Removing the Capstone

It was Lance's first time killing something, but he did not feel the regret or nausea that was supposed to accompany it. It was probably because he had killed a Grey and not a human. Lance wished that there wouldn't come a day when he would have to kill a human. Right now, all he could think of was to protect humanity and kill outsiders. He had not considered yet that traitors existed both in humanity and in the outsiders. Without realizing it himself, he had formed a soft spot which might cause problems in the future.

Suddenly, the ground below them shook as if an earthquake were happening.

Darius, who had been woken up by the shaking, said, "It must be those things outside trying to get in! Get the capstone fast!"

Lance was already below the capstone, but he had no idea what to do to reach it. It was to high to jump to, and there was no visible mechanism which would release it.

"Give me the documents we got before.", said Yu Yan. Nodding, Lance handed over the pages he had torn which related to the pyramid. He had memorized them by heart and was now pondering for clues as to what could be done in this situation. Meanwhile, the other 4 pooled over the documents.

"Isin't this just a simple electrical circuit? Wouldn't grounding it help? I see no grounding method in the schematics...", said Yu Yan, almost muttering to herself.

Lance stared at her while a light bulb went off in his head. Of course! He had been such an idiot!

In the documents, it was detailed that the giant pyramid was made to harness electrical energy from its geographical location by taking advantage of the fact that the Earth was one giant magnet.

The other function of the pyramid was to use the capstone and a mechanism to transmit electricity into the atmosphere. This enabled anyone in possession of a certain mechanism to "download" the electricity anywhere.

The method of transmitting was actually very similar to a common electrical circuit, but the atmosphere was the wire.

"Everyone! Feel around for a cavity! We need to connect the capstone to the ground just like Yu Yan said. Well done Yu Yan!"

Yu Yan smiled, happy that she could help. Unlike her sister, she had always been interested in knowledge and had studied electronics extensively.

Entsy showed his usefulness here. Gathering energy, he literally zipped around the room, jumping off the walls. The shaking was increasing and it was a wonder how Entsy was even managing to balance himself.

"Here!", he shouted, on seeing a small hole the size of an arm on the ground, directly below the capstone. It had been filled with sand but Entsy detected it because he had luckily just jumped off of it and felt his foot sink down.

"Darius, can you push all of the sand into the hole and push it down? Its possible it's just obstructed by a mechanism like a lever and enough force will turn it, connecting this room to the ground again.", said Yu Yan. Lance was surprised seeing her impressive knowledge.

Darius nodded and concentrated on the hole, his forehead beading with sweat.

After a minute, the sand sank down into the hole and Darius eased his expression while a smile came on his face.

"You were right! Something gave way!", he said, showing a thumbs up to Yu Yan.

"Entsy, get the capstone. Be careful. I'll catch it if it falls.", said Lance, smiling.

Entsy jumped up directly and caught the base of the capstone. Surprisingly, it just dropped without any resistance. Entsy even held it easily, as if it were lightweight.

Immediately, everyone got goosebumps as a current of electricity was felt in the air.

Thankfully, it faded away soon enough. The current seemed to come from the position the capstone had been in.

If they hadn't grounded the place before taking it off, all of them would have probably been toast by now.