Revelation by Alex Bratton

Author:Alex Bratton [Bratton, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Antimatter Books
Published: 2018-10-06T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

WHAT HAD STARTED OUT AS pretense ended with another earnest look at the hieroglyphs. On the evening the team had discussed how to get away from Captain Baker, Lincoln had off-handedly mentioned looking for larger patterns as a way to cover up the group’s real conversation. Once Lincoln and the team realized what he was suggesting, they all felt a bit foolish. Lincoln’s father would have called it “missing the forest for the trees.”

The next day, they began drawing the alien symbols, filling up a sheet of paper for each doorway inside the mountain. Then, they filled in the middle of each door, painstakingly drawing every detail by hand. When they finished the doors, they moved into the tunnel, which turned out to be a bigger task than they were equipped for. The sheer area of the tunnel made it the most difficult, especially since the symbols wrapped around instead of presenting themselves on a flat wall.

The team argued about the form their sketches should take. Should they be stretched out and laid flat like a map? Or were the copies only meaningful if the symbols curved like they did in reality?

After several arguments, they proceeded to draw their copies both ways. The only part they hadn’t drawn was a section of symbols near the bottom of the tunnel. They examined the new drawings from every possible angle. Alvarez looked for hidden equations. Carter and Nelson tried to interpret the writing as a code. Lincoln attempted to read it as a schematic or blueprint.

So far, the drawings had led them nowhere. After four more weeks of studying the alien hieroglyphs in different ways, the symbols still baffled Lincoln and his team.

Today, Lincoln, Alvarez, Nelson, and Carter had worked in the tunnel until Schmidt called down the stairs. Suspicious and overbearing, Baker still refused to let them go anywhere on their own.

Sore from drawing with the paper laid on the wall, Lincoln dropped his arms. He called to the others who were sitting just inside the silo, taking a break.

They walked back to camp in the fading light. Alvarez nodded to Nelson, who moved to walk beside Schmidt.

“Corporal, do you think we could find another toothbrush somewhere? I lost mine.”

Schmidt sneezed violently and sniffled.

“Bless you.”

“Thanks.” Schmidt wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Think I’m getting this cold that’s going around camp.”

“Sorry, man. That’s rough.”

Schmidt sniffled again. “I don’t know about the toothbrush. You might have to ask around, but I doubt anyone’s going to be willing to give one up.”

“Maybe I could offer a trade?”

“Like what?”

Lincoln dropped back into step with Alvarez and Carter. “What do you think?” he asked quietly. “Two or three more trips?”

They had been stowing supplies—blankets, bandages, empty hydration packs, whatever they could snag—in a brown canvas duffel bag near the entrance on the top of the mountain. They always carried packs when they went up there, and each day, one of them made sure something valuable went in the bag. Stealing off to put it in there had been easy.

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