DN-014-The Caves
Waking up in the same room when things seem so different is an odd feeling. Looking around to see every object in the same place where it was left… Even in the chaos of it. I was thinking about the day ahead of me but couldn’t stop thinking about everything that happened the weekend before. I kept thinking about the effect of time in the back of my mind as I got my things together and headed out the door to the conservatories.
“Team projects, destination Prismite Cavern, in t-minus 2 hours.” I heard over the intercom.
Since we’re merging departments, we’re going to be doing this team-building exercise today. So we’re meeting at and exploring Prismite Cavern. I’m excited because I’ve heard awesome things about it.
I rolled up to the site to find I was the first one there. I’m kinda used to that though so I began taking pictures of the crystals that were scattered all around the caves entrance. They were these massive chunks of clear quartz that were just stunning. I was trying to get the perfect angle and the best picture that I could. Like, I was legit laying on the ground trying to get these pictures. Then I began to hear some people laughing…Yeah, I’m no longer alone AND I’m the girl taking pictures of dirt and rocks… On the ground.
I immediately get flustered, you know it’s really hard when you’re making new friends and hanging out with new people to not be the “weird chick”… Especially when you are in fact (by all the definitions that exist) the weird chick.
“Hello down there. Getting some good pictures?” Landon asked
“Uhh.. um yeah…” I said as I got up and brushed myself off as if I hadn’t just been rolling around in regolith.
“You know, I saw your pictures in the conservatories. They are really good. You should document this. We could always use a relentless historian.” He said.
“Yeah, no I could totally do that,” I responded. I’ve never been great at history but I’ve always found the documentation so fascinating and it could help me with my notes.
Either way, it looks like I got designated the historian for this trip. Sometimes my camera can be my security blanket, so it almost works out this way.
“Alright everyone, get together for a little group pic.” I said as I tried to corral everyone together while everyone still had clean space suits.
From there we headed in. The walkway started like a tunnel but still had open gaps where the light came in and as we walked it gradually closed. Where the light left, pitch darkness began and the only light we had was from our flashlights and the lighting of bioluminescence that gathered by the base of the crystals. It lit them up so that they glowed on their own. The way they hung from the ceiling, extruded from parts of the walls, and gathered by the base of the ground was truly stunning. A sight to see. A memory to keep.
I will say, it is interesting going down into these caves with the different departments. If you ever really want to understand someone’s passions, go with them to wherever they find interesting and find out why. The minerals, crystals, formations, and things were all like a second nature and a second language to them. I learned so much in conversation. It was almost like an osmosis of fascination through communication.
There were so many interesting things down here that I would have never guessed. I was most fascinated by the gypsum and quartz. I kept taking pictures of it because it was just beautiful.
“You know they have that on Earth too?” Zack said. “The universe knows how to rhyme sometimes. The mathematics and patterns can sometimes synthesize like beats to the soul. That’s what got me into this.”
Then I heard something. A drip from far away. “Is that… water?” I asked him.
“Yeah, that’s down here too. Not a lot. It’s wild that this whole thing could have been formed by it. Even above. They say that way way back in the day, Mars could have been just like Earth… Makes you wonder what happened.” Zack said again as he crouched down to examine the water and collect samples.
“Dude, you know what my commander told me?” Chad chimed in.
“This whole place could be used like a bomb shelter if we ever really needed it. We have a lot of shelters all over this place, in mountains and canyons, so we probably never will need it but that’s a little survival skill. These things can withstand meteorites…” He said as his arms acted out the effect of a bomb blowing up in front of him. “A small one that is. Even if you ever had to shield yourself from radiation in the atmosphere. You know like if we got bombed or some shit like that? Just find yourself a cave. You’re golden. ”
The more I learned. The more I saw. The more I documented. The more I realized these caves were filled with unknown mysteries that we were only starting to scratch the surface of. You could tell visually that there were secrets in here that were never intended for someone to know. The cold, breathable air, sent shivers down your spine almost like the feeling you get in the presence of a spirit.
The caves are otherworldly for sure. When you are down here, you forget you’re on the Red Planet. You start to believe you’ve been transported to another way of life, another world entirely. I wonder if that’s why Astrid loved taking me down here as a kid. Once an explorer, always an explorer. Even if that to be explored is in your backyard.
We collected all the samples that we needed and headed up. I’ll need to register these all in the database when I get back to the lab. This was a great experience and I just love hanging out with people who are so passionate about a certain subject or topic. There’s so much you can learn from them.
“The universe is the creation of the mind. The universe exists inside the mind as the flower exists inside the seed.” — Amit Ray
