Subterranean (8 page)

“A Subterranean research facility.” He started towards the doors with Lisa in tow. “Come on, I know someone who might give us some answers.”

A New Lead

Inside the facility, Flynn and Lisa wandered the sterile white halls filled with desks covered in disorganized laboratory equipment and once again were able to navigate their surroundings in complete anonymity; Flynn didn’t know whether to feel happy or insulted that the scientists wouldn’t even bother to address the visitors for fear of wasting precious research time.

After a few minutes of searching, they found the experiment involving the planet’s crust that Flynn saw the first time. Sitting with his eyes glued to a lens was the familiar face he sought.

“Doctor Radovan.” Flynn carried a confident smile, glad to see the light of his white coat.

“What, what, what?!” He planted a hand on his forehead in disdain. “What is it this time?!”

“Good to see you, too, Radovan.”

Radovan turned around and stood fully upright, stretching his chest and filling it with air while he clenched most of his muscles to inflate them with blood; he was big, even for a Subterranean.

“Did you not bother me enough the first time, human?” He shifted his eyes to Lisa. “And you brought your friend. Wonderful! Will you not let me work in peace?!”

“Hey, whoa, calm down, Radovan.” He took a step back, afraid he might actually harm him. “I just have some questions.”

“Yes, of course, I wonder if there is anything
else
you can offer me besides more inane questions!” His frustrated voice sounded far more booming than his normal scientific detachment.

“I have a question about Tural.”

“Congratulations.”

“Please, Radovan, I know you want to figure out what he’s hiding as much as I do.”

“Be silent! Have you no sense of discretion?!” He suddenly noticed the other scientists staring at him, and then he sighed deeply, dropping his utensils on the table. Interlacing his fingers, he leaned back and spoke in a cool and collected voice. “Alright, human… What is it?”

“Has Tural told you about what happened on the surface?”

“I read the reports.”

“Reports?” Flynn scratched his head; they were more organized than he thought. “That was fast.”

“Yes, yes, what of it?”

“Some strange things happened up there… Overseer Vale seemed determined to get her hands on something specific from my ship. Something for Tural, I think.” He drifted off to introspection for a moment. “Do you know what it could be?”

His voice thickened with annoyance. “If I knew that, human, I would have told you by now.”

Flynn crossed his arms. “I think I know someone who can tell us.”

“If you mean Tural, then no, he will not tell you.”

Flynn turned to leave, beckoning Lisa to follow. “Well, I won’t know unless I try.”

Radovan clenched his fists; he knew he was being manipulated. The last thing he wanted was Flynn spouting his name to Tural, especially since he’s been known to question Tural’s decisions long before Flynn ever visited the planet.

“Human! Wait!” Flynn kept walking. “…Flynn!” He called out desperately.

He stopped in his tracks and turned around. “Yes?”

“Before you make things worse, I have an idea.” He was tempted to clobber Flynn’s smug face as he and Lisa returned.

“What might that be?”

He weighed the consequences of his next words rapidly in his head. From this point on, he knew there was no turning back… but he wasn’t sure he had a choice.

“There is a restricted area near the old storage hangars.” He said calmly. “Being someone of relative importance in this society, I have full access to every area in the city; every area except for that one location.” He sat down in his chair and leaned back. “On several occasions, I have seen only two others gain access to that area. Upon questioning them, they revealed no information. Therefore, I questioned Tural to observe his response.”

Flynn hung on his pause, practically groveling for the second piece of the puzzle. “And?”

“Nothing. In fact, he warned me that inquiring further would be a mistake.”

“Sounds like he really wants to hide that place. Even from you.” He leaned on the desk. “Any idea what it is?”

“No.”

“So, that’s what you meant when you said he was hiding something?”

“Yes.”

“And this… ‘idea’ of yours? I’m guessing it involves me ‘stumbling’ into the restricted area to learn more?”

“Somewhat.” He picked up a tiny round device and handed it to Flynn. “This is an auto-decryption key. Use it on any door you find in there and it will open.”

He described the restricted area to them as detailed as he could; a hidden bend near the old storage hangars that lead to a tunnel. He mentioned the few guards that patrolled the area and recommended avoiding them at all costs. It would not be easy to explain should he be spotted, and it would be even more difficult should he try to incapacitate one of them.

“This sounds dangerous…” Flynn said, wrestling with the uneasy feeling that filled his heart.

“I assure you it most likely is.”

“Thanks…” He retorted with a weak grin.

This was his only chance of getting back to Earth, his only chance of saving his sister. If Tural was hiding even the slightest bit of hope from him, he wanted to know what it was and why. Faced with a situation that promised a dark storm whether it was successful or not, he swallowed his uncertainty and accepted it.

“Got it, anything else?”

“No, return to me once you have learned more.” He went back to looking at his research through his lenses. “Now leave me, I am twenty minutes behind schedule.”

“Right…” Gripping the decryption key in his hand, Flynn beckoned Lisa over to him, who had been distracted by one of the other scientists performing an experiment. He held the round device in his hands like an answer to all of their problems, an object of enormous power, and smiled at her.

“What’s that?” She asked innocently.

“Our ticket to Tural’s secrets.”

Chapter 7

Crossing Boundaries

Outside, after explaining the plan to Lisa, to which she regarded with anxiety, they made their way as inconspicuously as possible towards the restricted area based on the directions Radovan had given him.

At the entrance stood two guards with energy rifles, ever ready to defend that point with their lives if need be. Apparently there were half a dozen more inside patrolling the hallways, along with two Subterraneans, probably technicians, that had access to a hidden hangar within. It was one of the few places that had guards stationed within it.

Whatever was in there must be important.

“I don’t want to do it.” Lisa’s gut wrenched with anxiety.

“It’s just a distraction,” he put his hand on her shoulder, “you’ll do fine.”

“What if they figure out what I’m doing?”

“They won’t. Besides, it doesn’t have to be long, just a few seconds.”

Lisa was still apprehensive. “I don’t know…”

“We need to find out what Tural’s hiding.” He looked into her eyes and smiled warmly. “Then we can finish our stroll through the city.”

She weakly returned his smile. “…Okay.”

“Alright,” he pointed at a nearby boulder, “I’ll hide there while you start the distraction.” He slipped away into cover, nodding to Lisa when he was ready.

Everything inside of her was screaming not to do it, but she did it anyway. She thought of Flynn and somehow walked up to the guards as casually as could be and spoke.

“Hi, do you know how to get to the hospital? I’m lost.” She hung on the tense seconds of uncertainty that followed.

At first they seemed startled that someone had actually approached them; most days they probably sit in silence guarding a tunnel that no one ever tries to get into. However, upon fully grasping that one of the weird humans was talking to them, they quickly accommodated her.

“It is over that way,” the Subterranean punctuated his directions with a finger, “follow the bridge here and then take the stairs to the elevator…”

While the guards were entirely engrossed in providing Lisa with directions, Flynn slipped by undetected into the tunnel, where he followed the well-lit cavern walls through a long hallway. At the end, he was dumped into a massive room that appeared to be some sort of loading bay, with doors leading to storage hangars on the left and right.

One of these doors is the right one
, he said to himself, scrutinizing each metal door for any indicators of special importance.

Maybe this one
. He pressed a button that parted the two slabs of metal and unveiled a spacious room dotted by piles of random scrap metal and old tools.

No, maybe this one
. Eventually, he resorted to opening all of the hangar doors to see which one was locked, discovering in the end that all of them were only simple storage hangars.

Where is this special hangar?

Maybe this is all a trap by Radovan… He hadn’t seen any guards yet, which contradicted his claim of patrols, further adding to the probability. He felt nervous being in a place he shouldn’t be and wanted to limit his time as short as possible so as not to worry Lisa. Every aching second that ticked away was another reminder of how he was betraying the Subterranean’s trust, if he could say he had earned any by now.

Finally, he threw up his hands, completely confounded by the mystery encircling him. Just when he turned to leave the whole big mistake behind, he heard an affirmative
beep
coming from the very end of the tunnel. It was an elevator. The doors opened with two armed Subterraneans, who stepped out and headed his way. His back pressed against a small fold in the wall, he tensed all his muscles as they passed, hoping he wouldn’t make any noise to attract them.

Once they were gone, he breathed a sigh of relief and ran briskly to the elevator. The symbols painted on the buttons were incomprehensible to him, so he picked one at random and pressed it, feeling the ascension of his success. Much to his surprise, when the elevator doors opened again with a
whoosh
, he entered a room laced with control consoles, computer terminals, and monitors.

He froze in place when he saw the control room operator typing away at the keys.

“You are late; we were supposed to have the new runtimes configured half an hour ago. Where were you?” His nonchalant inquiry over his shoulder fell on deaf ears as Flynn hid from view. The silence alone was enough to make the operator stand up and investigate the elevator. “Hello? Daalen?”

Flynn had the drop on him, able to take him by surprise if he needed to, but that would cause an incredible amount of trouble. Tural would go straight for Flynn upon hearing that one of his technicians in a restricted area had been knocked unconscious; how would he even begin to defend himself against such an accusation?

Then again, if Flynn found something that could have serious ramifications for Tural, he could use it as leverage. Maybe? No, it was not a possibility, he concluded, although the technician gradually neared the threshold of the elevator doors and threatened to discover him.

This is not going to be good
.

As hard as he could, he swung his fist right into the technician’s face and felt bone collide with bone. The blow sent the technician crashing to the ground on his back, where Flynn scrambled on top of him and grabbed his neck, ready to deliver a hail of punches. Fortunately, however, the Subterranean was already out cold, so Flynn dropped his raised fist with a relieved sigh, although still regretful of having committed violence against his hosts.

Damn it, whatever’s in here better be worth it..
. He got to his feet and brushed himself off, shaking the stinging pain from his hand.

“Now, what am I looking for?” He asked himself with the generous array of computers in front of him.

He examined each for a second, seeking one that was large and with a monitor attached to it, reasoning that it would be the most important. However, he was then disturbed by something; why was this hangar control room even active? And with so many computers? They were probably just makeshift data storage centers or power flow control stations, he hoped, but it still seemed mysteriously devious.

Then, distracting him from the terminals was a long rectangular window. He’d seen it before, but something caught his eye when he glanced over a second time. He strode over to it and realized he overlooked a massive hangar housing some sort of weird constructs. His gaze settled on them; he was hardly more astounded in his life when he finally figured out what they were.

Spaceships, hundreds of them.

A Shocking Discovery

The shock of all the spaceships that lay dormant in the hangar was still running its course inside of him. Flynn had seen plenty of spaceships in his lifetime, but these were unlike any he’d ever seen before. All of them followed a similar design: an oblong housing with a viewfinder in the front end, flanked on either side by sturdy wings that resembled the shape of a pendulum. It looked as though these ships were mass produced; perfect rows and columns of platforms held up the scientific constructs and stretched to the blurry far wall.

There were enough ships for an entire fleet!

But why hadn’t he seen any of them flying around on the surface? What could their purpose be, hidden away in the care of a couple technicians? The ships themselves were in immaculate condition, like they were consistently maintained, and there was even an opening on the ceiling of the cave made of two metal doors where travelers could come and go with ease.

With this power, Tural could deal some serious damage in a first strike offensive or, at the very least, the ships could’ve been used to transport Flynn and Lisa back to Earth from the beginning, yet he had repeatedly been assured that the Subterraneans hadn’t achieved space technology. He cursed the dubious Tural under his breath for his lies. How could he do such a thing? More importantly, why?

Armed with his newfound knowledge, he slipped out the back entrance and into the city, where he casually resumed walking in search of Lisa.

New Information

After a while of wandering, he found Lisa leaning against a railing in one of the secluded overlooks of the city.

“Lisa!” He hugged her lovingly in his arms.

“Flynn! I was worried you weren’t coming back.” She was relieved to see him and instantly unwound the muscles in her body. She stood alone looking down at the pulsing city, for it calmed her to watch such energy flow from afar.

“The hangar,” he had to slow himself down to stop his words from jumbling together, “it’s full of ships!”

“Ships? Like spaceships?”

“Spaceships!” He cried out, his expression beaming with jubilance.

“But I thought the leader said he didn’t have any spaceships?”

“He did,” he clenched his fists, “but now we know he’s lying.”

Lisa gazed at the ground in thought, and then looked back up at Flynn. “What should we do, Flynn?”

“As much as I want to see what Tural has to say about this, we should probably tell Radovan first.”

“Okay...” the corner of her mouth crept up in a smile, “…then can we finish our walk?”

He answered her with a grin. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

More Questions than Answers

The two humans navigated their way through the bustling city all the way back to the research facility where Radovan sat, still engrossed in his studies. He was nearly startled out of his chair when Flynn charged in with Lisa behind him, eager to share the news.

“What is it, human?”

“I found out what Tural’s hiding!” His voice bounced along the walls.

“Keep your voice down!” He ushered them over to a quiet hallway and bid them to speak. “Well? What did you find?”

“There are hundreds of spaceships hidden inside a secret hangar of the restricted area. All of them in perfect condition. The two people you saw who have access to that area are technicians; they keep the place running.” He trembled over his barely contained excitement.

Radovan paced about in thought, unsure of how to handle the discovery. “I suspected Tural was hiding something, but nothing like this.” He tugged at the sleeves of his coat to straighten the wrinkles. “This is an interesting development…” His pacing stopped and he looked back and forth at Lisa and Flynn. “I need some time to ponder this. In the meantime, I suggest you not tell anyone.”

Reluctantly, Flynn agreed keeping it a secret was the best choice.

For now.

“Alright, Radovan, but I won’t sit on this for long.” He put a foot forward. “There’s a way for Lisa and I to get back home right now and it’s sitting in a hangar collecting dust.”

Radovan began to return to his experiment, talking over his shoulder as Flynn and Lisa followed. “There must be a reason Tural is keeping this from you other than simple mistrust. Besides, he has kept it from me all of this time, as well.”

“Hmph, I’d sure love to hear that reason.”

“You are going to have to wait, human.” He sat back down in his chair and swiped his angular fingers along the smooth screen of a data pad. “Come to me if you learn more.”

Flynn was just about to leave with Lisa when he suddenly had the urge to stop; he felt like he was forgetting something.

“Radovan.”

“What, human?”

“Thank you.”

Radovan paused in between swipes, caught off guard by the unforeseen show of gratitude. Without taking his eyes away from his data pad, he answered.

“Yes, very well.”

Flynn smirked, amused to see Radovan in an awkward situation, and then left out the door, turning to Lisa when they were back outside on the city streets. The neon lights that environed them reflected pleasantly off their faces and blended vibrant colors across their hair and skin, creating a most romantic climate.

He held a hand out invitingly for her and said in the most charming voice he could imitate, “Shall we continue our walk, milady?”

Covering her smile with one hand, she placed the other in his firm grasp and let him promenade her around the city streets.