Transient Echoes (7 page)

Travis smiled and nodded. “Which is why we should absolutely take it home with us.”

John arched his brow. “Come again?”

“Travis, don’t be ridiculous,” said Mei.

“Why not? We know he’s docile. Look at his face.”

She did and saw a vacant expression and a mouthful of grass. “I don’t think so. We have enough to worry about without having to take care of a wild animal.”

John scoffed. “Besides, you’re only doing this because you wanna impress your girlfriend.”

Travis ignored the jab. “Doctor Curie, think about this for a second. We’re doing all this work with the coil and the excavation, but the board is still on your ass to deliver more research. I could send an invitation to the biologist at Salamander to see if he’s still interested in these animals. If he is, our outpost suddenly gains an extra project and an added scientist, one with some weight behind his name. It isn’t much, but it could help in the long run.”

“What’s this biologist’s name?” asked John.

Travis snagged his pad from his pack. “Hang on,” he said, searching. “Doctor Christopher Tabata. He’s a medical doctor…volunteered to work in the slums for…geez, twelve years. Did that until he got reassigned to Central where he…”

“What?” asked Mei.

“It says he got offered a job on the board,” said Travis.

“There’s no one on the board named Tabata,” said Mei.

“Yeah, he turned it down. It doesn’t say why. But this was before the Second Jolt. As soon as the outposts went up, he moved to Salamander. It says he’s the resident physician there.”

“Tabata,” muttered Mei. “And you think he’d say yes?”

Travis shrugged. “It couldn’t hurt to ask him.”

Mei knew Travis was only trying to do this in order to impress Zoe, but in doing so, he’d brought up a good point about Tabata. If the board liked this guy enough to offer him a seat, he could prove to be a valuable asset, even an ally. Mei would have to do her own research first, but she could certainly see the value in Travis’s proposition.

“Ma’am? How about it?” asked Travis.

“If you do this, you have to take care of it,” said Mei. “I’m talking about building a pen, feeding it, cleaning up after it. Do you understand?”

“Sure, I can do that.”

Mei held up her finger. “I’m serious, Travis.”

“Okay, I promise,” he said.

John laughed. “Looks like your mom said you can keep it. Isn’t that awesome?” He gave Travis a pat on the back. “Congrats, buddy. You deserve it.”

******

Ortego Reconstruction Outpost

April 21, 2350

“
What do we have?” asked Mei, staring at Zoe in anticipation. “Did they find anything? Is it stable?”

Zoe took a moment to answer. She was busy monitoring the flippies’ feeds as they traversed the newly uncovered sub-basement of the former Ortego building. “One sec.”

Mei fidgeted, tapping her thigh as she waited for answers. The flippies found the path to the basement less than an hour ago. This was expected, given the daily scans and a fundamental understanding of the building’s architecture, but there was no telling what awaited them beyond this point. Mei’s scans were limited in range to twenty meters, making them useless for anything long range, given how the basement actually extended several hundred meters below the surface.

She tried to manage her expectations. There was a solid chance most of the underground compartments were crushed or destroyed, which might mean weeks of tedious work clearing the path even more than they already had. For all she knew, this could be the end of her mission altogether. Only Zoe and the flippies could reveal the truth.

“It’s so dark under there,” said Zoe. “I had to turn their night vision on.”

“So you can see now?” asked Mei.

“Sort of. There’s still stuff in the way. Morty’s doing a scan right now to see how bad it is.”

After a few minutes, the monitor dinged, and Zoe read the report. “Okay, looks like five meters of collapsed hallway directly ahead.”

“Anything else?” asked Mei.

“Not yet, but we won’t know until we’re farther in.”

“How far can the flippies go before you have to pull them out?” asked Mei.

“You mean before the signal fades and I can’t reach them anymore? Not much longer. The piles of FlexCrete between us and the flippies doesn’t make it easy.”

“Start clearing the hall, then. We need to be able to walk down there.”

Zoe nodded. “You got it.”

“How long will it take?” asked Mei.

Zoe mouthed some numbers as she did the math in her head. “Two hours. Probably.”

“You don’t sound very sure.”

“Two hours,” she repeated, this time with more confidence. “No worries.”

“Okay.”

“You might wanna call Travis, too. He should probably be here in case there’s a problem with the flippies.”

Mei nodded. “Alright, if you think we need him.”

“I’m adequate at this, but Travis is the one who built the little bastards. If anything goes wrong down there, we’ll need him nearby.”

Mei agreed and made the call. When Travis answered, he was already talking to somebody else. “Go right ahead and see what happens,” he barked. “But I’m telling you, if you don’t use a better coolant, the coil’s gonna fry itself. Hey! You listening to me?”

“Don’t you have a goat to feed?” asked Bart.

“He’s a kitobora, not a goat!” yelled Travis.

“Looks like one to me.”

“Because you’re an idiot!”

“Hey!” shouted Mei. “Will you two stop bickering like a couple of children? You’re giving me a headache.”

“Oh, uh, sorry, Doctor Curie. I thought it was Zoe calling.”

“Nope, just me. I need you to drive here immediately. We accessed the basement and you need to be around in case the flippies get crushed by a collapsed wall and need fixing.”

“Whoa, seriously?” The frustration in his voice was instantly gone. “When did you guys reach the basement? Did you find anything yet? What’s the scoop?”

“What’s up? Did they hit the bottom level?” asked Bart.

“Hang on. I’m asking,” said Travis.

“Tell her I wanna go with you,” said Bart.

“Stop nagging me.”

Mei sighed. “Both of you can come, but you need to get moving. I’d like to start as soon as the flippies clear a hallway.”

“We’ll leave right away,” said Travis, frantically. “Hurry, Bart. We gotta go.”

“Fine, but I’m driving,” he said.

******

Unknown

April 21, 2350

Terry managed in a matter of days to map dozens of tunnels near the opening passage in the underground complex. Since his discovery of the bunks and the storage rooms, he’d also found many empty ones, a few half-completed tunnels, and what he could only assume was a mess hall.

Today Terry was going to travel farther through the main tunnel. He’d ignore the side passages for a while. He needed to know precisely how deep this particular rabbit hole went.

It became clear the tunnel was long, branching into hundreds of smaller paths along the way. It must lead somewhere, surely. Why else would they have built it? Terry could only guess.

He followed the path for hours. It curved and bent multiple times, pulling him deeper into the earth. How far would he go before turning back? It wasn’t as though he had anywhere to be, but spending a few days underground didn’t sound very appealing.

Late into the afternoon, right before he was about to head home, the massive tunnel opened into a large and daunting auditorium filled with dozens of round and rectangular tables, as well as hundreds of chairs.

“I guess this is it,” he said, casually moving between two of the larger countertops. There was a tall metallic door at the other end of the room, sitting atop a raised platform. The foundation appeared to be made of a different metal than the rest of the floor. As he stepped onto it, he heard a loud thud, as though the platform were hollow.

The actual door had several symbols carved into it, though Terry couldn’t make out what they were. He thought maybe they were a kind of writing, like Egyptian hieroglyphics. He touched the images, feeling the depth of the curves.

He’d never found anything like this in the domes. Whatever this was, it seemed to be unique.

Terry felt for the crack between the metal and stone, bent his knees and pulled.

It didn’t move. He’d have to concentrate for this one. Call on his strength.

Time to shine, big brother,
said Janice. A light giggle echoed through his mind.

He closed his eyes and quickened his breathing to get his heart to beat faster. A short moment later, the heat in his chest swelled, as though his blood was boiling. When he opened his eyes, the room was slightly brighter, and he felt the urge to move.

Terry gripped the side of the door again, but this time when he tugged, it opened. He slid the block of metal like a piece of hollow wood. Once the door was wide enough to enter, he closed his eyes and calmed himself.

Don’t overdo it,
said Janice.

Terry stepped through the massive doorway into the next room. The place was at least three times as wide as the tunnel had been, and twice as tall. There were machines nearby, covered in dust but largely untouched. He slid his finger along the casing of the nearest one, which he assumed must be some kind of computer, and found it to be quite cold. The consoles were littered with buttons and panels.

Looking around the facility, he spotted another archway, although it had no door. He walked through, more curious by the second. Inside were several more machines, many of which were double the size of the rest. His eyes passed over them, following the path of the room, and he saw it.

To his surprise, a tall circular object loomed near the far end, dwarfing everything nearby. Mostly hollow, a thick outer layer of black metal enveloped a raised platform. It looked like a giant ring.

What is it?
asked Janice.

Terry’s first reaction was to say he didn’t know, but a thought occurred.
Could this be another gate?
The facility certainly reminded him of the one Ortego had built. Was it possible they’d made another?

No. He’d seen the vid where the scientists turned the machine on. They all died immediately, completely unaware of what they created. This world had Variant in it, so there was no way they could have come here themselves. It had to be someone else.

Maybe the aliens did it,
said Janice.

Terry ignored her. The domes he’d found before had all been simple buildings with crude furniture in them. There were no signs of advanced technology at all. No electronics, vehicles, or anything to indicate these people knew how to build a bridge between worlds.

None of it made any sense.

He walked along the ramp leading to the empty ring, passing through to the other side of the platform. If this really was a gate, maybe he could discover how to use it.

Terry set his pack by the room’s entrance and went to the largest console he could find. He sat in the chair behind it and swept the dust with the heel of his palm, gathering a coat of grime and wiping it on the side of his seat. It could take him a lifetime to figure out this technology, maybe longer. Where would he even start? He doubted the computers were anything like the kind back home. Where was Mei when he needed her?

Terry stared at the console, debating whether to press the buttons or to leave well enough alone. After several minutes of sitting in the dark, he shrugged. “What the hell?” he whispered. “Can’t hurt.”

He flipped one of the dongle switches and waited. Nothing happened.

Do it again
, said Janice.

He did, but got no reaction. He pressed several buttons on the machine, flipped every switch he could find, and went to the next one and tried again. “Nothing,” he said. “The power must be dead.”

Stupid aliens
, said Janice.

A loud bang rang through the walls, vibrating the floor. Terry flinched and quickly turned around. He shot a look at the gate, uncertain. It didn’t move. Right then, another bang ran through the tunnel, only this time Terry could tell it was coming from the other end, somewhere back the way he came.

He could feel his heart racing. Something was happening outside. He’d have to leave for now…go check out this new disturbance. Could it be a lightning storm? Maybe an animal accidentally wandered into the cave. Either way, he had to make sure the door to this place was sealed. He couldn’t have a flood or a wild animal destroying anything, not so soon after he’d found it.

Terry ran through the first room and back into the hall. He turned and grabbed the side of the metal door, gathering his strength and pulling. The barrier slid along the floor, filling the ancient tunnel with a horrible, heavy noise before finally locking into place.

Wiping his dirty hands on his thighs, he paused and cursed. He’d forgotten his pack inside. “Dammit!” he snapped. He felt his side for the machete, letting out a sigh of relief when he found it. At least he didn’t have to worry about going out there unarmed.

Terry jogged through the empty tunnel. There was another explosive crackle, filling the space around him. Several others soon followed. Much to his surprise, each one was louder and more startling than the last.

It sounded like the end of the world.

Ch
ap
ter
5

Ortego Outpost File Logs

Play Audio File 302

To: Mei_Curie

From: Christopher_Tabata

Recorded: April 21, 2350

TABATA:
Dr. Curie, thank you very much for your letter regarding the kitobora you have in your possession. Rest assured I am very interested in visiting your facility.

It will take me a day or two to get approval from my superiors, but I expect no objections. My faculty here is more than capable without me, barring some disaster.

As for the trip itself, I’ll be staying a week with the possibility of an extension based on my findings. I trust you can make the living arrangements before I arrive.