Chapter 33. Return to the Desert
As they followed Tidbit it quickly became apparent that they were not going to pass back through the residential areas of the facility. They did not leave the power room but walked across the wide floor, crossing several wide metal grids below which unseen massive machines thrummed away. But something was different, Nar’Allia no longer felt the oppressiveness of the power below her feet, somehow it had become malignant, yet she felt that this was a temporary occurrence, the power was brooding, gathering itself for something. It felt very wrong, she found herself fearing it even more.
An hour later and they still walked across this desolate landscape of flat never-ending floor. But suddenly in front of them, where they thought would be another of those large grids their appeared a deeply slopping depression. They were confronted by what seemed an impassable barrier. At the bottom of the depression lay a large black pipe like structure stretched away to either side of them blocking any further passage for it must have been twenty meters in diameter. Look as they might to the right and left no bridge or alternative way across could be seen. Tidbit without hesitation strode down the slopping side of the depression and now stood right against the large black tube. The three followed him down and stood behind him waiting. As Nar’Allia stood in front of this structure she looked in both directions, it extended for as far as the eye could see. In several places pipes of a similar diameter extended up from the top of this horizontal pipe and curving over they disappeared down into the floor of the power room.
Tidbit skittered to and fro along it as if searching for something. He then stopped and extending one leg he touched the surface of the tube and held his leg there as if grasping onto something. He stayed this way for several minutes as if he was listening. Nar’Allia went over to the pipe and pressed her ear against it, she could hear nothing. Tidbit seemed to come to a decision and got out a small device that he pointed towards the pipe and they heard a high pitched whirring noise. Something clanged onto the metal floor, Jonas went to retrieve it, they looked into Jonas’s hand, he held a large countersunk bolt. Curious Jonas went for a closer look. It was only then he could see a ring of similar bolts in the side of the tube.
TidBit in the meantime was unscrewing more bolts and letting them drop to the floor. After around fifty or so bolts lay around his feet, TidBit put away the small tool and two hand like device extended forward and grasped onto something. There was another whirring noise, this gained in pitch sounding like mechanics under great strain. There was a cracking sound and a large circular plate forming part of the pipes external wall came away in TidBit’s grasp, he gently laid this upon the floor to one side of the circular hole that was now apparent in the pipe. He then climbed through the hole, extending one leg at a time until he disappeared from view. They stood transfixed by his actions, they could see that Tidbit had turned on his headlights and the tick-ticking noise of his feet walking forward could be heard.
There was nothing for it but to follow, Tidbit he obviously knew where he was going and the old man had said that he was programmed to take them out of the facility. So they clambered up and stepped through into the tunnel beyond. Nothing could be seen in either direction looking down the pipe, but the inside wall was wet, as if at one time the pipe was full of water.
For the most part they walked in silence. They followed Tidbit through a system of pipes and walk ways. Narrow bridges spanned across where the great circular holes made by pipes going downwards appeared in the floor. Nar’Allia found herself trying not to look down into these dark holes. At intervals similar holes also extended left and right and from the top. They all found themselves getting uncomfortable; they had to wipe their foreheads regularly. It was hot in there. Nar’Allia felt the walls they were very warm to the touch. Almost as if something heated them on the other side.
But Amndo was taking note of their surroundings. “I believe we travel through a series of vents, safety measures to vent off excess heat from the power generation process I assume. Obviously the old A’kath made some adjustments to the power generation grids to drain the water and cool these tunnels before he returned to his room. He knew I think that by the time Tidbit was able to function once more, these tunnels would be at a sufficiently lower temperature to allow passage. I only hope that they do not become hot once more before we exit. Or refill with coolant water.”
But in the silence of their passage, Nar’Allia was thinking about other things. She was worried; she had started to inwardly question the reasons why they were here. The initial task, the task of rescuing Minervar, had grown into something far bigger and was still growing. She felt this was no longer just a rescue mission. The discovery of this place, the immense power that existed within it, even though weakened through the ages was still an awesome thing; there was possibly nothing else like it anywhere else in the world. She felt daunted by the responsibility of the knowledge that her people and possibly others of the elder races had been here before, perhaps even helped to create this place, with all its power and indestructible weaponry. She shivered at the way the old A’kath looked at her, she had seen something in his gaze, an ancient memory and she knew somehow that it hurt him terribly.
She thought once more about what the A’kath had said, it was terrifying, not only as a horrifying history lesson but also as a warning, but that was just it, it was highly likely from the information they had gained that the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran had such a battle cruiser of immense power in their possession, at least they would be wise to assume so. The obvious outcome of this was that the world was again in great peril. The world in general may not know it yet, but none of the races were safe, for the T’Iea’Neat’Thegoran would no doubt use such a machine for great ill, why else would they steal such a machine? Certainly not for joy rides that was for sure. Nar’Allia chewed on her bottom lip as she thought it was a wonder that they had not used it already. In fact why had they not used it already? What was delaying them? For that matter where had they hidden such a machine? Not the sort of thing you can hide in a forest under the trees, even within a city a large building would have to be constructed and many people would ask many questions concerning the construction surely. There was nowhere here in the desert to hide the thing, unless of course they had found another facility such as this and managed to hide it inside.
Her thoughts strayed back once more to the old A’kath man, he was right, he should have destroyed the facility, destroyed the Leviathan machines if he could have done so. She felt angry at the old fool, but then he had no way of knowing recent history, he had been locked away from the world for so long, the world they knew would have just been a myth as far as he was concerned. She wondered if there were any more of these facilities still functioning. But the nomads knew this desert well and they had said that the place of Jethrent was the only one of its kind. Surely the nomads would know of any other similar places especially if such places held a great quantity of water like the place they were in. No, it was obvious that out of all such facilities that once dotted the desert however many there once were, none now existed apart from this one. Of that Nar’Allia was sure.
Suddenly Nar’Allia was brought back from her thoughts by a great vibration that rocked the floor of the tunnel in which they walked. So great was the shock and upheaval that they were all knocked to floor, there legs unable to respond fast enough to the violent and unpredictable motion. Even Tidbit ground to a halt and spread his legs wider as if bracing himself. He was lucky, he had eight on which to spread his weight and keep his balance. Several equally powerful explosions followed, each time Nar’Allia and her companions tried to stand an explosion sent violent shock waves that knocked them back to the ground again.
“Earthquake,” muttered Amndo.
Jonas then said, “no, not an earthquake. The old man, he has set the power generation machines to overload. I have been wondering why this tunnel, this vent had become cool enough to travel through. I started to think abo
ut this from what Master Amndo said earlier about the water cooling for the generators. I am now afraid that my suspicions have been satisfied. The A’kath, he shut the cooling machines down to allow our passage through here. These pipes are like massive heat exchangers, radiators if you like, they were designed to dissipate the heat generated by the great power machines in the facility, probably into the deserts sands. I agree I believe that ordinarily these pipes and tubes would be filled with water from the cistern, water that would be unbearably hot after passing through the generators; it would not be possible to travel through them. That I suppose is why there is no security within. But all the time we have been travelling through this tunnel the power generators have been heating up progressively until they had become critical, for they have no cooling. Deep down in the power generation room they are starting to overheat and destroy themselves from within. The old A’kath he has at last been true to his word, he has set the power generation machines to destroy the facility. He is destroying the Silo.”
Nar’Allia said in misbelief, “by the Maker, what if the vibrations are due to the water returning? We are trapped!”
Jonas replied. “I do not believe that to be the case. It was just what he said, the old man that is. His attitude of resignation, he has seen enough death, possibly been instrumental in many deaths. I don’t think he has the stomach for it any longer.”
A further great rumbling noise filled their ears and the tunnel shook and vibrated for what seemed like several minutes although not quite as violently as at first. With great alarm in their minds the tremors seemed to finally die down and stop. They managed to stand once more and ran as best they could to be as close to Tidbit as possible. At times lesser shocks and explosions resounded from back down the system of tunnels in which they walked. But thankfully none as large or as violent as the initial reports.
Out of breath and still shaken they came across a vertical wall blocking their progress, but once Tidbit’s lights shone upon it they were able to see a set of large double doors. Tidbit approached as he always did and they dutifully started to move. Soon the doors were fully open and they could progress through. They found themselves in a square shaped area, about eighty metres across, ominously no lights came on and Tidbit kept his lights shining. Nar’Allia’s eyes slowly adapted to the low light and she could see many wooden crates and other boxes of all shapes and sizes stacked and fallen spread around the walls. In the centre of the chambers stood several wheeled vehicles. These machines looked heavy, protected by layers of thick looking metal. A turret on the top of each housed a long tube. They walked forward past these vehicles until they could see the far side of the chamber and a second set of doors. But as before, they started to part once Tidbit was standing in front of them. Almost immediately a brilliant light shone through the gap between the doors illuminating the clouds of airborne dust and sand that had been disturbed by the continual explosions and resulting shock waves that had rocked the tunnels. They each shielded their eyes from the bright light, but another explosion sounded and the doors came to a halt before they had fully opened, but thankfully the gap between them had widened just enough to allow passage.
Jonas jumped up and caught the edge of the lower door, he pulled himself up and lay across the top of the thick door and offered his hand to Nar’Allia, she reached up and grabbed his hand and was hauled up. The gap was not large enough for her to stand so she crawled through. Whilst crawling through this space between the doors Nar’Allia prayed to the Maker that the doors would not close again and crush her. She cried out as another vibration was felt and the door above her began to move, she screamed and crawled as fast as she could and fell down the other side scrambling to her feet and running away from the doors. It was only then that she realised with great relief that the doors were slowly continuing to open and not close after all; she felt a little embarrassed by her actions. Jonas lay on the top of the bottom door a smile on his face as he was gently lowered to the ground. Nar’Allia stood brushing herself down, she looked back through the widening gap that lay now between the two sets of doors that were just about fully open by this time.
Amndo just strode through as if nothing had happened. As he did so he muttered, “well at least some power still remains, judging by the daylight yonder, I hope we have not got too far to go to reach the surface.”
An aroma came to Nar’Allia’s nose, a pleasant smell, one that she now knew she missed. It was the smell of fresh air. The light she recognised also, not an artificial illumination, but the warm natural light of the sun. “We made it Amndo! We have reached the surface.” She walked forward towards the light. She saw TidBit the caretaker machine pass her by, his silhouette showing clearly in the sunlight, he seemed to be staring out at the world beyond the doors, a world he possibly had never seen before. She found herself walking forward to stand beside him, he just stood there swaying form side to side as he had always done.
Then quite suddenly TidBit turned and walked back down the tunnel, back towards the facility. Nar’Allia went to say something, some disappointment showed on her face, as she watched the machine tick-tick-tick off into the gloom. She wondered if any of the facility remained, if it did then Tidbit had a major task ahead of him trying to clear it up, of that she could be sure. Soon he was lost to sight as the party turned from the great doors and walked up the gentle sandy slope back out onto the desert once more.
At the top of the slope Nar’Allia breathed the fresh air with relish. She again beat at her clothes for they were thick with the dust of the disturbances; she took a draught of water and spat it out onto the sand to get the grit out of her mouth. What she wouldn’t give for a dip in a cool river right now, to walk through the dew-laden ferns of the early morning back in the great wood. Feel the chill of autumn instead of this bone-dry oppressive heat of the desert. She glanced around her only now aware of just how much she had missed the surface; the open space beneath the blue sky had an immensely relieving effect upon her. She did relish the feel of the sun upon her face once again.
Jonas had made his way up to the tallest dune he could see and was scanning the desert around them. Nar’Allia and Amndo both moved to follow, now curious as to where they may have come out upon the surface once more. Jonas had his hand held up in front of his forehead shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight. Being beneath the ground for so long in such a dim light most of the time meant it took his eyes some time to adapt again to the relative brightness. A low humming, grinding noise made Nar’Allia look behind her. The two great doors were closing again, obviously some residual power remained. As the gap closed fully the sand around her feet began to hiss, it moved and she stumbled, she found herself quickly buried in the red sand up to her waist, and she was slipping with the sand as it ran back down the slope to once more cover the doors, she shouted in alarm and felt a hand grasp hers. It was Amndo, he held her hand and was pulling with all his might to stop her disappearing below the sands as they slid back. Jonas had run back down the dune and was also pulling. She eventually felt the pull of the sand upon her legs lessen and with Jonas and Amndo’s help was able to pull her legs and feet free. She breathed heavily in gasping breaths as she once more stood upon firm sand panting and leant against Amndo.
“Thank you,” was all she could gasp. She looked back, nothing remained to show that they had just exited from a tunnel now buried once more beneath the sands. She rested her hands on her knees and took in deep breaths of fresh air. “By the Maker, does that place never stop trying to take lives?” She mused.
Amndo smiled at her and helped her away from the spot. They were once more shut out forever from the fortress beneath the desert, she did not mind, returning to that place was not something she considered herself doing. They all sat on the sand pleased to be in the open air again, wondering what to do next. They still had no idea where in the desert they had surfaced, how far from the place they had entered. Nar’Allia wondered if that place with all its beauty still existed now
that the city beneath the sands was destroyed, she hoped it did, deep inside herself she felt hopeful that the nomads could yet return there for another Jethrent. Then Nar’Allia found she was looking up at the blue skies, her T’Iea ears could still hear a humming noise, not the same noise as the rushing sand and the closing doors, but it was getting louder by the second. She turned to the direction she thought it was coming from.
Jonas went up a dune once again to take a look, soon he was waving and shouting, “the Leviathan, the monster it comes, it comes.” He had the great broadsword held in his hands as he walked slowly backwards, the sword held high as if he were ready to be attacked.