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In the end, it took them all about thirty minutes to get down there. No one had any rope or excavation gear, so Analisa had to run back to her office load up the gear, and drive back. Then, they had to abseil down in the hole one by one with Angus agreeing to stay behind and watch their gear. Analisa was alternating between excitement and shock, eager to find out what was down there, but at her insistence was the last to descend into the hole where the others were waiting.
“Took you long enough,” Sasha said as Analisa untied the rope around her waist and let it hang loose. Sasha stepped over to the hole and waved up at Angus. “We’re going to go exploring, Angus,” she said. “You be careful up there.”
“You be careful down there,” he replied. “Come back soon.”
“We’ll try,” Sasha called up then she turned back to Tesla, who was waiting expectantly with the ram’s horn glowing in his hand. “Shall we?” He said.
“Hang on,” Analisa said. She dug in the bag that she had slung over her shoulder for a moment and pulled out two flashlights one of which she tossed to Paul and the other to Sasha. “Here’s some light,” she said. Then she pulled out a pair of glasses and slipped them on. Seeing the odd look that Sasha was giving her, she smiled. “They’re a recording device and will upload the video to my files when we get back. If you think I’m not going to record every second of this, you’re out of your mind.”
Sasha smiled as she activated the flashlight. Paul activated his and they took stock of their surroundings. They appeared to be on a ramp of some kind, heading downward. “Where are we going, Tesla?” Paul asked.
Tesla held up the ram’s horn and the blinking intensified as he pointed it down the ramp into the darkness ahead of them. “I guess we’re going that way.”
“Well, let’s go then,” Sasha said, angling her flashlight down the ramp. They started forward into the darkness and little by little, their surroundings came into view. The ramp continued to angle down to a bank of what turned out to be doors. It took a hard jerk by Paul to pull open the rusted, decayed metal and when it gave way, it did so with an ugly screech. They stepped through the door and their flashlights illuminated-
“My God,” Analisa said. It was an enormous underground chamber and seemed to stretch out in front of them for a long distance. They slowly began walking down the stairs, their footsteps echoing in the vast emptiness. “How long do you think this has been here?”
“I don’t know,” Tesla replied.
Sasha sneezed loudly, which made them all jump. “By the amount of dust in here, I’d say centuries.”
Paul was slowly casting his light around the room. “Seems like it was some kind of a museum.”
“But to what?” Analisa asked.
“I think we’re about to find out,” Tesla said. There was a pulse of white light from the end of the ram’s horn. “It’s leading me over here,” he said. They were at the bottom of the ramp and the ram’s horn pulled him around the edge of the ramp and back toward the far corner of the chamber. There was a wide opening that led into another room which was long and led to a wide set of stairs at the far end. There were doors along one side of the stairs and at the very bottom of the stairs, there was another door.
“So, where do we go?” Analisa asked.
“What are all these numbers?” Paul asked. There were numbers written on each door. Tesla felt a sharp tug on his arm. “It wants us to go this way,” he said. Insistently, it pulled him down the stairs to the door at the very bottom. He paused for a moment before pulling on the handle and to his surprise, the door pulled open slightly before sticking. Paul handed his flashlight off to Sasha stepped over to the door grabbed it with two hands, gave a mighty pull on the door, and with a screech of rusted metal it opened wide enough and Tesla slipped through, followed by Paul, Sasha, and Analisa.
The room was small and narrow and almost cramped, but it was the sound of Tesla’s feet stamping on metal that made them all jump. Their flashlights swung around to illuminate a set of stairs. “They seem pretty stable,” Tesla said. “Shall we go?”
“Go where?” Analisa said.
“Up,” Tesla pointed. Paul and Sasha moved their flashlights in the direction of Tesla’s finger and Analisa gasped. The stairwell rose into the darkness to an incredible height before it curved away and out of sight.
“This isn’t possible.”
“Seems pretty possible to me,” Paul said. “Shall we?”
Tesla started upward and one by one the others fell into step behind him and they began to climb. They fell into a rhythm as they climbed, the only sound was their footsteps hitting the metal stairs and the occasional mutter of disbelief from Analisa, who kept trying to deny what nobody quite wanted to say out loud. Their destination was as of yet, unknown, but it was higher than anyone could have expected. Certainly a lot higher than the original distance that Tesla had fallen. The blinking end of the ram’s horn began to increase in pace the higher they got. The stairs seemed to alternate between straight staircases and spiral ones and Tesla lost track of how many steps they had climbed when suddenly, they seemed to have reached their destination: a narrow landing that sloped upward to another door.
Tesla walked up to the door and was about to open it when Paul’s hand blocked the door. “Before we do this,” Paul said. “Did anyone notice?”
“Notice what?” Sasha asked, massaging her legs. “I was too busy cursing my lack of general fitness to care about anything.”
“None of this is possible,” Analisa muttered. “None of this.”
“The stairs,” Paul said.
“What about them?” Tesla said.
“All this time and they seemed like they were in pretty good condition, don’t you think?”
“Well they’re metal,” Tesla said. “I assumed they would hold up pretty well.”
“How long has this been here, hiding in plain sight?” Paul asked. “Centuries? Even your basic metal staircase isn’t going to hold up that long. And there were plenty of welding spots. Fresh ones.”
“Wait,” Analisa said. “You think someone knows about this place?”
“I don’t know,” Paul said. “All I’m saying is that before we open this door and find out what’s on the other side, we should be prepared… for anything.”
Tesla saw Sasha slowly nod reach down to her boots and pull out a pair of knives. Paul opened his coat, slightly and Tesla saw the glint of a firearm.
“You two want to go first?” Tesla asked.
Paul nodded and gestured for Sasha to come forward. Sasha did so and Tesla backed up for a moment. Sasha took the door handle and pulled on it slightly, making sure that it would open before nodding to Paul who held up three fingers… then two fingers, and then one finger before Sasha flung the door open and Paul stepped through, gun at the ready, Sasha at his heels. Tesla and Analisa followed behind them and stepped out into what Tesla knew had to be the viewing platform.
There was no denying it now. Analisa’s eyes were filled with tears as she stepped over to the windows and looked down. None of them spoke. They just all moved from window to window, drinking in the view and feeling the structure beneath them sway gently back and forth with the winds outside. The ram’s horn was blinking frantically now, so fast that it was almost solid, and as Tesla followed the blinking to its source he came to the apex of the viewing platform and then up the side of the platform to the ceiling directly above and then the ram’s horn began vibrating madly in his hand and there was another incandescent flash of white light and-
“Hello, brethren and sistren.” The voice was female and as they all blinked the afterimage away they saw that a panel had opened and a large metal box in a cage of some kind had descended from the ceiling. A panel on the floor had also opened and they saw the projector that was displaying the image that appeared to be standing on the floor with the rest of them.
The image was female, a distinguished-looking woman who looked to be in her late 40s and early 50s. She was wearing the long, saffron-colored robes that Tesla knew marked her as a member of The Order’s scientific branch. “If you are receiving this message, then you have discovered what we hid from the world centuries ago and it must be time to reveal this technology once more to the world.”
“In the early 21st century, breakthroughs were made in stealth technology that allowed for a paper-thin material to be placed on buildings that would bend light around them on multiple spectrums, essentially rendering them invisible to both the naked eye and basic ultraviolet and infrared scans of the day. As technology continued to advance, work was quietly done to advance this technology still further, so by the time the Great Silence began, multiple major landmarks had been equipped with this technology, including the Gateway Arch where you’re now standing.”
“This was partially done for security reasons: the government wished to prevent terrorist attacks on symbols of the North American Union’s history and culture. But it was also done in the name of historical preservation. You see, technology on this scale was now deployed using nanobots and, thanks to breakthroughs in quantum computing at the end of the 22nd century, when deployed it would essentially phase the structure slightly out of alignment with the plane of existence of reality as we know- essentially making it a ghost, waiting to be restored once the threat had passed.”
“In the metal cage you see in front of you is the generator that is powering this nano-field. When deactivated, the Gateway Arch will return to its place alongside the banks of the Mississippi River. This generator also serves another purpose, for it was hidden away in the final days of the Secessionist Wars to prevent it from being united with two other components, to create a device so powerful that in the wrong hands, it could be used as a weapon of mass destruction.”
“A final warning to you, brethren and sistren. When removed from its cage, the generator will activate a quantum teleportation device to take you back down to the ground below. After that, the nano field’s structure should hold for a minute, maybe two before shutting down completely. May the felicitations of The Darpan Order go with you. Goodbye.” Then the image faded from view.
“This isn’t-” Analisa sighed. “I guess I can give up saying it can’t I? I just… I can’t believe it. This is the greatest archaeological find in centuries.”
“And it’s all going to be yours,” Tesla said.
“Yes,” Paul added. “We’ll work on a plausible cover story when we get back to Mosenthein Island, but in the meantime, it would probably be better not to mention that we were ever here.”
Analisa exchanged a long glance with Sasha who nodded in agreement.
“You’re here for the generator,” Analisa said. It wasn’t a question.
Tesla nodded.
“You’re going to use it for good reasons?”
“For the best reasons,” Tesla said. “The Order may have expelled me, but they’re also sitting on technology that could make a positive impact on people’s lives today. So much of what we have lost could be restored, but they won’t give up that monopoly on power. This could help them do that.”
“I saw it with my own eyes, Analisa,” Sasha put in. “He gave Angus some eye drops and cured his color blindness. He saw me for the first time in color. With just a couple of eye drops-- and that’s just the simple stuff. Imagine what the big stuff could do. Imagine what they’re hiding-”
“Okay, okay,” Analisa said. “I’ll trust you, Sasha.”
Tesla stepped forward to the metal cage and, finding the latch to the door on one side of it, swung open the gate that enclosed the generator.
“So how does this quantum teleportation device work?” Paul asked.
“If I understand the theory, it’s a little like that trick I did with my gloves back in Texas,” Tesla said.
“The metal ones?” Paul asked.
“Yeah, those,” Tesla replied. He motioned for them to come closer. “I think this should work if we’re close enough, but just to be safe, we should all get a hand on the generator itself.”
Analisa and Sasha came closer and Paul moved in closer as well. Tesla stood on one side of the metal cage, Paul was to his left, and Analisa and Sasha were next to him.
“Everyone ready?” Tesla asked. “I’ll pull it out and then everyone reaches in and grab hold as best you can, okay?” He looked around at them all. “Ready?” They all nodded and in one quick motion, Tesla reached in, grabbed the handle to the generator, and pulled it out. Everyone reached for the generator all at once and there was a moment of frantic panic as they all tried to make sure they were touching the generator then the world shifted around them and they were-
“Holy shit,” Angus yelled.
They were back on the ground. The grass was solid under their feet, the sky was blue and the warm breeze whipped around them and danced outward onto the river. They had reappeared about fifty feet away from the hole that they had lowered themselves down into what seemed like forever ago. Angus came running over and caught Sasha in a bear hug. “Where the hell did you guys come from? One minute you were still-” he turned and pointed in the direction of the hole “and then you were… you were just… here.”
“It’s a long story,” Paul said.
“Grab the gear and get loaded up Angus,” Sasha said. “We should probably get out of here.”
“Why?” Angus asked.
Paul glanced down at his watch. “You’ll see. Come on, I’ll help.” The three of them moved off to gather the ropes and climbing equipment back up and place them in the rig that Analisa had driven out from her office.
Analisa and Tesla were left standing alone in the center of the field. Neither of them said anything to each other, they both stared skyward, waiting patiently to see if anything they had heard so high above was real or if they had imagined it somehow. Just when Tesla was beginning to feel the first faint stirrings of disappointment begin to build, it happened.
High above them, a piercing sunbeam split the blue sky out of nowhere and split in two sliding downward and a shimmering filled the sky above as the bright silver gleam of the Gateway Arch emerged from the protection of its nano-field. Analisa was silently crying and Tesla chuckled as he heard Angus’ yelp of surprise from the equipment truck.
“Come on, we’re loaded!” Sasha yelled at them.
Tesla reached out and touched Analisa on the arm. “Hey,” he said gently. “We should probably go.” He nearly dropped the generator in shock as Analisa turned and flung her arms around him, squeezing him tightly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said. Then she broke the brief embrace and dashed the tears from her face. “I will never forget this moment,” she said. “I don’t know what your end game is or whether your true motives are pure or not, but this…” she looked upward. “This makes it all worth it.”
“You’re welcome,” Tesla replied with a shy grin. “But we should-”
Analisa shook herself. “Yeah, we should get out of here,” she said. She walked over to the equipment truck where Sasha and the others were waiting. She laughed. “Before somebody notices.”