It was Fenske's voice. What did just happen? Alex knew something had changed but it took his brain a few seconds to realize that the silver diamond shape was gone. It wasn't just gone; in fact he could now see inside of the Obelisk, it was now open. The interior stood in almost sharp contrast to the exterior. While the interior was dark with black surfaces, it didn't seem as dark as its exterior. The surfaces inside reflected light, and lacked the unreal quality of the outside.
"I'm getting spikes across almost the entire electromagnetic spectrum!" intoned Fenske excitedly.
Inside Alex could see some sort of pedestal or console with what looked like crystals sticking out of it and… At first Alex thought he was seeing things. He looked inside, then craned his head around to look outside towards the back of Obelisk, and then looked back inside.
Simon walked over to Alex, "How did you open it?"
Alex ignored the question, "It's bigger on the inside than on the outside!" he breathed excitedly.
"Just like the Tardis?" It was Fenske's voice again; it sounded half question, half statement.
Tardis? The word was familiar to Alex, but he couldn't immediately place where he heard it before. He turned around to face Fenske, and Fenske in turn was still staring straight into the computer screens. From where he was standing Alex could tell Fenske was looking at an image of himself and Simon in front of the Obelisk.
"From Doctor Who." Fenske clarified.
"That is absolutely creepy." whispered Alex.
"No kidding." Replied Simon softly, clearly understanding what Alex was referring to.
Alex and Simon started to walk towards Fenske. Alex spoke, "Ah yes, I suppose it is like the Tardis. It certainly explains why we haven't been able to move it."
"How so?" asked Simon.
"Well," explained Alex, "part of the Obelisk exists outside of this universe, to put it in layman's terms. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it's entangled into the fabric of the universe. As a consequence we can't move it any more than we can move a girder that's been anchored in 20 feet of cement. Quite remarkable really, we've always suspected there were more dimensions and structure to universe then we could see or measure, but this is the first tangible proof of it."
"But in Doctor Who they were able move the Tardis all over the place with ease!" protested Fenske.
"Why don't you review that statement in your head and see if you can find your error in it." chided Alex. "Now what kind of readings are we getting from inside this thing?"
Fenske sullenly typed some keystrokes and a graph showed up on one screen, then with a few more keystrokes a false colour image of the interior could be seen on another. Alex stared at the second image. The interior was well lit, but apart from the console, it was barren. He then turned his attention to the graph. It was no longer flat but showing small spikes from radio waves all the up to x-rays, nothing really significant though except for one large spike in the ultraviolet range. Alex pointed it out.
"I take it that's what the false colour image is reading?"
"Uh, yes, the strongest reading we're getting is in the near UV range."
"Now why would it be pumping out so much UV?" questioned Simon.
"Good question." replied Alex, "Perhaps a form of sterilization to prevent alien microbes from contaminating other environments?" Alex walked to where Lt. Barrow was sitting. On a screen in front of him was a webcam shot of the two Colonels watching intently the proceedings in the cave. Suddenly Sarah's head popped into view.
"I thought I told you not to touch anything?"