Chapter Fourteen
“It’s a Mine”
The obstruction began to move. they crept along at a painstakingly slow rate. It took everything Sharianna could muster in order to move the object a few short inches. It was torturous for Thomas to be stuck in the rear, unable to help his little girl at all.
Finally, the tunnel began to slope downward more, and the blockage moved a little easier; until finally, with a last shove, it began to slide on its own. The family again began to slide and pick up momentum, until they found themselves deposited in a heap in another large tunnel.
Joseph quickly picked up the only remaining piece of railing and held it up to light the tunnel, to make sure they were alone.
They examined what had been blocking the tunnel.
“It looks like some kind of robotic digging machine,” sug-gested Joseph.
The object was cylindrical, tapering somewhat at the rear, and had overlapping metal plates of only an inch or two wide circumventing the body; it was the same diameter as the tunnel and was about three feet long. The front was the most interesting part: it had a drilling, or grinding mechanism that reminded Thomas of the triple interlocking carbide toothed wheels that are on the end of large rock drills.
Sharianna lifted up on one of the scales and the rest of them moved in a corresponding, undulating motion. It startled her.
“The scales are all connected,” observed Joseph, “I’ll bet that is how it moves, similar to the scales on a snake, or an earth worm—it pushes against the ground in a progressive motion that moves it forward.”
“Which way should we go?” asked Joseph as he shone the light up and down the tunnel.
“Left,” said Mom, “that is the direction we were going when we ran into the door.”
A short distance down the tunnel, they discerned another light.
“It looks like another door,” observed Dad.
“Except this one is open,” said Mom, with relief.
“It’s not open,” contradicted Joseph, as they approached, “it has been shredded.”
They could see the teeth marks around the edges of the door, where it had been torn apart.
Mom looked around nervously, “Obviously, the lake crea-tures have been in this tunnel.”
“Let’s keep moving,” admonished Dad.
As they went through the doorway, Sharianna noticed a small piece of metal on the floor; she picked it up and put it in her fanny pack.
Once beyond the door, the tunnel changed; it was now about double the width of the previous tunnel and it had a flat floor.
They proceeded down the tunnel. Other intersecting tunnels joined it, but each one was smaller than the one they were rushing down.
“What’s that?” exclaimed Sharianna, as they came upon an unusual looking piece of equipment.
“Looks like some strange ore cart to me, except it does not have any wheels, answered Joseph. It was about 20 feet long and 8 feet wide, shaped like a dish and it was full of crushed rock.
“How would it move?” inquired Sharianna.
“I don’t know, but let’s keep moving,” said Mom.
As they hurried on, they came to an even larger tunnel that had many of the same kind of carts; on one side were full ones, while on the other side, they were empty.
They continued on. Suddenly, they burst into a huge open room. It was well lit because the walls and floor were made of the same glowing metal that they had found elsewhere. They could see that it must be a central shaft. It had many other tunnels entering into it, like a giant wagon wheel. In the center of this central hub they saw a pile of ore carts, many of which were smashed and lying in a disorganized pile. The shaft was very tall; at the top they could actually see stars.
“There’s the way out!” exclaimed Sharianna.
“Yeah, but how do we get up there?” questioned Joseph.
“This must be the volcano shaped mountain we flew over when we saw the obelisk—it’s a mine!” deduced Mom.
“How far up do you think it is, Dad?” inquired Joseph.
“It must be at least one or two thousand feet,” he estimated.
Thomas looked up intently at the towering walls, examining every detail. “Look, over there – there are windows up there that look out into this shaft. Maybe it’s a control room.”
Directly below the windows, on their level, Joseph thought he could see a doorway.
“Over there, I think it’s a door!” he exclaimed.
“If there is a way up to the control room, then maybe there is access all the way to the top!” Mom nearly shouted, but she caught herself, not wanting to alert any of the creatures from the lake that might be in the vicinity of their whereabouts.
They started across the floor and wound their way around the disabled ore carts.
“Wait, I saw something move up there in the window,” Sharianna said.
Everyone looked up, but the windows looked the same as they did before.
“Are you sure?” asked Mom.
“No, I guess I’m not,” replied Sharianna.
“Well, let’s be on our guard, anyway,” cautioned Dad.
They paused near the large pile of ore carts to catch their breath.
“I’ll bet these carts used some kind of antigravity technolo-gy, like the robot,” theorized Joseph.
“Maybe,” answered Dad, “but the metal is definitely not the same.”
“I agree; judging from the smashed up condition of these containers, I would say the metal is definitely not as strong either,” concluded Joseph.
“I’m getting hungry, and I’m tired,” complained Sharianna.
“Me too,” agreed Joseph.
“I know,” said Mom compassionately, as she pulled them both to her and gave them a hug.
They continued across the huge shaft and entered the door-way, into a foyer; a hallway led directly away, and a very small room was on the left. Joseph stepped into the room.
“It looks like it might be an elevator,” he said, as he mo-tioned the others to follow. On the wall next to the door was a small knob, seated in a groove that was about two feet long. At intervals along the groove were strange alien symbols. Joseph assumed that these indicated the different levels, or floors. When they were all inside, he slid the knob up. Nothing happened.
Looking across the foyer, Sharianna saw a door. “I think that looks like stairs through the window of that other door.”
“I think you’re right; let’s try it,” suggested Dad.
They quickly made their way across the foyer. The door was slightly ajar. Dad pushed on it and it opened.
Mom looked back into the foyer. “In different circumstances, I would love to investigate some more, but right now, all I want to do is get back to the robot as quickly as we can.”
The staircase led both up and down in a steep spiral, like the first staircase inside the obelisk, except this one did not have the clear tube filled with water.
The stairway was a curious work of art, because the stairwell was essentially a round shaft going straight up with flat ledges about an inch thick jutting out of the wall creating the steps. There were no handrails. The stairs and the walls were made of the luminescent metal. Joseph leaned out and looked up and down the center of the shaft. It was hard to tell the extent of the staircase because the steps seemed numberless. “At least it looks like it goes up a long way,” he said, “maybe even to the top.”
They climbed and climbed. It was hard work because each step was about a foot and a half high.
“Why are these steps so high?” asked Joseph.
“Isn’t it obvious,” stated Sharianna, “the aliens who built it were huge—at least they were very tall. Don’t you think so, Dad?”
“It sure seems that way,” replied Dad. He laughed with his next comment: “Or maybe they just had long legs.”
“So, what happened to them?” asked Sharianna. “Mom, what do you think?”
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nbsp; “I’m wondering if the aliens offended the lake creatures, like we did,” speculated Joseph.
“I think I agree with Joseph’s premise: perhaps the lake creatures destroyed them or drove them out. Maybe the creatures became too troublesome and the aliens simply abandoned the mine,” answered Mom.
Dad interjected another theory: “Maybe the mine played out.”
“Played out?” questioned Sharianna.
“Ran out of ore.”
“I doubt it,” countered Mom, “if they left of their own volition then why are there so many ore carts piled up in the middle of the main shaft? I think the power was shut off suddenly and they all fell to the floor.”
“Your logic is impeccable,” complemented Dad.
“Look, the control room,” said Joseph.
As they reached the level of the control room, the stairwell became open; the stairs were free standing as they continued up and disappeared into the shaft in the ceiling, like the stairs in a modern art apartment.
They could see the windows that looked out over the central shaft.
Along the windows were some table-like desks, about five feet high, with a row of tall stools in front of them.
On the floor were several peculiar balls. They were about the size of a soccer ball and, like the soccer ball, rather than being perfectly round, they were multisided. They were very shiny and looked like polished stainless steel.
This room had a high ceiling. It was long and narrow, probably three times as long as it was wide. They could see four openings, three without doors that looked like they led into other rooms or tunnels, and one with a door that was closed.
Dad walked over and picked up one of the shinny balls. It was deceptively heavy. Thomas expected it to be light, because of the moon’s low gravity, but to his surprise it felt like it might be solid metal. He heaved it onto one of the stools and looked out the window into the main mine shaft. “I think we are a little more than halfway to the top,” he declared.
Sharianna climbed up onto one of the stools.
“It must be a control station,” observed Sharianna, “look at all these levers and switches.”
“Look at this, dear,” said Sophia.
Thomas turned, and saw Mom and Joseph standing in front of a three-dimensional model made of a material that looked clear – something like acrylic. The whole model was over 5 feet tall.
“It’s a model of the mine!” exclaimed Joseph. “See, here’s the obelisk… and the underground lake… and the tunnels that we came through.”
The top of the model showed in perfect detail the surface of the moon, while the extensive labyrinth of tunnels, shafts and rooms were all cut directly from the acrylic-like material.
“And here’s the central shaft and the mountain,” said Mom. “We are right here. Look!” she exclaimed excitedly, “We don’t have to go all the way to the top! There is a tunnel leading from this control room, directly to the base of the mountain.”
Sharianna pulled her camera from her fanny pack. The fanny pack was pretty shredded up, and the camera had scratches on it, but the display still worked. She took a picture of the model.
“Did you get a picture of the lake creatures?” asked Joseph.
“Do you think I had any time to take a picture?” she retorted.
“Well, let’s get going!” said Dad.
“This way,” exclaimed Mom, full of hope and excitement, as she ran toward the tunnel entrance.
They entered the tunnel and began to run past a small mine cart, not much bigger than a golf cart, when Joseph stopped and leaped up onto the cart. “Wait! This one has seats and controls. Maybe it still works.” Joseph climbed up onto the driver’s seat. “Here, hold this,” instructed Joseph, as he handed the four-foot piece of railing to Sharianna.
The controls seemed simple; there was only one knob. He pushed forward on it, and back, but it did nothing, he pushed it from side to side. By this time the rest of the family was up on the cart and seated.
“I guess it lost power with the rest of them,” said Mom.
Joseph got an idea. He pulled up on the knob. Suddenly, the cart lifted off the floor.
“Yippee!” exclaimed Sharianna, “get us out of here!”
“Wait,” said Dad, as he leaped off the cart and ran back into the control room.
“What are you doing?” demanded Mom.
“I’ll be right back,” he replied.
A moment later, Dad returned lugging one of the heavy metal balls.
“Why did you get that?” asked Mom.
“I don’t know, I guess I wanted a souvenir,” replied Dad as he put the ball on the floor. “That thing feels like it weighs at least a hundred pounds.”
“That means it will weigh six hundred pounds when we get back to earth,” said Joseph.
Dad looked at the ball with a puzzled look, “ I don’t think even solid iron would weigh that much.”
“Well, the Moon’s gravity is only one sixth of earth, right?” replied Joseph.
“Yes,” said Dad contemplatively. “
I think I would have chosen a souvenir that was easier to carry,” said Mom.
They sped through the tunnel and onto the surface of the moon. They could see the obelisk in the distance.
The cart raced over the rough terrain, perfectly smoothly. Within minutes they had landed right next to the robot.