The Alien Artifact 9 (Novelette) (10 page)

Yet they
realized that what they were receiving was not being detected
properly as it was too close and that the equipment was not
designed for such a close range, and the images were badly blurred,
and they argued over what it could.

Most thought
by their reactions that it would be nothing, as they had not found
that much with the other equipment.

They had not
had a chance of finding anything significant and they never wanted
to claim they had discovered something that was not there, and was
detected wrongly, but as the other scientists worked hard
connecting other equipment and adjusting it they started getting
increased strange reactions and findings, and they no longer
checked for equipment problems, and they gradually perceived that
there was something deep below and that it had similarities to an
artifact, but with immense proportions!

Chapter 21

The Tunnel

All
communications to the above outer world vanished as the
archeologists dug deep into the central point of the cavity, going
directly down where the above shaft was directly above, and the
scientists moved their expensive and fragile equipment away from
the area, and in the end stopped work to watch.

What was
incredible was even with all the technology and experience of the
scientists, and all their discussions, nobody knew what they had
found, and the theories gave too little or were too fantastic, and
too far from the truth to believe and be true, but the main
discover was there was a tunnel below and the entrance was just
below, and the archeologists had been close to finding it, and I
for one thought someone had and for some reason never wanted it to
be found.

Yet the main
scientists, working at the equipment, and the most experienced,
kept giving reactions and startled expressions to what was below,
and I knew they could not be totally sure, as such things were not
accurate, especially in dealing with the unknown.

In the end
they started working away in documenting their findings and giving
their theories, and my attempts at finding what were unsuccessful,
as they wished them only to be found when total proof was
found.

Had they found
something incredible below, and they soon started influencing the
archeologists into working faster, and shifting everything out the
way, and they dug away at the ground at the exact point the tunnel
was believed to be below, and the scientists occasionally offered
them help or at the least their theories at how close they
were.

It never took
long for me to start to recall the occurrence that had occurred
when I first came down the above shaft in the darkness, and what
had happened to me, and I suddenly realized that the shaft did go
under the ground, and the tunnel below was the bottom of it, which
I was sure I saw, and that at some point, well before the hospital
had been built, something had covered the tunnel up, and I wondered
why the above shaft was built directly over it.

Had someone
hidden it away under the hospital? Was it hidden away for a reason?
And what could it possibly be?

Would we even
survive to see what was there? Going by what had happened to me
already I had to believe something was there! The strange powers I
had were too powerful and deadly! The equipment and the increasing
signs of there being a danger below had increased at an alarming
rate, as they advanced forwards.

They
examined
strange
alterations
and
erratic
characterizations
on the
equipment, and even the paranormal scientists started reacting more
strangely than I had seen them and I wondered how it would affect
everyone if what had occurred to me in the above shaft occurred to
everyone.

When one of
the archeologists hit something solid, and revealed a solid stone
slab, everyone went around the hole to see it, and watched two
archeologists lift the slab and reveal a deep dark tunnel going
straight down into the ground, far below, and I realized it was
identical in size and shape as the above shaft, and gasped at what
had happened to me when I had entered it.

Chapter 22

The Cavity

The archeologists sat around the entrance,
occasionally giving silent whispers to each other, and avoiding
giving anyone else any information on what they were doing, and
everyone knew they were not keen to go down into it, and sat
resting.

I realized that I was slowly being chosen,
and that the paranormal scientists wanted me to go, and I knew I
would, and I just could not avoid it, and in the end decided to get
it over with, and made it known to them, and sat at the edge
entrance.

One
archeologist shone his light around the
hole, and deep into the chamber, which went deep below somewhere,
and seemed to discover something, and the answer to one of his
queries.

“
What do you reckon
’
s down
there?
”
I
asked him, trying to see in it as far as I could with the light,
but only saw darkness.

He left and returned with a brighter torch
and pointed it at a point at the edge of it, and he waited for me
to reply, and I looked and I saw it, and I saw dark stone steps
vanishing below, but I could not see them reach the top of the
entrance, just below us, and wondered why, and I considered if
there had been something there and it had either been taken away or
had collapsed, which could indicated the steps could also have
collapsed further down.

When Oswald came down from above with
Higgins holding ropes and equipment I knew the time had come for me
to get ready and enter it, which I still never knew anything about,
and I swiftly got ready and they tied me to a rope and started
hoisting me down, and I finally entered its confines, and realized
there could be something of value below and that was the reason it
was buried away, and I more keenly entered its confines, and
darkness, and I turned up my light and adjusted my eyes.

When I landed on the stone stairs I was
astounded by the stairs and walls, and wondered what the hell was
going on, and I took off the harness and rope and quickly started
to examine everything about me with amazement, and saw Oswald
coming down from above, watching me, wondering what I was doing,
and once he landed next to me he gasped and started doing what I
was doing, as all the stairs and walls were cut to perfection, with
incredible workmanship, with an accuracy I had not seen, even I
know I am sure they could not do it.

The steps had not been fitted together, as
stepping stones, on normal outside stone steps, and they were cut
into the rock by something, and the walls were the same, and we
felt the smoothness of them.

Once Higgins arrived I led them down the
stairs, and watched the startled faces of the scientists and the
archeologist above, staring downwards towards us, and we left on
our journey, in even more confusion than we had been when we
started.

The same view seemed to uniformly go off
into blackness below, with the light showing the exact steps going
straight down, and the two scientists copied and followed me, even
looking ahead for obstacles, and I was surprised that it could be
made with such accuracy and fit into such a confined space, and I
examined it in detail as I crept down.

At times it was as though it belonged to
someone, and was part of someone’s establishment, and I wondered
what its logical function could be if it was, or if it had
originally been part of the hospital or part of something that had
been built there before it, and I knew that if it had been that all
the information about it must have been lost or something, as it
would have been discovered by us when we investigated all the
information about the site.

Further down I realized I was too far
out in front and I
allowed Oswald to gain some distance, and I watched him
going down without a light, using mine and Higgins’s light to see
the steeply declining steps, and I wondered how much danger there
was, as he continued following me down, and they showed no signs
that they thought there was anything there.

At one point
mud appeared, replacing the stone walls, and was over the steps,
and it slowed us as we made sure we never slipped, as they looked
more vertical now, as we were tired, and looked dangerous at times,
and that they might cause an injury, when viewed in the right way,
and I started wondering why they were going on and on, as why would
anyone go to such a distance to build anything there, and I
considered if there was something like an underground river or lake
and that someone was or had been using it for some purpose.

Sounds
sometimes were louder and echoed, and I heard them and voices from
above, and knew that the others had entered it
, and I
listened to their strange tones as I tried to make out what they
were talking about, and I heard a deep thud echo down and I
wondered if someone had an accident, and I realized that it was a
good idea to only have three of us at the front.

A feeble glow from something below swiftly
caught my attention when it appeared and I wondered what it was,
and if it was a reflection of the dimming light, and my eyes
altered and adjusted to the darkness there as we moved faster down,
I saw Higgins struggling to do something behind us, and he shouted
to me to stop and he switched on a more powerful light, which he
had taken out his bag, and pointed it at an area in front, and I
realized the steps vanished in front of me, and I had nearly
fallen, and I tiredly fell backwards, and grabbed at the stairs
behind me.

It was as though sound and everything ended
at that point, and vanished into darkness below, and somewhere
there it vanished out of existence, and I could not hear or see
anything from there, and it was a void and an abyss!

When I went close, and the lights of the
paranormal scientists shone closer there, from just behind me, I
stood shocked as I my eyes adjusted and I saw there was a colossal
cavity below, and the steps had collapsed, down to somewhere
below.

I swiftly placed myself a few steps higher
and sat looking about it, trying to grasp what was there in the
feeble light, and I realized that I had actually nearly walked off
the lowest remaining step.

After our examinations of the last step we
realized that they had not just collapsed and that they had been
perfectly cut, as the rest of the tunnel and steps had been, and I
wondered who the hell had done it, and I realized that it had to
have fallen a long time ago, and I looked straight down and
realized that distance to the bottom was not as great as I thought,
and that the cavity outwards was immense, and though I could hardly
see anything I tried to work out what it was.

It was incredible and had clearly been
carved out accurately like the steps and tunnel, for some reason I
could not grasp, and we sat on the steps discussing it and trying
to work out what it was and had been used for, and I was sure it
could have been to store something in, and I wondered how their
paranormal fitted into it, as I listened to their voices mingle
with the sounds of the others arriving and it echo about the
cavity.

Chapter 23

The Artifact

I held the rope firmly, looked at the large
cavity hole surrounding me, and started lowering myself into it,
and dangled about with my legs swinging about, and moved slowly
lower into dimness, as I wondered why everyone insisted I should go
first, even though I wanted to, and wondered if there were similar
structures to this all around the world, which had not been found
or reported.

I shone my light about below trying to see
something in the ground directly below, and only saw the remains of
the staircase, and I tried to grasp what had happened, and what had
been there, as the stairs must have gone over the cavity, before it
collapsed, and there could not have been a tunnel there, as there
was no sign of it in the rubble, and I kept wondering what had kept
it up, and I wondered who had built such a dangerous
construction.

It was my first proper look of below and all
I saw was what looked like a large object at the center of the
cavity, which I tried to grasp repeatedly, but I could not identify
it, and looked back up above and saw a few of the others trying to
properly see me.

I wondered what the outcome of it would be,
and if it was just another disappointment, and I compared what had
happened with what I had originally thought would happen and would
be there.

For an instant the rope jerked and
oscillated and I slightly spun uncontrollably and a surge of
blackness engulfed me, and I wondered what the hell I was entering,
as I thought of my original thoughts of what was below, and again
considered what could be buried away there and wondered if they had
underestimated something, and I remembered the metal detector and
what had happened at the woman’s house, and looked in the direction
it was, and was amazed that I was at such a depth below the region,
and I wondered what they would do with it, and it mystified me!

I thought of ancient black magic worshippers
concealing something below, beyond my comprehension, hidden away
from mankind, and I wondered why it was the way it was if it
was!

I tried straining my eyes repeatedly
to see further and to spot the features of anything new, and when I
landed on the ground I pulled himself upright with the help of the
rope, and released the rope
’
s tight grip against my body, and shivered at
the coldness there, and realized how much I was on my
own.