The Midvale Girls

The further adventures of the teenaged Alex and Kara Danvers

Metamorphosis

Chapter 6

Alex felt the slightest jolt through the suit as the spaceship touched down. They were in a small sheltered valley about ten miles from the entrance to the cavern system where the Emerald Eye of Ekron was located. Lyle said he didn't want to bring the ship any closer to prevent the Eye from detecting their presence prematurely.

"Okay, Alex. Are you ready?" asked Lyle from the master control console.

"I think so."

"Then I'm going to open the door. As soon as you exit, I'm going to close it again. The air on Venegar is breathe-able, so that's not a problem. But I don't want any wildlife trying to enter while we are here."

Lyle had loaded data on the wildlife of Venegar into the suit and she had seen images of the biggest predators. They were all damn scary. She wasn't sure which was the most dangerous, but the Dralgo was definitely the scariest looking. It looked a lot like a housefly - if they had orange bodies and pink transparent wings - and if houseflies were ten feet long and capable of capturing and carrying a full-sized human - and if houseflies wrapped their prey in sticky cocoons to eat at their leisure back in their nests.

"Wait a second, Alex," called Kara from where she still stood in the protected area at the back of the compartment.

Alex turned and looked at her.

"Lyle," continued Kara. "It's hard to be certain through this translucent barrier, but it looks like this world's sun is yellow."

"Yes, it is. We are a long way from where Mongul is causing stars to turn red."

"Then I think as soon as Alex leaves the ship, you should drop this barrier. And as soon as she is clear, I need to go outside and stand directly in the sunlight. Even though I probably can't get within 50 feet of her while she's wearing that suit, I am still the closest thing she has to back up."

Alex smiled and nodded gratefully, not that Kara could see her face through the faceplate of the Kryptonite suit.

"Okay," agreed Lyle. "But you need to stay here close to the ship unless you are really needed. We are this far from the caverns so the Eye won't detect us. The suit should conceal Alex, but the Eye still might notice you and raise its guard. Or worse, it could try to influence your mind, or even mine or Triplicate Girl's."

"I promise," replied Kara solemnly.

"Thanks, Kara," said Alex before she turned and moved towards the door.

It swung open as Alex approached. When she stepped outside, she almost felt like she was being blinded. Venegar's sun seemed a lot brighter than the Earth's sun.

Giving her eyes a moment to adjust, she swept her gaze around. The ship was sitting in a small clearing in the middle of what looked like a jungle. She had no firsthand experience with jungles, but she had seen plenty of them in movies. Everything looked similar except the dominant color of the vegetation here tended more towards a deep purple than green. She was just happy the suit would allow her to fly over the jungle rather than having to hack through miles of it with a machete.

Enough dawdling, she thought to herself. The sooner she started, the sooner this would all be over and they could head home to the 21st Century. Suddenly, Thanksgiving Dinner with a bunch of people who were mostly strangers seemed a lot more appealing than dealing with giant eyes, monstrous creatures, and threats to the whole freaking planet.

"Buffy, please bring the defensive shields on-line," said Alex even as she mentally commanded the suit to lift into the air.

Without even asking, visual cues appeared within Alex's field of view pointing the way. She headed in the indicated direction at just a little above treetop height. She didn't see any point in flying any higher which probably would just make her a more noticeable target for the various airborne predators of this world.

She did, however, indulge in a little more maneuvering than was absolutely necessary. She wove from side to side and even did a barrel-roll, or at least that's what she thought it was called, as she had never been that interested in flying other than the flying Kara and Clark did.

The suit followed her every thought. In only a couple of minutes, it no longer seemed like she even had to actively think about flying, it just seemed to happen. She wondered if this was what flying was like for her Kryptonian friends. It seemed like it could easily become addictive.

"The entrance to the cavern is three hundred feet ahead," whispered the voice of Buffy quietly into Alex's ear. The pronouncement hadn't been strictly necessary, but Alex was glad the suit had done it. Flying was simply so much fun, she needed the reminder it was time to focus on the mission. And perhaps that was why Buffy had done it. If it could read her thoughts to make flying effortless, it could just as easily tell she was distracted.

"Right. Thanks, Buffy," replied Alex. She definitely was getting more comfortable conversing with the suit.

She could now see the opening in the hillside ahead through a break in the trees. It was flanked by a pair of giant, mostly overgrown, eighty foot tall stone statues. They definitely weren't statutes of humans, unless humans here had four arms instead of two. It was a strong reminder she was no longer on Earth, if the purple vegetation hadn't been enough of a clue.

Alex slowed to a hover and stared at the foreboding entrance. "Ah, Buffy, are there any active defenses I need to be worrying about?"

"None within detectable range, but it may change as we travel deeper into the caverns. The composition of these rocks limits the range of both my sensors and those of the ship. Plus, Lyle didn't want to use an extremely high energy sensor-pulse which might have put the Eye on guard."

She wished she knew more about what was hidden in these caverns, but there was nothing for it but to proceed. At least the opening was about forty feet wide by fifteen feet tall and she could continue to fly for now.

After the blinding brightness outside, the cavern felt pitch black as she entered. She paused about twenty feet in from the opening to let her eyes adjust. In less time than she had expected, she started to make out details of her surroundings. At first, she assumed Buffy had activated some light enhancing feature. But then Alex saw what looked like bioluminescent glows coming from several locations. So perhaps what she was seeing was a combination of Buffy's action and the cavern's natural internal lighting.

However, calling this chamber a cavern seemed like a misnomer. It had a paved stone floor and numerous carved columns. It wasn't clear if the columns were strictly decorative or if they were actually supporting the roof, but, either way, at least this area wasn't just a natural formation as implied by the word cavern.

In several locations the roof had partially collapsed leaving piles of loose stone and broken columns. She had a strong sense the space had long been used for some arcane purpose, but also that it had been abandoned for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

Sweeping her gaze around, she spotted a dimly lit passage in the back left corner of the chamber. She didn't see any other exits except the one to the outside through which she had entered.

"Ah, Buffy, what happened to the directions you had been providing me?" Alex asked, when she realized that feature of the helmet's display had disappeared.

"Sorry. We know the Eye is located somewhere in this underground system, but we don't know exactly where. The last message from Salu was from right before she entered this chamber. Therefore we don't know where she went from here. But since she was never in contact again, she must be in here somewhere."

"Then how do you know she is trapped inside the Eye? I mean, what if something happened to her before she reached the Eye? And how long ago did she come here anyway?"

If the suit could shrug by just using its voice, that's what it did now. "Brainy says there is an 83% probability she is trapped here inside of the Eye. She went missing eleven days ago, shortly before this whole situation with Mongul arose. And if Mongul wasn't rampaging towards Earth requiring their full attention, the Legion would have sent someone to look for her sooner."

For a suit that appeared to be designed for the sole purpose of attacking Kryptonians, it certainly seemed to be up-to-date with the goings on of the Legion.

"Buffy, how is it you know all of this?" asked Alex. She knew the suit wasn't maintaining an active link back to Lyle and the ship. Lyle had made it clear they were to remain radio silent unless it was an actual emergency, as any signal might cause the Eye to become aware of them prematurely. And the stricture applied during their withdrawal as well. In the best case scenario, they would be long gone from this planet before the Eye even realized they had been there.

"Brainiac 5 gave me a data dump before we left Earth."

Alex abruptly interrupted their conversation. "What the hell was that?"

She had been heading down the corridor, which was also lined with ornate columns at ten foot intervals. She had covered maybe a quarter mile and had passed several side corridors, but her gut told her to keep heading down the main passageway. Out of the corner of her eye, she was certain she had seen something dart across the passageway maybe a hundred feet ahead. But it had been too dark to tell exactly what it had been.

"I believe it is a variety of tri-hydra," replied Buffy.

Tri-hydras had been one of the predators Lyle had mentioned during the briefing. They were four-legged, green-scaled creatures the size of a Saint Bernard only with three serpentine heads that could inflict poisonous bites. Like the hydra of Greek mythology, if a head was lost, it would regrow unless the stump was promptly cauterized.

"Can their bite penetrate the suit?"

"I don't believe so," answered Buffy. "They should only be a danger in a large pack."

"Will your lightning weapon be effective against them?"

"It should be enough to stun one. However, I would recommend avoiding its use, if at all possible. The associated electro-magnetic field when it is discharged may be noticed by the Eye at this distance."

"Well, please get it ready, just in case," said Alex firmly.

"I'm charging the weapon now."

Alex had slowed to a hover while talking to the suit. Now she started moving forward again, but at a much slower pace. This passage was barely twelve feet high. It was plenty of room for her to continue to fly comfortably, but it meant she was close enough to the floor that a creature the size of a large dog could easily jump high enough to snag an arm or leg of the suit. If a whole pack of these tri-hydra creatures suddenly sprung out of the dark, they might be able to pull her down.

"Can you tell how much further this passageway extends?" asked Alex. Without thinking about it, she had dropped her voice to a whisper.

"In approximately one hundred eighty feet, it widens out into a larger chamber. I can't determine the dimensions of that chamber from this range."

Alex continued to glide forward, her eyes trying to scan in all directions at once. It was nerve-wracking and she could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Being in the suit was no longer in the fun category – and for all she knew they might have miles to go.

She didn't see any further signs of tri-hydras or other wildlife. After a long sixty seconds, she reached the next chamber. It was much better lit than the first chamber or the corridor, which was a good thing as it was also much, much larger. The passageway let out onto a walkway forty feet above the floor. The walkway appeared to circle all the way around the chamber, however it was hard to tell for certain as the far side had to be a half mile away. Three more tiered walkways encircled the chamber at roughly ten foot intervals between this level and the floor. The entire chamber was bathed in a gold light coming from recesses in the high ceiling. It was impossible to tell whether these were artificial lights or merely recessed windows letting in natural sunlight.

The disheartening aspect was that Alex could see at least a dozen passages exiting this chamber on each level and that was only on the near end. The far end of the space probably held that many more. In total, a hundred passages could be headed away from here and she had no idea which one was the correct path to the Eye.

"Ah, Buffy, any suggestions on where to head next?"

"Perhaps we should start with the structure at the center of the chamber."

Alex looked in the suggested direction and realized there was a small object there. From a quarter mile away she had overlooked it in her first glance around. Since it was the only thing down at floor level in the vast space, it probably was the best place to start. And perhaps it even held the Eye and they were almost done. They had come at least a half mile from the outer entrance and no one in the Legion, except Salu, appeared to have much knowledge about this underground complex.

Alex glided over the railing along the edge of the walkway. For a second her stomach lurched at the abrupt forty foot drop. Out in the jungle she had stayed within ten feet of the treetops and then the constricted space in the entry chamber and the long passage had also kept her close to the apparent ground. Now, it felt like she was higher from the ground than she had ever flown. Quickly, she swooped down until she was crossing the wide floor at an altitude of little more than five feet. Obviously, there were aspects of flying she still needed to master.

She cranked up the pace. In less than ten seconds she had covered the quarter-mile to the structure in the center of the sprawling chamber.

Up close it was much larger than she had originally suspected. It was a squat, square building about forty feet on a side and maybe ten feet tall surrounded by columns that were a match for those in the entry room and the corridor. It reminded her vaguely of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, which she and her parents had visited while on vacation during the summer between fifth and sixth grade. However it was definitely a lot smaller and lower than the Lincoln Memorial. She was forced to drop to the floor and walk.

"Are you picking up anything, Buffy?"

"No. I'm not sensing any types of electromagnetic emissions or any signs of animal life."

Alex hoped that was a good thing.

She strode passed the outer perimeter ring of columns. About eight feet beyond the columns was a wall, apparently constructed of the same pale yellow stone blocks as the floor. An opening was visible about ten feet to her right, so she moved in that direction.

Inside the opening she could see a five foot wide walkway around the perimeter of the room with the remaining thirty by thirty foot central space open to a lower level about twenty feet below the floor level of the main surrounding chamber. And just as with the large opening in the floor, the ceiling was open to the surrounding chamber. If she hadn't approached at almost ground level, she would have seen this and could have dropped straight down from above.

Stepping up to the edge of the walkway, Alex could now see the walkway extended out over the lower level and that the lower level was much larger than the entrance level. Somehow she instantly knew this was where she would find the Eye rather than down one of the nearly countless tunnels leading out of the large chamber. After a second glance, she also realized there weren't any stairs leading down to the lower level – it was a good thing she could fly!

Alex lifted up until she hovered a foot above the walkway and then glided forward. When she had been flying earlier she had mostly been using a prone position like Clark and Kara used when they were flying. But now she remained upright as she slowly dropped until she was standing on the lower level.

She swept her gaze around. It was much darker down here than it had been on the level above. Most of the light was coming down through the hole through which she had just descended and it petered out before reaching more than fifty feet beyond the extent of the opening. This lower chamber appeared to extend at least that far in all directions. And, unfortunately, this space wasn't empty like the large level above.

In every direction, Alex could see what she could only describe as an endless field of catafalques. She only knew the word because it had tripped her up in the citywide 7th Grade spelling bee championship. A catafalque was an ornately decorated wooden framework that supported a coffin. These weren't supporting coffins, but actual bodies. Some of the remains were still in good condition and she could easily make out how they each had four arms – just like the two giant statues outside the original entrance. It took only a couple of seconds for it to sink in that she was in a giant underground mausoleum. The creepiness factor of this mission abruptly jumped by a factor of a million!

"Buffy, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" asked Alex, she could hear the quaver in her own voice.

"You mean all the bodies?" replied Buffy. There was no revulsion or horror in her tone like Alex felt.

"Of course, I mean the bodies. This must be the alien equivalent of a cemetery," babbled Alex. Why couldn't these people bury their dead or cremate them like back home? Why would they leave the rotting, decaying corpses on display like this?

"That seems likely," agreed the suit, still with an annoyingly neutral tone to its speech. Perhaps its voice had always been this bland, but she just hadn't noticed.

The more Alex thought about her surroundings, the queasier she began to feel.

"What happens if I barf while in the suit?"

"Barf?"

"Hurl, vomit, throw up." Alex tried to remember when last she had eaten. They had had a late dinner in National City just before reaching the airport. She hadn't eaten anything on the airplane. And since then, she had only had a couple of granola bars from the gift shop at the Institute of Technology back in Metropolis. That seemed like a lifetime ago, but the trip through time and then the trip halfway across the galaxy had only consumed ninety minutes. Perhaps she should be glad Lyle had grabbed them before Clark took them to lunch.

"Oh, I understand, now," replied Buffy. "Take several slow deep breaths."

Alex did as the suit advised. And she did suddenly feel a lot better. "What did you do?"

"I made a slight change to the suit's air mix; mostly I just bumped the percentage of oxygen up a few points."

"Thanks," said Alex, meaning it. Her stomach felt a lot less queasy. She glanced around. All the bodies were still there, but they didn't seem to bother her as much. She tried to turn her attention back to the mission. "Why would the Eye be here?"

"I have no idea," replied Buffy.

"Do you have any suggestion of where it might be located?" asked Alex. In her mind she suddenly imagined spending hours wandering through this place, an endless cavalcade of corpses slowly driving her mad.

"The light is four percent brighter to your left. I suggest trying that direction."

Alex swept her gaze around again. The light might be slightly brighter to her left, but it also could just be her imagination. However with no better idea, she began slowly walking in the direction Buffy had suggested.

In less than thirty seconds, she had walked passed at least fifteen concentric rings of bodies or roughly one hundred feet – far enough that the light from the opening where she had descended to this level was getting very dim. Oh, she had no trouble still seeing the opening when she looked back, but it wasn't casting much useful light at this distance. If there was another abrupt drop off, she might not see it in time to avoid stepping off the edge. But a drop off seemed unlikely given the nature of this space.

She was about to ask Buffy if she could do anything to further amplify the ambient light when she saw it, a cone of light in the direction she had been heading. It was difficult to judge distances in the dim light, but it at least gave her something to home in on.

It took Alex five more minutes of steady walking, passing at least another hundred rings of bodies, to begin to approach the highlighted object. If this level extended equally far in all directions, then it must be as large as the chamber above. She tried to estimate the number of dead aliens it housed – it had to be in the millions. And Alex didn't know if the object ahead was even at the end of the chamber in this direction, as she couldn't see any wall immediately beyond it.

But now she was close enough to make out the object ahead. It rested on a four foot tall by seven foot long by three foot wide catafalque just like all the bodies. And it could only be the Emerald Eye of Ekron. Alex was still forty feet away, but the object was bathed in some overhead light. From this distance it looked like an oversized human eyeball with a dangling strip of optic nerve. It looked hideously grotesque, but after walking by hundreds of decaying aliens, the last few of which were little more than crumbled skeletons, Alex seemed to have become inured to things.

As Alex stepped closer, the Eye became more clearly defined. The iris was a brilliant emerald green, but the remainder of the eyeball was white with a faintly jelly-like texture just like a human eye.

The eye was roughly two feet in diameter just like Brainy had said. This had to be the Emerald Eye of Ekron!