Box

by Richard J Lowe

  ‘Can I go down there?’ asked Simone.

  ‘You are a scientist. So I guess it’s alright,’ said Kevin.

  He followed Simone down a freshly cut set of stone steps. Kevin admired the clean, precise surfaces. A nice job even if he did say so himself.

  ‘It’s amazing.’ Simone reached out with her hand as if to touch the object. ‘Can I?’

  ‘I don’t think anyone will mind,’ said Kevin.

  Simone touched the flat, grey surface gingerly as if afraid it might be hot. Then, more confidently, she ran her finger down the face of the cube. ‘It’s so smooth.’

  ‘Weird isn’t it?’

  ‘And they don’t know how old it is?’ asked Simone.

  ‘Nope.’ Kevin had to admit, he was enjoying himself. Even though he had no idea what the object was, he liked knowing more about it than Simone.

  ‘Fascinating.’ Simone was now pacing around the corner to the side most recently exposed.

  ‘They’ve not been able to see inside yet. According to their x-ray machines the universe just stops at the outside.’

  ‘Uh, Kev.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘What’s this?’

  Kevin went to join his sister and see what she was talking about. She was pointing at the side of the object which had previously been perfectly smooth. Now there was what looked like a large circle of slightly darker material. It was as tall as Simone and directly in front of her.

  ‘What the hell?’ That had definitely not been there earlier when he had helped clear the rock away.

  Simone placed her fingers onto the outside of the circular area and started to run them around the edge.

  ‘Careful,’ said Kevin.

  ‘It’s still smooth. Just a slightly different colour.’

  Before Kevin could say anything else, there was a high pitched ‘ting’, and Simone pulled her hand back sharply. They both took a step back as a black spot appeared in the centre of the dark grey circle. Almost instantly the spot had enlarged until the circle had vanished to be replaced by a hole leading into the inky blackness of the object’s interior.

  ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m going to need a change of underwear,’ said Kevin.

  Simone didn’t answer. She had taken a step back and was trying to see inside the object without getting too close.

  ‘We should call the team,’ said Kevin. He lifted his cuff to make the call.

  Simone grabbed his wrist putting her hand over his cuff. ‘And miss out on being the first to see inside?’

  ‘So what? What’s so great about being first?’

  ‘And that’s why you dig holes for a living,’ said Simone.

  ‘Dig holes?’ Kevin felt slighted by the two-word description of his mining career.

  He grabbed his sister’s arm as she moved towards the hole. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’

  ‘Finding out what’s inside. You got some light?’

  Of course, he did. A flashlight was standard issue down here. He retrieved it from his pocket and twisted the end, sending a beam of light into the hole.

  ‘Can’t make out much. Let’s get a closer look,’ said Simone. She held out her hand expectantly.

  ‘What?’ asked Kevin.

  ‘Give me the flashlight. Unless you want to go first?’

  Kevin hesitated, then answered her by stepping into the object. He played the light around the interior, picking up several smooth grey surfaces, much like the outside. He felt Simone clutch his arm, she had followed him in.

  ‘This is amazing. What do you think it is?’ asked Simone.

  ‘No idea,’ said Kevin.

  ‘And why did it open for us?’

  ‘Still no idea.’

  There was a light ting – the same noise they had heard earlier. Kevin spun around, filled with a sudden sense of dread. The hole was gone. Behind them was a solid, featureless grey wall. Then, there was an intense blaze of light, and he had to raise his arm to protect his eyes.

  ‘Kev, what’s happening?’ asked Simone.

  The light dimmed a little, settling at a bearable level. Kevin dropped his eyes and saw Simone blinking as she took in their surroundings: a barren ten-metre square room with walls, floor and ceiling all the same featureless grey as the exterior. They appeared to be prisoners.

  ‘This is bad,’ he said.

  ‘Kevin, you have a remarkable skill for stating the obvious.’

  Some time passed. Their cuffs had lost connection with the colony network. Kevin had supervised the hardwired connection to an access point in the lab yesterday, but so far the icon indicating that there was no connection stayed obstinately on. Apart from that, the cuffs were working normally; without them, it would have been hard to judge how much time had passed. After four hours, Simone’s tank indicator was a constant amber, showing she was below half her supply. Kevin’s was also amber but had started blinking. He was on his penultimate tank of oxygen. This was not helping him relax. He was, for the umpteenth time, hammering on the area of the wall they had entered and shouting for help.

  ‘Even if there was anyone there to hear you, and they heard you, how will they get us out?’ asked Simone.

  ‘We’re going to die in here, Sim. We’re going to run out of oxygen and die.’

  He gave the wall another smack with the flat of his hand.

  ‘You’re just using your air faster,’ said Simone.

  ‘What do you suggest? Sit around and wait?’

  ‘Yes. At least until someone who might be able to help is outside. At the moment it’s just a couple of your dig-units.’

  Kevin sighed and slumped to the ground next to his sister. ‘You’re right.’

  ‘Of course I am. We have enough air to last if we both share and, this is important, we don’t exert ourselves physically.’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘In fact, it would help if we went to sleep.’

  ‘Are you joking? We might never wake up!’

  Simone rapped her knuckles on his head. ‘Dumbo, set your cuff alarm.’

  ‘Hey, cut that out. I’m feeling a little stressed, okay?’

  ‘Sorry. Besides, your low oxygen alarm will wake you up before it’s too late.’

  Kevin tried to load his reply to that with as much sarcasm as he could. ‘That makes me feel much better.’

  ‘Come on. Let’s swap some of your empties for my full tanks.’

  Simone started to unclip one of the full tanks from her tank-belt.

  ‘You don’t have to do that yet,’ protested Kevin.

  ‘Tough. I’m doing it now.’

  Simone pushed the oval tank towards him. Reluctantly, he took it and swapped out one of his tanks. They repeated the exercise a couple of times until they both had the same number of full tanks and a steady amber indicator light.

  ‘Now. Sleep,’ instructed Simone as she set the alarm on her cuff.

  Kevin followed suit, setting the alarm for 07:00 SCT, which was when the scientists would start arriving to continue their observation of the object. He removed his tank-belt and carefully to one side, making sure the tube to his mask was not kinked. Then, he lay down on the hard grey floor and shut his eyes. The tension of their current predicament kept sleep at bay for a while. He lay there listening to Simone’s breathing become slow and steady, with the occasional snort of a half snore thrown in for a bit of variety. He couldn’t understand how she could get to sleep so quickly. His brain was alive with all possible outcomes in the morning; not many of them were happy endings. Eventually, however, the comforting sound of his sister sleeping soothed him. It reminded him of when they shared the family room back in the communal habitat all those years ago. Slowly he slipped towards sleep.

  CHAPTER 4

  ‘Daniel, you have a call from Jacob.’

  Daniel didn’t look up and continued stippling a light green onto the lower left corner of his canvas.

  A few seconds passed before Doris spoke again. ‘Daniel, he is quite insist
ent that he speaks to you.’

  Daniel sighed and put down his brush. ‘Very well. Doris, put him on speaker.’

  ‘Call from Jacob Aarons,’ the AI announced.

  Daniel resisted the urge to comment on Doris stating the obvious as Jacob would now be able to hear him.

  The disembodied voice of Jacob filled the habitat. ‘Hello, Daniel.’

  ‘Hello, Jacob. What is it?’

  ‘Is Simone there?’ Jacob’s tone had a tinge of desperation to it.

  ‘No, why?’

  There was a pause. ‘She’s missing.’

  ‘Missing?’ Daniel sat bolt upright. Nobody just went missing on Mars.

  ‘She didn’t make it back to the hab after work yesterday,’ said Jacob.

  ‘I’m sure Simone is just visiting friends.’

  ‘She didn’t call. And I’ve checked with everyone I could think of.’

  Daniel decided not to comment on the fact that he was the last person Jacob had checked with. ‘What about her cuff?’

  ‘The hab-AI doesn’t know where she is. Her cuff isn’t responding to any pings.’

  ‘You need to call ColPol,’ said Daniel. The Colony Police force, ColPol for short, had the security overrides required to perform a comprehensive AI search.

  ‘Yes. Right. I’d better do that now.’

  ‘Call ended,’ said Doris.

  Daniel didn’t pick up his paintbrush. He was worried. The last person to disappear off-net had been murdered by one of his co-workers in an agri-dome, dismembered and then recycled into fertiliser. He shook his head in an effort to rid himself of all the worst-case scenarios vying for his attention.

  ‘Doris, please give me the news feed on screen.’

  A large screen mounted on one wall flicked into life. It showed the colony news channel. The news was being read by an AI presenter whose features had been modelled with psychological markers that people instinctively found trustworthy. The current piece was about the artefact that his son had discovered last week. It seemed like the entire colony had been talking about nothing else.

  ‘Doris, switch the screen off but notify me if there is any mention of Simone.’

  ‘Yes, Daniel,’ said Doris, and the screen switched off.

  Daniel stared at his reflection in the glassy black mirror, his thoughts as dark as the screen.

  CHAPTER 5

  Kevin was woken by the beeping of his cuff alarm. His back ached, and his bed felt strangely uncomfortable. There was also something on his face. He pawed at his mouth and found that, for some reason, he had gone to sleep with his mask on. Confused, he opened his eyes and then realised where he was.

  ‘Shit.’ He stood up and looked down at his sister.

  He saw Simone’s eyes flutter open. ‘Mmm?’

  Kevin looked down at his tank indicator as it flicked from a flashing amber light to flashing red, and a strident alarm started to sound. ‘Perfect.’ He flicked the toggle switch which muted the alarm, then put the tank-belt back on.

  Simone sat up and stretched. ‘That has to be the worst night’s sleep I’ve ever had. I hate sleeping with this on.’ She tapped her mask.

  ‘Well, that’s the least of our worries right now.’ Kevin gestured at the flashing red light on his belt.

  Simone picked up her tank-belt and looked at the indicator. It was flashing amber. She was on her penultimate tank. ‘Right.’ She put the belt on and stood up. ‘We need to let them know we’re in here.’

  ‘Any ideas?’ asked Kevin.

  ‘Yes.’ Simone took out her flashlight and started tapping it on the exterior wall.

  ‘Uh, I tried hitting it last night.’

  ‘You don’t know what this is?’ asked Simone as she continued hitting the wall with the flashlight.

  Kevin listened for a moment, then said, ‘Oh! Morse code.’

  ‘If they hear this, they’ll know there’re people inside.’

  ‘And then what?’ asked Kevin.

  Simone looked at him questioningly. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean, this thing has resisted all attempts to shave off even a tiny sample. How are they going to get us out?’

  Simone shrugged. ‘Maybe one of them will touch it and the circle will appear.’

  ‘You know the worst thing about hoping for that?’

  ‘Go on,’ said Simone.

  ‘It’s the only hope we have.’ Kevin leant against the wall next to Simone and slid down until he was in a squatting position. ‘So that’s it then?’

  Simone just carried on tapping out the morse code for ‘S.O.S’ and looked at him.

  ‘My last moments will be spent listening to you tapping on a wall.’

  ‘Be quiet, little brother,’ said Simone. ‘You're wasting oxygen.’

  Kevin obediently shut up, taking a glance at his oxygen gauge.

  The seconds ticked away.

  Tap-tap-tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap.

  The seconds turned into minutes.

  Tap-tap-tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap-tap-tap.

  Then, the harsh sound of a tank-belt alarm.

  ‘Shit,’ said Simone.

  ‘Hey, that’s what I said,’ said Kevin, breaking his silence.

  Simone toggled the alarm off, stopped tapping the wall and sat down next to Kevin. ‘They can’t help us, can they?’

  ‘No,’ said Kevin.

  They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, their belt indicators blinking a baleful red. Kevin used the time to think about all the things he wished he both had and hadn’t done with his life. He started with stuff from his childhood, which was quite quick and mostly to do with wishing he’d been nicer to his parents and sister. His adolescence took longer. ‘Misspent youth’ was a phrase that could be applied to most of it.

  ‘Kev,’ said Simone, interrupting his mental bookkeeping of his bad life choices and general lack of achievement.

  Kevin turned to look at his sister. She was looking at his tank-belt. He followed her gaze. The belt indicator light was a solid red.

  ‘Apparently, you should’ve suffocated by now,’ said Simone.

  ‘It must be broken.’

  ‘I don’t think so.’ Simone reached over and lifted his mask off.

  ‘Hey!’ Kevin panicked. He grabbed the mask from her hands and rammed it back over his mouth. He struggled for a moment trying to reseat the mask correctly, so it made a seal. Then stopped, confused. He was breathing normally. He dropped the mask.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ he observed.

  Simone started laughing. It was with a slight touch of hysteria.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ repeated Kevin.

  Simone ripped off her mask, and giddily announced, between laughs, ‘We’re not going to die!’

  ‘Of asphyxiation,’ said Kevin.

  Simone stopped laughing, and her face fell. ‘Oh.’

  Kevin threw his mask against the far wall where it fell to the floor with a clatter.

  ‘It’s dehydration then,’ said Kevin.

  Now he thought about it, Kevin realised he was very thirsty. His mouth felt gummed up from the night’s sleep; he could use a coffee and perhaps some toast. He was really getting into his breakfast fantasy when he saw a patch of the floor in the middle of the room start to distort and appear to rise upwards. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. This didn’t make the apparent hallucination stop.

  ‘Can you see that as well?’ asked Simone.

  Kevin just nodded.

  The phenomenon continued for a couple of seconds, the grey material twisting and reforming, until it finally stopped. It now looked, apart from the colour, exactly like one of the tables found in the communal areas of habs. Complete with two chairs.

  Simone got to her feet and hesitantly walked over and pulled one of the chairs out.

  ‘It’s a chair, Kev.’

  ‘I can see that.’

  There was a quiet swishing noise, and Kevin saw a panel open in the wall on the far side of the room revealing a small alcove. Moment
s later, he could detect the smell of fresh coffee and toasted bread.

  Simone crossed to the opening, then turned around holding a glass coffee pot and a plate of toast.

  ‘Breakfast?’ she asked, a slightly deranged grin on her face.

  ‘I was just thinking about coffee and toast,’ said Kevin.

  ‘Me too.’ Simone put the pot of coffee and plate on the table and sat down.

  Kevin scrambled to his feet and joined his sister. The toast was hot and covered in melting margarine.

  ‘Some jam would have been nice,’ said Kevin.

  ‘I prefer mine without,’ said Simone.

  She picked up a slice of toast and held it in front of her. Turning it about with a look of wonder on her face. ‘This doesn’t make any sense.’

  ‘Let me try some first, it might not be safe,’ said Kevin.

  Simone bit into the toast with a mouthwatering crunch.

  ‘Or you can go first if you like.’ Kevin picked up another slice, one eye on his sister to see if she looked poisoned at all. When he saw she was chewing with obvious relish, he went ahead and bit into his slice. It tasted like it looked. Toasted bread covered in margarine. Now he needed some coffee to wash it down.

  ‘No cups,’ said Kevin. He picked up the coffee pot.

  ‘Oh, you’re right,’ said Simone.

  There was another swishing noise from the alcove. They both turned to look and saw two mugs. They were white, one had ‘his’ written on it and the other ‘hers’, in blue and pink writing respectively.

  Simone dropped her toast. ‘What? Those are our cups from home!’

  ‘Really?’ asked Kevin. ‘A bit twee aren’t they?’

  ‘What are my cups doing here?’

  ‘Having my coffee put in them.’ Kevin retrieved a cup, the one labelled ‘his’ of course, and filled it with coffee.

  ‘Seriously. That’s Jacob’s,’ said Simone, pointing at the mug in Kevin’s hand accusingly.

  ‘I don’t see him about to claim it, so now it’s mine. God, this coffee’s good.’

  Simone stood up and started pacing up and down while she talked. ‘Think about this logically.’

  Kevin took a noisy slurp from his coffee cup.

  Simone continued, apparently interpreting his noisy drinking as agreement. ‘This is an alien artefact. Correct?’