CHAPTER 3: THE FACE Some seven hours later, something was finally spotted by the robotic cameras. "Look at this!" cried Steven. He was pointing at a paused image on one of the viewer screens, a series of lines and shapes obscured lightly by sand deposited by a recent sandstorm were displayed. They were in the middle of the raised dome of the left eye. With the use of digital enhancement the sand was stripped away to reveal a clearer image. Carved into the rock was some form of writing. "Amazing!" exclaimed Vicki. By now everyone was crowded around the screen, except for Grey who was still in his control chair. "I'm moving the remote control camera to the left eye sir," he said to Captain Freeman. "Good," Freeman replied, "Will, go to the cockpit and take us up there." Will left for the bridge and Freeman instructed Steven and Rick to get into their space suits ready to further investigate the strange marks. The ship ascended once more and glided through the air to land softly on the domed eye. It was getting dark by the time an airlock opened and two space suited figures stepped out. Rick and Steve walked to the center of the eye and examined one of the deep grooves which made up the strange writing. They cleared away some of the oxidized sand and marvelled at the smooth rock beneath. A thin, almost indistinguishable line ran along the center of the circular pupil, which was about 20 metres wide and framed with the same type of thin line. "I'm picking up your pictures on the screen, what's that line?" Freeman's voice crackled over their communication devices. "It looks like a seam, like there's two pieces of rock," Rick said as he stood and started following the line towards the bottom of the enormous eye. At the bottom of the faintly lined pupil was a slightly raised platform, about half a metre square, covered with sand. Steve, Who had now joined Rick, knelt down and brushed away the sand, revealing more of the strange angular writing. "Are you getting this?" he asked the crew of the ship. "Yes." said Freeman. "Maybe this opens the eye!" exclaimed Rick, "push on it and see what happens." As Rick and the crew watched in anticipation, Steve slowly pushed on the slab, it didn't budge. "Give me a hand with this thing," he said to Rick. Rick knelt down opposite Steve and together they pushed with all their strength. The slab slowly receded until it was level with the ground and from behind the two men came a scraping sound. "It does open the eye!" said Steve in amazement. The pupil was sliding into the ground, it stopped about a metre or more down. Everyone looked on in astonishment. The stone started moving again, this time separating along its center line, each section receding into the side of the opening. The now standing figures gazed into the dark pit trying to make something out. Grey had sent the robotic camera into the hole some minutes after it opened. Everyone was surprised to find yet another door at the bottom of a 20 metre deep cavern, and even more surprised to find metal rungs set into the side of the cylindrical pit. This was a clear sign that humanoid life once existed on mars. The rest of the scientific team now stood excitedly on the edge of the pit, armed with a myriad of scientific instruments ready to descend into the cavern. Rick led the way, down the ladder followed by the rest of the team. When they reached the bottom, they found a raised rectangular panel set into the smooth metal wall. Seeing no alternative, Rick pushed on it. The panel lit up and slowly the outer door closed again, the cavern also lighting up along several vertical lines running down the walls. Then the floor opened up and even more light flooded in, the scientists shielding their eyes. When the door was fully open, they knelt down on the skirting rim of metal they were standing on and peered into the cavernous vault below. Everyone gasped in astonishment, for below them was an expanse of disc shaped objects many metres across. "Amazing!" Grey said in a hushed tone. He was looking, along with Captain Freeman and his co pilot, at the bank of screens showing the views of the cameras built in to the scientist's space suits and the remote control robot. "Sir, we've got a reading from the robot's atmospheric instruments," he said, "it says that there's oxygen in that cavern!" Captain Freeman looked closely at the atmospheric data, the readings showed an atmosphere almost the same as earths. "There's oxygen down there," he said into the intercom, "you can take off your helmets, but be careful, if there's oxygen there's no telling what other surprises we'll be getting." The scientists checked the outside temperature, and were surprised to find it quite warm, so they turned off their suit's heating and removed their helmets and gloves. "Is there any way of getting down there?" Freeman asked over the intercom. "There's something moving down there, some kind of machinery," came the reply, "looks like some kind of elevator, its coming this way. Can you see it?" "Yes," he said, "proceed with caution." "Yes sir." The lift ascended silently until it reached the airlock door, then it was noticed that the lift had no supporting structure, it was just suspended in the air. When the lift stopped in the center of the airlock, a metal, iris diaphragm floor slid out from beneath the skirt and closed around its base. Now able to get to the lift, which consisted of a flat base and a raised central control, the team walked out to examine it. "It looks like you have to put your hands on these domes here," said Robert, "everyone get on and we'll see." Cautiously, everyone stepped on the platform and Robert placed both of his hands on two of the transparent domes on the central module. The floor slid aside and the lift descended toward the floor of the great cavern, lit by a brilliant glow emanating from the surface of the domed roof. ************************