“See this bit,” Eric said and patted the upper part of the form. “Looks like a butt. And all those little black rocks fallen down into the valley look like its turds.”
Nadia took out her phone, it not being a smart phone she was allowed to carry it and now she turned the camera on and took a snap of the others around the rocky ass. Eric then took the phone off her and told her to join the others. He clicked the capture button and caught them side by side smiling for the shot in front of the black hidden door way to the ancient cavern below.
Chapter 17
“Looks like a great place for a picnic,” Tony said. “Anybody got any food?”
The group hunted through their bags and found muesli bars, fruit and sandwiches. They shared the food and used the rocky turds as seats; Alicia placed her handkerchief over hers, and enjoyed the scenery and each other's company. They shared jokes and disgusted what the importance of this place was to Mr. Mauritius Cushly. When that was all done they returned into themselves. Joel went for an exploratory walk. Nadia twirled a red wild flower in her fingers with another one tucked in behind her ear. Roy hunched over his note book jotting notes down and going over the clue again. Tony sat and rested and Eric scrolled through his reminders on his phone.
Alicia took out her mp4 player, plugged in her ear phones and selected her favorite song and looked for a comfortable spot to relax. She found a flat rock right up against the rocky formation. Alicia once again placed her hanky down on it and took a seat. She pressed her back against the vertical rock and kicked out her feet with the mp4 player resting in her lap. Her eyes watched the horizon, her mind listening to the song. As the next song started she pushed her back up closer to the rock and took the mp4 player from her lap and placed it on a rock by her side so she could straighten her head without the ear-phones popping out. The carefully crafted tunes in her ears were overpowered by a loud crackling. She looked down at her mp4 player, it flashed a few times then the screen brightness began to intensify. Her mind didn’t even have time to start to look for answers when suddenly the solid, heavy unmovable rock face she was leaning on fell away and gave up its support.
Alicia fell back.
Her arms shot out trying for anything to bring her back up but found none. Her eyes bulged at the realization she was at the mercy of gravity. She yelled and watched a square of light that was where she once sat pull away. Then darkness took over.
**
Alicia’s scream echoed out a perfect square one and half meters by one and a half in the hill just under the rocky butt. The others were slammed back into reality and came running to the hole.
Joel poked his head in, “Alicia!” he called down into the darkness.
There was no response.
Panic swept over the group.
“ALICIA!” Joel called again this time louder. “Are you ok?”
“I think so,” came a soft reply.
“God dam it Alicia.” Joel then saw the light of Alicia’s mp4 player appear as if it had been turned over. The light looked very small, about thirty meters away straight down. The darkness smothered everything but the light of the device. How did she survive a fall like that? Joel couldn’t comprehend the logic of it. He watched the light rise a little and then sway left and right. Alicia was trying to use it as a torch. “I bloody told you to watch what you lean on.”
“I’ll see if I got a rope in my car,” Eric said and shot off like a rocket down the hill.
“Hold on Alicia, Eric has gone to get a rope. Alicia you’re a long way down how the hell did you survive that fall?”
Alicia called back up from the darkness, “It was strange it was as if I floated down, not fall at the speed I expected.”
Joel kept his eyes on the light below as it bobbed up and down and then circle.
“This place is huge,” Alicia’s trembling voice echoed.
Beside Joel Nadia jumped and then patted at her shirt pocket. She then pulled out her phone and threw it to the ground. The phone flashed and violently vibrated across the ground. “What’s with my phone?” she asked in shock and watched the phone start to smoke and then explode into pieces.
“SHIT DID YOU SEE THAT?” Tony cried.
Nadia nervously bent down and scavenged through the remains of her phone but only managed to retrieve the micro Sd card which looked relatively unscathed, “Oh my god, my parents are going to kill me.”
The darkness Joel struggled to see down into erupted into a bright blue blinding flash. He shielded his eyes then the light softened and glowed steadily. Joel’s eyes slowly adjusted. The entire cavern was illuminated in a blue haze. He saw Alicia looking up at him and shrug her shoulders. They both looked for the source of the light but could only confirm that it seemed to be coming from the lining of the domed cavern.
Joel shot out his hand and feet for tighter balance as a heavy hand landed on his back.” What the hell is going on down there?” Tony asked.
“Take it easy Tony you nearly pushed me in.” with his sudden action to balance himself Joel loosened a rock that was embedded in the hard soil. Joel picked it up and told Alicia to stand back. He dropped the softball sized rock down into the hole. The rock plummeted down then slowed and continued on to the ground as if in slow-motion. The rock finally hit the ground with a soft plunk. Joel and Alicia could not find any words to share that could explain what they just saw; their conditioned minds could not find any thought to rationalize it.
Their eyes wide with fright.
Chapter 18
Richard Bursik closed the door to his hotel room and dropped his heavy frame onto the floral quilt-covered bed. An old TV had crawled up the wall, perched itself in the top corner of the room and patiently waited. Two shut laptops hibernated on a chipped wooden desk at the end of the bed. The room was small but comfortable. A shut door to the bathroom, a bed and another shut door to the restaurant below; that’s all he needed.
Richard’s mobile rang a standard ring tone. He shot up, pulled out the phone from the breast pocket of his jacket and answered it before it had a chance to ring again, “Yes,” he replied loud and expectant. “I understand,” he sighed. “I’ll organize Jake to cover for me on the race…..ok send me the location.”
He returned the phone to his pocket, moved over to the desk and flipped open the two laptops. While he waited for the Laptops to load up he made his way into the bathroom. His eyes found themselves in the small mirror. He kept them open as long as he could then he slowly blinked, enjoying the darkness before reopening them to a different world.
The cold water he splashed on his face rejuvenated his strength. In one yank he pulled off the lid to the toilet water reservoir and fished out a small sealed plastic bag. He ripped open the bag and held the object hidden in the bag firmly and comfortably in his hand; like shaking hands with an old friend. As he left the room the trustworthy mirror caught the image of a soldier tucking a gun into his belt and then in a blink reflected the emptiness of the back wall, promising not to tell anyone of its secret.
**
Mauritius Chushly sat uncomfortable in a foreign chair with his cane across his thighs and his fingers pressed together guiding his mind into thought. His accomplice interrupted him with a sense of urgency. He whispered in to Mauritius’ ear. Mauritius gripped the top of his cane with his right hand and stabbed it down onto the wooden floor.
Chapter 19
Their minds still young quickly adapted to the bizarre.
“Wait there, I’m coming down,” Joel said.
“You’re not my knight in shining armor,” Alicia called back. “Yeah, let’s rescue the stranded damsel to make you feel like a big man.”
“Screw that, I just got to experience this,” Joel said with a hint of excitement. He spun around and shot both feet into the hole, the rest of his body quickly followed. His arms and legs flailed until his descent slowed. He then stuck out his arms like a pelican and glided down to the ground. His feet landed on what felt like sand and he q
uickly regained his balance and spun around to face Alicia with a massive smile, “Man, how cool was that.”
“More like how stupid was that? What if they needed your help to pull me up?”
Joel still smiling, “Felt like batman.”
“Where are the others anyway?” Alicia said looking up at the square of sunlight.
“They said they couldn’t just stand there and do nothing while they wait for Eric so they went looking for twigs and vines to make a rope from, like bear Grylls does.”
“Bear who?”
“Man versus wild,” Joel waited but got an empty stare back from Alicia. He threw his arms out, “Ahh forget it.”
Joel spun on his heals with his hands on his hips taking in the hollow mountain. The dome shape cavern had six perfectly round black spheres spread out against the rocky wall and slightly buried in the sandy ground. They were about two meters in diameter and looked as smooth as marble. Joel casually stepped over to one and gently ran his palm down its curve feeling its smooth texture. As his hand touched he experienced a weird sensation. He heard a deep thrumming vibration, he heard it not with his ears but with his whole body. The sensation ceased as he withdrew his hand. “I think these balls are causing the silky blue light thingy lining the walls.”
Joel circled and explored the room further.
Alicia stood in the center with arms crossed.
Joel stopped in front of the wall and bent down on one knee. “Take a look at this Alicia,” He said and pushed his face closer to the black rock wall. There were symbols carved into the rock very similar to the ones they had seen on their clue. But unlike the other symbols that were arranged in a circle these symbols formed a square, one and a half feet high and one and half feet across.
Joel brushed out some dirt from the symbol with a finger to get a clearer image but the eerie blue light caused an annoying glare. Alicia crouched beside Joel and strained her eyes to no effect; frustrated she took out her mp4 and pressed it up against the symbols to see if the extra light would help. The wall suddenly shook. Alicia grabbed Joel’s shoulder for balance but only managed to drag him back onto his ass as well.
The engraved symbols seemed to stretch out, reaching out to one another and then finally joined hands. The one and a half feet square block of rock slid away deeper into the mountain with a low sharp grinding sound. It slid away twenty meters and came to a stop in the centre of another cavern.
Alicia and Joel looked at each other then into the little door way.
“Your mp4 opened it,” Joel gasped.
Alicia’s eyes widened, “That’s how I fell in. I had put my mp4 on a rock next to me then suddenly I was down here.”
Joel without hesitation crawled over and stuck his head into the hole. The room was very similar to the one they were in but the doomed roof came to a much sharper rounded point. Joel crawled in.
The vibrating sensation returned to his body but this time he did not have to touch the spheres to hear it. Joel stood up and his eyes immediately caught another spectacular sight. In the centre of the chamber, ten meters off the ground and the same distance down from the pointed roof, as if frozen in suspended animation, sat a round bronze coloured metallic object. The object was the size of his palm and looked similar to an old pocket watch.
Joel walked under it his mouth open and eyes never leaving it. “Wow,” he mouthed then his shin kicked something heavy and very solid. “Ouch!” Joel looked down and saw the square block that was once a secret door at his knees. Cursing he rubbed his shin and noticed three smaller spheres, three ruler lengths in distance apart and each laid out on the sandy ground in a triangle shape with the square block at its centre.
“Alicia,” Joel called towards the small door way. All he could see were her legs through the hole as she stood in the other room. “Come here and get a load of this.”
“No thank you, being stuck in here is bad enough,” her legs answered. “Let alone being stuck in there, stuck in here, stuck in a mountain.”
“Suit yourself.”
Joel stepped up on the block and leapt up at the object. His outstretched hand fell well short. He thought for a moment then shot into the other room. “Come on,” he simply said at Alicia and dragged her back with him.
In a state of awe Alicia looked up at the object and was willingly led by Joel and guided over to the square block of rock. Joel hopped onto it, “step up,” he said and helped Alicia up holding her hand. “Turn it on.”
“What,” Alicia awoke from her zombie state.
“Mp4, turn it on.”
“Oh.” Alicia pulled out the device and did as she was told.
The three spheres instantly rolled away in opposite directions. The metallic object lowered and stopped just above their heads. Joel shrugged his shoulders and slowly reached up. He felt the cold metal against his palm and his fingers closed tightly around it. The humming stopped and the illuminated blue silky film lining the walls dropped away.
Absolute darkness took over.
Over-head the earth shook with a thunderous cough. Joel blinked and urged his eyes to focus but the veil of blackness stayed. Heavy thuds started to rain down around them.
“LET IT GO,” Alicia urged, pulling at Joel’s shirt.
Joel released the object and instantly the blue light returned and the trembling ceased. The room was as it was apart from a cluster of large boulders scattered around the room partially buried in the soft powdery sand.
“Oh crap,” Joel cursed bringing his hand back down to his side. “That was close. That must be one important object.”
“Good guess Steven Hawkins. Usually if you see something floating around in a hill that’s only being held up some sort of force field it’s a good chance it’s important.”
“It’s being protected by the blue thingy and it’s also its defence mechanism against any one taking it.” Joel bit his thumb in thought, “But there must be a way to get it out or else what’s the point of it all.”
“Shouldn’t you be worrying about getting us out, not that watch?”
“Eric will be here soo…”
Joel was interrupted by a muffled voice, “Joel are you there?” the voice called.
“See, here’s Eric now.”
Joel and Alicia crawled back into the other chamber and saw Eric’s silhouette in the hole in the roof.
“Did you get the rope?”
“Yes but had a little trouble with two knots in it.”
“What?” Alicia and Joel said together.
“Might be unsafe. It’s a regand rope.”
Alicia had enough of Eric’s pranks. “Stop stuff’n around and get us out,” she shot back.
There was a crackling buzzing sound. Eric twitched then fell in. He yelled and his arms and legs try to imitate a madman impersonating a mini windmill. Alicia and Joel watched him drop then float down to the ground the whole time screaming and limbs flailing. Alicia and Joel casually stepped aside and let Eric softly hit the ground on his back between them. He continued to yell, eyes closed and looking like a beetle that has been flipped on its back.
“You can stop screaming now,” Joel said standing over Eric.
Eric slowly opened his eyes then sprung up to his feet slightly embarrassed. “Oh my god I’m still alive, the bastard tried to kill me.”
“Dude you’ve lost it.”
“I tried to warn you two ‘two knots,’ two guys. Regnad rope spells danger backwards.”
“Who?”
“Them,” Eric pointed up.
Two red ropes unfurled and dropped to the ground. Each rope supported two men as they repelled face down running along the wall all the way to the ground. The instant they hit the ground, in one fluid motion they unclipped their support rope and each pulled out a sparkling Taser.
Eric, Alicia and Joel backed away.
“Who are you?” Joel asked through his trembling lips.
The two men dressed in dark clothing did not answer, they char
ged at the three with Tasers spurting blue sparks.
“They pushed me down a hole, I don’t think they’re here to talk,” Eric informed them.
“Go! Follow me.” Joel said and crawled through the secret little door into the next room with Eric and Alicia close behind. Joel ran and hopped onto the square block in the centre of the room. “Hurry I got an idea.”
“NO, No, no.” cried Alicia but followed Joel onto the block.
Eric followed Alicia with uncertainty. “Why no, no, no what’s he going to do? And what the hell is that up there?” he said pointing at the metal object floating above their heads.
“It’s the light switch,” Joel said and grabbed the object.
Darkness returned with a rumble and the sound of falling rocks rained down around them. The ground began to shake more violently and the sound intensified.
Joel let go.
The room illuminated once again into a blue haze. Joel leapt off the block and ran towards the small entrance. A massive meter wide boulder lay a few feet away from the square doorway. Joel charged his shoulder into the rock, dug his feet in deep and slowly nudged the rock closer to the hole. Eric sprung into action and joined Joel. The rock crept forward across the sandy floor and lodged itself into the hole. Eric and Joel kept their weight on the rock as a soft counter push came from the opposite direction
“Alicia quick, see if you can find a way out.” Sweat building up on Joel’s forehead.
Alicia franticly circled the room checking the walls for another possible door but found none. The boulder jerked back much stronger this time and the pair tried desperately to hold it in place.
“HURRY!” Eric cried.
Alicia searched again and tripped on a fallen rock. Her hand shot out and managed to break her forward momentum. She felt a crease in the floor under her palm. Wiping away the sand she saw a symbol that looked like a girl’s wavy hair caught in a breeze. Below that was a protruding palm sized round knob. She took out her mp4 with adrenalin pumped fingers and waved it over the knob, as she did so four cracks slit up the wall in front of her. The cracks opened up to five centimeters wide and ten centimeters long.