The species interested him a great deal as a scientist, and he would normal have spent a great deal of time with them, but there was far more here, and they were in another universe and had encountered far more, and all he did was film the best of what he found, and look for anything of interest in the remains of technology of the race that had once dwelled there.
In the interior of a structure they entered an underground chamber and heard underground creatures making noises, from beyond the walls, as they burrowed into tunnels, below the sand.
It was a world that would never know darkness, and he studied any differences in the life forms, and wondered if they slept the same as they did, if at all.
Their small footprints on the floors were different and clearly indicated that they had adapted to being in sand regions.
At one point they heard one of the scientists make a discovery, and all the scientists around there left what they were doing and went to investigate, not wanting to miss anything.
Under a heap of small stones and debris, the scientist had uncovered a form of skeleton, almost like a fossil, which had resemblances to an upright ape creature, but on uncovering its skull it proved to have a far more unusual shape, which disappointed some of the scientists. It was believed to have lived in the building that they were in! Some other scientists claimed that they had found the remains of advanced technology, but they never fully proved it.
Chapter 16
The Destruction of the Civilization
It was when the leading archeologists from the GX1 were bought in that the scientists moved further out and started finding buildings that were far more advanced, and not buried under sand, where the civilization was clearly centered around, and showed that the scientists had been examining rural regions.
Kruger did not know if he was happy with the idea of a race existing there that had destroyed its civilization in the way that it had, and realized how long ago it would have happened, and that they could handle them anyway if they were still about.
Yet the destructive way they had ruthlessly attacked was clear all over the structures.
It was strange walking about such structures, especially with there being no inhabitants about. Throughout his life he had never really seen any empty unpopulated city regions, and his mind clearly never completely accepted that it existed.
There were no signs of any inhabitants being anywhere, but his mind kept giving him vivid images of them being there!
It was also strange to see such a place covered in such growth – like forms of moss, shrubs, and weeds – with thick layers of dirt over all the structures.
They went through corridor after corridor into mysterious mazes, walking briskly without finding anything more than stone walls. There were barely any window holes or anything to let in light, but there were the remains of lighting devices on ceilings.
Major structures were soon found and they went to explore them, and listened to the explorers there.
Though they all agreed on the fact that something had happened, nobody agreed on what had actually occurred there, and there were even arguments between them on what had happened, as many believed a war had taken place between them, and that it was what should be agreed to as to what happened, and, of course, the others refused to accept it had been a war between them, and most of them believed that they had been attacked by outsiders.
Later Kruger was amazed to discover that they had found and verified that something else had destroyed the civilization, and that it had incredible powers.
Chapter 17
The Jungle
Absolute horror struck Kruger as he woke, as the vehicle that he was in was racing over the top of a large region of jungle vegetation and something had shot out straight under the vehicle, thumping it upwards, where it was out of range of their weapons, and the vehicles at their sides.
“What the hell was that?” Major Ripley moaned loudly, to all the people in the vehicle behind him, and they all looked out the windows, and down at the jungle below, and Kruger looked back at where it had happened, and saw a black shape shift through the vegetation, racing in their direction, and he checked the speed that they were going at and considered if it could catch up with them, and if they should speed up.
From a screen at the front they saw a camera view of the damage below, and that the thing had grabbed and ripped away a massive chunk of metal from the bottom of the vehicle.
It clearly had attempted to pull them down and had failed!
“That thing is still chasing us ...” Major Ripley stated, checking a side view of the jungle.
“What was that?” Larsen moaned, listening to a side window, where he had clearly heard it.
“What did it sound like?” Bryan asked, trying to hear anything that he could.
“A howl! Like some monster ...!”
Major Ripley for some reason hesitated over if he should speed the vehicle up, as he would have to monitor the vehicle and journey if he did, and he was sure nothing living could catch them.
All of them only started ignoring it when nothing further happened, and Kruger realized that Major Ripley was not bothered that much about the dangers, and now accepted them.
It was a bit worrying as it left them open to attacks, especially on this world!
Suddenly Kruger stomach leapt as the whole vehicle fell downwards, clearly being pulled downwards by something of immense strength and weight.
Major Ripley automatically increased the speed forward, while lifting it upwards, but it hardly moved, and they all gasped, thinking what was there, and Major Ripley increased the power, and force to pull away.
From a screen they examined what looked like the inside of something’s massive jaws, and Major Ripley removed the weapons, and handed them to them and opened the windows.
“Kill it if you can!” he ordered, being the head of the vehicle.
Without hesitation they all started firing downwards through the windows, until there was a hideous scream below and the whole vehicle shot upwards and away, and its massive jaws could be seen falling away to the ground and into an empty region of the jungle, and Kruger finally caught a glimpse of it as it turned to land on the ground, and its enormous cat-like features, with its cunning and intelligence.
After the attack Major Ripley never lowered his defenses and raced forward, while keeping the other vehicles at the same speed, and at a higher height than he thought it could reach, as he was sure there were far more, as many of the others in the vehicles gave claims of sightings of them in the regions around them.
The sun and immense stars were blazing overhead, and over the canopy of the clusters of jungle, and the air was roasting and they closed all the windows, and allowed the vehicle to properly lower the temperature to the correct level, and as Kruger wondered what things existed there he spotted a distant pinnacle of rock appear from below the horizon, and saw that the jungle ended there and that something else was going to replace it.
He the saw the others all start giving reactions to it and that the two paranormal scientists knew it was there and that they had something planned.
Dark shapes emerged resembling evil figures, but altered to strange rock formations – as they constantly adjusted – and the landscape altered about them.
Finally the whole of their surroundings turned to a region of unusual hill and mountains, where there clearly had a one point been a great deal of faulty lines creating a great deal of destruction, and there were places where there had been recent earthquakes, but not as massive as they had been.
It was there that they all saw the true size of the rock pinnacle as it stretched upwards into the sky like a giant clawed finger, scrapping at the stars, with its artificial top on the biggest star in the sky.
Chapter 18
The Alien Castle
The giant pinnacle was tremendous, and everyone in the vehicles gasped as they flew up it, where they were confronted by the dangers of landing on the structure at the top.
/> No sane being could have built it! Anything staying in it must have been or was mad or extremely determined to avoid something dangerous!
It was beyond comprehension how it could have stayed up and not crashed down below long ago! All its giant boulder chunks were not cemented together, and barely straight.
There were resemblances of ancient monasteries in it, but it had to be a castle, and an alien castle. Some form of alien race had to have built it!
On their approach to it Kruger saw that it had two towers that made it look like an old fairy-tale castle that he had once seen, and he gasped at how they must have built it.
The towers of stone were so thin and high that he was not sure how they managed stay up above the landscape and consistently examined them over and over trying to see what it was that he was missing.
The pinnacle itself looked dangerous and incapable of supporting itself, and looked impossible to climb. There were no paths visible that could have been used to climb up it. It was so high up that he was sure that they would not be able to breathe properly outside the vehicle, and that they would have to put on their spacesuit helmets.
They flew carefully around its thick gray stone walls examining it in detail, and still they found no real way in. There were only small gaps in the walls, for breathing inside, which suggested there was enough air, but going by the main races he had seen on other worlds they could live on very low amounts of air, and many breathed different things completely.
He could only gasp and wonder at what type of alien would have built such a dangerous structure, and was sure it may be warlike or defensive to an extraordinary level.
They landed on snow on its flat roof, which looked as if it could collapse, and Kruger started wondering why the two paranormal scientists wanted to land there. They claimed it was major source of the paranormal energy that they had detected on the world, and he soon started to wonder if it was how it had been built, by something using paranormal forces.
Most of them were reluctant to get out of the vehicles, and when they did stood near them, ready to get back in them.
Kruger waded his feet through the snow covering the top, and he stopped to view the unbelievable sky, which was tremendous, and worth being there for. It was the biggest galaxy or anything that he had ever seen! Its stars were all over the central region, everywhere, glowing brighter there, with it being so high up.
He stood at the edge of the structure like he was standing on the top of the world, as though the world below were his mighty empire, and he wondered if the aliens there considered themselves the rulers of the world. Yet nothing showed their civilization and technology were anything like the remains of the last civilization, and he wondered if it had been them that had attacked and destroyed their civilization, and he gasped at the height that it was over the world, under his feet, and the sheer drop of it astounded him, going off into the distance.
A bluish horizon appeared at his side and he studied it, checking the differences in it than the other worlds he had been on, and he watched a massive meteorite blaze across the sky there, and heard a distant thud of it impacting, which was a sound that he had become used to there, and he saw how big it was. Its size was huge as it sent up a massive ball of flames and smoke going right up to the sky, and he considered what it would be like living on a world with the meteorites and their constant threat.
He was unsure if they could fully protect them from them, as some of the cavities they left were immense, and recent, and he was sure something would eventually happen if they stayed there for long enough.
The sun was already rising towards them from the other side of the world, and it looked animated with its swift acceleration.
A gust of wind blew up snow dust along the edge of the roof, and he watched the others checking the roof.
Some even stamped on the surface to check its safety, and show what their thoughts were about it, and others used their equipment to recheck it more properly, and the rest who were keen scientists and archeologists ignored it, and eagerly explored their new find.
Kruger joined in, and brushed away the crusted snow to reveal thick stone slabs below him, and he watched the two paranormal scientists helping brush away the crusted snow to reveal an extra large slab over the center of the roof.
Hinges made of some unknown material held it in place on every side, and there was no indication as how to open it, and they stood examining all its edges for a noticeable way in.
“Would you just open the entrance?” Major Ripley finally ordered one of the other members of the military.
All of them stepped away, and he lift up his weapon into the air, and a beam fired out from it at a hinge and at the rest of them, and flashes of bright light came from them and the stone crashed into the structure, throwing up a cloud of dust into the air.
Kruger observed the peculiar shape of the structure and noticed there were signs that someone a long time ago had done the same as they had and used a weapon to remove the entrance before, and that it had been repaired.
“What shall we do if this structure is inhabited?” Major Ripley asked the two scientists, who had resumed command of the mission because of their experience, and they were there because of them and their detection of the energy source there.
“Even though this structure does not look as if it has been lived in for a long time,” Mitchel replied, “the source that we are investigating is active within it! So we better be prepared for an encounter with something, as I do not think it could be created by something that is not living or without intelligence ...”
Kruger gasped, as he knew he did not play around with such things, and that if they suggested something was there, that there more than likely be far more.
Layers of dirt hung in the air as Kruger followed the two scientists down into it, who were following Major Ripley, who marched in first with his weapon ready.
Kruger considered what could possibly be there and if he was going to get another surprise, and thought about the scientific viewpoint of what they were claiming while he observed its dark interior engulfing them.
Why were they so enthusiastic to discover what was there anyway? They had avoided all questioning on it, and showed more interested in it than anything else! Like it was the ultimate treasure, and their form of treasure, which was buried away there.
Even the insects there were unseen before, and had characteristics that they had not seen anywhere. A yellow piece of flying slime hung in the air, and had the characteristics of flying, hanging in the air, and moving with notable form of flying and moving that they had found, even after many examinations, and must have a secret means of doing it that they had never encountered, and it vastly interested a great deal of the scientists, as if they could not pinpoint it and find a way of reproducing it, it would be worth a great deal back home.
Yet it could be something that existed in this universe that they were in that allowed it to exist, and it may not be possible for them to bring it back to use if they returned to their universe.
The inside of the structure was incredible and looked like they were encountering something from Earth’s early past, and an ancient castle that resembled a haunted castle, which was long gone from civilization and not even believed to have existed by the majority of people.
The wind occasionally howled around through the corridor in front of them, as air was caught by gusts of wind.
He was not sure if it was an alien’s form of a castle or what it was for, as its location was strange, and he could not even imagine what was behind it anymore.
For a moment he felt a strange feeling that something had detected them from over at the towers, and was amazed that the two paranormal scientist reacted simultaneously with him, and he saw the others had even detected something, including Major Ripley, who went on the defense and seemed confused about what it had been, and held his weapon ready for an encounter.
Chapter 19
The Interior
Kruge
r jerked backwards, as a loud thud came through the floor, from the lower world, from a massive meteorite impact, which sounded close, and again wondered why the inhabitants of the world had never reacted when it had happened, and he realized that they would have adapted genetically and learned to ignore it.
They walked into its darkness almost in a straight line, with all of them on their own with lights, observing everything of interest.
Some had remained above to guard the vehicles and keep watch there, and keep in touch with the GX1 and other vehicles positioned in their hundreds across the world, exploring everything of interest and possible interest.
The voyage would be an incredible success if they managed to return, and many scientists aboard the GX1 were working on the problem of getting them back, with a great deal of breakthroughs, especially from the information the paranormal scientists had given them, and the equipment that they had used to enter the new universe.
Kruger watched the dust in their lights fly about, and he followed them down a stone ramp going into it, and further in the dampness of the stone walls gave a stale scent through the air.
Kruger turned up his light, as the others did, to give them enough brightness to see in front of them correctly, and he continued walking deeper into the stone corridor, searching the floor for any damage to it and for any holes that they could fall through, and go crashing down below.
The tunnel was full of piles of dust and rock crumbs all along its sides from the crumbling walls, and dry dust covered the center of the floor, and they marched along leaving firm footprints on it, and he started to wonder how they could even consider the owners of such a structure as an advanced intelligence.
The Black Hole Experiments Quadrilogy (2017) Page 38