I wondered what the outcome of it would be, and if it was just another disappointment, and I compared what had happened with what I had originally thought would happen and would be there.
For an instant the rope jerked and oscillated and I slightly spun uncontrollably and a surge of blackness engulfed me, and I wondered what the hell I was entering, as I thought of my original thoughts of what was below, and again considered what could be buried away there and wondered if they had underestimated something, and I remembered the metal detector and what had happened at the woman’s house, and looked in the direction it was, and was amazed that I was at such a depth below the region, and I wondered what they would do with it, and it mystified me!
I thought of ancient black magic worshippers concealing something below, beyond my comprehension, hidden away from mankind, and I wondered why it was the way it was if it was!
I tried straining my eyes repeatedly to see further and to spot the features of anything new, and when I landed on the ground I pulled himself upright with the help of the rope, and released the rope’s tight grip against my body, and shivered at the coldness there, and realized how much I was on my own.
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
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 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.