“No,” Ben admitted. “We had so many hits near the foundations that we didn’t really have a chance. Didn’t think much about it actually.”
Jenna’s phone rang. “Hi, Lacey.” The call lasted less than a minute. Jenna told the others, “Matt and Lacey made an offer on the house.”
“I’m sure it’ll work out for them,” Liz smiled.
Jenna added, “They’re on their way here in a few minutes.”
“If we’re going down there, we’ll have to have lights, maybe some rope.” Though Ben was not necessarily excited about returning to a place where he’d almost met his demise, he knew that the answers to many of their questions could be 25 feet under the ground. “Jenna can you give me a hand?”
“Yeah, when you get out of those clothes, and change back into the 21st century.”
Nodding, he smiled at her, and went upstairs to change.
After Ben and Jenna had secured the necessary gear and put it on the back patio, they saw Matt and Lacey approaching. Lacey had her arm around Matt’s waist, and in her eyes was the look of a woman in love.
They gathered in the warm afternoon sunlight. What they had seen in Ben’s photos warranted investigation. Not one of the intrepid six doubted that. What else the darkness concealed, they could only imagine. Although Charlie was used to taking risks, the others, except for Lacey, avoided risks whenever possible.
Excitement was in the spring air, and thoughts of discovery were rampant among them. In a way, this was the beginning of an expedition about to happen on Atwood House property, an expedition that Ben Manning was getting more nervous about with each minute that passed. After the gear had been loaded into the back of Matt’s pickup, it was go time. Lacey and Liz sat in the truck with Matt, the others riding in the back as Matt drove the short distance to the site.
They unloaded the gear near the stone slab that hadn’t been opened. Then they looked at each other for a few seconds before Charlie went over and kneeled beside the large limestone slab. Rubbing his fingers across the surface, he found what he hoped to find—impressions, just like the balance marks on the other one.
Ben and Matt shoveled the edges of the large rectangular slab to loosen it so it would open more easily. Once they had freed the stone, Charlie put his fingers on the balance marks. Nothing happened. He tapped one end with the palm of his hand—still nothing. He slapped the other end with his hand, and again nothing. It was clear to the others that Chase was just as surprised as they were—surprised but not at all perturbed.
Charlie Chase was not a man easily beaten. With Ben and Matt’s help they retrieved a few flat rocks from the creek and returned with them to where the three women waited and watched. Placing two of the rocks on the north end of the slab, Charlie gently pushed on them, but only slight movement occurred. With two more rocks set on the same end as the others, he pushed again.
This time a definite noise from below caught their attention. It sounded mechanical, like steel wheels turning, grinding noises as the south end lifted slowly before rising to a height of eight feet. There, it locked into a perpendicular position, much the same as the other one had done. As the large limestone slab rose, the four flat rocks used as counterweights dropped noisily to the bottom of a deep pit. About 15 feet below, at the bottom of 12 steps, was a brick wall, which looked like it had been recently constructed.
The space was larger than the similar space at the other site, and spacious enough to be a room, although now it contained nothing more than chunks of quartz. The wall below them, that Ben was convinced was a door, held their attention for several seconds. They knew even before descending the steps, that if there was a room behind that door, what happened in 1901 Newburgh might be explained by artifacts concealed in darkness for several decades. Following their persistent efforts, the door began to move, eventually revealing, not a room as Ben expected, but five steps descending into a passageway that ran east.
“I guess this is it,” Ben sighed. “We go in together and come out together.”
“That’s a great plan,” Lacey admitted. “It’s the coming out together part I like best.”
Descending the steps, until each was standing another five feet deeper below ground, they hesitated again, before proceeding slowly. As their flashlights created tunnels of soft white light, their eyes gradually adjusted to the heavy shadows around them. The ceiling was high enough so that none of them had to crouch or stoop to negotiate the tunnel. They took their initial steps into the eerie darkness, that very slowly began to melt in the beams of their lights. Ben and Charlie led the way, with Liz next, followed by Jenna, Lacey, and Matt trailing the small group. They saw in the bright beams of their lights, quartz crystals protruding from sections of both walls, and there were clear indications that mining had taken place. The entire tunnel had the appearance of a mine shaft. The quartz was probably mined and stored in the room beneath the limestone slab, where it was easy to obtain when needed.
“Is it possible that there was a market for quartz crystal?” Ben asked.
“Crystal was used extensively and still is,” Charlie answered.
“Then it was a reliable source of income,” Ben surmised.
“Yes,” nodded Chase, “and it was a primary source used to power their towers.”
They stopped occasionally to regard both the construction of the shaft and the areas where crystal had been mined. After almost ten minutes of walking, they found that the tunnel converged with two others. According to Ben, the one running south went toward Atwood House, and the center tunnel, which ran north then northwest, would lead to the room where he had discovered the three spacesuits.
“If we take the far one,” and Ben pointed to the tunnel bending northeast, “it should take us to where you found me, to the other limestone slab. At least that’s what I think. It’s easy to get turned around down here.”
After less than five minutes, they saw an open doorway ahead. Even from 20 yards away they could distinguish what looked like three people standing motionless inside a room. They looked at Ben, who stared straight ahead. He seemed to be in no hurry to proceed, and the longer they looked at him the more convinced they were that he was not looking inside the room at all. Something else, something in the tunnel held his attention.
“What is it, Ben?” asked Jenna, coming up beside him and taking his hand.
“Look.” He pointed to a large hole in the tunnel wall, a few feet from the doorway. “There’s something in there.”
Matt picked up a sizable chunk of quartz, then said, “Let’s find out what it is.” He walked toward what looked to be another tunnel, but one unsupported by timber, and was most likely an area where a large deposit of quartz had been extracted.
The others followed slowly behind Matt. Suddenly, a large rat shot out of the space and scurried wildly toward the group. It ran across Charlie’s wingtips before disappearing into the shadows behind them. There was an audible sigh of relief from everyone. Before they could pull themselves together, however, a massive rat, bigger than a house cat, appeared so fast it startled Matt. The beast seemed confused in the glaring light, and squealing wildly, it jumped into the air, nearly hitting Matt, who dropped the rock on his foot.
“Ouch!” he yelled.
“The appalling thing is on my foot,” screamed Lacey.
When they looked, there was no sign of the monster rat, but there were faint scratchy sounds behind them. Then, except for heavy breathing, there was only silence. Lacey continued to shine her light on her legs, until she was convinced the fat rat was really gone.
“I cannot deal with rats,” she told the others.
“They’re gone, Lacey,” said Liz, trying to help her regain enough composure and courage to proceed.
When they found Charlie, he was standing near the doorway to the room. With his light shining deep into the interior, he seemed reluctant to enter. Coming up
to join him, they stood several seconds without speaking, letting their eyes adjust to a gritty darkness, which their lights eventually consumed. None expected the room to be so large. It was what was in the room that caused them to draw back in disbelief.
Chapter 53
What held their attention were several objects stacked on heavy metal tables. Four tables along the west wall were completely covered with parts of one kind or another. Some of the larger parts had iconography carved on them like the markings on the piece dug out of the ground near the stone bridge. Another table had small piles of quartz crystals. Some pieces were sliced, while others were cut to various sizes.
Matt looked at gold coins in the bottom of two large iron pots. “These look like smelting pots,” he told them.
“That might explain some of the financial loose ends,” Chase suggested.
Scattered around the room were other miscellaneous pieces, many looking like new old stock. What they were could not be determined with any assurance. Chase picked up a piece from a pile on the floor, and spent a minute attempting to comprehend its function, but said nothing. Other pieces looked familiar, but after examining them, they remained as alien as everything else in the room.
Stacked in neat rows on two other tables were, after examination, not empty boxes as Jenna initially thought, but containers filled with what looked to be several smaller parts, none larger than an inch in length. Among them, were what appeared to be electrical components. Again, after brushing away layers of dust, many parts seemed new, as if manufactured only recently.
Chase looked at the ceiling, more than 15 feet above them. Heavy wood beams ran parallel to each other, 12 of them. Their ends rested on vertical wooden posts placed at corresponding places in the room. Other posts, scattered intermittently, provided additional support for the ceiling, which appeared to be a natural formation of limestone. Each post, and several sections of the ceiling, were coated in black with what Matt thought was a polymer skin, soft and pliable to the touch.
“What is it?” Liz inquired.
“The church,” started Charlie, “I’m convinced it’s directly above us.”
“That would mean . . . ” began Liz.
“After it was rebuilt in 1902, it was not used as a church. It had another purpose,” Chase said. “It was a front to conceal construction down here. I think they utilized this cavern as a laboratory. There’s probably an entrance hidden somewhere in that large escarpment of rock just inside the north woods.”
“This is the right place,” Ben acknowledged, pointing to three uniforms hanging a few feet from where they were standing. They hung like flat people whose heads were on a shelf a foot above them. “Seeing them a second time is even more shocking than when I discovered them.”
The others poked deeper into the room, while Jenna focused the beam of her flashlight on one of the uniforms. She grabbed Ben’s arm, pulling him closer. “Does she look familiar?”
“What?” Ben asked, his face pale, his eyes focused on Jenna.
“Look closely at her eyes, Ben.” It was obviously an identification tag with the photograph of a woman easily visible.
“It’s Anna.” And following a pause, “but that’s not possible.”
“Take a good look,” Jenna told him.
The name beneath the photograph was not Anna Atwood. Instead, the tag read, Kii La Rey. His hands began to tremble, as cold shivers shot up his spine. The flashlight clicked off, and he turned away as though he wanted to leave. He could not believe this startling revelation.
Jenna knew the mystery was not yet solved. Loose pieces to a complex mystery were scattered everywhere, particularly around this room. There remained a slight chance that Kii La Rey was just someone who resembled Anna.
“This would explain some things, wouldn’t it?” Ben’s voice was barely audible.
“Maybe,” she replied, looking at the names and faces on the other identification tags. The last two were photographs of men, one older than the other.
“Jay La Rey,” she read aloud, then, “San Lando.”
Both Liz and Charlie continued putting together what they presumed were the missing pieces to the 1901 crash. There were not many options to consider. The time travelers probably salvaged what they could of their craft, including what most likely was a communication system that was scattered in pieces on and beneath some of the tables.
“Maybe plans to repair the craft had been unsuccessful. Or they stripped as much of the craft as possible, hoping to build a new ship to escape.” One prominent consideration Chase had was that the military had never found the craft, had known nothing about it. “Instead, I think a tower was excavated on the Newland property, maybe nothing more than a large rock, like the one uncovered at the Abbey in Saint Meinrad, or, possibly something like what was excavated last fall near the stone bridge.” Charlie Chase was convinced that he had it all figured out. The missing pieces were no longer missing. The craft had been retrieved and probably stripped.
Liz pulled Charlie to one side. “Suppose the craft is still out there, in the lake or the river?”
“It would have been discovered by now. A satellite scan would have revealed it.”
“You really think they retrieved it?” She pointed toward the three flat people hanging on the wall.
“Yes.”
“Something that large would be extremely hard to hide.”
“It’s possible that these people possessed levitation capabilities—or technology we couldn’t begin to comprehend,” said Charlie. “Remember, military retrieval occurred in 1947—and I don’t think the military investigated invasion or violation of air space. Though the documents could have been manipulated over the years, those declassified documents and the literature I found did not disconfirm a communication tower, so much as play up the meteor story. Although the government’s capable of spinning any narrative, we’re still talking about an event that happened a long time ago.”
“Those unfortunate people,” lamented Liz, “trying desperately to communicate their location and coordinates into their future.”
“Coordinates never received,” Chase added.
Liz shook her head slowly. “Eventually they gave up any hope of returning to their time. Anger and despair took hold.”
“And yet they managed to survive, adapted successfully,” Charlie stated. “That itself is huge.”
Jenna thought Kii La Rey was probably Jay La Rey’s young wife, and they had lived under the assumed names of Anna and William Atwood. She wondered who San Lando might be in this unfortunate trio. Could he be the counterfeit pastor—Thomas Arnold?
At the back of the room, a set of steps rose and abruptly stopped a foot or so beneath the ceiling. “Where do you think these go,” Lacey asked, “these steps to nowhere?”
“Probably an access to the church interior,” Chase decided.
“That would sure make it convenient, wouldn’t it?” Lacey replied, as she continued to rummage through boxes under one of the tables. After moving aside some boxes located at the bottom of the steps, she noticed what looked like the outline of a doorway cut into the floor. “What’s this?” she asked excitedly.
It resembled a rectangle about four feet wide and six feet long. On one side was a metal handle, which Matt yanked. Much to his surprise, he heard the raspy sounds of a steel door opening.
“Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly,” whispered Lacey.
Another tunnel, descending deeper and running east, opened into a room large enough to hold what was undoubtedly the wreckage of a craft. For several seconds, they stood in semidarkness, shining their lights on a crumpled black mass. The ceiling and walls were covered in a black skin, like the coating or skin on the pieces dug out of the ground inside and around the church. Chase was sure this was stealth protection, making the chamber impervious to any kind of laser beams, radio w
aves, energy pulse technologies, geometric or radiometric imaging. It was never meant to be found. Yet, here they were, standing in front of what was left of a craft from the future, that crashed in 1901 Newburgh, Indiana. UNITED AIR COMMAND was distinctly visible on a part pushed up against a wall. Each saw it, and not one of them knew what to do or say.
Chapter 54
Later that afternoon, when Ben came into the library Chase was talking to Liz, while Matt, Lacey, and Jenna talked among themselves. Overhearing parts of their conversations, he knew they were very much concerned about what they had discovered, and even more concerned about what to do with these discoveries. Although they had unraveled a mystery, Ben was starting to regret it. He considered the new information much too dangerous for any of them.
“You okay?” Jenna asked, coming across the room to meet him.
“I guess so. No point in pretending any longer.”
“I think she wanted you to know, Ben.”
“So that’s what she meant about seeing the impossible.”
“Think what she’s been through. She probably had family, a life not so unlike people today, and because of some screwy twist of nature, she found herself living so far in the past, that I’m surprised she survived at all.”
“She tried to warn me several times, kept referring to something evil in the ground.”
“She was in love with you, Ben. Wasn’t that enough?”
Ben nodded slowly, “More than I deserved.”
“So where do we go from here?”
“You know I tried to go with her, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know.”
“Something went wrong. Maybe in the end, that was a good thing.”
Jenna looked curiously at him, knowing what he was thinking. “I suppose you’ll try again?”
“No, I don’t belong there.”
“She can be persuasive, Ben.”
“I’m going to sell the brooch to Bob Bergman, Jenna,” Ben announced abruptly.
Smiling, she replied, “That’s a new beginning then, isn’t it?”
Spider Lines Page 33