Thank you to everyone who has looked at this story and for the two who have reviewed. It really means a lot to me and encourages me to keep going. Hugs and plushie Squees to you!
Once again I do not own Myst, the Ages or the characters. All I own is Melody... and perhaps someone else down the line...
Going to the map, she lined up the tower and the rocket. It was the next thing counter-clockwise from the gear so she might as well deal with it next. Up the elevator to the tower, she went up the key ladder and saw that the phrase '59 volts' had appeared on the wall. She would have to head outside to see what that meant, but first she was going to read up on the rocket. Since Atrus had a journal for the Mechanical Age, he must have had one for whatever Age the rocket represented.
She found it on the same bookshelf as the Mechanical Age journal. A rocket adorned the cover:
It has been awhile since I have heard only silence and I enjoy it greatly. I think. For some reason I do not feel altogether welcome in this new world in which I have arrived. But how could I be unwelcome in an Age with no inhabitants? It is, of course, only in my head.
This world is very beautiful, (but I think I have yet to ever write in a journal that an Age I have linked to is horrid or disgusting) from the grassy hill from where I am standing I can see green fields below along with a few scattered forests. A rather large lake looms some distance from where I am standing, yet the water's blue can be seen plainly from here. The earth's fresh and the sky is speckled with white clouds. It is absolutely breathtaking, and yet that strange feeling again... perhaps it is the hot breeze that continues to blow from the north. Hotter than I would have imagined, it almost singes my skin and I feel quite uncomfortable when it comes. I will try to ignore it. Night has almost arrived and the sunset is spectacular. Oranges and reds settle about the western horizon.
Though night has come, the horizon still glows red long past the sunset. Dark reds flow from the horizon and blend into the black sky. Again, the feeling. And I am beginning to believe it is not all in my head. I must sleep now. I will need my strength to explore more tomorrow.
I have had to return home due to an unpredictable natural occurrence more frightening than I have ever experienced. I was awakened by terrible shaking in the ground and explosions on all sides of me. Gigantic balls of fire were falling from the sky and I immediately left in fear of my life. I must remember to bring a Myst-linking book with me when I return, in case the one left there has been destroyed or damaged.
I have returned to a different world than the one I left only three months ago. It has been transformed into a barren, desert land with only gigantic craters scattered across the land the provide variety. Strangely enough, the small grassy hill where I spent my first night remains exactly the way I found it. Apparently the falling meteors did not hit this area, leaving an oasis in the midst of this horrible desolation. The hot wind I remember has turned into a rather pleasant breeze, which is at least one improvement. I fear it is the only improvement. The magnificent lake I saw on my first visit is now completely dried up. However, another lake exists and appears to be quite a bit larger. I assume one of the falling meteors created this lake, due to its circular shape and the jutting rock that grows out of the center of the lake. The rest of this world seems like a desert, although I will verify that statement with closer inspection.
Though this world has little visual excitement to offer, it offers much to the ears. Sounds constantly flow through my ears and I have found where a few of them originate. It seems, as Catherine says, I do find beauty in everything.
Last night I was awakened by a terrible hissing. I was sweating and the heat was so intense that I immediately dipped my head in a nearby stream to cool it down. The hot breezes had returned along with a low roar from the ground. I walked a short distance to observe some red flames shooting up from the earth. Suddenly the ground began to crack and a huge chasm opened. The chasm continued to grow until it was far too wide to cross. Then the tumult subsided, leaving only a dull roar. I have decided however I can use the chasm to my advantage. Perhaps the heat from the chasm can be harnessed.
Even as the chasm has ripped into the surface of this world, it has opened a whole new world to explore. Although uncomfortably hot, I found it possible to reach a cave in the chasm that had been created and have now explored deep into the crust of this planet. I have found a vast underground cave system that will take many years to map and explore. I will also look for a safer way to reach the underground than through the chasm wall.
This Age seems to change on it's own. Though I feel that I should leave again and see if things are different when I return. It is also important that I check on Sirrus and Achenar and make sure everything is going along well. When I return I also hope to bring back some tools I will need for my plans to explore the underground.
The abundance of raw materials here is beginning to amaze me. I have returned with some of the complex tools I know I would be needing. I assumed I would have to return for more basic materials, however it seems as though I will be able to find everything I need here. Of course iron is abundant, but I have also found titanium occurring naturally. I am all the more excited to begin work. Everything is set and I look forward to tomorrow. My raw materials are all here. I think I will be able to have most of my additions to this world completed within one year. I so love working with my hands, whether writing or building.
Melody turned the page to find that most of the rest of the journal was faded, with only a few words here and there.
... well I have decided... amazingly strong... be one of my most prized inventions. I am extremely... could never have imagined it to come together... I doubt... could possibly work at fourteen instead of eight...
Completely fatigued, I am so happy to have completed...
I am leaving today in order to bring back Sirrus and Achenar. I have left them alone in Channelwood. I believe they will enjoy all there is to see here. The Age seems to have stabilized. I believe the meteors set off a period of volcanic activity by piercing into the shallow crust, but the tremors have become few.
I have just noticed that a large amount of this journal has curiously vanished from the pages on which I wrote over the past eighteen months. Fortunately I have copied many of my construction notes in another journal.
I do not understand the many mysteries of this world, (that I have decided to call the Selenitc Age) but I trust I will discover logical answers to my questions. I have a feeling that many of my questions can be answered in another Age which I hope to travel soon. But for now I must simply accept this world's mysteries and take pride in my accomplishments.
The more Melody read about Atrus, the more she liked him. He seemed very adventurous, inventive and creative. He also helped people and tried to improve things wherever he went. She also liked how he gave each place a name, a habit she herself had.
Selentic, if she wasn't mistaken, came from a Latin word meaning sound. Atrus was smart and well-read.
What had happened to him? Was he still alive? If so, she hoped she'd get to meet him.
On the last page of the journal was a drawing of a piano with several keys marked and numbered one through five.
Going outside, she followed the power lines from the rocket to the shed that led underground. Going down the steps, she came to a room that overlooked a larger room full of turbines. A console had two dials and ten small red buttons. By fiddling with the buttons, she discovered that the left dial showed how much power was flowing through the turbines. She worked with it until it read 59.
At the rocket, she was happy to find that the door opened. Feeling very smart and proud of herself, she entered the rocket.
Unfortunately what was inside had the potential to drive her insane.
In the back of the rocket was a piano, in the front a weird looking machine that had five switches, a lever and a huge globe the top. After some fiddling she found out that it was a musical lock. She ended up using the trial-and-error method to set the switches to match the notes that Atrus had sketched in his journal. It wasn't difficult so much as tedious.
Melody wanted to cheer when the five switches played right and the globe opened. There was a book inside.
Not surprisingly this book had a moving picture inside. By watching the picture like a movie she recognized the landscape as Atrus had described in the Selentic Age.
This time there was no hesitation as she placed her hand on the page.
She was still inside the rocket. A little confused, she looked for the book to realize it was gone. The machine was still there, but it didn't work. None of the keys on the piano worked either.
What had she done?
Going outside, she realized that she hadn't done anything.
She was in the Selentic Age after all.
The door shut behind her and wouldn't open again. There was nothing left to do but explore.
The place was covered in a dense fog. She could only see about ten feet in front of her. What had happened to the clear skies that Atrus had talked about?
One thing was for sure, the place was hot. The slight breeze was warm and with the mist adding humidity she felt like she was walking in an outdoor sauna.
She followed the metal walkway til it became a dirt path between two large boulders. In the right boulder was a door with a panel and five sliders and a red button beside it. Her heart sank. Not another piano puzzle. But when she tested the sliders all she heard were regular noises like a clock, water dripping, wind blowing, even a train whistle. She didn't know whether to be relieved or afraid.
Beyond the boulders the path opened up into a lunar looking landscape. To her right was something large that she decided to investigate later, straight ahead were stairs, to the left were more stairs and a bridge leading to a grassy hill with a few trees.
The hill must have been the one Atrus spoke about in the journal. It was still here and still looked the same, with the exception of a few things Melody was sure Atrus added himself.
One of the trees had a satellite dish attached to it. Since she doubted Atrus was watching football here it had to be for something important. Some kind of ornament was hanging from the dish over a pool of water that was pouring into the lake. On a platform to the left sat a bench. A blue piece of paper rested on it. She was surprised it hadn't blown away, but maybe the breeze didn't blow from the right direction to catch it.
Pocketing the paper, she examined the console to the right of the bench. It had a large red button and a picture of water dripping into a pool. Pressing the button, she heard a feedback noise and realized that the ornament was actually a microphone. It was recording the sound of the water dripping.
Water dripping? That had been one of the sounds on the slider lock for the door she had found! There were five sliders, so there had to be four more microphones for her to turn on and listen to the sound they recorded.
Going back to the junction, she took the other set of stairs. They took her to a walkway that had been built over a chasm. Looking over the side, she saw lava bubbling below. At the end of the walkway was a satellite dish and a console. The picture showed steam rising from a crack. She pushed the button and turned on the microphone. She concluded that it must have been recording the sound of the steam.
Heading back down and across the hills, she came to a console and satellite with a microphone that hung over a wind tunnel. Turning it on confirmed that it was recording the sound of the wind roaring in the tunnel.
Three down, she thought, two to go.
Melody was about to turn and go when she spotted something under the console. A ladder led down into a tunnel. The inside of the tunnel was lit by electric lights. Atrus had to have some kind of geo-thermal power generator in this Age keeping everything going.
The tunnel came out at a large rock in the center of the lake. It had to be the jutting rock from the journal. Atrus had built on it. There were several satellites and the first computer that she had seen. It had five buttons, each with a different picture on them, two arrows buttons, a screen, and a big red button with a Greek sign meaning 'sum'.
The pictures were familiar. One was dripping water, one steam coming from a crack and another wind blowing in swirls. She pressed the dripping water button. The screen turned on and showed the landscape. Using the green arrow buttons Melody was able to rotate the camera in each direction. She turned it until the satellite by the water came into view. When the satellite was lined up with the middle of the screen, all of the static cleared and all she could hear was the dripping water.
Melody smiled. It wasn't too hard if you could think logically.
She lined up the fire and wind satellites also. The other buttons showed a clock and crystals. The clock must be the large building that she hadn't explored yet and from there the crystals had to be close by.
Taking the tunnel back over to the mainland, she found the clock easily. After flipping on the microphone there, she searched the surrounding area for the crystals. She found them down a hill behind the clock. The wind rushing through the crystals made this strange high-pitched humming sound.
The console where she turned on the microphone had a red page sitting on top of it. Evidently the brother's hadn't stayed in this Age long enough to make themselves rooms. Was it because there were no people and no riches in this Age?
She went back to the central island and lined up the clock and crystal satellites. Not knowing what else to do, she pressed the sum button.
Each sound played one at a time: crystals, water, wind, fire and clock. She clapped her hands together. That had to be the order of the sounds at the slider door! Excited, she raced to test her theory.
Sure enough, when she adjusted the sliders to the correct sounds in the correct order and pushed the button the door slid open. Stairs lead down, then up to a pedestal on which lay the Myst-linking book.
Once again, she went to Sirrus' book first.
"Ahh, you have returned... additional page... prison from this book... onto the island of Myst," he smiled. "I see that you are... your name?"
Melody wanted to slap her forehead. She had never told them who she was. No wonder they wouldn't answer her questions. "I'm sorry. I don't know if you can hear me, but my name is Melody. I found a Myst-linking book in my great-uncle's attic. Did you know him? His name was Stanley Hunter."
He frowned. "I'm not... you very well... I need other red pages. I know you must be... but... must search and bring..."
"How many more are there?"
"... two more..." he answered. "When I am released I promise..."
"So," she said, thinking out loud. "If there are two more red pages, there must be two more blue pages too."
"Do not touch the blue pages!" he said in alarm. "... my brother Achenar..."
"Yes, I've met him."
"... a man of distorted mind and senses. He disgusts me."
Thinking back to what she had seen in the Mechanical Age, Melody had no choice but to agree with Sirrus on that note.
"Do not release Achenar... thirst for destruction is never-ending... please release me from this prison... greatly rewarded..."
"The only reward I want is for you to show me a way back to my home," Melody told him, but there was no response as the picture faded.
She eyed the blue book contemplatively. What Sirrus had told her about Achenar seemed to be true, but what about what Achenar had said about Sirrus? That he was a liar?
Curiosity got the better of her and she ended up replacing the blue page in the book to hear what Achenar had to say.
"You're back! Good!" he said giddily. "... more blue pages, you must! That's all I ask of you... been so long since my brother Sirrus wrongfully imprisoned me!"
"Sirrus imprisoned you?" Melody asked.
"Stupid, scheming... pretty speech... greed which is endless... done evil and he destroyed... do not bring the red pages to him! He'll..."
"He'll what? What evil did he do? What did he destroy? You have to tell me everything or I won't be able to help you."
"... tricked our father... murdered our father!"
Melody gasped in shock. "Murdered?! He murdered Atrus?!"
She could see Achenar nodding. "He'll murder you... Don't touch the red pages... beg you, bring blue... listen! You must... are my only hope! Help me...!"
The picture faded.
Melody sat the book back on the shelf before she could drop it. Murdered? Atrus was dead? Sirrus hadn't said anything about Atrus being dead. But then she hadn't asked. But if Achenar was as disturbed as Sirrus claimed, what if he was making it up? Maybe he had invented the story in his mind, but he believed it was true.
But if Sirrus was a liar, Achenar could be telling the truth about Atrus. The thought filled her with sadness. Through his journals she had felt as if she was getting to know Atrus. She had wanted to meet him so terribly.
When she felt tears coming on she shook her head sharply. She was crying over a man she had never met? How pathetic could she get?
In any case, she needed to find another red page. She wanted to ask Sirrus about Atrus and see what he had to say.
Don't forget to R & R pretty please!
:)