CHAPTER 2

CAMP

SCRIPT:

When we arrived at camp, it was a flurry of activity, followed by a tide of calm silence.

Four of us had gone out in the rover, with two left back at base camp. Four of us, and the cube had returned. We had not communicated since stopping to investigate the strange magnetic readings that led us to the cube. They had called, of course, as it was standard procedure to do a check every thirty minutes on the dot. Even though their calls had chimed in on our suit radio, none of us had replied. After we had dug the cube up, and Elis had loaded it into the back, Commander Won had finally called to the camp. It was a simple message, a statement more than anything. ‘We have found something. Returning to camp.’

No further elaboration was offered, even though our comrades asked. When Commander Won continued to ignore them, they tried each of us in turn. (SYMPATHETIC, FOR THE PLIGHT OF THOSE AT BASE) None of us replied, though in my head, I knew I should say something, but my heart and soul were enamored by Elis and his strange connection with the cube.

I was surprised when they called him, and he answered. His voice was almost a whisper. Like someone lost in distant thought and replying more out of instinct than thinking. He said, ‘Everything will be alright. We’ll be home soon.’

As a feeling of peace washed over me hearing his words, the professional part of me couldn’t help but question where such a feeling had come from. (MATTER OF FACT) Given the facts of the situation, a strange, almost certainly alien object, was in the back of the rover with Elis and I, on an alien world months from home, and unbidden feelings and actions were coming over us, it did not seem like a situation that should have filled me or anyone else with calm.

Yet there it was.

A serenity. A peace. A simple feeling of contentment. As though all the wrongs I had witnessed in my life and career, wouldn’t matter for much longer.

I suppose, in the end, that is true enough.

But hindsight is a fickle thing. There are a million what ifs in our situation that could have gone differently. None of us had any idea how close we had come to ruin, and not just us on the soil of that impossible world. Our whole human family. I was not a religious man, but our survival defies belief. It was nothing short of providence.

Still, I only wish I had been able to ask the director some questions. He had been persistent on that landing spot, on the first mission we would perform upon landing and setting up base camp, even down to the very composition of the crew and equipment. He knew. (EMPHATICALLY) He had to know.

(LESS SURE) Didn’t he?

I suppose I may not know the answer to that question, not in this lifetime anyway.

As we drove into camp, with a plume of dust behind us betraying our haste to get back, we were met by our two companions at camp. To say they were upset by our silence up until that point, would be a understatement, but they were professional enough to keep any outward signs of it more or less controlled. My understanding of their psyche was enough to see the signs of it though.

Especially Joanna Monroe, wife of our geologist, whose hand was still attached to the cube, as she saw him climb out of the back of the rover, with the cube floating in tow. Joanna was our chief pilot and navigator, the one with primary care of our ship systems during the trip here, and the trip back. But now, her most important role was as a concerned wife.

She rushed toward him, and grabbed his shoulders before anyone could move to stop her. Her touch seemingly broke Elis of his spell, and his hand suddenly came away from the cube. It fell to ground and impacted with a force that we felt, and buried itself a few inches into the ground, underlining the tremendous weight that we knew it had, but had so far not seen evidence of.

The feeling of peace and calm seemed to dissipate somewhat with the impact, though it did not go away completely. We all stood there, staring in turn at the fallen cube, and at Joanna and Elis.

She asked him if he was alright, holding him upright as he swayed on his feet. He was disoriented, lost almost. A haze had descended on his mind. After a few moments passed, and he regained his faculties, but remained quiet in regards to what he experienced while in contact with the cube.

Commander Won, ordered us to get equipment and lights from the camp. The Martian sun set would be happening soon, and she wanted light to examine the cube more closely. We set up our perimeter quickly, our commander decided to get as much data as we could before sending a message back to earth. It would be some time before we could get an answer back, and giving them as much information as we could, seemed like a good idea.

At least it did at the time. I wonder now, how much of our thoughts were our own, and how much may have been impressions given to us by the cube. (CRITICAL REFLECTION, LIKE LOOKING BACK ON AN OBVIOUS MISTAKE) At the time, we had already seen evidence of the incredible influence it could have over someone, but somehow we never made the jump in reason that it might have more subtle methods of suggesting things to us too.

The strangest thing, in retrospect, was that it never seemed to outright force us. Some part of us, in all of this, was a willing participant. Not mindless servants shuffling to it’s call, but active, all be it sometimes unaware, participants.

At my core, I had always hoped for something more than just our tired Earth. I had always hoped for evidence of a greater universe, a greater meaning to our existence than the mere chance suggested by our scientific reason. I suspect everyone on that crew did, else why would we have volunteered to touch the stars, and leave the comforts of Earth for the sake of some dead alien world?

I suppose the depth of those beliefs may have had some relation to how well the cube was able to influence us.

It’s been… a journey, to say the least. So much is different now, and it’s all because of that mission.

We finished our perimeter as the distant light of Sol set below the horizon. We had taken several dozen high quality images of the cube, and we examined it across as much of the light spectrum as we could, and even, after much hesitation, had touched it again. It had remained dormant and inscrutable. Even as we each ran our hands against it, we felt nothing more than an almost electric feeling, and a sensation of warmth.

Our images of it showed the same thing, a cube of white, of an unknown substance, exhibiting magnetic fields and shifting pattern of energies extending past the visible spectrum in both directions.

It existed, and had an effect on the world around it, but what it was made of, or what was inside it, we had no idea. The material it was made of bounced back everything we tried to scan it with.

Having exhausted our instruments, and having little by way of new knowledge, we decided to turn in for the night. Commander Won decided to stay up late to compose the message, and prepare what data we had found. She was joined by another of our crew, while the rest of us went to our quarters to sleep.

As I lay in my bed, looking up at the white and grey roof of my quarters, my mind was calm. Though I knew, if… if things had been different… if the cube had not had the effect it had, I likely would have been anxious that night, and resorting to calming techniques I had learnt. As it was, I felt calm, like I had in my youth during my summer vacations. (AMUSED) Not a care in the world, the troubles of tomorrow could wait a day, and so, I drifted off to sleep.

My dreams that night were troubling. I was not one to give much credence to dreams, not as some conduit for communication, I always thought of them as ones mind simply trying to make sense of the occurrences of the day, and working through the threads provided by an ever moving sub conscious. But even so, maybe especially because, that nights dreams burned certain feelings into my mind, thoughts and images that I think back on as this strange chapter in human life continues to unfold.

I saw people, but yet… I knew they were not us. They had some inherent familiarity to them, even while their dress and appearance was different. (DIFFICULTY FINDING WORDS) If you had seen them in person, you would understand. I cannot convey it accurately. It was little things, which added up into a sense of other, yet still they were us. There were many of them, too many to count, and they were going about their business completely unaware of me.

Somehow, I knew to look at one in particular. There he was, crafting the white cube that we had just found in the soil of Mars. It was open, it’s contents available to look, yet they were hazy, indistinct, and I could not make them out. There was a feeling that washed over me, a sense of purpose from the being crafting the cube. There were undercurrents of expectation, and a fluttering sense of anticipation at drawing close to a completed task. The being placed his last component in the cube, and then, with an effortless move of his hands, closed up the sides of the cube. As he ran his hands over the sides of the it, the seams and cracks vanished into the seamless thing we had found. He stood up from his work, looked down on the cube, and smiled. I felt a wash of joy and excitement, seemingly coming from the cube itself, and a sense of satisfaction from the being who had crafted it. The being patted the top of the cube, his touch gentle and kind, and then turned and walked out of the workshop, leaving it exactly as he found it.

As he walked outside, I noticed that all the people were gathering toward a central location, a large building of stone and glass, a low yet vast construction of megalithic proportion. The being, and all those gathered together, gathered to the centre of the building, and started to look up. I followed their gaze, but saw nothing but a bright sky, it’s boundaries hazy and indistinct. I could not see any detail.

Then my perspective changed. I was with another being, also constructing another cube, though this one was black as space. As I looked on this fellow, hurried in his movements and frantic in his work, I was caught by the feelings of anxious strain, of a low burning rage that fueled his movements. His movements were quick and sharp, where as the other being had been smooth and calm.

This being finished his work, and sealed the sides, hurriedly running his hands over the edges. He stood up quickly and gave the top of the cube a sharp rap with his fist. (MILD DISGUST) A wave of hunger, some deep longing and need, which I did not understand, washed over me. It caused me to reel in my dream, and to turn away and rush out of the work shop.

As I stood outside, the being that had been inside, rushed out. He looked over to the gathering crowed by the stone and glass construction, and then looked away. He let out a whistle and ran off away from the building. Others followed after him, fleeing from the gathering crowd.

My vision lifted off of the ground so I saw the two workshops. As the crowd grew near the centre of the building, and another group fled away from them, I saw the black cube rise up out of the workshop, and the white cube rise up out of its.

They shot up into the sky, and I noticed that some of those gathering at the building, now looked up at the commotion. Some of them spotted the white cube, and felt a wave of joy at seeing it. When they then spotted the black cube, some of that joy gave way to a momentary flash of fear. However, a wave of peace and tranquility seemed to wash over them from some unknown source, and they looked away from the spectacle, back to whatever they were looking at in the sky.

The two cubes shot up, flying upward at tremendous speed. My vision followed with them. As they left the atmosphere, the black cube moved closer to the white cube, and with a flash of light, the two were thrown apart. The black cube flew off into space, while the white cube seemed to hang in the sky for a moment, before falling back down toward the planet.

This is when I woke again. I looked at my clock, only a few hours had passed. My mind was awake and clear, and I did not dare go to sleep again, lest I loose the feelings and images I now had in my mind. I decided to record my dream, so that I could remember it even if the thoughts faded, as dreams so often do.

(REFLECTIVE) Though it was not needed, that dream was etched into my memory. I remember the feelings of hope and joy, and the feelings of anger and longing. It was a real to me as though it had been me.

I will never forget.