The Cameron approached the boundary slowly, and entered the metallic tunnel, with a few feet to spare. As soon as they cleared the door, they passed through an energy screen that was holding back all that water in front of it and the enormous pressure outside.

“This is amazing! That energy screen is similar to the one we are using on the Ascension, but this thing is a thousand times more powerful… I can only guess how much energy it uses,” Max said excitedly.

The tunnel extended some two hundred feet from the entrance, before it opened up into a large artificial cavern; featureless, except for a small metal hatch, directly opposite the entrance.

Max landed the Cameron at the exact center of the cavern, which was well lit using strips of light that seemed fused with the ceiling.

“All my readings show that there is a breathable atmosphere outside, and the air pressure is equal to the one on the surface,” the AI informed them. “All right people, this is our destination. And please put on your battle-suit helmets, to be on the safe side since this thing was sealed a long time ago.”

One by one, they exited the craft and looked around at the strange place so deep under the ocean. The floor beneath their feet was made of that same silvery metal, still keeping its luster for who knows how long; in fact, it looked as if someone had polished it that very morning.

Michael approached the metal hatch and could feel that strange connection establishing itself with his CEI. He reacted on instinct alone and placed his hand on a barely discernible circle in the middle of the hatch. As soon as his gloved fingers came in contact with the cold metal, the connection between his implant and what was on the other side of the hatch intensified a thousand-fold. It lasted for a few seconds and he felt an incredible amount of information and security protocols that were exchanged.

The moment that connection broke, the hatch retracted sideways into the wall. Before him, a new opening appeared and the lights inside came to life. From where he was standing, Michael could see that it was another circular cavern, but this one was much smaller and equally featureless, except for some sort of pedestal in the center of it.

He took the first step, with Tyron and the others close at his heels.

“Stop!” Max shouted, and everybody froze where they stood. “Michael should be the only one to enter; he has been cleared by the MI, the rest of you are in the gray zone. But I don’t want to find out what would happen if you entered without proper clearance.”

“You couldn’t think of that sooner,” Al said, pointing the gun, which he has instinctively drawn, at the metallic floor.

“Hey, this is all new to me too; and I am constantly trying to send queries to the MI. So far, it’s mostly ignoring me.”

Tyron stood at the entrance and placed his hand on Michael’s shoulder. “We’ll be right here… just whistle.”

Michael smiled and proceeded through the opening.

He did not even take two steps when the hatch behind him closed with a loud bang.

***

Pacific Ocean, Mariana Trench

Hidden Facility

“Shit…” He said through his teeth, feeling his adrenaline surging to new heights. When he looked at the place where he entered a few seconds ago, there was nothing to see; the opening had seamlessly merged with the rest of the wall.

“Max…”

“Don’t be alarmed; it is another security measure. Your CEI signals are cut off from the rest of the group, but I’m using Cameron’s antennas to boost my link,” Max hurriedly explained.

“Okay… what’s next?” He asked after a few deep breaths.

At that moment, he heard a flat digital voice speaking in an unfamiliar language, sending its audio signal directly to his CEI.

“Max, what does it say?”

“It’s requesting for you to put your hand on the pedestal… it wants to perform the final check that you are authorized to be here… I think.”

“You think?”

“Well, the MI has reduced the security measures, but it is still unreceptive to most of my queries, so… I am 80% sure. There are some points of grammar I’m having trouble with. As a result, it either wants to perform a check, or it wants to have your babies....”

He closed his eyes and shook his head, “Thanks, Max, and FYI, your calming skills need some work.

Michael approached the pedestal, knowing that there was no backing out of this. It was of rather simple construction, a square block of metal, with an outline of a normal handprint on top of it. It closely resembled the pedestal he once used on the Excalibur, to grant Max access to the spaceship. Taking a deep breath, he removed the glove from his hand and then placed it on the cold metal surface, so his fingers would match the lines.

A soft light started glowing beneath his hand, increasing its strength until he could see the shape of his bones and veins through it. In the next moment, a piercing pain started in his index finger and he pulled his hand quickly back; on the tip of it, a small drop of blood was forming.

“Son of a… What the hell?”

“It has taken your blood sample for DNA verification. Michael, I’m getting access—” Max stopped speaking suddenly.

“Max… what the hell is happening?” Michael asked, irritated by constant surprises in the last few minutes.

Max’s voice returned after a few moments. “Everything is fine, the system verified you. Your CEI’s security protocols, combined with your DNA, gives you complete access and control. Coincidentally, that countdown has stopped and I have gained access to this MI’s memory banks. It gave me a pause… there is so much data to absorb.”

Behind the pedestal, a three-foot cube has risen from the floor. And on top of the metal pedestal, a ten-inch cube did the same. He walked a few feet and stood before the bigger one, realizing it was not made of metal, but out of some semi-transparent crystal.

“Don’t tell me we went through all this trouble for a giant paperweight.”

“Oh ye of little faith,” Max replied. “That’s the treasure; Michael… it is hard to comprehend the immensity of it. The smaller cube on the pedestal is an AI-core, dormant for the moment but identical to mine. Yet, the bigger cube is a memory bank that contains insane amounts of information. The sum of all human knowledge could be easily placed in a fraction of its capacity. In fact, my own external memory bank is made in a similar way, but it is only about two inches on the side. I have a suspicion that the technology needed to make this behemoth is even more advanced,” the AI said in a very excited voice.

“Can you access it?”

“I tried, but I don’t have the authorization; I bet that AI-core has the key. We will not know until we activate it; of course, its support systems need to be built first, as they were never here. The MI has the designs of all the tech built into this place. This inner chamber was built on the surface, and the MI was initiated just before submersion. It had specific orders to guide the chamber to the bottom and then, using nanites, create the entire supporting structure before concealing everything inside the stone. After that, it sealed the entrance and activated the stasis, which is a new piece of technology we didn’t encounter before. The stasis was used to preserve the contents of the chamber, and to make sure it wouldn’t degrade over the last 13 millennia.”

Michael placed his hand on the big cube feeling its slight warmth. “Was there any information about builders?”

“No, like in the Excalibur’s memory all information about them was omitted. If someone without proper authorization tried to enter this chamber, it was set to self-destruct. What’s more, by what I read about the reactor powering this place, the explosion would make sure that not an atom of this chamber remained intact. It would make Earth’s biggest nuclear bombs look like firecrackers. That is how strongly they felt about protecting information in that cube. This close to the boundary between two tectonic plates… it would have created one hell of a mess. Hundreds of volcanoes could have possibly been activated, all that would have radically changed Earth's climate. That’s a best-case scenario, things could have been far worse.” The AI said quietly.

Michael put his glove back on and contemplated the forces he was dealing with.

“And that’s it? Nothing more you can get out of the MI?”

“Whatever additional information we can get will most likely be when we activate the AI,” Max responded.

“Are we allowed to move this thing?”

“Yes, you have absolute control of this place. But you may want to call others in… that thing is heavy.”

“Is it safe for them to enter?”

“It is now, but things would not have been so great if they tried that before your DNA was verified by the system.”

The sounds of the hatch opening made him turn around, and he had to brace himself when Elizabeth ran in and threw herself into his arms.

“I was so worried when you were trapped inside, Max told us what happened,” she said.

“It’s all right, I was never in any danger.”

Tyron, Pete, and Al entered next and looked around the smaller space.

“So… this is it?” Al said, pointing at the big cube.

“What did you expect? Little green men to jump out and say ‘Smile! You're on candid camera,” Pete said.

“That’s funny…. not. But seriously, they could have at least left a hologram message that tells about the secret history of the world.” Al said looking around the room.

“Al… you do realize this is not one of your video games?” Pete looked at him sideways.

“Yeah, I was still expecting more than two mysterious cubes inside of a big metal bowling ball… It’s anticlimactic.”

To say that it was heavy was quite an understatement, by Max’s approximation its weight was around 2500 pounds (1134kg). Max tried to explain that it was created by artificially placing atoms in a complex matrix and thus making it incredibly dense, but the men trying to lift the unwieldy thing were not that interested in an explanation of how technologically superior the manufacturing process was.

Pete, Al, Tyron, and Michael, each supported one corner of the cube, and even their enhanced strength had trouble with such weight, which expressed itself by visible strain on their faces.

“Boss… you said this is a memory bank?” Al Inquired.

“Yes,” Michael answered, his muscles bulging while trying to carry his part of the weight.

“So… what you’re saying is that we are basically breaking our backs to move a gigantic flash drive.”

“Shut up Al and for Christ’s sake keep it level,” commanded Tyron.

After they managed to extract the big cube through the narrow hatch, they had a much easier time securing it inside the Cameron. Elizabeth was carrying a much smaller AI-core in her hands, telling them how masculine they looked.

“Max, is this additional weight going to be a problem?” Michael asked after they were inside the craft.

“It’s just below the weight the ‘Cameron’ can carry. But if it becomes a problem, we can leave Al here to wait for us, he’s been putting on some pounds lately.”

“Hey, that is not funny,” the man in question uttered.

“Well… it kind of is,” Pete smiled.

“You traitor…” Al murmured into his beard.

“OK, seriously now, we’re going to move much slower and now have to push the drives to 100 %, but we are going to make it to the Ascension.”

They boarded the craft and it slowly exited the big cavern, carefully gliding outside. Then they passed through the energy shield; the Cameron creaked and made disturbing noise when the metal it was made of was once again exposed to the high strain and the enormous pressure of these depths. The big hangar entrance closed behind them, as Max has issued an order to the MI to seal down the entire facility. They still have not decided what to do with it, but for the time being, it was perfectly safe at the same place where it has been, long before the dawn of written history.

“Are you going to activate the AI-core?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes, but we don’t know the intentions of the mind that is inside. I want Max to create a closed system for its activation. Can you even imagine the amount of damage a malignant AI could possibly do?” He answered.

As they were slowly traveling up to the surface, Michael's eyes were fixed on the big translucent cube. What secrets it held and what was the purpose of hiding it so deep under the ocean? He had even more questions than before and not enough answers.

Elizabeth grabbed his hand and smiled, looking at him.

“Why do I have a feeling that this thing is going to bring us a whole lot of trouble?”

“Because you have a very developed sense of intuition,” Michael answered and looked back at her, “but no matter what troubles are ahead of us, we will deal with them together.”

She leaned in and placed her lips on his, “together,” she whispered before kissing him.

With the sound of Al’s and Pete’s bickering, the small craft broke the ocean surface and rushed towards the sky.