When Colton Banyon returned to the campsite, he discovered that no one was there except for Mobi. He stood alone on the ledge and looked down the cliff face.
“Where’s everybody?” Banyon croaked with concern.
“They all changed into clothes and the man named Steve set up a rope ladder a few minutes ago,” Mobi responded. “They’re all at the entrance to the cave waiting for you. They lowered some equipment and the metal tablet too. Go, Mr. Banyon, destiny awaits you.”
Banyon hesitated from a minute. Is this another devious plan? I’m over sixty years old. Can I make it down this rope ladder?
Loni noticed Banyon and called out. “We’re burning daylight, Colt.” But we’re heading into a cave, what does that matter? He thought.
“Don’t worry, I will be here when you come out,” Mobi said to assure him.
Banyon shrugged. The allure of the hunt and adventure was stronger than his fears. He went over the side and soon stood on the ledge with the rest of the team. Steve handed him a helmet which had a halogen lamp attached, an earpiece for communications, and a gun. Kenny carried the heavy metal tablet in his backpack. Carol led the way into the cave entrance. She was the most experienced cave explorer in the group.
As soon as they entered the cave Banyon noticed the tunnel was straight, semi-round and slightly up hill. The rock floor became sand a few feet inside the entrance.
The explorers traveled about fifty feet when Carol suddenly stopped. “I’ve found something,” she cried out.
The rest of the team crowded around the object that took up about half the space in the middle of the tunnel. Eight halogen lights shined on the ten foot long straight piece of flat stone. It had a four foot high extension sticking up from the front of the rock. It was an unusual shape for a stone.
“It’s petrified wood,” Maya exclaimed.
Banyon turned around and looked back towards the opening of the cave. “This tunnel looks like a landing strip,” he said. “And this looks like one of the chariot like sleds that were described in the prologue of the Orion Codex.”
“Look, there is another one just up ahead,” Mandy reported. “I can see more in front of that one.”
“I believe these sleds carried the wood and other things the visitors collected,” Maya said knowingly. “They then came and parked them on this runway when they were full. The shuttle ship probably landed right outside the entrance and the materials were then transferred to the mother ship.”
“And when they left for good,” Loni reasoned. “They simply took the anti-gravity devices that propelled the sleds and abandoned them. They have turned to stone over time.”
“Let’s see what else we can find!” Steve uttered with excitement.”
Soon they reached the end of the runway. It opened into a huge cavern. Even their powerful lights could not penetrate the darkness enough to see to the end. A rocky ledge which seemed to be cut from the stone wound its way to the floor. They traveled single file down into the interior.
“Strange,” Carol noted. “There’re no creatures in here. No bats, no snakes, no spiders, and no creepy crawly things. It’s devoid of any life. I’ve never found a cave so empty.”
“I hope it stays that way,” Loni remarked.
“Okay,” Banyon said and clapped his hands. The sound reverberated off of the walls and the echo seemed to last forever. “Let’s break up into teams of two and search the walls. We might find an opening or some treasure.”
Banyon and Loni went left. Soon lights could be seen moving all over the huge dark open area. The lights grew dimmer as the cavern spread into the distance. No one knew exactly what they were looking for.
“Look at this,” Loni cried out. Banyon turned and his light fell on more strange looking stone pieces.
“It looks like some kind of table and chairs,” Banyon responded. “And over there it appears to be some sort of bunk area. They look to be a larger size as our furniture.”
“This must be where the people who manned the sleds stayed when they weren’t making runs,” Loni offered.
Banyon pressed his earpiece. “We’ve found where the visitors slept,” he said.
“Nothing to report,” he heard back from the other groups.
***
It was two hours later when the team of Maya and Mandy reported that they had found a square entrance to another tunnel. The rest of the team rushed over to their position.
“This tunnel will be about a half a mile long,” Banyon told everyone. “Be sharp people, there may be booby-traps.”
As they cautiously crept down the angular hallway, Banyon noted the precision of the cuts in the rock. The walls were covered in some sort of glaze that was cool to the touch. There were several corners, some left and some right. The tunnel seemed to zigzag through the stone.
Surprisingly, the air remained fresh and the temperature was a constant seventy-five degrees. But the team had been searching the caves for over three hours and had not found any treasure. They were becoming tired and slightly irritable.
“Look, there is a skeleton,” Carol screamed. They rushed up to it and studied the bones.
“Mobi told me that four men went into the tunnels in 1969, but only two came out. There will be another body up ahead.”
“What killed them?” Mandy asked.
“It was either from some sort of booby-trap or from fright,” Banyon replied with heavy concern.
The team soon found the other body. The skeleton had its arms stretched out like it was grabbing for something. Nobody could figure out why. After some discussion, they decided to continue.
“There’s a doorway ahead,” Carol suddenly screamed again. Her light reached an end to the tunnels, but also revealed an open doorway. It was smaller than the tunnel and was to the left of the end to the passageway.
“Be very careful now,” Banyon croaked. “I think we’ve found the metal library room.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
“I’m going in first,” Banyon said as everyone crowded around the opening. “Kenny, give me the metal tablet. I’ll put it back where it belongs in the room.”
“Are you sure you want to go in alone?” Loni asked with concern. A deep furrow now blemished her pretty face.
“If anything happens, run,” Banyon said over his shoulder.
The metal tablet weighted about twenty pounds. Colton Banyon held it out in front of him as he stepped through the doorway. He quickly noticed that the room was about twenty feet long by twenty feet wide and about twelve feet high. It was carved out of solid stone with perfect angles.
He panned his helmet light around the space. To his left he saw the metal library. It was recessed into the wall and was ten feet long. It contained four shelves with more metal tablets stacked three high on each shelf. He counted fifty-nine tablets in all. All set in perfect alignment. It was a wall of shiny metal tablets.
He immediately went to the shelf and deposited the tablet he held in the open space on the library shelf. He then turned to survey the rest of the room.
A large sarcophagus covered the back wall. It was about eight feet long and made of roughly cut stone. It looked very heavy. Banyon moved over to get a closer look. The carving on the top was of a man dressed in royal garb. Banyon could not identify the culture. He wasn’t an expert on ancient cultures and wondered why the sarcophagus was there.
He now turned his attention to the front of the room where a stone ledge jutted out from the wall. Sitting on the ledge were twenty nine small crystals. They were all about two inches long and perfectly square. They were stacked in piles of ten.
Next to the piles were several objects that appeared to be made of metal. One was round, one was shaped like an obelisk, and one looked like a connection box for a TV. Another crystal stood upright on top of the box and seemed to be positioned in a slot there. The devices appeared eerily similar to the transmitter which he had found on Mt. Charleston a few years ago.
“I think this was s
ome sort of a control room for the whole operation,” Banyon yelled over his shoulder. “And I think I know what the metal tablets are.”
“What?” The ever impatient and impulsive Loni asked. She had entered the room and stood next to him.
Suddenly, the crystal attached to the metal box began to glow. A hologram began to appear above the device.
“Stay back,” Banyon screamed. The rest of the team froze in the doorway. Only their heads peeked about the corner. The room was now brightly lit as all their lamps pointed inside.
“Look at the markings on the wall,” Maya cried out. “They look like the universe. I see the Taurus the Bull constellation over there,” she pointed. “There is an ‘x’ on one planet.”
“Colt, I think that you have activated a computer program,” Carol the computer geek yelled. “Scientists already know that crystals are the long-term answer to data storage. And holograms are three dimensional. I think this program is designed to tell us something.”
The hologram soon solidified. It showed a man who looked very average, except for being blue. He wore a purple robe that appeared to be silk. On his head was a metal looking helmet shaped like a reptile.
The image spoke in a threating and aggressive tone, but no one could understand the words.
“What the hell language is he speaking?” Loni screeched in frustration.
The image seemed to stop and freeze. Then it disappeared for a second. When it rebooted, the new image looked remarkably like Loni in blue. She wore an off the shoulder toga which was held up by a gold clasp. The look was kind of sexy to Banyon. She also wore a headdress which resembled a snake. The image turned her almond-shaped brown eyes towards Banyon.
“My god she looks just like me!” Loni shouted out with concern. “But what’s with the snake headdress. I hate snakes,” she angrily said.
The image disappeared again and when it returned, Loni’s hologram now wore a flowered top.
“That’s better,” Loni quickly remarked and nodded her head.
“What the hell is going on?” Steve asked from outside the room.
“Somehow the device is interactive and was able to scan Loni. It has also picked up attributes from Loni’s voice,” Carol explained. “It will probably speak in English now,” she added. “And we should be able to ask it questions.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
When the hologram began to speak everybody was shocked. It had the same sing-song voice as Loni. The rest of the team crowded into the room to watch and listen.
“Greetings people of earth,” it started with a smile.
Loni quickly shouted out. “What activated you?”
“You have in your possession several of our protection devices. When you came into the room, my sensors detected them and started this program. We had expected that the devices would be carried by our own people, but that is clearly not the case.”
“What does that mean to you?” Banyon thoughtfully asked.
“It means that my people have failed,” the hologram replied with sadness covering the face of Loni’s image. “And we may have become extinct.”
“Explain that?” Maya politely asked.
“My people are called the Sumi. We live on a planet call Martos in the Aldebaran star system in the constellation you call Taurus. We have lived there for over six hundred million of your earth years. Before that we lived on this planet.”
“You’re from earth?” Mandy said with shock.
“Yes,” the image replied. “We left because the environment had become very hostile and we were discriminated against by the other peoples who lived here then.”
“There were other people inhabiting the earth that far back?” Maya the archeologist exclaimed.
“Many,” the image replied. “But when the meteorites came, they caused volcanos to erupt and the air became foul and unbreathable. The others blamed us because we were blue. Many of our people were slaughtered before we could build ships to leave.”
“So why have you come back here?” Banyon asked.
“Martos is a beautiful planet. We live in a utopia, but there is one huge problem there,” the hologram image said.
“What’s that?” Mandy shot out.
“We have had to manufacture everything including the air we breathe there. Our machines can do that, but they rely on the ultimate power source to run them.”
“Vril,” Banyon uttered.
“It is actually called Alto,” the Loni lookalike responded. “It lasts for a very long time, but we have lived on Matos for a very long time. One component of Alto is not available on our planet.”
“Let me guess,” Banyon said. “It’s wood.”
“You are correct. We have been coming to this planet to replenish wood supplies. As you can see we have made thirty trips to this location to gather the substance. Each crystal is a recap of each of our visits.”
“Are you saying that without wood, which grows abundantly here, your civilization will die?” Heather asked.
“Yes,” the hologram replied.
“We’ve found some vessels of Vril, I mean Altos, during some of our adventures,” Banyon stated. “Can you explain that?”
“Of Course,” the image replied and nodded. “We are a peaceful people who have compassion for others. We have in the past traded some Alto for things we desired. We have even helped many of your people to create things like buildings over the ages, but have found that there is still resentment because of our color.”
“How have you dealt with that?” Banyon asked.
“We developed devices to protect ourselves. You have some in your possession.”
“And why do you feel that your people may be extinct,” Steve inquired.
“The mother ship was due here four thousand years ago. My programs have not heard from it. We send out signals periodically that indicate our location but have had no response.”
No one knew what to say. They were possibly witnessing the last recorded message from an extinct civilization. But Banyon was not so sure.
“What are the metal tablets on the shelf?” He asked to change the subject.
“They are the essence of our fallen comrades that died here on earth during the last visit. We suffered many casualties and had to leave them here because we needed the room for wood on the mother ship on our last visit,” the image replied.
***
While the rest of the team struggled to understand what the hologram was telling them, Maya wandered over to the sarcophagus and began studying it.
“Colt,” she said with alarm. “This sarcophagus is from the Ottoman Empire.”
“You mean the ancient Ottoman Empire from over four thousand years ago, right?” Banyon replied as he emphasized the word ancient. Everyone in the room caught his meaning. They all knew that the Ottoman Empire ended in the twentieth century. The program was not telling them the truth.
“Take some pictures,” Banyon said to Maya. She pulled out her cellphone and began to snap a few shots. Loni took some shots of the shelf in front of her.
“What is that device?” the image demanded. “I do not have any information in my data banks.
“Interesting,” Banyon muttered thoughtfully. Then quickly added, “it’s just a light so we can see you better.”
“Does my look displease you?” the image asked with concern, just like Loni would do.
“Hey, she is acting just like me,” Loni sputtered.
“Tell me,” Banyon suddenly asked to change the subject. “This room is so clean. I mean, there are no creatures and no dust in here. How do you keep it clean?”
“Perhaps I should explain,” the image replied in a sweet tone. “Where we live there are no creatures. My people cannot tolerate them. Manyy have become sick and even died from bites from what you call insects. We need a sterile environment to live.”
“I now understand why you need to have a clean space, but how do you clean it?” Banyon persisted.
“Look closely
at the corner of the room,” the image replied. “There are three devices hanging from the wall. I can employ them anytime I choose. One sends anything alive away and includes the cavern where our people have stayed. The one below it emits a fire ball that sterilizes anything in its path. The third device creates a strong wind that blows any remaining debris out of the tunnels,” the image of Loni said proudly.
“But, wouldn’t the fire one melt the metal tablets and your components on the shelf?” Banyon asked.
“That device is directional,” the image replied. “It shoots out the door and down the tunnel.” Banyon now understood why the walls of the tunnel were glazed.
Maya went over to look at the devices. After a few minutes, she turned to Banyon and nodded. The hologram didn’t seem to notice.
“I need to speak to Maya for a second,” Banyon said. “Outside the room,” he added. “Do any of you have any questions for the hologram?”
“I do,” said Carol as Banyon and Maya left the room.
Chapter Thirty-Six
As soon as he was outside, Banyon pressed his earpiece. “Keep the hologram busy answering questions. I don’t believe it is as friendly as it appears,” he ordered.
“Colt the three devices on the wall are the Repel device, the Determination device and the Push device. They are all in the Orion Codex,” Maya told him in a whisper.
“Do you have the chants to stop them?” Banyon quickly asked.
“Yes,” she answered. “But if it activates all three at once, I may not be able to stop all three.
“Okay, we may need to find another way to survive,” he explained.
“Do you think there is a real threat?” Maya asked with wide eyes.
“The program has been built to not give us true answers on some subjects,” Banyon stated flatly, “especially about the last visit to this location.”
“Yes,” Maya admitted. “The sarcophagus is less than two hundred years old. I also believe that the sleds were planted. It would take wood millions of years to turn to stone, not four thousand years.”
The Society of Orion Book Five: The Tayos Caves (Colton Banyon Mystery 18) Page 9