They all stared at the large opening with rounded edges fashioned from metal. It had the effect of staring into a skull’s empty eye socket.
Max shone his flashlight into the long tube that veered down at a steep angle and noticed something at the furthest reach of the beam. “I think I see the bottom.”
Theo slipped off a glove and felt the air. “Whatever this thing is, it’s producing a small current of warm air.”
“It must be what formed the cavern,” said Jane.
“And the melted runoff created the lake,” added Lucy.
Eli, who had moved around the side of the bizarre object, called out, “Come and take a look at this! You’re not going to believe it.”
Eli’s excitement drew the others to him. They moved around the strange metal opening and stared at the second unexpected sight before them. The curved edge of something protruded from the glacier.
When Eli tapped it with his ice pick, a hollow sound rang out. “It’s metal.”
Henry moved forward and with a brush of his gloved hand cleared off a patch of thin ice to reveal the object’s smooth, shiny, black surface. “It’s obviously man made.” He stepped back to roam his eyes over the unexpected discovery. “What’s not so obvious is what it is and how it came to be buried so deep in the ice.”
“To be entombed this deep it must have arrived here about eight to ten thousand years ago,” said Jane, confused by the strange object.
“If that’s the case, it wasn’t built by humans,” said Theo.
Deep in thought, Max studied the strange construction. “In my mind there can only be two possible explanations for this thing to be here.”
He had captured the others attention and all turned to face him.
Max continued. “Either someone tunnelled under the ice to build this thing, or it was here before the ice claimed it.”
“Maybe it’s part of the secret underground base the Nazis were rumoured to have constructed in Antarctica during the Second World War?” suggested Eli.
“Wasn’t that supposed to be in the Queen Maud region?” questioned Theo. “That’s nowhere near here.”
“Perhaps that was a ruse so no one would find the real location?” said Eli.
Max shared his thoughts. “Though it’s possible someone might have built this—whatever this is—the Germans, as an example, certainly had the incentive, manpower and resources, but I think it highly improbable. I don’t even believe it was built by humans. It’s a spaceship!” He pointed his light at the tip of the fluted cylinder construction whose opening they’d first encountered. “Look at that and what do you see?”
Jack glanced at the tube. “It could be some type of exhaust.”
“Exactly!” said Max. “And I believe if it wasn’t entombed in the ice there would be a matching one on the other side.”
The stunned team fell to silence as each considered the possibility they were looking at something built by a species from another planet.
Max noticed their skeptical expressions. “I think at the bottom of the exhaust there’ll be something to prove it’s not of this world. The warm current of air must be coming from somewhere, and I think that somewhere is the spaceship, but I need someone to lower me down.”
Theo and Jack volunteered.
Max was soon wearing a harness attached to a rope held by Theo and Jack, and was slowly lowered down the tube.
Max examined the smooth tube surrounding him. It was free of any carbon build up or signs it had been affected by heat, causing him to wonder if it was an exhaust, what type of propulsion system powered the ship. He soon emerged from the bottom of the ragged edged tube onto level ground. A short passage through the ice led to the metal hull of the spaceship he guessed he would find, kept frost free by the warm current of air escaping from the remaining part of the exhaust still attached to the hull. He slipped out of the harness and glanced up through the tube at the faces gathered around the opening. “It’s like I said, a spaceship. There might be a way inside. I’m going to take a look.”
“Be careful,” called out Henry, as he attempted to digest what Max had just said.
Max approached the dark patch in the side of the hull he had noticed. A metal support strut fixed to a torn back piece of two inch thick metal, connected to the part of the exhaust still fixed to the hull. Filled with excited anticipation, he poked his head through the breach and roamed his flashlight around the interior. Nothing stood out to cause him any immediate danger. Careful not to snag his clothing on the sharp-edged metal of the ripped hull, he climbed through the gap and savoured the moment of being the first human to set foot aboard an alien spaceship, which he had no doubts it was. His excited breaths formed small white gusts that drifted slowly toward the opening, through which the faint voices of the others, funnelled down the exhaust tube, could be heard speculating on what the strange discovery might be. Content to prolong his lone presence aboard the strange vessel a few moments longer, his eyes scanned the gloomy interior of what seemed to be the engine room, if indeed the strange apparatus covered in tubes and other unidentifiable machinery that hung from the ceiling was what powered the ship. His footsteps crunched on the thin layer of ice covering the floor as he crossed to the middle of the room.
The large machine filled the center of the vast chamber, stretching from the ceiling almost to touch the floor. Though there was no obvious sign the engine was operational—no moving parts or lights—the low hum it emitted was evidence it was active and the probable cause of the heat flowing up the exhaust tube. Max’s eyes followed the light he moved over the incredible piece of machinery. It was covered with protruding parts that seemed to have been added at random with no thought to its aesthetic appearance. The engine was broader at the top, and in a rough manner, thinned to give the appearance of an upside-down pyramid formed of a mishmash of machine parts. An assortment of various sized tubes, thick and thin cables, and ducting linked to other sections of surrounding machinery.
Max walked around the engine and came upon a forest of transparent containers, three yards tall and one yard wide, fixed to the floor. Though some were empty and others contained a varying amount of turquoise liquid, many were full. His torch beam followed one of the single tubes that fed into the top of each cylinder. All connected to a slightly larger tube that ran along the ceiling to the central apparatus. It must be the fuel that powers the engine.
Startled when an air bubble gurgled to the surface of the glutinous fluid in the nearest cylinder, he realized how nervous he’d become. The craft had the atmosphere of a secluded, abandoned house rumoured to be haunted.
Henry’s muffled voice drifted into the room. “What have you found, Max, and is it safe?”
Max crossed to the hole, climbed out and called out a reply. “It’s safe and one hundred percent alien. Come and have a look.” He noticed the harness had already been pulled back up the tube. He waited by the opening for the others to arrive.
Lucy came down first, excitement plastered across her face. “What’s it like?”
Max smiled. “It’s fantastic, but after watching that Alien movie last night, creepy, damn creepy.”
Lucy smiled and poked her head into the ship. Even though her flashlight failed to reveal more than a small section of the gloom shrouded room, she sensed its vastness.
“I think it’s the engine room,” Max told her, and then glanced at Henry who had just been ejected from the end of the exhaust to slide a little way across the ice. “Are you okay, old man?”
Henry climbed to his feet and detached the harness, which was immediately pulled back up the tube for the next person. “I’m fine. It’s just like sliding down one of those chutes in water parks I should imagine, though obviously lacking the water or the soft landing.” He glanced at the opening Lucy’s head was currently peering through. “Did you see anything interesting inside, Max?”