Stanley was bent over something, buried away in darkness, and Cronenberg spotted what looked like a boulder lifted up and saw there was a massive gap going downwards where it was, and they saw what looked like a form of steps going downwards.
He did not know whether he was happy with the find and wondered if they intended to go down into it, and if he should stop them going down into at night, as the dangers of the place looked immense, and as he watched on he actually saw a large planet visibly going into a nearby large sun.
Before he said anything Orwell rushed forward, and announced, “I’m going down! Who’s going?”
Straightaway he knew he would have to go too, and yet he wanted to go down, but he was unsure if they should go at night, but he did not have any evidence that there was anything there, but it was an extraterrestrial world, far out of their region of space, and they had not even visited any other solar systems or anything like there, and they had no idea what could exist there, and if they returned to the Earth they might never get the chance again!
Chapter 4
The Alien Structure
It was spectacular, as the world rotated around its stars grew in immensity, as the central region of the galaxy went directly overhead, everywhere, glowing brighter, glowing all around them, blinding them in regions.
They stood at the edge of the entrance going downwards, still contemplating the dangers, and it was like standing on the top of the world, as though the world below were stretching away out into infinity all around their sides, and he wondered what kind of aliens had lived in such a place, and he realized that he might soon find out!
Nothing yet had properly showed what their civilization and technology was like, and he wondered if it was the remains of the last civilization there, and he wondered if something there had destroyed their civilization, and he gasped at the height they were above the landscape of the world as he spotted the sheer drop of the pinnacle in the dark, going off into the distance below.
The long day made them slow and sleepy and they slowly prepared themselves to enter the structure below, on their first search of an alien civilization.
A gray shade appeared at his side on the horizon and he studied it and realized that it was a large moon appearing from below the horizon, and he consistently checked the differences in it to Mars and other worlds he had seen in the solar system, and he watched in awe as a massive asteroid blazed across the sky in front of them in slow motion, and they stopped what they were doing and listened to it in the distance and watched the massive blazing ball of flames intensely light everything up about them and finally blast into a distant hill with such force it exploded apart, and a cloud of smoke go up.
Its shockwave blasted out with such force its blast went straight across the world, as they heard its distant blast, and eventually the shudder hit the pinnacle violently, and making them gasp and fall over, shaking the stones around, giving them thoughts of the whole pinnacle collapsing down, and Cronenberg finally realized that it had to be firm as it would have fallen a long time ago, especially with deep impact craters nearby.
Eventually everything calmed down and he stamped on the surface to check its safety again, and wondered what form of structure was below, and what thickness its roof was, and he decided to enter it first, before Orwell, and he eagerly explored a ramp of stone descending below, and marched down into its darkness searching the ground, and dirt there, and testing its safety and if it could withstand his weight, and as he descended further he turned his spacesuit light on, and watched Orwell and the others follow him down, into its hideous depths, wondering why they had not just left it until the morning.
They were all forms of scientists as well as astronauts, and explorers, and had been on Mars to see space and another world, and now they were living out their dreams of exploring an authentic alien world, and a highly advanced civilization, and they examined everything about them and checked the descending tunnel and how the rock had been cut, and how perfect it was, and he brushed his glove over it feeling its smoothness, and knew something had powerfully cut the hole straight into the rock.
Orwell observed the peculiar shape of the structure, and the tunnel not being perfectly square but with other shapes, and considered if had been designed for looks or there was another reason for it and noticed there were signs that something a long time ago had been there and had left vague prints buried under deep dust on the ground, and he marched downwards.
It was strange, as none of them thought anything had been there and yet they were prepared for an encounter with something else below and he wondered if it had been the energy sphere and alien artifact in the hill, what they encountered in the gateway, or was it the strangeness of the place and why they had been put there, as it was like they were put there for a reason and he sensed there was something.
After they had checked an area of rock, which looked different from any natural rock that they had seen, they marched on, and jerked when a heavy thud shook the whole pinnacle around, from another deep meteorite impact, and he continued at a slow pace considering how the thing had managed to stay up in such a place, and he recalled the meteorites on its above structure and wondered what it would be like living on such a place, and how many deaths and injuries people would have.
After a few more minutes he realized their enthusiasm had increased in discovering what was there, and it was now as though it was an ultimate treasure, and some form of treasure they were going to find, which was buried away there.
What was strange was that he had watched things moving over the surface of the stone, and had just dismissed them as insects, but he realized that they were not just insects but were alien insects on an alien world and he suddenly stopped and examined a few with Orwell, and they stood speechless, as the insects there were unknown to them, with characteristics that they had not seen anywhere. A yellow piece of flying gel hung in the air by some means they could recognize, hanging in the air, even after many close examinations they could not pinpoint how it remained in the air, and he believed it had thousands of miniature wings or something similar that allowed it to hover and propel it forward that could not be seen by them.
A distant wind occasionally howled strangely around through the top of the tunnel behind them, as it was caught by gusts.
Eventually the stone tunnel finished and they entered an artificial structure and they examined it trying to find what it was made of and found it was too hard to even scrape a sample off, and were unable to realize what it was.
The inside of the structure was incredible and it at first looked like they were encountering something from Earth’s early past, and the inside of some form of ancient pyramid and an earlier version of what the aliens had, but its look altered the further in they went and he realized that it was far more advanced, even though they had not come across any of their technology and only forms of advanced corridors and forms of rooms, and yet they had not seen anything of the aliens themselves and what they had.
For a swift instant he felt a strange feeling that something had detected them there from some further in region, where he was sure there was some highly advanced structure and technology, and he was amazed that Orwell and the others behind him had also picked it up, and were reacting simultaneously with him, and he even saw them discussing it and something, and he wondered what the hell it was, and if they should have turned back earlier, and he wondered how they could profit from such an encounter, and he spotted Orwell holding a weapon, from his spacesuit.
Chapter 5
The Astronaut
As they entered a large chamber Cronenberg felt shudders and deep vibrations going through the floor and walls and his eyes fell upon a large sphere object spinning with tremendous force, trapped in a form of cage, clearly using tremendous forces to keep it there, and they got to a point near it, staggered at the dangers it had, and watched the power of it, like it could destroy anything put against it, and he watched the other astronauts and started to notice th
eir reactions to the dangers and that they were going to keep away from it, and it looked as if it had recently altered in some way, and he wondered if it had been there the amount of time he thought it had been, and where it was getting its power from, and considered if it was a new source of immense power and what it would be worth!
Gusts of wind occasionally howled about in the chamber in front of them, as air was caught by its forces, and he kept wondering if it created power, which was used by its creators as a power source, and he considered if it could be the reason it was there, and that it was so dangerous it was put there on top of the pinnacle, and had connections going below.
Yet he could sense it was more, and that they could have been put there for a reason!
The antics of the astronauts captivated him more and more – mystifying him with the depth of their unsaid thoughts! Orwell wondered around the chamber examining everything he found, repetitively looking for controls to it or something else, and he realized he might be intending to do something, at some point!
Suddenly, the reactions of the sphere altered, and he sensed something had happened and he felt a shiver run through him as he felt massive shudders of energy blasting through it, and he turned and realized that Orwell had activated something, and he slowly backed away from it, as it looked more and more deadly and pulsated with violent energy surges, and looked and sounded on the brink of something, or exploding!
None of them spoke and he considered what it really was and how it was formed and he believed that they should start leaving the chamber, but he never knew what direction to go in. Should they go back up to the top of the pinnacle or continue going down, and maybe get trapped below if there was an explosion.
He saw how big it really was, as it expanded out. Its size was huge and like a massive ball of different energies.
Suddenly Rosenberg called out, “What’s that?”
Cronenberg spotted what looked like the shape of something inside it, as though a life form was there, and after a long time of carefully examinations he realized he and the others were unable to properly see it and identify it.
It looked powerful and deadly! It also looked like some form of freak of nature!
He offered the others to give vague explanations, even if fantasies, and they occasionally gave detailed explanations of what could be occurring and Stanley finally explained that particle accelerators experiments on the Earth had now had forces that were able to accelerate particles to velocities beyond anything before, but he was unable to connect the occurrences, and Orwell finally claimed it could be a form of time warp, and could have forces like intense magnetic fields holding it.
Cronenberg realized that they never had anything like it, unless it was kept secret, and he compared it to the energy sphere and the artifact back on Mars.
At one point the thing looked entirely deadly and was pulsating with energy blasts, which looked and sounded on the brink of doing something.
At times they spotted it looked like it turned vaguely translucent and they saw the shape of something inside it, and after along time of carefully examinations and discussions they believed they saw a life form inside it, in some suspended state, in some form of rest, and they stood confused, wondering if they could be on the brink of making a proper first contact situation.
It looked powerful, and deadly! But he could recognize what it was or what it could do, and kept glaring at it trying to get a clue.
At one point Stanley moaned loudly, “What are we doing here? If this thing is as dangerous as it looks …”
His reply surprised him, and he wondered what their reply would be to it, and he allowed them to reply.
“It could be of great value to us!” Orwell replied, firmly. “We were surely put on this pinnacle for a reason … And this is all there is here! It has fascinating properties, and I believe it is not as dangerous as it seems! There would be signs of something having happened before if it had …”
Cronenberg just agreed with him, and examined it in a glance, and replied, “We have been investigating it with everything we have …!”
“The artifact may exist in other dimensions?” Mitchell, the shuttle flight engineer, replied, surprising Orwell, and Cronenberg recalled recent stuff about investigations into other dimensions on the Earth, and he tried to recall what the outcome had been, and realized it had mainly been theories about things.
They all sat down and rested against an area of the chamber wall, at a more distant position, and they started trying to get some rest and sleep, and when Cronenberg finally fell asleep he was soon awakened by Rosenberg giving a loud gasp, making him swiftly awake, and he looked into the sphere and saw a man standing near the center of the sphere and he also gave a loud gasp himself, and he kept trying to see properly what was there, and he finally went silent, and was sure it was a humanoid alien.
The being was in a central denser region, and the whole sphere was turning brighter and louder, and it started shaking everything about them, and it even started knocking them furiously about, and they fell over, and while he was considering evacuating the chamber a sudden shockwave blasted out from it and through the whole structure, throwing them over dangerously, and he heard a distant rumble of rocks falling off the outside pinnacle.
Suddenly everything turned silent and the bright light vanished, and they started to recover, and check the damage, and he noticed Orwell dramatically talking to Mitchell and Cronenberg checked where they were looking and realized that the energy bubble had returned to normal and that a being had appeared from inside it and was standing in front of them, wearing a human spacesuit, and he immediately recognized it, to his horror, and it was the astronaut that he had seen on Mars, which had chased him into the cavity in the hill with a gun, where he had found the alien energy sphere and alien artifact.
Chapter 6
Anders
One of the biggest surprises, after seeing the astronaut emerging, had been when the astronaut removed the spacesuit faceplate, and revealed his true identity, and Cronenberg had been staggered and stumped, as the astronaut was Anders, one of the two astronauts who had crashed and died on Mars, trying to get the diamonds!
He had seen Anders’s skeleton, lying on Mars, staring up at the stars, and when he had seen him standing in front of him he had been totally staggered and had just stood staring, and Orwell had been baffled, and Rosenberg had been dumbfound too, as he had only seen Anders’s skeleton!
For a few minutes they actually stood considering the unthinkable and that they were standing in front of a ghost!
How had he managed to appear in the places he had seen him as an astronaut in a spacesuit, and why was he the same age as he had been, and he would have been dead a long time ago, going by what year he had crashed in.
Anders finally examined them confused, and examined everything about him surprised, and finally asked them what he was doing there, and they just stood staring at him dumbfound, and considering all the possible explanations.
The whole affair seemed to be building up to it – with their space shuttle being brought down by a mysterious force, the discovery of Anders in the crashed space vehicle, right next to where they had crashed, the astronaut that had been haunting him, and the discovery of the alien energy sphere, and the eventual discovery of the alien artifact buried below, under the ground below the hill, the explosion of the whole hill, and their trip through the universe, and being found below it not knowing how they got there, and the mysterious discovery of the laboratory black hole and it exploding out and taking them there.
They were positive the black hole had connected to someone’s gateway, and that they were deliberately taken to the incredible world, and now they had found Anders there, alive and in the same state as he had been on Mars.
The place startled Anders and he had never seen anything like it, and he could recall nothing other than what he was sure was him dieing on Mars, watching the Earth in the sky, and he recalled encountered something alien
and it taking him away, and he had no recollection of meeting Cronenberg or shooting at him.
Cronenberg watched him in partial horror and amazement! Astonished that he was alive! Something he had not even thought of! He had thought of him and his map many times over since finding his skeleton, and especially when he had been in the Mars base library, investigating him and where the diamonds were, and he could only watch him, examining him.
He looked slightly different, from his skeleton and photos, but he knew it was him, and he wondered if Anders could help him!
He noticed Rosenberg could hardly believe it was him and kept examining him and trying to fit things together, to explain something he could not grasp, and it surprised Anders that the scientist with him, who had found the diamonds with the satellite, was not there, and Cronenberg realized that he looked more disappointed in that fact than anything else.
Cronenberg could not grasp what had taken him away on Mars, as his descriptions of it were fascinating, and he realized it had to have been the force that had landed them and he had encountered within the energy sphere, and he realized that they had not fully contacted it, and that it could have two identities, as it had to have put Anders on Mars as a form of ghost as the astronaut with the gun, which had shot at him and nearly killed him.
He was unsure how dangerous it was, as it had done many dangerous things to them.
Anders started believing that he had been transported there through a vortex and had religious beliefs of what had occurred, to their surprise! He surely had thought he had gone into his own place in the afterlife but was unsure where the hell he was, in heaven or hell, and they watched him praying to be saved.
The Lost Time Probe Page 8