To those who are reading when first posted, Merry Christmas to you all.
As for those who are reading it later, where have you been?
12 Beware of the Engineers
(the scientists are pretty passive)
The work tram made its way slowly back up the tunnel towards the central manufacturing complex and even though she did not want to admit it, Calla was more than just a little scared.
"How far is it?" she asked after ten minutes had passed.
"Oh roughly about another thirty kilometres so we should be there in just over an hour" Blue answered her with a smile "I can hardly wait to see everyones faces when I turn up with you."
"How many people are down here?"
"I'm not sure; Professor Abbott died a few months ago so I think there must be about a hundred or so."
Calla had already met many new people since leaving New Zealand, but it had always been in the presence of her father and brother. Perhaps she would not have felt so vulnerable if her right forearm did not ache so much. The small tabby cat called Princess was back in her cage and spent the entire tram ride letting everybody know how un-happy she was to be there. The big white cat named Moon sat curled up on the seat next to Calla with his head resting against her leg; he purred so loudly as she scratched his chin, he could be easily be heard over the noise made by the tram.
Calla pondered what the strange young man had said; a hundred people living in a tunnel, so it must be more than a tunnel. He had mentioned Mission Control and several other places, but how big could it be? She shrugged and concentrated on making the cat purr louder; she would find out more in an hour or so.
A very worried Maynard stood in the shade of what was left of a pre-fabricated building on the far side of the base camp; it had obviously been dumped in its current location by a large volume of water. A slightly overgrown road, no more than a track really, stretched out in front of him and appeared to go in the same general direction as the distant explosion they had seen earlier that day. He could hear Emerson calling out to Calla as he continued the search, but nothing could be heard in reply.
'Where could she be?' the worried father thought to himself.
Between them, Maynard and Emerson had searched the area ten times and hadn't turned up the slightest hint as to what had happened to her. The tracks she left in the sand back at the beach simply led up from the water and disappeared on the harder ground.
"Still nothing Dad" the young man reported.
"You left the note for her on the boat?"
"On the rear hatch cover, as you said; I told her to wait on the Star Runner until we returned."
"Alright then" Maynard took a deep breath "Let's go."
Trekking along the track would not be easy now that the sun was climbing higher in the sky. It was already over thirty two degrees Celsius and would probably reach the low forties by mid afternoon, but they to try; they simply had to find her.
Calla meanwhile felt as if she had been traveling for a minor eternity. At first the strange vehicle moved up a shallow gradient but near the end of its journey the direction of travel had become almost vertical; although the floor of the tram remained perfectly level as the curved body turned about inside. At last the work tram slowed as it began the final approach into a cavernous staging area. The main tunnel continued straight on and up but the tram turned off to the right at about twenty degrees towards a bright, well lit area. Calla gasped in shock at the sight; it was huge. The small tram was dwarfed inside what was essentially another tunnel, but it was not like the one she had just exited; the curved roof of this tunnel was at least fifty metres high, more than eighty metres wide and must have stretched for about at least a kilometre. All across the floor were machines and other massive devices like she had never seen before, or could have even imagined.
The work tram moved slowly by large flatbed cars on rails running alongside the tram she rode on. Many were empty but some were carrying white cylinders about fifteen metres in length, or long hexagonal frames made from metal tubes; inside the frames were large spherical containers, many of which had the letter CH4, O or Xe printed on them. As they move out from behind the railcars, a large vacant area opened up before her. Not far away was a man riding an electric machine that appeared to be sweeping the floor while on the other side, three people were working on something big and technical that Calla had no hope of describing beyond the words Big Box.
One of the workers turned to wave at Blue, but when she saw Calla sitting on a bench behind the young man, she dropped the tool in her hand and ran off after the tram. The others who were working on the box called out in protest until the women shouted back what she had seen; soon they were all chasing after the tram as it made its way to the far end of the massive expanse and shuddered to a halt.
No one could really blame young Blue for what happened next; he simply did not have any experience in matters such as this. In hindsight it would have been best if he had prepared Calla by telling her of the excitement her presence would cause. Maybe he should have even suggested she hide until he could call Sarah and the Professor and explain what had happened. But instead he just looked where he was driving, oblivious to the people running after him.
The Magpie of Heart Stopping Shock squawked loudly and Calla could not hold back any longer; now the tram had stopped, her new reality hit her harder than she had hit Blue over an hour ago. She was deep underground in some kind of weird bunker, sitting on a tram with two cats and a strange boy with an even stranger name. Now three people were running after her so she decided 'Nope; I can't put up with any more of this.'
"COME BACK!" Blue shouted as the girl sitting behind him suddenly jumped off the tram and sprinted back the way they had come.
At first he did not know why she had run off but as he climbed down from the cab, Blue noticed the small group of mechanical engineers trying to quickly change direction without falling over, as they gave chase.
"HEY YOU GUYS, YOU'RE SCARING HER!" he called out just before he tripped over the adjacent railway line and fell to the floor with a thud.
Calla cursed the black tunnel ahead; she did have a torch in her rucksack but her right arm was still in extreme pain and she could not fish it out on the run. Making a quick dive between two of the flatbed railcars, she ran off into a storage area where some strange looking, three metre high mushrooms on conical bases were lined up on each side.
"SHE'S GONE IN BEHIND THE P.A.M. Boosters" someone shouted "TRY TO CUT HER OFF."
Time was running out for the young fugitive; she had no idea if she was going in the right direction to escape her pursuers, so she desperately searched for anywhere she could hide. Maybe she'd find something a few aisles over because they'd certainly spot her if she tried hiding behind the storage racks. Calla stopped and looked up at the odd mushroom shaped things all about her. P.A.M. Boosters; could these be the same things her father had found listed on the ships manifest? Even though Calla was now staring straight at them, she still had no idea what they were.
A tall elderly dark skinned man walked around the corner ahead of her, reading from a computer tablet while eating a muffin. The sound of running footsteps approaching caught his attention but when he looked up from his notes, he saw a girl standing in front of him like a deer in a spotlight.
"Oh my Lord... hello" he muffled with a mouth full of muffin.
At that moment two of the engineers came around the other end of the aisle as the third came puffing and panting up near the muffin man.
"Please wait" the man with the tablet and snack begged as he put out his hand toward her.
With a the other three bursting onto the scene so suddenly, Calla was about to dive between the P.A.M's (whatever they were) and keep running but the muffin man's deep and calming voice helped to change her mind. The others also looked to this man for their cues and so they stopped advancing on her and backed away.
"Where did you come from child?" he asked softly.
His kind face and gentle words affected Calla in a way she had not expected; all the fear, tension and pain she felt finally got the better of her and she sank to her knees and began to sob.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER" Blue cried out when he finally arrived after picking himself up and running over as fast as he could manage with his badly bruised leg.
"W-we didn't do anything" Doctor Willow Pascal declared defensively as Blue hurried over to comfort Calla and help her up.
The man with the muffin approached from the opposite end and looked at the young man sternly.
"Blue; what is going on here?"
"She fell down one of the vents in section L-41" Blue explained "I didn't know what to do so I brought her back here; she may have a broken arm sir."
"And so you all decided to chase her across the assembly room?" Linton Adisa scowled at the others.
"Sorry Professor" Doctor Pascal and her colleges all dropped their heads "we didn't mean to scare her it's just... well... she's here... and... Wow!"
"Eloquently put Willow" Linton smiled
Calla's eyes widened upon hearing the strange comments; when she had first met Blue, he had also seemed surprised to hear of other people being nearby.
"My name is Linton Adisa" the muffin wielding professor said softly "Can you stand my dear."
"Y-yes... sorry" she said as Blue helped her up "I'm fine now."
Calla wiped her eyes with her hand (and her nose on her sleeve) and stood up straight and tall, trying to appear brave.
"Then perhaps we should take you to the infirmary and have someone take a look at your arm."
"Err... okay... thank you" she smiled as Blue led her off away from the small crowd.
"Willow, can you please call Doctor Vieira and ask him to meet us there?" Professor Linton Adisa asked.
Calla felt like she was in a zoo as she sat in the infirmary being examined by the strange doctor. Blue and Professor Adisa waited not far away, but it was the constant stream of faces that kept looking around the door before withdrawing and whispering that had her edgy; even the Doctor himself was treating her as if she were from another galaxy.
"Well it appears to be nothing more than some soft tissue damage" he declared "I'll give her something to stop the swelling and give the arm an x-ray just to be sure."
"W-what's an x-ray?" Calla asked suspiciously.
"Nothing to worry about" Doctor Quill Vieira smiled "I just want to take a picture of the bones in your arm."
"YOU'RE NOT TAKING MY BONES OUT!" Calla screamed as she leapt up and ran to the far end of the infirmary.
As I plot, plan and ponder the direction of the story, one thing I had always wondered; will the Dragon Riders only be a part of history in this tale, or will any of them make a live appearance? The answer is YES (to the second part). I finally worked out how to link past and future later in the story.
I'm so excited :-D