“It looks like the whole thing is powering up,” Duncan said with concern.   “Should it be doing this for what little power it’s using?”
     “What kind of energy could it be using?” Rose Marie asked. “Has this thing been going for all these millions of years?”
      “Something may have triggered it when we entered the sphere.” Kevin answered. “It could have been dormant for all of this time.”
      “I think that we need to let the others know,” Duncan said. “We want to make sure they don’t push any buttons.”
      As one, they hurried back to the center. There was a control panel to one side and in a second, they were on their way up. The platform stopped in the main control room. The others shouted and ran to them as they appeared. When the shouting stopped, Duncan began to tell them about what lay below. Everyone wanted to see the bottom half of the alien sphere.
      Duncan held up his hand when someone handed him a note. “This is astonishing!” he yelled. They have just finished dating the crust from the hull of the ship. It is somewhere between twenty and thirty million years old.”
      A sudden quiet settled over the group. “It can’t be,” one voice said. Others begin to voice their opinions.
      “Listen,” Duncan said, holding his hand up. “We believe that this ship is powering up. For what we don’t know, but to be on the safe side, I believe that we should move everyone back to the top. It is just a precaution until we find out what is happening. Then we can come…” Duncan stopped in mid sentence. The lights were gone. They had plunged into total darkness.
      Kevin noticed dozens of blinking lights on the alien consoles. Maybe the blackout was temporary, but something was wrong; he could feel it inside. He moved toward the last place that he had seen Rose Marie, but he never made it. The sphere began to tremble. The control room became deathly quiet for an instant; than a woman screamed and the sounds of panic filled the alien shere. Someone turned on one of the pole lights, and then the other one came on. The lights were already weak. The batteries were running out.
      “Cut the lights,” Duncan shouted. “We may need them later.” The lights went out and they were plunged into darkness.

      Kevin looked up; there were lights setting on top of the ship. There should be light coming down through the hole, but there was nothing. Then, to his horror, he realized that the hole had closed. The trembling became worse. People were screaming. He heard Duncan bellowing out commands, but he couldn’t hear what he was saying. Suddenly Kevin felt himself falling, and then he was on the floor and it began to push up at him. What was happening? The damn sphere was moving.
                                              *     *     *
      Paul Parker waited for the signal to land his helicopter on the level spot below. This was his fourth trip, and he hoped that it would be the last. He had been delivering supplies up here since last night. He needed sleep. He keyed the mike in frustration. “Get a move on, I don’t have all day up here. Did you guys go to sleep?”
      Paul dropped the helicopter lower. He could see the pad clearly; there was no one there. He swung the helicopter and saw movement to one side. People were running out of the cave. Where in the hell were they going, and where was his signalman?
      Suddenly the whole mountaintop blew straight up and a huge round black shape shot through the opening. A cold fear gripped him as he fed power and pitch to the whirling blades. He could see nothing but the huge sphere coming straight at him. He would never get out of the way in time.   There was only one way to go. He shoved the control stick to one side and down. The ground came up fast, too fast.
      Paul yelled and pulled back hard on the collector, but it wasn’t enough. He felt the right wheel hit the ground, and then he bounced clear. “Damn,” he yelled again as he finally leveled the bucking helicopter and looked up.
      The sphere was a tiny dot in the sky and then it was gone. There was something else, something above. It was falling straight for the helicopter. What in the hell was it? He didn’t have time to get away. Paul screamed as it passed, missing the whirling helicopter blades by inches and shattered on the ground. It looked like a damn cage.  He landed the helicopter and ran to where the shaft should have been but there was nothing,no shaft,no cave and no people. He sat down in shock and looked up at the sky. The only thing left was part of the mountain and the most beautiful sky he had ever seen.