The First Nova I See Tonight by Jason Kilgore (the false prince .txt) 📕

Yiorgos, who was stumbling through some ferns. "Then at least let my partner go. You can hold me hostage to make sure he doesn't talk to the feds."

Juarez gave a wry laugh. "Who says it is you we wanted?"

Dirken blinked in confusion at this, unsure how to respond.

In moments the jungle opened up to a clearing spotted with low trees. Before them, rising with noble antiquity, towered a complex of crumbling step pyramids, broad plazas, and raised platforms, all constructed of gray rock.

"Behold!" Juarez said, "the ancient Mayan city of Edzná!"

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

PYRAMID

Now free of the jungle trail, the party picked up its pace, moving in a near straight line through rocky platforms decorated with simple pillars and ancient foundations. To Dirken's right, an archway peeked around a short wall. To Dirken's left, a mound ascending some twenty meters was topped with an open chamber.

Then the party marched through a long courtyard with deteriorated, sloping walls. Midway through, on the wall to either side, were projected half-circles of carved rock, which looked as if, prior to being broken, may have been massive rock rings.

"An alley," Dirken grumbled. "Lowlifes like you are right at home here."

"This was a game arena," Juarez said, condescension in his tone. "Men played on teams with a rubber ball, hitting it with their thighs in an attempt to get it past the other team." He pointed to one of the broken stone rings. "If you got the ball through a ring, you won instantly." He paused for effect, then added. "It was all deeply religious — a ritual reenactment of the creation of the cosmos. It is said that sometimes the losers would be sacrificed to their gods."

Dirken scoffed. "And what did they know of the cosmos, Juarez? Where are their gods now? A barbaric game for a primitive people."

"Bloody? Sí. But primitive? No. They were very advanced for their time, amigo. What we see around us was a metropolitan area with tens of thousands of citizens, ruling an empire that dwarfed anything in Europe at the time, calculating astronomical events with such precision they predicted solar eclipses hundreds of years ahead. Their gods ruled the cosmos with the same precision. Bloodshed was a way of cementing their devotion."

"And now you have your own god to worship, Governor," Yiorgos said. "How are you going to show your devotion? Bloodshed?"

"AVA is like a god, yes, with powers you will see soon enough. But bloodshed? That is up to you. Let us hope you do as we say and neither of you needs to die."

They exited the arena northward into a vast plaza. To their left a colossal, rampart-like wall bordered the full length of the plaza. Ahead stood a small, stepped pyramid with stairs on each side and a vaulted chamber at the top. But off to their right, up a steep set of stairs to a plateau, sat a gigantic pyramid. The party turned in that direction.

The devices on the Acolyte robes were buzzing and lighting up even more.

"We must hurry," the Aussie said to Juarez, loud enough that Dirken overheard. "They'll reach orbit any time now."

"Who's coming?" Dirken asked. "I do like parties, you know." He shivered in mock excitement. "And to think, I forgot to bring the beer."

"Move faster!" Juarez commanded, without answering him.

Dirken didn't know who was "almost to orbit," but from the sound of it, they didn't seem to be someone Juarez liked. The Bloodhawk? He'd rather take his chances with these idiots. He considered slow-walking it, but reconsidered after the Aussie poked him in the back with the business end of her blaster.

The group double-timed it, almost jogging, to the stairs, then they climbed. The steps up the plateau were made of the same light gray rock as everything else, each stone large enough that it would take many men to heft it. There were hundreds of thousands of such stones in the structure, maybe millions, rising four tiers upward. Since Yiorgos's arms were tied behind his back, Dirken did what he could to help his partner climb, lending him a handcuffed hand.

Overheated and dehydrated, Dirken's head was woozy by the time he reached the top of the steps. All of them were huffing and puffing. They took a moment, bent over, to catch their breath. Off to the side was a pile of canteens. One of the acolytes, the curly blond-haired young man who'd been a yeoman on the Excellentia, handed Dirken and Yiorgos a canteen. The water was hot from sitting in the blazing sun but still refreshing. He drank deeply. Yiorgos did as well, but then he started coughing and sputtering.

"We must keep moving," Juarez commanded.

"In case you haven't noticed," Dirken said, "my partner is badly injured. We just survived a fucking crash-landing, after all, and a firefight to boot, then a march through the damned jungle."

Juarez nodded toward the acolytes, who responded by raising their guns toward the pair. "I said, keep moving."

Dirken put his hand on Yiorgos's shoulder. The cyborg stopped sputtering and gave one more cough. "I'll be okay," he gasped, but the biological part of his face was pale. He blinked rapidly, seeming to have trouble focusing. Heat exhaustion, Dirken figured, but he didn't say anything. Mechanical legs, or not, it was still hard on what remained of the man's heart and body to lug all that weight around. He helped his partner to his feet, then the party moved along, gaining speed.

At the top of the plateau was what Dirken could only think of as an acropolis. Even more grand than the last plaza, there was a stepped pyramid at both the north and south sides of the plaza, each impressive in its own right. But what drew his eye was the gargantuan step pyramid that he'd seen rising above the jungle, now directly ahead. Each "step" of the pyramid consisted of a story about as high as two people, and there were five stories rising up to