by Alex Archer
“Something like that. Turn here,” Dave said.
Annja turned at the fork in the tunnel. Far off, she could hear the telltale clangs of shovels sinking into dirt, followed by the sound of dirt being thrown into piles. “Is Zach already down here?”
“Yeah. He said he was going straight from breakfast.”
“Cool.” Annja kept walking. Ahead of her she could see more light coming from stationary lamps set up at the dig site. She heard voices, as well.
When she walked through the cavern opening, she was surprised to see Colonel Thomson standing there. Garin stood nearby. Zach was in one of the holes still working his shovel furiously. Dirt and grime stained his face and his coveralls.
Colonel Thomson looked up. “Hello, Miss Creed. Nice of you to come on down at last.”
“Sorry, I had to finish up a few things in my shelter.”
“Oh?”
“Just some notes.”
Colonel Thomson smiled. “I believe you know Major Braden?”
Annja looked at Garin and smiled. He nodded back. Thomson kept speaking. “So Zachary here tells me that you’re a bit obsessed with the laboratory analysis report regarding the necklace.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed with it,” Annja protested.
“But you think there might be something valuable to be gleaned from it, if you were allowed access to it,” he said.
“I think so, yes.”
Thomson smiled. “Well, I’m afraid you’re not allowed to see that report. You see, it’s classified. There are other things going on here besides your scientific study of this area and the dig for various artifacts.”
“Such as?”
“Such as I’m not going to get into it with you at the moment. Surely, you can appreciate the need for the strictest confidence in this regard,” he said.
Annja frowned. “To some extent, yes. But it seems like the security of this place is stifling the search for the truth.”
“It’s doing no such thing,” the colonel stated.
“Isn’t it? That report might shed some light on where these relics come from. We can’t fathom them being created here on Earth around the time the carbon dating stamp supposedly says they were made. Nor is the metal alloy apparently something that was created here. But all of that is secondhand information. You told the scientists that, rather than letting them see the report.”
Thomson’s expression darkened. “It seems to me that you might be implying that I lied about the analysis results,” he said angrily.
“I’m not implying that. I’m merely pointing out how strange it seems that we wouldn’t be allowed to see it,” Annja said.
“I’m sure there are lots of things you haven’t been privy to in the past, Miss Creed. Another report shouldn’t make that much of a difference to you, should it?”
Annja glanced at Garin, who kept his eyes focused on the wall of the cavern. “It shouldn’t, no. But it does. I want to know what I’m dealing with here. What we’re dealing with. And not having all of the information makes it that much harder to come to a conclusion about this. Which is, I thought, why I’m down here in the first place,” she said.
“You’re down here,” Thomson said, “because Zachary here wanted you with him. He said your expertise would be invaluable to the project.”
“My expertise is in researching and knowledge of ancient cultures and texts and relics. Anyone can dig big holes in the side of a mountain. If you’re not happy with my presence here, then you can always send me back home.”
Thomson shook his head. “I wish it were that easy. But it’s not. As you know, the winter is closing in on us.”
“So call the flyboys back.”
“The weather is far too dangerous for them to make the run again like they did a few days back to drop you off. If they flew in now, there’s a very good chance we’d lose the entire plane and crew. We can’t take those odds.”
“I could go by ship, then,” Annja said.
“Again, the winter is against you here. Ice packs are already threatening to close off the harbor port. We’ll have to wait it out, I’m afraid.”
Annja put her hands in her pockets. “So, what—we come to terms about how you’re best able to use me?”
“If you stop pestering me about the report.”
“Without that report,” Annja said, “I won’t be able to tell you what I think. I won’t be able to give you my best informed decision about what these relics could possibly be.”
Colonel Thomson looked at her and then smiled. “And yet, somehow, I think at the end of this we’ll have a much better idea of where we stand.”
“If you say so.”
“Oh, I do, Miss Creed. Very definitely.”
Annja looked again at Garin, but the man’s face seemed utterly impassive. What’s his place in all of this? Annja wondered once again. And why is he mixed up with Thomson? It didn’t make sense.
“Well, we’ll leave you to your work.” Thomson looked at Garin. “Major.”
Garin followed him out of the cavern, leaving Annja, Dave and Zach there by themselves.
Dave eyed Annja. “What was that all about?”
“I guess he doesn’t want me to look for the report.”
“Were you?”
“Was I what?”
“Looking for it?”
Annja sighed. “Dave, I did what you guys suggested I do. I went to his admin shelter, spoke to the soldier there about getting the report and he told me to take it up with Thomson himself. I went to his private shelter and he wasn’t there so I went back to our shelter, and that’s where you found me.”
Dave nodded. “Okay.”
Zach wiped his brow. “You guys didn’t happen to bring any water with you, did you? I’m parched.”
“I can get some,” Dave said. “Be right back.”
Annja watched him leave. Then she turned back to Zach. “How are you holding up?”
“Huh? I’m fine. Why?”
“Just wondering.”
Zach stopped shoveling. “Annja, is everything all right with you? You seem further and further away every time I look at you. I’m worried.”
Annja took a deep breath. “I’m concerned about what we’re doing here. Things don’t seem…right. And I can’t get any answers from people. And no one seems willing to talk straight about what is up here.”
“You heard the colonel, it’s classified.”
“Yeah, yeah, classified. Whatever. You and I aren’t soldiers, Zach. We’re scientists. And as such, our priority is the search for the truth.”
Zach frowned. “Actually, Annja, my number-one priority right now is that paycheck I’ve been promised. I need that money to take care of my obligations and my children. As far as I’m concerned, the truth is going to have to take a backseat on this one.”
Annja nodded. “I understand. Really, I do. But I can’t begin to figure out how this is all fitting together.”
“Maybe you’re not supposed to figure it out. Maybe it’s supposed to be one big hodgepodge of junk that doesn’t have a rational explanation.”
“I hate that,” Annja said.
Zach put his shovel down. “But don’t you see? How many people go through life thinking they’re going to figure out all the deepest, darkest mysteries? Probably a lot, right?”
“Yeah.”
“But does anyone ever really do that? Is there really any rhyme or reason to why we’re here? I haven’t seen it yet. To me, life is just a series of random equations and variables. We were the end result of one of those equations. But trying to spend your time matching us up with other equations and theorems, it just doesn’t work. It eats you up inside. In the end, we’re all dead, anyway.”
“So you think I should just live my life one day at a time?”
Zach sighed. “There’s a lot to be said for that, Annja. Let me tell you. God knows, it’s been my mantra recently what with all the divorce bullshit, kids being taken from me and my creditor
s lining up to eat me alive. One day at a time is about all I can handle.”
Annja slid into the hole at the far corner, stripped her parka off and picked up her shovel. “Yeah, well, I’m not so sure I can follow that philosophy myself, but for your sake at least, I’ll give it a try.”
“Really?”
Annja smirked. “Well, for at least the next five minutes.”
“Fair enough,” Zach said.
Dave came back into the cavern and handed them each a bottle of water. “I miss anything while I was gone?”
Zach took a long pull on his water and shook his head. “Annja is thinking about trying a new approach to life.”
Dave smiled. “Really?”
Annja waved him off. “It’s temporary. I don’t know how good I’d be at it, anyway.”
“Yeah, well, apparently you made quite the impression on the colonel with your impassioned speech.”
Annja put her water down. “Excuse me?”
“I just ran into him back up by the entrance. He asked me to tell you to report to his shelter later on when we’re done here. Says he’s got some things to talk over with you.”
Annja raised her eyebrows and then took another sip of the water. “Well, perhaps there’s something to be said for being a stubborn pain in the ass, after all, huh, Zach?”
“If he gives you the report, then I’ll concede defeat.” Zach wiped his face. “Until then, get back to digging, okay?”
26
Annja spent the next several hours digging her way through piles of dirt and rock. She found nothing for her efforts except chunks of coal, pyrite and granite. Gradually, the pile of dirt she dug out of the hole grew larger than most of the cavern.
Twice, she had tried to use her inner sense to see if she could detect the presence of more relics. Each time, the conclusion had been the same—nothing.
As far as she was concerned, this was becoming more and more of a ghost chase than an actual scientific exploration. She hadn’t seen any more of the rest of the scientists, either, which struck her as equally odd. When she mentioned this fact to Zach and Dave, neither of them seemed particularly interested.
Finally, after another lunch of MREs, and another hour of digging, Annja decided to call it a day. “I need to go and get cleaned up before I see Thomson,” she said.
Dave smirked. “Make sure you wear your Sunday best.”
“Oh, and some perfume,” Zach said. “I’m sure that will help your cause. Guy’s a sucker for a hot chick.”
Annja smirked. “I’m not trying to seduce him.”
Dave held up his hand. “You want the report, right?”
“Of course.”
“Well, all negotiations are a seduction. I recently read a book about it, and the author made a great case for using seductive strategies for getting your way in negotiations. Great read.”
“Thanks for the tip. I’ll be sure to remember that later when I’m putting on my thermal lace underwear,” Annja said, laughing.
Zach shook his head. “Hey, I’m trying to work here. Don’t go carbonizing my hormones with images of that stuff, okay?”
“Sorry.” Annja waved goodbye. “See you guys at dinner.”
She walked back up the slope toward the entrance of the dig site. As she walked, she listened to the sounds of Dave and Zach resuming their digging. She glanced back and smiled. At least she was out of there.
Parts of this dig made her feel as if she was involved in slave labor. Colonel Thomson had basically told her that they were trapped there for the winter and that digging for more relics was on the agenda every day.
That seemed vaguely fanatical to Annja. She was convinced there weren’t any more to be found. And she was intensely curious as to whether the ones already found were of any special importance, anyway.
At the tunnel fork, she started heading back toward the surface, but then stopped. What was down the other fork? She realized she’d never seen anyone venture down there.
Annja paused and took a step toward the other branch. Could she hear something farther down? Were the other members of the research team digging down there at another site? Were there other relics down there? And if so, why were Dave, Zach and Annja wasting their time back at the other cavern?
Or was it something else entirely? Perhaps, as Colonel Thomson had said, there was more going on here than Annja was allowed to know about. The problem was, she wanted to know about it.
All of it.
Annja took another step down the tunnel and then kept walking. They hadn’t strung lights along the roof of the tunnel as they had on the other side. Was there a reason why they kept this place in the dark?
Annja felt her way along, making sure she lifted her feet and didn’t trip. The more quietly she moved, the better chance she had of actually seeing what might be going on down here.
She walked another thirty yards before she started hearing ambient noises. But unlike the sound of shovels, there was nothing loud about the noise down here. Everything came in small pops and pings.
Annja could see better now as some light spilled out of what must have been another large cavern.
She crept around the corner and then her eyes blinked in the sudden light. In front of her, she could see the other members of the research team. Each of them worked in a section of the cavern. Annja could see a wall of rock in front of them. In key places, small cylindrical holes had been bored deep into the rock.
Boring? Were they looking for oil?
Annja frowned. The little she knew about the oil industry, they usually drilled down, not horizontally into rock.
What was going on here?
She watched as another member of the team finished clearing out the holes, using a long pole to determine the depth of the hole. He seemed satisfied, got up and walked across the cavern to a metallic footlocker.
Annja frowned. The scientist reached into the footlocker and removed something. Annja watched him walk back to the hole he’d just finished and slide something down inside it. When the scientist ran wires back out of the hole, she knew what was happening.
Blasting.
They were getting ready to demolish a whole section of the mountain. But if they did that, then wouldn’t the section where Zach and Dave were working cave in?
Annja looked at the rest of the research team members. Each one of them seemed to have been assigned a different section of this particular cavern. And each one had his own hole to bore out, and then plug with explosives. Once that was done, they ran the wires back out of the hole.
Annja assumed they would all run to a master detonator switch. Once they were properly wired, they could run the wire back out of the dig site and explode the charges. Horlick Mountain might just fall apart at that point.
But why? Did they have information that they needed to blow up this part of the mountain to reach something more valuable? Were there other relics? Maybe there was an entire spaceship hidden in the mountain.
Annja smirked. Yeah, right, you’re letting your imagination run wild.
Whatever was happening, this was far too dangerous not to let Zach and Dave know about it. They might be killed if those charges went off unexpectedly.
Why hadn’t they been told? Why had Colonel Thomson been content to let them continue digging if he knew another team was getting ready to blow up the mountain?
Annja took a calming breath. Hang on a second, she thought, maybe the charges aren’t all that big. Maybe they’re doing a controlled explosion to open up part of that cavern. After all, she’d seen it was a rock face they were boring into. Maybe they were stymied by the rock and needed to get through it.
Still, Dave and Zach had to be warned. Any type of blasting could be extremely dangerous. Especially in an environment like this.
She moved back down the tunnel toward the fork. If she told Dave and Zach and it turned out they knew about it, then all was well and good. But if they had known about it, why hadn’t they mentioned it to her?
>
She frowned. Maybe they hadn’t wanted to give her something else to think about. They thought Annja had been acting a little weird about the whole report thing.
She still had to get back to her shelter and read it over. At least she didn’t have to rely on Thomson for access to it when Knightmare had come through in spades for her.
She returned to the fork. The cavern behind her seemed far away and as she walked, she realized it might be possible to do a controlled blast without damage to the other cavern.
But her instincts told her that the situation was very dangerous.
Suddenly she had the sensation of tripping and falling through the dark space of the tunnel. She seemed to almost float in space as she went almost horizontal.
And then she fell.
Hard.
She put her hands out in front of her, hoping to brace herself as she made impact with the ground, but part of her hand caught on an outcropping while the other scraped the ground. She landed awkwardly and her head snapped forward, smacking her forehead against the rocky ground.
Annja moaned. The blow to her head had been square on and she felt darkness rushing at her as she lost consciousness.
THERE WERE SOUNDS from far off in the distance. But they were muted by the indescribable throbbing pain echoing through her skull. Annja raised a hand to her head and moaned.
“Ugh.”
“Well, well, look who decided to come back to the land of the living.”
Annja opened her eyes and instantly regretted it. The light was bright and it hurt her head. “Lights,” she groaned.
“Huh? Oh, sorry about that.”
She felt the lights dim and then opened her eyes again. She was in her shelter and there was a bandage around her head. “What happened to me?”
Zach’s face swam into view. “You took a header in the tunnel. Smacked yourself right unconscious by the way the doctors tell it. They said it would have been like taking a straight shot from a heavyweight boxer at close range.”
Annja felt as if her stomach were rolling on a stormy ocean and she tried to swallow to settle it.
“Nauseous?” Zach asked.
