by Tim Wellman
"What do you think that door is worth?" Stevenson said. "That's heavy gold sheeting over wood; but there must be a hundred pounds of gold."
"More than we'll ever make," Carlisle said. "Even working the rest of our lives."
"Isn't that the first security device?" Kato said. "We're supposed to take the door, get rich, and forget we were ever here."
"Then why didn't the founding fathers do that?" Carlisle said. "They were criminals and cutthroats as far as I understand."
"They never came back here," Kato said. "After they left the tunnel, they never came back. So maybe they planned to steal the door after they checked out the inside for more treasure?"
"But whatever they saw scared them so much they forgot about the door?"
Stevenson lit the lantern and hung it over the handlebars of the bike. He squeezed into the edge of the door and put his shoulder against it and pushed with all of his might and finally felt it move. And with Kato pulling, they both managed to get the door opened wide enough for the bike to go through. Carlisle was already sitting in her seat. She patted her lap as Kato looked at her and sighed.
"I feel like you should have at least bought me a nice dinner, first," she said, and slid her butt over the edge of the sidecar.
-9-
The Grand Hall
The tunnel was smooth and the bike rolled easily with practically no help from air power because of the slight downward slope. The lantern illuminated nothing but stone for the first mile, but as they approached the lighted area, things changed. Stevenson slowed the bike to a stop, but no one moved from their seats.
"Holy..."
"Shit!" Stevenson said.
Kato looked around, trying to place the things she saw with the things she had read. "They mentioned these things. Mummies," she whispered. "Specimens. But of what?"
"Even allowing for the deformities of the process, these don't look like anything on earth," Carlisle said. She shivered. "Gives me the creeps."
"Was there anything more in the papers about this?" Stevenson said.
Kato shook her head. "Not really, other than they saw these things. But, they didn't know what they were."
"I've seen pictures in old books," Carlisle said. "These look like what they used to think aliens from outer space looked like... 'Grays', they called them back then. Of course, no one actually believed they were real." She squirmed around in her seat, fumbling around for something and Kato jumped.
"Stop that!"
"I'm just looking for my camera!" she said.
"You won't find it there!" the little witch said.
But, she finally came up with her camera and snapped several pictures of the grotesque specimens.
"They're here for a reason, right?" Stevenson said. "A warning."
"Warning other aliens not to go any further?" Kato said. "Like Vlad Tepes impaling enemy soldiers outside his borders."
"Well, we're not aliens... or vampires, so, let's go on," Carlisle said. Though she suddenly started to change her mind, she kept quiet and resigned herself to the relative safety of the sidecar seat.
"Aren't we missing an important point?" Stevenson said. "Where is the light coming from? It's bright enough to take photographs." He took a mechanical device out of his pocket and held it up in the air. "No dangerous CO2 in the air."
Everyone looked around. "There!" Kato said. "Gas lamps. Must tap directly into a well, so they have probably burned on their own for decades."
He put the instrument back in his pocket and turned the air supply back on, gave the bike a foot-start, and they were off again. But, the lantern was not needed. Every fifty feet or so another gas light kept the tunnel well-lit.
Doctor Carlisle was busy trying to find a clear view ahead of her. Each time she caught a glimpse, Kato's hair would shift. "Put your head back," she said. She grabbed the little woman's head and pulled it back on her shoulder. "I can't see for all the hair."
Kato didn't question her; she leaned her body back and cocked her head sideways. "Better?"
Carlisle patted her on the cheek and then wrapped her arm around her. "Much better," she said. She felt Kato's body relax. It was a very nice feeling. She hadn't allowed herself to be close to anyone for years. She couldn't remember why, exactly. It just happened, probably because she was surrounded by people she usually found disgusting, or at least part of the great unwashed masses. She chuckled to herself. "Almost worth the trip!"
"Trouble?" Stevenson said. He pointed ahead and slowed the bike down and allowed it to stop. There was another closed door blocking their way. "This is different than the other door."
"No statues," Carlisle said.
Kato straightened up and pulled herself out of the sidecar and then walked to the door. Stevenson was right behind her. It was as solid as the first door, though it seemed to be plated with steel instead of gold. The construction was also much cruder.
"Ideas?" Stevenson said.
Carlisle stepped up behind Kato and put her arms around her neck. "What do you think, girlfriend?" She was teasing her, but still, there was a pleasant attraction to the little woman that she couldn't deny.
Kato pushed her arms away and took a couple of steps closer to the door. "You're making me nervous," she whispered.
"For someone who hates people, you seem to be fine with us, though, right?" Carlisle said. She chuckled. "I'm just playing with ya. I hate most people, too. But, we're friends now."
"I don't have friends," the witch said. She traced her nervous fingers along the seam of the door and puffed heavily on her pipe. "Why don't you hate me like everyone else does?"
"I have a real fondness for wolf children," she said with a laugh.
"Ideas?" Stevenson said again.
"Huh?" Kato said. "Oh, right." She knocked on the door. There was no answer. "Worth a shot, right?" She smiled. "We can't use explosives this far in, right?"
"Might set off the stone," Stevenson said. "Collapse the entire tunnel. There could be weaker veins of coal around here, too, so it could collapse somewhere miles away from us, trapping us in or destroying the rest of the passageway in front of us."
"What's this channel for?" Carlisle said. She pointed to a groove in the floor which ran to the door and then ran parallel to it.
Kato knelt down and took a closer look. It was cut in by hand, not natural erosion. "Ventilation?"
Stevenson dropped to his knees and looked closely. "There's a plank of cork in the center of the door, resting down in the groove," he said. "It's... a lock?" He recognized the idea from ancient Greek mechanics he had studied. He jumped up and trotted back to the bike.
"Ah!" Kato said. She looked at Carlisle. "Get it?"
The professor had to think for a moment and then she figured it out, too. She nodded her head. "Water in the groove will float the cork up and unlock the door from inside."
Stevenson knelt back in front of the door with a gallon jug of their drinking water. "I hope this is enough," he said, and started pouring the water into the groove.
"If it's not, we can all pee in it," Carlisle said. She laughed and then stumbled backward and fell on her butt. "Shit!"
Kato smiled. "Should you just sit in the sidecar before you kill yourself?" she said.
"It's filling up," Stevenson said. He looked back and saw Carlisle sitting on the ground with her legs spread apart. "Did I miss something?"
"She was just about to piss herself," Kato said.
"Huh?"
Carlisle got up slowly, and lit up a cigar. "At least there's time for a smoke." She decided to ignore the last few seconds and get her mind back on important things. "So, is that going to unlock the door?"
There was a loud click from inside it and it popped open slightly. Apparently it did. Kato was looking at her papers and lining up some sort of design on the wall with what she was holding. She seemed entirely enveloped in cherry smoke.
"Well, mount up and let's get going," Stevenson said. He was able to pull the door open by himself.
"Auntie?"
Kato was still studying the wall and didn't seem to hear him.
"Hey, wolf girl, let's get mounted," Carlisle said. She snickered. For some reason, the little woman was bringing out the playful girl in her. Maybe she had been bewitched. No, that wasn't true; she was just reminding her of freer, younger days, she figured. She hadn't known anyone in years she felt comfortable around, though why the little witch attracted her, she couldn't decide. Attitude, or looks. Both, she quickly concluded. She took a long draw on her cigar and blew the smoke out slowly. "If we get back late in the night, can we sleep over at your place? Your bed looked awfully comfortable."
Still nothing. Stevenson looked at Carlisle and shrugged. "Kato?"
"Wolfgirl!"
She seemed to snap out of it. "Oh, sorry," she said. "Something doesn't match up with what the founding fathers wrote. They didn't mention this door. I rechecked in case I missed it before, but this was one long tunnel when they came through."
"Are you sure?" Carlisle said. She walked over to the small woman and looked over her shoulder.
Kato realized she was there and pointed up to the wall. There was some sort of writing and what looked to be chalk marks. "Are those some sorta layout marks?"
"Definitely," Stevenson said, as his attention turned to the wall as well. "Those are a craftman's marks where he laid out where stones would have to be fitted." He looked back at the door wall and noticed something. "This isn't natural stone; this wall was built up with loose blocks. See, you can see the mortar lines."
"So, someone built this door after the founding fathers were here?" Carlisle said. "That's crazy; why would anyone come down here and build a door?"
"Maybe they didn't come down here," Kato said. She folded her folder shut and put it behind her back, under her cloak. "Maybe they came up here."
"But, the door latched from this side," Carlisle said.
"All doors can be opened from both sides except prison cells," Kato said. "Probably the same mechanism on the other side."
"Yep, same grooves," Stevenson said, as he pointed to the floor. "I don't think it was meant to keep people out for long, just to slow them down." He unbuckled his heavy dress coat and shook the lapels. "Getting warmer, too."
"Maybe aliens have no concept of cork," Carlisle said with a laugh. "So it worked just fine against them."
"So, we're not letting something out, we're breaking in," Kato said. She took another puff.
"Yeah, well, let's go on," she said. "But, let's not be crazy about it. If we meet any resistance from... anything... we'll turn back." She unbuttoned her heavy coat and vest, took them off, and waved her hand in front of her face. "You're not kidding about it getting warmer. Wonder how far below ground we are, now?"
Stevenson shrugged. "Kato, what do you think? Should we just turn around?"
"We haven't come up against anything yet," she said. "Though I think we'll meet up with some of the bigger creatures before long." She smiled. "But, that's why we brought weapons, right? We expected some resistance."
Carlisle climbed back into the side car and tossed her coat on the floorboard. "Let's go a bit further, then."
Kato climbed in, and then wiggled around, pushing back against the professor. "It feels different without your coat. Got a bit more room, now."
"You can take your cape off," she said. "Or anything else you want."
"I'm good," she said. She wiggled a bit more, bouncing against the professor's breasts, and folded her arms in her lap.
Stevenson folded his coat up and stuffed it in the back compartment, then straddled the bike and kicked the ground a few times until the air power took over. The walls were still lighted, but there was no sign of life, past or present.
"You just grabbed my tits, again," Kato said.
"Yeah, I know," Carlisle said, snickering. "Since you're half wolf, I was just checking to see if you had more than two."
"Okay, enough of the wolf jokes," the witch said. "I was just telling you what was told to me."
"No offense," Carlisle said. "I'm just happy there's no full moon tonight. Wouldn't want you to start howling..."
"Hush!"
-10-
First Signs
"Wait, wait!" Kato said. "Slow down. There's something there in the darkness." She pointed up ahead.
Stevenson eased back on the throttle and let the bike slow to a crawl. He looked ahead and didn't see anything different than he had been looking at for the last ten minutes. "It's all just blurring together," he said. "I've got tunnel vision." He stepped on the brake pedal.
"I can't see shit," Carlisle said. "Have you ever considered a haircut?"
"Let me out, quick!" the witch whispered.
She sounded serious and Carlisle didn't hesitate, though she still couldn't see anything, even after Kato got out. But then she saw movement ahead; a slight flash of light darted across the tunnel fifty feet or so in front of them and she noticed Kato had pulled her sword and was standing in a fighting stance. Stevenson had noticed and also stood at the ready, sword in hand.
"You see anything definite?" he whispered.
Kato nodded. "Two, getting closer. Wait for them to get to the light," she said.
And then there they were, two of the flying lizard creatures, just like the statues, though colorfully feathered and making loud squawking noises. They were alive and were approaching them quickly. But the gas lights illuminated the monsters at just the right moment and both lunged forward with their swords and both lizards fell, beheaded and lifeless. They turned quickly, expecting more, but the tunnel was silent.
"If swords can kill them, so can my gun!" Carlisle said. She was kneeling behind them, gun in her hand, pointed down the tunnel.
But the attack seemed over, at least for the moment. They all remained at the ready, sweating from the heat and excitement, but after a few minutes, Kato sheathed her sword. Stevenson followed her lead and they all three relaxed a bit.
"Well, that was different," Carlisle said. "What do we do now?"
"Keep going," Kato said. "We're almost to the place where the tunnel divides. The founding fathers were attacked by a lot of these things but they talked about wounding a bunch of them, so these two might have been the only two left if the others died from their wounds."
"They would have lived thirty years?" Stevenson said.
Kato shrugged. "Don't know, but I don't think there are more of them. I heard these two before I could see them." She took a big puff of her pipe. "I don't think the founding fathers killed any of them, so they thought they were supernatural."
"Well, let's move forward, then," Stevenson said. "If you think we are through with the lizards." He thought for a minute, trying to put things straight in his mind. "These lizards can be killed, but the little creatures can't. Maybe they're related to the aliens, not to the demons at all."
"Could be," the witch said. "Or these could simply be some unknown earth creature from deep underground and the demons are aliens. We're discovering new things; there are no reference books."
"I'd go with unknown creatures over aliens," Carlisle said as she climbed back into her seat and patted her lap. "You look hot. You should take all your clothes off and get some air."
Kato let out a deep breath and shook her head, but climbed in, and they were quickly rolling again.
Stevenson had decided the ground was smooth enough to give it a bit more speed, and the bike was moving fast enough to blow Kato's hair around like a living Kraken, tentacles reaching out, jerking, searching the air for any bit they could latch on to... mostly bits of Carlisle.
"Uh, guys, we're approaching something," Stevenson said.
"I see it," Kato said. She didn't seem to be paying attention at all, but apparently she was. "It's the place where the tunnel divides. Stop when you get there. There will be some sort of message written on the wall. They said it was easy to understand which direction to take." She sighed and smiled. "We might actually be getting close to somet
hing important."
Stevenson slowed the bike, and let it come to a stop right in front of the fork in the tunnel and Kato climbed out of the sidecar and walked toward the wall in front of them. To either side, the tunnel continued and the old papers had not said what would happen if they picked the wrong one, or even if there was a wrong one.
The wall was carved from the stone, as the rest of the tunnel had been, but it had been whitewashed and painted to imitate columns and trompe l'oeil style ornaments and decorations. Someone had taken a great deal of time to do it.
"It gets weirder and weirder," Stevenson said, as he looked over the ornate decorations.
Kato nodded. "I guess this became the real entrance later. The only people meant to see this were invited guests. This became the city gates." She looked around, running her fingers over the wall. "I don't see a message, though. It should have been here on this wall."
"Could someone have painted this over the message?" Carlisle said. She busied herself fluffing and straightening the witch's hair from behind her, but it was quickly a failed attempt. "I need a garden rake."
Stevenson looked around and walked closer to the tunnel wall to their left. It was the same stone, but untouched and raw. "What was the message supposed to say?" he said. "Was it a riddle?"
"You found it?" Kato said.
He pointed. "Looks like they must have quickly transferred it to this wall... it's just in chalk and mostly faded."
Kato looked closer at the ornate wall. "They were probably trying to remove it much later, when they figured there was no longer a threat, but had to make a copy so they could write it down in a book," she said. "Everyone wants to preserve their history. But someone forgot to erase that, or just thought it would fade away on its own."
"So, you think they were no longer afraid someone would get this far, then?" Carlisle said. "Our founding fathers must have made a deal or promise so they started making all these changes."