Atlantis: Bermuda Triangle

Chapter 29

Dane stared at the video screen which showed Sin Fen holding on to the top railing, a tube from one of the oxygen tanks in her mouth. Her eyes were open as they descended. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He felt drunk, at the golden moment when the alcohol gave clarity before descending into the physical depression that was the by-product of drinking. He felt like he was watching Sin Fen float outside the submersible in a dream, slowly descending into the water together. It didn’t take long to reach the top of the pyramid.

Diffuse sunlight reflected off the smooth black stone, untouched by the sea or its creatures all these years. Sin Fen turned and looked directly at the camera. She cut through the fog in Dane’s mind.

“Land on top, next to that slab,” Dane ordered, picking up the thought she directed at him.

Carefully manipulating the controls, DeAngelo brought them to a landing on the top, ten feet from a large slab. A pole with something on the top stuck up next to the slab. Dane focused the camera, recognizing the Naga carving on the tip, a representation of the real thing that he had fought in Angkor Kol Ker. He felt the power of this place, even though the shield wasn’t active.

Sin Fen was walking across the top of the pyramid to the slab, the air hose trailing behind her. She climbed onto the slab and sat on the edge, looking back at Deepflight.

Dane picked up the message she sent to him.

“We need to be closer,” he ordered DeAngelo. “Close enough so that the remote arm can reach that pole.”

“Why can’t she reach it?” DeAngelo asked, even as he gave the engines a tweek and slid the submersible closer.

Dane saw it then as Sin Fen finally allowed him to. Why she wouldn’t be able to turn the pole. What she planned on doing. This was the place the vision he had stolen from her mind had shown him. Where the woman in the vision had lain.

He moved over and slid his hand into the glove box that controlled the arm. He extended it until the mechanical fingers were stretched around the shaft of the pole. Then he slowly contracted his hand until the metal hand gripped the pole firmly. Even through the metal and plastic of the remote, he felt a jolt of power.

Only then did he look at the screen that showed Sin Fen.

Tam Nok was calm, her voice steady. “You must leave the staff here,” she told Ragnarok.

“Why?” The Viking had slid the spear end into a slit next to the slab. His large right hand rested on the snake heads carved on the other end, as Tam Nok had instructed him.

“This weapon only stops the darkness,” she said. “It does not destroy it. There will be others who will need to use it in the future when the Shadow returns. We must make their journey less difficult than ours was. It is our duty to help those who come after us.”

Ragnarok nodded. “I will leave it.”

“I am ready,” Tam Nok said. She lay down on the slab, in the form that fit her body almost perfectly.

Sin Fen lay down on the slab, half her body disappearing into the depression carved in the surface.

“What is she doing?” DeAngelo asked.

Dane ignored the pilot. He reached out to her, the mental bond stronger than he had ever felt. The air hose slipped out of her mouth and floated away.

I am ready, Sin Fen told Dane.

You should have told me the truth, he sent back to her.

I have tried, but even I don’t understand all. That is up to you. There is no more time for that now. This is my task, that is your task. Do it.

Dane twisted his hand, the pole turning.

Ragnarok twisted the pole as she had told him. It turned smoothly halfway around, then stopped. He felt the pyramid begin to vibrate under his feet and through the pole. He let go and stepped back. The darkness was very close now, less than a half-mile away.

A blue glow appeared around Tam Nok’s body, coming up out of the slab. It was darkest around her head. Her eyes were still wide open, her mouth moving in prayer.

“It is time to leave,” Hrolf was tugging at Ragnarok’s arm.

“I must see,” Ragnarok shook off his hand.

“She said to leave immediately,” Hrolf reminded him. “We have a duty to fulfill also.”

Something was happening to Tam Nok’s face, her head. The skin was moving as if something were alive underneath.

“We must go now!” Hrolf insisted. “Look!” he pointed toward the darkness where three small dots had suddenly appeared, racing toward them.

Ragnarok looked longingly at the spear, the battle rage coursing through his veins. He wanted to fight the Valkyries but he knew he had to do as Tam Nok had ordered.

Reluctantly, Ragnarok allowed the old warrior to lead him to the temple stairs, where the rest of his crew was already running down, taking three stairs at a time in their haste to get back to the longship and away from the temple and the approaching demonesses.

Halfway down, Ragnarok looked over his shoulder. The entire top of the pyramid was now enclosed in the blue glow. The Valkyries were less than fifty feet from the top, when like lightning, a streak of blue bolted out of the glow toward them. The lead Valkyrie disappeared in a flash. The other two kept coming, but two more bolts of blue destroyed them. A larger bolt then fired, straight toward the darkness. Where it hit there was a tremendous explosion in the air.

“Hurry!” Hrolf urged, his short fat legs making quick work of the stairs. Ragnarok sprinted after him.

The blue glow had completely surrounded Sin Fen’s body. Dane let go of the remote glove, releasing the pole. “Lift us up a little,” he ordered DeAngelo.

As the submersible floated up ten feet, Dane suddenly felt pain, like an ice cold spear slammed into the top of his head. He cried out, even as he did, realizing he was experiencing only a fraction of what Sin Fen was, an echo of her mind still reaching out to him.

“My God!” DeAngelo exclaimed.

Dane opened his eyes, seeing what had caused the pilot’s outburst. The skin on Sin Fen’s head was peeling away, as if melting off the skull. Her eyes changed from something solid into two dark blue orbs of light. Her hair was all gone, and in a few seconds the skin beneath followed suit. White bone, suffused with blue lines, the two blue orbs for eyes, were all that were left.

Then the bone itself changed, becoming clear, until it was pure crystal, totally suffused with the blue light. Suddenly a streak of blue shot out from the crystal skull toward the darkness of the approaching gate.

The submersible rocked from the shock wave.

“Get us out of here,” Dane whispered.

DeAngelo didn’t need to be told a second time. He throttled up and sped away.

Dane adjusted the camera, keeping it on Sin Fen- what had been Sin Fen- as more bolts of blue came out of the crystal skull, firing toward the gate.

As the image faded, Dane reached out and placed his hand on the screen, the last connection he had with her.