6.5

  It was amazing what you could get used to.

  They’d spent their two hours doing their best to check everything around the arch. She’d thrown rocks through it, and they went through it normally. Alessio put his camera through it, and nothing weird seemed to happen — they didn’t film some terrible hell dimension or their own future or anything like that. And then, just because it seemed impossible not to, she walked through it, and, as far as she could tell, she was in the same universe she’d started in. Or the one she’d been in right before she walked through, at least.

  Then they’d documented as much as they could of the surrounding area. The priority was making a record they could examine later, when they had more time. And more distance, emotionally. Adelaide couldn’t help thinking of pareidolia, where people saw faces in clouds and trees and rocks. As she looked at the ground opposite the arch, she felt the same way but on a civilizational scale. Like there was a branch laying on another branch — but was it laying on it too much? It probably wasn’t a fruitful inquiry.

  And then, as she got into the habit of reminding herself not to leap to conclusions, the process of searching became rote. And then it had been two hours, and it was time to head back. So they set off, still quiet. At first, Adelaide thought about the arch. But then she kind of tripped, and she spent a few steps thinking about how her feet hurt, and then she was thinking about how she was kind of thirsty but wasn’t sure how much water was handy.

  And just like that, it seemed normal. It hadn’t been a magic gateway, or a portal to a spaceship, or anything. She was almost feeling disappointed at the mundanity, when she remembered: she was on an uncharted island and had just found a clear sign of some sort of intelligence. It was the farthest thing from mundane.

  She looked at Jim and Alessio, who both seemed lost in thought. “Have you thought about how we’ll describe this to the others?”

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  Alessio shook his head. “I’m still not really sure what we even saw. I mean, if someone built that, where are they? Why weren’t they nearby?”

  Jim shrugged. “It’s a big island, at least relative to what we’ve explored. They could have gone a mile away and we wouldn’t have seen them. Or this could be a point they rarely visit. We have no idea.”

  Adelaide nodded. “Or they could be long gone.”

  “What do you mean?” Jim asked.

  “Well, if we assume someone came here from Earth — although how that’s possible I have no idea — maybe they sailed back after building this. Or maybe the Triangle put us down hundreds of years later.”

  Jim stared at her. “Is that kind of … I mean, does time pass like that?”

  “I mean, no one knows — I’ve never had a reason to consider it. But it’s not impossible? As far as I can think of right now, at least.”

  Jim furrowed his brow, but didn’t say anything.

  Alessio jumped in. “Who’s to say it’s human at all? I mean, people talk about elves, right? Maybe they’re on to something. Why should we have a monopoly on intelligence?”

  Adelaide looked at him. “You think there are elves in this forest?” Suddenly, the wind in the trees seemed much stranger, and she thought about the times where she had heard branches crack as they’d walked.

  “I mean, I am now that you put it like that, but I wasn’t. I meant that there could have been someone here, and then they died out. Like archaeology.”

  Adelaide sighed and tried to stop looking for movement in her peripheral vision. “I guess that’s another option. We really don’t know enough to guess, I suppose.”

  Alessio smiled. “At least we’ll surprise everyone.”

  She felt it, as soon as he said that, a little premonition. And, sure enough, when they’d returned, she saw it on the faces of everyone at their camp. She hadn’t even said hello before Ray spoke up.

  He looked right at her as he said, “Someone else lives here.”