by Drew Wagar
He pointed at the map where a river delta could be seen.
Zoella looked across. ‘That looks like it.’
‘Sandra,’ Meru asked, poking his finger at the map. ‘Do you any information about this location?’
‘Records indicate waymarker twenty two, forty three is located at that approximate position.’ Sandra’s disembodied voice replied.
‘And what is the designation of that waymarker?’
‘It is designated as the Talon Industries Hydroponics and Factory Farming Facility.’
‘Talon,’ Zoella said. ‘Taloon?’
Zoella and Meru exchanged a look.
‘Your turn,’ Meru said, with a grin.
‘All right, Sandra,’ Zoella asked. ‘What does all that mean?’
‘Hydroponics is a mechanism by which to grow plant based food products in artificial environments primarily to improve productivity. Plants are grown in nutrient solutions as opposed to traditional soil. Factory farming is the process of rearing large numbers of animals for food in confined conditions for minimal production cost.’
‘That’s what I saw,’ Zoella said. ‘Rows upon rows of plants.’
‘I guess we’ve got our destination then,’ Meru said. ‘Sandra, can you navigate us to that waymarker?’
‘Course has been computed. Execute?’
‘Yes.’
‘Time to destination, two stretches.’
Zoella looked out of the windows of the flying machine. Already the thick forests beneath them were making way for grasslands. In the distance ahead she could see the ground was yellow and arid. They were leaving Scallia behind and entering the realms of Taloon.
‘Let’s hope we’re in time.’
It was the early chime of the second stretch. Zoella and Meru had been taking turns at the controls of the flying machine. It had been Zoella’s turn to sleep.
She felt a prod and woke up.
‘We’re getting close,’ Meru said, gesturing out of the windows. ‘We ought to start thinking about setting down; we don’t want to be spotted.’
Zoella rubbed her eyes and sat up.
‘How far away are we?’
Meru pointed at the map on the dashboard of the flying machine. ‘Twenty marks now.’
‘Long way to walk still.’
They both looked out through the windows. Below them was desert, they could see endless dunes of sand stretching as far as the eye could see.
‘Are you sure we’re close?’ Zoella queried.
Meru rubbed his eyes. ‘Yeah, pretty sure. Sandra, can you check how far we are from the waymarker?’
‘Distance is nineteen point four marks, closing on target,’ Sandra replied.
Zoella looked at the map. ‘Meru look, the waymarker isn’t on the coast, it’s inland. The city I saw had a harbour with ships, wherever we’re going … it’s not the same place.’
Meru looked at the map.
‘Looks like the waymarker is about ten marks inland of the coast. Close-ish, but not the same. They must be connected though. Ten marks is a safe distance through, we can’t fly any closer than that, we’ll be seen. When I flew into Viresia I had to land some way away to avoid being spotted.’
‘Shall we land at the waymarker then?’
Meru nodded. ‘Probably a good bet, but let’s be cautious in case there is someone there.’
Half a spell ticked by as they approached the position on the map.
‘There,’ Meru said. ‘Look, I can see the city!’
Tall white spires were just visible before them. They could see the coastline weaving along and disappearing over the horizon. Below them the dunes continued to roll past.
‘Approaching waymarker coordinates,’ Sandra said.
Meru slowed the flying machine down and it began to lose height. They flew over one dune and then crested the rise of another.
‘There!’ Zoella said, pointing to her left. Meru peered across out of the windows.
Below them was a large metal platform jutting up from the sand. One corner was submerged in a dune, but the rest of it seemed to be clear. A little further away was a thin tower that reached up perhaps two hundred hands into the air. Meru circled the flying machine around the platform, but there was no sign of life.
‘I guess we found our spot to land,’ he said, pulling the controls and bringing the flying machine to a stop above the platform. With a deft touch the machine descended. Meru triggered the landing gear as the machine lowered itself.
‘Looks like it was made for this,’ Zoella said, looking around.
With a gentle thud they came to rest in the centre of the platform. Sand billowed up around them for a few moments before Meru cut the engines. With a fading hum the flying machine grew silent.
‘Now what?’ Zoella asked.
‘Let’s take a look around,’ Meru said. ‘It’s still ten marks to the city from here.’
Zoella pulled the door release and stepped out.
She gasped. The heat hit her like a blast, the air humid and close. She’d never felt anything like it before. The air in the machine must have been cooled somehow.
‘It’s so … hot!’ she called.
Meru had walked around from his side.
‘Yeah, really hot,’ he agreed. ‘I don’t think I fancy walking ten marks in this heat even with water.’
‘We’ve got to get to the city somehow, that’s where …’
Meru had already wandered off. Zoella could see that he was looking at a panel that was connected to a railing that ran around the perimeter of the platform at waist height. It looked almost like a tilted desk. It reminded her of the material out of which Caesar was made.
‘Zoella, look at this!’ he called.
She hurried across.
‘It’s some kind of control,’ Meru said. ‘It’s like the ones in Caesar’s hangar. Look, this is definitely the place.’
He touched the surface and a number of symbols appeared, each accompanied by some text.
Talon Industries Hydroponics and Factory Farming Facility – Pad Delta Pad occupied – Class 6 Personnel Shuttle detected.
Level G – Launch pad
Level 1 – Hydroponics Gallery
Level 2 – Maintenance Depot
Please select.
‘Does it mean we can go down?’ Zoella asked, when she finished reading.
‘Only one way to find out,’ Meru said. ‘Gallery or depot?’
‘I want to see the gallery,’ Zoella said.
Meru pressed the symbol next to the gallery text.
A shudder ran through the platform. Sand vibrated and shifted about them, there was faint groan that shuddered through their feet.
The platform began to drop beneath them.
Zoella gasped. Both of them grabbed on to the handrail.
The platform descended, taking them and the flying machine down a huge metal tube of which the platform seemed to have only been the top section. Sand cascaded around the edges as the dunes moved up and out of their sight.
After they had dropped about twenty hands the metal tube ended and the platform emerged into a much wider space. It was dark, only the faintest grey outlines could be seen. Above them another platform like theirs slid across out of the darkness and took the place of theirs, rising up into the vacant slot above. As it did so, the bright light outside was cut off and they were plunged into darkness. The air was chill about them and it smelt old and stale.
‘Meru!’
Zoella grabbed the handrail again.
Not the dark, I hate the dark … ever since being locked in those catacombs in Viresia!
‘It’s all right,’ Meru said from beside her. ‘There are lights we can use in the flying machine …’
There was a buzz from somewhere nearby, followed by a growing hum. Light blazed out of the darkness, blinding them for a moment with its intensity. Above them countless numbers of small lights similar to those in Caesar’s hangar illuminated the ground.
&nb
sp; They blinked and squinted before their vision cleared.
‘Wow,’ Meru said, open mouthed.
Zoella looked, releasing her grip on the handrail.
The platform was still descending, but they could see where they were headed now. Below them, still dozens of hands below, were endless rows of huge metal troughs. In them were what looked like dead branches; the twisted remains of long-dead plants. The troughs were in rows stretching left and right as far as they could see, parallel to each other, disappearing to the limits of vision before them. It was a vast underground vault.
The platform shuddered to a halt as it reached the floor level. The sound echoed around them for long moments before fading. Nothing moved.
Zoella and Meru looked at each other before stepping off and walking to the nearest trough.
It was about six hands wide and two deep. There was a stained residue coating the insides. Within was a mess of dried twigs and branches, long since dead. Above that was a complex collection of metal contraptions and tubes. Everything was coated in a thick layer of dust. Meru reached out and wiped some of the dust away, the tubes were transparent, but there was nothing inside.
Zoella pulled at one of the branches. It cracked and snapped in her hand.
Their footsteps echoed as they walked around, otherwise it was silent.
‘I saw all this, but the plants were alive,’ Zoella said. ‘Green, healthy …’
‘This can’t have been used for rounds and rounds,’ Meru said. ‘Look, it’s as dry as an old bone. No one has been here for a long time.’
‘I know what I saw.’
‘Perhaps there’s another area,’ Meru said. ‘There must be a map, or something which shows us the layout of the place.’
They walked back to the platform, but the panel there was blank. When Meru prodded it, it only provided the same options as before.
‘I think this just goes up and down,’ he said. ‘We need another …’
Zoella had seen something.
‘Over there,’ she said, pointing to the far end of one of the troughs. There was another panel. It was covered in dust too, but they wiped it clean, blowing the excess away. After a moment they were rewarded with it lighting up and more text appearing.
Talon Industries Hydroponics and Factory Farming Facility – Delta Sector Gallery Offline, Maintenance Overdue
– Administration Functions
– Status Monitoring
– Internal Transport
– Schematics
Please select.
‘Which one?’ Zoella demanded.
‘I don’t know what this stuff means,’ Meru said. He pressed the symbol marked ‘Administration Functions’.
Authentication Credentials Required.
Nothing else happened. After a few moments the screen returned to the original set of text.
‘Not that one,’ Meru said. ‘What do you think “schematics” means?’
‘Try it.’
Meru pressed the symbol.
The text faded, being replaced with diagram made of a series of rectangles placed on a set of radiating lines. Each line was like a spoke in a wheel. There were six spokes, with three rectangles on each. The outermost rectangle on the lowest spoke was flashing.
‘This is where we must be,’ Zoella said. ‘I guess this hall is one of …’ she counted. ‘… eighteen.’
She touched the flashing rectangle. More text appeared.
Carousel 3, Hall 4. Status: Offline.
‘Not being used, I guess,’ Meru said. ‘Try some of the others.’
Zoella touched some of the other rectangles. It was apparent that the outermost ring of six rectangles was called ‘Carousel three’. Each hall was numbered sequentially from one to six around the circumference. All were shown to be offline. Carousel two was the same. It wasn’t until she touched the fourth hall on the innermost Carousel one that they saw a change.
Carousel 1, Hall 4. Status: Online.
‘It’s on the same spoke as this one, but further in towards the centre,’ Zoella said. ‘Closer to where the city is?’
Meru nodded. ‘My guess is that the city is above the centre of this map. Looks like that hall is the only one left working.’ He prodded the remaining halls to check. ‘Yes, the only one.’
‘That must be what I saw,’ Zoella said. ‘And the people too … so, how do we get there?’
Meru stepped back and looked down the length of the trough next to them.
‘Goes on as far as we can see,’ Meru said, squinting into the distance. ‘Best guess is that’s a ten mark hike, at least we’re out of the heat though. These halls are just enormous.’
‘Then we’d better start walking …’
‘Wait.’
Meru prodded the panel again, returning them to the original set of text.
‘There’s something about transport here.’ He pressed the symbol.
– Transport Request
– Cancel Transport Request
He pressed the symbol for ‘Transport Request’. The display changed.
Transport arriving in 00:02:00.
As they watched the timer started counting down.
‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ Zoella said.
Meru went back to the flying machine and grabbed the rifle, two lightglasses and a rucksack with food and water. Then he locked up the flying machine and gave Sandra instructions to stay put until they returned.
A faint whirring sound came to his ears. Signalling to Zoella he moved to the next trough along to see a wheeled machine moving up between the rows. Together they watched it drive up close to them, execute a neat turn and stop moving. It lacked a roof, but contained four chairs in two rows and a small panel at the front like the one they had been using. The whole machine sat on four black wheels.
‘Fancy a ride?’ Meru asked with a grin.
The wheeled machine bore them down the corridors at a speed far higher than they could have run.
Its controls were simple, similar to those of the flying machine. It was clear they shared a designer. The flat panel showed them a simple map and they were able to mark their progress on it. Meru checked the panel while Zoella controlled the progress of the vehicle.
After a short interval of driving, they reached the other end of the hall they were in. A set of double doors swung back as they approached and they entered a tunnel with metal lined walls. The air remained stale and dry about them. After perhaps five hundred hands the tunnel ended at another set of doors, which also opened before them. They drove into another hall. Lights flicked on as they entered.
‘I’m guessing we’re in Carousel 2 now,’ Zoella said. ‘Looks the same as the other one.’
‘Offline,’ Meru agreed. ‘Which I guess means not used or broken. Shall we keep going?’
‘Nothing else to do.’
Zoella pushed the controls and the machine moved off.
Progress was the same as before, but they became conscious of the air changing around them. The staleness was being replaced, but with something worse. Zoella wrinkled her nose.
‘Something rotten,’ she said, sniffing.
Ahead of them the corridor between the troughs was becoming littered with unidentifiable debris. Piles of refuse covered the troughs here and there.
‘Rotten vegetables,’ Zoella said. ‘You can’t ever forget that smell!’
‘Slow down,’ Meru said. ‘Let’s have a look.’
‘Really?’
‘Rotten food means it must be relatively recent,’ Meru said. ‘Someone, or something put it there.’
Zoella brought the machine to a halt and they got out, looking about them. The stench was increasing, the floor damp with fetid water.
‘Tupes and corcans,’ Meru said, prodding one pile with his foot. ‘Some melps too.’
‘All dumped within the pass,’ Zoella said. ‘Judging by the smell …’
She jolted, a vision flashing across her mind. The face of the girl with
the white face and pink eyes.
‘Zoella?’
‘Whoever, they are, they’re close,’ Zoella whispered. ‘I can feel them …’
Meru grabbed the rifle and loaded it.
‘I don’t think they mean us any harm.’
‘Best to be safe,’ Meru replied. ‘Let’s keep moving.’
Zoella nodded and they climbed back aboard, now driving around the piles of rotting vegetables. Before long they reached yet another pair of double doors. The area was in semi-regular use as a dumping ground. The marks of footsteps and other wheeled vehicles were visible in a thick layer of mud that now coated the floor.
The door opened and they drove into the next tunnel.
It was clear that something was different up ahead. There was a distinct glow coming from the doors before them, a bright green colouration that reflected off the walls of the tunnel. They approached a final set of doors and they opened.
Zoella brought the machine to halt as they emerged.
‘Wow.’
Unlike the previous two halls, here the troughs were full of bright green foliage. Plants of all different types were suspended in the troughs, the machinery above humming with purpose. They could see fluids bubbling and moving around in the tubes, which were clean and untarnished. Flits and nargs buzzed about them alongside other small flying insects neither of them recognised. Also visible were massive mirrors that were shaped to cast the light of Lacaille down across the plants. They could make out a complex arrangement that stretched away into the distance, the beams of light glowing amber in the air.
‘This is what I saw,’ Zoella said, looking about her in wonder.
‘Growing plants underground,’ Meru said. ‘I guess it’s too hot to do it on the surface, but down here it can all be controlled. But this is the ancients’ work, there’s no way that …’
They were interrupted by movement, but when they turned there was nothing to see. They heard a scurrying of feet from somewhere nearby. Meru hoisted the rifle.
‘No wait.’ Zoella held out her hand.
Small figures emerged from between the rows of troughs, they were dressed in dirty white smocks, their bare arms and legs dirty, their hair unkempt. All had pale skin under the dirt, with cropped white hair. All had pink eyes.
