The Lost Libraries Archive (The Erik Midgard Case Files Volume 2)

Chapter 4

IV

The project's time teleporter stood in a small, specially-built room off from the main room.

It was a similar make and model to the university's own teleporter pads upstairs that we had arrived on. The pads here were raised slightly further off the floor to accommodate the extra hardware of the temporal-field generator underneath them. Anubis went to the control console and started powering it up while Ishtar pulled three long brown and white cotton tunics out of a store cupboard which we pulled on over our heads so that they covered our own clothes.

"Yucatan - at this time - is primitive enough at this time that ninety-percent of the population are farmers, craftsmen or both," said Zeus, straightening his. "They'll "recognise" any material they've never seen before - like poly-fibre clothing - instantly. But at the same time, it's pointless for us to try to dress like they do, as we're obviously strangers anyway."

"Some early societies will interpret that as hostile," said Ishtar.

"Yes," said Zeus. "So these - different, but made from something they know - are a good compromise. We don't blend in, but at the same time, we don't look ludicrously out of place."

"I understand," I said. I removed my helmet and gloves and passed them to Amelia Hathor, but I kept my wristcom on, hidden under my tunic sleeve, and my Unigun and shockstick on my belt. I was not going back into the past to look for potential murder suspects empty handed.

"Take this as well," said Anubis, handing me a small black plastic cylinder with a single red button at one end. It was small enough to hide in the palm of my hand. "Emergency temporal signal beacon. I'm sure you've done this kind of thing before, but if you get into any serious difficulties, just hit it once. Myself and the team will backstep as close as we can to your location within two minutes."

"Just try not to get sacrificed until then," said Catherine Sobek.

"For the last time, that isn't funny," said Zeus, who was emptying his pockets of anything futuristic, including his ship keys, phonecom and several pre-autographed pictures of himself. "They do not sacrifice people that often. They're not Aztecs. They're Tutal Xiu Maya."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," I said. "How long have they been back there?"

Ishtar was coming with us as the project's regulations were that backsteppers always went in groups of three. I could have used ChronOps prerogative to overrule this, but it was a sensible rule and - for a first trip to a new time and place - it would be good to have someone who'd been there before. I would have preferred Ra to Zeus; who obviously considered himself more adventurer than academic, but Ra had chosen to stay, saying he imagined that, as he was the last person to see Wei'To alive, Mirabi would want to question him in detail

"Two hours," said Anubis, looking at his watchcom. "But they're due to return in forty-five minutes, so they should be wrapping up. Anyway, good to go when you are."

"AG," I said. I checked I could reach my Unigun easily and stepped onto the transporter pad. Zeus and Ishtar joined me.

"Co-ordinates set. Standard arrival location," said Anubis, saying the steps out loud, just as he would have been taught in the Free Martian military. "Dispatching travellers... Now."

He pressed the transport button and white light swirled around us as we backstepped into the past.

_ _ _ _ _

We arrived in a small clearing in the middle of a rainforest.