In relative terms, it appeared to be a gradual slope. She glanced back at Mark who seemed oblivious to what she was doing. She decided that she had plenty of time to explore. Though it wasn’t terribly steep, it was more so than she had at first thought. She made sure to hold onto rocks and sea vegetation along the way in order to control her rate of decent. At about one hundred and fifty feet, she stopped. Not having found anything of interest, and fearing that she might go too deep, she began to ascend.
Suddenly, she lost her handholds. Losing control of her buoyancy, she half fell— half tumbled down the angled slope, pulled by her weight-belt. She was about to use her quick release to stop her descent, when she caught hold of an outcropping with her right hand. It held her, and she checked her depth meter. It read one hundred and seventy-five feet. Going down had been a bad idea, she would have to take much longer to decompress now.
Kicking her feet, she could feel nothing below her. She was not in a favorable situation, but her pride kept her from calling to Mark. The sunlight didn’t help much at this depth, so she removed her flashlight from her belt and shined it down below her. Half expecting to see a deep abyss, she was surprised by the sea floor, which was directly beneath her. She estimated it to be only a few feet, so she let go and gently landed on the rocky surface.
She investigated her surroundings. Just beyond where she was standing, there was a further drop off with the same angled slant. Thinking about the shape of the pyramid, she realized that it might not be entirely buried after all. Rotating fully, she found a cave entrance. Entirely engrossed in what she was doing, she forgot that she was on a timetable.
“Ashlyn”—Mark called—“where are you?”
The silly idea of hide and seek came to mind. She wasn’t in any danger, and she thought it might make up for his carelessly ignoring her before.
Then reason hit, it wasn’t safe to play any game at that depth, “I’m not too far.” However, her answer was intentionally cryptic.
He looked around in every direction. In spite of the incredibly clear water of the Caribbean, and the hundred-foot visibility, he couldn’t see her anywhere.
“I thought you weren’t going to go very far, I don’t see you, and that’s not very safe.”
She couldn’t resist a little tease. “What? …Why is it safe for you to go wandering around on the sea floor by yourself, but not me?”
“Ashlyn, come on.”
She could hear the concern in his voice now. She felt a bit selfishly pleased.
Stewart interrupted, still on the comm. system, “Hey, what’s going on down there?”
Mark answered, “Ashlyn is hiding from me.”
She noticed an eel poking its fanged head out of a hole in the rocks and decided she had better be a little more careful about where she put her hands.
“Ashlyn, where are you?” He was beginning to sound upset, not angry, more worried. She chided herself for feeling happy about it.
“Okay—” she gave up her game “—I’m about fifty feet south of you, and about seventy-five feet below you.”
“What? Why did you go down?—” He noticed the drop off “—are you okay?”
She had been so worried about his reckless behavior. He had ignored her every fear. It was hard not to feel a little payback pleasure.
“I’m alright Mark. I think I might have found something down here that you might be interested in.”
***
Topside, Stewart was getting annoyed, and anxious. Ashlyn had been drilling into them the need to get out of there before she went into the water, and now she had gone off sightseeing.
“Ashlyn”—he complained—“you were the one who was in such a hurry to get out of here. What’s going on?”
“I found something I need Mark to see.”
“Alright”—he gave in—“just remember Dierdra could return at any moment.”
***
Ashlyn had been exploring and was waiting for Mark. She had about decided that Mark may have been right about the pyramid being what Dierdra was trying to hide from him—right thing, wrong place.
He stood at the top of the drop off and looked down into the darkness, “Are you down there?”
She walked out of the cave she had been exploring, onto the small ledge that had broken her fall and shined her flashlight up at him as she spoke, “Do you see my light?”
“Ashlyn”—he complained—“why in the world did you go down there? That isn’t the depth your weights were set for.”
“I know”—she answered—“I’ll explain later. I need you to come down. Be careful, it’s steeper than it looks.”
“Are you sure it’s important?”
“Seriously—” she exclaimed “—you dragged both of us down a hundred feet to see what you found. You can come a little further to see this. If you come straight down where you see my light and hold onto things you’ll be okay.”
He took a deep breath and headed over the edge.
It only took him a few minutes to make his way down to her, but before he got there, she told him, “There is a drop off just below you, but it doesn’t go very far. It’s maybe ten feet."
“Move your light a little, it’s blinding me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She pointed it down at her feet so that he could see the bottom.
Standing on the ledge he said, “You scared me half to death. I don’t know whether to hug you or spank you.”
She smiled and began to say something but then remembered that Stewart was listening. She altered it and only said, “Come this way, I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Okay guys”—Stewart reminded them—“I’m listening, cut the mushy stuff.”
“Sorry Stewart, I forgot you were up there,” she lied.
“Thanks a lot Ashlyn.”
Mark could see her grinning through her facemask, and shook his head. “Be nice”—he said softly to her and then to Stewart—“she’s only teasing you.”
“Just hurry up you guys. I’m alone here, and Dierdra could be back at anytime.”
Mark nodded his agreement to her and said, “We will be as quick as we can, I promise.”
Ashlyn pointed into the cave with her gloved hand where it led him into the cave. His face changed to surprise, and he followed her in.
Their buoyancy was off, so they had to push against the bottom as they swam in. It didn’t take long before he saw why she was so excited. There before them more of the pyramid was exposed, along with an entrance.
“There is a cave down here”—Mark told Stewart— “we’re going in.”
***
Apparently, the radio signal was blocked by the cave. Stewart was getting more frustrated by the minute. He decided to go in search of a distraction. He still couldn’t find any broadcasting from the United States. He tried tuning into other satellites, but didn’t hold out much hope of finding one in English. It was still better than waiting for Dierdra to show up and kill him. Ashlyn had given him a gun, but he had his doubts about being able to defend himself.
Greatly surprised, he picked up a channel in English. It was someone with a strong Australian accent, but he welcomed it. It wasn’t news—some kind of comedy show—he watched it anyway. Finally, a news broadcast broke in for an update. North America was still experiencing wide spread communications outages, but that’s all he could find out. Nothing was making any sense.
The electromagnetic field that had been fluctuating wildly the whole time they had been over that spot in the sea. He assumed it was the cause of the communication problems. He had totally lost interest in the pyramid and couldn‘t wait to get out of there.
Diving frequently had helped him face his fears, however, now his anxiety was mounting. Being by himself, waiting for someone to kill him, now that was an entirely different problem. He put his head into his hands, praying they would come back up to the boat soon.
***
Mark had been trying to contact Stewart. The signal was being blocked
by the odd material that the pyramid was made from, but it didn’t stop Mark from being able to communicate with Ashlyn. The opening must have been down there for centuries, but even inside the tunnel entrance, it was as smooth as glass. The slippery surface was making progress hard because the passage was sharply angled up and long. They finally dropped their weight-belts because it was difficult to ascend in the narrow shaft, they simply didn’t have the space to kick properly. They would pick up their belts on their way out.
She stopped suddenly. His momentum made him run right into her.
“Hey, why did you stop?”
She didn’t answer. Then she began moving again. It appeared that the tunnel opened up in front of her, and it seemed oddly lit.
“Mark, I can’t believe this.”
He started to ask what, when he saw what she was talking about. Not only did the tunnel widen to a room, a lighted room to boot, it was devoid of water.
She climbed out of the central pool onto a marble-like floor, and he quickly followed her. They didn’t speak; neither knew what to say.
***
At an underground depth of over five hundred feet lies the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Hadron Collider. Contained in a circular tunnel seventeen miles in diameter, the collider crosses under the borders of Switzerland and France several times. It uses a cryogenic system of liquid helium to keep the over one thousand and six hundred superconducting magnets at an optimum temperature.
Its purpose is simply to provide a way to study the unexplainable and unproven theories of physics. Areas of research include such things as the understanding of antimatter, dark matter, electromagnetic energy, magnetism, black holes, exotic particles, relativity, weak and strong forces, and even gravity itself.
Over ten thousand scientists and engineers, with the cooperation of over one hundred countries, make the Hadron Collider the largest co-operative, scientific project on Earth.
Scientists from all around the globe work together to prove or disprove the existence of other dimensions, and wormholes, putting quantum physics and string theory to the test, in the hopes of eventually changing theory to fact. In spite of the disasters plaguing North America, they decided to continue, arguing that the knowledge to be gained might be critical to solving the earth’s ever-increasing cascade of problems and unexplainable events.
***
Stewart repeatedly checked the radio. To compensate for his anxiety he continued watching the English station he had found earlier. He hadn’t been paying that much attention until the word electromagnetism caught his attention. Apparently, a group of scientists and concerned citizens in Geneva were gathering to protest against the tests being planned at the Hadron Collider, fearing the opening of a black hole.
He thought the argument was weak, but then again, electromagnetism was, in part, what Mark was working on. Stewart found himself wishing that he knew more about physics. He didn’t understand the research that they were doing out there, but he knew that Mark believed that naturally occurring electromagnetic events were the source of many of the mysterious and unexplained happenings in the Bermuda Triangle.
Even Ashlyn had reported mysteriously traveling through time. Stewart was still not sure how much he trusted her, but Mark had confirmed the incident. In spite of his unusually argumentative attitude of late, Stewart trusted Mark completely. Stewart switched off the TV. Watching the mostly-static bits and pieces of insane and nonsensical news was causing him more distress than the absence of his friends.
He went up to the flybridge and looked out at the sea on every side, hoping to see them—maybe the radio was just broken. He didn’t think that Dierdra would think twice before killing him this time. He decided to stay up there until Ashlyn and Mark returned. It was at least the best vantage point. Stewart had checked the time when he had lost contact with them. It hadn’t been that long, but given the circumstances, it seemed like an eternity.
***
Mark and Ashlyn sat on the edge of the undersea pool for several minutes not speaking. There appeared to be no exit except for the way they had come in.
“A chamber full of air”—she motioned around them—“under the sea …definitely not naturally occurring. It has to have been here for a very long time to be completely buried like this. Now this is something they might kill you for.”
He didn’t answer. He sat brow furrowed looking around.
“What’s wrong?—” she asked “—I thought you would be more excited.”
“I am—” he took in a deep breath “—it’s just that we haven’t solved any mystery at all. We have only deepened it.”
Studying the room had not revealed an explanation for the illumination; it was just light. It was as if the light emanated from the walls and ceiling although there was no apparent glow. Mark finally decided that his facemask might be preventing him from seeing its source and began to remove it.
Ashlyn stopped him, “What are you doing?”
“There is clearly oxygen in here; maybe I will be able to figure this out if I can see it better.”
“Wait—” she held his arm “—we don’t even know if the air in here is breathable.”
“Well”—he continued to remove it—“there’s only one way to find out.”
Helmet removed, he took a deep breath and then waited. “The air smells musty and old, like a cave—big surprise.” When she didn’t move he said, “Come on, take yours off.”
She disconnected it and removed it. They both pulled off their flippers and climbed out onto the edge.
“I know what it is”—he exclaimed.
She turned to him hopefully.
He gave her a lopsided grin. “It’s an alien Jacuzzi.”
“If that’s the case, they must be cold blooded—” she shivered “—I’m freezing, and my wetsuit isn’t doing its job.”
“I wish I had my coat to give you,” he said gallantly.
She smiled at that. The two examined the room top to bottom.
“I think we’re going to run out of oxygen before we figure this one out.—” she sighed “—have any brilliant ideas, doctor?”
“Well—” he pulled his glove off and ran his fingers down the wall “—we don’t know what this material is. It didn’t allow any crustaceans or coral to grow on it in the water. It’s obviously air tight.”
“Thanks”—she mocked him—“I had already figured that one out.”
“If the pyramid sank at an upright angle, the air would be trapped in here,” he suggested.
“But why would NP not want you to find this?—” She shook her head “—it doesn’t make any sense.”
“That’s for sure”—he threw up his hands—“besides, what does this have to do with the electromagnetic anomalies?”
“I’m no archaeologist—” she had no answer “—but I’m fairly certain that this isn’t Egyptian or Mayan.”
“Yeah—” he continued touching various surfaces “—this material is entirely different from anything I’ve ever seen.”
“We had better go back to the ship and tell Stewart about this”—she reminded him—“we will have to come back when we aren’t in danger.”
“You’re right, we should go—” Mark leaned down to pick up his helmet when he saw something on the floor “—Ashlyn, look.”
The both carefully examined the markings. They could now see that what had appeared as some kind of non-slip surface designs were actually very slightly raised inscriptions.
“This one isn’t just raised”—she said excitedly —“it feels like it’ll turn.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Well, turn it already!”
She hesitated for a moment. Images from Indian Jones movies ran through her head.
“What are you waiting for?”
She slowly began to turn it. She was right, and it moved easily and then appeared to lock in place. At first, nothing happened and then all of a sudden, they felt, more than heard, a soft rumbling sound.
Uh oh—she swallowed hard halfway expecting a bunch of arrows to come hurling toward them. When nothing happened, she chided herself for her silly thoughts. She let out a breath that she didn’t realize she had been holding just as a door slid open.
There had been no seams, nothing to indicate that it was different from the other parts of the walls. Her mouth dropped open in surprise.
“What in the—” Mark exclaimed.
She didn’t respond, overcome by the magnitude of their discovery. For the moment, they both forgot that Stewart was still alone on the boat. Mark walked through the open door into a large passageway. The hallway was straight and level. Ashlyn followed him through. The hall was lighted just as the room had been, still with no obvious source.
“Wait—” she stopped him “—“we should take our helmets; we have no idea if the entire pyramid is free of water.”
He nodded his agreement. They picked up their gear and left the poolroom.
***
Stewart was well beyond worry now; the sun was low on the horizon. Surely, they wouldn’t just stay down there that long without communicating with him; besides, he thought, even the rebreathers might not extend the oxygen that long. He tried them on the radio again, but all he got was static. He pounded his fist in frustration on one of the bridge panels.
He felt more angst by the minute. There was no contingency plan in place. Why had they ventured off somewhere else? Ashlyn had been at one hundred and seventy-five feet, maybe they were just being careful to decompress properly. However, if that were the case, why had they not communicated with him? They had mentioned a cave; maybe it was blocking reception but his questions remained unanswered.
***
With all sense of time lost, Mark and Ashlyn continued until finally the hallway opened up. Squinting from the dazzling light emanating from the enormous room before them, they waited for their eyes to adjust. This room also had a pool in the middle, with water pouring out of holes in the walls; creating fountains, which cascaded down into it. However, there wasn’t much else in the room. At least this one was not without a door. It had several hallways heading off in different directions. They studied their surroundings.
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