#secretbases

The planet evaporated and Brett stepped out of the glass booth. We all went down to Adam and Graham and looked at the stage floor where we could make out one large central lens with smaller ones encircling it. Ever the entrepreneur, Graham suggested that that technology alone would make a man richer than Bill Gates. We didn’t disagree.

We exited the auditorium, keen to find new discoveries, and walked back around the glassed off northern area of the security hall and on to behind the gates before entering what we called the reception hall. We headed through the lounge area towards the low desks and chairs that half-filled the hall. Ahead of us was the long, wide corridor we had seen earlier that morning. We decided that before heading up or down we would make our way along the corridor to see what the doorways may reveal.

Opening the first door on the left we entered into a large meeting room, this was repeated behind the next 3 doors on either side of the hallway. The next was a wide double door that opened into another long and wide hallway lined with more of the weird shaped seats and more doors. Opening the first of these we entered into what looked to be some sort of medical suite and examination room. Metal surfaces reflected the light and strange looking equipment on wheeled bases were tucked into alcoves. A door at the end of this room led into an office area. We tried several more of the doors and all revealed similar rooms. Going back out to the main corridor we headed further into the complex.

Discussing what we had seen so far we thought perhaps this area was some sort of medical examination section, it certainly felt like that and had a clinical, sterile appearance. Again the complex had presented more questions. Walking further in, the hallway opened out to a large room with more seats and the occasional work station. The corridor continued on the opposite side of the room with the entry flanked by elevated work stations on each side.

We walked through to the corridor and noticed the doors were spaced much further apart and darkened glass windows were located near to each double door.  As we approached the first it slid open and as the lighting kicked in it revealed a large room with lines of reclining chairs. Each chair had a small table incorporated into its left side and on every one of these sat a helmet, not dissimilar to a cyclists. Along the back wall of this room were glass fronted cabinets containing clear boxes. Brett, Adam and Graham walked to the these and opened one of the cabinets. The glass boxes were apparently full of thin cards that looked to be similar to an SD card. On each box front were more of the unknown symbols.

While those three guys were looking at the cabinet contents Graham and Steve wandered down the rows of chairs. I walked over to one and sat down. Like the chair in the auditorium it seemed to mould itself to my body. I took a closer look at the helmet; it was not totally loose, it had a light cord running from its back to down under the chair. The other guys were coming over to join me when, without really thinking about it, I decided to see if the helmet fitted. I placed it on my head and reclined back in the chair. Initially I could hear Brett and Steve calling out then zap…. nothing. A whole series of images and thoughts flashed through my mind. I was totally and utterly oblivious to all else. Then it stopped.

I opened my eyes, the guys were all standing around me looking very concerned indeed. I removed the helmet as Craig yelled at me. He asked how dumb I was, why would I put that on my head when I didn’t know what it was or what it did. Didn’t I see Jack O’Neill almost die from brain overload, and all he did was look into something! Jack O’Neill? Who was he? (OK, I discovered later he was a lead character in the scifi series Stargate SG1 but that was fiction wasn’t it?)

I began to explain there was nothing to worry about, that I was fine and the helmets wouldn’t harm us. Everyone just stared at me, Adam and Craig looked horrified, Graham looked ill and Steve and Brett just stood there, jaws dropped. I stopped talking. Craig asked what the hell was happening, why was I talking in tongues? What?

Tongues?

Really?

I gathered my thoughts and there it was, I was conscience of the fact that I was thinking in another language. I concentrated and finally, English. Thank goodness, it hadn’t wiped my brain clean then. But there was more there, I knew so much more than I had only minutes before. Speaking in English, I asked how long I was out of it for. Not long apparently, two maybe three minutes. I had looked totally out of it. Craig had wanted to remove the helmet then and there but Brett stopped him fearing it may do damage. So they waited. And then I was back.

The others wanted to try the helmets, to learn what I knew but Brett  stopped them. It was safer to observe me for a while to see if there were any side effects. If not then they could all give them a try, if so, well no one, least of all me, wanted to think about that.

I could tell them what I knew while we waited.

We departed one week prior to Easter 2014 fully loaded with supplies, our swags and the equipment we would need for this prospecting journey. The first leg of our trip would take around 12 hours, first east to Kalgoorlie, the major gold mining centre 7 hours east of Perth and then north to Leonora for an overnight stay before making the trip north east to Stamford. The 3 vehicles all went well and after a quick stop in Kalgoorlie to refill the tanks we arrived at our hotel in Leonora at about 6.00pm that evening.

We all enjoyed a great evening meal, I indulged in steak, chips and salad. The steak was nearly bigger than the plate, beautifully cooked and tender as. After dinner we played a few rounds of pool before Craig ordered us all to hit the sack, it would be another early start in the morning. Craig wanted to be on site by just after lunch so the rig could be set up and ready to start drilling first thing Tuesday.

We set out just on sunrise and headed east to Laverton then northeast  on the Great Central Road for an hour before heading north. How Alexander and Ernest made this journey with nothing more than a few horses and cart is beyond me. The road out to Stamford is not well used and as such is seldom maintained by the local authorities. To say it is rough would be an understatement.

We turned onto the Stamford track around 11am and as the terrain undulated we could catch occasional glimpses of the Wedge looming in the distance. A little after 12 we began the ascent up the long eastern flank and finally sat atop the Wedge about half an hour later.

The four of us immediately began setting up camp while Craig and Steve checked the area and decided where the drilling would start. They decided to commence pretty much centre and so began setting up the rig ready for drilling the next day. By the time they had finished we had established camp; no tents since we all had quality swags but pretty much all the other luxuries including an open pavilion to provide shade. A couple of generators ran some LED lights along with three Engel fridge/freezers. Adam and Brett prepared dinner of chicken and rice on a gas stove and grill while I gathered some meagre wood supplies and got a fire going. Graham sat on his arse with a cold beer telling everyone what a marvel to mankind he is and of course to woman kind too. He really is a knob but at least he provided us some laughs and has a good taste in music.

April is a beautiful time of year in this part of the world, average 25° Celsius through the day and down to around 12 or 13 at night. That’s in stark contrast to summer when temperatures are intolerable, quite often reaching well over 40° through November to February. As we settled down to dinner and the sun disappeared for the night we could feel a light chill in the air. Up on the Wedge you could see for miles and the evening was incredibly clear. Some light clouds filled the western horizon allowing the sun to give us a spectacular show. Although there was not a lot of action out here it was days and nights like this that made the Westons and their friends return time and time again.

We sat around the fire chatting about all and sundry. By the time it was dark the near full moon had already been up a couple of hours. It was spectacular and did not detract from the thousands upon thousands of stars in the sky, all so much brighter and clearer out here, away from both the air and light pollution of a big city.

Our talk turned to the universe and what wonders we knew it held and what it may hold. We all agreed the odds were stacked well in favour of there being other planets lucky enough to hold life. After all, with all those suns in our galaxy alone there had to be some chance a planet was just in the right location, had the right chemical balance and geographic stability to allow some sort of life to flourish. And then there were all those other suns in other galaxies. It made us all wonder.

As the conversation petered out Adam and I got up and walked towards the western lip about 20 metres away. We could see for miles, the moon illuminated the desert below in a soft glow, only the western face remained dark, the moon not having reached high enough to soak that area. From here you could still make out the darker shapes of the low shrubs and the occasional rocky outcrop. The only sounds were that of insects and Adam divesting himself of some bodily gases.

It had been another long day and tomorrow would be too and certainly an early start so I decided to turn in. As I drifted off the others too began to settle for the night.