THE NINTH MILE

0:00Hello, I'm Wilkins' stories all the time. The lad you are here. Let's get into it. I was recruited for the project in August 2018. I had just completed my 20th year in the military, 15th in special forces, and for the first time was considering leaving. I had lost friends along the way, and the loss of my family had just passed. It felt like it was time. I never had how I was feeling, and I think people understood. On August 12, 2018, I received a message from my group commander telling me to be ready for a private video call at 1300 I.S. No further info. This in itself was unusual on the identity of the column made it more so. Not every day you hear from a retired rear admiral and form ahead of NSWC. It was a short conversation. Thus of my recollection, it went as follows. I've changed all the names below for obvious reasons. Admiral Sir. Matthew been a long time. Condolences on your recent loss.

1:00How are you holding up? Well as can be expected, sir. Good to hear that. Now time is a factor here, so let's get straight to it. I've heard you may be leaving us, and in your position I can't blame you. A lot of lucrative offers out there for a man of your talents. I believe I may have won that will suit you. To be honest, I didn't know what to say to this. In my experience, this wasn't how things were done. He continued. I was contacted this morning by someone I respect, former Odney, to ask if I had a suitable candidate for a team he is heading. To be clear, this is an SAP with a blank check running conjunction with some of our private contractors and assets. You were the obvious choice. No family, I thought. If you're interested, I'll pass you through to another call with the project leads. Give these men your consideration, son. This is a unique opportunity to serve her country and be well rewarded. Can't deny I was intrigued. As much as I had been toying with the prospect of civilian life, it was a comfortable feeling. I'll admit it scared me a little. The fear of being with our purpose.

2:01At least that's how I imagined it at the time. Yes or no, Matthew. Yes, sir. Was decision. In that case, my involvement ends and this discussion never took place. Understood. Understood, sir. He nodded to me and the screen went blank. My connection was routed to a platform I didn't recognize. In the following minutes, I received download requests for some heavy duty encryption and security software. Once they complete it, a fresh call screen opened. There were two others present, but no video were ID. Their audio carried a mild distortion, likely some form of voice masking. The conversation only lasted two minutes. They gave me a brief overview of the project and what would be required of me. Dates and times. Officially, we would be employed by private entity as there could be no paper trail, no traceable association to any branch of government. Plausible deniability in case of a catastrophic intelligence leak. The pay was more than adequate and my immediate discharge would be facilitated. What wasn't discussed were any details of the operation.

3:01They simply told me I would be briefed on site. The call ended and one of those new security programs kicked in, cleaning itself and any trace of the last 15 minutes from my system. That was how it began for me. I worked within the section to purview for the next four years until I accepted the truth. We all know there are crimes committed in the name of our country. All man or evils concealed by those in power. And my own silence was a part of that. As long as I kept their secrets, I was as guilty as they were. So I decided to tell my story. I've lost everything because of that choice, but I won't stop. I'll post the truth wherever I can until they find me. There's an old quote that stuck with me through the years, spoken nine centuries ago by the King of Jerusalem. I think of it damn near every night, where it rising up in the quiet moments. As I drive through the night, watching my mirror for a tale, as I give another false name at another cheap motel, as I sleep alone in the woods, gun in my hand. I find myself whispering it. A prayer, a mantra, and a curse. When you stand before God, you cannot say, but I was told by others to do this or that.

4:02Virtue was not convenient at the time. This will not suffice. Indeed it will not. So here we are. If you are hoping for scientific and technical detail on what I saw, sorry, but I'm not that guy. I'm no PhD, and all relevant intelligence was on a need to no basis. Compatementalization is key to security. There are thousands of people all over the US who have worked on, beyond top-secret projects, I never had any idea what they were a part of. In the most basic scenario, think of it like this, you need someone to drive a truck doesn't mean they need to know what's in it. Even the information I did learn of the project and its history was limited. I received some general scene setting in early briefings and picked up the rest over time. After the best of my knowledge, the site was discovered through irregularities on standard seismic scans. Some bright sparkmash the coordinates which were coded satellite interference, then took a filter to check it out. What they discovered worked its way up the ladder until someone's senior enough made the decision to lock it down and bury everyone involved in DA. The land surrounding the anomaly was bought up through private third parties and a mining

5:04concern created as cover. On August 15, I took a flight out of San Diego, arriving for a pick up around 3 IOS later. After two decades of traveling overseas, this was a genuine pleasure. I was collected by another ex-special forces operative. Let's call him Mark. We drove eight irons from city to suburb to empty plain, arriving in the mountains after dark. Mark was much of a talker, but neither was I, so we got along just fine. After an eye-revinding through Munna Forest, we reached our destination at Urem. Mark had a key code for the first gate to vehicle-sized entrance on a high perimeter fence. The road took us to a complex of buildings nestled on the mountainside. We were met there by two armed guards who escorted us from then on. They led us inside one of the largest structures and pointed out where all living quarters were located, then took us down a narrow set of stairs to cold and empty basement. There were steel double doors built into the wall approximately 20 feet wide which provided access to the interior of the mountain itself. We entered what had once been a natural cave network, now enlarged and extended through the recent excavation.

6:04A single powerful LED strip ran down the center of the ceiling and there were cameras at every corner. It was a five minute walk through those stone passages before we reached the final checkpoint. This door was air-date, six inch thick steel, and must have weighed the better part of a ton. On the other side was the project control center. It was a relatively basic setup. One equipment towered with computer stations on either side, a generator, and several stacks of containers. On the opposite side of this area, I saw a second edit steel door. There were only three people present. First was a tall thin male and his 50s who introduced himself as Adam, the onsite lead and as suspected, one of the men I had spoken to by video call. Next was Joanna, an intelligence analyst and agency liaison. Last was Luke, who would be part of the security detail with Mark and me. There were never many people present. In fact, I rarely saw more than half a dozen at any one time. The remaining three members of the team arrived in the next hour and our initial briefing took place shortly after. Adam called everyone together and we introduced ourselves. I would be leading the security team and when there were no columns with base, assume

7:07overall command. Mark and Luke completed my squad. John, a Greyhave physicist, would lead the science team. Peter was a geologist and the youngest of the group at 36. He was their third, a biologist with a deep southern accent. Regarding the team's numbers, in particular the three-minus free split, that was a concern. As far as I had been led to believe, this was primarily a military operation. I had no idea what we would be facing, so I didn't want civilians in the first trip down. I was overruled. Adam never said it aloud, but we were clearly under serious time pressure. I didn't discover why until several years later. The next morning, Joanna took us through to see the object that had brought us all there. The anomaly, she called it. Not going to lie, it was much liquor, not at first. It occupied the center of another excavated room, surrounded by an array of monitoring equipment. From a distance, I thought it was just a hole in the floor, nothing more than a tunnel with oddly colored sides. But on approach, I realized it was actually separate from the rock. I pale to, 15 feet in diameter, rigidly extending a few inches out from the stone encasing

8:11it. The material which formed it possessed a faintly monessence, a milka light which swelled or shrunk in each passing moment. Despite this, when I stared down inside, I found the interior plunged rapidly into total darkness. At the mouth, there was also a mild disturbance in the air at tiny waves of heat and humidity which buffeted my skin. The surface of the tunnel wall appeared to be in constant motion, reflecting and distorting any light that fell on it. The onsite team referred to this structure of biofilm, though they never successfully acquired a sample to confirm its nature. It was only two inches at its thickest point, yet penetrating it in any way had proven impossible. Nothing was able to pierce the surface. For all's, graphing blades and even an infrared solid state laser all failed. Force or radiation of any kind was almost instantly dissipated throughout the biofilm. The only measurable effect of any of these tests was a temporary increase in luminescence. For the interior, they tried sending drones down in early July. Both units were lost to electromagnetic interference in the first 50 feet, dropping lifeless into the dark like penis at a well. To be fair to the team involved, there was no messing around in the third attempt.

9:14They lowered heavily reinforced and interlated instrument plough from monsterey or wire cabling, the kind of unit that could survive a volcano or the ocean for. That worked better, until they ran out of cable at two miles. The next attempt reached seven miles. The readings these units returned were unusual to say the least. Inside the tunnel, there was no variation in temperature, humidity, by atmospheric pressure. None was so ever. 32.3 degrees Celsius and humid as a rain-versed-every inch of the way down to seven miles. Now, just for comparison, a line outside the case averaged 12 degrees that month and dust dry. There inside the tunnel was also tested for airborne toxins and other trace materials. This result was even stranger. There was nothing detected, not so much as a microbe. It was as if the atmosphere inside remained completely sterilized, despite being open to the air. On August 10th, the sensor plough form was load for a third time. This attempt halted at nine miles. They had found something. We had set out to send for August 17th 800-iRs. A left had been constructed the previous day after a final delivery of equipment.

10:16It looked reassuringly sturdy and had a max carry weight of 20,000 pounds. So we would be well within safety parameters. The miles of cable had been arriving for days and will aid out everywhere you looked. Our gear was all excellent quality. Third generation night vision, PHP respirators, though there was no indication yet we would require them, custom-made kevver composite body armor, sanded glock 19 sedams, and modified MK17-S codes for the security detail. Not everyone's favorite weapon, but I never had an issue. We also used an interlinked video-com system, where everything we saw and heard was recorded and could be viewed in real time or replayed by any other member. This system also included location trackers built into our helmets. If I was going to be petty, which I am, the chest rig had a stupid design, and the pockets weren't big enough. But no serious complaints. The lift had two sections. At the base was a detachable cargoed area, which we had packed with floodlights and generators. It both was the main carriage, which would hold ourselves in all other equipment and supplies. The big part of that weight was diverted to fluids and expectation of high temperature

11:18and humidity. Mark, Luke, and myself had been through hotter with heavier gear, but the three civilians were likely to struggle. The six of us entered the lift at 75 for final checks. I received the go-head on schedule, locked the gate in place, and we began our descent. The bioluminescence faded, and our own harsher lights took over. Even Peter were visibly nervous, fidgeting, and whispering to each other. I remember looking up and watching the circle of light-up of shrink as we left the surface behind. The lift ascended a 15 miles per hour, which gave an estimate a travel time of 45 minutes with regular stops. Com links to base were used by the two mile point and never improved. Our direct links between each other remained viable with only minor interference. Adam had warned us to expect headaches, fatigue, and sudden rises embodied due to the electron magnetic radiation, and though we all felt those effects to varying degrees, it was never as severe as originally feared. If we were to call correctly, we made our stops every two miles. John would check the atmospheric starts each time before we proceeded. Eve made fresh attempts to take samples of the biofilm without success.

12:19Little could be seen through the tunnel walls, but our geologist remained into use. He told me something about Bass-Old and water-bearing minerals, which I'm sure would have been fascinating if I understood it. We reached six miles at 34 minutes. The only sound was the movement of the lift cables and our own breathing. The only lighter flickering lamps. When we passed 7.7 miles, John asked for our attention. We are now deeper than humans have ever even drilled. At this depth, we would expect temperatures of 180 degrees Celsius, 356 degrees Fahrenheit. He held up his thermometer reading and smiled, but it's still 32.3, zero variation, extraordinary. He held up his thermometer reading and smiled, but it's still 32.3, zero variation, extraordinary. We continued down steadily and without incident. Park and Luke were quiet and professional as expected. The three members of the science team handled the conditions better than I could have hoped. At 43 minutes, I called for everyone to put on their breathing apparatus as planned.

13:20We had air quality monitored in the shaft, but beyond that was a mystery. No one spoke as those final seconds came and went. We arrived on schedule, the tunnel walls vanishing on all sides as we descended into an immense and silent darkness. I slowed the lift to a halt and peered over the edge with my torch on full. The last probe state had indicated a solid surface and that appeared to be accurate. It. I dropped down on the stride of what covered by biofilm, no more different to the walls of the tunnel we had just left. In fact, the biofilm had standard and broken in every direction, suggesting we were simply in a swelling of the tunnel as opposed to an entirely new area. It was, and I cannot stress this enough, the deepest pitch black I've ever experienced. As powerful as they were, our torches illuminated such narrow bands that they felt almost useless. I've no doubt the silence played a part in this impression. There was no sound but that which we made ourselves, not so much as a trickle of water. I imagined I could feel the weight of all those miles above barren down, billions of tons of stone between us and the light. From the faces of the others, I don't think I was the only one.

14:20When the six of us had exited, we began set up unpacking the flood lights, generators, and other supplies. I retested our location trackers and local team come network, flicking through each members video and audio and found it working with minimal issues. I tried the Jent three night vision, but there was little to see other than an empty expanse quiet and waiting. The infrared setting was useless due to interference. When the equality checks were complete, we removed our breeding apparatus. There was still no detectable variation in atmospheric conditions and no sign of toxins or other bio hazards. Mark found the remains of the two drones that had fallen weeks before and packaged them for a return. We had brought a fresh drone, but it could only manage a few seconds of flight before interference killed it. John began work on alternatives, imaging systems that could provide an advanced picture of our surroundings. He called us over 30 minutes later. On his screen, a scan data fed back, rendering a three-dimensional model of the caverns interior. We stood in the basin of a huge ovoid, three miles long, two miles wide, and one mile tall, and there was something else in the center of the chamber, beginning just 100 feet above

15:21us. What the fuck is that? Said Mark. I suspect he spoke for all of us. In the silence of our heads, a gigantic cylinder ran the full length of the expanse. If the imaging was correct, it was almost two miles long with a diameter of half a mile. I found myself involuntarily glancing up, though I knew my eyes couldn't penetrate the darkness. It isn't attached to anything. John tapped the image on his screen. This artifact above us. It isn't touching the surrounding structure. Not anywhere. No visible support. It's just floating. For a lack of a better word. The only took us a couple of minutes to angle some floodlights directly upwards. Then zoom our cameras in the object. We could see it up there, but there was no great detail for me to describe. All the light revealed was a dull, metallic surface, the smooth skin of the sleeping giant hanging over us. Alright, I checked the time and decided to push on. Let's get back to it. We've got a schedule to keep. As we worked, I noticed the bioluminescence had picked up around the lift in both surface area and intensity.

16:22I didn't know whether to be a nerve or thankful. It took us two IOs to set up the field of cables and lighting. When we were complete, almost a quarter of the chamber floor had enough elimination for us to find our way without night vision. The lamp still flicker, but we would have to live with it. I had created an overlaid location grid in the model's John had produced. Once everyone confirmed access to this on our handsets, we agreed to a group at Base Camp. The walk back was when E fell. I heard her intake of breath and curse on the audio, then luke helping her up. I switched to her video feed on my own headset. E, if you are right. What happened? Tauru. She sounded more irritated than her. Trooped. I watched the life feed as a biologist dusted herself down and began to examine the ground around her feet. It was as flat and featureless as any other part of the bi-film. I definitely tripped on something sharp, she said. It was right here. Luke. I saw him helping her search. Didn't see anything, sir, he replied. I'm not imagining it. I know what I felt.

17:23I rewound her footage and played it back. Eve had been watching where she was going and I couldn't see a reason for the fall. Nothing on your camp, Luke didn't see it, nothing there now. Let's put it down as a stumble and move on. I didn't stumble. I could hear the frustration in her voice and saw on her life feed the she'd sat back down. As I watched, she rolled up a trozo leg and focused the visual on her shin. And ugly cut was bleeding just beneath her knee. Okay, Eve. Point made. I'm not doubting you. But for now, there's nothing else we can do. Let's get back to base, patch that up and stick to our schedule. If this time, we'll return to this area to investigate. Mark it on your map grid. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I've heard that or said it myself at just about every post-opie brief I was ever a part of. I could have stopped the mission right there, pulled everyone back to the lift and got out of there. I could have, but I didn't. We topped up on fluids, then set out on our assigned paths. I led team one, myself and Peter, on perimeter recon. Team two, Mark and John, would go straight down the centre of the cavern beneath the artifact.

18:26Team three, Luke and Eve, would remain at base until another squad returned. I estimated my team would take four IOs with a couple of breaks, Mark and John three IOs. As we approached a midway point of the cavern, the floodlights had long faded behind us. The weight of darkness seemed to press in, a vast emptiness swallowing the sound of our steps. I found myself getting jittery, genuinely nervous for the first time in years. That's what stunned my eyes as they checked and were checked all location. When we sought to drink, I activated my mic. Updates team two, fourth stop, Mark replied. Taking more readings from the artifact, I heard John's voice in the background. Then he clicked on his own mic and repeated himself so I could hear. The electrum magnetic interference is from the cylinder, almost certain of that now. It appears weakest at the midpoint, rising in intensity at either end, still to confirm that, of course, or right, team three, no issues. This voice calm and assured, completed equipment diagnostics. Good to go when needed. I noted calm's quality degrading with distance. It seemed likely we would lose contact with LeConeave by the time we reached the far end

19:27of the chamber. My train of thought was broken by Peter's hand on my arm, I turned and saw him pointing ahead. I see a light, he said. Grids on 109 maybe. But 110. I appeared into the distance where he indicated there was definitely a ammunition there, a dull red, which varied in intensity. I flicked the calm's back on. This is team one. We may have found something. To investigate. Grids on 109. The glow increased in size and strength as we approached, when we got within 50 feet, it became apparent it was radiating from the biofilm wall, a fluctuating crimson shining through the material of the chamber. It was moving. I realised, flowing slowly down the wall, then across the floor, its lava. Peter was smiling broadly, his face bit in red light, fascinated and amused in equal measure. He stepped forward and reached up for glowing surface, placing his hand against it before I could stop him. It's cool, he said with a laugh, waving his hand back at me, no heat transfer at all. That close, we could see the biofilm itself shimmering, whatever substance it was made of for redirecting and distributing the heat and pressure from the molten rock. As we stood and watched, the flow surged beneath our feet, quickly growing to many times this original area and brightness, engulfing us both in its luminescence, my god.

20:29Look at that. I follow Peter's gaze, and my breath caught in my throat. The lava cast its light across the chamber, caressing all before it in a sea of dark fire. High above us, the Dick and God fact hung suddenly revealed, still unsilent and alien. This is team two. John's voice interrupted us. We found a discontinuity in the cylinder's surface. It's a narrow, circular channel, faint light emanating from it, approximate radius of 40 feet. Purely speculation, but perhaps an entrance of some sort. I tried to reply, but a burst of static left the audio crackling. When I switched to John's video feed, it flickered too badly to see anything. Look, said Peter behind me, the lava's cooling against the biofilm, fading already, I mean that was 700 degrees, at minimum our team one. Matthew. John's voice came through again, this is team one, I replied, go ahead. John is all missing. I turned, and he was gone, just seconds ago, I can't see him and he isn't answering on comms. I pulled up the location trucker's marks had vanished, and his video and audio were dead. His gun is here. John said, I switched to his video feed and saw the physicist pick up the NK-17, it's just lying here.

21:31John, listen to me. I pulled up Mark's video history as I spoke, do not move. Stay right where you are in a wind instruction. Mark's video cut out 90 seconds earlier, one frame, he was watching John walk ahead of him. And the signal was gone, I ignored my rising heart rate and focus, John, do you read me? Yes, I'm here. I hear you. Stay on comms. Do not leave this line. We will come to you. I have you at Gridmond 101, correct. Yes, yes, that sounds correct, put all your lights on full and stay calm, we're on route. I realized I had already started towards him, and Peter was running behind me to catch up, team one to team three, we may have an issue. Mark is a MA, heading to last known location double time, be ready to move if we require resistance, no problem, Luke's voice, standing by seconds later, Mark's locator returned on tracking, but his video and audio remained out. According to the signal, he was only 30 feet from his last known position, John, I need you to do something for me. Alright, are you close? Four minutes, look on your personnel tracker, Mark's back. North-West of you, very close, see it.

22:31Yes, I see the signal, shine your lights in that direction for me. I watched his feed as he turned to the correct heading and aimed his torches. What's that? No longer able to hide the tremor in his voice, I zoomed in the picture to be certain, it's Mark's helmet, I replied, quickening my pace again, don't move. Two minutes. Ragged breed in behind me as he struggled to keep pace, I remember calling back to him that we were almost there, hey, up Matthew, John's voice, wavering, I, I think, his camera went blank, and his location vanished, Mark's disappeared with it, I halted. Weapon rays, Peter missed my hand signal, and almost ran into me, clutching my pack to saw himself from falling, John, I called over the comms, there was no reply, we were close, but I couldn't see anything ahead or hear anything other than Peter's breed at Mark, John, John. Does anyone read me? Decisions. I have potentially lost two of my team, we're group of search, with so little idea of what had happened. Either could be disastrous, hit Mark, cracked under the pressure, wandered off, then returned, and taken John, it didn't seem likely, the man was a professional, as experienced as I was, was a two accidents back-to-back which cut off all contact, that seemed even less likely, what did that leave hostels?

23:32Team 1 to team 3 Luke, we have a problem here, have you been listening? Yes, sir, every word, what's your situation? Team 1 was just about to call you, sir, the comms crackled as he spoke, but I could still make him out, may have a problem here too. I'm reading some fell, floodlights on Team 2's route, started right at the perimeter and working back toward us at base, free-done now. Any ideas, sir, nothing to do with us, but check the system. And he was right, all the outages were in a straight line from the further stage of lights towards the lift, a fourth flashed out as I watched, I could feel things spiraling out of control, Luke, I can't risk more people hunting for Mark and John. I have no idea what we're facing here. We're turning to you, hold your position. Yes, sir. We began moving again, back to base at the best speed Peter could manage. On the display, I watched the line of floodlights continue to flick out, Luke, sit-trip. Lost more lights. Two left on this grid line. Eve said she tried the thermal imaging. I heard her voice in the background fast and rising, frightened. Luke, what's going on? Weapons fire in the distance, two bursts from an Mk-17. I froze and stared in the direction of the sound.

24:33On my tracker, their signals vanished. I dropped to one knee and scan every patch of light head through my scope. Peter was at my shoulder, gasping for breath. What the fuck was that? He said, quiet. I cut him off. Luke. Eve. Someone answered me. No reply. There was nothing on any line but static. My heart was racing. I looked at the gridward of floodlights went out. There was a second line of failure that was forming now, a new path which led away from the lift towards us. I wavered. Despite all my training and experience, I was afraid, and it was breaking me. I had faced death before or taken a bullet more than once, but this wasn't the same. I felt this helpless as a child, crushed by a simple primal fear as old as our species itself. The fear of what might wait in the dark. I don't want to die here, I thought, re-gripping my weapon. Do not die here. I will not die here. Peter listened to me. Breathe. Put your hand on my shoulder. Do not let go. We are not going to stop again from here to the lift.

25:34Print all your lights out. Do not activate comms. We are silent from here on in. Understand? He began to speak, then nodded instead. Shit, I thought. If I was scared, I couldn't even imagine what he was going through. Though. I chose a route which swung away from the disabled lights, taking us to the lift in a wide lip. Every few seconds, more floodlights cut off on the read-up. The path halted at a previous location, then began again in a scatter-shot pattern expanding from that point. A search pattern, it became a race, soaked in sweat, and shaking with adrenaline every muscle burning, waiting every second for something to come out of the dark. I mined out the closest light to our left-field. I swung away from it, weapon up, arm-shaking, pointing the barrel into the black. Peter was in desperate shape behind me, a stumbling-weight hanging on my side. I saw the lift ahead. Every nearer by floodlight was down, but two. We were close, maybe 30 seconds. Another light went out, 50 feet behind us. Peter, I was gasping for air myself.

26:35Straight inside, 20 seconds. Get it moving. I'll cover the door. Only one light remained. 10 seconds out. Peter's hand came off my shoulder, and I turned just in time to see him die. It lasted only a fraction of a second. Something grussved him from the shadows, but I couldn't make it out. Only the way it held him. It crushed him before he could even cry out. I stumbled back and fell. My weapon hung limp in my hand. I hadn't even fired, wouldn't even know what to shoot at. I scrambled away on all fours, then back to my feet, and through the lift gate, finger back on my trigger. Then I was in, one hand working the panel, and the other trying to keep my weapon. Then the lift began to ascend. I left them all behind. I sometimes wonder if guilt is why I'm doing this now. I say I'm posting this because it's the right thing, the moral thing, to give people the truth. Am I lying to myself? Is this guilt mass-querading as righteousness? What would I know? In the grand scheme of things, do my reasons even matter? All that matters is the truth.

27:37People have a right to know what is coming. More than that, they have a right to know what is already here. I set the lift to match a cent-speed of thirty miles per hour. It would get me to the surface in eighteen minutes. Exhaustion took over. I slid to my knees, pulled off my helmet, and poured water over myself. I was on my knees in the corner, forehead against the coal metal beside the comms panel. My detail raced through my mind over and over. Every mistake and failure in this judgment. I started getting into mittens' calms around two miles. I kept trying and finally got through it one mile. I can't remember my exact words. I told them I was the only survivor. That I was alone only minutes away. Most of their replies were lost to static. Then John's voice came through, clear repeating a question. Matthew, main character, it reads 900 pounds. If you're alone, what are you bringing up? I remember those moments. Confusion to realization, Torah. I knew there was nothing in the cargo hold. It had been sealed when empty. There had been nothing in the carriage either.

28:38Nothing I could see. Mac, can you hear me? I reached for the control panel, typed in the emergency overrides and detached the cargo hold. I felt the weight go, heard a crash from below as I caught the tunnel wall and spun into the darkness. I switched the screen to lift diagnostics. The carriage weight was still 900. I stopped the ascent close my eyes, breathe. It grew quiet as the lift settled. I remember I was still on my knees, one hand on my weapon. I waited, listening. I creak from behind me, the tiniest shifting of weight in the left corner. I spun an open fire at the sudden roar of my rifle deafening and in close space. And I was in the air, suned from a massive impact, then falling, striking the tunnel wall and falling with the lift going past. I should be dead. It was locked out, saved me. Nothing else. My left leg went through one of the support bars that had held the cargo bay. As I swung back, my flailing hand grasped metal and I held myself there. My gun was gone and I couldn't feel my left arm. Then the pain came. Waves of blinding pain from my shoulder and across my torso.

29:40Blood rushing down my chest, I could see it pouring into the dock below me. As I fought to pull myself up, I heard and felt more movement above me. A sudden jerk as weight was lifted, then the scrape of something on the cables, shaking the entire lift back and forth. Her head being in there with me was climbing the rest of the way out. Matt, what's going on? We hear weapons fire. I realized only a few seconds had passed since I had opened fire. Matt, then it cut out for the last time. I heard gunshots from above. Many gunshots. And what I think was screams. I don't know how long it took me to get back up. I was faint and in shock from blood loss and trauma. Don't even remember activating the lift. There was a whole clean through the ballistic plate in my body armor and shoulder. My arm came in as 17 was on the floor, dead bodies and destroyed equipment. Adam and Joanna, what remained of them, were in the control room. The huge airtet steel door had been torn out of the wall and tossed aside like it was made of cardboard. I was the only one left alive and the thing I had brought to the surface was gone.

30:41And that is the end. Thank you for listening and I will see you in the next one.