The Alien Artifact 9 (Novelette) by V Bertolaccini Page B

and that was the reason it
was buried away, and I more keenly entered its confines, and
darkness, and I turned up my light and adjusted my eyes.
    When I landed on the stone stairs I was
astounded by the stairs and walls, and wondered what the hell was
going on, and I took off the harness and rope and quickly started
to examine everything about me with amazement, and saw Oswald
coming down from above, watching me, wondering what I was doing,
and once he landed next to me he gasped and started doing what I
was doing, as all the stairs and walls were cut to perfection, with
incredible workmanship, with an accuracy I had not seen, even I
know I am sure they could not do it.
    The steps had not been fitted together, as
stepping stones, on normal outside stone steps, and they were cut
into the rock by something, and the walls were the same, and we
felt the smoothness of them.
    Once Higgins arrived I led them down the
stairs, and watched the startled faces of the scientists and the
archeologist above, staring downwards towards us, and we left on
our journey, in even more confusion than we had been when we
started.
    The same view seemed to uniformly go off
into blackness below, with the light showing the exact steps going
straight down, and the two scientists copied and followed me, even
looking ahead for obstacles, and I was surprised that it could be
made with such accuracy and fit into such a confined space, and I
examined it in detail as I crept down.
    At times it was as though it belonged to
someone, and was part of someone’s establishment, and I wondered
what its logical function could be if it was, or if it had
originally been part of the hospital or part of something that had
been built there before it, and I knew that if it had been that all
the information about it must have been lost or something, as it
would have been discovered by us when we investigated all the
information about the site.
    Further down I realized I was too far
out in front and I allowed Oswald to gain some distance, and I watched him
going down without a light, using mine and Higgins’s light to see
the steeply declining steps, and I wondered how much danger there
was, as he continued following me down, and they showed no signs
that they thought there was anything there.
    At one point
mud appeared, replacing the stone walls, and was over the steps,
and it slowed us as we made sure we never slipped, as they looked
more vertical now, as we were tired, and looked dangerous at times,
and that they might cause an injury, when viewed in the right way,
and I started wondering why they were going on and on, as why would
anyone go to such a distance to build anything there, and I
considered if there was something like an underground river or lake
and that someone was or had been using it for some purpose.
    Sounds
sometimes were louder and echoed, and I heard them and voices from
above, and knew that the others had entered it , and I
listened to their strange tones as I tried to make out what they
were talking about, and I heard a deep thud echo down and I
wondered if someone had an accident, and I realized that it was a
good idea to only have three of us at the front.
    A feeble glow from something below swiftly
caught my attention when it appeared and I wondered what it was,
and if it was a reflection of the dimming light, and my eyes
altered and adjusted to the darkness there as we moved faster down,
I saw Higgins struggling to do something behind us, and he shouted
to me to stop and he switched on a more powerful light, which he
had taken out his bag, and pointed it at an area in front, and I
realized the steps vanished in front of me, and I had nearly
fallen, and I tiredly fell backwards, and grabbed at the stairs
behind me.
    It was as though sound and everything ended
at that point, and vanished into darkness below, and somewhere
there it vanished out of existence, and I could not hear or see
anything from there, and it was a void and an abyss!
    When I went