Terra's Call (TetraSphere Book 1)

by P. T. L. Perrin

A Watcher answers. We are close. My brothers and I will help you, Storm.

  We hold hands in a circle and the Watchers gather around us. It feels like a platform is under our feet as we float out into the middle of the shaft and begin to drop. I close my eyes and pretend we’re in an elevator. Why didn’t we do this from the beginning? It would have saved time and muscle pain.

  Rocks and broken stairs cover the bottom of the shaft. The Watchers lead us to a narrow opening, where Storm tosses aside the debris blocking it. We enter another tunnel, with walls that look melted, like cooled lava, and a floor and ceiling that curve around us. Is this an ancient lava tube? We follow them for what seem like miles. Sky stumbles and I call a halt.

  “We need to stop and eat something.” My voice is strangely muffled. I’m not claustrophobic, but the thought of tons of rock above us makes me uncomfortable. Another shaking could bring the mountain down on top of us. And how are we getting oxygen this far down?

  Patience; we will stop soon, Star Children. There is a place just ahead.

  FORTY-FOUR

  The Watchers lead us to a room about fifteen feet square filled with natural light that comes from openings near the top edge of the walls on all four sides. A closed wooden door takes up nearly all of one wall. Stone benches covered with soft cushions line the walls to our right and left. Tables topped with ornate mosaics of swirling colors sit in front of the benches. Jewel will love these.

  A large mosaic of Earth, covered by the mesh of the power grid adorns the right wall and another, this one of Earth with the outline of a tetrahedron enclosing it, is on the left.

  I smell fresh forest air, redolent with the unique autumn scent of damp leaves and fungus. It feels as if we’re on or near the surface.

  “How deep are we?” I ask. “All those stairs certainly weren’t an illusion. We can’t be near the surface, can we?”

  No, young Paxton. We are deep in the heart of the mountain.

  “Then is the air and light an illusion?” Storm is as curious as I am.

  Both air and light are brought in using Allaran technology. The openings on the surface are undetectable by most humans and Dracans.

  Sky and Jewel set their backpacks on a bench and take out sandwiches and water, and we greedily tear into the food. Jewel’s eyes sparkle in the light as I watch her take in the beautiful colors of the mosaics. I feel Sky’s joy, and even Storm seems more relaxed.

  When we’re finished, the large door swings open and the Watchers lead us into a wide corridor lined with arched doors on both sides. This may be their living quarters. More colorful designs cover the walls. I’m amazed that I no longer sense the weight of the mountain above us; at least not until a sudden loud bang reverberates through the hall and I feel vibrations through my boots.

  I hear a sizzling sound and the vibrations increase.

  We must hurry, a Watcher says and the buzzing that accompanies their mind-speech grows louder and more urgent.

  We run down the long corridor to a solid metal door at the end. It opens as we near it, and slams shut with a bang behind us, leaving the Watchers on the other side, still in the corridor.

  Storm and I turn to open the door for them, but there’s no handle and it’s sealed shut. I see his face twist in concentration and know he’s trying to move it telekinetically. It doesn’t budge. We’re trapped.

  “There’s nothing we can do, we have to find the artifact,” Storm says.

  “Wait! Maybe they’ll follow us once they’ve taken care of whatever that noise was.” Jewel suggests. Sky nods enthusiastically.

  “What if they can’t?” Storm snaps. I find myself agreeing with him. We’d heard a similar sizzling when we encountered the Dracans digging under Hunter’s woods. If the Watchers are fighting the Dracans, my bet would be on the Dracans to win.

  “Right now the artifact is the main thing. If we don’t find it and fix it, our whole planet will die.” I turn away from the door, which is outlined on this side by pale light. Ahead of us is complete darkness, and I’m grateful that Wolf and Sequoia packed flashlights and miner hats. I adjust my backpack and turn on my headlamp. “Let’s go.”

  I take the lead, Storm the rear and the girls walk single-file between us. Our lights reveal the uneven damp walls of a natural tunnel uninterrupted by cross tunnels. We have no choice but to move forward, and I’m grateful. It’s bad enough that we’ve been abandoned here. It would be a lot worse if we got ourselves lost in a maze.

  I drop my scent shield and sniff the air. I smell a freshening ahead of us, coming from a much larger space. After a few minutes, we come to a cavern large enough to swallow all but a small circle of light around us. Do we follow the wall to our left or to our right? I tap on my wristband.

  Straight ahead? Right? Left? What do you think?

  Sky answers. Do you smell anything unusual that might guide us, Pax?

  It smells like a big cave, but if the artifact has a unique scent, I’m not getting it.

  I see something alive glowing to the right. Maybe we should check it out, Jewel breaks in.

  Let’s head that way, says Storm. We can always follow the wall back if there’s nothing there.

  We follow the right wall along a wide ledge that narrows in places where it’s crumbled away. We pass some paths that angle down into the cavern, but feel more secure hugging the wall. I step aside to let Jewel lead the way when we get closer to the glowing thing she still sees.

  When she spots it, she shines her headlamp on it so we can see it, too. A centipede at least ten inches long clings to the rock wall. I hear Sky’s thought. Yuck.

  There aren’t too many animals that can live in deep caves, Jewel explains. I was hoping we’d find more and they could help light a path, but that isn’t going to happen.

  I hear water trickling deeper in the cavern, Storm says. I’ve heard there are fish and salamanders in caves. Do you think you’d be able to see them, Jewel?

  If they’re alive, I can see them. We’re getting nowhere here. Is anybody else ready to head into the cave?

  Storm puts his backpack down and pulls out a looped rope. He ties one end around his waist, plays out about five feet and holds it out to Sky. She does the same and hands the next length to Jewel.

  Jewel hands it to me without tying up. Since I can see living creatures, shouldn’t I take the lead?

  The others agree, so I reluctantly take the loop, tie it and hand the rest to Jewel, who ties the remaining rope around her makeshift belt. I don’t like the idea of Jewel being the first. What if something happens to her? What if she trips or, worse, falls down a crevasse? What if I lose her?

  The girls shrug into their backpacks and Jewel leads us back the way we came. I send up a silent prayer.

  FORTY-FIVE

  JEWEL

  It makes sense to go back to the place where we entered the cave. I find the path that leads directly into the cavern from the entrance, and we follow it downward toward the sound of water. The light from my headlamp illuminates the path only a few feet in front of me, and I quickly lose track of how far we’ve come.

  A stream appears from the left and runs parallel to the trail. I see the glow of fish and some animals that look like elongated crawfish swimming in the water. I wonder how they manage to live with no light. What do they eat? I shine my headlamp on one rather large fish, but the light reflects off the black water, concealing it from the others’ view.

  We follow the stream until it disappears in a pile of boulders that look like they’d fallen from the ceiling. Now what?

  Let’s take a break, Sky suggests. Some of these rocks look almost comfortable. She takes her pack off and sits down on a smooth rock with a sigh. It amazes me that she isn’t projecting anxiety. Not a trace of fear comes from her.

  Why aren’t you afraid, Sky? I ask. In fact, why am I not panicking right about now?

  I don’t have the energy to be afraid. She pulls four granola bars out of her pack and hands them out to us. We put the wrap
pers in our own packs to discard later.

  What’s that? I hear Pax’s sudden alarm in his mental voice.

  Voices, Storm replies. Quick, behind the rocks, then turn your lamps off. We need to be as still as we can. We know those aren’t the Watchers.

  I strain my ears but only hear a deep murmur interrupted by a higher tone every now and then. We sit in complete darkness, and I’m thankful we have our mental link. The voices move closer and we can soon identify the gruff rumble of Dracan voices and, surprisingly, two human females. They’re still too far away, and the acoustics echo too much, to make out what they’re saying.

  Does that sound like Marla? Sky asks. I feel her surprise.

  It sounds like her and her mother, Pax answers. Max identified her voice to us that day in the tunnels under Hunter’s woods. She was with the Dracans then, too.

  It’s Marla. Storm’s agreement carries an undertone of rage. After all we did for them; they’re still working with those monsters.

  We don’t know that for sure, Pax reminds him. They could be here under duress.

  Storm remains silent. I agree with Pax. We should wait and see, but I secretly hope they all get lost in the tunnels. That’s not likely since the Dracans have the means to blast their own.

  They’re still heading in our direction, and soon I can make out their words. “We split up and search the tunnels from this cavern,” a Dracan says gruffly. He says something in an eerily sibilant language, probably to the other Dracans in the group, and then speaks again in English, “Woman, you come with me.”

  “Max and I will search in this direction,” Marla announces. Max? What’s he doing down here?

  They don’t move quietly, thank God, and we hear them scurry off in different directions. When the cavern is again silent, I take a chance and peek over the top of the boulder I’m crouched behind, only to let out a mental screech.

  Jewel, what’s wrong? Pax can’t see me but his hand finds my shoulder and pulls me down.

  They’re here, I say frantically, my heart pounding so loudly I’m sure my friends can hear it in my thoughts. Right here!

  Just then a cone of light from a flashlight reaches Storm, a couple of boulders away. The rock he’s behind shoots into the air and stops for a split second, long enough for us to see it’s about to drop on top of Max.

  “Wait!” Sky’s voice stops him and the rock, as big as a Volkswagen bug, hangs there.

  “Tell me why I shouldn’t crush the two of you.” Storm’s voice is full of a dark menace.

  “You’ll never get out of here without us,” Marla says almost casually. I hear a tiny quiver in her voice, but her attitude projects fearless arrogance, as usual.

  “We may never get out of here at all,” Sky says. “If we don’t find and fix that artifact, nothing matters anyway. We’re all dead.”

  “What are you talking about?” Max’s face is deathly white in the glow of his flashlight, now shaking so hard that Marla grabs it out of his hand and shoots him a disgusted look. Storm lowers the boulder back to the ground and sits on it, and Max switches his headlamp on.

  He asks, “What do you mean we’re all dead if you don’t find it?”

  Marla answers, “We don’t have time for them to explain, Max. We have to get them to the artifact before Shaula and his crew find it. If they grab it before these guys do their thing, they’re right. We’re all dead.”

  “Do you know where it is?” Pax asks.

  “Yes,” Marla says. “The Watchers told me before… Never mind. They told me how to get to it.”

  “Why? Why did they tell you and not us?” Sky sounds like she’s about to cry.

  I feel Storm’s rage flowing off her in rough, quick surges. She can’t help sending it my way because it’s too much for her to control. Pax wraps his arms around her, but it isn’t helping. I want to slap Storm for putting her through this. He’s hurting her and I’ll bet he doesn’t know it.

  “Calm down, Storm,” I shout and clap my hands over my mouth. Did the Dracans hear that?

  “The entrance to the passage you want is near. Are you coming or not?” Marla starts walking back along our path. “Tie Max onto your rope, and Max, douse the light when you’re secure. I don’t need light to lead you.”

  Max does as he’s told and grabs the back of her jacket before he turns his headlamp off. Marla’s already turned off the flashlight. The darkness is so thick; I can’t see my hand directly in front of my nose.

  “How do you see in this?” I ask her.

  “It’s one of my gifts,” she answers.

  After a couple of minutes, I see the glow of the fish in the stream until Marla leads us off the path. The only sound other than the flowing water is scuffling feet and the occasional patter of a dislodged pebble as we blindly follow her through twists and turns. Then the echo of the stream is swallowed up when we enter a narrow tunnel.

  “Max, you can turn your headlamp on,” she tells him. “His will be sufficient,” she tells us, and she’s right. We can touch the walls on both sides of the tunnel, and the boys’ heads nearly brush the ceiling. The passageway twists and turns until we see light coming from an opening ahead.

  “This is it,” she announces. “Max and I can’t go any farther. The Watchers told me a barrier at the cave entrance will only let those who are authorized by the artifact to get through.”

  “Do you mean the Dracans can’t enter, either?” Storm asks.

  “Not through the entrance,” she answers. “They have other ways. You’ll find the artifact in there. We’ll tell the Dracans we didn’t find anything when we see them again.” At that, she helps Max untie from our rope and the two of them leave.

  “We’re here,” Sky says. “Let’s do this.”

  FORTY-SIX

  SKY

  Jewel enters the cavern first. If there’s a barrier, as Marla said, it gives us no resistance. The cave is filled with light. We release ourselves from the rope and stand there, taking it all in. We don’t see anything resembling a tetrahedron.

  “Do you hear that?” Storm asks, keeping his voice to a near whisper. I feel it, a low thrumming sound that causes my skin to tingle. Strange.

  The cavern is dome-shaped, nearly round in circumference. We follow the trail to a curved wall of columns, where stalactites and stalagmites have joined to form massive pillars fused together side by side. The path leads along the wall, and we walk until we come to an opening where a pillar has been cut out; and there it is. Smack in the middle of the chamber, surrounded by a natural barrier, it hangs from nothing, spinning erratically as if it’s off balance.

  The glowing object generates all the light in the cavern. I can barely look at it, but Jewel’s eyes are glued to it. When I become more accustomed to the bright light, I notice it’s made of four equilateral triangle faces that are joined together at four vertex points. Each face is lined with a bronze metallic frame. It’s smaller than I imagined. Each side is no more than three feet long. How does something so small affect an entire planet? I wonder how many others are hidden around the earth.

  Jewel reaches out and snaps her hand back, as if stung. That’s what I thought, she tells us. It’s protected by some sort of energy field. I see colors I’ve never seen before swirling around in there, but they’re contained in a globe of energy.

  How do we get in to fix it? Storm asks.

  There’s a narrow pathway along the inside of the pillar wall that allows us to walk around the artifact and its invisible globe. I sense a trickle of pain and fear that doesn’t belong to any of us. It’s different from the emotional signatures of my brother and friends; alien. Since I can’t feel the emotions of the Allarans or Dracans, I wonder if it’s coming from the artifact itself. I notice Pax sniffing.

  This thing is emitting some sort of pheromone, he says. It’s not like anything I’ve smelled before, and it’s faint. We walk around it again, slowly, searching for a way to get to the tetrahedron.

  Here, he says. The scent is t
rickling from here.

  We stop and Jewel exclaims, I see a tendril of color leaking out. Could there be a crack in the energy field?

  I let my senses roam over the outside of the field and find it. I tell the others, I don’t know how, but the thing has emotions, and I feel them coming from this area. I wave my hand over an area directly in front of me, careful not to touch the energy field I can’t see.

  Storm steps close to me and gently nudges me aside. “Let me try to break it,” he says aloud. “If I can focus into the crack, I might be able to widen it.”

  “If you do that,” Pax answers, “it might shatter.”

  “Let’s hope that if it does, the artifact doesn’t shatter with it. I see no other option, Pax. Do you?”

  I send up a silent prayer. If God put it here and we’re supposed to fix it, then God should protect it, shouldn’t he? For the first time I feel as if my faith depends on the answer to that question.

  I see Storm’s eyes grow distant as he focuses on getting into the crack with his telekinesis. I take his hand when I notice sweat breaking out on his forehead. Jewel takes his other hand and Pax takes hers. We lend Storm our strength as best we can.

  A loud crackling sound precedes the explosion that lifts me off my feet and throws me against the pillar behind me. My head bounces off the wall and slams into the floor; I lay there in a daze. What just happened? As soon as I can move, I look up, afraid we’ve lost the artifact. It’s still there, but the wobble is more pronounced. We have to move now.

  “Storm! Pax! Jewel! Get up! It’s about to fall.” I stagger to my feet and move from one to the other, shaking them and helping them sit. They’re conscious, but dazed. Storm is the first to his feet and he stares at the object. I take a quick look as I help Jewel get up. It’s definitely slowing.

  A wave of confusion washes over me, followed by a sense of wonder coming from the artifact. It’s sentient, I think to the others. For some reason I feel mental speech is more appropriate right now than using our voices.