The Nexus Colony (28 page)

“Is this thing hollow?” Grimes said, tapping against the outer shell and placing his head near it. They did not hear any reverberation which was odd since their voices were carrying even close to a whisper.

It was only a subtle change, but Ruger was the first to notice it. He’d been out on
The Ice
a long time and was surprised he hadn’t picked up on it earlier. Ruger reached and peeled back the hood of his parka, though no one noticed. Holding the light close to his face, he checked to see if he was right. Unhooking one of his gloves, he took it off. He still felt the coldness, but it wasn’t frigid and penetrating as it should have been.

“Marsh,” he said softly. “Come here a minute.”

Abbott sensed the change in his voice inflection. “What? What’s wrong?”

Ruger shone the light across Abbott’s face. “Notice anything?”

Abbott looked through the beam, then off to where it was aiming at the wall. “No. Should I?”

“Yes. You should,” Almshouse replied, who had been watching and now knew exactly what Ruger was noticing. “I see what you mean, Mike. You can hardly see his breath.”

“You know, you’re right,” Abbott suddenly realized.

“Did somebody turn the heat on? It’s gotten warmer,” Ruger said. “Relatively speaking, that is. The temperature feels higher than it did a few minutes ago.”

Lisk said, “A heat source maybe?”

“Could be,” Abbott replied. “Anybody got their thermometer handy?”

“It’s about…thirty,” Grimes responded, squinting at the small thermometer he kept attached by Velcro inside the flap of his pocket.

“That’s got to be forty, forty-five degrees warmer than even out there in the crevasse.”

“The lanterns couldn’t be creating that much heat,” Almshouse said.

“No,” Ruger responded, searching the walls of the corridor with the beam of light. “But it’s definitely getting warmer inside here. Funny. I don’t feel any air movement.”

“It’s got to be radiating from somewhere,” Abbott suggested. “Hilly, I want you to keep a close eye on the temperature. See if you can figure a rate of increase.”

“I wonder if this thing
does
go all the way around…” Grimes said.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Prall suggested, making a head gesture to move ahead into the dark corridor. “Want me to check it out?” he asked Abbott.

Abbott contemplated their next move, but before he could answer, Almshouse interjected. “No. There’s a better way.”

“What?” Abbott asked.

“Everybody has a light, right? Let’s everybody position ourselves in a chain and follow along the corridor. We’ll drop a man off about…every fifty feet or so. Just to where the sight distance ends. That way we’ll be able to talk to each other and see each other’s light. That should spread us out about three hundred feet. If this thing is circular, and our calculations are close, the sixth man should be able to see or hear the first man when the circle is completed.”

“It’s a good idea, Marsh,” Ruger responded.

“All right,” Abbott agreed. “Hilly, we’ll leave you here to hold down the fort. Colonel Prall will lead the way all the way around. You watch for him down that way. Let’s move.”

Tentatively and quietly, the men moved forward. At each fifty foot interval, one man positioned himself near to the outer wall to gain the maximum angle along the tangent. Abbott was the last to drop off. That only left Prall. When Prall reached the point where Abbott was dropping out of sight, he stopped.

“Can you see Grimes?” Abbott asked.

Prall flicked his lamp on and off. “Grimes? Can you hear me?”

In the distance, they heard Grimes’ voice answering. “I could hear you the whole time. I could see the light, too. Quite a distance back.” His voice reverberated through the corridor. They all heard it.

Prall turned back to Abbott. “I can see his light up ahead. Looks like Almshouse was right on.”

“All right,” Abbott replied. “I want you to walk up on ahead to Grimes, verify it’s all clear, then come back here. If it’s clear, tell Grimes to go on to the next man, and so on until we close up the circle.”

“Got it,” Prall responded.

It took several minutes to complete the simple maneuver. In the interim before all six of them were rendezvoused at Abbott’s position, he took advantage of the brief hiatus to study the honey-combed pattern of the inner wall panels. The grates were the same everywhere. A perfect symmetrical pattern, fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle but the pieces were the same. They had all observed the same thing. The group stood silent several moments longer.

“We need to inspect it closer,” Abbott finally said. “If it’s housing something inside, there’s got to be an entry way. We need more light.”

The realization came over Ruger like a brick hitting him on the head. “Wait here a minute,” he said, suddenly leaving the group and heading back toward the ice opening.

“Where the hell are you going?” Abbott asked.

“Be right back,” he responded. Ruger picked up the two Coleman lanterns, took them with him out through the opening, and then came back in, lighting his way with the carbide lamp. In a moment, he was back with the group.

“What the hell are you doing?” Abbott demanded.

“Turn off your lamps,” Ruger said.

“What for?” Abbott responded.

“Humor me. Turn off your lamps.”

The lamps extinguished one by one. An awesome silence engulfed the men. Then the incredible occurred. From out of somewhere, the blackness was suddenly bathed in a murky, flamingo-reddish light. A deep, evil foreboding arose inside each man. They stared at each other’s eerie image in the midst of a blackness now turned to visible red light.

“Holy shit!” someone whispered in disbelief.

“It’s like…”

“It’s almost like infrared light,” Lisk said, astonishment in his voice.

“Don’t anybody move,” Abbott ordered.

They stood in silence for what seemed like a very long time. As their eyes became adjusted, the features of the inner corridor became more conspicuous. Soon, they were all able to get a detailed visual of the entire internal structure.

“It’s like looking through night vision binoculars.”

“Ruger?” Abbott asked. “How did you figure this one out?”

“Just a hunch,” he replied. “When we first punched the hole, I thought I saw a red light. Or something like that. I don’t really know. Thought I just imagined it.”

“Nice work,” Abbott replied, staring in awe at what lay before them.

“Next question is,” Almshouse said. “Where’s the source?”

“Better yet,
what’s
the source?” Grimes added.

They all searched silently again, looking for the source of the light. Finally, Grimes surmised, “I don’t think there is a source. At least one that we can relate to. I think the whole
thing
is radiating in some part of the spectrum. Close to infrared.”

“I agree,” Lisk responded. “It’s almost like this place is programmed to emit light as needed. Somewhere along the light spectrum when it’s dark and someone enters.”

“But why this color?” Ruger replied. “Doesn’t make any sense.”

“Doesn’t make sense to
our
eyes,” Abbott said. The suggestion hit home to everyone.

“Shit!” Almshouse suddenly exclaimed. “Did anybody think to check a radiation badge?”

Prall, cursing under his breath, quickly reached into the gear pouch and retrieved one of the badges that they had all forgotten about. In the strange lighting, it was difficult to see if the indicator had changed any color, detecting lethal radiation.

Abbott waited for a response. Prall shook his head. Couldn’t make it out. “Shit!” Abbott cursed.

“Go ahead and turn one of the lamps back on,” Ruger suggested. “We ought to do it anyway to check this thing out.”

“Might as well, Marsh,” Almshouse agreed. “If we’ve been exposed, too late now to do anything about it anyway.”

Abbott looked at Prall. “Turn them
all
on.”

Almost the instant the six lamps were lighted, the blackness returned, and despite the relatively small amount of visible light that was returned, all of then had to shield their eyes for several minutes until they readjusted. Finally, they heard Prall’s voice say, “All clear. There’s no residual radiation.”

Several minutes later, the group was again bathed in the murky reddish light. Ruger asked Abbott. “What do we do now?”

Nobody answered. Ruger thought of John Lightfoot and the missing camera equipment. Now Ruger wished he’d had the presence of mind to bring along spare batteries for his own camera, which he had carelessly forgotten. He had no idea anyway if the film could be exposed down her under these conditions. Lightfoot would have known how to take a picture. Maybe he could make the camera work without batteries or rig something up to power it. Ruger decided to broach the subject.

“Why don’t you get Lightfoot down here to photograph the place?” he asked. “Send him back to the camp to get my camera. Put some other battery power into it.”

To Ruger’s surprise, Abbott responded indifferently. “He’s sick.”

Ruger waited for further explanation, but none was offered.

“Let’s start looking,” Abbott ordered.

“For what?” Grimes asked.

“The entrance,” Almshouse replied.

“You’re going in there?” Ruger responded in disbelief. “You’re nuts!”

“It’s our job, Mike,” Abbott replied. “That’s why we’re here. Thought you knew that by now.”

Lisk and Almshouse were already closely inspecting the grates.

“You’ve got to be out of your mind, Abbott,” Ruger said. “You have no idea what might be
in
there!”

Lisk and Almshouse were moving along the perimeter of the structure. Abbott replied, “It’s probably a solid shell anyway. Or else we’d have seen a door by now.”

“Don’t be too sure,” Lisk responded. He and Almshouse were now kneeling close to the floor.

“What did you find?”

“The doorbell,” Lisk responded.

“Gee-eez! Will you look at that!” Grimes exclaimed.

Everyone gathered around Lisk’s shoulder. Beneath his knees was a panel. But the most astonishing discovery was the series of symbols. Everyone recognized them as the same type figures etched on the box that Ruger and Grimes had found out on
The Ice
.

“Is it the entrance?”

“No. I don’t think so,” Lisk replied. “But I bet there’s got to be one here somewhere.”

“Push the buttons,” Ruger suggested.

“No,” Lisk responded. “Not just yet. Let me study this.”

Ruger looked around. He had never felt this uneasy before in his entire life. Had never felt so uncertain about anything. And somewhat insignificant. “What is this place?” he said.

“I don’t know,” Almshouse responded. “But I think I can venture a guess.”

“I don't really care,” Ruger replied. “I just want to get the hell out of it.”

“I think we’re in the outside corridor of a more significant inner structure,” Almshouse continued to speculate. “A buffer zone, probably. Environmentally controlled. Most likely a place to make the transition from the outside environment to whatever lies inside there.”

“Kind of like an air-lock,” Grimes suggested.

“Exactly,” Lisk replied. “I think if we look along this wall long enough we’re going to find the entrance. I think if we look along the outer wall, we should be able to find where it enters from outside. Remember, we came in through a hole made by the ice.”

“There’s breathable air inside the corridor only because the ice broke the outer protective shell and let in the outside atmosphere,” Almshouse said.

Abbott said, “ Seems so obvious now. The ice got inside over a period of time, broke apart the shell, and exposed the interior corridor. It carried the artifact debris to the surface. It’s amazing the ice hasn’t done more damage.”

“I think maybe it hasn’t had enough time yet,” Grimes speculated.

“Good God!” Ruger responded. “How long has this thing been here?”

“Thousands, Mike,” Grimes replied. “Tens of thousands, maybe.”

“Don’t worry, though,” Lisk half-heartedly assured. “I don’t think anybody’s home.”

“I’m not worried about that, Al,” Ruger replied. “I’m just worried if they decide to come back.”

Abbott was already pondering the prospects.
They
were up there. On the surface. And now Abbott was certain they had found what they weren’t supposed to find. The line was already crossed. He had assured Ruger he’d know when that happened. It was too late now. He had lied.

“Find the combination, Al,” Abbott said. His voice tried not to betray his inner fears. It didn’t really matter much to Abbott and his men. They already knew, each one of them, that they had crossed the line with
The Visitors
.

But Ruger had remembered what Abbott had told him back on the surface. And he remembered that Abbott had told him Lisk was the best there was at computer technology. There were a few devices stashed away in Prall’s bag, and Lisk had retrieved them and was now working diligently around the panel. One looked like a doctor’s stethoscope.

Ruger felt nauseous from the awful foul odor. “I’ve got to get some air,” he said. No one responded. Alone, he ventured back out into the cavern. It took several minutes for his eyes to readjust. Sitting alone in the silence of the ice, he only heard the occasional groan of the interior stress. He didn’t need to look at the time to know that it was far later than when he planned to call it a day. They’d been down here far too long. But Abbott wasn’t about to give up now. He was determined to break into the structure.

Resolute that they were going nowhere in the near future, Ruger thought about radioing back up to talk to Allison. They needed something to eat.
Anything
. The radio. Prall had it.

Disgusted, Ruger sat to rest for a short period of time. He’d recoup, then go back inside and suggest to Abbott that they get some food. Meanwhile, let them kill themselves trying to figure out how to get in.

* * * * *

Two hours had passed since she had come back topside. Two hours that seemed like eternity. Through it all, Allison had grown despondent, weary, and resolute that she probably would never get away from these people without her life changing forever. If indeed she even had a life left to live.