Yves Giraud - Kahnu

No answer came.

François put his earpiece back on. “What is it?”

“I can’t reach the team. I had a feeling we would have heard from them already, if our communicators still worked. It’s doubtful they are getting any video feed either. We shouldn’t stay too long. Let’s just get some footage and head back, if we can figure out how…” added Dedrick, looking back at the now featureless wall behind him.

“What about Chasma’s voice? What did she call him? John? Jore? I thought we were going to meet an alien…” added François disappointed.

“Well, whoever he is, Chasma mentioned him being trapped, right? So, my guess is he’s probably in one of these pods.”

“I second that. So why don’t we try to figure out how to open one of these things.”

Dedrick was about to object, but François was already running his hands over the closest one to him, obviously hoping to mimic the way Chasma had opened the back of the ship earlier. To his great disappointment, nothing happened.

“Well, can we get back, now?”

“Yes, I guess…”

Looking at the invisible entrance, Dedrick asked, “So, what do you think? My guess is we just walk back towards that wall, and hopefully, the door will appear again.”

“Well, you know what I always say… There’s only one way to find out.”

Before Dedrick could add anything, he watched his colleague walk a few steps forward, before being gently lifted up in the air and floated back towards that side of the room. As both men had suspected, the door began to rematerialize in front of his hovering body. François, helmet in hand, glided silently thru the temporary opening and vanished down the corridor beyond. Dedrick, giving himself a push, was instantly lifted as well and was soon following his friend. He looked back briefly. The solid door was already closing behind him.

“How long have they been gone, Tendai?” asked Vera, nervously.

“It’s been almost fifty-five minutes. They shouldn’t be long now…” he replied, trying not to sound concerned.

“Maybe one of us should go check on them?” she asked.

“Don’t look at me. I’m not going in there,” he said right away. “Dedrick said we should start heading back if they didn’t return after an hour.”

He looked somewhat embarrassed, but he was not the only one who felt uneasy about staying in the cave this long. It was even more understandable now that they had turned off several of the lights around them to conserve energy. The generator was now only feeding three of the eight projectors they had originally setup around the immense cave. One was near the four members, and the other two were illuminating the back of the ship, where Dedrick and François had disappeared earlier.

“I’m not leaving without Dedrick,” replied Vera firmly. “And if Dedrick told you an hour, they still have a good five minutes left.”

“Don’t worry, Vera, we’re not leaving anyone behind,” assured her Ladli. She wasn’t showing it, but she was getting anxious. “ Come on guys, now would be nice .”

Back inside the alien ship, Dedrick and François were silently gliding through the structure’s belly. Dedrick was still trying his radio.

“Vera? Vera? Looks like they still can’t hear us from here either, but I think we’re close to the entrance. Time to get our helmets back on.”

Another couple of minutes passed before they were finally in signal range and able to communicate with their companions waiting in the cave.

“ Crrrk — are on… ssshhhh way. Vera? Can… crrrrk … me?”

“Dedrick… Dedrick? It’s Vera. We can hear you, but you’re breaking up. Can you hear me?”

“ Ssshhhhhsss — I can hear you loud and clear now. We’re al shhhh back, I think. Yes, I see the exit.”

At that same moment, Tendai jumped on his feet.

“Look, the passage is opening up again!”

The purple glow of the structure’s entrance had appeared as suddenly as it had an hour earlier.

“Here they are! I see them!”

The two men soon emerged and landed effortlessly on the floor of the cave. Behind them, the entrance was already disappearing. Dedrick waved to the group, and the two men began walking their way back to them.

“So? What did you find? What is it like inside?” asked Tendai.

“You guys are not gonna believe this!” answered François.

Dedrick and his French teammate began telling their discovery to the bewildered group who listened attentively.

“I’m telling you, we can’t say for sure what’s in those pods, but whoever or whatever they are, they’re big,” replied François.

“And you say there’re twenty-six of these things in there?”

“Yes… We tried to figure out, or I should say I tried to figure out a way to open one of them, like Chasma did when she touched the ship. I ran my hands all over one of the pods, but nothing happened.”

“The thing is, we really don’t know what we’re dealing with here,” volunteered Dedrick.

“The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that whole structure is a ship of some kind, and we just found its passengers,” added François.

“Maybe…” Dedrick was pretty sure he was right.

“Either way, we need to find out. We’ll have to come back more prepared and figure out how to wake-up whoever’s there.”

“I’m not too hot on that idea, François. You guys were in there for almost an hour, and we had no way of knowing if you were OK. It seems quite unsafe to me. If anything happens to one of you in there… And how do you plan to open that thing again, anyway? I’m not letting Chasma near it again.” asked Vera.

“Look, I understand your concern, Vera. But it looks like she’s the only one who can. I tried to, but nothing happened.”

“Even if I agreed to let her touch that thing, how do you expect to open one of these containers?”

François looked briefly at Dedrick before replying. “The same way we got inside the ship.”

“What are you saying?” asked Vera, fearful she already knew the answer.

“I’m saying we need to go back in there with Chasma.”

Almost two weeks had passed since the team had found the ship and its twenty-six pods. Luckily, they had quickly discovered that the vessel’s entrance no longer needed Chasma’s touch to open. It simply did anytime one of them approached the back of the white structure, and that was a good thing. Vera had not allowed her daughter to go back after that first day. She categorically refused to put her little girl in any situation she considered dangerous, and taking Chasma back to the cave was on top of her black list; especially now that the “voice” was no longer talking to her daughter. At least, she hoped so.

Unable to convince her, Dedrick and François had gone back with the others in small groups almost every day, hoping to find out more about their incredible discovery. Ladli was almost as enthusiastic and dedicated as the commander and his French friend. The medical officer was by now convinced the “big cloud” was a flying ship, and François couldn’t agree more. The two had discovered several recesses on the outside of the white structure, that led them to believe they hid some sort of propulsion system or retractable wings. Dedrick felt they were jumping to conclusions, but he knew there was no point arguing with his engineer on that one. Ladli had also shown more interest in other structures housed in the immense cave, including the “machine” in particular. While surveying the entire perimeter of the cave, she had also discovered three more nodes leading to other small chambers in the mountain. Two of the narrow tunnels had led to dead ends and collapsed roofs, but a third had opened out into another small chamber, similar to the one they passed through every time they came down. Again, another sphere sat at its center. Beyond it, the small corridor continued, until it ended at a flat wall. In the middle of it, the outlines of another door had convinced them they were looking at the back of their Gate outside the cliff.