At the end of the tunnel, just before he set foot on the ground of dome 4, he stopped, drew in a deep breath and turned around abruptly. The rational part of his mind insisted there was nothing there, that his imagination was running rampant, that he was imagining things, and true to that voice the tunnel behind him was empty; at least as far as he could see. The end that opened up into dome 5 was eerily dark and he could make out nothing down there. He again had that feeling that this something was sitting down there at the mouth of the tunnel, watching him, beckoning him to come back so it could feed on him. But that idea held little merit now; not only because he was 'safe in the light' - an illusion if ever there was one, that little voice in the back of his head added helpfully - but because the idea alone was ridiculous. If there was a creature down there and it had been there all the time, why hadn't it attacked him in the middle of the dome? Why hadn't it attacked him while he was walking back to the tunnel? Why hadn't it made its move when he had been at the dark end of the tunnel? He had watched one too many horror movies and it was igniting some dormant part of his imagination and stirring it to life.
He let the air out of his lungs in a heartfelt sigh. "This is freaky," he muttered to himself. "I'm sleepwalking and imagining things? My shrink would have a field day with this." He couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. It was tinged with both relief and nervous energy. The shrink his father had made him see for a few months had dug deep, but never touched on his father-issues. Kyle knew he had them, but didn't know what to do with them and the man had obviously been instructed by Whitmore Sr. to not get into that.
For a moment longer he just stood there and stared down the tunnel. Then he shook his head at his own silliness, turned around and marched out of there. The adrenaline was still pumping through his system and he still had that vague feeling of being watched, but the further away from the tunnel opening he got, the more ridiculous those fears seemed.
Once back in the barrack tent he shared with Daniel alone, he dropped down on the cot, pulled the covers up over his head and went to sleep almost at once.
***
Plotting and planning
It was Daniel's insistent shaking of him that finally drew him back to the land of the living. Feeling a little grouchy and a lot disoriented, Kyle shrugged out of Daniel's grip and rolled over on his side. "What?" he rasped and cleared his throat when the word came out a little gravelly.
The younger man sat back on his haunches, lower arms resting on top of his knees, while he eyed Kyle with a mixture of concern and awe. "I've never met anyone who sleeps as deeply as you do," he confessed and smiled vaguely.
Kyle blinked sluggishly because he felt sluggish. For a moment his awakening mind did cartwheels around the events of the night before, but then he pushed it aside, rolled over on his back and sat up. "Didn't get much sleep," he growled and raked all ten fingers through his hair. "This constant light is driving me nuts."
Daniel rose and sent a look out through the open tent flap. "Stella suggested we find housing. She says it's hard to get a decent night's sleep in a tent."
That drew a smile from Kyle. He pulled his knees up to rest his lower arms on them, his hands overlapping each other. "She's a wise woman," he said, then glanced up at the beanstalk of a man. "Something up?"
For a moment Daniel continued to stare out at what they could see of the green wilderness surrounding them, then he shifted his attention back to Kyle, his eyes dark. "Only ... I woke up last night and you weren't here. Where'd you go?"
Kyle arched an eyebrow, pulled his legs over the edge of the cot and set his feet firmly on the ground. His feet were dirty, which subsequently denied any chance of last night's events having been a very vivid dream. "I think I'm sleepwalking," he said while eying his dirty feet and trying to ignore the rising feeling of being smothered by the younger man's concern. He had started this relationship after all, by doing what this Garry had done before him; namely take the younger and abused man under his wing. It wasn't really surprising that Daniel would latch onto him like that.
"Where'd you go?" Daniel repeated and settled down on the edge of his own cot.
There was something to be said for truth. Kyle had always been in favor of being blunt and to the point. The people surrounding him back on Earth had put up with just about anything from him if they were money-hungry enough and, to his chagrin he now realized that most of them had been money-hungry. He couldn't really remember if there had ever been any real friends among them. Everybody knew who he was, what he was, what he was made of - or what they thought he was made of - and that made it very difficult for him to know if any of them had liked him for who he was inside or just for the fact that he was his father's son and the heir to one of the biggest corporations on Earth.
Daniel seemed to like him for who he was, not what he was. That was a new feeling. But it was also a little disconcerting that the kid behaved like a clingy girlfriend right now. He looked at the younger man, met his worried eyes, and considered all the lies he could tell. "Dome 5," he finally said and figured there was no sense in lying about it. Why should he? "I suddenly found myself standing there, in the middle of the dome, wearing nothing but my jeans. And, let me tell you, it's cold in there. Like a fucking meat locker."
If he had hoped for shock, he got his wish. Daniel looked startled. "How'd you get out of there without ..." He stopped himself, bit his lower lip a little self-consciously like he had spoken out of turn and only just remembered he wasn't allowed to.
"... being eaten?" Kyle asked and smirked when the look in Daniel's eyes became even more shocked. "Skinny Guy turned up and told me to get lost. If they eat people, they're polite about it."
That was obviously not what Daniel had expected to hear. "Skinny Guy?" he asked. "The guy you talked to the last time you were in there?"
"The same," Kyle agreed. "Anyway, he told me to get lost and I did. That's about it. Apart from it being dark and cold over there, I neither saw nor heard anything else. If there are monsters over there, they didn't want to come out and say hi."
"That's not funny," Daniel muttered softly and sent an almost furtive glance out at the jungle. "They might be listening."
It struck Kyle right there and then that Daniel believed in monsters. Of course, after what he'd been through in this place, it wasn't really that surprising. But Kyle would have thought that any monster in Daniel's world would be of the human variety. "What do you think is over there?" he asked.
Daniel shrugged. "I don't know, but ... after what Stella said, I don't think it's human." Another glance made Kyle wonder what Daniel was looking for. "And ... I have these weird dreams."
This made Kyle sit up and pay attention. He focused on the kid. "Say what?" he asked before he could contain himself. Keeping his cards close to the vest had always been his best option and revealing that he was having odd dreams that resulted in sleep-walking probably wasn't in his best interest. But Daniel alluding to having weird dreams made him think that maybe he wasn't the only one. "What do you mean, weird dreams?"
It was very evident that the kid was uncomfortable about revealing the contents of those dreams and for a moment Kyle thought there might be more to them than his own dreams. "They're just ... I must be pretty influenced by this place. I keep dreaming about these long corridors. It's clearly here, but they're endless. And ... I feel like I'm being followed. But I'm afraid to turn around or look behind me because ... I know there's a monster there; something big and ... hungry." Evidently, their dreams were similar if not identical, which resonated with Kyle. "I guess it's a bit like those dreams you can sometimes have where you're running through a forest or up a flight of stairs and you're afraid of getting grabbed."
"Guess so," Kyle agreed somewhat reluctantly. "How often do you have these dreams?" The answer would reveal something that Kyle wasn't sure he wanted to believe. He often had vivid dreams, but the corridor dream was a new one. He had no recollection of ever having dream
ed about being chased before. Of course, his circumstance had changed radically in recent weeks and that could account for the new dream. It did not, however, account for Daniel having the same dream.
Daniel pursed his lips, rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, then braced his elbows against his thighs and folded his hands almost a little primly. "Since we had the meat," he said and looked up to meet Kyle's eyes. "I had it the first night after that. And I've basically had it every night since." A little anxiously, he pressed his lips into a thin line. "What do you think that means?"
"Good question." Once again the question of truth or lie rose in his mind. Should he lie? Omitting his own dream wouldn't exactly be lying, but on the other hand it might help Daniel if he knew he wasn't alone in this. "It's funny, though. I've dreamed the same thing. I wonder if the meat causes mass hallucinations."
If he'd hoped for a sigh of relief, he didn't get it. Instead, Daniel paled. "What?" he croaked. "You dream about that too?"
"Yeah," Kyle agreed. "But I wouldn't put too much stock in it. I've heard of stuff like this happening before. I don't think it's that uncommon. And I'm not even sure the meat has anything to do with it."
"But ... isn't it wrong that we share dreams? I mean ..." Daniel sounded like he was about to get agitated and Kyle knew he had to put a stop to this potential panic attack.
He raised both hands, palms out. "Take it easy, dude," he advised and smiled in what he hoped was a calming manner. "Who says we share dreams? It's actually pretty understandable if we dream about long corridors in this place. There's something weird going on in the last two domes and that's bound to affect us. I mean ... with all the crap that's going on around us ..."
"You don't believe a word of what you're saying right now," Daniel cut him off a little sharply. "Tell me your dream. Tell me what you see."
Before Kyle could come up with an appropriate reply to this, someone turned up in the tent opening. "Morning, boys." Mike sounded jovial. "You both look like you need something to do."
Kyle gave him a glance, then rose, grabbed his t-shirt and hauled it over his head before shrugging into his shirt. "Anything to get my mind off the weirdness of this place sounds like a good thing," he said and gave Daniel a meaningful look. "What do you need us for, Mike?" he asked and turned his attention to the older man.
"What do you know about plants?" Mike countered with a grin.
Kyle chuckled. "Well, Confucius said that real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. If you're looking for another gardener, you're out of luck. I couldn't even keep a cactus alive for more than a week back in Pangaea."
That caused the older man to laugh out loud and clap a hand onto his back. "Well, give it try and see if it's something you can learn. Idle hands are the devil's playground after all. You both need something to do, so unless you've found another pastime ... it's time to get your hands dirty."
One glance at Daniel made Kyle smirk. The kid didn't look too thrilled, but then he did look a little resigned as well when he rose. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you," Kyle said.
***
Getting his hands dirty turned out to be a thought-provoking experience. Although planting saplings in pots wasn't the most strenuous of jobs and would under normal circumstances have bored him to tears, he found that it was a great medium for centering his mind. The monotonous work of poking holes in damp soil and then sticking the saplings into them and pushing the dirt in around them didn't require much of him attention-wise and after a few moments of this, his mind started to drift to the now growing urge to find a way off the Moon. And in his opinion there had to be a way.
Daniel took to the job with more enthusiasm and struck up a conversation with Stella about the origin of the saplings and the future of them, while Kyle began to plot and plan. He needed to take a look around, find out more about the domes he could safely access. Whether he would find anything worthwhile was an unanswered question. But one thing was for certain. He wouldn't find the answers by doing this.
After a while, he stopped and just stood there staring down at the pot and the sapling in his hand.
"Not your idea of fun, huh?" Stella asked, pulling him back into the present.
He glanced at her and shrugged. "It's not blowing my mind," he admitted. "Mind if I take off? Got a few things I need to clarify."
"Go ahead. If plants aren't your thing, I don't want you messing with them," Stella countered evenly, but then narrowed her eyes a little, watching him intently. "You look like a man with a mission, Kyle. What brought that on?"
"Nothing in particular," he lied and had no idea why he bothered. It wasn't like Stella would stop him from investigating. "Just got a few things I'd like to check before I decide if I'm on a mission or not." That he said with a cynical smile.
With a nod to both of them, he strode up the path to the rim of the dome. Without pause, he continued onward to the tunnel leading to dome 2 and moments later stepped out on the other side. The moment his feet hit the even ground of the dome, his mind snapped to Vinnie. He hadn't known the guy that long, but Vinnie had struck him as a good guy stuck in a bad situation that he could nevertheless handle. Daniel was in the same situation, only he couldn't handle it; not on his own. Too young, too inexperienced, too frightened. Kyle hadn't been able to save Vinnie, but he vowed that he would save Daniel. If he found a way out of here, he would take the kid with him.
"Gotta find a way first, though," he muttered to himself.
"To where?"
His attention snapped to the speaker and he frowned briefly at Andy, the grouch. "My business," he countered evenly. "How're things?"
"Not much different from what they were before. Of course, we're rid of the moron twins. But others have moved in on their territory," Andy countered just as evenly, his expression belying his tone. He looked tense, haunted. "What are you doing back here? I thought you were chumming it with those homicidal maniacs." His eyes narrowed a little. "In fact, Jack thinks you guys have been killed and eaten by now."
"Just goes to show what he knows," Kyle said and sighed lightly. "Jack's a coward and a moron," he added. "So are you, for that matter."
Andy sneered. "In a place like this, you gotta look out for number one first," he claimed, his voice now laced with anger.
That was really all he expected Andy to say. The guy hadn't struck him as being interested in others apart from the security bigger numbers offered him. "Yeah, well, some of us think it's a good idea to help others," Kyle said sarcastically. "Where's the rest of the lost boys?"
For a moment it looked like Andy wasn't going to reply. He merely eyed Kyle in that way he had that made others feel like dirt beneath his feet. Then he shrugged. "Jack's around somewhere," he said and sent a look over one shoulder. "Bark has disappeared. Stan ... well, who knows? He doesn't much like the guys that took over after the twins. Not that I blame him. They found out he's gay, so they think he likes it rough."
Kyle almost flinched at the thought. "So ... what? ... you fed him to them so they would leave you alone?" he asked, suddenly very certain that Andy was a man who would do something like that.
"Nobody forced anybody into anything here," Andy snapped angrily, which proved to Kyle that both Andy and Jack had probably allowed it to happen to avoid being assaulted themselves.
"Right," Kyle growled. "Thanks for the update. I got places to go," he added, pushed past Andy and walked away from him briskly. If he ran into Stan, he would get him out of this dome as well. And then it was down to Andy and Jack who got to be the butt-boy for new menace of dome 2.
***
The constant light annoyed him. He had established that a few times already, but it kept coming back to him, kept intruding on him. "Fucking light," he muttered and longed for the dimmer in his apartment. Push one button and the lights went up or down. Another one opened and closed the drapes. A third one switched music on and off and there was even one for the fireplace as well.
>
"I miss pushing buttons," he muttered while he wove his way through the housing section and wondered what the original plan for this place had been. It wasn't really set up like a prison; or so he thought. "But what do I know?" he grumbled. "I'm just the spoiled and overlooked brat of a multi-millionaire with a stick up his ass." His mood had hit rock bottom after running into Andy; and why not? The other man had a way of sucking the fun right out of life with his attitude.
Kyle's goal was dome 1. At present he had a very vague idea of why, but he figured he might as well start from the beginning and work his way forward. He was a firm believer in Occam's Razor. The simplest answer was usually the right one. And in his opinion, the simplest answer was ... there had to be a way out of this dump. Nothing was fool-proof. Whenever someone invented something foolproof, someone else came up with a better fool. Murphy's Law, he guessed. It all came down to balance in the end and sometimes Kyle couldn't help wondering what would happen if things no longer balanced. Would the universe fall off its axis?
A sudden sound ahead of him made him stop short. Andy's words about the new 'moron twins' flitted through his mind and he narrowed his eyes, inspecting the path ahead of him visually. There were doors on both sides; lots of them. And they were all closed. Any number of nasty surprises could hide behind each one of them.
He briefly replayed the sound in his mind, trying to determine what it was, and considered his options. No matter what, he could only move forward. Just because nobody had jumped him so far didn't mean they weren't hiding somewhere, waiting for him to get close. And he didn't know how many newcomers there were either. Should have asked Andy, he chastised himself silently. There really was no other option right now than to move on.
With a sigh, he started walking again, every sense now trained on his surroundings rather than his internal world. And it didn't take long before he came upon the source of the sound. A door open only a crack was shut quickly. He considered ignoring it, then decided he'd be better off if he faced these potential thugs head on. Instead of walking past the door, he stepped up to it, grabbed the handle and pushed down at the same time as he threw his weight against the door. It slammed into the room, eliciting a startled cry from whoever was hiding behind it.
Dark Side of the Moon Page 18