by Steve Simons
Soon Andrew has all of the white fuse carriers out and is examining the wire within. He soon declares that they are all broken.
Stuart has been looking around whilst Andrew has been busy examining the fuses, he asks, "Will this wire stuff help?" He points to a small table just behind the box, it has a piece of card with some wire wrapped around it. Also on the table is a rather dusty and come to that rusty screw driver.
"Probably" replies Andrew, "Hey pass me the screwdriver as well."
Stuart does as requested and soon Andrew is industriously replacing the fuse wires. The job made somewhat easier as Stuart has also found a pair of pliers on the floor.
As the last fuse is pushed home, into its carrier, Andrew says, "There we're ready."
"Ready for what?" asks Stuart.
"Well to fire this lot up, that is if there is still any power up here. As the lights still work, I would think it is highly likely that there is still power." relies Andrew.
"What if its..." Stuart doesn't finish his sentence.
Andrew asks, "What?"
Stuart continues, "What if its dangerous?"
"Well we won't find out if we walk away will we?" Andrew replies.
"Yeah but my Dad always says don't mess with anything that you don't understand." Stuart.
"A true progressive your Dad isn't he?" asks Andrew.
Stuart grimaces, if there's one thing he doesn't like about Andrew, and there isn't a lot, is the fact that he can at times be a right smart arse and come out with posh stuff the meaning of which Stuart doesn't have a clue.
"If man had not experimented, he'd still be living in caves and eating raw food. Lets give it a go."
Stuart still rather dubious about the wisdom of this 'experimenting' simply says, "But we're just kids."
"Come on where's your spirit of adventure, one small step for man and all that." jibes Andrew as he reaches up for the on switch.
"I don't think we should, this stuff is old and there could be fire, we'd be trapped up here." replies Stuart, edging towards the doorway.
Andrew pulls the switch.
What seems like a million little lights start to glow in the frames that they had seen earlier and there's a faint hum. The overhead lights dim, obviously not able to cope with the sudden load.
Stuart gets even closer to the door. As he does he notices the faint smell of burning dust. He exclaims, "There I warned you, fire, can't you smell it?"
Andrew sniffs the air and replies, "Na that's nothing to worry about our electric fire does that when Dad brings it down from the loft every winter,it soon goes."
The million lights get brighter, almost as if they are compensating for the loss of overhead lighting. There's a clunk noise from the back of the room, from somewhere in the gloom. The globe nearest the fuse box, starts to glow with a purple light, its a rather mysterious light, not constant, but a sort of rhythm in the glow. Then there's a spark deep within the globe. At first it is a single spark, then repeated sparks, again with some sort of pattern.
As Andrew turns to face Stuart, his face is lit by the strange purple glow, he looks like some kind of fiendish scientist as he exclaims, "Exciting isn't
it?"
The globe on the other side of the room has now kicked into life too. There are more clunk noises and whilst the boys had not seen them before, there are other globes deeper into the room and they are also starting to glow.
Andrew sees Stuart pointing at the large coils, he spins to see that there is a sort of haze forming in the space between the coils.
Andrew finds himself drawn towards the haze that is forming in the space between those large coils. As he approaches, he can hear several high pitched whines, each with its own tune. Like a massive musical instrument, that also plays light. That is not the only thing it is playing with, as Andrew feels drawn to it like a bar of metal drawn to a magnet, he cannot resist the draw of the sounds and patterns.
Stuart implores, “Don't go near it, you could get a shock!” However, he also finds himself walking towards the shimmering patterns.
The area that the dancing light is taking up, seems to be increasing in size, by the second, the patterns generated, are more spectacular. Yet more colours are appearing now. The whole is more hypnotic, holding the boys whole attention. So much so, that they do not hear the frantic clicking taking place around them. It is like a gigantic clock that has gone horribly wrong. The passing of seconds, no longer counting out single seconds, but several at the same time.
The two boys standing side by side, totally unaware that the bubble that is the light show, which is enthralling them, has gown in size and is now enveloping them also.
The patterns before them, seem to have some order to them, like an artist painting a scene, at first you just see blobs of colour changing in size and the edges being merged with other colours as more detail is added. Whilst at the edges of the scene being laid out before the boys, remain blurred and continuously changing in shape and colour.
There's a loud clunk sound that brings the boys back to the here and now of the situation, but it is too late, the globe of light surrounding them expands and then sweeps them towards the coils and...... beyond!
~~o~~o~~o~~o~~
Chapter 3 - Beyond
Stuart is first to speak, “The air seems to taste strange, is it safe?”
“Who knows? I don't even know where we are, let alone whether it is safe here.” Andrew picks himself up off the floor, the landing had been rather rough and he smarts as he dusts himself off and in so doing, brushes against some bruises. He asks Stuart, “You alright? I seem to have bruised myself a bit, but as far as I can tell no broken bones.”
“My left leg hurts a bit, probably sprained it. Apart from that I think I'm alright. So what about the air, you noticed the taste?” asks Stuart.
Andrew pauses before answering, then replies, “Sort of metal taste, not unpleasant, but unusual. I wonder where we are? It is a very large room, you can tell by the echo.”
“Also not been used for a while, you can tell that, by the dust.” adds Stuart brushing himself down with his hand.
"Noticed that its not completely dark in here? Those panels above seem to be letting in some light, not much admittedly." suggests Andrew.
"Whoever owns this place is as house proud as the last room we were in." Stuart complains.
"Neither appear to have been used in a long time. Perhaps the same person owned both places and that equipment was just a quick way to travel between them?"
Stuart sighs, "Well there's no apparent way to get back, this place looks totally empty."
"Hey perhaps it was intended as an emergency escape route and only one way transport." Andrew suggests.
"So, so how are we going to get back?" asks Stuart in a worried tone.
"Probably shank's pony."
"What?" asks Stuart confused.
"My dad often calls walking, travelling by Shanks' pony." replies Andrew.
"But we don't know what direction or how far." protests Stuart.
"We'll probably see the hotel from this place. I can't imagine it'll be that far away. Whatever that device was, back there, probably couldn't transmit very far." Andrew starts walking across the large room, hoping that he is heading towards an exit. Stuart follows.
As the boys reach the far wall, there is a rumbling sound, they look behind them and see that a whole section of wall is opening, revealing the outside of the building. There isn't much to see as the light is quite dim, twilight, the light between night and day. The boys change their heading, towards the opening in the wall. They nearly reach it when they hear a strange sound.
Stuart suddenly takes a sharp intake of breath, as if he has had a shock. As Andrew has seen nothing out of the ordinary, he asks, "What's the matter Stew?"
Stuart stuttering says, "O o over the there, I saw something over there."
"Yeah? What did it look like?"
&nb
sp; Stuart still having difficulty forming his words properly replies, "It,it wa, was hu, huge, had se, several legs."
Andrew reassures him with, "Probably a shadow cast from something a distance away. Light like this, plays tricks with your eyes, difficult to see stuff properly. We did something in science about that."
The sound can be heard, this time doubled up.
Andrew catches sight of something himself now and sure enough it does look huge. Large oval body, with several legs, with something sticking up out of one end. Now, as whatever the creature is, turns slightly, there's another something sticking up at the other end and several things sticking out of the body. It is difficult to make sense of it all, as whatever it is keeps moving. What is more trying to make sense of something, when all you can see is its shadow, is very difficult. It looks almost like two spiders, one standing on the ground and the other with its legs in the air, but two heads, both pointing upwards.
"There are two of those things!" exclaims Stuart. Sure enough a second one has now come into sight, or at least its shadow has.
"Quick lets hide, they could be dangerous." suggests Andrew.
Stuart is quite surprised, what happened to Andrew's, 'light causing strange images' theory and where should they hide, this place is totally open space, there's nothing to hide behind or in.
Andrew heads towards the doorway and flattens himself against the wall and indicates that Stuart do the same. As Stuart can't think of anything else to suggest, he follows suit.
The two boys wait. The noises get louder, then suddenly something comes through the entrance. It has a dark red, almost brown shiny skin, well more like a shell. It looks like a giant insect, there are several legs, quite thick, but multi-jointed. They are black and move quite slowly and smoothly. The head has several dark panels, presumably eyes. Whatever it is, appears to have seen the boys, the head has swung round and is pointed straight at them, the legs are navigating the creature slowly towards them. There are several limbs sticking up in the air, they each appear to have different endings and are moving independent of each other waving around in the air, almost as if their movements are assisting the creature in its navigation. The creature is about twice the height of the boys.
"Quick we may be able to outrun them." Andrew shouts and starts running away from the creature. Stuart follows suit and seems like he is making good headway and keeping up with Andrew, when suddenly he feels himself being picked up, his arms restrained. The hold is firm but gentle, which takes Stuart by surprise, as the creature looked as if it was made of metal, but clearly not. Stuart stops trying to run, it is pointless now, as his legs are horizontal and there's nothing to kick or interact with.
Stuart hears protests coming from Andrew, looks in the direction that the sounds are coming from and sees the second of these creatures has Andrew also in a horizontal position. The only difference being that Andrew is putting up a fight. Stuart feels guilty and wonders if he should also be putting up a fight. As he watches Andrew, he comes to the conclusion that it wouldn't achieve much if he did, as Andrew is making no headway at all and the creature doesn't seem in the least phased by Andrew's struggles.
Stuart can feel that his creature is turning and heading back towards the doorway. Stuart can no longer see Andrew. He hopes that the second creature will follow and that the two boys won't be separated. What is more, he hopes that they don't end up as food for either these creatures or their offspring.
The creature holding Stuart has moved him above its heads and changes its hold on him. Stuart is still horizontal but feels more comfortable. The ride is quite smooth, despite the fact that the speed of travel is increasing rapidly.
As the creature emerges out of the building, Stuart finds himself thrust into what seems like a sandstorm. He has to close his eyes and finds it hard to breath, if only his arms were free, he could attempt to protect his face. As he carefully breaths in, he can feel the grains of whatever is in the air, hit the back of his throat. Not a pleasant feeling and seems to be the source of the metallic smell, as there is a strong taste of metal now.
Whilst Stuart can no longer see, he can feel that the speed of the creature has considerably increased, perhaps it is also suffering due to the storm. Well perhaps storm, is the wrong description, as there is very little sound from the movement of air, apart from the noise that the particles are making as they strike the creature and Stuart's shoes.
Stuart struggles for breath, trying to reduce the amount of the particles that he swallows, yet at the same time trying to get enough air. He tries moving his head, to find a better position, to reduce his intake of particles, but there doesn't seem to be a best position. Stuart hopes the journey is short and also that Andrew is alright and following close behind.
Finally there is relief as the bombardment of the particles ceases and there is a metallic echo sound. Stuart's creature has slowed considerably now. Stuart tries to open his eyes, but there are still particles around and as soon as he tries to open his eyelids, he can feel the grit find its way into
the corner of the eye that he tries to open. If only his arms were free. He will just have to be more patient and wait until this creature puts him down. Stuart just hopes, that it won't be in order to feed its offspring. He will have to respond quickly, as soon as his arms are free. Stuart runs through plans in his mind, as to what his actions will be and he varies the plans in response to possible actions from the creature and the possible circumstances that Stuart will face.
The journey continues, so does the intake of particles, at least the ones still stuck up Stuart's nose. Not a comfortable position to be in.
Time ticks by. Stuart listens carefully, in-case there are any clues, as to where he is being taken, but thus far, echoes and yet more echoes of the creature's movements. Although Stuart is relieved that he can hear sounds from the second creature's movements also. There is a new sound now, the sound of metal scraping against metal, could this be a door?
Stuart's creature pauses, when the scraping sound stops the creature resumes its movement. The creature following, does not even pause and is now beside Stuart's creature, he can tell this from the sounds.
The journey continues for a little while, Stuart tries to open his eyes several times, but the pain from the grit just too much to bear, so he gives in.
The creatures come to a halt.
'Here it comes, the moment of truth.' thinks Stuart to himself. He can hear Andrew spluttering somewhere beside him, protesting at the grit. Stuart feels himself being lowered, he readies himself to spring into action as soon as his arms are free. His feet touch the ground. 'won't be long now!' thinks Stuart.
Sure enough, Stuart soon finds the creature releasing its grip on his arms. Stuart wipes his hands on his trousers, removing any last remnants of dust off them. He dives into one of the trouser pockets and pulls out the packet of tissues, he struggles to open it, easy when you can see, but not so when you can't. Then he pulls out a tissue and wipes his eyes and then blows his nose. He cautiously opens his eyes, they are still rather sore, but at least he can see. They are in a largish room, which by the looks of the walls is made of metal.
Stuart glances round and sees Andrew struggling to get his own tissues out. As he is within reach, Stuart fetches one of his own tissues and hands it out to Andrew and says, "Here take one of my tissues, to the left of you."Andrew swings blindly round and feebly reaches out until their hands connect and the exchange takes place. Soon both boys are able to see and glad that thus far the creatures that brought them here, seem to have no intent on eating the boys. There also appears to be no other threat to their lives at the moment. The reason the boys have been brought here, is not evident. They wait in silence, nervously scanning around the room and keeping an eye on these creatures, who like themselves are also remaining quiet.
The seconds tick by, with nothing happening and the boys wondering what the wait is all about. presumabl
y something will be happening, but no sign as yet as to what.
Suddenly a whole segment of wall slides open.
The boys brace themselves for the worse possible scenarios, perhaps swarm of these insect like creatures will feast upon them, or perhaps it is to be the feeding frenzy of the children of these creatures. Thus far, there is nothing beyond the opening wall, apart from yet more empty space.
Then something appears behind the next segment of wall. It is a man, or at least appears to be a man, dressed in a somewhat old fashioned suit. He stands absolutely still, like a robot awaiting a command. The head suddenly moves, as if scanning the two boys carefully. Then the figure moves, it is walking, walking towards the two boys. They look at each other, their faces appearing to ask the same question of each other, to stand still or attempt to run for it?
The figure, now halfway, speaks. It is a man's voice. It says, "Hello, have you come from earth?"
The boys still alternating between looking at each other and monitoring the progress of this figure. They do not reply.
The figure still advancing at a fair speed, speaks again, "It is alright, I will not harm you. You do speak English, don't you? There I go assuming that English is still widely spoken, it may be different in the future. I presume that you are from my future, you seem somewhat strangely dressed, at least in comparison with those of my time. I am Henry Englefield by the way." The figure holds out a hand, as if offering it in friendship to shake hands.