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.
Once at it I dreamily wandered about it and touched its black surface, which I was sure had to be metal, and I started examining it in detail and I was staggered to feel a form of energy pulsating through it, which I sensed had far more magnitude than it felt, and I wondered what the hell it was as it looked as though it belonged to the military, and I shined my torch up close and over it while I marched around it, and I slowly realized how much it was a perfectly symmetrical black sphere.
Chapter 24
Marple Arrives
I sensed there was something that they were not saying, but I knew I only needed to wait for them to tell me, but I kept wondering repeatedly if we were in danger and tried to grasp it, and what I needed to know.
I was glad to see Marple arrive later in the evening, after we had spent hours searching the cavity, and documenting everything we could, and getting some sleep.
Nobody but a few archeologists and scientists wanted to leave there and miss anything, and any discoveries, at such a crucial moment, but I was surprised that little was found after all, and could not fully believe it, and still waited.
Marple’s appearance was magnificent and I questioned him on how he had known and he told me he had not until he arrived at the top of the shaft, where the scientists there had told him.
The scientists kept consulting each other and still came up with little, as there was no proof of anything, and the black sphere object remained a mystery, and they had little on it, and what it was doing there, and they monitored it with everything they had trying to discover what it was doing, and found virtually nothing, and some thought it was being controlled from somewhere else!
With the war most thought it was some form of colossal weapon, atom bomb, or surveillance device, which might have been recently partially awoken, and made ready for use.
“It could be highly classified!” I announced to Marple and Oswald. “We’re still just playing around ...”
“But if it is a bomb and is going to be used we could move it away!” Marple stated.
“Who would put a bomb under a hospital?” I replied.
“We’re best not revealing it anywhere unless we have to!” Marple replied.
Fluctuations occasional shuddered through the stone ground from it as it had some form of power surge, threatening to do something, and I imagined my remains being found days later scattered everywhere as investigators tried to fit together information and try to explain what occurred.
It surprised me that Marple was the only one that seemed to not have considered there was anything unearthly about it.
He seemed to be holding back doing something, and checking something out, and what we thought of things and I knew he had come to the hospital for some reason.
When the others were getting some rest or eating, he started examining the cavity further, in more detail, and eventually me and Oswald helped him.
“You agree that the stairs above the cavity go in a straight course forward, and the cavity cut it off, and it fell down …?” he asked me.
I nodded, wondering what he meant, and I watched his eyes go on a point directly ahead, where he briskly went to, and Oswald watched him and followed him, and I went after him.
At the place he went he carefully examined it, and a heap of stones where part of the cavity had collapsed over, and started removing rocks and throwing them away to his side, and Oswald and I eventually joined in throwing rocks and dirt away from the spot, and Marple finally found a hole, and increased the size of it.
“What’s that?” I finally asked, curiously, wondering what he wanted there.
“The above sto
ne steps and tunnel continued in a straight line, and they must have gone somewhere, where someone removed them and created the cavity, and cut and allowed a small part of the stairs remaining there to fall …”
I tiredly thought it over, and wondered what he thought was there, and followed him in the hole with his light, and I started to see the steps and tunnel, and I wondered where they had been going to after all, and I considered if someone had put the cavity there to hide something further along, and I kept thinking it over, wondering what we were searching for.
Yet, after a long time, I still had no idea what we were going after, and I realized what we had found could be nothing compared to what was ahead!
Yet why did Marple not think there was anything dangerous, and why was he so desperate to get there, and make sure nobody else came with us.
Chapter 25
The End of the Tunnel
The white radiance off Marple’s torch slowly shifted to specific calculated positions, probing its way into the abyss ahead, scattering beams through clouds of silky dust our feet blew up; and occasionally stuck deep in my lungs, causing me to give short sharp convulsions, and I continued on going, inhaling enough air.
Faint echoes of our breathing could be heard in our shuffling movements and in the deep silence of the thick underground walls, and I felt the coldness of the walls and it penetrate my limbs; while uniformly marching along, into obscurity, with expectations of plunging into something.
It had been incredible when the tunnel had stopped going downwards and had gone in a straight line in another course, and Marple had told me we were going back under the hospital, far below the ground, and I sensed we never had far to go until we reached our final destination.
Glimpses of Marple’s darkened crouched figure in the illuminating light over the walls wavered rhythmically as he investigated the tunnel, and it fluctuated and Oswald reacted behind me and I followed his eyes to where Marple’s eyes had suddenly gone, and I gasped, and I once saw both of them were gasping, and I realized it was something, and then realized it was the end of our adventure and exploration, and I was left disappointed as I really thought we were going to discover something incredible.
The entire tunnel had collapsed in and we could go no further along, and we had reached our final destination and had not found out what had been there, and I realized the mystery could be left there forever without us knowing what was there.
The rubble blocking the tunnel was too deep down and giant boulders there too immense to move, and were firmly fitted together, and we stood saying nothing, and I watched Marple make some calculations, and check what he had.
By his reactions I sensed that he was up to something, and I knew we were located near the hospital, and realized that we must be deep under Battlefield Road, and I was sure that the builders of the tunnel might not have been able to build it properly in the above ground, without using wood or metal to properly hold it up, as it was surely soil.
It was strange, as we walked back up, I kept sensing Marple had a plan, or was making a plan, and was not saying anything at the moment, but I could not quite grasp what, and why the hell someone wanted what was there to be there, and had gone to such lengths to put it there.
Chapter 26
The Treasure Discovery
Marple rushed into his seat with a drink as I entered the headquarters of Reality Investigations and sat beside him next to the fireplace, and watched him go through a pile of documents.
It was incredible! Marple looked more confident than I had ever seen him, and he wanted me there to tell me about his search for the treasure, and I knew he had to have something! He also told me his investigation of the serial killer had progressed and could reach a conclusion soon, and he left that without any further explanation, or anything really, and he was extremely happy how things were going, and that he could solve the unsolvable case.
Marple studied me, and asked, “Has anything happened at the house at Craigmillar Road?”
“Nothing!”
“Have you been there lately?”
“Nobody has been there since the paranormal scientists found the disturbances at the hospital and moved all their equipment over there!”
“I want you to take them there again, and investigate it again!”
I looked up startled wondering what he wanted there, and I considered if they would go there, as we finished our investigations there as far as I was concerned.
“What for?” I muttered.
“I have had someone contact them and they agreed to take the exploration association scientists and their equipment there to scan the building …”
I was left confused, and wondered what would happen, as what was there had reacted to the metal detector and I wondered what it would react to the stuff they had, and I had just about lost all the powers I had after my last confrontation in the hospital shaft, and I did not like it, as I had not found any real use for it, and the powers had only created problems for me as far as I was concerned, as I had no real control of what it could do, and I was not so sure they were even mine as they seemed to do things for something else, which I was not sure I knew what.
It was incredible as the two paranormal scientists became fascinated with the occurrence at the woman’s house again and they wanted to carry out a proper investigation of what was there, and they had grown tired of their investigation of the cavity and the hospital and I was left confused as to what they had found, or thought they had found, and realized there was little that would be recorded in the history books from the occurrence after all, even though they were still investigating the black sphere in the cavity.
After all that here was no sign of proof of anything, which the public would accept. Was it a new form haunting, of paranormal? And if so what the hell was happening?
Even though the site at that region had been the site of a large famous battle, and massacre that could have caused such an occurrence, of which the bodies could well be below the region, I could not grasp what.
We investigated everything we could, and all the information and history of the region, trying to grasp something, and some clue, and the main regions of the battle that had occurred, and at Battlefield Road, where the tunnel had gone.
“What’s that?” I asked, seeing Marple play happily with documents, inside an envelope.
For a few seconds his face held a sad expression and he considered the occurrences and his investigations.
He finally replied, “The late Dr Barrymore …”
“He died!” I gasped, and wondered if it really was the end of the investigation for the treasure.
“Sadly so! I think we should find what he was looking for anyway, as he wanted it very much … His wife can have her share of it if we find it, and he will be remembered for the discovery …”
“That’s perfect!” I replied, wondering why he was so confident now, after so many people throughout history were unsuccessful.
“From my questioning of his wife I found Dr Barrymore found the treasure from an accumulation of sources, which surely grasped his imagination with the mentions of the strange magical artifact, which was mentioned like the Holy Grail …”
I gasped at what he had said and knew he never believed in such magical things, and I considered what he meant.
“He was obsessed with its magical powers …” he continued. “Which I believed he never really thought existed … He never had the map he gave us examined any further as it was too valuable to him … I did though … And I had it investigated by a friend … Who had it investigated further and managed to reveal faded landscape shapes, before it had faded … From 1568 … Which was why I was at the hospital …”
“What the treasure was marked there …?” I asked, surprised.
“I also knew the archaeologists and scientists were investigating there … I believe the person that drew the map was being chased – and being chased by soldiers – and hid it …
He grabbed his pipe off th
e table and began smoking.
“Who could have chased him?” I asked.
“It was dated 1568! Mary Queen of Scots had a battle there, and I believe it was her valuable jewels. The royal jewels of a famous queen! I think she was visiting someone at the site, and had even taken her jewels there, as perhaps her enemies were after her and the jewels, and she gave them to someone there … To perhaps keep for her … The person must have been a good friend, and perhaps a soldier, and had either been seen taking them or was just chased by the other soldiers there …”
“So there are incredible valuable and historical jewels hidden somewhere … Do you believe they’re under the hospital?”
“At first I thought it could be there! There were two marks!”
“What about all the tunnels and the cavity …”
“That is something else! It is far more advanced technology, and it was all recently built …”
“What happened next?”
“I think someone took the jewels off him! And he could have died! Or at a slightly later time used the map to find them and move them to another safer location nearby … Where he had intended to get them!”
“Was there another mark on the treasure map?” I gasped, and stared at him intensely.
“I think the person, surely a relative, in fear of his life, took them to the safest place he knew, and marked it on the map, with different writing, in a different style, which faded, and he hid it somewhere near the house you were investigating, with the supposed haunting …”
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