Hey, wow. Lots of new reviewers. Well thank you everyone! I'm afraid no one is going to die, and that includes Zimsky and Beck. As far as relationships go, I'm writing a follow-up story after this one that will focus more on the romance between Josh and Beck. I know they had a sort of kiss of joy, but I think there may have been more between them as well. Hollywood actually neglected the romance (everyone gasps) and so I'm going to take that up later on in the hopefully soon to come "Furtive Sedition". ^_^ For now, everyone enjoy, because the changes will NOW BEGIN!!!
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Chapter Eleven
Giant Gem Bubble
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12 Hours in; 700 Miles Down
So far, the ride had been smooth. There had been no trouble whatsoever, and the tension between Zimsky and Braz had been taken care of by Josh and Serge, keeping the duo separated whenever possible. Iverson sat comfortably in his seat, eyes focused dead on the screen, when a strange, dulled form of static became apparent. He frowned and looked questioningly toward Beck. This certainly wasn't good. Josh Keyes walked seemingly oblivious into the cockpit of the ship, seeming oblivious to his current position. Something was going through his head, but no one noticed his distracted mood.
'People." Iverson stated with some strain, drawing Josh from his idle mindedness. "Doctors Zimsky and Keyes?" he pointed at the screen. Josh stepped forward, frowning. Zimsky joined him at his side a few seconds later looking disturbed. "You guys are our resident geophysicists. What do you make of this?"
Zimsky bit his lip. "Um. The mantle is a chemical hodgepodge of...a variety of elements..." he strained to make sense of himself, as if he believed their respect for him diminished by the second. Braz leaned over his shoulder.
"Say it with me: I don't know." he mocked. Zimsky rolled his eyes and frowned bitterly.
"Well commander." Serge came in with a small chuckle. "Wise men say, 'When in doubt you should go around.'"
"No it's too big." Beck objected. "We turn too slow." There was a pause. "Anything that we can't go through displays as black. So what's...what's static?"
"It's nothing." Josh unwittingly answered, leaning against Beck's seat lost in frustration at his lack of knowledge.
Braz frowned and turned his gaze toward the young scientist. "What do you mean?"
"It's nothing." he answered again. His voice was building. Suddenly the nothing wasn't nothing. It was nothing, but that was something for them. A big problem. Zimsky's eyes were now on Josh as well, questioning. Suddenly Josh's head flew up, eyes wide and full of panic. "It's empty space."
Braz's eyes widened, and he moved quickly to his seat. Zimsky's eyes did the same. He did a few double-takes between Josh and the screen before finally moving to his own seat. Beck and Iverson looked up at Josh, concerned. Everyone soon rushed to their seats. "I never taught the computer how to read empty space."
"And I never taught Virgil how to fly." Braz added.
Zimsky stuck a cigarette in his mouth as he fastened his belts tightly. Serge rushed through his own belt arrangement.
"Oh, God." Iverson braced himself. The static exploded on the screen just as Josh turned his head to see if Serge was fastened in. He himself only had one shoulder harness on, but he wasn't concerned with that. At the beginning of the trip they had all had a problem getting the belts fastened, but Serge had had the worst time with it. Josh reached up to clasp his last harness, but it was too late.
Virgil broke through the barrier sooner then any of them had anticipated. Zimsky was thrown forward in his seat, biting the end of his cigarette clean off. Braz went forward with a grunt. Iverson and Beck, familiar with this extreme display of gravitational force, pushed themselves as far back against their seats as they could. Serge's head flung forward and snapped violently. Josh lunged ahead at an angle, snapping his one braced shoulder and sending the other forward along with his head, nearly hitting the back of Beck's seat.
"Oh, no man!" Braz grunted as his braces started to choke him. Iverson and Beck held well, but Josh was fighting against hell to keep in his seat. He hung limp at an angle as the nerves in his right shoulder were pinched beyond anything he could bear. His right hand went dead at his side and hung forward along with the rest of him.
Serge struggled in his own seat as Zimsky tried to adjust himself in his. Virgil flew forward at an incredible speed, forward and down.
"Oh, dear God." Iverson whispered. Suddenly he saw solid floor beneath them, lined with sharp and solid crystals. Iverson grasped the back of his seat, the others wishing desperately that they had the strength to do the same. Suddenly all were jolted backwards, then forward once more as the ship careened across the floor and the field of crystals miles wide and yards high.
Josh couldn't do anything as he struggled to keep his limp body in some kind of control. He heard Serge cry out beside him, and that was enough to bring him back into a semiconscious state. Zimsky and Braz struggled to keep themselves in their own seats, Zimsky grunting as he seemed to be fighting off the belts. As the G's around them grew, the straps became tighter. Beck and Iverson in the front row seemed to be faring just find, but their crew might as well have been dying or dead behind them. There were no helpful responses other than Zimsky's grunts and Serge's shouts of pain. Josh was being thrown every which way in his seat, and unfortunately no one noticed.
Then, just as quickly as hell began, it stopped. Everyone was thrown full force forward, and then collapsed into their seats. Virgil was no longer moving, but no one seemed to mind at the moment. Josh turned his head toward Serge.
"Serge, you all right?"
The old man winced, turned his head and nodded. "Yeah."
"Anybody hurt?" Iverson asked.
Braz and Zimsky exchanged glances momentarily before turning their heads away with a non caring glare. Beck turned her head toward Serge to confirm her concerns. The Frenchman's eyes were on Josh, who was finally pulling himself out of his seatbelts.
"No." Zimsky breathed.
"You okay?" Josh asked Iverson.
"Yeah."
Josh looked at Serge, and then past him, frowning.
"What's that? What is that?" Zimsky asked in concern. Serge looked up to see a fog like substance pouring in over his head.
"From the cooling system." Braz confirmed. "Shut that down."
Serge stood and reached for it. "I told you go around her. Nobody listens to me."
"Where in God's name are we?" Beck asked in confusion.
"Whatever has us jammed up is inside our lasers." Iverson noted, staring concernedly into the screens. "Shut 'em down." He looked at Beck. "We're not going anywhere."
Beck sighed. "Powering down." she hit the power switches. The lasers died, and Virgil was left in the dark. She turned her seat to face the man behind her. "Josh, is there any other image you can pull up?"
He glanced into his computer.
"Nope. Whatever it is, it's also inside our MRI cameras." He got up, stretched, and started to adjust a few of his settings.
"We have to go outside." Braz declared.
Serge sat up and turned his head. "What?" He didn't like the idea.
"Believe me." Josh came in. "I hate to admit it, but I think he's right."
Zimsky jumped from his seat like a kid on Christmas. "I'm coming with. I want to collect samples-"
"Wait, hang on, hang on." Iverson interjected.
"Wait, the first problem is the only way we came out of the ship is the way we came in..." Beck came in over the commander. "Which is through the impeller outlet,"
"Which is still at five thousand degrees." Serge went on.
"Exactly, I mean-"
"I'll just flush it with liquid nitrogen from the cooling system." Braz responded as if it were the easiest problem in the world.
"Wait." Josh argued. "The cooling system that's keeping us from roasting to death in this ship?" He smiled mockingly.
"Well, just a small part of it."
Nervous glances went through the entire crew. Iverson decided this was his time to take the initiative.
"Alternatives? Anybody?"
Serge moved to object, then thought twice. It wasn't up to him anyway.
~
Josh was the first to step out onto the new frontier. At first, all his eyes could see was the liquid nitrogen leaking out to help cool the space for them to exit out of Virgil. Then his eyes fell upon the most beautiful and horrifying sight his eyes had laid eyes on. A giant crystal jammed into the propeller of the ship, as wide as he was and definitely twice as tall, or would have been if it weren't lying at an angle.
"Whoa, whoa that's it." Iverson stated as he came after.
"It's like a giant...giant crystal." Josh stated, eyeing it with amazement.
"Where the hell are we?" Zimsky looked around in amazement. They ignored him.
"Well the good news is, it looks like the suits can take the pressure." Iverson came in. He inspected the crystal more closely. "It's completely jammed the laser assembly. We just...we got to hope if we can cut it loose they're still functional."
"Careful." Josh hissed as they carried out the equipment to melt the crystal. "Okay." he handed a few chords and hoses to Iverson. "Beck, try the lights would you?"
"Lighting up." she responded from inside. She and Serge had remained behind as the others did their job. The lights came on, and all four men stood in amazement.
"Oh, it's magnificent." Josh stated with awe.
"Oh, my God." Iverson gazed out over the sight.
"Aladdin's cave." Braz laughed with some humor.
"It's like a crystal Grand Canyon." Zimsky stated.
They stood before a vast horizon of amethyst crystals, jutting out at all angles and elevations for miles on end. Every turn revealed a labyrinth of rotating lights and brilliant visualizations that even the most illogical of all the geoscientists could not imagine.
"I think it's a geode." Zimsky contemplated, speaking excitedly. "But I don't understand how it could have survived down here.
"Cobalt shell, maybe?" Josh suggested, looking up and around.
"No. I-I mean...in a magma environment of five thousand degrees. Something would have to protect it." He gazed in awe a bit longer. "Unbelievable."
"Zimsky."
"Yeah."
Josh smiled. "We're inside a giant gem-bubble, wrapped in a cobalt cocoon, seven hundred miles below the surface of the Earth." he laughed. "Hell of a day."
Zimsky chuckled, walking backwards. "Yes, it is."
"I'll start cutting." Braz informed them.
"Okay, Braz." Iverson responded. "I'm going to check the hull. Call me if you need me."
"Okay."
Braz flipped a few more switches, and immediately the drill started to do its job. Suddenly, Josh saw something flaming red and orange sweep down just a few inches past his face, and fall smoldering to his feet. He looked down and could not believe what he saw. Immediately his gaze went up and confirmed his worst fears.
"Oh no." he breathed. He ran back toward Zimsky who was carving a few samples of his own from the crystal. "Zimsky!"
"Yeah?"
"Zimsky, look!" he pointed upward, but the man was only half listening. He held up a small crystal piece, eyeing it with amazement.
"Look, it's an amethyst." His eyes went up past the crystal to where Josh was pointing. "Oh, God. We've breached the shell." As he spoke, the small opening suddenly exploded into a leak the proportion of the Hoover Dam collapsing. Gallons started to pour in my the millisecond, and they were powerless to protect themselves. Worse yet, the crystals upon the roof of the 'cocoon' were detaching and falling from the heavens down upon the damned scientists who had somehow found their own hell in this place.
Iverson cried out as crystal shards crashed down over him. A few heavier ones hit Braz, Zimsky, and Josh on the other side of the ship. Those inside heard their cries and waited desperately for them to finish their job and return safely.
"Guys, you don't have to be here I want you back inside." Iverson commanded. A giant crystal crashed behind them, a few inches away from Zimsky and Keyes.
"Well, I think that means me." Zimsky smiled politely to Josh and waltzed back into the ship before anymore harm could befall them. "Orders are orders."
Josh moved in after him until Braz called his name.
"Wait, Josh, the problem is I'm losing oxygen."
Leaving his position of abandonment, he ran back toward the drill and Braz.
"Braz, what can I do?"
"Check the feeds for me." he answered while struggling to work quickly with the failing instrument. "Check the feeds for me, Josh." The young man leapt over the crystal, brushed off the drill's engine and toggled a few switches in hopes that that may revive it. Nothing. "Quick!"
"I'm coming. I'm coming. I'm coming as fast as I can." Josh whispered into his mic, knowing damn well that Braz couldn't hear him. He was starting to panic. They were going to all fry up out here if he didn't find a way to solve this dilemma quick, and that meant those inside would be stuck here. As if to remind him furthermore of their predicament, Serge came in over the coms.
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"Hey guys, at this rate we only have three minutes before the lava gets us."
"Come on guys." Beck tapped her fingers nervously at her seat. "Come on."
~
Josh, frustrated beyond compare, slapped the drill engine and looked helplessly to Braz.
"It's not going to work without oxygen!" Braz cried, equally frustrated. "We're losing oxygen."
With a great sigh, knowing very well that this was probably going to cost him his life, Josh did the best thing he could think of. Disconnecting his own oxygen tank, he reconnected it to the drill. There. The damn thing would run and he got to be a hero. Josh sighed, satisfied with the conclusion, other then the factor of him winding up dead. Better to be just me then all of us. He thought.
"I fixed it." he announced, taking a breath but realizing that was not the best idea. "Now, cut."
"That's good. It's working now. It's working well now." the old man was practically jumping in joy. "That's good, Josh."
The younger of the two shook his head, already he was getting dizzy.
~
Serge checked the monitor almost fifty times over, but every time it told him what he didn't want to know.
"Josh's vital signs are dropping." he whispered more to himself than Beck, who heard clearly from her front seat. The Frenchman listened with a heavy heart as the heart monitor on his friend beat slower and slower. The oxygen rate through the boyd had nearly depleted, and it was only a matter of time before he lost consciousness, and after that....Serge didn't want to think about it. He blew a sigh in hopes that it might relieve the guilt he felt, and left the room in a hurry. He didn't trust the others to take care of him if something was really wrong.
"Serge!" Beck cried after him, but he didn't listen. He didn't care.
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"You're almost there. You're almost there, Josh." Braz encouraged the dizzying Josh. He tried to hold onto the man's voice, but it was too hard. The images before him blurred and darkened, then spiraled into a mass of confusion and color. Soon the voices blurred and blended with all the noise around him, and the last thing Josh knew was that he was falling. He was falling and no one was catching him. Everything went black, and that was it. He hit his head hard going down, causing Iverson to fear the worst.
"Josh!" he yelled over the numerous yards that separated them. With surprising energy he ran forward, not sure if Braz was aware that one of their team members had collapsed. He was, though, and with a final surge of energy and frustration he kicked the crystal. Ten damn times he put his foot to the thing, and on the eleventh time it finally fell free from the lasers. It was at that time that Serge, with a bitter frown on his face, crawled out from the end of Virgil in full gear. He ignored the others and turned his gaze toward the man lying on the ground.
"Joshua!" he cried, running forward.
"Okay guys," Iverson stated.
"Connect the oxygen." Serge demanded.
Josh's head was in Serge's lap. Iverson leaned over them to protect them from falling shards as Braz worked frantically to connect the oxygen. The lights on Josh's helmet showed that his lips were blue and his eyes had rolled up in the back of his head. He was alive, but for how much longer was the question.
"Okay Braz, you got that?"
"Yes. Connected!"
~
"Good. I got to check these lasers." Beck heard them from her position within Virgil. Her heart calmed knowing that everyone and everything was going to be all right.
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"Okay Beck, turn 'em over." Iverson commanded, standing on a precarious perch over the growing ocean of lava just a few inches away. Braz and Serge were carrying Josh inside. "Pre-lasers only. if you don't mind." he added with a laugh.
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"Initiating." Beck confirmed from the cockpit.
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"This better work." Iverson stated, looking down at the growing ocean of lava. It was just a few inches away from where he stood, lapping at the crystal bay mockingly. "The tide's really coming in." He turned when he heard the spiraling sound of the lasers. His hands raised in celebration. "We got lucky I think we're going to swim right out of this one!" Something sharp smacked his arm, and it stung bitterly, but he brushed it aside, dodging crystals and running forward to the safety of Virgil once more.
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Beck laughed in her seat, tears nearly in her eyes for the happiness that she felt.
"All right Beck, we're coming in. Initiate start sequence."
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"Careful!" Serge hissed as they moved quickly through the crawlspace into Virgil once more. Too many times Braz had stepped sidelong and slammed Josh into the wall.
"Sorry, I'm sorry." Braz apologized. The Frenchman was getting anxious and angry at every delayed second.
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"Start the impellers." Bob urged as they moved quickly into the ship. "And activate bulkhead doors."
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Beck smiled, confident in herself that everything would be all right.
~
Commander Bob Iverson entered just as the doors closed, and they slid easily into the lava where the rest of their adventure awaited them. But as he removed his helmet he saw Josh lying still on the floor. Serge was trying to revive him as Braz struggled to remove the suit.
"We've got a problem." he announced. Bob's heart fell to his feet. Josh had stopped breathing.
Don't worry. Remember, no one dies. I just love drama. ^_^ How was that?
