The Question

THE QUESTION.


Chapter 1.

“Are you sure this is the right place?”
The old man held his arms crossed, pacing back and forth. His eyes moved between the floor and the canvas flap that led to the entrance of the cave. Turning his wrist to check the time, he saw his wedding ring and started to fiddle with it. He pulled a toothpick from his breast pocket and started to chew it. He looked to the kid in the suit.
“Yes, this is the right place,” he said.
“If this isn’t the right place-”
The kid turned on him and said, “I’ve put six million dollars of government funding into finding this bloody hole, you think I don’t know the consequences of being wrong? Setting off twenty tons of explosives three miles below sea level isn’t exactly something they take lightly at Homeland Security.”
“That isn’t what concerns me, and you know it.”
The kid looked away. Even the best predictions ended with a sizeable earthquake. The worst predictions?
Yeah. He knew.
A man in a hard hat pushed out from behind the canvas flap and said, “We’re almost ready, they just need the order.”
The kid looked at the old man. “This is it,” he said, following the worker down the tunnel.


As the two suited men marched through the hot, humid chamber, the worker spoke up hesitantly, “What is this thing about, anyway? It’s got to be big, right? I know I’m not supposed to ask questions, but I’d like to be able to tell my wife that I haven’t just been out sleeping around for the last seven months.”
“You signed away your right to know the details the minute you accepted this job. That’s why the federal government is paying you so much.” As they reached the end of the hall, the kid opened a door for the old man and turned to the worker. “If your wife really needs an explanation, buy her a Ferrari.”


They stepped into a control room filled with machines and flashing lights, men and women in headsets behind monitors in makeshift desks. The kid walked up to the center desk, where a woman in thick glasses sat reading a lab report. When he stood in her light, she looked up. She straightened when she recognized him.
“Sir,” she said.
“I hear we’re almost home.”
She looked up at a flat screen on one wall that showed a timer ticking down. It had only minutes yet to go. “I certainly hope so.”
The old man asked, “What kind of reaction are we expecting here?”
They both looked up at him, and the kid rubbed the bridge of his nose and walked away. She pointed him to a map on her desk.
“We’re seventy meters below the surface now,” she said, pointing to a small spot. She dragged her finger downward. “The explosion chamber is about forty-eight hundred meters down. As long as everything goes as planned, we’re just going to feel a little shake and maybe a dull thud, and then we’ll have results.”
The radio cracked, and she picked it up.
“Do we have the all clear?” the voice spoke. She looked to the kid, who nodded.
“Yes,” she said. “All clear for detonation.”
The old man walked to the kid and said, “I sure as fuck hope you’re right, Mikel.”
“I am.”
“Yeah,” he said, “because overconfidence never came back to bite anyone in the ass.”
Mikel turned on the old man. “Excuse me, Harold, but I’m not the one who blew my only chance at success on a hunch. Unlike you, I’ve actually spent time independently verifying my sources. If I am overly confident, it’s because I’ve spent years of my life making sure that this is the right location. So I would appreciate it if you would please stop with the attitude. I do in fact give a damn about the collateral.”
Harry turned away. “Could’ve fooled me.”
Mikel was about to say something, but then the ground fell out from under them, and they landed on their knees. A few moments later, a dense thud sounded through the room. Mikel stood up.
“Why wasn’t there a countdown?” he shouted.
They all looked up at the screen with the timer, showing nineteen more minutes still.
“What the hell…” Harry said as he stood up, shaking on his feet.
“Get them on the line, Amanda,” Mikel stated. “I need to know what the fuck just happened.”
She turned on the radio and started calling out codes, switching between channels, getting nothing in response.
“What could make them go off half an hour early?” Harry asked.
“I have no fucking clue, but it better be a good goddamn reason.”
Harry smiled. “You sure do curse a lot when you’re mad.”
Mikel turned on him, vicious. “Is this a fucking joke? I hope you realize just how tremendous a clusterfuck this could turn out to be if-”
“I’ve got someone!” Amanda shouted.
Without hesitation, Mikel jumped to the radio. “This is Mikel Aransky, what the hell is going on down there?”
A winded, raspy voice shouted out, “Something went wrong! The explosives went off early.”
“Yeah, I had gathered that much. Why did they go off early?”
There was a long pause. He could hear shouting in the background. “A lot of people are dead. Half the crew, at least.”
“Son of a bitch,” Harry said.
“Okay,” said Mikel. “We’ll get you help as soon as we can, just tell me why there was such an early detonation.”
Another pause. “It was… something.” He said this like he couldn’t quite find a word for it. “A big… thing, like a- a monster.”
Mikel looked at Harry, wide-eyed. He took off the headset and put his hand over the mic, turning towards Amanda. “Is this thing recording?”
“Yeah, we keep logs of everything-”
Mikel put the headset back on. “What’s your name?”
“Uh, Jim.” He sounded terrified.
“Alright Jim, listen to me. I need you to tell me everything you saw down to the smallest detail that you can remember, alright? This is very important.”
Jim said, “O- Okay.”
“What did you see?”
“Everything was fine, we had the uh- the dynamite and thermite all in place, magnesium charges, all the works. We were checking everything once over, making sure all the angles were good. At twenty minutes til, we were set to evacuate the zone of impact. About half the crew was already on its way out, we were in charge of the geological checkups, and I’d already had some of my men do overtime to make sure it was good. As we got in the tram car there was this… this noise, like some kind of scream. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything like it. I looked back, and there it was, this giant… thing. Two or three heads taller than me, maybe, it was hard to tell. It came up out of a hole in the ground and it… it disappeared. I thought maybe it was just some kind of prank or, god, I don’t even know, but I didn’t say anything. But about five minutes later, it detonated, and the tram derailed. There was-”
“Okay Jim,” Mikel said, “is that where you are now?”
“Yes.”
“Just wait where you are. I can hear other people, do your best to help them alright? We’ll be down there just as soon as we can.”
“It’s so hot…”
“I know Jim. Try to keep it together.”
Mikel set down the headset. He rubbed his chin and his eyes, and fell back into a chair.
“What is it?” Harry asked.
“Amanda,” Mikel said, “do you have access to the ventilation systems from here?”
She said, “Yeah I do, but why-”
“Cut off the air supply, reverse the output, do whatever you have to, just get the oxygen out of there.”
“Excuse me?” Amanda asked.
Harry said, “Hold on, you’re nowhere near authorized to make that kind of decision-”
“I am, Harold, and it’s the decision I’m making.”
“But why? We can evacuate-”
“Evacuate? They’re three miles down, Harold. Should I call an ambulance? It’ll be days before we can get sufficient numbers of rescue officials down there. Do you know the kind of heat generated by an explosion of that magnitude? With the shielding open on all the tramways, all crews within a mile of the explosion chamber are going to die of burns anyway. What I’m doing is an act of mercy.”
“Or you want to drown the fire so you can get down there sooner.”
Mikel made no response. He just stared at Amanda.
“If you don’t do it, I will,” Mikel said. Finally, she started at it.
“There,” she said. “It’s done.”
The other techs looked at them with a mixture of disgust and fear.
“Now what?” Harry asked.
Mikel said, “We investigate.”

Chapter 2.

“Tell me a few things about yourself, mister Rondayle.”
“Sir?” The reporter with the messy blond hair looked up from his pen and paper. “Um,” he said, shuffling about, “My name is Arthur, I graduated from Colorado State a few years ago-”
“Not the talking points, kid. I want real information. Call it an exchange.”
Arthur looked away. “I’ve been writing for most of my life, I have, uh…”
“What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?”
He laughed. “I used to be the guy who collected grocery carts at Wal-Mart. I can’t tell you how many times I was nearly run over in that place.”
“And what got you from there to here?”
Arthur said, “Luck, I guess. Luck and a lot of patience.”
The general smiled. “That’s about what it always is, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I assume you want to hear about Project Windowsill.”
Arthur blinked. “Uh, yes. That’d be about right.”
“Well, ask away.”
He composed himself, consulting his notepad. “Where did the name “Windowsill” come from?”
“It was a highly classified operation, the kind of thing that sets off alarms with watchdog groups and the like. Movies give you this idea that the government is a shadowy, world conquering organization, but you’d be surprised at the level of incompetence. Nothing stays a secret for long. So we gave it a name that was so utterly uninteresting, only an idiot would think to look at it further.”
The general looked at Arthur over his glasses, as though he was implying something.
“And what exactly did you seek to accomplish with Project Windowsill?”
The general glanced away. “You may have heard the name Mikel Aransky tossed around once or twice in your research.”
“Yes.”
“Windowsill was his baby. He did the research, made the proposal, spearheaded all of the active engagements.”
“And what was Windowsill’s intended goal?”
“I’m afraid that is still classified.”
Arthur stared at him. “You’re going to tell me about Mikel Aransky, but you’re not going to say a word about why I’m actually here?”
“I want you to remember, son, that you’re here by my grace. We gave you this opportunity, you’ve got the list of untouchable subjects.”
“Sir, if I may be so bold, we are in a time of international tragedy. Don’t you think it’s time for a little transparency?”
The general watched him, tipping his head up. “Are you implying that Project Windowsill has some kind of correlation with the current state of affairs in South America and Europe?”
“You’re forgetting America.”
“I might be able to tell you a few things about Windowsill, Arthur. But that is one thing I can’t talk about.”
“No, I understand,” Arthur said. “Who would want to publicize what can only be called an underground civil war? It would be ridiculous to consider that one of the largest, most powerful organizations on the planet had anything to do with one of the most overwhelming insurrections in our history. Everyone knows about it, general, they’re just afraid to say anything.”
“It’s not a matter of what people know. They’ve known about aliens in this country since the sixties, that doesn’t make it true.”
Arthur watched him as the general lit up a cigarette.
“I was hoping you’d put up a fight,” said the general. “You haven’t disappointed so far.”
“Sir?”
“Politics and journalism in this country have been bullshit for decades. It’s nice to see someone who’s willing to roast the accountable ones.”
Arthur blinked. “Are you saying… that you are accountable?”
The general glanced at him.
“Project Windowsill was an excavation.”
“Wait, wait,” Arthur said, flipping through his notepad. “It says here that you employed more than twenty tons of explosives. Isn’t that a bit excessive for an excavation?”
The general smiled.



Chapter 3.

“What is that smell?”
Harry and Mikel sat in the back of a heavy duty rover vehicle, driving down the tram shaft that led to the explosion chamber. They were all wearing gas masks and climate controlled suits.
Mikel said, “Probably sulfur. Melted rock and steel. Maybe some cooked human flesh.”
Harry grimaced.
It had been six hours since they reflooded the chamber with oxygen, and they were almost to their destination. Every surface in the tunnel was blasted and morphed from the force of the explosion. It was pitch dark except for the headlights, and still unbearably hot.
The driver pulled to a stop.
“What is it?” Mikel shouted. “Are we there?”
“No,” the driver said, turning around, “but I can’t go further.”
“Why the hell..”
Mikel trailed off as he peered over the hood to see their obstruction.
Hundreds of bodies lined the ground, in some places piled two or three deep. Many of them were horribly burned and disfigured. They had all been trying to crawl away from the explosion chamber.
“Oh god,” Harry said.
Mikel pursed his lips and turned to the driver. “You can… drive over them, right?”
“It’s not a matter of can, sir. I won’t.”
Mikel sighed. “Then I’ll drive.”
The man in the front moved into the passenger’s seat and Mikel climbed behind the wheel. He pressed on the gas, and they moved forward over the bodies. Harry stared at the floor as the vehicle bobbed and jostled, and he squirmed at the chorus of cracking bones and soft, wet noises.
“Ohhhh,” Harry said, holding his stomach. “I swear to god Mikel, if we don’t die down here you are going to owe me so much beer.”
“Just try not to throw up in your suit, please,” Mikel said.
As the hill of bodies grew higher, the smell became worse and worse. And then, almost suddenly, they were on solid ground again, and the ceiling opened up. There were still bodies littered about, but these were blackened husks, barely identifiable as human.
They pulled to a stop and got out of the vehicle. As Harry looked around, trying to see something in the blackness, Mikel went to the back and found a heavy grey case. He opened it and removed a large gun that he rested on his shoulder. He flipped a few switches, aimed it up, and pulled the trigger.
A large cylinder shot out of the barrel forty feet into the air, then ignited like a rocket and shot up and up until it pinned itself in roof of the chasm. Mikel set the gun down and looked at his watch. The cylinder exploded, leaving in its place a giant white-orange globe that illuminated the entire chamber. Harry goggled at it, shielding his eyes with his hand, the toothpick nearly falling out of his mouth.
“What is that, magnesium? Phosphorous? Whatever it is, it can’t last too long, right?”
Mikel said, “About nine hours. It’s a chemical bulb, essentially.”
“Huh,” Harry said. “Neat.”
The driver shouted at them from the rim of the crater in front of them, and the two agents ran to him.
Before Mikel could ask what it was, he saw.
The crater went down an impossible distance. In some places, smoke still rose from charred spots of mineral deposits.
And at the very center of the crater, a massive, rough-hewn silver structure jutted out of the stone. Its surface was entirely unharmed.
Harry shook his head.
“Is that it?”
Mikel smiled like a madman.
“That’s it.”


Chapter 4.

“We found a natural cave system that went down about a mile, and dug the rest of the way. Eventually we reached an area of material so dense that none of our tools could get through it. So, we resorted to explosives.”
Arthur held his hands together, looking over his notes.
“And it never crossed your mind that you might do irreparable damage to whatever it was you were trying to excavate?”
The general took a long drag. “If you knew what it was, you’d understand.”
“So what was it?”
The general shrugged, and Arthur resisted the urge to scream.
“Alright then, sir. What can you tell me about Mikel Aransky?”
“You haven’t done the research yourself?” he asked.
Arthur shook his head. “I have, but that’s impartial. I want a biased point of view. I want your opinion.”
“Hm. Well, I’d say he was stuck up and a bit of an asshole,” said the general. “But he knew his stuff. And even with some initial setbacks, he was right on the money with Windowsill.”
“And did he-”
“You’re asking an awful lot about Mikel,” he said, “and yet you haven’t once brought up his assistant.”
Arthur flipped back through some pages. “That’d be… Harold Greman?”
The general nodded.
“What about him?” Arthur asked.
“Well, it was his research that allowed Mikel to get his start.”
Arthur blinked. “What?” He went frantically through his notes. “Why haven’t I heard about this?”
“Because Harry’s initial failure is one of the biggest mistakes the United States Government has made in recent history.”
Arthur looked up from his notepad and stared. “On what kind of scale?” he asked. “Of a piece with Vietnam?”
“There was something called the “Dotcom Boom” in the mid nineties, where everyone thought the future of business was on the internet.”
“Which it was,” Arthur added.
“Not yet,” he said. “Well, a lot of the resources that made that boom possible were a result of the networking research that Harry was involved in. Much of it had to do with a hypothetical supermaterial that would revolutionize manufacture, communication, distribution, everything.”
“I don’t understand,” Arthur said. “What does that have to do with the, uh… the dotcom boom?”
“Nothing. He was just a bigshot, had his fingers in too many pies, and it all came crashing down around him. He was disbarred for a long while, but when Mikel started kicking up some of his research, he asked to have him reinstated as an assistant.”
“I still don’t get how Harry was such an embarrassment.”
“Four billion dollars down the toilet with no result but that a revolutionary material might exist? That’s the kind of advice you pay psychics for.”
Arthur nodded. “Okay. So let me guess, whatever Mikel spent all that time researching… it was this hypothetical supermaterial, right?”
The general said, “I can neither confirm or deny-”
“Yeah, right, okay.” Arthur shook his head. “What can you tell me?”
“I can tell you that this material, if it really did exist, did not originate on earth. On this much, both Harry and Mikel agreed. And I can also tell you that…” he paused. “No. Nevermind.”
“What?” Arthur asked. He leaned forward. “What?”
“I’ve already said far more than I should”
The general stood up, and Arthur followed.
“Wait, this was just getting interesting, you can’t just-”
The general grabbed the front of Arthur’s suit and pulled him close.
“I’d be very careful how you word this article, Arthur.”
He let go and stormed out of the room, and Arthur slumped his shoulders. As he started to gather his things, he stopped.
Something was sticking out of his breast pocket.
Arthur removed the small piece of paper, sure that it hadn’t been there before. He unfolded it and it read, simply:
Mikel Aransky
1493 Sommers Dr.
Be careful.


Chapter 5.

“Do you know what this means?”
Harry looked at Mikel from the back of the vehicle. “Yes, I’ve been envisioning this moment all my life.”
“We’ve found it!” he shouted. “This is just the beginning-”
“And at the cost of only a few hundred lives,” Harry said.
Mikel sighed. “Grow up, Harold. More people are killed in pointless tribal conflicts every day. At least these men died for something.”
Harry didn’t comment.
The bodies had been cleared from the path, and several dozen men were at work clearing the debris and making a path down into the crater. They were on their way back to the control station.
“How old do you think it is?” Harry asked.
Mikel looked at him. “Well, obviously millions of years. We’ve done the math before, it would have to have crashed into the earth at some point early in its development-”
“I know we did the math, Mikel,” said Harry, “but that was before we actually found it. I’ve spent a long time preparing for this day, and now that it’s here… good god, I feel so unprepared.”
“You’re old, Harry,” Mikel said, laughing, “you shouldn’t worry so much. What’s the worst that could-”
There was a click over a radio, and Harry picked up the handset in the back. “Yeah?”
“We’ve made it down to the material,” a voice responded.
“That’s great!” Harry said.
“There’s something you need to see.”
Harry paused. “We’re a long ways from the explosion chamber. What is it?”
“It’s a, uhm… Well sir, I think it’s a symbol.”
The blood drained from his face, and his mouth hung open.
“What?”
Mikel shouted back, “What is it, Harold?”
Harry shh’d him. “What do you mean, symbol?”
Mikel slammed on the brakes and turned full way around.
“Symbol?” he asked urgently.
The man on the other end of the radio said, “Someone just found another one. It’s… covered with them, sir.”
“Are you sure it’s a symbol?” Harry asked. “Are you absolutely certain that it isn’t some kind of scarring or burn or-”
“It’s a perfect circle with three lines cutting through it, almost like a target. I don’t think this kind of thing occurs naturally, sir.”
Harry said, “Take lots and lots of pictures. Hurry up and get that thing out of the crater, please. This is progressively becoming the most important operation in the world, we need it to go as smoothly as possible from here on out.”
He hung up the hand set, and immediately Mikel said, “What the fuck was that?”
“It’s alien,” Harry said.
“We knew that.”
“No. It’s… alien alien.” He looked up. “It’s branded.”
Mikel stared at him. And then he broke out into a smile. “Today couldn’t get any better! This is-”
“Mikel,” Harry said, his tone infinitely less excited.
“What?”
“I think we’re ignoring a very vital piece of information. The explosion still went off thirty minutes early, and… there was Jim.”
Mikel blinked and turned away.
“I don’t think the substance is the only thing down there,” Harry said.
“Son of a bitch.”