The Alien Orb

by V Bertolaccini

  A slight scent of the water was in the warm air, rushing through it, from the front. For a second, he thought that he caught a glimpse of something at the most distant point of the horizon.

  The island completely disappeared, and nothing could be seen anywhere, on the water. With his eyes shut it was as though it were not moving but hovering on a breeze.

  A gust of wind appeared, at the side, and he heard the sea gurgling beneath the vehicle; and he saw a huge surge of bubbles coming up from below. A type of seaweed surfaced about them, and it was all over the surrounding sea.

  The sky was growing pale, and he saw that the sun was edging its way down to the sea, behind them.

  The world looked surreal. The island had been like something out of a weird dream. He had never realized that things could change so much. He still believed that the world had been changed by some form of catastrophe – an ice age had to have occurred.

  However, he believed that the creatures that had built the structures, and their ancestors, had appeared after it. Yet had any people actually survived? Yet he had not seen one life form on the island that he had recognized. Perhaps mankind had also changed. Perhaps civilization had eventually changed all the life on the world before the ice age?

  Whatever it was, there must be clues somewhere. He rummaged through his memories, trying to discover something, from what he had seen on the island.

  Many bright stars appeared in the darkening sky, and cold air replaced the warm air.

  Burrell stood up, and he adjusted the remains of his clothing.

  “I could do with something to eat!”

  Dexter stretched out his arms, and yawned.

  Basinger and Selina took out some food.

  An odor, like roast pork, came to him, through the wind, and he rubbed his cold hands together. Then he grabbed a chunk of food, which he had kept, at his side.

  He then went to where he had chosen to sleep, and the others moved to places.

  Once he had finished chewing a morsel, which was in his mouth, he rested and went to sleep, feeling the slight movements of the vehicle.

  A mysterious sound entered his light dream, and he realized that it was a voice – from the real world.

  Blackness was all around him, and he felt Selina’s warm body, huddled around him.

  Basinger’s loud snore came from somewhere else.

  What had produced the sound? He gently lifted Selina’s head and shoulders from him, and he put her back down on some thick fur. The sound of the sea surging against itself grew, as he stood.

  In the starlight at the front, he spotted Burrell pointing outwards into the dark. He went to him, without making any loud sounds.

  “What is it?” Dexter spoke wearily, trying to observe what it was.

  “It has not altered our course!”

  “So what is it then?”

  “There’s another island over there!”

  Dexter stared, forcing his eyes to focus, and to adjust to the blackness, which was swallowing his sight. A faint outline became visible. It was so distant that he wondered if he could really see something.

  “Do you want me to stay up ...?”

  “No, I will stay here! I like being here.”

  “Thanks!” Dexter replied, returning to where he had been, feeling himself falling back asleep.

  The vehicle was still rapidly going over the dark sea, when it became apparent that the region had a storm engulfing it. And Dexter once again realized that he might have made a mistake, and that he should have stayed on the island.

  The whole sky about them was changing, and grew more menacing by the minute.

  Thick clouds, with a firm winds, were edging in, to them.

  The drizzle glowed, under the stars, and the wind picked up momentum.

  Some faint streaks of light came from bright starlight, going through scattered clouds, and drizzle blanketed rugged waves. And the vehicle wildly rocked, and waves went up and down.

  A dark mass of swirling clouds covered the sky, and it pelted them with large drops of rain.

  The sun still had not ascended to the horizon, and the powerful storm was blasting through the dimness.

  Dexter felt like slapping himself hard across the face for making such a blunder, and taking such a risk.

  How much force could the small vehicle sustain?

  His eyes searched the darkness, scanning for any signs of land, or if it was going to hit something, undetected by it, in the storm. Rain trickled through the windows, and poured in through the front. And a confounded rattle came from their loose objects banging into to each other about the floor. Then he saw another problem – all the water pouring in was swiftly making a pool, across his front.

  Basinger and Burrell started using their hands to throw the water out of the vehicle, as it violently rocked about. And Dexter helped Selina to collect the loose objects on floor.

  Basinger managed to get them to increase their pace, and they ignored the howling wind.

  The outside grew dark, and it hid the blasting rain, pouring in, over them. Then lightning erupted, dazzling their eyes, as well as giving them a horrific fright with an extremely loud thunder roar.

  As lightning continued erupting about them, it illuminated the soaked vehicle.

  The thunder exploded over them, and Selina snatched Darwin out of the water, from the floor.

  The lightning rhythmically flashed at different angles, about the sky, making the sea glow, and shadows of the vehicle shift about them.

  At times he believed that he was definitely going to die, as they clung onto the vehicle, while massive waves pounded into it, and he could only hope that it had enough energy to sustain it. It was as though it would never go away, and that it would be impossible to survive.

  Rain, wind, and coldness blasted at him. It flooded the vehicle, and made him numb, until he could not feel anything. Yet the long night, and final nightmare, subsided, leaving them in a thick mist.

  His eyes roamed the deep cloud that they were left in, trying to recognize anything in it. The last gush of rain still streamed about the floor, shaking from the vibrations of the vehicle.

  Slight turbulent winds occasionally rocked them, as they rested, and recovered from the incredible experience.

  Burrell rested at the front, with his head facing downwards, out of the window, still trying to examine the way ahead.

  Dexter felt himself going to sleep, and he realized that he could not properly see anything. The vehicle’s speed did not seem to have decreased, and the amount of energy in it had surprised him. However, he would not be happy until the mist cleared away, or thinned to a reasonable density, and they set foot on land.

  Then, once again, something occurred – a thud came from the front, sending a shudder through the vehicle, knocking Burrell over, and onto the wet floor.

  “What was that!” he yelled.

  Where the mist thickened, and hid the sea behind it, a black shape slowly emerged. It loomed out of the sea, and it moved towards the edge of the vehicle, coming at their startled faces, like a sea monster.

  Basinger moved across the floor to see it, and he leaned out, as it went by. And, as it disappeared, the others ran to the sides looking at it.

  “What is it?” Burrell asked, confused.

  A few seconds later, a shape moved out of the mist.

  As the vehicle moved away, Dexter saw its shape a little more, and he was sure that it was a giant tower, which had fallen over, across the sea. The storms had probably sent it crashing down a long time ago. Yet how did it manage to get out in the sea?

  As the mist grew thin, he saw another tower, up close – towering above them – disappearing into the clouds above.

  Square holes went in lines along it, until it vanished out of view.

  It was vaguely like a strange skyscraper. He saw a hole just over his head, but he was unable to get a good look inside it.

  A magnificent view emerged about them, and many structures towered abov
e, through the fading mist vapor, like an immense graveyard. They were flying over a city buried beneath the sea! Most of its giant structures had fallen over, with their foundations going across the water.

  As he moved to a different position, he saw a rugged shape, on the skyline, where some mist was retreating. It had to be an island. Yet it seemed to stretch across the whole horizon.

  The dead city was glowing brilliantly beneath the sea, with its towers reaching up, through the gentle waves.

  In shades of aqua blue, it glowed surreally, suspended in depths of time, like a modern Atlantis. Its black structures rising high, stretching up to the stars, like the ancient columns of an immense temple of the Greek gods.

  Even though many of them had overturned, like immense trees, fallen into the sea, with their lower regions going up to the height of large buildings, they remained undamaged. A magnitude of storms had pounded them, and they had no noticeable wear.

  As the vehicle edged over the massive city, Dexter examined buildings and machines, shrouded in the red glow of the sun, which now was beaming down, through a clear sky. Some resembled shipwrecks, with the gentle waves making blurry ripples over their shapes.

  A splash of water occasionally interrupted the extraordinary silence, as Basinger discarded unwanted objects over the side. Burrell and Selina rested in the warm light of the sun.

  Darwin stood at his familiar position, at the side of the vehicle, with his legs on the seat, frequently tensing his body, as though he were getting ready to jump on land. He occasionally glanced into the water, and at the vehicle’s reflection, and then he would return to sniffing about him.

  What type of city had it been? How did its civilization perish? Regions of it were as though they had actually sunk into the sea the way that they had been. A disaster, which might have changed the whole world, could have actually flooded it. However, he was sure that it had happened years after civilization had gone.

  All the mist about them vanished, and the sea grew shallow.

  He imagined the city surfacing, scattered in sand and debris, stretching out to the horizon, with steam rising from it, from the hot sun heating it.

  “It’s the mainland!” Burrell called out. “This is what we were wanting – we’ll no longer be trapped on an island! If there are any humans left, we can at least find out what they are like ...!”

  “We may have to eat more sea creatures ...!” Basinger said, interrupting him.

  “We may find normal plants and animals, which were not on that island!”

  “You have a point!” Basinger replied. “I actually think that we will be happy with what we will discover!”

  Dexter watched part of the civilization below disappear into an area of murky water.

  The region of land disappointed him, with its lack of vegetation. High mountains soared over a desert region, with the civilization, under the sea, in front of it. There were signs that the sea had overflowed, across the land, as though some enormous tidal wave had swept inland. However, he saw that the storm had not been there, and there were no traces of water.

  When the vehicle finally went over the land, hot air started to engulf them, and Dexter realized that they had a new problem. The heat coming through the window soon felt as though it were burning him, and he watched the hot sand going under it. What had he done? They might now die in the desert. He quickly decided to move to a shaded place in the vehicle.

  The hot air continued to rush through it, with its never-ending gale, and the sun blazed through the windows; and sweat poured from them.

  He remembered the position of the sun, as accurately as he could, to plot its course.

  He frantically observed the mountains, across the landscape, and he noticed that hills were replacing the flat desert. He imagined the power of the vehicle deteriorating, and he thought about all the things that they could do, if it marooned them at the place.

  It looked as though an atomic bomb had exploded there.

  He recalled information on how they gave the vehicle energy. There was a special location where a machine did it, without any cables.

  The vehicle gradually took them up, at an angle, over hills and slopes, towards the base of the mountains. The region hidden there, between the hills and mountains, looked less empty than he had expected – for such a high place – ancient structures were at many places.

  The rugged shapes of the mountains grew, and they went far into the distance. There was a route through the base of them, but he believed that something was blocking it. Then Dexter saw large hills of boulders strewn through it, which had obviously came down, in avalanches, from the above mountains.

  The vehicle headed for a specific region, and Dexter just relaxed and watched the scenery float by. He wondered if the vehicle could actually take them up one of the steep ridges, to the summit of a mountain. However, it could easily run out of power, and plunge downwards.

  A stretch of sand, which he believed was the remains of a lake, was between the mountains and the hills, and he saw a large structure in the middle of it. Then, to his surprise, the vehicle descended, and went towards it.

  There were no signs of life anywhere, about it – there only seemed to be the desert.

  The vehicle rapidly flew low, over the surface, and, with a soft thud, stopped on a heap of rubble. Then Darwin automatically leapt out onto some dry mud, and waited for them to join him.

  There were no indications of anything, only an unusual silence. Yet every nook and cranny of the desert was strange!

  Chapter 10

  The Scientific Expedition

  The flaring brightness of the sunshine gave a surreal splendor to the terrain, as Dexter tediously explored plots of vegetation. What he wanted to find was some form of vegetation that would provide them with temporary food.

  A landscape of hills, of mounds of sand, went down into the lower regions, beside the sea.

  It was a large flat ledge, on a slope, from a valley, between two searing mountains.

  As they continued searching, Dexter noticed that instead of the pace slowing that it was actually quickening, and then Basinger and Burrell deliberately walked on, leaving them.

  After a long search, he managed to suppress his hunger, as well as his thirst, and he and Selina returned to the vehicle, seeking shelter from the heat.

  He, once again, searched the empty ground into the distance, all about him, looking for anything that was a danger.

  “We’ve found a building all right!” Burrell spoke, as he arrived. “But will we be able to get into it?

  “They are incredibly advanced ...!” Basinger revealed. “The only problem will be how to get into its entrance, when we find its entrance!”

  Dexter shrugged his shoulders, feeling happy that the choice of location might be right.

  His first impression of it was that it was another structure, similar to the one that they had been staying in, on the island, but, as they walked to it, he started to become aware of its true size.

  They separated into two groups, and wandered about its immense perimeter.

  Dexter and Burrell went swiftly along the structure, which resembled a giant, black, metal box, and which went up to a hundred meters above.

  Burrell then went away from him, and Dexter followed him with his eyes. He stopped at a dark patch of sand, at the edge of the structure, and he began throwing sand away from the side of the structure.

  As he approached him, he recognized an outline on the structure, and he saw that he was unearthing an entrance.

  He went around a dust cloud lingering in the air about him, and he stuck his hands into the gray sand and dirt, and he helped him dig it away.

  They created loud sounds as they frantically dug at it, in the silent surroundings, which soon attracted Basinger’s attention. And they slowly came over to them, allowing them to do more digging before they got there.

  They soon helped them to uncovering it, and they swiftly unveiled part of it.

  “
We may be able to get it open!” Basinger mumbled, breathing heavily, wiping away some of the dirt, from his face.

  “How will we do it?” Burrell asked.

  Basinger strained his tired eyes, examining him.

  “Well, all of the other entrances had an opening mechanism, at the exact same position, relative to their size ...!”

  “There it is!” Dexter called out, and moved over to it.

  He fumbled about in his pockets, removed part of a stick, and he inserted it into it.

  The others moved away, as the ground began shaking under them. As it thudded furiously up and down, Dexter fell over, and he tightly held onto the ground, swearing to himself, for not foreseeing its reactions, to it being in the ground.

  When the entrance slid open, he fell forwards, and just managed to land on his feet, and swiftly move out of the pile of dirt about him.

  The dust cloud gradually dispersed, and a dim interior, with dark shapes, became visible.

  “How are we going to find it?” Burrell asked, tiredly, as he dropped down, into it.

  “We can stay here,” Basinger replied, “and search it at our leisure. We should be able to find enough food to survive ...! Let’s start by finding somewhere in it to stay!”

  It had fortunately not let in any water, which surprised Dexter. He wondered how they had stopped the airtight structures suffocating them, but he remembered that the other structure had an automatic ventilation machine, which worked when the oxygen was low.

  He was unaware of how they could build such an immense structure. There were no noticeable parts making it up – it was one large structure – it looked as though they had molded it the way it was.

  The structure was the same all over, with large machines randomly placed about it, and he located its furthest away corner, which had a rectangular shape next to it, which vaguely resembled a machine.

  They circled the first machine, which he was sure was a lifting vehicle, with a squashed appearance. The controls were roughly the same as the vehicle that they had arrived in, but it seemed to have manual controls beside them.