Dead World

by Lucas Pederson

  “We, um…we found a weak stone in the wall. Then found the gate.”

  Sully claps her on the shoulder. “Correct. So, if everything has a weak spot, where would this thing’s weak spot be? This is what I want you to consider while searching.”

  She wants to hug him, realizing every little exploration was actually a lesson for her. He was teaching her even though she never knew it.

  As the Marines gather around them, Sully says, “Every structure has a weak spot. I want all of you to look for these. If you think you find a weak spot, I want you all to mark it by any means necessary for further inspection.”

  “How will we know what a weak spot looks like?” Gerty gestures at the structure. “I mean, it’s pretty solid, people.”

  Sully says, “A crack. A place where the color of the stone is off from the rest, even just a little bit. Keep an eye out for the slightest flaw.”

  “Also,” Alyx interjects. “Don’t just look at the walls themselves, but everything close to it. An out of place rock pile, or anything that feels odd to you. Mark anything that feels different.”

  Rogers steps forward, narrow face lined with a frown. “And why do we want to get in there, again? You think the artifact might be inside? Because if this is just a fool’s mission for two nerds, then I’m putting a stop to it right now.”

  “I assure you, Captain,” Sully says. “It is important to see what’s behind these walls. Could be exactly what we’re looking for.”

  “But you’re not sure?” Crowe nudges Rogers. “This is bullshit. We should be finding a way out of here.”

  “There’s a way out the way Gerty, Rip and I came,” Alyx says.

  “And I believe we can leave the same way we entered as well,” Sully adds.

  “Through that horror show?” Crowe laughs humorlessly. “Yeah, no thanks. We lost too many through that fucking tunnel.”

  Ever the patient one, Sully says, “Now that we know the creatures are there, we can be prepared.”

  Crowe shakes her head and turns away from him and the group, visibly sulking. Sully isn’t her commanding officer and Alyx is sure she’s having a hard time taking orders from the man. But still, Rogers doesn’t object. He stands there, gun slung over his shoulder, lights trained on the wall.

  “Okay,” Alyx says. “Let’s see what we can see.”

  “Fuck you,” Crowe mutters as she joins Amelia. Alyx watches them walk away. Despite the attitude, both women appear to be inspecting the wall closely.

  “I want you with me,” Sully says to Alyx.

  “Where she goes,” Gerty says, “I go.”

  Rip, Connors, and Rogers glance at each other, shrug almost comically and focus on the wall.

  Leading Gerty and Alyx around the wall, Sully says, “This could be the finding of a lifetime, so be vigilant, dears.”

  Leaning close to Alyx, Gerty whispers, “So he’s your mentor?”

  “Yep.”

  “Makes sense, he’s definitely smarter than you.” Gerty chuckles, patting Alyx’s shoulder.

  Alyx laughs. She can’t help it. The joke wasn’t exactly that funny, but it feels good to laugh.

  Then they’re all inspecting the wall and whatever stands out around the wall. And as they do, Alyx’s heart sinks a bit because the wall is nearly perfect. No flaws. No cracks. Nothing remotely close to the structure besides…

  “Wait,” she says, crouching in front of a softball sized black rock.

  When everything else around is gray stone, the black sticks out. And there’s nothing else like it nearby, as far as she can tell. She touches the black rock, glances at the wall. It’s about two feet from the structure.

  Sully crouches opposite of her, cool gaze on her. “Do you find this of great significance, or shall we mark it and keep moving?”

  “I…I don’t know. Hold on.”

  She runs her fingers around the rock, dust swirling away from her. She brushes more of the dust away and—

  “Found it.”

  Tracing around the bottom of the rock is a paper-thin crevasse.

  Alyx stands, smiles at Sully. “Worth a shot, anyway.”

  Sully, however appears a bit dubious as his gaze drifts from her to the rock. Though he doesn’t say anything.

  “Um, it’s just a rock, Alyx,” Gerty says.

  “Maybe. But…” She stomps onto the black rock as hard as she can.

  It slams into the ground. Dust plumes in all directions. A hollow thunk, and then a line shoots up the wall directly in front of the depressed rock.

  Sully places a hand on her shoulder. “Your skills are surpassing mine, dear. Well done.”

  The line in the wall begins to widen. The ground quakes. A nearby building collapses from the vibration sending a wave of dust over them. It happens so fast, Alyx forgets to secure her mask. Then again, no one else does either.

  Once the dust clears, a large section of the structure opens up. The space is wide enough to fit a cruiser or two through easily. Beyond this opening lies another wall, though this one is darkness. Seemingly so thick not even Alyx or Gerty’s light penetrate. At least not from the outside.

  A dry, musty odor washes out of the opening.

  “Prepare yourselves for what awaits,” Sully says. He turns to Gerty. “Get the others, dear. We’ll wait here for your return.”

  “You better,” Gerty says and runs off to gather the other Marines.

  Once she’s out of earshot, Alyx cocks an eyebrow at Sully. “What do you mean, ‘prepare’, Sully? Is there something inside I should know about?”

  “If I knew what was inside this gargantuan, I wouldn’t be worried. But, do you smell that? That musty, almost meaty stench? Tell me, what smells like that after time?”

  It doesn’t take her long. “A corpse.”

  Sully sighs. “Prepare yourself, dear.”

  Alyx opens her mouth to ask what it is he’s not sharing when the Marines come running.

  “The nerd’s figured it out,” Crowe says and claps Alyx on the back hard enough to hurt.

  Alyx grits her teeth, refraining (barely) from punching the woman in the face.

  Sully stands in front of the opening. “I want you all to stop a moment. What is inside this structure, it might not be pleasant. I want you all to keep your wits about you as we explore. Stay close to each other.”

  “Yes, Dad,” Amelia says.

  Rogers nods toward the wall of darkness inside. “We have a high-density lamp with us. Could use it in there.”

  “That would be terrific, Captain. Thank you.”

  Rogers hurries away to get the lamp. Alyx isn’t so sure it’ll do much good, but it’s worth a shot.

  While everyone is chatting amongst themselves, Alyx notices Sully step away, talking into a slender, silver gadget. Never in all the years she knew him has the man used a voice recorder. But then again, he is older. His memories might not be what they once were. Still…

  She looks away when he stops talking into the thing and drops it into the inside pocket of his jacket. Maybe it’s an old age thing, but she plans on asking him about it later once they’re alone.

  A moment later, the Captain rushes in with the portable lamp. He sets it up just inside the opening.

  “This, ladies and gentlemen, might be what makes our losses worth it,” Sully says and turns to the opening just as Rogers flips on the high-density light.

  And for a moment, Alyx is blind, even standing behind the thing. It’s this bright. She squints against the glare, shielding her eyes with her hand until, finally, her vision adjusts. Compared to the shoulder lights on their gear, this thing is a brilliant glare. Like a spot-light, only fanning out wide to eliminate any shadow within distance, which is about three hundred feet.

  Then Gerty says, “Oh…oh shit…”

  As Alyx steps around the lamp all the blood freezes in her veins. Tiny lumps spread over her skin and a breath snags in her throat like a fish bone. She coughs, clearing the sensation and beside her, Su
lly places a gentle hand on her shoulder.

  “No matter how much we prepare, we can never hold back our horror at the sight of death.”

  She manages to tear her gaze from the scene to the man. “You were right. They gathered here.”

  He nods solemnly.

  Alyx faces the scene, unable to look away now. Her sight fixes on what lay before her.

  The dead sprawl as far as the light touches. Corpses hanging over railings like old cloths. Corpses piled onto the stone floor, hands reaching toward the cavern ceiling, frozen into grasping claws. To Alyx, they are much like those ancient Egyptian mummies from Earth’s past. Minus the wrappings, of course. Their clothing, she supposes serves as their death shrouds. It clings to them in dusty tatters. Each and every one. Being fairly sealed off, the dead didn’t so much decompose, but wither like mummies.

  “What happened to them?” Rip asks, face drawn.

  “That,” Alyx says, “is what we’re going to find out.”

  “I don’t really care what happened. I—wait, do you notice something about them?” Crowe points at the nearest corpse. “Why is this one missing a head?”

  Alyx frowns, moves closer to the dead. She kneels, inspecting another dried-out body. The smell is dank, not pleasant, yet tolerable. This one, its back is ripped wide open and one of its arms has been chewed off. Or at least, that’s the way it appears. She stares at the exposed, gray bones sticking out of the back and shoots a concerned look at Sully. “They were all murdered.”

  But the man shakes his head. “Not murdered. Sacrificed.”

  “Sacrificed to what?” Gerty asks, eyes all wide. “Are you seeing this? They’ve been torn apart.”

  Sully doesn’t respond to her and instead steps through the tangle of corpses toward what Alyx assumes was a pyramid while on the platform above the city. Standing in front of it now, as it looms over her, she realizes it’s not a pyramid, but an octagon with a flat top. Like a symmetrical plateau. It ends a good fifty feet from the top of the walls surrounding it.

  Sully makes his way toward a wide opening in the octagon, or whatever it really is.

  “Should we follow him?” Gerty whispers in Alyx’s ear. “I mean, this is kinda messed up.”

  “I trust him,” Alyx says and carefully works her way through the tangled dead to catch up with Sully.

  The closer she gets, the more she realizes he’s talking to himself.

  Or is he…?

  She reminds herself about the voice recorder, or whatever it really was, Sully spoke into moment ago.

  Alyx can’t tell if that’s what he’s doing now, but it’s the only thing that makes sense right now.

  Sully never talked to himself as far as she knew.

  She shoves it out of her mind as they approach the opening to the octagon building. Here Sully stops and glances at her. His face is full of excitement.

  “This is a shrine.”

  “A shrine?” Alyx surveys the building. “To what, though? And why is everyone torn apart? You said a mass sacrifice, but to what and by what? Sully, if we’re in danger you need to—”

  “Oh, I’m quite sure the danger has passed, dear. But I feel what we seek is inside this.”

  “How do you know, Sully?” Alyx spares a few glances around, finding nothing but the twisted dead. “You haven’t inspected the area.” This is how Sully used to work. He inspected the area around a location, finding clues. It took time. He never fully assumed anything.

  “No need to inspect,” Sully says. “These bodies won’t yield clues. All we have is this.” He waves at the opening of the octagon building.

  Alyx frowns and lets him see it.

  Sully sighs. “Look, dear, my methods are less tedious these days. I’ve learned to get to it rather than inspecting for so long. People have grown impatient.”

  “Since when have you thought about what people think?”

  “Since I needed to pay for my daughter’s treatments.” And when Alyx’s eyes widen, he nods. “She has ALS, my little Miranda. Her treatments will cure her, but they must remain constant. A single break could mean death for her. Yes, I’m working for more money than I used to. Yes, my methods have changed, but all I think about is her. And what kind of father would I be to let my child wither away without at least trying to save her?”

  “Oh, Sully,” Alyx manages. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”

  “And let’s keep it that way. Best you don’t know. And if asked, pretend I never told you.”

  “Huh? What?” Gerty says as she steps beside Alyx.

  Sully smiles. “Nerd talk, dear.”

  Gerty rolls her eyes. “Figures. So, what are we going to do now? If you think I’m going in that thing you’re nuttybars.”

  “You can wait outside,” Alyx says, still trying to really process what Sully told her about his daughter.

  There is a cure for ALS now, but it takes many extensive treatments for it to take hold.

  “Sweet,” Gerty says. “I get to hang with all the dead people.”

  “Either that or the unknown inside,” Alyx says. “Your choice.”

  A long sigh blows out of the girl. “Where you go, I go.”

  Rip moves to Gerty’s side. “And where she goes, so do I.”

  Alyx smiles at them. It warms her heart to know, after everything, they’re still there for her. The news from Sully weighs heavily on her as they face the wide doorway into the octagon. She knew he had a daughter, and by now she’s somewhere in her mid-twenties. Pretty much grown. Ah, but ALS is a withering death. And if you have the money, you can save loved ones from it. If you don’t however, well…

  It all comes down to money, as it always does. As it has for centuries. Money is the devil’s tool, but no one can live without it. Even the hermit needs some form of currency from time to time.

  And as Sully takes the lead entering the dark belly of the octagon, she wonders how much Hunt is paying him for this little venture. And if it’s enough.

  FIFTEEN

  Inside, it’s large enough for her and Sully and all the Marines to fit and walk as a group.

  Gerty and Rip flank Alyx. Behind them, Roger, Crowe and Amelia follow. Private Connors was ordered to remain outside and keep watch. A task the young Marine appeared unsure of. But with Rogers’s order, he has no choice.

  Alyx wishes the boy would’ve disobeyed the order. Leaving someone behind isn’t what she does. Then again, she has no choice in the matter either. She doesn’t have to take orders from Rogers, but she does have to respect the chain of command with the Marines.

  Their boots clomp heavily on the smooth stone floor, echoing down the hall. Inside the octagon, there is no dust. No dirt. And there’s no musty smell. In here, it’s like stepping into a grotto. The air is cool on her sweaty skin and smells faintly of minerals. Along the walls of the hall they tread, spaced every six feet or so, are burnt out torches. She thinks about lighting one of these and later dismisses the idea. They all have their shoulder lamps. The lights are ten times better than any ordinary torch and direct the illumination outward so they can see clearly ahead for a good twenty yards.

  No one speaks as the hall gives way to a massive, round chamber. Lining the walls are large ovals made of stone which protrude from the otherwise smooth walls. There are no descriptions or glyphs etched into, or around them.

  But these are the last thing anyone focuses on. What draws the attention is the single, white stone altar standing at the center of the room like some kind of obscure lynchpin.

  Sully strokes his white beard, frowning at the white altar. On top of the flat surface, there’s a metal cage. Inside the cage rests an object Alyx can’t quite make out from where she stands. Her gaze drifts away from the altar, searching for visual signs of a trap. Because, apparently, traps like to find her.

  As far as she can tell, there are no seams running through the stone floor, or the ceiling. Beside every oval protrusion stands an entrance to what might be tunnels or archways to
other chambers. Eight in all. Other than all this, there’s nothing to her that indicates a possible trap. Though, in her experience, she’s stumbled upon many illusions. What appears as a wall can actually be something far more sinister.

  Still, there’s an odd sensation prickling over her skin and she doesn’t know why.

  “Dr. Wick,” Sully says. “Accompany me, will you?”

  “I don’t know about this,” Alyx says. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

  “Only way to find out, dear, is to find out.”

  Alyx sighs. “You haven’t encountered many traps, have you?”

  Sully chuckles and she follows him to the white altar. The Marines, even Gerty and Rip remain behind. Which is for the best. Too many people around one thing sometimes ends up badly.

  “Remember, keep your wits about you,” Sully says.

  “Right.”

  Inside the cage is the artifact Sully described to her earlier. In the shape of a long octagon. It rests on the altar, about a foot long or so, all shiny black like onyx. The very thing to increase the size of a planet and make it habitable. Yet, looking at it now, she wonders how something so insignificant and small can do those things. Makes no sense. Unless there’s magic involved. Which is possible. Magic, like science, go hand in hand throughout the galaxies.

  God knows she has faced her share of magical objects throughout the years.

  A pain in the ass, every one of them.

  Sully and Alyx stop about two feet from the artifact.

  “This isn’t what General Hunt wants,” Sully says, “but it’s what she’s going to get. I already signed the contract so she has to pay me what I agreed to regardless.”

  “She’s gonna be pissed, though.”

  “Yes,” Sully says and bends, inspecting the metal cage around the octagon artifact. “Cannot be helped.”

  Closer now, Alyx carefully steps around the altar. There’s nothing, as far as she can tell, indicating a trap. Everything appears solid. Even the cage is embedded into the flat surface of the altar.