"Aye, look what we got'z here, man!" Haiti burst out loud from farther down the room through the jungle of brush. Thorn and I caught up with him as he climbed down off a stainless steel table with a handful of oversized bananas; looking quite happy with himself. We were astounded as we turned to find oranges and apples; heaps of what appeared to be cherries and plums, their bright colors popping through the foliage. I was almost as glossy eyed as the men who were picking at the fruit, but it didn't take me but a moment to realize there was something odd and out of place. Haiti looked at me in astonishment when I slapped the banana he had just peeled out of his hand before he took a bite.
"Aww, what the shit, woman?" Haiti whined, sounding more than a bit peeved by my personal assault than to his growling stomach. I also stopped Thorn's hand before he took a chunk out of a plum. He just gave me a look of annoyance until he saw what I was pointing at on the floor.
What had struck me as strange was that for this much fruit to be growing here that it would have had to have gone through several cycles of decay and pollination, but there was nothing on the ground in the form of compost to suggest that. I had also noticed unnatural discolorations on the various fruits upon closer inspection. My suspicions became clearer after examining what Haiti's squashed fruit revealed; as it lay mashed upon the floor at his feet. A web of stringy blood red tendrils laced the cores of the yellow fruit, which began to bleed where the haft was broken. Understandably, Haiti was creeped out by this, giving a visual shiver of disgust.
"That is just wrong!" he ventured to peer at it closer, being careful not to touch the ooze. It made us wonder to what extent the MN4 pathogen had evolved which could have altered the vegetation and the mutations of the infected we had seen out in the central hall. "Oh no. That is just wrong, wrong, wrong," Haiti repeated again with his offbeat islander accent as he vigorously wiped his hands off on the sides of his pants. All three of us slipped on our gloves, just as a precaution.
The oranges had tiny black spots on their skin, and the apples had a lacing of the same vein like goo around their top stems. Strangest of all, I found several of the fruits on the various trees were concaved, as if they had buckled into themselves; almost as of they were consumed from within. As freakish as it was, it appeared as if the fruit spawned, ripened, and after it decayed it was ingested back into the plant from the same stem from which it came; rather than the usual process via the roots. This was beyond bizarre, it was downright spooky.
"Well, there goes lunch," Thorn tried to make light of the situation, but Haiti didn't look too amused at the comment.
"Aye, someone be screw'in with mother nature, man. It ain't right!" Haiti snapped back.
"We should check were the ventilation leads," I ventured, "there has to be an exhaust vent to the surface somewhere."
Both men agreed with my idea and we headed out the opposite paneled door stationed near an array of active pumps that fed a fine mist of water into the chamber. Haiti more than ready to get out of there before catching what he amusingly called 'freaky-fruit-itus,' as he so despaired.
Once we got to the doors, there we found a dull grey and orange sign, the once bright colors long since faded by the exposure to the intense UV lighting. It listed the emergency pass key for the electronic lock. Not feeling to confident about the meager barrier we had made with that spare aluminum ladder against the raging horde back in the central mall, we resealed the panel and tripped the lock behind us. The air here was humid and the round tunnel configured with looping pipes all of which were coated in a thick blackish paint. A dim blue light lit the way ahead and we noticed a strange aroma of ozone lingering in the air. At least this area was free of the tell-tale signs of any of the afflicted.
A vibrant hum of electricity along with a slow steady drumming of pistons echoed down the twisting corridor that soon branched out into several paths. Color-coded pipes lining the ceiling raced off in different directions of the complex while we argued among ourselves which way we should go. We figured an engine room was a sure bet, so we followed the cycling clamor until we stumbled into an alcove filled with large metal cylinders. It took half an hour for us to explore the cold chamber to realize that the array of tubes were feeding liquid nitrogen into sealed cryogenic freezers.
"You mean there are people inside here?" Thorn inquired while he rapped on one of the large metal barrels with his knuckles. Its reverberating dull ring failed to satisfy as an answer to his burning curiosity.
"Likely, or anything else they want to turn into a Popsicle." I responded. It was one of those popular practices for the uber-wealthy back at the turn of the century, for those people who assumed they were God's gift to a Universe that simply couldn't survive without them and were too arrogant to allow themselves to truly die.
It was too bad there weren't any windows installed on the damn things, I wanted to see inside. Then again, there was the possibility that there were more significant items stored in them, like a selection of plant seeds from across the world to be preserved for future generations, or chromosomes of animals from every imaginable species ...but most likely they were nothing more than just a bunch of rich-fuck corpse-sicles, which is where I put my best bet.
We did, however find a console that explained in slight detail the color coding bars across the ceiling that might lead us where we wanted to go. The Orange color code led from this room all the way back around from where we had emerged from the greenhouse, but the diagram of the White strip was the longest route to the rear of the complex. It was all very confusing since the chart only showed the pathways but not the exterior walls as a guide to hint how large this facility actually was. Haiti joked around about pushing a few buttons and turning off a freezer or two, but I advised him that would be unwise, considering we didn't have a clue as to the contents of each pod.
"Ah, I iz just playing with you, girl. No need to get your panties in a twist," he kidded, not realizing I actually preferred not to wear underwear at all; but chose not to correct his attempted jest.
"It's just a guess, but this section of the structure seems to be all basic power and maintenance. Communications and living quarters appear to be divided among the other two sections," I pointed out on the pie chart diagram, which was so boringly basic it was pathetic. "This white bar leads down and over several floors, so it looks like it might take us closer to the communications area on this grid," I offered.
"Better a guess to go by than nothing," Thorn admitted as he patted me on the back in a friendly way, which I honestly didn't mind his affection. He wasn't bad looking, but I did giggle to myself for a second when I remembered what Serena had said, about his name being 'Jebediah' or some-such. He turned to me as I smirked, "What is it?" he asked seriously.
"Oh, uh, nothing, just a sore throat," I caught myself while grabbing my canteen for a sip and a fake cough. I kind of liked Thorn, and didn't want him to think I was laughing at him. From that point, I knew I had to cook up a way to find out what his real name was; at a later time of course.
We gathered our things and made off back down the hall to follow the white marker that trailed the top of the interlocking corridors; unfortunately none of us had noticed the beading of moisture collecting on one of the specimen pods that Haiti had accidentally disengaged when he was goofing around at the controls just moments before. Neither did we see the silent pulsing red light switch on the console indicating one of the pods had begun to thaw as we shuffled out the door.
Following the designated route, we made our way through several sets of connecting hallways that led us deeper into the complex, always checking every turn in case there were more infected in the area. We came across a few rooms filled with shattered debris, but nothing more so obvious than simply having been looted in haste. Farther down we found a stairwell that descended around a vertical shaft that we had presumed had held an elevator platform; but there were no call buttons that we could find anywhere among each level as we made our way downward into the abyss. At the
bottom landing the throbbing sound of machinery shook the walls with its faint rhythmic heartbeat.
The room opened up into an open gallery where we finally found the elevator platform we had suspected the shaft led to. Understandably, the three of us were a little disgruntled as using the lift would have saved us a lot of time and grief hiking those stairs all the way down here; however, it didn't take us too long thereafter to discover that its controls had been sabotaged.
"Aye, someone broke the damn lift on purpose, man; what gives?" Haiti blurted with mild annoyance as he pulled out cut wires from the buttons under the panel. There was no quick way to repair it. Just as we gathered to look over his shoulder and inspect the damage, two orbs emerged from the ceiling in front of the outline of a huge interlocking metal door. Each of the orbs had one camera eye which hung by a mechanical arm. From around us, the same pleasant female voice we heard back in the reception area of the transport came over a hidden speaker within the room.
"A code white emergency has been initiated. Please stand in single file and present your ID signature to the sentry for verification then advance to the blue light. You may only proceed after your medical scan has been sanctioned. Failure to abide by these rules will result in sterilization," the disembodied voice warned. Her choice of her words is what got us ruffled.
"Sterilization...?" I blubbered aloud, not really liking the sound of that. Haiti too, had wide eyes with sudden worry, and was backing his way towards the stairs. As he did so, a pair of green aiming lasers from the orbs fixed on him, as if a warning to stop his progress. Thorn came forward, looking around the floor, hoping to find what the recorded voice had meant by its reference to the blue light. Startling him for a second, directly from above a silver nozzle ejected from the ceiling and a bluish holographic cone that beamed out directly down onto the floor, creating a cylinder just large enough for a single person to stand in. He shrugged as he looked at me when one of the orbs lasers moved from Haiti to Thorns chest and down to the center of the blue beam as if to guide him.
Thorn carefully stepped forward while the light washed over his body as specs of dust in the air glittering in shades of indigo around him. Some sort of analysis scan began to flash up and down the hologram exterior until just as suddenly, it sputtered out. The mechanism lost all power; the nozzle above sparked for a moment in argument then died altogether with a low whine. Thorn just stood there baffled. The security orbs, however, were still fully functional.
"Warning," the female voice cautioned, "do not attempt to exit the perimeter until your medical scan has been sanctioned. Failure to abide by these rules will result in sterilization," their computerized host instructed.
At this Thorn looked a little worried as both orbs centered their pinpoint jade lights glowing upon his chest. From each of the orbs the sleek round barrel of a phase weapon deployed. It was a commonly known military type weapon that burned through things, armor, buildings, people; literally making a hole through them. All of us froze in place. Thorn glanced over to me with a worried look washing across his face, not knowing what to do.
"Something broke, the scan did not complete!" I screamed out at the computer that controlled the security defenses. Truly, I didn't know if the damn equipment had kicked out because it couldn't detect an ID chip or had merely short circuited; either way, I couldn't just stand there and watch him get fried. Regardless, Haiti and I were next in line for the cooking if those security spheres when haywire. Considering the speed at which they moved, I had no doubt that we would all be cut down before we could make past a few feet to the stairwell. I thought maybe I could unstrap my rifle, wishing I hadn't slung it over my shoulders during the steep walk down the stairs, but I didn't want to make a foolish move and trip a hostile response from the sentries that would only serve to get us killed.
"There has been a system malfunction, please stand in single file while the probe reboots, then present your ID signature to the sentry for verification and advance to the blue light," the speaker repeated. Luckily, as the nozzle flashed to reboot, so did the security spheres, which shut down and retracted back into their cubbyholes in the ceiling. This pause of relief only lasted a moment as the sentries once again began to reactivate.
We didn't stall for a precious moment and jumped for the stairs, only to watch a thick steel grill suddenly slide into place over the exit, blocking our way to the ascending stairwell during the reboot cycle; designed to keep things in or out during the process. Either way, we were screwed.
"Hey! Look over there," Haiti shouted, pointing to a corner of the chamber where a large duct panel had been removed. A tool of some sort lay next to the grill that had been leaned by its side. In haste, we scrambled for the only egress as the pair of orbs began to drop, their camera eyes whirring as they initiated their focus onto us once again.
Haiti made it through the opening first, as did I while Thorn followed in turn. I snatched up the strange gadget lying on the floor as we shoved our way into the hole and stuffed it in my pocket.
The metal lined tunnel itself was cramped as we crawled our way in to what appeared to be a ventilation shaft. The duct was fairly clean considering its age and thought I could smell the faint linger of ozone from an ionic filter as we hit a stream of cold air that blew through an adjacent shaft.
"Where the fuck does this go, man?" Haiti asked, his whisper echoing down the tight tunnel of gleaming metal.
"Anything is better than going back there, pal," Thorn replied, as he wiped away the nervous sweat from his brow.
"Shhh, you guys," I rose my hand to hush them while holding up my light to see where we were going, "do you hear that?"
We all fell silent for a brief moment while we detected something rustling in the far distance down the shaft, but just not able to quite make out what the sound was.
"Ah, that's just the air blowing," Haiti was quick to respond.
"No, no, listen; you hear something?" I inquired again, trying to motion him to be silent, but he kept shuffling around, as did Thorn. It was aggravating. I was sure I heard something faintly familiar, but they were right about the damn air and it echoing through the vent made everything more or less indiscernible. Advancing our way further through the pipes, a while later the shaft opened up into a fair sized room. It was still not quite big enough to stand in, but sufficient for us to stretch our feet and aching backs from all the crawling we had done. Arguably, we desperately needed the break.
Above us, a circular vent sucked air into a vertical shaft that disappeared into the cool darkness; while at our feet a wide tilt in the shaft led us even deeper. The way above didn't appear to have any hand holds, and not even Haiti wanted to take the chance of trying to jam the vent fan with his machete and chance having its blade snap off and come spinning back at us. With little debate, we chose the slide downward; it was either that or face an ominous 'sterilization'.
We slid in one at a time, with Thorn taking the lead. He used his boots to try and slow his decent by bracing them against opposite walls, but even that tactic had little effect and the slippery metal skin eventually won the battle over his lack of traction halfway down the chute. We heard an awkward 'thump' and a moment of silence until he called up to us that it was safe to come down. Haiti went second, and since I was the most chicken, I went last.
The bottom of the vent emptied onto a rounded mesh platform that ran the length of an interior circular wall. Thorn warned us to spread far apart and distribute our weight evenly upon it as he cautiously shined his light in beyond the breach of the barricade. Haiti and I both gasped as we realized just how deep the chamber below us actually was as our voices echoed off into the enormous pit below. If the bolts that secured the thin fence to the wall might snap or gave way beneath our feet, we would have long fall down into the dark abyss.
All we could do was scramble on all fours and make our way to the far side, hoping there was another way out of here. I had always had a fear of heights, and this situation made me nerv
ous to the pit of my stomach. Even in the cool flow of air I noticed beads of sweat trickling on my neck and dripping from my chin through the thin metal grate. Apparently, the slim fence was meant as a debris trap and was never intended to bear the weight of a person.
Haiti froze for tense second as a bearing snapped loose beside him and a section of the grate went tumbling end over end as it clattered to the bottom of the enormous shaft. He laid there stiff as a board in terror as his entire right side hovered over empty space, his eyes slowly turning towards where I had grabbed him by his shirt to keep him from falling.
"Shitzzz!" Haiti muttered as he took a slow moment to compose himself and slid slowly back onto the supported section, "Thanks..." was all he could muster to say in a low humbled voice, his eyes shifting to me in a mere moment of gratitude. I could almost hear his heart racing as he edged up ahead towards the relative safety of the wall. Edging our way across the chamber we found a thin slit built into the cement shaft designating itself as our only option of escape from this witless predicament.
The opening was so small that we had to carefully unstrap our gear just to wedge ourselves inside, which was a difficult maneuver considering we had no room to even sit up. We had to inch our way along on our bellies within the cement shaft until we were sore and exhausted. It was then we finally noticed we were lying on a panel of smooth metal, which unfortunately had come to an abrupt end. The air here had a certain pleasant taint to it I didn't readily recognize, yet something old and strangely familiar. I had some rope in my pack, but it certainly was not long enough to get us down to the bottom of the colossal shaft from this height, let alone would any of us trust tying the end to the thin hanging grate for an anchor. We were stuck, and there was nowhere else to go.
"This doesn't make sense," Thorn began to whine with a degree of aggravation while stating the obvious, "why the hell would this slot be built intooooo...." he mumbled aloud; never finishing his sentence as we all went tumbling downward when the metal panel flue beneath us suddenly tilted on its axis secured on the walls at either side.
Broken Mirror: Apophis 2029 Page 9