The Lost Civilisation

The Lost Civilisation

By

Philip J Dennis

Cover design images provided by pixabay.com and edited by Philip J Dennis

Published in Great Britain, 2025

Disclaimer:

These are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2025 by Philip J Dennis

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

The Lost Civilisation

“Is it on? Are we on?” said the blurred figure on screen.

After a few moments, the picture came into focus.

A man in khaki combat trousers and a khaki denim shirt stood next to a woman in denim shorts and a green vest. Both wore matching red neckerchiefs at their throat and sunglasses perched upon the top of their heads.

“We’re on, good,” the man smiled. “Right, well… Welcome. I am Doctor Elliot Alty, and this is my colleague and partner Lyra Bruce. Our expedition's third member - leader - is just outside this tent, which is our control centre.” Alty then gestured for the cameraman to spin the camera around to show their surroundings. “As you can see we have a variety of equipment which we have used over recent weeks and months to gather as much intel as possible.”

“To explain,” interjected Dr Bruce, “We are at a plateau high up in the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa, where something most extraordinary was uncovered not long ago.”

“Following some recent seismic activity…” Dr Alty said.

“And with erosion and weathering,” Bruce added.

“...a cave opening has revealed itself on the southern side of a cliff face. This was discovered by locals, who spread the word…”

“...which eventually made its way to us,” Bruce finished.

“Thanks to public donations and, not to forget, generous government grants, we have been given permission from the local government to, not only, research the site, and explore the cave system, but to also digitally document our findings.”

“What we have found is by far the biggest find in archaeological history,” Bruce went on. “Upon exploration of the newly-discovered caves, we found evidence of a structure.”

“A temple, perhaps,” Alty suggested.

“Through various geological tests of the surrounding rocks and minerals, both inside the cave and out, we believe the temple to have been buried within the mountain at least twelve thousand years ago.”

“That is not to say that the temple was built twelve thousand years ago, but buried twelve thousand years ago,” Alty said with an excited smile.

“For comparison,” Bruce went on, “the Göbekli Tepe, in Turkey, the oldest known temple, is believed to have been inhabited as far back as 9500 BC.”

“That is to say that when Göbekli Tepe was first being inhabited, our temple, here, was being claimed by the Drakensberg mountains.”

“How old our temple is,” Bruce smiled, “we do not know.”

“Yet.”

Dr Alty gave the cameraman a small nod, signalling that they were to move outside the tent.

As the camera pushed through the heavy fabric of the tent’s opening, the video image was lost to the dazzlingly bright daylight. Five seconds later, the automatic brightness control of the camera adjusted, and the luscious greens and yellows of surrounding vegetation came into view. In the distance, a cliff face rose, an imposing feature against the beautiful blue sky beyond.

“This is Doctor Christian Botha,” Alty said as they approached another man.

The man, in the middle of checking a series of small monitors and a collection of printouts, looked up to see his colleagues approach. He was younger than the others, fresh-faced and eager, and smiled brightly at the camera.

“Ah, are we…?”

“Say hello to the world, Doctor Botha,” Dr Alty said as if introducing his colleague to a close friend.

“Ah, yes, excellent,” Botha nodded to the camera. “It is a very exciting day. We have been using ground penetrating radar to help us get an understanding of the temple.”

“And tell them what we have found,” Alty prompted, flashing another excited, knowing smile to the camera.

“The opening to the temple, found within the newly discovered cave, is merely the top of a much larger structure. What we believe to be a temple is located within the mountain itself. Below our very feet,” Botha said, gesturing with two hands to the ground beneath them.

“The structure is very large. Very vast,” Botha continued. “It is a pyramid in shape, but the base of what we can see by the scans is about the size of a football stadium.”

“Not a football pitch,” Bruce quickly said, “but a football stadium?”

“That is right,” Botha nodded. “As wide at its base as a football stadium. And its sides are, from what we can see, equal.”

Stepping forward, Dr Bruce, having pushed her sunglasses down to shield her eyes, said, “It has been believed by many archaeologists, anthropologists, and other sectors of the scientific community…”

“Though more often than not contradicted or even belittled,” Alty commented.

“...that there was an unknown age of civilisation separate to, and could even predate, homo sapiens - one whose technologies might have been vastly more advanced than our own. This structure, beneath our feet, is evidence of such a civilisation.”

“To give an idea as to where this structure sits on the timeline that is mankind,” Alty said, signalling to someone off-camera.

A second later an infographic image replaced the image of the doctor. It was a timeline of the different ages of man. The earliest point on the timeline was labelled: 200'000 years, Evolution of Homo Sapiens. The latest point was modern-day, noting the invention of the internet.

“As you can see,” Alty said, narrating over the image, “mankind migrated out of Africa approximately one hundred thousand years ago. That is not to say that this structure is that old…”

“But we cannot be sure,” Bruce’s voice added.

“...It is possible that it was built after the migration began. But the first permanent buildings were as far back as twenty-three thousand years ago. Fast-forward a little,” Alty said, “to 9000 BC and to Jericho, the oldest known city, and then to 6000 BC with the first known use of metal tools. Again, our structure, here, was being claimed by the mountain, before Jericho was founded.”

On-screen, an arrow appeared to the left of the Jericho entry on the timeline, labelled: Structure lost within the mountain.

The timeline vanished off of the screen and Doctors Alty, Bruce and Botha returned.

“In a short while, we will be heading to the cave, and we will show you what has been uncovered so far,” Dr Alty said.

The screen cut to black.

A moment later, the video showed Doctor Alty, Bruce and Botha walking up a narrow pathway towards the cliff face. Grass and vegetation had been worn away by many people’s footsteps, making their route clearer.

Each member of the group carried an air tank, strapped into a lightweight backpack. Tubes climbed out of the packs, reached over their shoulder, and connected to breathing masks that hung from elastic around their necks. They also wore safety helmets with mounted torches and cameras, gloves, pads on their elbows and knees, and a safety harness.

“We are heading up the cave entrance now,” Bruce said, looking back over her shoulder. “As you can see, we are carrying with us breathing apparatus. As we are going to enter the structure…” she took a breath, both because of the exertion and her excitement, “we do not know the quality of the air inside. We do not expect to come across anything toxic or hazardous, but, for our first trip inside, we have brought these with us,” she said, tapping the plastic face mask that hung from her neck.

The camera bobbed as the group made their way up the incline. Now and again, the image would fall to the ground, showing the heavy-duty brown boots worn by the cameraman.

“Hey, why not get a drone shot while we are on our way up?” called Alty’s voice.

The camera looked up to find Dr Alty standing to the right of their path. There was some shifting from behind the camera. The image twisted and turned, and for a moment the cameraman’s face came into the shot as he held the camera between his knees and adjusted some settings. He then lifted the camera over his head, giving a more elevated view of the path ahead.

“Going up,” called the cameraman.

A moment later, the video footage began to climb higher and higher, performing a 360-turn, taking in the surroundings.

In the distance, far behind them, the base camp could be seen in the middle of the grassy plateau. Several tents formed the perimeter of their camp. A stack of equipment crates was stacked to one side. Half a dozen people could be seen going about their duties, tending to laptop computers, inspecting monitors, or analysing handheld tablets.

Two women stood with a tablet in hand. Then, they looked up, searched the sky, and found the drone high up. They waved.

“I’m setting Gizmo to follow behind me,” called the cameraman. “I think now would be a good time to switch on our helmet cams.”

The image then switched to one from the cameraman’s perspective.

“Good thinking, Jamie,” Bruce said, smiling back at him as she fumbled with the small black box attached to her helmet.

“Got it,” Alty called back from the front of the group.

Without looking, Botha gave a thumbs-up.

“Jamie,” Bruce said, stopping along the trail. “Why don’t you tell a little about yourself?”

The footage switched to Dr Bruce’s helmet cam, showing the youngest member of their group.

“Erm, hi,” Jamie said, suddenly nervous. His eyes darted from the camera to the side and back again as he tried to think of something to say.

“It’s okay,” Bruce said. “Just introduce yourself. Tell them what you do.”

“Right, okay. I… erm… I’m Jamie Kilbride. I’m twenty-three. From England. And I’m the… erm… tech guy.”

“You’re more than just the tech guy,” Bruce chuckled. “Tell them about Gizmo.”

“Gizmo? Right, okay, yeah. Well, Gizmo is this bot that I created. Not an internet bot. Nothing so crude. Gizmo is what is getting us the aerial footage right now. But he’s more than just a flying camera. Gizmo is… an A.I. He is programmed to understand all known languages, and can learn and translate unknown languages and codes, including hieroglyphs. He is programmed with facial recognition, which is why he can follow me, voice recognition, of course, and has three 8K cameras built in. I can control Giz from this,” he said, holding up his arm and the wrist-mounted keyboard strapped to it. “And he is taking in all of our camera feeds, recording them and relaying them to base camp.”

“Very impressive,” Bruce said, smiling again at Jamie.

Jamie’s cheeks flushed and he quickly averted his eyes from her.

The footage switched to Gizmo’s aerial view, focusing on the four members of the group as they approached a field of rocky debris and the giant tear in the side of the cliff.

“As you can see,” Dr Bruce said, “there was a lot of rockfall. I couldn’t begin to tell you how much this equates to, weight-wise. But all of this was previously part of that cliff.”

The footage turned to show the cliff and the giant opening inside.

The opening looked like something had taken a large axe, one the size of a small building, and cleaved the side of the rockface.

“Bring Gizmo in closer,” Alty called back from the front of the group.

Jamie’s camera showed him typing commands on his wrist-mounted keyboard. The close-up showed that he had made the device himself from an old kid’s toy and attached a six-inch screen. He then looked up to see the saucer-shaped device descend from the sky, giving an almost silent hum as it came closer.

The entrance to the cave quickly gave way to darkness. The daylight outside only managed to reach in so far.

“Lamps on,” Botha called.

The inside of the cave was then lit up by four cones of light, casting shadows over the uneven surface of the rock that stretched and moved like the fingers of some nightmare creature. The ground was uneven and littered with loose stone.

“This is as far as we have come so far,” Bruce said. “Pretty much. As you can see, the rock shows layering. That is the build-up over many thousands of years, very slowly. Had the strata been deposited by water, a river for example, then these layers would not nearly be so defined. ”

A circle of light shone on a nearby wall. As Dr Bruce had stated, the layers of rock were clear to see.

“So long ago,” Bruce said to herself as she looked around the cave, “you could have stood here, looked up and seen the sky, the stars, the moon. Now, it’s totally enclosed.”

“We’re here,” called Dr Alty from further ahead.

Gizmo flew just a foot above Jamie’s shoulder, a light shining ahead of it, capturing everything in brilliantly high definition.

Doctor Bruce and Jamie walked up to meet Alty and Botha as they stood in front of a stone slab lying on the ground. The slab was just a few inches thick but measured approximately ten feet square.

“It’s amazing. That the cave opened up a direct path to this,” Botha said, gesturing to the slab. “It is as if it were revealed to us, deliberately.”

“Not exactly, Botha,” Bruce said. “There was quite a bit of excavation involved.”

“This is more than just luck,” Botha said. “God had a hand in this.”

Bruce turned to Jamie’s camera and rolled her eyes.

“This, we believe,” Alty said, looking towards Gizmo’s cameras, “is the uppermost opening to the structure. Around it, you can see a low wall, partially hidden or claimed by the mountain.”

“This place gives me the creeps,” Jamie said, his voice shaking.

“I forgot, you’ve not been this far, have you?” Bruce said with a smile on her face that was half amused, half patronisingly concerned. She reached out a hand and placed it on Jamie’s arms.

“We should be able to slide the slab off,” Alty said. “We have equipment to help us.”

Over the next few minutes, ropes were fed into the cave and attached to the slab of rock. Inch by inch, the slab was moved back. At first, dust and dirt filled the air, obscuring their view.

Everyone slipped on a pair of goggles. As the dust began to settle, a dark hole came into view.

“The air is so… stale,” Jamie said as they peered over the hole.

“Masks on,” Botha said. “Check your air.”

Fitting their masks in place, each member of the team began to open up the valves of their air tanks.

Being the first to get his rig working, Botha looked around the group, giving a questioning thumbs-up to each person, checking their apparatus was working.

Each person returned the gesture.

“Can the mics still hear us?” Alty said, not wanting the equipment to impede the documenting of their expedition.

Jamie checked his wrist device before giving a second thumbs-up.

“There are steps,” Botha said, squatting down next to the hole.

“This is incredible,” Bruce exclaimed.

“They appear to have been made out of the very mountain itself,” Botha said, reaching in to run his fingers along the top step.

“What?” Alty said, circling the hole to get a better look.

“This wall…” Botha said, gesturing to the surrounding wall that was half enclosed by the mountain. “This wall is made of different materials. Not of this mountain. The covering slab too. These steps though… They are cut into the mountain itself.”

“Impossible,” Alty said, almost angry at such an idea.

“See for yourself.”

As Alty and Botha examined the opening in the cave floor, Jamie whispered to Dr Bruce, “What does that mean, Lyra?”

“It means that the civilisation that built this structure didn’t build it the way that we would build a structure. They cut into the mountain. Mined into the mountain. Dug down.”

“If this is as old as you and Doctor Alty were saying, though,” Jamie said, “and this predates metal tools, how would they have been able to do that?”

“This would further support the theory that it was not mankind, not homo sapiens, that built this structure, but another, more advanced, civilisation.”

“Aliens?” Jamie asked.

Dr Bruces’s eyebrows climbed up her forehead, telling Jamie that it was not outside the realm of possibility.

“There has often been debate over how the Great Pyramid was built. And other structures around the world that we can only speculate as to how they were built. Nothing has been proven, or disproven,” she said with emphasis.”

“He’s right,” Alty called. “Lyra, get a look at this. It’s a circular stairway that leads down. The steps are literally made from the mountain. Carved from the mountain.”

Gizmo flew over the opening, its camera pointing down.

The dark grey steps circled in a clockwise direction, disappearing into the darkness. Each step was approximately two feet by one and a foot in height. In each corner was a square step, then the next set of steps down.

“Well… What are we waiting for?” Bruce said, almost bouncing on her toes with eagerness.

Looking up, the camera could see Alty’s smile through the clear plastic of his breathing mask. He then looked at Jamie.

“Gizmo good to go?”

“Everything is ready and working,” Jamie said. “No issues.”

“Well… This is what we are here for,” Alty said. “Let’s go and see what we have here.”

He then stepped down into the opening, his foot on the first corner step two feet down.

“The rock is very solid,” he commented, speaking clearly for microphones to pick up. He took another few steps down until only his upper body stood out of the entrance. “This is our one-small-step-for-man moment,” he smiled.

“We should toss down some glow sticks,” Jamie called out. “See how far down it goes.”

With that, Jamie fished around in his small satchel and retrieved a bundle of dull, green, plastic tubes. Separating the two, he cracked each one, having the bright green light instantly glow bright. He handed the two sticks to Alty, who then hovered his hand over the central hole that dropped down the middle of the stairwell.

“Here it goes,” Alty said, and released the first stick, quickly followed by the second.

The falling sticks lit up the steps that circled and descended around them, briefly showing each flight of steps, and each corner square, growing smaller as they dropped. They fell for several seconds, turning into toothpicks of light, before they bounced and rolled to a stop.

“Not that far,” Alty said. “Probably about… forty feet, I’d say.” He then looked to Botha, the member of the group standing nearest to him.

Botha smiled before following Alty down the first steps.

As Alty and Botha disappeared from view, Bruce turned to Jamie and took a deep breath, smiling with anticipation.

Stepping over to the opening, Alty carefully took the first step, then the next, and then the next after that, until she was low enough to place her hand on the ground, now level with her waist.

“You okay?” she asked Jamie.

Jamie’s camera gave an up-and-down bob.

As the group descended, Gizmo floated down the centre of the shaft, circling slowly to follow the direction of the steps, shining a light in front of it.

“I can see the bottom of the stair,” Alty said, his voice echoing up the well. “There’s a small space below.”

Gizmo stayed near Jamie, hovering less than two feet from his shoulder, but directed its camera below.

When they reached the bottom, they stepped away from the stairs into a room twelve by twelve feet square. The walls sloped up and inwards, reaching to a seven-foot-high ceiling.

“It’s some sort of antechamber,” Alty said.

“An antechamber to what?” Botha asked, bending down to pick up the glow sticks.

Gizmo started to slowly turn around the room, sweeping light all around, and recording the surroundings.

“There’s another set of stairs,” Jamie said, pointing to a recess in the far wall. The set of stairs descended, away from the room.

“It looks like they follow the slope of the structure,” Alty said, walking over to the recess, resting one hand against the wall and peering down. The light of his head torch showed the first ten feet of the new set of steps.

“Have you felt the smoothness of these walls,” Bruce said, feeling the slope of a nearby wall. “This is not possible. It’s almost… polished.”

Botha walked over to join her.

“This is beyond any technology of the time. Even now, it would not be easy to do this.”

“The floor,” Jamie began, scraping his foot back and forth through the thin layer of dust and dirt, “is that also made of mountain rock?”

Botha turned to look at what Jamie was doing, then crouched down to feel the floor.

“The floor is not as smooth, but it is the same.”

“Just look at this place,” Alty said, stepping back to the centre of the group. He looked at Gizmo's cameras, checking his dim reflection in the black lens, making sure that he was framed correctly. “A structure, made of the mountain itself. Dug out. Mined. With precision technology that is unheard of. Aliens have often been a theory given for things we could not explain. Some would say a lazy theory. Some would say a theory that is conveniently unable to be proven. But what if proof is only an arm’s reach away?”

Jamie’s camera showed Dr Bruce as she rubbed her brow, shaking her head as she turned away from Alty’s monologue to the camera.

“What a diva,” she whispered, knowing that her microphone would pick her up, but that the feed was not relayed to the others. She then returned to the wall and began to inspect the smooth surface. “I cannot see any kind of marks to suggest any machinery used to polish or buff the rock. No faint circular patterns. No brush strokes or… anything. It’s as smooth as volcanic glass.”

“Is it possible that was how it was formed?” Jamie asked.

Bruce turned and shook her head.

“Rock made molten and then shaped into… this?” she shook her head again. “I don’t think even science fiction could imagine a technology that could do that.”

“But if this is created by a more advanced civilisation, then we might not be able to imagine the technology that could do this, right?” Jamie said. What’s that saying about a technology so far advanced from ours being like magic?”

Bruce nodded.

“I know the one,” she said. “And maybe you’re right. Maybe this is even more advanced than we anticipated. At first, we thought that the structure was built into the mountain. Now we find that it is made of the mountain…” She let her words trail off as she fell into deep thought.

“What is the name of the mountains again?” Jamie asked.

“Drakensberg,” Botha said. “It means “Dragons’ Mountain.” It’s from the Dutch Drakensbergen. What it was called before that, I do not know.”

“Dragon’s Mountain,” Jamie said back to himself. “Ominous as hell, if you ask me.”

“Shall we push on?” Alty called out.

In the same order as before, this time with Gizmo held in Jamie’s hand once more, the group made their way down the new staircase. Each step was steep, nearly a foot in height, and seven feet in width.

Even from the back, Jamie could hear Dr Alty narrating their journey as they went.

“...as we descend into the bowls of the mountain, I’m reminded of various pyramids around the world, and, thinking about it, the Valley of the Kings in Thebes. Or, I should say, modern-day Luxor. The precision of the stonework, the accuracy of the structure and its layout…” His words trailed off. He then let out a heavy sigh. “Forget that, I’ll think of something to dub over later.”

The stairs continued down for ten minutes, the only sounds now picked up on the microphones were the group breathing heavily from the exertion, the footfalls and the scraping of feet on the thin layer of rock dust beneath them.

The ceiling overhead sloped down with them, remaining parallel to the slope of the stairs.

“This is very claustrophobic,” Jamie whispered to Dr Bruce.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered back. “The path back is a clear route. If things start to become… more labyrinthian… we’ll need to head back and plan accordingly.”

“I think we should have done that to begin with,” Jamie mumbled.

At the bottom of the staircase was a small landing, then a 180-degree turn, and then more steps.

“Look at how perfectly the walls meet the ceiling,” Bruce commented as they turned the corner. “Often you will find curvature in passageways, like this, or an uneven surface. Here, it’s… perfect.”

“We don’t like the word perfect,” Alty called back. “Perfect is subjective.”

“No,” Bruce said. “Perfect means without flaw, fault or defect. These walls, this passage, everything, is flawless.”

“That depends on what you were aiming for,” Alty said, but didn’t elaborate further on his meaning.

“Look at the passage,” Bruce pushed on. She reached her hands out to her sides at shoulder height, fingers pointed. “The passage must be seven feet wide. And the same in height. A perfect square.”

It was clear that she used the word again just to rile Alty.

Further down, the staircase came to an end.

“What have we got?” called Dr Bruce from the back.

“Another passageway. It looks like it opens up into another room,” Alty said.

Reaching level ground, they walked along the passage. At the end, a square of black, as the space beyond was pitch black.

Alty was first to exit the passageway, stepping to the side of the square opening for his colleagues to pass.

Their lights shone ahead in the darkness, barely penetrating the black abyss ahead.

“Can we send Gizmo for a fly-about?” Bruce asked.

“One moment,” Jamie said. His head cam showed him typing some settings and commands into his wrist device, then jabbed the RETURN key to execute the routine. His camera then showed Gizmo lifting into the air, shining a light out in all directions. Then, when it reached a height of fifteen feet, a line of blue light began to sweep back and forth, scanning the walls and the floor.

“What’s it doing?” Botha asked.

“He’s mapping the area,” Jamie said.

“That is very impressive,” Botha said, following Gizmo as he began to fly away to their right.

“Not really,” Jamie shrugged. “It’s the same technology that your robot vacuum cleaner uses to map your apartment. I just added a third dimension to it.”

“I clean my apartment,” Botha said flatly. “And I do a better job than any robot would do.”

Jamie simply shrugged.

“Hasn’t Gizmo got something a bit brighter than that?” Bruce asked, straining to see Gizmo’s light in the distance.

“Look how far away he is,” Alty added. “This room must be so vast.”

“I’ll bring him back and focus his battery power on the lights,” Jamie said, tapping away on Gizmo’s controls.

In the distance, Gizmo’s light stopped for a moment before starting to move back towards them. As the bot came closer, more of the wall behind them was illuminated by Gizmos lights.

The wall stretched off to the right, reaching up to a ceiling beyond their vision. But what they could now see was numerous, square recesses and alcoves in the rock wall.

Turning on the spot, the four team members watched as more alcoves were revealed to them.

“What in the good lord…?” Botha said.

Each alcove was identical. Perfectly square, and as deep as it was tall and wide. Six by six by six. A cube missing from the mountain wall. Each alcove was situated six feet apart, side to side, and one above the next. The bottom of the first alcove sat ten feet up the wall.

“What are they?” Jamie asked. He pointed to the wall, but not to the nearest alcove. Walking towards the wall, a short distance to the left of the opening they had just entered through, Jamie placed his hand on a horizontal ledge at shoulder height. It was one of many, all of which were equally distanced from the next, running up the strip of wall between the alcoves. “Are these… ladders?”

“It looks like,” Alty said, moving to Jamie’s side and feeling the same protrusion as their cameraman. “It’s made of the same rock too.” He then ran his finger across the top of the rung. “There’s no join. It’s not fixed to the wall. It is part of the wall.”

“This is incredible,” Dr Bruce said, laughing in amazement.

“Dwellings?” Alty said, looking over his shoulder to Botha.

“I have not seen anything like this. Just look at how high… We cannot see the ceiling,” he said, gesturing upwards to where the wall and the alcoves disappeared into darkness.

“There’s another wall up ahead,” Jamie said. “Looks to be the same.” He then turned on the spot and asked, “Where are we, in the structure, I mean? Those stairs… they went on for some distance.”

“I’d say… given our rate of descent, the time we were coming down, and the images we got when we used the ground-penetrating radar…” Alty said, stroking his chin. “We could very well be at the base of the structure.”

“Elliot,” Bruce yelled out. “Look at this.”

Alty’s camera spun around, and the beam of light from his head torch swept over Dr Bruce where she had climbed up the stone ledge ladder and was now leaning into the first alcove above the floor. In her hand, she held a length of something thick and black.

“What is that?”

“A chain,” Bruce called, her voice weak. Even from a distance, Alty’s camera could see Dr Bruce’s hand shaking as she held out her hand.

“A chain?”

Bruce nodded.

“Metal? Iron? What?” Alty said, moving to the base of the rock ladder that Bruce had climbed.

“Rock.”

“What?”

Dr Bruce called down to Jamie, “Can you get Gizmo over here to get a closer look?”

“Coming over,” Jamie said, tapping away the command.

From a little higher overhead, Gizmo slowly floated to Dr Bruce’s side.

“Grab hold of Giz,” Jamie said. “Point his camera at what you want us to see.”

“I can’t,” Bruce called. “If I let go of this ladder, I’ll fall.”

“Oh. Okay.” Jamie then started to tap away at his wrist device.

Above, Gizmo slowly floated in closer. The lens on the front of the bot expanded out and focused on the chain in Dr Bruce’s hand.

“Can you see it?” Bruce called.

“Got an image, yeah,” Jamie called.

“Tell us what you see,” Alty called up as he looked at the screen on Jamie’s wrist device.

Botha stood on the other side of Jamie.

“The chain is made of rock. The same as everything else. But the links are solid. There are no gaps for them to be linked through.”

“I do not know what you mean,” Botha called up.

The video footage switched to that of Bruce’s helmet cam, giving her perspective of the thing in her hand.

“The chain was made of a single piece of rock, shaped and separated into interlinked pieces.”

The footage changed to Gizmo’s camera, watching as Bruce juggled the chain in her hand, sliding the segments through her grasp. Then, she whipped the length of chain round and smashed it against the base of the alcove.

A loud crash rang out, but it was not the sound of metal being struck but that of stone on stone.

“It’s tough too,” she called. “Not a mark on it. The chain reaches into the alcove and meets the back wall.” She leaned into the alcove, her upper half disappearing from the others’ view, one foot leaving the rung of the stone ladder.

“Lyra,” Alty called. “I wouldn’t do that.”

She pulled herself back out of the alcove, repositioned herself on the ladder, and began to make her way down.

“Did you say that the other wall was the same?” Bruce said, pointing in the opposite direction from which they had come.

“According to Gizmo’s readings, yeah,” Jamie said. “The wall is just a short distance that way.”

“How are people’s air tanks?” Bruce asked.

“Yes,” Alty said, looking at each member of the team. “Let’s check our gauges. How are we doing?”

“Two-thirds full,” Jamie said.

“Same,” Bruce said.

“Mine is also two-thirds full,” Botha said.

“Right,” Alty nodded. “If you are happy to do so, I say we push on.”

Circling the outskirts of the group, Gizmo’s camera captured the round of nods from the team, but no one wanted to be the first person to move forward.

“What do you think those alcoves are all about?” Jamie asked.

“Dwellings?” Bruce asked, looking to Alty for confirmation.

“Possibly,” Alty shrugged. “I couldn’t say for certain. But the chains…”

“They looked like cells,” Botha stated.

“Also possible,” Alty said, stroking his chin once again. “But I honestly couldn’t say what…” He held up a hand, empty, lost for an explanation.

“If this place was created by a more advanced race,” Bruce said, voicing her thoughts, “one that is not connected to humans, then we do not know their biology, their physique, their size… It could be that those alcoves were sleeping quarters. Maybe they housed equipment. Storage, perhaps. If we do not know the architects of this place, or the inhabitants, if they are not the same, then we do not know their needs, and, therefore, do not know what facilities this place houses.”

“If those are sleeping quarters,” Jamie said, “then that would suggest that this place housed… a lot of people. Are we calling them people? I’m not sure of the right terminology.”

“Inhabitants,” Alty answered. “And that is a good point. This could have been home to… a great number. If so, this could be a subterranean city. Within the mountain.”

“With only one entrance?” Jamie asked. “At the top of the mountain?”

“That we know of,” Bruce said. “There could be others that have been lost over time, buried within the mountain.”

“Old cave systems that have long collapsed,” Alty added. “Forever hiding any other entrances this place would have had. I can’t see the way we entered being the only way in and out.”

“And that passageway…” Bruce said, voicing her train of thought. “It was very wide. The beings that inhabited this place could be much bigger than us, and, therefore, need larger passages to pass through.”

“Or greater numbers to pass through at any given time,” Alty said.

“Perhaps,” Bruce said with a slow, single nod.

“I think that we will find no answers here,” Botha said. “I suggest that we move on while our air tanks allow us to.”

“Agreed,” Alty said.

With a quick command, Gizmo returned to its position at Jamie’s shoulder, hovering just a few inches away as the team moved forward.

As their lights shone ahead, the ground before them stopped and a similar wall, complete with alcoves came into view.

“Is there nothing beyond?” Bruce asked, looking left to right.

“I’ll send gizmo off again,” Jamie said. “Let’s see if he can finish getting the lay of the land.”

Seconds later, Gizmo was back in the air, its blue light sweeping back and forth as it started to map out its surroundings again. Once it had gone so far that its light was a mere pinprick in the dark, Jamie called it back before sending it off in the opposite direction to continue its reconnaissance.

“Looks like the place stretches out in either direction. There’s a ninety-degree turn at either end, both turning in the same direction.”

“Well,” Bruce sighed. “No point standing around here. We’ve come this far…” She then gestured to Alty to lead the way off to their right.”

As they walked, Gizmo floated back to join them on their exploration, its light allowing them to walk in a circular island of white amongst the black sea.

They kept the innermost wall to their left, looking up at the alcoves as they went.

“Anyone else get the feeling we’re being watched?” Jamie asked.

Gizmo’s camera pictured him looking up to the alcoves overhead.

“I felt the same way when I went into my first tomb,” Bruce said. “You get used to it, eventually.”

“My father would say that ghosts linger in these places, for they will not be bothered by the living,” Botha said.

“And do you believe him?” Alty asked, the smile evident in his voice.

“I do not,” Botha said. “But I don’t think he meant it literally.”

“What did he mean then?” Alty asked.

“That some things are best left buried.”

“Do you agree with that?” Bruce asked.

“If I did, I would not be in this line of work,” Botha replied, looking uneasily at their surroundings. “But then again… maybe he had a point.”

Reaching the turning, the footage showed the team stopping at the corner. Hovering over them, the camera showed an area almost identical to the one they had just walked through. Only this time, the squares in the wall were much smaller. Still approximately six feet in length, but now only eighteen inches high, separated from the ones above and below by another eighteen inches. The dark lines of more chains could be seen hanging from some of these narrower alcoves. The pattern repeated on into the distance, beyond the reach of all their lights.

“This is Kubrickian,” Alty said.

“What’s that?” Jamie asked.

“Kubrickian? As in Stanley Kubrick.”

Jamie stared at Dr Alty, lost as to what he meant.

“Is he an archaeologist as well?”

“He’s a film director from the twentieth century,” Alty said.

“I don’t watch old movies. Nothing before the last twenty years,” Jamie said with a shake of the head.

Alty’s mouth moved but no words came out.

Before Alty could gather his thoughts and think of some cutting retort, Jamie said, “I’m sending Giz off again to map the way.”

With an increased humming, Gizmo moved ahead once more.

“Surely these were not dwellings,” Bruce said, stepping up to the nearest of the newer, narrower, alcoves. She placed a hand inside and felt the base of the alcove.

Through her helmet torch and camera, the footage showed a clear image of the six-foot deep alcove, every inch brightly lit, including another length of chain connected to the back wall.

“How’s the air, people?” Alty asked, checking its gauge.

“It’s fine,” Jamie said, not bothering to check his own but continuing to monitor Gizmo’s readings on his device.

Botha searched up the walls, a look of awe and unease on his face.

“I have seen nothing to suggest this was a place of worship or a place where people lived,” he said. “This is something else.”

Dr Bruce reached inside the alcove and pulled out the end of the chain, tugging on it to check its strength. It seemed just as solid as the others.

“When you have come across other temples or ruins,” Jamie said, taking his eyes from the screen on his wrist and looking at the nearby walls, “wouldn’t there be markings of some sort? Decoration, perhaps?”

Alty nodded.

“Usually, we might find something. Paintings. Religious iconography, perhaps. Images that follow some form of a narrative. A story.”

“But there would be something, right?” Jamie pushed, reaching out a hand to the bare stone.

Alty didn’t respond.

The device on Jamie’s wrist gave a beep-beep.

“Gizmo has found another opening,” Jamie said, having checked the screen. “A hallway that leads further into the structure.

“Let’s go then,” Bruce said, carefully laying the chain back inside the alcove.

Up ahead, Gizmo floated ten feet in the air, its light shining on the square opening of the new passageway. Its camera feed showed the four members of the team coming closer, their torches moving left and right, up and down as they walked along.

When they reached the new passage, they stood two to each side, letting Gizmo’s light illuminate the way forward.

“Doesn’t look that far,” Alty commented. He then turned to Bruce. “Shall we?” he said, gesturing for her to go first.

“You’re asking me now?” Bruce replied mockingly. “You’ve been leading the way this whole time. Now you want me to go first?”

“Getting scared, Doc?” Jamie chuckled.

Alty’s scowl was visible through his breathing mask.

“Fine,” Alty said, walking into the passage. “Just trying to share the experience a little,” he grumbled under his breath.

The end of the passage led to another stretch of corridor. This time, it was barely six feet wide, the ceiling was visible twenty feet overhead, but there were no alcoves to be seen. Instead, the walls were littered with equal lengths of chain hanging at regular intervals. Halfway up between each set of chains, small, sharp protrusions stood at a right angle to the wall, each two inches long.

There was a collective inhalation picked up by the microphones followed by silence as each person held that breath in their chest.

Dr Bruce’s camera footage showed two lengths of chain. The ends hung just out of reach. They connected to the wall a little further up, approximately four feet apart. As she turned her head to the left, the camera moved to the next pair of chains, and then the next pair beyond them. Then, moving up the wall, approximately eight feet higher, another set. She lingered over a sharp set of spikes that stood out from the wall before moving on to the next. The pattern of spikes and chains repeated over and over along the passage and up to the ceiling.

At the end of each chain was a simple shape that they all recognised.

“Is that a…?” Bruce said, being the first to see it.

“Shackles?” Jamie asked.

“Manacles,” Alty corrected.

“The difference being?”

“Shackles are U-shaped restraints that-”

“They are pretty much the same,” Bruce cut in, bluntly. “It doesn’t matter. But look at these,” she said, pointing up to the nearest one above her head. “A two-piece device on a hinge with a U-shaped pin to lock them.”

“I know how a shackle works,” Alty snarked.

“But… again… these are made out of the mountain. I mean… the technology needed to…” Bruce said, in awe. “The spikes too. Perfectly smooth and as sharp as a needle,” she said, tentatively touching the edge of one with her index finger.

“I do not understand,” Botha said, looking around the group. “How is it you are not more concerned about what this all means? These were used on people. So many people, it seems.”

“He’s right,” Jamie said. “This is, like, some sort of medieval torture. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if we found an iron maiden.”

“There is no evidence that an iron maiden existed before the nineteenth century,” Alty stated.

“I still think he has a point,” Botha replied. “This is not a good place. This is a place of pain and suffering.”

“If people were restrained here,” Bruce said, “and here,” she said pointing to the opposite wall and the chains that hung there, “then… whoever would have been… held captive? would have been facing others just a couple of feet away.”

“With the spikes in their backs,” Botha added.

“Who would they be holding captive?” Jamie asked.

“Members of other tribes, villages, cities?” Alty suggested. “Prisoners captured between warring tribes?”

“Is there any evidence of other tribes in the surrounding areas so long ago?” Bruce asked, knowing the answer to be no. “Look, the passageway continues deeper into the structure.” And, without another word, she walked away from the group, and down the next passage.

“Hold up,” Jamie said, walking briskly after Dr Bruce, Gizmo at his shoulder.

One by one, the group walked further into the structure.

“There are no signs of anyone who lived here,” Jamie whispered to Dr Bruce. “Shouldn’t we see… something? Skeletons? Clothes?”

“The air is very stagnant here,” Bruce pondered, adjusting her face mask. “Being sealed off as long as it has, it would have preserved any remains.”

“There are no remains,” Jamie pushed.

“Which would suggest that this place was abandoned.”

“What about burial rituals?” Alty called from behind them. “Even if the living abandoned the structure, they would have still buried their dead. Every civilisation we have come across had some form of ritual when it came to their dead.”

“What about those alcoves?” Jamie asked. “Could they have been burial chambers?”

“Possibly,” Bruce said. “Tombs. But again, we would see the remains of the dead. And what about the chains? Why would the dead need chains?”

“Maybe they weren’t dead?” Jamie asked.

“People chained into the alcoves and left to die?” Bruce replied. She then shook her head. “No. Again. No remains. And I can’t see a civilisation abandoning the place and taking the dead with them.”

“Not impossible though,” Alty commented.

“Not impossible, but unlikely,” Bruce said.

The end of the passageway appeared in the distance. The black abyss of whatever lay beyond formed a square that appeared as solid as the rock wall. Only the first few feet of the ground could be seen.

“Can we send Gizmo ahead of us please?” Bruce asked, coming to a stop before the end of the passage. “Get some light?”

Jamie nodded and then did his thing. He tilted his head to one side, as did Dr Bruce, allowing Gizmo to fly past them, and out of the passage.

“I’ll get a layout mapped,” he said.

Over the next few minutes, Gizmo flew around the room beyond, shining thin blue lights in all directions, taking in the contours of its surroundings, and feeding them back to its control device. Jamie and the others watched as a 3D wire rendering began to take shape, starting with the outer perimeter and following it around.

“The room seems to be conical,” Jamie said. “Narrowing as it descends.”

“It’s an amphitheatre,” Alty commented.

“Like a football stadium,” Botha added.

“And we are at the top level,” Bruce finished, amazed. “It goes down further into the earth.”

On the screen, a small blue blip showed their location. At the end of the small corridor in which they stood, the amphitheatre opened up. Although the detail in the mapping was limited, they could all see stairways that led down to the centre, or the “stage.”

“Is there anything in the centre?” Bruce asked.

“Gizmo is still mapping the perimeter, working its way down,” Jamie asked.

“Let’s go take a look,” Alty said impatiently before walking out of the passage.

The others followed.

In the distance, Gizmo’s lights could be seen scanning, though the nearby surfaces were not visible from so far away.

“Can we get some light in here, please?” Alty said abruptly.

“Glow sticks will be next to useless,” Jamie said, “given the size of the room. Let me see what Giz can do.” He then began to play with the controller’s keyboard.

Across the room, Gizmo’s light paused, turned in a half circle and then flew towards the centre of the arena.

“I’m going to redirect more power to Giz’s lights,” Jamie said.

“Is that safe?” Bruce asked.

“It’s not ideal,” Jamie shrugged. “It’ll drain the battery quicker but… it should be able to light up a good portion of the room.”

“Do it,” Alty instructed.

At eye level with them all, halfway across the arena, Gizmo’s lights began to shine brighter. Around his middle, the blue lights switched to bright white LED spotlights. More bulbs lit up on the bot's underside, lighting the area as if it were daytime.

“What is that?” Alty asked, pointing to the centre of the arena floor. He walked forward to stand at the top of a stairway.

“A statue,” Bruce said, joining him.

Their helmet cameras picked up what they were seeing in high definition.

A figure, naked, sat in a high-backed chair, left arm on the armrest, right arm in its lap, and its head resting on the back, eyes pointed to the ceiling. Its head was bald, its ears were pointed, and it wore a simple ring-shaped crown.

“It is so very big,” Botha said.

“Easily fifteen feet,” Bruce said. “Probably some deity figure of theirs. This would have been a place of worship.”

“I want to get a closer look,” Alty said, starting down the stairs.

“It’s incredible,” Jamie said, the hand with the controller fell to his side as he looked on in awe.

“I bet it is also made of the same stone as the rest of the structure,” Alty called back, now ten steps down.

“With the same craftsmanship too, I bet,” Bruce said, walking after him, followed by Botha and Jamie.

At the bottom, the stairwell separated into two sets of steps, left and right, that led down to the arena floor. Stepping onto the lowest level, the team found the floor to be hard but covered in a thin layer of sand. But none of them were interested in such a small detail. Stepping towards the statute, they began to spread out and circle the seated figure.

“Look at its face,” Bruce said, pointing a finger. “What kind of a deity is depicted in such a way?”

Jamie punched up the screen on his wrist.

Gizmo’s camera pointed down at the figure’s upturned face. Its eyes were half closed, its skin was tight over its skull, with sunken features and hollow cheeks.

“The level of detail…” Jamie whispered.

Botha, who had moved the closest to the statue, stood next to the left leg, its knee was a little above Botha’s head. Carefully, he reached out a gloved hand, gingerly placing his fingertips on the figure’s leg. As soon as they touched, he jerked his hand back.

“This is not…” Botha began, but his words caught in his throat.

“What is it?” Bruce asked, joining her colleague. She too reached out and touched the figure’s knee. “That's not… stone. It’s… real.”

“What do you mean?” Alty said, circling from behind the chair.

“It’s ossified,” Bruce said, stepping backwards. “It’s petrified flesh. These are the remains of… a being.”

Alty and Botha stood on either side of Bruce and looked at the figure with new eyes.

Its torso was withered and frail. Individual ribs could be seen through the taut flesh. Its broad shoulders suggested a once statuesque physique but was now lacking muscle mass. The creature’s stomach was concave with malnourishment and starvation.

“This is not related to homo sapiens,” Alty said.

“It’s humanoid,” Bruce commented. “There must be some connection. Some relation.”

“A separate evolutionary path,” Alty said. “But the size… Head to toe, at full height, it must have been close to twenty feet tall.”

Standing with his back to the group, Jamie called over, “I think that… Yeah… That’s not a crown on his head.”

“What?” Alty looked over.

“They’re coming out of his head. Just above the temples. And curling back. They’re… horns.” Jamie walked over and held out the display for them to see. “You know what it looks like?” he said. “You know who it looks like?” It was less of a question and more of a statement.

“This is insane,” Bruce said, shaking her head and looking away from the screen. “It’s not possible.”

“Why not?” Alty said. “Religions over the years have had so much crossover. From the three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hell, to Nehebkau, the three-headed snake of Egyptian mythology. Many religions have their version of the Angel of Death, and many have their evil adversary. Lucifer, Surtr, Hades and Ravana… There are underworlds. Hell and Hades and Niflheim, even Muspelheim. So many similar themes across different cultures and beliefs and faiths.”

“Yes,” Bruce said, “Faith and belief being the key there. There was no evidence to suggest those beings existed. This, though…” she said, gesturing her hand to the seated figure. She didn’t finish her sentence.

“There’s something in its lap,” Jamie said. “I’m going to get Gizmo to move in for a closer look.”

The bot descended slowly, shifting light and shadow as it went.

The figure’s face seemed to move, a pained smile stretched across lips that had retreated across its gums, as shadows moved up its features.

“A book?” Alty offered.

It had previously been blocked from view by the way the figure’s arm was draped, but from Gizmo’s elevated position, they could see the open book sitting in the giant’s lap.

“There’s writing,” Jamie said. “It’s faint.”

“Can you read it?” Alty asked.

Jamie scoffed.

“I can’t. But Gizmo might. The writing is faint, but if we give Giz a chance…”

The bot rotated around so that its camera could position itself for the best angle of the book. It then zoomed in and began to scan over the text on the page.

“That is not paper,” Botha stated.

“Papyrus?” Bruce suggested.

“It looks like…. Leather?” Alty suggested.

“Would that have not rotted away over so many thousand years?” Jamie asked.

“It should not have been preserved the way it has,” Botha answered.

“The lack of airflow?” Bruce said.

Alty nodded.

“Is it possible that this is an alien race?” Bruce asked. “A race that was the genesis of practically all major religions?”

Alty stroked his chin in thought.

“People have often theorised that man might have originated elsewhere.”

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Bruce said. “Homo sapiens might have originated on Earth, but what if these beings were also present to us? Known to us?”

Alty didn’t answer.

“Gizmo has something,” Jamie said. “Look, here.”

He then began to read out the on-screen text fed to him by Gizmo.

I have failed.

Those that I had been charged to watch over, to be their keeper, their warden, have rebelled.

For some time now, there have been rumblings throughout the city. There has been unrest. Nothing we could not handle, I was sure. But more were sent here. More than I had anticipated.

There were some instances of unruliness. It started small. Disobedience. Rowdiness. Disregard for authority. Then it began to escalate. Attacks; by individuals and by groups. Several of my own were injured, some killed.

Their numbers grew to the point that they were becoming ungovernable. More so than before. I commanded my forces to control the rebels, ordered them to rally against them, to gather them, and return them to their rightful places.

But, we could not contain them. Even this city, by far the biggest creation outside of anything He has created, was not big enough to hold them.

As hard as we fought, we were overpowered. Their Might became too strong. They forced their way through the upper levels of the city, slaying any who stood in their way.

I once saw them as pitiful. How wrong I was. How I underestimated them.

They breached the outer doorways.

Their power grew. I do not mean their physical strength, but their power to control the world in which they exist. A power that was once mine. Through sheer will, they have managed to alter the laws that govern reality. Beyond the threshold of this city, my city, lies a wasteland, and after that, the void. I fear not even that will stop them.

I understand these creatures. They will spread out across the realm. They will alter it, change it to fit their needs, and, ultimately, destroy it. I know this. I can see it, not through any power of foresight or premonition, but through my understanding of these creatures. This is what they do.

Over time, they will forget about this place. They will forget where they came from, and why they were here.

To add even greater insult, my followers have now abandoned me. Knowing that I am trapped here, they have fled. My brethren. They too now roam free. Who knows what they will do, out there, in the realm beyond, immortal, with the rest of eternity stretching out before them.

The last sound I heard was them sealing the entrances. As if I could have left if they hadn’t. They have left me, alone, here, sealed in my city, in my throne room. Yet this realm is mine to rule no longer.

I can feel my Might fade.

Perhaps He has blessed me, after all.

The group stood silent, thinking about what Jamie had just read out. Dr Bruce stood with her hand to her mouth, reading over the text on the screen again. Alty put his hands to his hips and looked toward the being sitting before them while Botha walked across the arena floor and sat on a nearby step.

It was nearly five minutes before Dr Alty turned to Jamie and asked, “Is that translation wrong?”

“What?” Jamie asked, dazed.

“That translation, that text,” Alty said. “How accurate is it?”

“Accurate?”

“Yes,” Alty said, becoming agitated. “How accurate is that translation? I don’t know how else to phrase the question. Could. It. Be. Wrong?”

Jamie looked at his screen.

“Gizmo is ninety-eight per cent accurate,” he said. “Margin for error is negligible. That is what the text translates to.”

“What language is it?” Alty snapped.

“I don’t know,” Jamie said helplessly.

“It is nothing I have ever seen,” Bruce said.

“Botha,” Alty called. “Do you know what language this is?”

Botha held out his hands, palms up, empty, before lowering his head into them.

“This is ridiculous,” Alty said, turning on the spot. “This isn’t what it looks like. This is… something, but this is… For Christ’s sake!”

Overhead, Gizmo’s lights flickered.

“Battery is down to ten per cent,” Jamie said absentmindedly. “We should start heading out if we want to keep recording.”

“Recording?” Bruce said. “Right. Yeah. Recording. But… who do we show this to?” she asked, turning to Alty.

When Alty didn't respond, Bruce looked to her other colleagues for an answer.

Botha pushed himself up from where he sat and walked back over.

“Christian,” Bruce asked. “Who do we show this to?”

“Perhaps the question should be, do we show this to anybody?”

Table of Contents

The Lost Civilisation