Basement B3

Part 6

     The helicopter hovered over the building before slowly setting down into the centre of the white circle of the rooftop helipad. As the rotor blades slowed down a man jumped out, waved to the pilot and walked across to the building access door. Dr Phillip Hammond arrived in his office a few minutes later. His secretary, Lyn Burgess greeted him with a smile.

"You got back six days early. How did it go?"

"It's good to be back," he answered, "We wrapped things up on Mars sooner than expected and were able to lift off six days ahead of our launch window."

He entered his office and called Tracy, but there was no answer either on her office phone or mobile. He called Martin Phillips who explained about Tracy's interest in B3 and how he had sent Brad to check up on her the previous day. Phillip then tried Brad's mobile. No answer. Now he was worried. They were both down in Basement B3, he was sure of it, and B3 was not a good place to be. His sixth sense told him something was wrong. Tracy needed his help, and she needed it now.

***

The two scientists in their white lab coats stared intently at the computer screen. 

"We've tried everything," Walker muttered, "Electricity, heat, cold, radiation. We're going to have to drill into the centre of it."

"But that could kill it," Bolton said.

"Are we sure there is any living matter in there?" his partner countered.

Both of them left the computer and walked up to the transparent cube and looked in. This cube was also an isolation chamber like the one in the main lab, but was smaller. Bright spotlights shone through the top of the chamber brightly illuminating the object of their attention, a cluster of seven or eight clear hexagonal crystals fused together. It appeared to sparkle under the lights.

"I know there's something in there," Bolton said, staring at the crystals, "Something telepathic that can get into our minds. It must have been dormant frozen in the ice in that crater for who knows how many thousand years."

Tracy watched in amazement. Those scientists were Walker and Bolton. She recognised them from their file photos. Could she have somehow entered a time warp? "Excuse me," she called out, but the two men ignored her and continued to stare into the chamber. She tried again with no response. Then the voice whispered into her mind like it had yesterday, Tray-seee.

Then she understood. She hadn't somehow gone back in time, this whole scene from sixteen years ago was being telepathically transmitted into her mind. She crouched down and shook Brad who had collapsed onto the floor as soon as they entered the room, but he didn't stir. She felt for a pulse. It was strong, he was just unconscious. She stood up and continued to watch the scene in front of her.

Bolton went back to the computer. A few seconds later the remote control arm mounted on the inside of the chamber unfolded. A drill attachment on the end of it started spinning as it moved toward the crystal cluster. "We know there is some kind of matrix in the centre of that cluster," he said, "That must be where this 'thing', this 'entity' or whatever you want call it exists. I think it wants us to release it."

"Are you sure about this?" Walker asked in a worried voice, "If we release it, it could be dangerous."

"We'll have to risk it. It's the only way," Bolton said as he directed the drill to the base of the crystal cluster. 

Walker stood back, and as the drill started splintering the quartz a strange thing happened. Tracy could hear the sound of distance voices all talking at once. As the drill penetrated deeper the voices became louder.