"It is my great pleasure to announce that the TARDIS has materialized," Dr. Smith said authoritatively.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8AywlV16JP
"Where are we now?" asked Penny, Dr. Smith's fifteen-year-old niece.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw2uKgC7FOV
Dr. Smith moved around the central control deck of his marvelous, though, at times, quirky, time/space ship to the digital time/place orientation printout and pressed the correct button. Alas, nothing happened.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCgzs4SkNwv
"Well?" Penny arched her eyebrows. 491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH141Btnqtp
"West, hand me a screwdriver," Dr. Smith said testily.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWIlo0nwLyj
Don took one from the toolkit, and gave it to Dr. Smith, remarking that with any luck they were on Earth during the 1990s in an aerospace factory where the TARDIS could be thoroughly overhauled. Dr. Smith was not amused and he began furiously unscrewing the front panel of the printout.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1yn8A1ETB2
"We could always stick our heads outside the door and look," Ann MacGregor suggested.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYSzKa0MaV
"And be devoured by a dinosaur, or dictated to by a Dalek, perhaps?" Don added.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe5pmflI9Uc
"Let's check the atmosphere," Penny said.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NHrzewCnH
"Good idea." Don turned to Dr. Smith. "May I?"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2S2sOxtIU
The only reply was a grunt which Don took to mean "yes," so he switched on the atmospheric sensor. A display screen gave a breakdown of the gases outside. Don studied it for a moment and then said that it appeared that they were on Earth, but the air was stale.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN6iRZkvon3
"Stale?" Penny echoed.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfHiWJgFIX
"That means breathable but musty."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZRzTUmir7
"Then we can take a peek," said Ann. "Are you coming with me?" she asked Penny.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZRnTNjLGAF
When Penny asked her uncle if she could go, he waved one hand rather vaguely at her and told Don to help him to remove the panel. When it was off, the Doctor began poking at the electronics with his screwdriver, making the 28-year-old scientist wince with despair.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmukb5Hbrd6
Cautiously, Penny and Ann opened the door and peered out. Apart from the light inside the TARDIS, they were in total darkness.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNdupfDUPxL
"Where do you think we are?" Penny whispered.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnxH0UYb5AY
Ann shook her head, but as the light from the TARDIS diffused and their eyes got used to the gloom, they stepped outside and looked around.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgyqlYkFK0W
They were (apparently) in a large tomb, and in the middle was a raised stone slab on which lay a superbly cloaked skeleton with a magnificent gold mask covering the skull. On the floor around the slab were earthen bowls and jugs, as well as ornaments, statuettes, bracelets, ear-rings, and brooches, all of them made of jade. 491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSeb8yxj5xH
But it was the cloak, geometrically woven with silver and golden threads, and the superb mask that fascinated Barbara.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKKDgh13I9
"Look at that, Penny," she murmured.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOeBH8pVUr
"I am," Penny shuddered with a sense of foreboding, anticipating the evil to come.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXxShvNcVAv
"It's an Aztec mask of Quetazcoatl, the Sun God, who was driven into exile by Huitzilipochtli, the God of Darkness," Ann looked down at the skeleton again. "He must have been a High Priest." Beside one skeletal hand was an oblong rod of carved jade with six beaded threads of silver, each about six inches long, attached to one end. Ann picked it up and smiled. "Do you know what this was?"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZfShmGeuM1
"No."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFtewJeHyZo
"His personal fly-swatter."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9fy6C3IPJQ
Penny giggled. Since the Aztecs were Mexicans, the TARDIS must definitely be on Earth. "But what year is it?" she asked.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCArNDMdk4u
"I can tell you when he died." Ann pointed to the objects strewn on the floor. "About 1430. These things all come from the Aztecs' early period." She picked up a gold bracelet shaped like a coiled snake that lay on the slab above the mask and turned it over in her hands. This indicates that after he died he was revered as a god."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdqG7zNcXeN
"You really do know your subject," Penny exclaimed. Ann smiled and admitted that when she was in college she had been particularly interested in the Aztec Indians and their civilization.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04cBae1tlT
"What little I know about them doesn't make me feel very well disposed towards them," Penny replied with a grimace. "They used to cut out people's hearts while they were still alive, didn't they?"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkbjTy9Oyka
Ann picked up the razor-sharp knife hewn from stone which lay at the skeleton's feet. "They did it with this," she said. "It's called an obsidian knife. But there was another side to their nature----a highly civilized one."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFh3xIZhuSl
"The Spanish didn't think so when they came here."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWew8QMp49
"Hernando Cortez and his conquistadores saw only wealth for themselves and barbarous acts of savagery by the Aztecs," Ann replied. "That was the tragedy of the race: their civilization was totally destroyed, the good as well as the bad." Ann put down the knife and picked up the bracelet again.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBhRh8MfvmF
"The Spanish landed in the early 1500s, didn't they?" Penny asked.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8rIhqXFIXI
"1519, to be exact." Still holding the bracelet Ann pointed to the wall behind the head of the slab. A colored fresco depicted an eagle clutching a coiled snake in its claws, surrounded by warriors in loin-cloths, cloaks, plumed headdresses and sandals, who held shields, spears and short-swords slung from their hips. From their mouths cam bubble filled with hieroglyphs. Ann studied the fresco and, almost without realizing it, slipped the bracelet onto her wrist.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm8U4Ga2iso
"They're just like cartoon strips," Penny remarked. "But they're all the same. What does it mean?"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeOIzXmqqox
"That the warriors will protect the High Priest's spirit until he rejoins his people."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBoa23bt1yU
"Did the Aztecs believe in reincarnation, then?" Penny sounded surprised.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ZU0sHW4dx
"Oh, definitely." Ann moved closer to the wall. "This painting has hardly faded at all." 491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ755OY9SQqR
She touched the mural, then quickly withdrew her hand.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LOjUWZA8w
"What's wrong?" Penny asked.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqDQEohlmBm
"It may be my hyperactive imagination at work," Ann replied, "but I think the wall moved when I touched it."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3fcS5Hu4l
"Let's both push it and see."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZAE0EiguM7
They put their hands to the wall and started to push. The wall swung slowly outwards and upwards. Light trickled into the tomb and then flooded in as the wall rose higher and higher. Both of them blinked as their eyes adjusted to its intensity.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXu1IVi25C
"This tomb is part of a temple," Ann whispered.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfc1k5ulHAO
"Hadn't we better go back to the TARDIS?" Penny asked nervously.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMGJY3r44Jh
"No, it's all right," Ann replied, "there's nobody here."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LIE47tndV
"I think I'd better fetch uncle and Don anyway," Penny said and ran back into the tomb.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE9ANPFfRaq
Ann left the tomb, walked to the middle of the temple and looked around. The temple itself was not large---about fifty square feet. Three sides were painted in white and blood red, decorated with sculpted skulls and coiled snakes, and hung with elaborately woven brocade curtains. The fourth side opened onto a terrace, in the middle of which stood the sacrificial altar. Ann shivered involuntarily as she approached the terrace to see what lay beyond it.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe9rOSLjFjg
"Woman!"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzDxiLS3kbZ
The man's voice was firm and Ann spun around to face him. He was in his mid-fifties, just like Dr. Smith, with a craggy face and long, gray hair. He wore a loincloth, a cloak similar to the one that enveloped the skeleton in the tomb, sandals and a head-dress of multi-colored plumed feathers. In one hand he carried a posy of flowers. "How came you here?" he asked.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhkTSdVxhBl
Ann looked towards the entrance to the tomb in the back wall of the temple, but it had swung closed.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGLUSGJ6hta
"This temple is sacred to the memory of the High Priestess Nenetl," the man said. "You trespass, and you shall be punished for it. Warriors, guardians of Nenetl's tomb," he called out. Four young Aztecs, who Ann thought bore an uncanny resemblance to those on the mural, emerged from behind one of the curtains. "Take her!" They advanced towards Ann who backed away to the closed entrance. It was only when she reached it with her arms outspread that the man saw the coiled-snake bracelet on her wrist.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR3MNoedaI1
"Wait, warriors!" he cried out with an expression of incredulity on his face. "Wait!"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5f3clvKBS6
Dr. Smith and Don had just finished replacing the front panel when Penny burst into the TARDIS and told them excitedly where they were. The Doctor pressed the digital time-orientation button and the number 1507 lit up.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbiiqTLJTPZ
"Cortez isn't due for another twelve years," Dr. Smith observed. "But the Aztecs have some rather gruesome habits, and the sooner we collect Ann and move on, the better." The three of them went out into the tomb.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq9sO879pTI
"The wall's closed," Penny exclaimed.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCFUO9Jt0Cm
"Which wall?" Don asked.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJRbWFG3sX
"The one with the mural," Penny replied.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0P1XSgZX1
"I can't see anything," Dr. Smith complained, and went back into the TARDIS to fetch his pencil-flashlight. When he came out again he switched it on, but the beam of light was too narrow.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhIiWy8D9Jz
"I still can't see anything," he grumbled.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRzXSbPh6re
"Give me your hand, Uncle Zachary," Penny said and led him past the raised slab.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwv5dhsatv
"What's that?" Dr. Smith asked.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1isRHHtsI6
"According to Ann, he was a High Priest now revered as a god," Penny replied.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIpBcZaVh5y
Dr. Smith snorted.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrvk8aiDn5s
"We push it up," Penny explained when they reached the wall, and a few seconds later they were standing in the temple.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlftQbwQHo7
"Ann's not here," Don said.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqGduf805tO
"But----she was here when I came to fetch you," replied Penny defensively.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsyBIfbrfT
Don called out Ann's name. "There's no sign of her now," he said, "unless she's out on that terrace." He walked to the sacrificial altar and glanced down either side of the terrace. "She's not here." Then he looked down. "Good Lord, Doctor, come and see this," he exclaimed.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qBKIbAyNo
Both Dr. Smith and Penny went to Don's side. As they passed the altar the Doctor muttered that they had better find Ann soon as he didn't fancy being carved up on it by some Aztec High Priest of Sacrifice, concluding his statement with his inevitable "Oh, the pain, the pain."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2EoDg4CMu
"Just look at the city," said Don. The temple was on the top of a pyramid and the city lay two hundred and fifty feet below them, patterned like a chessboard, with broad avenues between the squares of houses. There were gardens, irrigation aqueducts, and several markets.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ByifAnMVA
"The Aztecs knew how to build as well as kill," Dr. Smith observed dryly. "We must find Ann and leave." He looked back into the temple and saw the wall sliding back into place. "The wall, West! Quick! The wall!" he cried, and Don raced across the temple in a vain attempt to reach the wall before it shut them out. Dr. Smith and Penny hurried after him.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qHYfaXERh
"I was too late. There was nothing to grab onto." Don felt ashamed at his failure.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbDVH56zVFQ
Penny looked perplexed. "But it must open somehow, Don."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtEqxiKZSfW
"It does, my dear," Dr. Smith said with a shrug, "you push it from the other side. Tombs like this were designed to stop grave-robbers, not help them."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1w0KIBHNk
"But how shall we return to the TARDIS?"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkHmM9gi0j6
"That, Penny, is a very good question."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDFnlrl8Eq9
Don cleared his throat. "Dr. Smith, we've got company," he murmured.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsoBMJ5KGit
The man whom Ann had met and the four Aztec warriors were standing by one of the brocade curtains. The man raised in salute a hand which held a posy of flowers.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXy9wY5NijR
"I, Tetzal, High Priest of Knowledge, most humbly greet the servants of Nenetl," he said, while the four warriors bowed reverently.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1KjwlCIXvf
Dr. Smith glanced at Don. "The servants of what?" he asked.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYkKPLkcii
Don shook his head and looked at the High Priest. "Where is Ann?"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6GtTLv3cgd
"Of whom do you speak?"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ82dL3NUJdj
"The young woman who was here a few minutes ago."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlLO2oFhHgS
The High Priest smiled at them. "In due course, you will meet Nenetl again. But first, grant us our courtesies. Be assured that we harbor no evil towards you in our hearts. Indeed, we honor you."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyo9QCApdSv
Dr. Smith looked at Tetzal for a moment. "Er, what did you say your name was?" He sounded suspicious.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡebQsMnrHun
"Tetzal."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMOQ0MpeNGm
"And you're the High Priest of Knowledge?"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2KLWxiyIv1
"I serve as such."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5J9mee0KYR
"Do you know where we came from?" Dr. Smith persisted.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFo57WKJAx4
"Nenetl's tomb."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaRDWXZwiEE
"How does one enter it from the temple?"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS8gZ3aCLG7
"One cannot. It is sealed." Tetzal gestured toward the four warriors. "Go now with these attendants and soon you shall see the coiled serpent of Nenetl again."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYlpphkSXzi
Dr. Smith scratched his head. "I don't know what he's talking about," he said as they crossed the temple to where a warrior held aside one of the curtains.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnMWU0PzvIh
"Ann, I think," Penny hissed. "I'll explain when we're alone."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoaCnnJR8YB
Just before they reached the drawn curtain, the deformed figure of a powerfully built man limped into the temple from the entrance. He was younger than Tetzal and far less elaborately dressed. He wore a priest's loose-fitting robe which at first glance seemed to be caked in mud, but a second look told Penny it was dried blood. The plumes on his head-dress were splattered with it and his long hair was matted. He had a hard, thin, almost lipless mouth. But it was his eyes that commanded the attention----they were jet black, piercing, and totally fanatical. He stared at Dr. Smith, at Penny and at Don, then bowed curtly to them and limped to the back of the temple where Tetzal stood.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYfz8cf70S
"You know who he is, West," Dr. Smith said as they were escorted from the temple.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8VDYUZXPHG
"The local butcher, by the look of him," Don replied.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ01zFghqhi7
"Exactly."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHyZzopIXr
Tetzal waited until they had gone before he spoke.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhq7HgZFDa
"You have seen her, Ollin?" he asked.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrIeL9isXO
"A vision is with us, Tetzal," Ollin replied and, turning away, he limped back to the sacrificial altar. He looked up at the sky. "When does it rain?"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwxNqk1UFtO
Tetzal came halfway along the length of the temple and looked with disgust at Ollin's back. "This day when the sun's fire first touches the horizon to the west," he replied.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXmiDrc2gY
"At that moment we shall present her to the people. A vision shall stand before them, and I, in supplication to Tlaloc, the Rain God," Ollin stretched out his left hand over the altar, "I shall offer human blood. And the rain will come. No more talk of Tlaloc being angered by us and bringing drought to the land. There will be ra n," he exulted, "and all power shall be ours again." Facing the altar, Ollin raised both hands and shook his clenched fists to the heavens.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgluGAdWHwU
"I tell you, O' High Priest of Sacrifice, there will be rain," Tetzal spoke gently and hesitated before continuing, "...with or without human blood."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNGHcB6vt21
Ollin spun around, his eyes ablaze. "Does the High Priest of Knowledge serve only Quetzalcoatl, the banished God, and not Huitzilopochtli who has made us strong?"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0miKT8OgBG
"I serve the same god as you," Tetzal's voice was even.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKu55Cw10Az
"Then, above all else, honor him. He demands blood," Ollin shouted, "and blood he shall have!"491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOsIK6gbBxT
Dr. Smith, Penny and Don were in an antechamber below the temple. The walls were covered with colorful tapestries; the stone floor was carpeted; there were three couches to recline on, and a legless table laden with food and wine. Penny and Don sat down while the Doctor paced up and down.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB8BzEerb8A
"So you think Ann may have been wearing the bracelet when she went into the temple, is that it, Penny?" Dr. Smith didn't stop to look at her.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYsdBXWOgl
"I know Ann picked it up and I have a feeling she may have put it on," Penny replied half-apologetically, "but I can't be sure, Uncle Zachary, it was dark in the tomb."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnI8CN7PCUa
"If she were wearing the bracelet and came out of the tomb then that fellow Quetzal...."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJYbMCBmhhR
"Tetzal," Don corrected him, and was ignored.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6LiXzmKkUL
"....must associate Ann in some way with that skeleton, Yentl."491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCVmqF8Fl77
"Nenetl."It was Penny's turn to put him ri ght.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk1blYFdrmy
"Oh, the pain," Dr. Smith muttered.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4eKuHwIoO3
"Well, they've treated us all right so far," Penny said brightly.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMHhhpciTS
Dr. Smith stopped in his tracks and glared at her. "The Aztecs always showed the utmost courtesy to their intended victims," he observed icily and continued pacing the room.491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB2h8I46qYO
491Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡas6rfZeTxX
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