The Anomaly(70)

“Are you guys just going to stand there listing all the chemicals there are?” Pierre asked.

“No,” I said. “Only about twenty-eight of them.”

“Why?” Molly said. “Why those?”

“They’re the ones you need to create life.”



We stood staring out over the portion of the pool visible within the lamp’s glow.

“But how would it work?” Molly asked.

“You got me. I know—you’d expect to see a bunch of wires and computers and stuff. And for all we know, maybe there’s a ton of that hidden under all the rock. But we don’t even know how to do what we’re suggesting is happening here. Couldn’t get it started. So whoever put this together knew stuff that we don’t. Maybe you can make rock function that way, too. Maybe this whole place is a giant computer.”

“And it’s been sitting here all this time? But…then why did it start working?”

“We went into the pool. Maybe that was enough—skin cells sloughing off, triggering a reaction.”

“Or blood,” Molly said. “Remember? When you and I went down to the end in the night. There was a smear over that megalith in the middle, with all the symbols on it.”

“Christ, yes,” I said. “Gemma. The scrape on her arm.”

“You think that was it? Some of her blood getting in the water? Her DNA?”

“Maybe,” Ken said. “Or maybe that rock isn’t an inscription after all. Maybe it’s a console. I mean, the way it’s right there in the middle—could be, right?”

“And Molly—you noticed that none of the symbols repeat. And we couldn’t figure out why that would be—what message or text would have each letter or word appearing only once. That could be why. Because it’s not a text. It’s a list.”

“A menu system,” Ken said. “Press a symbol, and that’s what it makes.”

“Right,” I said. “Except that more than one of us ran our fingers all over it. I’m going to guess we pressed almost every single icon. The simpler, smaller things appear first because they’re faster to make. It’d already started when Molly and I were in the water last night. Which is why our skin was itching like hell first thing today. And then…”

“This morning,” Molly said, sounding nauseous, “Gemma drank some. Which already had…that thing growing in it.”

There was a pause while we thought about that, and about how the creature growing inside Gemma might have gained sustenance. What it must have been feeding on as it got larger and larger.

“Nope,” Pierre said firmly. “I don’t believe any of this. None of it is even possible.”

“Find me another explanation and I’ll be happy to listen,” I said. “Until then, this isn’t a ceremonial site. It’s a machine. And you understand that kind of thing far better than I do, so we could use your help.”

I saw Molly staring glumly into the darkness, and added: “You too, Moll, obviously.”

“I got nothing,” she said. “Except this. If you’re right, and this place is making all these things, it means the creature you saw didn’t have to find a way in after all. And that means there’s no way out.”





Chapter

42



Pierre considered for a minute.

“Wait here,” he said.

“Weren’t you listening earlier? We stay together.”

“Okay, well I want to check something.”

We followed him back up the passage, across the main corridor, and into the room opposite. He walked straight up to the pyramid carved out of the floor and put his hand on it. “It’s warm. Really warm. I thought I felt it on another one earlier, but I wasn’t sure.”

“Yeah,” Ken said. “I noticed that, too.”

I went to touch the cool wall of the room, and then returned to place my hand on the pyramid. There was no question it was significantly hotter, especially at the apex.

“You must know about pyramids, Nolan,” Pierre said. “What’s the deal with them?”

“A bunch of people have said a bunch of stuff, for which there’s no scientific evidence. There was a fad in the seventies about the shape focusing positive energy. People made them out of wood and slept inside. Plus the Egyptians were kind of into them, as you may be aware. There’s wingnuts who’ve claimed the big pyramids in Giza were an ancient power plant.”

“Right. And didn’t we tape you saying something a couple days ago about how some people think the Egyptians made it to the Grand Canyon?”

“But like I said at the time, I don’t see it.”

“It doesn’t have to be them, though,” Ken said. “It could be someone else using the same technology. Or maybe the Egyptians themselves were only ever going through the motions, obsessing about the shape because they were misremembering something that had existed long before their civilization—and it was actually some previous lot who made it here.”

“What technology, Ken? It’s just a geometric shape.”

“Which is very warm. Unlike all the other rock in the place. Like you said two minutes ago—find me another explanation, and I’ll run with it. Otherwise…”