My breathing is quite panicky now, as if each breath may be my last.
When will this end? Where will this end?
We have seen the termination point so often, like the image from a closed circuit TV picture, you can see what the camera can see, but you are left wondering just what there is beyond the camera’s vision. Is it more of the same, or does it drastically change? Come to that, what is behind the camera?
Is there life beyond the area of what we can see? What happened to the animals we sent through? Did they survive or is there something, or somebody waiting in the wings, waiting for us to send their next meal through. That sets me thinking, are we the next meal?
Pain and a thump as I land on the hard ground. There is a dust cloud sent up in the air, dark, so dark I cannot even see the tunnel now.
Why couldn’t I have landed on something soft?
Is there something out there waiting for the dust cloud to settle before they pounce on us?
My stomach and head feeling much better now, although there is still that throbbing feeling, it seems to be easing off now. Gently I move my free arm; as it happens, just in time to deflect the box that was about to hit me. Hopefully part of the equipment we brought with us and not some projectile thrown at us by the occupants of this place.
I hear a loud “Ow! Sod it!” come from my headgear. It is Rachel’s voice. Rachel, is she alright?
Reaching over with my free arm, my fist touches the ground and I push down, to lift myself, just then I spot it, through the dusty haze, another incoming shape. Instinctively my arm flicks back out, and I deflect the object to the other side.
“Hey careful! That almost hit me.” Anile shouts at me.
I resume my lifting activity and am surprised when I feel something grasp my arm and pull me up. I am relieved to see Anile’s smiling face, “Need a hand old man?”
“Thanks.” I weakly reply, as I steady myself, it is then that the pains in my left leg become more obvious. I gently walk forward to test out the extent of injury. Thank goodness, just bruising.
Rachel, how is Rachel? The dust cloud is almost clear. I am surprised to see that the ground is a dark green in colour. I look around me further and behind what looks like a bush, made up of patches of somewhat lighter greens than the ground; I see Rachel, laying on the ground, surrounded by objects. Looks like I wasn’t the one who drew the short straw after all. I launch myself in Rachel’s direction, it is only then that I realise the gravity of this place is much lower than ours. I find myself almost bouncing towards Rachel. I suddenly catch sight of movement to my right, am I being attacked? Was my theory of some creature waiting for its next meal to arrive, correct?
Thank goodness for that, it is only Anile.
Every time I land, my left leg emits pain.
We are soon removing the equipment off of Rachel and help her up.
The three of us, standing here, in this alien place. Looking around us, keen to see what lies beyond the familiar view. To the left and right it is pretty much, more of the same. However spinning round to face the entrance of the sparkly tunnel, with its now, not so black centre, we can just about see Phil waving at us. We give him the thumbs up sign.
To either side and above the tunnel, we can see in the distance some dark shapes, like distant mountains. But in the foreground, some distance from us, there seem to be lighter shapes, which whilst difficult to make out because of the heat haze rising from the dusty ground, appear almost like buildings, mostly dome shapes, with some pointed shapes in-between. Could this be a city?
My brain snaps into action trying to calculate the distance between us and the shapes. A figure comes to mind, I then try to work out how long it would take us to get there on foot. My thoughts are disrupted as Anile asks, “Does that look like a city to you?”
“Yes, I was just trying to work out how long it would take us to get to it.”
Rachel taps my arm and says, “This may be able to tell us how far away it is.”
I stifle my urge to point out that I have estimated the distance and instead watch as Rachel points the laser device in the desired direction and she presses a button. I can just about see the sparkle of the red laser beam. “Hey not at the tunnel you’ll blind Phil.”
Just then we see him duck, as if avoiding something.
Rachel swings the device around a bit and after a few moments announces, “Fifty five Kilometres or there abouts.”
“About eight hours.” Anile says.
“More like ten if you include meals and rests.” I add.
“Well we are here to explore, let’s do it!” exclaims Rachel.
“OK but let’s tell Phil first. Where’s the comms pod?” I ask.
We search the ground amongst the packages strewn around us. Anile is the one who finds it. The plastic pod that he holds aloft, should have sixteen flat surfaces, this one has several that appear to have been ripped away, the device inside has clearly been damaged also.
The intention was that having the sixteen faces would almost make the pod like a ball, but the fact that they are all flat should make it want to roll only for a short space of time. However this one must have landed so hard that several faces shattered, exposing the equipment inside.
Anile has great difficulty opening the pod, in the end he resorts to opening up the gashed side even further until he can drag the comms device out. When Anile opens the device, we can instantly see that the screen is smashed, the corner of the keyboard has come adrift and generally the device is not looking in very good condition. Anile stabs at the on button, several times, but there is no response at all.
I ask the stupid question, “Can you fix it?”
Anile just looks at me, his face says a big fat NO!
Rachel asks, “What are we going to do then?”
“What about the shelter material and marker pens?” I ask.
“How is that going to help?” asks a confused Anile.
“We write something on the shelter material and hold it up in the hope that Phil can read it.”
“Good idea!” Rachel smiles, then sets off in search of the pod marked ‘shelter 1’, whilst Anile goes off in search of the pens.
I stand immediately in front of the tunnel, hold up the comms device, then I place it on the ground. When I stand up again, I cross my arms above my head. I can just about make out Phil raising and dropping one of his arms, like a nodding head. Phil one arm up in the air and waves it from side to side, whilst making a circle below it, with this other hand. What could he mean?
I ponder Phil’s sign for a while, then Anile announces that he has the marker pens and Rachel soon after says that she has found the shelter material. We soon have the material stretched out on the ground.
Anile with a marker pen in hand approaches the material.
“Hang on what are we going to write” Rachel asks.
“Good question.” I reply, “It has to be short and straight to the point.”
“How about ‘found city be gone for…’ how long do you think we will be gone for?” Rachel asks.
“Another good question, one that I am sure is impossible to answer at least answer accurately. It depends if there is anything there.”
Anile says, “Surely not, if it takes ten hours to get there, add to that some time for sleep say five hours, then explore the city say five hours, then add the return journey of ten hours. That makes a round trip of about thirty hours.”
“What if we run into the locals and we get delayed at the city?” Rachel asks.
“True, but I’m with Anile, let’s say we should be back in 30 hours. If we do find friendly locals we can always ask Phil for an extension of our stay, he can even send us more supplies.”
Having ascertained that Anile has the neatest writing, he sets about writing the message, whilst we stretch and hold the material out.
Every so often I glance across towards Phil. He now has something held up to his head,
probably the equivalent of a telescope, so he can try and see what we are doing.
The sign ready, we hold it up in front of the tunnel. After a few minutes Phil puts down whatever he was holding and does his yes sign.
We set about packing up the shelter material and gather essential supplies that we need to take with us.
We are about to depart, when Rachel asks, “Hey hold on, how are we going to find this place again?”
I stupidly reply, “We will see the tunnel.”
“Not if it is switched off!”
“Oh yes, never thought of that one.”
Anile suggests that we make a large arrow pointing to the tunnel, out of the packages we have decided to leave behind.
Soon we have the rather irregular arrow in place and set off in the direction of the city, or whatever it is.
Chapter 4 – Dark is not the word for it
Dark is not the word for it. We stopped to change our air tanks about fifteen minutes ago, when suddenly the light faded, like halogen spotlights being turned off, leaving us fumbling around searching for the torches.
“Well done Anile, can you hold it up higher, any luck Rachel? I can’t find any torches in this one.” My question answered by another light coming on. Running out of pods to open, it just has to be this one.
“Hey you could tidy up after yourself!” Rachel protests at me ditching the pod I was searching, without putting the contents neatly back in place before closing it.
I feel guilty but, at the same time pressured to find my own torch. Success! Not one, but three torches. This time, I put everything back neatly, except for one torch and close the pod.
Anile and I set about laying out the shelter material, whilst Rachel lays out the supports.
“Seems like a pointless exercise putting this up, we don’t seem to be under any threat.” Remarks Rachel.
Anile replies, “Better to be on the safe side, there might be the equivalent of acid rain, whilst it is dark.”
Rachel places the last pile of items and starts assembling them and says, “I thought our suits were supposed to be able to handle that.”
“What if the temperature falls considerably?” Asks Anile and continues, “Anyway let us just get on with it.”
The shelter is soon complete and we settle down for some sleep. I glance at the time display built into the arm of my suit. It has taken us about seven hours to get to this point
Despite being tired after the long walk, it takes ages to get off to sleep, but eventually I manage it.
~~0~~0~~
When I wake up again, I am immediately aware that the light we had left on, is now off, it is pitch black, what is more, I feel like I am being held down. Whilst there is no weight to speak of, I cannot move either of my arms or legs. Also it is very hot.
“Hey, Rachel… Anile, are you awake?”
“Yes, what is going on, I feel hotter than a boiler stoker.” Anile replies.
“Any idea what happened to the light?” Rachel asks.
I can feel myself being dragged along the ground, there is a grinding sound as my suit is dragged through the sandy soil.
If this keeps up, it will wear through my suit.
Where is this heat coming from? It is like being in a sauna fully clothed.
I just wish I could do something to stop myself being dragged, but my arms and legs are still restrained.
Just how long is this dragging going to persist? The heat and grinding noise, is getting on my nerves now, that and not being able to do darned thing about it.
Suddenly, I am no longer being dragged and my arms can move. My instinct is to try and move myself in the opposite direction to which I was being dragged, before it is resumed. My hands dig down into the sandy soil and I push against it. Whilst it is slow, I can feel myself moving back in the direction that I had come from. As I continue to push myself along, I am concerned about Rachel and Anile, “You two alright, I seem to have freed myself from the …. Ah!... this is exhausting! From whatever was holding me down.”
“At last… I can move my arms.” Rachel replies, then asks, “How are you moving yourself?”
“Stick your hands down into the soil and push against it.”
Anile says, “I am still being dragged along, ah, managed to dig my legs down into the soil. Crickey! I am just descending into the soil! There must be plenty of give in this soil, I am just descending ever further. I feel like a bloomin’ tent peg!”
If that were me, there would be much more fear in my voice and I would be seeking a way to stop descending. Still coping with my own escape, I have to keep my focus on the steady dig and push motions.
Like a sudden eureka moment, of discovery, I can just barely make out some light and there above me is a very indistinct wavy line, like the edge of something, something huge!
I continue my dig and push actions and am aware that my stomach is now the right side of the edge. A couple of more pushes should do it.
I turn my head to the left and the light increases, there just in the corner of my vision is the torch, around it, I can just make out the debris of the shelter supports and several pods strewn about. The shelter cloth, is nowhere in sight.
My head swings back; there rising, in front of me, like a large dark grey cliff, is the edge that I saw earlier. It is still too tall to see the top.
Now free of this… whatever it is; my thoughts turn to Rachel, “How are you getting on Rachel?”
“I think I have the hang of it now. I seem to be making some progress, but I don’t know if I am heading in the right direction. How about you?”
“I am free, although goodness knows what this is, it is huge though; towering well above me. At the risk of it pursuing me, I have to try and find out what it is. I will see if I can stand up.”
It is not easy, but I manage to get up and have second thoughts about heading back towards the huge dark shape.
Anile’s voice distracts my attention, as he says, “Thank goodness we have our own air supply, I am not going anywhere soon, for sure.”
“Have you come to a stop now then?” Asks Rachel, puffing, as she continues to push herself along.
“I feel like a nail banged into a plank of wood, that is how still I am.”
“Oh no I am being dragged along again!” exclaims Rachel. Then she goes on to say, “All that work for nothing!”
My courage returns, I have to know what this thing is. I advance slowly towards it. The closer I get the more the warmth returns. I am close enough now to reach out and touch it. Although it is difficult to feel things through the gloves, I get the impression that what I am touching is like a tough leathery skin. It is slowly bulging outwards, then contracting back inwards. Like some giant pulsating creature. Not wanting this thing to pursue me, I decide to retreat back towards the lone torch and our wrecked encampment, to see if I can get a better view of this thing, that still has Rachel and Anile captured inside.
As I retreat, I am aware that the ground has been considerably churned up, almost like a ploughed field. It has troughs and peaks, making the walk somewhat hazardous. I have to concentrate hard to make sure that I don’t trip.
I reach the torch, bend down and scoop it up. I am tempted to pick up some of the pieces of shelter support, but decide my time is better spent examining this, this, whatever it is. I swing round, torch in hand, shining straight at the wall of grey, that still towers above me.
The bulging and contracting, is more obvious now and as I swing the torch around, although slowly, it is quite perceptible that it is moving away from me. Behind, it leaves a trail of broken supports. Off to the left I can make out a patch of torn shelter material, being dragged along by this thing.
Attention turned back to the pulsating wall, I suddenly see something gleaming in my torch light. It is round. My instinct is to rush over and examine it. I have the strong feeling that it is Rachel’s helmet. My thoughts confirmed, as I hear Rachel excl
aim, “Hey I can see light!”
“You are out Rachel! I am just coming to get you.” I am kneeling beside her, helping her escape the last metre of the grey wall. My leg hurts but that is the least of my worries now.
“Thanks, I’m exhausted. What is this thing?”
“Well, nearest equivalent I can think of is, a giant slug. It seems to have same means of moving along, although thankfully it is not leaving a slimy trail. Are you alright?”
“I think so, just exhausted.”
I help Rachel stand up. “Let us see if we can find Anile.”
We separate and slowly follow the moving wall, keeping our eyes to the ground looking for any signs of Anile in his nail like state. I catch a glint on the ground to my right. Thinking it might just be some more debris, but hoping it is Anile.
I am delighted when I get closer, and realise that it is the top of Anile’s helmet. We are soon digging Anile out of the ground.
Anile, being Anile, simply says, “Well that was an experience. So you reckon a giant slug eh? I wonder what it eats?”
“Thankfully, not human beings in protective suits.” Rachel replies.
We gather up the unbroken equipment and supplies. I am so hot that I just have to take off my helmet.
“Don’t do that, there is no telling what….”
I interrupt Rachel saying, “If I don’t I will explode, I am so hot! I wipe my forehead with my hand and shake off the sweat.”
Although somewhat quiet and rather muffled, I hear Rachel exclaim, “Er gross!”
Anile’s voice is also somewhat muffled by his helmet, as he says, “I don’t think it is advisable to take off your helmet, the air is breathable, but what we don’t know is if there are any harmful bacteria or other such nasty’s.”
It seems strange to hear a scientist using the phrase ‘nasty’s’. Whilst Anile is perfectly right, there was no way I could put up with the heat any longer. I feel like I would collapse.
The air has a faint metallic tang to it, there is something else, but I cannot think of the words to describe it, kind of a musky smell, possibly something lingering on from the visit the giant slug.
I should be worried by Anile’s comments, but the coolness is refreshing, so refreshing it is a pleasure that takes away any concerns. This is unlike me, I would normally have talked myself out of any notion of taking protective gear off long before actually attempting to do it. I listen, expecting to hear something, but nothing, not a single sound. What was I expecting to hear?