Travis Taylor: “Are we allowed to Air this?”

We’re all eager to see just what the huge dome-shaped object buried inside the mesa could be. We want to put a screen under there and catch it. We definitely want to analyze that.

The team braced themselves for another long, grueling day at Skin Walker Ranch, the weight of past encounters pressing down on them. This wasn’t just another dig; every step forward felt like a battle against the unknown. They moved with practice and efficiency, checking their gear in silence, faces etched with focus. The air was dry, carrying the faint metallic scent of their tools, and overhead, the sky held an unsettling shade of gray as if the land itself was holding its breath.

Suddenly, a sharp voice shattered the quiet air. “You need to see this!” The urgency sent a shockwave through the group. Aaron’s head snapped up, adrenaline kicking in, and he sprinted toward the commotion. A few feet away, one of the crew members stood frozen, staring at something half-buried in the dirt. A strange, delicate object, small, intricate, almost organic-looking. It rested where they had discarded it earlier, but now, under the shifting morning light, it looked different… wrong.

Aaron crouched down, eyes narrowing as he examined it. The object didn’t match any material they’d been working with. Its surface was unnaturally smooth, yet somehow weathered, like it had been there for centuries and seconds at the same time. Silence hung heavy in the air as the crew exchanged uneasy glances. The same question lingered in their minds: had they disturbed something?

A low vibration rumbled through the ground, snapping them to attention. Machinery groaned as if something beneath was resisting. The ground, once solid and stable, shifted unnaturally, sloping upward where it should have been level. One of them swore under his breath. “That’s not natural.”

They adjusted their tools and kept digging, pushing forward despite the growing unease. Each strike of the shovel against the dirt sent an electric pulse of anticipation through their nerves. It wasn’t just the excavation; it was the sense that something was watching.

A sharp metallic clang echoed. Suddenly, they froze. The sound reverberated through the dig site, vibrating in their bones. They exchanged glances, wide with a mix of excitement and fear. They’d hit something.

One of them quickly suggested it could be a piece of their own equipment—maybe something lost or dislodged during a previous dig. “No way,” someone said firmly. “It didn’t come from the drill.” The doubt in his voice was small but present, knowing at the edges of logic.

The wind picked up, whipping dust through the air. Somewhere in the distance, a coyote howled, a lonely, echoing cry that sent a shiver down their spines. The atmosphere grew heavier, the way it always did before something happened.

A choice stood before them: stop now or keep going. Aaron gripped his shovel tighter. They were too deep to turn back now. Something waited beneath them, and they were about to find out what.

The team pressed on, trying to break through the stubborn layer of ground that had been resisting them for hours. At 311 feet deep, they were still blocked by whatever lay beneath. The machine groaned as if protesting the effort. Every push forward was met with the same resistance, and the sounds from the equipment suggested it was striking something hard.

“Boy, that thing sounds like it’s hitting something,” one of them muttered, stating the obvious with a mix of frustration and resignation. The drill had encountered an obstacle it simply couldn’t penetrate.

“Wow, if that’s the case, what I want to do is see if I can pick up that beacon,” another said, his voice trailing off as he considered the next step.

They noted their slow progress, only managing to push up about 11 inches for every 10 feet they drilled. It was a painstaking pace, made worse by the realization that the path they were carving seemed to be shifting. Instead of going straight down, they were now moving slightly upward. That wasn’t normal.

The unexpected change in direction made them speculate about the shape of the layer they were up against. Maybe it wasn’t flat—maybe it was angled or curved in a way that was subtly guiding them along its surface. It wasn’t just a barrier; it had formed a structure. But what kind?

The discussion that followed was mostly technical, focused on the challenge at hand rather than the mystery of what lay below. There was little excitement in their voices, just the weary determination of men who had been at this long enough to know better than to let their imaginations run wild. Curiosity had to take a backseat to the immediate problem—how to get through.

Driven by necessity, they adjusted their approach, tweaking angles, changing settings, trying to find a way forward or around the obstacle. Each new attempt carried a flicker of hope, quickly tempered by the skepticism. It had become second nature out here. The grinding noise of the machinery filled the air—a relentless, unyielding sound that underscored the slow battle between man and earth.

The ground beneath them wasn’t just stubborn; it was defiant. They continued pressing on, not out of any hopeful anticipation of a grand revelation, but because the job demanded it. Each foot deeper into the earth was met with resistance. The stubborn ground refused to yield easily.

Their conversations remained practical, circling around drilling techniques and equipment settings, rather than theories about what was causing the obstruction. It was a grind, both physically and mentally, as they spent their days wrestling with an unseen force beneath their mesa. Their exchanges carried the weight of experience, laced with technical jargon and the weary determination of men who had been through this before.

“So it seems like we might be dealing with a shape underground,” one of them remarked, studying the latest readings. “Or maybe it’s more like a dome, because it doesn’t turn sharply.”

There was a pause as they considered the implications. If it was a dome, that meant whatever was down there wasn’t just a solid obstruction, but a structured formation—something designed or naturally shaped in a way that forced their tools to curve along its surface rather than break through.

“It’s going to be fascinating to see what comes out of that excavation site,” another added, his voice holding the first flicker of curiosity they’d allowed themselves. “We definitely need to place a screen under the dumping site to catch and study whatever falls out.”

The drill continued its slow descent, pulling up soil and debris. One of them knelt beside the latest pile of spoils, sifting through it before holding up a fragment. His brow furrowed.

“Look at this. More metal. Just take a moment to see how much metal is mixed in with the dirt.” He spread it between his fingers, letting the sunlight glint off the tiny fragments. “It’s quite a lot, and this is just from this little pile. If we’re finding this much here, imagine how much more could be buried in the side of that hill.”

The others gathered around, examining the strange distribution of metallic material within the soil. It wasn’t just an anomaly—it was a pattern. Every new layer of metal they uncovered, coupled with Aaron’s ongoing struggle to break through the barrier below, suggested that they were only scratching the surface of something much larger beneath the mesa.

A shared sense of urgency rippled through the team. What exactly was buried here? Was it natural? Artificial? How deep did it go?

To help them understand what they were up against, they had brought in Ryan Marinel, a specialist in underground imaging. As he set up his equipment, they watched in anticipation. His robotic camera would descend into the unknown, sending back images from beneath the mesa’s surface. The first real look at what had been hidden beneath their feet all this time.

The setup was impressive: high-tech equipment meticulously arranged. Appear beneath the surface of the mesa, offering glimpses into the unknown. Standing amid the hum of machinery and the dust-filled air, it was hard not to reflect on the significance of their work. What were they hoping to uncover? And more importantly, how would it change everything they thought they knew about the land’s history and geology?

They pressed on, digging, scraping away layers of earth and metal. Their hands and machines locked in a slow battle against the stubborn ground. Aaron’s machinery had struggled against something solid, something unyielding. Was it a structure? A massive object buried deep beneath their mesa? The implications of such a large metallic presence stirred both curiosity and unease. Could this be evidence of past activities—something ancient, something unnatural? Or was this an unusual geological formation no one had ever documented?

Each scoop of soil, each glinting fleck of metal, brought them closer to answers—or perhaps just deeper into a maze of new questions. The process was painstakingly slow, methodical. A balancing act between urgency and precision. They couldn’t afford to rush. Not when every fragment unearthed could be a crucial piece of the puzzle.

Anticipation grew with each passing day. The next load of excavated material could hold a revelation, a key to unlocking the mesa’s secrets. But beyond the excitement lurked something heavier: the realization that if they truly uncovered something significant, it could upend their entire understanding of this place.

They recorded everything, cataloged every anomaly, noted each discovery. Every team member played a part in deciphering the meaning of their findings, and the weight of that responsibility was never lost on them. Whatever was down there—whether an ancient artifact, a natural wonder, or something else entirely—had been hidden for a reason.

Meanwhile, Ryan Marin worked carefully with his underground imaging equipment—a vital tool in their search. The robotic camera, a sleek piece of advanced technology, descended slowly into the depths, its lens pushing through darkness, transmitting images back to the surface.

Then, the first pictures appeared on the screen. A hush fell over the team as they gathered around, eyes locked onto the flickering images. What they saw was met with a mix of skepticism. Or was this what they had been looking for? Or had they just uncovered something far beyond what they ever expected? The questions lingered heavy in the air.

One thing was certain: this was no ordinary dig. The truth, after all, is often stranger than fiction. What lay beneath the mesa remained unknown, but whatever it was, it had been buried for a reason.

They weren’t just digging through dirt—they were uncovering layers of time, revealing traces of events that had long since been forgotten. Their operation that day was supposed to be fairly standard, but the technology involved made it feel like something out of a high-stakes expedition.

At the center of it all was the VT 100 robot, a compact, high-tech machine equipped with a high-definition camera. It was designed for this kind of work—versatile, adaptable, capable of adjusting its form and equipment based on the needs of the mission. Today, it was fitted with tracks—a mini-tank built for traversing uneven terrain. As it now navigated the mysterious underground passages, everything was working as expected—no malfunctions, no technical hiccups.

With the setup complete, they moved to the main event. One of the team members descended into the hole, ready to guide the robot into the depths. The plan was simple: lower the robot, start the video feed, and monitor everything as it moved forward. On paper, it was routine, but in reality, there was a tension in the air—a silent hope that the robot’s journey would reveal more than just layers of rock and soil.

The VT 100 began its slow descent. The camera flickered to life, sending back its first image as shadows stretched along the screen. The dim glow of the robot’s lights revealed compacted earth and jagged rock walls. The deeper it went, the more unsettling the surroundings became. The soil appeared disturbed, unnatural, as if something had shifted underground long before their dig had even begun.

They made small adjustments to the robot’s control roles, guiding it deeper. The recording was running smoothly, everything was in place. And yet, as the video streamed live onto their screens, a collective unease settled over the team. This wasn’t just an empty hole in the ground. Something was down there, and they were about to find out what.

Thomas steadied himself, gripping the control tether as he helped guide the VT 100 into the hole above him. The team monitored the descent carefully, adjusting its speed and position. The robot’s tracks engaged smoothly, the slight hum of its motors filling the air. Though it was a basic function, every successful movement was a small victory, marking the seamless integration of technology and human precision.

As the robot vanished into the darkness, its camera sent back live images to their monitors, revealing the compacted earth and jagged rock lining the subterranean passage. The descent, at first uneventful, carried an air of growing anticipation. Using such an advanced piece of equipment to explore beneath what appeared to be just a flat-topped hill might have seemed excessive, but it was necessary—a vital tool in accessing the hidden and the unknown.

This was more than just a test of the robot’s functionality—it was a test of the team’s skill in maneuvering cutting-edge equipment through unpredictable conditions. Every adjustment, no matter how small, was crucial. Watching the robot’s progress might have seemed monotonous to an outsider, but for them, it was a display of precision and technological mastery. Even in the most ordinary situations, the right tools could expand the limits of what was possible.

Then, an unexpected obstacle. The robot’s camera captured something massive ahead—a boulder wedged tightly in what appeared to be an entrance. The feed flickered slightly as the robot adjusted its position, the lights casting long shadows across the obstruction. The team exchanged glances. This wasn’t just a random chunk of stone. Its position, its shape—it almost seemed placed.

A quiet realization settled in. Something was behind that boulder, and now they had to find a way past it.

The boulder sat in the robot’s path like a scene straight out of an adventure film—a perfect theatrical blockade that almost felt intentional. The team quickly radioed back to base, reporting the unexpected obstruction. The response came with a mix of skepticism and intrigue.