Ken's blog

Captain Jack Starwalker was being chased up the steps of a Mayan pyramid by a prodigiously large, Mayan warrior with a hideously painted face holding a hatchet in his hand, followed closely by the High Priest Ahau’s pet, a ferocious black jaguar.

Captain Starwalker had to get to the top of the pyramid precisely when the eclipse would start in a few seconds in order to be beamed back to his starship Orion.

Captain Starwalker was taking seven large steps at a time, the huge warrior was jumping eight steps at a time, grunting Mayan curses, and the black jaguar was leaping thirteen steps at a time – hissing with sharp, yellow canine teeth exposed.

Captain Starwalker was only 16 steps away from reaching the top of the pyramid, where he could see a blue energy halo already forming that would be his stargate exit.

The panting and howling warrior was gaining and only needed 22 steps to get to the top of the pyramid. The growling jaguar was gaining even more rapidly and was only 37 steps from the top.

Captain Starwalker took a final leap and jumped through the blue haze of the stargate to safety, while the warrior and the jaguar were bounced off by the solid blue energy of the stargate, as theirs was a mainly red energy.

They rolled and bumped irregularly back down the steep stairs, to the groaning dismay of a procession of irate Mayans headed by the High Priest Ahau.

Captain Jack Starwalker appeared on the beam-up deck of the starship Orion, wiped some sweat off his brow, checked that his historical artifact bag was fixed to his belt, straightened his uniform and walked through a passage to the command deck, where he was cheerfully welcomed by his officers.

Later, Captain Starwalker had to record in the ship’s log how many pyramid steps he had climbed, which required some thought, and he had to consult his star navigator Leonard about this. Can you help Leonard work out the number of steps there were on the Mayan pyramid?