DISCOVERY, part 2
The group traveled through the tunnels to the factory quickly and quietly, eager for another adventure, though it could very well be the last.
Then again, every time they traveled to Lyoko it could have been their last. Because of the ever-present Digital Void, death was very real.
As Ulrich rode through the tunnel on his skateboard, he thought about what they could find. A tomb? According to Jeremy, aside from themselves, Franz Hopper was the only other one ever to go to Lyoko.
Jeremy had been thinking similar thoughts. Hopper had only made a couple of references to Cray, as well as to something called 'Project Gossamer'. Jeremy had no idea what that was, Hopper never made any other mention of it.
Maybe these mysteries would be solved at this so-called 'tomb'.
They arrived at the bottom of the shaft. The climb up the ladder and the trip down the elevator also passed in total silence. Jeremy felt like he was going to a funeral. The silence was almost suffocating.
It was that simply no one had anything left to say. All that was left to do was to actually go in and check the Spire plateau out to see if what the Stranger had said was true.
Jeremy took his place at the monitor console. The holomap of Lyoko flickered to life behind him. His friends, one level below entered the Scanners.
"Okay Yumi, Ulrich, you go first."
They two teenagers entered the tube-like scanners.
"Transfer, Ulrich. Transfer, Yumi. Scanner. Virtualization."
On the monitor screen in front of him, Jeremy saw two green dots appear.
He did the same for Odd and Aelita. Moments later a green and yellow dot representing Odd and Aelita, respectively, appeared next to those belonging to Ulrich and Yumi.
"Okay guys, the plateau with these two mountains is on the edge of the Mountain Sector-That's strange."
On Lyoko, the gang was waiting for instructions. "What is it Jeremy?" asked Aelita.
The plateau, at least according to the map, it's not connected to any of the other plateaus. It has no paths to it. You'll need your vehicles to reach it."
"No problem Einstein, I don't mind a flight." Odd replied.
Moments later their rides appeared in front of them.
"Your taxi, Princess." Yumi said as she helped Aelita board the Overwing.
Under the watchful eye of Jeremy, the short trip passed uneventfully. No more monsters to harass them. No more Xana or Scyphozoa or Franz Hopper. Lyoko now seemed very dead.
The Spire plateau came into view. It was just as Aelita described it: A large pair of cragged mountain that tapered to points. Between them sat a rather large pool of water, as well as clumps of small trees and piles of rock. There was no trace of anything like an entrance.
"Jeremy, should we go in for a closer look?" Ulrich asked.
"I can't see anything from here. Anyways we need to find out what is down there."
"Okay." He then glanced over to his fellow warriors. "Well, what are we waiting for, let's go down there."
When they set foot on the unreachable plateau, there was nothing much except rocks and trees Lots of rocks and trees.
"You should split up, see if you can find anything out of the ordinary."
"If you say so Jeremy." replied Odd.
They fanned out across the narrow valley formed by the two peaks that soared far above their heads. Just short of half way the stopped at the large reflecting pool, located dead center of the plateau.
Ulrich gazed at his own reflection in the still waters. He remembered something back from one of their earlier travels.
"Odd, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yep, sure am." He took a step back, and took off running, jumping over the edge, out over open water-
-and splashed into a virtual pool, sending out a geyser of water.
Odd's head bobbed to the surface. "Well, I guess this really is a pool of water and not another imaginary one."
He hauled himself out of the water, soaking wet.
"Jeremy, there's nothing here I'm afraid, I may have been wrong about my vision," Aelita said
Back in the monitor room, Jeremy was squinting at the wireframe map for anything out of the ordinary.
"Maybe you're right. I don't see anything that looks like an entrance of any kind," replied Jeremy.
And suddenly he heard a voice behind him.
You're wrong, there is an entrance. You just can't see it."
Jeremy spun around in his chair, looking for the intruder. He was standing next to the elevator, leaning on the wall. The man was dressed in some kind of business suit, maybe middle-aged by his face. His lower body was partially obscured by the shadows.
"W-Who are you?"
"Jeremy," said a familiar voice from the computer. What's happening? Who are you talking to?
"Who am I?" The man said. I guess I am a possible friend. I've already acquainted myself with your lady friend; Aelita's her name I believe?"
"You're the G-Man?" Jeremy asked, surprised.
"Jeremy, what's going on?" Ulrich pleaded from the computer.
"You're not talking in rhyme like Aelita said you did," Jeremy noted.
"Different people experience things differently. So different people see and hear me differently."
"Jeremy what's going on?" Yumi's voice from the computer too.
"If you are looking for the entrance," the G-man said, glancing down at the floor. He then glanced back up at Jeremy. You should look outside the box." With those words, he stepped back into the shadows, then disappeared altogether, but his voice remained for a moment. "You'll find a key. A key to a set of keys." And then he was gone completely.
Look outside the box, he had said. What the hell did he mean by that? Then Jeremy realized it.
"What's going on Jeremy? Please answer!" The voices of his friends broke him out of a momentary daze.
"I'm sorry I didn't."
"We got worried when you said something about that G-man guy," Yumi said. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Uh, guys, get to the nearest Tower. I'm devirtualizing you. We're going at this the wrong way."
"What do you mean?"
"Just trust me on this."
Ten minutes later they were all in the Supercomputer Room.
Ulrich started. "Okay Jeremy, what's this about?"
"Spread out, look for anything strange or out of place."
"What for?" asked Odd.
"It's something that G-Man guy said, 'look outside the box'. I think he meant outside of Lyoko, here in the supercomputer room."
"Okay, anything specifically we should be looking for?" asked Yumi.
"He said something about keys. Try that."
Moments later they were combing the walls, the floor, craning their heads at the ceiling, looking for anything out of place. Odd even began to pull panels off the floor.
"Hey, anyone found anything?"
"No. You?" asked Yumi
"Nothing, unless these panels are made of Magic-Miracle-Appear material," he said as he tossed a panel to the floor.
Ulrich stopped at about the center of the far wall. "Hey, I think I found something."
The rest of the gang rushed over to where she stood. There on the wall, barely visible, was a tiny Xana's Eye. It was engraved in a slight, ridged depression set in the concrete.
Jeremy took a closer look. "You know, this looks like a-"
"-A thumbprint, yeah, I noticed." Ulrich said.
Something was clicking at the back of Aelita's mind. Almost without thinking, she stepped up to the wall and, without thinking placed her thumb against the symbol.
What happened next made them all step well back. The entire wall began to glow with some kind of inner light as it began to melt like candle wax outward from the thumbprint symbol, retracting inward on itself. What remained was a slot in the wall, placed inside was a small metal box.
"Whoa." Was the only word mumbled by the stunned group.
Almost still by instinct, Aelita walked up to the wall, and took the box.
The rest of the group crowded around. "Well," said Yumi, open it.
The small box was sealed with a simple latch. Jeremy unclasped it and swung the lid open. Inside was a CD, closed inside a protective case.
A key to a set of keys.
Jeremy reached in and took the small disk. "I think I know what to do with this."