by William Wood
Astra looked equally depressed; he could see it in her face, but Calvin couldn’t offer her something he didn’t have. They were in big trouble, and they both knew it. Neither of them had any plans to pretend otherwise.
That night Calvin lay in his bed. It was comfortable, but he had a hard time falling asleep. He couldn’t stop thinking. Eventually he fell into a light, uncomfortable sleep.
There were several small earthquakes during the night. He woke up each time his bed started shaking.
The next morning, Calvin met Astra in the pub for breakfast. Calvin still felt depressed, but didn’t have any difficulty eating his steak and eggs. Astra however, just picked at her food for a minute then gave up and just drank her coffee.
“What did you do with Scribbles?” Calvin asked.
“I found a power switch on her back,” Astra answered. “I don’t know how long her power supply lasts, so I turned her off to conserve energy.”
“Good idea,” Calvin said.
The door opened and Wexton walked into the pub. He looked around quickly. When he saw Calvin and Astra he walked directly to their table.
“He did it,” Wexton said. “Dev got the door open.”
That got Calvin’s attention. He and Astra stood up and followed him to the door. They stepped out into the cool morning air. A thin layer of mist hovered over the ground. Wexton led the way at a slow jog. It was a brisk five minutes to the tunnel, and down the slope to where the doors stood. The middle door was wide open, and Dev was nowhere to be seen.
Calvin walked through the door, and into a round room with doors on all sides. The floor was white, smooth tile, and the floors were dark gray, almost a gravel color. A security desk sat in the middle of the room, with a rolling desk chair. A small computer was the only thing on the otherwise plain and empty desk.
They found Dev sitting on the floor near one of the doors. He had his eyes closed and he was breathing in fast, shallow gasps. His face looked pale.
“Dev, are you OK?” Astra said. She knelt down next to him; looked into his eyes and felt his pulse. “Can you hear me?” Astra looked at Calvin. “I wish I had my med scanner. He might have breathed in hazardous chemicals, I don’t know.”
“It looks like he’s in shock,” Calvin suggested.
“Yes, it does,” Astra agreed.
Dev didn’t say a word. All he did was raise his arm and point at one of the open doors. Calvin, who was still standing, slowly wandered in the direction Dev indicated.
Calvin was nervous, and walked in cautiously. Whatever Dev had seen had clearly left him shaken. The light in the room was ‘odd.’
The lights were low; it was hard to see. The only light seemed to come from dozens of square display cases, each one eight feet tall and four feet wide. Calvin approached the first case, which housed a Dark Terror frozen in mid scream, its arms reaching out to smash the glass. Calvin jumped back. His heart started beating faster.
“Oh wow,” Calvin said. “I thought it was real.” Then he stepped forward again, to examine the monster closer. Its machine parts were clearly visible. Its servos and armor plating were highly detailed and complex. More frightening was its fleshy parts. Bulging muscles, internal organs were behind the armor plating but Calvin could see them clearly. Stomach, intestines, and some parts he didn’t recognize. The nightmare’s glassy eyes were black and empty, yet somehow held an infinite amount of rage and hatred. This was the first time he’d been able to study one close up. Even though the monster was frozen, it frightened him. He was certain he would see it in his nightmare when he went to sleep that night. Calvin turned to look for Astra, but she wasn’t there.
He moved down to the next display case. At first he thought it was another Dark Terror, but quickly realized it was different. This one was taller than the previous one, and had a different face, shorter arms, and thicker legs. It was a different kind of animal, but it was modified with technology just like a Dark Terror. But unlike the Dark Terror, this beast was trying to rip the robot enhancements out of its chest. It was standing in a pool of its own blood.
Calvin moved from case to case. Each one had a different creature in it, all enhanced with robot technology, and all in various degrees of damage. One creature, a tall white beast with a long nose, had a large hole blasted through its chest. Out of thirty-two display cases, only nine had creatures inside that appeared to be undamaged. The rest looked like they had been frozen at the moment of their deaths; full of hysteria and insanity as they tried to kill themselves. So, they were failed experiments. Why did the Goremog put them in display cases? Did that mean the Goremog were insane? Did they take pleasure in being extremely cruel?
The most shocking discovery was the last six cases which contained humans. They too had robot modifications. Calvin was sure they looked more nightmarish than the other monsters. He was convinced the Goremog were pure evil.
“They’re not dead,” Astra said, stepping up beside Calvin, confirming what he thought. “They’re frozen. I guess they couldn’t adjust to what the Goremog did to them.” Calvin shivered.
“What is this place?” Calvin asked. “What is the purpose of it?”
“Clearly this is where they experimented with different species. They were trying to find the perfect monster to turn into a terror weapon.”
“So this is where they created the Dark Terrors.”
“Yes.”
“Is there any way to save them?” Calvin asked.
It took Astra a moment to answer. “I doubt it. They were barely alive when they were frozen. We’d have to have a medical center, because they’ll die as soon as we unfreeze them.”
Calvin and Astra returned to the entrance. Calvin felt a dark cloud hovering over him. He tried to sort out his emotions, find that glimmer of hope he was clinging to. But it was getting harder to find. Wexton and Dev were standing by the door.
“I’m sorry,” Dev said. “That affected me more than I thought it would.”
“It’s OK,” Calvin said. “That wasn’t easy to see. Why don’t you go back to the pub? Astra and I will look around in here for a while.”
“OK,” Dev said, and he and Wexton left.
“How are you feeling?” Astra asked Calvin. “You look a little pale.”
“Yeah,” Calvin said. “I heard the Goremog were evil, I just didn’t realize how bad they really were. I just can’t believe they did that to those people in there.”
“They don’t see life the way you or I do,” Astra said. “They see themselves as the highest, most advanced form of life. The universe is pure, and perfect. Other life forms, like us are contaminating it. We’re less than insects to them. So, the Goremog are on a quest to cleanse the universe of impurity.”
Calvin massaged his temples and took a deep breath.
“Come on,” Astra said gently. Calvin’s mind was still reeling with images of the Terror experiments, and didn’t speak for several moments. Six unopened doors stood in front of them.
“Which one?” Astra asked.
Calvin looked them over. “That one,” Calvin said, pointing to the next door. “Might as well go in order.”
Astra moved first. When she opened it, a strange green light poured out.
They went into the next area and got another big surprise, only this one was even more unsettling; row after row of freezing units, each one with a monster in it. They all looked undamaged. Calvin walked to a nearby railing and looked down. There were several levels below and a few above that contained the same thing. Calvin was shocked.
“Oh, zap,” he said. “There must be hundreds of them; thousands. I can’t believe it.” He walked along the rail and stared at the nightmares.
“Crexions,” Astra said. “They’re all Crexions. This is where the Goremog stored them until they were ready to turn them into Dark Terrors. Don’t worry. They’re all frozen.”
“What if the power goes out?” Calvin asked. He had to ask. He was afraid that it was just a matter of time unti
l it happened.
There were several doors along the way, but they walked to a set of double doors at the end. There was a simple control panel with a button on it. Astra pressed the button, and the doors slide apart. It was an elevator.
The elevator shook slightly when Calvin took his first step on to it. If he had been more in tuned with his ‘gut’ he would have heard the alarm bells in his head, telling him something was wrong. But he was still shaken from seeing the ghastly experiments in the Goremog lab. Calvin decided to ignore it.
When Astra took her first step into the elevator, there was a soft crack from somewhere above.
Calvin stared at a panel near the door, which had a row of eight round vertical buttons.
“Where to?” Calvin asked.
“I don’t know, you pick.”
“If you want to hide something where do you put it?” Calvin asked. “You put it as far away from the main floor as possible.”
Calvin pressed the bottom button, and the doors slid shut. The elevator dropped and its speed increased. Calvin hated to feel that he had no control, and riding in the elevator was the ultimate in having no control. It shook, and wobbled from side to side. There was a loud clicking and clacking noise. It reminded Calvin of an old train he’d ridden when he was a kid.
He thought, or rather hoped that the ride would quiet down and become smooth, but instead the shaking got worse and the sounds got louder. Calvin was scared, and his fear was quickly growing.
In the midst of the shaking and screaming of metal scraping on metal, an earthquake ripped into the structure. Astra gasped, and grabbed onto the handrail.
A bright flash lit the control panel and sparks shot across the tiny space. The shaking increased exponentially and the elevator dropped in a free fall for a few seconds, before slowing again.
Calvin shouted, and grabbed the hand rail too. He looked at Astra. She was already looking at him, and she looked frightened.
The shaking eased, and the elevator seemed to glide straight down. Calvin was about to take a deep breath and try to force himself to relax when suddenly there was a loud snap, a crunching sound, and they went into a free fall again. Calvin gripped the hand rail and waited for the elevator to slow down; it didn’t. The elevator sped faster and faster.
Astra screamed. Calvin felt intense pressure, the lights in the elevator flickered. The elevator screamed too; metal on metal screeching, ripping and groaning.
They sped faster and faster. Calvin was sure they were going to die.
Astra pulled herself towards the control panel inch by inch. When she got there, she tried to open the cover, but was unable to. Calvin saw her say something, but couldn’t hear her over the noise. He helped her pry the cover off and it crashed to the floor.
How far down could the elevator go? Calvin expected them to crash at the bottom any second.
Astra didn’t waste any time. She tore several wires out and threw them on the floor. She worked very quickly. He couldn’t see what she was doing. Small puffs of smoke came out of the control box, along with a burning smell.
The control panel lit up again, flashed a few times, then stayed on. Calvin gasped. Astra fixed it! The elevator began to slow down.
There was a very loud crack and the elevator tilted slightly to one side. Calvin’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the hand rail. Before it had a chance to stop completely, the elevator hit the bottom, hard. Calvin and Astra were smashed into the floor.
The chaos of noise slowly died down. Calvin tried to stand, but his legs were weak, and he had no strength. He felt very dizzy, and couldn’t catch his breath, which was coming in short gasps. He lay on his back and tried to slow his breathing, but he couldn’t.
His mind raced; what just happened? His first thought was that he was dead. But he was in too much pain for that. His arms and legs were numb but he could feel pins and needles; feeling was slowly creeping back.
The elevator was lit with a dark red pulsing light, which seemed to be coming from the crack of the elevator door. There was also a deep rumbling coming from whatever was outside. Calvin could feel it through the floor.
Astra was lying on her stomach and she wasn’t moving. Calvin rolled over, and crawled closer. He could hear her breathing in short rapid gasps.
“Astra,” he said; his voice hoarse. “Are you all right?”
She groaned, and rolled over onto her back. “I think so,” She said softly. “Oh, we’re going to feel this later, but at least we’ll get to. Do you have any idea how close that was?”
Calvin sat up, pain shot through his back and neck. Even though it was quieter, he could still hear the elevator crash echoing in his ears.
“No, and I’m sure I don’t want to.”
“A couple more seconds and it would have ended differently.”
He had to use the hand rail to stand, but once up, he helped Astra. When she was on her feet, she gave Calvin a hug and then stepped back.
“We have to get out of here,” Astra said. “We must be at the bottom. Let’s see if we can get these doors open.” Inside the broken control panel was a manual release handle. She pulled it, and the doors jerked open slowly. As it opened, a dark red light flooded the elevator. Calvin and Astra held on to each other, and helped each other slowly stumble out.
The room was huge and round, like the inside of a sphere, with a clear smooth surface. A walkway wrapped around the inside perimeter. In the center of the room was a massive red sphere that looked like a red dwarf star. It filled the entire space. Flashes of lightning danced across the surface, occasionally hitting an invisible force field that glowed brightly every time it was touched. The walkway was plain all the way around except for a single computer station built into the rail. Astra began playing with the controls. Calvin stepped up to the railing and stared at the red sphere. It was horrifyingly beautiful, and Calvin felt strange urge to touch it. The sphere was within arm’s reach. Calvin slowly and carefully reached out, palms out over the sphere to see if it was emitting any heat.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Astra warned. Calvin quickly put his hands down. “This thing is giving off a lot of energy. That isn’t a ‘safe’ force field by the way. It will probably burn your hands off.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Calvin said.
Astra worked for a few minutes in silence. Calvin looked around in awe. The chamber was scary and stunning at the same time. He looked down and got the surprise of his life. A tornado of red, orange and white light was pouring straight down into hole in the bottom of the chamber. Every ten seconds tiny earthquakes shook the platform.
“We just found the cause of the planet’s imminent death,” Astra said.
“What?” Calvin asked. “This thing?”
“I’m guessing,” Astra said, visibly shaken. “But it looks like the Goremog were experimenting; trying to come up with a new source of power. They created a miniature star, complete with its own gravity well. The idea is brilliant, but they lost control of it. It burned through its own power core, and instead of shutting it down they tried to link it to the molten core of this planet. Again, it was a brilliant idea. It could have provided an astronomical amount of power, but it didn’t work.”
“What’s going to happen?”
“It’s fracturing the core of Doonterria,” Astra answered. “That’s why the earthquakes are getting worse.”
“How much time do we have?” Calvin asked. “Is there any way to know?”
“Not accurately,” Astra said, pushing buttons. “I just guessing again, but I’d say we have about eight days.”
“Eight days,” Calvin repeated somberly.
“But, life on this planet over the next eight days is going to get steadily worse. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are going to get bad.”
“How bad?” Calvin asked.
“Imagine all the rivers flowing out of the mountains, but instead of water they will be hot lava. Oh, and expect massive rifts to open up where the crust is wea
k.”
“So, the sooner we get out of here the better?”
“Yes. I can’t get any more information out of this thing,” Astra said. “We can go now.”
She turned and looked at Calvin. She tried to walk to him but stumbled. Calvin rushed forward and caught her. They held each other for a moment.
“Are you all right?” He asked.
“I’m sorry,” Astra said. “I just can’t seem to find my balance.”
“That’s OK. Is it that thing?” Calvin pointed at the miniature sun.
“It must be the magnetic field. How do you feel?”
“Dizzy; strange.”
“Come on, let’s get out of here.”
“How?” Calvin asked. “The elevator’s broken, remember?”
“That way,” Astra said, pointing to the other side of the chamber. “There’s another elevator over there.”
Calvin felt a stab of fear. They were going to have to get in another elevator. He was scared, but knew the only alternative was to find a stairwell and walk all the way back up. That sounded even less appealing. He tried to focus all his energy on getting there, despite the pain shooting up his back, into his neck and head.
The walk took longer than Calvin wanted it to, and Astra was clearly in as much pain, if not more than he was. He could hear her groan as they shuffled along. All the time the dizziness grew, and twice he had to remind himself where he was, and what he was doing.
When they reached the elevator, Astra pressed the button without hesitation. When it arrived, it was with a deep sense of fear that Calvin got on with Astra. She must have sensed his apprehension.
“It will be OK,” she said. “Besides, there are no stairs. This is the only way back up.”
Calvin suppressed his fear, and forced himself to press the top button, assuming it was the main level. The doors closed slowly and they began to ascend. Calvin took a deep breath and relaxed. The ride was smooth and quiet.
“Now we just need to find a ship,” Astra said. She smiled at him sympathetically.
“Yeah,” Calvin said. “Well that’s good. I feel less panicked now. I was expecting it to happen any second.”
