The Alien Artifact 9 (Novelette) (11 page)

I
cleaned dirt off my clothes and glanced at the rubble, and
wondered what the outcome of our investigations would be and I
realized the others were dramatically staring down at me, in the
above torchlight.

There really was only one object in the
chamber that I saw and I was surprised at the actual size of it, as
it had seemed far smaller above, and I strode over to it, examining
it, at different angles, checking if it was connected to something,
and perhaps some form of equipment, and considered if it could have
something like a generator leading to it, and considered what it
was used for, and I realized the chamber and it had to be there for
a good reason.

Once at it I dreamily wandered about it and
touched its black surface, which I was sure had to be metal, and I
started examining it in detail and I was staggered to feel a form
of energy pulsating through it, which I sensed had far more
magnitude than it felt, and I wondered what the hell it was as it
looked as though it belonged to the military, and I shined my torch
up close and over it while I marched around it, and I slowly
realized how much it was a perfectly symmetrical black sphere.

Chapter 24

Marple Arrives

I sensed there
was something that they were not saying, but I knew I only needed
to wait for them to tell me, but I kept wondering repeatedly if we
were in danger and tried to grasp it, and what I needed to
know.

I was glad to
see Marple arrive later in the evening, after we had spent hours
searching the cavity, and documenting everything we could, and
getting some sleep.

Nobody but a
few archeologists and scientists wanted to leave there and miss
anything, and any discoveries, at such a crucial moment, but I was
surprised that little was found after all, and could not fully
believe it, and still waited.

Marple’s
appearance was magnificent and I questioned him on how he had known
and he told me he had not until he arrived at the top of the shaft,
where the scientists there had told him.

The scientists
kept consulting each other and still came up with little, as there
was no proof of anything, and the black sphere object remained a
mystery, and they had little on it, and what it was doing there,
and they monitored it with everything they had trying to discover
what it was doing, and found virtually nothing, and some thought it
was being controlled from somewhere else!

With the war
most thought it was some form of colossal weapon, atom bomb, or
surveillance device, which might have been recently partially
awoken, and made ready for use.

“
It
could be highly classified!” I announced to Marple and Oswald.
“We’re still just playing around ...”

“
But if
it is a bomb and is going to be used we could move it away!” Marple
stated.

“
Who
would put a bomb under a hospital?” I replied.

“
We’re
best not revealing it anywhere unless we have to!” Marple
replied.

Fluctuations
occasional shuddered through the stone ground from it as it had
some form of power surge, threatening to do something, and I
imagined my remains being found days later scattered everywhere as
investigators tried to fit together information and try to explain
what occurred.

It surprised
me that Marple was the only one that seemed to not have considered
there was anything unearthly about it.

He seemed to
be holding back doing something, and checking something out, and
what we thought of things and I knew he had come to the hospital
for some reason.

When the
others were getting some rest or eating, he started examining the
cavity further, in more detail, and eventually me and Oswald helped
him.

“
You
agree that the stairs above the cavity go in a straight course
forward, and the cavity cut it off, and it fell down …?” he asked
me.

I nodded,
wondering what he meant, and I watched his eyes go on a point
directly ahead, where he briskly went to, and Oswald watched him
and followed him, and I went after him.

At the place
he went he carefully examined it, and a heap of stones where part
of the cavity had collapsed over, and started removing rocks and
throwing them away to his side, and Oswald and I eventually joined
in throwing rocks and dirt away from the spot, and Marple finally
found a hole, and increased the size of it.

“
What’s
that?” I finally asked, curiously, wondering what he wanted
there.

“
The
above stone steps and tunnel continued in a straight line, and they
must have gone somewhere, where someone removed them and created
the cavity, and cut and allowed a small part of the stairs
remaining there to fall …”

I tiredly
thought it over, and wondered what he thought was there, and
followed him in the hole with his light, and I started to see the
steps and tunnel, and I wondered where they had been going to after
all, and I considered if someone had put the cavity there to hide
something further along, and I kept thinking it over, wondering
what we were searching for.

Yet, after a
long time, I still had no idea what we were going after, and I
realized what we had found could be nothing compared to what was
ahead!

Yet why did
Marple not think there was anything dangerous, and why was he so
desperate to get there, and make sure nobody else came with us.

Chapter 25

The End of the
Tunnel

The white radiance off
Marple
’
s
torch slowly shifted to specific calculated positions, probing its
way into the abyss ahead, scattering beams through clouds of silky
dust our feet blew up; and occasionally stuck deep in my lungs,
causing me to give short sharp convulsions, and I continued on
going, inhaling enough air.

Faint echoes of our breathing could be heard
in our shuffling movements and in the deep silence of the thick
underground walls, and I felt the coldness of the walls and it
penetrate my limbs; while uniformly marching along, into obscurity,
with expectations of plunging into something.

It had been incredible when the tunnel had
stopped going downwards and had gone in a straight line in another
course, and Marple had told me we were going back under the
hospital, far below the ground, and I sensed we never had far to go
until we reached our final destination.

Glimpses of Marple
’
s darkened crouched figure
in the illuminating light over the walls wavered rhythmically as he
investigated the tunnel, and it fluctuated and Oswald reacted
behind me and I followed his eyes to where Marple
’
s eyes had suddenly gone,
and I gasped, and I once saw both of them were gasping, and I
realized it was something, and then realized it was the end of our
adventure and exploration, and I was left disappointed as I really
thought we were going to discover something incredible.

The entire tunnel had collapsed in and we
could go no further along, and we had reached our final destination
and had not found out what had been there, and I realized the
mystery could be left there forever without us knowing what was
there.

The rubble blocking the tunnel was too deep
down and giant boulders there too immense to move, and were firmly
fitted together, and we stood saying nothing, and I watched Marple
make some calculations, and check what he had.

By his reactions I sensed that he was up to
something, and I knew we were located near the hospital, and
realized that we must be deep under Battlefield Road, and I was
sure that the builders of the tunnel might not have been able to
build it properly in the above ground, without using wood or metal
to properly hold it up, as it was surely soil.

It was strange, as we walked back up, I kept
sensing Marple had a plan, or was making a plan, and was not saying
anything at the moment, but I could not quite grasp what, and why
the hell someone wanted what was there to be there, and had gone to
such lengths to put it there.

Chapter 26

The Treasure
Discovery

Marple rushed into his seat with a drink as I
entered the headquarters of Reality Investigations and sat beside
him next to the fireplace, and watched him go through a pile of
documents.

It was incredible! Marple looked more
confident than I had ever seen him, and he wanted me there to tell
me about his search for the treasure, and I knew he had to have
something! He also told me his investigation of the serial killer
had progressed and could reach a conclusion soon, and he left that
without any further explanation, or anything really, and he was
extremely happy how things were going, and that he could solve the
unsolvable case.

Marple studied me, and asked, “Has anything
happened at the house at Craigmillar Road?”

“
Nothing!”

“
Have you been there
lately?”

“
Nobody has been there since the
paranormal scientists found the disturbances at the hospital and
moved all their equipment over there!”

“
I want you to take them there again,
and investigate it again!”

I looked up startled wondering what he
wanted there, and I considered if they would go there, as we
finished our investigations there as far as I was concerned.

“
What for?” I muttered.

“
I have had someone contact them and
they agreed to take the exploration association scientists and
their equipment there to scan the building …”

I was left confused, and wondered what would
happen, as what was there had reacted to the metal detector and I
wondered what it would react to the stuff they had, and I had just
about lost all the powers I had after my last confrontation in the
hospital shaft, and I did not like it, as I had not found any real
use for it, and the powers had only created problems for me as far
as I was concerned, as I had no real control of what it could do,
and I was not so sure they were even mine as they seemed to do
things for something else, which I was not sure I knew what.

It was incredible as the two paranormal
scientists became fascinated with the occurrence at the woman’s
house again and they wanted to carry out a proper investigation of
what was there, and they had grown tired of their investigation of
the cavity and the hospital and I was left confused as to what they
had found, or thought they had found, and realized there was little
that would be recorded in the history books from the occurrence
after all, even though they were still investigating the black
sphere in the cavity.

After all that here was no sign of proof of
anything, which the public would accept. Was it a new form
haunting, of paranormal? And if so what the hell was happening?

Even though the site at that region had been
the site of a large famous battle, and massacre that could have
caused such an occurrence, of which the bodies could well be below
the region, I could not grasp what.

We investigated everything we could, and all
the information and history of the region, trying to grasp
something, and some clue, and the main regions of the battle that
had occurred, and at Battlefield Road, where the tunnel had
gone.

“
What’s that?” I asked, seeing Marple
play happily with documents, inside an envelope.

For a few seconds his face held a sad
expression and he considered the occurrences and his
investigations.

He finally replied, “The late Dr Barrymore
…”

“
He died!” I gasped, and wondered if
it really was the end of the investigation for the
treasure.

“
Sadly so! I think we should find what
he was looking for anyway, as he wanted it very much … His wife can
have her share of it if we find it, and he will be remembered for
the discovery …”

“
That’s perfect!” I replied, wondering
why he was so confident now, after so many people throughout
history were unsuccessful.

“
From my questioning of his wife I
found Dr Barrymore found the treasure from an accumulation of
sources, which surely grasped his imagination with the mentions of
the strange magical artifact, which was mentioned like the Holy
Grail …”

I gasped at what he had said and knew he
never believed in such magical things, and I considered what he
meant.

“
He was obsessed with its magical
powers …” he continued. “Which I believed he never really thought
existed … He never had the map he gave us examined any further as
it was too valuable to him … I did though … And I had it
investigated by a friend … Who had it investigated further and
managed to reveal faded landscape shapes, before it had faded …
From 1568 … Which was why I was at the hospital …”

“
What the treasure was marked there
…?” I asked, surprised.

“
I also knew the archaeologists and
scientists were investigating there … I believe the person that
drew the map was being chased – and being chased by soldiers – and
hid it …

He grabbed his pipe off the table and began
smoking.

“
Who could have chased him?” I
asked.

“
It was dated 1568! Mary Queen of
Scots had a battle there, and I believe it was her valuable jewels.
The royal jewels of a famous queen! I think she was visiting
someone at the site, and had even taken her jewels there, as
perhaps her enemies were after her and the jewels, and she gave
them to someone there … To perhaps keep for her … The person must
have been a good friend, and perhaps a soldier, and had either been
seen taking them or was just chased by the other soldiers there
…”