Hunter and Hunted
Chapter Twenty-five
It turned out to be one hell of a climb. "When does it end?" Kate was tired of climbing. It wasn't that her muscles were tired of climbing, since her suit was doing most of the work for her. It was just the repetition of doing the same thing over and over again with no end in sight.
"Remember this place is miles deep and since it was made using three million planets, that's a lot of dirt and rock." Rick was himself starting to wonder just when it was going to end. "Just keep climbing. Going back down should be faster once we get the hang of it." He was seriously considering sliding down the side of the ladder in sections.
"Down?" Kate groaned at the thought of having to go back down to get back to their ship.
They were still climbing when Rick called out, "I've reached yet another hatch. Cross your fingers." He was hoping this was going to be the last one. Their climb so far had consisted of them going from one section to another by going through access hatches. Only real downside to all this climbing was that they couldn't see out of the tube they were in. Thankfully it was softly lit by an occasional light. Plus the fact that all of the panels had worked so far told him that this place had power.
The second Rick opened the hatch, sunlight came pouring in and went down the tube until it hit the next hatch. "Daylight! Finally!" Kate had had enough.
Rick climbed out and found himself standing next to a building of unknown size, though it looked to be at least four floors if not a little more. He also saw those tubes that Alexis had pointed out. Turning around all he saw was green forests, lakes, streams, and a mountain range off in the distance. He also saw that darkness was headed their way and would be here soon.
Kate stood there looking out. "It's gorgeous!"
Johanna walked up next to her daughter and took it all in. "I think I see some buildings. They look to be made from wood…, I think." Johanna was using her zoom optical vision to get a closer look.
"So what's in the building?" Jim walked up to it and ran a gloved hand over it.
"Let's see if we can find out." Rick began to walk out into the world to get around it. On the back side they all found a very large door.
Rick found the panel and selected a panel and watched the large door part and open to either side. Inside they found a number of containers just like the ones down in the warehouse. They moved inside, walked past all of them, and ended up where they saw not two lanes for what could have been trains, but three.
Johanna thought she knew what it could be. "If there were tracks I would say this first one is a siding for a train. The train stops here so that other trains can pass by without stopping. It also prevents them from crashing into the stopped train."
"So where are the trains and where are the tracks?" Jim was buying what his wife was selling.
Rick nodded. "Makes sense. Below us is a bay where cargo ships land. Off of that is a warehouse to hold it all. That must be the lift over there. They use the lift to take it from the warehouse and up here to be loaded onto a transport.
"Also you're thinking too old school. Trains like you're thinking of don't run on rails anymore. Rails are far too dangerous, but you're right. Where are the trains?" Rick actually walked out onto the flat surface and hopped over the barrier. He walked over to the next one and jumped down into it. Not that it was a big drop. More of a step than a jump. He looked both directions and saw nothing. "The whole thing's enclosed. Tubes going each direction. A roof over all of this. So how do we catch a train, if there are any? Maybe they didn't finish construction yet and that's what all of this is." He waved his arm at the containers.
Kate glanced at him. She'd found something. "Maybe this. I can't read a word of it. It's like trying to read Klingon or something." It was the only thing she had to compare it to.
Rick moved over to join her. He sighed as he looked it over. "This might be it, but how do we call a train?"
"Just where will it take us if you do manage to call one?" Johanna demanded. "And who's driving it?"
Rick had to admit that Johanna had a point. "So we walk." He headed back to the large open door. "Okay, you two walk that way for one hour then come back. Kate and I will go that way." He pointed in two different diagonal directions.
Jim had some questions. "I follow what you three are talking about. What if what you want is from another warehouse and not at this one? How do you get it all out there?" He gestured toward the beautiful green spaces that had water and mountains in the distance. "Carrying it is too inefficient. They need something to load it all on, so where's the road to use to get it there?" All any of them saw was nothing but green grass and wild flowers.
"I don't know, Jim. It's something we're going to have to figure out later. Remember everyone, just an hour." Rick needed to check in with his friend. "Bee, do you copy?"
"I read you fine," Bee responded.
"We're outside at what looks like a loading dock for a train station. We're going to walk out into the Ring for an hour and then come back. Where are you?" Meaning what had she seen so far?
"I'm still in the warehouse. This place is huge and very tall. It looks to go on forever. This is poor planning. There should be something to ride or you'll be walking forever." She was like Kate, getting tired of walking.
"Maybe you missed it back at the bay, not that I remember seeing anything." They had climbed instead of going for a walk.
"Not going back now. Let me know what you find." Bee kept on walking.
"You two that way, we'll go this way. One hour out, no more. Not yet at least." They would try something else later.
+x+ [-O-] +x+
Kate looked at Rick as they walked. "What are you thinking?" It was nothing but fields and any buildings they did see were in the distance. Too far to try and walk or even run to even with their suits.
"Lots of empty space," Rick commented, seeing a whole lot of no one. But before Kate could say anything more he continued, "Think about it for a moment. Three million planets were used to make this place. Even if some of them were inhabited and I'm betting most of them weren't, just think how many people this place can hold." He tried to wrap his mind around the number.
"A lot," Johanna said since they could all hear each other.
"How many lived on Earth when you left?" Rick had no idea but was betting it was a lot.
"Just over six billion last I knew," Jim answered.
"Now take that number times three million and how many people could there possibly be here?"
"Six billion times three million. I'm not that good at math, not in my head anyway." Kate couldn't imagine.
"It's simpler than you think. What's six times three? It's that quadrillion. That would fill this place and we would be seeing lots of people. So say only a handful had people living on that planet. You relocated them while you destroy their planet and build this. There just might be only six billion people in this place from any number of different planets. Scattered all over." Rick could see it.
"Three million planets. They used an entire galaxy to make this place." Kate was thinking far too big, but she was at least on the right track.
Rick shook his head. "A galaxy could have 100 billion planets and they only used three million of them. No, that galaxy will have barely noticed a few missing planets. But think of the distances involved. It's light years from one system to the other even in the same galaxy.
"Now nine planets in your system. Times that to reach three million planets and that will tell you how many systems had to die to build this thing." If they were thinking, let them think on that for a while.
"Thirty-three thousand systems just like ours." Jim was better at math.
"Say 10% or even less had life on just one planet in each system." Were they still keeping up?
Jim had no trouble converting that number. "Three thousand planets, all with life on them."
"Now say our builders here selected with care and only used 1% that had life on them. Question is did they kill them off to get the planet they needed? Or did they relocate them? Just how benevolent were they?" Rick was mostly worried about that.
"Three hundred planets with life on them at six billion per planet." Jim tried to do the math.
"Would get swallowed up in this place. It's that big." Rick understood why they didn't see anyone. The odds were just not in their favor.
"So you're thinking this place is inhabited?" Johanna questioned.
"It depends. How benevolent were the builders? Did they just take what they wanted? Or were they more kind than that? Or maybe a little of both." Rick could see any and all of it happening.
"Both?" Kate wasn't following.
"Only take the young and leave the old to die. Take only enough for that race to continue but kill off the rest. How badly did they need that planet?" Rick was starting to worry himself into not sleeping tonight.
Suddenly Bee's voice rang out. "OH MY GOD!"
"BEE! What's wrong?" Rick turned to look behind him and tried to calculate how long it would take him to reach her since she had chosen to go a different direction, on her own. "BEE!" he bellowed. He was beginning to think about running to her, leaving Kate and the others behind.
"I've found something." Bee walked out to get a closer look, though even to do that was going to take some time.
"Found what?" If it was the builders, he didn't know who was in the most trouble. Bee was heavily armed and wouldn't hesitate to use that cannon of hers.
"Give me a minute or two." Bee needed to think this over as she walked. The place she was in was mammoth. It put that warehouse she had walked through to shame.
"Describe it." Maybe they could help if she did. It was then that Rick really wished Alexis could hear them.
"It's...I don't have the words to describe it. Hundreds of miles long and almost as tall." She was exaggerating a bit, but not by that much.
"I'm on a walkway that's about 500 feet wide. It looks to be elevated over a space that I can't see the bottom of. To one side there are these eight colossal…" Bee tried to think about how to describe them. "They're balls several miles wide, sitting on columns that are also several miles tall. Give me a minute." Bee chose to run to that side and look down. "Those columns extend farther than I can see. This place is immense!" She had never seen or imagined the like in her lifetime and she wasn't a spring chicken by any means. Not at 1,003 years old.
"Can you speculate what it is? Do you need help?" Was she in danger?
"I'm fine, haven't seen anyone or anything yet. As to what it is? My best guess…? It's a power plant, but this thing is titanic. I could put my station inside this thing several times over. I'm going to look for a control room. Just keep talking like you have been. Makes me feel better." Her tiny three foot body felt a little alone in this suddenly giant and empty place.
Rick looked at his display. "Another 15 minutes then we head back. Still nothing here." He resumed talking since Bee didn't seem to be in any danger.
"Nothing here, either. Just lots and lots of grasses," Johanna noted and continued walking.
+x+ [-O-] +x+
They were all back at the train station when Bee spoke again. "I think I found it. Going inside, if I can convince this door to open." It was resisting her and she was all set to blast it open when she got lucky and found the right code of panels to press.
"Not nearly as large as the power plant. I'd say whoever they are they're about your size. Lots of gauges and controls." Bee started looking it all over until she stopped at something interesting. "Found a screen. Filled with writing at each panel, a lot like the locked door."
"Can you read it?" He and they had no idea what any of it said.
"OF COURSE! You forget who you are talking to, Richard Castle. If you were here I'd shoot you, despite that fine ass of yours." Bee was insulted and decided to press a panel. Though she had no idea what it said and was never going to admit such.
"Huh." She studied what it showed her. So she pressed another panel inside of that screen. "Oh, now this is interesting." It wasn't a picture, however she had no trouble counting up to eight. So she pressed the panel that took her back out of that screen.
"OH, MY!" She pressed a different panel that showed her something else. "If I read this right, there are nine thousand and four of these power plants. I think all of them are interconnected, each with its own control room." Bee went back to the first screen and selected a different panel.
"SHIT!" She had been guessing before, now she was stumped. She had no idea what it was showing her now.
"BEE!?" Rick was instantly worried for her yet again.
"Okay fine, I can't read it." Then Bee threatened him. "But if you tell anyone I really will shoot you. Fine ass and all."
All four of them chuckled until they choked it off. "We're going to head back to the ship, I suggest you do as well and then we can put our heads together and talk. Decide what to do next." He couldn't force Bee to do anything and threatening her was out.
"On my way." Bee really wanted to stay and keep looking. But he was right. Not to mention that she was hungry and the sheer scale of this place made her feel small, and she hated being small. Not that she was ever going to tell anyone that.
+x+ [-O-] +x+
They waited in the warehouse area for Bee to show up. Thankfully she kept telling them where she was until she finally showed up. "You should have seen it. It was huge!" It was even bigger when you're just three feet tall. She was still trying to wrap her mind around just how many power stations there were. If she was right.
The second Rick got within communications range Alexis was all over him and then them as a whole. "WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT DID YOU SEE? DID YOU SEE ANYONE?" Alexis decided on a threat since she had been scared shitless for hours. They had been gone a long time and she had heard nothing. "Start talking or I'll lock the airlock door!"
Rick's reply was short, not believing for a moment that she would actually lock the airlock door. At least not for long. "We saw gigantic warehouses. Just off of this airlock there are a pair of landing bays, though they're both empty. The warehouses, though, are not. Bee thinks she found one of nine thousand power stations of a size none of us, I think, can imagine. We didn't see anyone, dead or alive."
+x+ [-O-] +x+
Alexis listened to all of them while they ate. "Take cameras next time so I can see." Her imagination was pretty good but she couldn't see what Bee was talking about.
"What's next? We saw no one," Johanna inquired since she didn't know what to do next. "Do we start opening those containers in the warehouse?" She was a little curious.
"If it's as automated as you say, there has to be a computer somewhere that has an inventory of everything they have. A system that tells the droids where what goes where." Alexis shot that down.
Rick spoke up. "I have an idea if everyone's willing. Alexis, can you take us down the side until we're lined up with one those double pyramids you saw floating in air? Then search for the closest airlock." It was the next thing that interested him.
Alexis was onboard. "Firing thrusters to take us farther out. Firing engines for a quick few seconds. We're moving. At this speed it will take a few days." She was going to need to fire the engines again to slow down and given the state their engines were in she didn't risk going faster even if she did want to.
"Cameras next time!" Alexis aimed her finger at all of them. She didn't want to be left in the dark.
Rick had an idea but needed her approval. "Do you want to download yourself into a portable drive? If we find something maybe I can plug you in." He thought it was a small risk. They didn't have anywhere else to go, after all.
"Yes, please! Please, Daddy. Pretty please." It was his idea so she didn't use her puppy dog eyes to convince him.
"Find us another entrance. We need answers and maybe we'll find someone this time. Hopefully we can translate what they say." Rick had no illusions that they would speak the same language.