do you need,” he said.

“I need
resources: cash, personnel and equipment… lots of equipment,” she responded.

She listened to brief silence for only a moment.

“Christian Laikos will be calling you shortly. You’ll coordinate through him. Don’t screw this up,” he said bluntly.

“You can count on me,” she replied.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he retorted acidly.

Nord, Greenland

One month later…

Jack and Javi stared out over the excavation site. Excitement filled the frigid air as dozens of backhoes, bulldozers, industrial cranes, dump trucks and other assorted equipment rolled into action. As the teams of men began to strip away the top surface of ice, Helena shouted orders and directed their movements.

“Like a regular drill sergeant, isn’t she,” Javi joked. “I’d hate to get in her way. She’d have you hauled away with the ice and buried alive.”

“All I have to say is, anyone who can pull this all together in a month’s time, gets my vote,” Jack responded proudly, then added, “That girl can move mountains. I won’t question anything she does at this point.”

“I can’t even imagine what it must have cost to fly in all this equipment. We’re talking tens of millions of dollars,” Javi added.

“She claims the anonymous billionaire is funding a lot of this once again. I guess he must view this as a hobby, kind of like me spending thousands a year on flying planes, he spends millions on archeology” he replied.

“I wonder what he hopes to get out of all this. I just hope he doesn’t try to lay his hands on anything. A guy with that much money could easily slip in and slip out with a handful of priceless artifacts. I’ve seen it happen before. A payoff here, a payoff there, and all of a sudden, things are missing,” Javi warned.

“Don’t worry, with ole iron pants watching the store, I’m sure she won’t let anything like that happen,” Jack assured.

Javi watched
a dump truck being loaded with ice. His thoughts suddenly reflected on the excavation of the Atlantis pyramid.

“Quite a different feel from Atlantis, huh?” he said to Jack.

“How so?”

Javi turned and glared at him.

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the high drama surrounding that excavation?” he asked.

Jack smiled in acknowledgement.

“Russian mafia, kidnapping, shoot outs and death… Oh yeah, I’ve completely forgotten about that,” he teased.

Javi smirked, then turned back to the construction scene.

“This one feels so right: lots of cash, little or no restriction from governments, and more help than we can possibly keep track of. It’s almost like we’re on vacation,” he said enthusiastically.

“Yeah, just like being on vacation: the sun’s shining and we have ocean as far as the eye can see. I even hear that Ron
Cotterman is planning on setting up another Camp Zeus just a couple hundred feet away from here, stocked with all the comforts of home. Yup, pretty soon we’ll have a regular garden spot… except for the
howling
winds and
single digit
temperatures,” Jack joked.

Javi glared at Jack once more.
“Kill joy,” he said, sarcastically.

A stiff wind shot past the two. Javi zipped up his coat the last inch to his chin, then pulled the drawstring on his arctic hood, synching the material around his face. He turned to Jack and grinned.

“Care for a cappuccino?”

“Delivered?”

“Sorry, we’re going to have to rough it,” Javi replied in feigned disappointment.

As the two made their way toward their snowmobiles, Jack added, “Going to have to talk to Ron about getting us a butler.”

Javi nodded. “Quite right,” he said simply.

----- ----- ----- -----

Three weeks later…

With teams working in shifts around the clock, two hundred feet of ice were removed from the center of the pyramid. To everyone’s surprise, the pyramid was only filled with ice, making the job of excavation far simpler and quicker than originally predicted. As more of the structure was exposed, lines of pipe containing heated fluid were carefully laid across the rows of golden blocks. Sheets of dense plastic then covered the pipes, holding in the heat and helping to melt away the ice. Even with the unsightly coverings, the gold surfaces gleamed magnificently in the sunshine.

Three weeks before, the area at the pyramid’s top measured four hundred feet by four hundred feet square. Now, three weeks later and two hundred feet down, the floor of the ice measured one hundred feet square. With an area far more restricted, only backhoes could be used in the confined space. Working at the top of the pyramid, large industrial cranes lowered buckets, where ice was then loaded and hoisted above.

Javi, Jack and Duni stood at the rim of the pyramid and watched as Helena directed operations below. Moving their focus to the golden blocks that created the structure, they marveled at its construction.

“Can you imagine the work to cover this in gold?” Javi said. “It would’ve been a monumental task just to lay these massive blocks of stone
and
in such perfect order, but then to cover them all with gold… it boggles the mind.”

“They must have had thousands working here to accomplish the task: men to melt the gold; men to carry it all to the site before it cooled
; and more men to pour it over the edge,” Duni responded, shaking his head in disbelief.

“What’s even more remarkable is the finish on these blocks. It’s near perfect: like glass,” Jack replied incredulously. “You can’t just pour molten metal and walk away. After the men poured it over the blocks, some poor bastards must have stood below and watched the molten gold flowing at them, then at the last second, rush up and smooth it all out. Can you imagine the safety violation
s they’d be hammered with today if they tried to do the same thing?”

“And why an inverted pyramid? A standard upright pyramid, like the one built in Atlantis, would’ve been way easier to construct,” Duni asked.