Hidden Beneath - Writing With Writer's Block
After some writer's block I searched for some writing prompts, I won't reveal the one that started this off because this is only the first part of the story... don't want to go ruining the suspense! I wrote the first part with no problem but the second is more challenging. I'm having trouble trying to get the right sort of atmosphere... hopefully soon though.
Everything started to get better after the war. Bombs had destroyed a lot of the country, but my team and I were gradually getting it back. I don't think anyone had ever really considered what the world would be like if another nuke went off, but in the end we had to think it over really quickly.
The war was over before I was born, the same goes for all my team. Our families were all closely involved in restoring the country, and as time wore on the job passed down to us. Gradually, as the ground had become less toxic, we'd worked our way across the scorched earth. What records weren't destroyed by the bomb, were destroyed by the fighting. It really was like a lucky dip every time we went out. Every day was a learning experience in the N-zone.
Our days were coming to a close, from where I stood this morning I could see the centre of the N-zone. We'd always speculated about what was at the centre that was so dangerous it needed to be taken off the face of the earth. Today we came back with more questions than answers.
As we stood on the edge of the crater we scanned the surface with long distance scopes, nothing but the usual debris we were expecting. After all these years I'd hoped for something out of this world, seeing all the general rubble I was a little disappointed. We had all been over excited when we went out to the site, no one had seen this place since before the bomb. Some of the team skulked away to get equipment, just another day in the zone, but this couldn't be the end. I stood, more determined than I'd been before, something had to be here. Ten minutes passed, long hard minutes, as I scanned the ground in the crater. And there it was... not far from us. I started to run, very few things could get me to run but this qualified. My whole life had led to this point and it was going to be epic, it just had to be.
Researchers had been trying to find out what had been on this site for at least 50 years, but no one was really sure what was here... in what was essentially a desolate area with a small town just off centre.
I was gaining on the object I'd seen poking out of the earth, something about it didn't seem right. I scrabbled down the edge. This wasn't protocol. I stopped, gasping for breath, on top of the object. This close though it didn't look so much like an object, more like a structure.
By now everyone was standing around me, all looking at the floor. Now we were close, the edges were more visible under the dirt. There was no need to give any instructions, everyone got down and started clearing the surface. Soon we were covering a length of the crater. This definitely wasn't a downed structure, but what was it.
Once we'd taken some samples and readings we realised we weren't any further down the line. All other searching had gone out the window, this was the only thing we were looking at until we had some answers. What I would have given to have had ground penetrating radar or even good old fashioned metal detectors, but with all this rubbish everywhere it would be useless, we'd proved that many a time. We had uncovered a corner and had a fairly long edge though. Time for some good old fashioned ground work. We spread down the edge, and in one line, started walking out over the top of the... thing.
Like excited children we poked the ground with depth rods, the surface of the structure was close to the top. With each prod was a dull metallic thud, no other sound could be heard, it was like we were all holding our breath. Until a clink. Just one slightly off tune prod. Everyone stopped. I couldn't tell exactly where it had come from, I lifted my hand and thrust it back into the ground... metal. I pointed at the tech next to me, the same noise, we worked down the line until after an agonising wait we heard it again.
“Clear it.”
Half the team ran for shovels, the other half got down on their knees and started pushing dirt away with their hands. After a couple of minutes of working with the tools the surface began to clear. It didn't take long until a hatch came into view. And we all stopped again. The possibilities were endless, there was no data for this region at all. This could be some long forgotten military facility that had weapons that the enemy wanted destroyed or it could have been a research facility with a deadly virus that we'd threatened to release... none of the options seemed very hopeful.
I got down next to the hatch, the glass must have been well reinforced, it was still intact with only scratches across the surface. It was difficult to see anything, it was sun up outside and darkest night in. I took my water bottle from my pack and poured some on the glass, it cleared a bit more of the dirt but still no view. Nearby I could hear excited mumbling, we crowded round them, staring back at us from the ground we some random numbers and a logo. Using one of the field computers we connected to the network and tried searching. The numbers drew no results. We weren't sure what to make of the logo, it looked similar to Roman numerals, the number three. Lots of results for that, but nothing other than number related theory.
I already knew I was going to open the hatch, we hadn't discussed it but I was fairly certain we'd all be in agreement. I stood back over it, and as my shadow fell across it I thought I saw something. I took my jacket off and shrouded the glass and my head. There was a light, it was faint, but there it was flashing in the dark.
There was fresh excitement, with power inside it opened up all sorts of possibilities, and most of them said that if the power has stayed on this long it had to be important.
We just needed options now.
The area looked like it was just welded panels until we swept the last of the dirt away. One small rectangle appeared with a fine groove around the outside. Using a pen knife the front flicked open revealing an electronic key pad. It wouldn't have seemed odd, but from the outside of the key pad there was no way to obviously open it, had it not been for the dirt we might not have seen it. Luckily for us, despite the hi-tech lock the technology was really old, and I had a guy who could break it. So we waited.
When the programme finished running there was silence, only broken by the clicking of bolts and then a low hissing sound. The hatch raised about and inch from the panel and pivoted open from the side. I didn't even hesitate, some objected, they wanted to go in but they wanted to run tests before we entered. Nothing was going to stop me. I took a pack with equipment and stood at the mouth of the opening, steep steps led down in front of me. Six of us entered, I gave them the option and everyone else opted for the outside. I could understand why there was doubt, whatever was in here could be extraordinary, but it was complete unknown. Everyone who opted out carried on with our work on the surface. They were the lucky ones...
---
Everything started to get better after the war. Bombs had destroyed a lot of the country, but my team and I were gradually getting it back. I don't think anyone had ever really considered what the world would be like if another nuke went off, but in the end we had to think it over really quickly.
The war was over before I was born, the same goes for all my team. Our families were all closely involved in restoring the country, and as time wore on the job passed down to us. Gradually, as the ground had become less toxic, we'd worked our way across the scorched earth. What records weren't destroyed by the bomb, were destroyed by the fighting. It really was like a lucky dip every time we went out. Every day was a learning experience in the N-zone.
Our days were coming to a close, from where I stood this morning I could see the centre of the N-zone. We'd always speculated about what was at the centre that was so dangerous it needed to be taken off the face of the earth. Today we came back with more questions than answers.
As we stood on the edge of the crater we scanned the surface with long distance scopes, nothing but the usual debris we were expecting. After all these years I'd hoped for something out of this world, seeing all the general rubble I was a little disappointed. We had all been over excited when we went out to the site, no one had seen this place since before the bomb. Some of the team skulked away to get equipment, just another day in the zone, but this couldn't be the end. I stood, more determined than I'd been before, something had to be here. Ten minutes passed, long hard minutes, as I scanned the ground in the crater. And there it was... not far from us. I started to run, very few things could get me to run but this qualified. My whole life had led to this point and it was going to be epic, it just had to be.
Researchers had been trying to find out what had been on this site for at least 50 years, but no one was really sure what was here... in what was essentially a desolate area with a small town just off centre.
I was gaining on the object I'd seen poking out of the earth, something about it didn't seem right. I scrabbled down the edge. This wasn't protocol. I stopped, gasping for breath, on top of the object. This close though it didn't look so much like an object, more like a structure.
By now everyone was standing around me, all looking at the floor. Now we were close, the edges were more visible under the dirt. There was no need to give any instructions, everyone got down and started clearing the surface. Soon we were covering a length of the crater. This definitely wasn't a downed structure, but what was it.
Once we'd taken some samples and readings we realised we weren't any further down the line. All other searching had gone out the window, this was the only thing we were looking at until we had some answers. What I would have given to have had ground penetrating radar or even good old fashioned metal detectors, but with all this rubbish everywhere it would be useless, we'd proved that many a time. We had uncovered a corner and had a fairly long edge though. Time for some good old fashioned ground work. We spread down the edge, and in one line, started walking out over the top of the... thing.
Like excited children we poked the ground with depth rods, the surface of the structure was close to the top. With each prod was a dull metallic thud, no other sound could be heard, it was like we were all holding our breath. Until a clink. Just one slightly off tune prod. Everyone stopped. I couldn't tell exactly where it had come from, I lifted my hand and thrust it back into the ground... metal. I pointed at the tech next to me, the same noise, we worked down the line until after an agonising wait we heard it again.
“Clear it.”
Half the team ran for shovels, the other half got down on their knees and started pushing dirt away with their hands. After a couple of minutes of working with the tools the surface began to clear. It didn't take long until a hatch came into view. And we all stopped again. The possibilities were endless, there was no data for this region at all. This could be some long forgotten military facility that had weapons that the enemy wanted destroyed or it could have been a research facility with a deadly virus that we'd threatened to release... none of the options seemed very hopeful.
I got down next to the hatch, the glass must have been well reinforced, it was still intact with only scratches across the surface. It was difficult to see anything, it was sun up outside and darkest night in. I took my water bottle from my pack and poured some on the glass, it cleared a bit more of the dirt but still no view. Nearby I could hear excited mumbling, we crowded round them, staring back at us from the ground we some random numbers and a logo. Using one of the field computers we connected to the network and tried searching. The numbers drew no results. We weren't sure what to make of the logo, it looked similar to Roman numerals, the number three. Lots of results for that, but nothing other than number related theory.
I already knew I was going to open the hatch, we hadn't discussed it but I was fairly certain we'd all be in agreement. I stood back over it, and as my shadow fell across it I thought I saw something. I took my jacket off and shrouded the glass and my head. There was a light, it was faint, but there it was flashing in the dark.
There was fresh excitement, with power inside it opened up all sorts of possibilities, and most of them said that if the power has stayed on this long it had to be important.
We just needed options now.
The area looked like it was just welded panels until we swept the last of the dirt away. One small rectangle appeared with a fine groove around the outside. Using a pen knife the front flicked open revealing an electronic key pad. It wouldn't have seemed odd, but from the outside of the key pad there was no way to obviously open it, had it not been for the dirt we might not have seen it. Luckily for us, despite the hi-tech lock the technology was really old, and I had a guy who could break it. So we waited.
When the programme finished running there was silence, only broken by the clicking of bolts and then a low hissing sound. The hatch raised about and inch from the panel and pivoted open from the side. I didn't even hesitate, some objected, they wanted to go in but they wanted to run tests before we entered. Nothing was going to stop me. I took a pack with equipment and stood at the mouth of the opening, steep steps led down in front of me. Six of us entered, I gave them the option and everyone else opted for the outside. I could understand why there was doubt, whatever was in here could be extraordinary, but it was complete unknown. Everyone who opted out carried on with our work on the surface. They were the lucky ones...
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