Prometheus, A New Dawn

by Nicole MacDonald

  Before she could dart away, his hand snaked to the back of her head, holding her firmly as his lips claimed her mouth. Flushes of sensation bloomed beneath her skin where his hands touched, distracting her from the tunnel.

  He pulled away far too soon, steel colored eyes warm with humor. ‘That slowed you down.’

  Ally smacked his chest and screwed up her nose. ‘Tease. C’mon!’

  Hand in hand, they approached the cavernous circular entrance. The rounded shape of the hole they’d fallen down extended behind from where they’d landed and the heavy shadow from the heights of the walls meant it melted into the background, easy to miss at first glance. Ally watched for Eoin’s reaction, delighted at the flush that made the tips of his ears bright pink. He gaped and twisted, staring back at the hole they’d fallen down then turned back to the tunnel entrance.

  ‘It feels like,’ he paused mid-sentence as he often did while his mind whirled away. Ally watched with an indulgent smile, envying his scientific mind. Though there was no reason she couldn’t understand the concepts he worked on, the genetic make-up of her hunter nature simply meant it didn’t compute with the ease and joy it did for him. She was born to hunt, to seek, and to protect. Eoin was born to study, to understand, to puzzle through things. She yearned to move, to cover ground, to see and meet all living creatures she could. Eoin could happily spend weeks in one of the labs back home while Ally considered the task tedious to the point of torture. As a hunter, she was happiest in nature.

  It made their pairing all the more unusual, but the elders welcomed the unusual, for it brought the promise of change, of the long desired but yet to develop evolution of their species.

  ‘I think…’ Eoin began again before falling silent.

  ‘Yes?’

  He blinked at Ally’s tone and looked at her properly, a wide smile spreading. ‘Sorry. I think it’s an exit, the hole we fell down. I’m not sure yet, but it feels appropriate.’

  Ally looked into the pitch black depths of the tunnel then up the steep sides of the cavern. If you looked past the centuries of dirt and plant life that littered the sides of it, you could see a remarkably circular shape.

  Too perfect.

  She nodded to Eoin then dropped her pack to the ground and knelt to rummage through it. Removing a silver metal rectangle about the length of her hand, she placed her thumb into the indent on the top. Her eyes drifted as she focused then released a shock of electricity, directing it through her thumb. The rectangle of metal hummed to life, sides sliding down to reveal a spinning silver ball suspended in hard water. The torch began to glow, growing brighter and brighter, till they could make sense of where they stood.

  Eoin’s jaw dropped, Ally’s too as they both realized the enormity of the tunnel.

  ‘I’m thinking you’re right,’ Ally said after a long moment passed.

  The height of the tunnel appeared to match the width of the hole they’d fallen through, which made Ally curious. She set the glowing lamp down and walked back into the open space they’d landed in, peering at the rubble. Eoin joined her a moment later and his foot knocked a piece of sod aside.

  ‘Aha!’ Ally pounced on what it revealed, carefully easing the piece of rusted metal mesh from where it lay. ‘Look! This must have been over the top.’

  Eoin delicately took the mesh from her, spreading his hands beneath. He had elegant hands, pale with long fingers. Ally’s hands were wide and strong, with chunky fingers and square nails. Night to day, just like their coloring. Often out in the sun, her skin naturally tanned to a deep olive, making her hair seem redder and her eyes startling in comparison. Eoin however, had blond hair he wore short and pale skin that seemed to glow. He could tan, and turned golden while his hair would bleach almost white. It made them a striking couple. When she eventually reached full sexual maturity it would be interesting to see what their child might look like, but at only twenty five, it could easily be another ten years before that.

  ‘I think you’re right,’ Eoin interrupted Ally’s internal musings, and he straightened, holding the crumbling mesh high and peered at it. ‘But then this couldn’t have been an exit, unless they had a way to remove it easily.’ Eoin lowered his arms and dropped the mesh to the side, walking to the wall of the cavern. Ally followed, watching as he worked at scrubbing away a section of dirt, pushing at a long tangling vine that hung close.

  With a grumble of impatience, Ally wrenched the vine, ripping off a lengthy section that caused shale to rain down on them. Eoin jumped back with an exclamation then turned to eyeball her.

  ‘Really?’

  Ally stared straight-faced at him, resisting laughter. ‘Tunnel,’ she said succinctly.

  Eoin hmphed and shook his head. ‘Fine. Tunnel first.’

  She kept her flat expression as he eyeballed her again, walking ahead to the tunnel. Seconds later she darted past, snatching up the lantern and bounced on the balls of her feet, raising her eyebrows at Eoin then grinned.

  He gave an exasperated laugh, reaching for her, his arm around the small of her back and plucked the lantern from her grasp.

  ‘Fine. But I get the lantern.’

  ‘Yes dear,’ she said teasingly.

  Holding it high, he moved into the dark with her.

  Eoin squinted, letting his eyes refocus. The lantern gave off a bright clean light that spread in a three meter diameter around them, but the enormous height and width of the space meant they only pierced a fraction of the darkness. Releasing his arm from Ally’s back he walked to the left side, peering at the curved wall. With a sweep of his arm, following the curve, he realized that the tunnel was a proper circle, the same as the hole they’d fallen through. Giving more weight to his original hypothesis, but the mesh…

  Unless the mesh was to keep all that junk out, he thought suddenly, remembering how much leaf and soil matter had poured down with them. Still, it hadn’t blocked everything. The floor beneath their feet was dirt packed, and vines trailed in as far as the sparse sunlight reached. Reaching the wall, he extended a hand and stroked it, then held the lantern up. Ally moved quietly behind him, making the most of her advanced night vision.

  ‘Ally, I think this might be A.D.’ The words sounded doubtful, how many structures from the age before this age, Quom Epidemia, were found in such condition? But the longer and closer he examined the wall, the more the idea made sense. Cool and smooth, the metal walls appeared seamless, but Eoin knew that couldn’t have been possible. He’d not seen so much metal in one place before. Usually they were scavenged centuries, millennia ago, to help rebuild. Stepping back to study the wall again, Eoin turned, peering at the entrance way. The slightest indent caught his eye.

  Ally followed Eoin to the circular, flat bottomed entrance way.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked.

  ‘I think this might have had a door here once,’ Eoin said, studying the edges. ‘See this indent?’

  Ally stared at where he indicated then slowly followed that slight indent up and around the top edge.

  ‘Perhaps,’ she agreed. ‘But where did it go? This place hasn’t been touched in forever.’

  Eoin shrugged, a hand extended as he stared at the wall.

  Rolling her eyes in frustration, Ally reached out and plucked the lantern from his hand.

  ‘Hey!’

  ‘You can see. I want to explore.’

  Wanting both hands free, Ally tugged the handle on the lantern, extending it so she could loop her head through, the LENR motor heating it just enough that it spread a pleasant warmth where it rested against her chest. Eoin joined her a moment later and they ventured on.

  Keeping to the center of the tunnel they walked slowly, looking for any signs of life or identification. Surely a tunnel this size served some kind of purpose. Ally considered Eoin’s thought that it might be A.D. He’d brought back pre Epidemia items before, and they’d made discoveries of A.D sites together when she joined his meagre team of one. With her hunter instincts she made a suitabl
e partner, but it hadn’t thrilled her father. He’d expected her to settle down with another hunter, to stay close to home. Instead here they were, venturing forth across land many wouldn’t even know of, let alone consider traversing.

  An odd smell caused Ally’s nose to twitch. Metallic, which she assumed was the tunnel itself, and a strange harsh chemical scent.

  It concerned her and she slowed her pace, reaching out to touch Eoin’s arm and turned to ask if he could smell it.

  A gasp of shock snaked out her throat.

  Dead center on Eoin’s forehead danced the red dot of a laser light.

  4 Laboratory

  ‘Get down!’ Ally hissed in a whisper, yanking him to the floor.

  The little red dot followed.

  Panic caused a massive release of stimulants into her bloodstream as Ally desperately darted this way and that, trying to shake the focus of whatever tracked them. Her speed increased while Eoin gasped and protested at being hauled around. Back against a rounded metal wall, Ally did the last thing she could think of, and knocked Eoin flat crouching over his body, spreading herself to cover him as much as she could.

  Another red dot appeared and another, more blinking to life and all zoomed through the dark to settle on her.

  ‘Ally!’ Eoin struggled beneath her. ‘Don’t!’

  ‘WARNING! This is a restricted zone!’

  The foreign sounding mechanical voice made them freeze. With the lamp hanging between them, Ally could see Eoin’s astonished expression. Half a second later and all around them erupted in light. Ally cried out in pain at the unexpected intensity, covering her eyes as they swiftly adjusted. It took pico seconds and she lifted her head, staring cautiously around.

  Still pinned beneath, Eoin patted her arm. She absently lifted off him, mouth ajar as she stared at the massive oval structure perched on five skinny legs. All made of steel from the looks of it. Protruding from the smooth surface where a row of tiny bulbs, from which the red laser lights seemed to emit. Frowning at each other, Ally and Eoin slowly straightened. Ally’s body was braced and ready while Eoin flicked his thumb over his nails repeatedly, mind rapidly working at making sense of the device.

  ‘WARNING! Restricted zone! Approved personnel ONLY!’

  The acoustics of the tunnel made the voice boom from all around. But Eoin spotted the source. He tapped Ally’s arm and pointed. One of the tiny bulbs had no light, but an opening.

  ‘WARNING! Restricted zone!’

  ‘Is it going to shout that the whole time?’ Ally said with a grimace, fingers in her ears now she’d decided it wasn’t a threat.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Eoin said and he walked closer.

  ‘Hey! Be care-‘

  ‘WARNING! Restricted zone! Present hand for identification.’

  The sharp tone left an echo in Eoin’s head then a smooth sound caught their attention. A piece of flat rectangular metal popped out the structure, between two of the legs. It unfolded itself to the ground, creating steps to a doorway that became visible the instant the bottom step met the dirty steel floor of the tunnel. Beside the doorway a hand shape in the steel glowed.

  Eoin moved without thinking.

  ‘No!’ Ally stood between him and the stairs a moment later. ‘Don’t be ridiculous!’

  ‘Oh come on, listen, it’s speaking in old English. This has to be pre Epidemia, Ally. This is the find of a lifetime!’

  She scowled at him, eyes flashing with frustration as she debated what to do. The lights above them flickered, and she realized they led all the way back to the entrance of the tunnel. Turning to look ahead she saw the tunnel continued for some distance and far ahead in the distance it looked as if daylight peeked through.

  Catching a slight movement from the corner of her eye Ally twisted and pointed her finger at Eoin’s chest.

  ‘No! I’m not bringing back a fried carcass because you couldn’t resist your curiosity. Stay bloody put. I’m going to check the perimeter.’ She shoved past him, clattering down the stairs and stopped at the bottom. Nostrils flaring, she inhaled deep. Metal and the scents of synthetic materials touched her mind, but nothing living. Not so far. She cast another glare at Eoin, who threw his hands up in response then set them on his hips and glowered at her.

  ‘Get on with it!’

  Ally stuck her tongue out at him, pleased to have irritated him as much as his irrational response had irritated her. Setting off at a slow jog, she first rounded the legs of the sphere, looking underneath at its belly for any types of compartments, or even markings. It all looked the same as the top had, smooth and silver. It could be concealing any number of weapons and she’d never know. Frustration made the hair on the back of her neck prickle, and she picked up her pace. Rounding out to examine the nearest walls then jogging along the furthest wall, she kept her eyes peeled for any variations in the smooth metal. The lights overhead flickered, making her wonder where the power source was located. If this tunnel and that strange structure were indeed A.D, then those lights were operating on a power generator from five thousand years ago. And that seemed sheer insanity.

  Her breaths came slow and easy as she jogged, the exertion no more difficult than an ambling walk. The long solid strips of lights didn’t reveal much yet. She’d spotted two very slight variations, but they could simply have been built that way. She’d have to examine them later.

  The daylight she’d thought she’d seen from a distance appeared to have vanished. Forehead wrinkling in a frown, Ally set off to try and reach the end of the tunnel.

  Eoin watched as Ally got smaller and smaller then quietly, half an eye in her direction lest she abruptly return, turned back to the door.

  ‘WARNING! Restricted zone! Present hand for identification!’

  ‘Alright already,’ Eoin muttered under his breath. Taking a breath, and hoping like mad he wasn’t about to put himself in an early grave, he extended his hand and pressed it against the cool metal plate.

  The unexpected sting of a needle made him jerk back, staring white faced in shock at the outline of the hand on the metal plate.

  Just as he began to feel a nauseating rush of panic, that Ally had been more than right in her fears, the hand print vanished and what had appeared to be solid metal suddenly retracted in a tall rectangular door.

  He shuddered in relief then jolted when the mechanical voice addressed him.

  ‘Welcome Promethean. I recognize your type to be Scientist. You may enter this laboratory.’

  Eoin felt a rush of elation and stared through the open door. With a judicious glance he measured the distance between Ally and the lab then quietly stepped through the doorway.

  First glance showed stairs down into a spacious room. Standing there on the landing Eoin crouched to peer under the thin metal handrail into the room below. The rounded egg shape of the structure leant itself to a laboratory. He could just make out work tables that edged the outer walls, with smooth faced cabinets jutting out overhead.

  A shimmer of movement made him jerk, and lean down further, eyes zeroing in on the motion.

  On the wall opposite, beneath the cabinets, a row of images showed. After a moment they changed in a blink and Eoin realized he stared at some sort of monitoring system. Each image showed a section of lit tunnel, and of the seven images two appeared to be outside, above ground. The images of jungle, with no sign of raiders, or just humans anywhere, allowed some of the anxiety to dispel.

  Mesmerized by the images, mind frantically storing the data as he made sense of the varying images and where they were in comparison, his gut made a sudden lurch when the images changed again.

  Ally returning to the lab.

  With a muttered exclamation he scrambled to his feet and lunged back out the doorway.

  Then stared at the open door.

  ‘Close,’ he said in an urgent whisper.

  The door didn’t budge.

  On a whim, he touched the spot where the hand print had been.

  ‘Door locking
!’ boomed out the mechanical voice as the metal door slid down. Eoin winced at the volume then backed down a couple of stairs. Moments later Ally appeared, having ducked under the lab.

  ‘Is it still yelling? How do you stand it?’ she demanded as she climbed the stairs to his side. ‘I couldn’t see anything of concern, but I’ll do perimeter checks every hour while we’re here. I think I can rig up some alarms for night time.’

  Eoin nodded, about to respond before she continued.

  ‘So, think you can figure out how to get into it?’ she quirked a brow at him. ‘Because I don’t carry anything equipped to tackle that.’

  Eoin resisted grinning and stepped closer to the door. Instantly the hand print lit up.

  ‘I reckon I put my hand here,’ he said and extended his hand as Ally cried out.

  ‘NO!’

  The door slid open, the mechanical voice blotting out Ally’s voice.

  ‘Welcome, Promethean. You may enter.’

  5 Serendipity

  Staring through the open door, Ally turned to meet Eoin’s gaze, her mouth in a flat line.

  He stared back with a guileless expression.

  She scowled, glaring at him. ‘You did something!’

  ‘I didn’t!’

  ‘How did it know you? How did you know to touch it?’

  ‘I guessed!’

  While entirely probable, she still didn’t believe him. With a huff of annoyance Ally turned back to the open doorway. ‘Fine. Give me a moment to check it.’ When he didn’t respond she twisted to meet those blue gray eyes.

  The innocent expression wavered, she was sure of it.

  Eoin shrugged and gave a half bow with a sweeping arm, the archaic gesture supposed to be charming. Turning back before he saw the smile touch her lips, Ally stepped across the threshold onto a stairwell landing.