Chapter 14 - Welcome To The Machine
This hall was similar to the one before it, except it was barely luminated with dark blue, and the ceiling was higher. There had been obvious fighting in this hall. There were bullet holes, acid stains, melted holes in the floor, smears of blood everywhere, but no bodies. Both Saiyans found this weird. After a battle that seemed to have taken place here, there would most likely be bodies. But there weren't any to be found. No humans, no demons.
They walked by a set of double doors to their right. They both had windows. Goku walked over to them and peered through. There was a heavy mist and darkness in the room, but he was able to make out what was there. It was the swimming pool. Looking into the dark room like that, he began to feel a sense of uneasiness, the kind of uneasiness that makes you think that you really have no idea what's truly around you, and that something can pop out at you at any given moment. Maybe it was because he didn't know what was in that room hiding behind the dense fog and blackness. He looked over at Vegeta who was slightly ahead of him. Vegeta slowly motioned with his head for them to go ahead. Goku looked one last time into the room. This was like one of those nightmares that everyone has where you are forced into some type of haunted house, and you know you are going to die there. In those dreams, death can come from any direction. And it's that split second, right before you die, that you see what gets you, and it chills you to the core. The sheer image makes your heart stop beating in fear. In those dreams most of the time, you don't even have the luxury of screaming in terror. You open you mouth, and you try your hardest, but nothing comes out. There was only one thing missing from the situation Goku was in now, the sense of relief and comfort after you do die when you awaken in you bed next to the woman you love. It's at that moment that you feel that everything is going to be ok, and all you want to do is hold her forever. Goku knew this moment wasn't going to happen.
If they died out here, it may be years before the people back home realized that they were dead and wished them back. It was likely that he would live again if he died, but that didn't change his fear of the act of dying. He had died twice already, and both times were the most unpleasant of his existence. There is that time just before death that you go through extreme pain and suffering, and then after that, before your soul gets to the afterlife, black. Pitch black. Cold. Emptiness. You don't have the ability to think, see, hear, walk, or talk. All you feel is a sense of movement, that you are going somewhere. If anyone had to spend a second more in this state of suspended animation more than it took to travel between lives, they would never be the same. And even if they had the choice to live again, they wouldn't, just so they wouldn't have to experience that again.
Goku gave a quick look behind his shoulder. He then followed Vegeta.
They were close to the explosion site. They could only tell by the sound. It was as if it was directly through the wall on their right. At one point, there was a loud crash, and both Sayians tensed up and went on guard as if they were under attack. As they walked on further they came across a metal detector ahead of them, and a set of highly secured double doors. On the doors, it read "No unauthorized personal beyond this point."
The two ignored the warning. They kicked down the doors.
The room was just as Vegeta had expected, it looked like the control center for the gigantic generator. It was rather dark, except for the blue glow from the water below them. There were monitors still on, keyboards, a grated floor, and the generator was in the center of the room. The floor ended just a few feet before it and had a guide rail surrounding it. The only way onto the generator platform was directly infront of them, but there was probably another on the other side of the room. Really, though, from the solid floor to the platform was only a few feet. A guidrail went along the edge all around. All of the monitors and computers were on the walls, far from the machine itself. Wall to wall, the room was probably 120 yards long. But there was a major problem, they had also stumbled upon what seemed to be the demons' nesting grounds. The dark encoding webbing was everywhere, except on certain monitors and the machine itself. Too make matters even worse, the floor was littered with pods, unopened pods. Vegeta knew exactly what would happen if the pods weren't destroyed immediately. With out saying a word, he launched ki blasts at every pod in sight. Goku soon followed, realizing what was going on. As soon as everything in the vasinity was destroyed and burning holes in the floor, Vegeta jumped to attention and searched the ceiling and walls for anything that moved. Nothing. He turned around and looked behind him. Nothing. Goku spoke up.
"They may have evacuated or something. I know I wouldn't wanna stay with all of that," he motioned his arm towards the wall were the sound was coming from without pointing," going on."
Vegeta grunted. "You may be right. That would explain why we've only ran into two since the explosion. But they may still be around. Keep your eyes open," he said without looking away from the ceiling.
They looked around for a bit. Vegeta broke the silence.
"Go over to one of those computers and shut that thing down so we can get out of here."
Goku started to jog over. He stopped for a second to look at the machine. Even on this one story, it had a huge menacing presence. He almost felt intimidated by it. It didn't look like something from those Sci-Fi shows where the texture was all nice and smooth with long and slender glass panes that glowed some sort of neon color. It looked more like a hunk of metal with small pieces of junk neatly fused together to look like something. It was humming though; it was alive.
When Goku got to the main computer that was a few yards left of the door they entered, he noticed something immediately.
"Hey, someone tried to blow this place up!!!"
"I know," Vegeta replied grimly. Goku gave him a confused look. Vegeta, for the first time, took his gaze off the wall, looked at Goku and said ,"Long story."
Goku went back to the computer. He wiped pieces of the webbing from the keyboard and went to work. About 10 minutes passed before Goku said something. He stepped away from the computer, eyes wide and wiped his forehead.
"Oh no." he mummer ed.
"Oh no what." Vegeta snapped.
"The cooling systems have been ruptured. I can't power it down!"
"fuck"
"That's not the worst of it. The cooling systems are a nesesity for keeping it going. Without 'em, the reactor will meltdown. When it reaches critical mass, it explodes, and the planet goes with it."
Vegeta curled his lips under his teeth and put his hands on his forehead. He then jumped slightly and slammed his feet on the ground.
"FFFUUUUCCCCCKKKKK!!!!!!!"
He got himself together real quick. "How much time do we have?"
"A half hour until the reactor blows, and 10 minutes after that for the planet to go."
"Damnit." He looked around, not knowing what to do. "Can we fix them?"
"Did you ever take nuclear physics?"
"Don't get smart with me."
"We gotta stop arguing and find a way out of here."
"Shit, shit, SHHHHHHHIIITTT!!! Ok, what if we blast through anyway?"
"Probably rupture the core and we explode."
Vegeta was trying to calm himself down at this point.
"Ok," Goku said. "We should go over to the elevator shaft and see if..." He trailed off. His eyes fixated on something behind Vegeta. He turned around.
It rounded the corner around the generator on the far side. What ever it was, it was huge. When it walked, the floor shook. Then it let out a scream that chilled Vegeta straight to the bone.
This hall was similar to the one before it, except it was barely luminated with dark blue, and the ceiling was higher. There had been obvious fighting in this hall. There were bullet holes, acid stains, melted holes in the floor, smears of blood everywhere, but no bodies. Both Saiyans found this weird. After a battle that seemed to have taken place here, there would most likely be bodies. But there weren't any to be found. No humans, no demons.
They walked by a set of double doors to their right. They both had windows. Goku walked over to them and peered through. There was a heavy mist and darkness in the room, but he was able to make out what was there. It was the swimming pool. Looking into the dark room like that, he began to feel a sense of uneasiness, the kind of uneasiness that makes you think that you really have no idea what's truly around you, and that something can pop out at you at any given moment. Maybe it was because he didn't know what was in that room hiding behind the dense fog and blackness. He looked over at Vegeta who was slightly ahead of him. Vegeta slowly motioned with his head for them to go ahead. Goku looked one last time into the room. This was like one of those nightmares that everyone has where you are forced into some type of haunted house, and you know you are going to die there. In those dreams, death can come from any direction. And it's that split second, right before you die, that you see what gets you, and it chills you to the core. The sheer image makes your heart stop beating in fear. In those dreams most of the time, you don't even have the luxury of screaming in terror. You open you mouth, and you try your hardest, but nothing comes out. There was only one thing missing from the situation Goku was in now, the sense of relief and comfort after you do die when you awaken in you bed next to the woman you love. It's at that moment that you feel that everything is going to be ok, and all you want to do is hold her forever. Goku knew this moment wasn't going to happen.
If they died out here, it may be years before the people back home realized that they were dead and wished them back. It was likely that he would live again if he died, but that didn't change his fear of the act of dying. He had died twice already, and both times were the most unpleasant of his existence. There is that time just before death that you go through extreme pain and suffering, and then after that, before your soul gets to the afterlife, black. Pitch black. Cold. Emptiness. You don't have the ability to think, see, hear, walk, or talk. All you feel is a sense of movement, that you are going somewhere. If anyone had to spend a second more in this state of suspended animation more than it took to travel between lives, they would never be the same. And even if they had the choice to live again, they wouldn't, just so they wouldn't have to experience that again.
Goku gave a quick look behind his shoulder. He then followed Vegeta.
They were close to the explosion site. They could only tell by the sound. It was as if it was directly through the wall on their right. At one point, there was a loud crash, and both Sayians tensed up and went on guard as if they were under attack. As they walked on further they came across a metal detector ahead of them, and a set of highly secured double doors. On the doors, it read "No unauthorized personal beyond this point."
The two ignored the warning. They kicked down the doors.
The room was just as Vegeta had expected, it looked like the control center for the gigantic generator. It was rather dark, except for the blue glow from the water below them. There were monitors still on, keyboards, a grated floor, and the generator was in the center of the room. The floor ended just a few feet before it and had a guide rail surrounding it. The only way onto the generator platform was directly infront of them, but there was probably another on the other side of the room. Really, though, from the solid floor to the platform was only a few feet. A guidrail went along the edge all around. All of the monitors and computers were on the walls, far from the machine itself. Wall to wall, the room was probably 120 yards long. But there was a major problem, they had also stumbled upon what seemed to be the demons' nesting grounds. The dark encoding webbing was everywhere, except on certain monitors and the machine itself. Too make matters even worse, the floor was littered with pods, unopened pods. Vegeta knew exactly what would happen if the pods weren't destroyed immediately. With out saying a word, he launched ki blasts at every pod in sight. Goku soon followed, realizing what was going on. As soon as everything in the vasinity was destroyed and burning holes in the floor, Vegeta jumped to attention and searched the ceiling and walls for anything that moved. Nothing. He turned around and looked behind him. Nothing. Goku spoke up.
"They may have evacuated or something. I know I wouldn't wanna stay with all of that," he motioned his arm towards the wall were the sound was coming from without pointing," going on."
Vegeta grunted. "You may be right. That would explain why we've only ran into two since the explosion. But they may still be around. Keep your eyes open," he said without looking away from the ceiling.
They looked around for a bit. Vegeta broke the silence.
"Go over to one of those computers and shut that thing down so we can get out of here."
Goku started to jog over. He stopped for a second to look at the machine. Even on this one story, it had a huge menacing presence. He almost felt intimidated by it. It didn't look like something from those Sci-Fi shows where the texture was all nice and smooth with long and slender glass panes that glowed some sort of neon color. It looked more like a hunk of metal with small pieces of junk neatly fused together to look like something. It was humming though; it was alive.
When Goku got to the main computer that was a few yards left of the door they entered, he noticed something immediately.
"Hey, someone tried to blow this place up!!!"
"I know," Vegeta replied grimly. Goku gave him a confused look. Vegeta, for the first time, took his gaze off the wall, looked at Goku and said ,"Long story."
Goku went back to the computer. He wiped pieces of the webbing from the keyboard and went to work. About 10 minutes passed before Goku said something. He stepped away from the computer, eyes wide and wiped his forehead.
"Oh no." he mummer ed.
"Oh no what." Vegeta snapped.
"The cooling systems have been ruptured. I can't power it down!"
"fuck"
"That's not the worst of it. The cooling systems are a nesesity for keeping it going. Without 'em, the reactor will meltdown. When it reaches critical mass, it explodes, and the planet goes with it."
Vegeta curled his lips under his teeth and put his hands on his forehead. He then jumped slightly and slammed his feet on the ground.
"FFFUUUUCCCCCKKKKK!!!!!!!"
He got himself together real quick. "How much time do we have?"
"A half hour until the reactor blows, and 10 minutes after that for the planet to go."
"Damnit." He looked around, not knowing what to do. "Can we fix them?"
"Did you ever take nuclear physics?"
"Don't get smart with me."
"We gotta stop arguing and find a way out of here."
"Shit, shit, SHHHHHHHIIITTT!!! Ok, what if we blast through anyway?"
"Probably rupture the core and we explode."
Vegeta was trying to calm himself down at this point.
"Ok," Goku said. "We should go over to the elevator shaft and see if..." He trailed off. His eyes fixated on something behind Vegeta. He turned around.
It rounded the corner around the generator on the far side. What ever it was, it was huge. When it walked, the floor shook. Then it let out a scream that chilled Vegeta straight to the bone.