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.The bronze lines and Greeksymbols that had been embedded in the limestone had once been a bright goldPage 159ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlcolor that glittered brightly in the Roman sun.The metal had oxidizedcompletely and now the letters were dark green. I don t like ladders, Lumbroso said.He put one foot on the top rung as ifto test the ladder s strength, and then climbed down slowly with the lantern.Maya walked over to the corner and found a drainage hole in the gray stonewall.The hole was about two feet square and completely underwater.Its bottomedge was flush with the surface of the sundial. The water flows out here? Correct.That s where you have to go. Still wearing his long-sleeved whiteshirt, necktie, and black pants, Lumbroso stood with an odd sort of formalityin the water. Turn back immediately if it gets too difficult to move.Maya returned to the ladder and took the scuba equipment out of the canvasbags.There was a belt with lead weights, a two-stage air regulator, a divingmask, and an air tank that was a foot long and four inches in diameter.Shehad also purchased an underwater flashlight and a digital underwatercamera the sort of thing a tourist would use when snorkeling in the Bahamas. That air tank looks very small, Lumbroso said. It s called a pony tank.You told me that there wasn t a lot of room in thetunnel.Maya put on the weight belt first, attached one end of the regulator to thepony tank, and slung the camera s plastic lanyard around her neck.The tunnelwas so narrow that she would have to hold the tank with one of her arms,pressing it tightly against her body. So what am I looking for? You need to take photographs of any Latin or Greek phrases on the outside ofthe sundial.Some of these phrases will describe cities in the ancient world,while others will describe a spiritual location an access point. And what if the words are covered with rubble? You can brush it away, but don t touch the walls.Maya pulled on the diving mask and sealed it against her face, then turned onthe air and started to breathe with the mouthpiece. Good luck, Lumbroso said. And, please be careful.She knelt on the floor and lowered her head beneath the water.Lying flat,she moved toward the opening in the wall.Maya could hear her own breath, thebubbles coming out of the regulator, and a scraping sound from the edge of thepony tank as she dragged it across the limestone floor.When she reached the opening, she extended her arm and pointed the flashlightinto the darkness.Over the years, the flowing water had cut an undergroundtunnel through the rubble of the past.The walls of the tunnel were anaggregate of stones, Roman brick, and chunks of white marble.It lookedfragile, as if everything would crumble, but the real danger was created bythe present era.In order to support the collapsing foundation of thebuilding, someone had driven steel rods deep into the ground.The tips of therods jutted out into the tunnel like the tips of rusty sword blades.Page 160ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlPushing with her toes, Maya glided down the tunnel.When she looked up at therubble and the steel rods, she felt as if the weight of Rome were directlyover her head.Her body was pressed against the travertine floor of thesundial, but she couldn t find any words set in bronze.The scuba regulator rasped.Bubbles rose past her face.Inch by inch, shecrawled forward until her entire body was in the tunnel.The tunnel was so lowand narrow that it was impossible to turn around.In order to return to thecellar room, she would have to push backward with her hands.Forget about your fear, Thorn told her.Concentrate on your sword.Her fathernever seemed to hesitate about anything.And yet he had spent two years inRome avoiding his destiny.Maya pushed everything but the tunnel out of hermind and kept moving forward.She had traveled twelve or fifteen feet when the tunnel took a turn to theright.Passing beneath one of the steel rods, she entered a wider area thatlooked like an underground cave.The surface of the sundial looked dark inthis area, but when she crawled closer she saw that the floor was embeddedwith bronze words written in both Greek and Latin.Holding the flashlight with her left hand, Maya grabbed the underwater camerawith her right and began taking pictures.Whenever she moved her body, shadowsformed or disappeared.As she crawled forward, the air tank got away from her and touched the sideof the tunnel.Some debris was shifted loose from the wall and rolled acrossthe sundial floor
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