by Chris Fox
Most watched him and Leti with curiosity, but no one approached until they were spotted by a short, dark-skinned man. He looked much like the natives in the village they’d passed through, though he wore the same white garb as the other priests.
“Leti, it gladdens me to see you again.” He gave the same bow she had, and his face lit up at her approach. This guy had it bad. “I see you’ve brought the Ark Lord with you. I don’t know what to think of the situation. Have you come to discuss it?”
“I have. Councilor Awa, this is Ark Lord Jordan. Jordan, this is Councilor Awa.” Leti gave Awa a friendly smile, one that drew a smirk from Jordan. He’d seen girls play the boys they knew were into them, and Leti was playing Awa like a violin. “As I said in the square earlier, he is the Mother’s direct progeny. None stand closer than he, and only a few stand equal.”
Awa looked impressed. He glanced quickly at Leti as if struggling to figure out how best to impress her. “You are both welcome to stay here, and I will offer whatever aid I can. I am not, ah, as respected as some councilors. But my voice still carries a little weight. I will speak for the Ark Lord when we are called to session.”
Jordan could feel the potential within Awa, which might be why they all followed him. Next to Jordan, the little native was strongest shaper in the room. The body language of the other priests was almost subservient, despite the fact that most were larger and stronger than Awa.
Leti bent forward and kissed Awa on the cheek. “Thank you, Awa. We will gratefully accept your hospitality. When do you think that the council will be called to session?”
“It will probably take an hour or so for them to organize it,” Awa said. “Possibly a little longer, though I am certain there will be some urgency in the matter. Nothing like this has happened since the interloper was caught.”
Leti smiled, and the kid perked up like a plant reaching for the sun.
“You’ve mentioned this interloper twice,” Jordan interjected. “Who is he?”
“He is an explorer named Percy,” Awa explained. “Apparently, he’d been trapped in the city for many years before the sun changed. He was skulking about when we discovered the city, and he was able to hide from us for some time. Eventually he was caught, and the council decided he’d done nothing worthy of punishment—but we couldn’t release him, or he might bring others to the city.” Awa looked troubled. “We imprisoned him in a large pyramid on the eastern side of the city. It’s large and possesses the means to feed and house him, but we do not allow Percy to venture beyond its walls.”
“Awa, what do you think the council will do about the Ark Lord?” Leti asked.
Again, Awa looked troubled. He reached out and took Leti’s hand. “I do not know for certain. Elia’s hatred is clear, so she will do whatever she can to thwart the Ark Lord. Matron Davina is more impartial, but still has little reason to trust you. Elise will vote as Davina votes, and Garret will follow Elia. I do not think they will try to harm anyone, but then we’ve never had the ancient enemy within our walls before. It is possible they could order the execution of your friends, and I am not sure they’d be wrong to do so.”
“They are not the enemy, Awa,” Leti said, even if she said it grudgingly. “I’ve travelled with them. They are different, and their ways are barbaric, but they do not seek a war with us. They are here to help us vanquish a terrible enemy, and the Mother fought alongside them. If she can set aside her hatred for the deathless, can we not do the same?”
“I make no promises,” Awa said. He let Leti’s hand drop and turned back to Jordan. “I will head to the council chamber to speak with the others. We will send for you when we are ready.”
57
The Lab
Trevor didn’t resist as he was shoved roughly through the doorway, into the pyramid. The white-furred Ka-Ken who’d pushed him touched the panel on the wall outside, and a golden door slid down. Trevor and Anput were left sealed inside a wide hallway. It led to a large, very empty room about sixty feet across, with walls set with clusters of gems every few feet. There were four pedestals in the room, all humming faintly with power. A faint light came from the ceiling—not enough to read by, but enough to see.
“What do you think this place is?” Trevor asked. He walked to the middle of the room, examining one of the pedestals. He could feel the signals emanating from it, but had no idea what they were.
“Don’t you think we should be more concerned about how we’re going to get out of here?” Anput asked. “Or about what those genocidal savages are going to do to us? You don’t remember the war between our species. I do. They’re going to have their little vote, and then they’re going to kill us.” She stalked to the other side of the door, bending to inspect the panel next to it. “I’m going to see if I can get this thing to open.”
“Odds are good we’re stuck for the time being, and the best way for us to find a way out is understanding where we are,” Trevor said. He knelt beside the pedestal to examine the base. “The gems on this thing look like an interface of some kind. I’ve seen similar ones in the Ark. I don’t know what this place is, but we might be able to control functions with these. Functions like opening the door.”
Anput finally looked up. “Now you have my attention.”
“There’s some risk, obviously. This thing could fire disintegration beams for all I know,” Trevor said. He rose, inspecting the gems near the top of the console. “Guess there’s only one way to find out.”
Trevor put his hands on a pair of gems, an emerald and a ruby. A jolt of power shot through him. It wasn’t painful, but he still jerked back in surprise, releasing the console.
“Are you okay?” Anput asked. She blurred over to his side. “Hmm, you seem fine. What did the gems do?”
The air next to them shimmered, and a holographic figure flickered into existence. A familiar figure. It stood about five feet tall, with translucent green skin. A pair of wide, black eyes contrasted with its tiny mouth. The hologram’s limbs were too thin, its head too large for its tiny body.
“Ka, is that you?” Trevor asked. He knew almost instantly that it wasn’t, though. This hologram looked a great deal like Ka, but the face was slightly different. It looked like a brother, or close relative of some kind.
“You have met one of my fellow keepers?” the hologram asked. Its voice was about half an octave higher than Ka’s. “That is most intriguing. My name is Ark Keeper Ba, and I have been assigned to watch over this facility.” It gave a deep bow.
“How about we ask the questions for now?” Trevor suggested. “Why did you suddenly appear?”
“You’ve accessed the system, and I have responded.” The hologram gave a low power flicker, dimming considerably. “Oh dear, we’ve lost another conduit.”
“Many people must have touched those pedestals.” Trevor folded his arms, unsure whether he should trust this thing.
“Indeed. At least one individual has attempted to access the system in the last twenty-four hours, without success. The safety protocols keep them locked out.”
“But not us?” Anput asked.
“Well, not him,” Ba corrected. “An Ark Lord may come and go as they choose. The system was designed to serve them.”
“Are you serious?” Trevor asked, blinking. “You’re just sitting here waiting for an Ark Lord to tell you what to do?”
Ba nodded its bulbous head. “Precisely.”
Anput laughed. “I can’t believe it. Those fools locked us in the control room, and left us unsupervised.”
“Let’s start with our current location,” Trevor said. “What was this room originally used for?”
“This portion of the facility is a laboratory belonging to Kek-Telek,” Ba said. “The pedestals tap into the helix repository, allowing you to manipulate genetic matter. Many experiments have been conducted here, though not in several hundred thousand years.” He cocked his head again, giving a very human sigh. “Unfortunately, damage to this facility has eroded my control. D
espite the Builders’ use of time dilation, this city has still existed past its projected life span. Many systems are badly in need of repair. My cognition is currently tied to this building, because my awakening damaged the energy converter. I can project elsewhere in the city, but not access any systems.”
“So you’re stuck here, alongside us,” Trevor said. He turned to Anput. “At the very least we might be able to make use of this place. Maybe we can experiment using some of your theories.”
“Possibly, but before we do that there’s something that concerns me.” Anput walked to the far side of the room, and Trevor followed. A stairwell led down into darkness. “They mentioned that there was an interloper. If he’s in here, I’m not sure I want to let our guard down. Let’s find him, and then we can see about some experimentation.”
“Ba, can you access the internal sensors?” Trevor asked.
“I’m afraid not.” Ba’s hologram flickered, then appeared next to them again. “My functionality is quite limited, though I can answer any question you might pose. I am well versed in this place’s history. It was created by Builder Kek-Telek himself.”
“We can check that out later. For now, we need to find out if there is anyone else in this facility. Are there any weapons here we can use?”
“I’m afraid not,” Ba said, its tiny mouth in a pout. “You will have to rely on your own shaping. This facility has four levels, each used for different types of experiments. If there is another individual in this facility, they have to be on one of those four floors.”
“Break the floors down by type,” Trevor ordered. If they were going to proceed, he wanted as much intel as possible.
“The top floor is modulation, the next floor is used for time-accelerated growth. Level three is reserved for direct mutation, and the last floor contains several banks of reclamation chambers, and access to the full data archive.” Ba flickered again.
Trevor turned to Anput. “I don’t think they would have put us in here with something lethal, but let’s proceed with caution. If it were me, I’d spend my time at the data archive, so I expect that’s where we’ll find him.”
“Or her,” Anput said. “Your logic is sound enough. Let’s explore this place and see what we can find.” She slid into the shadows, her words retreating into the distance as she started down the stairs.
Trevor followed, wrapping the shadows protectively about him. He walked quickly down the stairs, allowing his superior vision to adjust to the limited illumination provided by the gems set into the wall. He followed the stairway down another hundred paces, where it opened into a wide chamber. Similar to the one above, the room held half a dozen terminals, each next to a clear crystal tube.
“Those things are large enough to hold an elephant,” Anput whispered. Her voice came from several feet ahead. “Think of the creatures that could be created here. Entire species, wholly from the imagination of the creator.”
“Yeah, it’s a hell of a lot of power; that’s for damned sure. I wonder why the Ark doesn’t have chambers like these. This place is supposed to have preceded them, right? That’s why it’s the Proto Ark?”
“Precisely. This place is undoubtedly older. One has to wonder why the Arks were, apparently, given more limited functionality.” Anput’s voice didn’t move as she spoke, so Trevor paused as well.
“Let’s take a look at the next floor. The stairwell is right next to the one we came down,” Trevor suggested. He crept forward, moving slowly down the next stairwell. The chamber on the floor below them was several times larger than the previous floor, which made sense given the pyramid structure.
Chambers similar to the tubes above lined the walls on two sides of the room, but their walls were comprised of much thicker crystal. At the base of each cell sat a faintly glowing ruby the size of a VW Bug. Trevor could feel the faint pulses of energy, unlike anything he’d encountered thus far. They were primal somehow. Chaotic.
“There’s the stairway down to the next floor,” Anput’s voice came from about a dozen paces away. They were doing a pretty good job of staying close given that they couldn’t see each other.
“I wonder what these vats are,” Trevor asked. He passed within an arm’s length of a cylindrical golden vat. There were nearly a dozen scattered across the level, each with gems set in the side.
“No idea,” Anput replied. “Ba can probably shed some light on them, after we find this interloper.”
“And found me you have,” an old man huffed. He paused at the top of the steps, leaning heavily on a cane. He reached into a tweed jacket to withdraw a handkerchief, then mopped his forehead. “Those stairs make coming down here a major excursion. Now, my eyesight’s not too good, so you’ll have to come closer if I’m going to get a look at you.”
Trevor studied the man. His clothing was completely out of date. Trevor wasn’t a historian, but he’d been a fan of H.P. Lovecraft growing up. This guy was wearing clothes from the 1920s. His long jacket was made from a coarse fabric, with rows of matching buttons, and he had a newsboy style hat. His tan pants were tucked into knee-high leather boots. A grey-black handlebar mustache overpowered his lip, and a short goatee covered his chin.
“Who are you?” Trevor asked. He stepped from the shadows, moving closer to the old man. He could hear the old man’s heart thundering in his chest, as one would expect from a normal human. If he had the ability to shape, Trevor certainly couldn’t sense it.
“My name is Lt. Colonel Percival Harrison Fawcett, formerly of Her Majesty’s Royal Artillery.” The old man spoke with dignity, offering Trevor a trembling hand. “How do you do?”
58
Percy
Trevor took a step further into the light, wincing at the horrified expression on Percy’s face. The old man recoiled, shrinking against the wall as his mouth worked. Sometimes Trevor forgot just how monstrous he appeared.
“First there were werewolves,” he whispered, “and I thought…I must be mad. Then I got used to the idea. I thought I was sane.” Percy clutched his cane like a talisman, scrunching his eyes shut as if that would banish the situation. “But now? I just don’t know. Am I even seeing you? Or are you some sort of demon conjured by this hellish place to torment me?”
“My name is Trevor. The woman in the shadows is Anput.” Trevor spoke slowly, and made no move to approach the man. “You’re not mad, and we are not a vision. We were created by the same people who made the werewolves. They locked us in here with you.”
“You—ah, I realize this is horribly rude, but you aren’t going to eat me, are you?” Percy opened one eye, peering at Trevor.
“Quite the opposite,” Anput breathed. She sauntered toward Percy in that succubus-like way of hers. “Clearly, you’re an explorer of some kind. You must have been, to have reached this city. And you’ve been here longer than we have. Would you be willing to give us a tour?”
“Of course, of course. How very rude of me.” Percy perked up instantly. “How do you do, Ms…?”
“Anput,” she supplied. She shifted her weight, the motion somehow managing to emphasize her chest.
“Anput you say? As in the Egyptian goddess? Wife of Anubis?” Percy adjusted his spectacles, studying Anput’s face. “You have the right complexion for it. I’d definitely say you are Egyptian. Dark skin, dark hair.”
“You’re a scholar?” Anput’s surprise was total. She dropped the seduction. “How long have you been here? What can you tell us about this place?”
“Why don’t we begin with that tour, and I’ll tell you the tale as we walk? I’m afraid I’m quite frail these days. Would you be so kind as to assist me?” Percy offered his arm to Anput, and she took it, leaning against the old man as they started down the stairs to the fourth level. “I’m assuming you’ve seen the two upper floors already, as you had to pass them to get here. The top floor is some sort of control room, and I believe this is a laboratory of some kind. The apparatus on the second and third floor suggests they were experimenting with li
ving creatures. The last floor is the most troubling, but as that will take an old man some time to reach, why don’t I tell you how I came to be in this place?”
Percy stopped speaking, breathing harder as he made his way to the next landing. He paused there, mopping sweat from his forehead.
“I was fortunate enough to have a distinguished career with Her Majesty’s Royal Artillery. During my travels, I spent a great deal of time learning about the local cultures. From Egypt to the New World, I was privileged enough to see the world’s wonders. After my retirement, I decided I wanted to find the lost city I believed lay behind the tales of El Dorado. I called that city Z. Most didn’t believe it existed, but I was certain this place was out there.”
Trevor glanced down the stairs to the room below. It was cavernous, many times larger than the floor above. Banks of strange pods lined the room, but he couldn’t see much detail from this distance.
“My son Jack, the Rimmell boy, and I set out along the Xingu River in 1925. I’d been there often, you see, and knew the ways of the local tribes.” Percy’s eyes took on a faraway cast. “The trip was long and difficult. At one point we lost most of the gifts we’d intended for local tribes, and both Jack and the Rimmell boy contracted malaria. I tended to them best I could, but our pace was hobbled. They worsened, until they lacked the strength to walk. I stayed with them until the end. It’s a hard thing, watching your child die and knowing there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Anput made a sympathetic noise. It was difficult seeing the old man’s pain, and Trevor didn’t know what to say, so he patted Percy on the shoulder.
“Eventually, I continued on. I don’t know why I didn’t contract malaria. I don’t know how the Xavantes tribe never found me, the murderous savages. I kept pushing further into the jungle, never really expecting to find the city. I don’t know how long I walked. Weeks? Months? Time loses meaning in the jungle, as you’re no doubt aware.” Percy was interrupted by a fit of violent coughing. He dabbed his mouth with a handkerchief, and Trevor could smell the spots of blood staining the white cloth. The scent was sickly somehow. “I couldn’t even send word to Nina, and it ate at me that she’d never know what happened to her boys. But I wouldn’t let it all be for nothing. If I was going to die, at least I’d see Z before I did.