“We go in,” he said, as he looked at the anxious men around him.
“Jack, I said the gallery isn’t secure.”
“We can’t secure it with only two teams. Let’s get what we came for and get the hell out of here.”
“You may change your mind when you see what happened in there,” Carl shot back, angry that Jack was going against everything he ever taught to his own people about securing an area.
“Sergeant Averill,” he said, as he turned to a Marine gunnery sergeant.
“Sir.”
“Move the entire company in, take your Marines and link up with Major Krell and Captain Mark-Patton. The use of radios is still forbidden.”
“Aye, sir, moving in with the follow-up force.”
Collins watched him go and turned to face Everett. “After you, Captain.”
Everett removed the M-16 from his shoulder and, with one last look at Collins, followed his orders, running to the front where the eighty-five men were gathering.
“Niles, you and the science team stay close by. If I say get out, don’t give me any crap about the needs of the world. Run, is that clear? The sergeant here will be your escort.” Collins faced Tram. “You’re responsible for them, got that?”
Compton followed as Jack turned and stepped in beside the last of the men to enter Gallery Number Two. Private Tram followed and looked around to make sure his new charges were close by.
The men all entered a large space, and just like before they knew it was vast, just like the first gallery. As they waited to be led into a previously reconnoitered area, they used the most minimal of lights. The flashlights went here and there, highlighting the cave-in, the old German digging equipment, and what Jack thought were bodies.
“Cover your eyes,” said a voice from somewhere to their left.
Collins lowered his head and partially closed his eyelids. He heard the powerful generator start up like an old diesel truck. The large motor revved several times and then he heard the discharge of electrical power as it was released. When he saw the blaze of light, Jack raised his head and saw the chamber stretch out before him. His eyes adjusted to the brightness and that was when he saw the first of the bodies.
“God almighty, what happened here?” Pete Golding said. Several of the soldiers leaned down, examining the skeletal remains of several bodies. The bodies wore black German uniforms, with a few gray regular army uniforms mixed in. The remains were in disarray. Some parts lay close to the main body, others were tossed about like they had been mauled by some giant bear.
The lighting hanging from the ceiling above was bright, but in areas of the vast chamber hundreds of old bulbs had been smashed, leaving those areas in near darkness. Jack was looking at the scene before him and didn’t even notice Everett talking to him.
“Jack, I think that’s what we’re looking for,” Carl said, looking from the colonel to Niles. “Jack!”
Collins finally blinked and looked at Everett.
“It looks like the SS set up quite an elaborate science section here. Look down there,” he said, pointing to a small drop-off.
Collins and the others stepped forward as the eighty-five men spread out into areas that had already been reconnoitered by Sebastian and the first two teams. As they approached the edge, Jack thought they would see another massive drop-off, but was surprised when he saw that the buildings or huts were only thirty-five yards away. There were fifteen large tin buildings sitting side by side. The first in line was the largest, looking like it was capable of housing a large contingent of troops. As he counted he saw that there were some of the strange composite fiber huts left by the ancient travelers, only these were larger than those in the first gallery and for some reason they looked more permanent. They stretched far back into the gallery. Many of them had been destroyed by the earth movement that had buried the entire ten-mile area, which had been here long before the mountains.
“It’s a colony,” Niles said. He and the others stepped forward for a better look. They could see that the SS had set up a large perimeter around the three-square-mile site and had encompassed the entire area with watch towers and even a barbed wire fence. In the center of the occupied area, just before the stretch of alien buildings began, there was a large concrete blockhouse.
“How many colonists do you estimate, Niles?” Collins asked, as he scanned the area and watched for any sign of trouble from the men who were going from building to building.
“Hard to say, but for the sake of a starting point-two hundred, maybe less,” Compton said. He received nods from the four scientists, who were staring in amazement.
“They came all the way here and then the planet killed them anyway,” Jack said to no one in particular. He strode forward into the giant cave system.
He saw Major Krell advance toward him. Sebastian saluted, surprised to see Collins had entered with so many men before he had given the all clear.
“Ease up on the military discipline, Major,” Jack said, waiting for a report.
“I believe we have counted close to a thousand bodies and that’s not including the slave labor pen about a half a mile in that direction,” Krell said, pointing. “There are close to five hundred skeletons in there, mostly in the same condition as the soldiers.”
Jack finally faced Sebastian and raised his right brow. Sebastian held his hand out toward the colonel, and when Collins raised his hand the major dropped two items into it. One was a Star of David and the other a red circle of material.
“I believe you know what those are?” Sebastian said, straining with the words as he tried to keep his shock and anger in check.
“The Star of David,” Jack said, as he looked from the torn and tattered material to the angry eyes of Sebastian. “The red circle is a marker for a Gypsy. That was their labor force in the mines.” They were joined by Niles, who took the two items from Jack’s hand and looked at them.
“Hard to take. Here we’re searching for answers for all mankind and to do it we have to be shown the ugliness of our past.”
Sebastian realized that the director said our and not the German past. He was silently grateful for that small mercy. His anger over the discovery ebbed.
“Do you have any idea how they all died, besides very violently?” Jack said as he himself finally snapped out of a haze of thought.
“By the looks of the uniforms and the condition of the skeletal remains, I would hazard a guess that they were torn to pieces, smashed into dust and crushed. A few of them maybe even have been stepped upon by something. There are thousands of expended shell casings, evidence of large explosions, and areas of the gallery that look as if hundreds of men died making a last stand toward the far end of the cave system. There are also many remains by the cave-in, of men who looked as though they fought until the roof was brought down, blocking the way of whatever did this. The cruel thing about that site is the fact that fifty or so of those smashed bodies were wearing those patches, so in the end these people fought for their slave masters in an attempt to keep whatever evil that was here confined.”
Collins nodded his head at the quickly delivered report from Sebastian, then he stepped forward with the others following closely. Everett stepped up to Jack as he was handed the swatches of material and examined them. When he looked around at the smashed bodies of the men who were used to secure this place, he tossed the old material away and shook his head.
“I guess the Germans shut this place down when they thought all of this would hurt the tourist trade they were hoping for.”
As the soldiers followed the German commando, they knew they had just entered a 700-million-year-old mausoleum.
The men had spread out and searched the German huts. Another team spread out into the original colony area. The first real discovery came from Pete Golding, who was examining the body of a German soldier who had died in the seventy-year-old battle. Pete was squatting beside the remains and looking at the smashed and crushed bones when he saw a piece of rotting, red material poking free of a large slice of once molten rock. He stood and
