The first thing that hit me when I stepped inside the object was that it was no longer cold. It was as if I stepped through a curtain into a well-heated room. In fact, it wasn’t all that hot, but a mild average temperature felt like a blistering desert compared to the outside.

The second thing that stood out to me was the runes, for lack of a better word, began to light up along the walls of what I could now see was a passage down into the object.  It wasn’t Norse, but it also wasn’t a language I had seen before. I could hear the others file in behind me as I proceeded down the straight passageway. After a short while, the stairs ended and the passaged leveled out into a straight passageway. The runes also began shifting. Not outright but every time they went to the corner of my sight they changed and shifted positions, much like an optical illusion, this slowed my pace as I found it increasing disorienting.

Squinting my eyes, I focused as beth as I could only on the path ahead. Finally, the path subtly began to widen until finally, it branched out into a large room. It was lit brightly with overhead glowing objects. They were so bright, it was hard to make out what they were. Otherwise, the room was strangely empty other than a large door at the far side. As we filed into the room, the scientists moved to the doorway and began to consult among themselves. After a moment I realized Llyod hadn’t entered the room. In a subtle whisper, I asked if the other men had seen him. None had.

Approaching the captain I informed him about Llyod’s disappearance and that myself and Hook would go back and look for him. He merely nodded, he was too focused on the scientists’ discussion.

Hook, and I made our way back through the passage, but there was nothing out of what we already hadn’t encountered. This wasn’t good. By the time we reached the exit, there was no sign of him. Going back outside onto the outside of the object we scanned the area using our high beam torches. How could we have lost him? We were missing something, and it was gnawing at me. This entire place was off.

 

[Note: Breaking this up as I have limited time this week and I want to think more about the overall story of this. Stay tuned!]