The City that Time forgot

by Patrick McClafferty

  Lyndra’s eyes were shining. This is so cool! Gareth knew that the word he heard wasn’t ‘cool’, exactly, but it was how his brain translated it. It certainly fit Lyndra’s ebullient mood. We would probably make the world’s best burglars.

  Gareth stopped abruptly, and a smile split his face. I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right. He couldn’t contain his chuckle. We’ll save the world, and then we’ll rob it blind.

  Yeah… Lyndra said breathlessly That sounds so nice.

  It’s too bad there’s nothing I want to steal. Gareth finished.

  Lyndra shot him a disappointed look. Not money or jewels? Gareth muttered a few words in Latin, and held out a hand overflowing with gold and sparkling jewels. Power?

  Gareth made a face. If I chose to withhold my efforts, everyone on the world dies. I’d say that’s ultimate power, and I don’t like it.

  Lyndra frowned. Sex?

  Gareth laughed out loud. My partners are two of the most beautiful women I’ve ever met. Next silly question?

  Lyndra glared at him, and then her face lit. You’d steal from them because you could.

  Bingo! Give the lady a cigar! He gave the blond woman a short bow.

  Are you through, children? Chiu asked with a disgusted look on her feline face.

  Lyndra and Gareth were both laughing as they changed into their animal forms.

  It was on the second level down that Gareth stopped at a raised circular dais set in the middle of a huge spherical room. The dim light from the skylights was more than enough for their feline vision to make out even the smallest detail. In the center of the dais was driven a single stainless steel spike. With a quick swipe of his paw, he cleared away a section of dust and debris. This looks like a map. He commented at last. And that spike probably says “You Are Here.”

  Chiu was standing at the other side of the dais, looking intently at another cleared area. You should take a look at this. You can read this writing and I can’t, but it looks as though our other visitors could also. Something here interested them. Padding up to her side, he glanced down… and sagged.

  Sohn von einem Weibchen! He growled.

  What is it?

  The short version is: Welcome to Brivrelsea. Chiu muttered something obscene in the back of her mind that didn’t translate into any language he was familiar with, but he could guess. It was like his cursing in German. His eyes followed the cleared portion of the dais. What were our other friends looking for? He wiped a section with his paw and recognized the words for The Yeugate. They were looking for the transportation system. His thoughts were stunned.

  Where is it? The comment had a distinctly wolfy feel to it.

  Grinning, Gareth glanced at the map again, and then into the darkness. Over my right shoulder is a tunnel that runs to the next dome, about a kilometer away I would guess. The transportation system is beneath that. Reaching out, he touched another dome with a paw. That’s where we’ll find our mysterious friends, I think.

  Chiu let out a low growl. We should go then.

  The three travelers heard the cursing long before they ever saw anything, and when they finally did see, they didn’t believe it.

  Although not as large as The Yeugate, barely one hundred and fifty meters across, the descending spiral ramp on the sides with the central elevator shaft spoke of similar construction. Like The Yeugate when they first saw it, the bottom of the shaft was cloaked in darkness. Unlike the access in The Yeugate, this ramp was suffering the ravages of time and weather. Fully a quarter of one revolution had shattered and fallen, probably under the combined weight of the previous explorers. Now two of those explorers hung suspended in the middle of the shaft, dangling by a length of rusty chain from a thin, sword sharp length of stainless steel that had torn loose and jutted out from the side of the ramp like a blade. With one person on one side of the chain, and one on the other, neither could let go or both would fall into the depths. It was obvious to Gareth’s keen eyes and from the blood dripping from the explorer’s fingertips that the blade the chain rested on was too sharp to grab, let alone slide on to safety. Six meters from the edge of the ramp, it was clearly too far to swing and jump. Even as Gareth watched, the blade bent slightly and the chain slid a few more millimeters toward the end of the bladelike beam.

  “I knew that following a bloody elf would get me into trouble!” The deep male voice of the dwarf echoed over the abyss.

  “If you weren’t such a fat lump of turd,” The female elf hissed. “the ramp wouldn’t have collapsed in the first place. Now the last thing I’m going to see will be your ugly face.” The elf’s face snapped up to stare at the two cats and the wolf that were staring down at the two unlucky explorers. The luminous golden eyes got very wide. “I didn’t think things could get much worse. I was wrong.”

  “What?” The dwarf jerked his head around, and the chain slid a little further. “I don’t see nuthin.”

  “You’re lucky you can see that big nose on the end of your face.” The elf’s voice dripped scorn. “There are three pairs of eyes on the floor above us, sizing us up for dinner. Even if we were to escape our current predicament, we’d be eaten.”

  I have a rope in my rucksack. If we go down a level we can snag the climbers and drag them back in. I’ll do that while you and Lyndra go down another level. Our brave explorers may have to jump when they get a bit closer.

  Chiu studied the suspended two. Are you sure you can pull those two alone?

  I think so. With a squeal of fatigued metal, the beam bent a fraction more and the chain slipped another millimeter. We’d better do it now, or the whole exercise will be moot.

  Yeah. Came from Lyndra. Luckily a portion of the damaged spiral ramp was still attached to the outside wall and the three, walking softly and in line slowly edged down the ramp. Hardly moving at all, the elf watched them very closely.

  “What the hell are those things?” Gareth heard the elf mutter to herself.

  “What the bloody perdition are you talking about?” The dwarf growled. “All I see is bloody shadows.”

  “The timber wolf is the size of a dire-wolf, but the cats make the wolf look like a puppy.”

  “Oh…”

  Gareth studied the bent twisted beams that led to the stranded two, and sighed. You had better get going. That beam won’t last long.

  You be careful.

  Gareth knew that they could feel his grin. I’m the luckiest guy in the world, ladies. He watched them slide away and down the ramp toward the next level. The elf was watching him as he changed, and he saw her jaw fall open.

  “You’re a shapeshifter!” She hissed in surprise.

  “Yeah.” Gareth replied dryly. “Let’s get you out of there and then we can talk about our mutual differences. I’m going to toss you a rope and pull the two of you closer. Now, this is the hard part… ” He gave the two staring explorers a grin. “When you get close enough, you’re going to have to jump to the next level down. We’re lucky that it’s only ten or fifteen meters. In The Yeugate the ramps were thirty meters apart.”

  “You were at The Yeugate?”

  Gareth coiled the rope. “Yup.” He tossed the rope at the dwarf’s outstretched arm, and missed the clutching fingers by a mere handful of centimeters. The beam began to quiver as he coiled the line again. This time it draped across the dwarf’s thick head of brown hair. The dwarf’s hand took the rope in a death grip, and Gareth saw the massive muscles bulge just as the beam screeched and dropped away beneath them. Gareth grabbed the thick rope, but knew in a heartbeat he couldn’t hold both elf and dwarf. He did the only thing he could. He morphed into an ogre. The gray-green hand held the rope like a vice, and Gareth grunted as his feet slid toward the edge. Far below there was a crash as the beam hit the bottom of the shaft.

  It was a total surprise when he saw the elf climb the outstretched chain, the dwarf’s arms and the taught rope like it was no particular problem at all. She took one look at Gareth’s current ogre form, and grinned. �
��Good call.” She said, as she grabbed the rope. In moments the dwarf lay panting at Gareth’s feet.

  The dwarf opened one brown eye. “I’m getting too old for this shit.” He groaned in a rough bass voice.

  In his human shape once more, Gareth began to coil the rope. “We should go. This section of ramp is none too stable.” The elf was already moving as Gareth helped the dwarf to his feet.

  “My name is Gareth.” He said as he steered the wobbling dwarf down the shattered ramp.

  “Darbuk Casktoe.” The stunned looking dwarf replied, shaking Gareth’s hand. “I never thought I’d be meeting anyone else this side o hades.” He shook his head, and his thick brown beard waggled.

  The slim silver-haired elf looked back over her shoulder. “Eriato Southorn, Gareth, and it is a pleasure to meet you.” She paused to look down into the darkness. “My brother Ilex and I were looking for the answers to certain questions when this dwarf bumbled along, and the whole ramp gave way.”

  Gareth blinked. “You lost your brother?”

  She nodded silently, and seeing his surprised expression went on to explain. “We mourn differently than humans. When we are alone we will shed our tears, and not in the presence of strangers.” She took a deep breath. “What made you chose the form of an ogre, if I might ask?”

  Gareth chuckled as they approached the two waiting women. “A friend of mine is an ogre.”

  Eriato frowned. “You have an ogre for a friend?”

  “Yes.” Gareth replied, returning her frown. “He’s a very nice young man. Why do you ask?”

  The elf nodded slowly. “He’s not from Iystrichi, is he?”

  A cold chill blew down Gareth’s back. “No, why?” He shot Chiu and Lyndra a worried look.

  “The ogre’s from Iystrichi,” Eriato continued, “are the meanest creatures God in her infinite wisdom ever made. They kill just for the sport of it.”

  Gareth swallowed. “Eriato Southorn and Darbuk Casktoe.” He said looking at the elf and the dwarf. “These are my partners Chiu Sai-Bo and Lyndra Tr'oell.”

  Chiu and Lyndra smiled and shook hands. “We’re his familiars.” Chiu murmured, still smiling. The elf’s eyes widened, but the dwarf just shrugged.

  “Eriato just lost her brother when the ramp gave way.” Gareth said in a flat voice. The women looked shocked. “We’ll do our best to recover his body before we leave, but we must leave, and soon.”

  The elf blinked. “I would appreciate that.” She said very slowly. “But we came here to find the answers to certain questions, and I must stay.”

  Lyndra gave the dwarf a quizzical look. “Why did you come, following the elves?”

  Darbuk rolled his eyes. “My Chieftain thought there might be treasure down here, and the temptation was too much for him. He sent me.”

  Chiu chuckled. “Not much for gold down here.”

  The dwarf gave her a sour look. “Tell me about it. I’m gonna bust my chief’s nose when I see him again.”

  It wasn’t quite pitch black as they proceeded down, following Lyndra in her wolf form. The elf, striding easily at Gareth’s side appeared to see as well in the dark as the wolf. At one hundred and seventy centimeters tall, her narrow angular face was even more unreadable than Chiu’s. “What deep questions would bring you down here to risk your life?” Gareth asked in a soft voice.

  Glancing his way she shrugged. “You won’t know, but why not… The ancients had a transportation system linking the great cities. Our job, my brother and I, was to find what city this is, where the other lines went and how the system worked with the hopes of re-activating it.” There was a smug little smile on her face as Gareth answered.

  “This city is Brivrelsea, and the three connecting lines go to Azheles, Jafelon, and Shsa-Tirion. We took the transport from The Yeugate to Shsa-Tirion, but an earthquake destroyed the transportation ring. The technology no longer exists to rebuild the rings.” He looked back to see Eriato standing frozen.

  “How do you know all this?” She said in a thin voice.

  “Back on the second floor there was a map room. The legend said ‘Welcome to Brivrelsea.’”

  “You can read the ancient language?”

  “Yeah.” Gareth admitted. “We’re here out of simple curiosity also.”

  Gareth. Lyndra called to him. We’re at the bottom, and there is a light… and a body.

  “Eriato, Lyndra tells me that she found your brother’s body. If you would prepare it for transportation, I’d appreciate it.” The elf nodded, sprinting lightly down the ramp to follow the wolf into the darkness. Through a dirty glass wall Gareth could see a yellow light burning. The metal door was, of course, rusted shut, but even rusty metal couldn’t stand up to an ogre and a dwarf, and with a scream of tearing metal, ripped off its hinges. Gareth stood staring for several long moments at the two yellow lights on the console, and the glowing green glass plate just to their right. Ginning, he passed his hand over the control console and the green light in the panel flickered off and back on. “Just like a supermarket.” He muttered, holding his bar-coded arm over the green scanning light.

  A speaker crackled for a moment. “Engineer Gareth Köhler?” The genderless voice asked softly.

  Gareth sighed. “Yes.”

  “This is the city AI. Since reactivation one hundred and sixty eight hours ago, I have been assessing the current state of Brivrelsea. I will need engineering authorization to proceed further in repair and reactivation. The repairs needed, in order of precedence are…”

  “Authorization granted.” Gareth interrupted.

  Gareth hadn’t known that an AI could sound so relieved, but this one certainly did. Two green lights flickered on beside the yellow lights. “Two repair units have been reactivated. I estimate that it will be two hundred hours before sufficient repair units are available to begin restoring city services.”

  “Make repair of the central access ramp and restoration of at least emergency lighting a priority.”

  “As you wish, Engineer.”

  “Is there any transportation into or out of Brivrelsea?”

  “No Engineer.”

  Gareth frowned as he recalled something he’d heard earlier. “What is the status of the gate station?”

  “The gate station on level six has been powered down. Damage to the station is unknown.”

  He bit his lip. “Does the gate station have its own repair units?”

  “Yes Engineer, however they have not been reactivated.”

  “Reactivate them now and get the station operational.” He commanded, playing a hunch. Two more lights lit on the control board. “Do you have contact with The Yeugate?”

  “Yes Engineer. It has just been reactivated this moment, however it was central that passed along information about you and your companions.”

  “Good. Coordinate your repairs with Ell. I will try to communicate with you from one of the other cities.” He glanced out of the dirty window at the people beyond. “We have a body to remove to the surface. Do you have any small vehicles available?”

  “I have a single floater at full charge. I thought it might be wise to charge a floater while waiting for authorization to begin repairs.”

  “Smart thinking. A floater would be ideal.” Gareth grinned.

  “Just tell it to return when you are done.” There was a pause. “Ell from The Yeugate sends her regards, and hopes for a speedy trip.” A heavy CHUNG made the floor tremble, and low emergency lighting lit the room and the surrounding floor. “Emergency power has been partially restored.”

  “Thank you. You are authorized to continue whatever repairs are necessary in my absence.”

  Eriato and Darbuk were staring at him openmouthed when he exited the small control room. “What did you do?” Eriato whispered.

  “I told the city to begin repairs.” A small whirring noise made him glance to his right, and he grinned. “Ah, the transport. If you don’t mind, we’ll carry your brother to the surface on this.” Gareth waved
his hand at the small gray sixty by one hundred and sixty centimeter metal platform that floated fifteen centimeters above the floor.

  “Ilex would have been thrilled.” Eriato said with a small smile. She picked up her brother’s body easily, and lay it carefully on the platform. “If you would like to set your packs on the sled also, I don’t think Ilex would mind terribly.” Her words broke at the end, and Gareth suddenly had the impression that the elf wasn’t as hard or as uncaring as she pretended to be.

  When they were finally ready to leave all faces turned to Gareth. He stared at the sled for a moment, wondering just where the controls might be and then it hit him, and he almost laughed aloud. “Follow.” He said simply, in plain English, since the computer had been speaking that language. With yellow safety lights blinking fore and aft, the sled followed them like a large, slow and very obedient dog.

  “What did you tell it?” Eriato said in amazement.

  Gareth frowned as he walked. “I told it to follow.”

  Why are we leaving so soon? Chiu asked in some concern.

  I have a bad feeling. Gareth replied. And we found all that we need to know about this place.

  The party was just passing the broken section of ramp when Lyndra, scouting ahead as a wolf, sent a warning. Gareth! There are footsteps ahead, coming down the ramp. Very few people… and maybe only one. He’s moving very cautiously. I’d guess it’s Kuan.

  Are you sure? Gareth asked, already guessing the answer.

  Think about it for a second. If you were a solitary scout and you came on the track of three predators ahead of you, would you follow? He felt more than heard her mocking laugh.

  Not likely, and only if I knew what or who was making the tracks. He paused. It has to be Kuan. Good call. Very good. He felt her smile as he turned back to the others. “Stop.” He said clearly. The small floater stopped instantly. “We have company coming. Lyndra and I will go ahead to meet him.”

  Eriato opened her mouth to say something, and then glanced from Gareth to Chiu. “That’s very interesting.” She murmured, a thoughtful look on her face.

  Kuan was sitting with his back against a wall, sipping his water and waiting when they found him. Gareth gave him a sour look. “Fancy meeting you here.”