by Perrin Briar
“Then we’ll go up to speak with them,” Sturgess said.
More muffled whispers amongst the team leaders.
“You would undertake this?” Old Man Marley said, fixing Sturgess with a squint.
“I would,” Sturgess said. “But I do not wish to go alone. Our voices will be more easily heard if there is more than one of us.”
“And what if they ignore us again?” Old Man Marley said.
“Then we’ll have to come up with another plan,” Sturgess said.
Old Man Marley turned his head to one side. His watery blue eyes saw a great deal more than they let on.
“But you already have a plan, don’t you?” he said.
“Yes,” Sturgess said.
“What is it?” Old Man Marley said.
Sturgess looked the team leaders over. With what he was going to say next he might well be committing suicide. If one of them felt the need to inform the Merchants, he could very swiftly find himself in hot water.
“We’ll force them to listen to us,” Sturgess said.
“How?” Old Man Marley said.
“We use force,” Sturgess said. “First we tell them we will no longer mine for them. Then, we’ll use weapons to remove them from power.”
The team leaders gaped at Sturgess, open mouthed. They couldn’t believe what they were hearing.
“They have guards,” Old Man Marley said.
“We don’t know how many,” Sturgess said.
“They have training,” Old Man Marley said.
“Have you ever seen them use their weapons?” Sturgess said. “I haven’t.”
“I can’t sit here and listen to this,” a tall fellow called Robin said. “If anyone hears what we’re saying…”
“Sit down,” Old Man Marley said.
He didn’t need to shout. Robin hesitated only a moment before sitting back down.
“You’re serious about this?” Old Man Marley said.
“Yes,” Sturgess said. “The stakes are too high. We could lose this whole world by our own reckless actions. And if we don’t do something now, if we don’t take action, we could lose it all. We have to be successful. Otherwise there’s nothing we can do to stop what is happening here. We can still fix it, but we have to hurry.
“There’s no telling when this will affect the whole world and we’ll never be able to go back to the way things once were. You’ve all seen what we’ve done to the world. You’ve all experienced it. You all have families who will suffer if we don’t do something today, right now.”
Sturgess swept his eyes over the assembled. He could tell his words were having an effect. There was nothing for them to say, because what could they say? They agreed with everything he’d said.
“When are we doing this?” Old Man Marley said.
“Tonight,” Sturgess said. “We’re doing this tonight.”
24.
THE SPACE inside the mound of Gravitas on the extraction platform was a tight fit with all six team leaders inside. With any luck they would be back to the village by the following morning. At least, that was what Sturgess had told his wife Greisha. She’d been upset upon hearing his plan, but she understood.
“I’ll be back soon,” Sturgess said. “And then we can get back to living our lives. I promise.”
Greisha nodded, but couldn’t stop the tears running down her face. Sturgess knelt down and pressed his cheek to her bulging stomach.
“And you,” he said. “You’ll be the ultimate winner in all this. You’ll become something else, not just a miner.”
He kissed Greisha’s stomach and stood up. He hugged Greisha close and kissed her on the forehead.
“I’ll be back in no time,” he said. “You’ll see.”
Sturgess moved outside and weaved between the tents toward the Gravitas platform. The rest of the team leaders were already there waiting for him.
“Hey,” Robin said. “I thought we weren’t supposed to bring family here?”
Sturgess turned to find Greisha approaching.
“I told you to stay home,” he said. “If anyone was to see you…”
“I had to wave you off,” Greisha said. “I’m sorry.”
The other team leaders crawled through a hole in the side of the huge mound of Gravitas, entering the space Sturgess had carved for them. Sturgess ran his fingers over Greisha’s smooth skin before turning and following the others inside. Greisha handed some food in through the hole.
“You’ll get hungry,” she said. “Just like a man not to plan properly.”
“Thank you,” Sturgess said.
“You come back to us,” Greisha said.
“I will,” Sturgess said.
The platform juddered and the whole mound of Gravitas jolted under the movement. Greisha waved to Sturgess, tears already streaming down her cheeks, as Sturgess slid the shutter over the hole.
They were locked in near total darkness, but they were used to that. It did not contain any fear for them. The platform rose vertically, with barely any shaking or rocking movement. It hummed like a well oiled machine.
Robin peered out through a gap between two large sections of Gravitas. He gasped at what he saw.
“You fellas have got to see this,” he said.
But none of them were much in the mood to see what so amazed him. He soon shut up, turning silent, save for his intermittent gasping.
“I can’t believe none of you want to see what’s outside,” Robin said. “Something life changing like this, you only get to see once in a lifetime.”
“We’ve been heading up all night,” Old Man Marley said, shaking his head. He looked paler than usual. “I can’t believe how high we must be.”
“You wouldn’t believe it till you come look with your own eyes,” Robin said.
“You can describe it to us,” Sturgess said.
“We’re so high that-” Robin said.
“Later,” Old Man Marley said. “When I won’t be sick.”
They finally broke open Greisha’s lunchbox when all their stomachs were rumbling. They munched away quite happily. Sturgess, happy at first at the scent of his wife’s cooking, quickly turned sad.
The thing about living in a small village your whole life was you quickly got used to being around the same loving people. When you weren’t there, you missed them terribly. You hung onto their memory and hoped you would see them again, as soon as you could manage. Your heart hurt with physical pain.
There was no remedy save to close your eyes, shut them tight, and let the sweet memories wash over you. Sturgess could tell by the serene silence that the others were thinking along the same lines. It was just as difficult for them. They were all in the same boat, or rather, on the same platform. At least it was a smooth ride.
Then they began to shift, quivering like an earthquake.
An earthquake in midair? Yeah…
The platform swung side to side. Some of the rocks dislodged and fell on the miners’ heads. The others hollered at the top of their voices, indistinct words.
The platform slowed, coming to a stop. The men glanced at one another, tentatively reaching out to hold themselves in place.
“Thank goodness that’s over,” Robin said. “For a second there I thought the whole thing was going to-”
The platform spun on its axis. Sturgess felt his stomach press deep inside himself, like it was shifting position. He was going to be sick. By the smell, someone else already had been.
Had the Merchants discovered they were inside? Had they tossed the Gravitas out? Were they going to die? For the second time on the journey, Sturgess shut his eyes tight and looked for solace in his memories. He found it in Greisha’s arms.
25.
THE RAIN came out of a clear blue sky. It hissed when it spat on the hot rocks.
“In here,” Bryan said, waving Zoe over.
They entered the cave. Zoe took off her clothes and began wrenching them dry. The heat was oppressive. It wouldn’t take long for them to
dry.
“Hello?” Bryan said to the darkness. “Is there anyone in here? A bear maybe?”
There was no reply.
“I guess that means it’s empty,” Bryan said.
“Or the bears here don’t speak English,” Zoe said.
Bryan gathered a clump of grass together to form a small pile. He picked up a dry stick and headed outside. He stabbed it into a river of magma and withdrew it. He held a hand over it to protect it from the rain as he brought it inside. He touched it to the kindling. The flames leapt to life.
“Look at this,” Zoe said. “Wherever we go down here, we always seem to come across these things.”
Bryan turned from nursing the fire. Figures were painted on the walls, in a similar, but different, style to those they’d seen in the previous two worlds.
“I guess people have always liked to record themselves, their history and story,” Zoe said. “No one likes to be forgotten.”
“No,” Bryan said. “But you would have thought some of these places wouldn’t find the need to keep a record of every single thing they’ve ever done.”
“True,” Zoe said. “Then again I guess they all tell pretty much the same thing, don’t they?”
“Yes,” Bryan said. “There’s nothing particularly surprising about these images.”
“Just a preserved piece of our shared past,” Zoe said. “Nothing particularly amazing about that, is there?”
“Just a bunch of stickmen with yaks,” Bryan said. “I’ve seen enough of those to last a lifetime. Why aren’t there any great works of art?”
“This may well have been,” Zoe said. “In its day.”
“I suppose so,” Bryan said. “But then, great art doesn’t ‘have a day’, does it? That’s what makes it great in the first place. It’s timeless.”
“Wait,” Zoe said, leaning in closer to the cave paintings. “I remember seeing a similar figure drawn on the walls of the caves we saw in the first world we came to. And in the water world too, come to think of it. This guy here.”
She pointed to a cowled figure in black. It might have been a smudge if it wasn’t for the pains taken to ensure it had a clear shape against the browns of the cave’s innards.
Bryan frowned at the image.
“Are you sure?” he said. “It’s easy to mistake it for something else, don’t you think?”
“It’s the same figure,” Zoe said. “I swear.”
But could she have been mistaken? The cowled figure could all too easily have been a patch of shadow from a misshapen wall. She shook her head. It was all in her imagination. How could the same figure turn up on all three walls? The three peoples had clearly never made contact before. How was it possible?
“What would the same image of a guy in various worlds even mean?” Zoe said.
“Beats me,” Bryan said. “Maybe it’s just a nightmare, or something all the people thought about over the years.”
“Possibly,” Zoe said. “There is evidence on the surface of the Epic of Gilgamesh story having appeared simultaneously in various parts of the world that, as far as we know, didn’t have any contact with each other.”
“Or it was a real person,” Bryan said. “Someone who visited all these worlds in the past.”
The thought sent an irrational shiver up Zoe’s spine. It was spooky. She could tell it gave Bryan goosebumps too.
The rain slowed to a dribble, noise bounding off the hard rock wall. They needed to crack on. It was unlikely knowing who, or what, this figure was would have much of an effect on them getting out of there. And so they pressed on.
They climbed a steep hill to the top. They descended down the other side, slipping and sliding after the recent rainfall. The landscape was altogether different to what they’d come across before. The land was bleached white, like salt. It looked warm, like a beach in the Caribbean.
“This doesn’t look so bad,” Bryan said. “Like we might almost be on holiday.”
He took a step forward and immediately regretted it. His foot sank into the sand to the knee. He stumbled and took a step back. His other foot found another sunken patch. He attempted to push down with one foot and pull up with the other, and only succeeded in making both feet sink deeper.
“Bryan, take my hand!” Zoe said, reaching for him.
He did, but it didn’t do any good. Zoe tossed him a vine, edging as close to the quicksand as she dared. Bryan took hold of one end and yanked on it, but Zoe’s feet weren’t as securely planted as she thought. She slid forward and entered the quicksand. Now they were both in trouble.
“This is great,” Bryan said. “This is just peachy! How are we meant to get out of here now?”
“Don’t panic,” Zoe said. “Stay calm. We’ll figure a way out.”
“My brain is all out of ideas,” Bryan said.
“We just need to focus,” Zoe said. “There’s always a way out. There’s a way out of everything.”
Bryan and Zoe were shunted around in a circle, getting sucked into the quicksand deeper and deeper, toward the center, farther from the edges, from escape. The slow realization of truth, a dawning terror of their predicament, began to seep into their bones.
They were doomed.
The quicksand began to overtake them, tickling their noses and delicate skin of their cheeks. They held one another’s hands as they were sucked beneath the surface. It had happened so quickly, so fast, they hardly had time to process what was happening before it overtook them. They shut their eyes and mouths. It did little to diminish the rushing roar.
They were deaf and dumb to what was going on around them. They felt only the grit between each other’s clasped hands as they sank deeper beneath the surface. They said a prayer for their own sakes, as well as for Aaron and Cassie, at having failed them, at having taken a false step. They had failed.
Then something bizarre happened. They began to rise up from the depths. They breached the surface and gasped through their mouth and nose, spitting out a mouthful of grit.
“What’s going on now?” Bryan sputtered.
“I have no idea,” Zoe said. “But let’s not squander it. Let’s get out of here.”
They came back around to the outer rim, within snatching distance of a clutch of vines. Zoe seized one and pulled herself, arm over arm, out of the quicksand. She tossed the vines back at Bryan. He was already beginning to sink back below the surface. His hands tightened around the vine and he pulled himself back up, above the surface. He gasped for oxygen.
Zoe pulled at the other end of the vine. Soon, he was out. They lay on the edge of the pit gasping for air.
“Don’t you hate when you get sand in all your crevices?” Bryan said.
Zoe gave him a flat stare and a shake of her head. She covered her mouth and let out a relieved laugh. This world’s weird properties had worked in their favor for once.
26.
THE PLATFORM slowed, locking into place, jolting to a stop. Robin screamed. There could not have been much oxygen left in his body to expel in the form of screams. He had screamed solidly for the past twenty minutes. They were deaf with his yells.
“Robin!” Sturgess said. “Will you shut up?”
“Is it over?” Robin said, his eyes clenched shut.
“It’s been over for the past ten minutes,” Sturgess said.
“Do you think we’re there?” Old Man Marley said.
“If we’re not, we’ve taken one hell of a diversion,” Sturgess said.
“Sh!” Robin said. “I think I hear something.”
The others assumed he was just imagining things, the way he always seemed to. He was perhaps the only miner in the world afraid of the dark, even going so far as to imagine hearing things. Certainly an occupational hazard, Sturgess thought. He would make sure to keep a close on him when they returned to the village and began mining again.
Mining.
It was then that Sturgess realized they might well be out of a job, or at least life wasn’t going to be the
same from now on. They were essentially on a mission to eradicate anything they might recognize as their livelihood. They would need to find some other way to support themselves. But what? A miner knew how to mine. There was little else they were capable of. He pushed those concerns aside when he turned his thoughts to the footsteps he heard outside.
They crossed from one side of the platform to another, inspecting it perhaps. The others were as silent and unmoving as Sturgess suddenly found himself, listening to every sound, reacting to it like the Gravitas might explode, exposing them to the elements any moment.
The footsteps headed away and they were left alone. But still they didn’t speak, not until Sturgess plucked up the courage to break the silence.
“He’s gone,” he said.
“Don’t speak!” Robin said. “He might still be out there, waiting for us.”
“He’s gone,” Sturgess said.
“You don’t know that!” Robin said. “They might be lying in wait for us!”
“In which case we’d be better served if we meet them and get it over with,” Sturgess said. “Besides, since when have you ever known the Merchants to get their hands dirty?”
“Shut up, will you Robin?” Old Man Marley said. “And for heaven’s sake, grow a pair!”
Robin grumbled under his breath, half a whimper, but he was quieter after that.
“We need to get out of here,” Sturgess said.
Judging by Robin’s expression, he was quite happy to stay where he was. But that wasn’t going to result in them finding the Merchants, nor their message getting delivered.
Sturgess edged forward on his hands and knees toward the hole he’d covered when they’d first set off on their journey. He pulled it free and peered out. He made out blank walls and mounds of rubble similar to the one they were hiding in, but little else.
He reached out and gripped either side of the hole and pulled himself out, sliding onto his back. He extracted his legs as fast as he could, not liking to have his torso half hanging out the way it was.
As the others pulled themselves out, Sturgess appraised their surroundings. They were in a large room, with dozens of rubble mounds like the one they had ridden to get there. He leaned over and could see there were more mounds beyond the ones he first identified. There had to be hundreds of them, all sitting there, stretching into the darkness. One thing was for certain: whoever was there earlier was gone now.