Subterranean (7 page)

“AH!” He cried in pain, spinning over to look at Lisa.

She was still asleep, thankfully, but the HTS-500’s remained on his face.
Great, Brekka didn’t tell me how to take these stupid things off
, he thought as he imagined punching the tomboy Subterranean in the face. After he tried every method he could imagine, he at last gave up. Sitting on the chair with a bloodied tool in his hand and a throbbing pain coursing throughout his eyes, he decided to leave them on for the night.

“Okay, you win.” He said to the lenses, cursing himself for not being able to figure out how to remove them.
It’s probably something so simple
, he thought, picturing Rolan or Vale doing it in less than three seconds,
and you can’t even do it…
“Alright,” he whispered, “maybe I can at least get the radio working…”

He was certainly no technician, and he had little experience with radios, but he figured it was worth a shot to take a look at it anyway. Most of his skill set was based on logic, which meant he could apply a set way of thinking to almost anything and manage to get some sort of results. Even if the radio emitted a signal capable of contacting someone ten feet away, he’d be fine with that, at first. He wanted the radio to monitor communications between the Subterraneans; listening in on an unsuspecting conversation could bear some very revealing information. His target was Tural, since he was most likely to divulge something important over radio communication, but he would need to keep an eye, or ear rather, on Overseer Vale and Rolan, as well.

After tapping a few buttons and fiddling with the scarred exterior, he popped open the panel on the side using one of the surgical tools next to him and poked around in the circuitry, looking for anything that was detached or obstructed. Upon reconnecting a misplaced conductor, he heard the radio crackle to life and begin humming a sweet tone of willingness. He spun the knobs, trying a multitude of combinations until something worked.

Just then, a voice weakly crepitated out to him; it was a little girl talking to her father. Although he tuned in near the end of the conversation, Flynn could hear her words as she expressed a great deal of concern for something she referred to only as ‘it’, to which her father soothed her growing anxiety with warm words of comforting hope. It had no tactical or informational value, but Flynn listened in anyway with a smile. It was a welcomed reprieve to hear something innocent for a change within all the layers of intrigue the Subterraneans had wrapped him up in.

In a startling blink of reality, a sudden noise from the end of the room grabbed his attention, and then the door unexpectedly slid open, causing him to seize up in shock and hide his little secret in a frenetic fashion. Standing in the doorway, Overseer Vale glared at him with tightened eyelids, like shooting laser beams of distrust at him; her gaze pierced his heart and his insides went cold.

An Unexpected Visitor

“What is
that
, human?” Flynn’s hot, dry throat tightened and he swallowed hard at her question.

Stammering to come up with an excuse, he noticed the radio hadn’t made any noise yet. “It’s a… memento. I took it from the ship to remind me of better days. I wasn’t always a refugee from a planet under siege, you know.”

Surprisingly, she suppressed her urge to argue with him for taking a piece of his ship without permission, instead asking him a question. “What was your life like before it was ruined?”

Ruined
.

The word stung like a thousand wasps. It sought out the hope that hid within his heart and crushed it to bits. “Well, I wouldn’t say it’s
ruined
…”

“Why not? Do you like it here better?” Vale appeared to misunderstand him. In actuality, he was defending his own chances of returning to the way things used to be, but he admitted he did find the Subterranean world fascinating.

“Well… yes… and no.” He expected her to be confused, so he continued. “I couldn’t say one is better over the other. I like your world and its people because it’s different and you’re all… friendly… mostly… but I miss my world because it’s my home. However, in a way, I’m being the explorer I’ve always been.”

“You were an explorer?”

“Yeah. Well, sort of… an archaeologist.”

“Really? That sounds exciting. You must know a lot about your people’s history.” Her sudden interest was strange to Flynn, but appeared genuine, so he advanced, cautiously.

“If you’d like to know more, I’ll gladly tell you…”

A restrained smile infiltrated her stone face. “Yes.”

“If,” he paused and said the second half of the sentence with a sultry voice, “you tell me more about your planet.”

She nodded in formal agreement, oblivious to his charm. “That is fair.”

He spent nearly half an hour washing over her the tales of how his life used to be before the Ravager attack, always going off to distant places where he would spend more time with the bones of dead civilizations than with living people. He even shared with her how his younger sister dreaded every time he would leave her alone in the city while he dug up some old artifacts of a long forgotten society on the other side of the world.

“She hated the city. She was such an awkward girl. Pretty, but awkward. No one ever wanted to be around her because she wasn’t ‘fun’, though plenty of guys tried to take advantage of her.” He puffed his chest out. “I made sure that never happened.” A brief moment of silence droned by, “Although,” he sighed, “I was too protective of her. Every time I left, she didn’t know what to do with herself. I tried to help her be more social, but she was so afraid. Huh… like I’m a good example of a socialite.” His voice was thick with sarcasm and self-mockery, something he figured Vale didn’t understand.

“Was she ever welcomed in your society?” Vale’s concern caught Flynn completely off guard; he didn’t think she actually cared enough to ask. There had to be another angle.

“I don’t know. I was about to leave for another excavation site when she started crying. We got into an argument and… I… uh…” His lips froze, unwilling to cooperate with him. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. He wasn’t ready to share the rest of his story just yet.

“Is there something wrong, human?” Vale cocked her head, puzzled by his inability to speak.

“Can you help me get these off?” Flynn pointed to his HTS-500’s.

“Yes.” He could only see a green blur approach him through the tears welling up in his eyes. With a few quick movements using the tool Flynn gave her, she easily detached the lenses stuck to his face. She gently peeled them off his skin and saw water drip from the edges. “Why is there liquid in these?”

“I… don’t know…” Flynn said, hiding his face from her.

“There is more water dripping from your eyes. Are you injured?”

“No,” he lied. “I’m fine.”

“Okay.” She said, sensing the melancholy of his sorrow. “Can you take my lenses off?” She pulled closer to him. “It would be good practice.”

It was then that Flynn suddenly saw Vale in a romantic way, leering at her as she sat down in his lap while he carefully detached the lenses from her face with her guidance. However awkward the situation was, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t see her in a sexual way right from the start—he was a male, after all, and she was a female, despite being of another species she still had many similar features, aside from her blackened eyes that pierced his own and the narrow green skeletal plates on her forearms and shins—but now he seemed to appreciate her beauty even more so than before. Her body structure replicated that of an attractive woman and her skin was smooth to the touch.

That’s to say nothing of the comely features that shaped her face; she was nearly identical to a human save for a single spike that crept from her forehead going back across her scalp and ending in a wicked point that looked behind her. Still, he didn’t expect her to reciprocate any feelings he had for her; she hated him, or so he thought. It was precisely this line of questioning to himself that made him ask her why she came.

“Not that I mind the company,” he rubbed his fingers together nervously, “but why are you here?”

At first she appeared offended, but in seconds it turned to conciliation. “I was… simply curious… to see if you were okay.” She spoke as if fearfully treading on words. “I know the surface can be dangerous and you do not have much experience up there, so I thought you might be… injured.”

Flynn was confused; if he had a beard, he would’ve tugged at it in thought. Then he stopped himself; he was tired of thinking of everything so much, tired of suspecting everyone of knavery, even in a world where he had every reason to, so he just smiled at her. “Thanks.” He looked into her eyes. “What about you? Are you okay?”

Vale couldn’t suppress her grin at his concern, so she turned away to hide it from his view. “I am fine.” A few moments of sweet silence slinked by until she murmured something barely comprehensible, still avoiding his eyes. “Thank you.”

The sound of her voice kept a smile on Flynn’s face long after she’d left.

Chapter 6

The Dream

Despite how accommodating the Subterraneans had been, Flynn had no real place to live or sleep, so he curled up into a ball against a corner wall of the hospital room Lisa was staying in. He was thoroughly depleted of all energy required to maintain proper functioning, but a tornado swirled around in his mind still.

He faced no resistance falling asleep, it was quite easy in fact, however he was positive that dreams would visit him in his sleep, and they wouldn’t be pleasant.

He was right.

Yet, his imagined struggles against impossible forces pained him as if they were all too real. He stood witness to the ravaging of his planet, the terrified screams of fleeing people, the destruction of irreplaceable monuments to human ingenuity, and, worst of all, he remained untouched. He was an invulnerable spectator forced to watch as everything he once loved was destroyed without remorse in fulfillment of an unknown purpose.

Shifting unexpectedly to a new scene, his sickened head manufactured a revolting picture of the secret Tural was hiding: he was in league with the Ravagers. For all Flynn knew, Tural could be planning to trade him for protection or supplies. Maybe they actually were the Ravagers, but disguised! At first, he actually put stock in the idea that the Subterranean city and culture was just a phony façade to manipulate the last members of his proud species, but later dismissed it, as he knew his paranoia was beginning to get the better of him.

When he spun around, Lisa was no longer in bed, in fact it appeared as though she’d never been there. Then, Overseer Vale and Rolan entered the room and stared at him mindlessly before they both exploded, with those horrible clawed feet and hands of the Ravagers pushing their way out of the stretchy thin flesh of their fake hosts, and proceeded to attack Flynn, violently tearing him apart.

In an instant, he died alone, without anyone to miss him. No one to remember him. No one to wonder what happened to him. Seemingly forever trapped in a realm he couldn’t escape, his fear built tenfold until he was mercifully plucked from his troubled dreams.

“Whoa!” He drew a quick breath and shot up to a seated position, swiftly supporting his throbbing head with his hands.

Sleep would not be easy for a while, he thought. Lisa was still in bed and it sounded like most of the citizens in the city were still asleep. The hushed susurration originating from the radio was perhaps what woke him.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, they will not get you.”

“We will be okay?”

“I will make sure of it.”

The same father and daughter were talking once more over the radio about ‘them’. Flynn considered it weird that they communicated in such a manner, but tried not to judge them; he used a similar device when he was young, as well. Nevertheless, he wasn’t really in the mood to listen to their dialogue, so he turned off the device and collapsed onto the floor. The steady humming of the biometric monitoring machines attached to Lisa in the background lulled him to sleep again in no time.

Primal Hope

The rustling of careful movements softly roused him from his deep, dreamless slumber. His blurry eyes squinted on a figure standing over him, finally focusing on the face of Lisa.

“Good morning, sleepy head.” She said with a smile as she kneeled down in front of him, her head to one side and sliding her fingers along his skin.

Shortly after waking, he realized he was no longer wearing his armor that he’d fallen asleep in and couldn’t recall ever removing it. “Lisa.” He groaned over his grogginess and then took a deep breath. “Where are the rest of my clothes?”

“I took them off.” Her eyes studied his muscular physique. “I wanted you to be comfortable.”

The awkward situation seemed to be at its highest now; he didn’t know if he was detecting certain signals or if it was just a friend caring for a friend. “Oh… well, thanks.” He did confess to feeling more comfortable and evidently he slept better because he didn’t have a single dream. “Should I save you the work and sleep naked next time?”

She hummed in a sultry manner, her fingers placed contemplatively upon her lips. “Tempting…”

Flynn’s awkward smile stretched his face into something he himself would’ve laughed at. “I guess I’ll have to tread carefully, then.” After a short period of rest to regain full consciousness, he stood erect and stretched his body. “How’re you doing, Lisa?”

She looked over at him from the side. “Better now… I was lonely without you.”

“I’ll bet, who else is going to tell the jokes around here?”

“I know. It would be
so
boring without you.” She walked up to him and proceeded to rest herself on his shoulders. “Tell me, what did you learn about them?”

His face flushed red with hot blood; he wasn’t accustomed to having such a beautiful woman hanging on him. “I, uh… Well, they… I mean Rolan, uh; he told me some… stuff.”

“Something wrong, Flynn?” Her lips were inches away from his.

“Wrong? No, no, no, not at all.” He could scarcely say a single word without stuttering. “It’s just… I… need to get some fresh air. You want some fresh air? Let’s get some fresh air.” He peeled her off his shoulders and walked out the door to the railing overlooking the city.

“Okay, Flynn.” She followed behind him. “Now we have fresh air.” She paused and hoped her hint would be enough to continue the conversation.

He said nothing.

“Flynn!”

“Huh?!” He jumped up, startled. “What?!”

“What’s the matter with you?”

“Nothing, I’m just… thinking.”

In truth, he was. However, he didn’t make it clear that he was thinking about her. Lisa’s amorous advances made him feel incredibly uncomfortable. In a view of clinical detachment, he supposed it was probably just her clinging to something familiar in an environment where everything was different and intimidating. He wondered if it was him she was attracted to or simply the fact that he was a human male; something to comfort her and make her feel safe.

“Okay…” Lisa gazed out into the cityscape, so massive and thriving with life. She was definitely not a people person back on Earth, so she couldn’t help but feel afraid of it all. The fact that it was filled with thousands upon thousands of unpredictable aliens was perhaps the most frightening factor; her fear of the Subterraneans was almost as bad as her fear of danger.

Despite this, she was glad to have Flynn. Such a daunting task as exploring an alien city seemed like it was actually possible as long Flynn was there with her. She glanced at his handsome features and wondered why someone like him was broken up about a sister and not a girlfriend or wife. She smiled every time his eyes met hers, wondering if he felt the same about her.

“There’s a whole city right there in front of us, and we’ve only explored a fraction of it.” His eyes were star struck by the bustle and lights, like a new place filled with mysteries waiting to be uncovered. “Shall we?” He arched an inviting brow and stared at her searchingly.

She looked into Flynn’s eyes and somehow found the courage to say yes.

“I’d love to.”

They went back into the hospital room where Lisa hummed happily as they prepared themselves to appear more decent. In the corner of her eye, she spied Flynn stowing his radio away where it wouldn’t be found by wandering souls.

“What’s that?” She pointed to the device in his hands.

“This is… uh…” He confronted the strange security of trust he could place within her. “It’s a radio I got from our ship.”

“Really?! Does it work?!” She clapped her fists together in excitement.

He put a finger over his mouth to quiet her. “We’re not supposed to have this.”

“You stole it?” Her hushed tone thickened with accusation.

“No! I didn’t steal it!” He snatched his risen voice and quickly muffled it. “I mean, it was ours to begin with, remember?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry.” She came closer to the radio. “So, what should we do with it?”

“I don’t know,” he shook his head, “I’ve been trying to listen in on Tural’s communications, but all I get are these two voices I’ve never heard before. They sound like a father and daughter.”

“Cute.”

He smiled mockingly back at her. “Let’s just go walk around the city. I need to take my mind off things for a while.”

Flynn threw on a simple garb made of thick wooly cloth the Subterraneans had loaned him, while Lisa figured out the best way to dress herself with her own clothes.

“It doesn’t need to be perfect, Lisa.” He sat on the chair, watching her mix and match the different layers that she’d fled Earth with. Somehow, all of
her
clothes were accounted for.

She cleared her throat, holding another shirt in her hands. “Do you mind?”

“What?”

“I want to change.”

“Oh, right… Yes. I mean no! I mean, I’ll leave.” He left the room, cursing his embarrassing behavior.

It took her a while, but when she was done, she called him back in. “What do you think?”

“You look beautiful.” The words dripped from his stunned mouth; she was even more attractive than earlier.

Flynn’s eyes widened and his breath sharpened when Lisa stretched her young body. She moaned at the cracks and pops that reverberated along her muscles and then looked down at her bouncing breasts. He tried to maintain control of himself, but it wasn’t easy, especially when she brought one of her legs up to stretch, uncovering a section of a very sensitive region.

“Ready?” She smiled warmly at him in question.

“Almost.”

He sat down and waited; he wasn’t going anywhere for a couple minutes.

Exploration

Flynn had finally reduced his enthrallment to an acceptable level for travel, mostly by using all of the pent up guilt and rage festering within him to undermine the effects Lisa had on him.

Once they were ready to leave, they began their tour around the city. Flynn directed them as they crossed streets and strolled casually down the walkways, marveling at the grandeur of the underground civilization. Lisa had hooked her arm around his so she wouldn’t separate from him and get lost, which Flynn admitted was a very serene feeling.

He spoke to her comfortably, telling her everything he’d learned and experienced so far, all the while she listened and nodded her head with a smile. She agreed there was something strange about the Subterraneans, however she said they shouldn’t go snooping around too much, for fear they might get caught and ruin the situation.

“We’re not even sure what it is they’re hiding. Maybe it has nothing to do with us.”

Flynn wasn’t convinced. Radovan, the scientist, felt the secret was important enough to share, and Vale, Rolan, and Tural all had their instances of hushed words exchanged around him. He tried to push the issue further, but Lisa lost interest in the conversation and her short attention span unearthed itself.

“Look at that, it’s beautiful!” She pointed to a tree, something Flynn hadn’t seen since he left Earth. This fragile excerpt of nature was probably deemed a sacred piece of the planets history, if what Rolan said was true. It might even be the last known tree from when the Subterranean civilization was at its peak.

“I heard the whole surface used to be covered in trees.” Flynn said, remembering the story Rolan told him outside the beast den.

“Really? That must’ve been so long ago.” She met his eyes. “What happened?”

“I tried asking Rolan, one of the officers, but he couldn’t tell me.”

“Maybe he needs some time.”

“Maybe… I don’t know.” He recognized a natural bridge he passed when he first journeyed through the city alone. “But I
do
know where we can get some answers now.”

“Wait, I thought you said you wanted to take your mind off of things… Whoa!”

Without explaining, Flynn pulled Lisa by the hand as they crossed the rocky bridge and ran down a couple streets to a large rectangular building, the roof of it cresting to a rounded point at the top.

“What is this place?” She asked, awing at its secluded importance.