Astronomicon: Behemoth

Chapter 9 - Corridor

"I'd like to have another go at working out the door controls," said Aron as they arrived at the huge door for the second time. "I'm sure there are combinations waiting to be discovered."

"That I don't doubt," replied Megan, "But for now I want you to concentrate your efforts on the panel in the corridor on the other side. I want to know what is behind that second door."

All four of them, Megan, Meera, Aron and Santiago, felt substantially closer to their normal physical selves after a 'night's' sleep. Megan knew it would be at least a week of concerted exertion before they would be completely recovered from the years of being frozen, but she figured that the best way to achieve that exertion was to keep the crew busy and keep exploring their unexpected environment.

She was pleased that the lamp they had left standing alone in front of the huge door had been left completely untouched. She had had the nagging feeling that they could not possibly be alone in this structure but she hoped that the lamp was evidence that they were at least alone in this vast chamber.

"Aron, can you open the door again?"

"No problem, Megan," he smiled and detached a telescopic, metal pole he had brought from the Arcadian for just that purpose from his E.V.A. suit's carrying hooks.

"I know you told me how big this door is," marvelled Santiago, "But it still feels much bigger than I expected."

"I think it's scary," replied Meera, staring up at the top.

"It kinda reminds me of the movie King Kong," Santiago added.

"Don't say that," Meera shuddered.

Santiago laughed. "I'm sure Megan has checked thoroughly for giant gorillas."

Aron pressed the appropriate glyphs and as before they both glowed a brilliant blue as the two panels slid smoothly apart.

"Oh wow!" exclaimed Santiago as soon as he saw the oozing gel glistening in the glow of their lamps.

"That's one thing that's hard to describe," said Megan.

"It's a few centimetres thick?" he asked.

"Five or six," she replied.

"It is hard to estimate the rate at which it is falling, but that's a huge amount of gel. What process could produce so much?"

"I assumed it was recirculated," Aron replied. "Some sort of piping and a pump must feed it back from the bottom to the top."

"That would make sense."

Megan used the controls on the arm of her suit to switch her radio to transmit back to the Arcadian. "Walter, just checking in."

"I hear you, Commander," came his immediate reply.

"We're about to make our way through the gelfall ready to open the second door."

"Keep me posted, Commander. Good luck."

"Margaux and I are suited up and on standby until you get back."

"Good. Speak to you soon. Out," she replied then switched her radio back to the channel shared by the E.V.A. suits.

"Let's go," she announced and stepped into the gel.

"Hang on!" replied Aron, still setting up a second tripod lamp beside the existing one, this time to illuminate the gelfall.

After a few disquieting moments of downward pressure and blocked visor, she emerged on the other side. After moving forwards a few paces, she set about positioning one of her two tripod lamps so it illuminated the interior control panel. Moments later Aron pushed through the gel behind her to be quickly followed by both Meera and Santiago.