Christian Clarity Review

The Institute:

Henry knocks on the glass in front of the communications sector. “Any word?”

“Not from onsite.” Peters turns from his monitor. “Team Two is on its way, about to go under.”

Video of the site is being played on a nearby monitor.

Henry: That from the site?

Peters: Yeah. We’ve replayed the last transmission over and over to try to determine exactly what was going on before the quake. Now we’re going back and analyzing the last few weeks.

Henry: The last transmission was just before the quake?

Peters: Right after the earthquake. Routine stuff until then.

Henry: Need some help? Things are slow for us.

Peters: Why not? You can watch some discs over on the far monitor. Here is the last recording as the quake hit.” Henry takes a small disc. The tech points to a monitor.

The video:

The crew in the middle of a normal days work. Experiments being conducted; data collected. Routine equipment checks on-going.

Scenes change as the different views of the camera spread over the site. A sparse crew of men go about the business of experimental space research.

—–

A crew meal. Gathered around a table in the conference room, they eat in silence. The other cameras show an empty habitat.

The meal goes quietly. The crew glances at the camera.

“They almost act as if someone would take something away from them, huh?” Peters says as he wheels his chair over.

Henry nods. “Am I mistaken or is that a sunburn on a couple of faces?” A closer examination of the other members shows them with small dressing stuffed in their noses.

Peters: They had previously said that some of them were experiencing sunburns, nose bleeds and nausea.”

Henry: Infrasound just prior to the quake? Pre-shocks maybe?

Peters: We thought of that. Theoretically would produce similar symptoms. The experts say it’s possible. But there has never been even one documented case of natural infrasound causing the sunburns. They don’t mention it again. We really don’t know what to make of it.

———

The crew is talking in hushed tones until Reynolds raises his voice. “We’ve got to find it soon.”

“Read it again. Maybe it’s really us…” someone begins but is interrupted by a deep rumbling from beyond the camera.

“What is that?”

“Earthquake? Here?” Reynolds asks.

The camera vibrates out of focus, then shakes along with the entire lab as tables, chairs, the ceiling, then the floor, a head, an outstretched arm, books and flashes of metallic objects go in and out of the cameras range.

The screen goes blank with static and white noise.

A short time later a hand in front of the screen adjusts the view. “Are we back? Are you getting this?”

Another voice says, “Try it now. We should have power.”

A head backs away from the screen to reveal the communications officer. “Okay, I think we’re back. I haven’t received anything. But I think we’re sending. If you guys back home are getting this we had an earthquake. No one is seriously hurt–a few cuts and bruises. We lost some equipment and some of the auxiliary tunnels collapsed. We’ve still got the smaller boring probe so we’ll just re-tunnel. But we’re not sure about the experiments themselves.. Commander Reynolds is out with Williams to try and assess the total damage. Power keeps going on and off–we’ll be cleaning up this mess for weeks at least. The good news is the lab withstood the shake-up. The shell is still intact and our air is still good. Considering what could have happened we….”

The screen goes blank again.

“Read what?” Henry asks.

Peters: Nobody knows. There hasn’t been any contact since. That’s why we’re viewing the past few weeks again. No one noticed any serious change or anything out of the ordinary from our end. But something must have spooked them besides the earthquake. The nausea, sunburn and nose bleeds started two and half weeks before the quake. Tests from our end indicate they could both send and receive–even now. But nothing. The best we’ve come up with is Seasonal Effective Disorder with the earthquake exaggerating the effects.”

Henry: Have you tweaked the volume and…

Peters: They’re discussing something they found. A shape in the rock, maybe a table. But we haven’t seen it on the video, it hasn’t been mentioned in any reports and they only make passing remarks about it. But as to what they should read again, that could be anything.

Henry: I’ll watch for a while. We’re just crunching numbers for now. Boring stuff.

———-

Several hours later Henry stretches and stands.

Peters motions him over to another monitor. “May have something. It wasn’t on the reports.”

Video:

“I’m telling you it wasn’t me!” a crewman is saying. “I didn’t drill those holes!”

“I suppose they just drilled themselves?” another voice responds. “It weakens the overall safety to just drill where you want.”

“I don’t know how they got there..but it wasn’t me–and it wasn’t our equipment. I checked.”

“You’re telling me they were here when we got here?”

“It wasn’t us. That’s all I know.”

Henry: What are they talking about? They found some old tunnels? Anything else on this?

Peters shakes his head. “Not that I know of. This is the first we’ve heard of it.”

Henry: Wouldn’t that have been rather significant? I mean if they really had found tunnels or caves they didn’t make?”

Peters: More than significant. It’d be incredible. It would call into question the structural integrity of the overall site.”

Henry: And nobody has heard of this?

Peters: Not us until now.

Henry: Who was watching the site?

Peters: The guys we replaced I guess.”

———————————————-

At Sea:

“How far out?” Izzy is leaning over a typographical map of the Antarctic ocean bottom.

“About here.” Hayt stands beside him and circles a spot on the map.

Mike: That’s over a hundred miles off the coast.

Hayt: According to the ‘eighty five core samples, that’s the last place the sediment is over three hundred feet thick. We need at least a hundred and seventy feet to cover the entire subterrene with enough mud and gravel to stop the ocean water from coming in behind us. The closer we get to the coast, the shallower the depth of sediment. We’re pushing it now. Any further out and the subterrene couldn’t take the pressures of the water. We need to be between one hundred and three hundred meters of water for the pipes to be at optimum operating environment.

Mary: And you’ve never done this particular maneuver before?

Hayt: In theory it’s sound. The key will be maintaining enough pressure to blast our way deep enough. The water will come in behind us and wash in sand and mud to cover us. According to the calculations, we need approximately one hundred and sixty three feet of tunnel filled in by the sand and mud to form an effective plug behind us.

Mike: A hundred and sixty feet doesn’t sound like a lot of room for error.

Hayt: I checked the equipment myself–twice. We’re good. After we’re in the rock we can collapse the tunnel behind us if the water is still leaking or the plug looks weak.

Izzy: Check it again. If we miss we won’t be coming back.

All of them are gathered in Izzy’s quarters for a last briefing.

“Everything checks. All the equipment is on board. We’re ready to go–but I still don’t see how we’re getting that monster off the ship.” Gregg leans against the desk and reads the chart upside down.

“The hull is a clamshell. I thought you would have noticed.” Izzy looks at Gregg.

Gregg: “It opens..?”

Izzy: “..the floor extends under us, breaks away in the middle, down we go. We’re top heavy with the forward tanks attached.”

Gregg looks at Hayt. “Ever done this at night?”

Hayt: Left handed either. Wouldn’t make any difference. But we’ve tested prototypes in shallower depths. I’ve got over three hundred hours in the simulator on this.

Albrite: Three thousand?

Hayt smiles. “Enough to get it right.”

Albrite: What happens if we get stuck on the bottom and can’t get into the rock?

Izzy: Somebody will just have to come and get us. But then where would the crew on site be?

“I see.” Albrite says nervously as he nods his head. “What if something goes wrong?”

Gregg: “Don’t jinx us, man. Just keep it to yourself.”

There is a silence.

Izzy: You’re a professional, right? I guess you better have tightened every bolt and secured every wire and strap.

Albrite: I thought, you know, someone would check it. I’m not a mechanic.

Izzy: We don’t have time to check it again and again. That’s what you were doing. Bill and I showed you how to put it together. I saw you doing it right. There isn’t a whole lot to it. That’s it.” Izzy looks around at them all. “This whole thing involves risk. Once we knew the air transport was out we needed a new plan. You’ve all worked hard all your lives, whether you knew it or not for this very thing. Here’s the payoff for the sweat and the diligence.

Mary: So when do we go?

Izzy: Three to five hours. I’ll talk to the Commander. We’ll be in a holding pattern ’til then or we’ll overshoot the objective.

Gregg: The objective?

Izzy points to the circled spot on the map. “Entry point.”

Mike: How long ’til we’re at the base?

Hayt: A week, plus or minus. But once we hit the rock it’ll actually be pretty boring, pardon the pun, ’til we get there. Sleep. Eat. Run the experiments. Our job really doesn’t begin until we’re on site”

Mary: You know all the puns don’t you?

Izzy smiles. “I won’t bore you with more than is necessary.” He looks around the room. A tight, constricting, heaviness charges the air. “Fear is a good edge.” he says quietly. “Get some sleep if you can.”

———————————————————-

Daniel 1:1-4 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, and a part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar, to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure-house of his god. And the king spoke unto Ashpenaz the chief of his eunuchs, that he should bring of the children of Israel, both of the royal seed and of the nobles, youths in whom was no blemish, and of goodly countenance, and skilful in all wisdom, and acquainted with knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the language of the Chaldeans.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen