The Alien Artifact 9 (Novelette)

by V Bertolaccini

  “It’s top secret!”

  “It produces the most detailed mapping of beneath the ground ever seen, to a far greater depth, making it possible to observe small and large objects – of the dimensions we are interested in, and further out! As we are not sure if it is directly below! We have detected occurrences at other locations …”

  I realized it could detect underground military bases and such far below the ground, perhaps hidden away in mountains, normally undetectable, and I realized why they were avoiding telling anything, and the majority of people there never knew what it was or was happening, and that they might not be allowed to use it, and that some of the scientists there were military scientists, and I wondered what they were doing there.

  Chapter 20

  The Discovery

  The equipment system was functioning and ready to monitor everything around the surrounding cavity in a far greater degree, and after all their rigorous setting up of it, and taking down large powerful electric cables, and all their preparations of everything, and their highly advanced use of it I was fascinated at what it could do, and at such a close range, as the other version on the airplane was not as advanced and as powerful, and I considered if they had deliberately given a reduced and incorrect estimate of the distance of the scan to hide its true incredible powers, and it being confidential equipment!

  I grasped the dangers of it as when I had only activated the metal detector at the woman’s house it had made me collapse and made me unconscious, and had a tremendous reaction, and I wondered if it could hit us all with it, and kill us!

  The whole exploration seemed useless as I and most of the others surely would not profit from it, and would only get the chance to solve mysteries, and I wondered if we could get marked in history, and have future explorers recalling our achievements.

  What surprised me was their firm belief that there was something there! The others barely believed anything! They had had not found anything though! Yet why were they so confident with so little? Were they keeping something secret? Had they detected something? Had they known of something before the occurrence there, and were investigating it for the first time? They had hardly come up with anything and they all were going crazy to do something, and I started to wonder what was happening, and if I would survive to see the end of the war!

  The two paranormal scientists sat along from the others at a large table, in the now large cavity, sitting opposite each other, with an accurate map of the surrounding region stretched out across it, searching the area and discussing it, fascinated at the battle that had taken place, which before the event I thought had events missing from it. It was strange as there never looked as though there was anything there, especially in such a public place, and going by recent information they got from questioning locals and the woman at the house, there were no occurrences up until the woman had activated her metal detector in her house, and I felt I was missing something about the incident that we should know, but I could not grasp it.

  When something did occur with the equipment, as they started activating it in stages, the reactions they gave were unbelievable, and I suddenly realized how late in the evening it had become, and discovered it was dark outside, and it was late at night!

  The equipment started showing strange reactions that they could not comprehend as they never had all their equipment functioning, and they could not grasp what was there, and it was too vague, and insignificant vague reactions, which could be anything being detected, especially from the surrounding city, and hospital itself, and something nearby creating disturbances or being detected for something.

  From what I heard they had a problem having not fully checked the equipment’s reactions to everything, even though the original version had been tested out for years, and they were sure that other things could create some reactions. The equipment was far more sensitive at detection than ever before, and had even been modified just before its arrival, especially for working at close range, and at distances that they had not worked at.

  Suddenly one scientist jumped up startled at a reaction on the screen of his equipment and the scientists all went around him, where definite reactions were being detected, and they all started excitedly discussing what they thought of it, and what could cause such a disturbance, and I saw that some were disappointed, but thought there was definitely something there, and I waited to find out what they had and if it would be a disappointment!

  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 we
nt 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.

  I cleaned dirt off my clothes and glanced at the rubble, and wondered what the outcome of our investigations would be and I realized the others were dramatically staring down at me, in the above torchlight.

  There really was only one object in the chamber that I saw and I was surprised at the actual size of it, as it had seemed far smaller above, and I strode over to it, examining it, at different angles, checking if it was connected to something, and perhaps some form of equipment, and considered if it could have something like a generator leading to it, and considered what it was used for, and I realized the chamber and it had to be there for a good reason.