Had someone hidden it away under the hospital? Was it hidden away for a reason? And what could it possibly be?
Would we even survive to see what was there? Going by what had happened to me already I had to believe something was there! The strange powers I had were too powerful and deadly! The equipment and the increasing signs of there being a danger below had increased at an alarming rate, as they advanced forwards.
They examined strange alterations and erratic characterizations on the equipment, and even the paranormal scientists started reacting more strangely than I had seen them and I wondered how it would affect everyone if what had occurred to me in the above shaft occurred to everyone.
When one of the archeologists hit something solid, and revealed a solid stone slab, everyone went around the hole to see it, and watched two archeologists lift the slab and reveal a deep dark tunnel going straight down into the ground, far below, and I realized it was identical in size and shape as the above shaft, and gasped at what had happened to me when I had entered it.
Chapter 22
The Cavity
The archeologists sat around the entrance, occasionally giving silent whispers to each other, and avoiding giving anyone else any information on what they were doing, and everyone knew they were not keen to go down into it, and sat resting.
I realized that I was slowly being chosen, and that the paranormal scientists wanted me to go, and I knew I would, and I just could not avoid it, and in the end decided to get it over with, and made it known to them, and sat at the edge entrance.
One archeologist shone his light around the hole, and deep into the chamber, which went deep below somewhere, and seemed to discover something, and the answer to one of his queries.
“What do you reckon’s down there?” I asked him, trying to see in it as far as I could with the light, but only saw darkness.
He left and returned with a brighter torch and pointed it at a point at the edge of it, and he waited for me to reply, and I looked and I saw it, and I saw dark stone steps vanishing below, but I could not see them reach the top of the entrance, just below us, and wondered why, and I considered if there had been something there and it had either been taken away or had collapsed, which could indicated the steps could also have collapsed further down.
When Oswald came down from above with Higgins holding ropes and equipment I knew the time had come for me to get ready and enter it, which I still never knew anything about, and I swiftly got ready and they tied me to a rope and started hoisting me down, and I finally entered its confines, and realized there could be something of value below and that was the reason it was buried away, and I more keenly entered its confines, and darkness, and I turned up my light and adjusted my eyes.
When I landed on the stone stairs I was astounded by the stairs and walls, and wondered what the hell was going on, and I took off the harness and rope and quickly started to examine everything about me with amazement, and saw Oswald coming down from above, watching me, wondering what I was doing, and once he landed next to me he gasped and started doing what I was doing, as all the stairs and walls were cut to perfection, with incredible workmanship, with an accuracy I had not seen, even I know I am sure they could not do it.
The steps had not been fitted together, as stepping stones, on normal outside stone steps, and they were cut into the rock by something, and the walls were the same, and we felt the smoothness of them.
Once Higgins arrived I led them down the stairs, and watched the startled faces of the scientists and the archeologist above, staring downwards towards us, and we left on our journey, in even more confusion than we had been when we started.
The same view seemed to uniformly go off into blackness below, with the light showing the exact steps going straight down, and the two scientists copied and followed me, even looking ahead for obstacles, and I was surprised that it could be made with such accuracy and fit into such a confined space, and I examined it in detail as I crept down.
At times it was as though it belonged to someone, and was part of someone’s establishment, and I wondered what its logical function could be if it was, or if it had originally been part of the hospital or part of something that had been built there before it, and I knew that if it had been that all the information about it must have been lost or something, as it would have been discovered by us when we investigated all the information about the site.
Further down I realized I was too far out in front and I allowed Oswald to gain some distance, and I watched him going down without a light, using mine and Higgins’s light to see the steeply declining steps, and I wondered how much danger there was, as he continued following me down, and they showed no signs that they thought there was anything there.
At one point mud appeared, replacing the stone walls, and was over the steps, and it slowed us as we made sure we never slipped, as they looked more vertical now, as we were tired, and looked dangerous at times, and that they might cause an injury, when viewed in the right way, and I started wondering why they were going on and on, as why would anyone go to such a distance to build anything there, and I considered if there was something like an underground river or lake and that someone was or had been using it for some purpose.
Sounds sometimes were louder and echoed, and I heard them and voices from above, and knew that the others had entered it, and I listened to their strange tones as I tried to make out what they were talking about, and I heard a deep thud echo down and I wondered if someone had an accident, and I realized that it was a good idea to only have three of us at the front.
A feeble glow from something below swiftly caught my attention when it appeared and I wondered what it was, and if it was a reflection of the dimming light, and my eyes altered and adjusted to the darkness there as we moved faster down, I saw Higgins struggling to do something behind us, and he shouted to me to stop and he switched on a more powerful light, which he had taken out his bag, and pointed it at an area in front, and I realized the steps vanished in front of me, and I had nearly fallen, and I tiredly fell backwards, and grabbed at the stairs behind me.
It was as though sound and everything ended at that point, and vanished into darkness below, and somewhere there it vanished out of existence, and I could not hear or see anything from there, and it was a void and an abyss!
When I went close, and the lights of the paranormal scientists shone closer there, from just behind me, I stood shocked as I my eyes adjusted and I saw there was a colossal cavity below, and the steps had collapsed, down to somewhere below.
I swiftly placed myself a few steps higher and sat looking about it, trying to grasp what was there in the feeble light, and I realized that I had actually nearly walked off the lowest remaining step.
After our examinations of the last step we realized that they had not just collapsed and that they had been perfectly cut, as the rest of the tunnel and steps had been, and I wondered who the hell had done it, and I realized that it had to have fallen a long time ago, and I looked straight down and realized that distance to the bottom was not as great as I thought, and that the cavity outwards was immense, and though I could hardly see anything I tried to work out what it was.
It was incredible and had clearly been carved out accurately like the steps and tunnel, for some reason I could not grasp, and we sat on the steps discussing it and trying to work out what it was and had been used for, and I was sure it could have been to store something in, and I wondered how their paranormal fitted into it, as I listened to their voices mingle with the sounds of the others arriving and it echo about the cavity.
Chapter 23
The Artifact
I held the rope firmly, looked at the large cavity hole surrounding me, and started lowering myself into it, and dangled about with my legs swinging about, and moved slowly lower into dimness, as I wondered why everyone insisted I should go first, even though I wanted to, and wondered if there were similar structures to this all around the world, which had not been found or reported.<
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I shone my light about below trying to see something in the ground directly below, and only saw the remains of the staircase, and I tried to grasp what had happened, and what had been there, as the stairs must have gone over the cavity, before it collapsed, and there could not have been a tunnel there, as there was no sign of it in the rubble, and I kept wondering what had kept it up, and I wondered who had built such a dangerous construction.
It was my first proper look of below and all I saw was what looked like a large object at the center of the cavity, which I tried to grasp repeatedly, but I could not identify it, and looked back up above and saw a few of the others trying to properly see me.
I wondered what the outcome of it would be, and if it was just another disappointment, and I compared what had happened with what I had originally thought would happen and would be there.
For an instant the rope jerked and oscillated and I slightly spun uncontrollably and a surge of blackness engulfed me, and I wondered what the hell I was entering, as I thought of my original thoughts of what was below, and again considered what could be buried away there and wondered if they had underestimated something, and I remembered the metal detector and what had happened at the woman’s house, and looked in the direction it was, and was amazed that I was at such a depth below the region, and I wondered what they would do with it, and it mystified me!
I thought of ancient black magic worshippers concealing something below, beyond my comprehension, hidden away from mankind, and I wondered why it was the way it was if it was!
I tried straining my eyes repeatedly to see further and to spot the features of anything new, and when I landed on the ground I pulled himself upright with the help of the rope, and released the rope’s tight grip against my body, and shivered at the coldness there, and realized how much I was on my own.
I cleaned dirt off my clothes and glanced at the rubble, and wondered what the outcome of our investigations would be and I realized the others were dramatically staring down at me, in the above torchlight.
There really was only one object in the chamber that I saw and I was surprised at the actual size of it, as it had seemed far smaller above, and I strode over to it, examining it, at different angles, checking if it was connected to something, and perhaps some form of equipment, and considered if it could have something like a generator leading to it, and considered what it was used for, and I realized the chamber and it had to be there for a good reason.
Once at it I dreamily wandered about it and touched its black surface, which I was sure had to be metal, and I started examining it in detail and I was staggered to feel a form of energy pulsating through it, which I sensed had far more magnitude than it felt, and I wondered what the hell it was as it looked as though it belonged to the military, and I shined my torch up close and over it while I marched around it, and I slowly realized how much it was a perfectly symmetrical black sphere.
Chapter 24
Marple Arrives
I sensed there was something that they were not saying, but I knew I only needed to wait for them to tell me, but I kept wondering repeatedly if we were in danger and tried to grasp it, and what I needed to know.
I was glad to see Marple arrive later in the evening, after we had spent hours searching the cavity, and documenting everything we could, and getting some sleep.
Nobody but a few archeologists and scientists wanted to leave there and miss anything, and any discoveries, at such a crucial moment, but I was surprised that little was found after all, and could not fully believe it, and still waited.
Marple’s appearance was magnificent and I questioned him on how he had known and he told me he had not until he arrived at the top of the shaft, where the scientists there had told him.
The scientists kept consulting each other and still came up with little, as there was no proof of anything, and the black sphere object remained a mystery, and they had little on it, and what it was doing there, and they monitored it with everything they had trying to discover what it was doing, and found virtually nothing, and some thought it was being controlled from somewhere else!
With the war most thought it was some form of colossal weapon, atom bomb, or surveillance device, which might have been recently partially awoken, and made ready for use.
“It could be highly classified!” I announced to Marple and Oswald. “We’re still just playing around ...”
“But if it is a bomb and is going to be used we could move it away!” Marple stated.
“Who would put a bomb under a hospital?” I replied.
“We’re best not revealing it anywhere unless we have to!” Marple replied.
Fluctuations occasional shuddered through the stone ground from it as it had some form of power surge, threatening to do something, and I imagined my remains being found days later scattered everywhere as investigators tried to fit together information and try to explain what occurred.
It surprised me that Marple was the only one that seemed to not have considered there was anything unearthly about it.
He seemed to be holding back doing something, and checking something out, and what we thought of things and I knew he had come to the hospital for some reason.
When the others were getting some rest or eating, he started examining the cavity further, in more detail, and eventually me and Oswald helped him.
“You agree that the stairs above the cavity go in a straight course forward, and the cavity cut it off, and it fell down …?” he asked me.
I nodded, wondering what he meant, and I watched his eyes go on a point directly ahead, where he briskly went to, and Oswald watched him and followed him, and I went after him.
At the place he went he carefully examined it, and a heap of stones where part of the cavity had collapsed over, and started removing rocks and throwing them away to his side, and Oswald and I eventually joined in throwing rocks and dirt away from the spot, and Marple finally found a hole, and increased the size of it.
“What’s that?” I finally asked, curiously, wondering what he wanted there.
“The above stone steps and tunnel continued in a straight line, and they must have gone somewhere, where someone removed them and created the cavity, and cut and allowed a small part of the stairs remaining there to fall …”
I tiredly thought it over, and wondered what he thought was there, and followed him in the hole with his light, and I started to see the steps and tunnel, and I wondered where they had been going to after all, and I considered if someone had put the cavity there to hide something further along, and I kept thinking it over, wondering what we were searching for.
Yet, after a long time, I still had no idea what we were going after, and I realized what we had found could be nothing compared to what was ahead!
Yet why did Marple not think there was anything dangerous, and why was he so desperate to get there, and make sure nobody else came with us.
Chapter 25
The End of the Tunnel
The white radiance off Marple’s torch slowly shifted to specific calculated positions, probing its way into the abyss ahead, scattering beams through clouds of silky dust our feet blew up; and occasionally stuck deep in my lungs, causing me to give short sharp convulsions, and I continued on going, inhaling enough air.
Faint echoes of our breathing could be heard in our shuffling movements and in the deep silence of the thick underground walls, and I felt the coldness of the walls and it penetrate my limbs; while uniformly marching along, into obscurity, with expectations of plunging into something.
It had been incredible when the tunnel had stopped going downwards and had gone in a straight line in another course, and Marple had told me we were going back under the hospital, far below the ground, and I sensed we never had far to go until we reached our final destination.
Glimpses of Marple’s darkened crouched figure in the illuminating light over the walls wavered rhythmically as he investigated the tunnel, and it fluctuated and Oswald reacted behind me a
nd I followed his eyes to where Marple’s eyes had suddenly gone, and I gasped, and I once saw both of them were gasping, and I realized it was something, and then realized it was the end of our adventure and exploration, and I was left disappointed as I really thought we were going to discover something incredible.
The entire tunnel had collapsed in and we could go no further along, and we had reached our final destination and had not found out what had been there, and I realized the mystery could be left there forever without us knowing what was there.
The rubble blocking the tunnel was too deep down and giant boulders there too immense to move, and were firmly fitted together, and we stood saying nothing, and I watched Marple make some calculations, and check what he had.
By his reactions I sensed that he was up to something, and I knew we were located near the hospital, and realized that we must be deep under Battlefield Road, and I was sure that the builders of the tunnel might not have been able to build it properly in the above ground, without using wood or metal to properly hold it up, as it was surely soil.
It was strange, as we walked back up, I kept sensing Marple had a plan, or was making a plan, and was not saying anything at the moment, but I could not quite grasp what, and why the hell someone wanted what was there to be there, and had gone to such lengths to put it there.
Chapter 26
The Lost Treasure Map Deluxe Book Collection (2017 Edition) Page 23