It had not been five minutes after we continued to walk deeper into the jungle, and I had already began to feel like the trees around us were getting more abundant and also saw that the mossy rocky surfaces to no longer dominate our surroundings. It was due to those things that made me started to think if we were no longer near the megalithic zone, but then shortly we came across something that acted as an undeniable prove to me that I was mistaken as well.
It was the very sight of a pillar, standing about ten feet right in front of us, and was made out of five same cube bricks. Since the moss covering it was rather less abundant than most of the other rocky surfaces, it was easy for us to tell that the pillar was built by stacking five cubes of megalith stone bricks in a very similar manner, if not the same to how the wall back in the hallway was built.
I proceeded by looking around, and it did not take me long before I found another similar pillar about almost twenty one feet away from it to the southeast direction. It just took me quite some time before I noticed the second pillar since the gap between them was almost entirely covered by trees. Somehow, the ground between the first and second pillar also did not seemed to be of a rocky surface, but soil instead. I notified both Billy and Jessica about the second pillar, and as we went closer I noticed a slight difference on it compared to the first one.
It might originally have the same height and features as the first pillar, but if that was indeed the case then the second pillar had its top brick missing, and the second brick from the top apparently sliced in half diagonally. I had initially thought that it might be sliced by the aliens, but since they were using their beam spear which I believed would be able to cut those megalith stones clean off, I disposed of that possibility because the cut marking was not smooth. It was rather as if something like a large and dense rock had hit it with an incredible speed and caused it to be partially destroyed.
It only took us a short time before we knew for sure that both of the pillars were of the same ones carved on the third artifact. A matter of which pillar used for sun and cloud was of another question that we could not answer though, since we did not find any single clue or carving on the pillar that might give us a hint about it. We did however, found an unfamiliar carving on the third brick of the first pillar.
The carving had a figure of a hole, with a line right below it. I had no idea of what that symbol could be, until Jessica mentioned that the dot was in the same direction to the north. It was right then when it hit me that the symbol carved might be some sort of a compass for the astronomers. So not only had they had the technology to cut megalith stones with extreme precision, they also most likely had the knowledge about compass. The evidences for the existence of a prehistoric life in that jungle in the past just seemed to be emerging one by one continuously.
"Kalo aja tiang balok ini bisa gue bawa…" Jessica muttered to herself, wishing if she could take both of the pillars with her.
I somehow began to have the interest on staying there a little longer to look at the megalithic wonder. Nevertheless, since we were also practically racing against time, I persuaded her that it was time to move on from our current spot. Although she looked hesitant, she agreed to me without any complaining. Maybe it was only ten more minutes of walking, before both the trees and mossy rocky surfaces gradually becoming less and less abundant and when we finally went out of the jungle, a whole new surrounding seemed to greet us.
Just like what Billy had been briefed on before, there really was a big crater in the distance to the east direction, as well as the mountain peak to the northeast direction although the latter could only be seen rather faintly. Aside from that, I also noticed that all three of us were apparently on some sort of a plateau since we were surrounded by a clearing since I could see the horizon between the land and the sky from where we were currently standing. At that precise moment, the sun had just begun to slowly set in the western direction, creating a twilight upon all of the surface.
"Wow… it is beautiful…" Jessica said as she smiled.
"Yeah…" I responded to her as I sighed. "It is such a shame that this is not the right time for us to enjoy this scenery…"
Just then, I remembered that we had yet to know what would be in store for us after the crater and the mountain peak. When I turned to Billy, he was already transmitting messages through his watch, and just lifted both his eyebrows when he noticed me looking at him, signaling that he was already on it. He also said that in order for us to not waste our time, we should just go to the outer ring of the crater while we wait for more updated information. Since I also believed there was no other good option for the time being, I proceeded along with his suggestion.
As we were walking closer to the outer ring of the crater, I could feel a serious relieve for me since there was no more threat presented right before our faces, be it the aliens or the weather. The gentle dusk sun shining upon us and giving us a little warmth could also be a factor on the relaxing mood that I felt as I kept on walking on the clear plateau.
Just as we were about to reach the outer ring of the crater, Billy suddenly told us in a very stern expression to hide behind a nearby large rock. At first, I was wondering if he sensed an immediate danger before us that he felt like we must hide behind something, but it turned out that he said he had received the updated information, and apparently would be the last from his Commander General.
He said that we would actually have to go around half of the crater by going to the east direction first, and then northeast to the mountain peak. Past the crater of more or less five hundred meters, there would be some sort of a narrow and small rift which was most likely formed due to the earthquake several days earlier, and we would have to pass the rift through the uncracked surface.
Just after the surface, we should just head straight towards the southwest direction and hike up to the mountain peak from there since by that time we would be only three kilometers left to the peak. However, we should also take extreme caution when hiking up since there were also a few geyser holes, and although they only occasionally erupted, it should still be taken to our minds that they were nevertheless still active.
I nodded with more relieve when I finally heard that we were technically just a few steps more before we could figure out the root cause of all that had taken place. But then, he mentioned something that rather bothered me, on which he said that once we reached the mountain peak, every other thing would be decided by me since right at that moment we must have supposedly found what had been causing the entire incident.
"I do not mean to disrespect you and your force, but why does that sound like they are leaving your live entirely upon me, as if they considered you as an expendable soldier?" I asked him with disbelief.
"As much as I do not want to admit it, I also interpret it that way." he responded me as he held his breath and released it.
In an instant, I understood right away why he had such a stern expression on his face earlier. I felt like either something not right was happening in the very moment among our superiors, or that there was some sort of a serious miscommunication. Therefore, I decided to contact Nest through my watch to ask about it, but then suddenly Jessica alerted me that something unusual had occurred near the center of the crater.
"Travis!" she said with a low voice as she pointed her finger towards the center of the crater.
I first saw what seemed to be a thin and long purple light near the center spot of the crater. At first, I thought that it belonged to the beam spear of an alien that had its stealth camouflage turn on. But as I kept on looking at the purple light that seemingly grew larger, I could not believe my eyes when I saw that something emerged from it, which turned out to be the Beetle Hovering Object disabling its camouflage and seemingly opening its rear hatch vertically, revealing four aliens inside it.
"So that is what happened when they are disabling their stealth mode…" I muttered to myself in a very low voice.
One of the four aliens then jumped down, bringing what seemed to be a rather large and long drilling tool, and the other three aliens stayed on the rear hatch of the Beetle Hovering Object each holding on to what looked like a mounted machine gun on each sides – or perhaps in their case, a mounted auto-beam.
The alien that had jumped down had a rather significant difference in terms of its physical appearances compared to the ones staying on the rear hatch of the hovering object. I could not see for sure since it was getting darker, but it looked like while the ones that stayed had the very same features like the ones we had encountered several times before, it had no wings at all on its back and it had a much bulkier pair of legs. I had to admit that it looked like the latter was wearing an extremely thick and long footwear, but somehow something inside me ensured me that it was indeed its original appearance.
As if one hovering object was not enough for them, very shortly after that, three other similar thin purple lights appeared suddenly near the first one, and quickly revealed themselves one by one, shocking all three of us in the process. Every features, including the numbers of the aliens that the object brought, the numbers of them who jumped down and brought the same tool, as well as their overall physical appearances including the hovering objects' were all entirely the same.
I became far more confused when the aliens with the bulky legs seemed to turn on their drills and began to dig through the surfaces around the center of the crater. One question immediately occurred in my head – what on earth were they trying or hoping to find by digging down the crater? Surely they would not be just doing it for fun's sake and to kill time, since I believe they could do so anytime on the place they originally belonged to.
I then glanced for a brief moment towards both Billy and Jessica, and found out that they were completely stunned by what they were seeing as well. I was first not sure if I should may my attention and look some more on what they were doing, but I had to change my mind once a couple more thin purple lights occurred some distance further from them – and was a little closer to us, suddenly appeared and from each of them, the very same hovering objects slowly revealed itself.
But if there was anything that I realized for certain right away from what I had seen, was that they were definitely coming from the direction of the mountain peak. At first, I was not so sure about it, but when the last two thin purple lights appeared out of nowhere I noticed for sure that they had been moving from the northeast direction. Their arrivals also acted as a strong indication that the root cause of the whole incident centered from the direction of the mountain peak.
"Okay… change of plans…" I said as I no longer peeped and quickly hid behind the rock.
I immediately had both Billy's and Jessica's full attention, and thus I wasted no time in suggesting them that we should retreat to the swamp on the northwest direction for the time being. To be honest, I had expected them to at least ask why, if not argue or suggested another alternative. Instead, they seemed to just go along with what I said to them and even started to crouch and walked slowly towards the direction of the swamp.
The sun on the horizon had already more than half sunken, making the rest of the day darker with each passing minutes. It did not seem like the aliens would be able to be easily notice us from where they currently were in the first place since they were pretty far apart from us.
However, since the ground around us were entirely pebbles and small rocks, I just hoped that we were moving slow enough to not cause any stones to roll down towards them and giving them a hint of our location. The time had just reached 05.45 p.m., and yet another threat had appeared before us again, forcing us to take a detour for the moment…