A Whisper

Yuna tried her best to hide her hands, which she was wringing quite furiously. "You know as well as I do that tonight could be the night, tonight there might be a report of another blackout or another "accident"."

"Yuna, calm down."

" No! It's not going to matter if I freak out and go insane. Which by the way, I won't!

Alice wasn't convinced.

"I don't want to be there when it happens. And you shouldn't either!"

"Yuna, nothing's going to happen."

Yuna undid her low ponytail, smoothed out her hair, and then tied it back again. A nervous habit.

"How do you know?" she said bitterly.

Alice turned to Akio.

"You and Tobio know the place better than we do. Maybe you'll run into him down there. You won't be alone."

Akio chuckled; he was a military man, brave as they came. But even he had some doubts. "Yeah, comforting thought."

That was what Yuna was afraid of.

"Come on."

Akio glanced down out the window to see Uran and Shunsaku coming up the walkway. "That's them?"

"Yeah. I know, I thought the same thing." Alice said, crossing her arms.

"Isn't she a little young for this?"

"It's fine, she's a robot."

A mild curiosity flickered in his grey eyes."Huh, no kidding."


They met the pair downstairs. Alice introduced them to the second man on the list of names, Akio Tsuruga. Shunsaku hadn't been able to find out much about the man since most of his military records were still considered classified.

"This is Akio, he'll be able show you around near the laboratories."

"Where will you be?" Uran was a little disappointed that Alice wouldn't be going with them; in a strange way she had grown to like her.

"I'll be around here, Yuna's getting a bit anxious again."

"You mean paranoid." Akio countered.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

Both of them stopped before another argument would rear it's ugly head. It would only waste time at this point."Alright. Akio said finally. "Let's go."

They followed him around the outside of first building, the salty winds from the harbor nearly blowing off Shunsaku's hat. Soon they reached some metal stairs that lead down the side and into the curve of the wall. "Down here." Akio motioned to the set of doors at the bottom.

First thing they noticed when they stepped inside was the difference in temperature. It felt several degrees colder; though it might have had something to with the building being made out of concrete. The second thing they noticed was the faint smell of bleach.

Looking around, Shunsaku noticed that this must have been a set of meeting rooms at some point. He could still see some of the old hard wood floors and shelves on the walls still intact. The faint sound of dripping water filled the silence between them. A pipe along the ceiling must have broken long ago, judging by the crimson trails of rust that had run down the walls.

"I wouldn't advise going that way," Akio motioned with his flashlight. "the floor's water damaged. You guys scared of the dark?" The water continued to drip.

Uran shook her head bravely. Shunsaku however, as brave as he presented himself, felt that deep down that something wasn't right.

"How long has it been since people used this place?" Uran asked, looking over the walls and ceilings.

"A pretty long time. I'd guess about twenty years, maybe more."

"You come down here a lot?"

"Every now and then…Tobio's usually down here and I have to come down and…wait…"

Akio had sworn he had seen a small movement down coming from the far end of the hall. "Tobio?" he called out. "Is that you?"

The three of them peered down the hallway after the flashlight's beam. There were no signs of life anywhere.

"Tobio? Come on, it's just me!" Akio's voice echoed along the empty walls.

There was no answer.

Finally Akio turned away and shook his head. "I could have sworn that was him. Like I said, I usually come in after him when he runs off and ends up down here." They continued to the next set of stairs at the other end of the room. "I guess that was someone else."

"What?"

Akio looked over at Shunsaku, a little confused. "Hmm?"

"I uh…didn't hear what you just said."

"I said that it must have been something else. Lots of creepy stuff down here."

They continued down more stairs and then around the corner. Down at the end of an adjacent hall, Uran and Shunsaku saw an old chair. It looked so out of place, just sitting there. Yet somehow it was compelling to look at. Very…very…

"Was ignorance…really bliss?"

Uran's eyes widened, that voice!

"You guys coming?" Akio's voiced snapped them out of it.


After another ten or so minutes of wandering, they arrived at a walkway that overlooked a larger room. The outer wall was made entirely of thick panes of glass, allowing an underwater view of the harbor along with the fish and plant life it contained. It also let in just enough light that Akio could turn off his flashlight.

"Sure is something, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" Uran agreed instantly.

"There's a few other places down here made of glass, mostly tunnels." Akio cracked a small smile. "We like to call this place 'The Fish Bowl'."

Uran giggled at the name as she followed after the two men.


"Here it is."

It wasn't as big as they had expected it to be. Sure the ceiling was fairly high but the actual contraption itself was kind of underwhelming.

Uran peeked over the rail. "This is it?"

"Well it's not a star gate."

Shunsaku looked over the railing. It was still a fairly impressive piece of work. "Makes you wonder what went wrong, huh?"

"You have no idea." Akio said quietly.

Shunsaku briefly noticed the row of lights overhead, they were actually working. "All the lights are working here. Is this the only room with power?"

"No, this whole place is wired. I didn't want to turn on anything back there though, with all the water damage and leaks someone could get electrocuted."

"Leaks?"

Akio nodded. "We are about 400 feet underwater."

Meanwhile Uran continued to stare at the machine. Like 'The Fish Bowl', it also had a few panels of glass, allowing a view of the inner workings. Through any bits of information she and Shunsaku could find, this was supposed to be it. Dr. Chaman's so called 'Portal to Heaven.'

"Is this really a portal to heaven?" Uran shoved her hands in her pockets. "That's what it was called in all the papers we found."

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air.

"Is that what he called it?" Akio stepped back from the railing and turned away."He should have named it Pandora's Box."


(A/N): Little fun fact here, but this story was originally meant to be about Bioshock (first game) and the creation of the Vita Chambers until I changed my mind at the last minute and made it about Astro Boy. It was also supposed to be about something with drills and Yuna and Akio didn't exist at all. Things sure do change.