The journey had been long. So very long. It was just as well that Alec dealt easily with extended periods of waiting - after all, it was a joke shared by militaries across the world: 'hurry up and wait'. He'd long since worked out some strategies to avoid boredom.<br/><br/>Currently he was reviewing the design brief for the Antarctic installation. His team had been designing it for just over a year now, but there were new hurdles to consider with every metre they dug further underground. The work seemed to expand exponentially. The air temperature that deep into the crust would reach around 50 degrees Celcius - mandating heavy-duty cooling equipment to maintain habilitability for any extended time. Which meant the shaft had to be wider to accommodate it, and thus needed more buttressing to avoid rock bursts... and on and on and on.<br/><br/>As far as he knew, the deepest working mine in the world was a hair under 4 kilometres deep, and they wouldn't be far off that. He hadn't asked what the purpose of the shaft was.<br/><br/>His skimming of drafts was interrupted by his MONA informing him of a message.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">I AM THE SEEKER IN THE DARK.  YOU ARE ALEC WYN LLEWELLYN MAJOR.  YOU HEED ME NOT.  SIRRA WILL NOT ACCEPT THEM.  SIRRA WILL END THEM.  END YOUR PLANS.  LEAVE THIS TEMPLE UNDEFILED.  THE AUGURS STIR ALREADY.</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>Alec frowned. Was this a joke? He sat in his cabin, hunched over his MONA, as he tried to decipher it. "'Seeker in the dark' indeed," he muttered to himself. It must be a prank. And yet...<br/><br/>It was interesting the message called him 'Major' - apart from the two people that had come with him from the UK, no one on the plane would know that he was anything other than a consultant for the MoD. The story went - and he maintained - that he was retired.<br/><br/>The little phone deleted the message, a hash of error messages clouding the screen, before it restored its home menu.<br/><br/>He opened a draft message as someone knocked on the door. "One moment," he replied, typing away.<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">Seeker in dark. Called me major. <br/><br/>Look up 'sirra'<br/><br/>Augurs/augers stirring? Could mean drills</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div><br/>He saved the message, the device buzzing with a new notification. He opened the new document as he answered the door to the second knock.<em>Sirra? City of Men?</em>he thought.<em>A city will end... whom?</em><br/><br/>A most elaborate prank, he decided. He tucked the device into his trouser pocket as he looked up to the person at his door. "Sorry about that, yes?"