by Angela Timms
Kel grunted. “Well we’d better go and have a look. More chance we’ll get the place to ourselves at night.”
Eric nodded his head. “It would make sense; we might as well get the readings now. At worst we can then compare them to readings in the morning. My money is on the cave marked on the map. It would make sense to hide something down there. Shall we?” He indicated the door and they filed out and a few minutes later they were all down in the courtyard, coats on, side arms concealed and ready to go.
Eric and Rennon went in front as they left the keep, a small hand held detector held between them as they walked. Eric held the terminal, Rennon the wand like detector. The blue light of the terminal was clearly visible in the almost pitch blackness they faced when they left the interior of the Castle. Thick cloud cover had obscured the moon and stars.
Kel circled around them and took point, Connor beside him, Kyla behind them and the rest took the rear. Each in turn flipped down their night vision goggles and the world changed to a surreal green.
They turned left outside the castle and followed a small sheep track to where the track led to a slope. The track on the slope was quite wide but they stayed single file. They walked cautiously down the path as it was littered with stones. It was just possible to make out a huge stone lintel over the entrance in the darkness above a dark hole. Kel went ahead; he listened and sniffed the air. He then made his way carefully down the side of the cave and slipped inside, emerging moments later. “It’s empty. It’s a small mine shaft barely twenty feet deep.”
They all moved inside, the detector first. It was crackling and beeping. Rennon looked up. “That is an amazing reading, we definitely have something here. By the reading I would say we have some sort of a dampener working here. What do you say Eric?”
Eric was staring at the box in his hand. “I agree, definitely something like that.” He pressed a few buttons. “I’ve set it to do energy readings and to check out the type and source of the energy. Whatever is down there is generating a lot of energy, which is being partially hidden by a shield. It is only because we are so close and we have the right sensors that we can detect it at all.”
Kyla went to step forwards but Kel caught her arm. “No, we find out what it is first before you go in there. If you touch it you might activate it which may be good or bad. It could be dangerous. It would be wise for us to find out exactly what we are dealing with first.”
He didn’t see Kyla glare at him in the darkness. He let her arm fall and she stepped back behind him.
Eric was reading something on the hand held device. “It’s definitely alien technology, well alien to this planet, and it’s a cloaking device. We may well be looking at something hidden here that we can’t see because of the cloak. By what I can see it’s a static reading. I’d like to analyze these readings properly. That could take a while. May I suggest that we return, get a good night’s sleep and take a look down here in the morning when its light?” Connor took a look over his shoulder. “Well, its 9.30pm and if we want to eat tonight we could do with going to the Tavern.”
Eric spluttered. “You have a point, unless we want a very hungry night we’d better get down there. I would suggest we stow this lot away, lock up and head out.”
They returned to the Castle and put the equipment swiftly back in its boxes and hid everything other than the usual things that a tourist would have around under and behind the sofas so anyone looking in through the window couldn’t see anything. They then locked the doors and headed towards the Marisco Tavern, torches in hand.
Rennon was walking with Kyla, Kel and Connor wandered along discussing the benefits of different weapons and Eric and Damien were discussing the likelihood of finding alien technology on the island. Daniel walked with Eric and Damien but he seemed lost in his own thoughts.
Rennon was first into the Tavern, followed by Kyla, then Kel and the rest. They filed into the main room. The white haired man had stopped playing his guitar and he was gone, the grey haired man was sitting by himself reading a paper. He looked up as they came in. “You’re just about in time. Give a call and they’ll get you something to eat.”
The barman stepped out from the back room into the bar. “Sure, the food is on the chalk board, let me know what you want. Make a list if it is easier. I’ve got instructions to run you up a tab, you can settle up when you leave.” Connor lifted a hand and smiled. “Thank you, we’ll get settled and let you know.”
They crossed the room and sat by the windows though they couldn’t see anything outside. The tables were dark wood, the chairs spindle backed or pew like with high backs and comfortable with padded seats.
Connor put together a list of drinks and what they wanted to eat and took it to the bar and handed it over. He came back with a tray of drinks and passed them out. They sat around the table, drinks before them, in silence. It looked like Kel was staring out into the darkness but in truth he was watching Kyla, or rather he was watching Connor watching Kyla. Rennon and Eric were in deep thought while the others were looking around the room at the collection of paraphernalia which included life buoys and name plates off of the many wrecks that had gone down around the island. There was a balcony above and a huge chandelier light which hung above them in the center of the room.
The food arrived very quickly. The aroma and steam rising reminding them how hungry they were and they all tucked in eagerly. Again in silence as the room was too empty to feel comfortable talking when most of the things they needed or wanted to say were not for general hearing.
They eat their food and filed back to the Castle. They crossed the open grassland and were approaching the gate when Kel stopped them. “Something’s wrong.” They stepped aside and let him go first. “The gate is open.”
Kel disappeared into the darkness. He felt his way carefully down the stone stairs; through the open metal gate where the light from torches reached and then stepped into the darkness feeling his footing and the cold stone of the wall either side of the stairs. There was very little light inside the courtyard, just the starlight as the clouds had drifted off. He sniffed the air. It carried the chilled freshness of night but something else, the spicy aroma of something like aftershave. He stepped down into the courtyard and listened. He could hear vague movement to his left, someone was in the cottage and the door was open. He pulled his knife from its sheath and ducked down, moving silently along the wall under the window. He stepped cautiously up to the half open door and pushed it fully open and quietly stepped inside, shut the door and made his way as quietly as he could up the creaky stairs. He got to the top of the stairs and stepped into the bedroom when he was hit full in the chest by a huge hairy beast. A burning pain seared into his chest as claws dug deep. He felt a clawed hand on his shoulder as it threw him aside as if he weighed nothing and bounded down the stairs on four legs.
Kel rolled to his feet and bounded down the stairs after it. It had thrown the door open but when he got to the courtyard there was nothing there. He ran outside and everyone who had by now come down the stairs into the courtyard leapt back stunned. “Did you see it? Did it come this way?”
The doors were all closed and as he tried them he discovered they were locked.
Rennon grabbed his arm. “Nothing came this way. We heard a door slam back on its hinges and that was all. We got down here just as you came out.”
Kel shook his head. “It was there. I know it was there.”
Rennon looked concerned. “What was there? Kyla, he’s been hurt.”
Kel looked down, his shirt was torn and it was soaked with blood which was dripping from the open gash in his chest. “It was huge and hairy, moved on four legs and had claws. It was too dark to see anything else.”
Kyla stepped forwards. “Go, check it out everyone. Kel, you are staying with me.”
One by one they checked the doors. They were still locked. The left hand cottage had its door flung wide open. They checked it out, room by room, it was empty.
R
ennon came back to Kel and Kyla. Kyla was holding a cloth to Kel’s chest trying to stem the flow of blood. “Is it clear?”
Rennon took a deep breath. “Yes, do you want a hand getting him inside?” Kyla spoke gently. “No, I can manage. Let’s get inside and set up some sort of defenses for the night.” She put her arm around Kel and led him to the kitchen in the right hand cottage. He flopped into the chair at the table and she boiled a kettle while pulling out her medical kit from under the sink where she had put it earlier. She unbuckled it and opened it up, pulling out bandages and antiseptic. She also pulled out a handheld scanner. She ran it over him. She then took his finger, stabbed it gently with a needle and squeezed out some of the blood onto the end of the scanner. Kel glared at her. “Isn’t there enough blood going spare, did you have to take some more?”
She smiled and looked at the reader. “That blood is contaminated; I needed it straight from you before it touched the air. You are lucky, it doesn’t look like there was any sort of an infection and I can’t see any poison or other matter in your system. Come on, off with your shirt, well what’s left of it.” She helped him off with his shirt. His chest had been raked, his muscles were cut across by the talons but the wound was not as deep as it had first appeared. Gently she dabbed on the disinfectant, washing off the blood before dressing the wounds and wrapping a bandage neatly around him. She then put the kettle on again.
Rennon came in. “The place seems clear, whatever it was seems to have gone. Nothing seems missing so we’ve no idea what it wanted or what it was. The readings are saying that there may be some sort of electromagnetic pulse that was associated with it. It could be that we have a gateway in the area and it came through and was just looking around. I’ve done readings on this place and there’s nothing other than residual energy which would imply it isn’t here anymore. We’ve set up detectors around the place and we’d better set guards. How’s our wild beastie doing?”
Kyla looked up from pouring the drinks. “He’s doing fine, it wasn’t a deep wound but it is going to hurt. It looks like there was no infection so he’ll be ok.”
She had finished pouring just as the others came in and sat around the table. Kyla folded her medical kit up and put it back in the cupboard and went and sat beside Kel, checking his bandages. “Well, so now we have an unwanted guest who didn’t touch anything. As this is a tourist attraction and people stay here all the time I would assume that whatever it wasn’t actually there to attack us or there would be reports of lost tourists.” Connor looked up. “We may have activated something when we went to the cave.”
Rennon picked up the detector. “You have a point, I set the Arkhal Scanner to do an ongoing scan, there was a spike about half an hour ago and again when it disappeared, it looks like that thing came through then. That at least gives us the chance to sleep tonight. We can set it up to let us know if anything else comes through.”
Connor took a long drink. “I’d also suggest we set a guard as well. Just to be safe. Kyla, can you keep an eye on Kel tonight. I know that the readings showed there was no infection but just to be safe, better not let him out of your sight.”
Kyla nodded and Kel looked down and smiled. Nobody saw that but Rennon who smiled to himself as well.
It was 1.20am when they all made their way to their rooms. Kyla dressed Kel’s wound again and it had started to scab over. She sprayed it with antiseptic and bandaged it. As she was moving away Kel caught her hand. His look deep and there was something in his eyes that made her hesitate and then sit on the bed beside him. She could hear Rennon going to his room and then it was quiet. She got up and closed the door.
She turned back to Kel and sat on his bed. He reached up and stroked her cheek with his hand. “Are we ok?”
She looked surprised and a little confused. “What do you mean? Why shouldn’t we be?”
He smiled. “After how everything started, after what I said. After.”
She put a finger on his mouth. “It isn’t you. I just like choices in my life.” He smiled. “You have choices.”
Kyla smiled back. “I know that and I’ve made some. Now you need to get some sleep. We’re ok, don’t worry.” She pulled the sheets up and made his pillow more comfortable. “Get some sleep.”
Kyla went to the window and sat there for a while. Kel watched her then gradually drifted off into a fitful dream filled sleep.
Kyla watched the courtyard for most of the night then climbed into her bed fully clothed and drifted off as well.
Rennon sat in his room for a while staring at the scanner. The energy was steady, there were no spikes and nothing seemed to be moving. In the early hours he took the scanner and went downstairs, flipped the kettle on and made himself a cup of tea.
The night passed very peacefully. There was no sound in the still night air when those on watch did a patrol outside and there were no more strange creatures arriving to break their sleep. The dawn was crisp and bright, a slight sea fog rolled across the island.
They were assembled in the kitchen by 0900am drinking their morning coffee and getting ready to go out. By 0930am they were standing in the courtyard ready to head off. They had locked the doors and set up sensors and cameras about the place just to make sure.
The morning was bright and the sky blue. Birds flew about and the light wind blew the grasses and other plants gently. The path down to the cave was stark white where it had been worn down in patches to the bare stone beneath what was left of the grass.
They walked down to the cave in silence and single file, Rennon in front with the sensor, Kel close beside him. In the morning light it looked far less intimidating. The stone lintel was dug into the sides of what now looked like a small mine shaft and they could see the back wall from the door. It was indeed only about twenty feet deep.
The inside of the shaft was a rectangular cut tunnel with a flat end where the mining or cutting had gone no further.
Kyla was standing behind Kel and keeping her hands well away from the sides.
Everyone but Kyla had a hand scanner and they were running them over the walls, the group information being assimilated and compared as the machines were linked.
They ended up reading the back wall. Rennon looked at the scanner and looked up. “Whatever is going on is associated with this back wall. It feels solid but I’m wondering if it actually is.” He took a small hammer and gave it a wallop. A chunk of stone fell away but there was no hollow thump. “Are we ready for Kyla to give it a go?”
Kel was about to speak but Connor jumped in first. “Kyla, what do you think? Are you ready to give it a go?”
Kyla swallowed hard and looked very nervous. “It is what I came for. What shall I do?”
Rennon ran the scanner over the wall. “It looks like this is the best place to try. The readings are at their strongest here. Just try touching it.”
Kyla stepped forwards and Kel moved to stand almost in front of her. “If you feel anything, get back.” He snapped.
She reached a hand forwards really carefully and felt the energy. She closed her eyes and images came into her mind. “I can see this cave but I am alone in it. The light is flooding in, much like it is now. There is a small stub of a lit white candle resting on a stone on the right hand side. I am me but I am not me, I am someone else, very like me. I feel her step forwards and place her hands on the wall and call up the energy. The wall fades to a transparent screen and the other side of the screen there are warriors on horseback. The leader is muscular, sandy haired. He is bar armed wearing a tunic I think and waiting to come through. For some reason, no, hold on, I can feel it, the energy feels wrong. Something is imprisoned here, kept here.
I can feel what she felt. The planets were in alignment and it was Halloween, the veils between worlds were at their thinnest. She was reaching between worlds to bring back someone who had left the world a long time ago. She had waited for this person, no it is stronger than that, possibly a brother or lover or both. The ties between them go
way back, dawn of time type stuff. But, when she felt the energy she knew it wasn’t him. Whichever entity was there was trying to convince her that he was the one she was looking for. She was prepared to open the portal, that is what it is but she felt that he was coming with intent to destroy the world. She closed the portal and walked away. She had waited many thousands of years for the person but she just walked away because she had to. I’ve lost it. I can’t get any more information. I can feel that there is a skin in front of the wall, a thin film of energy which is holding the machine in stasis. It is her energy that is keeping the portal shut and preventing the machine from opening it and allowing the prisoner free.”
Rennon put a hand on her arm. “Spikes of energy, definitely spikes.” Kyla jumped back away from the wall.
Rennon was running his scanner over the wall. “It seems steady now. No sign of any clawed beasties. Did you see that? I saw something out of the corner of my eye.”
They took up a defensive position, back to back, looking around the tunnel, weapons pulled out and safety lock’s off. There was something in there with them, something they kept seeing out of the corner of their eye. Something that kept trying to get closer, its arms stretched out. It was small and spindly with huge teeth and as it made a leap for Kyla just about everyone shot at it. It hit the ground and melted into a black and sticky mess on the floor.
Kyla stared at the ground. “I guess that was what she didn’t want to let out.”
Rennon ran the scanner around and over it. Everyone else then followed suit. “No more spikes, the energy is back to normal. I would suggest we go back and rig up some way of putting something over that portal to prevent anything else coming out.”
They were in general agreement and filed back to the Castle. The Research and Development part of the team took over the kitchen table with their equipment and tools. They were intent on what they were doing, stopping only occasionally for tea and coffee. Rennon was getting on really well with the Earth representatives and as all of the Earth team had some sort of science training that left Kel and Kyla feeling a bit of a spare part.