The Ruins of Arlandia Complete Series

by William Wood

  “Well,” Astra said. “It still could. There could be a power spike and the whole planet would come apart. Oh, or a really bad earthquake.” She laughed nervously. “Sorry.”

  “Thanks,” Calvin said. “Way to ruin my temporary good feeling.”

  “Sorry,” Astra giggled. It was nice hearing her laugh. It had been too long.

  The doors opened and Calvin stepped out. He knew right away that something was wrong. They weren’t on the main level. It was a small round room, lined with tall windows.

  Two desks sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by computers. A door led out of the room straight ahead to a metal walkway that circled the outside of the room.

  Calvin walked to the windows and looked outside. There was an excellent view of the prison below.

  “We’re in one of the security towers,” Calvin said. Astra made a direct line to one of the computer stations and sat down. Her hands flew across the keys.

  Calvin admired the view. It was beautiful with the tree covered mountains all around and the noisy white water river flowing around the prison. He admired it with a sense of sadness that it would all be gone soon. He tried to imagine rivers of lava flowing down the mountain sides.

  “Here we go,” Astra said excitedly. “This is what I was looking for.” She waved Calvin over. “Look at this.” Calvin walked back around and looked at what she was pointing at. On the screen was a map.

  “This is the prison,” she said. “And over here, is a spaceport. Down here is an underground train station. We can take the train all the way there. We won’t have to walk this time!”

  “Excellent!” Calvin exclaimed.

  “It gets better,” Astra said. “Using this map, I was able to locate a storage room that should contain weapons, and other equipment, and an equipment repair room.”

  “Dev will appreciate that,” Calvin said. “He can repair the scanner he found.”

  “Yes,” Astra said. “Everything is finally coming together. But check this out. This is the best part, look.” She tapped a button, and the view on one of the monitors changed to show a hangar full of spaceships. Calvin felt a surge of happiness. They were going to escape the planet.

  “One of those ships is bound to be flyable. How far away is the spaceport?” Calvin asked.

  “One hundred miles,” Astra answered.

  “I sure hope the train works,” Calvin said. “Because we’ll never make it to the spaceport without it.”

  He ignored the feeling in the back of his head, and followed Astra back into the elevator. They took their time walking back to the pub. Calvin felt the soreness and pain spread through his body and intensify with each step.

  The sun was setting, and long shadows stretched across the ground.

  They stumbled into the Inn, and sat down at a corner booth in the pub.

  Astra closed her eyes, and gently rubbed her temples.

  “Why do I feel like we’re sitting on top of a time bomb?” Calvin asked. “Oh yeah, because we can’t catch a break. It’s nice and quiet now, but how long will it last?”

  “We just need to hurry and get to the star port,” Astra said. “The longer we wait here the worse it will get. But I’m concerned about the train. There have been a lot of earthquakes.”

  “You’re worried the tracks could be damaged.”

  “Yes,” she said. “It's magnetic, so there are no tracks, just two, thin lodestone lines that the train hovers over. If those get cut or broken they won’t affect the train. Might make for a bumpy ride though. No, I'm worried that a quake caused the tunnel to collapse, or created a crevasse in the ground. If we're going too fast we won't have time to react."

  “Oh,” Calvin said. “I hadn’t thought of that. You're full of all kinds of happy thoughts today, aren't you?”

  "Sorry," Astra smiled impishly. Calvin's mind was filling up with new worries. He felt stress, pressure and worried about how he was going to get them all off the planet and back to the Azure Frost. He tried to focus on one step at a time; that helped, but it didn’t help hearing about new problems that may or may not happen. He didn’t actually want to deal with a potential problem until it actually happened.

  They had been through a lot together, and somehow managed to get out of each scrape and into a worse one. Ever since he left his home on New Arlandia, the adventure has been one disaster after another. He’d met Astra when he was at his lowest, after the death of his best friend, Jax. She became a friend, but now she was more. He felt closer to her than he’d ever felt with a woman before. But now he was worried. He was worried they might not get out of the mess they were in, and he wanted to tell her how he felt. If they only had a week left to live, he wanted her to know how he felt. He cared about her deeply.

  Calvin was about to tell her, but stopped when Dev and Wex joined them, and sat down at the table. He felt a pang of disappointment. Astra didn’t seem to notice.

  “Do you feel better Dev?” Astra asked.

  “Yes, thanks.” Dev answered. “Did you find anything else?”

  Astra told them everything they’d found. Dev and Wex listened intently, both showing excitement when she mentioned the train.

  “It sounds too easy,” Wexton said.

  “I like easy,” Dev said. “I think we’re due for some good luck.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Calvin said. “All we have to do is find the train station and take a train to the spaceport. By the way, I’m sure we’ll find an operational train, and then fly out of here on a space worthy ship.” Calvin said.

  “That sounds like a good plan,” Wex said smiling. “You’re going to tell everyone here, right?”

  “Yes,” Calvin said. “I’ll tell Nils as soon as I find him.”

  “You can tell me now,” Nils said, stepping out of the shadows. “Please,”

  “All right,” Calvin said, surprised. He hadn’t known Nils was in the room. “We found out why the Goremog abandoned this planet, and it wasn’t because they were attacked by the No’Rath. This planet is going to be destroyed.”

  Calvin expected a reaction from Nils, but instead of shock, Calvin saw skepticism on his face.

  “No it’s true,” Astra said. “The Goremog were experimenting with a new power source, and it’s ripping the planet apart. It’s getting worse. We can show it to you.”

  Nils’ expression softened slightly. “All right,” he said. “Lead the way.”

  “If you don’t mind,” Dev said. “Wex and I will stay here and eat.”

  “Go ahead,” Calvin said. “We’ll catch up to you later.”

  Calvin and Astra stepped back out into the cool air. Nils, Petori and Freks were right behind them. For Calvin, the walk back was a little on the nervewracking side. He wasn’t looking forward to taking the elevator back down, for fear of falling again and maybe next time Astra might not be able to stop it. On the other hand he didn’t want to appear scared in front of her. Astra’s opinion of him meant a lot to him.

  They first stopped by the ‘hall of nightmares’, as Calvin thought of it. Nils inspected the Dark Terror experiments, and the army of monsters waiting to be awakened.

  When they left; Nils looked visibly shaken. Calvin forced himself onto the elevator with Astra, Nils, Petori and Freks.

  The pressure of inevitability, unable to back out and terrified of what could happen; that’s how Calvin viewed it. He stepped on to the elevator, and tried to control his fear.

  Fortunately for Calvin, Astra pressed the bottom button so he didn’t have to, and the elevator descended. Calvin was relieved beyond words when the doors opened, and they stepped out. They walked to the rails, and Astra explained what they were seeing. Calvin was again mesmerized by the bright red sphere, and the deep rumbling of the ground. Astra did all the talking.

  Calvin looked at the torrent of energy drilling into the core of the planet. It looked bigger than it did earlier, but that could've been his imagination; at least he hoped it was. The ride back up was quiet;
nobody spoke. Nils did not look happy. He looked very upset.

  Once they got back outside, they found Dev and Wexton looking up at the stars. Nils said, “If we find a working spaceship at the star port, can one of you fly it? None of us can.”

  “Yes,” Calvin said. “That won’t be a problem.”

  “Then I need to ask, will you please take us with you?”

  “Of course,” Calvin said.

  “Thank you very much,” Nils said, visibly relieved. “I assume you’ll want to leave right away. I need to get Barouke.”

  They watched Nils and his friends leave.

  “So far so good,” Dev commented.

  “Let’s go find the train station,” Calvin said. “Make sure there's a train there, or none of this will work."

  “Good idea,” Wexton said.

  “Do you remember where it is?” Calvin asked.

  “Yes, it’s that way.” Astra led them down a corridor near the elevators to a stairwell, then down three flights of stairs. At the bottom they passed through a security station and onto a dark room. From the echo of their footsteps, Calvin could tell it was a large room.

  "Whoa," Dev said. "Where are the lights?" He waved his hands in the air. Calvin was about to get his flashlight when large lights on the ceiling turned on. They found themselves on a long, wide train platform. A glossy black bullet shaped train sat on a row of magnetic rails that disappeared into a black tunnel.

  The doors were open. Calvin and Astra walked the length of the train. The seats were well worn and the air smelled old, but everything was clean. When they got to the front, Astra and Dev carefully inspected the engine. On the way back to the platform they examined all of the magnetic levitation generators and emitters. They gathered near the security station when Astra was satisfied.

  “It looks good,” Astra said. “The power systems are intact.”

  “I agree,” said Dev. “I didn’t see any damage.”

  "No leaks," Wexton said. “So what’s next?”

  “We’re leaving,” Calvin said. “Nils went to get Barouke and their things.”

  “That sounds good,” Wexton said. “I'll go to the equipment room and see if there's anything in there we can use. I don't trust that thing." He pointed at the train. "We might have to walk part of the way."

  “Good thinking Wex,” Calvin said. "And there's no telling how long we'll have to spend in a ship once we do escape."

  "That's a thought," Dev said. "Make sure you look for food while you're there; survival packs, that sort of thing."

  "Why don’t you come with me, Ace," Wexton said. “And help."

  "Why do you call him Ace?" Astra asked.

  "That's what we call someone who states the obvious." Wexton said. “A lot.”

  "Oh, thanks," Dev said. "Excuse me for trying to look out for everyone."

  "Come on," Wexton said, walking away.

  "Eating is important, ya know?" Dev said, following him.

  Calvin and Astra slowly wandered back to the Inn, holding hands.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE:

  DARK TUNNEL

  Calvin followed Astra up to her room. They didn’t have anything to pack. The only thing they needed to do was get Scribbles. Astra pressed a button on the little robot’s chest, and her eyes lit up. She sat up and smiled. Scribbles gave Astra a hug, then looked around. She made a few short sounds, then breathed a soft sigh of relief. Scribbles opened her chest unit and took out the small pink bunny.

  “Dine til si,” Scribbles said happily. “Dren tay gen Teelala.” She handed the pink bunny to Astra.

  “Oh, thank you,” Astra said. The two left hand in hand. Calvin followed them downstairs and out into the square. There was nobody there. It was very quiet, and the empty streets only amplified his depression.

  “Let’s go,” Calvin said.

  “OK,” she said. “I’m ready. Come on Scribbles, let’s go.”

  They found Dev, Wexton, Nils, Barouke, Petori and Freks in the large storage room.

  “This place has everything,” Wexton said happily. “The Goremog must have been avid hikers, or something.”

  “They were ready for anything,” Dev said. “No question about that.”

  Wexton had set them up nicely. Each person had a backpack stuffed with emergency food rations and bottles of water. Each backpack had a bedroll attached.

  “I also found a number of tools: shovels, knives, small axes, and fire starters. We’re all set.”

  Calvin felt that it was too good to be true. How did they get so lucky? If everything went well, they would take the train straight to the star port, find a working spaceship and escape the planet well before it exploded. Then they could start looking for the Alerians. With that kind of luck they’d probably find the Defender or Aleria’s Hope in orbit waiting for them.

  They each took a backpack. Calvin hefted his over his shoulder. It had some weight to it; must be the water, Calvin thought.

  They walked down the stairs to the train. Even though there were three cars and plenty of room to spread out, Wexton, Dev and the rest took seats in the first car. Calvin and Astra sat down at the controls. She took only a few seconds to look over the console. A small computer monitor lit up, showing the trains status.

  “Simple controls,” she said. “This is an amazing design. The train receives electrical power from the prison, and transmits it wirelessly to the train. The range is impressive. According to this we have full power. Let’s get going!”

  The controls were not simple, and not obvious; at least not to Calvin. But Astra didn’t seem to have much difficulty. She pressed a series of small buttons that were intermingled with dozens of buttons. The console lit up, and the train began to vibrate. She turned three dials. The doors closed and the train slowly started to move. It crawled at first, but she turned the dials more, and speed increased.

  When the train exited the lighted station, the lights went out. The tunnel was dark; black as a starless night. The interior lights came on all by themselves. Astra pressed a small glowing button, and two bright beams of light shot out ahead of the train, lighting up the tunnel nicely.

  Calvin turned to look back. Astra, Dev and Wexton all had smiles on their faces. The others, at least the ones he could see, had a mixture of concern and uncertainty. They looked relieved to be leaving the prison behind.

  Dev took out the scanner he’d found in the Goremog base and turned it on. The little screen glowed with a pleasant soft blue light.

  “You fixed it,” Wexton said.

  “Yes,” Dev said proudly. “In the prison workshop.”

  “Did you find anything else interesting in there, like weapons?” Wexton asked.

  “No, I’m afraid not.”

  “Do you see anything that we should be worried about?” Calvin asked.

  “No, nothing,” Dev said. “Just a long, empty tunnel. But we’re making good time.”

  Calvin looked out the front window. The train was moving so fast the tunnel was nothing more than a dark blur.

  Calvin felt like Wexton; he didn’t trust the train to get them all the way there. Each second they traveled, was that much less they would have to walk.

  Twenty minutes later, Dev stretched his arms and declared,

  “I can’t believe it. We’re going to get out! We did it!”

  Suddenly the lights inside the train flickered and went out. The train slowed to a stop and came to a rest on the ground. It became very quiet.

  “You had to say something,” Wexton said. “Good job.”

  “Oh, man, that figures,” Dev said. “You were right Wex, we’ll have to walk the rest of the way.”

  “Does anyone have any light?” Astra asked.

  “Hold on,” Wexton said. A small light flashed from behind. He shined the light around.

  “Everyone has one,” he added. “In one of the small pockets in the backpack.” Wexton got up and helped the others find their lights.

  “What happened?” Calvin
asked. Astra shined her flashlight on the console. It only took a second for her to figure it out.

  “We lost power,” she said. Then her eyes got big. “The train lost power!” She said louder. At first Calvin didn’t understand, but he quickly realized what that meant. If the train lost power, and it got its power from the base, then that meant the base lost power. If the base lost power….

  “The Dark Terrors,” Calvin whispered. “And the Crexions. Do you think they’ll be released from the force-fields?

  “Do you really want to know?” Astra asked, smiling. “I can’t answer that because I’m not in the base right now. I don’t know what happened. But, there is a good chance the whole base lost power, and if that happened, yes, the monsters are now free.”

  “Then why are we sitting around here?” Dev asked. “Let’s get going.”

  Calvin agreed wholeheartedly. “How far are we from the star port?” He asked.

  Dev checked his scanner. “Twenty-one miles.” There was a pause, which allowed that to sink in.

  “Twenty-one miles,” Calvin repeated.

  “We’re going to have to walk the rest of the way,” he heard Wexton walking through the train cars, telling the others.

  “Don’t worry,” Astra said to Calvin. “There’s no way the monsters could get us way out here. If they managed to find a way out of the prison, they’re eighty miles away. Even if they started running right now it would take days to reach us.”

  “That’s a big if,” Dev added. “And they’d have to run down the tunnel, directly towards us. I think we’ll be OK.”

  “Everyone needs to calm down,” Astra said. “It could be anything. The transmitter at the base could have failed, or the receiver on the train.”

  “You’re right,” A voice from the back said. Calvin stood and walked to the door. Astra was probably right, but he would feel much better when they were moving again.

  Nils and his friends were already on their feet, getting their backpacks on. Nils walked around checking each one’s pack. Dev was at the side of the train. He found the manual door release handle, which slid open slowly, but stopped halfway. He had to pull it open the rest of the way with a little help from Wexton.