Enslavement

by D. B. Reynolds-Moreton

  “Don't move,” Brodrick said softly. “Slowly crouch down and move back out of sight. It's quick movement that gets noticed, and that thing has a useful set of legs, it could easily out pace us. I think it's time we returned from whence we came.”

  With their back packs bumping up and down, they went as fast as they could, past the water storage block and up the slope to the teleport building.

  They went to the side of the building where the exit was, but there was no opening.

  “I'm sure it was here,” Ted said, a tremble in his voice.

  “So am I,” Brodrick replied. “Don't panic, there must be some way of getting in, otherwise the whole thing would be useless.”

  It was several minutes later when Brodrick found it, a shallow depression in the otherwise featureless wall of metal. Pushing his thumb firmly into the recess, they waited for the mechanism to recognise their presence. There was a distant click, and a panel slid back. They both hurried into the chamber, which now had gently glowing walls - just enough for them to see by. Dumping their kit in the middle of the floor, they both stood looking at each other, wondering what to do next.

  “Well,” Brodrick said eventually, “let's have a look at that dial thing - there's sod all else in here.”

  The dial with its five symbols and pointer knob gave no clue as to where each destination was - on this world or another, and the exit door had slid shut.

  “Right, let's try and work this out,” announced Brodrick, trying to sound confident. “The God-thing must have come back here, we must assume, so the symbol the pointer is indicating must be where it went to next and we don't want to go there, so that leaves only four possible symbols for Earth - any ideas?” Ted just shrugged his shoulders and pulled a face.

  “We'll just have to try each of the settings until we get the right one,” said Brodrick. “So let's do it.”

  “Suppose we go somewhere and can't get back?” Ted asked.

  “This is a two way system,” replied Brodrick, curtly. “Otherwise it would be pointless.”

  After making a sketch of the present setting on the dial, he turned the pointer on to the next symbol and stood back, waiting for something to happen - it didn't.

  “Perhaps you have to pull or push the knob.” Ted suggested.

  A firm push on the knob pointer was followed by a loud click, the grid pattern appeared on the floor and walls, the thin mist swirled around them - and then it was gone.

  A door slid open and a cold draught swept into the chamber, along with a few snow- flakes.

  “We had better put on every item of clothing we've got, with the nylon waterproofs on top,” said Brodrick, feeling the first shiver. “It looks like winter out there.”

  They walked down the short passageway and out into a frozen world.

  “I don't think this is Earth,” said Ted, “unless we are high up in the mountains somewhere.”

  “We'd better check it out,” Brodrick replied, “just in case.”

  The teleport building had a copious covering of ice, liberally covered with soft fluffy snow, and behind it the ice cliffs towered up for several hundred metres. The ice on either side was not quite so high, forming a horseshoe shaped crescent, while ahead was a long snow covered ice slope, obscuring their forward view.

  “Right, let's see what we have here,” said Brodrick cheerfully. “The top of that slope should give us a good view, but watch your footing.”

  Reaching the top of the incline they were confronted by a sheer drop of some one hundred metres to a foaming sea below. Ahead the ice carried on into the distance, but detail was hard to see due to a layer of mist and tumbling snowflakes.

  “How do we get across that gap,” asked Ted, “it's too far to jump.”

  “There must be a way,” Brodrick replied, “let's go along to the far end of the ridge.”

  As the swirling mist and snow broke for an instant, they could see what looked like a bridge, composed of rough hewn wooden planks supported by cables connecting to the ice on the other side. Careful not to lose their footing, the pair made it safely across the ravine and onto the ice sheet beyond. After several hundred metres of undulating mounds of snow covered ice, the scene changed.

  “Hey - look at that,” Brodrick exclaimed, “it's not all solid ice.”

  Up ahead several humps in the terrain rose up from the ice sheet, covered in a moss-like growth, some sporting what looked like small stunted trees with a few sad looking leaves adorning the topmost branches.

  “There must be heat down below for this to happen,” commented Brodrick, “and over there it looks like a building of some sort.”

  In the distance, a cylindrical building could be seen on a large mound as the snow and mist eddied and swirled about.

  “It seems to be made of stone blocks,” commented Ted. “I wonder where they got that from?”

  As they climbed up the slope, several small holes in the moss-covered ground issued forth thin wisps of steam, or to be more precise, water vapour. Brodrick put his hand into one column and declared it to be warm.

  A weather-beaten wooden door recessed into the wall of the building invited their attention, but refused to open.

  “There's nothing to turn or twiddle,” said Brodrick, “except for this small hole.”

  He put his finger into the hole, something gave way, and the door opened a fraction; a push, and they were inside.

  “Well, this is different,” exclaimed Ted, looking around at the meagre furnishings. “I hope the owner isn't around.”

  Two odd looking chairs, a crude table, and a row of empty shelves on the curved wall, and a metal pipe rising up from the floor and curving around to go through the wall, were all there was to be seen - until Brodrick noticed a large metal plate set into the stone floor. He tried to lift it up, but it only moved sideways a fraction.

  “I bet this is a lift, it's not set rigidly into the floor, it won't come up, so it can only go down - what do think?” he asked Ted.

  “Seems to make sense,” Ted replied, but without much conviction.

  “OK, we'll pick up our gear and both step on it together - just in case it works on body weight.”

  As soon as their combined weights were on the platform, something sensed their presence, and the long descent began. Brodrick had his torch on, showing the roughly hewn walls of the shaft as the lift sped downwards.

  A jarring thump, and they had reached the bottom of the shaft. Ahead lay a short passage leading into a cavernous chamber hewn out of the solid rock. Dotted about were several pieces of machinery, some linked together by pipes, others standing alone - none of which made any sense as to what their purpose was. Again, there were no luminaries as such - it seemed as if the walls had been sprayed with some kind of luminous paint, the light was only just enough to see by.

  “Looks like a processing plant of some kind,” said Brodrick, brightly, “but there's no clue as to what they processed.”

  “There must be a power plant to run all this stuff, and the lift we came down on, so where is it?” Ted asked.

  All they could find was a door set in the wall, but try as they might, it wouldn't open.

  After a full inspection of the alien plant, they followed a large pipe down a sloping passage which opened out onto a ledge, just above sea level.

  “They must have been sucking up something from the sea,” Brodrick stated, “and I doubt it's just sea water. Look there are a series of rods in two lines, going out to sea, and they are linked together by a wire. I reckon it somehow attracts something in the sea to come in close to shore, and it gets sucked up that pipe to the plant above.”

  “Look over there,” said Ted, pointing to the other end of the ledge, “there's a huge pile of something - looks as if it has come out of that other pipe.”

  At the end of the ledge, a mountain of dark brown carapaces had piled up well above water level.

  “My God,” exclaimed Brodrick, as he looked down into the waters beneath, “there m
ust be millions of 'em - they look a bit like horseshoe crabs, but much bigger.”

  The pair made their way back to the processing plant, to see if they could now work out what it was all about, but they were none the wiser for their trouble.

  “You know, I think they suck up those sea creatures, strip out the innards and process them for some mineral, or something that's valuable to them - and dump the shells back into the sea. I very much doubt it's for their food content - too inefficient.”

  “There must be a transport grid down here somewhere,” said Ted. “Otherwise how do they get the stuff back to their home world?”

  “Probably is,” Brodrick replied, “but I don't think we'll use it - might wind up in some alien machinery somewhere, all mashed up to a pulp.”

  “You know,” Ted commented, “I've not seen a drinking vessel or other signs of anyone working down here, there must be a labour force of some kind - so where do they live?”

  “I think this whole place runs automatically, with just the occasional visit from an alien engineer once in a while to make sure every thing's tickety-boo.”

  There was nothing more to be done down in the processing plant, so they both made their way over to where the lift had deposited them earlier, and there was the platform, waiting for them.

  “OK, on it together.” Brodrick said.

  The journey up was a little slower, but the platform returned them to the stone building on the ice sheet, shuddered once, and then was still.

  “Let's see where that pipe goes, didn't notice it on the way in,” Brodrick suggested.

  They went around to the back of the building, and saw the pipe exiting the wall and going off into the distance, supported on stone pillars. They followed the pipe for some distance, eventually coming to what might have been another building, but it was covered in thick ice and snow, and no sign of a door.

  “Bet this is the teleport building for sending whatever it is they have made down below; no point in trying to go in - as I said, we may well wind up in some sort of processing plant,” Brodrick stated.

  “Let's go on a bit further,” he added, “there might be something else of interest.” Ted just nodded, as he usually did.

  They left the cylindrical stone building, past the last of the strange warm mounds with their sad little trees, and on to the virgin ice sheet.

  “I've not seen any foot prints, so no one has been around here for some time.” Brodrick said, just to hear a sound other than the faint whisper of the snow.

  At last they came to the end of the ice. Looking down, the sea was pounding away at the huge ice cliffs many metres below.

  “If this is an ice covered island, which I think it is, it's not very big,” Brodrick said. “So maybe there are others scattered about in this sea.”

  “Could be,” replied Ted, “but we haven't looked at the end where we arrived - that might go on a whole lot more.”

  “There's nothing else for us here, so let's return to the teleport building and take a look at the ice behind it. I know the cliffs are massive, but there might be a way through.” Brodrick suggested, and Ted agreed.

  The light was beginning to dim a little as they passed the stone building, and was decidedly so as they crossed the plank bridge and on to the teleport block.

  They searched for a way past the massive ice wall in the fading light, but found none, and so decided to return to the sandy world, if they could.

  Back inside teleport, the door obligingly shut behind them with a soft clunk, the walls glowed, and Brodrick reached for the control knob, and pushed it in.

  As the mist cleared, the door slid open and bright sunlight flooded in.

  “Right, let's get our excess clothes off and warm up in the sun,” Brodrick said. “I almost feel at home.” Ted was about to comment, but thought better of it.

  The light outside the building was almost painful to their eyes, so after warming up, they moved their gear to the shady side, and broke out the rations.

  The pair were just dozing off in the warm air when the ground trembled slightly, and the sound of heavy feet broke the silence. They both woke up to see the flesh eating creature they had seen earlier approaching. In one swift move they grabbed their belongings and raced for the doorway. The creature's head just poked into the entrance when the door slid to behind them - but only just in time.

  “God, that was close,” exclaimed Ted, still shaking, “We must be more careful in future.” Brodrick just grunted.

  “Well, let's try the next one, shall we?” Brodrick asked.

  “Suppose so,” was all he got from Ted.

  “For someone who was all for an adventure, you don't sound very enthusiastic,” Brodrick commented, rather dryly.

  “Well, I wasn't expecting this sort of nightmare,” Ted replied, sullenly.

  Brodrick moved the pointer around to the next symbol, and firmly pushed in the knob.

  As the mist cleared, the door slid open, and a gush of hot sulphurous air rushed in.

  CHAPTER 4

  “OH GOD, THIS is worse than last time,” Ted wailed.

  “Do stop moaning,” Brodrick snapped back. “I know it doesn't look like home, but we'd better check it out just in case.”

  Picking up their gear, they left the sanctuary of the teleport and stepped out onto a wide ledge with a precipitous drop of several hundred metres or so to a river of red hot flowing lava. Beyond this, a dark and menacing cliff rose up to meet a dull red sky above. A continuous crackling sound accompanied the lava flow, adding to the overall feeling of dread they both felt. To the right of the ledge, a flight of steps cut out of the volcanic rock led upwards to twist around and out of sight.

  “OK, let's go up there,” suggested Brodrick, cheerfully, “we'll get a better view from up there - and see if it's worth carrying on.”

  The steps were worn and slippery, due to the dust which lay on them from the ash laden air. They turned the corner of the first flight, only to be confronted by another line of steps leading to what they hoped was the top.

  “Damned smelly place, this,” muttered Ted, as he struggled up the last few steps. “Can't say I'd like to live here.”

  Ahead lay a flat plateau, in the distance a massive building behind which rose up black volcanic rocks of an extinct volcano, while overhead writhed dark clouds, tinged with the red light from the fires below.

  “I agree,” responded Brodrick, looking round at the desolate landscape, “not my idea of a holiday destination. - who the hell would want to live here?”

  “Unless the rest of the place is even worse,” Ted added.

  They trudged on across the gritty plateau towards the building ahead, Ted muttering away to himself, and Brodrick stoically ignoring it; the huge construction seemed to be getting bigger as they approached, towering over them.

  “It reminds me of a monastery,” said Brodrick, pausing for a while. “Quite a menacing looking place - don't fancy an internship here.’

  Before them, set in the massive stone walls, were two metal studded wooden doors of huge proportions, with two large planks of wood nailed across them barring entrance. Attached to one plank was a notice, but the script and language was indecipherable to them.

  “Do you think any of our notes would be of use?” Ted asked, helpfully.

  “Doubt it,” Brodrick said, “this is a different planet to ours, and so is the language - I don't think anyone is meant to go in there though.” Ted heaved a sigh of relief.

  Brodrick took hold of one of the planks, and tried to rip it free, but the nails must have rusted in, and it held fast.

  “There must be another way in,” Brodrick said, enthusiastically, “it's just a matter of finding it.”

  As they searched for the elusive entrance, they saw plenty of huge barred windows which were too high for them to look into. Brodrick was on the point of giving up, when a small porch came into view, hidden in a recess.

  There were no planks across this door, but it was locked. B
rodrick slipped off his backpack and rummaged about in one of the side pockets, withdrawing two pieces of thick wire. After several frustrating minutes, there were two clicks, and the door creaked open.

  “We're in,” he exclaimed triumphantly. “Better get the torches wound up, it's dark in there.”

  They entered a narrow dusty passage with only just enough headroom to stand upright. It twisted and turned several times, and then they came to another small locked door. Brodrick worked his magic with the wires, and they entered the main hall.

  Before them were a row of tall windows letting in the red tinted light, colouring everything a lurid dull pink. Along each long wall a row of tall backed chairs stood, with threateningly ugly carved heads above them.

  Six massive stone pillars rose up from the floor to disappear into the dark heights overhead, between which was an intricately tiled floor, each tile depicting some grotesque looking creature. As the pair turned around, they saw what Brodrick thought was an altar. Several steps lead up to a raised plinth on which a huge polished block of stone lay, and behind which a curved, carved screen reached up into the darkness above.

  “My God, this is a spooky place,” said Brodrick at last. “It has an evil feel about it, or is that just me?”

  “No, I think you're right,” Ted replied, giving a little shudder, “the whole damned place gives me the bloody creeps, every since we got here.”

  “Well, now we're here, we might just as well take a look around - there doesn't seem to be any occupants, the dust on the floor shows no sign of foot prints.” Brodrick said, cheerfully.

  They had climbed the steps to the altar stone, relieved to see no sign of the expected blood collecting groove around its edges, when Ted discovered a hidden door in the carved screen behind. He had rested his hand on a carved head when it moved, and before he knew what he had done, he had given it a push. A door creaked open, and a passageway lay beyond.

  “You're not going in, are you?” asked Ted.

  “Don't see why not,” Brodrick replied, “it's only a building, as long as we're careful; the only thing to fear, is fear itself.”