Dexter realized that he should be able to use it to get to the rope.
Once he had positioned himself beneath the rope, he changed the angle of the device, so that it covered the area beneath him; and he gradually lifted himself. However, the device worked slowly, which was why he had not seen what it had done. So he pushed the dial that had activated it right into it, as hard as he could, and it nearly flew out of his hands, as he swiftly went up.
He tightly gripped the device, and he narrowly avoided hitting the side, as he went up into the tunnel.
The light blinded him, and the others jumped back from him, as he shot out. And their startled faces glared up at him, as he lifted him up into the air.
He swiftly deactivated the dial once his eyes had adjusted to the light. Then he stopped ascending, and he remained standing. The others remained staring up at him, with their hands over their eyes, and he gradually lowered his height, with the dial.
In the light, with the dirt cleaned from it, the device had a resemblance to a type of black musical keyboard.
“It has to be an anti-gravitational device!” Burrell explained, staying at a distance.
“Incredible!” Basinger gasped. “We have to get of this island, to explore the outside world ...! Think of the inventions that may exist ...! That machine may have an insignificant capability compared to the lifting potential of other machines! How can such a miniature machine be capable of moving such heavy weights?”
Dexter hovered over the ground, and he went forwards – and he tried the different controls on it. The device was only capable of lifting objects in front of it, and the other controls could maneuver the objects about, to adjust their positions and angles. He was positive that it only was a tool, used as a lifting device.
He could not establish if they recharged it. There was not anything on it, to connect anything to it. There also were no screws or anything, and it had no gaps in it.
“How strong do you think it is?” Burrell finally asked, looking at a large boulder.
“I think that its power is running out! It was moving sluggishly when I first used it!”
“It would be a good idea not to use it!” Basinger continued. “We may need it some day!”
Vivid green flashes from a machine brilliantly illuminated the entire interior of the structure.
Its flashes stopped, and it shined a pale green light over them. Its long rectangular shape now had control lights activated all over it. Burrell sat on a large board, in front of it. His hand lifted a head-shaped device, which he had recently found in a compartment, in its surface; and he eagerly placed it upon his head.
“What do you think it is?” Selina whispered to Dexter.
“It looks good ...!” he replied, as he saw more head devices.
In the dim green light, he saw Basinger reluctantly take one of the devices, and place it on his head.
When Burrell activated a series of switches, Basinger suddenly jerked backwards, looking alarmed at something. He held the device at his head, waiting to remove it, and he forced himself to keep it there.
“What is it?” Selina asked anxiously, from behind him.
Basinger’s voice made a series of eerie sounds, and Burrell looked over at him, in surprise. Then he replied, with similar sounds, and Basinger seemed to know what he meant.
Basinger’s face showed that he was deeply concentrating, as though the room were not there.
They sat at the machine, occasionally peering at each other, making strange sounds. The machine had somehow taught them a new language. However, it was nothing like any language that he had ever heard.
Dexter finally picked up a head device, in the dim light, and to his surprise, he realized that the device almost was twice the size of his head.
Burrell glanced at him, and he activated the machine.
A silent hum seemed to come from the roof, and Dexter felt a surge of something go through his mind. Strange shapes of light, like ghosts, appeared and vanished about him. Their shapes and colors were too visible for his mind to be creating them.
He waited for the machine to stop before he removed the device from him.
Basinger’s face seemed flushed, and he turned towards him. Then he looked directly into Dexter’s eyes, and he started to make one of the sounds.
“Welcome to the future!” Burrell swiftly spoke.
Basinger’s complexion changed back to normal.
“You will only have learned this language ...!” Basinger assured him, in the new language, as he held his head. “This machine implants information within the mind, so that you can instantly learn vast amounts of information!”
Dexter somehow knew that he was correct, and when he glanced at the machine, he knew how to use some of its controls.
For some reason a switch at his front drew his attention. It was as though he had actually forgotten what it was. He sensed that he wanted to activate it, and he put out his finger; and he gently touched it.
A light brightly spread across a wall, from the machine. It was projecting a circle of swirling lights, and he sensed that it was not functioning properly. Just as he was going to correct it, Burrell did it first, and it instantly adjusted, into an image of a creature.
For a few seconds, he stared at it in utter horror – he could not believe what he saw – the creature could not possibly be a descendent of the human race. The creature could barely walk properly. Where had its green claws, jaws, and warty skin originated? Had some form of catastrophe turned mankind into genetic mutants?
Chapter 8
The Last Black Hole Experiments
Green shades gleamed over walls, from unobserved places, illuminating everything. Machines poured out hot air, heating the cold morning air.
Burrell resumed analyzing the complex machinery, which he had found hidden in the dimness, and he randomly experimented with their controls.
Basinger’s peculiar behavior had kept Dexter awake. He had been actively sifting through information into the early hours of the morning, rummaging through projected symbols.
Dexter could not make out if he had actually found anything. He had attempted several times to get his attention, but he had been too busy, and had ignored him.
“Is there anything about what happened to civilization?” Dexter finally asked, approaching him.
Basinger reluctantly stopped what he was doing.
“Yes, I did find information that was incredibly interesting, which could hold a clue to why civilization fell, or changed!”
“What was it?”
“Well, by what I saw, I would say that they were doing genetic experiments, to advance civilization ...! There is no information about what happened to mankind. There is evidence that they carried out some experiments in this region. I believe that they were trying to create a superlative race, and that they were trying to extinguish the flaws that their race and civilization had. Their experiments were disastrous though, but they continued, trying to achieve their goal! They made experiments to animals, trying to get a solution. I believe that these creatures, we saw, are the results of these experiments. Civilization fell, after it had survived for an immense amount of time! I do not exactly know how it happened ...!”
“That’s far-fetched!” Dexter exclaimed. “I would like to see more evidence, before I believe anything!”
Basinger suddenly looked as though he had remembered something.
“Do you recall when this machine first mentioned them – when the projection first showed us the creature from its records?”
“Yes!”
“Well, it mentioned one of the super-species ...! I think that they created them!”
“Are you sure ...?”
“If some of them still exist, they may be able to answer our questions!”
“That may be dangerous!”
“Some of the new species may be ...!”
“What else have you found?” he enquired, out of curiosity.
“Actually, I th
ink I might have ...! I checked a list of machine diagrams, looking for the machines in here, and guess what ...?”
“What did you find?”
“There was some form of black hole mentioned beside one of the diagrams! I am sure that they used it to instantaneously transport objects from one region to another.”
Dexter just stared at him, startled at the thought of encountering another black hole.
“How could they use it to transport objects – it moves things through time?”
“They must have found a way to get rid of its time travel properties. Then they must have put the exit end of it in another machine. I am not positive – it only vaguely explained it! Yet think of what all the scientists’ black hole experiments could have achieved, since we left! In that amount of time ...!”
“They had black holes then!” he spoke, shrugging his shoulders.
“If it still exists, we may be able to use it!”
“Use it for what?” he asked loudly, startling the others.
“We could use it to travel back in time!”
“You want us to go into another black hole, to travel back in time! That’s impossible!”
“How can it be used to travel back in time?” Selina asked.
“If they were able to control black holes, they might also have been able to use it for time travel!”
“Are you sure that it would not need another machine – to pass through to – with the exit end of the black hole?” Dexter asked.
“The exit end, which we could travel to, is back where we left!”
“Even if we do find this black hole machine,” Burrell suddenly replied, “and it’s still functioning, how will we know if it’s capable of doing what you say? We could end up in a worse situation ...!”
“We can look for information about its functions! I am going to search their records for more information about it. We may be able to discover if it will work!”
“If you insist!” Dexter answered. “But I think that you will find out that it may not work! We have already been through enough, and I do not want to go through any more black holes! We can survive, and we can find out what happened to mankind.”
Burrell stood up, and he angrily left, towards the other side of the room, to get some water.
“All right let’s check it then.” Dexter replied. “Where shall we start?”
“We can start by checking these machines!” Basinger swiftly mumbled. “There is more information in here than you realize! These machines may hold vital information! We also have not found out what this structure is yet!”
Shadows of branches stretched out, through the vegetation, beyond the entrance. Squabbling sounds came from somewhere, and Dexter realized that they only were the distant noises of Selina and Burrell discussing something.
Basinger’s figure abruptly leapt from his seat at the machine. He adjusted his sight, towards the screen.
“There – a mention of a black hole machine, located in this sector!” he called out, rhythmically slapping his hand on the machine.
“That does not prove that it still exists,” Dexter replied, “or that it has a power supply, which we can use! The energy that it consumes must be tremendous! I don’t believe that we can go back in time – there is no proof anywhere!”
“We do not fully know how the black hole actually works, do we? We only know theories about it and time travel. There really is nothing that suggests that we cannot travel backwards!”
“I will believe it when you show some evidence! Why were they not able to stop their civilization from falling – if they could travel, back and forward, in time? And if these black hole machines existed, why are there none of the past inhabitants roaming this world?”
“They may have been unable to stop it happening – even with a time machine! They only did things for logical reasons, which would eliminate them traveling about for the sake of it.”
“You could be right, but I still don’t believe it!”
A loud thud made them simultaneously look up, towards the entrance, where Burrell had bumped into a wall.
Something like a grunt came from him. Basinger instantly understood the situation, and he walked towards him, speaking in a low tone, so that Dexter could not hear him.
Dexter glanced at the machine diagram, which Basinger had put on the wall. The representation barely resembled anything, and the symbols representing the black hole in it were barely believable.
He put on the head device beside him, and it gave him some vague information about it. It being called a Star Chamber grabbed his attention more than anything else. If they had been as logical as Basinger kept on mentioning, then there must have been a good reason for them to use that name.
He briefly wondered again what the structure was for, and why it had a giant dish. Could it have been a military base, for monitoring space? He began activating the machine, to get it to show him more machine outlines. He examined their shapes, increasing the speed, at which they appeared. Just as Basinger stopped speaking to Burrell, he saw an interesting shape.
He immediately saw that it was a vehicle, and he turned on the head device, to get information about it. A surge of facts filled his mind, and he realized how the vehicle functioned, and that it had to be occasionally charged somewhere.
He wondered what other information Basinger had found out about the Star Chambers.
Darwin’s barks gave him the impression that he was in some danger, outside, but he knew that it was just Burrell.
Basinger took some food, which Dexter had taken from nearby plants.
“It has a strange taste!” Basinger spoke, chewing a piece.
Burrell instantly entered the structure, and Selina then walked in, making faces at him, behind him. Dexter saw that he was holding a small creature by the neck, which also curiously looked as though it had been making faces at him, before he had killed it with a spear.
Burrell threw it over the surface of a machine, glaring at it, seeing if it was still alive. Dexter had not seen its species before, and he wondered what it was.
He ate a piece of food that resembled an apricot. Its bitter taste made him want to remove it out of his mouth.
Basinger suddenly pressed a switch, which he had not seen been activated.
It projected a swirling blur of light onto the wall, which formed into an image of a similar structure, and one of the creatures moved into view, wearing a golden robe; and he observed its repulsive features. The creature he had originally seen now seemed only mildly hideous. It looked different in the daylight, with its green, slimy, warty skin glowing. He had not seen anything like it before.
Its massive form made perfect jerks forward, on its four limbs, and claws, going up a ramp, like a tiger clambering up a tree. It was apparent that they had actually designed the ramp for their limbs. Furthermore, it shot up one of the pole ladders, which they also had obviously designed for them to use, with the least amount of space.
Basinger stayed sitting at the machine, holding his head, and Dexter briefly wondered why he was so anxious. Then he returned to watching the others getting food.
A circle of light beamed out, onto the wall. Symbols began flashing on it, as Basinger pressed buttons. It then changed to columns of symbols.
Dexter realized that he had not found anything that even suggested that an ice age had engulfed the world. However, Basinger had the knack of using it, and he now was searching through massive amounts of its data, with useless details about the inhabitants of the region.
The incredible characteristic that they had shown had been the machine-like way they had done everything. There were no signs that they had carried out any real leisure pursuits, and they appeared to do the work that they had needed to do.
“I have found something!” Basinger mumbled excitedly.
Dexter looked at the projection on the wall, and he saw the interior of a structure.
“What is it?”
“It’s a place that’s a s
ort of storage depot, where they kept some important machines!”
“That does not prove that it will have a Star Chamber in it!” he quickly replied. “Why would it be in a storage depot?”
“They used it to move objects to distant places. It vaguely mentions moving things up into space!”
Chapter 9
The Sunken City
A dark shape, at the edge of a hill, vaguely resembled the top of a structure. Yet, as they got close, Dexter realized that it was something else, and he tried to guess.
The last people had to have been more unexciting than he had been imagining. There were no signs of any types of shops, restaurants, bars, products, and anything else to do with leisure. Had things actually turned as uninteresting as he had observed? He tried to compare everything that he had seen to the things that had existed. How could they have changed so much? Had some sort of state control taken over?
However, all the things to do with leisure might have been made of inferior materials that had crumbled into the ground. Gaps turned visible all over the island, which were in the shape of things. But all he found were stones and muck, when he searched for any remains.
He caught a glimpse of a wisp of smoke, but he ignored it. The island had volcano vents, at its shore, further up from the jungle. They were now positive that it was not a Hawaiian island, or on the fault line there.
At the hill, a long object became observable, within some bright yellow bush vegetation.
It definitely was not any form of building, but it had the same material as everything else, left of the civilization. It had a resemblance to a bus, but it had a perfectly flat roof, and flat sides, which had window holes along them. It had to be a form of transport.
There was no visible means of entering it, and he searched through the bushes first, to try to find some type of rail leading to it. But if it had been metal, it would have corroded.
It was incredible how much the landscape had changed. He could barely see anywhere a vehicle could travel. He decided to look for its wheels, and he was mildly surprised not to find any on it – or any places where they could have been.
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