‘Electromagnetic interference,’ he called out as he descended the steps onto the dock. ‘A common event during UFO encounters.’
‘And lighting storms,’ Amy countered as she turned to watch the SEALs begin to winch the object up out of the water. ‘Just because it’s charged doesn’t mean it’s from another planet.’
‘Doesn’t mean it’s not, either.’
‘That’s not a logical argument,’ Amy protested. ‘You can’t prove a negative. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and you don’t have…’
‘Will you two cut it out?’ Hannah snapped. ‘Look, you can test the damned thing to your heart’s content now.’
Ethan watched as the SEALs heaved on the winch and something below them in the water loomed out of the darkness. As he watched, the water in the pen began to glow a luminescent blue as fresh bacteria plumes began appearing on the water.
The winch heaved again and the tip of the object broke the surface. Ethan could see that it was as black as night, a sort of metal that seemed entirely smooth and yet matt in appearance, reflecting none of the lights illuminating the pen. As the SEALs hauled on the winch, more of the object was lifted clear of the water and he heard Amy gasp in surprise.
The object was indeed bell-shaped, roughly twelve feet high and perhaps ten feet in circumference at its base. Ethan could already see that there were odd markings around the rim of the base as the water streamed off the object, like angular hieroglyphics that were etched into the solid metal itself. The object was lifted clear of the water, and Ethan stepped back as the SEALs swung it around on the crane and gently lowered it onto the dock.
The metal base landed with a hefty thump on the dock as Riggs stepped back from then winch, his face sheened with sweat.
‘Heavy,’ he said, ‘but not nearly as heavy as it should be. It must be hollow or something and made of aluminum.’
‘That’s not aluminum,’ Chandler said as he cautiously approached the object and rested his hand against it. ‘The electromagnetic charge proves that.’
He pushed against the object, but he could not move it as Amy crouched down alongside the base and began making careful copies of the inscriptions in her notebook.
‘Looks like ancient Egyptian, or perhaps even the Sumerian script,’ she said as she worked.
Doctor Chandler nodded, a bright smile spreading on his features.
‘That, my dear, would not surprise me in the slightest. The Sumerians recorded in their history the stories of gods from the skies who came down with great knowledge and shared it with the people. They repeatedly stated that these beings resided in the oceans, and that they would come from the water from time to time to help humanity.’
‘And no doubt Santa Claus was there to record the events,’ Amy chortled as she worked.
‘Mock me all you like,’ Chandler muttered in reply. ‘Our ancestor’s tales of ancient intervention by gods from the sky form the basis of all today’s religions, regardless of what today’s believers may assume to be true. This, Die Glocke, is the first tangible evidence of that.’
Amy shook her head in silence as she continued to work.
‘I don’t give a damn where it came from,’ Riggs said as he stared at the object. ‘It’s too big to fit through the front door, so one way or the other we’re going to have to get it out in pieces.’
Chandler stared at the SEAL aghast.
‘Destroy it? The most precious discovery of modern times? An object that will change human history and you want to smash it to pieces?!’
‘It’s not going to change anybody’s history if it ends up buried beneath a couple hundred thousand tons of ice,’ Riggs pointed out.
‘We don’t know what it contains,’ Amy shot back, for once on Chandler’s side. ‘What happens if we break it open and what’s inside is lethal to us, an infection of some kind? We’ll all be dead then, too, regardless of what happens to this cavern.’
Ethan stepped in. ‘Look, there may be another way.’
‘Tell me,’ Riggs said.
‘The device is light enough that it could plausibly be floated out of here using the Seehund, right? We could use the same sub-glacial tunnels that the Nazis used to get into the glacier and build this base. Amy and I saw those channels and there’s life down there, so there must be a way out.’
Riggs frowned. ‘Our support will be coming in using that same path. We can’t risk the chance of a collision beneath the ice.’
‘There’s no guarantee that the channels are still fully open,’ Chandler reminded them. ‘We were briefed that our reinforcements might not be able to make it all the way here, which would mean a longer wait at the base.’
Riggs dragged a hand down the stubble foresting his chin as he looked at Saunders.
‘We heard anything yet?’
‘Nothing on the secure channels,’ Saunders replied. ‘If they’re on their way, they’re staying real quiet about it.’
Riggs nodded and looked at Amy. ‘And you say that this object could contain things that might be dangerous to humans?’
‘It’s from another world,’ Amy pointed out. ‘Another civilization built this. We have no idea what they might have placed inside it.’
Riggs nodded as he made up his mind.
‘If that’s so, then we can’t risk letting it out of this base and perhaps infecting the rest of the planet with some Godawful disease or virus. The only option we have is to open it here.’
‘Say what now?’ Hannah uttered.
‘It’s the only logical course of action,’ Amy agreed enthusiastically, eager to be the one to open the first genuine alien artifact in human history. ‘If this base is about to be destroyed by natural forces, then we know that any virus will be contained by the collapse. All we have to do is ensure that whatever’s inside this bell does not make it into the water flow and out into the wider world.’
‘And how would you do that?’ Hannah asked. ‘This whole cavern is carved from ice that flows out of the glacier, right? One drop of water infected here will be carried directly to the southern oceans.’
‘The blast doors,’ Ethan guessed. ‘We seal them up and open the bell while we’re inside. That way, it can’t get out.’
‘Nothing can be sealed so perfectly,’ Chandler insisted. ‘We cannot reliably examine this artifact outside of a proper laboratory.’
‘Bit short on the laboratory side of things, Doctor,’ Riggs said as he strode by and headed for the interior of the base. One way or the other, we’ve got to open it here and find out what’s inside or this whole mission will have been for nothing, so we’ll have to use the field tents instead. Get on it Amy, figure out how to open this damned thing and fast.’
Amy sat on the dock, huddled in her Artic coat as she stared at the bell’s implacably solid side and let her mind wander free. Ethan could see her from where he leaned against the railings at the base entrance, Hannah alongside him as they waited.
‘She’s not going to figure this out in time,’ Hannah whispered. ‘Veer’s men could come through the front door at any moment and we won’t be able to hold them off for long.’
‘Give her time,’ Ethan said. ‘She’s desperate to see what’s inside the damned thing and that’s a powerful motivator.’
‘You never heard of what happens to curious cats?’
Ethan smiled as he pushed off the railings and walked down onto the dock. He approached Amy from one side, saw her looking straight into Die Glocke’s featureless surface as though seeking a reflection that wasn’t there.
‘How can it be so smooth and yet not reflect anything?’ she asked him, rhetorically he guessed because he felt like the last person on Earth to have a decent answer.