by Tom Hoffman
“A6 Warrior Rabbitons? How could that be? The war ended fifteen hundred years ago. I don’t understand what we’re watching. We can’t touch the ship and the Rabbitons and warriors can’t see or touch us. Sophia, could you tell what kind of creatures the warriors were?”
“Anarkkians. They have long green tusks and scales. They were definitely Anarkkian troopers and it appears they were running away from a group of A6 Warrior Rabbitons. I wonder if they’re really even here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we can’t touch the ship, we can barely even see it. I’m not sure it’s in this world. I’m not sure the Rabbitons or the Anarkkians are here either.” Sophia put her paws over her ears. Her jaw was moving slowly back and forth. “I’m trying to remember... there was something in one of Papa’s books about the Mintarians. What was that...”
“The Mintarians? Who are the Mintarians?”
“They were a nonviolent race of creatures who fought in the war against the Anarkkians.”
“How could they fight if they were nonviolent?”
“The same way the Metaphysical Adventurers do, Orville. They used very effective non-lethal methods. Especially–” Sophia’s eyes opened wide. “That’s it! You’re brilliant, Orville! I know exactly what is happening here!” Sophia put her arms around Orville and gave him a great hug. “Proto! I need your help. We have to search the surface of the mesa for a blue iridescent sphere. It will be small, no larger than four or five inches in diameter. We have to find it. It might be our ticket off this mesa.”
Proto looked at Orville, then at Sophia. “You do realize the top of this mesa covers over a hundred square miles?”
“You’re right. Let me think. Can you use the glowbird’s special vision? The advanced optical system it uses for spying?”
“I suppose so, but even with that it would take weeks to search such a large area for a tiny sphere.”
“Sophia, would the blue sphere we’re looking for produce an electrical field?”
“Brilliant idea! What would I do without you?” Sophia reached into her pack and pulled out the Quintarian tracking goggles. She slipped them on and waved Orville forward. “Let’s go! We have to find that sphere.”
After walking for nearly an hour toward the center of the mesa Sophia spotted a small glowing light in the distance. “I see something. It’s not moving. This could be it.”
Fifteen minutes later Sophia was standing over a blue sphere the size of a small orange which was emitting a pale pink light. “Do not touch it! Nobody touch it!”
“What is it?”
“A Mintarian weapon, and it’s still active.”
“Do you think it might explode?” Proto was slowly backing away from the sphere.
“No, that’s not how it works, Proto. It’s called a Time Looper. Most of the weapons used by the Mintarians manipulated time. They never killed anyone, but sometimes I think what they did was worse. Mostly they used a weapon called a time throttle. They had big ones and little ones. If a world was causing them trouble, the Mintarians would drop a time throttle on it. The inhabitants of the planet wouldn’t notice any change, but time on the planet slowed to a crawl. It’s hard to cause any serious trouble when it takes you a thousand years to put your boots on. Life went on as usual on the planet, but they were no longer a threat to anyone.”
“That’s unbelievable. They really did that?”
“They did. They even had megalithic time throttles which could shut down entire galaxies. This is different, though. It’s called a Time Looper. Time progresses normally for short while, but then it loops. It starts over again from the moment the looper was dropped. Those Anarkkians we’re seeing have run to that ship countless millions of times over the last fifteen hundred years. I imagine a Mintarian scout ship saw them down there and dropped a looper on them.”
Sophia gingerly picked up the Time Looper, placing it carefully in her backpack. “Let’s go back to their ship. I want to see if I can stop the time loop.”
Orville and Sophia made their way back to the ghostly Anarkkian cruiser. When they were almost there Orville gave a shriek as several dozen Anarkkian warriors ran right through them, heading up the ramp into their ghost ship.
“That was creepy. Now I understand what Gnorli was talking about.”
Five minutes later Sophia was sitting on the ground holding the looper gingerly in her paws. She looked at Orville nervously. “If I do this wrong... if... well, we could be caught in a time loop. We could be here forever.”
“Sophia, you’re the most brilliant mouse I know. I know you can do it. Besides, there’s no one else I’d rather be trapped in a time loop with than you.”
“Thanks. Just don’t say anything dumb that I might have to listen to a hundred million times. All right, here goes. Keep your eyes on the ship.”
Sophia gently twisted off the top half of the blue sphere. Inside the looper was a small panel containing six colored tabs. “Orville, put on the tracker goggles and tell me what you see here.”
Orville slipped on the goggles and examined the looper. “Four of the tabs are glowing orange and two are not. The two blue tabs are not glowing.”
“Good, that’s what I thought. This is good. I think I have it. Watch the ship and tell me when all the Anarkkians are inside it.”
Orville waited nervously, his eyes searching for the group of Anarkkian warriors. Finally he spotted them running toward the ship and shooting beams of light at the A6 Warriors behind them. He watched as the ramp dropped down and the warriors dashed up into the ship. “They’re inside the ship!”
Sophia took a deep breath and simultaneously pushed down both blue tabs.
Orville was watching when the Anarkkian Attack Cruiser burst into this world, transforming from a ghostly spectre to a magnificent gleaming silver leviathan. The noise of the ship’s propulsion unit was deafening, shaking the ground around them. The warriors were shouting, firing a fusillade of blinding vaporizer beams at the rapidly approaching A6 Warrior Rabbitons. The front row of the A6s held out their right arms, their fists glowing with a brilliant purple radiance. A split second later intensely concentrated beams of purple light sizzled through the air, smashing into the side of the attack ship, only to be repelled by its powerful energy shields. The ship glowed brightly and went silent as its gravitational disrupters came online. It rose into the air, slowly circling above the group of A6 Warrior Rabbitons. With a dreadful shrieking whine a dozen focused beams of dazzling orange light blasted out from the bow of the ship toward the A6 Warriors. There was a sudden and terrible silence. Without warning the Anarkkian Attack Cruiser and the group of A6 Warrior Rabbitons simply vanished.
Orville stared blankly at the silent, empty landscape. “What happened? Where did they go?”
Sophia stood up, carefully reuniting the two halves of the Time Looper. “They’re back where they belong, Orville, fighting a battle that ended fifteen hundred years ago. They won’t even realize what happened. They won’t know they were caught in the Mintarian time loop for fifteen hundred years.” Sophia placed the Time Looper gently in her pack and headed out across the mesa. “Let’s go, we need to find where those A6 Warrior Rabbitons landed. If we’re very, very lucky they may have left us a way off this mesa.”
Chapter 23
The Door
Orville and Sophia trudged along the broad rocky plains that formed the upper surface of the mesa, their eyes scanning the area for any sign of the A6 Warriors’ landing site.
“Hey, Sophia, the mountains surrounding Muridaan Falls aren’t as tall as this mesa and they’re almost always covered in snow. Why do you think this mesa isn’t covered in snow? It’s a little bit cooler than it is down in the forest, but not by much.”
“You really are good at finding puzzles. I hadn’t even thought about that. I’d say that Periculum more than likely has a much thicker atmosphere than Earth does. Think of the atmosphere that surrounds a planet as a big warm blanket. If the blank
et is really thick and heavy, the planet stays toasty warm. If it’s thin and light, the planet is freezing cold. That’s also why the creatures here on Periculum are bigger than the ones on Earth. It’s warmer and there’s a lot more oxygen in the air.”
“Oh, that makes sense. Did you learn that in your science classes on Quintari?”
“I learned a lot of it there, but I also read a lot, and Papa taught me almost everything I know about the old technologies. He was an expert on them and studied the ancient tech his whole life. He even wrote four books about it. He always made it sound so interesting and would bring home old tech artifacts to show me. Once he even brought home a vape gun and let me shoot it.”
“A vape gun? What’s that?”
“That’s short for vaporizing gun. It shoots out some kind of heavy particle beam that disrupts matter and turns it into energy fields. Kind of like when I convert a physical object into a thought cloud except you don’t need to be a shaper to shoot a vape gun.”
“Oh. Maybe we’ll find one when we find the A6 Warrior Rabbitons’ scout ship.”
“Maybe. I’m not exactly sure how those A6 Warriors arrived on the mesa. I really hope they didn’t just get dropped off by a troop transport vessel.”
“We should try the tracker goggles. Maybe we’ll spot something.”
“Good idea.” Sophia pulled the goggles out of her pack and slipped them on, adjusted the small brass dial, and swept her gaze across the mesa.
“That’s it, Orville! I’m picking up a strong energy field almost straight ahead of us, behind those big slabs of jutting rock. Hey, Proto, fly down there and tell us what you see.”
Proto gave an excited squawk. “Excellent idea, Sophia. Who knows what manner of fiendish creature might be lurking behind those rocks, just waiting to devour us.”
Proto shot off across the barren landscape and disappeared behind the huge rocky outcropping. Moments later he was streaking back toward them. He made a quick barrel roll and skidded to a halt on the ground in front of Sophia.
“No deadly creatures, I’m afraid, but there is a rather mysterious and onerous looking trapdoor that appears to lead down inside the mesa. I suppose there could be dozens of horrible creatures skulking about down there, snarling and snapping.”
“You forgot to mention their fangs, Proto.”
“Oh, most certainly they would be equipped with dreadful poisonous fangs, not to mention long, razor sharp claws. Quite terrifying!”
Orville laughed. “I think you might be curing me of my fainting episodes, Proto. The creatures you describe are so horrifically frightening that when a real creature shows its face it will probably seem about as scary as a newborn mouseling.”
“I’m so pleased I was able to help you. I only hope the creatures in the Senyph Ocean aren’t as dreadful as the Gnorli bird suggested. He seemed to become rather distraught just at the mention of them. They sound quite hideous.”
“Unnh... thanks, Proto. Sophia, what do you think, should we take a look at Proto’s terrifying trapdoor?”
“Absolutely. We even might find some sort of passageway which would take us down to the base of the mesa.”
“That’s a good thought.”
Proto’s mysterious trapdoor proved to be an eight foot square, heavily armored slab made of pure Morsennium with no obvious means of entry.
Sophia frowned. “How do we open it? There’s no disc grid on it like there was on the front door of the Cube.”
“Can you blast a hole in it with shaping energy?”
“It’s made of Morsennium and I’m quite certain that absorbs shaping energy. I’ll try though.” Sophia stood back and shot out a blast of purple light from her paw. The trapdoor glowed brightly for a moment, but was ultimately unaffected by Sophia’s powerful beam of light.
“Nothing. It glows when it absorbs the shaping energy, but it would take a particle fusion beam to blast through it. It’s stronger than the rock that surrounds it.”
“Oh. Wait, I know! How about we just knock on the door and one of Proto’s scary friends will open it for us?” Orville gave a wide grin and rapped loudly on the door.
Sophia was rolling her eyes when they heard the soft mellifluous voice coming from the door.
“I’m sorry, this door is for emergency use only. I’m sorry, this door is for emergency use only. Please use the main entrance. Thank you for your cooperation.”
The two adventurers gaped at each other.
Sophia rapped loudly on the door again.
“Hello, door. Where is the main entrance, please?”
“I’m sorry, the main entrance is currently undergoing routine maintenance. Please use the emergency entrance. I’m sorry, the main entrance is current undergoing routine maintenance. Please use the emergency entrance.”
Orville rapped on the door again. “If we can’t use the main entrance, would you mind opening this emergency entrance for us?”
“I’m sorry, this door is for emergency use only. I’m sorry, this door is for emergency use only. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Sophia stood up, took a deep breath, then shrieked as loudly as she could, “Emergency! Emergency!! This is a dire emergency! We’re being attacked by hundreds of Anarkkians! Open this door right now! Emergency! They’re shooting deadly vape guns at us!!”
The huge Morsennium door made a slight whirring noise and slid smoothly open. Orville grinned at Sophia, then peered down into the square shaft. “There’s a big metal ladder and lots of lights. It goes down about a hundred feet or so.”
The soft sultry voice spoke again. “In the event of an emergency, please use the ladder to enter Norrich Bunker. In the event of an emergency, please use the ladder to enter Norrich Bunker. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Orville snickered. “You should learn how to talk like that, Sophia.”
Sophia curled her lip at Orville. “Eeww, you make me sick. Down the ladder, before I throw you down.”
Orville snickered again, gingerly backing down onto the wide metal ladder. “Creekers, these rungs are really far apart. Whoever used this ladder must have been tall.”
“I’m guessing this is one of the bunkers the Elders built during the war. Now that I think about it, it’s also more than likely where the A6 Warriors came from.”
“Do you think there might still be any of them down there? They looked kind of scary.”
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough. What I’m really hoping for is an elevator that goes to the bottom of the mesa.”
Orville stepped off the final rung onto a dark green metallic floor, turning toward a twelve foot tall arched entryway. Sophia hopped down from the ladder and peered in through the archway. Orville heard the trapdoor above them slide shut.
“It looks like a cloakroom or something. There’s a bunch of big coats hanging on hooks with boots sitting under them.”
“Those coats are enormous. How tall were the Elders anyway?”
“They were the same size as Proto, about ten feet tall.”
“Oh, look, there’s a door over there. I’ll knock on it and see what happens.” Orville stepped across the room to a tall, pale green rectangular panel. He rapped loudly on the door. “Hello, door! Open, please!”
“Please insert your Military Identification Card now. Failure to do so within one minute will result in your immediate vaporization. Thank you, and welcome to Norrich Bunker.”
Orville skittered backwards. “What?? What did it say? It’s going to vaporize us?”
Sophia’s mind was racing. “The coats! Check all the pockets for an identification card!” Sophia darted over to the long row of hanging coats and began rifling through the large flapped pockets. “Hurry, help me look!”
Orville dashed over and jammed his paw into a coat. “I’ve got something! It feels like a card!” Orville yanked out a slender translucent rectangle. “I think it’s made of glass, or something like that. I guess it could be–”
“Orville!! Hold the
card up in front of the door!”
Orville raced over to the door and held up the pale yellow card. “Here’s my card, door.”
“Please insert your Military Identification Card into the slot within fifteen seconds. You are now facing imminent vaporization. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Orville gave a shriek. “Slot! Slot!” He spotted a narrow four inch opening next to the door with several incomprehensible symbols above it. He jammed the card into the slot.
“Thank you, Senior Mechanist Bletchley Rabbit. Welcome to Norrich Bunker. Please report immediately to the Order Room. You have one new message.”
The green door slid open with a loud hiss, revealing a vast shadowy room extending fifty feet in either direction. Orville squinted into the gloomy depths, then sent in a brilliant orb of light. He eyes scanned across dozens of dark blue chairs scattered across the floor and came to rest on a long gray metallic counter at the far end of the room, an odd flickering light emanating from behind it. Bright overhead lights blinked on as Orville entered the room.
“Kind of stark and bare, isn’t it?”
Sophia nodded. “It definitely has that military bunker look to it. Do you think this room is the Order Room the weird voice was talking about?”
“I have no idea. Let’s see what that flickering light is.” Orville and Sophia wove their way through the maze of blue chairs to the other side of the room.
“I can’t see what it is, the counter is too high.”
“Here, stand on this.” Sophia slid one of the chairs next to the counter and Orville hopped up onto it. “Creekers! The flickering light looks like a rabbit, but it’s kind of creepy and ghosty looking.”
Sophia jumped up on the chair for a look. She saw the wavering image of a tall rabbit in a military uniform standing at attention, paws behind his back. “I think that’s a holo image, Orville. It’s not a real rabbit, but we might be able to talk to it. It probably has engineered intelligence. Sophia waved to the flickering figure. “Hello, there! Can you tell us if there is an elevator that goes down to the base of the mesa?”
