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"It is my great pleasure to announce that the TARDIS has materialized," Dr. Smith said authoritatively.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSPGG5qLcA
"Where are we now?" asked Penny, Dr. Smith's fifteen-year-old niece.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ZfOqGxXyN
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDKxkOxki4
"Well?" Penny arched her eyebrows. 455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6f89qvrfVE
"West, hand me a screwdriver," Dr. Smith said testily.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOyJwKuVUXQ
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC7jPejx1kq
"We could always stick our heads outside the door and look," Ann MacGregor suggested.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLbSPhqYpZw
"And be devoured by a dinosaur, or dictated to by a Dalek, perhaps?" Don added.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEq8sxXdhI5
"Let's check the atmosphere," Penny said.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAn4Vrmcd63
"Good idea." Don turned to Dr. Smith. "May I?"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL22S9kr98O
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisFKDF2VCZ
"Stale?" Penny echoed.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3zq8SCcZr
"That means breathable but musty."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQ1TRfK2Hw
"Then we can take a peek," said Ann. "Are you coming with me?" she asked Penny.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA82iIXbXRp
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrHZ9oUwPw5
Cautiously, Penny and Ann opened the door and peered out. Apart from the light inside the TARDIS, they were in total darkness.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBQgXOsDNC
"Where do you think we are?" Penny whispered.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlYCOtmqUgf
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPx6yrHcrI
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. 455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhh3l5xYzFd
But it was the cloak, geometrically woven with silver and golden threads, and the superb mask that fascinated Barbara.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgtZZ9pygsc
"Look at that, Penny," she murmured.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDsL0KbrlG
"I am," Penny shuddered with a sense of foreboding, anticipating the evil to come.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3mtRqQr08
"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?"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPa0SsTtMG
"No."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiu8gl3isHz
"His personal fly-swatter."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVuFwSVzivd
Penny giggled. Since the Aztecs were Mexicans, the TARDIS must definitely be on Earth. "But what year is it?" she asked.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDvzwJGH2mk
"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."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡndGOZNLLw8
"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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjlKuvR11uY
"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?"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA0aTNW7YEm
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."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwCMPmRl19C
"The Spanish didn't think so when they came here."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBw4MXIW2X
"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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiMkvgwxYm
"The Spanish landed in the early 1500s, didn't they?" Penny asked.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5lDqlR9re
"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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVByTabZs81
"They're just like cartoon strips," Penny remarked. "But they're all the same. What does it mean?"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG83muevbqw
"That the warriors will protect the High Priest's spirit until he rejoins his people."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBbNgHX45V
"Did the Aztecs believe in reincarnation, then?" Penny sounded surprised.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡra7SFZSKLo
"Oh, definitely." Ann moved closer to the wall. "This painting has hardly faded at all." 455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw00F22I5mR
She touched the mural, then quickly withdrew her hand.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5OCMOzSZnK
"What's wrong?" Penny asked.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhRhJs7rEuu
"It may be my hyperactive imagination at work," Ann replied, "but I think the wall moved when I touched it."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSIr72FB5K1
"Let's both push it and see."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3sEZrl6PL
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQSIJVGMPtY
"This tomb is part of a temple," Ann whispered.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaIZvA56kQn
"Hadn't we better go back to the TARDIS?" Penny asked nervously.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhi2VqOvlEP
"No, it's all right," Ann replied, "there's nobody here."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTYwrVhFoMR
"I think I'd better fetch uncle and Don anyway," Penny said and ran back into the tomb.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5XRjpAzb94
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBCWQe274Y
"Woman!"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60eVGSjj7K
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvZJFMJ4bu
Ann looked towards the entrance to the tomb in the back wall of the temple, but it had swung closed.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfUzQp8YDh3
"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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7aVO4AmC1P
"Wait, warriors!" he cried out with an expression of incredulity on his face. "Wait!"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPWNGEpCJ5L
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstUzyvfC0E
"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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9lbl23X4uL
"The wall's closed," Penny exclaimed.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE8rO7vmngK
"Which wall?" Don asked.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkNdtJh0NZ1
"The one with the mural," Penny replied.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGZZsiog7E
"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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6H5icdDjn
"I still can't see anything," he grumbled.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGulIEpC8QL
"Give me your hand, Uncle Zachary," Penny said and led him past the raised slab.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9asP5Juk5s
"What's that?" Dr. Smith asked.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuD6wQrO9u
"According to Ann, he was a High Priest now revered as a god," Penny replied.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGlDtuopfl7
Dr. Smith snorted.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOVTwQWgmX
"We push it up," Penny explained when they reached the wall, and a few seconds later they were standing in the temple.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYHxR4gqGA4
"Ann's not here," Don said.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIDWlZwExdT
"But----she was here when I came to fetch you," replied Penny defensively.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6FUzTCc2vr
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOZPgG9z48M
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."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgchd2aLcW1
"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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MxaNHSjXX
"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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo913uE8n3V
"I was too late. There was nothing to grab onto." Don felt ashamed at his failure.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0krz2ygGX
Penny looked perplexed. "But it must open somehow, Don."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZhduvnUiS9
"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."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡICA1n9HT8K
"But how shall we return to the TARDIS?"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRn13OawL3P
"That, Penny, is a very good question."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡobOzYqi4jp
Don cleared his throat. "Dr. Smith, we've got company," he murmured.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDqTGuhPcK5
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLRWoxEy1r
"I, Tetzal, High Priest of Knowledge, most humbly greet the servants of Nenetl," he said, while the four warriors bowed reverently.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVSr6RMdbe3
Dr. Smith glanced at Don. "The servants of what?" he asked.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsBcDpJx7xj
Don shook his head and looked at the High Priest. "Where is Ann?"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCimmePPdeJ
"Of whom do you speak?"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCTFJNpHbHn
"The young woman who was here a few minutes ago."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddYFa78y21
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."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQmYaYH7qY
Dr. Smith looked at Tetzal for a moment. "Er, what did you say your name was?" He sounded suspicious.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjqV2Quhow
"Tetzal."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ40o6WQWUpu
"And you're the High Priest of Knowledge?"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbgdxCc9l5
"I serve as such."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7bu38dIwQG
"Do you know where we came from?" Dr. Smith persisted.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSnuaT89usG
"Nenetl's tomb."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPXt78TyBXH
"How does one enter it from the temple?"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiNxUrdtZos
"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."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMSFQdEAUcy
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKKTmiKIDzk
"Ann, I think," Penny hissed. "I'll explain when we're alone."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVIcTqmSfI0
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBDlyPRSsva
"You know who he is, West," Dr. Smith said as they were escorted from the temple.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡalMwZ8x2Ti
"The local butcher, by the look of him," Don replied.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXNU8yCkU8
"Exactly."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡflYYUjXuWp
Tetzal waited until they had gone before he spoke.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDCl1diZZN
"You have seen her, Ollin?" he asked.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3QqEFZB6R
"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?"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRYrfgtfKGm
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSV1DxJvJ8l
"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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2k8Str1FL
"I tell you, O' High Priest of Sacrifice, there will be rain," Tetzal spoke gently and hesitated before continuing, "...with or without human blood."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvG1WZ1tROH
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?"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3cPTQiLvbN
"I serve the same god as you," Tetzal's voice was even.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyO41EEkZS
"Then, above all else, honor him. He demands blood," Ollin shouted, "and blood he shall have!"455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMvN91o6dT7
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNisH3aAFWG
"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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmF5HnvDKer
"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."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQMOq0uKYlQ
"If she were wearing the bracelet and came out of the tomb then that fellow Quetzal...."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7G7uz51VR9
"Tetzal," Don corrected him, and was ignored.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgV2OtwXVwB
"....must associate Ann in some way with that skeleton, Yentl."455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTN210EzU1w
"Nenetl."It was Penny's turn to put him ri ght.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwpRSSCJT8o
"Oh, the pain," Dr. Smith muttered.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi6PrYI39ND
"Well, they've treated us all right so far," Penny said brightly.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXVBdBPhij
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.455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbDtpBQTPzr
455Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdVAKlEmGU
