Scene 1: Alpha Site

Ext. Suburbs - Civil Twilight, Miami 1995

Perhaps one would have expected a more lavish accomodation, something palatial, with well tended topiaries, collumns and pylasters of fine Parian marble. Black granite walkways, in a gated community. Dr. Justice Connel-Gulbane had none of that. For one of the richest individuals his living space was humble. A duplex nestled in a cozy corner in the suburbs. Wholly unremarkable save the enormous water tower adjacent to the property.

Four vehicles were parked in neat order. A 1989 BMW 750iL with wood paneling and silver paint, a 1977 Jeep Wrangler CW in Silver paint, a 1964 Chevrolet Impala, and a brand new Ford Ranger XL in silver. Four garages were open, inviting guests to park in safety and comfort. A charcoal grilling pit was set, already burning, with a rather large, muscle bound man with reddish brown hair cut into a mullet. He was working a bellows in the charcoal pit. He wore a bright orange welder's apron, a faded pink shirt that had a rooster stenciled on it, a pair of Tommy Hilfiger basketball shorts, and what appeared to be suede mocassins.

Immediately behind him was a well appointed plywood table, with a rather generous selection of sausages, and cheeses, several rib eye steaks, and unlabeled brown glass bottles in a steel bucket full of ice. A brandnew Behringer Boombox was playing the newest release from the band "Death" Perennial Quest. Justice Connel-Gulbane was headbanging to the intense riffs of the guitarist, polyrythmic drumming, and grating vocals of the singer.

It had turned out to be quite a party. Twenty One guests in total, various experts in their fields, physicists, doctors, special operators, engineers, linguists, historians.

The festive atmosphere carried on for about an hour. Meat, cheese, beer, music, new comers. Coversation built and lulled. Eventually there was a silence. Justice cracked another beer, his tenth - yet he had not yet flushed and seemed clear headed and level. "Thank you all for attending." He began and gestured to the fence between his apartment and the water tower. "Please, follow me, and hold your questions until the end. We have a lot of ground to cover and many things that will be inexplicable."

Dr. Connel-Gulbane approached a gate and removed a magnetized keycard, sliding it into a reader and opening the chain link gate. Pretty heavy security for a water tower. "Many of your cultural backgrounds have a common thread, a story that tells of otherworldly entities that came to our world while our species was young. And through the work of magic elevated us to greatness." He spoke as he leads the group to a large concrete shack, containing a large freight elevator. "I am a man of science, and a deeply spiritual man as well. I also do believe there to be at least some truth to these myths." Justice flipped a knife switch and a series of high pressure sodium lamps began to illuminate. They proceeded down by relays, in a concrete tunnel, deep into the bowels of the Earth.

"A reminder that you all are sworn to secrecy, anything you see from this point on, is not to be discussed outside of this site." Stepping onto the elevator he beckons his new colleagues to join him. "Welcome to Alpha Site."

As the elevator rolled slowly into the depths of the Earth. Red retroreflective paint on the ceiling of the shaft indicated "SL1."

"Sublevel 1, Fluidics and Geothermal. One of the benefits of building Alpha Site in a swamp was the abundance of natural gases and water which is used to power all of the integrated systems in the lower levels." The sole features one could see from the elevator was a set of massive blast doors, 20ft*15ft marked with hazard tape, an enormous pink intake pipe that emerged from deeper down the corridor and disappeared into the wall next to the blast door. And a blue pipe with retroreflective yellow paint indicating it was a radiation hazard. The loud hum of machinery was muffled from behind the blast door.

At SL2 the elevator stopped and the corridor opened into a large cavern. The scent of lush greenery and humidity gave the sublevel an rainforest scent. "Sublevel two is the atrium, living quarters, and soon to be home to a movie theater." As above the pink pipe continued deeper into the complex, though a branch broke off at this level. The blue pipe had disappeared into the bedrock.

The well lit room had a great deal of LED lighting and hydroponics, a wealth of foodstuffs appeared to be growing in shelved along the walls, and glass floors showed the flow of purified water pumping slowly through the floor. It was high tech and clearly made to give a sense of "awesome and powerful" while still being understated.

A woman in a well cut suit, red hair, green blouse and pencil skirt wearing a name tag that said Franziska approached boarded, said something to Dr. Connel-Gulbane and produced a set of keys which she relinquished to Justice. "I am Franziska Edwards, CIO and Head of Hospitality. I sign the paychecks and want to welcome you to Alpha Site. You will see me later for housing assignments and we can make better acquaintance there. Trust me, you are in for something special. So I will leave you too it." The two made an unlikely pair, everything about Franziska said business, professional, she was half Justice's size with a kind of rare but timid beauty. Contrasting sharply to Dr. Connel-Gulbane who looked like the poster child for the Daytona 500, redneck.

"Thanks Frannie. See you later." He said and turned to put the keys into the control board as "Frannie" walked back into the atrium disappearing in the beautiful garden.

"Sublevel 3 is restricted, and only accessible by myself, Frannie, and Chief of Security Andrew Lauman. It is where we will spend the majority of our time working. And now if you would please look, and witness the first of many artifacts you will find in this Site." As the elevator came to a stop at a single large opening in the bedrock, with engraved petroglyphs surrounding the entrance. Approximately 150m below the surface of the Earth. Justice directed the group to the sole feature.

The acoustics in the chamber were odd, as if the passage ahead was swallowing the sound. The cavewalls, which had obviously been carved showed a level of intent and understanding difficult to achieve with modern architecture and engineering.

Justice shared the gleam of awe in Elias' eyes as he took in the artwork. "How old? We were hoping you could tell us. Though, there are quite similar styles of art in France. We are still trying to find a way to date the stone. Reminds me of Magdalenian cave art, but there are some radical differences."

Justice nodded in affirmative to Veronica. "Protect, obtain, explore, and ecavate. These caves are quite hazardous. Every see an Indiana Jones movie? A lot like that." He grinned at the notion clearly excited to get the work.

A flashlight announced the presence of a person approaching. A man, slightly heavier in build, but so similar in likeness he might have been a twin to Justice. Stepping from the rocks he presented a laminated plastic sheet to Dr. Connel-Gulbane and introduced himself. "Hi, Andrew Lauman, C-Sec. Listen Up I need Donahue, Duclair, Messer, Kowalski, and Rodriguez. Follow me!" He stood for a moment and looked at each person in the face, he already knew them.

Justice reviewed the laminate page and grimaced. "I had intended on giving you all the tour, but that will have to wait.
Please find your accomodations on your own, Franziska will help you." Pulling his keys from the lift controls Justice broke for the cutaway still regarding the laminate sheet. He looked like he knew where he was going. "Looks like the work won't wait. Lieutenant Rodriguez, and Master Sergeant Donahue, looks like we will be spelunking, Mister Duclair, ever done any cave diving?" He was walking and talking in obvious agitation. Leaning against the entry way he pulled the waterproof marker free and signed the form.

Chief of security Andrew Lauman smirked, with a single huff that was similar to a laugh and opened up a duffel bag full of lighting equipment, head lamps, flashlights and chemical glowlightz indicating they should take them. "There's plenty." He said as if implying the others should feel free. If he was any indication, carrying dozens of the chemical glowlights was a smart choice.

The sound of the elevator, and the murmurs of the excited crowd of 15 returning to the second sublevel was rapidly vanishing as they left the others. Before the others had equipped themselves with lights, the massive freight elevator's sound had disappeared into a quiet rush of air in the cavern.

Scene: 1(A)
Insert: Grotto Ext. Bright Light

"Nothin' perilous. The diggers just found a new chamber, n'took some casualties. Nothin' major. We gonna help 'em though." Andrew had an bright look in his eyes, at a glance anyone knew some mania possessed him, it was in his eyes. Unwavering hazel eye contact, a fierce intensity and ruthless cunning marked on his face, a hard bulbous nose and copper greying beard, which was larger than his own head. "Don'chu worry. I gotcha."

Andrew was 38, but looked in his early 30's is 5'11" 252lbs, built like atlas, there were olympic weightlifters with a less developed physique. His voice a gravelly bass impossibly deep, yet soft spoken. He wore Mjlonir, Thor's hammer, on a gold chain around his neck, and three gold rings on his left hand, as well as a copper and onyx prayer mala, and a silver eagle armring. Carries a Ruger P95a with a massive blue laser integrated into the barrel. The laser was currently off.

Scene 1(a)
Insert: Grotto Ext. Bright Light

"A broken leg, n' a bad contusion. Nothin' life threatenin' but they ain't gonna be able to swim out without help." Lauman said as he ushers the group along a left hand path that lead down past the thermocline, it had been getting colder, but the air grew more humid, and warmer now. And the steep grade carried them ever deeper. "There probably are hazards, but nothing I have seen or heard of. No gas or nothin' like that so far either. Keep an eye out for 'gators we're in the Everglades. For now, I am callin' this a'one off situation."

"Don't got a stretcher, maybe you can rig up a travois. But if it's just a broken leg I can carry 'em out in the worst case. As far as gators go, never needed to use Rita. They don't like goin' this deep." Lauman patted his handgun affectionately and pointed to a set of ropes leading into the dark, a cyan colored glowstick was already at the bottom, it looked to be about 20ft down again. The air was now hot, about 82 degrees farenheit.

Someone was moving down there, you could see the silohuette wave. It was most probably Justice.

The descent wasn't too difficult, now near 500ft below the surface of the earth it was now quite warm approaching hot. The humidity was stifling, Justice waited at the base of the deadfall and continued steadily downhill. Into the depths of the earth. "About fifteen minutes at a hustle down, watch your step." Justice cautioned and he stayed to the lefthand side of the stream. "Careful of cave water it can carry disease." The man seemed quite familiar with the tunnel. His familiar step carried him surely. "We will need to swim though." The water level was rising as the passage narrowed, soon they were ankle deep, then knee deep in water. A single furrow of light cut through into the subterranean grotto. A bend in the tunnel quickly vanquished the moonlight.

The tunnel narrowed, it was now cramped Justice had stopped and began to crack glowsticks. He was tying them off at intervals on fishing line, every ten feet or so. "Alright buddy system now. Follow the lights, do not deviate, there are hundreds of miles of tunnel down here. This is the worst leg of it. There's no air for one hundred fifty feet, or about one minute at a good pace. I will mark it with red glowsticks so it doesn't ruin your night vision." After tying off fifteen lengths of his fishing line Justice hung the line from a old rusted piton just over the mouth of a tunnel that lead into the water. He turned on his headlamp, and a handheld flashlight. "Questions?"

The water was warm, not yet body temperature but enough that it didn't cause a shock when immersing in it. It smelled mildly alkaline, clean though. And whike it appeared murky from above, under the surface it was crystal clear.

Traversal though not easy went rather smoothly. Donahue managed to get a clear indication of depth as he caught many glittering geometric shapes at the base of the fissure. He could see stress fractures, in concentric octagonal protrusions from the rock. Some immense force had split a vein through the rock which created the channel they were diving in. He wasn't far from the bottom and could easily grab one of the glittering triangles from the recess.

Rodriguez had no difficulty in the dive. Training and discipline served her well, following the string of glowlights to their end brought her up into a fissure, and a high vaulted limestone recess in the rock. The air in the recess was sweet, and she could feel a current, it was still hot, now uncomfortably hot. She could see Justice at the far end of the recess. And behind Andrew looked at his dive watch. Donahue emerged, followed by Kowalsky. Messer came up last clipping the line as he did, breaking the strand free.

Tense seconds passed and there was still no sign of Elias...

"Lost one, I'll get 'im." Andrew dived before anyone could respond.

Elias had a tough time of it, when he followed the line his hand brushed the thin filament, and he felt it go slack. The string drifted in the water, neutrally bouyant it curled in on itself. The way forward was no longer clear. Elias's lungs began to burn as he ran low on air. The vein had many branches running off. It was a labyrinth. He could feel something heavy disturb the water as his sense of time became distorted. Just before he committed to a path Andrew's flashlight near blinded him. A powerful hand on his shoulder set his bearing correct and he could feel himself being pulled. Tense seconds past, another minute. Elias' lungs felt like they were on fire, his blood burned like battery acid. That first breath as Andrew and Elias broke the surface was the sweetest of his life.

Justice whistled for everyone's attention. "Feel alive yet?" Andrew whooped in response and guided Elias to the wall waiting for him to catch his breath. Messer swam to Elias and checked him briefly.

"You'll be alright, just catch your breath." Messer reassured Elias, the Doctor's Without Border's patch on his soaked utilities adding some credence to his diagnosis.

The remainder of the dive proceeded without incident, with plenty of gaps in the stone for which to take a breath progreas was slow but steady.

At the end it opened to a chamber dimly lit, with the excavation team huddled around two people, one with a clearly broken leg, the other bleeding heavily from a deep gash in their arm.

Justice panned the room with the flashlight and stopped, staring transfixed at what lay beyond a collapsed false wall. An engraved coverstone. It was 30ft square, and the meticulous detail implied it held great significance.

Upon seeing the wounded Kowalsky and Messer immediately began diagnosis.

"This is real bad. He's lost alot of blood." Messer was suturing the wound closed, pink arterial blood had already started to congeal on the stones. The culprit was the same stone from the false wall that had broken the femur of the other digger. Patrick O'Malley was ashen white, and getting worse by the second. Messer was working hard to save the man's life, but it was too little too late. O'Malley died of bloodloss - maybe if the team had moved a little quicker, but there was no time to consider alternatives.

"Shit, he was a civilian too." Justice groaned and held O'Malley's face staring into the dead man's eyes. Memorizing the details of it, he closed the bodies eyes and grimaced. Shaking his head he moved over to help rig a travois with Donahue, though with only duct tape and aged roots this deep the end result was only slightly better than nothing.

As Messer was busy with O'Malley, Kowalsky was working on the injured leg. He had worked Johnson, the injured man's belt, between his teeth. Grabbing Duclair's hand's he placed them on Johnson's hip. "Hold him steady. I have to set this before we move him." Kowalsky ordered, he was firm but not guff in his manner realizing Elias was not his subordinate. Johnson was unconscious, luckily for him, as setting the compound fracture was a two step process.

Kowalsky made sure Elias was braced before yanking hard at Johnson's knee. The visceral pop caused Elias' stomach to churn and he involuntarily released Johnson's hip, he was feeling quite nauseous. Being in contact with Johnson, he had felt the vibration through him it had awakened a primal aversion but he had managed to hold his dinner. Kowalsky pushed the femur back together, it was a pulpy sound as the vacuum in the body was suddenly filled.

Lauman helped load Johnson onto the stretcher. He waved the group to his light. "Any of you have experience wit' CASEVAC?"

Messer was recording time of death in a logbook. Cause of death, and moving over to resuscitate Johnson.

Justice pulled an emergency blanket over O'Malley's body and looked around the group. "I'll need someone to help recover O'Malley with me. Not you four, you should swim back now." He motioned to the four diggers who were obviously exhausted from the ordeal. They departed forthwith. Leaving the seven to decide how to proceed.

Messer grimaces as whatever he injected into Johnson hadn't worked as desired. He pulled apart his bag and preemptively intubated Johnson, then lashed a quick splint with duct tape and a bit of plastic rod he had kept for just this circumstance. He hands an O2 Bag and Mask to Duclair. Looking at the water in the cave and wincing. "Hold these, look at the tubes, prepare to attach the bag as soon as we get him to the other side. He is going to drown on the way there. That means he will seize. Can you restrain him?" He looked to Lauman who immediately nodded then over to Donahue as well looking for confirmation.

Justice had tied up O'Malley's body in the emergency blanket and moved it over to the water's edge. Seeing that Veronica had taken things well in charge he shouldered O'Malley and started to make for the water, quickly sinking to his shoulders. "I will make sure the lights are secured as I move ahead." He said and began to swim ahead into the gloom of the cave. Kowalsky followed immediately behind him. They traded.who carried the body at the very edge of the light. Just before the dive, then, diving they vanished.

The hard part came when Johnson was in the water, as long as his head was kept above the surface progress was easy. Three people carrying made the weight manageable. Johnson was stable for now. They came to the shelf. The only way through was to dive. Messer was clearly distressed but what else could be done? "He is going to flail, keep him on the stretcher." He was giving advice mostly to himself at this point. He took a deep breath and counted down from three on his left hand. At count zero he pulled the travois down and began to swim hard into the depth.

Bubbles poured from Johnson's mouth and nose as they descended. And almost as soon as they stopped Johnson took a lungful of water. His nervous system, in panic began to thrash. His arms and legs flailed as he actively fought against rescue the subconscious desperate to live impeded the life saving efforts. As his mind's aggression limiters were unconscious the bodies strength was amplified. He kept breaking free of their holds.

During the traversal, one of Johnson's kicks slipped past Donahue's block and caught him right in the diaphragm, precious air was forced out, but there was no turning back. Grit alone carried Donahue forward. His lungs burning, limbs felt like lead, and his blood burned, but Donahue pushed on.

Duclair in an agitated state was likewise burning through oxygen at an increased rate. His experience only a few minutes before near drowning on the way in was fresh in his mind. It was all he could do to not panic. At the end Veronica leading the way, they pulled Johnson and each other from the water. Her effort to lead saving more than one life.

Messer didn't even allow himself to catch his breath rolling Johnson on his side. "Get the bag attached." He panted, and began to strike Johnson hard between the shoulder blades. "Soon as you do, pump once every three seconds."

Elias found it easy to attach the bag to the two tubes in the IT tube. Johnson wasn't clearing the water on his own. So when he first compressed the bag, the fluid was pushed free. It squirt out Johnson's nose, snot and cave water squirted free. And Johnson immediately sucked in a lungful of air. Shock and adrenaline rousing him. Johnson's eyes snapped to full wakefulness, he clung to Elias, the worst of the shock fading quickly. Elias sensed that he had just saved this man.

Moments later Justice and Kowalsky lowered two additional ropes from above, the day was won.

Mission Accomplished