The Alien Orb (4 page)

“
It is pretty hard to
tell,
”
he
replied,
“
especially at this stage ... Things are so
muddled, and we
’
ve so little ... We
’
re not even sure that castle exists!
Or is in rubble ...
”

“
I
’
ve never seen anything like
that
! Something has to be behind it!
And I
’
m
sure it
’
s
not all from this world whatever it is!
”

“
I
’
m pretty sure of that. It seems in an
entirely different environment, than it was designed
for.
”

“
As though in confusion ... Of what
was occurring around it!
”

“
We may
be able to find something someday to defend ourselves against
it!”

Mitchell
grunted, and looked down at his useless weapon and went back to
considering alternatives that would work.

Mitchell
pointed his light straight out in
front into the distant darkness there, illuminating different parts
of the ground, and he lunged forward, as if he had decided that he
wanted to find the answers to everything no matter what, and the
sooner the better, just like they had been doing for many years. He
shifted along, examining his steps, as he went into the darkness,
which seemed to go endlessly on, and he examined
everything.

It resembled an ancient mine, but more
expertly constructed than that and that technology, and as though
built to last a long time like an ancient sewer.

It was startling that there were no signs of
any materials like bricks and cement in it, which led them to
believe that it was something else built by somebody else.

The tunnel kept going endlessly on into the
distance going where there was nothing but wood above, and they
marched off into preparing themselves and ignoring their
sleepiness.

What dangers could it hold? Did it have
something of an incomprehensible nature existing in its
darkness?

All the significations were startling! The
world vanished behind them, and it felt absurd that they were going
so far into it. It was like something out of place that should not
be there. Especially not at such a location. Nothing seemed to put
a conclusion to what it was needed for and why such lengths had
been administered to construct it.

Questions endlessly flashed through
Bryson
’
s
mind as he followed Mitchell and Merton
’
s dark figures trudging on, behind
their beams of light.

Merton seemed obsessed with handling his
fantasy situation more than anything!

“
Do you want one?
”
Merton moaned, handing back
his cigarettes to Bryson and Mortimer, who were walking together
behind him, as he blew out smoke about him; and they took one each
to break the momentum.

Bryson strolled on blissfully puffing away,
wondering where the hell they were going to this time. They clearly
were under the trees, as some roots from trees had managed make
their way down and had smashed their way through the rock.

It was surprising that it had not flooded
with the cracks and holes, from water seeping down. Then he saw
signs that it had occurred, and saw thick layers of dried mud
ahead.

Mortimer looked happy and in his natural
environment with the strange and unusual, with unsolved mysteries
everywhere, and he smoked like he was experiencing an expensive
cigar, flaring away at his mouth, tasting the smoke, with the smoke
spinning through the air behind him.

The mystery of where it led to was certainly
one of the main inspirations that kept them going, seeking an
answer they knew they had to receive, driving them on no matter
what.

If they turned back, they would never know,
and could even have to face death, so they kept going.

Bryson realized that none of them would have
believed that it went out to that length. Their pace stayed the
same, their walk never changed.

He noticed that they mainly took it for
granted that the tunnel had not collapsed anywhere and would reach
somewhere, and that they would not have to journey back.

Bryson spotted something away in the
distance and that the others about him had seen it, and they all
went there with their heads facing it trying to observe something
there that could not be properly observed.

His head eventually went back to where it
had been, watching the tunnel about him, making sure that nothing
was in their immediate way. Occasionally continuing with examining
what was ahead, until he saw something blocking the tunnel far
ahead, and he started to gasp.

Merton and Mortimer soon noticed launched
into a discussion of the problem, and Bryson attempted to hear
everything in their silent hushed chants. And he saw that they did
not come to any real conclusions!

When they finally approached it Mortimer
suddenly exploded with anger and went calm, on the brink of losing
his patience while he marched up to it.

“
Why did they build a wall
there?
”
Merton moaned first, trying to obtain an answer to such
absurdity.

The four of them stood, resting, glancing at
individual sections of the wall, as the others stood back at a
distance observing them.

“
Whoever built this obviously was
different from the builders and did it years
later!
”
Merton remarked.
“
Something could be hidden behind this?
Where do you think this is?
”

“
You
’
re probably right!
”
Mitchell remarked, touching
the strange shapes of the boulders, and way they were put
together.
“
Someone has hidden something away here
...
”

Bryson saw that none of them knew and that
they were starting to think that they would have to return to where
they had been, but he ignored that as he was positive that would
not happen until the morning.

Merton started feeling along the edge of the
wall where there was a crack going around it.

“
We could trying shoving it
over,
”
Merton announced, looking at it, giving Bryson a
smile.
“
With our combined weight
...
”

He mechanically placed his arm against an
area of the wall and started to push it and they joined in, and the
bricks, which were not cemented, started falling inwards.

What they then found were thick webs
covering the gap left, and they pushed the rest of the stone until
it all crumbled and collapsed across the ground.

Mitchell removed his communicator and
silently started trying to see if it now worked, trying to contact
somewhere, and when he could not pick it up he put it away.

“
Could
that thing back there stop it working?” he asked them, trying to
grasp the situation.

Nobody
answered and showed they never knew, and they left it.

With the lights held out a black gap became
visible behind all the thick webs and dirt, and they illuminated
the tunnel going on and they moved in, removing the webs and
dirt.

Bryson watched his shadow flicker along the
stone, and his unblinking eyes watched the ground searching for
obstructions, and he continued following Mitchell and Merton
along.

Thick cobwebs crawled over his face and
covered up everything ahead, and he heard the murmurs of provoked
archaeologists behind him, and he realized that Merton had
announced something. In the blackness ahead something
indistinguishable was emerging, making his heart quicken and at any
second he expected to find something deadly, and an immense cavity
opened up in front of him.

Chapter 6

The Skeleton

How many centuries had the chamber been
hidden away? The distant obscurity was full of chilling silence,
which made him feel isolated. Webs hung everywhere around him and
he waved his hand in circles scraping them away from him.

In dimness at the front, just in their
light
’
s
range, he watched dim gleams from things in the stone reflect dim
light, producing a magical effect upon his hazy tired
sight.

Faint echoes of their breathing and murmurs
could be heard in its extraordinary silence, and by their frantic
reactions he sensed that they believed that something was actually
there. Although the descriptions that some of the archaeologists
gave made it too unacceptable to him to believe fully what they had
suggested the chamber was. In vivid detail they had specified that
the location was a resting place of something! His mind conjured up
vague visions of spooky medieval ghosts roaming there.

Water splashed over his face as it dripped
from overhead, from cracks in the rock, and he moved sideways from
it.

With it away from him he cleaned it away
from his face, and he watched a light explore what he had missed,
and it beamed out over the roof lighting up a vast cavern structure
overhead, which had been cut out using the same method as the
tunnel.

The roof was at a height of a hundred feet,
and he caught glimpses of where things had once been and he
listened to the surreal echoes of the archaeologists giving their
explanations.

He shifted slowly into the fringes of where
their lights beamed, as he rested from the journey there and long
day, and at his front an object came into sight and he felt its
roughness with his fingertips through thick webs and dirt,
obscuring a proper view of it, and he placed his hands over it and
its shape and hideous outline became clear, and he stepped back
jerking his hand away, and saw that it was an open-mouthed skeleton
with a rusted knife embedded in its chest.

The others soon came over and they crowded
around it.

“
How recent do you think this
happened?
”
Mitchell asked, examining it up close.

“
A very long time ago
...
”
one of
the archaeologists confirmed first, who had been first to examine
it.

Their voices were changed and more
professional, and made surreal echoes about them. Some
archaeologist gave silent explanations to what might have happened,
but only gave imprecise replies, especially after all the
occurrences that had happened.

With a little amusement Bryson watched
Mitchell
’
s
figure hanging over it trying to grasp information about the
person, and he searched the clothing of the man, but nothing was
there except he spotted some pieces of rope where he had been tied
up.

“
This place has definitely been used
for devil worship or witchcraft, or similar?
”
Mitchell asked firmly,
unsure what else could have happened.

“
I would say so!
”
the archaeologists
replied.

“
Someone gave a human sacrifice here,
a long time ago, then!
”
he stated to one of his men, who wrote it
down.

They all moved back or away from it,
and the archaeologists got to work on checking it in detail
–
with gasps and
surprises when they revealed its hideous agonized face more from
webs and dirt
–
where the person had hideously died with his mouth open in
pain, and had remained that way.

They continued brushing away thick webs and
dirt, obscuring a proper view of it, while crumbling bits of gray
rot fell off.

Bryson
’
s mind slowly grasped its hideous
outline, and he stepped back wondering what the place was, and why
they were doing it there
.

The others checked everything they could
about the cavity and one of the archeologists discovered another
tunnel.

With their lights held out, they all started
entering it and continued their journey, and Bryson saw that their
lights would slowly drain of power and wondered what would
happen.

The second tunnel was thinner and had a
different look and atmosphere, and he realized their thoughts had
changed of things. They no longer really thought of the things
outside, but of the dead body that they had found cruelly
sacrificed, and he continued walking with Mortimer behind Mitchell
and Merton.

It had been a long day and he walked with
unblinking eyes, almost hypnotized by the lights shifting over the
walls, watching the ground in the glimmer searching for
obstructions.

Occasionally cobwebs crawled over his face,
and he no longer heard the murmurs of the archaeologists still
discussing their find, and what other people would think of it when
they returned.

Its creepy blackness made his heart beat
fast and made him alert, and though, at times, he expected to find
something deadly to confront them, he thought they might handle it,
even though the things outside could have killed them.

How many decades had the chamber been hidden
away there, and how long ago had the death occurred? The distant
obscurity was full of chilling silence, which made him feel
isolated.