Hugh stood beside another doorway which led deeper into the chamber. "In here," he said.
This next area must have been a medical ward. There were rows of angled platforms that served as beds. On each was either another skeleton like the one in the hall, or the desiccated remains of an alien. Mary led the group to the first set of remains on their right. These remains seemed fully intact and the creature looked to be sleeping except for the obvious mummification that had taken place.
Balaji started the analysis, "The gray color may be due to the effects of mummification."
"Or, they may have been gray, originally," Mary ventured.
"He appears to have been one point six to one point seven five meters tall," Balaji continued. "Note the large, triangular-shaped head, wide at the temples and very narrow lower jaw. And observe the ridge down the center of the top of his head, perhaps half a centimeter tall—it flows over the crest of his head."
"His eyes must have been enormous!" Martha exclaimed.
"They appear at least twice the size of ours," Mary added, looking up at Martha.
"His nose is quite small," Balaji observed, "but it is in the middle of his face where it is supposed to be. His mouth, too, is very small, and he has no lips. Look at the skull on the next bed; note that the teeth are few, tiny and flat. I have also noticed there is no visible hair on this body at all."
"I'll bet they had trouble hearing," Larry commented. "Look how small his ears are."
"And they sit low on the sides of his head just behind his jaw," Mary observed.
Joe stepped up and added his observation, "Like his brother in the hall, he has three long, narrow fingers on each hand and an opposable thumb. His arms are quite long too, and look where his elbow joints are; two-thirds down from those narrow shoulders. His body is thin and frail looking. His lower abdomen is distended. He has no hips of which to speak. And his legs are quite short. His feet are small as well, and also with four digits each."
"Very good, Joe," Balaji said.
Mary moved over to Joe and pointed out, "Did you notice neither his fingers nor his toes possess claws, or even nails? No claws, and his teeth are those of a herbivore."
After a brief examination, Balaji added, "This one was male, but the remains over there are female. They differ only in their reproductive organs. This species must have had some other method of feeding their newborn than do mammals, as the females have no breasts.
"Did you ever see that movie, ET First Contact? This guy is what they called a 'gray'," Larry proffered.
"Reports of little gray men are common throughout human history," Mary muttered in a low voice. "I wonder if—"
She was interrupted when the room was filled with an intense blue light. Everyone turned toward the door. There, floating in the door was a small, brightly glowing, blue orb. It was much smaller than the larger version now illuminating the chamber outside, this one was perhaps the size of a pea. As they watched, it lowered its lumens manyfold. It then flashed and started slowly out the door.
"Okay, let's go," Hugh stated. He led the way out of the room and into the hallway following the little light.
As they proceeded deeper into the facility behind the blue pea they noticed that, as it passed what were unadorned mechanisms and surfaces, they illuminated with all manner of instrumentality. Having passed, those items returned to their previous state.
Hugh watched as the pea turned left, then ascended a tube that rose up at a forty degree angle. Inside the tube, he found rung-like structures designed to be used as a ladder for smaller entities with shorter legs. The climb was easy, the tube only about three meters long. At the top, Hugh called down to the others, "Hey, I think it's waiting for us all to be up here."
When they were all gathered in the corridor at the top, the pea flashed again and moved down a long, oval-shaped hallway with a wide floor. About fifty meters farther, it turned to its right and approached a large, closed, round, door, about nine meters in diameter. Hugh kept everyone at a respectable distance from the door and approached it alone. When he was two meters away, the great metal barrier rolled opened. Beyond was a long tunnel.
"This tunnel extends into the rock wall behind the facility," Hugh noted.
They followed the pea as it continued into the tunnel, which closely resembled the one in the cave, having rippled, glassy walls. "At least this one has a floor," Joe said, half-jokingly. The floor was constructed of metal, and coated with the same soft, unknown rubbery material they'd seen throughout. At the other end, there was another round door exactly like the first. As the pea approached, it too rolled opened.
Hugh clicked on his flashlight to light the room as they entered. But before he'd gone two strides, the room illuminated. The walls were smooth and finished with some metal that looked to be a purplish-gray color. Along the wall opposite the entrance, there were ten large, flat, rectangular panels, each made of the same purplish gray metal. A black glass panel also extended the length of the same wall just under the rectangles. As the blue light approached, the black panel sprang to life. On its smooth surface were displayed brightly-illuminated symbols of all colors and shapes—instruments that, Hugh knew, none of their party had the slightest idea how to read. There were spinning circles, what looked like pie charts, sliding scale bars, dots, and dashes all in different colors, some moving, others stationary, and everywhere, that odd writing they had seen when they first entered the place.
The ten panels now illuminated and became covered with those same symbols, they were scrolling across each, some appearing from left to right, from the bottom up and the top down. There seemed no rhyme or reason.
Everyone stood mesmerized by the symbols, blue on a red background, as they came faster and faster, moving at an impossible rate. Suddenly, the flashing stopped, and the symbols disappeared. Only the control panel near the floor remained illuminated. A minute ticked by. A low humming became audible, slowly increasing in intensity until it filled the room vibrating the walls.
Hugh heard a woman screech in pain even above the din. He turned to see Mary, and all of the others, holding their hands over their ears, their faces contorted.
Chapter 21
Hugh did not have the same reaction to the ear splitting sound. He just stood there, unable to help the others. Finally, the piercing sound ended.
"My ears are ringing like church bells!" Mary said loudly.
The small blue light appeared again, and Hugh watched as it moved directly toward him, stopping mere centimeters from his face. It hovered there several seconds. Then, two pale blue beams of light, like laser beams, shot into his eyes.
"Hugh!" Mary screamed.
"I'm all right," Hugh said. "It doesn't hurt."
The beams ended. About three meters in front of Hugh the very material of the floor transformed into an obelisk just over a meter tall, then another section of the floor formed itself into a shelf attached to the obelisk. It had created a chair facing the ten panels. Now, the blue light moved away from Hugh to a spot directly in front of the chair, and flashed. Mary, Joe and Balaji started to move toward it when it suddenly flashed a single bright red burst. They stopped. It moved again to Hugh, and flashed its gentle blue light at him before returning to the chair.
"Seems it only wants me," Hugh stated.
"Hugh, don't," Mary pleaded.
"Don't you see? I have to."
Hugh took the seat. One of the ten large panels, the one directly in front of him, illuminated a pale blue color. It detached from the wall and slowly, floating in the air, advanced toward him, and as it did, it began to curl at the sides. It encircled Hugh, forming a cylinder around him. Then, it became transparent so Hugh could be seen inside. Hugh himself now began to glow, and seemed to become translucent. A sound filled the air, much like the arcing of thousands of bolts of electricity, yet no electrical discharge was apparent.
Mary again screamed out his name and started to run toward him. She managed two steps when the material of
the floor formed around her feet, locking her in her place. Balaji slowly lifted his right foot in an attempt to move toward Mary. The floor reached up, grabbed his foot, and gently pulled it down.
Half an hour passed before Hugh's cylinder stopped all its light and noise, and became opaque. The panel opened and started to back away. Unfolding, it returned to its original position.
"Hugh!" Mary called out.
He remained still and silent.
"Hugh!"
He stirred, but very slowly. His eyes opened incrementally. He stared at the four panels in front of him. They became black and instantly white numbers and letters began to appear on them. It was a form of highly advanced terrestrial mathematics. The numbers and letters were the symbols with which all the scientists were familiar.
Joe asked, "What is all this?"
Balaji shook his head, never taking his eyes off the panel, when suddenly, among the dozens of figures flashing by, he saw:
x = [- b + √ (b2 - 4ac)]/2a and x = [- b - √ (b2 - 4ac)]/2a.
"That was dal Ferro's solution for cubic equations," Balaji blurted out, wide-eyed.
"What?" Joe asked.
"It's very advanced mathematics."
"Why? Balaji, what's going on here?" Mary was frantic.
"I think they are evolving a method that will allow us to communicate, the language of numbers, the music of the spheres."
As everyone watched, advanced mathematics of human origin began to mix with what must have been the same equations of alien origin.
"What I believe is happening here," Balaji explained, "is that they are learning our system from Hugh, and simultaneously teaching theirs to him."
"How will they talk to us with numbers?" Martha asked.
"Mathematics, my dear Martha," Balaji explained, "is the most concise and accurate language in the universe, and I will wager that they speak it infinitely better than we do."
The center panel now illuminated. It became a blue color. A cursor flashed in the upper left corner and a long and complicated mathematical equation appeared. Hugh then spoke—his voice ethereal, distant, not his own. "Welcome."
The equation flashed and Hugh spoke again. "Welcome."
Mary spoke up first, her voice quivering. "What have you done to Hugh?"
Again a vast equation ran across the panel. It stopped and slowly faded away. Then another equation started to run. A much longer one, it took several seconds for the cursor to stop.
Hugh spoke again, "You are the female human with whom Alpha India 73 658 is preoccupied. You are called Mary. We have studied this emotional attachment and approve of it. However, you are the source of considerable file corruption. It is recommended that you amend your data flow to reflect the correct emotional response to the stimuli.
“Welcome Mary, Balaji, Joe, Martha, and Larry, also to the two missing members of your party, Stanley and Bob."
"Who...who are you?" Balaji asked, clearly overcome by this first contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence.
The equations flashed again before Hugh spoke. "I am called X plus X squared equals ninety, or The Nine. We are nine and known as the Council of Nine, though I am one."
Balaji could only shrug. "We are concerned for our friend."
Again the equations, then Hugh spoke. "Alpha India 73 658 is operating within design specifications. He is unharmed and unaltered. The Nine have opened a channel of communications through him."
"Why Hugh? He's been through so much already!" Mary blurted out.
The equations flashed and Hugh spoke. "The Nine will not risk harm to any life form for any reason."
"Then release us all immediately!" Mary was barely holding herself together.
The equations flashed again. There was a pause and more equations. Another pause, and more equations. Their feet were released and Hugh slumped over in the chair. Mary ran to him.
"Hugh?" Mary lifted his head and cupped his face in her hands. "Hugh?"
His eyes opened, his pupils greatly dilated. In an instant, his eyes returned to normal. He blinked and looked around. "Hi, Mary."
"Are you all right?" she asked.
"Yes, I think so."
"Are you still in communication with The Nine?" Balaji asked.
"Yes."
"Ask them what happened in this place."
There was a pause. "They tell me that the story is a large file. That it would be best that I go dormant before they send it."
"Dormant?" Mary asked.
"I think they mean I should sleep."
"We'll put that off for later." Balaji looked up at the huge blue monitor. "Can you explain to them our situation and ask if they can be of help?"
"They say they know our situation and are working on a plan. They suggest we can help one another."
"What does that mean?"
Hugh paused. Nothing seemed to happen. He looked up at the panel and watched as his mathematical question formed again.
A response flashed across the panel.
"Well?" Balaji asked.
"Seems all will be revealed in the file I will receive as soon as I go dormant. Balaji, I think I better lie down and take a nap."
Joe, Larry, and Martha came running up to Mary, Hugh, and Balaji. "We can't reach Bob on the E-COM," Larry said.
"It's most likely this chamber," Joe suggested. "I'm going to start heading back their way until I am able to make contact.
"Okay, Joe. Be careful. And please, stay in touch with us," Balaji requested, as Joe trotted off down the long tunnel.
"Hugh, what did you experience?" Mary asked.
"I really don't remember much. I can tell you this. They saw my entire life through my eyes. Every detail, every word I ever spoke, all that I thought and felt. Everything I did right and everything I did wrong. It all happened so fast—if I had wanted to stop them, there just wasn't time. They now know everything I know, about myself, about JILL, our limitations and capabilities. They know all my secrets. If they mean us harm, they now know how to do it and just how we'd defend ourselves."
"Do you think they are hostile?" Balaji asked.
"No. I feel they are lonely."
"Lonely? Interesting. So we are not dealing with a computer."
"Yes and no. The one is an artificial intelligence, but—"
Just then, the E-COM erupted with Joe's voice. "This is Joe, over."
"This is Hugh, Joe. Over."
"I'm back outside. There's no sign of...wait a minute. Doc what is this? Put the gun down—"
Then a shot rang out, and the E-COM went dead.
Everyone heard the transmission. Hugh started running back to the entrance and the others followed.
As Hugh ran, he shouted over the E-COM, "Joe, this is Hugh—talk to me. Bob, are you there?"
Down the long tube, left into the corridor, down the connecting shaft past the infirmary, into the 'T' intersection.
That was where Hugh stopped them.
"Why are we stopping?" Martha asked through her huffing and puffing.
"Someone out there just discharged a weapon. We are not going to all rush out there to provide the shooter with a target-rich environment."
"I don't guess I can dissuade you from going out there by yourself, can I?" Mary's voice was filled with apprehension, and her face was overflowing with fear.
Hugh turned, prepared to explain the tactical situation to her. However, the instant he saw her expression, his demeanor changed. "Mary, I have to do this. You know I'm a soldier, and trained for this."
"I know, but I don't have to like it."
Hugh gave her a tiny nod and turned to go when she grabbed him. "Hugh, be careful. And don't joke with me!"
A smile curled his lips. "Sure." He turned and walked away.
Just as he started down the corridor, Hugh wished the lights were off so he would not be silhouetted against the bright light at the door. Realizing the Nine controlled the entire facility Hugh translated this desire into a mathematical equation so the
Nine would comprehend, and the lights went out.
"Hugh?" Mary called out.
"Shh. It's okay," he whispered and advanced in a low crouch.
At the door, he peered outside. There, some nine meters in front of him, lay Joe, flat on his back as if he were sleeping. Hugh looked about, but could see no sign of either Bob or Stanley. He dashed forward to Joe. There was nothing to be done. He had been shot at close range in the face. Quickly, Hugh scanned the ground in the immediate area. Seeing no other bodies or sign of life, he ran quickly back through the door to join the others. As he reached them, the door slammed shut and the lights came back on. The slamming door startled everyone.
"It's okay," Hugh shouted. "I asked them to shut the door."
"Where's Joe?" Larry asked.
"He's dead."
"What?" Martha gasped. "How?"
"He was shot. Looks like Dr. Whitmore has completely lost his mind."
"What of Bob?" Balaji asked.
"No sign. We only heard the one shot, he could be all right. Regardless, there's nothing to be done here."
As they started back to the room with the huge monitors, Hugh explained to his sad and distraught companions that he was going to mentally communicate with the aliens and inform them of the situation.
Upon arrival, Hugh asked the Nine, "Can the doors to this chamber be closed once we're inside?" The doors immediately closed behind them. Hugh turned to Balaji. "Doc, I'm going to take a little nap now. I'm told this should take about twenty minutes."
"Hugh, does it have to be you?" Balaji asked. "I do not mean to offend, my friend, but I am a scientist."
"I guess they think...I have something in common with them," Hugh suggested, raising his eyebrows.
Looking over his shoulder to ensure he could not be overheard, Balaji said, "I understand."
Hugh went over to a wall and lay down. As he did, the floor under him became soft, and a pillow-like structure formed under his head.
Hugh looked up at Balaji. "Pretty good service, don't you think?"
Dark Moon Rising Page 16
