SIREN

Chapter Twenty-Two

I almost collapsed. The sight of it all made my legs give way, and if it weren't for Sam's intervention, I would've fallen to the floor. The atrium expanded on and out, and muted blue lights cast an eerie glow across the entire space. The thing that really hit me in the gut was the enormous silver ball sitting in the centre. Deep cuts and grooves were engraved into the grey exterior and a spiralling platform big enough to walk on wound its way up to the top. Rectangular podiums with pieces of glass sticking out of them lined the trail. Above our heads, I could see cables drooping like overgrown vines.

'This...' Sam gawped at the ceiling. 'What is this place?'

'I've got no idea,' I said, nursing my ribs, 'but I want to find out.'

I put one foot out and realised that our presence may not be welcome here. After meeting the fungus and being spooked in the Wreath, I was now hesitating to explore.

'What's wrong?' asked Sam.

'I want to know what's in there, but what if it's deadly? What if we touch it and it explodes? What if the gravity well was acting as a defence mechanism and we should've stayed away? What if that's what the Poseidon Transmission was?'

'What are you saying?'

'What if it was a warning, Sam? What if we've walked into something bad?'

'Only one way to find out,' he said and unclipped his saw.

I gripped his shoulder. 'Wait!'

'Wait for what?'

I met his eyeline. I had to take a moment to find the right words. 'If we die now, the Captain won't have any idea what happened to us. She'll eventually come looking, and then she'll get trapped here just like we did. What if the whole crew comes? We need to send a message back.'

Sam raised his chin and took a breath. 'You're right.'

'I'll send something. It won't be long, and I won't tell her the state of the Eagle.'

'Don't tell her to come, either.' Sam pointed at me.

'Yeah. Got it.'

'Hey, you see that circle on the front of the sphere?'

'Yeah?' I looked at the round etching.

'I'm going to cut that out and take a look inside whatever's inside. Hey, why do you think these things kept making balls, man? What's the deal with that?'

I shrugged and pulled out the tablet. I turned on the screen and started working on messaging the Captain. 'It might be a homage to the planets or the stars. They might just like round things. Maybe they had round bodies. Who knows?'

'It's so weird speculating like this. This is alien stuff, man. Real alien stuff.' He gazed at the walls and the floor. 'You reckon they're gone?'

'Who? The people who made this ship? Probably. We haven't seen anything. Well, I haven't.'

'Hum...' Sam crouched and scraped his hand across the floor. 'Weird, isn't it? No footprints. No tracks. Nothing. The whole place is pristine, just like the Wreath. You think the same aliens made this one?'

I glanced at my surroundings and then back to the device. 'Yeah, maybe.' I connected with the Pangaea's communication line and held the tablet to my ear. 'I'm through. I'll be over here.'

'All right, man.' Sam trudged away, revving his saw with a grin.

I turned and listened for the Captain's voice. The tinny speaker within the tablet played a ringtone and then she answered. 'Fletcher! How're things?'