Chapter 9
Carolina doodled on her notepad, eyes innocent as she drew. “They came here for safety,” Carolina said. When she realized everyone was staring at her she set her marker pen down and lowered her head. She went from comfortable to very uncomfortable with a slouch of her shoulders.
“What do you mean?” Dmitry asked.
Carolina looked at her drawing and crumpled up the paper, tossing it and glaring at the empty desk. Dublin and Dmitry shared a look. The kid knew things, they just didn’t know how.
“Do you at least know which way the parasite went?” Orlean asked Carolina. She pursed her lips and hid behind her hair. Austin was ready to say something when Dmitry changed the subject.
“Orlean was able to scan behind this wall over here, we know for sure that there’s a hallway behind this wall and that there’s a second floor underneath this one,” Dmitry said, pointing across the lobby. Austin put an arm around Carolina. He hated having her here. This was a mistake. But being at the quadrohuts was a worse mistake.
Dmitry and Dublin peered in front of three hallways, judging them without anything to judge by. The hallway in the middle had a red glow of light, the others were much darker. “This way,” Dmitry said, choosing the hallway in the middle. The red glow in the hallway saturated their suits, making everyone a shade of crimson as Austin followed behind next to Carolina. As he walked he saw a few patterns in the wall emerge, decorative squares, and then a long narrow plate for ventilation. They had not traveled very far when the lights went black, and he couldn’t see his hand in front of him. Just as Austin went to activate the flashlight on his suit, the red lights came back on. Everyone looked around, secretly expecting to see something terrible appear, thankful it had not. “It’s just a little light, guys, use your personal flashlights if it makes you feel better,” Dmitry said.
The hallway arched slowly in, warping the ambient sounds resonating through this place. As they crept deeper inside, the floor lowered a half step. Austin noticed what looked like water damage lining the walls about three centimeters off the floor, as if this section suffered a flood previously. The floors were still polished and smooth except in places were debris formed piles. Everything was also decades old by any standard Austin could determine. Dmitry slowed as they came upon a smooth and very thin round crate, he stopped and studied it. It was empty, and after two more crates he quit slowing the team to inspect them. The hallway finally came to an anticlimactic end and a gaping elevator waited. It was two and a half meters tall and wider than any elevator he had seen. Dmitry traded a glance with Dublin. “Where to?”
“Thinkin’ we could backtrack, try the other hallways,” Dublin said. Dmitry looked at the elevator and took a long moment. He was too intrigued to just turn around. He stepped inside, a subtle test as if he were still unsure about it. When he came inside the elevator turned on. Lights beamed from buttons on the key panel and he heard overhead motors warming up.
“Let’s stay together,” Dmitry said. All of them boarded, and waited, wondering how to make it activate.
Dublin stared at a panel of foreign symbols, wondering which one to press and how. After a reassuring glance around he pressed the first button and watched the floor level rise and seal them inside. Austin felt his stomach twisting as the motors moaned, sounding like they could break and drop the elevator at any moment. Carolina’s knuckles were squeezed white, though he couldn’t tell if it was him or if it was her squeezing. He looked down at her, she simply waited unafraid. Yep, it was him. He gave her a smile and a wink, a timid effort to reassure, and suddenly the elevator jolted to a halt. Thank goodness, Austin sighed to himself.
Steam drifted up through a vent in the floor. The first thing Austin noticed was the heat. Warm air blanketed his face and neck, it was inescapably ten degrees hotter here. Dmitry stepped off, studying their surroundings. The elevator had led them down to a new hallway, though very different from the one above them in the sense that everything down here looked somehow more unfriendly. With their presence the hallway turned on; lights activated, fans spun and ventilated the air. A sharp pop of electricity shot out from the ceiling. Austin waited until he and Carolina were last before disembarking the elevator, keeping her close. He liked the floor above them much more than this one already.
A few meters down the hallway and they came across double rooms on either side. They had oval doors and some kind of plastic glass for viewing inside. Orlean examined one of the windows with his prosthetic arm. “It’s a type of plastic, basically,” he said as if having read Austin’s mind. Many of the windows had cracked, some had hefty steel bars over them. Austin instantly longed to be back on the floor above. The overall tone or feel of that floor was almost inviting, whereas he did not like the feel of this place. Whatever this floor was used for, it did not match the warmth of décor they saw up above.
“Jus’ look how much dust is down here, and it’s hotter than hell,” Dublin hacked.
“How is this place still running?” Athen wondered. Large fans whirred in the ceilings above them, struggling, but working nonetheless. Between the fans, the lights, and not to mention the energy field that almost killed them, it was clear that this place was running on more than a backup generator. It had an active, capable energy source somewhere.
“Orlean, you’re watching for death traps right?”
“Yes Austin, so far so good. I’m surprised I didn’t notice that energy fence the first time but it won’t happen again,” Orlean said.
Orlean stood in front of a terminal sticking out of the wall. It had several slots like data ports, but they were shaped in ways unfamiliar to him. He could see Orlean trying to imagine a way to dock his prosthetic arm with it. Helena studied her sidepiece, a small device that read off of Orlean’s prosthetic mini-lab.
“There is way more energy being used on this floor than just the lights,” Helena said.
“Like radiation energy?” Dmitry asked, conscious of contamination.
“Sensors?” Austin followed.
“Maybe,” Orlean said looking down to the screen on his forearm. He studied for a few moments making small tsk sounds with the end of his tongue, something he did when thinking. “It’s not leaking energy, not like a faulty reactor. It’s deliberate. My best guess is some kind of security system.”
“Like the one we ran into earlier?” Austin said.
“Sure, maybe, hard to tell. Maybe I’m getting interference from the actual planet, my sensors aren’t acting right.”
“A solar panel array could bring in this much electricity, but we certainly would have noticed that,” Austin said.
“It’s alien technology, maybe they are using something completely unknown to us,” Athen answered. She wasn’t just speculating, she was hoping. Getting a chance to study new technology would be a dream for any scientist. But they already had more questions than they would have answers for in the weeks remaining before departure. As Austin contemplated these things he realized there was something organic in this room. He looked through the window, shining his flashlight inside. On a table in this room were beakers and vials full of murky water, and inside them were dead specimens.
“Guys,” he said. Dublin peered over his shoulder. “I’ve got fish in this room,” Austin said.
“Alive or dead?” Dmitry asked. He stood in the doorway of the room next to Austin.
“What?” Austin asked. “Dead obviously. What have you got?”
“Aquatic organisms, and they are definitely alive,” Dmitry said.
“Impossible,” Austin said jetting over to the other room. They all huddled over Dmitry’s shoulders, peering past him at the table that was lined end to end with specimen jars. One of the jars, round and squat, had a swimming creature with triangular gills and long antennas on its head and belly. It looked like nothing Austin had ever seen on Earth. It floated lethargically through the g
rey murky water until Dmitry got closer to it, then it swam in fast tight bursts.
“How long has this creature been here? This place must have been abandoned for decades at least, right?” Athen asked.
“At minimum… ten years based on the age of the debris. Probably closer to fifty.”
“These rooms were for experiments, obviously, look at all the equipment and the way the specimens are laid out on the table,” Dmitry said. He looked at Carolina. “Do you know what these are?”
“No,” she said. Dmitry considered her for a moment.
“Orlean, document everything you can in sixty seconds. We need to move ahead if we are going to catch that parasite, we’ll have to come back to these rooms later.”
“Let’s go Orlean,” Athen said, sixty seconds later, pulling him and Helena away. It was like dragging a bear from its nest but reluctantly Orlean came.
And it was just as well that they moved on, the experiments in each room continued to astound. Orlean snapped pictures of each one. Some lived, most were dead, and they were getting bigger. All were aquatic organisms. By the fifth door Dmitry halted, staring in awe at a giant hole in the wall. If they had brought a bulldozer down here and drove it through the wall, it would look like this. Orlean snapped a photo and then scanned the wreckage.
“What could have done this? These walls are concrete thick,” Athen asked.
“Daddy, let’s go back,” Carolina said, tugging on Austin’s hand. Austin looked down at her.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“… nothing.”
“We still could use your help, Carolina, if you remember anything else. It could really help us,” Dmitry said.
“But I don’t know anything,” Carolina said with a slump. Austin looked at her, and then down the hallway. He considered for just a moment heading back to the quadrohuts, just him and her, but the thought of encountering the parasite along the way kept him from going. They were still safest in a group.
Dublin stepped over the rubble that had spilled out on the floor and took a closer look at the first hole, studying what might have broken through the wall. Orlean scanned a portion with different filters until one of the composite layers revealed what looked like claw marks on the ceiling and walls. He showed it to Helena, who gulped.
“Must have been some kind of accident in this room,” Austin said.
“Some accident,” Orlean said.
“Come on, we need to keep moving,” Dmitry said. “This is the end, let’s go back to the elevator. Orlean?”
“There is another level, beneath this one,” Orlean said, scanning with his artificial limb.
“Daddy?”
Austin looked down at her. He didn’t have a name to describe what was suddenly different about her, but it was the first time in hours that it sounded like Carolina. If he wasn’t worried before, he was now. “Maybe Carolina and I should go back,” Austin said.
“Dat’ isn’t happening, I’m thinkin’ you should be where we can see you,” Dublin said, crossing his arms.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, Carolina, and if you remembered something, it might keep us safe,” Dmitry said.
She looked down at her feet. She was uncomfortable, which made Austin uncomfortable. He didn’t know what to do with her, except to leave and go back to the huts, but he was afraid of making himself the outcast again. He wondered now if coming down here was another mistake, one in the line of many. He wished he had all the answers.
“We will be okay, kiddo, nothing to worry about. There are lots of us and only one of them,” Austin said. Carolina nodded. Dmitry said nothing, he quietly observed, waiting patiently. After examining the hallway they all circled back and boarded the elevator waiting for them at the end of the hall. The elevator creaked and moaned with the weight of all seven of them, and when the motors began to whir something sounded very wrong. Austin felt the cables giving way.
“Off the bloody elevator, now!” Dublin ordered.
Before he could move, a cable partially snapped, tilting the elevator to one side. A wave of shrieks flew from their mouths. Orlean was closest to the door and tried to get off when the elevator fell. The doorway disappeared up and Orlean’s prosthetic limb was ripped off with it.
A weightless terror filled Austin’s throat as the elevator fell, scraping and rocking as it bounced down the shaft tearing cables and snapping pieces. Shouts of terror were drowned in the clutter of noise, and for a moment Austin thought this was it. This is the end. He looked down at Carolina.
It only took three seconds to land but the crash rang hard. Austin was conscious and laying on his back. He had been braced against the elevator wall, him and Carolina both, so that the force of the impact would dissipate at an angle. He didn’t know if he was hurt or not, but that wasn’t the first thing on his mind. Fumbling to sit up, he found Carolina and melted in relief that she was breathing, eyes open, and seemingly unharmed. Slowly Dublin picked himself up and helped Dmitry up too. Helena was bleeding from her head, and Orlean was missing his artificial arm.
“Damn it!” Orlean cursed, holding the stump of his left arm. “It’s up on the second floor, I’ve got to get it back… can we find a way back up there??” Orlean looked up as if he could see through the ceiling. Without his prosthetic he wasn’t a scientist, he was just a disabled man.
“Jus’ be grateful, it could’ve been worse, for all of us,” Dublin said.
“Oww…” Helena groaned. Dmitry was trying to apply pressure to her scalp to stop the bleeding.
“You hit your head pretty hard,” Dmitry said examining Helena.
“I don’t feel so good,” she said. Helena struggled to her feet, stabilizing herself against the warped elevator wall.
“Guys, I’m stuck,” Athen said.
Austin looked over at her and almost gagged. A thin piece of steel was sticking through her thigh, covered red and leaking into a pool of blood under her leg. Dmitry knelt next to her.
“Just stay put for a moment, Athen,” Dmitry said with calm bedside manner. She looked down and stared at her leg in frustration.
“Well… how bad is it?” she asked.
“Not bad,” Dmitry said removing his belt. He wrapped it around her upper left thigh and applied it as a tourniquet. He motioned at Dublin, who scrambled through the medical bag until he displayed a small syringe.
“I’m giving you a little something for the pain,” Dmitry said.
“I don’t feel anything,” Athen said.
“You don’t feel anything yet because you’re in shock. This will make sure you don’t feel anything later as well,” he said and sank the needle into her arm. She looked away from him and tried not to cry. It wasn’t the pain that was causing her to tear up.
“Oh Athen,” Helena said, mouth open. Orlean sat next to her, looking for a way to help.
“Easy now lass, we’ll get you patched up,” Dublin said. She and Dublin were close, and not just because she was the other engineer on the crew. They had been teammates long enough to know each other’s habits and read each other’s thoughts. A gesture with a tool or a shrug was all the dialogue they needed.
Dmitry whispered in Dublin’s ear. “It’s too close to the artery. We need to cut this loose without taking it out, if the rod comes free she could bleed out,” he said.
“I can hear you, you don’t have to whisper,” Athen said, her words already slurred from the effects of the drug.
“We need to get back up there!” Orlean said again.
“Relax, Orlean,” Dmitry said as Dublin went to work cutting the steel rod loose. Athen looked away as the effects of the drug came through. “The steel rod is safer in your leg than out of your leg right now,” Dmitry said. When they were back to the quads Dmitry would be able to remove it safely. “We’re three floors down now, shouldn’t be hard to find a way back up, then we can retrieve your a
rtificial arm,” Dmitry said, responding to Orlean now. Athen leaned forward to sit up and Dublin planted her in place with his hand.
Dmitry gazed out at their surroundings, and wiped a layer of heat induced sweat from his brow. Where he was looked like the inside of a shoebox with stairs on the left leading down. The noise down here was different too. It was full ambient silence, like the bottom air shaft of a super complex. Empty and hollow sounding but you had to raise your voice to be heard.
“But how are we going to get back up?” Orlean asked.
“Tell me we aren’t still going to look for the creature? Would it even have come down here?” Athen asked.
“Dmitry, Athen’s hurt, we need to focus on getting her out of here,” Austin said.
“Sure, of course,” Dmitry said. “But we won’t be taking the elevator. Also, someone has to stay here with Athen,” he said. “Not you, Dublin, this place is falling apart and I may need your tools. Austin, I’ll need you too. We don’t have a way to scan for traps, I’ll need a third pair of hands in case one of us get hurt.”
“We just need to find my arm,” Orlean said subconsciously rubbing his stump.
“I’ll stay,” Helena volunteered. Austin wished he had volunteered. It was probably safer here with Athen than with Dmitry.
“I’ll stay too, with that thing running around they may need my help,” Orlean said. And it was unspoken but Orlean’s greatest contribution was his prosthetic arm. Without that he was added weight.
Austin swallowed. This was not good. Athen was hurt, Orlean’s prosthetic was missing, they had no idea where they were or how to get back, and now the team was splitting up. And of course there was the parasite, its whereabouts unknown. Austin knew the worst thing to do in a bad situation was to panic. But what was the best thing to do? Austin rubbed his head. They couldn’t have fallen more than ten meters, but the jolt still felt like the inside of a giant bell. The crash was so loud that if the parasite was nearby it certainly would have heard. Would it come after them again, or was it after something else?
“You okay kiddo?” Austin asked Carolina.
“I’m okay. We should go down those stairs. I really want to. Athen will be fine.”
Austin winced, though he didn’t mean to. He thought he saw it before, but he knew he saw it now. Something wasn’t right. It wasn’t that Carolina wanted to go down those stairs, she needed to go down them, and the Carolina he knew, would only want to go back. She didn’t sound like herself, and she didn’t act like herself, and Austin couldn’t ignore it anymore. What he would do about it though, he had no idea.
“Carolina, you better stay here too,” he said.
End of Paphos Part 1.
See what happens next when Paphos Part 2 is released this September!
Thank you for reading!
[email protected] Other books by N.R. Burnette:
Cargo Lock 5, best selling science fiction crime thriller
Kenji, a god of war fantasy novel
The Complete Paphos Series
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