Chapter One:
The small cavern was dark and quiet, with only the faraway sound of dripping water to fill the void. Though the uneven walls were carved by the forces of nature, there was something about the space that seemed designed; perhaps a little too smooth in some places on the wall. The floor too even. The room had an air of expectancy, as if it were waiting. Waiting for endless millennia; perhaps even eons, for its purpose to be realized.
The cavern itself was bare but for one large stalagmite - stalactite column against the central wall that had an oddly flat surface while the rest had the usual rounded ridges. The only ways to this room was two rocky passageways adjacent to each other, one twisted off almost immediately into the rocky abyss; the other, with the larger entryway, turned sharply to the right before twisting again on itself as it went on its journey to some unknown underground place.
And the rocks waited.
From the former passageway, there suddenly came soft echoes, which steadily got louder and clearer. Eventually two beams of lights preceded two weary travellers.
"All I'm saying, Helen, is we've known each other for a very long time, and I would like to think I know you pretty well." a slight but wiry man with dark brown hair and a leather spelunking jacket said to the other, a woman with darker brown hair that waved down to her shoulder blades, who was equally dressed for traveling in caves. "Don't get me wrong, I enjoy working at your new Sanctuary. It's a marvel of the modern world. But I would have preferred if you had included me in the planning. That way, you would know, without a shadow of a doubt, that your systems were the best created. Especially that energy grid of yours that was made by a band of monkeys." he gripped.
The woman, Helen, gave him a sympathetic, but exasperated look. "I've already said that I'm sorry, Nikola, what more do you want? I gave you permission to look over the designs and tweak the systems. Though admittedly, I agreed to bring you with me on this mission more for Henry's sanity. You've been driving him nuts, Nikola." she said with a charming British accent.
"Yes, a mission that so far, has not delivered as promised." Nikola shot back, pausing to run his flashlight over the empty cavern. He'd been aware of her ulterior motive for "getting him out of the house", but she had assured this was to be a very promising discovery. But so far it had only accomplished its primary goal.
Helen paused as well to look over the area. "Sally assured me that there was a telepathic disturbance, or ...something, occurring here..." she looked over her tablet she held in her other hand. "And Henry said something about some sort of energy surge... Actually... We should be in the exact spot they said to be." She alternated from looking around her to her hand held tablet, wondering what exactly they were supposed to find here.
Nikola looked over the room once more, as if making a point. "We'll, I don't see anything here but rock."
Helen raised her eyebrow. "Hang on. ...Though it may seem like this is just another empty cavern... Look closer... The walls... The floor! What do you notice?"
Nikola looked closer, and then it hit him. "They're too clean."
"Exactly! We've been under the assumption that we are the first people to make it this deep in... well, ever. These caves have not been discovered in this region before now. Yet it seems like this place has been swept clean."
"Maybe we're too late." Nikola suggested.
Helen smiled. "Or too early."
Nikola looked at her as if she was being deliberately naive.
Helen pointed her flashlight over to a smooth area of rock across from them and looked it over. As she moved her light, small flashes of light flickered, as if from small gems. She went up to it to take a closer look. "Nikola, here..." when he stepped beside her, she showed him the lights.
"There must be gem deposits in this rock... Yet..." Nikola looked more closely, and added his light. "Do you see that? That pattern of lights looked like a symbol..." his grey blue eyes widened. "It looks similar to vampire script..." he grew quiet as he spent a few moments trying to decipher the annoyingly concealed script.
Meanwhile Helen was running her hand along the rest of the smooth panel. Near the bottom, she found what she was looking for. When she pressed, a small oval no bigger than her index finger pushed inwards.
Suddenly the earth started to shake.
"What did you do?" Nikola demanded. Spinning around and looking out for any falling debris.
"I just..." was all Helen managed to say as the floor a foot in front of them opened up. But it didn't open in a natural way; it slid open. It created a circular hole, and from it came a rock made platform covered in some form of underground lichen moss. It rose up until it was smooth with the rest of the floor.
But more astonishing was that laying sideline on the platform was an unconscious, slender, young woman. Her long hair was pure white, the kind that would glisten with a multitude of colors when light shinned on it. Her skin looked to be of Caucasian coloring, but there was something indecipherable about it that suggested something else, though it may have had something to do with the silvery lines of script lining her form.
It wasn't until the resulting dust that had arisen with the movement of the ground had settled that they realized the girl was as naked as a newborn babe. Not missing a step, Nikola and Helen both shucked off their jackets and laid them on top of her. "Is she alive?" Nikola asked.
Helen checked her vital signs. "She's alive." she moved some of the white hair to get a look at the girls face, and did a little more of an analysis. "Pulse is normal... She appears to be sleeping... perhaps she was in a kind of stasis…"
"Why would someone put another in stasis in a hole here? She's likely going to catch hyperthermia or pneumonia." he said a bit chidingly. He took out a tablet of his own, hoping to see if he could scan for other archaic technologies. The kind that his own ancestors may have created and left.
"Nikola." Helen scolded, thinking he was being a bit crass.
Who then gave Helen a sour look back and bent to make his own observations of the girl. The moment he touched her, her eyes flew open and suddenly her hand was gripped around his wrist in a surprisingly strong grip.
"Whoa, you're alright. You're safe." Helen tried to soothe.
It was a few moments before the woman relaxed. But the girl's eyes did not stray from Nikola's. She took slow, calming breaths, her wide eyes slowly constricting to normal. "Where am I?" her voice was lovely. Not deep but not high. It was smooth, soft and angelic.
With Nikolas sharp eyes, he noticed hers were green, but a green he had never seen on a regular human, she was definitely something else.
"You're in the middle of a cave system deep in the northern rocky mountains." Helen answered, seeing that Nikola had frozen, though she could scarce blame him, she too did a double take when the girl spoke. She was about to ask her name when the girl let Nikola go and took one scoot away from both of them.
"My name is Jenna. And no, I don't really know how I got here, doctor Magnus. But we need to leave... Others are coming."
"What? How do you know...? Never mind, do you know who is coming?" Helen asked, flustered, something which she seldom ever was.
But Jenna didn't need to answer. They could hear them coming now, from the same tunnel Nikola and Helen had. They looked over to see lights already flashing closer. When they looked back at Jenna, she was no longer naked, but in a thin dress of unknown fabric spun in an off white color that flared at her ankles. She was still wearing Nikolas jacket as if she was cold. In one fluid motion, almost too quick to follow, Jenna stood. Nikola quickly followed the action, helping Helen up as well.
That's when armed men in army attire and equipment stormed into the cavern, immediately training their guns at the three of them. Helen and Nikola reluctantly put up their hands, but Jenna only stared curiously at the newcomers.
"Release the abnormal into our custody or be taken as well." the one who was obviously the leader commanded.
"By whose authority?" Helen asked, equally as demanding.
"Why, SCIU of course." another man entered the cavern, obviously not military, but obviously in charge as the men with guns gave way for him. He looked the stereotyped mad scientist minus the long lab coat. "Ah, Helen Magnus, I've heard so much about you." Then he spotted Nikola. "And Dr. Tesla! How wonderful! I've been so looking forward to meeting you both."
"And you are?" Helen asked.
"My name is not important, what's important is that we will be taking the girl with us."
"I don't think so." Nikola voiced. His stance and expression seemed calm, but his eyes said differently.
"Please notice that I have all the advantage, Nikola Tesla. I have more men with guns then you certainly do." the scientist replied.
"We didn't think we would need guns." Helen scorned. "We came to aid if needed... or possibly recover an item. Not deal with goons that would take by force which is not in their right to take."
The man seemed to get agitated by her words. "First, we have every right! And we have also come to recover an item. Her." he motioned to Jenna, who looked slightly indignant, but not in the least perturbed.
"She is not an item. She is a person, and she has rights!"
"What rights? You mean humanrights? She is not human."
"Is that what SCIU has come down to? Grasping at straws to rationalize what they do? Spare me. You will not take this girl while I live." Helen stated.
"It will not come to a fight." Jenna said quietly, but still clearly.
The man chuckled. "Your new friend is very determined, girl, we can't let them go unless we have you, and she will not allow us to take you. By force is the only option here, doctor." he said, his last words spoken towards Magnus. "Hand the abnormal over, Dr. Magnus. It's your only choice."
"It's not her choice to make." Jenna stated, stepping in front of both Helen and Nikola, who both tried to stop her. "It is mine. And I choose to go with them. Will you allow us to go, Denise? You could say that they did have too many men compared to you, and you had no choice but to let me go. Your superiors would understand." Jenna gave him a winning smile that even took some of the military men of guard.
Denise looked Jenna over. "You know my name?"
Jenna nodded. "I know everyone's. I know that you're the scientist who replaced Nikola. I hope you're having fun with his work... Cause it won't stay with you much longer." she said, a harsh note coming to her enchanting voice. "I know David over there is apprehensive for his wife. She might have to get a c-section to bring their new baby girl into this world."
The man in question lowered his gun to look at Jenna with disbelief. "How could you possibly know that?" the man in question asked.
Jenna ignored him, but not unkindly. "What you don't realize Denise, is that you are not in control of how everyone leaves this place. I am."
"How do you figure that?" Denise asked.
Jenna smirked and took a few steps back. At the third step, the ground started to shake again, but this time rocks were shaken from the ceiling and dust was falling in great gouts. "Come." she said to the bewildered Helen and Nikola, and together they ran to the other tunnel and passed the threshold just as a large slab of rock and debris covered it completely. "They will try to dig through that, and I can't teleport here, too much lodestone. We need to move." Jenna stated.
"Wait, you're a telepathic AND you can teleport?" Helen asked.
"Yes... And more, but that's not important. I promise I'll explain, but let's get you out of here and back at the Sanctuary alive first." Jenna said with a mischievous smile.
Helen and Nikola shared a look. Nikola looked back at Jenna. "By all means lead on." he said to her with one of his own smiles; the kind that reached his eyes as well.
For a second, Jenna paused as they looked at each other. "Right. This way." Jenna grabbed Helen's hand and led them thru the tunnel.