Chapter 1 - The Felics
They ran through the dim lighting, and stale air of the older residential quarters. Eyes bugging from exertion, but huge grins on their faces they Stampeded down the hallways. Crossing a set of dusty pressure plates, the walls ahead of them slid apart. They relaxed to a jog as fresh air filled their lungs, and clear sunlight beat down on their faces, they ran down from the residential quarters into a green tree-filled area.
"I'll beat you to the engines!" The first one called out, His sandy blonde hair floating over his Hazel eyes and a grin dominating his face. The second one grunted between breaths as he struggled to close the distance between them.
The first one turned abruptly and cutting around the side of a hill disappeared into a clear door built flush with the stone surface. The second one cursed loudly as he spun around the corner and fell to the ground as he mimicked the first one. He rolled over onto his back and breathed heavily as the first one ran back towards him, and offered his hand to help him up.
Wearily, He reached up and took the proffered hand.
"You would be enjoying a stop in at the afterlife if Mom had heard that, Charlie!" The first one said laughing.
"Not like you are so perfect..." He replied as his breathing stabilized and he stood up. They turned and walked through the clear door into the building.
"Andrew, Have you completely lost your mind?" Charlie Exclaimed as he stared across the pit in front of them.
"It's the only one way to get down, All the other entrances are blocked off." He replied shrugging his shoulders and stretching his arms out.
"If it is the only way in, How are we going to get out?" Charlie Demanded as Andrew backed away from the hole.
"There are lots of ways out, Just one way in." He stopped near the back wall and cocked his head, "Hear that?" He asked, a concerned look crossing his face.
"What?"
"The call of adventure." He cried as he ran and jumped into the dark pit.
Charlie groaned, "Adventure... Why do you hate me?" Then he turned around and shut his eyes, before stepping off backwards.
They fell through a long shaft passing through the many echelons of the engines, parts actually extending into the shaft. Punctuating the long fall were flashes of redstone and the incessant swishing of pistons. The two continued to fall down to the depths of the shaft.
The lights illuminated below them and Andrew could just make out the bottom of the shaft. He braced himself as he screamed up towards Charlie.
"Ground!" He didn't wait for a response as he braced himself for the impact. He flashed red as he smashed into the ground and rolled into the murky water in front of him. He lay under the water savoring its cool feeling on the soon to be bruises along his shins. He pulled himself up and sat on the side of the pool and waited as high pitched screams echoed above him.
A gunshot crack slammed through the air as Charlie hit the water and sent waves sloshing over the edges.
A myriad of bubbles breached the surface of the small pool, before Charlie himself emerged with a dazed look on his face. He looked around seemingly disoriented before he found Andrew sitting on the side with a sheepish grin on his face. Charlie groaned as Andrew rolled backwards from the pool and ran from the sparsely lit oasis, into a flashing, writhing, jungle of redstone machinery. Slowly, Charlie clambered to his feet and grudgingly followed him into the jungle.
"You'll Never catch me!" Andrew screamed as he jumped up and swung himself onto the top of a row of pistons. He laughed as he dashed through a small gap, chased by an ascending row of pistons. Charlie stopped and looked on disbelievingly as the piston heads smashed into the ceiling before revealing a gap. As the pistons dropped again, he dashed forward.
Andrew glanced back and snickered as he caught a glimpse of Charlie momentarily hanging from his pinned shirt. Charlie dropped off the side of the piston, and fell to the floor. With a sigh he stood up and brushed off his knees before looking towards Andrew. Andrew grinned and motioned towards a small opening close to the ground, Charlie watched as Andrew pulled himself into the small area and quickly disappeared.
He squirmed into a small opening. He squinted as his body filled the hole blocking off the light. "Can't be far!" He crawled onwards into a dank tunnel. His breathing grew labored and the temperature seemed to drop. He shivered as he drug himself further down, behind him he could hear Charlie panting as well.
Finally he felt a warm breeze cast over his frigid skin. He reached forward blindly with his arms and caught the edges of an entrance he pulled himself out with a gasp, and rolled over feeling warm air wash over him. A couple of minutes later Charlie breached the exit.
"I thought this was a set of ventilation shafts!" He gasped.
"That's what Dad's blueprints showed, We should be in a backup storeroom." Andrew replied.
"They Are Ventilation shafts" a creaky voice tittered through the air. Both of them jumped and moved over trying to find the source of the voice. "It is for our City... You are the first Humans to venture this far." It paused, "You can not see." It stated, "Easily rectified." Andrew jumped as he felt a pinch on his hand. He then fell to the floor screaming in pain.
Dimly he could hear another voice coalescing with his screaming at an unnatural volume. His throat grew raw but he couldn't stop screaming, his eyes were flooded with Bright light. Finally his eyes adjusted and he stopped screaming, he blinked and sat up, above him and beyond him was a city of sorts.
It stretched in all directions and seemed more organic than solid, in fact parts of the tethers seemed to move and writhe. He gasped as he made out one of the tethers detaching from the rest and crawling down. It was a Spider. He screamed and turned to run, He stopped when he found that the entrance was completely blocked by a group of spiders.
His hand throbbed and he collapsed to the ground. "He is still adjusting to the venom," He heard as he fell into the increasing blackness.
His eyes unsquinted, releasing a thin milky fluid that dripped to the floor. Did he hear a scream? Shaking himself he squinted his eyes and listened. A sharp, staccato scream echoed, before falling completely silent.
He stretched his leftmost eyes to discern the lighting in the main chamber, and raising himself up from his thick nest he turned his body and raised it to peer over the edge of his nest. He glanced down and saw the elders gathered near an air shaft. On the ground near them lay two humans, They seemed to be sleeping.
His curiosity satisfied, he leaned back into the nest. He would ask Nestmother about it later. Slowly he squinted his eyes and nodded off to sleep as the film flooded over his eyes.