It never seemed to have any form of mouth or eyes, and its strange blood red color shined as though it were wet.
“Is this prehistoric?” an archeologist finally asked a scientist, confused, as he finished cleaning a region, and the scientists stood staggered, and shrugged his shoulders.
“It cannot be prehistoric ...?” he continued, looking about, waiting for someone to reply.
I watched everyone, and they refused to reply, and insisted in staying silent, and perhaps waiting for more evidence.
It was strange as we were expecting something like a statue, which they would have given information about, as they had with the above Roman graves, and we were standing looking down into a pit at what we would not even expect the strangest sea creature to look like, and could not identify anything, as it became more and more uncovered, and I watched the archaeologists, and them studying it, and take photographs of it at various angles, and close ups, and one removed his glove and touched it, and jumped back grasping his hand in pain.
Chapter 16
The Underground Scan
As I watched the scientists setting up their scanning equipment, I asked Oswald, “Is this the new surveying equipment?”
“Correct!” he moaned, at being disturbed. “We persuaded them to remove it from the airplane and bring it here! It’s the most powerful version we have available …”
“You may be able to answer many unanswered questions if it works!” I replied, assumingly.
“We can check what’s under here! Perhaps work out what caused the earthquake! It can scan more accurately, deeper and faster, and more powerfully than anything we have, and has been vastly improved since its use at Loch Ness! The detection components are still confidential, and used by the military …”
“Top secret!” I replied, wondering how confidential it was.
“It will give us the most detailed scan of beneath the ground ever seen, and to a far greater depth, making it possible to observe small and large objects just below us – of the dimensions we are interested in, and going further! As we do not know what is directly below!”
I realized again what an airplane with it could discover, and wondered if they actually had many underground military bases and weapons, and if they could detect what was in the places, and even in normal bases, and if they could search below mountains and deep under the sea, and I realized the other scientists avoided saying anything, and the majority of people with them never even knew what it was or was happening, and that some of the scientists there had been military scientists.
The equipment system was tested and functioning and ready to monitor everything below the cavity, after all the time getting the stuff down from above and all their rigorous setting up of it, and its electric cables, and all their preparations.
I considered if they were exaggerating its powers, as the times I had seen it working it had given short distant scans, and I wondered if it was actually to hide its true incredible powers as much as possible, and it being highly confidential equipment!
I realized the dangers of it being activated and what was there detecting it, and what had occurred there, and wondered if it could kill us!
The whole exploration was daunting and I wondered what we would actually gain from it at the end of the day, and most of the people there surely would not profit, and would perhaps only get the chance to witness some historic occurrence, and I wondered what we would be marked in history for.
I regularly checked the archeologists and scientists about the cavity looking for any new discoveries, and new life forms.
What surprised me was the life forms we found, and thing that had stunned one of the archeologists when he touched it with his bare hands.
All the life forms were still partially uncovered, and still remained totally unidentified, and looked like mutants of some unknown life forms, which lived in some strange environment, which nobody could identify, and I started to wonder if they were original forms of life from the original Earth or something similar.
We still had little information on them, and nobody had come up with anything, or explanation of where they had come from, and why they were below the Roman graves.
What surprised me was their firm belief that there was something there! The others barely believed it though! They had had not found anything though!
Were they keeping something secret? Had they detected something? Had they known of something before the occurrence there, and were investigating it for the first time? They had hardly come up with anything, and I believed from what I had seen that they could not remove some of the life forms for some reason, and they seemed attached to something, covering an immense area below, and all their attempts were useless, and the scan was to show what was below.
I started to wonder what was happening, and if I would survive!
Oswald and Higgins sat along from the other scientists at a large table, in center of the cavity, sitting opposite each other, with an accurate map of the surrounding region above stretched out across it sideways, and one of the cavity, and they discussed searching the cavity, and it was strange as there never looked as though there was anything there, especially under such a public and populated place, and going by recent information they got from questioning locals above, for paranormal occurrences.
I felt I was missing something and believed they did too, but could not grasp it!
Marple surprised me and refused to give any information on what he thought the life forms were, and fascinated in them, like the other scientists, especially in their perfectly preserved state, which seemed due to the energy running through them, and its source still had not been found, and they were starting to find they could dig through certain areas of the ground below them near them, and the life forms themselves seemed to be in the same state, and most believed it had preserved them, whatever it was.
When something did occur it was when they started activating the scanning equipment in stages, and the reactions they gave were unbelievable, and I realized how late in the evening it had become, and realized it was dark outside, and it would be soon night!
Their screens started showing strange reactions that they could not comprehend, as though there was something not working properly, and they could not grasp what it was, and what they received was too vague, with insignificant reactions, which could be anything being detected, and something nearby could be creating disturbances.
They had not fully checked the equipment’s reactions to everything, even though the original version had been tested out for years, and they were sure that things could create reactions. The equipment was far more sensitive at detection than ever before, and had been modified just before its arrival, especially for working there.
Suddenly one of the screens on the equipment reacted, and the scientists all went around it, and they all started excitedly discussing what they thought of it, and what could cause such a disturbance, and I saw that many were disappointed, but thought there was definitely something there, and I waited to find out what they had and if it would be a disappointment!
Yet they realized what they were receiving was scrambled images, from some interference, and the images were badly blurred, and they argued over what it could be.
They adjusted the equipment and image they got and they started getting a better image of the region below, and they no longer checked for equipment problems, and they gradually perceived there was nothing visible below, and they began their search of everything, in a greater degree than every before, as they knew something was there!
Chapter 17
The Roman Treasure
Marple arrived and I watched him again wondering what he was doing, and I sensed he was up to something, and when I attempted to leave with the archeologists and scientists he kept me doing things for him, and when there were only a few archeologists left, at the other side of the cavity we sat at a central table, where he removed a folder out his case.
Marple looked more confident than I
had seen him in a long time and I wondered why as all our scans had showed nothing, and many of the others lost confidence in finding anything, and I sensed he wanted me there to tell me of his search for the treasure, and I confirmed it a few minutes later.
Marple studied me for a few seconds, and asked, “I am investigating McMurdo’s treasure map!”
“Where is he now?” I asked.
“He’s still working for the train company, but they have put him at another location!”
I looked up startled wondering why he suddenly wanted to search for the treasure, and I could not imagine anything like it there, and I considered if he was closing the investigation for it.
I had investigated everything I could, and had checked all the information and history of the region, trying to grasp something, and some clue, and any lost treasure.
“What’s that?” I asked, seeing Marple play happily with a document, inside his folder.
“I think we have not started the actual search for what McMurdo was looking for …”
“That’s perfect!” I replied, wondering why he was so confident.
“From my recent questioning of McMurdo he eventually told me he heard of its existence many years ago from his father, who heard it from his ancestors … He agreed that we could have equal shares of it if we find it …”
I was astounded, by the fact there was a treasure now, and he had been looking for it there all along, and that he was so confident in finding it, and that he had got me an equal share in it, and I was also happy to have a new case to investigate.
Marple continued, “I have had a few sources search for it, and from an accumulation of sources, to which led here …”
I gasped at what we might confront, and I could not grasp where, and I realized it could be in the Roman graves, of which only a few had been searched properly.
“Where was McMurdo searching before he went crazy from what we thinks is here …” I asked, curiously.
“He’s obsessed with witchcraft and demons …” he moaned. “That don’t exist … He gave me the map …”
He removed the map from his folder and showed it to me, and I realized McMurdo had been searching for something authentic!
“I have where he was searching … But I believe he chose the wrong spot! I examined there and there is nothing there! He was probably affected by this place and being here himself in the dark, and by the hideous occurrences …”
I left it, as I thought of what had happened and what the earthquake had been like.
“I investigated it further and managed to reveal faded shapes on the map. Which was what I was searching for …”
“The treasure was marked there …?” I asked, surprised.
“I knew it was here and I needed to investigate here … I believe the person that drew the map might have been chased – which might explain why it was left where it was – and hidden away …”
He grabbed his pipe off the table and began smoking.
“Who could have chased him?” I asked, confused.
“I do not know! It was too long ago! There is little history of the era! I believe it was valuable, and far too heavy to carry. Perhaps jewels of some form of ancient king!”
“So there are incredible valuable and historical jewels hidden somewhere here …”
“I think the person, in fear of his life, escaped to safety and marked it on the map, with different writing, in a different style, which faded, and that is where our investigation shall be.”
“As the place is marked in here?”
“Correct! Which is what we shall do, as the last of the archeologists and people here have left ...”
Chapter 18
The Lost Treasure Tunnel
What was unbelievable was Marple took me to an insignificant area of the cavity wall, which I not recall, where there were small rocks and boulders piled up, and he slowly started taking away rocks, and I joined in.
Also while we did so I felt fluctuations occasionally shudder through the stone ground from something, which sounded deep below it, directly going through the rock there, from some form of power surge, as though threatening to do something, and I imagined my remains being found days later scattered everywhere as investigators tried to fit together what happened.
It surprised me Marple was the only one that seemed to not consider there was anything unearthly there, and I did not know what to believe.
When I rested I started examining the cavity further, in more detail, from there, with nobody there, and I saw it was far more perfectly shaped, and I tried to work out how it was formed.
I examined it further, and the heap of rocks, and area above where part of the cavity had collapsed, and realized it looked deliberately done by someone, and I gasped, and wondered why, and if it was to hide something valuable, or stop something escaping, and I returned to removing rocks and throwing them away to our side, with Marple, and we eventually speeded up throwing small rocks and dirt away, and Marple uncovered a hole, and we increased the size of it until it was large enough to allow us to safely enter its dark confines.
Marple grabbed his torch and shone it in and scanned its depths, and sat down and rested, and we sat getting ready to enter it, and when we entered it, and climbed through the dirt and rocks, I was surprised to see the tunnel continued in a form of straight line, doing downwards, and I wondered if it was a natural tunnel and if it was how it was formed, as I had not seen anything like it, and if it was not why had the builders gone to such lengths to build it, and as we marched into it I realized it had to have been built by the Romans, and I wondered what they had been up to.
It must go somewhere, where someone wanted to go, and I tiredly thought it over, and wondered what Marple thought was there, and I followed him into its black hole with his light and I started to see marks of humans having been there, and I kept wondering what we were going to find.
Though, after all we had been through, I had no idea what we were going after, dealing with, and I realized what we had found could be nothing compared to what was ahead!
Chapter 19
The Collapsed Tunnel
The torch slowly shifted to specific calculated positions, probing its way into the deep blackness ahead, and our feet threw up clouds of dust through beams of light; and some entered my lungs, causing me to give short convulsions, while inhaling stale air.
Echoes of our movements were about us and in the deep silence of the thick underground cave, and I felt the coldness of the walls, and depth below the ground, and felt it penetrate my limbs; as I marched along into obscurity, with expectations of plunging into something deadly.
When the tunnel stopped going downwards and went in a straight line I thought we never had far to go until we reached our final destination.
Glimpses of Marple’s darkened marching figure in the dim light with shadows over the walls wavered rhythmically as he calculatedly investigated the tunnel, and when it fluctuated I expected something, and I occasionally heard noises from behind us and reacted, as I wondered what could cause it, and I followed Marple’s eyes once, because he reacted differently suddenly, and I gasped, and I heard him gasp, as it was the end of our adventure and exploration, and I was left disappointed as I really thought we were going to discover something.
The complete tunnel collapsed across our front, firmly preventing us continuing, and we could go no further on, and we had reached our final destination and had not found out what had been there, and I realized the mystery of the treasure could be left there forever without us knowing what was there.
The rubble blocking the tunnel was deeply embedded giant boulders that were too immense to move, and we stood saying nothing, and I watched Marple make some calculations.
By his reactions I sensed that he was not entirely disappointed, and I knew he might have a way to shift the rocks, and I was sure it was to bring in the archeologists with their equipment, and I closely examined the tunnel wondering how it was made as there were no c
hisel or any tool marks, and I wondered why they had gone to such lengths to create it, and where it had led to.
On the way back I kept sensing Marple had another plan, and way to get to where he wanted, and was not saying anything.
Chapter 20
The Deep Depth Scan
The next day I returned to the cavity and saw something was on the brink of occurring, and saw the scientists working hard and away at their equipment and I swiftly moved there, and realized I had nearly missed something, and had luckily arrived when I had, and I watched the paranormal scientists and technicians rushing excitedly back and forward checking equipment all over the place, and tried questioning them but got little, and wondered what was going on, and I soon realized that they were about to activate their equipment to scan below the ground again, and braced myself, and watched Marple come down on the elevator.
I never knew what they were doing, as they had carried out all their scans, and they had not shown anything.
I tried to spot any differences there, and I jumped when I noticed some of the life forms the archeologists had uncovered, and had washed down with water and brushes, and stood with my mouth open trying grasp what the hell they were, and doing there, and why they were so preserved, in immaculate condition, and after examining them closely I saw nothing I recognized anywhere, and I was sure they could return to life if they did something to them.
I watched all the scientists eagerly standing around waiting for something, viewing things differently now, and I wondered what, and as I approached them I realized they might have been waiting for me, to continue, and to activate the equipment, and the experiment, and I wondered why.
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