fate and was neither startled nor worried. Gillian was a smart girl and if anyone could get them out, it would be her. His faith in her was unwavering, but even he knew that not everyone was infallible. It was for this reason that Richard had no intention of sitting about and waiting for a rescue. The Mayans were smart people, but it did not take much intelligence to know that they were not the inventors of the metal cable and that the most likely thing stopping them from falling into oblivion was a rope, and an old one at that.
As soon as they realised they were entombed, the first reaction was one of amusement. They could not believe that a group of five highly intelligent individuals had been outwitted by a civilisation long since passed, but this soon elapsed as the full comprehension of their predicament and the confines of the tiny room, less than three square feet, brought them down to reality. Tempers began to fray with Fred and Redmond being the worst offenders, forcing Richard to bring order.
‘Now, listen!’ Richard raised his voice. ‘No amount of squabbling is going to bring forth a magic genie to grant us three wishes and let us out of here.’
Julia saw the funny side of Richard’s comment. ‘You always did like Aladdin.’
‘I think I could recite it backwards,’ replied Richard, referring to the amount of times he had watched the film with his granddaughter. ‘So, we need to stop acting like caged rabbits and find a way out of here.’
‘It’s not like I can see an escape hatch,’ replied Fred, his sarcasm causing Richard to cringe. He never did have much patience for that boy.
‘Well, it’s quite obvious that we don’t have any food or water and we could be trapped here for days. I for one have no intention of withering and dying like a sacrificial victim,’ said Richard as Julia, Mitchell and Redmond replied with a ‘here, here’.
Richard contemplated the situation at hand and did a mental calculation of the tools he had with him. As a rule, he had a large cache of equipment at the dig site, but he had always carried a small tool belt in light of his ageing years to save him the energy of running back and forth. He had investigated in a good quality, lightweight hiker’s belt that contained a small hammer, chisel, tiny hand spade, Capewell retractable grappling hook and nylon rope for safety. A small torch with a set of spare batteries was also included and for which he was thankful. Unfortunately he did not have the one thing they required – food or water.
‘We should all empty our pockets and combine anything we may have with us,’ suggested Richard.
Everyone agreed and they were able to put together an eclectic mix of sustenance bars, tissues, a couple of pocket knives, two mobile phones, pens and odd pieces of paper. Redmond also had a complete packet of jelly snakes that he had to give up.
‘This is not looking good,’ muttered Julia.
‘I know,’ replied Richard, frowning. ‘All the more reason to find a way out.’
‘Surely Gillian and Samuel will bring a rescue party,’ said Redmond.
‘I have no doubt, particularly as her father is a Major General in the United States Air Force. I would expect that he will be here as soon as he hears about my predicament. It is also possible that our rescue will receive media attention and we could be famous,’ said Fred, the darkness covering what Richard knew would be a smug expression.
Richard remained silent. He did not want to dampen anyone’s spirits, but the odds were stacked against Gillian. For one thing, there was no transportation from Tikal other than the vehicles conveying the tourists at irregular intervals, there was little coverage for mobile phones and he suffered a nagging distrust of Samuel. Something about him did not ring true despite his obvious knowledge about the ancient Mayan society. At first Richard had been unable to pinpoint the problem until he recalled the first time he knew he would become
As soon as they realised they were entombed, the first reaction was one of amusement. They could not believe that a group of five highly intelligent individuals had been outwitted by a civilisation long since passed, but this soon elapsed as the full comprehension of their predicament and the confines of the tiny room, less than three square feet, brought them down to reality. Tempers began to fray with Fred and Redmond being the worst offenders, forcing Richard to bring order.
‘Now, listen!’ Richard raised his voice. ‘No amount of squabbling is going to bring forth a magic genie to grant us three wishes and let us out of here.’
Julia saw the funny side of Richard’s comment. ‘You always did like Aladdin.’
‘I think I could recite it backwards,’ replied Richard, referring to the amount of times he had watched the film with his granddaughter. ‘So, we need to stop acting like caged rabbits and find a way out of here.’
‘It’s not like I can see an escape hatch,’ replied Fred, his sarcasm causing Richard to cringe. He never did have much patience for that boy.
‘Well, it’s quite obvious that we don’t have any food or water and we could be trapped here for days. I for one have no intention of withering and dying like a sacrificial victim,’ said Richard as Julia, Mitchell and Redmond replied with a ‘here, here’.
Richard contemplated the situation at hand and did a mental calculation of the tools he had with him. As a rule, he had a large cache of equipment at the dig site, but he had always carried a small tool belt in light of his ageing years to save him the energy of running back and forth. He had investigated in a good quality, lightweight hiker’s belt that contained a small hammer, chisel, tiny hand spade, Capewell retractable grappling hook and nylon rope for safety. A small torch with a set of spare batteries was also included and for which he was thankful. Unfortunately he did not have the one thing they required – food or water.
‘We should all empty our pockets and combine anything we may have with us,’ suggested Richard.
Everyone agreed and they were able to put together an eclectic mix of sustenance bars, tissues, a couple of pocket knives, two mobile phones, pens and odd pieces of paper. Redmond also had a complete packet of jelly snakes that he had to give up.
‘This is not looking good,’ muttered Julia.
‘I know,’ replied Richard, frowning. ‘All the more reason to find a way out.’
‘Surely Gillian and Samuel will bring a rescue party,’ said Redmond.
‘I have no doubt, particularly as her father is a Major General in the United States Air Force. I would expect that he will be here as soon as he hears about my predicament. It is also possible that our rescue will receive media attention and we could be famous,’ said Fred, the darkness covering what Richard knew would be a smug expression.
Richard remained silent. He did not want to dampen anyone’s spirits, but the odds were stacked against Gillian. For one thing, there was no transportation from Tikal other than the vehicles conveying the tourists at irregular intervals, there was little coverage for mobile phones and he suffered a nagging distrust of Samuel. Something about him did not ring true despite his obvious knowledge about the ancient Mayan society. At first Richard had been unable to pinpoint the problem until he recalled the first time he knew he would become
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