VANISHED
Chapter 9: Entering the Fortress
While the Yik-Yik went to search for another way into the fortress, Jameson wanted a look at the door that stymied them so Razor escorted him there and was his guard, Dr. Linstone decided to tag along as no threat had appeared despite how long they'd been here. The rest stepped just inside the main door to have a more comfortable place to sit and not be in plain view but they were poised to dash out if any threat appeared.
Feral and Dunswell kept watch over them with the rest of the security forces remaining outside. It took the Yik-Yik some thirty minutes before they returned from their search. The ones that were checking the inner door hurried back to see what the four had discovered.
"Found entry...smooth walls leading deep...large enough to crawl but not stand..." one of them reported.
"A vent or drainage port perhaps?" Dr. Linstone mused, aloud.
"Possibly, but whatever it is, hopefully it will lead us inside," Feral said. "How far away is it and how is the footing for us to get there?" He asked the Yik-Yik that had spoken.
"Not far...footing some danger..." it admitted.
Dunswell grimaced and thought hard. Feral stared out into the dark, thinking furiously, his eyes straying to the humans thoughtfully.
"Tie together..." they spoke suddenly, at the same time. The Kat and the human blinked at each other in surprise. Feral recovered first and said, "...yes...we'll tie the weaker climbers to a stronger one and have a Yik-Yik and Dihannon at each end and in the middle to keep us on the path. It helps a little that we Kats do have some night vision." He eyed the Lansoo a moment questioningly after he said that.
"We too have some night vision and are quite surefooted," one answered, reassuring him.
"Good! Let's do this while there is even a hint of light left," Dunswell jumped in to say then quickly began pulling lengths of rope from his pack. The other security humans copied him.
Feral's black ops pulled strong climbing cords from their packs and without being told, tied themselves to a human. Said humans were nervous but didn't resist. Feral tied Dunswell to him then the Yik-Yik who was leading, next came two Dihannon. After them were the Lansoo tied to Hard Drive, Dr Greenbox, and the more fit of the Kat scientists followed by T-Bone with the weakest of the Kats then a Yik-Yik, Dr. Viper, a Dihannon, then the black ops with their humans attached to them, another two Dihannon and Yik-Yik brought up the rear.
Strung out like beads on a string, the group set off cautiously. It was a dangerous, harrowing, heart-stopping trip with some occasional foot slips but eventually, after a grueling hour, one by one, they made it to the tube the Yik-Yik had found.
Feral grimaced at the sight of the tunnel...it was wide but not high so all would have to crawl through. Without a word, the Yik-Yik dropped down and went in followed by Feral who pulled out a flashlight to light the way.
Dunswell did the same and as each group went into the tunnel those that had lights, took them out and lighted the tunnel. The surface of the tube was smooth and black with no seams anywhere. It was also quite long as despite shining his light ahead, Feral couldn't see the end at all. The air was dusty and choked most of them as they moved along forcing those that needed to, in covering their mouths and noses with their clothing.
The Dihanna were so big, they took up a goodly portion of the tunnel space, blotting out the sight of the others before and after them but they moved easily showing no sign the odd form of travel was uncomfortable to them. The same couldn't be said of the humans or Lansoo. The Lansoo's knees were not as padded as the other species' so they were forced to crab walk which didn't look like it was comfortable for them by the tense expressions on their faces.
As they traveled, the group's breathing and grunts of movement (which was much harder on the humans than the aliens) bounced eerily off the metal-like walls as they traversed it.
After only an hour of travel, the humans including Dunswell were forced to plead for a halt. They were never designed to crawl on their knees this long and it hurt and stiffened them. The aliens didn't complain too much as they too needed a breather and a drink of water from their precious supplies anyway.
After only a fifteen minute break and untying themselves from each other, something they hadn't bothered to do as yet, the ones able to do so took a human on their backs and continued on at a much brisker pace. It helped the humans were smaller than every one else. The Lansoo also ended up riding as well.
More than two hours later and still no sign of the end of their journey, some of the travelers were becoming seriously claustrophobic and it was taking all their efforts to not turn about and flee, running over the ones behind them to escape. But even knowing this was their only chance of surviving, a couple of them were nearing their breaking point.
Dr. Greenbox found he could handle the closed in sensation by keeping his eyes firmly on the rear of the ones before him but the human riding his back was beginning to quiver and whimper louder and louder. He shook his shoulders without stopping his forward motion to distract the human.
"Shhh...it's alright...I don't like this either but keep your mind and eyes on the body ahead of you or catalog all the things that make me different from you...anything to keep you from panicking!" He hissed to his passenger.
"I-I-I'll try...thank you," his terrified passenger stuttered, his fingers white from gripping Greenboxe's clothing in a near death grip.
Greenbox sighed and wished fervently they were out of here now, his knees were getting very tired as was his back from the weight of the human.
Not far behind him, Razor was encountering a similar problem with the less physically fit Kat scientist crawling at his side. He was panting, his eyes were wide and he kept looking around frantically.
"Hey, chill...keep your eyes ahead...you'll be alright," the slim SWAT Kat hissed, taking a quick swipe at the Kat to shake him up.
The Kat gulped and eyed the SWAT Kat wildly but did manage to nod his head and keep his eyes glued to the strange backside of a Lansoo ahead of him riding the back of a black ops Kat. He managed to become distracted by the odd way the creature moved and that helped keep his mind off his terror of closed spaces.
It was with a sincere sigh of relief that the end of the tunnel appeared at last. Without much warning, the Yik-Yik halted causing Feral and Dunswell to nearly run into it. The sudden stop caused those behind the Dihannon to hit the hulking creature and it felt much like hitting a brick wall. The air was immediately peppered with yowls, groans, hoots, and curses as they ran into the one before them. It didn't make them any happier that they couldn't see why they had stopped because of the two Dihannon blocking any view of the leaders. They would just have to wait.
Recovering quickly, Feral and Dunswell squeezed by the Yik-Yik to study the lid sealing the tunnel. There was a simple wheel turn handle...a surprising thing to see on such a modern world. It made Feral realize that just because a species was ahead of another, certain principles of mechanics were apparently universal...fortunately for them.
Dunswell didn't hesitate to attempt to open the seal but found his muscles weren't up to the task of moving something that never been opened for a very long time and was probably frozen tight. Feral watched him then when the human frowned and gave up, he moved until he could stand directly in front of the wheel and rising up on his knees, grasped the wheel with both paws, twisting it with all he had.
It didn't seem to budge at all then suddenly everyone heard a small squealing sound. Encouraged, Feral and Dunswell tried to move the wheel more but it froze again and couldn't be budged any further.
The Dihanna behind the two leaders watched intently then one of them moved closer, gesturing for Feral and Dunswell to move as far as they could to the side then used one paw to pull down on the wheel. With a torturous squealing sound that made more than half the aliens wince in pain, the wheel finally yielded and spun until the seal swung silently open.
More dead air greeted them but it wasn't as bad as the other entry point. Eager to get out of the cramped and uncomfortable tunnel, Feral and Dunswell dropped to the floor which was only three feet below them.
Dunswell grunted and rolled so as not to break his legs in the drop while Feral naturally, had no difficulty leaping down and landing easily on his feet. Staring around, they stood still and waited for some kind of response but nothing happened and the cavernous space hummed with some kind of machinery running but no sign of any people about.
Feeling the risk was minimal, they signaled for the rest to follow. The Yik-Yik curled in a ball then dropped to the floor, rolling a ways off before uncurling to stop its movement. Feral and Dunswell eyed the creature in surprise and shook their heads at the oddness of its abilities. The Dihannon jumped down next and if the floor hadn't been super strong, Feral was certain he would have felt that ponderous form hit the floor. They landed with the same ease Feral had.
The humans and Lansoo came next. The Lansoo had no difficulties nor fear of dropping to the floor but that wasn't the case for the humans who stared down in dismay. The warriors of the group didn't hesitate to jump and roll but the others simply wouldn't do it.
Sighing the black ops Kats jumped down then coaxed the humans to jump into their arms, promising they could catch them easily. It took a moment before one was willing but finally he did and was caught as promised. The rest took the plunge and were finally all safely on the ground. The rest of the Kats and Dr. Viper leaped down along with the other Yik-Yik and Dihannon until all were out of the tunnel and looking around.
The huge space was clean except for a fine layer of dust on the floor. Wasting no more time, Feral turned to the Lansoo.
"Are we on target?"
One of the Lansoo checked their instruments. He took readings and finally turned and pointed. "That is the direction where the energy is the strongest."
"Good...everyone move out and stay close," Feral growled, taking the lead with Dunswell having to catch up so they could walk together.
The place was silent except for the continuous humming and the noises they made in passing. They saw no one. Walking for more than two hours before locating a chamber that resembled an elevator, none felt brave enough to attempt something like that with no way of knowing if it would fail at any point so they continued on until they finally found a broad staircase. They blinked at the size and width of the stairs.
"Wow! They had to be huge!" Jameson blurted.
"Yes, this does indicate creatures of immense size. I hope their control panels and such aren't going to be too big for us to use," Dr. Linstone said, concerned.
"Won't know until we find the control center of this place." Feral grunted, a bit dismayed by the width of the stairs and how far up they went. They were at least four foot wide and could take six of them across but they were also some three feet high. This was going to be a problem for the humans and the Yik-Yik. Add to that, they couldn't see the top landing at all...it felt sort of like the tunnel trip they'd taken.
"Well it certainly explains why everything is soo big," T-Bone huffed. "This could take us a long time to reach where we have to go."
Razor stared up the case with as much dismay as Feral. This was going to take them hours to traverse...unless... "this will take far too long for those that can't climb that easily. I suggest my partner and I see if we can use our grappling lines to get up faster then winch everyone else up or this will take use several days to get to our destination."
Feral paused and thought about the offer. Staring up the stairs then turning to the humans in the group, he had to admit, Razor's idea was a good one...that is, if they were able to make their grappling lines catch something above.
"Go ahead. You're right. It would take too long the normal way and I'm afraid the humans couldn't do it at all nor the Yik-Yik. The aliens under discussion were forced to nod in agreement. The Yik-Yik didn't look happy about it though.
"Okay, let's give this a try T-Bone." He and his partner stood at the center of the staircase and fired their grappling lines upward. It was a long line but it was disconcerting to see them disappear above with no sign they'd caught on anything.
Frowning, the two tugged on their lines, hard. To everyone's relief, the lines held and were very taut.
"First step done...off we go!" Razor said as he signaled his line to retract and he swept upward quickly until he was out of sight with T-Bone following right after him.