“It is the Hallway of Forever,” Khin giggled. “I have passed through here many times. You just need to know to lay down when the buzz comes.”
“Khin and Vesna, I have no way to assist you in there. I am not sure how to explain it to you,” Sandie hesitated. The artificial intelligence knew how to relate the Shah of Persia Energy Concentrator to Jerome or to Cammarry, or especially to Captain Eris, but Sandie wondered how to explain the energy gathering system to Khin and Vesna. They lacked the basic engineering terminology. Sandie tried anyway, “Those are mirrors made from permalloy and are used to trap subatomic particles for use in the main engine’s ejection drive.”
“I can see forever in places here,” Khin replied. “Not long distances, but forever. See?” Khin pointed at one specific place and his mirrored images did look like it was repeated into eternity. The reflections were flipping from one image to its mirror image and back and forth until those images were so tiny they could not be differentiated any further. Khin then turned to Vesna. “The monster went in here, and we must follow until it leaves. Just remember, ‘See reflection, touch reflection, know it is the wrong direction,’ and ‘When you hear the buzzing sound, get your body on the ground.’”
“I trust you Khin, but I want to listen to Sandie,” Vesna replied.
Sandie told them what she knew. Sandie explained the Shah of Persia Energy Concentrator in as simple of terms as the AI could. Sandie avoided using complex mathematics, or unique scientific terms, or phrases she thought they would not know.
“So, this place runs the whole length of this needle ship. It harvests stuff from space, gathering it in at one end, the scoop, and then processes it, and spits it out the other end, the ejectors,” Vesna replied back to Sandie. “That is the motor for the whole Conestoga?”
“In essence, yes,” Sandie replied. “The energy concentration does make this place unsafe for you to occupy. The access doors should never have been allowed to open. I repeat, it is unsafe here.”
“Not if you know the pattern,” Khin interjected. “The monster came in here. I have been in here before.”
Khin grasped Vesna by the hand and helped her to get down and upright. He then pointed. “See reflection, touch reflection, know it is the wrong direction.”
Vesna looked at the sidewall where the small door was located. Khin had shut the door completely, and Vesna was unsure how to open it again. With the neon lights shining, it was very hard to see where the seams on the door were, and there was no visible control box, or knobs, or handle. She looked back at him.
“Khin? How do we go back?”
“We do not. We go after the monster. I shut this door so the monster cannot get out. I can still smell it in here, so I can track it.”
“Sandie says it is not safe, but I trust you,” Vesna said and squeezed Khin’s hand.
“We cannot rush in here. There is a time for everything, and everything in its time. We must wait for the first buzz, then we will move. Remember, when you hear the buzzing sound, get your body on the ground.”
“Are those what your father or mother taught you?” Vesna asked.
“No. Those are my own rules. I came here and figured it out,” Khin replied.
Sandie the AI spoke to both of them again. “I implore you to reconsider. The connections, through the nonphysicality to this location, are limited. The energy waves here may prohibit my connection with you and therefore my abilities to monitor and assist you here will be compromised. This is the Shah of Persia Energy Concentrator, and protocol states that once in operation, humans are never to enter it. All maintenance is to be done only by fortified automacubes. That was true even when it was fully functional. It is not fully functional now. That is part of why Siva and Peter are having troubles with the main drive. I cannot override the systems here, and this place was never designed for humans to traverse, or to walk through. There is extreme danger here. Once it is started, this place does not go cold, even though the main drive ejectors were cold. If you exit via that door, we will find another pathway to hunt the monster. It is too dangerous in here.”
“Sandie, of course this place is never cold,” Khin chuckled. “Just like the Burning Netherworld is always hot. Besides, we know the monster came in here, it must know the secrets or it would die. Either way, we need to know if it is going somewhere or if it has died. We must follow, but at the right time.”
“Khin, I strongly object,” Sandie began. “We could dispatch an automacube to track the monster. Or we could…”
A buzzing sound began, and was perhaps felt prior to it being heard. The neon colored lights began to flash and sparkle, even as seen through the goggles. They could not hear Sandie’s voice anymore.
“Buzz! So, get down!” Khin said and pulled Vesna into a prone position on the deck.
The neon lights flashed more rapidly and the buzzing became more perky and of higher intensity. Then, a glow appeared to their right, and that glow grew in intensity in correlation with the buzzing sound.
Zap!
A huge spark shot from mirror to mirror to mirror all around them. Sometimes the spark was elongated and very thin, other times it was shorter and wide. It danced from mirror to mirror, passing through some clear permalloy partitions, and sometimes the spark bent at odd angles after passing through a clear section, or on reflection from the angled mirrors.
Zip!
The spark was gone. The buzzing instantly stopped and no echoing was heard anywhere. Khin stood up and gave his hand to Vesna.
“Now, we do the crisscross walk. Remember, go the right direction, but walk at my pace. No faster. No slower.” Khin pointed and they walked off at an angle.
Their images were reflected back; it looked like a billion times over from the mirrors, and shiny silvery surfaces. Some reflections were upside down. Others appeared to be walking away from them, while still others looked like they were approaching. Virtually every conceivable angle and perspective was observable in the Hallway of Forever. Vesna held onto Khin’s hand as they paced along. Their first stretch was straight between clear panels, mirrors, and glossy reflecting surfaces.
Khin stopped and reached out his hand. “Touch reflection, wrong direction.” He then turned to his right and continued at his steady pace.
After a number of turns, switchbacks, and twists, the wall where the door had been was completely obscured. Khin continued to sniff and deeply inhale every once in a while, and nodded his head.
Without warning, they emerged into a center place, which consisted of a void, a dull-black area. Stepping up to that, Vesna realized it was a horizontal shaft. Her skin felt prickly as she leaned to look into it. That blackness stretched off in either direction, but was only about a meter wide and two meters high. That long tunnel had an arced ceiling and a depressed floor. It was tube-like. Vesna marveled that it was even there, for from just a step or two back, it was unobservable.
“Here you can see forever forward, and look forever backward,” Khin said as he stood on the edge of that strange tunnel passageway. “We jump over it now, and then we wait for the next buzz.”
“I am trusting you my Khin,” Vesna stated. “But I see nothing on that other side. Just the dull black wall. Where will we land?”
“I will have to show you.” Khin held onto her hand and said, “Jump with me. Jump hard. It is longer away than you think.”
Khin took a mighty leap, and pulled Vesna with him.
They both left the ground and while the opposite wall had looked like it was just a mere meter step away, it was not. As they jumped into the space, their legs seemed to hover in the air, and slowly float down to the other side. What should have been a quick step, felt like a giant bound across a much wider area.
Landing on the other side, Khin dropped to his knees. “Not flying, but still fun!” He chortled.
Vesna saw nothing funny about the eerie experience.
Looking back, the tunnel now appeared different. It was not the dull black, as se
en from the other side, but now it looked dull white. None of the neon colors from across the way were visible. All they could see was a dull white wall. Again, looking in both directions, they could not see the end of the now white tunnel. Vesna spun around, and now the mirrors, clear partitions, and other labyrinthine maze was before her. It felt like the white tunnel was behind, and the mirrors before her. Her mind spun with questions about where the black tunnel had gone. How it had been replaced by a white tunnel. Or if they were the same tunnel. Especially she was disoriented about where they were and which way to proceed.
“How does it change colors?” Vesna asked in wonder.
“Colors do what colors do. This is the Hallway of Forever,” Khin exclaimed. “We wait here for the next buzz. The monster must know this too, for it was here, but is not dead. I can still smell it.”
They did not have to wait too long for the next buzz to begin. It started as a tickle around the hairs of Vesna’ head. Khin pulled her down and they both cowered flat on the floor. Then the noise was heard, or perhaps the feeling of something quivering her flesh was next, but soon the buzz was back.
“Just wait for it to be over. Then we move again,” Khin said. “No way to rush time in the Hallway of Forever.”
The buzzing sound much as it had been before. The white of the tunnel did not change, but the neon colored lights began to flash and glisten, and twinkle. That strobing effect from the neon lights intensified and grew more rapid and brighter. Then, a glow reappeared, but Vesna could not tell if it was from the same direction or a different direction than it had been previously. The lights, sensations, and sounds grew until it happened again.
Zap!
The giant spark was back. It was shooting from mirror to mirror to mirror all around them. That spark altered, switched, and changed from long and skinny to short and fat, and everything between. It pirouetted from mirror to mirror, passing through the clear permalloy partitions, and bending at odd angles just as it had done before. Vesna looked more at the floor than up at the antics of the spark. It was almost too strange for her to comprehend.
Zip!
The returned spark was gone. The buzzing stopped without an echo. Vesna’ hair fell back onto her skin, but her whole body felt as if it had been massaged.
“Now we finish the crisscross walk. Just like before, I will lead you. We go this direction, at my pace. No faster, no slower.” Khin pulled her up and they walked off at an angle, leaving the white tunnel behind them.
“How do you know where you are going?” Vesna asked as they twisted and turned through what she was thinking was a forest of mirrors.
“I am following the smell of the monster, and remembering, ‘see reflection, touch reflection, wrong direction.’ It helps me keep moving the right way.”
“But how will we ever get out of here?”
“The same place the monster gets out,” Khin answered with a laugh. “Of course, where the monster got out.”
“What if the monster died in here?”
Khin’s laugh faltered. He kept his grip on Vesna’s hand, and kept his walk steady. He occasionally touched a mirror and took a turn, and several times it felt like all the mirror reflections were glaring down at them. Vesna could see some doubt in Khin’s eyes, through the many reflections, but she did not ask again where they would be if the monster had died.
Suddenly, and abruptly they reached the end of the maze, and stepped up to a wall where a door, very similar to the one they had entered by, was standing partially open.
“See, the monster did not die in here,” Khin said. Relief was heavy in his voice. “It went out here! We go out too. No reason to wait for another buzz. Right? No reason to wait for another buzz. Climb out now.”
Vesna pulled her revolver out and then stepped up onto the odd pedestal-style door. As she climbed through the doorway, she pulled off her goggles. Her eyes had not adjusted yet, and the passageway beyond was nearly black to her vision.
Something with sharp claws grabbed her arm, and yanked her down.
Blam! Blam!
Vesna fired the revolver, but could not see the monster which had hold on her arm. The revolver’s bullets ricocheted off the permalloy of the walls, making some flashes which Vesna could see.
Blam! Blam!
She fired again, but the monster still had its tight grip on her arm. Then there was a loud crack, and Vesna cried out in pain. Her wrist and arm bones snapped, and her hand went numb, the revolver fell to the deck with a clatter.
Vesna kicked her leg out toward the monster which was holding her. She connected with something, and there was a metallic sounding crunch. The monster still kept its grip, but it jostled her more. She kicked again.
“Leave my Vesna alone!”
Blam!
Khin fired into the chest of the monster. It dropped Vesna and was gone.
“Vesna!” Khin cried out as he jumped down from the doorway.
“Kill it Khin!” Vesna yelled. “You kill that thing!”
Khin dug the trauma gel pack out and squeezed it into Vesna’s mouth. She swallowed, and licked her lips.
“Khin, go get it! Save the children! Kill that thing!” Vesna was insistent. “Kill it! Kill it!”
He looked down and saw her revolver, and shoved it next to her uninjured hand. Khin then looked at her, his eyes uncovered, the goggles dangling around his neck. “I love you Vesna. I will be back!”
“Kill it first! Go, my Khin. Run as fast as Poco and kill that monster for me. Kill it Khin! Kill it!”
Khin darted away, down the dark corridor.
Vesna fell back, and tried to use her broken arm. The shoulder moved, and the elbow could flex, but the pain in her wrist and hand were great as she tried to do anything with it. The bones in the lower arm were broken, and it was beginning to swell. Using her other hand, she grabbed up the revolver.
“Sandie?” Vesna asked. “Please watch my Khin and help him if you can. I know he does not like to listen so well, but I fear for him. Help him find those children. Please!”
“I am doing that,” Sandie replied.
Vesna flipped on the com-link’s light and dug around in her pouch for her ammunition. With one hand, she thumbed the cylinder latch, and it fell open. She was able to extract the spent cartridges, but it took time to replace them with new bullets. Then she closed the cylinder. She picked up the empty brass cartridges and put them in her pouch. By then, her broken arm was feeling somewhat better, but it was still nearly useless as the fractures were unset.
“Sandie, make sure you help Khin. I am counting on you.”
“Yes, Vesna. I will help him. As for you, do you know how to make a split or sling for your arm?” Sandie asked.
“Yes, this is not my first broken bone. I was thrown from a horse as a child and broke the other arm. I can tie it down to my belt. Will that stuff, the stuff Jerome gave Khin help?”
“Yes, it will help. I have automacubes already on the way to assist you, but they are some distance away,” Sandie stated. “Medical and security will be closing on your position. A white and a red cubie are coming. They are under my control.” Sandie tried to sound reassuring. “Just remain where you are and keep alert.”
“Stay here? Not a chance,” Vesna said. “Khin needs me!” She had undone her belt and with her uninjured arm was making it into a sling by affixing a pouch which she could slide her elbow into. It was tedious work, but she knew she needed to get the arm secured. “I am going to help Khin kill that thing. I have never seen an animal so smart and vicious.”
“That attacker is showing very odd behaviors,” Sandie replied. “Again, I advise you to wait here for the automacubes to arrive.”
“Send the cubies to Khin. That is where I will be, with him.” Pulling in the belt, Vesna’s broken arm bent at the elbow and moved into the pouch. She yelped a bit as the broken bones shifted in her forearm and wrist, but by wrapping another strap around that and tightening the belt into place, she secured her arm. Gat
hering up the revolver, she shakily got to her feet.
“Sandie, lead me to my Khin! You must get me there as quickly as I can to help him kill that monster.” She gritted her teeth as she walked on, but her gait was fairly steady.
***
Already far down the hallway, Khin was sniffing the air, and looking at the black spots of monster blood which were dotting the decking. It led to a pressure door which was nearly closed, but still had a small crack where a flickering of light was sputtering through.
Remembering that the monster had attacked them previously while passing through a doorway, Khin was cautious. Just like some rats had a style for hiding, this monster seemed to have a style for attacking. He sniffed at the door, and the smell of monster was strong. He also felt air moving past his face, being drawn into the space beyond the pressure door.
The Colony Ship Conestoga : The Complete Series: All Eight Books Page 235