Into Tordon

by Z. F. Kingbolt

  Not knowing what else to do, she reached up and pushed it. There was some resistance, then a click.

  For a second nothing happened.

  Then a bright flash blinded her and the bottom of the coffin fell away.

  She fell through a dark nothingness, feeling her heart break—after everything they’d been through, after everything they’d shared…she had left Zane behind.

  Chapter 20

  Beth’s feeling of weightlessness ended with a soft landing in a dimly lit room.

  She blinked as her eyes adjusted. She was still lying down, but now she was cradled in a white leather recliner. Shuffling sounds made her stiffen, her heart drumming. Was it virus-victims again? A metallic smell tickled her nose and she heard a tiny snore.

  On another recliner slept a boy, tossing about in his sleep and, for a moment, her breath stopped—had Zane made it after all? No, it wasn’t him. Her heart squeezed as she remembered. She glanced around to see a white room with six others, all sleeping soundly, all roughly her age. She stifled a yawn and stretched, feeling as if she hadn’t moved in weeks. Had she been asleep as well?

  ‘Alert!’ a siren blared, rousing the others. ‘Approaching alien vessel!’ From a corner of the room, a green light flashed.

  She sat up and tried to get the attention of the boy near her. ‘What’s going on?’ Before he could answer, an automatic door slid open and a tall man wearing some sort of spacesuit strode in, his chest decorated in medals. ‘Attention!’ he barked, cracking his knuckles one by one. ‘I want you suited up. Tock-rifles on the right.’ He gestured at a wall stacked with weapons. The others scrambled to their feet and started pulling on grey overalls. ‘Move it, move it! You there!’ he strode over to Beth, grabbing a rifle on his way. ‘I understand you’ve not been briefed yet?’

  She nodded.

  ‘When I ask you a question, soldier, you say ‘yes, sir’.

  Got it? As captain of this mission, Captain Lang to you, I expect full cooperation, so when I say move, you move!’ He slammed the rifle into her chest. ‘Now suit up! There’s not much time.’

  Time?

  Beth glanced at her wrists as she grabbed a suit nearby. The last of her segments had gone out…and she still wasn’t home. Is this what the segments had been counting down to all along?

  She frowned, dropping the rifle by her side.

  ‘Pick up your gun, soldier,’ Captain Lang ordered her. ‘This is no time for breakdowns. I thought you were the best of the best!’ At Beth’s blank stare, he muttered something under his breath, then, ‘Right, listen up! I don’t have time for details, but you’ve all been selected as the best young people we have on Earth—the best athletes, up-and-coming scientists, pilots, thinkers and doers, even,’ he flapped a hand at her, ‘the best gamers.

  I understand some of you were tested without your knowledge…’

  Tested?

  ‘…but that was to get you where you needed to be—

  here on my shuttle. Remember recruits,’ he peered around the room, ‘remember that no matter where you’re from, no matter how you got here, you’re my soldiers now.’ He slapped his hands behind his back and began to pace.

  ‘As we’ve been travelling out here over the last few weeks,’ he continued, ‘you’ve all been rigorously tested in your ability to adapt and survive.You’ve learnt compassion and consideration, respect for other cultures and the value of life.You now know how to fight to survive as well as how to overcome phobias, solve puzzles and work as a team. Of course, some of you left your teammates behind,’ he paused to glare at her, ‘but that cannot be helped now. Earth needs you. Your families need you— your parents, brothers, sisters and friends. All of them know your whereabouts and have agreed to your testing via simulations developed by the famous computer whiz, Aaron Kaleski.’

  Beth’s mouth dropped open. She knew it! All the worlds she’d visited with Zane had been simulated tests! She knew there’d been something strange about all those messages appearing after every gateway. Gateway? They hadn’t even been travelling to other worlds—they’d been in a virtual selection process. Suns didn’t have minds of their own to chase each other in the sky. Giant fish and snakes didn’t exist. She knew there was a reason for all the challenges and the glowing segments on her wrists. It was all to get her here! But where was ‘here’ exactly?

  She chewed on her hair, glancing at the others as the captain continued to speak. They all had wristbands with a circle of unlit segments too.

  ‘So now,’ Captain Lang continued, ‘you must forget any fears you may have, any doubts in your abilities, and focus on why you’re here—to save Earth. We’re leaving Neptune Base Station now,’ he gestured to a viewing port, ‘and will soon face Earth’s greatest threat.’

  Beth gasped as she followed the others over to the port—she was in space! Guilt washed over her. This was Zane’s dream, he’d always wanted to soar among the stars, be an astronaut.

  It’d be so cool, he said on the boat, discovering new planets, battling a few aliens…

  Now the dense blue clouds of the giant planet Neptune swirled above her head, while one of its moons, a small orange one, circled closer. Her wide eyes on the view port, she climbed into her grey overalls, leaning back on a recliner to aid her sore foot. It still hurt.

  Out another viewing port, the rings of a nearby space station grew smaller. She remembered from news reports back home that the International Neptune Base Station was studying the Kuiper Belt—a stretch of fragmented rocks that orbited their whole solar system. They were trying to find a way to bypass it and eventually explore interstellar space.

  Is this where Kaleski had gone, not to Ripple headquarters in India but to Neptune Base? In a way, that

  would make sense. It was just like the rumours had said, he’d discovered a gateway to other worlds—the planets of our outer solar system.

  She swallowed hard as she zipped up her suit, wondering why Earth was in so much danger.

  ‘Now you’re all finally ready,’ the captain pointed to a spot in the sky, ‘this is what we are here to defeat—the biggest threat our world has ever seen.’

  Everyone crowded closer to the window. They were approaching an enormous black egg-shaped rock hovering darkly between the orange moon and Neptune’s giant blue face. Its near-perfect symmetry and smooth surface looked like nothing Beth had ever seen.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked.

  The captain cracked his knuckles again. ‘We believe it to be an aggressive alien weapon.’ He strode to a platform in the centre of the room and lifted a clear box on its top. Inside was a small chunk of black crystal, shiny as glass and as sharp as a cluster of stalactites. ‘Seven months ago we discovered this crystal within the Kuiper Belt, and when we cracked it open we found this stone.’ He pulled the crystal apart to reveal a bright green stone. Immediately the room lit up from the many circular patterns and symbols carved on its surface. The captain’s face glowed an eerie green from the light. ‘This stone shone as though it were transmitting a signal across space and, sure enough, within days that giant black problem arrived. We calculate it is waiting for its creators to arrive before attacking Earth.’

  ‘So what’s our mission, sir?’ someone asked eagerly.

  Captain Lang caressed the stone in his hands. ‘We must protect Earth at all costs. Our probes have discovered multiple passageways inside the weapon, many large web-like structures with the same patterns and symbols as reflected on the walls around you now, yet no life-forms. And every person we have sent to explore it has failed to return.’

  They all gazed out at the dark rock.

  ‘Master code-breakers translated these symbols,’ the captain continued. ‘And the essence of it is this…’ He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and read:

  From the start of evolution,

  To the end of time and space,

  The start of earthly equinox,

  Points to the end of base.

  ‘The end of N
eptune Base Station?’ cried a blonde-haired girl.

  ‘We think so.’ The captain nodded grimly. ‘There was also mention of a young warrior, a great champion of a certain age, who could make use of ‘the cocoon’—we presume by that they mean their weapon. You’re all the best in your fields. It is you who must now risk your lives to save others—your loved ones and family. Are you ready, soldiers?’

  The others straightened and saluted the captain. ‘Ready, sir!’

  Beth followed them. She had to—if Earth was depending on them, that meant Dad was too. She couldn’t stop to think about Zane or getting home anymore—she had to save home. She had to think about this stone and the cocoon.

  ‘Good.’ Captain Lang closed the stone back inside its crystal casing, then put it in the clear box on the platform. ‘We dock at the cocoon in three minutes and sixteen seconds. Present arms,’ he barked, marching over to the nearest soldier to check his rifle.

  Beth waited by the platform, gazing thoughtfully through the clear box to the crystal inside. Now she was here, it made perfect sense that she’d been given a riddle to solve at the start of every gateway. Gateway, or level? Whichever way she looked at it, this little green stone held the most important riddle of all. Shouldn’t they take it with them when they docked, in case they needed it once exploring the cocoon?

  Of course, if they were supposed to take the stone, surely someone would have suggested it already?

  She bit her lip, thinking about the last thing she’d seen before arriving here, on the inside of that virus-victim coffin—a raised skull with three holes, Tordon’s Rune of Self-Belief. They should take the stone. Something was telling her to take the stone.

  So, while everyone was busy with their weapons, she quickly lifted the box’s lid and with trembling fingers swiped the black crystal. She slid it inside the pouch she’d noticed on her suit. Her heart beating madly, she checked no one had seen her. No, they were all still gazing outside, watching other shuttles dock at strategic positions around the giant cocoon. Were they the best of the best too?

  Beth shook her head. It didn’t matter how many teams were helping—only that they solved their common goal, quickly and effectively. Kira from the rice paddies had taught her that much. She turned her thoughts to the message.

  The start of evolution could be ‘life’, and the end of time and space…’nothing’? An equinox meant equal day and night times, so ‘life equals nothing’?

  Beth narrowed her eyes in thought. It couldn’t be that. And what of the warrior?

  Then she laughed to herself, BGwarrior. If anyone was a warrior around here, it was her…and yet she’d stolen the stone. It burned in her pouch almost as much as her cheeks, but somehow she sensed they would need it.

  ‘Back to your seats, soldiers!’ the captain ordered. ‘We’re about to dock!’

  Beth scrambled back to her recliner as a rumble grew to a roar from the engines gearing to land. Then there was a jolt and they were still.

  The captain stood by the door of their shuttle. ‘Helmets on! It’s time.’

  Chapter 21

  Beth quickly donned her helmet, checked her torch and passed a comms test to make sure she could hear and speak with the others. Then the shuttle door opened.

  She felt like an ant about to enter a mountain. A miserable ant. If only Zane were with her. His absence felt all the more stark when the other six recruits filed up to enter the cocoon—in groups of two.

  Beth took a deep breath and tried not to think about it. What did her feelings matter when so many people were relying on her, when Dad was relying on her, Zane too? If she and Zane had been doing all that testing while sleeping in stasis as they travelled to Neptune, he was probably back at the Space Station somewhere.

  Beth shuddered to think he might still be fending off virus-victims in his sleep. What a nightmare. Surely they’d have switched his simulation off by now? He may not have passed the final test, but just being in space would make up for everything, she was sure.

  ‘Forward, march!’ yelled the captain, and they shuffled into a dark cavity with a low-ceiling and hard uneven floor. Why was the cocoon even allowing shuttles to come and go?

  She gripped her torch tighter. The other recruits had their rifles at the ready, but hers was slung over a shoulder.

  Every person we have sent to explore it, the captain had said of the cocoon, has failed to return.

  Beth was determined to do something different from the others, do things they hadn’t done, ask what they hadn’t asked, see what they couldn’t see…Her eyes widened, trying to take in everything around her, and she almost tripped on the uneven surface underfoot. She lifted her sore foot and marvelled that she didn’t float away. Was gravity magnetised to their boots somehow? However created, it meant they were able to walk normally, which was great because all around them were the same swirly patterns as on the crystal’s green stone, only these weren’t glowing. The cave was covered with them, as were three passageways leading away into darkness.

  ‘Soldiers!’ Captain Lang barked through their comms. ‘Look around and holler if you find anything. We may need to split up if we’re to search this place thoroughly. Choose a passage.’

  Beth knelt and examined the swirls on the ground, then shone her torch on the walls. The patterns were tiny black crystal carvings, only in different shades—onyx, charcoal and jet. One of the patterns looked very familiar. What was it?

  The start of evolution, she repeated in her mind, the start of evolution, what starts evolution…?

  Then she got it! Like the rhyme said, at the start of the word evolution was the letter ‘e’, and the words time and space ended with an ‘e’ too. The words earthly and equinox also started with the letter ‘e’, and the word base ended in an ‘e’ as well.

  She traced the nearest ‘e’ swirl with her finger, the familiar pattern she’d recognised.

  Could it be that simple?

  She glanced around and saw the pattern above the right-hand passage, but not the other two. Perhaps it indicated the correct passage to take? She had to tell the captain! But as she went to speak up, the thud of boots vibrated on the ground and a familiar voice burst through her comms unit.

  ‘Captain, sir!’ he said. ‘Corporal Ed and team approaching, sir! We’ve come from shuttle twelve and there’s a screaming vibration coming this way! We’ve been sent to warn you!’

  As the others began babbling in panic, Beth gasped. She’d know that voice anywhere!

  ‘Zane!’ she shouted and limped forward, just as he burst from the far left tunnel with a group of others, all armed. His face had that familiar hard look she remembered from Daintree Street, stubborn and closed. He didn’t look like the boy she’d come to know at all. ‘Zane?’

  Not answering her, he dashed over to salute the captain. ‘Captain, we should get these civilians out of here!’

  ‘Zane?’ she called through the comms, waving her arms. ‘Remember me? It’s Beth!’

  He turned to look at her, his expression blank. He didn’t know who she was!

  ‘Corporal,’ Captain Lang asked, ‘do you know this girl?’

  ‘No, sir.’

  ‘Then eyes to me, soldier. How close is this vibration?’ ‘I’d say two minutes, sir. We must fall back.’

  Beth glanced behind her, but the shuttle had already gone. It had left them here?

  ‘With your permission, sir?’ yelled Zane, gesturing with his rifle down the middle passage.

  ‘Granted,’ agreed the captain.

  ‘Everyone,’ Zane yelled to the recruits, ‘run!’ Then he spun on his heels and began jogging away. The wrong way. The rest of his team followed.

  ‘Recruits!’ barked the captain, sweeping his arms wide. ‘You heard the man, move out! Move it, move it.’

  ‘Zane!’ Beth screamed, sprinting as best she could with her sore foot until she’d overtaken his team and caught his arm, yanking him back. ‘Wait! You’re…’

  But before she
could finish, he knocked her sideways with the butt of his rifle. ‘Just run!’

  She gasped. The Zane she had come to know would never have done that. That Zane was her friend—one she had earnt through hard times as well as fun. Where had those times gone now? She froze and stared at him.

  ‘It’s no time for goggling at boyfriends, soldier!’ shouted the captain, heaving her to her feet as the others

  thundered past. ‘Get moving!’

  ‘But it’s the wrong way!’ shouted Beth. ‘It’s the other tunnel—I solved the puzzle!’

  ‘What?’ Zane stopped, as did everyone else. The tunnel was crowded as everyone tried to turn about and look at her.

  ‘We have to go back!’ Beth cried.

  ‘We can’t go back!’ yelled the captain. ‘Look!’

  A high-pitched humming vibrated from the tunnel.

  It grew so loud they felt it pinging in the back of their heads. Then a pale light appeared and strengthened as they all turned to look. It became whiter and whiter until an enormous pale worm emerged. It erupted into the tunnel with a mighty screech.

  Someone fired their rifle at it, but the bullets just bounced off the creature with a plink.

  Screaming broke out as everybody scrambled to get away.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ cried Captain Lang, ‘our probes detected no life-forms!’

  ‘It called itself a cocoon, right?’ yelled Beth, racing after Zane. She was determined to keep him in sight. ‘So there’s your grub! It must have been in hibernation!’

  The passage twisted and turned, and rocks were strewn about. No wonder this mission needed soldiers experienced with dark cave systems. ‘Nothing new for me,’ she panted. Or Zane. ‘He must be hating this, being scared of small spaces.’ If he still was—how could she be sure of anything that had happened in the simulation anymore? What if the Zane she’d known there wasn’t real at all, but a virtual version of him? What if this soldier was his true self, and always had been? He might never have changed from the moment they met on Daintree Street…