Perpetual Power

by Randall Sudlow

  Tressa stood still for a moment then gathering herself she hopped onto the top of the row of file cabinets. The ceiling was just high enough to let her stand upright. She knelt down on top of the two different cabinets. Feeling around behind them she stuck her hand out. “Quick, give me the flashlight. I’ve found something,” she called.

  Mason put the flashlight into her outstretched hand and she quickly spun around and shone it behind the cabinets. “There’s a latch here. I can almost reach-” Tressa had her arm behind the cabinets when Mason heard a click and the two center cabinets slid forward an inch or two.

  Tressa jumped down from her perch and Mason grabbed the handles of the drawers that had refused to open earlier. They now allowed him to slide both cabinets forward until they pivoted on hidden tracks and swung out of the way. The space where the cabinets had been was now a low doorway into a small chamber behind the other cabinets.

  The flashlight dimly revealed another desk, smaller than the ones in the laboratory. This was a personal writing desk, not a workstation for a lab assistant. Tressa bent over to enter the chamber and stood up inside. She walked to the desk and picked up the handles of a small, leather satchel. The old, dry leather of the bag parted from the handles and she was left holding the handles in her hand while the bag remained on the desk.

  Smiling at her mistake, Tressa laid the handles on the desk and took off her backpack, placing it on a chair in front of the desk. She opened the top of the leather bag, and reaching in, lifted out a small metal box. Tressa held it toward Mason so he too, could see. Time slowed for a moment, as it seemed they were both breathless. There were two small holes on one end and a larger hole on the other.

  “Should we keep looking?” Mason joked. “Or do you think that’s it?”

  “I’m pretty sure this is it. Let’s go get Ant and show him.” Tressa had just stopped speaking when they heard a gunshot ring out. “That doesn’t sound good.” She quickly added. Tressa stuffed the metal box into her backpack and cinched the shoulder straps tight after putting it on.

  Quietly, Mason and Tressa crept to the door of the laboratory. Mason whispered in Tressa’s ear. “I’m going to turn the light off for a minute. Hold on to the door so you don’t get lost. Let’s see if we can figure out what’s going on.”

  Tressa nodded, and once she had hold of the door, Mason extinguished the flashlight. The darkness was overwhelming. Her eyes had become accustomed to the low light and when it was gone she imagined she could feel the weight of the darkness on her skin. Mason hissed in the darkness, “Let’s see if we can make it up top and get Clyde to come help us.”

  Tressa felt Mason slide past her and around the door into the passageway. She hissed, “Wait for me. I’m not staying here alone.”

  Following him out Tressa once again held on to his belt as Mason felt his way back down the tunnel. Soon the wall on one side disappeared and they knew they were at the junction where they had separated from Ant. Standing face to face they held a whispered conference. Mason said, “I think we should try and go back up and signal Clyde for help. Maybe we can get him up here somehow. He’s a lot bigger than either of us.”

  “That’s exactly why it’s not a good idea to try and bring him up. We can sneak down the passageway where Ant went and find out what’s happening a lot quicker, anyway. I’ll lead if you want me to,” Tressa breathed.

  Flushing invisibly in the blackness, Mason shot back, “No. No, I got it. Let’s go.”

  They moved on, feeling for the entrance to the passage that Ant had chosen to investigate. After almost tumbling down a short set of steps that were hidden by the dark, Mason stopped and Tressa leaned out around him to see what was going on. Up ahead they could hear angry voices but the sounds were echoed and distorted. Unable to make out what was being said Tressa poked Mason in the back to keep going.

  Using some dim, reflected light they realized the sounds were coming from a deep stairwell ahead of them that led downwards. Walking forward with his hands out, Mason felt a handrail, and then pulled Tressa around him and placed her hands on the railing, so she could feel it too. They leaned out into the cavernous opening in front of them. Two lanterns burned dimly on a landing in a circular staircase half a rotation below where they stood. The stairs started to their left and wound round and round the walls of a deep circular hole vanishing into an inky blackness several revolutions below. Standing on the platform below and across from them were two men in Perpetual Power uniforms. The larger of the men was holding Ant out over the empty hole and preparing to drop him. He said, “This is your last chance, kid. Tell me where it is or you’re gonna get some free flying lessons!”

  Chapter 23

  “Now what?” whispered Mason, “How can we help if they’ll see us coming and just drop Ant? At least one of them has a gun, too. We should definitely go get Clyde.”

  Thinking quickly Tressa pulled the useless flashlight out of her pocket and judged the distance to a tunnel opening in the wall behind the men. She took careful aim and threw the flashlight as far into the lower passageway as she could. It clattered in the dark along the floor of the tunnel and drew the immediate attention of both men.

  “What was that?” the larger man said. Bringing Ant back from the edge of the hole he pushed him to the ground and started toward the passage. “Roy, watch him. Shoot him if he tries to get away. I told you he probably had some friends around here.”

  The other man, thinner, older and obviously used to being bossed around by the larger man clumsily pulled a gun out of his waistband. Instead of pointing it at Ant he turned and watched the large man stride into the dark corridor. “You should take a lantern, Rex,” he mumbled helpfully.

  Stopping and staring at the thin man, Rex decided he didn’t take orders from Roy. “I tell you what to do, not the other way around.” Rex proved his authority by proceeding into the passageway without a lantern. Soon, he could be heard cussing and groaning as he stumbled and felt his way along in the dark. Roy continued to ignore Ant and kept his eyes on the dark corridor.

  Roy whispered to himself, “One day I’ll be the one calling the shots. You’ll see.” Out loud, he called, “Let me know if you want me to help.”

  “When I need your help, I’ll beat it out of you,” replied Rex’s fading voice.

  “Now’s our chance,” said Tressa into Mason’s ear. “Let’s go get Ant.” She turned and using the low light the lanterns cast in the cavern she sprinted down the stairs. Her exceptional agility allowed her to stay upright on the slick stone stairs. Leaping from several steps above Roy she launched herself into the air and planted both feet into his back sending him sprawling into the passageway after Rex, and knocking the gun from his hand.

  Mason quickly followed her and as he made his way onto the landing he pivoted, kicking the gun out into space where it bounced off steps and stones for what seemed like an eternity.

  “Let’s go, Ant,” shouted Tressa. “Follow me.” She ran to the edge of the landing and started down the next set of steps.

  “I cannot leave,” said Ant. “I must find what we came for.”

  Mason heard Rex and Roy getting untangled and starting to come toward the landing. “Let’s go, Ant. Tressa’s right.” In a lower voice he added, “We’ve got something you’ll like.”

  Ant’s eyes lit up and he immediately understood the situation. Following Tressa he shot down the stairs almost as nimbly as her. Mason hesitated just long enough to pick up the lanterns and then he quickly followed.

  The trio was halfway around a revolution of the stairs when they heard Rex and Roy make it to the landing. “Come on, Roy, Get after them!” yelled Rex. Both men started for the steps and Roy just barely got there ahead of Rex. They worked hard to catch up to the escaping treasure hunters, but the slick stones hindered Roy’s uncertain progress. Rex was fuming at being hampered by the slower Roy in front of him. “Hurry up, blast it! They’re getting away!” By now, the small group had gained a full rotation of the
stairwell in front of their pursuers.

  Suddenly, Rex grabbed Roy by the shoulders and threw him out into the dark. Screaming, Roy vanished below them into the blackness. “Now, it’s just you and me!” he shouted down the stairwell at the trio. Rex started running down the steps to catch up.

  Tressa was almost sick as she saw Roy get hurled into the void. Fortunately, the bottom was far enough below that she didn’t hear his landing. Running around the wide circle of the stairwell she said over her shoulder to Ant, “Go by me and keep going.”

  “I will not leave you,” he said. “I will stay, as well.”

  “No one is staying, just go by me and keep going,” she insisted.

  Ant managed to squeeze by at almost a full run. Mason was right behind him and Tressa grabbed a lantern as he passed. “Go one more circle and then turn yours off and stop,” she said. She then turned her lantern off and followed the boys.

  Rex had gained on the group and he was still yelling at them to stop or he’d do terrible things to all of them. “When I catch you, sweetie, you’ll wish you had never climbed up here today.”

  Tressa had slowed enough to let Mason and Ant outdistance her by half a circle. Rex was now just a few steps behind her. Judging where Mason was Tressa waited for his lantern to go off. Come on, Mason. Now, or you might be going home without me, she screamed in her mind.

  Suddenly, the stairwell went totally black. Tressa took two more steps and then quickly turned and crouched into the tightest ball she could. Her hands fought to grip the stone for all she was worth. She knew the coming collision could make her join Roy at the bottom of the cavern.

  Rex had slowed a little in the dark but keeping his hand on the wall he was still running to catch up. “Fly as fast as you want, you won’t lose me in the dark, little birds! There’s only one way to go and I’m just getting warmed up,” he taunted.

  Without warning, he stepped onto Tressa’s back and lost his footing. Tressa barely managed to hold onto the damp steps as Rex’s leg caught her on the shoulder and his momentum pulled her down a few steps with him. Frantically, Tressa struggled to find anything to grasp, as Rex tumbled down the slick steps, cussing, yelling and finally screaming he followed Roy over into the blackness. Tressa jumped when she heard a dull thud as he found the bottom of the stairwell.

  “Tressa!” yelled Ant, “Are you alright?” Mason turned his lantern on again and the pair of boys started up the steps toward her.

  “Yeah, just give me a second,” she replied quietly. Rubbing a sore shoulder and several bumps that she knew would hurt for a few days she stood up. “I didn’t plan on him going over the side,” she said softly. Her eyes avoided the depths as if it were possible that she could see the bottom where the two bodies lay. “I just wanted to try and stop him somehow. I thought I’d hit him with the lamp or something.”

  “You couldn’t know he would fall,” consoled Ant. “I didn’t have any plan other than to just run. You have saved us with you courage and quick thinking.”

  “He deserved it, anyway,” chimed in Mason. “Good thinking. I would’ve done the same thing.”

  Tressa turned her lantern on and the trio descended the stone steps. Eventually, they came to the bottom where Ant hugged Tressa to his side and kept her from seeing the tangled mess in the center of the stairwell.

  Mason quickly located a small tunnel leading off to one side. As they traversed it they noticed less stone in the walls and more packed dirt. More and more they saw tree roots in the ceiling and walls and soon the floor was muddy rather than the firm stone they had started on.

  Without warning they came to a wall of dirt that ended the tunnel. “It must have caved in at some point,” mused Mason. “There’s no telling how many tons of dirt are between us and daylight. I guess we can always go back up and climb down.”

  Ant stopped him from leaving. “These castles sometimes camouflaged the escape exits so that raiders couldn’t just find them and use them to attack.” He looked at the dirt wall for a moment and then put both hands around a large root near the top of the tunnel. Pulling as hard as he could the root slowly gave way and came loose. As it lengthened it cut a channel down the center of the wall of dirt in front of them. Ant pushed against the scar where the root had been and his hand went right through the wall up to his shoulder.

  Laughing, he drew back a muddy sleeve and then pushed again. This time he dislodged the bulk of the dirt and the wall collapsed outward blinding them with sunshine. The trio picked their way through the opening and let their eyes adjust to the bright light. Tressa flopped onto her back and sucked in fresh air. Mason sat against the base of a tree and located an apple in his knapsack. He took a bite and looked at Tressa. “I told you this would make a great story. It’ll win at fall Festival. Trust me.”

  Ant stopped and stood still for a moment listening. He cocked his head to the side and then said, “You can come out now! I know you are there.”

  “That was a lucky guess!” called a voice from under a nearby bush. Three bushes, a small sapling and two piles of leaves suddenly shifted and shook and rose up over seven feet into the air. Underneath it all was Clyde’s grinning face. “I’m glad to see you. After I had walked around a little I didn’t see any fishermen and got bored. Looking in their truck I saw a lot of Perpetual Power gear and figured they had found out where we were. I tried to signal you, but all you did was wave back, so I figured I would hide and see what happened. Whoever is driving that truck must be around somewhere. We should get moving soon, but how did you come out down here from way up there?”

  Tressa and Mason took turns explaining to Clyde all that had happened after they disappeared from sight at the summit. Once they had finished Tressa turned to Ant and said, “We didn’t have time to ask, but what happened to you after we separated in the tunnels?”

  Ant looked around the group, “I split up from you and went down the other tunnel. Did you notice the small set of steps before the main stairwell?” he asked. Tressa and Mason smiled, knowing they had almost tripped down them. “There was a doorway just below them on the left. I went in there and found a large living space. It had several bedrooms, a kitchen, study and even a decent bathroom. This place was set to house somebody under-ground for quite a while. It would seem that the previous occupants prepared for the worst.

  “As I was looking for a safe or vault those two goons jumped me. I guess they had arrived before us and were searching around there, too. The Seekers long ago realized that other parties have been searching for the pieces, and we believe they have acquired some of them. How many we’re not sure, but we have developed a sense of urgency as we hunt for the pieces.

  “You may not fully understand it all, but understand this; whoever gets all the pieces would be able to rule the world. They could, over time, shut down all the Perpetual Power reactors and have a monopoly on the world’s power source. I guess that’s why Perpetual is looking for the pieces to the machine as well. They would have a stranglehold on everything if they could get their hands on the machine.”

  Chapter 24

  The group decided that trying to move or hide the Perpetual Power truck, or do anything with the bodies of the men would only alert any rescuers from Perpetual to the fact that someone else had been at the castle ruins. If they sent out a search party they would just find the two bodies at the bottom of a slick stairwell and they might assume both men simply fell during their search. They covered the hole to the escape tunnel with Clyde’s camouflage disguise and tried to clean up the general area around the opening a little.

  The group packed up the little wagon and bounced their way back up and out of the valley. Tracing their way back over the mountain pass Tressa looked back at the castle ruins.

  She mused over all the things that she had learned since leaving Top Peake, What a lovely place that must have been when people lived here. Now it’s just a broken version of what had been. That seems a little like our world now. All the things we learn about the
Technology Age are about how great everything was and how people could do whatever they wanted.

  Now we’re left with the broken parts and are trying to put them all back together. If Perpetual Power gets all the pieces of the reactor and has an even tighter stranglehold on everyone who knows how bad things could get. How are we supposed to make things better if one person or group controls everything? If Zimmer gets control of Perpetual Power there’s no telling what he might do.

  If there is anything I can do to help the Seekers find this machine and use it to help the world rebuild I will do it. Ant’s right. This machine belongs to the world and everyone should be able to use its power. I’ve got to help find the missing pieces and figure out who else has the others. The Seekers may not be willing to fight to get them, but I am.

  Clyde had arranged for them to take the rental wagon all the way to Munich so they wouldn’t have to stop over in Bavaria. A few hours later they passed through the outskirts of Munich. Merging in with the city trolleys they made their way back to the hotel to wait on Fergus. Mason and Clyde unloaded the wagon and then Ant drove off to return it. Tressa went inside to see if there was any message from Fergus.

  The desk clerk did have an envelope for her. Tressa looked at it and shuddered inside when she saw the Perpetual Power seal on the flap. She opened the note and unfolded it as she walked back into the sunlight.

  ‘Good News! I believe everything is straightened out. It didn’t take Colonel Zimmer too long to realize that his case against you was weak and he would look like a fool to try and pursue things further.

  However, as a concession to his pride I felt it wise to let him know we would quietly travel back to Top Peake and let things “blow over” so to speak. I believe we know just how to slip out of town without anyone realizing we had even been here.

  I’m so very sorry that your first trip out has ended this way. Perhaps we can find a few morsels for you to tell at Festival once we return. And there’s always next time!