Nina joined him. He was correct; there was a definite flow of air down the lava tube, and it was at odds with the prevailing wind outside. But she had no clue how to explain it. “At least we won’t have to worry about being gassed if we go down there.”
“If?” said Eddie with a knowing smile.
“Yeah, we’re going down there. I just wanted to, y’know, preserve the illusion of choice.”
His smile broadened. “That vanished the moment I married you.”
“Hey!”
He winked, then became more serious. “There should be a couple of torches in that bag. Let’s have a look.”
Nina found the pair of flashlights and gave one to her husband as she switched on the other and shone it down the passage. The curving walls were slightly ridged, producing the unsettling impression of being inside the rib cage of a snake. The lava tube changed shape as it progressed, its cross section undulating from a teardrop to a squashed ovoid, but the volume of molten rock that had formed it seemed consistent; the ceiling was never lower than eight feet high. “Do you think it’s safe?”
Eddie placed a fingertip to his forehead as if channeling psychic powers. “Lemme consult my massive knowledge of volcanoes and say … I don’t have a fucking clue.” She stuck out her tongue, making him grin again. “There isn’t molten lava gushing up it, so that’s a good start. And so long as the wind’s blowing down into it, we should be able to breathe okay. If it changes, though … We should have brought a canary in a cage.”
“Poor birdie.” She aimed the light at where the tunnel coiled out of sight. “Should we get the rest of the gear?”
He shook his head. “You’ve got the basics, and I’ve got the bombs. If we need anything else, we can always go back for it.”
“Let’s hope we don’t need anything else.”
“You think we’re going to find this meteorite just lying there?”
“It’d be a nice change, wouldn’t it?” She started down the shaft.
Eddie walked alongside her. “So, let me get this straight. This priestess, Nantalas, basically sinks Atlantis when she cocks up how to use earth energy, and the meteorite shoots off like an ICBM. She convinces the king not to kill her, but instead uses the statues to find it.”
“Right. So they could make sure nobody ever tried to use the power of the gods again.”
“Well, we know they were here. But just blocking off the entrance doesn’t seem like their usual way of doing things. The other Atlantean places we’ve found … they were big on booby traps, weren’t they?”
Nina stopped suddenly. “Oh, you had to remind me, didn’t you?”
“Better now than when there’s a giant scythe swinging at your head.”
More cautiously, using the torch to check the curved walls above as well as the floor, she set off again. The entrance disappeared around a bend, dropping them into darkness as they continued deeper into the mountain. “I don’t know how much effort the Atlanteans who came here would have put into building their defenses, though. They would have had other things on their mind.”
“Like getting back home to save their families before Atlantis went glug-glug-glug.”
“Yeah. Still, they obviously put some work into sealing the entrance—they could have just filled the tunnel with rocks, but they went to the trouble of constructing a wall.”
“If they thought the meteorite was sent by the gods, maybe they thought it’d piss them off even more if they didn’t show respect by building a proper barricade,” Eddie suggested.
“I really am rubbing off on you! That’s exactly what I was thinking. So, when are you going to enroll for a degree course?”
“The twelfth of never.” They continued their descent, Eddie licking a finger and holding it up to check that the breeze was still blowing from behind them. It was. “So, they built a wall—did they build anything else down here?”
They rounded another bend—and halted as their torch beams fell upon something ahead.
Nina’s eyes widened in astonishment. “I’d say … yes.”
THIRTY-THREE
The twisting lava tube opened out into a chamber cut from the volcanic rock—by human hands, not molten magma. The space was circular, about thirty feet in diameter. Offset from the entrance on the chamber’s far side was an imposing pair of tall stone doors. A metal plate was fixed upon one of them, glinting with the reddish gold tint of orichalcum.
The doors were not what stopped Nina and Eddie in their tracks, however. It was