-34-
The last two hundred yards down almost proved my undoing. I slipped, crashing against the head of the Tosk below me. I began sliding off him.
The werewolf-like creature used one of his long arms, clutching me lest I drop the rest of the way. By working together with him, I managed to re-grip the ladder.
Shaken, and given an extra boost of adrenalin-induced strength due to fear of falling, I made the rest of the descent until I stood with wobbly legs on solid ground.
The giant machine—if that’s what it was—seemed to go on forever in many directions. We hadn’t come down at an end, but inside a maze of giant dark blocks of colossal machinery. These blocks seemed to be the size of literal city blocks, vast cubes of machinery shoved together into a bewildering whole.
It was unnerving, frightening. Who had built this monstrosity? Why had they used what seemed like such crude technology? What fed power into these engines? How long had they been running like this? I did not like the idea of these machines having been running for centuries, maybe for endless millennia down here.
Beran allowed us to lie on the trembling rocky ground. He did not land, but remained hovering a few inches from the surface.
Perhaps twenty minutes later, Beran’s foot prodded my shoulder. I raised a groggy head, only realizing then that I’d fallen asleep.
I was reluctant to move—my muscles ached—but I climbed to my feet. So did the Tosks. They kept the helmet-lamps on and aimed the beam carbines in all directions. Beran still floated and held onto his baton. He looked everywhere, and I wondered what his extra senses or energies were telling him.
For a time, we marched beside the giant machines. I did not know if they were separate machines or all of one piece. It was like walking through a gargantuan processing plant that was running at full tilt. Huge pistons made an incredible din while rocker arms churned furiously. I finally understood what Jack from Jack and the Bean Stalk had felt like in the giant’s castle in the clouds. I felt like a mouse. I kept expecting a giant cat to show up and devour us.
The underground machinery did not feel like a Polarion thing. It seemed more elementary, older and more sinister. If Polarions would have built such a thing, it would have gleamed like shiny silver, would have run soundlessly.
In time, the throbbing, clanking, thrumming sounds dwindled as we left the machine area. The sounds did not fade away altogether, but it became possible to shout to each other.
Finally, thankfully, a floating Beran led us into a quieter cavern. It no longer felt as if the very air vibrated my body.
“I’m sick and tired,” I said. “When do we stop?”
There wasn’t much to see beyond the circle of helmet-lamp light. The rocky ground had wet patches here, and once a drip dropped on my head. Come to think of it, the air was damp and smelled like water.
Beran alighted onto the damp rocky floor. He motioned us toward a slick granite wall.
The Tosks seemed to understand what he meant. Ten of them crouched or lay down. Those that did lie down closed their eyes and began to snore. The last two Tosks, my former guardians, stood guard. They tracked their heads so the helmet lamps kept moving into the darkness as they held their carbines at port arms.
I leaned against a damp wall, accepting a bar of some kind from Beran. He’d turned off the blue nimbus some time ago. I wondered how much energy it took to keep that force field running. And where did Beran get the energy? The only logical place was from somewhere inside him. I guess the modifications must have included an implanted power source.
The bar tasted like almonds. It proved filling. He pitched me a plastic water bottle afterward. I uncapped and drained the water, and still felt thirsty.
For a time, I just rested. Finally, I looked up at Beran. He’d been standing still with his eyes unfocused.
“Is this what you expected?” I asked.
It took him a moment before he regarded me. He didn’t have to think about the question, though. He shook his head.
“Who built this place?” I asked. “Any ideas?”
“I always have ideas,” he said. “In this case, I cannot accept the ideas. The…size of the cavern—if that’s even the correct name—awes me.”
“Do you know how big it is?”
“Not precisely,” he said. “By what my sensors tell me, I’d estimate it is almost as large as the state of Utah.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “Utah?”
He nodded.
“There’s a space down here under the earth the size of Utah?”
“Not the exact shape,” Beran said, “but in overall extent, I believe so, yes.”
I blinked and blinked, more dazed the longer I thought about it. The size of Utah? That couldn’t be right.
“Is this natural?” I asked.
“Explain your question.”
“Was this underworld here or did someone build it and then stick in the machine?”
“I am inclined to believe the second explanation,” Beran said.
“That someone carved out an underground area the size of Utah this far down?”
“It is a remarkable engineering feat,” Beran said.
“That’s crazy.”
“Maybe not,” Beran said softly.
I put my head back against the damp rock and tried to envision anyone carving out such an area this deep under the Earth. It was mindboggling, to say the least.
“One of the many interesting aspects of the…area is where it is not,” Beran said.
“What do you mean?”
“The cavern is only under one major human metropolitan area.”
“Yeah? Where? Las Vegas?”
Beran’s eyebrows rose. “That is a good guess. How did you arrive at the correct conclusion?”
I shrugged. “Las Vegas is a one-of-a-kind town. It has a dubious history to boot. It only makes sense that of all the cities, it’s the one that would be linked to this place.”
“You do not think those things have any bearing on this underworld?”
“Heck,” I said. “How should I know?” I paused before asking, “Do you think the Polarions made this place?”
“Normally, I would say yes. However, the machinery back there—it does not seem Polarion in nature.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“For what?” he asked.
“That’s just an expression. I was thinking the same thing before. That you came to the same conclusion made me say thanks.”
“How quaint,” he said.
“Ain’t it just,” I replied.
He cocked his head. At first, I thought it was in reference to my comment. Then I heard something, too. It had a strange but seemingly familiar whine.
“What is that?” I asked.
Beran barked an order.
All the Tosks scrambled to their feet. They aimed their carbines into the darkness.
“I think that is—” Beran said.
Before he could finish his thought, I vanished.
-35-
I staggered as I materialized in the piloting chamber of a craft of some kind. It took a second before I realized what had happened. I was back in my good old Guard ship.
“Rax!” I shouted, seeing the metal-sheathed crystal standing in his slot on the dash.
Then I realized that someone was sitting in my piloting chair. It was Jenna Jones of the CAU with a pair of dark goggles over her eyes. How could she see out of those things?
“What’s going on?” I shouted.
“Shut up,” Jenna told me. “I have to concentrate. This might not work but it’s likely the best chance we’re going to get.”
I glanced outside the port window. I’m not sure, but I must have expected to see the deep blue sea. I did not see that. I saw darkness, glimpses of rock wall and flickering lights about fifty feet down and maybe a quarter-mile distant.
“Are we in the giant cavern?” I asked.
“I told you to shut up,” Jenna snarled. She ma
nipulated the controls. The Guard ship lurched, going lower.
“Take it easy with my ship,” I said.
Jenna aimed her goggled face at me, with anger lines on her forehead, before she looked away and seemed to concentrate once more. I wondered if those were VR goggles, and if so, why Rax hadn’t told me about them before. Then, it struck me what Jenna was doing.
“Tosks!” I said. “You’re going to laser the Tosks.”
Even as I said that, Jenna pulled the trigger to the laser cannons located on the stubby wings of the Guard ship.
I whipped around to stare out of the port window. Lasers burned brightly, stabbing Tosks who aimed their beam carbines at us.
Some of the green beams fired, striking the armor of the Guard ship.
I felt sick seeing the Tosks going down. The lasers burned each one in a microsecond. I’d been with those Tosks, had sweated and hurt with them coming down into the Utah-sized underworld. I didn’t like seeing them curl and burn like sizzled bugs in a zapper.
“Where is he?” Jenna shouted. “He was there a second ago.”
“Do you mean Beran?” I asked.
“Yes, yes, the Antares dominie,” Jenna said, “the one who destroyed CAU.”
I thought about the Director at the moon base. I thought about all the CAU people at the Saturn Station. Jenna had a reason to be angry. And yet, was this the best strategy?
“Maybe we ought to capture Beran,” I said.
Jenna ignored me, as she seemed to be studying something with her goggles.
I moved closer to the port window. I saw a flicker of blue in the distance. I hesitated—and suddenly saw a red-glowing blot or missile launch from the blue that had to be Beran and his nimbus. The red glow didn’t seem good.
“Jenna,” I warned.
She cursed, didn’t give me any warning and banked the Guard ship so it swerved hard to the side. Afterburners kicked in, making the ship move.
That threw me against a panel. I crashed hard, barely avoided a head injury and slid along the floor. At the last second, I grabbed a piece of equipment and curled myself around it, hanging on tight.
Something struck the Guard ship, shaking the craft. Sparks flew from a panel as something there sizzled. The ship lurched again—
“Hang on!” Jenna shouted.
The next few seconds were crazy. We skidded along the rock surface of the underworld. It created a terrible din inside the ship. Another red broadside struck us, and the lights wavered in the piloting chamber.
“What’s he firing at us?” Jenna shouted.
“Rax,” I said. “Move us. Save the ship.”
“Logan,” the crystal said. “I am sorry to inform you that Jenna Jones now occupies the leadership position—”
“You little bastard,” I said, interrupting him. “Move us now or the Guard ship is toast. I know what I’m talking about.”
Three tense seconds passed.
“We are making a phase shift,” the crystal said.
“You can’t do that,” Jenna told him. “You know what’s at stake.”
I looked up out of the port window and saw another red glow come streaking toward the ship.
“Now, Rax, now, before it’s too late!”
At that instant, the ship phased, transferred, teleported, call it what you want. It only took an instant of time. We vanished from the location, avoiding the latest red-glowing energy missile that I had no idea how Beran created.
The Guard ship appeared elsewhere in the underworld. I knew because it was dark outside except for a region of grim machinery.
I sat up as I heaved a sigh of relief.
Jenna twisted her head one way and another. “Rax,” she said, in an accusing tone.
“We have phased out of danger,” Rax said.
Jenna tore off the dark-tinted goggles. I expected anger, especially because of the way she’d just said Rax’s name. Instead, I saw fear shining in her eyes.
“Thanks a lot, Logan,” she said. “You might have just ended the human race.”
I laughed. “Come on. You can’t be serious. We’re alive because of my quick thinking.”
“You have no idea of the stakes involved.”
“You do?”
“Yes.”
“I’m listening,” I said.
“Rax?” Jenna asked.
“I am unsure,” the crystal said.
“Wait a minute,” I said, glancing from Rax to Jenna. It seemed as if she was asking the crystal’s permission to tell me what was going on—and he was hesitating. “What’s going on here, Rax? Have you changed loyalties?”
“Not exactly,” the crystal said, seeming to hedge his answer. “My first loyalty is to my oath. I belong to the Galactic Guard. I live to enforce Galactic Law and apprehend Galactic Civilization criminals.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked.
“You have aided a Galactic Civilization criminal, Logan.”
“You mean Beran?”
“I do,” Rax said.
“I haven’t aided him, you idiot. He made me a prisoner.”
“Logan,” Rax said, “we know you showed the Antaran the hidden key to the deep entrance hatch. Before that, you helped him escape Kazz’s assassination attempt.”
“No, no, no!” I said. “You have it backwards. Beran paralyzed me. Kazz tried to save my life. And besides, that wasn’t Kazz. It was a clone of Kazz.”
“How do you know that?” Rax asked.
“You guys think I’ve thrown in with Beran?” I said.
“Without your aid—” Rax began.
“Beran drugged me,” I shouted. “Why did you just snatch me away from him if you think I’m in league with him?”
Rax did not reply.
“We wanted answers,” Jenna finally said.
“You were going to interrogate me?” I asked in disbelief.
Jenna looked away.
“I can’t believe this,” I said, shaking my head. “Beran has Debby. He has the Director and a bunch of CAU people.”
“We know all this,” Rax said.
“Yeah, well, I don’t know how the Guard ship is up and running. The last I remember the ship had critically flooded compartments, and it was stranded in the ocean. I sure don’t know why Jenna said I helped screw up humanity’s last chance for survival. I don’t understand this place.” I waved an arm. “This underworld is crazy. The machines—what are these machines? What do they do? Who built them?”
I took a deep breath, another and then a third, holding it and only slowly letting my air back out.
In a quieter voice, I asked, “What’s going on? Is Argon behind all this?”
“You told me before that Argon died,” Jenna said.
“I said I don’t know if he did. Rax,” I said. “Have you been subtly modifying me all this time? Beran said you have been.”
“I did not know about the underworld until only a short time ago,” Rax said, indirectly answering my question with his avoidance. “However, that is not germane to the direct threat. Beran seeks the ancient portal to the Polarion Paradise, does he not?”
“Okay, that’s interesting,” I said. “So, the portal is real, huh?”
“It is all too real,” Rax said.
I nodded. “And the chronowarp can help…open the portal?”
“Oh, yes,” Rax said. “Fortunately, Kazz—the original Kazz—stole the chronowarp and destroyed it.”
“Well that’s great,” I said. “So, what’s the problem, then?”
“Quite simply this,” Rax said. “We believe that it will only be a matter of time before Beran or his colleagues manage to construct another chronowarp.”
“I thought you had to be a super-genius Polarion to make something like that.”
“Yes,” Rax said.
Several seconds passed as that sank in. I’d always thought Beran had been a boaster concerning the excellence of the Antares Institute. But this implied…
“So, you�
�re telling me that Beran is in the Polarion category?” I asked.
“Oh, yes,” Rax said. “You saw what just transpired. Beran almost destroyed the Guard ship while proving impervious to our laser cannons. He has also made many uncanny guesses and seems to be on the verge of opening the Polarion Portal.”
“Once he makes his own chronowarp, that is.”
“With the greater knowledge he can gain from this place, the manufacturing of a chronowarp will likely occur soon.”
“Okay,” I said. “And why exactly would his opening the portal destroy humanity?”
Neither Jenna nor Rax spoke.
That made me angry. “If you still think I’m a traitor to the cause—”
“No,” Rax said, interrupting. “I tested your truthfulness earlier while accusing you. I believe your story about Beran drugging you. Besides, there are still traces of the drug in your system. Jenna, could you please leave the piloting chamber?”
“Are you kidding me?” Jenna said.
“I’m afraid you are not rated for the latest intelligence briefing,” Rax told her.
“And he is?” Jenna asked, pointing at me.
“Not precisely,” Rax said. “However, Beran has proven even deadlier than I…anticipated.”
“What were you going to say?” Jenna asked.
“Jenna, humanity is at stake,” Rax said. “Just as importantly, the galaxy is in dreadful danger. Logan and I are the Guard agents on the spot. We must stop this galactic catastrophe and time is running out.”
“I don’t like this,” she said. “Did you or did you not tell me that I was the best person to run the Guard ship.”
“Please, Jenna,” Rax said. “I told you that in strictest confidence. Now, I understand and sympathize with your feelings, but this is for the best.”
I thought Jenna was going to explode. In the end, she got out of my piloting chair and angrily strode out of the chamber, closing the hatch behind her. If she was trying to slam the hatch, she failed, although it closed a little louder than usual.
“Thanks a lot,” I said. “She’s a better Galactic Guard agent than me?”
“In terms of piloting the Guard ship,” Rax said, “Jenna is less reckless than you are.”
“Yeah, but—”
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