Neither Yago nor his team of Peruvians thought it a good idea to remain at the former site of his hibernation chamber any longer than absolutely necessary. Still, it was considered a sensible idea to remove the footprints left in his mound. A dry mop did that, taking the thin layer of dust with it. And the marks left on the ground around it were handled by not starting harassment attacks on Bennu until the team reported a good rainstorm had hit the area.
But Yago had made an error. Not even one caused by arrogance, either! When he had examined Bennu's mound in Peru, it had been thoroughly excavated, and the rock seal over the doors had been removed by archaeologists. (It's a good thing for them that they didn't study the "clay" that coated the inner surface of the rock seal. They might have gotten a violent surprise!) And, after all, they HAD initially entered Bennu's mound through a breech near the roof they had widened ...
When Yago had tripped the opening mechanism to his own site, using his Power, he had immediately fled. It seemed the wisest move - why give others a chance to localize his presence? He only returned when summoned to reseal the mound, and, even then, stayed on the side with the mechanism, opposite from the doors. So he really wasn't aware that the doors had been well-concealed by rock, pieces of which now littered the area. Similarly, when he had to appear to open and close it again for the insertion of the booby-trap, he stayed on the mechanism side.
Oh, well - nobody's perfect, and, as it turned out, the trap had been sprung anyway.
Speaking of traps, how to tell when it DID spring? You couldn't post a sentry or leave a mechanical tell-tale, either of which would warn Bennu. And it certainly wasn't wise to send somebody into the area on a regular basis! Even if he didn't blunder into Bennu, there would be footprints and animal or vehicle tracks, too ... And there was a very limited supply of things such as Mindsmoke powder available - making it was ALWAYS labor-intensive, no matter what the actual formulation was.
One of his team had an idea. He asked Yago (via radio relay, of course): "Bennu is a creature of the Sun. He would not start an investigation near sunset or later. What if we set up our camp a few dozen miles away in a convenient set of mounds that face the doors. We can seek a vision of the doors at dusk every day. If they are open ... "
Yago was so used to thinking of Earth humans as little more than speaking monkeys that he was not only briefly stunned into silence, but actually complimented the team member who had thought the plan up.
And so it was done. None of the teams of Bennu's friends passed close to Yago's team, and when they closed their ring about the site, Yago's team was well outside of it. The team knew nothing until the Healer's Tune was played. THAT caused the equivalent of a large mental magnesium fire, and one would have to be psychically blind to miss it!
Mindsmoke users and native Healers are anything but psychically blind, and they knew something unexpected had occurred! The mental flare faded and the team thought it safe to check. Oh, oh! The doors were open, but the presence of two very powerful conscious minds, as well as many others of lesser but significant strength could only mean one thing - Yago's plan had failed, obviously due to the intervention of men on Bennu's side.
That was reasonable - after all, it couldn't have succeeded without help from men, and they didn't hold it against Yago. But when one takes sides in a godfight and picks the losing one, it is wise to leave the scene with the utmost hurry! Keeping only a few radios and the replica medallion, they fled south for the border.
The group escorting Premminger to the local Agency station noticed the tire tracks and stopped just long enough to spot things such as discarded empty tubes of Mindsmoke powder. An Agency team was dispatched to check the site out.
If one accepted that there was a disembodied Evil alien on the loose and he had tricked humans into helping him - not an especially easy task for many Agency personnel who were far less closed-minded than Premminger had been - this certainly looked like the place they had been. If. If not, one might pick up an abandoned bag of powder, think it belonged to a group of drug smugglers - they were from a major cocaine-exporting country, after all - and take a cautious sniff. If the individual doing the sniffing had an unusual Talent, the results might be "unexpected," to say the least!
The Agency had to summon the nearest native Healer to deal with the mess - the man was not only having visions, but radiating them quite strongly. The Healer managed to get things under control, examined the substance, and questioned the man.
Healer: "Sniffed it? It doesn't work that way! Nor do people radiate their visions. I suggest you visit our camp for training - you clearly have an interesting Talent."
The poor man looked at his superior with incredulity. "He can't be serious!"
Superior: "You either have a very disturbed mind or something very bad is about to happen. We all saw your visions, no thanks to that 'cautious sniff.' Really, who ever heard of purple cocaine?"
This mess delayed the start of the pursuit just long enough to let Yago's team successfully escape. They radioed in as soon as they thought it safe and continued their journey south. They also discussed Yago's probable reaction.
Member 1: "He will not be pleased."
Member 2: "It is not our fault!"
Member 1: "Truth matters little to an angry god."
Member 3: "I have another idea! He complains that Bennu and Mira have deprived him of the use of his body. Perhaps we can correct that. Surely he will be pleased with us then."
The other team members agreed, and, since the idea came from the same person who had first pleased Yago, they were quite willing to listen. He explained his plan ...
At last they arrived back in Peru and journeyed to Yago's Cave. He wasn't there - he was indeed in a foul mood, and they assumed he was off sulking. Good! They could surprise him.
(Actually, he was enjoying himself watching the local Shining Path forces torturing some suspected government informants. That kept him busy!)
The team walked into his Cave, past the Suntrap, and into the room where his chamber lay. Though they didn't enter the actual place where the Unlight converter was, it had been operating for a while now, and the whole area was taking on a very unpleasant aura.
Member 2: "Are we sure this is a good idea? I truly wonder what sort of god we will get."
Member 1: "Any god is better than no god!"
As this was in accord with Incan beliefs, they proceeded with the plan. They lit Mindsmoke and knelt before the head end of Yago's sleep chamber. One produced the medallion and held it against the spot on the chamber that matched the one on the replica. They concentrated.
They succeeded in releasing a SunCharge and the computer in the chamber awoke.
First the head end - actually a touch-screen - displayed a series of colors. Then it changed to a column of strange writing - Eldan, the language of Eldebran, of course, but they thought of it as "godscript." One gestured excitedly and his finger touched the screen. It changed to show the function requested. There were no passwords needed - after all, it took SunPower to unlock the computer in the first place.
They still couldn't read it, of course, but "back" and "forward" arrows were an almost universal set of symbols, and their fumblings led them to understand their use. Not that they accomplished anything - but then, they did no harm, either. Then they began to play with the "up" and "down" scroll arrows. Suddenly they came to a different screen. It had a red background - red was another almost universal choice, this time for "danger" (probably because it was the color of fire) and "stop" - and only a single line of godscript.
They tried it. The screen was replaced by something different - the Phoenix Symbol, again set on a red background. One of the team held up the replica medallion Yago had had them make and compared the two. The designs matched. He touched the Phoenix.
The screen began flashing from red to green and back, and what, even to them, seemed to be a backwards-counting timer (they had seen enough tapes of rocket launches to recognize it) began to run. When it reached zero - yes, it was round - the choice locked in and the screen went almost blank. Almost. The triangle was barely visible, but as the Awakening mechanisms ran, it got steadily brighter. Then the circle lit up. Lastly, the Phoenix bird itself, representing mental activity, began to glow. Finally, all was brightly lit. The background turned green and the top of the chamber swung open.
Yago knew nothing until he felt a pull on his mind. It quickly grew stronger and stronger until he suddenly found himself back in his body - and Awake!
The team looked most pleased. They indeed had their god.
Yago roared: "What have you done?"
Member 3: "I have figured out how to give you your body back. Are you not pleased?"
Yago, even in his fury, was still an Adult. He regained control over his mind and spoke. "What you have done is a tragic error. I cannot live on this planet without a solar converter, and it is that which I sought from Bennu."
He experimented with the computer, but he, too, was a Healer, not a Scientist, and if there was a way to reenter hibernation, he could not find it. He read the team's minds.
Yago: "You have said that any god is better than no god. You - and all of Peru - must live with your words. My quarrel was not initially with Bennu, but with our Society, and I have been expelled from it. I wished to be a Ruler over others, and have turned to the only source of Power that would permit that - Evil. Serve me or die!"
He sent teams back into the US to recover as much of the large supply of condensed Unlight that remained at the original SunTrap as they could. Though much was intercepted, much made its way to him. He now had enough to keep himself alive for quite a while and could begin getting natives to cooperate - voluntarily or not - in building other SunTraps.
Soon he had proclaimed himself God of Peru and the government found itself in the predicament it feared most - caught in the midst of a godfight in addition to its other troubles!
The US government knew he was no god, but, nonetheless, became most concerned. They consulted with Bennu and Mira, who warned of the grave danger Yago presented to the entire world. (Indeed, they briefly considered destroying their Phoenix medallions to ensure that Yago did not obtain one. They were quite willing to sacrifice themselves if necessary, but decided that it would be better to fight against him by Teaching Maturity and Healing.)
And finally, they realized the bitter truth. Killing cannot always be avoided, and - somehow - Yago, or at least his body - must be destroyed. Without a body - not "without one he could use", but actually without one - his bonds to the Material Plane would be severed, and he truly would become nearly harmless even if he chose not to return to The Light. Easier said than done! And it must be done quickly, too, before Yago gained too much more strength ...
Copyright March 24, 2001 Three Cheeks productions (Richard Kaplan)