2041 Sanctuary (Dark Descent) (27 page)

‘Fancy a closer look?’ a familiar voice said from behind.

‘Won’t that piss them off?’ she asked Riley who, like Sarah, had shed most of his climbing gear. In one hand he held his helmet and in the other, hers.

Riley shrugged and handed her headgear to her. ‘Probably, but I want to find out what they’re up to and the best way to do that is to nose about; come on.’ He moved past her and down a steep slope, kicking up dust and dirt as his feet clove into the dry soil. Following him down, she caught him up, her long strides keeping pace with his.

‘How is there dirt down here?’ Sarah said as they neared the Anakim edifice. ‘I also saw what looked like fossilised trees when I first entered Sanctuary, how is that possible?’

‘The Anakim were extremely advanced. They found a way to produce, as far as we can tell, a fully functioning self-sustaining ecosystem within Sanctuary, or should I say throughout Sanctuary.’

‘Throughout?’

‘Yes.’ He slowed to a stop and looked up. ‘Have you noticed how the ceilings of the chambers sparkle when the light catches them?’

She craned her neck to look at the phenomenon. ‘I suppose so, yes.’

‘It’s not a result of the geological composition of the rock, but because across virtually every chamber ceiling, tunnel and cave roof a translucent material has been applied.’

‘What sort of material?’

‘The scientists aren’t sure what it is, only what it does, or did.’

‘And what’s that?’

‘Produce light; in fact they think it functioned much like our dome back at base, but instead of being localised, like the dome, it provided light for the whole of Sanctuary.

‘What, on every level?’

‘Yep, every level. Well, every level we’ve surveyed so far has the same feature, so it’s assumed it goes everywhere.’

‘That’s incredible. So gigantis had the ability to create huge swathes of plant life underground along with simulated sunlight too.’

Riley gave her a strange look. ‘Gigantis?’

‘Sorry – yes – that’s what I, and many others who theorised and promoted the existence of the Anakim named them, Homo gigantis. And yes, I know, everyone down here calls them giganthropsis or Anakim.’

‘Gigantis,’ he said, trying out the word again. ‘I like it, rolls off the tongue better than giganthropsis.’

‘I know, doesn’t it?’ she enthused, pleased he agreed with her own viewpoint.

‘It wasn’t just plant life, though,’ Riley continued, ‘many small animal fossils have been found down here, too, and there are still many insects and different types of algae clinging onto life in certain places we’ve surveyed.’

‘Amazing,’ Sarah said, excited at the prospect.

‘Some people are even holding out for larger animal remains to be found. The Anakim had to eat something, after all, and a diet consisting solely of vegetation seems unlikely considering they were omnivores much like us.’

‘You know that for certain?’

Riley nodded. ‘Oh yes, from the remains we’ve found so far their internal organs and bone structure are virtually identical to ours in every respect, the only significant difference being their size.’

‘Remains, internal organs, you’ve found individuals that well preserved?’

He grinned at her. ‘The museum doesn’t have everything on show. Some discoveries are deemed too sensitive for public viewing, as is the case with most of the more advanced technological objects we find; which, to be honest, are few and far between and always snapped up by the military quicker than you can say
theft
. A lot of the remains of the Anakim themselves are not on display due to the fact that they are still being analysed and documented, plus the Smithsonian powers-that-be want to create a special exhibit dedicated to what they have ferreted away. Supposedly they’re having funding issues for a new building they want to erect for it. I’ll have to give you a tour of the vaults sometime; I guarantee you’ll absolutely love the Boneyard.’

‘Boneyard?’

‘It’s what we call the vault that contains the most important and impressive Anakim remains found so far. Like their technology, there’ve been curiously few specimens detected by our scanning equipment, although this might be down to the composition of the strata throughout Sanctuary; whatever they used to build this place plays havoc with a lot of our kit.’

The idea of such treasures sent her imagination into overdrive. ‘I’ll hold you to that tour.’

‘It’s a date then,’ he said with a sly wink, before walking off towards the monument once more.

Sarah, momentarily disarmed by the implication of his wording, regained her senses and trotted to catch up.

Handily, due to the time it had taken them to set up their base of operations, the activity around the site had tailed off, allowing the two of them to walk unchallenged through a smallish opening in the rear of the impressive structure. Riley and Sarah, already having donned their headgear, switched on their lights, dropped down their visors and deployed their breathing filters by depressing the appropriate buttons on the side of their helmets. Sarah angled the twin beams of light around the dark interior with her head. Reaching out, she ran her hand along one of the walls; it felt unusual. On closer inspection the dark brown rock was riddled with perforations and pockmarks, its rough texture reminiscent of a hard dried sponge or piece of dead coral.

Curved ramps within guided them up a level, dust falling from the ceiling and swirling around their feet as their passage disturbed the still air around them. Various warning signs on the inside of Sarah’s visor indicated the impurity of the atmosphere within.

‘It’s pretty toxic in here,’ she said to Riley through the helmet’s onboard communication system, her voice sounding muffled due to the breathing apparatus across her mouth and nose.

‘So would you be if you’d sat around for nine hundred thousand years.’

‘Is that how old this place is?’

‘According to the mission brief, this is one of the oldest structures we’ve found so far, almost as old as Sanctuary itself.’

‘Is that why the military are so interested in it?’

‘That’s why
everyone
is interested in it.’

‘There doesn’t appear to be much in here,’ she said as they passed through yet another curiously shaped, yet empty, room.

‘Switch to ultra violet on your visor.’

Doing as he suggested, Sarah was amazed to see the walls, ceiling and floor; seemingly every surface had been covered in intricate patterns, pictures, text and even maps.

‘Oh my God.’ She shook her head in reverence.

‘It’s pretty special,’ Riley agreed while studying a spectacular scene of two Anakim warriors stalking what looked, for all the world, like a sabre-toothed tiger.

Sarah’s attention was drawn elsewhere, however, as across from a large ragged crack in the floor another wall had an image of an Anakim woman wearing a pentagonal pendant, a pendant just like the one she’d used to activate the two ancient devices at the surface. Tracing the outline of the distinctive shape with her fingers, she wondered about the significance of the picture and its context amongst the writings that surrounded it. The clothing of the female owner almost looked regal.
Perhaps she was some kind of priestess
, Sarah considered. Her stance – arms heavenward, hands turned upwards as if in offering, and head bowed – pointed towards an important ritualistic rite. Without a translation of the text the answer was tantalisingly close and yet quite possibly, at the same time, infinitely far away.

She hoped the key to solving the riddle of the Anakim’s language would be found, but unlike relatively modern human texts, such as the Egyptian hieroglyphs, it was doubtful that a Rosetta Stone would present itself. Human civilisation and that of the Anakim were separated by tens of thousands of years. Maybe the tablets found beneath the Pyramid of the Sun would provide the answers, if the Church hadn’t already destroyed them, a possibility Sarah knew was highly probable.

Via her helmet’s internal speakers, Riley’s voice interrupted her musings. ‘Sarah, stop dallying; we need to cover as much ground as possible before someone spots us skulking around.’

Sarah turned to see she was on her own. On the far side of the room she glimpsed Riley’s light fading away into the darkness, disappearing down yet another passageway. Hurrying to catch him up once more, she kept watch of her step to avoid the many pitfalls that countless years had opened up in the ground as they worked their way deeper into the warren of tunnels. Glancing at a small map on her visor she was pleased to see their route was plotted in real-time, ensuring getting lost was unlikely.

‘What are they looking for do you think?’ Sarah asked.

‘It’s difficult to say.’ Riley investigated a dark and intriguing alcove. ‘When they go to this much trouble it’s usually for some piece of Anakim tech. The Deep Reach team that originally found this place probably recorded an unusual signal from a ground scan. The military scientists are always first to analyse any data we bring back, so they would have flagged it and prioritised the area for one of their own units to investigate further.’

‘Doesn’t it annoy you, that the military are corrupting important historical sites?’

Riley glanced at her. ‘Of course it does, but we’re all here on the say-so of the top brass; we can’t do anything about it, we just pick up the pieces as best we can.’

‘Or snoop around when we’re not supposed to?’

‘Exactly, you’re catching on to how things work down here; perhaps you’re not as stupid as I thought.’

Sarah punched him on the shoulder and he chuckled in response. They walked on a little further before he stopped dead in his tracks, held his hand up and extended one finger to his breathing mask, indicating for her to keep quiet. Edging forwards, they rounded a corner and stepped into a large room lined with elaborate balconies, ascending two floors up and three down. Emerging onto the gallery’s third level, Sarah could see people in the centre of the bottom floor below, powerful lighting illuminating the area and sending shadows dancing across the walls. They wore helmets similar to their own, only in white, along with matching coveralls and steel grey boots. Four of the scientists worked around a single object on the surface of the floor, taking readings with various pieces of equipment.

Riley touched some buttons on his helmet. ‘There’s a residual power signature coming from whatever’s buried in the floor,’ he whispered.

‘That’s incredible.’ Sarah took some still images of the scene. ‘This must be what they’ve been searching for.’

‘This is the first time I’ve seen, or even heard of, any Anakim device emitting any kind of energy.’ Riley sounded in awe of the ramifications of such a find. ‘This is a major discovery.’

Sarah dearly wanted to tell him that she had actually seen and activated an ancient device in the past, but knew she mustn’t. They may have grown close during her training over the past couple of months, but disclosing that kind of information would ensure she would never see the pendant again, or worse – the military might cart her off for some kind of experimentation; she wouldn’t put anything past them.

Below, a team of armed men marched into view, each clad in green and brown armour topped off by a wicked looking helmet that gave them the appearance of having glowing green eyes. Slits further down the mask-like headwear indicated they, too, utilised an integrated air filtration system. The lead man, his jet-black visor reflecting the lights around him, spoke to one of the scientists. Turning back to his men, his purposeful and urgent hand signals sent his team fanning out in all directions.

‘They know we’re here,’ Sarah said, panic rising within her. ‘You know what will happen to me if I get in trouble with the military again. Fuck, I’m such an idiot!’

Riley, ducking back down, drew Sarah out of sight of the people below and looked her in the eye. ‘Nothing will happen to you as long as you’re with me. I’m a Deep Reach team leader, it gives me some clout. Besides,’ he added, ‘they haven’t caught us yet.’

Retracing their footsteps using their visor maps, they made good progress until a light could be seen approaching from ahead, and then another from behind. They were trapped! Riley, without hesitating, dragged her forwards, decreasing the gap between them and their hunters.

‘Are you mad?’ Sarah saw the light ahead growing ever brighter.

‘Turn off your helmet torches,’ Riley said as his dimmed and flickered out.

Sarah did so, leaving the two of them without light. That wouldn’t matter for long, though, as the soldier was almost upon them, the glow of his torch already enough to see by. Behind, the other beam of light closed in fast. At the last instant when Sarah had resigned herself to being discovered, Riley dragged her to one side.

Light blazed next to them in the passage as a member of the Special Forces, his gun raised, came into view. Sarah held her breath while Riley held her close inside the recessed alcove he’d investigated on their way in. The light crept towards them, its pervasive reach seeking to unveil their hiding place.

‘There’s no one in this quadrant,’ the soldier said, his transmission audible as he walked past. ‘Repositioning to next level.’

Once his light had faded from view, Riley and Sarah made their escape, leaving the building and making their way unseen back to the camp.

Not long after that Riley received a visit from the Terra Force commanding officer. Now sitting amongst the rest of the Deep Reach outfit, Riley and Sarah ate a meal cooked up by a couple of the mapping crew. Everyone looked up, the talk stuttering to silence as the armoured officer marched into the large tent, his rifle attached to his back-plate and helmet held under his right arm.

‘Orton,’ he said to Riley. ‘Two of your people were inside a restricted site. After you’ve completed your survey of the surrounding area all of your team will submit their data recordings to my command post for download, no exceptions.’

Riley stood up from his seat. ‘Protocol states we only need to submit our findings back at SED Command, not before.’

The officer strode forwards to front up to the Deep Reach team leader. ‘I don’t give a rat’s ass about protocol. Out here what I say goes, you’re lucky I don’t have all your kit confiscated right now.’