Infinity's Gateway, page 25
Garrett nodded her agreement and said, “Let’s get Lockridge inside first. Then we’ll have the corpsman tend to the men and everyone can get a bite to eat.” Using ropes, they soon had the wounded man up and out of the elements. After that, it didn’t take long to get the rest of the men inside.
The entrance to the cave was tall enough for a man to stand without any problem and was about twelve feet across. After a short distance, it opened into a large room where they could all sit and rest comfortably. Here the roof of the cave was at least fifteen to sixteen feet above the floor. As Corporal Lee had described, in the back of the room the cave funneled back down to the same size as it was in the front, trailing off into the darkness.
For the most part, the walls of the cave were smooth, with none of the rock formations that people usually associated with caves, such as stalagmites and stalactites. The floor was covered with broken rocks, as well as with dirt that was nearly as fine as sand. It was cold in the cave, but at least they’d been able to leave the storm behind. For the first time all day they began to feel safe.
“I have two men stationed at the mouth of the cave to make sure nothing tries to get in,” said Garrett as she sat down next to Colton. She watched as the corpsmen checked on each of the marines, using the blue gel they’d been given on many of them. “Wish I knew what was in that stuff.”
“It concerns me too, but without it I’m convinced we would have lost Lockridge,” said Colton. “Can’t believe what it did for my own wound. I’m still a little sore, but not nearly as sore as I should be. Nice to think that something good has come out of all this.”
“Before I came back over here, I checked, and our friends are still with us. They’re hovering above the trees out in front of the cave. As hard as the wind is blowing, that thing is holding its position. I can’t believe how stable it is. Whoever these people are, there are clearly quite a few things they can teach us,” said Garrett.
For the next thirty minutes or so the men ate, rested, and tried to forget all that lay between them and the Eclipse. Private Diaz had sat down near the back of the cave, keeping watch. He’d set up a flashlight, using some of the rocks lying on the floor, positioning it so that its beam lit up the passageway leading off from the main room.
Finally, Colton got up, stretched his arms up over his head, and then picked up his backpack, leaving his rifle behind. “I’m going to take Corporal Lee and Private Diaz and have a look around. I can’t begin to tell you how worn out I’m feeling, and I’m sure that goes for everyone else. We need to get some sleep, but we first need to check out the rest of this cave. Not sure I can take any more surprises, especially after all we’ve been through today.”
Colton took the lead as they headed back into the mountain. The flashlights they carried were very strong, easily lighting up the cave from wall to wall. They did find a couple of large cracks in the wall that opened enough to squeeze into, but they dead-ended after just a few feet. Rounding a rather sharp curve, they came to the room with the pit.
The pit, while not unusual, was larger than Colton had anticipated. It reached all the way to the far wall of the cave, roughly fifteen feet across. Lying on their stomachs, they inched out over the edge of the pit and aimed their flashlights into the inky darkness.
As a college kid, Colton had always marveled at the complete and total darkness of a cave. With the lights out, it amazed him that he literally could not see his hand in front of his face, even with it touching his nose. A small shiver coursed down his spine as he gazed into the depths of the pit, wondering if in this strange land they’d found the true entrance to hell.
The walls of the pit appeared to be damp, and had eroded in narrow grooves, running vertically as far down as they could see. Colton’s first guess was that water had caused the erosion, but looking around, he couldn’t find any evidence to support that theory. Their flashlights were strong, but ledges jutting out from different sides of the pit at varying depths blocked their view and they couldn’t see all the way to the bottom.
“Do you smell that?” asked Diaz. “What is that odor?”
It wasn’t overpowering by any stretch of the imagination, but it was there, and caused their eyes to start to water. “It smells like some kind of acid, but I can’t say what kind,” said Corporal Lee. “I wonder if that is what carved out all those grooves in the walls?”
An uneasy feeling about the pit began to insert its way into Colton’s mind. Straining his eyes, he studied the pit more closely. At first, he wasn’t sure, but scooting further out on his stomach, he leaned out over the edge to the point where he was almost risking a fall. He’d spotted something, not too far down, and he wanted to see if he could touch it. He knew what it looked like, but wanted to see if he could verify what he was thinking. One of the men grabbed his belt and hung on. He hadn’t thought about asking for their help, but was glad they’d taken the initiative.
“Everything all right, Commander?” asked Corporal Lee.
Colton’s hand reached the spot he was going for. Very carefully he touched it with just one finger. Based on the odor coming out of the pit, he’d reasoned that it had to be some kind of acid and had no interest in burning himself. The gel they’d been given had worked wonders on scrapes and open wounds. He had no intention of finding out how it worked on burns.
Having satisfied his curiosity, he scooted back to where he’d been. “Shine your lights over here, right where my hand was,” directed Colton. “What do you see?”
The two men studied the spot that Colton had inspected. It looked like something had scratched the wall of the pit, cutting deeper into the rock wall than the grooves surrounding it. It was about two inches long and left a distinctive dark mark, which stood out from the grooved lines. It was the dark shade of the mark that had drawn Colton’s attention to it in the first place.
“Is that a claw mark?” asked Corporal Lee.
“Not sure, sir, but look around. Now that you’ve pointed it out, there’s quite a few of them,” said Diaz. He was right. All three men could see a multitude of scratch marks on all sides of the pit, going down as far as they could see.
“So, the question is, did a lot of critters make those marks, or just one really big critter?” said Private Diaz. “And no matter what the answer is, do they, or it, still live down there?”
“Your question has merit, Private,” answered Colton, “but we don’t want to jump to conclusions. Those marks could also have been made a very long time ago; we have no way of telling.”
“That leaves us with the odor,” said Corporal Lee. “What’s the source of that? I wonder, if sometimes, it bubbles up for whatever reason, and then leaves those groove marks as the acid slowly dries and descends back down into the pit.”
The discovery of the anomalies in the pit had gotten to Diaz and Lee. Colton was just as nervous as they were, and it was then that it hit him. He sat up and leaned back against the cave wall. The other two men followed suit, watching him carefully. “Are you all right, Commander? Did you hear something?” asked Corporal Lee.
Colton stared at Lee for a moment, then said, “No, I didn’t hear anything, but I felt something. I need you two to stop being marines for a few minutes and answer this question. How are you feeling right now?”
“Not sure I understand, sir,” said Private Diaz. “Is the odor from that pit affecting you?”
“No, not directly, I don’t think that’s it,” said Colton. “Emotionally, how are you feeling?”
The two men looked at each other, obviously uncomfortable with the question, and then looked back at Colton. Shrugging his shoulders, Corporal Lee looked at Colton with a confused look on his face. “Emotionally, sir?”
“Come on, guys, it’s not a hard question. How are you feeling? Are you happy? Nervous? Concerned about what could possibly be living down there in that pit?”
“Yeah, it’s got me concerned,” said Diaz. “I mean, let’s face it, we’ve seen too many things that are simply impossible since we left the ship. At this point, at least for me, nothing’s off the table. It scares me to think what might have dug those claw marks into the wall.”
Colton nodded his head, “Me too. I’m nervous. I mean, I’m on edge and my stomach is starting to act up. But that’s normal. That’s how people who have experienced what we have should be feeling.” Leaning back against the wall, he once again seemed lost in thought.
“Sir, I’m not following you. Is there anything we can do?” asked Corporal Lee. Based on what he knew of Colton’s background, he didn’t think for a minute that Colton was having a breakdown. But at the same time, he didn’t understand what the commander was getting at or exactly what was bothering him.
“This won’t take long, but I’m going to try a little experiment,” said Colton, getting to his feet. “I want the two of you to stay here but keep a close watch on that hole. If you hear or see anything, do not put yourselves at risk. I’ll be right back with Captain Garrett.”
Colton headed back through the cave to get with Garrett and to see if what he was guessing was correct. As tense and nervous as he now felt, it was, in some ways, refreshing. He knew that the craft that had saved them was manipulating their emotions. That was the only thing that could possibly explain the feeling of calm that had settled over the team.
In truth, considering all they’d been through, every single one of them should have been a bunch of jumpy, trigger-happy lunatics. Instead, they were all operating on an even keel. The craft hovering above them, or the light emanating from it, had given them instant peace with “angelic” overtones. Maybe this was a psy-op experiment. Maybe not a US or Chinese experiment. Maybe not one run by humans.
Garrett was talking with the corpsmen when Colton entered the large room where the men were resting. “Good to see you,” said Garrett. “I was beginning to get concerned that you might have gotten lost. How far back does that passage go?”
“Measuring distances in a cave is always tough, but my guess is that it only runs about eighty yards, then abruptly ends,” said Colton. “How are the men doing?”
“Considering the day’s events, surprisingly well,” answered Garrett. “The corpsman can’t believe how well the men are responding to that gel. He’s already used about half of it. He’s now trying to figure out how we’re going to get more of it.”
“Are our friends still out front?”
“They were as of about twenty minutes ago. Why?” asked Garrett.
“Let me tell you what we found,” said Colton, and began to describe the size and depth of the pit, the grooves down the sides of it, and the claw marks they’d found. “It’s something that I think you should see.”
“Shall we head back now?”
“Before we do, I just want to walk out front and see if that craft is still with us,” said Colton.
“I’ll go with you,” said Garrett. “Is there something in particular you’re looking for?”
Colton smiled at her as they walked along. “Can’t tell you. If I did, I’d risk losing all kinds of man points, especially if I’m wrong.”
“Man points?” laughed Garrett. “Commander, so glad you’re not in the Corp.”
“Why’s that? I think I’ve done rather well keeping pace with your team.”
“Oh, it’s not that,” said Garrett. “It’s just that if you were in the Corp, I’d have to put up with your sarcastic nonsense all the time.”
They had just reached the mouth of the cave. Although they really couldn’t see the craft, due to the storm, they were able to see the bright light that radiated from it. It appeared as a low-hanging star, completely impervious to the terrible storm raging around it. “Looks like I might be right,” said Colton.
“About what?” asked Garrett.
“Tell me how you’re feeling,” said Colton. “Right now, at this very minute, how do you feel?”
Garrett studied Colton’s face. She wasn’t sure if he was serious. “Well, I haven’t given my feelings a great deal of thought. I’m tired. My right ankle is giving me some trouble, but other than that, I guess I’m okay.”
“Think of the question on a more emotional level,” said Colton. “Are you happy, sad, relaxed, nervous, what would you say your overall state of mind is?”
“Right at this moment? Frustrated, Commander. What is this nonsense?” said Garrett. “What are you getting at?”
“It’s not nonsense, and I do need your help with this,” said Colton. “Please, I need for you to focus. What are you feeling?”
Garrett frowned at him for a few seconds, then said, “Well, as I said, I’m tired, but overall I feel pretty good. I feel a whole lot calmer than I did in that clearing when those monsters attacked. At the time I thought we’d bought it.”
“So did I,” said Colton. “Okay, let’s head back and join Corporal Lee and Private Diaz. Unfortunately, I believe that this cave may have a back door.”
“Wait a minute. You going to tell me what all that feelings crap was about, or do I have to guess?”
“In time, Captain, in time,” said Colton. “Trust me, there is meaning to the madness.”
Garrett didn’t have any interest in caves at all. It had nothing to do with any kind of claustrophobic issues; she just found them boring. Gray rock and dirt, that’s all there was to see when exploring a cave. Want to know what’s around the next curve? More gray rock and dirt. She wasn’t critical of people who like exploring caves; it’s just that she could easily list a hundred things she’d rather be doing than spending time in a hole in the ground.
The two marines could hear them coming and stood up to greet them. “So how did your experiment go, Commander?” asked Corporal Lee. “Did you get the answers you were looking for?”
“Experiment?” asked Garrett, giving Colton a questioning look.
“It went as I expected it to, Corporal, but we’ll come back to that,” replied Colton. “Thought it would be good for Captain Garrett to see this pit and all that we found. Corporal, I’ll let you give the tour.”
Corporal Lee nodded and began to show Garrett the anomalies that concerned them. He particularly focused in on the grooves in the rock, as well as the claw marks. He then told them how he and Diaz had sat in the dark and listened right after Colton had left. The good news was that they hadn’t heard a thing.
“That’s good,” said Colton, “but it still doesn’t give us the definitive answer as to whether or not there’s something living down there.”
“What is that odor?” asked Garrett. “It’s like someone mixed sulfuric acid with rotten eggs.”
“That pretty much nails it,” said Colton. “Frankly, it’s that odor that troubles me most of all, that and the grooves along the sides of this pit. It’s an organic smell and not a simple one. If something smells like vomit, then something had to have vomited it.”
“Corporal,” said Garrett, “we’re going to have to put a guard on this. I’ll take the first watch. You and Diaz go and get something to eat and get some rest. In a couple of hours, send a couple of men back to relieve me.”
Corporal Lee was about to object when Colton said, “I’ll stay with the captain. We don’t know what we’re dealing with and we can’t risk any surprises. As the captain indicated, this is a two-man job.”
“Agreed,” said Garrett, her eyes peering down into the pit. “My roommate at Quantico had nightmares about things like this. Glad she’s not here; she’d be losing it.”
“Which brings us back to my experiment,” said Colton. “When we were out front looking up at that craft, you told me that other than for a few aches and pains, you felt good. Tell me, how you are feeling now.”
“Well, certainly not good,” said Garrett. “Knowing that we could now be attacked from the rear adds just another problem to all that we’re already facing. What’s your point with all of this?”
“Once that craft arrived and we had been rescued, everyone felt much calmer, much more at ease than they’d felt all day. Even with the problems and things we’d encountered in the jungle, prior to reaching this cave, morale was good and no one seemed to be overly nervous, or at least not panicky,” said Colton. “Highly trained marines or not, that’s not natural. People just can’t go through what we’ve experienced and shrug it off.”
“Commander, I’m not following you,” said Garrett. “Not to be rude, but so what? How does any of that make a difference?
“Only the corpsmen and I have had direct communication with the people on that ship. Our experiences were identical. We both felt totally safe, secure. Had I been any more relaxed, I might have nodded off. What I want us to be aware of is that this general sense of calmness that the men have been feeling is due to the influence that ship is having over us. They’re able to induce strong feelings in us, effecting our emotions. That’s a little scary when you think about it. My guess is that they did something very similar with those dinosaurs to convince them to leave us alone.”
“So, what was your experiment?” asked Diaz.
“When we started to examine this pit, and to consider the possibilities that something not nice might be living down there, it hit me as to just how nervous I was feeling. The fear, the anxiety, all of it was back. The calm was gone. I was feeling what I should have been feeling all day. But, I needed to confirm, as best I could, if that craft was doing this. The only way to test it was to go back to the front of the cave and see what would happen. The moment I entered that large room where the men are now resting, the nervousness almost immediately faded away.”
“Okay, they’re influencing emotions. I’ll agree that that’s probably not a good thing, but how does knowing this help us?” asked Garrett.
“First, and this is the good news, we now know that our friends are not omnipotent. Their power, their ability to influence our feelings has its limitations. It may be that we’re too far away from their ship, but my guess is that it’s the rock that’s shielding us. Or at least some mineral in the rock that we’re unaware of.”
