Fieldwork at TB-2 and TB-3 was suspended that same day.
Ahead of the closure the following day, Mercer and the others began packing up.
2025.02.19 — Night
Mercer and Ronald remained at TB-3 for a final check.
After sunset, only the parts of the cave reached by the work lights were lit white. Damp night air moved in through the cave entrance.
Most of the measurement equipment that had covered the floor during the day had already been removed. The cave was back to being nearly empty.
Ronald checked off the last item on the checklist. Beside him, Mercer was going over the previous day’s measurement records again.
“There are too many things we still can’t explain,” Mercer said.
Ronald looked up.
Looking back over the past few days, he too wasn’t sure how to make sense of much of what had happened.
Mercer continued.
“Before we started packing up today, I took another set of magnetic readings. The magnetic readings were clearly higher in the area where we’ve been getting a response suggesting a cavity than in the surrounding area. So I tried a simple experiment with one of the survey stakes.”
Mercer smiled slightly when she said “simple experiment.”
A steel stake is itself a localized magnetic source. If there is another magnetic source underground, changing the stake’s orientation or position should affect the reading.
“What happened?”
“It changed. The reading was different when I stood the stake upright and when I laid it on its side. The reading changed when I moved the stake slightly, too.”
Mercer looked down at the records.
“There’s probably another strong magnetic source in the underground cavity. Adding a steel stake there could either strengthen or partially cancel the magnetic field, depending on the stake’s position and orientation. That would explain why the readings spiked when the stakes were in a different configuration.”
Ronald looked down at the floor of TB-3.
If this area is a hydrothermal alteration zone, it wouldn’t be unusual for highly magnetic rock to be present.
“Chlorite forms in the same kind of environment too. So that also raises the possibility that the particles in the sherd were derived from the local geology.”
For a while, they both looked down at the floor.
“But if that’s the case—”
Ronald thought for a moment, then said,
“So the stakes were moved to change the strength of the magnetic field?”
Mercer considered why someone might have moved the stakes.
Throw off the readings.
Shift the measurement points.
Or maybe the stakes, which were weakening the magnetic field in the area, were simply in the way.
Mercer said, sounding incredulous.
“Who would move the stakes for a reason like that?”
...
When they fell silent, only the low hum of the work lights’ cooling fans echoed through the cave.
“And we still don’t know what happened to Andrea last night,” Mercer continued.
Ronald replied, as if bringing his thoughts back to reality.
“Yeah. Right now, all we can do is speculate. So maybe this is a good opportunity to go back to the lab and sort through everything.”
“You’re always so obedient, aren’t you? There are still so many things here we won’t be able to...”
She broke off.
Beyond Ronald’s shoulder, a little over ten meters away, a small shadow was moving behind a rock.
An animal?
No.
Less than a meter tall.
A greenish body.
Eyes reflecting the light.
Pointed, distinctive ears.
“It” stared in their direction for several seconds.
“What?”
Ronald noticed Mercer’s reaction and turned around.
Mercer looked at Ronald for an instant. When she looked back, there was nothing there anymore.
For a while, Mercer could not take her eyes off the spot behind the rock.