Free Deeper Into the Void by Mitchell A. Duncan Page B

the floor, looks up from his fixation and looks upon the old tablet in Mendez’s hand. Cardiff looks on at the discovery and beckons for the relic with an extended hand. Mendez carefully hands it over to her. Cardiff sets it on the control panel in front of her.
    The lights on the control panel change color, and a notice appears next to the tablet on the control panel, “Retrieving data”. Ghent leans away from the wall, where he had been for several minutes now, and looks on at the results of the retrieval with great anticipation. Only one file appears on the screen in front of Cardiff, she presses her finger upon the glass to start the video recording.
    VIDEO LOG
CHARLES WINTERS
    Well, it is official; everyone here has lost their minds. Hansen is still reciting the same thing over and over, “deeper, deeper, deeper”. He hasn’t eaten in days and just sits, staring out into the pond as if he is waiting for a long lost friend to appear out of it. James has become completely fixated upon the new planet that he found and is actually outside right now looking though his telescope at it. Yesterday, the Captain ventured out into a sandstorm and was nearly lost into a gaping hole in the wild desolate plain.
    Our communications are still not working, the solar flares are apparently disrupting our radio transmissions back to Earth; either that or they are receiving our messages and we just can’t hear a response. This morning was colder than normal and the dome began to fill up with water vapor. We were besieged by a dense fog that you could not even see a meter out in.
    My dreams have become difficult to bear; the others seem to have the same problem because no one is sleeping much at all anymore. The compulsion to drift down into the depths of the pond is almost overwhelming. “Deeper into the void”, the quiet voices press into my mind over and over and over again, always with a different end, “deeper into the void you will find solace”, “deeper into the void you will find a way”, and it just keeps going like that.
    It seems that while here on Mars, each of us is on a separate quest. What drives us to our foolish desires and ends? I fear that no reason or want for reason will save us from ourselves now. As for my plans for the future, I am going to get that shuttle working and get off of the cursed rock. No one seems to want to leave at the moment, despite what has been happening.
    The sun betrays us here in this forsaken place. Doors within the mind are opened and our sanity flees into the night. I know that this sounds crazy, but I feel as though someone is here and unseen, watchful and cunning. Deeper into the void of the mind we venture.
    –Log End–
    The simple, curious expressions on display as the video began to play, have now changed into that of fear and amazement; this is the first any of them have seen this type of message from the first expedition.

Chapter 7

    Year 15 Day 38
    A nother sunrise crests over the behemoth Olympus, illuminating the dome, proliferating it with an awe-inspiring visual spectacle within. Vibrant violet, brazen blue, enchanting emerald, ostentatious orange and raging red all pierce the air within, covering each rock, each blade of grass and every leaf within the dome. The emboldening light paints a tantalizing backdrop for an otherwise simple morning meeting.
    Apprehension crafts Long’s posture as he sits on the long bench in the mess hall. Cardiff is pacing back and forth as she recaps the events of the previous day and summarizes the day’s planned events. Malevolence enlists his secretive subconscious as images of tragic ends play out in his mind incessantly. The alternating colors shining into his eyes through the window at the back of the room each stir within him; his thoughts tune to the changing color and his eyes flinch with the flashing light as it passes through the window.
    Seated next to him on the bench is Mendez, the slight twitching that she can observe