The Alien Orb (17 page)

Yet even
though they had in the last castle solved the riddles and traced
the treasure! And he tried to recall his line of thought when he
had found it, and the way the people at the last castle had been
that had helped him discover it.

He believed
people that came across treasure were incredibly lucky, in the
right place at the right time.

He had never
proven that people had actually followed clues ever found anything,
even though that was what he intended to do, and he thought what he
had done at the last castle was more like solving an ancient
mystery! People endlessly chased after treasures that never existed
– or with fake or unsolvable clues.

Many people
had found things while looking for other things though and he could
not recall hearing of any of them finding what they had been
looking for when it came to major finds like the Holy Grail.

Yet a long
time ago things might have been different, and if people did find
them he was sure that most people would have no real reasons to
report finding anything! Why would they want to? Why tell that
people had actually gone about hiding treasure, leaving maps and
riddles?

Would real
treasure maps be incomprehensible to anyone else? Surely people
would try to stop someone else getting their hands on it? Why would
they write down obvious places and names that other people would
know of and allow them to find it? They could easily use codes and
words that other people would not be able to understand, and miss
out and muddle things up making sure other people would not be able
to establish things – hiding if numbers were co-ordinates or paces.
They could give false clues that could easily remind them of the
real ones!

The main
problem was that there were no real clues or evidence of the
treasure existing and that made it incomprehensible to everyone!
Yet somewhere there might be another map or mention of it! They
might also be able to discover the treasure itself if they searched
all the key places people would put it? The archeologists and
scientists had very advanced equipment that could be used.

Yet he was
unsure if they could cover the whole castle!

Bryson had
also been starting to believe that someone knew something that at
least proved its existence! He kept sensing it and, though he had
not proven a thing, he was sure that it would not take long before
they found out about it!

Chapter 9

The Tomb

Bryson
wondered how they were going to remove
the tomb, as he made his way there from having something to eat.
The tomb was made of solid heavy stone and he wondered if they
could get enough of the men around it to lift it through the
floor.

When he arrived there he was surprised
at how far they had gone to do it, and knew right away it was
Mitchell
’
s
idea!

The
floorboards of the majority of the room around the entrance were
piled in the corner and the entrance had been increased in size to
a size far greater than the tomb, surely to allow people to carry
it up planks of wood, which were sloped down to the tomb to allow
it to be pulled upwards.

By what they
said Bryson realized that they had attempted to lift it and had
been unable to get it and the men up the planks and through the
entrance.

Now they
were wrapping chains around the tomb and were putting
metal poles across the planks of wood, going up through the
entrance.

When they had finished preparing everything
he watched them push and roll the tomb up the planks of wood over
the poles while the others in the room helped pull the tomb up with
the chains.

When it was finally up they lay about
resting, and Bryson managed to get a proper look at it in the
lighted room and tried to see what he had missed, but he never saw
anything as the tomb itself was far too dirty and covered in
debris.

What interested him most was what they
intended to do with it as he could not realize why they were so
desperate to get it out, as they had clearly examined it in the
chamber with everything that they had, including all the scientists
and archaeologists.

He started examining the tomb to see how
valuable it might be, but he could not image it could worth much,
unless it had historic value that he never knew about, and he
wondered if they knew something there that he never and that the
stuff had value somewhere. For some reason he could not imagine
them being there if there was nothing with definite value there,
even the treasure could be there, and he wondered if collectors
might value it as being valuable for some reason that he never knew
and he thought of phoning the guy he knew who was having him take
photos of things to value there.

After taking a few photos of it from a few
angles he sent the photos and a message to his friend, and soon
received an acknowledgment of the receipt of them. He watched the
others to see what their reactions would be but they just ignored
him.

Archeologists arrived and got to work
cleaning the tomb, and washing all the dirt from it, and Bryson
wondered if they intended to make the castle famous and worth
something and he wondered what would happen then
–
and what would happen if it
remained haunted and people visited the place from all over the
world.

Bryson
realized that they were not properly searching the castle now! Yet
even though they had agreed to concentrate in the right places and
stay together out of danger it might be a mistake as they surely
would start giving up after long enough! He was sure that they were
best searching it as quickly as possible and covering as much
ground as they could without putting themselves in too much danger,
and he wished to discover all the key places and search there.

Therefore he
started trying to realize where the key places were and wondered
how he could safely wander about the rooms and corridors looking!
Perhaps it would help solve some of the mysteries there that had
accumulated over a long time and since they had arrived.

For a long
time he had wanted to investigate somewhere like the last castle as
he had missed it greatly and he could not believe he actually had
another to investigate. He had always wanted to search the other
castle when he had been younger! He had been unable to do it for
years as the servants there had kept him in the lounge, on his only
visit there, and had persuaded him not to go anywhere else, and he
had been unable to visit there again when he had been older as his
uncle had not allowed him back.

He felt that
he had the freedom to roam this castle and he wanted to take full
advantage of it when he could, without getting into any danger, but
he was far more interested in finding everything he could about the
tomb before doing anything else.

The others spent a long time tediously
cleaning the tomb rock and he joined in and examined the writing on
it again in case he had missed something, but never found anything.
It was just ancient writing that was usually found on tombs and had
nothing of interest or was to do with anything else.

Yet one of the archeologists washing
and cleaning the end of the tomb uncovered some writing there,
which had been covered over with dirt, and Bryson went there first
to see what was there, but just before he got there the
archeologist announced to his surprise,
“
It
’
s the identity of the person in the
tomb ... His name is William Randall!
”

Bryson was staggered and did not know
whether to believe it, but the other archeologists there confirmed
that they were positive that it was and Bryson wondered what it
meant as he had definitely seen the remains and tomb of his
ancestor William Randall at the last castle.

Bryson had a hard time even remembering
William Randall in detail, and what his skeleton had looked like,
and started realizing that he could not properly prove the skeleton
in the tomb was him or was not him! How could they prove anything?
The lack of evidence annoyed him greatly and he could not prove
anything and was like a blind man trying to recognize someone from
someone that had not spoken, or had identified himself properly, or
had any information about his identity revealed and met someone who
never said anything that was being identified as the person! He
remembered little about William Randall! Yet he had known what he
had been like in places, but that was only basic stuff about him
and other people like him at the time. If only they could find
something that could give them something worthwhile about him and
the people at the castles!

He tried to remember the accounts that
they had put together to find the second castle and he tried to
recall something about it. He could not remember much about
it
–
yet he
could recall that William Randall had been identified as being at
the second castle and had been the person who had the second castle
built, and he thought that he would have stayed there as
well.

It was as though someone were deliberately
trying to muddle the facts up and confuse them! It made him shiver
thinking of it and what the consequences were and he would now have
to accept that the other skeleton at the other castle was someone
else. Yet what the hell difference did it make?

He examined the skeleton in the tomb
wondering if it really was his ancestor and what difference it
would make.

He wondered why they had buried him there
under the floor of the castle? Why would someone bury him there?
Was there someone after him, or the person there?

Mitchell marched over seeing his slight
distress and examined him and seemed interested in something.

“
Wasn
’
t William Randall mentioned as being
at the last castle?
”
he enquired, trying to get some information
from him.

“
Yes!
”
he replied firmly and
annoyed.
“
I
saw his tomb there though! He was my ancestor that built the
castles ...
”

Most of the people turned and stared,
surprised that it was his ancestor that they were examining.

“
Incredible!
”
Mitchell answered.
“
That
’
s right! I remember Sir Richard Randall was
your uncle ... And Robert Randall the current owner ... It must be
strange being in such a place and meeting one of your ancestors
here?
”

Bryson finished examining the skeleton and
realized that it actually looked the same as the last skeleton!

“
Perhaps they could have both
skeletons examined to see if they are genetically linked to
you?
”
Mitchell announced.
“
That should prove what one is authentic and
what one is not!
”

“
That
’
s a good idea!
”
he replied, surprised that
he had not thought of it.

“
I can have it done for you
...?
”
One
of the archeologists firmly replied, examining
Bryson
’
s
features and comparing them with the skeleton, with
surprise.
“
I
’
ve another friend over there ... Near the
other castle who can get something from the other skeleton
...
”

Bryson was astonished and realized that they
had come up with the answer and he agreed firmly and thanked him,
and Mitchell for coming up with such a great idea, and he wondered
what the outcome of it would be.

Chapter 10

The Second Death

Bryson studied the crumpled up remains of the
body of the scientist, who he had worked with many times, trying to
realize what had happened. His body was completely drained of water
and of something else that he could not recognize.

He had just arrived there, at the remote
region of the castle, with Mitchell and his men, and met with
Merton and some scientists and police that had been there.

One of the other scientists who had been
with the dead scientist earlier had gone out searching for him when
he had not arrived to meet him.

For some reason everyone there took it that
he had not been killed by the killer and by something else! By
something so hideous, evil, and unearthly that they could not even
imagine what! He tried to ignore how hideous it was, trying to look
upon it as an artist would observe a crazy exhibit, but it was no
use! Something was now out to get them! The things in the wood, if
they were not the culprits, looked like nothing compared to it, and
they now looked as if they had been playing with them and only
scaring them away from their territory.

The complexion of the body showed it was
drained of blood and showed the deadliness of the place, and their
chances of survival had vastly decreased and danger could now exist
there in the castle and during the day now and they never knew what
they were up against and how to survive against it. They were
becoming defenseless and they could not do anything about it!

Bryson was confused more than he could ever
recall and he had difficulty discovering what was occurring because
now he could not even imagine solving what had happened!

Strange thoughts of him leaving the
cold confines of the place and that region gave him shivers of
ecstatic pleasure. Yet the pleasure he could have if they solved
all the riddles there would be far greater! He could return home or
go on holiday to some hot place next to a desert and
celebrate
–
after returning to reality
–
not on the brink of
catastrophe
–
and he could return to solving normal everyday problems with
the effortlessness that he had done for most of his
life.