BEGIN REPORT
FILE 020: ITEM 769
Roper hadn't deceived me. Far from it. The guard, it turns out, was a friend of his. Someone still loyal to him who continued to feed information to him. After a warm hug and a greeting, the guard - who I'd learned was called Nathaniel - had allowed us access to the Well. A key card had been swiped across an access panel beside the door and we'd entered with no issues. Nathaniel had warned Roper that there would be a change over in about an hour and we had to be quick.
A set of spiral stairs led down towards the bottom of the shaft underneath the strange, wooden hut and opened out into a huge, cavernous storage facility - a little like that one in Raiders of the Lost Ark. This one was different. This was more like a cavern. We were very clearly underground. The rough, rocky ceiling was proof of that. Shelves ran in rows from the far wall off into the far distance.
Roper told me that objects were stored here. A multitude of objects, but what we needed was something a little less obvious. We needed to access Horizon's systems. Whilst Roper headed off towards what looked like a portacabin set against the right hand wall, I took some time to wander along the shelves.
There was too much here. Too much for me to take in and look at. There were ceremonial swords, bracelets, gems of all manner of colour, books, video tapes, reel to reel players, toys, dolls, necklaces...Each one with a white sticker affixed in front of them. Each sticker had black, embossed letters stamped into them. Item 235, Item 675, Item 500, and so on...
It was as I was wandering the shelves that I heard the singing. A soft, female voice drifting in and out of my ears. It was a song I didn't recognise, but I felt compelled to follow it. I would turned and head in a different direction and the voice would become fainter. Then I would turn again and the voice would become louder. By following the voice I was finally able to find the source.
Or rather not the source at all.
I reached the place were the voice was loudest - a shelf containing a simple, plain, brass ring. The sticker at the front proclaimed it to be Item 769. As I reached for the ring the singing stopped abruptly and all that was left was the silence ringing in my ears. There was a faint buzz - a vibration - coming from the ring. I was about to reach out and touch it when I heard Roper's voice calling out urgently from back towards the entrance.
My senses were flooded as bright, white lights exploded into life, followed by a high-pitched alarm and Roper shouting that we needed to leave.
We had been detected.
END REPORT
Copyright © 2023 by Jim Allenby
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