Chapter 10: Scientist and Darkness

Science Dome, 5:42 AM

I thought I heard something. Something like a whisper in my mind. I cleared my thoughts in case it was the voice from earlier. It felt like I had been in the darkness for at least a day, but I couldn't tell. Unfortunately, the glow function on my watch had not worked for about a month. I had meant to get it fixed the previous week, but kept putting it off. I didn't hear anything in my mind when I tried listening for it, so I sighed in disappointment.

I hadn't been able to sleep either. Tired as I may have been, I could not get over my light sense of panic that was keeping me awake. I was actually a little frustrated, with as long as it felt like I had spent in this darkness without being able to sleep.

I heard it again. It was like a whisper, but not any discernable words. Just sounds. I looked to the side, and that's when I noticed that something moved in my field of vision. I turned my head again, and it happened again. When I tried looking straight at it, I couldn't see anything, but I could vaguely make out something whenever I turned my head. Not enough to discern what it was, but at least I knew it was there.

I shakily got to my feet and held onto the ladder behind me with one hand. I felt forward with my feet and free hand as far as I could, but did not make contact with anything. I gathered the courage and let go of the ladder. After two steps, I made contact with a corner, and started feeling my way down a wall, making sure to touch the ground lightly with my feet before stepping and putting my weight down.

I heard the whispering in my head again, but it was more pronounced. I couldn't make out any words, but it sounded like it was beckoning me to come. I felt along the wall, and felt a step down with my feet that turned into a staircase. I could make out something of a glow in front of me. It was like a soft blue glow that was barely visible, but as I kept moving forward it became more pronounced.

It became purely perceivable around a corner eventually, and the whispers started coming more frequently. Also, for an unexplained reason, my tension began lessening and I became more relaxed, contrary to what I would have expected would happen. I was reassured, rather than apprehensive. I rounded the corner slowly, and the source of the glow became apparent.

I could see, some distance in front of me, a long, horizontal neon blue bar that was creating the glow I had been seeing. It was not illuminating any other object in the room, but as I approached it, additional light sources sprung to life and illuminated the area brightly. I covered my eyes since I had spent so long in such utter darkness. Once my eyes adjusted, I was able to look.

The room I was in was so large, I could not see the far wall, and in front of me was what looked like a gigantic holoseum. It stretched from wall to wall on the sides, and forward as far as I could see. The blue neon bar I had seen was only the marker for the closest side. To say the least, I was astonished.

For starters I did not understand how such a large room could structurally exist underground without vertical supports to the roof. Aside from that, how could a holoseum this large have been constructed, and what was it here for?

I could not explain, for all my scientific intuition, why I felt drawn to it. Maybe I had been in darkness so long that anything illuminated now seemed appealing, but regardless of the reason, I felt compelled to approach it and study it. Going back was not an option in my mind, at this point. The holoseum was strange. Aside from its size, it did not have any panels on the sides at the base, which left its circuitry near the ground exposed. The battle surface was like none I had seen before. The majority of the area closest to me was covered in various greens. Some areas were covered in what looked like grass, others areas had what looked like thick clusters of dark green trees. I assumed, of course, that all of the plants I saw in the vastly stretching holoseum were synthetic.

The zones of green went on for a good distance, even by the real world standards, but much farther away I could see what looked like large rocks, some with tips colored white. I could also identify some obvious clusters of structures in the distance, but beyond that was out of my range of perception as the holoseum continued on farther than I could see.

I reached forward to test the holoseum's containment field, expecting it to be weak due to the exposed circuitry, but to my surprise, it was the purest field I had ever seen. Normally, a holoseum's containment field would feel like glass to the touch, with some hints of static electricity. This field is meant to keep Robo battles within the holoseums, making sure no attacks or Robos accidentally leave the battle area. The field on this holoseum, though, had no tactile feel at all. It was like there was nothing there, but I was not able to move my hand forward and through it.

Upon contact with the field, my mind was pulled into the holoseum. It felt like a normal dive, but it was forced rather than voluntary. Everything blurred as if entering a Robo battle, and when it cleared, I was in the holoseum. I was sprawled out on a carpet of grass. I put my hands underneath me to push myself up off the ground, and I noticed two things at once. Firstly, my Robo was not deployed. I had somehow entered the holoseum in human form. I tried not to be too surprised given the nearly-destroyed state my battle with the Ultimatum had left my Robo, but it was still something I had never seen before. Secondly, the grass covering this portion of expanse was not like any grass I knew. It was obviously not metal, but nor was it plastic, rubber, or any other kind of synthetic material to which I would normally attribute grass. It was soft and flexible, but broke easily and had combined qualities of fabric, paper, and rubber.

I also noticed that my perception of everything felt so much more real than it did in a normal Robo battle. Since I was not covered in Robo armor, though, I again tried not to be surprised.

I stood up and looked around. The grass extended around me a good ways, but its perimeter was covered by trees. They were not like the synthetic trees I was familiar with. The colors were duller and darker, and the limbs and leaves seemed to move ever-so-slightly on their own. Over the tops of the tallest trees, I noticed that the ceiling of the holoseum was not an endless black expanse like normal, but instead it was a light blue. Far above me, I could also make out a white object that looked like a thick cloud of white smoke. I'm afraid I cannot describe it any better than that.

I noticed another discontinuity from normal holoseums in that there was no obvious way of ejecting from this one. Maybe I needed a Robo in order to accomplish this, but the back-of-the-mind ability to eject from the holoseum did not seem present.

I tried calling out loudly to see if there was any response, but there was not. Relieved as I was to be out of the darkness, I was still trapped. I wasn't as concerned as I would have thought I'd be, though. This was a rather pleasant place. There was a slight ambient sound of air in a constant state of movement, the area was well lit, the grass (or whatever it was) was soft and comfortable, and the atmosphere was pleasantly warm. It was a welcome change from sitting for hours in the dark on a cold cement floor.

I lay back on the grass and looked up at the white clouds above me and took a deep breath in, then out. Lost, all alone, in a million acre paradise? I could get used to it.

Sarah "Wings" Colligan
Research and Development Sub-Manager, RoboSci