by Brad Stucki
That was another question nagging at Javin. Nemesis could almost be his twin, though his hair wasn't the brown of Javin's. Instead it was a shiny black, giving him a more malevolent look. Why didn't Javin know about him? Is that why his memories were blocked – so he wouldn't know about Nemesis? Were those who'd blocked his memory afraid he'd join Nemesis because they were brothers? Javin recalled the waking dream he'd had in the Throne Room of Putra' fi Sorro, when he'd seen in 'vision' Nemesis sitting on a throne and Javin standing captive before him. He didn't know what that was about, nor whether it had already happened, or maybe something which was yet to happen. There were too many questions.
It didn't take Javin and Sauros long to make it to the base of the cylindrical 'silo' was the word that came to Javin's mind. They stood at its base looking up. On the side they stood on they could see the metal rungs leading up to the rectangular opening at the top. It was clear it was meant to be climbed.
“I believe we should go up and in.” Sauros said.
“On that I concur,” Javin said. There wasn’t much else they could do. It was the only sign of civilization they’d encountered other than the portal they’d come through. The longer they were on the surface, subject to the radiation from the red dwarf, the more they would feel dampened. If they could get under the surface, the radiation would be blocked and they should return to their normal selves . . . he hoped.
“After you?” Sauros mock bowed and allowed Javin to step forward, grasping a metal rung and stepping up. I didn’t take long to reach the top of the silo and peer into the blackness down into the opening. The bottom, wherever that was, was lost in darkness. Sauros was standing on the rungs immediately below, waiting his judgment.
“It’s hollow and there’s rungs leading down.”
There was no answer. There was nothing to discuss. It was the way they had to go.
Javin pulled himself over the lip and started to lower himself down into the darkness. Looking up, he could see Sauros swinging over the lip of the opening and following him down the inside rungs.
They continued their descent for some time. Finally Javin called a halt so they could listen. By this time they were steeped in darkness so heavy they couldn’t see anything. It was by feel they continued their descent.
“Can you hear anything?” Javin asked. He thought that Sauros’ sense of hearing may be finer than his own.
“Nothing. What do you sense?”
Sauros’ question made Javin think, and then he stretched out with his ‘other’ senses. Both he and Sauros hung on the inside of the silo, stalk still, ‘listening’ with all their senses.
“Do you feel that?”Javin asked after some time.
“Yes. It is distant, but I feel beings below us. I cannot tell what manner and if they are hostile or not, but they are there.”
“I wish I could say that’s a good sign,” Javin answered. His wry smile was lost in the inky blackness, though the feeling passed between them.
“Shall we continue?”Sauros asked. It wasn’t really a question as they both knew they needed to move forward. It was more he wanted to make sure Javin was ready.
Javin was looking down past his feet, hoping he could make out the bottom. It was still too dark.
“Off we go, then,” Javin said and started climbing down. He felt a momentary confusion from Sauros. “What I mean is, let’s continue to climb down, not that I meant to let go and fall,” Javin corrected.
“Oh,” Sauros said. “Even though we speak the same language, I fail sometimes to understand your meaning. It is further evidence that you come from a very strange place.”
Javin felt Sauros’ humor coming through their empathic bond. He was getting used to that feeling inside himself and it was becoming a natural way for them to augment their communication. It was beginning to seem almost natural now.
They continued their descent, stopping two more times to ‘feel’ and listen. Each time they felt they were a bit closer to the beings they’d sensed, and each time the feeling was stronger and more defined. There was a strangeness to it, though, like it was also ‘dampened’ as they’d felt while on the surface. It was strange enough that Sauros had commented on it and then they’d continued their descent. Javin was beginning to wonder if it was radiation that they’d felt on the surface after all, or if it was something else which came along with the influence of this planet.
Javin was pondering over electromagnetic field possibilities, which he angrily realized could have come from nowhere but his hidden and blocked off past, when his foot struck something other than the next rung.
“Hold up a moment,” he said and hastily moved his top hand so Sauros’ booted foot would not step on it.
“Holding,” Sauros answered from above. “What is it?”
“I think we’ve reached bottom. Let me check it out for a bit.” And he suited words to action. Crouching on the last rung, Javin stretched his other leg out, tentatively feeling the ground surrounding as far as he could reach. He gradually put weight on that leg and then his full weight while still holding a rung with his hands in case the ground under his foot dropped off in the darkness.
“It’s flat, but I can’t see well enough to know if it’s just a platform of sorts, or if we’ve reached the bottom.”
“We have come a long distance,” Sauros said. “I hope we have reached a level point. I can’t say how far the surface is above us. Can you feel change in temperature?”
At that point Javin stood still and ‘felt’ around them. He could discern a slight decrease in the temperature. There was also a change in the quality of the air.
“It’s humid down here. There’s water nearby, and I can also feel the beings. We are close. Probably on the same level. Give me a bit more time to poke around. I’ve put all my weight on one leg and I think we’re on the ground of some sort. It’s a dirt floor.”
By this time Javin had only hold of a rung with one hand and was standing fully on the floor moving outward further, probing carefully with his feet.
“Sauros, can you move down the ladder a bit? I want to try to reach out further and need to take hold of your hand to lengthen my reach.”
Javin could feel when Sauros had moved down to the level. He stood beside him and they were both hanging onto the same rung with one hand.
“Let me take hold of one of your hands, and we’ll explore a bit wider. If I fall, hold on and you can pull me back.”
“Yes, I am ready,” and Sauros, careful to keep his claws retracted, grasped Javin’s hand in the dark as he moved outward, probing again with his left foot as he moved further out from the ladder rungs. There was no sudden drop.
Tentatively Javin reached out with his hand. Finally Javin's hand came in contact with a rough wall.
"I've found the wall. I think we're at the bottom level. Hold on and I'll continue to check." Moving his hand back and forth, Javin felt the rocky surface of the wall and moved in one direction, following the wall with his hand, while continuing to probe with his feet. It wouldn't do to relax his vigilance only to fall off into another shaft.
Sauros moved with him, while maintaining hold of a ladder rung. They were both stretched out as far as they could reach when Javin's hand lost hold of the wall.
"Wait a minute. I lost the wall. Move back a bit." And they suited action to words. Javin backed slowly, reaching with his hand until he came in contact with the wall again.
"There must be an opening here. I think we can trust the floor enough to both come against the wall and then we can move with it through the opening."
In answer Javin could feel Sauros letting go of the rung and moving next to Javin and touching the wall. "I have it," Sauros said.
Still holding on to Sauros, Javin moved along the side of the cavern wall and came to the part where it turned a corner. Javin, carefully probing with his feet each step of the way, felt around the corner followed by Sauros. "I think we're getting somewhere," Javin said.
"Do you thin
k it will always be this dark?" Sauros asked.
"I hope not,” Javin said as he continued to move, now more quickly. He still didn't want to find a sudden drop off, but felt secure holding on to Sauros who could pull him back easily enough with his great strength.
"I think we're in a tunnel," Javin said. "And now you mention it, I think I can start to see a change in the darkness."
They continued to move along the wall by touch, and had moved a considerable distance before Javin spoke again.
"We're at another turning. I can see it's getting lighter ahead." Javin followed his hand around another turning and he, indeed, could tell the cavern was getting lighter. Where the light came from he couldn't tell. Also the wall was getting smoother. He continued to follow the corner, and then another. The light grew brighter and Javin could make out features of their surroundings.
They discovered they were in a tunnel and the floor was solid. The slight glomming light seemed to be coming from the cave wall itself. Javin looked closely. Sporadically along the wall was a lichen-like growth that seemed to be emitting a radiance that was barely illuminating the cave.
Moving faster now, they followed the cave, which was about 8 paces wide and a span above their heads with a dirt floor. Further down the cave the lichen growths became more numerous and the light slowly increased.
Then they came to a dead end. The cave just stopped.
"What's this?" Javin asked. "Why did it just end?"
"It has to lead somewhere," Sauros said, moving to the apparently solid wall of the cave ending, feeling it with his great hands. He extracted one claw and scraped down the wall. The grating sound indicated the solidness of the wall. The light was still quite dim and it was hard to see.
"I think you've got the right idea," Javin said and started feeling all along the front wall, and then to the side. "Look!"
Javin pulled Sauros closer to him and indicated a shadowed thin passage at the side of the wall. It was so dark they hadn't seen it at first and only found it as Javin felt his way over the surface. "I think we can fit through."
Javin looked at Sauros' bulk and then back at the small passage. "At least I think we can." And Javin suited words to action. He stepped into the passage which turned a sharp corner and then went straight ahead. It was wide enough for Javin to walk through straight, though his shoulders and arms brushed each side. The light was still quite dim but ahead he could see a brighter light of an opening.
"I see an opening," Javin said, turning back to see Sauros had followed him but was squeezing through sideways, and obviously nervous he would get stuck at any moment. There wasn't any room to spare with his big frame.
The roof of the passage was still only a span above their heads. Javin turned back and continued to the light. It was about 50 paces ahead and didn't take him long to reach. At the entrance he peered around another sharp turn. The opening appeared to be narrower, and Javin had to turn sideways to get through. This might be a problem for Sauros, he thought.
Javin moved through and turned to wait for Sauros, who reached a hand out the opening and said, "Pull." Javin did.
It took effort, but Sauros squeezed through, with a bit of scraping on his back and chest, into a brighter light.
"The curve of the passage hides this entrance from the outside," Javin said noticing the edges of the passage seemed to blend together and since there was no shadow because of the light from the lichen covered sides, it was virtually invisible. "It must be some sort of secret way in and out."
The opening had come out from the base of a sheer rock wall that went up until it was lost from site in a thick cloud. The cliff face was covered in the strange, glowing lichen in thick mass. That is what was providing the light. The lichen provided the radiance that suffused the air with light and didn't allow for any shadow.
Javin turned back to the scene ahead. They were standing at the top of what appeared to be a slope of loose dirt that was part of a rock fall from the cliff behind them. Below spread a tremendous cavern, the size of which defied belief. They could tell the far side of the cavern continued until the shape of the planet made it slowly drop out of site due to curvature. Occasionally, an immense pillared rock formation went from floor to what must be the ceiling of the cavern since they couldn't see it through the cloudy mist, as if providing support for the vast open area. It was all dimly lit, but enough so they could make out vivid details. It was the lichen. It appeared to cover all the rocks and must cover the roof too.
Then Javin realized their eyes must have adjusted to be able to see so well in this dim of light. He turned to look at Sauros. His ordinarily golden brown eyes were different. He looked closer.
"Your eyes," Javin said to Sauros. "The pupils are three times their normal size."
Sauros tilted his head, staring down at Javin.
"Your eyes are different too. The black portions are much larger than I remember."
"I think we have been 'adjusted' for our new environment," Javin said, turning back and looking more closely at what was spread in front of them. "Whoever or whatever sent us here has made us able to adapt to our surroundings, it seems. The mysteries just keep getting deeper."
The cavern continued to run to either side of them beyond their sight also. The floor of the cavern was covered in a lush growth of foliage, but directly below them about 100 paces, he could make out a path running alongside the cliff face tangentially in each direction, as if following the length of the cavern. Directly in front of them and way below, far off in the distant valley below, they could make out a familiar shape looming up from the jungle foliaged cavern floor.
It was a pyramid just like the one wherein they'd stepped through a portal to get to this world.
"I think we ended up where we were supposed to be," Javin said, smiling at Sauros.
"You are correct, as usual," Sauros agreed.
Chapter 3
They stepped carefully down the packed dirt and rocky slope. About half way Javin turned to look from where they'd come. He could see no sign of the passageway back into the cave system. He'd thought as much. With the eerie glow from the lichens, there was no shadow, no contrast to make the passage stand out from the cliff face.
"We may have to remember where this is," Javin said. "I hope we don't have to come back this way in a hurry, but if we do . . ."
Sauros nodded and then turned back to their climb.
It didn't take long for them to wend their way through the larger boulders at the bottom to reach the path. It was hard-pan, tan in color and not a wisp of dust or loose dirt. The path was about five paces wide. It wasn't concrete, but it may as well have been. It was also smooth, no ruts whatsoever. Javin leaned down and touched it, brushing his hand across. "I've never seen dirt get packed and worn this smooth."
"Javin . . ." Sauros said.
Javin looked up and saw they'd been surrounded. Six . . . men . . . with lances pointed in their direction.
"No matter where I end up, the new people I meet point sharp sticks in my direction!" He was remembering the first group he'd met on Sauros' world and how he'd woken up in the middle of the jungle being prodded awake by a guard with the sharp end of a lance.
Then Javin looked again. These . . . men were very different. They stood just shorter than he, brown skinned, with overlapping plates covering their backs. Kind of like an armadillo Javin thought then grit his teeth at the image it evoked. Still there was only the image and reference with the name. No associated memories.
"This is getting old," Javin said aloud.
"We have only just arrived," Sauros said. He'd drawn his belt knife and Javin realized they both had instinctively surrounded themselves with the protective barrier, that thin impenetrable shield they could form with the crystals embedded in their breasts. Javin hadn't even realized he'd formed his. Trying to concentrate on what he'd done, he was at a loss. He knew they needed to learn how to control their new powers, but now was not the time.
He continued to
study their opponents. Their faces were a mix of humanoid and mole, with a slightly extended snout and a wisp of hair, what could have been whiskers atop each lip. Otherwise they were completely hairless and smooth skinned on arms and legs. They appeared to be male, but he had no frame of reference to be sure. They wore no clothing but the overlapping plates and shell covered them much like an armadillo's, and again Javin had the reference but not the actual memory. The plates and shell appeared to be flexible, like thick leather, and their hands were three thick fingers and one thick thumb-like appendage. It didn't appear they would be able to do detail work with their hands, but there was no lack of dexterity in the way they held their lances. Their feet mirrored the same number of digits, but were elongated like normal feet. No boots.
"Look," Javin said, holding his empty hands out waist high, trying to show he meant them no ill will. "We've just arrived here and we want to make friends. Understand?"
Javin cursed himself. He should have 'felt' these men were this close. But the feeling of many such beings surrounding them had cluttered it all. The fact they hadn't seen them until it was too late was testament to their stealth.
The men just stared and then one gestured with his lance, pointing up the path. Javin knew they were supposed to move in that direction.
"Can you understand me? Do you speak?" and Javin touched his lips and gestured for the apparent leader, the one who'd made the gesturing, to respond. He was met with a blank stare by large oval eyes and large black pupils. No expression, and then again the gesture.
"Should we resist?" Sauros asked, still holding his knife. "They cannot harm us with the lances and we should be able to overpower them eventually. Then we can make our way to . . ." and Sauros looked pointedly down into the far off valley where the pyramid sat.
"I don't know. We're their guests on this world. Maybe we should go along and see if we can make friends. Maybe this time they'll be friends and not enemies."