"Looks all right. I'm clearing the cage."
Hawkins took off the headset and put it on the floor of the cage and watched as it rose from the floor and disappeared above. He took the opportunity to walk up to the black Wall. Standing right in front he felt very uneasy. He had no desire to touch the glistening black material. Hawkins had a feeling there was something on the other side-maybe even someone. Hawkins wondered if it was a sophisticated version of those one-way mirrors that police used in interrogation rooms. He didn't like the idea that he might be under observation. Beyond that, though, he sensed a tremendous power and energy inherent in that wavering black surface. The air had a charged feel to it, as if a powerful electric current was running close by.
Hawkins started as he caught movement behind him. The cage settled in and Lamb stepped off and the cage started back up immediately. Lamb stepped up next to Hawkins and stared at the Wall, wordlessly. Batson was the next to arrive and he checked out not only the black Wall but the stone too.
"I don't know what cut this chamber out of the rock, but these walls are smoother than anything I've ever seen done in a mine. Maybe a laser with a hell of a lot of power, but I haven't heard of anything yet made that's powerful enough to do this." He looked about. "And there doesn't seem to be any access to even get machinery in here." His voice dropped almost to whisper. "It's like it just appeared here."
"What do you make of this?" Lamb gestured at the black Wall.
Batson shook his head as he stepped up to it. "It's not rock. At least not any rock that I've ever seen. It might be some sort of metal," he said dubiously. He started to reach out his hand.
"I wouldn't do that!" Hawkins snapped.
Reluctantly, Batson pulled his hand back. "It almost looks like it's permeable."
"Yeah, but if it is, we don't know what it's permeable to, nor do we know what's on the other side."
Fran had arrived by now, holding a portable video camera. She started to film the entire chamber. Levy was next down, followed by Pencak and then Captain Tomkins.
The basket went back up and Hawkins turned to Lamb. "What now? We know we've got what appears to be the same thing that the Russians have at Tunguska, but that doesn't do us much good."
Tomkins was tying in a power line that he'd brought down with him and hooking in some small portable lights. Lamb didn't answer Hawkins right away as he continued to stare at the black Wall. Finally he turned to the members of the team. "Anyone have any ideas what this is?"
There was a brief silence, then Pencak spoke. "I'd say it was a door."
Lamb frowned. "A door? To what? The other side?"
"Of course the other side," Pencak replied. "The question is, what's on the other side? Or more appropriately, where is the other side?"
"What do you mean, where?" Lamb asked, but Pencak ignored him.
Hawkins rubbed a hand through his hair. "Maybe it's some sort of force field to protect the equipment that made the transmission."
"Maybe it is the equipment that made the transmission," Fran threw in.
Lamb turned to Tomkins. "Can we rig some sort of device to touch this Wall?"
Hawkins noted that there now seemed to be an unspoken agreement among all in the chamber that no person was going to make contact with the Wall.
"Yes, sir. I've got some remote arms that we ought to be able to break down and get through the shaft."
"All right." Lamb turned to Hawkins. "We're going to-"
Fran's yell cut him off and Hawkins stared in amazement as the black Wall flickered. Patterns of searingly bright light flowed across the surface for almost five seconds, then suddenly stopped. It went back to black for two seconds, then glowed bright white for a split second and Richman tumbled out, sprawling to the floor, blood pumping from his right shoulder, his MP5 gripped tightly in his right hand. Just as quickly, the Wall turned black again.
Hawkins sprinted to his executive officer and knelt beside him. Richman was conscious, looking up at Hawkins with disbelieving eyes. The muzzle of his submachine gun wavered uncertainly about the chamber, his finger pulling fruitlessly on the trigger with the bolt closed on an empty chamber.
"Are you all right?" Hawkins asked as he carefully extracted the weapon from Richman's hands and then put pressure on the wound.
Richman looked about in confusion as the others in the chamber gathered around. "Where am I?"
"Australia," Hawkins replied. "Ayers Rock."
Richman lifted his head and looked at the black Wall and then back at Hawkins. "I don't understand."
"What happened, Lou?" Hawkins pulled a dressing out of the case on Richman's combat vest and tore it open. "The last transmission we heard from you was that you were moving. You went off the air in the middle of it. We thought you were dead."
Richman shook his head. "I don't know what happened. They were closing in on me. I didn't have any choice. If I'd stayed, I'd have been dead." He lifted himself up on his good elbow and nodded his head toward the black Wall. "That was the only place I could go. I ran into the Wall-I didn't even know if I could go through or if I'd bounce off. But that was in Russia!"
The chamber went silent as everyone's eyes shifted from Richman to the black Wall and then back. Pencak was the first to break the silence. "You went into the black Wall in Tunguska and you came out here?"
Richman shrugged, the move bringing a grimace of pain to his face. "Yes."
"But you went off the radio over eight hours ago!" Hawkins said. "Where were you in between?"
"Eight hours! But I just went through!"
"Tell us what you do know," Lamb snapped.
Richman glared up at the presidential advisor. Hawkins wrapped the bandage around his XO's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "It's all right. Go ahead, Rich."
"But I can't tell you anything more than I have. I ran into the Wall-it was like suddenly stepping into molasses-everything slowed down. Once I touched it, there was no way to pull back. It sucked me in. It was all bright for a second and then dark. Then it was bright again and I was falling out here. I don't know where the eight hours went. For me it was-"
"Hey!" Tomkins's yell startled everyone. Hawkins looked up and was surprised to see Levy standing next to the Wall, reaching out with her hands.
Fran stepped forward. "Debra! What are you doing? I don't think you should-"
She stopped in mid-sentence as Levy stepped into the Wall. Her body started to melt into the black. Hawkins was on his feet and moving. Levy was halfway gone when he grabbed her right shoulder and pulled. To his amazement the effort seemed to have the opposite effect. He was drawn in, feeling the black surround him like a warm, wet blanket. He was blinded by a flash of white and then was gone.
QUESTIONS
Fran ignored the yelling as she helped Batson tie Richman into the wire stretcher that had been lowered in place of the cage. Lamb was in Tomkins's face gesturing at the Wall, venting his frustration at a situation that had gotten far out of his control.
Certain Richman was secure, she gestured at Tomkins for his men to bring him up. The basket slid up into the dark hole and was gone. Only then did Fran turn her gaze back to the chamber. Lamb had finally fallen silent and was now standing shoulder to shoulder with the others, staring at the Wall.
"Maybe they're in Tunguska now?" Batson postulated.
Fran considered that. "Maybe. But maybe they're wherever Richman was for eight hours."