The Black Hole Experiments Quadrilogy (2017)

by V Bertolaccini

  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 above, 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 im
agined 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.

  The next machine, if it was a machine, left them in total disarray. Basinger was bewildered, and he was unable to confirm if it was the machine. Dexter had expected him to grasp its basic functions, but he could only examine it repeatedly, without recognizing anything.

  Their tour of it proceeded, with them, including Darwin, giving blank stares about them. It did not take long before they just went to find a place to stay.

  It was dim, but it was a good shelter, and they found lights.

  Once they had chosen a place to stay, beneath a light, Basinger and Dexter went to find a way of lighting it.

  “Is that it?” Burrell called out, pointing straight out, to the opposite wall, where Dexter saw a familiar shape.

  The machine was identical to the information machine, and it had a head device on it, to Basinger’s great pleasure. And once Basinger had dived down in front of it, he soon had the lights on – putting the entire interior in a greenish glow.

  Basinger put a projection onto the rear wall, and he began absorbing the information.

  Once Dexter saw that its information was about the same, he left, to join the others.

  “Is there power to recharge the vehicle?” Selina asked.

  “I’ll have a look for it later ...”

  Suddenly, he realized Basinger was gone. Then he saw him eagerly removing dust from a large machine, at the other side of the structure, and Dexter briskly left towards him.

  As he was approaching him, he gasped, when he clearly saw the machine.

  “I got enough information about it ...!” Basinger mumbled.

  “My god! Did you recognize it ...?”

  “What ...?”


  “It’s the alien artifact – we found on Mars!”

  Basinger looked at it amazed, and he walked around it, closely examining it, at different angles.

  “It is not the same one. It’s one of the Star Chambers, identical to the diagram ...!”

  “It had its cover over its controls!”

  “So they actually copied that alien sphere ...!” Burrell mumbled, approaching them.

  “Do you know if it will work?” Dexter enquired.

  Basinger walked to the side of it, where he had been, and he played around with an unlocking mechanism on it.

  “This control I believe should reveal more controls!”

  A panel silently slid into the machine, revealing its complex controls.

  Basinger’s hand gently touched a control, and Dexter barely kept his eyes open, not wishing to see what it would do. To his fascination, a shield slid away, from its central region, going into the machine, revealing a deep darkness. Then he looked upon the blanket of blackness in disgust, wanting to edge away from it, but it did not seem to be a genuine danger. The machine seemed to be in control of it. It had no protection screen over it, yet there was no pull from it. It was stable, and it covered the entire area of the inner chamber.

  “Why is the inside of it actually different ...?” Burrell asked Basinger.

  “From the information I got from the machines, I would say that the one at the laboratory had been left on, and it lost most of its power. The black hole would have formed in it, from the entrance curtain, over the chamber. It collapsed into its original state, and one of the machine’s safety devices was holding it, at the machine. In the right circumstance not even the safety devices could stop it escaping from it!”

  “Why are there so many controls?”

  “They are different destinations ...!”

  “Will the other machines be working?”

  “They may be!”

  Dexter avoided saying any more on the subject, and he wondered just what he was planning on doing.

  “Let’s try the machine out!” Basinger taunted. “Touch them two buttons!”