The Ruins of Arlandia Complete Series

by William Wood

  Once they were in the atmosphere, Calvin took them down to the site. All of the ship’s statuses were on the glass window in front of him, including his course and speed. There was a small triangle, which told him where he needed to go. He simply followed it down to the ground. Calvin felt more comfortable sitting in the pilot’s chair, more confident. The controls felt more familiar now.

  Calvin stopped the shuttle a few feet above the ground, and he hovered in preparation for landing. Then he cut engine power. Unfortunately he wasn’t as close to the ground as he thought he was. The shuttle hit the ground with a hard bump. He looked over at Astra, and he was grateful that she didn’t say anything. Calvin looked up and took a deep breath. The entrance to the tunnel was visible directly in front of them.

  It took them ten minutes to put on their suits. After they were dressed they checked each other to make sure everything was hooked up correctly, paying special attention to the heaters and oxygen. Calvin grabbed a pack and put it on Astra’s back. She did the same for him. Calvin walked to the backdoor and opened it. A purple force field covered the backdoor before it started opening. The door opened from the top to the bottom, laying down flat on the ground, providing a ramp for them to walk down.

  The suits were bulky and forced them to walk slowly down the ramp and onto the ice. Once they were out, Astra closed the door using a set of controls on the arm of her suit. The two of them turned and faced each other. Calvin pulled a plastic wire out of a special pocket of his suit and connected it to Astra’s suit. Then he pulled out a little extra to give them some slack. If she slipped and fell he wanted to be able to stop her from sliding down out of control. They turned and walked across the ice toward the tunnel entrance. There was a thin layer of powder on the top of the ice that looked almost like snow, which crunched loudly with each step. They could see Ion’s footprints and slide tracks from the drill on the ground.

  Calvin looked up into the sky. He wasn’t used to the suit, and when he leaned back the helmet was so heavy he almost lost his balance. The sun was shining in the sky, but it was very small. The light wasn’t very bright. The area around them was dimly lit. Their suits’ sensors detected the low light level and automatically turned on the lights that were in their helmets. The area immediately around them was lit up well enough to see. The suits were amazing, Calvin thought. They also detected how slippery the ground was, and small metal spikes protruded from the bottoms of their boots.

  The white flat horizon that surrounded them was remarkable to Calvin. He had never seen anything like this place before. There was nothing to break the flatness that stretched off into what seemed like eternity. It was vast and empty.

  Calvin led the way, with Astra close behind him. They approached the tunnel, which was basically a hole cut in the surface of the planet, right into the ice. They descended down a gentle slope. The hole was mostly round, with rough edges all around. It was very nice because it gave them a little something to hold on to if they needed it. Their gloves had rough edges on the fingers that gripped the ice very well.

  The tunnel ceiling was only inches above Calvin’s head. For some strange reason he couldn’t explain, the small space made Calvin feel more secure.

  The first descending slope was gentle and about forty feet long. At the bottom of that, the tunnel leveled out for about ten feet. The tunnel kept following that same sequence. It went down forty feet and then leveled for ten feet. It did that ten times. At the bottom of the tenth, the tunnel turned ninety degrees and began again. After the second ninetydegree turn, Calvin and Astra stopped for a rest. They had been walking for nearly two hours.

  “Don’t sit down,” Astra warned, seeing that Calvin looked like he was starting to sit. “You don’t want to risk tearing your suit.”

  “Thanks,” Calvin said. “You’re right.”

  Calvin suddenly realized he was very thirsty. There was a small rubber drinking tube, next to his mouth inside the helmet. Calvin grabbed it with his mouth and took a nice long drink of water.

  “How are you doing?” Astra asked him.

  “I’m doing really well,” he said. “The suit is working great. It’s keeping me warm. By the way, how much oxygen do we have in here?”

  “Oh, these suits have enough air for several days. I wouldn’t worry about that,” she said casually. “And the battery will last forever. We’re constantly recharging our batteries as we walk.”

  “That’s nice,” Calvin said. He looked around, down the way they were going toward the vault and back the way they had come. “You know, I’m not usually affected by tight, confined spaces, but this could be the exception. I wasn’t feeling it at first, but it’s starting to get to me.”

  “I know what you mean. I’m starting to feel it too.” Astra looked down at the computer on her wrist.

  “Ion placed a beacon at the entrance to the vault,” she said. “It looks like we are almost halfway there.”

  Suddenly they felt the ground shake a little. It was a mild tremor. Tiny ice particles fell from the ceiling all around them. Calvin felt his heart immediately start racing, and fear gripped his heart and chest like a vise.

  “What was that?” he asked. “Don’t tell me that was an earthquake. This isn’t a good time or place for it.”

  Astra looked around, and they both stood still, holding their breath. It was quiet, and nothing else happened. The shaking only lasted for a second. The radio in Calvin’s helmet turned on, and Ion’s voice filled his ears.

  “Sir, are you OK? Your heart rate has increased.”

  “I’m OK,” Calvin said, slightly embarrassed. “We just had a small earthquake down here.”

  “Yes, sensors indicated a very minor shift in the ice. It doesn’t appear that you are in any danger.”

  “I’m OK,” Calvin repeated. “It just caught me by surprise.”

  “I think we should get moving again,” Astra suggested, suppressing a smile.

  “Good idea. We just took a short break, Ion. We’re moving again.”

  “Very good, Sir.”

  Calvin led again. The suit was feeling heavier, and his legs were getting very tired, but he pressed on. He kept thinking about how fun the trip back up was going to be.

  After two more hours of walking, they reached the end of the tunnel. At the bottom, they found that Ion had cleared out a large space. In the middle of the cleared space sat the drill. It had a large drill head on the front, and sitting behind that was a large square engine. Behind that there was a place for two people to sit, and a flat space behind that for cargo. Calvin smiled, relieved when he saw it, realizing that they wouldn’t have to walk all the way back up.

  At the back, against a wall of ice, were two silver doors.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  THE ICE BASE

  Calvin and Astra approached the doors and examined them. There was a small panel on the right side. Astra opened it, and she found a simple door control.

  Amazingly, the doors opened when Astra pressed a large green button.

  “It’s an airlock,” she said, walking through cautiously. Calvin followed her. Inside they found a small room with white featureless walls.

  “No ice in here,” Calvin noted. Astra closed the outer doors, and a computer screen on the wall lit up. Large unseen fans sucked all of the air out of the room. When that finished, new air rushed back in. Astra examined the computer screen on the wall.

  “It replaced the air,” she said. “We should be able to take off our helmets and gloves.”

  “Should be able to?” Calvin said. “Are you sure? Do you want to trust this old equipment? What if one of the sensors is out of alignment? What would happen if we breathe methane?”

  “Any amount would be very bad for us. Most likely we would die instantly,” Astra said grimly. Then she examined the computer on the arm of her suit. “According to this, the air is completely breathable. There’s no trace of methane.”

  Calvin didn’t look convinced. “I still don’t
know if I want to trust my life to it.”

  “Well, what’s the point of bringing all this equipment if we won’t trust what it tells us? And two different computers are saying the same thing. Fine, then we can leave our gear on, at least until we get inside. But we are going to have to take our gloves off so it can read our DNA.”

  “OK,” Calvin said. “What’s the temperature in here?”

  Astra looked at the screen again, and then at her wrist computer.

  “Both the vault computer and my suit computer say it is fifty-one degrees in here.”

  Calvin pulled off his right glove. The cool air felt good on his skin. Then he took off his left glove. Astra watched him. She waited for a second, and then she took off her own gloves. Astra turned her attention to the inner doors. There was a metal bar that reached across the door, just like in the first vault. They gave each other a glance and walked up to the door.

  “OK, here we go,” Calvin muttered. They both put their hands on the bar. After a second, the handle changed color from dark gray to dark green. There was a loud click, and the door cracked open about an inch. Calvin bent over and looked inside, but it was completely dark on the other side of the door.

  “Ready?” Astra asked.

  “Let’s go,” Calvin said. They pulled on the handle, but the door was very heavy and wouldn’t open. They had to use all their weight, leaning back and pulling as hard as they could until finally the door inched open. They stopped when they had it open wide enough to fit through.

  Calvin went first. His backpack almost came off as he squeezed into the next room. Once through, Astra looked at her wrist computer again, and then she took her helmet off.

  “What are you doing?” Calvin asked.

  “The air’s fine,” she said. “I’m going to trust my computer.” She pointed at her wrist computer.

  Calvin hesitated at first, but he reluctantly decided to trust her. Calvin removed his helmet. The air smelled dusty and old, but otherwise it was OK. Astra moved farther into the room. As she did, overhead lights automatically turned on.

  “Whoa,” Calvin muttered, startled. They were in a wide room. Tables lined the walls, and rows of large hooks ran all the way down the wall at different heights. There was another door at the other end of the room, which was closed.

  “This must be where they kept their gear,” Astra pointed out. “Is that a good idea?” Calvin asked.

  “I don’t see why not; we’ll be more comfortable, and there’s no telling how big this place is. Do you want to carry it around?”

  “Not really.” Calvin didn’t argue with her. They took off their spacesuits and laid them down on the tables, along with their backpacks. Astra took her computer off her suit and put it on her arm.

  “Let’s go look around,” she said excitedly. She led the way to the unopened door and opened it without hesitation.

  They walked into a much larger open room. In the middle was a large triangular pool with a broken fountain in the center. The small dirty fountain had a large rusted gong suspended over it by a long wire. There was a door in each corner of the triangle. Above them were three other levels. Balconies looked out over the room from each level. The walls were richly decorated and looked like they were made out of marble.

  “Which way should we go?” Astra asked.

  “Let’s try this one,” Calvin said, walking to one of the doors. The empty marble halls made each footstep echo loudly. Even their voices seemed amplified. Calvin opened the door and walked through. They found a staircase with stairs leading up and down.

  “If you were going to hide a super-secret piece of technology that you didn’t want anyone in the universe to find, where would you hide it?” Calvin asked.

  Astra thought about it. “Well, I would put it as far away from the main entrance as possible. But would that be upstairs or downstairs?”

  “Let’s try downstairs first,” Calvin suggested.

  “OK. Lead the way.”

  Calvin went first. The steps were wide and easy to walk down. Small black pipes snaked up and down the walls. They passed several floors before they reached a metal door at the bottom. Calvin opened it excitedly, expecting to find a laboratory with the next segment in it. Instead, there was a hallway leading off in two directions. They spent the next two hours exploring the bottom floors. It was obvious that this was a base. It might have been a research base or a military station, but whatever it was, it had everything needed to support the living needs of a group of people. They found crew quarters, a mess hall, a kitchen, recreation facilities, a power generator, and an empty shuttle bay.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Calvin said, as they climbed back up the stairs. “This base must have been on the surface once, don’t you think?”

  “Why do you say that?” Astra asked.

  “Well, the shuttle bay doors are blocked. Nothing can get in or out.”

  “Maybe they buried it under the ice to hide it.”

  Finally, after searching the base for hours, they had gone through every level except one: the top floor. Calvin and Astra were getting discouraged. It was looking like the only thing they would find was disappointment. At the top of the stairs they found two doors. When Calvin opened the door on the right, they both breathed a sigh of relief. They had finally found the laboratory.

  It was a small room with workstations and tables. Small pieces of broken equipment lay all over the tables and floor. Calvin had been hoping that this vault would be similar to the vault they found on Arlandia, and he wasn’t disappointed. In the back of the room was another door. It was cracked open.

  Through the next door they found a small square room. The only thing in it was a single table, with a strange-looking object sitting on top. It was round on the front, square on the back, and flat on top. There were several round holes on the sides and several round rods protruding from it. Calvin and Astra approached it slowly, almost reverently.

  “It’s the second segment,” Astra whispered. They both stood in front of it for several moments.

  “All things considered,” Calvin said. “That was easy.”

  Astra looked at him with an odd expression.

  “You thought it would be harder?” Astra asked. “The location of these vaults is secret, and we are flying around in an invisible spaceship. I don’t think the Goremog know what we are trying to do. Really, what can happen to us?”

  “I don’t know,” Calvin said. “But I’ve noticed that the Goremog have constantly been one step behind me, like they are following me. It could just be my imagination, or a coincidence.”

  Astra thought about that. “Yes, but Aleria’s Hope didn’t have a cloaking device, and it is a huge ship. The Goremog were obviously able to track it very easily. It leaves a really big hyperspace wake.”

  “I suppose,” Calvin said, unconvinced. “I hope you’re right.” Astra gave a crooked smile. “Me too.”

  “Do you want to look around the lab and see if there is anything else we should take with us?”

  “Yeah, that’s a good idea,” she said.

  They searched the lab—every desk, every table, and every corner. By the end of the search, they had found a handful of computer storage devices and two manuals.

  “Let’s get this stuff back up to the surface.”

  “OK,” Calvin agreed. He took his backpack off and pulled out four small white handles. He handed two to Astra, and they attached the handles to both ends of the second segment. Each handle had a small button on the end of it. Astra walked around and pressed all of the buttons.

  “Ready?” Astra asked.

  Calvin and Astra picked the segment up by the handles. The handles were antigravity generators. When they picked the device up, it had no weight. They easily moved it out of the room, and down to the main floor where the fountain was. They had to turn it on end to get it through the doors, but since it had no weight it rotated easily.

  As they entered the fountain room, a giant earthquake shook the b
uilding. Astra and Calvin were knocked off of their feet and thrown to the floor. The segment was sent floating free in the air. The shaking lasted for several minutes. Dust and dirt broke free from the walls and ceiling and drifted down to the floor in billowing clouds. The shaking eased, but a deep rumbling continued long after. Loud crashes could be heard off in the distance; it sounded like something collapsing. Calvin and Astra sat on the floor, listening to the sounds.

  “Are you all right?” Calvin asked, helping Astra to her feet.

  “Yes, I’m OK,” she said. “That was stronger than before.”

  “Yeah it was,” Calvin agreed. “I think we should get out of here.”

  After they chased down the segment, they moved it into the entry room and closed the inner door.

  They put on their suits as quickly as they could. Boots, suits, gloves, and finally helmets. Then they opened the outer door. They stepped out into the tunnel, taking the second segment with them.

  When their lights turned on and illuminated the tunnel ahead, they were met with a big shock. The ceiling of the ice tunnel had collapsed. The tunnel was gone. But the worst part was that the drill car was crushed under the ice.

  “Oh no,” Astra whispered. “What’re we going to do now?”

  Calvin stared in shock, realizing they were trapped under two miles of solid ice.

  There were three short static bursts, and then Ion’s voice filled Calvin’s helmet.

  “Master Calvin. Are you OK?”

  “Yes. There was a big quake,” Calvin said. “The tunnel caved in. We’re trapped down here.”

  “What about the drill? The signal stopped transmitting.”

  “It was crushed under the ice.”

  “I can come down and dig you out,” Ion offered. “Unless you think you can get out of there somehow by yourself.”