“Which way?” Prom where they were standing, all roads led to stone.
“Just a minute. The electrical activity of your brains provides a locus for my suit’s instrumentation. Inanimate objects are much more difficult. I wish I could see!” The alien paused, then; ‘Sum to your left. There should be a particularly large stricture.”
“I see it.” Caroline started forward.
“I think I see some kind of entrance.” Ross bent over. “Part of it has caved in, and the ceiling is low.”
“Doesn’t matter. What we need to reach is the small temple on top.”
Leaning back, the Texan could just make out the structure’s overgrown crest. “That’s just dandy,” he muttered.
“It won’t be so bad.” Caroline started up. “There can’t more than a thousand steps.”
“You’re not carrying mister interstellar hobo, Jed, here.”
“Quit complaining. At least you’re not dead.”
“When I do die,” Ross Ed shot back, “I hope I have the decency to keep quiet.”
Vines and creepers made the last twenty feet difficult. That surmounted, they found themselves with a view of an endless sea of green, an undulating roll of jungle in all directions. To the east, a few specks of blue ocean were visible through gaps in the verdure.
“Your ancestors apparently moved the Veqq transmitter here, where they could worship it,” Jed commented. “As an object of occasional veneration myself, I quite understand. I can perceive
“Just hang on to your perceiving for a minute.” After first checking to ensure it was free of ants, Ross Ed slumped down on a creeper as big around as his thigh. “I’m bushed.”
“Me, too.” For a seat Caroline chose the exquisitely carved and stylized head of a jaguar, just missing the scorpion that scuttled quickly out of the path of her descending derriere.
Only after catching their breath and luxuriating in the spectacular panorama did they rise and enter the supreme temple. There was nothing inside but crumbling rock, rotting wood, the omnipresent vines and lianas, and a deteriorating tree stump.
“I don’t see anything,” Ross Ed announced.
“You’re practically standing on it. Are you sure you can see?”
“Only rocks and jungle.”
“Move to your left.” The Texan complied, but the view didn’t change.
It was Caroline who noted that the tree stump looked a little too unsoiled. It also was devoid of secondary growth, decomposing fungi, and insects.
“See if it moves,” she suggested.
Ross nodded and set the backpack aside. Then he put his considerable shoulder to the wood. Unfortunately, the stump was firmly rooted to the floor. Its upper tenth, however, was not. As soon as he applied pressure, it whirred and slid aside.
Over the eons a few bits of plant matter had managed to squeeze inside. There were also the shells of unlucky insects. They lay atop what looked like a wastebasket full of crumpled gold foil. A mass of red filaments bound this together, as if a spider with the Midas touch had been at its nest.
Cautiously, Ross Ed peered inside. No sound emerged from the interior.
“Doesn’t look like much.” Caroline eyed the ancient mess dubiously.
“The Veqq were wonderful engineers,” Jed reminded them. “It’s probably powered by stray neutrinos. Don’t ask me how. I’m no scientist.”
Ross’s hands hovered over the gold foil. “What do I do? It looks pretty fragile. I don’t want to break anything.”
“You won’t.” The little alien proceeded to furnish instructions.
Ross felt he was doing little more than moving filaments and crumpling foil, but after thirty minutes Jed pronounced himself satisfied. As far as the two humans could tell, nothing had changed. Although when Jed directed him to put an ear close to the opening, Ross thought he could hear something buried deep within hiccuping softly.
“Do I close it back up?”
“You bet. Just apply pressure to the lid.”
Ross did so and was rewarded with the sight of the cover sliding silently back into place. Once again the transmitter looked exactly like an isolated tree stump.
“How come the Maya, or whoever hauled this up here, didn’t accidentally open it and rip out the insides?” Caroline wanted to know.
“There is an activation sequence which must first be keyed in,” the Shakaleeshva explained. “Otherwise the unit is impossible to open. My suit broadcast the necessary sequence. Your ancestors would have heard only an occasional humming. No doubt they believed some sort of spirit to be trapped inside.
“Now I suggest we depart.”
“Wait a minute.” Ross Ed frowned as he picked up the pack and swung it onto his back. “If your people are going to intercept the signal and come looking for you, shouldn’t we be here waiting for them?”
“We need to remain in the general vicinity, certainly,” Jed admitted, “but the Shakaleeshva may not arrive first. Others can pick up the modified signal as well. Not only the Culakhan, but the Tuniack, the Moespre, and half a dozen others may be drawn to it. I would rather not meet up with any of them. We need to remain in the region in order to monitor visitors, but far enough away so that we can be selective in who we greet.”
“How do we manage that?” Caroline asked uncertainly.
“My suit will handle any necessary contacts. Meanwhile we should move away from here.”
“Let’s go back to the beach,” Ross suggested. “Maybe we can find a fishing village or something.”
