by P R Glazier
Chapter 31. Journey Through the Facility
Eventually in front of the little procession and reflected in the light from Tidbit's eyes, they could see another set of doors identical in shape and form to the ones through which Tidbit had led them into this tunnel. As before Tidbit approached the doorway and stopped. As they expected the doorway somehow detecting the presence of Tidbit, split in two horizontally and opened for them to pass through. A dim light from beyond of similar kind to that they had seen before in the town square flooded through the now open doorway into the tunnel in which they still stood. Tidbit stepped forward and entered the chamber beyond, the three companions followed close behind not wanting to be trapped in the tunnel with no way of opening the door until Tidbit decided to return along that route.
They now found themselves on a wide semi-circular platform. The outside edge of the platform had a hand rail all the way around, except for a point directly in front of them where a gap in the hand rail could be clearly seen. This gap was obviously not a break, for the hand rail curved down to join the platform so it seemed intentional, a part of the overall architecture of the place. Tidbit moved off heading for this gap, they followed. As in the town square where they had first encountered Tidbit, this space was illuminated by many of the globe lights on top of tall poles. As Tidbit reached the break in the handrail his forelegs seemed to bend down then seemed to take a dive downward and he disappeared. At first Nar’Allia though he had fallen over an edge, not far from the truth, for as she got nearer to where the machine had disappeared she found herself at the top of a long sharply sloping roadway that disappeared downwards and into the distance. They had no choice but to follow Tidbit so they moved forward onto the sloping way, treading carefully so as not to lose their footing and thus take a slide down to whatever waited at the bottom, if in deed there was an end to this slope for they could still not see it.
The ambient light level in this new place was quite high. But it was not high enough to see far beyond where they were. Nar’Allia did notice that the ceiling of this chamber was also sloping down at the same angle as the floor on which they walked. The ceiling must have been about thirty of so metres above them. So if they were in another tunnel it was wider than that distance because from where they strode, Nar’Allia could not see the walls to either side, if such walls existed. But she thought not, her T’Iea senses told her that they were in an open chamber, probably a very large open chamber, she could feel the expanse of space surrounding her even if she could not see it.
They walked on for several minutes. Eventually Nar’Allia could make out vast square shapes in front of her in the gloom. Soon they found themselves standing at the bottom of the slope, the floor had levelled out and they collectively gasped. For in front of them was a wide avenue, on either side of which stood a row of buildings disappearing into the distance as far as they could see.
Nar’Allia was amazed. Unlike the town square these buildings were obviously not as tall for they stood completely within the space. The tops and roofs could be clearly seen. The roof of the cavern could also be seen above, it did not seem to have suffered in quite the same way as the town square, for although the odd fissure could be seen along with the pile of sand or rock upon the floor below, the overall damage did not seem to be anywhere as bad as what the town square had suffered.
Jonas whistled and said, “now that’s a sight if ever I saw one. Shame master JDC is not here, I think this is the kind of thing he would have been searching for all his life.”
Both Nar’Allia and Amndo nodded whilst taking in the view. Nar’Allia turned and looked back up the way they had come, she started to walk backwards as the company moved off down the avenue after Tidbit. She noticed for the first time two great statues kneeling, heads down in a bow almost a position of prayer it seemed to her. Both sets of gauntleted hands rested on the pommel of a very large spiked mace, the enormous business-end of which rested down-most upon the ground. She went over to one and looked up some ten metres into the face of the statue. Its appearance was human by the looks of it, even though it had a helmet and face guard that covered most of its features. The statues ears were not impaired by the helmet though and they were rounded not pointed. She shrugged and turned and strode off in the direction of the others, but as she turned she heard a loud report like the snapping of a great tree branch, vibrations in the ground shook her so that she had to stop in case she fell off balance. She looked at the faces of her companions, their eyes were looking up way above her head, Jonas started to gesture to her with his hands as if to beckon her to him quickly. She ran forward and didn’t turn to face whatever they were looking at until she was by their sides. When she did turn she wished she hadn’t. One of the statues, not the one she was inspecting but the other, seemed to have come to life and was standing where once it had kneeled upon the ground. Cascades of dust and other debris was falling from its shoulders and other places that had gathered the detritus of a millennia of sleep. It seemed to twist its neck and shake its arms as if shaking off the long period of inactivity. Its head seemed to just clear the ceiling high above. To their horror it looked down upon them; its eyes seemed to glow brighter from a deep red colour to a brilliant yellow hue. It raised its leg as if to take a step forward, but it overbalanced and fell to one side, it thrust out an arm to support itself but there was nothing there to grab hold of, so it fell sideways back onto one knee. As it did so its outstretched hand struck the other statue a terrific blow on the side of the head. The other statues head moved sharply to one side a loud cracking noise rend the air. The first statue kept its grip tightly upon the head of the second as it tried to right itself, but its weight twisted the neck of the second statue and with a loud cracking noise the head came away from the body. The first statue seemed to regain its balance and stood still holding the second statues head in its hand, by a ridge on top of the helmet, but it did not seem to take any notice of what it grasped. Nar’Allia could see tendrils of wire and other more mechanical looking devices dangling down from the severed neck, she could also see sparks of power jumping from wire to wire and also cascading down to the floor.
Amndo said under his breath, “the Maker preserve us, more machines.”
The giant statue however having dropped the head of its fellow, had now gripped the handle of the mace in both hands and raised the weapon above its head. Nar’Allia, with a shout was forced to jump to one side as the monster brought the heavy weapon down with great speed, it passed the point where Nar’Allia had been and crashed with ear splitting force into the rock where she had once stood. Shards of stone and splinters of rock shot out from the place where the mace hit the ground. Nar’Allia felt a stinging pain on the back of her hand, looking down a thin line of blood oozed out of her skin. She rubbed the stinging place where a piece of splintered stone had grazed her. She turned and ran out of range of the mace to where Jonas and Amndo had retreated, Jonas his broadsword at the ready and Amndo standing transfixed by the oncoming enemy. Luckily something seemed to be wrong with this monster machine for it moved slowly, dragging one foot slightly as if some tendon or muscle was malformed or injured. But never the less on it came towards where they stood.
Jonas spoke in her ear not taking his eyes from the face of the oncoming statue, “an arrow milady, an arrow.”
She looked at Jonas; he smiled at her encouragingly but slightly nervously and nodded his head towards the bow in her hand. Suddenly she seemed to switch her thoughts back on and notching an arrow drew back on the bow. Both Nar’Allia and the bow took aim straight at the giant guardian. She made the shot, the arrow struck the monster squarely in the chest, to her relief the tendrils of power erupted from the spot and the guardian shuddered and shook to a halt. It dropped its mace and grasped at the spot where the arrow had struck with both hands. Nar’Allia heard Jonas take a deep breath in relief, she was aware that he dropped the broadsword into a more relaxed stance. But to their horror the tendrils of fire snaking about the p
oint where the arrow had struck the guardian gradually receded and then stopped altogether. The guardian remained motionless, but then it seemed to shake itself and bending down picked up the mace and again started making steady progress towards them. They turned and ran.
Further down the avenue they stopped, Jonas was looking up at the ceiling whilst walking slowly forward, but the statue was upon them again and they had to again jump desperately out of the way of the falling mace. This time the mace clipped the side of one of the buildings and brick and masonry fell all around them, luckily none were struck by any of the larger pieces. The companions retreated once more. They stopped again further along the avenue, the guardian was still following.
“We have to find a way to stop that thing and quickly,” said Amndo.
Nar’Allia made to draw another arrow, this she notched and brought the bow up ready to draw and fire.
Jonas was again looking up at the ceiling, “aye and I think I’ve found the answer.” He placed a hand upon Nar’Allia’s arm and stopped her raising the bow. He pointed up to where a crack in the ceiling had obviously been fused closed by either Tidbit or a similar machine, for they assumed he was not the only caretaker machine down here. “Another arrow milady, not at the machine this time, but there, straight into that fissure in the ceiling?”
Nar’Allia drew the bow up, but Jonas stayed her arm once again. “Not yet milady, wait for the time when the beast is directly below the fissure if you please.”
Nar’Allia looked at Jonas questioningly, but she allowed him to guide her back along the road a short way. Soon the guardian had progressed along the avenue after them and now it approached the spot below the closed fissure they had looked at earlier. Nar’Allia was kneeling, her T’Iea eye sight glued to that point in the ceiling. She drew on the bow, it aligned with her desired target, she waited.
Jonas said, “NOW”.
Nar’Allia loosed the arrow, it sped on its way to the target, she knew it would hit there so she stood just in time to be dragged unceremoniously out of the way of a third crushing strike of the guardian’s mace. When they were a safe distance away, they turned in time to see tendrils of power shooting about the ceiling. The statue had stopped and was looking up at the firework display as if mesmerised by the light show. But cracking sounds of tortured rock came to their ears as the old fissure reopened and red sand like a waterfall along with some large pieces of rock started to cascade from the crack in the ceiling and fall upon the head of the statue just below. The statue seemed to be engulfed in the sands flow but it was still moving its arms around as if trying to shield itself from the flow of sand cascading down upon it. Then they heard the familiar click-click-click from behind them and turning saw Tidbit race up to where the statue stood. He ran around the statue once or twice then levelled his light beam gun at the ceiling. The beam shot out as before and the flow of sand started to slow as the fissure was once more fused closed. The statue floundered around trying to move but its head was now contained within a block of solid rock. Tidbit turned his attention to the pile of sand upon the floor surrounding the giant guardian that was now knee deep in the pile of red sand and rock. Tidbit fired his light beam upon it. Before long the statue stood immobilised, stuck in a mound of solid red sandstone up to its knees and by its head above. It struggled and twisted turning it torso this way and that trying to free itself. But it was obviously held fast and was not going to break its bonds.
If Tidbit knew what his actions had led to, or was at all sorry for the mistake he had perhaps made he did not show it. As before he busied himself clearing up any remaining loose sand with the small shovel and brush. The guardian statue continued to struggle, its mace swung around erratically, she was afraid that Tidbit might be hit but miraculously he was not. Tidbit just stashed his tools away once more and continued down the avenue away from where the statue stood. The statue was helpless its efforts seemed to slow and eventually it just held its mace in both hands and stood still.
The company gave a collective sigh of relief as they put their weapons away and continued their trek after the caretaker machine.
“That was very clever Jonas, I don’t think that would have occurred to me,” exclaimed Nar’Allia.
Jonas just smiled and said, “huh, don’t thank me milady, thank our mechanical friend there,” he indicated towards Tidbit who was click-clicking his way down the avenue in front of them. “It was he that gave me the idea.”
Nar’Allia laughed and walking between Amndo and Jonas she slipped her arms under there’s and they continued onward following Tidbit through the ancient city, onwards to an as yet unknown destination.
The rest of the journey through the subterranean city was in comparison an uneventful one. Tidbit seemed to know where he was going. He turned left or right to walk down side streets and again on what looked like main avenues on several occasions. The city looked much the same regardless of what street or avenue they were on. In fact Nar’Allia was reminded of functional buildings rather than those designed for more pleasurable retreats. She felt she wanted to look inside some of the buildings, but this was impossible if they wished to keep up with Tidbit. To stop would risk losing their way and if the caretaker machine went through another door they would be trapped in here. Every building seemed identical, utilitarian, not to attract people in a competitive environment, for none of the buildings had any of the attributes associated with artistry or imaginative design. Rather these buildings smacked of architecture more concerned with the requirement to house people, cheaply and efficiently.
As if to reinforce her thinking Amndo said, “you know, I think this city is not a city after all, at least not perhaps what we were expecting from the descriptions made by the nomads and JDC. I believe where we walk is in fact a military barracks. Or perhaps a last refuge for a group of human kind, protected by the weaponry we first saw in the leviathan halls. It’s a shame we do not have the time to explore further, I’m sure much of interest lies behind some of these walls.”
“What. Like that giant guardian back there you mean?” Said Jonas. “Or those Startmektoken things that we seem doomed to continually come across?”
“I’ve been thinking about that. My assumptions are that the Leviathan machines have a multiple purpose; they are obviously designed with offensive measures in mind for they are mobile and can take a large number of the Startmektoken to any place in the world at a moment’s notice to attack, or defend for that matter I suppose. I also notice that it needs minimum human intervention to actually load the Leviathan with such an offensive force; I would like to bet that it also needs minimum human intervention to fly one of those things. But also the Startmektoken we encountered after we met up with Tidbit, and again the giant guardians, they are positioned inside the boundaries of the barracks proper. This leads me to believe they form a part of the defensive measures for this place. But much has failed, or has been powered down, succumbing to time and decay over the thousands of years since they were put in place. I am speculating but I think that all the remaining power this facility is able to generate has been transferred to the Leviathan halls. Power in this area seems minimal, you notice the lights are dimmed and the Startmektoken back in the tunnel appear dead, unmaintained. I think that as the human population in this place dwindled and died completely, or abandoned it, then the automated features kicked in and now only the necessary components like the leviathan halls remain in full operation.
Jonas scoffed. “For an abandoned place, we have certainly managed to arouse all sorts of life so far, I think it best we maintain a degree of caution as we go.”