by John Foster
The cable suddenly went slack. “Okay, to bring it up?” Volkum asked over the HDA.
“Yeah, it’s free.”
Volkum immediately start rewinding the cable as fast as it would allow. “Should I go down next?” asked Volkum looking to Madison. Madison wanted to go next but realized that if there was anything down there it was best that the two biggest guns were in place. She nodded. The sling came into view and Volkum put it on.
“Kal, you take over the controls of the hoist and take command of the above party,” said Volkum.
“Right, Kal elevator operator and guard service at your disposal,” said Kal who had multi-colored haired and bright green eyes. She had a wiry frame and looked like someone who exercised a lot with muscles bulging beneath her tight-fitting service shirt typical of the Terran Navy, and she carried an extra pistol in a shoulder holster. Madison paused considering that many of the crew were ex-military which was natural since they also made up the bulk of the mining crews as well.
The cable whined a bit as it descended into the darkness of the shaft. It took about 20 minutes for the rest of the crew to reach the tunnel entrance. Curt and Volkum had moved farther down the tunnel and Madison hurried to reach them but only after looking for a moment at the two spears that framed the tunnel entrance. The spears were obviously very old with the points made of a high-grade flint and the wood appeared to be in good condition. She felt the grass beneath her feet. She couldn’t help herself when she bent down and felt it. The strands of fiber had the texture of grass and the smell instantly brought to mind her younger days on Terra sitting on the vast green lawns of the university. She experimentally pulled a fiber and it broke free and she put it in her mouth and it tasted like grass too. Her eyes widened at the remarkable similarity to her home planet. In fact, the entire tunnel from the grass to the tunnel wall covers reminded her of Terra. As her eyes wandered over the tunnel sides she realized that the colors and tone transitions mimicked the sky on Terra. Even the lights were similar to that of a rising sun. She stood and hurried on down the corridor, catching up with Curt and Volkum.
After a few minutes, the rest of the team assembled in the corridor.
“Pretty cool, huh?” asked Curt as he shuffled his feet in the grass.
“I would say yes,” said Madison, her mouth open, looking left and then right taking it all in.
“According to West’s scans, the corridor continues for a couple of hundred meters and then there’s the big chamber followed my several smaller ones,” said Volkum.
“Okay, let’s go, you and Curt take point,” said Madison pointing down the corridor. Madison then turned to Cesar, one of the newer crew members, and told him to place a relay communicator at the entrance of the tunnel to make sure they retained their communication remembering what West had told her about the walls being scan proof. After accomplishing this, Cesar ran back to Madison and they hurried to catch up with Curt and Volkum who had started down the tunnel.
“The grass is amazing,” said Volkum looking left and right as he progressed down the corridor.
“Yeah, it looks like it’s fresh and growing too,” said Curt.
“It can’t be real,” said Madison. “It must be synthetic.”
They could see the light growing brighter at what they perceived to be the end of the tunnel. As they came closer they could see an anteroom where the corridor split right and left around a huge curved domed window with bright light filling an immense chamber beyond. The anteroom was a large room with white walls and what looked like round viewing screens now darkened on pedestals near the curved glass dome. Over the doorway were twin spears of the same kind that they had observed at the entrance. These were hanging on the walls above the door. Curt walked over to one and plucked it off the wall and hefted it but Madison made him put it back, saying “There’s no time for that now.” There was some type of writing script on the walls written in a flowing script that looked faintly familiar. The immediate view was soon forgotten when they looked into the vast chamber beyond as it was filled with the remnants of what looked like a dead jungle; giant trees that once were hundreds of meters tall, huge broad-leafed plants, their leaves desiccated, cracked, and brown and similar to those found in the old forests of Terra. In what must have been a grassy covered clearing, were the bones of some huge creatures with skin and large sections of shaggy fur covering them.
“My gawd!” said Madison her hand to her mouth as she gazed over the scene.
“You can say that again,” said Curt looking in awe at the spectacle before them.
The chamber had a wide walkway that circled it and appeared to have stairways that went up the side of the chamber that were inset into the glass like material for viewing above the chamber. The chamber appears to confirm West’s scans and went on for a kilometer or more.
“Looks like all this was once alive, including those animals,” said Madison pointing back to the skeletons.
“You mean it was some type of zoo?” asked Curt scanning about the vast enclosure.
“Yeah, I guess zoo would fit what we’re seeing.”
They continued to move along the passage to the left and were rewarded with more skeletons but smaller, with large curved teeth, like some type of huge predator. Madison lifted her arm and spoke to the HDA strapped to it, “West, would you send Debbie down here, we found some skeletons we want her to look at. Oh, tell her they’re really big skeletons so her specimen bag isn’t going to be useful.”
There was a pause then from her HDA came West’s voice, “Okay, that sounds interesting. I’ll send her right away.”
Madison and the team continued to make the rounds with Cesar staying in the anteroom waiting for Debbie. Volkum found a cleverly hidden door into the chamber which was solidly locked. “You want me to blow it?” asked Volkum with a huge smile on his face.
“Maybe later if Debbie wants a closer look at the bones, but first let’s finish our walk and see what else there is down here.” There were several side passages with signs to one side. Madison paused to consider one in particular because it had the same circle and star icon they had noticed in the pictograph in the Gobi. At seeing this, Madison became excited and peered into the passage and noticed dozens of display panels and some type of large computer system with monitors, it seemed to be some kind of data repository or library and she was eager to investigate it but Volkum reminded her that this was scouting purposes only and not research. She sent a message to West briefly outlining what she saw and marked it for priority review.
They moved on and continued to see more skeletons and noticed that the chamber was divided into sections with natural barriers between them separating out the different skeletons.
“Well, it really does look like a zoo but for some really huge creatures,” said Madison. Both Volkum and Curt nodded their heads.
The walls of the passage started to curve in similar to the beginning of the passage and they realized that they were coming to the next smaller chamber but this one was open and had no large glass enclosures. A small tunnel connected the two chambers. In the new chamber, they found glass boxes with various primitive stone implements. There were little script panels on each of the display cases.
Volkum had wandered off from Curt and Madison and then looking in the case waved them over which in turn activated a view screen that seemed to just pop into the air before each person that showed a scene from what must of have been ancient earth, two cavemen holding their spears and watching from the cover of rocks a herd of immensely huge bison that stretched for miles. Volkum, whistled in awe at the images he was seeing. Madison and Curt stared in amazement at the video they were watching.
“I did see a ghost, and it was that one,” said Volkum pointing to a skull in the glass case in front of them. Both Madison and Curt looked in awe at the skull in the case, it had massive brow ridges, a pronounced snout, and a large brain case. “Wow,” said Madison.
“I guess this is the museum part of the zoo
,” said Curt looking around.
“I’m guessing you’re looking at a Neanderthal skull,” said a woman’s voice behind them. They all turned to see Debbie Gray, with a huge smile on her face, with her notebooks and specimen bag swung over her shoulder.
Debbie, was a slim young woman with old style glasses that almost no one still wore but she insisted that they fit her personality and she didn’t care to have her eyes corrected. She was about five feet tall with red hair and very petite. Debbie was a perfectionist when it came to identifying the animal remains that the team encountered on their excavations, had holographic displays of any animal skeleton ever found on earth, and was a skilled biologist as well.
Debbie walked up to them peering into the case. They then stood still as Debbie watched the video display of the cavemen and bison and watched it play out.
“Wow,” said Debbie, “It’s not often you get to see a Bison, Bison, Bison, running around with a bunch of Neanderthals chasing it.”
They all turned to Debbie and looked at her. “What do you think those animals are or were in the big chamber?” asked Madison.
“That’s easy,” said Debbie, “the first group is a family of mammoths, then saber toothed cats, and then some dire wolves and giant sloths.” All of them extinct for the last 12 to 25,000 years,” said Debbie.
“Mammoths? How did they get here?” said Curt.
“Ah, the 64,000-dollar question or is that sixty million by now?” said Debbie her eyes twinkling.
“I’m going to relay that question to West and see what he wants us to do,” said Madison.
She lifted her arm and spoke into the HDA, “West you there? We’ve got an interesting discovery you’re gonna want to see.”
“Really? Well you got my attention but I’m hung up right now on the Paradig’s tail and will be over in ...” and the transmission was suddenly cut off. Madison looked at her HDA and ran a quick diagnostic. “The HDA’s operational but the relay’s not working,” said Madison looking down the corridor back the way they had come. In the distance, they could hear a laser rifle firing.
Madison looked at the others and as a group started running down the corridor to the ever-increasing sound of a laser rifle cracking and hissing in rapid succession. Curt racked the chamber in his modified shotgun and Volkum set charging to full on his rifle. “Cesar’s back there,” said Madison as they ran.
Volkum and Curt both nodded. Curt looked over his shoulder back to Debbie who was lingering at the skull.
“You gotta leave it Debbie, some other time.” yelled Curt looking back over his shoulder.
Debbie was still hunched over the display case fascinated by the skull in front of her. “Seriously? The first Neanderthal skull I’ve ever seen in person and they want me to leave without measuring it. I mean this skull probably isn’t listed in the international catalog of Neanderthal skulls. I mean I’d be famous for...”
“Debbie, come on!” yelled Curt again who had stopped and was yelling at her.
“Okay, I mean really!” Frowning, her brow furrowing and her face a grimace, she reluctantly trailed behind them looking back over her shoulder as she did so.
They could hear inhuman hisses from some creatures at the shaft entrance and it sounded like a lot of them too above the din of the laser weapon. As they came within sight, they could see stones being hurled down the corridor at them which slammed against the walls of the corridor. Cesar was kneeling and backing up slowly. His power charge was close to exhaustion and sputtering. He aimed and pointed down the corridor towards the shaft. Cesar looked over this shoulder at them as they drew nearer. “Thank gawd, you got here, they’re getting closer,” he said, the perspiration apparent in his short dark hair.
“What are they?” said Madison as she knelt down beside him. The others fanned out on either side of the corridor with their weapons raised and pointed down the passageway.
“I think it’s the claw creatures we saw at the Gobi tunnels that you and West ran into.”
Madison shivered at the recollection, “Ugh, what happened?” said Madison.
“I was talking to Kal upstairs on my HDA and all of a sudden I could hear something coming up the shaft, scratching on the walls. I looked down and I could see dozens of these creatures crawling up the sides, I yelled to Kal to watch out but she was yelling back at me that they were coming down the shaft to her as well. I then started firing but they just came faster and I retreated trying to reach you guys.”
“From the top too? Do they have weapons besides these rocks?” asked Madison looking down the hallway which was lined with loose rocks of different sizes.
“No, just seen the rocks come flying,” said Cesar, his short-cropped hair beaded with sweat.
As was often the case, there was a moment of unfortunate irony when a beam weapon swept down the hallway from the creatures’ end of the hall and licked the walls with energy blasts. It was too far away to do them any serious harm but they were certain that wouldn’t last.
“Crap! We’ve got to get out of this hallway and back to the anteroom where we can take cover,” yelled Volkum who quickly stood and started gesturing. “We’ve only got a few seconds before they bring up that big gun.”
They all rose as one and ran back bowling over Debbie as she distractedly ran into them. Curt picked her up and started to pull and lift her as he ran while she struggled in bewilderment. “Stop struggling,” he growled at her.
“I dropped my glasses!” she yelled, “I have to get my glasses.” she continued to gasp and reach backwards as if to pick them up.” Another beam blast swept around them and they all felt the pricks of pain as the discharge splash touched them. Debbie suddenly became less inclined to get her glasses, wiggled out of Curt’s grip, and ran by him for all she was worth. Cesar turned, crouched, and fired down the corridor, hearing a scream of pain as the beam hit home.
“Don’t make me mad,” yelled Cesar as he raised his fist at the oncoming creatures and then turned and fled back with the others. In the distance, they could hear the pervasive sound of what was becoming the familiar sound of scratching and mewling that seemed to mark the passage of these creatures.
“Here’s the first room, we’ll make a stand here,” said Madison.
“Why not farther up?” said Curt, panting from the exertion.
“If we leave this area, the corridor splits from here and they can come at us from two directions and possibly from above and I’m not willing to risk that,” said Madison. She then lifted her HDA and called out to West but there was only static. Frustrated she pulled her laser pistol out and checked its settings.
Volkum, who had the heavy assault laser rifle took up a position on the opposite side and Curt nudged Madison from her place and kneeled with the shotgun on the other side. “Sorry Boss, but Betsy here can do more damage than that stinger,” said Curt looking back at her. Madison nodded her head. Cesar was looking at his laser weapon and also checking its settings. Looking up to Madison, he said, “I shot about three of them and all it did was burn them a little but it did send them running for cover.” Madison nodded her head, thinking that if that was all the beam weapon could do meant they were in for a heck of a long fight and she doubted that their weapon charges would last that long. She turned her thoughts to Kal and hoped that she and her two crew had fled the area and gone back to the ship for help.
They could hear faint sounds down the corridor but couldn’t see anything although there did seem to be some type of haze or smoke coming from the opposite end. Madison looked around the corridor and could see faint wisps of some type of gas slowly moving down the corridor. The creatures were going to smoke them out? She couldn’t make out any odor. “They might be trying to smoke us out,” said Madison in a whisper.
There was a tremendous racket as a dozen rocks came careening off the corridor walls as they heard shrieks and yells as several of the creatures came running down the corridor with their long muscular arms and claws reaching forward rhythmi
cally opening and closing. Volkums’s’ weapon spit out a flash of energy and two of the creatures spun around with fire dancing down their faces and chests as the laser beam burned through them, their faces horrific as they were drilled through. The other beings undaunted at the fate of their companions continued to advance in a screaming mingle of anger and anticipation. One or two of them still had rocks and they paused long enough to hurl them at Volkum who pulled back as the rocks sang along the walls in a wicked screech with one of them smashing into the shaft of an ancient spear hanging from the entrance to the anteroom. The others hurried faster trying to take advantage of Volkums’s disappearance. Curt pivoted out from the corner and opened fire with a beam weapon which caught two of the creatures, ignited them, and spun them backwards into others who howled their rage. Another creature, unharmed ran towards Curt with its claws outstretched and reaching. Curt calmly flipped a switch on the gun, and pulled the trigger and a huge sound and blast erupted from the shotgun sending the creature head over heels into its now diminishing friends. Volkum pivoted back and was now firing indiscriminately down the corridor scoring hits as the creatures paused in their charge, then turned and retreated down the corridor from whence they had come.
The band rested, the smoke screen swirling into their area that the savage creatures had caused, looking at each other and wondering what was next. Cesar had reset his weapon and nodding his head in satisfaction moved to where Madison was. “You think Kal and the others got out?” asked Cesar, his face full of concern.
“I hope so, all they would have to do is run out that door and back to the ship,” said Madison.
“As long as something wasn’t out there waiting for them,” said Cesar looking worried and sorrowful.
“You like Kal, don’t you?” asked Madison as she checked her pistol.
His answer was cut off as a beam weapon fired from down the corridor cut into the glass wall behind them, plying over it for a second before stopping. Smoke hissing and liquid glass dripped from the wall behind them.