Tunnels 06 - Terminal

the crates with them, they followed the bushman to the end of the chamber and out onto a landing where they were presented with more stairs.
    ‘I expected the other tribesmen to be further down inside the pyramid, not up here,’ Jürgen mumbled as Woody led them up flight after flight.
    ‘Last time, that’s where they took us,’ Will remarked. ‘Right down into the guts of the pyramid.’
    As they came to yet another landing, Woody ushered them away from the stairs and into a low-ceilinged, circular chamber, approximately thirty feet in diameter. He was gesticulating at a point on the curved wall directly opposite the entrance. As there didn’t seem to be another way in or out of the chamber, they left the crates by the doorway.
    ‘If the rest of the tribesmen are through there, this would be an ideal location for decontamination,’ Jürgen said. Undoing the top of one of the crates, he began to take out several of the green canisters of sterilising agent. ‘If the worst comes to the worst, I’ve got some syringes of vaccine ready in here,’ he said, as he lifted out a small attaché case.
    Woody was chatting away ten to the dozen, desperately trying to attract their attention. ‘What’s he want us to see over there?’ Will asked, as light from the bushman’s torch fell on something in front of him.
    As they came nearer, they found that a small shelf projected from the wall at waist height. Angled at forty-five degrees there was a black panel set into it, which Will began to touch. ‘What on earth is this for?’ he asked.
    ‘Talk to me. What are you looking at?’ Jürgen asked, as he hastily emptied the contents of another of the crates out onto the floor and began to arrange them ready for construction ofa decontamination tent.
    ‘Well, it resembles glass … black glass … or some type of highly polished mineral. It’s got the Ancients’ symbol cut into it, but the edges are rough, like gouges,’ Will said, exploring the three prongs of the trident symbol with his fingers. ‘If this is the same as the squares outside and opens a way through, Woody needs to show us how to activate it.’
    ‘Who’s Woody?’ Jürgen asked, although he was preoccupied with his efforts to erect the tent. By now the bushman had begun to pace impatiently up and down beside the wall, still speaking rapidly. ‘So have we definitely got a way in?’ Jürgen called across, just as Elliott, avoiding Woody as he tore past her, lost her balance. She stuck a hand out against the side of the chamber to steady herself.
    Pulses of cool blue light coursed for several metres around where she’d made contact with the wall, revealing an intricate network of lines and circles.
    ‘Whoa!’ Will cried out.
    They were all too startled to speak, the only sound in the chamber Woody’s flaming torch as it crackled away.
    ‘Tell me I didn’t just imagine that,’ Will whispered, hardly daring to breathe.
    Dropping the aluminium tent pole he’d just slotted together, Jürgen hurried over and shone his flashlight along the wall beside Elliott. ‘No, I saw it too,’ he confirmed, then he slowly stretched his hand out to touch the wall.
    Will was already tapping one of the large blocks of masonry where he was. ‘Whatever it was, it’s gone. And I really don’t get it. This is just stone!’
    ‘Where did those lights come from, then?’ Elliott asked, still thoroughly confused.
    ‘They were more like sparks,’ Jürgen said, as he stooped to examine the wall at its base. ‘And I agree with you, Will. No question that it’s stone.’ He took his hand away and rubbed the dust between his fingers. ‘Even if the phenomenon we just witnessed could be explained by some sort of electrostatic discharge, how did the masonry conduct it like that? I saw … shapes … designs.’
    Will stepped closer to the small ledge. ‘Maybe this has something to do with it.’ He was pushing on the panel to see if he could make it move in any direction, when Woody began to speak excitedly.
    ‘What’s he prattling on about?’ Will asked Elliott.
    ‘I can’t understand him. He’s speaking too quickly,’ Elliott replied. She held her hand over the shiny panel. ‘Show me how this works. Does it open a door?’ she said to the bushman in Styx.
    For the first time, Woody looked her straight in the eye.
    Before she knew what was happening, he’d grabbed hold of her wrist. He forced her hand down onto the panel, ramming her fingers into the