*Exclusive Chapter*
The Looking Glass
“I have no idea how you convinced me to come along on this god awful expedition. It’s cold and I’m hungry and I would really rather be someplace tropical, where I wouldn’t find myself on the verge of getting frostbite.” There were times that I cursed my best friend’s name. Kurt was always convincing me to do these things, even though I expressly made my feelings known that this was not my type of thing.
“I know that you protest, but you saw the results for yourself and you were convinced enough that you were willing to come along for the ride. Don’t try to fool me, Stella. This was after all your idea. I told you that it could wait, until the temperatures got a little better to handle. You insisted that you wanted to preserve what was there, even though there was no real evidence to say what exactly it was. We just know that from the readings that there is something inside that cave.
We took a Sherpa up a mountain that looked too daunting for even those that had climbed Mount Everest. Kurt was bald and he was wearing this black knit mask, which was something that we had in common. I had on this white parka and even that wasn’t keeping the cold from seeping into my bones.
Of all the people on this expedition, I was the oldest at 51. I felt that there was something to say for age and wisdom, but to these young explorers, I was an old relic that was supposed to be out to pasture. I may not be able to keep the same stamina, but I prided myself on keeping myself in the best shape of my life. I practiced yoga, meditated to keep my mind clear. There were things about my life that I would have regretted, had I not known that they were all meant to be.
“I understand all of that, but you know how I hate to be away from my family. I don’t enjoy living the nanny to take care of everything in my absence. I sometimes think that it might be better than I just hang it up and let some of these young up and comers take my place. I know that they would relish the idea of making a find like this, but I guess I just have it in my blood. There’s no way that I’m going to be able to let somebody else call the shots.”
“Stella, you’ve always been stubborn. I suppose I can’t blame you for that. We’re in an era where women are slowly getting the same kind of respect that men do in other professions.” Kurt had been with me for 10 years and I’d seen him go from a mild mannered nerd to somebody that was craving an adventurous lifestyle. He was married with children and suppose, if he could do this type of job, then I had no reason to put up such a fuss.
The man with the fur wrapped around him, so tightly, stopped suddenly and pointed towards a wall of snow in front of us. The men that were with him took out implements and began to chop into the obstacle. All we could do was watch and wait until they were finally able to break through to the other side.
“Kurt, I don’t think that I would be where I am today without you. I know that I haven’t said this before, but I think you know how important you are to me. I know that we can only be friends, but there was a time that I thought that there was something more between us. Don’t get me wrong, I would never try to ruin your marriage, but I thought it might be time that I show you all of my cards. I think that after this one, I’m going to take a break and try my hand at something a little less dangerous. Spelunking is better suited for somebody that hasn’t got arthritis in their fingers and a bad hip.”
“There’s no reason to put yourself down, Stella. You could run circles around some of these young ones. They are naïve; don’t realize the risk and sometimes you need to have a cautious eye.
“I know that you’re trying to be nice, but you can see the gray in my hair, the spread in my middle and we are coming up to the next millennia. In three days, the world will turn their clocks to the year 2000. I hope that everybody is prepared for the eventuality of Armageddon. Most companies have already taken in consideration that the clock on their computers doesn’t go that far. They have since taken precautions, but I’m wondering if it may not be too late.” I opened up my thermos and took a slug of the chicken noodle soup. It brought to mind those times that I had been a child. I was always too curious for my own good.
That was a trait that I had passed on to my children and they were growing up with a taste of what it was like to think outside the box. Conner was my pride and joy and he was on his way to college, but it was that precocious daughter of mine that made me believe that the terrible twos were not just a myth. Thankfully, she was five years old and had turned her attention towards picking on boys.
“I can see that look in your eye and I know that you’re thinking about going home. For now, I would like you to keep your mind on the business at hand. Those readings are abnormal and I think we both know what that might mean. Aliens may not be my forte, but you’ve been studying this subject for as long as I can remember. It was one of the reasons why I stayed to become your TA. I found the subject matter fascinating, but it was your delivery and passion that made me want to pursue the possibility of something out there.” I passed him the bottle and the smell the contents made him smile, like he was being taken back to his childhood.
“Miss Stella, we’ll be through in a few minutes. They have expressed that they do not want to enter into sacred territory. I myself am not of that same sentiment, but if it’s at all possible, I would like to be left out. We will stay by the entrance and make sure that you’re not interrupted, but essentially this is, as far as we’re going to go with you. If you really need me, I will be reluctant, but I will go along, because that is what I promised. I did not realize at the time that this was where you were going to lead me.” I had a feeling that there was a story behind this, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted to pick at that string.
“It’s fine by us that you stay out here. I think that it would be a good idea that we go in there alone.” As if on command, the ice cracked and the snow around it gave way to a small opening that was only big enough to crawl through.
“Miss Stella, I’m afraid that that is, as big as we can make it without destabilizing the whole thing. I can’t even guarantee that you’ll make it in and back out alive. We have lost friends that came up here and tried to go into that cave. There’s a superstition behind it, but I will not bore you with the details.” I didn’t want to hear it anyway and I’ve been down this road several times and knew that people just didn’t understand.
I grabbed my flashlight and strapped it around my head. I moved cautiously into the opening, squeezing my ample frame into a hole that really wasn’t supposed to handle somebody of my girth. I wasn’t fat, but I was fully packed and I guess I was at the weight that I was comfortable in. I was happy with what I saw in the mirror.
I heard scuffling behind me, but I didn’t have enough room to glance over my shoulder to see Kurt coming up from the rear. I finally emerged into this cavern. It took a lot of effort to come this far, but the least I could say that I had done it. I didn’t have to regret having somebody else steal what was rightfully mine.
The temperature inside the cave had risen to an almost sweltering heat. It penetrated into my jacket and I had to take it off to feel beads of sweat now pooling along my neckline. I took off the winter wear and grabbed my tools, only to see that the readings had gotten stronger, as we had gotten closer.
I heard the rushing water and Kurt looked at me and I looked at him and we still couldn’t quite believe that we were in here.
“Kurt, get some pictures of this and we’re going to need some proof that something like this even exists. There seems to be some kind of hot springs. The water is crystal clear and I can peer down to the…bottom.”
“What is it, Stella?” He had obviously heard the catch in my voice and there was a reason for it. “I need to know what you see. We need to record this for everybody. We might be able to get a Nobel Prize from this.” I still couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that something like this could even be here. I’d heard it to be found in space, but not on the planet surface.
“Kurt, I’m not sure but I think that we might be looking at some kind of black hole.” It looked like it was in reaching distance, but when I put my hand down to my shoulder, there was still room. “Looks like I’m going to have to go in there. It’s a good thing that we brought oxygen. I can hold my breath for maybe 2 minutes, but then I’m going to have to resurface and do it all over again. There might be another way. Attach one of those hoses to the tanks and that should give me enough leeway. You’re going to have to watch for me to pull at the cord. When that happens, you are to pull me back up. I’m going to tie this around my waist and I’m going to breathe through the tube that is connected to the oxygen tank.” I was always one to improvise.
“I don’t think that it’s very safe for you to do that, Stella. We should wait for the rest of the expedition.” There was no way that I was going to wait for another day. They were slow enough as it was, always complaining, but then again, so did I when I finally got up here.
“There’s no time for that. We don’t know how stable this cavern is going to be. We need to take the bull by the horns and get everything that we can, before we have to vacate.” I draped the cord around my waist, tied it tight with two knots and then I placed the hose in my mouth, breathing that fresh oxygen. I taped around my mouth, sealing out any possibility that this was going to be my final death knell.
“Here goes nothing.” I lowered myself slowly, until I was up to my neck and then I took a moment to a look at Kurt, before I finally submerged. The water was crystal clear and it was that rectangular piece of black that caught my attention.
As I pushed myself towards the source, I saw that it was shimmering and at that moment, I thought about my daughter Shana. It was then that a hand came out of the darkness and grabbed my wrist. I didn’t get a chance to do much, as the gravity of this hole sucked at me. I struggled and panicked and then it was gone. The hand was gone, the black hole was gone, but I felt like I had almost stepped through the…looking glass.
Throughout the next few years there were sightings of such an event, but nobody could get close. Each time they tried, it would disappear. I was the only one that had touched it. Maybe it had something to do with my physical chemistry. Perhaps those with this rare gene were like magnets to this thing.