The Station, Part 13 cont.

Okay, enough of that. Back on task, Bradley. I’m taking a short walk along the wall and I’m seeing more of the same. More of that strange texture and more holes. These ho9les are roughly uniform in shape and size, some are low enough that if I boost myself up, I can get into it. With a ladder I can reach a few more. But the majority of holes are far too high to reach. I’m looking into one of those opening right now. The sides are surprisingly smooth, like polished obsidian. I just ran my hand along it and felt a slightly wavy texture. Very smooth. No bumps or holes or ridges that I can find. Looking inside it seems to hold a horizontal path for maybe….25 meters before it slopes upward. At least that’s what it looks like. Part of me wants to take a walk down this tunnel but there’s another part of me that is screaming FOUL at the same time. I think I’ll defer to that latter side of my psyche for now and continue to explore the outer side.

I’ve left the tunnel entrance and now walking alongside the wall. I’m finding more of these tunnels. They’re all still about the same side and shape and most of them are out of reach. If there wasn’t gravity here, I could’ve really used one of the repair pods in the station’s hanger. But they’re zero g craft only. Just small ion pulse drives and maneuvering jets. What I could really use is somebody to watch my back. I know I’m probably being paranoid about this, but wouldn’t you be? I’m inside some form of extrasolar structure, with no apparent way out and nobody to discuss this with. The silence of this place is really unnerving, so I’m going to keep talking to not try and go insane from it.

Walking and talking does seem to help. On the first day when this…event happened, I was speechless. Nothing made sense. I went about my business as usual, everything checking out and then the darkness surrounded Frontier. It was so unreal. I had nothing to say. I just started going from viewport to viewport, hoping like a fool that my eyes were playing tricks on me or that this was some really bad practical joke dreamed up by bored personnel at Command Central. But I really knew all of that was pure bullshit. Sorry. Please excuse the French. The memories are still very fresh. But really, I’m not feeling the anger right now. I don’t feel the sense of abandonment I had when no one answered my repeated hails. In my moment of panic I had no idea the signals weren’t penetrating the rock, or whatever substance this thing is made out of. It must have approached at some incredible speed, and know that I’ve replayed the event in my mind several hundred times over, I think that whatever I’m inside, it’s likely impervious to our standard scanning technology. I mean really, if this had been a normal stellar body like an asteroid or comet, the proximity sensors would have been screaming long before it got anywhere near to Frontier. If there had been that danger of collision, I would have had plenty of time to fire up the thrusters and get of the way. So Central never saw and Frontier never saw it either. Was it just the nature of the thing’s makeup, or a deliberate masking of itself? No way to know right now. What really bothers me though, is not that none of us saw it before now, but the how the hell did the station wind up inside this structure? There are no openings that I see find aside from the roughly man sized holes. Nothing that would accept an object the size of Frontier.

I’m not seeing a lot a variation here, much more like a variation on a theme. The room has a lot in common with the cathedrals of antiquity. Those places were people used to go find answers to their worldly problems. The history texts said they used to find solace and comfort in knowing their God was there for them in these places.

Not that I find any solace or comfort here. No, it’s more like this place is grand and meant to awe those who visit it into thinking that a great and mighty power resides here. That’s what I think this place might be meant to do. Well, if that’s the intent, well, hell it’s sure working like a charm on this soldier. But is it for me specifically? That would be highly presumptuous of me now, wouldn’t it? I mean, really, do I really think this whole event was designed to impress one particular individual? No, not really. Assuming this has a purpose and isn’t some purely natural phenomenon, it’s not meant for one naval particular lieutenant. It’s more like it’s meant for whoever sent out the signal. One source is what matters. The sender is irrelevant.
Listen to me, I’m rambling. I’m doing nothing but speculating here, without really giving you real events as they happen. Admittedly, not a lot is happening. I’m continuing my walk around the inner wall and seeing those hole and other formations I have already mentioned. I think it’s time I went back to the Frontier and gather my thoughts about what I’ve seen.