literature

Revelations, Pt. 5 of 13.

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         Wendy was first in finding a switch that provided ample light in most of the room she entered.  From one side of the place to the other, there appeared to be a long row of cabinets with thick clear plexiglass doors, a row of narrow tables in the central portion, lifeless broken computers, and other large analytical machines along the wall to her right.  Some of the scientific equipment and smaller accessories and debris was scattered on the floor under the tables and between the two open aisles also, but not blocking her view completely.  A less distinct pentagon-shaped wall at the darker far side of the room with a black opening in the center was where the tunnel system continued on, and she cautiously moved in further to explore while hoping the square lights above would stay on.

         Jeremy had less luck finding as much light as his lovely spouse but did find something much more important -- old charts, data disc records, and books.  They were in a much smaller and darker room that contained nearly a dozen short rows of partially emptied shelves, desks, and some simpler technical equipment.  The place resembled a study or some satellite part of a much bigger library somewhere else now abandoned, with its most important information removed.  He wondered if it was only supplemental to the room Wendy was in and went to conduct some much-needed research during the meager time available.  

         Only four dim red lights on the ceiling and a single brighter one of the same color over a nearby desk illuminated the small area he was in.  Finding books on the shelves mildly surprised him, and he pondered how they could have remained in such good condition for apparently so long, until he opened one.  Brittle yellowed acetate pages.  Each had lines of the alien language on them, which paradoxically looked very ancient and also futuristic and highly advanced to him.  However, he was looking more for pictures, diagrams, maps, or anything else visually perceptible for him to study the fastest and easiest.  All of the pages of several more quickly leafed through books produced nothing of the sort except the question of what kind they could be, including their content.  

         Coming to the end of a bookshelf and leaning against it, he let out a loud exclamation of disgust.  It was like being in a reference library in some inconspicuous Third-World country thousands of miles away.  As he slowly moved his head down and back and forth in frustration, he noticed many small clear crystals scattered on the musty worn-out floor.  Most were nearer to the wall and under the desks, but he was surprised of not having stepped on any.  He bent downward, and after carefully picking the one nearest to his feet up, he examined it.  The thing was rectangular, smooth, and appeared to be the size of a large candy bar, but nothing was visible inside it.  Others were by a small machine on the desk in the light a few meters away, and he went to investigate.  

         A light abruptly went on in his head when he saw a slot where he hoped his little trinket would fit into the machine, and he sat down to find out.  It did.  The rectangular crystal went in completely, like an old 8-track tape, but nothing happened.  He remained optimistic and quickly saw two buttons and a knob in front of a smooth flat plate and utilized his artificially-fattened fingers to try to make it work for a few seconds, but still nothing happened.  He wondered if the machine was still functional or had been damaged, but it looked like it was in excellent condition.  In fact, a couple of sharp pats on its side were needed by him to bring it out of its long slumber.  Humidity and disuse had not taken away the potential it had to feed his hungry curiosity; he eagerly awaited its interesting "nourishment."  

         A screen slowly folded of the top of it and came to life with images.  It was a record of the alien's prior ways of life in the ship and in bad times.  The machine showed him much misery, sacrifices, and death, as well as his first real good look at their actual appearance.  He looked astonished, being not as "lucky" as Wendy, who directly saw Clyde change in form before being abducted.  The images stopped after only about three minutes, and the crystal popped out of the slot a little with a faint hum.  For a few seconds afterward, he stared ahead with his mouth agape and tried to comprehend what he saw before slowly standing.  "Some vacation," he finally whispered.  

         Jeremy walked to the other end of the bookshelf, out into the open part of the large room, and called his wife.  She answered him on the second call, and her voice ironically sounded like a very faint distant echo:  "What do you want?"

         "Do you know where we are?"

         He heard a faint clang noise.  "Underground, of coarse.  What did you think, in a vacant shopping mall?"

         "No!  Do you know what this place is?  Do you know who these . . . people are?" he said louder.  

         "I . . . I think so."

         "This is an alien spacecraft, Wendy.  A big one."

         "A what?  I can't hear you very well."  

         "An alien spacecraft!"

         "I thought so, the way Clyde looked before taking me here earlier.  Have you found a way up to the surface again?"  

         He shook his head slowly and heard more activity from her location.  "Some women expect everything," he mumbled before more loudly replying, "No, damn it!  I'm still just trying to keep us out of their hands, or whatever.  Is everything alright with you in there?  I just heard -- "

         "Of coarse!  I'm not helpless, you know."  

         "I'm going to keep looking about in here.  Be careful.  I'll be with you in a few more minutes."

         Jeremy walked through the narrow entryway of his room and checked the long passage they recently came from.  After detecting no unusual signs of danger, he moved back inside the room to resume his exploratory tasks.  He viewed the records in four more crystals that only showed comparisons between plants, animals, and other life above with the exotic life forms on their native darker world.  Using the dial on the projection machine, he could increase or decrease the viewing speed of each little "movie," and from what was seen, he discovered that the planet the aliens came from was even more tropical than the Earth and had two major moons.  The images were very revealing but did not answer his basic questions about them.  The historical records, with the recent more important knowledge he longed for, was transferred to a more secure place -- up.  Why was known simply by looking about, but not where above.

         While examining the darkest parts of the spacious room more carefully, Jeremy found a few discarded rolls of plastic lying and standing in one dusky corner.  They were actually tubes up close nearly a meter long, and each had a chart or diagram on laminated film in it of some older portion of the enormous ship.  Apparently, there were so many lying about that these were left behind.  Now, he could scrutinize something that would be of more immediate use to them.  As he carried some of them back to the illuminated desk, he quietly laughed to himself for even previously believing that they were in some kind of underground government installation and being held by Federal agents for awhile, because of accidentally seeing something, the prior crackling light, that they should not have.  He thought of and knew now why Wendy did not seem surprised about his revelations.  She initially knew more, correctly reasoning first, during her uncanny abduction and while confined with Cecilia.


Continued to Pt. 6.

 
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