The Tethys Report (The Rise of the Chirons Book 1) Read online

  “Yes of course. Like I said, he could be in danger. We’ve got to tell the others that we’ve found him first of course, but I think we should try to locate him and help him.”

  “Is it safe for us?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked as her gaze turned towards the jellyfish’s new meal. The entire body of the jellyfish pulsed with colorful energy. “Oh you think those things will harm us? Not a chance in here. As long as we don’t go out. They are definitely more dangerous than your average jellyfish though—no matter what variety you’re talking about.”

  “Yes, but we don’t know what else is out there. Jen, you’ve been here less than a year. Whatever happened to Alan could happen to us. What if he was taken by some ancient sea creature and this EROS of yours has only found little bits of him being digested in some kind of stomach.”

  Jen laughed. “You’re silly you know that? I thought you geologists were made of stone?”

  “I don’t know about that,” I said with a less-than-brave smile. “I’d rather be alive at least a little longer.”

  “All right. I’ve got you on record saying that,” she said with a grin. “I’ll handle things from here. Just sit back and relax.”

  “Yes ma’am,” I said while looking nervously out into the darkness of the forward scanner. Some of the life forms I could see from the infrared, but some of the creatures were able to hide due to their internal structures, even from the infrared detectors. It was wild seeing all the creatures of that ancient lake swimming by us as if we were in some huge aquarium. Of course all geologists have some grounding in ancient life, but to see it here swimming around us and potentially causing a hazard to us was something altogether—slightly unsettling, slightly exhilarating, both pleasurable and anxiety-inducing. I grabbed my stomach as we moved past and looked down at the map to see the relative safety of the home back move further into the distance.

  “It looks like he’s pretty far out. We lost contact with him around this point.”

  “Have you searched this area before to try to find him?”

  “Of course we have. I’ve been out here a few times since he got lost. It must have been five days now since he went missing.”

  “How much oxygen did he have?”

  “In the vessel he was in, less than a day’s worth for one person, and it was a smaller vessel. We called it ‘Little Cucumber’ because it was only built for one or two people. The one we’re in now is called the ‘Cucumber’ because it’s full-sized,” she replied.

  I frowned at the names for all the vessels they had. She glanced over at me and gave me a disapproving look and said sarcastically, “I know. I know. You’re thinking the same thing I thought before. He’s out of oxygen by now, but who knows? We’ve got to have hope right?”

  “Sorry. I was just thinking of the names you gave these vessels. It just makes it a bit funny—that’s all.”

  “Try to be more worried here about what matters—Dr. Aspect’s life, not the stupid names we give for our vessels. Anyway, EROS would tell us if he were dead, and it says here ‘living person identified’. That means there’s some hope yet.”

  I went to look at the reading myself. She was right. EROS’s message came back loud and clear. Some living person was still alive, and we were going to greet whomever it was very soon.

  Chapter 8

  “There’s another problem, “she said.

  “Great. What is it?” I asked.

  “According to EROS, he’s out there pretty far, possibly in some kind of enclosed area since I’m getting some interference. Worse, it’s an area we haven’t explored well before—at least five hundred meters from where we are now, and it seems he’s at a depth of one kilometer.”

  “What?” I said looking at the readings myself. “That’s impossible. We’re already at eight hundred meters down from the ice. I thought this was the deepest this lake got. “

  “The readings are telling me that. We puzzled over them too. It’s yet another thing we sent in our encrypted message, which apparently never was received back home.”

  I ignored the last remark even though it was aimed at me. “Can this vessel take it that deep?”

  “The Cucumber? That’s the thing actually. At five hundred meters, you’re talking about over one thousand bar of pressure. Since we’re under more than a billion tons of ice we have to be careful. It’s probably not recommended, but we have to go and try.”

  “What? Are you sure this thing can stand it? It feels pretty creaky already. According to the readings, we’re already at a thousand bar now. It wasn’t designed for high-pressure dives.”

  “It should be fine. The engineers knew what they were working with here. Why are you so worried? If we get crushed, at least we’ll be together. It’s what you’ve always wanted, right?”

  I gave her one of those looks. “This is serious.”

  “I am being serious. Look, we have to go down there now. He needs our help, and it would take us at least two hours to go back and tell everyone and figure out what to do. He may not have that long.”

  “All right,” I said. I couldn’t disagree with her logic. If he were still alive, it was best to help him as soon as possible. “Why is it so deep there? What was he doing going down so deep, so far from the home base. He must have known it was dangerous.”

  “I don’t know what he was doing. He was doing some research on some experiments to learn more about the origin of life.”

  “But why down here? And how the hell did he get a grant and OK from the government to come down here? This doesn’t sound like their usual interest. I know he was the world-famous scientist and all, but this seems odd. I’ve also read that he’s been out of sight for quite some time. He disappeared mysteriously.”

  “His earlier disappearance was exaggerated. And as for this mission, he said this environment provided unique opportunities. For instance, there were no cosmic rays down here. It was the purest conditions he could use, and he wanted to go out to plant some things and see what happened. That’s all I know since it’s not my field. He was a brilliant scientist—but he was sometimes hard to approach. He had many mysteries about him. I heard there was tragedy in his life—something no one has learned much about since he keeps the secrets of his life so private.”

  “Private? What could one of the greatest scientists of all time keep private?”

  “If one is smart, even in the digital age of a Required Tracking Number when using any part of the Internet—especially in Eagle Zone, you can find ways to stay hidden.”

  “But that’s impossible. Everyone knows you can’t stay anonymous in this day and age. Anyone found without an RTN will be arrested for spying—or worse. They don’t care if you’re goofing around. They’ll just take you in. He managed to avoid all that and not get arrested?”

  “Apparently so. He is a genius after all. He must have found a way to use his connections and his mysterious fame to get what he wanted. Many other scientists wish they could be so lucky.”

  “Well that’s good to know. It is pretty important that we find him. Look, we’re getting closer. Wow! What are those things?’

  I pointed towards the monitor. We both saw it then. There were what looked to be like buildings, constructed from some white substance, which could have been stone or could have been something like concrete. But there were darker lines that appeared to be inside the outer surface of the buildings—as if they had varicose veins running within them.

  “They look like buildings or even houses. Look there are some windows too. What the hell?” she said with sudden surprise. Her eyes were glued to the monitor, and even I was captivated with what I saw. “Why haven’t we detected these before? This is so strange.”

  In front of us on the display panel was what appeared to be a small city. The buildings were shaped like nothing I had ever seen before—circular structures, square structures as if the buildings were alive and organic but geometric somehow.

  “This is amazing!”
she said screaming with shock and delight. “Are you seeing this too? Please tell me you’re seeing this. Oh my god!”

  I simply nodded. I don’t know if any sounds came out of my mouth.

  “What the hell is this?” I eventually said. This was definitely not what scientists had theorized would be down here.

  My eyes followed the buildings, which all looked logically arranged. It was as if someone had designed them in order from the beginning, unlike most haphazard designs of modern cities. Paris had struck me as one of the more orderly cities along with Kyoto. Both had survived the floods of recent years, but something made me wonder if they would have survived this kind of flooding.

  “What is this place?” Jen asked.

  “You’re asking me?” I replied. “Remember, I just got here.”

  She gave me a sarcastic look—the way she used to when we had worked together during happier times. I smiled back at her, and her smile quickly faded. Something had occurred to her—something that was both troubling to her and something she didn’t want me knowing. I wanted to ask what it was but held back.

  “I am asking you of course but also thinking out loud. Is it truly possible that such a city could remain in such remarkable shape after millions of years? Think of all the geological processes that have occurred: erosion, plate shifting, generations of sediments from all these forms of life around us.”

  I nodded. “It certainly is very unusual. This lake doesn’t exist over a fault that I know of, so it’s possible the plate shifting has let it alone, but the other points you have raised are certainly valid. Even if it had remained in pristine condition, there should be a blanket of sediments over it.”

  “This is truly outstanding!” she said as she zoomed in on some of the structures. They each had a very odd outer wall structure. It was like glass with thin wires running beneath the surface. “I can’t believe I’m seeing this. They look like our buildings but not. How could they be built by humans? Come to think of it, how old do you think those buildings are?”

  “I’m not sure yet. I need data. Remember, we geologists love to talk about stratification. Old stuff at the bottom, newer stuff on the top. Assuming those are buildings,” I said. I took a look at the topographical map on one of the layout panels. “Look at this. It’s as if they’re all lined against this depression in the ground. It must have been a river at one time. If I had to guess right now, I’d say this city—or whatever it is—couldn’t be newer than twenty million years—maybe as old as thirty million years. Hell, maybe even this was part of the Tethys Ocean at one point, back when it was Gondwana. Your point about the fault plate shifting applies to the fault lines. Now there aren’t any close by that I’m aware of, but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t have been plate activity affecting this area long ago. I have to study the rock features below of to be certain of anything.”

  Then I remembered the report from Kraftberger. There had been some evidence that this underground lake had some elements of the Tethys Ocean, an ancient now mostly gone body of water that had been scattered by plate tectonics. It was fascinating to think that this lake and area could have once been at the crux of what today was the African, European and Asian continents.

  “My God, this is amazing,” I said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I’m guessing it is a city, but who knows. Was this built like the body I observed earlier or was it made by humans as we know them today.”

  “How could humans have built this if it is at least twenty million years old?” she asked.

  I puzzled over this before answering: “I simply don’t know. It cannot be anatomically modern humans, not the ones that came from Africa according to the modern theory anyway. We don’t have any specimens that are anywhere near this old, and the oldest remains of modern humans go back maybe 300,000 years, but most people say 200,000—that’s it. There’s no way they could have come here and made a settlement like this.”

  “Where did they come from then?” she asked.

  I just shook my head. I remembered the specimen that Laennec had shown me. Could this species back at the home vessel be the same species who built this city? It certainly wasn’t a hard bet, but I knew nothing about its history.

  “Look,” I said, pointing to a large irregular structure different from the others. We were cruising along at a good speed, but I was able to make out the shapes of most of the structures. This one was different. “It looks like a statue or something in the shape of something roughly anthropogenic—as if it’s standing up and holding out its hands. I think those hands have only two fingers—just like the remains I observed back at the research vessel. Look! Am I right?”

  She peered closer to the display panel. “It seems to be so, yes. I can’t make it out for sure though.”

  “Wow! This is amazing. Look at the figure though. It seems to be doing something. I wonder what it is. It seems to be holding its hands up in the sky, as if to create a geometric shape with his four fingers. It appears to be a sphere or perhaps something more complex.”

  “Maybe the statue itself represents someone similar to a president—or a religious leader. Whatever it is, it sure looks odd.”

  “Enhance visual integrity on the face, if you can. I’m curious to see what it looks like. It’s amazing that something could last this long. This is incredible.”

  “I’m not sure it’s a good idea. We might attract unwanted attention.”

  “In this case it’s worth it. If something dangerous comes along, you can get us out of here, right?”

  “I hope so. Anyway, I’ll do as you asked. I’m curious myself.”

  After the view panel enhanced visual quality on the face, and we approached a little closer, the visage came into view. It was human-like but then again it wasn’t. There was something odd that I can’t describe, even now, about that face. First of all, it has eyes, but there were three of them, not two. What evolutionary benefit could that bring? The scientist inside me instantly wondered. It had a longer nose than I had ever seen—perhaps adapted to the very high mountain regions, and the head was enormous by human standards. There was a bulge at the forebrain area, and the rear seemed to stretch out, but I couldn’t tell because of the angle.

  “This is fascinating. Notice the head. It’s very large, and I bet the specimen back at the lab was a female. I noted the pelvis was equipped to handle a very large object, possibly an enlarged head. No one thought that the human head could get any bigger. This species, whatever it is, seems to be able to get around that. The big question in my mind is one thing. Where did they descend from? Who are their common ancestors?”

  “There must be another group of apes that lived on this continent, much earlier than the Old or New World monkeys,” she said. “That’s got to be it. There must have been a separation long ago, and then these creatures, whoever they are, came from that.”

  “It’s possible. Again, we have zero evidence of any of this. It’s a wonder—”

  At that moment, an alarm shot out from the control panel.

  Jen looked down and said, “Oh my god, we’ve got to hurry. He’s sent out a distress signal—at least he did or the AI that was monitoring his life signs. It’s coming ahead from what looks like the center of the city further along from the statue.”

  I looked at her worried, as she repositioned the vessel to head towards the blip on the screen where Dr. Aspect was. “It’s a good thing we were out here. Would this distress signal have been noticed if we weren’t here?”

  “I don’t think so. Hold on. I’m reading that the distress signal was automatically generated due to Dr. Aspect’s vital signs. It wasn’t necessarily sent from him. Somethings wrong with his health.”

  “We’d better hurry then. Is it safe to go any faster?” I asked.

  “Probably not, but we’ll have to take the chance. I can pilot this thing through the jellyfish and other things that come around, as long as it’s not one of the Big Boys.”

  I didn’t have to ask her what
she meant by that.

  “Look,” she said. “Over there at that huge building ahead. I’m enhancing visuals now. It looks like the main structure to the city, and it’s emitting an electromagnetic field unlike all of the surrounding buildings. EROS may have just found a way in too. It’s coming into better view now—somewhere beyond there at the center of the building. It almost looks like there used to be some kind of walking platform up towards the area where the possible entrance is. Somewhere beyond there—that’s the place where he must be.” The image on the view panel brought up a rather large portal that was artificially illuminated by the AI.

  “The building looks like some kind of huge structural dome or something. It’s the biggest building we’ve seen yet—simply incredible. I think you’re right. It probably was some kind of central structure of some sort.” I was quite surprised at the discovery of this city, but even more perplexed that the building we had seen was even bigger than the other ones that came before it. It was shaped like a large oval ball that was cut off at the base—like a chopped off football. With the enhanced imagery that was constantly bringing into view various angles on the outer structure, I could see there were hexagonal patterns along the sides of it, along with what appeared to be many lines etched into the side. At the bottom was a strangely colored but powerful light with squirms of movement.

  “Those lines on the side of the wall appear to be a result of the activation of some kind of electrical wiring, or something,” Jen said.

  “I was thinking the same thing,” I replied. “Two fingers on the hand. Perhaps they were very good at circuitry, whoever they are. I’d be damned curious to know what happened to them should we ever learn more about them.”