Jack Canyon and The Superweapon of Atlantis | CHAPTER SEVEN

Words: 1915

It must have been some kind of cavern that had a weak ceiling,
caving in and dropping the four archaeologists into an abyss.
It was like a trash or laundry chute with bends and drops
throughout. The darkness and dampness occupied every inch of
the mysterious place.

"Is everyone okay?" Jack asked, not entirely sure where he
was, or where anyone else was for that matter.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Tangaroa said through the stiff darkness.
"Where are you?"

"I'm over here," Jack replied.

"Oh, that's bloody helpful," the Kiwi spoke.

"Boys, grow up," Erin cried out to them. "Does anyone have a
flashlight? Or did that little gadget in modern technology
somehow slip both your minds?"

"I think they're in your bag, Erin," Jack told her as felt
around the rocky chamber with his hands. "ouch!" He cried as
he bumped his head into the wall. A sudden beam of light
shone on him, illuminating his stupidity to all.

"Well, if you get brain damaged, I don't think we'll be able
to notice," Erin said dryly. She tossed him a flashlight and
then one to Tangaroa. She scanned the room with her beam,
searching for Mrs. Canyon. "Where's Kate?"

Jack and Atawhai began searching with their flashlights in the
cavern for Katelyn.

Tangaroa's light stopped at an opening in the wall. "That's
the only way she could have gone."

"After you?" Jack asked with a hopeful tone.

"She's your mother," the man replied.

"For God's sake!" Erin said pushing the two aside and ducking
as she moved through the hole. "I swear you two are are not
men!" She stood erect as she pushed through the hole and
found herself in cave. She guided her flashlight's beam
around and found Kate lying on the floor. She was clueless as
to how the woman found her way here. She knelt down by Jack's
mother and shook her to wake her.

Her eyes opened slowly as she looked up at the red head.
"Where are we?"

"Somewhere underground," Erin told her.

Jack and Tangaroa arrived, but pushing and shoving each other.

Erin looked back at them and then to Kate again. "Boys. . ."
She pulled the fourth light from her pack and gave it to
Katelyn. "Here. Now, let's find a way out of this place."

"There," Jack pointed out with his light.

"What is that?" Erin asked as all four of them drew closer to
it. She could feel chills covering every inch of her body.

"It's a door," Jack replied as Tangaroa pushed on it and
kicked it.

"Correction," Tangaroa announced. "It's a locked door."

"And it's the only way out," Erin added as she sunk against
the wall.

"Look at these markings," Katelyn pointed as she she leaned
forward to examine them.

"I've seen these before," Jack said as he pulled the journal
from his back pocket. "The secret to unlocking this door is
in the symbols. The secret to these symbols is in the scroll
and the shield."

"Well, let's get a move on, Sherlock," Erin called out to him
as she got to her feet and moved to him.

"It's his emblem," Jack announced. "The symbol on the door is
Talus's."

Everyone took a moment to examine the marking before looking
to Jack to solve the riddle of the door.

"I think the symbols are some kind of combination lock," Jack
admitted. "But each one is missing symbols."

"Are there common markings?" Tangaroa asked.

"Eh," Jack said as he scanned the scroll and then the door.
"Yeah, a few are the same."

"Then that would be the symbols to use," Erin spoke.

Jack examined the script and then the door. He saw the first
symbol on the scroll and pressed it on the door. Then he
moved onto the next symbol and the next, pressing them in an
order that corresponded with the sequence they were on the
scroll and the shield.

Everyone watched him closely and in anticipation.

Finally, with the last symbol pushed in, Jack stood back and
let Tangaroa push the door open, but it did not open. Jack
furrowed his brow as he thought for a moment. "But I pushed
all the symbols."

Erin stood on the tips of her toes to look over his shoulder
at the journal. "No, you missed one." She pushed past Jack
and pushed the Talus symbol near the center. "You missed that
one."

Upon pushing it, there was sound of movement, as if something
was unlocking the door. Stone rods pulled from the door,
releasing it from their grip.

Atawhai pushed the door open and moved inside to find an
enormous cavern with a skylight where the ceiling was cracked.
Within was an amazing sight of emerald, sapphire, diamond,
ruby, and more. It was an entire city molded out of jewels.
It would have taken master craftsmanship to have created this
city.

"Atlantis," Katelyn said in almost a whisper. She stood with
the others, all in awe of what they were seeing.

"How could anyone have not found this place?" Tangaroa asked
as the scanned the massive city.

"It's buried a thousand miles below the sea level," Jack
announced. "It's impossible to get to."

"You're wrong," Erin told him.

"Did you not come down the same way we did?" Jack asked. "I
say it's impossible to get to."

"No, we're only about five miles down," Erin corrected him.
"I'd say that center spire is only three or four miles high.
It's such amazing work to have a city with streets of gold and
buildings of jewelry."

"It's like Oz," Jack announced as he stood next to his mother,
who was still in shock. "You don't think--"

"No, I don't think the authors of the Wizard of Oz fashioned
their city after this one," Erin stopped him. "This city was
lost nearly twenty thousand years ago."

"Look," Tangaroa said, gathering their attention around a
small building, which looked like a house. "The walls have
some kind of insulation and inner wall. This could be the
earliest sign of framing. I mean, there is definitely a
frame, and a layer of emerald or something. It's like
bricking. These people were very smart."

"I wonder if we could take part of this road with us," Jack
said, ignoring Atawhai completely.

"Jack!" Erin called out. "No, you can't. Tanga is
explaining the design of this house."

"Very fascinating," Jack said. "But why make a city of this?"

"There is a volcano or two here," Kate explained. "I mean, it
wouldn't be hard to find an abundant supply of gemstones."

"But this place," Jack spoke as he stepped further down the
street. "Is worth a fortune."

"Let's get to the center of the city and find their city hall
or whatever you call it," Erin announced. "We're on a mission
here."

Jack looked at the red head as she spoke. She looked so
beautiful in the glistening gems. "It's a long hike."

"Then we better start moving now," Kate said as she joined
Erin and led the team deeper into the city.

***

Once at the center of the city, they found much taller
buildings, but none were taller than the center spire itself.

"Diamond sheets for windows," Jack stated. "Of course, they
hadn't discovered glass yet." He tapped on the window,
causing it to break. "Okay, maybe this is glass."

"These people were ingenious," Erin said still amazed at the
city's attributes.

"With a volcano next door, there's no wonder they can do so much," Tangaroa stated as they stood before the central spire. "City hall?"

"It has to be," Jack said as they pushed the heavy dual glass doors open. Everyone else stood beside him as they examined the entrance chamber.

"What are those?" Erin asked as she moved closer to a cylinder shaped tube with a small cylinder inside it. "It looks useless. I mean, five or six people could fit in here."

"There are two," Jack pointed out.

Katelyn noticed a series of buttons between the two objects and pressed one in. A loud rumble startled her, making her jump back. She watched as one of the cylinders rose and the other lowered.

"A pulley system?" Tangaroa asked.

"It stopped at the top," Jack stated as he turned to his mother. "Push another one. I wanna see what happens."

Kate nodded and pushed the one below it. She watched as the cylinder moved down a floor. Then she smiled. "It's an elevator."

"Oh, thank God!" Erin exclaimed. "I'm so tired of stairs."

Jack gave a cocky grin, just like his mom's. He was impressed with the Atlanteans and their inventions. He pushed the bottom button in and watched the elevator through the tube as it lowered to them. "All aboard."

Erin and Kate were the first two to get on, and were followed by Jack and Tangaroa. Kate pressed the button just outside to take them to the next level. Once it stopped, they stepped off onto the emerald floor.

"Alright, let's find some records," Jack ordered and headed down the corridor.

Tangaroa and Erin checked each room to find them mostly empty. When they reached the end, they discovered a large chamber with a center console.

"Jack," Erin called out as she looked back at him and Kate. "Look at this."

Jack entered to find the walls covered with small crystals. "What is this place?" He moved to the center of the room where he examined the console. He noticed a hole in the center of the tower-shaped console.

"Oh, look, Jack, you found a hole," Erin told him.

"Have you not learned anything?" Jack asked her. "This has to be important. I mean, who builds unimportant things?"

"That shape," Tangaroa said, but stopped as he began to think. He looked around the room again. He had examined the crystals on the wall. He moved to the wall and pulled one of the crystals free of its hold. "Resembles this."

"Maybe they're keys," Kate said as she took the crystal from Tangaroa's hand and placed it into the slot. The console illuminated, making everyone step back and look up at what it displayed.

"It's text," Jack stated.

"Doesn't it take microscopes or something to be able to write so small on something?" Tangaroa asked.

"Yeah," Erin replied. "Which means these people have conquered many feats in their time. This is great record keeping."

"It's about a city-wide meeting," Kate said as she translated it into her journal. "Nothing important. Get another one."

Tangaroa returned the crystal to its slot and pulled another out. "Here."

Again, the console lit up and posted the text in the air.

"Here's something," Kate said as she began to translate it quickly. "Apparently there was a great earthquake. The land shifted and the city sunk into the continent. This isn't finished, but it appears that the continent was roughly three hundred seventy miles across. Which means its mountains and volcanoes are what is now known as Azores."

"What else does it say?" Jack asked.

"Talus was their only hope," Kate continued. "He was the brightest of the bright. Their 'uber-genius'."

"Very good," a thick German-accented voice called out from behind them all.

Jack and the others turned to see Johanna Mahler standing before them. She had plenty of men, one of which fired off warning shots for them to not do anything hasty. The four archaeologists stood with their arms raised in a surrendering position.