Jack walked across the wide plaza that sat in front of the destroyed City Hall, toward what had once been a large, open grassy area. It was filled now with the ruins of fallen buildings. His immediate goal was at the far end of the former park. The closer he got to it, he thought how strange it was that a city would build itself around a volcano; however small. It was, in fact, the smallest he had ever seen, and he'd seen a lot of them. He'd even been thrown into a few active ones by some Aku-driven creatures before escaping, barely.
This one, though tiny, was still the highest point around. It would give him the vantage point he knew would help to locate that strange beam of light. As he neared the base, the odd structure that sat at the volcano's peak became more clearly visible. It was a rounded structure, except half of it had been torn away and lay shattered on the ground. A moat, filled with fetid water choked with weeds, surrounded the base, and the stench from it met his nose. A staircase went up the side to what was left of the former observatory home of Mojo Jojo, though the samurai did not know this, but large claws from something had torn away chunks of the concrete and left gouges in the rock. His climb to the top would be difficult.
He spent some minutes poking through the rubble on the ground, looking for something to help with the climb. He learned that this culture had been very advanced technology-wise. There were several deadly-looking weapons. However, all were damaged to some extent. None of them did anything when he tried them.
Whoever had lived here, for there were sections that resembled living quarters, had eclectic tastes. There were weathered texts on many subjects, and in many languages. Some were in his native Japanese. A broken Chinese vase. Smashed miniature wooden sailing vessels laying in shards of glass. His foot touched a small book. He bent down to pick it up and flipped open its dirty pages. It was a day planner, though Jack did not know this, either. But he figured out the basic idea quickly enough from the dates at the page tops. On each were the printed words: "Things To Do" and below, assorted handwritten tasks. These were crossed off except for the first item at the top of every page: "Destroy girls".
"Hmmm. If these are the same girls those poor tormented creatures referred to, then the owner of this book is, or was, not their friend."
He would need to be especially cautious. An intelligent creature who could design advanced weapons and was under the influence of Aku would be very formidable. He saw nothing that might help him, no rope, no sharp metal objects to use as climbing spikes. His hands and his sword would have to do. He did see, though, the remains of a bathing chamber. The tub was broken in two and a faded wrap of a material that did not exist in his time but was around in abundance in the future, called plastic, partly covered it. It was decorated with small bananas. Attached to a piece of wall was a metal bar with a dirty kimono draped over it. It angered him that possibly one of his own countrymen was the evil owner of it. He turned away to begin his climb.
It took less time than he thought. He was able to shove his blade into a crevice and lift himself over the broken steps to the good ones. At the top, he saw that the remains of the dome had round windows every ten or so meters, and knew what the place was. A giant telescope on a swiveling base stood near the center of what had been an observatory. Though many internal walls had fallen, the floor that covered the mountaintop was still intact. On the floor he saw a rotted piece of plywood and bent down to see what it covered. He felt a chill draft when he slid it aside, and stared down into a black rectangular pit. A shaft to somewhere deep inside the dead volcano itself. A metal framework lined the walls of the pit. " An…elevator?" Another thing he had heard about in his travels, but hadn't yet seen one.
As he stood to investigate further, the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood erect. He turned toward where his senses told him to, just as that odd light source rose into the sky from a distance. This was it. He would watch that light and follow it; he would not lose it this time. It rose at an angle away from his location, then made a sharp turn and came straight at him. Its size increased dramatically. Whatever it was, it moved at an incredible speed. He did not want to be seen. A quick turn of his head showed little hiding space, so he eased himself into the shaft, placing his feet on the metal ridges. He slid the plywood into place over his head, holding it up a few inches so he could still watch the beam. When it passed over, he would ease himself back out.
But that did not happen. As he watched, a look of amazement grew on his face. The streak slowed and came down toward the mountaintop. He could make out the shapes of children. Three of the strangest looking children he had ever witnessed. Giant, wingless flying insects they resembled with their oversized heads and large eyes, though they were clearly humanoid. Dressed in the three colors that made up that light trail, it was their tremendous speed that created the effect. And they were about to land. He did not wish to scare them off, so he lowered the board to see what they would do. They hung there looking, and then did something curious. They seemed to be having an argument. The one in pink looked furious, her face turning nearly the color of her dress. The one in blue shouted something back that he couldn't hear and the other two backed off. She waved her strange-looking, stubby arms, making a point that the other ones seemed to accept, then they took off together as suddenly as they had appeared. Not wanting to lose sight of them, he sprang upward, but his right foot slipped. There was nothing to grab hold of, and down he fell, into the blackness. And as he did, he suddenly remembered where he had heard the name 'professor'.
