“Get some rest; I’ll keep watch.” He nodded and smiled and let out some of the belt length so she floated free. It also allowed him free hands to throw more of the communication relay lights against the cave wall.
Thank you, she mouthed and closed her eyes. She didn’t think she’d be able to sleep knowing she was headed toward a place she had promised herself a hundred times she’d never go back to.
But here she was, headed back down to where her previous team had been decimated and she had seen Harry Wenton dragged away into the darkness by some sort of thinking arthropod creatures from the center of the Earth. Yep, here she was, and already the deaths had begun again.
Jane kept her eyes pressed shut but didn’t find restful sleep; instead she simply slipped into a gloomy unconsciousness.
*****
She was grabbed and felt her body be eased to the ground in the tomb-silent cave. It seemed the one thing the team had practiced was preparing for their arrival, and being able to protect themselves and their equipment, instead of coming in like a fleet of crashing dirigibles like Mike and Jane had done on their first arrival.
Bull released her and unstrapped her wrist. “All good?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Jane replied, rubbing her arm where the leather strap had been attached, probably for the past twenty-eight to thirty hours.
In minutes more they all assembled, with Hitch staring back up into the gravity well to make sure nothing followed them down.
Penny buzzed around checking everyone for abrasions, cuts or skin lacerations, and expertly treating and covering them with iodine and bandages. Bull and Ally were dispatched to check out the perimeter just in case the former occupants had decided to leave guards for when they returned.
Mike spoke softly to Harris, and Jane watched the pair for a moment more. She wondered whether Mike ever really planned to go back to the surface at the well, or push on as he had done. And for that matter, whether Harris had decided long ago that they were coming all the way, and the attack was a convenient excuse to keep them hostage.
Drop it, that’s dumb, she thought. I’m just feeling blue and looking for someone to blame. Besides, she was here now, so she’d better deal with it.
She cast another glance at the soldier. For some reason the guy intrigued her. He saw her looking, waved, and sauntered over. She noticed he had his rifle cradled in front of him now. “You okay?”
“I’ll live,” he said, and though she was intrigued, she didn’t fully trust the guy.
“That’s the spirit.” He continued to watch her. “I’m sorry it worked out like this. I hope you see it was unavoidable.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Her mouth set in a hard line.
“Well, it’s true,” he said softly, and then stepped a little closer. She saw Mike watching over Harris’ shoulder. “I would have been gutted if anything bad happened to you. Just want you to know that, Jane.”
“I…” She began.
Harris turned away. “Listen up people. I’m sending a scout team down the passageway. The rest of us will wait here until they report back.”
“And if they find it’s guarded?” Mike asked.
“Yes, what do we do?” Alistair asked. “Head back up and straight into the jaws of those things in the dark?”
Harris shook his head. “No, Mr. Monroe and Mr. Peterson, we eliminate the threat by evolving our tactics.” He turned. “Hitch, Bull, scout ahead, and see what we’re going to encounter. At this time, do not engage.”
The men nodded and headed off in the darkness, and Harris turned back to the group. “Our estimations are that the Russians will be several miles to the west of us. We need to see what it is they are doing, observe them, gather information, and that’s it.”
“Then what?” Jane asked.
“If their work is benign then our job is done.” He gave her a flat smile. “We have no plans to set up a base here, or even be here any longer than we have to.”
Jane stared for a moment, trying to discern any subterfuge in the man’s expression. But there was none. She couldn’t really tell whether he was stating a fact or he would just be a damn good poker player.
Harris smiled and held up a hand with three fingers together. “Scout’s honour.”
She had no choice but to believe him. “Fine.” And she couldn’t help smiling back.
The group sat, sipped water, and ate some of their protein bars. Mike sat next to her, but for the most part they sat in silence. On the other side of them, Harris pulled a cigarette pack-sized box from a pouch and typed in a brief message.
“The comm system?” Mike asked.
Harris nodded as he finished typing. “Should allow me to send and receive very short messages letting them know we’ve touched down. But no idea how long it’ll take them to go point to point as they’re bouncing along all the relay boosters.”
He sent it and stared at the box for a moment more, before sighing and sliding it back into the pouch. “Guess I’ll know when I know.”
It was in another thirty minutes that Hitch and Bull jogged up from out of the darkness and announced that the cave had been walled up down at what they thought was its exit.
It seemed the creatures had decided to cover off the entrance, and that gave Jane an indication of who had done it the first time. “They rebuilt it,” she said.
“Well then…” Harris got to his feet. “Why don’t we take a looksee on what’s waiting for us on the other side of that wall?”
As they headed down the passage, Mike pointed out familiar landmarks to Penny and Alistair: the groups of tiny, ancient skeletons, some in family groups in the alcoves. Also the remnants of dropped weapons, urns and bowls that might have once contained food, and piles of clothing, all now turning to dust.
When they arrived at the cave’s end, Jane could see the new wall that had been built was a lot more formidable than the last. And different. Her brows knitted as she approached it.
“Mike, look; the stones seem to be glued in place. Some sort of resin mortar.”
She reached a hand out and touched the rocks. Between was an amber-colored mixture that was set hard, and trailing her fingers over it, she felt it was glass-smooth, like some sort of hardened wax or plastic.
“Secretion,” Alistair said.
He reached into a small bag at his waist and pulled free a small folding knife and plastic vial. He scraped some of the material from between the cracks and into his container. He held it up to his light and jiggled it.
“Most arthropods can secrete different sorts of mixtures to create nests, exoskeletal shells, hives, or different structures for their protection.” He stepped back. “This is amazing; they’ve actually used this extruded biological matter to cement the rocks together.” He turned to them. “Could indicate intelligence.”
“No shit.” Mike scoffed. “They knew what they were doing. We think they’d sealed it once before, just rock on rock. But this time they’ve added a little glue to make it difficult for us to return.”
Harris thumbed toward the wall. “Hitch, make a hole, quietly if you please, and stick a pipe through.”
“On it.” The soldier withdrew a few tools and started to slowly corkscrew a long, slim blade in between two of the rocks. The material was hard but not like cement and more like fibreglass resin as it tended to flake when Hitch put his shoulder into it.
After ten minutes he had dug out a small pile of the stuff and jammed his blade in all the way.
“I’m through.” Hitch slowly pulled his blade out, put his eye up to the hole for a moment, and then pulled back. He then unwound a cable from a box, plugged it in, and handed the small device to Harris.
Hitch then stuck the cable end into the hole and fed it through. Harris turned on the device and an image was displayed on the small screen. Mike and Jane crowded in closer to see.
Mike squinted down at the images, but the first thing he noticed was the darkness on the other side.
“Where�
��s the crystal glow?” Mike asked.
“Was going to ask you the same thing,” Harris said.
“Could they have faded?” Jane asked.
“We’ve only been gone a year or so, and the crystals were still glowing after the city had been abandoned for what we estimated was over ten or twelve thousand years.” He turned to her. “More like destroyed or removed.”
“But there was tons of the stuff,” Jane replied.
“We don’t know how many of the creatures there were. An army could have done it,” Harris said without looking up. “Pan left.”
Hitch used his fingers to angle the cable camera.
“Now right.” Harris’ face was dead calm as he studied the images. “Up.” After another moment he shrugged. “Well, looks all quiet in there now.” He switched the screen off and tossed it back to Hitch. “Wrap it up.”
“We’re going in?” Penny asked.
“That’s why we’re here.” Harris clicked his fingers at Ally. “Ms. Bennet, take that wall down.”
“On it.” Ally dropped her pack and removed a single foil-covered package the size of a block of soap, plus a smaller box. She unwrapped the foil and then peeled off some of the soft plasticine-like material. She rolled the portion out into a long string, which she then placed around the outside of the blocked doorway. She stuck a silver pin into it and finally calibrated a small timer.
“Thirty seconds,” Ally said and fast-walked back up the passageway.
Everyone else took cover and placed hands over their ears. Mike hated the idea of explosives, especially the thought that they might be ringing the dinner bell for the weird arthropod people.
“5-4-3…” Ally counted down, “2-1…”
The explosion happened right on time and was more a muffled thump than a sharp and hot bang. It finished with the sound of tumbling rocks and filled the cave with dust.
Ally stepped out. “Mr. Harris, your wall is down.”
Harris rose to his feet and waved some of the clouds away. “Good work,” he said and approached the tumbled wall.
He had his rifle in his hands, and the other soldiers had done the same. At least they were taking it seriously, Mike thought.
Hitch and Bull stepped over the rubble and planted themselves on either side of the tumbled debris. Harris and Ally came in next and rushed forward, guns up. Both found some cover and just dropped low in the dark cavern.
“Hot as all in here. And just as dark,” Ally said. She panned her arm around that held the motion sensor. “I got nothing, nobody’s home.”
Harris cracked several glow sticks and tossed them out into the darkness. Their yellow glow illuminated the ancient and desolate ruins. He slowly stood and turned. “Okay people, come on through.”
Mike and Jane, followed by Penny and Alistair, scrambled over the rubble.
“Wow,” Alistair said softly, and then grimaced. “Warm.”
It was as hot as Mike remembered. Leaving the cool of the cave behind and entering the world below meant they were drawing closer to the boiling-red sky.
“This is nothing compared to what you’ll experience outside,” Jane added.
“Where’s all that blue light you promised us?” Ally said.
“We wondered the same thing.” Jane looked to where one of the huge columns of rod crystal used to be: the one she remembered had been thicker than a light pole and just as high. Now there was nothing, not fragments or even crystal dust. “It’s all been removed. Someone or something obviously knew we needed it to see,” she replied.
“We don’t know that for sure,” Harris said. “For all we know that raiding party you mentioned came here to mine the stuff. Maybe they valued it as well.”
Jane scoffed. “Whatever you say.”
Harris lowered his gun. “Well, the party is over here. Whatever group had come is now gone. I suggest we get moving and pick up the Russian trail.”
They walked single file down along the broken pathway and entered the ruins of the ancient city. Penny stopped and grabbed Alistair’s arm.
“I never expected this. It’s all so old.” Her mouth hung open. “It must predate the first Egyptians.”
“Even the Sumerians, I’d say,” Alistair replied.
Mike turned. “We thought maybe about twelve thousand years, give or take a century.”
“This was a mature civilization. The architecture is quite sophisticated.” Alistair walked toward a broken column and brushed away some dried lichen. “There’s writing here, but, it’s difficult to understand.” He looked up. “Your manuscript said there were pictoglyphs?”
“Hey.” Harris kept his voice low but forceful. “We’re not on a walking tour. Get moving.”
Mike nodded but turned back to Alistair. “Yes, and it told the tale of the war and their demise. The survivors split up, some marched out into the jungle, some took to the sea, and some headed up into the high caves.”
“And you think those things in the caves are what became of those who went up in the caves?” Penny grimaced. “Those poor people.”
“If that’s what they were, people I mean,” Jane added. She turned back to the open area she was in and walked slowly around for a moment before she stopped. “Hey, Mike, where did we leave Saknussov’s skeleton? I’m sure it was here, right here.” She pointed at a flat area of ground.
Mike joined her and frowned. “Hey, you’re right, it was propped against that plinth, remember? Pointing up toward the doorway. It’s gone now.”
“They took it.” She shook her head. “Why take the bones?”
“Erase all trace, maybe?” Mike said.
“Or to study,” Alistair said softly.
“They had Harry Wenton for that,” Jane added bitterly.
“But he was alive. And maybe that’s the way they wanted him.” Alistair looked up. “We often take active and inactive specimens, and study both.”
“Oh.” Jane turned to Mike. “Do you think…?”
Mike shook his head. “No, no I don’t. Forget it, Jane, he’s dead.”
Alistair wandered around a little more and then crouched. “Look here.”
“Hurry up,” Harris yelled.
“Wait, we must learn more,” Alistair pleaded. “A few moments, please. This is important.”
Mike held up a hand to the glaring commander. “One minute.”
Mike, Jane, and Penny followed Alistair, and he pointed at the ground. Mike could only see scratches and divots in some of the cave soil and on the bare rock.
“What is it?” Mike asked.
“Maybe footprints of your arthropod people,” Alistair said and indicated some grooves in the lichen on one of the tumbled rocks.
Alistair crouched on his haunches. “There’s an order of arthropods called Decapoda or it literally means ten-footed. It’s a broad order and covers everything from crayfish, crabs, to lobsters, and shrimp. But it’s one of the oldest, and the earliest known specimens date from the Devonian Period some four hundred million years ago.”
He ran his fingers along a few of the grooves. “Sharp pointed tracks, and usually have ten legs, but can have as many as thirty-eight appendages. The actual legs for locomotion are called pereiopods, found on the last five thoracic segments.”
Mike nodded.
Alistair looked up. “Was that something like them?”
“They were more upright, but we didn’t get a good look. And maybe the legs were working together instead of separately,” Mike added.
“Possible.” Alistair nodded. “They also have large ones at the front that have enlarged pincers, called chelae, as well as multiple pairs of maxillipeds which function as feeding appendages; like little hands to feed the food into their mouths.”
“Yeah, that sounds like our guys,” Jane said. “Horrifying.”
Alistair looked back down. “These deep marks indicate the pointed, spiked legs of a pereiopod of considerable size.” He looked up. “And you said intelligent?”
“Yes, t
hey carried weapons,” Mike replied.
“I believe it,” Alistair replied. “There’s only been a few studies done on some arthropod species, but one, the mantis shrimp, are highly intelligent. They exhibit complex social behavior, fighting techniques. And most extraordinarily, they have a great capacity to learn and retain knowledge. They have very efficient brains.”
“Now give them a few hundred million years to evolve and grow.” Jane’s eyes seemed devoid of life.
“Then they’d be very formidable indeed.” Alistair rose to his feet.
“Move it,” Harris’ yell echoed in the dark cavern.
Alistair cupped his mouth. “I need more time.”
“No,” Harris began. “You’ll…”
“This race lived here for thousands of years. We must spend a few moments learning from them. It might help us later on.” Alistair backed up.
Mike hiked his shoulders at the soldier. “This hominid species also encountered the creatures that scattered them, so might be worth knowing if they mentioned them or anything about them. It’s important.”
Harris bared his teeth, his breath hissing through them undoubtedly at the challenge to his authority.
“You can always leave me. Pick me up when you get back.” Alistair had already turned away.
“Give him a few hours,” Jane added.
Harris shook his head, and then pointed at the young man’s chest. “You got one hour, Mister, sixty minutes, to have a quick poke around. Then we’re moving out. All of us. Confirm?”
“Got it, confirm one hour.” Alistair grinned and hopped up onto a slab of lichen-covered rock and headed into the ruins with Penny at his heel.
Mike turned to Jane. “Why not? Might answer some questions.”
The pair followed Alistair and Penny, and Harris organized his team, sending a few out as scouts and Ally to follow the civilians as their guard.
Penny pointed things out to Alistair, marveling at the ancient structures, but Ally was more on edge as she tried to see into every dark crack, crevice or corner all at once.
Mike sighed; not having the crystals meant the huge cavern was filled with shadows and silence, and it was like one giant mausoleum. He knew that archaeologists would give their right arm to spend just a few minutes here, and one hour wasn’t going to be enough time to learn very much at all.
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