The Styx Strikers

by Thor Zollinger

  “The caves aren’t that dark. There are enough holes in the roof light gets into most of it, at least the part that we’ve hiked so far. The section where the door is Sven said was pretty dark, though. Whoever put the door in picked that section on purpose to hide it.”

  “That’s interesting, I wonder what’s inside?” Ariel cocked her head and looked out her bedroom window to see her Dad riding by on one of their horses. Her parents were cattle ranchers. Some of the best beef on Wayfarer came from their herd of exclusive grain fed cattle.

  “That’s the cool part, nobody knows! We’ll be the first ones in there in forever. Sven said the door lock design is a hundred years old, that’s before they even started colonizing Wayfarer. Whatever is in there is really old and really super secret. If it’s some kind of base or something, nobody on Lahti knew about it. It’s been abandoned for as long as we’ve lived on Wayfarer.”

  “Wow, that’s amazing. And we’ll be the first ones to go in there. Radical!”

  “So, what are you going to wear? I figured this time I’d go more practical, poofy hiking pants with lots of pockets for food and flashlights and stuff and a lacey blouse. I found one online in the clothiers store in Port Canaveral that has Peacocks embroidered on it, with frilly cuffs and collar. Oh, it’s so cute, I can’t wait to see what Jake says when he sees it.”

  “The caves are kind of cold, don’t you think it would be better to wear something warmer? Jake won’t see it anyway if it’s under your jacket.”

  “I won’t be wearing my jacket the whole time, you know. I won’t have that on until we go underground. Maybe I need to find a cute jacket or something… Hmmmm.”

  “Well, I’m going for a more athletic look. I’m going to wear my blue warm up stretch pants and jacket and a grey feather-patterned top with the small cap sleeves. You know, the one I wore when we played racquetball in town last week.”

  “Oh yah. That sounds nice. Bjorn is more into that sort of thing anyway.”

  “Oops, my Mom is calling me. Gotta go. We’ll talk later, Toodaloo!”

  “Later!”

  Tarra was out on the porch two days later, all packed and ready to go on Safari. She was sitting cross legged again in the rocking chair listening to a new band on her zipPhone with her Syphon Sound head band on instead of her favorite blue bandana to hold her hair back in the light breeze. It looked like clouds were starting to roll in, but she didn’t care much since she knew they would be inside the caves anyway. She had found a cute jacket too, one with a jungle print on it and a cute pocket on the front for a lace handkerchief.

  Tarra’s Mom stuck her head out the screen door onto the porch and asked, “Dear, don’t you think it’s going to rain? Are you sure you don’t want to take a poncho or something?”

  “Already got it, it’s in my backpack.”

  “Well, don’t stay out too long if it starts to rain. I don’t want you to catch a cold or anything. It doesn’t usually rain more than an hour or so anyway. Promise me you’ll stay inside the trailer if it rains?”

  “Yes Mom, I’ll stay in out of the rain. I promise.” Tarra rolled her eyes, but her mother didn’t see that since she had her green sunglasses on. She smirked a little, but kept it reigned in. She didn’t want to tip her Mom off that the crew were up to something. She couldn’t wait to find out what was behind that door! It was so exciting! The mystery door was the most intriguing thing that had happened all summer, almost as good as a new guy moving in. Jake sure is cute, she thought to herself, I wonder what will happen today?

  Tarra didn’t have to wait long, a few minutes later the dogs started barking and headed off down the long driveway at a run. The dogs met the Ripsaw near the end of the drive and jogged back down the lane towards the house beneath the giant trees that lined both sides of the road. The trees were starting to sway heavily as the wind picked up. Dust whirls were beginning to kick up from the dirt road and dark clouds were starting to roll in. It was definitely going to rain some time today.

  Sven popped up out of the Ripsaw to help her load her gear after tossing a couple of cookies at the dogs. He figured out he could get past the dogs easier if they were busy eating, otherwise they jumped up on him and pushed him around until he relented and came up with a snack.

  Tarra clambered up the back of the vehicle and dropped down inside to take her customary seat in the back next to Jake. Ariel was up front in Sven’s seat, at least for the moment. “Hi sweetie, all ready for the big adventure?”

  “Oh yah! Got my tunes, I’m ready for anything!”

  “What are you listening to?” Jake asked noticing her Syphon headband for the first time. He had one of those at home, it had the thinnest remote speakers.

  Tarra had it turned down so she could hear everyone else speak at the same time. “Oh, just a little Bronze Ring. I wanted to keep my mood level until we were underway. Anything too radical and my Mom would catch on, she’s pretty perceptive when I’m not paying attention. She can almost always tell when I’m up to something.”

  Sven came clambering down the hatch and glared at Ariel for a moment, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Well? Are you just going to sit there?”

  “I just might. Except I’d rather sit next to Bjorn than you.” She stated flatly, while getting up and moving so Sven could take the front seat.

  Tarra smirked while putting her hand over her mouth and glanced at Jake. Apparently Ariel was in a mood today. “This should be fun.” she whispered to Jake leaning towards him slightly. “Last time Sven ended up on his head in a sticker bush with jelly all over his shirt, it was not pretty.” Jake nodded with a big grin on his face. He’d like to see someone get one up on Sven for once.

  With everyone in their places, Bjorn gunned the engine and the Ripsaw roared to life. He had to follow the circular drive around in front of the house in order to get pointed back in the right direction. He couldn’t exactly back up with the popup trailer on back. Following the lane to the main road, Bjorn turned right and headed north off towards the savanna where they liked to go Bant hunting.

  The main road was fairly straight, wending it’s way up one rolling hill and down the next. Sven kept track of their progress on his tablet until they reached the open grass lands above the marshes. “Okay, I think this is as good a place as any to head west. The embankment is pretty flat and we have a fairly straight shot to the creek entrance.”

  “Roger that” Bjorn replied, slowing the vehicle and turning off the road to the west. The pampas grasses were not quite as tall right next to the road, but quickly rose in height until Bjorn couldn’t see anything but pampas plumes through the front window. Coming to a stop, “Uhmm, Sven, I’m going to need you to spot ahead, I can’t see where we’re going anymore.”

  “No kidding! Give me a minute.” Sven climbed out of his seat and up the top hatch and took his seat with his legs dangling down into the hatch. He and Bjorn had put their headsets on. “Ok. All clear ahead for the next hundred meters.”

  “Roger.” Bjorn started the Ripsaw forward slowly through the grasses, gradually coming up to what he thought was a comfortable speed. Sven gave directions through the radio whenever he saw a large outcropping of rocks or a ditch. It was rough, but the Ripsaw was more than capable of traversing just about anything. Sven also had a topo map to look at on his tablet which helped them avoid a nasty ravine. They had to wind around a bit, but they managed to find a spot where the ravine sides weren’t as steep where they could cross without much trouble.

  The guys drove slowly for almost another hour before they had risen up to the top of the rolling hills up to where the stream was located. It flowed out of a spring in the side of the hill and westward down towards the river tunnels. Bjorn drove the Ripsaw along the side of the stream as it wound it’s way towards the tunnel. The guys had to cross a few marshy low spots but had to stay well away from the stream, which was clogged with reeds and willows. There would be some good fishing in those willows
, if you could claw your way in through the undergrowth.

  “We need to find a better way to get in here.” Sven commented on the radio after getting thrown sideways for the umpteenth time as the Ripsaw negotiated another ditch hidden by the grasses.

  Ariel and Tarra had about had enough. “This stinks! How much more of this do we have to drive through anyway?” Ariel chimed in. If her mood hadn’t been bad at the start it would have turned sour quickly after this trek. At least Ariel didn’t have to stay in the jump seat when Jake went topside, that would have been worse. Tarra wasn’t amused either. It had started to sprinkle rain, but Sven refused to give up his position topside. He was determined to reach the tunnels no matter what.

  Finally the vehicle emerged from the grasses and clumps of bushes out onto a sandy hill area with only smaller knee high weeds. The area was mostly level, with broken up yellow sandstone and sand dunes. Sand kept the plants at a minimum which was just fine with everyone onboard. Sven climbed back down into the vehicle and tried to dry off some with a towel from under the seat. Bjorn pointed the Ripsaw in the direction of the foothills the stream was winding down into and accelerated smoothly. The area flattened and widened out on the way down towards the tunnel entrance. They rounded a corner following a bend in the stream and had to come to an abrupt halt as a stand of trees blocked the way. Sven pointed left, “There’s a narrow passage over on the left where we can squeeze between the rocky hillside the trees, try that way.”

  Bjorn drove the vehicle around the trees and into a small clearing right in front of the entrance to the tunnels and stopped. “I know the entrance is just past those trees, but I can’t see it. It says so here on the map.”

  The crew needed a break and wanted out of the vehicle. The girls wanted to use the restroom which meant the trailer had to be popped up, the guys just headed for the trees and stretched their legs. Bjorn walked straight through the small trees and found himself standing in a ravine five stories tall that led back a ways into the rock hillside towards the right. At the end of the ravine fifty meters later he found a massive black opening leading back into the hillside. It looked different in person, it hadn’t felt this large from the video on the drone. The oddest feature was the flatness of the rock floor where the stream trickled into the hillside. Then it dawned on him, it wasn’t natural. It wasn’t natural at all. The entrance here was sculpted to let vehicles enter easily, but not look man made. The trees were evidence that no one had used this entrance in decades.

  Walking back out, Bjorn ran into Jake and Sven at the trees. “I don’t think we can mow down these saplings here with the Ripsaw, there are too many of them. We’ll have to hook up the winch and yank ‘em out. The stream bed here is wide enough for a mech to walk through, all we have to do today is clear it out just enough to let the Ripsaw through. We need to try and keep the entrance hidden just in case.”

  “Yah, good idea. We don’t want anybody sneakin’ in and takin’ over. Wow, this would make a really great hideout, don’t yah think?”

  “Hey, what happened to Hai and the danger twins? I thought they were going to meet us here. We shouldn’t waste any time waiting for them, though. We can clear out the entrance without those guys.”

  “Right.” Jake added in. “We don’t really need Hai until we get to the door. Then we need him to crack the lock mechanism so we can get inside.”

  “Sven, you unhitch the trailer and we’ll set it up out here in the open for tonight. Jake and I will see what we can do to clear out some of these trees so we can drive in.”

  The guys went to work. Sven worked on the trailer to get it fully set up. He had to pull the aft roof section up and backwards, then slide the bed pan into place. The forward section was already popped up and slid forward. Then he had to pop the wall sections down underneath the bed pan and lower the floor to form an additional sleeping compartment. Then he powered the trailer up, it had solar panels on top to recharge the batteries. The girls helped, then went inside to set up for lunch. The trailer had a full kitchen and bathroom, indoor sleeping, all the luxuries that make camping more fun.

  Bjorn and Jake drove the Ripsaw over to the stand of trees and hooked the winch around the first sapling and yanked it out by the roots. The Ripsaw had more than enough power. All Jake had to do was pay out the cable, wrap it around the tree twice about two feet above the ground and snap the big carabineer into place, then stand back while Bjorn put the Ripsaw into reverse and jerked the tree out of the ground. Bjorn dragged the uprooted tree off to the side, then Jake unhooked the cable and they repeated the process. It took the two guys about a half hour to clear enough trees to allow the vehicle to pass through into the tunnel entrance.

  “Ok, Time for lunch!” Bjorn was getting hungry after all of the tree ripping. So was Jake.

  While they were eating Hai, Dan and Zane finally showed up, Hai was driving one of the smaller mine vehicles, a red crew truck with four large cleated balloon tires with two rows of seats and a small cargo area for hauling tools and equipment in the back. “Hi guys! Wow, was that ever a rough ride. We found your tracks and followed them in part way, but we got stuck a couple of times. Our truck isn’t as capable as your Ripsaw. We need to put a tank track around those tires, then maybe we’d be able to keep up.”

  “Nice to see you guys made it in one piece, it took you long enough.” Bjorn was chewing on a bite of sandwich so his words were a bit muffled. “We cleared the road in. After lunch we can drive into the tunnel and see how close we can get to the big door.”

  “Yah, I brought my door code cracker with me. I went through the schematics for the lock and I think I can get it open with the cracker. Well, as long as it still has power. It’s so old it might be dead by now. In that case, I brought a plasma torch so we can cut the panel open. Once inside the mechanism, it shouldn’t be too hard to unlock the door.”

  Ariel chimed in. “Why don’t you just try to open the door first with the handle. It might not be locked at all.”

  “Duh. Wayfarer to Hai, try the door knob first!” Dan was a good one for restating the obvious. He wasn’t too bright, so he tended to repeat things other people had said.

  Tarra handed a plate out of the trailer to the guys who just arrived. “Ok, less talking and more eating, I want to find out what’s behind that door. You too Hai, we need you sharp when we get in there.” Hai smiled and took a roast beef sandwich, then fished a cold drink out of the ice in the cooler next to the steps into the trailer.

  “Ok, everybody mount up. It’s time to get movin’.” Bjorn took charge and herded everyone towards the vehicles, “Take your food with you.” The crew clambered into the two vehicles and strapped in, ready to take on the tunnel, what ever it threw at them. Bjorn headed off first, driving between the trees where he and Jake had cleared a path, and straight down the creek bed and into the maw of the cave entrance. It was massive, over fifteen meters in height and as wide as a four lane highway. Bjorn had to drive over a couple of low bushes, but that didn’t pose any problems for either vehicle.

  “Lights would be good.” Sven leaned forwards and flicked the light switches ON lighting up all of the forward spotlights on the front of the Ripsaw. He skipped the back two, he didn’t want to blind Hai who was right behind them. Jake leaned forwards to get a better view out the front, but couldn’t really see all that much. The lights helped, but it was hard to see. Then he remembered the night vision goggles under his seat. Tarra followed his lead and fished out the ones under her seat as well. She knew what was what. More than once she had ridden along on a Bant hunt at night and knew what the goggles were there for.

  Picture Pack: Tunnel Entrance

  Bjorn turned and twisted the vehicle as the passageway moved deeper into the hillside until it joined the main tunnel. The area where the two met broadened out into a large relatively flat expanse, with the river on the far side. The river channel was cut down into the tunnel floor, below the smooth sandstone shelf they were dr
iving on. Bjorn turned left and headed south down the main tunnel. There was a convenient flat shelf running down the tunnel next to the river which made it fairly easy to traverse the tunnel.

  “This looks man-made.” Jake stated as he craned his neck to see out the front window past Bjorn’s head. “It’s all leveled off and all of the boulders have been removed. Look over there, you can see drill holes in the wall where they widened the roadway.”

  “Yah, pretty spooky. This is so cool!” Tarra was as focused as Jake was, looking out the front and side windows.

  “Hey, where’d you get the goggles? I want a pair.” Ariel had just noticed Tarra’s eyewear. Sven opened the glove compartment and handed her a pair, putting on a pair himself. Bjorn stopped the vehicle for a minute and fished his out of the side compartment, then started moving forwards again. “Wow, everything’s all green and sparkly! I can see now.”

  It took another fifteen minutes to traverse the tunnel, which had turned out to be pretty dark by the time they reached the location of the big door. It was pretty smooth going, there were only one or two larger rocks in their path that had fallen down onto the pathway from the roof above. The vehicles had to ford the river at one point, to cross over to the side when the rock shelf shifted over.

  “Whoever cut this road sure did a nice job.” Sven was closely monitoring their progress on his tablet, watching the indicator move along the tunnel on the map as they drove forwards. “The door should be right over there.” He said pointing at the east wall. “It’s camouflaged real good, I can’t even see it from here.” Bjorn drove past where the door was supposed to be, he wanted to find the narrow walkway up the wall. He stopped on the wrong side, though. He’d forgotten which side the ramp was actually on. It didn’t look like much from the inside of the Ripsaw, it was barely visible in the vehicle’s lights, angling up the wall back the way they had came. Bjorn stopped, shut off the engine and unbuckled his seat belts.