by William Wood
“What was that?” Astra asked, gripping on to his hand.
“It was a Terror.” Calvin answered. “It had to be. I don’t know of any other monster that sounds like that.” He shivered.
“I was really hoping they would stay around the prison,” Dev said, staring openmouthed at the bridges above them. “Now we know, they are following us.”
“Hunting us, you mean,” Wexton said grimly.
Suddenly, Calvin felt even less safe. He was grateful to be back in an enclosed rock tunnel where they only had to worry about what was in front of them and what was behind. Maybe that wasn’t a good thing.
An hour later they emerged from the tunnel to find themselves in the bottom of another crater. The earth at the bottom of the crater, just below the bridge was ripped apart, revealing a deep ravine. Now on the bridge, they were out in the open. The air instantly became hot. A dozen bridges crossed over the crater at different elevations and directions. The bridge was made of solid metal and felt strong. The other bridges above them looked like they were flimsy, made out of simple rope and wood, and they were swaying back and forth in the wind. The sound of rushing water could be heard, coming from far below them. On Calvin’s advice, he told everyone to be quiet, to make as little noise as possible.
“I don’t have a good feeling about this,” he added, still worrying about running into a Terror.
They all shook their heads in agreement and continued across the bridge. This bridge was longer than the last one, but the ones above them were even longer. The sun and the heat were refreshing after all the time they had spent underground.
Suddenly a loud shriek pierced the air. Not far behind him came a Terror. It let out a high pitched scream, the kind that sent a shockwave of dread into Calvin’s heart.
The monster ran across one of the bridges above them at high speed. When it was half way across, it stopped and looked down. It saw Calvin and his friends and screamed even louder.
Calvin felt a hand grab his arm and squeeze. He looked down to see it was Astra, holding on to him tightly. The Terror jumped up on to the handrail and leaned forward, clearly intent on jumping down to devour them all. Suddenly there was a loud crack, and the bridge disintegrated. The Terror fell into the gorge below with a horrifying screech, surrounded by bridge fragments. Several Terrors were standing on the edge of the broken bridge, looking down, unable to go on. Three others rushed onto bridges above them and looked down. One of them looked like it was about to jump, but decided not to. It must have realized it was much too far to jump safely.
Suddenly a river of lava poured into the crater. A cacophony of screams erupted, and Terrors scrambled to get off the bridges. Bridges caught fire, a column of ash and steam exploded in all directions as the lava fell into the crevasse and into the water. Calvin yelled at everyone to keep going, to get off the bridge.
They sprinted the rest of the way across and into another tunnel. Dev and Wexton, in the back of the group, urged everyone on from the back.
“Let’s go,” Dev said. “We need to keep going.”
The group, still in shock over what they had just seen, started moving again. As good as the sun and fresh air felt, it felt better to be back in the tunnel where Calvin thought it was safe. Calvin was on edge, afraid they would run into a Terror in the tunnel. Without weapons, they would be in big trouble. They would be trapped and wouldn’t be able to escape. OK, so maybe they weren’t safe in the tunnel. They weren’t safe anywhere.
For the rest of the day, the tunnel led steadily upwards. Calvin was relieved when they reached the surface, and walked out into the open air. The sun was already down, and they immediately started looking for a place to spend the night. There were stars above, but could only see them through an occasional hole in the clouds. They found a high spot, under a tree and made camp.
“What about the lava?” Wexton asked.
“It’s all pouring into the last crater,” Astra said. “Flowing into the lower areas. We’re on higher ground here. We’ll be safe for now.”
Wexton and Dev went off, walking around the area gathering all of the wood they could find. Within minutes, Wexton had a fire going. They all sat around the fire and ate dinner. It felt good to be outside, and everyone was very tired. They ate in silence.
They put their bedrolls out and went to sleep. Day three ended quietly. Calvin had a hard time falling asleep. He couldn’t get comfortable, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were surrounded by monsters. He listened intently for sounds of Dark Terrors in the night, trying to sneak up on him.
That night, Calvin had another dream. In his dream, he was sitting on the bridge of the Azure Frost. The large center monitor turned on. An image of King Fulton filled the screen.
“You’ll have to make a choice Calvin.” The King said. “It won’t be easy, but you need to stay. Don’t walk through the portal. Get your family first. You won’t get another chance to go back for them.” Calvin tried to speak, but he could not. The King smiled at him and the monitor turned off.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE:
RISING LAVA
Calvin woke up in a ba d mood, and he wasn’t the only one. Everyone seemed on edge. They ate quickly; packed their gear and resumed their trek, almost entirely without speaking.
For the next four hours they hiked through a field populated with a few trees and tall grass. When it was time for lunch, they sat in the shade of a large tree and ate.
The sky was clear, and the sun was directly overhead; it was very hot. It made Calvin wish they were underground again, where it was cool.
They walked for several more hours without a break. The trees grew thicker and soon they found themselves in a dense forest.
The terrain leveled out, and the hike became easier. Calvin felt things were starting to improve until they came to a place where cracks in the earth spread out in all directions, like a spider web. At first it wasn’t a problem; they were small gaps that could easily be stepped over. But twenty minutes later the fissures became too wide to cross. They had to walk carefully between them to avoid falling into darkness; holes so deep they couldn’t see the bottom.
Calvin and Astra were in front, leading the way. They carefully picked a way forward, hoping to find an area where the cracks got smaller, but they weren’t that fortunate; it only got worse. Calvin was terrified that at any minute the ground would disintegrate and swallow them all.
“This would be a bad time for an earthquake,” Dev said. “You can stop right now,” Wexton said. “It’s not funny.”
Calvin chuckled, but he was right. This was not the time or place for statements like that.
“I just felt a blast of hot air,” Astra said suddenly. “Did you feel that? Where’d it come from?”
She held her hand over an opening in the ground, but quickly pulled it back. “Oh, that can’t be good,” she said, her voice full of concern. Calvin put his hand out and retracted it just as fast. Hot, searing air was venting out of the ground, and it wasn’t long before heat waves could be seen rising out of all the cracks, along with a burning sulfur smell. The ground shook, and chunks of dirt broke off and fell in. The ground crunched loudly when they walked on it; almost like it was thin and brittle.
“You had to say something,” Wexton murmured.
Calvin was covered with sweat and felt dizzy. He stopped for a second to take a drink of water.
They slowly climbed a steep, rocky incline. At the top, they reached a clearing overlooking an enormous crater. In the center was a sprawling complex with dozens of buildings, most of them in ruins. But two in the center looked like they were intact. A set of railroad tracks, or what was left of them, ran out of the side of a hill and through the middle of the devastated compound. They paused at the top to catch their breaths, and examined the distant ruins. Nobody spoke for several moments, but Calvin could hear all of them gasping for air.
Astra broke the silence. “That looks like a power station.”
“How can you tell?” Nil
s asked.
“See the transformers?” she asked. “And the transmission generators? I’m guessing it’s geothermal.”
“We can go around, right?” Dev asked. “The ground looks even more unstable than what we just went through.”
He was right. The cracks in the crater were much bigger. Several heavily damaged buildings were hanging over the edge. All it would take was one solid blast of wind to send them over.
“I never like to pass an opportunity to search abandoned Goremog facilities,” Astra said. “They might have left something important behind. What do you think Calvin?”
Calvin looked at the rim of the crater. She was letting him decide; spend the next few hours walking around, or take the direct route; straight across. For him, it wasn’t a tough decision. He’d learned to trust Astra’s judgment. She was incredibly smart, and had a lot more experience than he did. Plus he was tired and the shortcut appealed to him.
“Let’s check it out,” he replied. “I’d hate to think we missed something.”
Dev groaned.
“We don’t have to spend a lot of time down there,” Calvin said. “We’ll just run through real quick.”
“All right,” Dev said.
“If you’re that worried about it,” Wexton said. “Don’t go. You can stay on the rim and meet us on the other side.”
“No,” Dev said. “I’ll go.”
There was some whispering in the back, and then Nils spoke up.
“We’ll meet you on the other side,” he said. “It’s not worth it.”
Nils, Petori, Freks and Barouke stayed on the high ground, and began the long walked around the rim.
Calvin looked at Astra, Dev and Wexton, to see if they were ready. They stared at him, waiting.
“Lead the way Lieutenant,” Wexton said. “I don’t know if you’re a lucky man, but you seem to have a natural talent navigating a path through the field of cracks.”
Calvin was shocked. Clearly it was just luck. He’d just picked what he thought were the safest paths. He looked at Astra, and was about to ask her.
“He’s right,” she said, as if she were reading his mind. “After you,” she smiled.
“OK,” Calvin said, fully resigned, but terrified of letting everyone down. The cracks were everywhere. Most were easy to step over, but several were too wide. He chose a path forward, on one path that seemed unbroken all the way to the ruins. The ground was dry, and cracked loudly with each step. Clouds of dust rose into the air, causing them to cough intermittently.
It took ten stressful minutes to reach the complex. Once inside, Calvin found a suitable path, weaving in and out of ruined structures. Most were nothing more than foundations, with loose rocks falling into gaping cracks each time the ground shook. Calvin guided them to the center to look for the undamaged buildings.
They approached several structures that looked perfectly fine, but as they got closer, they found the first was heavily damaged. Part of it was missing; what was left was precariously hanging over a gaping hole. The second building had two missing walls, and they could clearly see inside that the floor was gone; just a big hole. So they checked the next one. This one had a floor, but half the roof was missing. Shafts of light lit it up and they could see there was nothing of value inside. So they checked the last building. This one looked undamaged. Even the ground around it looked stable, except for several cracks spreading near the foundation.
“This looks promising,” Calvin said. “Now we just need to find a way in.”
“I think I see a door,” Astra said, who was right on his heel. She pointed. Calvin saw it, right on the side of the building. He headed directly towards it, but before he reached it, there was a very loud crack from the ground; Calvin froze.
“Don’t stop,” Astra whispered. He hurried forward. When he reached the door, Calvin grabbed the handle and pulled; it didn’t move. He tried to push it; nothing happened.
There was one thing on it that he recognized; a small indent in the middle. Calvin knew instantly what it was, and took his medallion out. It fit perfectly. There was a soft click and the door swung open.
Astonished, they hurried inside. As soon as the door closed, all light was gone and they were in total darkness. They had to use their flashlights to discover they were in a spacious room. A large computer monitor covered one entire wall. There was another door on the other side of the room. They spread out and looked around.
“I found the power switch,” Astra said. Suddenly the lights turned on. There were several computer stations in the center of the room, facing the large monitor.
“Nice, there’s still power,” Astra said. “I was right; this is a geothermal power station. It’s still working, barely.”
Astra and Dev examined the computers. The monitor on the wall turned on. As it glowed to life an image began to appear. They all stared at it and waited to see what it would show. After a second, the image became clear; it was a star map.
“What is this?” Calvin asked, staring in awe. It was incredibly detailed; the stars and sun were in the highest quality he’d ever seen. Each object on the map, every planet, every star, nebula and asteroid had a colored symbol next to it.
“That’s a star map of our galaxy,” Dev stood in front of the monitor.
“This is amazing!” Astra said, astonished. “Do you have any idea what this is?”
Calvin stood, staring in awe. It was stunning.
“This map shows the location of every Goremog asset in the universe.” Astra manipulated the controls. “It’s not current; a few weeks old, but it shows where all their bases are, and very specific details about individual planets.” The view of the map zoomed in on a red object out in space by itself. It was a large Goremog cruiser.
“And every Goremog ship,” Calvin said. “No way,”
“Are you kidding?” Dev asked. “Do you know what we could do with that?”
“I know it would be easier to avoid getting caught again.”
Calvin couldn’t take his eyes off the map; astonished at their fortune.
“We really need to find a way to take this with us,” Astra said excitedly.
“Take it with us?” Calvin asked, shocked. “It’s huge.”
“Well, not the monitor,” Astra replied. “There must be a computer core that runs the whole thing, or maybe a data storage unit.” Astra examined the computer panels, found several large screws holding the face plates on and started undoing them.
“Oh, look,” Wexton said from a corner. “I think this is a power terminal.” He carefully removed Scribbles from his back and sat her on the ground next to the terminal. “Dev, do you know if there’s a way to plug the robot directly into power?”
There was a soft hum, a small light on Scribble’s chest changed from red to blue as power began flowing, almost immediately.
“Never mind,” Wexton said. “It’s charging, and I didn’t have to plug it in.”
“Air charge,” Astra said.
“That’s handy.”
Calvin walked around the room. Everyone had something to do. He found himself in front of the map. He stared at it, amazed. Astra was right. They couldn’t walk away from this kind of information. If they could gain access to the Goremog database, this could be the most important discovery of this whole trip so far. If they ever got back to the Azure Frost, and resumed their mission to find the other remaining pieces of the super-weapon, the information in the data base could help them to avoid areas known to be occupied by the Goremog.
“Just give me a minute,” Astra said. “And we can leave.”
Calvin was about to ask Astra if she needed help when he heard Dev’s voice.
“Calvin, I found something in here,” Dev said, peaking his head in through the doorway. Calvin hadn’t seen him leave the room.
Calvin followed him into the next room. It looked like a control room. Small monitors hung on the walls in between rows of dials, switches buttons and levers. In the middle of the roo
m were rows of computer stations. The monitors all displayed images of the planet’s crust, and what was happening beneath.
“This is the geothermal control room,” Dev said. “What’s interesting is the status of the ground around the station. Look here.” He pointed to a monitor that showed a massive open space beneath them. Cracks in the ground were getting larger, still spreading.
“That looks scary,” Calvin said. “Should we be worried?”
“Extremely,” Dev said. “We’re right on top of a very large hole. Judging by the current rate of decay, this entire area is going to disintegrate in about two hours; probably sooner. One good quake will speed that up.”
Suddenly an alarm sounded and red lights flashed all over the room. Calvin looked at Dev.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“I didn’t do anything!” Dev exclaimed.
“What’s happening?” Astra yelled from the other room.
“Rising lava,” Dev asked. “There’s a lake of lava forming directly below us! We need to get out of here.” Calvin and Dev hurried to the other room to get their gear. Wexton knelt down by Scribbles. Scribbles look up at Wexton and smiled
“Ti Nay Wexron,” She said warmly, and gave him a hug.
“Hi,” Wexton said back. “It’s good to see you too. Do you want me to carry you?” he held his hands out. “I don’t mind.”
“Yi ti,” Scribbles said, with her arms out. Wexton picked the robot up and let her climb on his back.
Everyone hurriedly began to pack up their gear, except Astra, who furiously worked on the panel, only now she wasn’t carefully taking components out; she was ripping them out by force.
“Astra, we have to go,” Calvin urged her.
“Hold on, almost done,” she said.
“Get her backpack, will you?” Calvin said to Dev.
The ground began to vibrate.
“Astra, we have to go right now!”
“We can’t leave it here,” she insisted. “We’ll never get anything like this again.”
“It won’t do us any good if we’re dead.” Calvin said.
