by K. T. Tomb
“I was supposed to be meeting some new recruits. We both were. Not that it matters now.”
She got in his face. “I don’t believe you, you little shit! I think maybe the only truth either of you have told us is that you never made it this far. I think you want us to find the way out for you.”
Jeremy’s eyes turned black as his anger bubbled to the surface. He stood up and approached her. “I don’t give a shit what you and your henchmen think! This is where we are and this is where we’ll stay!”
Phoe looked back up the stairs that went nowhere. “Did you know the task challenge right away?”
He turned away from her and sat down again. “Of course. When it comes to Thor, I know almost all of what I need to know. But if you look around you, there is nothing here that I can use my knowledge on.”
“Hmmm. You may be right,” she said thoughtfully. “Then we just have to look for something else.”
The Americans searched the entire room for almost half an hour, to no avail. Meanwhile the Norwegians watched, wearing wan smiles.
There must be something we’re missing. Phoe moved up closer to Peter and tried to keep her voice low so only he would hear her. “The room is a puzzle. We’re looking at it wrong.”
“What do you mean, Phoe?”
“Think about it. There is absolutely nothing extra in this room except for what?”
“Us?”
“I actually thought of that first, but we don’t seem to have an affect on the room. If it were the case, don’t you think we’d be out by now?”
“Okay,” he said, no longer whispering. Even she could see the other three occupant’s eyes were locked on the pair as they conversed. “So...you’re saying we need to find something that maybe wasn’t in here before, but now it is, even though it could apply to us; but it doesn’t because we would be out of here by now if it did? Oh, Phoe, now my head hurts.”
“I know it sounds crazy, but...” Phoe stopped in mid-sentence as she stared at the top two or three stone stairs nearest the ceiling. She glimpsed the sand that came down from the upper level. It couldn’t be that easy.
She walked back to Jeremy. “How did you get here before us?”
“You saw me leave in a speed boat. I had a head start. Then you saw me in the parking lot upstairs.”
“No. I’m talking about how you beat us here. You beat us to Fritzlar and we were in a jet.”
Of course, it took twelve hours to reach the jet, from Hammerfest to Oslo. But her gut instinct told her she was on the right track. So did the guilty look in Jeremy’s and Francis’s eyes.
Jeremy refused to look her in the eyes any longer.
She persisted, “What about what happened in the Chosen’s computer lab? The laptop was destroyed with electricity. It may have even been a lightning bolt.”
Jeremy looked up in surprise. “A lightning bolt is a silly thing to have in a computer lab. How could it get there?”
“That’s what I’m asking you. I know how to get us out of here. If you answer both of my questions truthfully, then I will get us all out of here. If you don’t, then we will suffocate together. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s getting harder to breathe.”
Peter and Jonathan nodded approvingly.
Jeremy looked at all three of them and then back at Phoe.
“We call it Thor’s Thunder,” he said. “I created it by mistake. It was designed from an ordinary Taser. As you probably know, there are known deaths caused by Tasers used against humans. They are diagnosed with something called ‘excited delirium.’ This is when the body experiences several side effects from being tased, such as psychomotor agitation, anxiety, elevated body temperature, increased strength and more. It is most common in males with a history of mental illness. Anyway, think of that kind of response, except with anything electrical in nature.”
“You’re a scientist?” asked Peter, his brow furrowed, obviously struggling to put the asshole and scholar together as one person.
“Somewhat, yes. I have redesigned the Taser to only harm electrical devices. When Thor’s Thunder is pressed against anything that needs electricity, the juice not only is able to go into any circuit that it has access to via the initial contact, but the charge actually builds in power and absorbs the energy as it travels to complete the circuit. The electricity gives it more power with every circuit it goes through. Once the circuit is complete, it reaches a critical state and can no longer contain the power it has absorbed. It then not only destroys the last item it goes into, but the resulting feedback causes everything it had gone through to short out with an even distribution. You can’t find the point of origin. Once activated, the only way it can be stopped is if you disconnect the next thing in its path to prevent the circuit from being completed. Everything that it had gone through up to that point would still be fried. Do you follow me?”
Jonathan couldn’t contain his excitement. “That’s frigging amazing!”
“You can even leave after you have placed the initial charge,” added Jeremy.
Phoe was impressed, but she refused to let Jeremy see it. “Okay. That may explain the computer lab, but what about being able to beat us here?”
“I can only assume that whatever jet you may use...mine’s faster.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to call it ‘Thor’s Lightning’?”
“I suppose, but I like the way ‘Thor’s Thunder’ sounds.”
Chapter Twenty Six
The air became staler and everyone could tell the oxygen was getting scarce at an alarming rate.
Despite being cool when they first arrived, the temperature had steadily risen since being locked in the small room together. Everyone was dripping with sweat.
Phoe climbed the stairs, smiling as she reached where the sand seeped in. She pushed off as much sand as she could. Some of it stuck to her sweaty hands. She made sure to get as much sand on her hands as possible while also cleaning off all of the sand she could see before her.
When finished, she jumped down to the sandy floor.
Jeremy glared at her defiantly. “That was your plan? To add more sand to the sand on the floor? I’m glad that I told you about Thor’s Thunder. I can now die in peace.”
“Maybe I waited because I wanted to make sure that what you told me wasn’t bullshit. But you’re telling me the truth. One more thing....Show me Thor’s Thunder.”
Jeremy proudly pulled out a small device that resembled a Taser that had been tied around his ankle, and obviously missed by Peter’s frisk. He placed it against the skin of his arm and triggered it. It emitted a small spark that didn’t harm him, even with the sweat on his arm. “See? Harmless to humans.”
Phoe took her hands covered in sand and sweat and fiound a random starting point at the base of the wall. She placed one hand in the sand as deep as it would go while keeping her other hand in contact with the wall. Her palm was flush against the wall as she started to follow it. Finding it difficult to keep her balance, she continued this exercise until a rumbling sound emanated from the portion of the wall that she’d just passed. Peter and Jonathan looked on in amazement as one part of the wall descended into the floor, exposing not only a cool rush of air and oxygen, but another corridor.
Jeremy and Francis were just as amazed. “How? How did you do that?”
“You shared your secret. I’ll share mine. One thing about basic physics is, you never overlook the obvious. There were no symbols, no riddles, nothing to tell us what to do. You knew that Thor had to accomplish three tasks when you came upon the statue from upstairs. You answered the puzzle quickly, so that you never had the sand fall from the ceiling like Jonathan and I did. The sand didn’t start falling until I approached the statue, which told me that we needed teamwork to solve the puzzle, because it was only after both of us approached the statue that the sand poured out. This is a weights and measurement puzzle. I don’t know how whoever built this managed to get everything so precise, but they did something so that any extra sa
nd placed in the right place would trigger the next door. The sand had something to do with our freedom. It was easy to overlook the obvious, because in this case, the obvious made no sense.”
They nodded thoughtfully while Peter approached the new doorway.
“We have to be especially careful from here on out,” he advised. “We have no idea what’s next.”
Jeremy stood and headed for the doorway. “The least I can do is take point since you saved all of our lives.” He carefully headed into the new corridor.
Jonathan followed Jeremy as Peter paused to speak with Phoe, whispering his message so that no one else could hear him. “Nice story. Do you really believe that’s what happened?”
“I don’t know, Peter. All I know is I had to try something. I admit to being desperate. I had no idea my experiment would work. But since it did, I needed to make Riddick think it was my plan all along. I was scared to death. I don’t like being down here, but I dislike something else even more.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t like not knowing what’s next.”
Chapter Twenty Seven
Jeremy put one foot on the sandy bed of the corridor.
He breathed easier when his foot triggered nothing but an impression in the sand. The two-meters wide corridor led to another wooden door at the end, about fifteen meters away. A swastika graced the door with an engraving of Mjölnir tilted slightly in the middle of it. Along each wall were three small rectangular alcoves. Each appeared to be a mirror image of the one across from it, except for the fact that they each had a different object inside. Starting on the left, the objects were a fox fur, an antique bottle, and an old carpenter’s hammer. On the right side, the objects consisted of an old belt, a clay wing, and an old wedding veil.
He watched everyone else looking carefully at every object without touching anything. Phoe also seemed interested in the wooden door.
“It appears there is another riddle. The obvious thing would be to get the hammer as part of the puzzle,” he suggested.
“No, I don’t think so,” she said. “For one thing, a carpenter’s hammer and the Hammer of Thor are two different animals.” Phoe examined the hammer in the alcove. “Any ideas, other than the hammer? Anyone?”
Peter shook his head, for the moment focused on the ceiling. “I, for one, would like to know where the air in here is coming from. Not that I’m ungrateful, mind you. Also, it appears the wall behind us has closed without much noise.”
Phoe spun around in alarm and gasped to see it was true. She saw what Jeremy knew all along: They cannot go back.
Jonathan examined the floor around the wooden door. “I would love to know how the builders navigated around the underground sewer system to avoid detection. It must have taken a real long time. To reroute the path around it.”
Jonathan flinched as Jeremy responded aggressively. “The sewer system came later.”
Phoe upbraided Jeremy, eyeing him suspiciously. “It’s amazing how much you know about the construction of this place and yet, you had no idea how to get past the obstructions; some of which were easy puzzles if you had studied them.”
“What, you still don’t trust me?”
“Maybe I trust you...maybe not. But I have an idea you’re ready for more of what’s to come than we are.”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Jeremy’s mimic was followed by a wry smile. He presently studied the bottle of water. “I think we should see which of these items is directly related to the thunder god. The fur could resemble Thor’s raiment. The hammer could be there to throw us off, because it is not the same as Mjölnir.”
“Right. We can eliminate that.” Phoe looked at the belt. “This belt could represent the Belt of Strength, but I believe it should be categorized the same as the Hammer.”
“Agreed.” Jeremy moved on to the clay wing. “This is interesting. I know the mythos of Thor and would be hard-pressed to accept this as anything but an attempt to steer us from the true goal.”
Peter laughed while looking at the wedding veil. “What about this? Thor wasn’t married, was he?”
Phoe smiled. “Yes he was. Well, in myth, anyway. He was married to Sif and, if I’m not mistaken, they had a couple of sons. The wedding veil could actually represent one of two instances in Thor’s life. The marriage to Sif or the time he disguised himself as a bride to retrieve his hammer.”
Jeremy was impressed with Phoe’s knowledge of the mythological God of Thunder. “I would go with the story of him disguising himself as a bride, because it makes more sense in the context of the kind of riddles we’ve been getting.”
Peter looked relieved. “Well, at least this doesn’t appear to be one of those timed puzzles.”
“Jonathan, you previously mentioned something about a labyrinth,” said Phoe. “I’ve seen everything but a maze, so far.”
“I don’t know, Ms. Phoenix. Maybe we haven’t hit it yet.”
“That’s promising. You mean, this could get worse?” Peter looked more pensive than he sounded, as he headed toward the wooden door.
“I’m sure this is just the beginning,” said Phoe. “Wouldn’t you agree, Mr. Riddick?”
“I would agree.” Jeremy felt that Phoe was trying to push him into revealing what he hadn’t shared yet. She is incredibly intuitive! But he had played this game before and he had never been broken. Never a loss. Ever since he could remember, he would only reveal what he deemed necessary to gain the trust of those around him. “Should we discount the clay wing?”
Phoe looked closely at the artifact. She didn’t seem that impressed by the clever reproduction. “I wouldn’t discount anything yet. Is there anything in the bottle?”
Jonathan picked up the bottle and emptied it out in the sand. A small garden snake came out and slithered under the door.
Jeremy froze in his tracks. He tried to pretend it meant nothing, and he coyly studied Phoe and Peter’s reactions to see if they recognized the significance of the snake.
“I believe this represents the Midgard Serpent,” she said, “a creature of unbelievable size and strength. Midgard is the term used for the place where the humans dwell or Earth, as we like to call it. During Ragnarok, or the Norse version of Armageddon, Thor is supposed to battle the Midgard Serpent in a fight to their deaths.”
Phoe took the bottle from Jonathan. “So, the bottle represents the Midgard Serpent who just slithered under the door. The fur represents the fur that Thor wore. The clay wing has to symbolize the Valkyrie-like wings that some Vikings had on their battle helmets. I believe, depending upon which source you believe, that Thor wore a helmet with wings on it. The belt symbolizes the Belt of Strength. The hammer is a cheap knock-off of Mjölnir and the wedding veil symbolizes the time Thor was disguised as a bride. That’s what we have, which isn’t much.”
Peter’s eyes lit up with a revelation. “What’s the one thing they all have in common?”
Jonathan looked perplexed. “They all belong to Thor?”
“No. They are all cheap representations of things from Thor’s life!” Phoe seemed impressed with her answer.
Damn it, getting closer!
Jeremy stepped over to the veil. “All of them may represent Thor’s life, but this represents Thor’s deceit!”
He picked up the veil and placed it over his head then suddenly ran toward the door. Before anyone could react, Jeremy passed through the door as if he were a ghost. He laughed at the thought of everyone else standing in shock, and maybe dire fear as a new slight rumbling moves through the corridor. He can hear the other five alcoves receding back into the wall. Where there were five alcoves, now were five passageways leading out of the corridor. Ha! But which one to take? Don’t tell them, Francis!
* * *
“Well, that sucks.” Phoe gazed into each passageway, following her flashlight’s beam. “There you go, Jonathan. There’s your labyrinth.”
“Cool.” Jonathan seemed oblivious to the potential danger with which they are now fac
ed. The dilemma of splitting up the group had now become all too real.
“Who is going to take Francis, or should we just leave him?”
“He’s the one that will lead us back to Jeremy, and our escape,” said Phoe. “You guys guard him, and we will have to explore these options one at a time.”
“What do you make of the wedding veil as a device that lets the wearer pass through walls?” Peter asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Phoe said. “It defies physics.”
“Which one should we take first?” Jonathan sounded ready to move on, and a bit miffed at Jeremy. Understandably so.
Before a decision was reached as to which passageway they should take, a distant thud resounded from the first passageway to their left. Peter listened at the entrance to clarify what could be making the sound. A loud growl echoed toward him
“What was that?!” Jonathan asked, his voice trembling.
Peter stepped into the passageway next to it, perhaps looking for a way to surprise whatever was moving through the one passage. However, as soon as he moved into the passageway, which had once held the hammer as an alcove, it returned to its original size and position. Worse, no one could follow after him.
“Shit, Peter!” Phoe was repelled backward. “Jonathan, you stay with me!”
“I’m not going anywhere alone! I’m with you, Ms. Phoenix! But what about him?” he pointed at Francis, who seemed just as shaken.
“Please don’t leave me here—I will help you in any way I can!” The Norwegian pleaded.
The sound of whatever lurked in the first passageway sounded like it was getting closer. Panicked, Phoe moved to the other side of the corridor, testing passageways until they hit the one that had contained the clay wing. As soon as they entered, a wall appeared behind them where the opening was a moment before. They heard light cries for help from Francis on the other side
“We can’t go back,” said Phoe, pulling on his sleeve. “Stay with me and don’t slow down, Jonathan! Let’s move now!”
