The helicopter hovered over the building before slowly setting down into the centre of the white circle of the rooftop helipad. As the rotor blades slowed down a man jumped out, waved to the pilot and walked across to the building access door. Dr Phillip Hammond arrived in his office a few minutes later. His secretary, Lyn Burgess greeted him with a smile.
"You got back six days early. How did it go?"
"It's good to be back," he answered, "We wrapped things up on Mars sooner than expected and were able to lift off six days ahead of our launch window."
He entered his office and called Tracy, but there was no answer either on her office phone or mobile. He called Martin Phillips who explained about Tracy's interest in B3 and how he had sent Brad to check up on her the previous day. Phillip then tried Brad's mobile. No answer. Now he was worried. They were both down in Basement B3, he was sure of it, and B3 was not a good place to be. His sixth sense told him something was wrong. Tracy needed his help, and she needed it now.
***
The two scientists in their white lab coats stared intently at the computer screen.
"We've tried everything," Walker muttered, "Electricity, heat, cold, radiation. We're going to have to drill into the centre of it."
"But that could kill it," Bolton said.
"Are we sure there is any living matter in there?" his partner countered.
Both of them left the computer and walked up to the transparent cube and looked in. This cube was also an isolation chamber like the one in the main lab, but was smaller. Bright spotlights shone through the top of the chamber brightly illuminating the object of their attention, a cluster of seven or eight clear hexagonal crystals fused together. It appeared to sparkle under the lights.
"I know there's something in there," Bolton said, staring at the crystals, "Something telepathic that can get into our minds. It must have been dormant frozen in the ice in that crater for who knows how many thousand years."
Tracy watched in amazement. Those scientists were Walker and Bolton. She recognised them from their file photos. Could she have somehow entered a time warp? "Excuse me," she called out, but the two men ignored her and continued to stare into the chamber. She tried again with no response. Then the voice whispered into her mind like it had yesterday, Tray-seee.
Then she understood. She hadn't somehow gone back in time, this whole scene from sixteen years ago was being telepathically transmitted into her mind. She crouched down and shook Brad who had collapsed onto the floor as soon as they entered the room, but he didn't stir. She felt for a pulse. It was strong, he was just unconscious. She stood up and continued to watch the scene in front of her.
Bolton went back to the computer. A few seconds later the remote control arm mounted on the inside of the chamber unfolded. A drill attachment on the end of it started spinning as it moved toward the crystal cluster. "We know there is some kind of matrix in the centre of that cluster," he said, "That must be where this 'thing', this 'entity' or whatever you want call it exists. I think it wants us to release it."
"Are you sure about this?" Walker asked in a worried voice, "If we release it, it could be dangerous."
"We'll have to risk it. It's the only way," Bolton said as he directed the drill to the base of the crystal cluster.
Walker stood back, and as the drill started splintering the quartz a strange thing happened. Tracy could hear the sound of distance voices all talking at once. As the drill penetrated deeper the voices became louder.
"Can you hear that?" Walker shouted over the din.
"Yes, but I'm not stopping," Bolton yelled back.
Tracy could see the computer screen which showed a magnification of the drill-bit inching its way closer to the centre of the structure which was now starting to glow.
The talking voices started screaming. It was so loud that Tracy put her hands to her ears.
"Stop it! Stop it!" yelled Walker. He rushed over to Bolton and pulled is arms violently from the keyboard. But he was too late. The crystal cluster broke apart as the screaming reached a high pitch. Then it suddenly stopped. Walker and Bolton stared closely at the screen.
Tracy tried to look too. A few small crystal fragments were glowing brightly in the centre of the broken structure.
The two scientists walked over to the chamber and looked in. Bolton reached for the door.
"No Dan, what are you doing?" Walker exclaimed.
"It wants to be released," Bolton replied in a monotone, "It's telling me to release it." He grasped the handle and swung the door open.
The crystal fragments stopped glowing. The men just stood there staring into the chamber, then their faces contorted as they put their hands up to their ears as if to block some loud sound.
Tracy could hear nothing. They started screaming. "We've got to get out!" Walker screamed. They both turned and ran past Tracy through the door. The moment they were gone the room went back to instant darkness and silence. Tracy fumbled for her torch and switched it on. She slowly shone it around the room, then stopped the beam on the isolation chamber. On the floor in the centre of the chamber she saw it. The crystal cluster intact. It was still here, and so was the alien entity or whatever it was. She had just seen a replay of what had happened on Bolton and Walker's last night here, what had terrified them and made them flee the building and have their fatal car accident.
Tray-seee..... came the whispered voice again. It sent a chill down her spine. This thing had killed the two scientists, reconstructed the crystals, and it had been waiting dormant down here in this lab all these years, projecting the occasional images up to the next floor scaring the staff. This thing was dangerous. Was it trying to kill her like Bolton and Walker?
But Tracy had an advantage over the two late scientists. She opened her mind, concentrating on the crystals in the chamber. "What do you want?" she asked in her mind.
I've been waiting a long time for you.
"What do you mean, waiting for me?"
I want you.....Tray-seee.
"Why? Want do you want me for?"
You will be mine....you will be me....
The voices started up in Tracy's mind. They grew louder and louder. Over the sound of them the voice repeated, You will be mine....you will be me....
Tracy suddenly knew what she had to do. She reached into her bag and pulled out the portable laser. If she could destroy the crystals it would destroy the telepathic being. But it knew what she thinking. As she tried to take a step towards the open door of the chamber where she could aim the laser at the crystals, she found she couldn't move her feet. She could barely move her arms.
You can't destroy me, Tray-seee.
The voices grew louder. She felt so helpless. This thing was going to take over her mind. If only her father was here. He would help her. The two of them together could beat this thing.
"Tracy," a voice shouted. She managed to turn her head and see her father coming in the door. He was coming so slowly, but he reached her side and firmly grasped her left hand. "Concentrate," he shouted to her, "Concentrate on driving it back, destroying it."
I will take you both....
Tracy suddenly felt new strength coursing through her. "Think again, asshole!" she screamed at it in her mind. She managed a step towards the chamber, then a second, and a third, her father still at her side. The voices were now screaming at her. Her head hurt, but she had to keep going. Another three painful steps and she was at the open door of the isolation chamber. She had dropped her torch but she didn't need it to see. The whole room now had a soft glow and the crystal cluster was glowing white.
Over the screaming in her brain she heard her father's voice calmly saying, "You can do it, Tracy. You can do it. Take your strength from me." She slowly lifted her right hand and aimed the laser device at the glowing structure.
Nooooooooo.........
Tracy pressed the activate button. The beam hit the crystals which glowed with such intensity that both Tracy and her father closed their eyes to avoid being blinded. The structure exploded. The screaming died away and the room plunged back into darkness.
A moment later a light came on as Phillip Hammond retrieved Tracy's dropped torch and turned it on. Tracy wrapped her arms around her father. "Oh Dad," she murmured with tears trickling down face, "I have never been so glad to see you in my whole life. Did we destroy it?"
"We make a good team," her father said gently, "I don't think it was able to withstand both our minds attacking it. I think your laser has finished the job. Let's have a look." He shone the torch into the chamber. There was nothing but a thin white powder on the floor. The crystals were gone.
"We'll get every last grain of that powder and put it into the laser incinerator," he said, "I can't hear it in my mind anymore. What about you?"
"No, nothing," Tracy answered, still tightly clinging to her father.
"Then it's destroyed, dead. Come on, let's get back upstairs."
Brad was looking a little groggy as he clambered back onto his feet. He looked at them both. "Someone mind telling me what happened?" he mumbled.