Garrett put down the radio and continued digging. He dug for another hour and got about another ten feet into the side of the pyramid when he heard an engine come to an idle and turn off outside.
"Damn," remarked Chris.
"Yeah. I told you it was different."
"Are you going to uncover the rest of the pyramid?"
"No. I'm going to tunnel into this side. I think this is an entrance."
Chris and three other workers got out of the jeep and began to clear off the surface of the pyramid around the tunnel that Garrett had dug. The sides of the pyramid were very smooth, as well as the sides of the tunnel. Garrett continued to dig deeper, aided by one of the other workers, and the other three cleared off the sides of the tunnel. After digging another forty feet into the pyramid and finding nothing, Garrett guessed that the tunnel went straight to the center of the pyramid. He did not know what would be there, though, as this was unlike every other pyramid he knew of.
Once everyone had become tired they returned to the village. That night and the next day it began to rain. The swollen and swift-moving stream was unsafe for the boat to travel on, so no work could get done that day. The rain continued the day after that, a Tuesday, but then finally stopped that day. However, Garrett could not return after the rain had ended since the river had to return to normal levels first. On Wednesday it was safe to travel, so Garrett got onto the boat. He headed to his excavation, this time with Chris and three workers. They continued digging deeper into the side of the pyramid, and after three hours the five were digging in near darkness one hundred feet into the pyramid. There were still no openings on either side of the tunnel and if appeared to continued straight on.
Now, however, Paul, Alexis, John, and the other two workers joined them. They figured that they should let their excavation site dry out for a couple days before returning to it. The tunnel was about seven feet wide and eight feet tall, so only three people could work at pushing it farther. The rest of the people worked at digging out at either side of the tunnel and removing the earth from the pyramid. For two more hours Chris, Garrett, and one of the foreign workers continued to dig forward. Garrett guessed that they were about fifty feet from the center of the pyramid. Exhausted once more, everyone returned to the village.
Garrett returned on Thursday to the pyramid and resumed tunneling. After digging thirty feet farther in one hour, Chris announced that the tunnel was widening. He began to dig out to the left, and those following him unearthed a right angle. The other worker than began to dig out to the right. Two hours later, Chris and the foreign worker struck walls. Now more people began to dig forward. After another two hours of work, they had cleared the walls of the room, and three other exits which Garrett assumed were to complete a radial symmetry. Everyone was eager to completely excavate the room, but they had to return to the camp before nightfall.
On Friday, only Garrett returned to the excavation at the central pyramid. John had to return to the United States to present the team's current findings. Everyone else had to catch up on the other excavation, which needed to be dried out and continued. Garrett began to dig in. There was a square about ten feet along the sides in the middle of the room that needed to be excavated. Garrett began digging in. After digging in three feet he struck the corner of something. He began to dig around it. After half of the remaining earth was shoveled aside Garrett saw that there was a circular rock in the middle of room. However, shoveling out the area took much of the time, so Garrett tried to just push the remaining earth down. After ramming it hard with his shoulder a couple times the large block of soil toppled and broke apart on the floor of the room.
Garrett took out a paintbrush and began to sweep the remaining dirt from the surface of the rock. To his surprise, he uncovered several deeply engraved symbols. They were clustered in a line curving along the edge of the rock. Garrett had not seen symbols like this on South American or any other structures from the time period that the South American pyramids were build.
"Then again," Garrett thought, "this is no ordinary pyramid."
Garrett could see marks on the floor where the stone had been dragged to its position. However, there were also marks that indicated that it had been moved away. Garrett fetched a pencil and a sheet of paper that had also been left behind from the previous day and began to sketch the symbols onto it. He brushed away more dirt and once he had dusted off the tabletop-like surface, he found the same symbols again on the other side of the table. Garrett wondered if this circular stone was not a table but was a seal for a tomb or another such chamber beneath it. The only way to find this out was to drag the slab of stone to one side or to break it. The only feasible way to drag the stone off was to tie it to a long chain or rope and run that rope to the bulldozer.
Garrett returned to the bulldozer. There was not a winch or cable on it, so Garrett returned to the boat to check the remaining jeep for a cable. There was a cable, but as Garrett was removing the cable the other people who had been at the main excavation returned. Garrett did not want to have to walk back to the camp, so he reluctantly boarded the boat and returned to camp. In camp, Paul received a call from John. He listened for several moments and then hung up the phone.
"Our funding has been cut. They wanted tangible evidence of something being here, but we have none."
"You all can go back home but I'm staying here to finish up work at the main pyramid."
"Fine. Just watch your back and make sure you don't get kidnapped or shot."
"Oh, don't worry about that."