The Alien Artifact 8 Read Free Page B

mankind to something!
    He did not know what their next biggest
problem would be!
    Was it even dieing of starvation? Or was
there something there after all, which had brought them there,
which was getting ready to kill them all or what?
    They never had any communications with the
outside world and the shuttle was damaged beyond what they could
repair and the last of the fuel was burning away, and they were
lucky as the shuttle had been designed right and it did not have a
fatal explosion, but they never knew if what had taken them there
would allow them to leave, be found, and allow them to live!
    The next peculiarly that they saw was the
strangely tinted night sky, and nobody could recall seeing anything
like it but they had not been outside the base at night that
much.
    Yet he was sure it had not been there when
they had landed!
    There was sand and rocks everywhere,
unhampered by humans, and it was very dry and he watched the
astronauts return and get fire distinguishers and help control and
put out the flames, while others removed equipment and things they
needed outside the shuttle, and he watched their speed increase,
and slow when the flames started going out, and their reactions
when it was annihilated, and they started moving back in the
shuttle and fixed its lighting and heating.
    They eventually all started resting and went
to sleep to conserve energy supplies, and left everything for the
morning.
    Cronenberg woke early, after sleeping too
long, and examined the outside world lighten up as the sun rose
above the horizon, and he watched the other astronauts slowly
awaken, eat, and start work checking the damage.
    “ There’s
some form of powerful energy influence,” Rosenberg
announced, after checking things, “and it ’ s still stopping us scanning
what ’ s out
there! ”
    “ Just as it was on the
airplane? ” he replied.
    “ Well, it
seems to have altered – and we could have found another encounter – and
it’s tremendous!”
    “ What could it be?” he moaned,
confused, and wondered if he had known something of it before the
shuttle had come down.
    “ It could be that on the shuttle we
were not able to properly check anything as it was so far away and
there was too much disturbances! Now that we have landed we are
detecting it and it is also more powerful this close
... ”
    “ Is it
near us?”
    “ I don’t
have a clue where it is! It could be anywhere! I will try to get
the information on it!”
    He handed
him some readouts and Cronenberg stared at them with amazement,
gasping, and muttered, “ What the hell could create
such power? It’s colossal! ”
    “ It’s
also like someone is playing around with something out
here! Has anyone got any science or military establishments or
anything at all out here? ”
    He considered it for some time and was amazed
that someone could build something like it there, but he could not
grasp what or why it would be put there.
    “ Nobody has been near here as far as
I’ve heard!”
    “ But it could be
confidential?”
    “ Yes! But why would it be built out
here? Why would they be using anything or experimenting on
anything? ”
    “ Perhaps they are using or creating
something too dangerous to be activated in an inhabited
zone! ” he replied
firmly.
    “ That would explain it being so
secretive and at an uncharted region but it does not explain
anything of its use! ”
    He kept going, curious in what the scientists
would make of things if he pushed them further.
    “ How did they manage to hide something
of its size and power though?” he moaned. “Nothing seems to add up
here! ”
    “ They
surely would have to have technology beyond anything we’ve heard
of!”
    Cronenberg stood still, staring out at the
Martian landscape through the front shuttle window, unable to grasp
it!
    “ What could create such power and what
is its use? ”
    “ It could be someone using a natural
phenomenon or something? Like someone harnessing and manipulating
energy in