by Tom Hoffman
Orville’s mind was racing. This was bad. Whoever these creatures were, they had shaping powers far more advanced than his. His eyes darted around, searching for an escape route. The trees he had seen from the aqueduct were not trees at all, but gigantic ferns. It was these soft pliable jungle ferns which had broken his fall, possibly saving his life.
Orville almost kicked himself. How could he have forgotten blinking? He would blink up to the aqueduct and leap into the raging water. An airtight sphere of defense would keep him afloat and eventually he would catch up with Sophia and Proto. He flicked his wrist but nothing happened. “Why can’t I blink?”
“It’s trying to turn into a thought cloud and escape. It really is scared, isn’t it? We’re not going to hurt you, little one, we’ll take the best care of you and feed you whatever you like to eat.”
“I’ve got news for you, bug eyes, no one is keeping me for a pet!” Orville raised both paws and a brilliant force beam blasted out at the insects, powerful enough to knock them both over. Unfortunately, halfway between Orville and the insects the force beam froze, the light transforming into a cloud of red dust which drifted slowly to the ground.
One of the insects picked Orville up, cradling him in its arms. “There, there, little friend, no need to be afraid. Time to take you home. You’ll be nice and safe there, I promise.”
There was a small flash of light and Orville found himself still in the arms of the praying mantis, but now in an enormous circular room, rectangular panels of swirling light covering the walls, tall curved gold metallic consoles peppered with small blinking lights circling the room. “Where are we? What is this place?”
The huge insect set Orville gently on the floor. “Let’s see what it does.”
A low humming sound filled Orville’s ears. This was very bad. He recognized the sound, having heard it on Varmoran when he was reliving the memories of an attack ship pilot. He dashed over to one of the consoles and hopped up onto it, peering out through a round viewing port. His knees grew weak. All he could see was the infinite blackness of space filled with glittering stars and galaxies. Orville sank to his knees with a moan. They were in an interstellar craft somewhere in dark space. Sophia and Proto would never find him here. His parents would never know what happened to him. Tears welled up in his eyes.
“Hide him, quick!”
One of the insects grabbed Orville, flipping open a storage compartment panel and stuffing him inside. The door snapped shut, leaving Orville in darkness. He tried to shape a light orb but couldn’t. “They’re blocking my thought clouds somehow. Who are these creatures? They’re not from Tectar, not if they’re flying around in an interstellar ship like this. What do they want? Why would they kidnap me?”
Twenty minutes later the panel door flipped open and one of the insects peered in. “Sorry, little one. Come with us, but be very quiet, not a sound, okay? If they hear you, it would be bad. Really bad.”
Orville was now beyond terrified. Who were they afraid of? What kind of creature could scare these two huge insects? “I feel sick. I think I’m going to throw up.”
“Shhh, no throwing up. Hop into this box and don’t make a sound. We have to get you to a safe place before they find you.”
“Before who finds me?”
“Quiet, no talking.”
Orville climbed into the box and the lid slammed shut. He slumped down, burying his head in his paws. All he could think of was how worried Sophia and Proto must be. When his paw touched the top of his head he let out a groan. He’d lost his adventuring hat.
Chapter 20
Searching for Orville
“ORVILLE!!” Sophia screamed when she saw Orville fly over the side of the aqueduct, their boat careening wildly down the turbulent roaring river. She knew she could blink down to the forest floor, but that would leave Proto alone in the boat.
“Proto! We have to stop the boat! We have to go back and find Orville!”
Proto nodded. “I will slide off and hold the boat still while you climb out.”
“The current is too strong, it will knock you over!”
“A highly unlikely outcome. I have calculated precisely the forces involved and my plan has a ninety-seven percent chance of success. Hold on tight!”
Proto slipped off the stern of the rocking craft, his massive silver hands gripping the outer rim of the boat. Much to Sophia’s surprise, Proto’s calculations were proven correct. The rushing water was up to his chest, but he was standing solidly in the pounding turbulence, water foaming and roaring around him. Using his incredible strength he maneuvered the boat out of the raging water and onto the flat outer wall of the aqueduct. Sophia hopped onto the stone ledge, joined a moment later by a dripping wet Proto.
“You did it! You’re amazing!”
Proto grinned. “It is always a pleasure to rescue you.”
Sophia’s grin disappeared. “We have to find Orville. I can blink down, but how will you get down?”
Proto hopped off the aqueduct, landing on the soft ground below with a resounding thud. “I’m fine! It looks safe, not a dreadful creature in sight.”
Sophia popped down next to Proto. “I’ve never seen ferns this big. Can you scan the area for Orville?”
A wide beam of yellow light from Proto’s eyes traveled across the jungle. “I am finding no life forms other than plants, it should be safe to–”
“You’re sure? There’s no sign of Orville?”
Proto hesitated. “My scan does have limited range. Perhaps he wandered off in a different direction.”
“He would have followed the aqueduct, he would have come this way. I know he would have.”
“That is a logical assumption, of course, but perhaps the fall left him slightly disoriented. He did have his sphere of defense up, so he couldn’t have been hurt badly. Nothing to worry about, we’ll find him.”
The pair of adventures set off through the steamy sweltering jungle, pushing their way through dripping foliage and past the gigantic ferns. Sophia stopped to listen. “There’s not a sound, not a bird or buzzing insect. Jungles are usually teeming with life. This is very strange.”
“It is peculiar. Did you happen to notice the sky?”
“Sky? How could there be sky?” Sophia looked up to a starry night sky set off by a lovely crescent moon. “That’s not possible. We’re below the surface of the planet, how could we be seeing a night sky?”
Proto studied the twinkling stars above them. “The stars and the moon above us are stationary. We know from your shadow experiment that Tectar makes one complete rotation approximately every twenty-one hours. If we were seeing the night sky over Tectar, the stars would appear to be moving relative to our position on the planet. We are looking at an artificially created night sky.”
“That’s incredible. Who could have built something like that?”
Proto shook his head. “It is a most remarkable feat of engineering.”
“Let’s go, it will take us at least a half hour to reach the spot where Orville fell. Keep scanning for life force. We have no idea what might be roaming around down here.”
Sophia’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the purple feather sticking up from a cluster of small ferns. “No, no, no!” She raced over to it, terrified of what she might find. It was Orville’s hat, but there was no sign of Orville. She mutely held it up for Proto to see.
Proto did his best to reassure her. “No need to fret, I’m sure he’s quite all right. He lost his hat during the fall, quite a common occurrence. At least we know we’re searching in the right area. He’ll be quite pleased when we present him with his lost hat, quite pleased indeed.”
Sophia barely heard Proto’s words of encouragement. She grasped the trunk of a great fern, afraid she would collapse. Orville would never leave his adventuring hat behind. Never. Something bad had happened. She took a slow breath, gathering her thoughts and emotions. “Have you spotted anything? Any sign of him?”
“Nothing yet, I’m af
raid, but there is a rather interesting electromagnetic field ahead of us. It seems an odd place to find such a strong energy field, in the middle of a dense jungle.”
Sophia fought her way through a heavy thicket of ferns. “Maybe Orville found something there. Maybe that’s where he is.”
Ten minutes later they broke through a wall of vines and vegetation into a small clearing. In the center of the clearing stood a fifteen foot tall dark green dome.
Proto scanned the mysterious structure. “There is a powerful energy field surrounding it. I will scan it using electromagnetic and thermal vision.”
Proto gave a laugh and strode over to the dome, tapping his finger on a barely visible disk. A circular opening appeared in the side of the dome, light flooding out into the shadowy jungle.
Proto hunched down and stepped through the entryway. “It appears to be a control center of some kind.” He eyed the wide silver console covered with dials and tabs.
Sophia entered the dome, studying the array of controls. She tapped a small green button and a holo screen popped up, displaying an image of the night sky above the jungle. “This could be what regulates the artificial night sky. The symbols on the holo screen match the symbols on this dial.” She twisted a large blue dial and the sea of stars transformed into a brilliant blue sky.
Proto looked out of the dome. “That’s it, there’s blue sky over the jungle, it’s daytime now.”
“I wonder what this one does?” Sophia twisted another dial and was rewarded with the sound of a torrential rainstorm spattering and pounding against the top of the dome. “That one’s for rain. Someone put enormous effort into the creation of a fully functioning artificial environment.”
Sophia turned another dial and the wind began to howl, the ferns outside flailing wildly. She turned the dial back and the wind stopped. “Why would someone create a subterranean environment with its own weather system?”
“Perhaps at one time the surface of the planet was not capable of supporting life, forcing the inhabitants to live underground.”
“There are no lifeforms here now, except for the plants. Where did they go? We need to keep looking for Orville. I was hoping we’d find him here.” Sophia shut off the rainstorm, but left the blue sky on.
“This is much better, we can see quite clearly now. I’m certain we’ll find him shortly. This artificial environment really is quite remarkable. Millennia have passed since the creation of the jungle, and yet it is still vibrant and alive. Hold on, I’m picking up a secondary energy field a few hundred feet to the south. We should investigate.”
Proto and Sophia pushed through the tangles of vegetation, soon discovering a huge metal cylinder protruding up from the jungle floor.
“What is that?”
“I am uncertain, but the cylinder is not the source of the energy field.” Proto walked over to the base of a large fern and picked up a small rectangular object. “This object is emitting quite a powerful energy field.”
“What is it?”
Proto examined it closely. “I believe it is a communication device, but unlike any I am familiar with.” He pressed a small tab on the device. “Nothing.”
“A thought cloud just came out of it!”
“Remarkable. Were you able to read its content?”
“Press the tab again.” A pale yellow thought cloud emerged from the device and Sophia drew it to her. “It’s empty, there’s no information in it.”
“Could it be a communication device utilizing thought clouds?”
“That could be it. That’s incredible, a device which allows the owner to send and receive thought clouds. We’ll take it back and show it to Mirus Mouse. He might be able to figure out how it works.”
“The presence of the this enormous pipe is quite puzzling also.”
“There’s a ladder on that side.”
Proto stepped over to the ladder and scaled the massive pipe. “The opening to the cylinder is covered with a stout wire mesh.” He peered down into the pipe. “It goes straight down, too far to see the bottom.”
Sophia scooped up a rock and tossed it to Proto. “Drop this down the tube, see how long it takes to hit bottom.”
Proto tossed the rock into the cylinder and listened carefully. “Nothing. It could go down for miles.”
“Maybe it’s for ventilation. Bringing fresh air from the surface down into the planet?”
“It’s possible. There is a small control panel next to the ladder. Shall I press one of the tabs?”
“Try it, but be careful, don’t get sucked into the tube.”
“Nothing to worry about, the wire mesh looks quite sturdy.” Proto tapped the small violet disk. Much to his surprise he was instantly hurled backwards across the jungle floor from the titanic blast of air exploding out from the mammoth cylinder.
Sophia screamed, wrapping her arms around the base of a great fern, fighting against the monstrous cyclonic forces threatening to pull her up into the sky. “Shut it off! Proto, shut it off!” The surrounding foliage was being ripped out of the ground by the howling squall that screamed up from the pipe.
Proto crawled across the jungle floor to the metal ladder, climbing rung by rung until he reached the control panel. Clinging to the ladder with both hands, he used his nose to tap the yellow disk. The stupendously violent rush of air from the pipe stopped.
Sophia gasped, sliding down the side of the fern. “What was that? What just happened?”
“It would appear the cylinder’s function is precisely the opposite of what we had hypothesized. It does not draw air in, it expels vast amounts of air out from deep within the planet. I have no explanation for this. Haukesworth Mouse was quite right about Tectar, it is a deeply mysterious world.”
“Let’s go, we have to find Orville.”
Chapter 21
Light Worms
Orville’s lip was curled in complete and utter disgust as he watched the two enormous yellow insects pluck wiggling blue worms from a large bowl, tossing them into their mouths, munching and chewing and chomping.
“Oh, barf, how can they eat squirmy worms?”
Orville grimaced as he watched them stuffing the wiggly blue creatures into their mouths.
Over the course of his stay in the ship he had come to call his two captors Yellow and Orange. Yellow stepped over to Orville and set down a bowl of the wiggling blue worms in front of him. “You really need to eat something. These are good for you, and they’re really tasty. They’re called Light Worms. Yummy. So good.”
Orville eyed the churning, wriggling mound of blue worms. “I think I’m going to throw up. How can you eat live worms? Gakk.”
“They’re Light Worms, not real worms. That’s disgusting, nobody eats real worms. These are snacks that wiggle when light shines on them. Watch.” The lights in the room dimmed to near darkness.
“They stopped wiggling.”
“They’re not alive. Why would you eat something that’s alive? Are you trying to make me barf?”
Orville snorted. He had to admit, Yellow was kind of funny. He picked up one of the blue wormy snacks and sniffed it. “It smells okay. You’re sure it’s not a real worm?”
“Try a bite, you’ll like it.”
Orville popped the wormy snack into his mouth, ready to spit it out or throw up. “Whoa, these are tasty. Really tasty, like candy. Yum.” He grabbed a pawful of the blue worms and began eating. “Mmmm… good.”
“I told you, little one. I knew you’d like them. They’re really good for you, they have a very high nutritional value.”
“Why do they wiggle when light hits them?”
“I don’t know, they’re just funny snacks my mum buys. It’s fun to eat them when they wiggle.”
Orville froze. “Did you say your mum buys them?”
Orange began buzzing and shaking. “Now you did it.”
“He’s still our pet, we just have to hide him from Mum.”
“This isn’t your ship? You don’t fly it?”
“Of course not, I’m not old enough to fly something like this. It’s way more complicated than flying a Light Runner.”
“Your mum is the pilot?”
“I just said that. We’re on vacation, Tectar is one of our favorite spots to visit. Mum lets us go down and explore the planet. The underground jungle is really fun, and it’s safe because there’s no dangerous creatures there.”
Orville’s mind was racing. Yellow and Orange were clearly highly evolved beings with astonishing powers, but they were young, maybe even younger than he was. “Do you bring many pets back to your ship?”
“We’re not supposed to. We get in trouble if we get caught.” Yellow looked at Orange, who started buzzing and shaking.
Orange made a curious clicking sound. “What will you give me not to tell Mum about the little one?”
“You helped bring him back. You’ll get in trouble, too.”
“Not if I tell her first and say it was your idea.”
“You can fly my Light Runner for three hours.”
“Okay. Want to go explore that ocean with the creepy fish?”
“Sure.” Yellow looked down at Orville. “We’ll be gone a day or so. I’ll leave you plenty of food and water. Lots of Light Worms.”
Orville’s mind was racing. He had to get back to Tectar, had to find Sophia and Proto. Yellow and Orange seemed like good hearted creatures. Maybe he could persuade them to take him back. He looked as sad as he could, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. “My mum doesn’t know where I am. She’ll be so worried.”
“What do you mean, your mum?”
“I was exploring Tectar just like you. I told my mum I’d be back in two days.”
“Your mum is waiting for you?” Yellow looked nervously at Orange.
“We should probably take him back to the jungle. How would you feel if Mum was missing us?”
“I was with my friends when I fell out of our boat going down the aqueduct.”
“Whoa, you went down the aqueduct in a boat? That sounds really fun. We should do that. Where did your friends go?”