by Tom Hunter
“Well, it seems that since you are credited with discovering the Woidnuk,” he nodded to Mochni who returned his greeting. “And since it was your camp that was destroyed by the Kisgar, they ordered me back to try to explain what’s been going on. They won’t take it for an answer that I’m only here from time to time and that you are the ones they need to speak with.” He frowned, his lips pressed in a thin line.
As Dr. Cunningham spoke, Thomas felt a shift in the air, uncomfortable shuffling an odd sense of foreboding. He scanned their surroundings as he considered what to say in response.
Have we added more cops to this scene? He thought idly. He heard Mochni’s bulk shift uncomfortably in the small metal chair. And somewhere from the corner of his eye, Thomas Knight thought he saw the officer who had stopped them shoot looks from his counterparts to the giant Woidnuk youth. He shook the thought from his mind. Mochni was with them. What harm could he do the others? He frowned. Something felt…wrong.
Abby put a hand on Thomas’s arm. “Maybe we should explain what’s been going these last few days. Where we’ve been, I mean,” she suggested.
A chorus of “I agree” and “Yes, let’s” echoed her sentiment and Thomas nodded.
Dr. Cunningham and some of the officers and park rangers who’d gathered at the table leaned forward.
“After the Kisgar ravaged my camp and Ramon escaped, we formulated a plan. It was quite simple, really. Or so we thought,” Thomas began as he launched into their story. “It was at Noah’s villa that we finally really got to see the thing in action,” Thomas explained as he described first the opulence of the main house, then the secret door into the catacombs, and at last, Noah with the drum in the echo chamber well below ground. “It was just past a mini museum of all the relics he’d stolen me from over the years. The echo chamber, I mean.”
Thomas paused, his eyes roving the walls of the mess tent. It was a sea of blue and beige now. Every cop from Tahoe to Baja must be in here right now. He pursed his lips and wondered how much more he should reveal. He raised a glance to Abby who nodded for him to go on. Seeking a second opinion, he swept his gaze to Alexia and was surprised to see her gaze sweeping the walls. As if she felt his eyes on her, she turned, and fixed him with a different look. He nodded, his decision made.
“I have no idea what to do next, if I’m truly honest.” He cast pleading eyes across the faces of his team and Dr. Cunningham. “Our entire goal of the previous mission was to retrieve Ecknom’s Folly.” He turned to the others. “That’s the drum I mentioned,” he explained. “And since we lost it. Again. Sorry, Mochni” He raised his hands in supplication and let them drop with a thud in his lap. “I’m at a loss,” he admitted with a resigned sigh as he slumped back in his chair.
The officer who’d taken charge sat back in his own chair as he thought about what he’d heard. Then, drew forward again just as quickly and shook his head in disbelief. “I’m sorry,” he confessed. “I just can’t wrap my head around a drum, a drum, causing so much trouble.” He shrugged. “I don’t believe it. I can’t.”
Thomas had the sudden urge to laugh and point to Mochni saying, “Last week, I bet you didn’t believe a race of giants lived beneath Death Valley either.” But he thought better of it and held his tongue.
A park ranger approached. “Excuse me, Mr. Knight. Dr. Cunningham. We’ve intercepted a communique which seems to have been hijacked somehow.” The ranger frowned. “There is an audio and video message being broadcast.” Alexia opened her laptop and put it in front of the ranger.
“Use this,” she commanded. “That’s things too small and there are too many of us. You’ll want to use a bigger screen,” she explained. “What’s your frequency? I can help you pull it up.”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you, but no need.” And the ranger entered the information to reveal the message. “I think this is something everyone needs to see,” he finished as he flipped the laptop around to face them.
Thomas watched as the earth swallowed Noah’s villa, the last vestige of destruction on display. Good riddance. Now what?
Nineteen
Robbie frowned. “Look, their guns are useless against the Kisgar.” He pointed to the screen and sucked in a breath and blew it out softly. “I mean, we were there, and – ”
“I know,” Thomas interjected. “Most of them are just trying to escape. See?” A small grouping had made it out and were slipping and sliding against the rolling Earth. Movement had stopped and the soldiers had looked at each other with what looked to Thomas Knight and his team like a sigh of relief. At that moment, a Kisgar burst through earth and with its great claws scooped the men up as one and threw them several yards away. Their bodies landed bent and broken. No one moved. “And there,” Thomas pointed to a single soldier now on the opposite side of the screen. “I bet he thought he’d be safer on his own,” Thomas mused aloud.
Abby sighed. “Well, he was wrong. Safety in numbers. Safety in singles. Doesn’t matter.” She shook her head. “Not like this.”
The single soldier had barely made it out a side door. He looked first right, then left, his gun gripped tightly to him like a prize. He stepped forward, presumably feeling it was safe to move, and a lizard-like figure loomed before him, its huge digger claws pinning him back to the wall.
“He’s got the right idea!” exclaimed Robbie as another soldier raced up the Kisgar’s back and tried to attack it from behind while it was focused on the man in front. But his seeming success was short-lived. “Oh, never mind,” Robbie whispered. The team watched as the Kisgar thrashed and shook, raking at the man with its other claw. In a great heave, he flung the soldier off his back, took three steps back, and crushed the man underfoot.
“It’s utterly fut – ” the video crackled and faded to black as Alexia spoke. “What the – ?” before she could finish her question, a new image appeared. The sudden jolt from havoc to calm sharpened their attention.
A masked figure leaned forward, seemed to make some adjustments, then leaned back in their chair. “To the people of California and Nevada,” the voice intoned. “I have sent a similar video to your city and state officials with particular demands to be met. Which, if these demands are not met, the scene you have just witnessed will invade and uproot your once peaceful lives. Therefore, I implore you to contact your government officials and demand they surrender to my…simple requests. If not, the pain of devastation will rain down on your populations for refusing. This is not a drill. This is a matter of life and death. Your lives and the lives of your neighbors are in your hands.” The figure fixed his steely gaze on the camera and added one final statement. “I am already on my way to Carson City and I am bringing my…friends…with me.” And with that the camera cut to black, then layers of static.
“Did he just say – ?” Pediah asked.
“Is he coming here? Finished Dr. Cunningham.
Thomas nodded. “‘Fraid so, kids.” He pressed his lips together in a firm line, then raised his hands to his temples and tried to rub the headache away. His hands flopped to the table and he clasped them together. Once again, all eyes were on him looking for answers to questions he hadn’t yet formed. He sighed and ran a hand through still gritty and dusty hair.
“This may sound crazy,” he began. “But there are actually two good things to come out of that communique.” All eyes turned to him in surprise.
“Like?” Mochni asked.
“Well, we know his destination.” Thomas Knight tapped a finger on the table. “Here.” He paused. “And in order to control the Kisgar, he has to have the drum. So, we don’t have to go chasing after the thing. He’s bringing it back.” Thomas tilted his head to one side. “Technically.”
“True…” ventured Abby slowly. “But we still don’t know where he’s coming from.”
“Point taken.”
Alexia winced as the video ended and was unusually quiet. The blood had drained from her face, her heart rate had quickened, she was gasping in shallow breaths.
Had no one else realized what this meant? She searched her friends faces, her eyes were wild. Oh god, what had Noah done!
“Were any of you listening? Alexia asked in surprise. “The little attacks on our camp site and at Noah’s villa will be nothing compared to what angry Kisgar will do to innocent civilians.” Her ashen face soon colored as the flush of pink bloomed.
Robbie, Thomas, Abby, Pediah, and Mochni fixed their eyes on Alexia and groaned as one. “Oh god,” exclaimed Abby, clamping a hand over her chest. “She’s right.”
“We’ve got to stop him,” Pediah said, jumping up from the table, and in doing so overturning his chair.
“But how?” asked Robbie. “We don’t even know where he is now. Never mind where he’ll be coming from on his way here. We have no real information.” He slammed a hand down on the table. “I hate being practical, but…”
Thomas held up a hand. “I know, Robbie. Everyone. I know.” He sighed. “You’re all right.” Rubbing a worried hand over his furrowed brow, Thomas Knight wondered if they wouldn’t all end up like those soldiers in the video. I’m all out of ideas when the most desperate time for a plan is now. Great. Just…great.
Mochni leaned forward. He did it so quickly his chair scraped forward and the others turned toward the sound. “I have an idea where he might be hiding. The man in the box.”
“Screen,” Robbie corrected. “On the screen.”
“Whatever.” Mochni dashed off in imitation of a word he’d heard Robbie use.
Thomas cleared his throat. “What is it, Mochni? What’s your idea?”
“It was the sound. The echo,” Mochni began “I’ve known it all my live. Life,” he corrected himself. “Then, it was the walls in the room. I know those walls, too. So do you,” he remarked giving Thomas Knight and his team a strange look. “You know it as well as I do. It bears the stone like that of my home. The Woidnuk dwellings beneath.” He pointed downward.
“Beneath Death Valley,” Thomas finished. Understanding flooded his senses. “He’s in the caves!” he breathed excitedly. Mochni nodded. “Yes, I believe so.”
Abby and Alexia gasped. “That makes sense,” Alexia said, warming to the idea. “He’d be safe from aerial observation below ground and with the Kisgar known to come from there – ”
“It’s unlikely anyone would think to send a team down there,” Abby finished, showering Mochni with an appraising and proud look.
Robbie pitched forward in his seat. “That’s all well and good guys. But it doesn’t do us much good, if we don’t know WHERE beneath us, he is. Death Valley is not a small place.”
Mochni turned to Robbie and smiled. “Trust me, bleed brother. This is the place of my birth. I know it well.” He paused before continuing, “Also, I know that only one Woidnuk cannot find the dark figure on his own. But as I must now accept the role of chief of my people, I can bring together the Woidnuk people and set them to this task. And with your help,” he nodded to each of them in turn. “There is a chance.”
Thomas Knight, in the space of a breath, listened to Mochni’s idea, and as it unfolded, he heard an uncomfortable shuffling. Catching the eyes of his team, he noticed seemed ready for the next chapter of the fight. But the sea of blue and beige which had slowly invaded their small camp stood or sat straight and tense, their shoulders heavy with worry. He frowned, then putting himself in their shoes, he realized what had caused the disturbance.
They’re afraid of Mochni by himself. If he raises the Woidnuk people to a single cause…. They may fight this idea. A warning thought reverberated like alarm bells.
Twenty
It was the officer in charge who spoke first. “Uh, I’m not sure it’s a good idea…maybe you should just point us in the right direction.”
From the back wall, someone shouted, “I’m not going with that…” he said pointing at Mochni. “And sure as hell not an entire race just like ‘im.” The man’s fear set off a blaze of objections from around the room.
Voices were raised and arguments surfaced as Mochni looked around confusedly. There were so many people talking at once that he could hardly understand what anyone was saying, but he knew they were angry. And afraid. Trying to imagine what his father might say, he stood up, but before he could speak, Robbie came to his defense.
“Hey! If he knows where Noah is, let him do his thing. Who are you more afraid of, officers?” Robbie hissed. “Mochni and his people or the Kisgar?”
“I’m not afraid…we’re not afraid of anyone or anything – ” began another officer as Alexia came to Mochni’s defense.
“Are you sure about that? He’s got a good plan and we’ve got his back. Have you got ours?” she asked quietly.
Dr. Cunningham and Abby shared a look and he turned to the officer who’d first spoken. “You need to tell them the real reason you’re all here now. They deserve to know.”
Abby had known there was more to Dr. Cunningham’s story than he’d originally let on. She’d known him for too long for him to keep anything from her.
The officer nodded. He rose from the chair and drew himself up to his full height. “I – we – haven’t been completely honest,” he began. Thomas Knight and his team looked at him in surprise, but said nothing as they waited for him to continue.
Broad blue shoulders raised and lowered into a hunch as he placed his hands on the table with a sigh. “The governor, it seems, has decided you and your friend here,” he nodded in Mochni’s direction, “are to be considered potential terrorists.”
“What?!” Thomas Knight and his team exclaimed in unison before he could finish.
The officer raised a hand to stop further questions. “He sees it as this problem wouldn’t exist at all if you hadn’t discovered the Woid…nooks,” he explained, stumbling over the name of Mochni’s people. “He thinks it’s them causing these problems as a vendetta against those of us on the surface.”
Thomas guffawed loudly. “That is utterly ridiculous and you know it.” He leaned back in his chair and narrowed his eyes accusingly at the closest officers and rangers. “You had some of the danger in your own custody, remember?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Knight. Dr. Cunningham. Mrs. Hogan,” he began addressing those he figured were the most senior of the team and spread his arms in a gesture of defeat. “There’s nothing I can do.”
Abby stood up angrily, clenched her fists, and settled them on her hips. “Nothing you can do?” she repeated. “You’re on the ground. You’ve actually seen what Noah is capable of and his insane greed and desire to control….”
The officer dropped his head sheepishly. “I wish it were different. But my men and I are under strict orders to gun down any Kisgar or Woidnuk we see leaving the tunnels.”
Dr. Cunningham whirled in his state and stood to meet the man’s gaze. “I was not told of this!” he exploded. “I was asked to bear witness here, only,” he said now, speaking to Abby. “I had no idea.” He twisted back in a rage toward the officer. “Why am I just hearing of this now?” he demanded to know.
Pediah sighed with a groan. “I think I know.” He turned toward Abby who nodded. “Right. We know.”
Thomas gestured with his hand for them to speak up. “Well?”
Abby answered instead. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? They think our expedition team is in league with the Woidnuk and since it was our team who initially discovered the drum…” her voice trailed off, letting the others fill in the blanks.
Almost to himself, Thomas whistled under his breath. “That’s why Noah wore his mask. No one but us would recognize him. To the public, he’s a nameless, faceless figure, leaving nobody for them to blame the incident on….”
“That’s why we never saw Ramon or Noah or Ms. Welker, only pawns in his game, who once they were dead wouldn’t be able to talk or identify him,” remarked Robbie as he recalled the video and the events leading up to it. “But the video did show Thomas and Mochni…shit” he whistled softly as the realization settled in their midst.
Mochni snarled and his voice rumbled into a low growl, startling the police and rangers who began to pull their weapons.
“No!” roared Robbie jumping up, his hand out palm facing the officer in charge. The man looked to Thomas who shook his head.
“Let him speak – ” began Thomas as Mochni slammed a large hand against the table, making it jump.
“We don’t have times for these games! We have to stop this Noah before it is too late,” he cried.
Though the officer had returned his weapon to its holster, some of the others had drawn theirs and were aimed at Thomas Knight and his team. Inwardly, Thomas groaned. Not again.
“Down on your knees,” someone ordered.
Thomas scanned the faces before him, the deadly serious officers with terror in their eyes and those of his team and Dr. Cunningham with a mix of resignation and resentment. He was debating his next move when another thought struck him.
If we get stopped here, when we’re so close to the end, Noah will surely win. He raised his eyes to the heavens in a silent pleading cry for help as he followed the others and kneeled with his hands behind his head. Oh god, please. Don’t let Noah win this one. There are too many lives at stake, he prayed.
Twenty-One
Far below the azure sky, beneath the cracked and faded land of endless sand, Noah found himself in an abandoned Woidnuk cave dwelling. It was a humble dwelling of simple means, made of dirt and stone. It reminded him of a place he’d been once long ago, where dwellings were built on the side of a mountain. Though a far cry from the opulence of his once surface-bound villa which had gleamed with marble and gold, this place suited him just fine, for now.
He reminisced in the coolness of his cave and busied himself at the controls of his makeshift command center. Low-frequency radio and video casting equipment was scattered about the room; a stone’s throw from where he was now, he watched Ms. Welker handle the set up. She straightened and dusted machines with the swipe of one of his handkerchiefs. Then she turned knobs and dials, flipped switches, and entered codes until the tech components of his equipment were synced with his camera.