Diving the Catacombs

Status Report
Prisoner: Wylder Aurotharius

"He appears to sleep for 80 hours at a time, eats very little and is mostly self involved. Originally this was thought to be a side effect of the cryogenics, but it seems to somehow be by design or otherwise deliberate on his part. The extreme isolation of his current holding does not seem to bother him."

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Memo to Archive.
From Major P. Siamendes, SIU

"Requesting any information on file concerning Wylder Aurotharius and daughter Audrey. Details of shared leisure activities, family home, favorite foods, any surviving correspondence or diaries."

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I quickly scanned the initial reply to my request to Archive, and settled on one point in particular.

Blintzes, Chicken Kiev, Borscht.

Meals Wylder may have shared with his daughter...

This must have taken some digging.

Wylder was my tangible link to Ardra. One of our most brilliant minds. Next to his intellect, I was a small child. When I finally meet him, it will have to be a different type of interview. And that will take some preparation.

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May 23 - The Evangeline Trench, Avalon

"Abraxas begetteth truth and lying, good and evil, light and darkness, in the same word and in the same act. Wherefore is Abraxas terrible." - Septem Sermones ad Mortuos.

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Major Muircastle and his team were excavating the vast system of tunnels and chambers hidden deep beneath the surface of Avalon. The complex had once been an Alliance base, or so we were told. It was affectionately known, among the locals, as the Catacombs.

As the Major explained it, "The island has been used for experiments since early settlement. But the island was decommissioned shortly after the war's end. Documents shredded, some things destroyed, others just bulldozed down in haste. Now many years later, it has been turned over for civilian development... I am here in case they forgot something."

The complex had long been claimed by the sea. The tunnels were now flooded. I would have to swim to access the site.

The entrance had already been cleared to the lowest level, exposing the large stone blocks that made up the foundation of the structure.

The walls appeared to be arranged in a twin spiral fashion. Circle in to a square chamber. Change levels, then circle out to a corridor and the next exit.

The outer corridors were quite narrow.

Holes in the ceilings granted access between levels.

By the fourth level strange circular markings began to appear on the walls. Their meaning or significance was unclear at this stage.

Turning one corner my heart skipped a beat. I was confronted by a nest of snakes, each one as thick as my arm, as long as my leg. Fortunately, they seemed frightened of the chemical light.

On the other side of the chamber with the snakes, the circular patterns were less worn or more defined. In either case, an image became apparent.

It was an eye. Rays emanating from the orb. It suggested a praeter-human intelligence. Too elevated to be demonic. Too alien to be divine. Something totally 'other'.

The image was on the floor, on the walls, everywhere one looked. This was not standard Alliance military decor.

I did not find anything to suggest I had discovered the limits of the complex. There may have been levels above, but I had been exploring for some time now, so I began to make my way back.

On the return journey, I found myself in a side corridor containing the only artifact I would find on this expedition. A metal box, the size of a large coffin.

Curiosity overwhelmed any thoughts of caution. I opened the box.

Inside I discovered a large pig, perfectly preserved. I found myself thinking of Mercedes Celestalis and her organ donor pig.

The animal was suspended in a clear, solid medium, like a fly in amber. There was a shimmer, a slight glow. The pig may have been in stasis, I was not sure. Any hint of a heartbeat was drowned out by the beating of my own.

I reached the submarine exactly sixty minutes from the time I began my dive.

The experience left me with more questions than answers. I would be interested to hear Major Muircastle's thoughts on what I had found. I am sure that there were limits to what he had been told about the site.

Sometimes you have to work in the dark.

It is the life we lead.