Murder in the Dark, page 11
‘Are you sure this thing is working?’
Paul shrugged helplessly. ‘The image cut off the moment the camera went into the hole. The signal is still strong, but we’re not getting a picture.’
‘What about sound?’ said Penny, pressing against my back as she peered over my shoulder. ‘Mike, can your camera pick up sound?’
‘Of course!’ he said, outraged at the very idea he’d spend good money on a camera that couldn’t.
‘There’s nothing to suggest anything inside the hole is interfering with the signal,’ said Paul.
‘Maybe we’re only seeing darkness because that’s all there is inside the hole,’ said Ellie.
‘Then what did Terry see?’ said the Professor.
An interesting question. To which no one had an answer.
We watched the empty screen, straining our eyes against a darkness that gave nothing away. The only sound in the camp was the steady unwinding of cable from the drum, and the slow hum of its engine. And then suddenly a light appeared, right in the middle of the screen. We all leaned forward.
‘What is that?’ I said.
‘I don’t know,’ said Paul. ‘As far as my readings can tell, it’s just … light. Still, this is a first. Proof there is something on the other side of the hole apart from darkness.’
‘But are we looking at a small light close to the camera, or a much bigger light further away?’ said Penny.
‘Now that is a good question,’ said Paul. ‘Unfortunately, I have absolutely no way of telling.’
‘I suppose it could be the light at the end of the tunnel …’ said Mike.
‘I told you the hole was a connection between this world and somewhere else!’ said Ellie. ‘We could be looking at light from another planet.’
‘Is there any way to zoom in on the light?’ asked the Professor.
‘Mike’s camera is actually pretty basic,’ said Paul. ‘No zoom, no ultraviolet or infrared …’
‘Why would I want any of that on holiday?’ said Mike.
‘Why would you want to broadcast your holiday live?’ said Paul.
‘Mike has always been very visually orientated,’ Ellie said demurely.
‘You’re punishing me for something, aren’t you, Ellie?’ said Mike.
‘Can we tell how far the camera has descended?’ I asked, at least partly in self-defence.
Paul worked his keyboard again, and a number appeared in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, steadily increasing.
‘That’s how much cable has been played out so far,’ he said. ‘Forty-seven feet, fifty feet … Still descending into the dark. The light doesn’t seem to be getting any closer, or any brighter.’
‘How much cable is there on the drum?’ asked Penny.
‘Three hundred feet,’ said the Professor. ‘I suppose Black Heir didn’t expect us to need any more than that.’
We kept watching as the camera fell further and further away from us. The light didn’t change in size or intensity. We passed a hundred feet, and then a hundred and fifty. A slow chill passed through me, as I thought about the camera disappearing down a deep shaft that had nothing at all to do with the interior of the hill.
‘What happens if we get to the end of the cable and we still haven’t reached the light?’ said Penny.
‘Then we’ll have to pull the camera back up and think of something else,’ I said. ‘Hopefully the recording will tell us something about the hole’s interior. You are recording this, Paul?’
‘No, I’m a complete amateur who’s never worked with communications equipment before,’ said Paul, not looking round. ‘Of course I’m recording!’
‘We could just leave the camera dangling there,’ said Ellie. ‘Like bait. See if something shows up to grab it.’
‘But it’s my camera!’ said Mike.
‘Maybe Black Heir will recompense you,’ said Ellie.
Mike sniffed loudly. ‘Yeah, that’ll happen.’
‘Hush!’ said the Professor.
‘At least this camera is still there,’ I said. ‘All the other cameras you sent down were taken. So what’s different, this time?’
‘This one’s sending a signal out of the hole,’ said Paul. ‘But maybe what’s in there doesn’t want to approach the camera, for fear of being seen.’
‘What reason could it have to be scared of us?’ said Penny.
‘Perhaps it thinks that if we don’t know what it is, we won’t be able to defend ourselves properly against it,’ I said.
‘We just passed two hundred feet,’ said Paul, ‘and still nothing’s happening. Maybe it’s just not there anymore.’
‘Or maybe it thinks three deaths are enough,’ said the Professor. ‘That it’s had enough tribute.’
I looked at the Professor. ‘You really think that’s what’s happening here?’
‘I don’t know what to think,’ she said, not taking her eyes off the screen.
Suddenly, there was a sound. Faint at first, just a murmur in the distance. We all leaned forward automatically, but getting closer to the screen didn’t help. It wasn’t any kind of voice; it was too regular for that. The sound quickly grew louder, developing into a slow, steady thudding, heavy enough to make all of us wince.
‘What is that?’ said Mike.
‘It sounds like a heartbeat,’ I said. ‘From something really big.’
‘Why do you never have anything good to tell us?’ said Mike.
‘Hold it! The sound isn’t coming from the monitor’s speakers!’ said Paul. He had to raise his voice to make himself heard. ‘That means the sound isn’t part of the camera’s signal.’
‘If it’s not coming from inside the hole,’ I said, ‘that means it has to be out here, with us.’
We all looked around quickly, but there was nothing moving in the camp. Nothing that could be responsible for such a noise. And yet it sounded as though the source was somewhere close at hand, definitely not in the darkness outside the camp. The scientists scattered to check out their various pieces of equipment, but the sound wasn’t coming from any of them. None of their instruments could tell what the sound was, or where it was coming from. I closed my eyes so I could concentrate, but no matter which way I turned my head I couldn’t pin the sound down. It was just there, in the equipment centre with us. As though we weren’t alone any more. I opened my eyes as the scientists returned to crowd before the monitor again. The sound was now so loud it was almost overwhelming, like the heartbeat of some impossibly huge thing, hammering on the air. I was surprised the whole equipment centre wasn’t shaking and shuddering from the strength of it.
‘Is the sound getting louder or closer?’ said Penny. She had to shout to make herself heard. ‘Is it coming our way from somewhere else?’
‘It could be coming up out of the hole,’ Ellie shouted back. ‘I think we should get out of here!’
‘Where could we go?’ the Professor said loudly.
Mike put a comforting arm around Ellie, and she let him do it.
I looked up the hill towards the hole, but the flat black surface just stared back at me like a disinterested unblinking eye. I looked around the camp, but it was still empty. If there was something there, I couldn’t see it. Perhaps … it was just too alien, too other, to be seen. The sound grew painfully loud, an assault on the senses. Ellie clapped her hands over her ears. We all flinched at every heartbeat, as if trying to get away from it. I could feel the sound vibrating in my bones. And then it stopped. The sudden silence was a blessing, and we all breathed heavy sighs of relief. As though a real but unknown danger had passed us by. Ellie slowly took her hands away from her ears, but she didn’t lower them, as if half-expecting the sounds to start up again at any moment. And then Paul stabbed a finger at the monitor screen.
‘We’ve got something!’
Sharp flashes of light flared out of the screen, blasting into our faces. The others had to turn their heads away, blinded by the light, but I kept watching. There was something in the light … Something I thought I almost understood. The intensity of the light died down, but the flashes continued: a series of images that came and went too quickly to grasp. I leaned forward, frowning into the light as I concentrated, but it was hard to get more than a basic impression of what I was looking at. The others turned their faces back to the screen, and then pressed forward, intrigued, until we were all right on top of the monitor screen. The images appeared and disappeared unsettlingly quickly, almost subliminal. I got a feeling of artificial structures the size of mountains … A night sky that opened up like a gigantic eye … A rain of dying stars … I wasn’t sure whether any of it was real, or whether what I was seeing was just my mind struggling to interpret the images.
‘I’m not seeing anything clearly,’ said Penny. ‘But it’s making me feel bad. As though I shouldn’t be looking at things like this.’
There was a general murmur of agreement from the scientists.
‘There’s something almost disturbing about what we’re being shown …’ said Mike.
‘It has to be some form of communication,’ said Paul.
‘Then why are they making it so difficult for us?’ said Mike.
‘Maybe this is the best they can do,’ said Paul. ‘We might not have even basic concepts in common, such as scales of reference or linear time.’
‘I feel like I should be watching through my fingers,’ said Ellie. ‘Like when I was a teenager, watching old horror movies late at night.’
‘Concentrate!’ the Professor said harshly. ‘This is our first communication from inside the hole. It has to mean something. Why is the hole showing us this?’
‘Why is it blasting the back of my head off with this stuff?’ said Mike.
‘Maybe it has to do it this way,’ said Paul. ‘Because our minds could only cope with what it has to show in short glimpses. Maybe it learned to hold back after what happened to Terry.’
‘It feels like we’re watching individual frames of a film,’ said Ellie. ‘One still at a time. Because if we saw the whole moving picture and understood it, it would destroy our minds. Like Terry.’
Penny shot me a look, but all I could do was shake my head. I had no extra insights to offer. Except … I couldn’t shake the feeling that Ellie was right. That we shouldn’t be looking at any of this, because it was dangerous.
The images shut off abruptly, and we all made varying sounds of relief. The others shook their heads and rubbed their eyes, like that would help. But no one turned away from the monitor.
‘Did anyone get anything specific from that?’ I said.
‘Just a real pig of a headache,’ said Mike.
‘I don’t think any of it came through the camera,’ said Paul. ‘It’s more like something else piggybacked the signal to get to us.’
‘How does everyone feel?’ asked the Professor. ‘Answer me, people! I’m not just talking because I like the sound of my own voice.’
‘Could have fooled me,’ muttered Mike.
‘I feel like I just woke up from a nightmare I can’t remember,’ said Ellie. ‘I kept wanting to look away from the screen, but I couldn’t.’
‘It was fascinating,’ said Paul. ‘In a horrible sort of way.’
‘No,’ said Ellie. ‘I mean, whatever was showing us those images wouldn’t let us look away. Not until it was finished with us.’
‘You’re right,’ said Mike. ‘That didn’t feel like communication. It was more like brainwashing.’
‘Let’s not spook ourselves,’ the Professor said sternly. ‘It’s just information provided in an unfamiliar way. It’s up to us to interpret it.’
‘Whatever it is that’s in the hole took over the live broadcast as a way to get to us,’ said Paul.
‘Whatever it was saying, it didn’t feel at all friendly,’ said Ellie.
‘Maybe it was saying “Stay out of my yard!”?’ said Mike.
‘Hold it!’ said Paul. ‘Something’s happening.’
A new image had appeared, filling the monitor screen. It took me a moment to realize we were looking at a distorted view of ourselves standing before the screen. As though something was looking over our shoulders. I looked behind us, but there was nothing there. I turned back to the screen. In the view we were being shown, we appeared strange, misshapen, alien. The light surrounding us wasn’t the flat fierce glare of the perimeter lights; on the screen it was a harsh reddish orange, foul and unhealthy, like light that had soured and gone off. The figures crouching before the screen looked twisted and monstrous; everything about their shapes and dimensions was hideously wrong. The equipment scattered around the centre looked like a mad tangle of things that made no sense. There was a general feeling of disgust and disquiet to the image on the screen. As though we were looking at things that shouldn’t exist.
‘It feels … like when I see a spider scuttling towards me,’ said Penny, ‘and all I want to do is stamp on it before it can get to me.’
‘Arachnid revulsion …’ said Mike.
‘What is this?’ said the Professor. ‘Where is it coming from?’
‘This time the signal is definitely coming from the camera,’ said Paul.
‘It can’t be!’ said Mike. ‘The camera’s in the hole. This is a view from behind us.’
‘Why do we look like that?’ said Penny.
‘I think this is how whatever is in the hole sees us,’ I said. ‘As monsters, aliens, abominations. We’re being sent a message, and not a good one. If you see something as a monster, that allows you to attack it.’
‘Like the spider,’ said Penny. ‘Even though it probably doesn’t mean any harm.’
‘What if this is how it sees itself?’ said the Professor. ‘Interpreting us according to its own lights?’
‘But that’s not how it feels,’ I said, ‘is it?’
‘No,’ said Ellie. ‘It feels like a slap in the face.’
‘Rage, disgust, horror …’ said Mike.
‘Humanity seen through the eyes of a Beast,’ said Paul.
The screen went blank.
‘What’s happened?’ said the Professor. ‘Paul, get the image back!’
Paul worked quickly at his keyboard, then shook his head. ‘There’s no feed from the camera. It’s shut down.’
‘Have you broken my camera?’ said Mike.
‘Can’t you restart the broadcast from here?’ said Ellie.
‘There’s no signal at all,’ said Paul. ‘Either the camera is broken, or something’s taken it.’
‘You’ve lost my camera!’ said Mike. ‘I knew it …’
‘Shut up, Mike!’ said Ellie. ‘Let me think … If the camera had simply been snatched off the end of the cable, it would still be broadcasting.’
‘Maybe it’s been shut down because whatever’s in the hole has nothing more to say to us,’ I said.
‘Bring the cable back up,’ said the Professor.
Paul hurried out of the equipment centre and headed for the steel drum. He threw on the brake, waited for the cable to come to a halt, and then put the engine into reverse. The cable thrummed and quivered as it came back up out of the hole, and we all watched silently as it emerged from the black surface, foot by foot. It appeared entirely unaffected by its time in the hole. I kept glancing at the monitor, but it remained completely blank. The cable wound itself steadily back on to the drum, without any sudden jerks or interruptions. There was a growing tension in the equipment centre, a feeling of uneasy anticipation. I braced myself, just in case something had grabbed hold of the end of the cable and was riding it, up out of the dark. I was ready to run up to the hole, knock it loose, and kick it back in without a moment’s hesitation. Because after everything I’d seen, I wasn’t ready to let anything from the hole into this world.
When the last of the cable jumped out of the hole and bumped across the grass, the specimen cage was still attached. The moment it appeared, Paul shut down the drum’s engine and hurried back to join us. We all left the equipment centre and hurried up the hill to stand over the cage as it lay on the ground. The front panel was hanging open, and the camera was gone.
‘I knew it!’ said Mike.
‘Why didn’t it just grab the cage?’ said Penny.
‘It wanted to show us what it can do,’ said Paul.
‘Maybe it thinks it can learn about us by studying the things we send into the hole,’ said Ellie.
‘Given everything it just showed us,’ I said, ‘I think we have to assume it isn’t friendly. Perhaps it thought the camera was getting too close, and sent us those images to prevent us from seeing what the camera was seeing. Because it doesn’t want us to know what it is.’
‘But why would it feel that way?’ said Penny. ‘I mean, why would it care? Why would it feel the need to hide anything from us?’
‘Terry saw it,’ said Ellie. ‘Something too horrible for the human mind to bear.’
‘Man was never meant to look on the Medusa,’ said the Professor. ‘I don’t think whatever’s in the hole gives a damn about us. It just doesn’t want us to know anything about it.’
‘Then why send the hole here in the first place?’ said Penny. ‘Why establish a tunnel or spy hole into another world, if you’re only going to have a fit of the vapours the first time you see something different from you?’
‘You don’t have to like the inhabitants to want to take their world,’ said Ellie. ‘I told you, this is an invasion point. We have to block off the hole.’
‘Give me time,’ I said. ‘I’ll think of something. We’re not in any immediate danger; whatever’s in there is not going to take us by surprise. There are more lights covering the hole than there are everywhere else.’ Then I stopped, and looked around me. ‘As long as the lights stay on …’
Everyone looked around the campsite. In its great circle of light, surrounded by a much greater darkness. The half-moon had disappeared from the night sky, along with all the stars. If the generator should fail and the lights stopped working … we would be left alone in the dark until morning.
