Yves Giraud - Kahnu

“I have no idea, but there’s a pretty good layer of dust and dirt on almost everything; so, I doubt anyone has been down there for quite some time. The place could be thousands of years old, for all we know. Either way, I’m pretty confident the aliens who built all that stuff are long gone by now.”

“I hope so,” said Liu, sounding quite worried.

Dedrick wasn’t so sure he shared his French friend’s confidence on that last point.

“Ok, let’s wrap it up for today. Tomorrow, those who want to can come back with me and François. We’ll begin by rigging a safer access to the cave, then, if we have time, we’ll do some exploring. Should be interesting…”

After putting all of their gear back into the rovers, the eight passengers climbed aboard and began heading home. Leaving a high cloud of dust behind them, the two rovers were soon zooming along the flank of the tall plateau, on their way back to base.

Vera was the first one to reach the cave, holding Chasma by the hand. Dedrick, François, and Tendai were right behind her, carrying lights and a small generator. Ladli and Liu were the last ones out of the tunnel. Sabrina had opted to stay at the station, since Ladli had done so the day before. They began setting up the equipment in the center of the giant space, and a few minutes later, the cave came to life in the brightness of several powerful projectors.

“Look, Mommy! The big cloud. See?” said Chasma, pointing at the giant white structure.

Vera did not respond. She was slowly taking it all in. They were all mesmerized by the grandeur of everything around them. The chamber was truly gargantuan. Spanning several city blocks, the cave was so large, even their powerful search lights were unable to show it all. They would have to bring more, if they had any left, or move by sections. The videos Dedrick and François had brought back from their initial excursion had not even come close to showing the true magnitude of everything in the chamber. But they now had no more doubt. What they were looking at was definitely ancient and alien.

“ So, there was intelligent life on Mars at some point, after all. This is incredible ,” thought Vera.

The “big cloud” was like nothing any of them had ever seen. Now bathed in the powerful flood lights, it looked even bigger than the two men had first thought. Beyond it, the large tower they had discovered the previous day, was in fact only one of six identical structures lined up along the cave wall. Dedrick and François were only now realizing the true magnitude of the site. Vera was about to follow the rest of the group heading for the closest tower when Chasma held her back.

“No, Mommy, this way,” she said, pulling her in the direction of the curvy white structure.

“Where are you taking me, Chasma?”

“You’ll see.”

A few minutes later, the two were standing in front of what Dedrick and François had guessed was the back of the big cloud.

“Help me, Mommy! We need to clean the dirt off.”

“Chasma! Don’t touch that!” she said as she leaned forward to grab her arm, just in time.

“Don’t you want to go inside, Mommy?”

“No and neither do you! I don’t want you near that thing, you hear me young lady?”

Vera, taking a step back with Chasma in her grip, was visibly upset and didn’t see Dedrick right behind her. She jumped.

“Ah! You scared me!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Are you OK?”

“Yes, I’m fine, just a bit on edge. This whole thing with Chasma, and those voices she says she hears…”

“There’s only one, Mommy. His name is Jorh.”

“Jo… John? He told you his name?” Vera was still unable to truly believe her daughter. Maybe she did not want to.

“No, Jorh, Mommy. He says not to worry. Everything is going to be alright,” she replied with a smile. Dedrick kneeled down in front of his daughter.

“I’m sure he’s very nice, but we need to stay together as a group. It’s for your own safety, Chasma. OK?”

“Yes, I know…” she replied pouting.

Standing back up, he put his hand on Vera’s arm.

“Come on, let’s rejoin the oth—”

He stopped in mid-sentence. Looking past his wife, he noticed his daughter venturing closer to the white mass next to them.

“Chasma! Come back here, baby.”

Vera turned her attention back on the young girl, only in time to see the child reach for the white structure.

“No! Chasma! Don’t touch—”

But before she could finish her sentence, Chasma put her hand on the dusty mass, and a purple light appeared under her fingers. It began to grow brighter rapidly.

Vera reached to grab Chasma’s arm but realized she could not move. Dedrick tried to say something, but no sound came out of his mouth. He felt just as paralyzed. A few seconds later, the purple glow was too obvious to ignore in the dark cave, and François was the first one to notice it.

“Guys, look!”

The rest of the group turned in the direction of the light and froze. The entire structure was now glowing purple, and the sight was mesmerizing.

“Dedrick, Vera? Are you OK?” François quickly realized they were not. Neither one was moving or answering him. They couldn’t.

“What are they doing?” asked Tendai.

“Something’s wrong,” said Liu.

“Tendai, come on!” called out François as he rushed towards the glowing structure.

Chasma was still standing in front of the large object when François grabbed her in his arms. The glow the structure was projecting suddenly went dark, even quicker than it had appeared, leaving only the small pulsing area where Chasma had laid her hand. An instant later, Dedrick and Vera were coming out of their strange trance. They were all quickly backing off when a loud sound, with a rich deep tone reminiscent of a cruise ship’s horn, blasted out of the white structure, and echoed across the entire cave, sending chills down everyone’s spine. Ladli and Liu, who had already reached the lower section of the slope, tripped backwards and fell to the ground. Rising up, they all watched in absolute disbelief, as a large oval opening started to take shape at the back of the structure. Now seemingly glowing from within, the purple lit corridor appeared to be inviting them inside.

“What did you guys do?” asked François.

“Nothing!” replied Dedrick. “Chasma just touched the outside of that thing, and then this,” he replied, pointing at the new feature.

“We’re not staying here another second. Come on Chasma, let’s go,” said Vera visibly shaken.

The young girl was resisting her mother, pulling in the opposite direction.

“No. Mommy, I want to stay. Let me go!”

“Vera, wait!” Dedrick approached them. “Look, I know this is a bit scary and unnerving, but something tells me it’s safe.”

“Really? You call what just happened back there safe? I couldn’t even move, Dedrick. What is that thing, anyway? I thought you said this place was abandoned. We can’t stay here. None of us should; it’s not safe.”

“I promise, we’ll keep our distances. But we have to find out what’s in that structure.”

“Are you crazy? Tell me you’re not seriously thinking of going inside that… that thing!”

“I’m telling you, honey, I don’t think it’s going to harm us. Isn’t it why we came down here, in the first place?”

“That was before that thing came to life!”

“Vera, if we don’t explore this thing, we’ll always wonder. We have to go in.”

“I’m with you on that one. We got this far…” added François.