At another part of the cave, Milo awoke to find himself surrounded by the same strangers who were at our camp.
One of them came up to Milo and saw that he was injured.
The stranger removed its mask, revealing a white-haired girl. One Princess Kidagakash Nedakh, or Kida for short, if I'm not mistaken. And I never am.
Kida placed a blue crystal around her neck on Milo's wound and pressed on it with her hand.
In an instant, the wound magically disappeared.
Milo looked up at Kida, who smiled back at him and put her mask back on, before the WABAC's exterior lights went on.
"We found him!" I said to the crew.
Kida and the other strangers fled in terror.
"Hey, wait!" Milo called out as he tried to catch up with the strangers. "Who...who are you? Where are you going? Come back!"
The strangers disappeared through a chink in the wall. Milo squeezed his way through and called out to them again. "Hey, wait a minute! Who are you?"
Just then, Moliere plowed the digger through the wall behind Milo. Upon reaching him, though, we found ourselves in front of an extraordinary sight.
"Holy Atlantis!" exclaimed Sherman.
And right he was, for we were standing in front of the lost city of Atlantis, located in the center of a circular waterfall.
"It is for real." realized Penny.
"It's beautiful." added Audrey.
"Milo, I gotta hand it to you. You really came through." said Dr. Sweet as he placed an arm on Milo's shoudler.
Just then, five warriors, including a certain princess, wearing similar masks swooped in out of nowhere and pointed their spears at us.
"Must be the welcoming committee." joked Penny.
"Holy cats! Who are these guys?" said Rourke.
"They gotta be Atlanteans." answered Milo, upon recognizing one of the warriors.
"What? That's impossible!" sneered Miss Sinclair.
"Nothing is impossible, Miss Sinclair." I said. "Milo is correct in his assessment."
"I've seen this back in the Dakota." Cookie said to Penny and Sherman. "They can smell fear just by looking at ya. So keep quiet."
Kida started talking in Atlantean that Sherman could hardly understand what she was saying.
"What is she saying, Mr. Peabody?" he asked.
"Well, unless my translation is wrong, and it never is," I said. "I believe she's saying 'Who are you and why have you come here?'"
"Well, you're the Atlantean expert," Penny said to Milo. "Say something...Atlantean to her."
So Milo did, haltingly of course. Kida spoke more Atlantean as Milo replied back to her in said language.
"Ita, sum amice viator." said Milo, trying a different language.
"Dice linguam Romae." replied Kida.
"Parlez-vous francais?"
"Oui, monsieur!"
"Mon dieu." I commented.
"They speak my language!" exclaimed Moliere. "Pardon, mademoiselle? Ah, voulez-vous..."
He whispered somethng into Kida's ear, but ended up getting a sucker punch from her.
"Ooh, I like her!" said Dr. Sweet, clapping his hands.
"'Bout time someone hit him." added Audrey. "I'm just sorry it wasn't me."
One by one, the Atlantean warrios took off their masks and greeted us various languages besides their own.
"How do they know all these languages?" asked Penny.
"Their language must be based on a root dialect." I said. "It's just like the Tower of Babel."
"Well, maybe English is in there somewhere." wondered Rourke as he stepped to the warriors. "We are explorers from the surface world. We come in peace."
"Welcome to the city of Atlantis." greeted Kida, speaking English.
"Wow." said Penny.
"We've gotta check this place out." said Sherman.
"But first you must speak with my father, the king, before you check Atlantis out." explained Kida.
Already knowing she was a princess, I humbly replied. "If you insist, Your Highness."
"Squad B, head back to the shaft. Salvage what you can." Rourke said to some of his men. "We'll rendezvous in 24 hours."