The Martian Enigma

by D. B. Reynolds-Moreton

  Hans patiently persisted with his grapple, and finally got a bone, which was then pulled up to the top of the shaft at an undignified speed.

  Under the more powerful lamp of the trolley, they could immediately see that it bore no resemblance to any bone they had ever seen, and John was adamant that it must have originated on the planet.

  A second and third bone followed, and all had a similar look about them. Although they were of different sizes and shapes, and considerably more slender for their length than bones to be found on Earth, they all had fine ridges running from end to end, suggesting that the body to whom they had belonged had tried to strengthen them for some reason.

  A large pile of bones of many shapes and sizes soon lay on the tunnel floor, but not one human bone had been found among them.

  ‘If there were any human bones down there, we should have got at least one by now,’ said Greg, looking at the pile of white bones they had retrieved littering the floor of the tunnel, ‘so I think we can assume the previous team who disappeared must have either got past the trap, or been spirited away somewhere else.’

  ‘But they were seen, on camera, going into this rock, and there’s no other way out that we know of, so their remains must be here somewhere.’ John insisted.

  ‘There’s one thing we’ve possibly overlooked,’ Ben interjected almost before John had finished speaking, ‘and that is the slope down to the valley. We saw one that wasn’t there, and the one that was there, we couldn’t see.

  ‘So perhaps there’s another entrance to this tunnel, which we didn’t see, but the others did, and they were able to bypass the trap.’ There was silence for a moment, while the others digested the idea.

  ‘So why didn’t we see the other entrance, if it exists?’ asked Ben, trying to work out the logic of the situation. ‘And why have two entrances when one works perfectly well?’

  ‘Could be that they set it up so that there was one entrance for people, and one for other things, whatever they were.

  ‘People saw the other entrance and passed the section where this pit is, and other creatures only saw this entrance, which we used,’ Greg said, not at all sure if he had got it right.

  ‘It seems a very clumsy way of denying access to the unwanted,’ retorted Ben, ‘and anyway, why have we been singled out as ‘the others’, when our predecessors must have been allowed to use the ‘people’ entrance?’

  ‘Maybe the system’s got confused as to who’s who, and is playing safe.’ Paul offered as an answer, but didn’t really believe it any more than the others did.

  ‘We can argue all day, and we still won’t solve this one.’ said Greg. ‘Let’s carry on and check the walls for an entrance which is possibly masked over with an illusion. It won’t take any more time, and may solve a part of the mystery.’

  They tipped the bones back into the pit, keeping a few for further research, gathered up their equipment, replaced the metal plate over the hole, and set off down the tunnel.

  Hans held an extension pole against the wall on their right as they travelled along, while John did the same on the other side, hoping to find the supposed diversion to another exit from the complex.

  The argument about the phantom entrance began again as they walked along, but was stopped short before it could really get going when Hans’s pole suddenly disappeared into the wall.

  Hans called out. ‘Looks like we’ve found it.’

  The group stopped in their tracks, Greg going over to the point where the pole had penetrated the illusion.

  ‘OK, mark the spot with the spray, and leave a pole up against the wall. On the way back, we can see if this is a way out.’ Greg was keen to get into the heart of the complex.

  They made it up to the airlock section of the tunnel without further incident, touched the triangular symbol on the end wall, and waited for the device to detect their presence and let them into the main cavern.

  There was the expected vibration, the hiss of an atmosphere being allowed in, and the growling sound as the mechanism turned the airlock around.

  ‘It seems a little louder than last time,’ Hans commented,

  ‘I hope it isn’t going to break down on us.’

  It didn’t, as yet, and the cavern with its mysteries was open to them once more.

  The lights were on as they stepped into the main hall of the underground complex.

  ‘First we’ll check some of the other side doors to see what they contain, and then it's the track, to see where that goes, or the unlit tunnel.’ Greg was firmly in command, and didn’t intend to be distracted from what he wanted to do.

  Most doorways were barred to them, but one, halfway down the right-hand side of the cavern obediently slid to one side for them.

  ‘I’ve got a feeling about this one,’ Greg said, ‘we’ll prop it open with a pole, just to make sure.’ A pole was jammed between the door edge and the opening from which it had come, and the group trooped into the room.

  There was a screech of protesting metal as the door crushed the pole as if it had been made of paper, and then closed across the opening, sealing them in.

  Hans immediately went back to the doorway, and the door courteously slid back revealing the cavern beyond and the twisted mess that was once a strong extension pole.

  They looked at each other, wondering whether to exit the room while they had the chance, or to trust that the door would open for them again when they wanted to leave.

  They chose the latter, as the rows of what might be filing cabinets down the centre of the room intrigued them, and could well hold information relating to the people who once inhabited the planet.

  What they supposed to be filing cabinets, were on the face of it, just solid blocks of some dark grey material, with no sign of doors or other means of access. A series of symbols adorned the top surface of each block, etched into the smooth grey surface, which was just below the eye level of Paul, the tallest member of the team.

  ‘Try touching the symbols,’ suggested Greg. ‘it worked on the airlock.’

  Paul ran his finger along the line of symbols to no avail, and then found a slight depression in the shiny surface just below them. As his finger entered the indentation, a screen appeared on the front of the block, showing a long list of symbols running from top to bottom of the glowing panel.

  ‘Looks like an index to me.’ said Paul. ‘I’ll touch one to see what happens, OK?’

  Greg nodded, and took one step back, as did the others.

  At first nothing happened, and then there was a soft whirring sound, and a slot appeared halfway down the block, disgorging a sheet of material.

  ‘Good God, it’s a bloody printer.’ exclaimed Paul, catching the sheet just before it could flutter to the ground. ‘Seems like a drawing of some sort, there’s a picture of something in the middle and a lot of symbols around the edge, what do you make of it?’ he said, passing it to Hans.

  Hans studied the sheet for some moments, turning it this way and that to find which way up it should be viewed.

  ‘It looks like a detailed drawing of something for wire to be wound on, the armature of an electric motor perhaps? But I've never seen anything like this before. I can’t even see where the main shaft is supposed to be, maybe it floats in a fluid or something.’

  Having found how to operate the filing system, they all set about extracting drawings as fast as they could, hoping to find something they could identify with, something which looked familiar. Apart from a very small number of sheets, most of the detailed drawings remained a mystery. Those drawings they could comprehend were of very simple things, like brackets or supports for something, but what?

  ‘I don’t think we’re going to gain anything more from these drawings.’ said Greg, disappointed that they couldn’t understand what could well have been the key to what the occupants of the planet had been manufacturing. ‘I think we had better move on to something else, there must be a clue here somewhere to what they were doing, and why they just left
the place.’

  Hans kept a few of the sheets for further study, putting them on the trolley, and then they left the room, the door obediently opening for them as they approached it.

  Once in the main cavern, it was on to the next doorway, but it refused to open for them, as did several others, until frustration got the better of Greg, and he suggested that they try the dark tunnel they had found the previous day.

  The door opened, but as the luminaries in the roof had failed, or not been switched on by some unknown command, they had to revert to the lamp on the trolley.

  ‘I think we had better do the pole thing as we walk along,’ said Greg, ‘just in case there is another trap in the floor.’

  After about three hundred metres, the tunnel curved around to the left, and an air of expectancy grew among the team as a solitary roof luminary flashed on as they approached.

  In the extra light, it was possible to pick out faint pictures which had been painted or somehow transferred to the tunnel walls. They were very faded, and indistinct, but gave the feeling to the group that this place was something special.

  A few metres beyond the cone of light from the lone luminary and it winked out, once more leaving them in the dimmer light from their trolley lamp.

  A bright flash of colour up ahead caused them to stop, until they realized that it was a reflection from their light off something shiny at the end of the tunnel.

  Fifty metres on, and they were confronted by an archway spanning the width of the tunnel. A door within the arch barred any further progress, but their attention was fixed on the huge jewel set in the middle of the door.

  This was what had caused the flash of coloured light as they approached the arch, and its many faceted surfaces seemed to contain living fire as the light from the trolley lamp played upon it.

  ‘Hans, switch off the lamp for a moment, please.’ asked Greg. ‘I want to see what happens.’

  Hans did as he was bid, and the jewel in the door continued to glow, the moving fire within it churning around as if it was trying to find an escape route from the glittering gem.

  ‘What are we supposed to do now?’ asked John, his eyes still fixed as though hypnotized on the glowing jewel.

  ‘Find a way in, somehow.’ replied Greg, his tone of voice indicating his impatience at such a banal question.

  After putting the light back on, they checked the arch itself for symbols, or a depression in which to poke a finger, but there were none. A brightly coloured intertwining scroll design ran around the archway, from one side to the other, but it didn’t respond to probing fingers, or anything else.

  ‘That only leaves the jewel,’ said Greg, as he stood back for a moment, looking at the door, ‘and what the hell are we supposed to do with that?’

  ‘I don’t feel like touching it.’ John spoke with what almost amounted to reverence in his voice, as he shuffled to the back of the group.

  ‘Well, someone is going to have to,’ Greg retorted, ‘or we may as well call it a day, and go back to the main cavern.’

  The other three didn’t say a word as they all stood there, gazing at the flashing jewel, waiting for someone to move.

  Greg shrugged his shoulders, took three paces forward, and placed both hands on the glowing jewel’s surface. He froze for a moment, and then bent at the knees as the jewel began to slide down the door, taking his hands with it.

  When he had been reduced to a supplicant kneeling position, the jewel stopped moving, and a deep humming sound permeated the tunnel.

  As it gently rose in pitch, it seemed as if voices had been added to the sound, harmonizing with the base tone, yet each retaining an individual character of its own. The multiple sounds soared up the tonal scale and finally reached a crescendo of ear splitting proportions, before slowly fading away.

  Greg rocked back on his heels, his hands slipping away from the jewel to fall by his sides, the jewel still glowed, but without the flashing fire it had before.

  One by one, the others came out of their frozen trance like state, and went to help Greg back onto his feet.

  ‘I don’t know how they did that, but I felt so humble and unworthy, I wanted to crawl away and hide somewhere.’

  He was trembling slightly, but whether it was due to the strain of being forced to kneel, or some other effect the jewel had on him, they were unable tell.

  ‘I don’t know why, but if we all line up and bow to the door, it may open for us.’ Greg got a series of disbelieving looks from the others, but as there was little else they could suggest which might open the ornate barrier to their progress, they complied, feeling a little foolish, as they later admitted.

  The door parted down the middle, each section silently sliding back into the wall. A brilliant spray of light flooded out from the chamber beyond and into the tunnel, they were free to enter the holy of holies.

  Although the light blinded their vision to some extent, they still felt compelled to walk into the chamber, and in doing so bumped into each other as though they were drunk.

  The blaze of light faded, and they were confronted by a scene they could hardly believe. If the main cavern had been large, this one was of gargantuan proportions. It took the shape of a hemisphere, the top of the vaulted dome reaching what they estimated later, to be in the order of a good two hundred metres.

  The surface of the dome was jet black, not a black they could see, but a total absence of any colour, yet they could sense its presence. A myriad of bright pinpoints of light twinkled and winked on the black surface, throwing enough light downwards to illuminate the huge pyramid which rose up from the centre of the chamber floor.

  ‘Good God, it’s a bloody pyramid!’ exclaimed Paul, ‘and about life size too.’ He was about to add a little more to his observation, when the pyramid began to slowly and silently turn on its axis through some thirty degrees, and then halted, two massive bronze doors having come into view.

  Dimly at first, but becoming more solid as they came into view, a procession of people approached the pyramid, led by a tall majestic figure, richly dressed in purple and yellow.

  On his shoulders, a large gold coloured fan shaped device was perched, rising above his black shining hair to encompass his dark tanned face.

  The other figures were too indistinct to pick out exact details, except that they were definitely of humanoid shape.

  As the procession moved closer to the pyramid, a group carrying instruments came into view. The sound was distant, but melodious, a chorus of voices adding to the overall effect of something very special.

  Greg and the others were on a raised circular section, which ran around the entire dome looking down on the scene below, strong metal railings prevented anyone from falling off the walkway, or gaining access to the area beneath.

  They stood there spellbound, as the procession below reached the area immediately in front of the pyramid, where they halted. Two acolytes ran forward, carrying a huge bronze coloured statue of an animal, Greg later insisting that it represented a giant cat, but the others had their own ideas of what it was, and each one was slightly different.

  The statue was placed before the great bronze doors which were set in the side of the pyramid facing the crowd, and then someone else, dressed in a long flowing white robe with a red sash, produced a golden bowl, placing it on the back of the animal statue.

  The man with the golden headdress, if it was a man, gracefully walked slowly forward until he reached the statue, and then raised his hands above his head. The music and singing stopped, and the silence which followed seemed almost tangible.

  For a nerve tingling minute the tableau was frozen, the onlookers hardly daring to breathe in the tense atmosphere which had descended upon them. The golden headdress seemed to shimmer and sparkle for a moment, tiny sparks leaping from it to the man’s hands, and then he lowered his arms and touched the bowl on the statue’s back.

  A burst of living white flames leapt up and danced around the rim of the bowl, throwing long shado
ws from those near it onto the surrounding area. A collective sigh arose from the long line of people. It was a soft and gentle sound, of the deepest reverence, and slowly faded away as the flames sank lower and lower in the bowl.

  With a final flicker the flame went out, and the great bronze doors in the side of the pyramid creaked slowly open to reveal the dark interior.

  The bowl and statue were removed by those who had placed them before the doors, bowing low to the man in the headdress while they did so. The purple and yellow robed figure walked slowly and with great dignity into the dark opening, followed by the rest of the procession, until all had disappeared from the view of the watchers on the balcony.

  A soft smooth sound, like a gentle breeze blowing through hanging silks, began, and the watchers craned forward to see what would happen next.

  The general illumination around them dimmed, and the pyramid was only evident by the glint of light from the stars in the ceiling of the dome, reflecting off the sharp edges of its sides.

  Suddenly, a pencil thin beam of pure white lanced out from the side of the pyramid, and connected with a cluster of the star-like pin pricks of light on the domes surface. Tiny dots of light seemed to race along the beam, travelling in both directions, simultaneously.

  Somewhere a deep gong sounded, as if very far away, so that only the last part of the sound reached the onlookers. The white line of light extinguished itself, and the whole scene dimmed and became like a lifeless picture.

  At that moment, the team, who had been watching in paralysed fascination, were suddenly freed from it, and began to relax for the first time since they had entered the dome.

  ‘Looks like the show’s over, folks,’ Greg was the first to speak, in hushed tones, ‘so I suppose we had better get back into the tunnel, just in case they have something else in mind for us.’