Alex moved past Sarah out through the entranceway into the cave. He could see both Lt. Barrow and Fenske frantically working and slowly succeeding in restoring the work stations back to full operation. Alex looked around the cave. They did a good job clearing up the cave but there was plenty of what he needed at the edges. He walked over near to where Kraus was working and picked out a rock, one that was not too heavy, not too small, one that he can…
Kraus suddenly shouted excitedly, "Oh my God! That rock! It's the key to solve everything!"
Alex looked at the rock and then back to Kraus, confused by the outburst.
A broad smile crossed Kraus' face, "Nope, sorry, it's just a rock," he said giggling.
Alex shot him a look of exasperation. Kraus continued, "So are you using that rock to fix the artifact in the same way one would use a rock to fix a wonky television?"
Alex rolled his eyes, "You know, I think I liked you better during the helicopter ride." He then proceeded to return to The Obelisk to the sound of uproarious laughter coming from Kraus.
Alex stopped next to Sarah, "Your friend Dr. Kraus has an odd sense of humour."
"Oh? Hadn't noticed," Alex shot her a quizzical glance, "Married to Rick, remember?" she explained.
Alex smiled and nodded in understanding. Rick was always the class clown and daredevil. People watching Rick Marshall Animal Doctor usually think that his antics on the show are all part of an on-screen personae. Those that know him know that it's all him, in fact probably somewhat subdued due to the nature of it being a kids educational show. Next to Rick, everyone else seems deadpan serious.
Simon motioned to Alex, "While you were gone, I noticed something. There appears to be another light source."
Alex walked up and peered at the image. It was difficult to see due to the brightness of the large moon, but the area closest to the image appeared to be brighter than the surrounding area. Long shadows cast from the small undulating mounds of the barren soil were being washed out.
"A fifth moon?" speculated Alex.
Simon looked uncertain at first then shook his head, "I don't think so; it looks like a local source."
Alex nodded. Of course he was right, the light only radiated out in a small semi-circle a short distance. Alex decided to slowly walk around to the other side of the image to see if he could gain a different perspective. The radiating light pattern didn't seem to change though it was difficult to see since it was no longer working against the moonlight but with it, however…
"I can see another Obelisk!" shouted Alex in excitement. Despite the half-twilight, it wasn't difficult to see. The diamond doorway glistened while the rest of it stood out as darker than dark against the night sky.
"Is it the source of the light?" asked Simon.
"No. I know this might sound odd, but I think we're the source of the light."
"No, doesn't sound odd at all," replied Simon, "With a second Obelisk there, perhaps this is part of some intergalactic network."
"Connecting different worlds through stable wormholes," breathed Alex excitedly as he made his way back to the console. "There is only one way to test it for sure."
Alex lifted the rock and was about to shot put it when Sarah stopped him. "Let's wait a minute. I think we might want to record this." Sarah leaned outside and said something that was unheard by Alex and Simon.
"Why doesn't she act more surprise over what we found?" wondered Simon out loud. Alex thought this was a good question.
Sarah moved her head back in. "Okay, we're good to go. Everything is back up and running. I'm going to get out of your hair and observe from out there. Okay?" She was met with nods, and then left.
Alex heaved the rock. It hit the outer limit of the image and disappeared for a fraction of a second. It quickly reappeared inside of the image flying along the same arc and landing in the soil with a dull thump, half-burying itself and kicking up a small cloud of dust that hung in the air before slowly wafting away.
Both Alex and Simon let out a cheer of excitement, shook each other's hands, and wrapped an arm around each other's shoulders.
"My God! Once we learn to control this thing, we can go anywhere in the universe!" enthused Simon.
…learn to control…that single phrase poured cold water on Alex's excitement. They were doing better than his metaphorical caveman and automobile analogy, but they still had a long way to go to actually figure out how this machine works.
"Perhaps we should see if we can shut this down before we proceed," suggested Alex.
Simon looked at Alex and suddenly appeared crestfallen, as if his new toy was about to be taken away from him. He then regained his composure and nodded, "What do you suggest?"
"Well let's first try to take out that crystal and see what happens."
Simon lifted out the crystal he had removed previously. Both looked at the gateway image, but the sphere persisted, wavering not one bit.
"Well that's odd," observed Alex.
"It must use an entirely different concept for its on/off sequence," postulated Simon.
"It would seem so. Try rotating the crystal one notch to see what happens."
Simon rotated the crystal one sixth clockwise and placed it back into the slot. The image clouded briefly before returning, changed. The sky was not as dark, small tendrils of light still snaked up giving the horizon a purple glow. Now only one moon could be seen, the largest one this time as a slim waning crescent. The small fourth moon appeared once again slowly moving down towards the horizon, and once again it's phases noticeably shifting as it moved. Alex took a closer look at the surface. The rock that he threw was still there, the soil covering the buried part looked undisturbed, but he could see that mini-dunes of soil built up around the visible part, and could make out tiny dry rivulets snaking from it. It was obvious there was erosion occurring and that rain and water must be present. But those observations were of minor importance to the much larger truth he witnessed…
"This thing doesn't just connect through different points in space; it connects through different points in time!"