Around almost five minutes of extremely careful walking later, they finally reached the other end of the chasm. It had been a somewhat frightening and exhilarating walk, to say the least, and Bosch had lost count of the number of times they had nearly been blown off the bridge by a gust of wind. But, thankfully, it was about to end, and the safety of a proper ground and surface was only a few steps away.
Even though he was almost there, Bosch avoided stealing a quick glance downwards towards his feet, instead focusing solely on the door in front of him. The bridge was half-transparent, and he'd rather avoid seeing the bottomless hole beneath him right now.
A few seconds later, he stepped foot on the ledge. Breathing a sigh of relief, Bosch finally looked down at the solid ground and couldn't be gladder for it's unequaled solidity. Behind him, Gibson came off the bridge as well, walking up to Bosch's right side. Glancing towards him, Bosch saw that he too was equally glad to be on solid ground after that ordeal. Deciding to put some distance between him and the ledge, Bosch moved towards the door. Gibson followed suit. Closing the gap, the doors opened automatically to reveal another corridor much like the one they had come from, except this one was well-lit and shorter. As they entered it and walked through, Bosch saw that there was little to note about this corridor.
Unlike the previous one, here the walls were only a simple brown in color; with a texture not unlike that of the dirt or sand one would normally see on a barren mountainside. As it wasn't as long as the previous one, they reached the other side within seconds...only to realize that there was nothing here except a small control panel. Odd...Bosch had expected there to be another door here. Reading the panel, Bosch could only see the symbols to activate it. It didn't specify exactly what it activated, though. He exchanged a glance with Gibson before nodding. Guess there was only one way to find out. Reaching out, he activated it with one deft motion.
What happened next surprised both the men completely. The door behind them shut close and the lights went out completely, leaving both men in darkness. And then the entire corridor started to shake. It started with a slight tremor, but soon avalanched into a massive earthquake that sent both of them to the floor. Bosch nearly screamed out in pain as his right arm hit the ground, but he held it back, instead struggling to get some way to steady himself.
And then came the freefall.
The entire corridor first lurched and then started falling at a rapid rate, disorientating Bosch and nearly driving him up towards the ceiling. His stomach lurched upwards, making him dizzy as well. But almost a second later, the free-fall slowed down and then stopped altogether before gently moving forwards, throwing Bosch back into the very ground he was trying to hold on to. Cursing and holding his arm carefully, Bosch stood up, somewhat weary of what might happen next. Looking around him, he noticed that the sides were no longer there - or rather, they were completely transparent and he could now see past them...and the fact that they were almost totally surrounded by water. Then Bosch realized, this wasn't a corridor - it was a damn capsule! and it was no taking them to some destination underwater. Looking to his right, he saw Gibson struggling to get up from next to him. Giving him a hand, Bosch helped the man up before spotting a rather large bruise on his forehead.
"Are you all right, Gibson?" Bosch asked, somewhat concerned.
"It's just a bruise, I'll live." Gibson simply replied, rubbing his hand against his head, leaning against the glass for support. Looking up, he saw the water around them and his expression changed to one of confusion. "What the hell happened?"
Bosch looked outside, taking a guess. "Well, looks like we're in a capsule. Wherever we're headed, it must be important to get there like this."
Gibson only sighed and nodded in reply. He sat down on the floor, nursing the bruise. Bosch instead focused on their surroundings. It appeared that they were quite deep underwater - probably a deep lake or something similar. The outside surroundings were dark, with visibility being only a few meters in any direction, and even that was due to the light from the corridor's ceiling. As they moved through the water however, Bosch could make out something in the shadows, just beyond the limit of the light. It moved slowly, matching their speed, but Bosch was unable to make out a proper shape. Whatever it was, though, it was extremely large.
Then it slowly started to cruise in the light area, revealing exactly how large it was. Bosch took a step back out of fear; and one could hardly blame him either. For in front of them, almost as long as the corridor itself, were nothing but a massive pair of jaws, lined with equally massive and sharp teeth. Gibson was looking down at ground when Bosch nearly tripped over him. Gibson’s head snapped up to look at Bosch first, and then to where Bosch was looking.
“Hooooly ****…” Gibson muttered; his face had an expression of sheer awe and fear.
Both men just watched as the thing, moved closer to the corridor. It started moving faster, moving in front till its eye came into view. The thing was massive, nearly twice as big as a human head, and it was staring right at both men right now. It glowed an unholy red, with the black iris taking up less than a tenth of the entire space. It was bright enough to act like a search beam of sorts, casting a focused amount of light against the glass and everything inside the corridor.
The glow changed from red to blue however, as several thin beams opened up from the outside of the corridor, reaching out and touching the creature at various spots. It was hot enough to immediately turn the water surrounding into steam, and then sear the creature’s flesh significantly. It let out a groan that shook the entire corridor, before finally moving off back into the darkness.
Bosch looked at Gibson before breathing a sigh of relief. Had it not been for those lasers, there was a good chance they would be fish bait right about now.
Then the corridor shook again. Looking outside, Bosch realized that they had come to a complete stop. They just hung there for a second, absolutely still, before the entire thing began to move upwards slowly. The rate was slow, and not too uncomfortable, so both men just stood and waited for whatever happened next. As they ascended upwards, the blackness started to fade a bit as blue light came through. It became just a little bright before the corridor stopped and shuddered again. Fearing the worst, Bosch sat down and tried to hold onto the legs of the control panel.
“hang on, this may get tough!” He shouted to Gibson, who was also trying to find something to hang onto. His warning came just in time, as, suddenly, the corridor shot upwards and out of the water. The rate of ascent was fast, and had they been standing, both would have sustained serious injury from falling down.
The corridor ascended upwards through what seemed to be a tube of sorts. It continued for nearly a minute before finally slowing down and coming to a stop. A small beeping sound could be heard from the panel, and Bosch got up to read it. They had arrived to their destination it seemed. This was only confirmed by the loud whoosh sound that came with the door opening behind them. Gibson got up from behind him and moved to Bosch’s side.
Bosch turned around and nodded. He was all right for the moment, they had to go on. Gibson simply nodded in reply, leading the way out and keeping a cautious look out for anything.
The room they entered into was vast, to say the least. Completely circular, the blue walls reached upwards into a dome-like roof, and in any direction, it was filled with diagrams upon diagrams of star maps. At the very centre was a bright source of light that was powerful enough to light up the whole room. What was most peculiar, however, was that like the place they had just come from, the floor ended a few short feet from the corridor, with a control panel directly next to them. Again, the drop beyond the ledge ended in a blackness, but Bosch thought he could hear the sounds of water coming from down below. In the centre of the room however, was a massive pillar that ended at the same level of the edge. From what Bosch could see, there were large displays and several control panels on the surface of the pillar, giving it the appearance of a control area.
He looked at Gibson before looking at the control panel. If this was anything like the previous place, the controls should extend a bridge here. Both mean steadied themselves first before activating it however. Once Bosch did however, there was no shaking, no motion here. Nothing moved at all – the only difference in this case was that the light bridge came up almost immediately between them and the other end and curved upwards to either side, providing a primitive railing of sorts.
Both men looked to each other in surprise, before moving forwards towards the control centre. Again, both walked cautiously across the bridge, not looking down. They reached the centre almost a minute later. The centre was circular, exactly like the room, and all around (with exception of the small entrance they had just stepped from) both men were dozens of control panels and displays of various sizes. Some of them showed maps on the entire ring, along with symbols which Bosch recognized as displaying weather conditions.
“Amazing…” Bosch spoke out in awe as he looked through each of the displays. Such technology…such automation! He knew the ancients had been advanced, but not to this extent. The entire ring was running completely on its own, with no outside interference. The AI in control was far, far more advanced than anything the GTVA had, and had effectively run it for unknown millennia.
Many thoughts raced to Bosch’s head; but one in particular stood out: now what? They had effectively reached the control centre of the ring. The Shivans had promised them that answers would lie here….yet, presented with so much information, Bosch didn’t even know where to start.
Glancing at the displays, one in particular caught his attention. Gibson was looking at it as well, trying to decipher something in the corner of the view screen, but to no avail. Bosch moved closer, trying to see it.
Only when he moved closer however, did he see the small partition at the corner of the screen; showing a picture of a structure with five arms and a large hole in the centre. On this small panel, Bosch could see a few words. Upon translating, his grim expression turned from a frown to a smile.
Gibson looked at him, somewhat puzzled by Bosch’s expression.
“Sir? Do you know what it says?” He asked.
Bosch nodded slowly. His excitement was not unfounded in this case; for the diagram on screen was one of the installations above the ring, and this control room was the key to getting up there. Every moment he stayed here brought about new surprises, the fact that the ancients had this technology – hell, the fact that it could even exist simply proved it.
“Yes, yes I do. That –“ he pointed to the words “Means that this ring has a teleportation system, and that it is on standby, and that it can be activated at any time to take us up to this point on the installation above us.”
Gibson’s features changed to one of surprise.
“What the..? You’re serious, right? Teleportation is simply not possible!”
Bosch waved his hand towards the control panel. “And yet, my friend, there is one here for our use.”
Turning around, he looked at the controls for a second, then remembered something.
Venson and Sargo would have reached the others by now, and most probably would be on the way back. The others should have gotten ready. Hopefully, the teleporter should be enough to accommodate the 15 of them.
Then, Bosch remembered something else, and thought sadly to himself. Not fifteen…..thirteen. They would doing this trip with two less members than he had intended…but at the same time, he knew he couldn’t just leave them in the shivan craft either.
Stepping forwards, he examined the controls and found the ones which were slaved to the weather devices. He tried translating and figuring out the technology here. It was difficult, but he managed to get it after almost a minute. The sequence was deceptively simple with only a few standard presets alongside several fine-tuning controls. He selected the area where the pyramid was, and changed the weather control here to a slightly warmer template, where the snow would melt slowly. At the least though, it would no longer be as cold as before.
After this was complete, Bosch turned around to Gibson. He was thinking the exact same thing that Bosch was.
“The others should be ready to get moving now…” he whispered slowly.
Bosch simply nodded, his expression was grim, with a slight tone of sadness in his voice.
“I know…when we find them, however, we have…..” Bosch paused, unsure of what to say. A second later, he continued. “….a.’duty’….to finish before we go anywhere from here.”
Gibson simply nodded. The man obviously knew what Bosch was referring to, but he wasn’t looking forward to it either. Despite both having done it countless number of times before, neither would ever get used to it. It was doubted if anyone could get used to it, at least, not when it was with someone whom you knew, and knew closely.
Bosch glanced back to make sure Gibson followed him. Both men exited the control chamber slowly, neither looking forward to what was going to happen next. Bosch, however, felt it to move the hardest.
No matter how many battles Bosch had won, no matter how many victories he pulled off against the GTVA, no matter how difficult it seemed, it simply paled in comparison to the loss and the anguish of the funeral detail that came after. There was no perfect victory for Bosch; for with each one he had created, many of his men had died to pay the price. Although he could reason their deaths, giving the explanation that they died for a higher cause; it never comforted him…no matter what excuses he gave, the guilt remained on, burdening him and dragging him back.
Too many people had died at his hands….yet, he reminded himself now, as he had realized then, unless he kept moving, even more would soon join them.
It still didn’t make things easier though.
