The rumbling on the track coming upon us from the rear, accompanied by the violently shrieking yapping, caused me to wonder no more. We turned to see them running along the track behind us. Like hyenas, except that these beasts made hyenas look tame and meek by comparison. They howled and snapped their teeth. I couldn’t imagine them gaining on us. They were fast, but they wouldn’t be able to keep up this chase. The Strongman fired upon them knocking one down, then another.
The tunnel opened wide into another massive cave, the tracks essentially became a bridge as the ground fell away and we shot out over another deep abyss. These hyena beasts were crazed enough to follow, their claws clinging to rails.
A few froze as they came upon the drop. Those trailing behind didn’t stop soon enough and wound up pushing the others, causing them to plummet to their deaths. Others cautiously, but hurriedly, took chase.
I supposed their den was that square service room we traveled through and there was another route into that very room, aside from the tracks. I wondered how adept they were at running over the elevated track. Before long, we entered back into a cramped tunnel and those hyena beasts were far out of sight, most having succumb to gravity. Only their distant howls carried a reminder of their threat before fading off.
A few more hairpin turns and a terrible feeling that we were indeed going too fast washed over me. The tunnel opened up into a multi-track depot, but destroyed with carts over-turned, piles of burned rubbish, piles of collapsed ceiling, tunnels dug by underdwellars of some sort. Machinery laid to waste littered the area. From this area, several other tunnels became accessible. Two of the tunnels were collapsed and I hoped Louise and Hendryk wouldn't be needing entry through them. Although The Strongman could most likely clear a tunnel in short time, I feared he was beginning to wear down.
I applied the break as I saw the light from the station. The cart was barely slowing. The Strongman nudged me aside and grabbed the break from my hand. He applied his strength enough to snap the handle right off.
"Sorry, Doc." The Strongman looked at the handle in his hand, threw it over his shoulder, jumped over the front of the cart and put everything he had into slowing us down, if not stopping us entirely. It wasn’t an easy feat upon his feet. He was knocked about and took a good beating as he nearly exhausted himself trying not to be run over. I held onto the sides of the cart for dear life. His knees banged and bashed over the gravel and wood of the tracks. Finally he was able to steady himself and get a good stance. Indeed, he slowed the cart down as his legs tore to hell the track before us. We came to a stop and The Strongman pushed himself from the cart with a look of sheer pain on his face.
"Are you hurt?" I inquired.
"Nah, not so much," The Strongman grumbled as he paced to ease the discomfort. He limped and struggle to pull his legs up from the ground with his step.
I climbed from the cart and set my umbrella upon the corner of two sides. I found an old wooden chair nearby and brought it over for my friend. "Here," I said as I set it down and brushed the seat free of dust with my hand, "Rest, rest."
The Strongman sat down on the chair and groaned as he stretched his legs out before him, “All this before breakfast. Can’t wait to see how the rest of the day goes.” His cynical and sarcastical grumpiness remained in tact no matter how broken he was at that very moment.
"To add insult to injury, we did leave the supplies back at the Clerk House.” I said causing him to crack a smile, however slight. I changed the subject entirely, “This Mr. Brisk," I paused as I thought about it, "he's after you, but working with them it does seem."
"I think they need him to get rid of me, so they can get to you," he leaned back in the chair, balancing it on its back two legs. He considered motive, “Mr. Brisk is trying to get rid of me for whatever reason he’s got in that little pea-mind of his. Judge Huppard is probably paying him a fair bit of coin. Brisk somehow gets in with the assassins who are after you. Figures he can use them and make a little bit of money off them at the same time. Meanwhile, they think they’re using him to get rid of me, so they can easily get to you.”
I was impressed, “Very astute observation.”
He waved off my compliment, “Thugs ain’t hard to figure out.”
I turned in the direction of the faint rumbling of a cart deep in one of the tunnels, “Do you hear that?” Our attentions turned vaguely to the openness of the station. While it was dark, there seemed to be natural light pouring in from high above. Air ducts were built deep into the ceiling in several areas, straight upwards through all of the rock and sand and through the desert floor. It was just enough light to create a comfortable level of dimness. My eyes strained through the darkness looking for any further evidence pointing to which direction they might be coming from, though.
The sound grew louder and louder before an empty cart shot from one of the tunnels, smashing into overturned carts. I reminded myself they had three carts on the tracks, altogether, so where were the other two? soon enough, the faint sound began to emit once again. And once again it increased in volume. Before another cart flew from a tunnel, I could hear the sound of another picking up speed in the distance. There were several. Then, one by one, carts began flying through the tunnel entrances into the junction area, smashing into whatever rubble scattered their path.
“Well, this was rather unexpected,” I remember saying in a rather dumbfounded manner.
From one of the randomly entering carts entered Hendryk, followed shortly after by Louise on another cart from a different entrance. Both were able to flutter from their carts before crashing. Those wingpacks could be quite the marvel. Hendryk took a jump and leap powered by the spring heels of his boots. Louise flew gently like a leaf on a breeze with her mechanized wings. They both landed safely and not too far from us. The Strongman stood from his chair and we made our way over to them.
I could hear Louise, “You’re a damn mad man!” She shouted at Hendryk, “An absolute mad man. You’re out of control!”
“Is anyone hurt? Is everything all right?” I asked.
“What happened?” The Strongman asked Louise as grabbed the chair and brought it over for Louise. Her wings retracted as she took a seat. She adjusted her boots as she breathed heavily.
“It just went rather poorly, I guess you could say,” Hendryk said as Louise sat with her back hunched, her elbows on the top of her thighs and her hands now over her face. She breathed slowly, but heavily.
She wasn’t crying. She was angry. The quiet was an uneasy bit of bother.
“What happened to them?” I asked.
“The big one and the blond were sent down another track. The other lass... She fell.” Hendryk was direct and cold.
“She pleaded for her life and you just let her go,” Louise scolded Hendryk. Just beneath the surface, their was a fury.
“I suppose I must not have heard her,” Hendryk replied as he walked on and away from us, thusly ending the conversation. He barked out from afar, “We’ll leave in five. Check your watches.”
“You hurt?” The Strongman asked Louise quietly.
Louise shook her head. After a moment or so, she removed her hands from her face. She looked up at us, first to me and then to The Strongman. There was a definite weight attached to what she was about to say; there was a slight sense of shock, like that which accompanies disbelief, upon her face.
“Louise?” I reminded her that she had our attention.
Louise finally spoke, “He let that girl die. He dropped her.”
Hendryk turned at the accusation, “She slipped from my hands and you know it!” His voice echoed throughout the depot. I wasn’t certain what to think. Something happened in those tunnels as they traversed their sets of tracks. Louise wasn’t one to make hasty accusations.
I walked over to Hendryk who sat against an overturned mine cart.
“Hendryk. How much longer in the mine system?” I asked him as I shuffled debris away from my feet with the tip of my umbrella.
“You know the mine system well, don’t you?” I asked him.
Hendryk replied proudly, but with a hint of sorrowful sentimentality in his tone, “I lead the rescue effort in getting the miners out. Before this mine system was closed due to the underdwellar problem, we were tasked with finding survivors. Led a thirty man troop against a horde of underdwellars. It was us, 120 miners, and the mine system. We were trapped down here, fighting for survival, for over forty days. All the mine exits were blocked off. We had to fight our way out. I think,” he paused a moment to really think about it, “I’m fairly certain it was day 46. Day 46 we saw the light of day. Well, the moonlight of the night sky, at least.” He paused another moment before continuing, “46 days later, we emerged. My troop of thirty dwindled to four. Of the 120 miners, we managed to get 114 to safety. 46 days, so I guess you can say I know the system pretty well.”
“So, if not the stairwell, what then?” I wanted to plan ahead, I wanted to figure out this man’s state of being. He seemed collected and calm now. There was something there, though, right behind his eyes.
“If not the stairwell, then through Watertown Quarry. If not Watertown Quarry, then we’ll have to double-back about halfway to one of three tunnels that will eventually get us to another cart depot. The cart depot will lead to lower Chasm City levels on the outer metro, not the best place for us, right now. Must I keep going?” Hendryk was thorough and I could see it in his face as he retraced the routes through the mine layout from memory.
Just then terrible shrieks echoed from a tunnel into the depot.
“I think that will do,” I said as my eyes stared attentively towards the direction of the potential threat. “We should be going.”
Hendryk stood up and began to lead the way. He was beginning to make me nervous. Had he become unhinged or was he already? I didn’t know what to make of the man. He was obviously competent enough to stand by Leo’s side, but there was a definite sense that he more than enjoyed his sense of power and authority.
Louise seemed to keep her distance from Hendryk from there on. If Hendryk had dropped Sasha Greenwich into the dark abyss accidentally, that was one thing. If she slipped from his fingers while he tried to help her, that would have, at least, been a noble attempt at his duty. Though, if he purposefully let her go while she pleaded for her life and was essentially surrendering, then this WingedMan who was sworn to protect had failed miserably and should be suspect upon every action.
On our way towards the stairwell Hendryk turned to Louise, the tension between them obvious and blatant, “She fell, Louise. I understand your anger, but she slipped from my fingers.” It seemed abrupt, but it was on their minds front and center.
She looked at him unblinkingly allowing the tension to rise but for just a brief moment, “Well, I suppose our final reports shall differ then.” She walked away from Hendryk and I pretended not to hear the interaction as I slipped away without notice by taking to a slightly offset path.
34
Fortunately the stairwell was open up to a point, but would require clearing. The Strongman moved a fair amount of rubble from the entrance before we could pass. The lad was drenched with sweat as he was doing all the work since he was the only one able to do this specific job. Rocks and stones ranging in size, it looked to be terribly back-breaking. We were able to climb through the crevice in the wall and back onto The Chasm trail we continued forth. It was refreshing to be (somewhat) outside, at the bottom of a large hole in the ground.
Aside from soured relations between the WingedMen, the walk up from the depot was a quiet one. Once outside, we could hear the explosions from above and would see the falling debris and rocks that would follow.
“Keep a sharp eye, Monocle,” Hendryk said, “wouldn’t want you to take a nasty knock on your noggin.”
“Advice noted,” I replied in a diplomatic fashion, as I was always aware of my surroundings for I was a damned, bloody explorer.
Just outside of the mine entrance there were large, as in fat, underdwellars grazing within the rubbish from Chasm City high above. They were awful looking beasts. Lazy and malodorous, their oily skin a sickly gray with just a hint of green; patches of dark green moss dotted over their bodies.
“I hate coming down here,” Louise said, holding her hand over her nose and mouth to obscure the smell as we walked through the faddle of underdwellar grazers lazing. They weren’t dangerous, quite the contrary. They were lazy, meek, and fat. They might eat a live rodent if one were to get too close, but otherwise, they ate garbage.
Explosions aside, very little of the metro could be seen from our position, but the evidence was strewn about our feet: Piles of rubbish. I do suppose building your metro vertically over an abyss, one might find that gravity does take its toll. The grazing underdwellars paid us no mind. I’m certain that as long as we didn’t go near their food source, which wouldn’t be a matter of contention, we would fare well.
There to our left, a grazer flattened beneath a fallen piece of wall from the metro high above. An awful sight. I also noticed quite a fair growth of Pernicious Ivy otherwise known as, strangulation ivy. If you aren’t familiar with this strain of ivy, it is what it sounds like.
“If I may have everyone’s attention, please,” I boomed, and they turned to me, “you’ll notice the ivy growing up the chasm walls, yes? You’ll also notice that underdwelling grazer’s carcass within the ivy, then, yes? Well, don’t get too close. Understand?” And they did.
It wasn’t long after a slight curve in the path and around some fallen bit of wall, that we came upon what we had been looking for. And so much more: Three bulky, boxy, bewildering automatons stood motionless. They were as tall as men and stood like statues. Their arms seemed responsible for most of their bulk; recessed into their sides just so. Their heads were small. Barely a discerning bump between the shoulders, but not for the glass dome built atop. Behind the glass, a sleeping face of a Schantylle Worm clouded within a murky gelatinous substance. Each of these automatons were in fact, Wormatons.
Upon the face of the wall behind them was an ornately carved design of curved lines all centering around a small, metal plate which was built into the solid stone wall. The designs matched the ones I copied into my notebook. The metal plate was almost just how I had envisioned it from the notes; steel, a keyhole at its center. And seared into this steel was an outline of said center keyhole, and the pattern repeated. The keyhole carvings grew to larger and larger sizes, it was reminiscent of the layers of an onion.
The reality of the actual state of this vault built into the rock was abysmal. The steel was dented and scratched. The rock surrounding it had been chipped away, ruining the design. The worms were there to protect it from further damage, I supposed.
As we approached, I stopped in my tracks and I warned them abruptly, “No, wait, stop. Don’t move!” And everyone halted. “They’re Schantylle worms. Wormatons. Any closer, they’ll sense us and wake.”
And bloody hell, wouldn’t you know it, Hendryk stepped forth, “So be it,” he said before any of us could stop him. He had planned for this. They had planned for this. This was their security system. Hendryk could have either done us in on the way, or he could just let the wormatons do it once we arrived.
One of the sleeping behemoths clunked to life, "Good day, Hendryk," it said in its tinny, raspy voice. It clunked and shifted and stretched upwards, clanging about. Now standing fully erect, this wormaton was built of some substantial size, built to keep guard. I could see it more clearly now, the centerpiece of the contraption was an encasement large enough for the worm, the top of the encasement bubbling to the glass dome. Its paraphenomenal talents of the mind must have kept the gears moving. Though, how it worked was the least of my concerns at that very moment
.
"What is this?" I was shocked and surprised, to say the least.
Rocks, smallish pieces of the metro, came plummeting down. I’m not sure anyone else noticed or cared considering what was happening before us. I couldn’t help but to look up periodically.
Hendryk pulled his revolvers from their holsters and backed away from us to the activated wormaton's side, "You weren't supposed to get this far, doctor. I am sorry. You are indeed a hard man to kill."
"Hendryk, what are you doing?!" Louise shouted at him, “Put your guns away! What's become of you?”
The Strongman advanced toward Hendryk, but stopped short as Hendryk aimed a revolver at The Strongman's face, "I wouldn't."
Rubble from above crashed down around us. I could see the wormatons were just slightly protected by a short overhang of rock. Anything that fell down in there direction merely slammed into the rock shelf. There were plenty of these rock shelves to hide beneath if one knew where to look. It was how most underdwellars survived rock slides.
The two Wormatons in the rear stretched up and advanced on us, as well.
"Wormatons," was all I could muster. They were quite the unexpected sight.
“Apprehend them,” Hendryk ordered and they began to advance.
“I warn you, you cannot beat him. He will cripple you. I tell you not to taunt you, but rather to offer you a chance at survival,” I tried reasoning with the worms, but they didn’t seem interested in bargaining.
The Wormatons turned towards me long enough to listen. They stared in my direction and seemed to pause for a thoughtful bit of consideration before advancing upon The Strongman.
"I can't let you have the key, Monocle." Hendryk assertively stated.
I yelled at him, as chunks of stone and pieces of walls and floors and ceilings of homes crashed down from above, "If it is left here it will be destroyed, don't you understand?"
There was a large explosion overhead. We all looked up to see a giant stone platform come hurdling down. The Strongman gave a good long look, deciding how much strength he needed to put behind the kick that would knock the closest Wormaton directly beneath the falling platform.
Spectacular Moments of Wonder with Dr. Monocle: That Certain Gentleman Page 33
