Chapter 6. The Rooms
A lone Eloi in the home of the Morlocks is not so well hidden for very long. Eventually a stray Morlock will find the blonde head sleeking around the crevices sooner or later. Mog grew wary of his other companions who would so often sniff the air when the scent of a living Eloi would drift in and out from between the rocks. All too soon a few hungry Morlocks began to search for this strange Eloi.
Shikha sat brooding behind a fruiting tree staring up at the moon. Mog stepped around it and stood hovering over her. She was too deep in her thoughts of the ghostly moon to notice his presence.
"I often wonder if our ancestors often gazed up at the moon. Back when they were one," Shikha looked up at her friend. "Come sit with me Mog."
"We shouldn't be here no more. The other Morlocks are starting to suspect your presence. They can smell you." Mog found a place next to her. "We must go away before morning. We didn't catch as many Eloi as usual ever since that Traveler has come. There are still many hungry Morlocks. Times are just growing bad and it's even worse for you."
"Okay. But where will we stay? Every cave must have some Morlocks someplace." Shikha packed her bag with a few berries picked from the ground.
"I know of one place. I found it by accident. It's a very unusual place underground but our kind didn't make it. No it's extremely old. I think several thousands of years old. Strange writings on the walls as well. I believe it's a place where our ancestors have once stayed."
Anything to do with the past had an instant snag on Shikha's imagination. She up righted herself in an instant and grabbed his hand. "Come on then! Let's go."
"Alright but it is a long walk. Let's start now so we will have long enough before the sun comes up." Mog lead the way into the woods. Shikha followed behind him, looking at all the different shrubs and how the moon's light would cover it's self over the leaves like a blanket. Mog on the other hand didn't care so much to stare at it for long. After a few hours Shikha's legs ached. The bottom of her feet were sore and her joints were much worse. She wasn't used to traveling for so far for so long. In fact she hasn't been this far away from home in her entire life.
"Are you sure Morlocks don't go there? I'm sure somebody else would have found it too." She limped, trying to keep up with his wide paces. "My feet hurt so badly. We've been walking forever. Are we even close?"
"Very close now." Mog answered. "Yes I'm sure. There is not a whiff of Morlock nor Eloi in there. It's cleverly hidden in the vines so nobody would even detect it being a few feet away. I fell through the wall of vines by accident and stumbled all the way down. Damn lucky the bottom is covered in sand. Might have cracked my head open otherwise. It should keep us safe for the time being. Until the starving Morlocks grow desperate and might trail your scent." Mog stopped and looked back around. "As a matter of fact they could easily track you now." He bent over and picked Shikha up and carried her like a small child. She surely appreciated this and dangled her tired legs over his arm.
Shikha had drifted into a light sleep for the rest of the way. The sky around them was growing a lighter blue, the sun would soon poke out from behind the trees. Mog hurried on as fast as he could with his friend jolting. He placed the sleepy blonde on the grass and searched the vines.
"I found it Shikha." He stuck his head deep inside a well-hidden hole in the corner of a large hill. "Now be careful. It's not completely dark down here since some parts do have holes so you should be able to find your way around."
Inside the hole led to a very large and lightly lighten boxy interior. Old dusty walls made sturdy kept the room from caving in. Evidently this must have been a building at one time. Over the centuries Mother Nature had covered it with soil and greenery, protecting it from the outside world. As Mog had told Shikha, there were bizarre writings chiseled into the walls. The concrete floor was cracked and buckled, evidence of how much the earth moved around beneath it. There were several glass cases too with items inside. Both Mog and Shikha were amazed at the artifacts that littered the floor.
"Let's see what's inside these things." Shikha pressed her hands against the ancient glass. It gave way under the pressure and the glass plates slipped onto the floor. The molding that held the glass together had long since rotted and now only remnants of sticky residue held them together. Inside were rusted masses of indistinguishable objects. Mog broke open one that was more well preserved and found a small machine that was too primitive for him to identify. Shikha found something else more impressive to her. A metal chest tightly sealed away and tucked into the corner. She beat her fist against it and summoned Mog over to help break it open.
"What are these?" Shikha's eyes widened. The chest was filled with books and magazines. They were musty and fragile but were in remarkable condition for their age. She picked one up and slowly pulled the sticky pages open. Inside were images of a strange creature. One that looked so much like the Eloi, only their clothing was different. Her breath stopped as she flipped through the book. So many pictures of strange animals and strange Eloi and machinery. "Is this an Eloi?" She pointed at a blonde child in an image.
Mog was checking out other books himself. He was having a harder time flipping through the pages with his three thick fingers. "I think these may perhaps be our ancestors. They look a lot like the Traveler. Some of them anyways."
"I like these other creatures they have next to them." Shikha pointed at a large German Shepherd dog. "So amazing. Let's take a few of these."
For the rest of the day they spent flipping through hundreds of pages. Each time was a refreshing surprise as the pictures always shown something new. Mog was especially fascinated on how Man had once looked. Shikha was right for one thing. The Eloi looked more like Man than any Morlock.
"I wish there were some Morlocks in here. Maybe early ones but I guess that's when they stopped making these?" Mog placed the books back inside the chest. "I guess all of these are way before our time."
"Maybe someplace they do." Shikha packed her bag with three of the lighter magazines and followed Mog deeper into the rooms to find better darkness. Mog stopped and snorted loudly. A stale scent of another Morlock was in there. Shikha hid behind Mog and gripped onto his loin cloth, afraid that a new pair of glowing eyes would reveal themselves.
Mog let out a sigh when he found the body of a dead Morlock. It was at least two weeks old telling by the awful stench it admitted. A sharp long stick jutted out from the back of it. The Morlock's hands was laying stretched out from it's body.
"Somebody killed him." Mog mourned to himself. "Let's go someplace else."
Shikha turned her eyes away from the ghastly sight and followed him into another room far from the stench. Perhaps there was some sort of enemy lurking down here after all.
"I wonder what sort of animal did that?" She curled up in his lap and started to twist his arm hair into a braid. "I can't imagine something else killing a Morlock."
"I don't know but for one thing I haven't seen Morlocks really use sticks to kill another. Our teeth and nails do the job well enough. He might have crawled down here by accident? I surely doubt there is any other creatures in here besides us."
The thoughts of more monsters flooded Shikha's head. There could be anything in there. Maybe some type of creature that nobody else had seen. She felt like making a mad dash to the surface in the sunlight again just to see. There was nothing worse then being afraid and blind of one's surroundings. She tightly spun the braid she made on Mog's arm around her finger and pulled firmly. He grasped her tiny hand and pulled it away. Her thin fingers wrapped around one large nail of his. Just something to hold on to was reassuring enough for her. Mog soon learned this. He wasn't too used to having other hands touching him in such a manner. His Eloi friend was a different manner. Nobody else depended on him like she did.
"Are we going to stay here forever?" Shikha asked, missing her underground home terribly. "It seems so gloomy down here and depressing."
"I don't care to either. Not with a dead Morlock laying around. Makes this place feel less safe."
"If you feel that way then we should definitely leave. No way I'm staying in this creepy place." She got up and tugged on him. "We should keep moving just incase whatever killed him might come back."
"We can't leave yet. It's daytime now. Remember what I am. The sun is too harsh for me to stand for very long." He didn't budge, feeling tired from the long travel. "We will have to wait. Look at more of those pictures while I sleep."
"I wish I could find out what this strange stuff is on the pages I saw in the other room." She turned the book upside down and squinted. The room was too dark to see anything.
"It's writing. We Morlocks have no use for it anymore but we know what it once was for." He yawned, laying his head back against the wall. "It has been centuries since anybody had any use to write. When our ancestors went underground it was too dark for them to read. Eventually writing was forgotten as we just taught everything verbally."
"Oh I see. What about the Eloi? They live above so they should be able to write."
"As far as I know they don't. Too many centuries of playing the role as our food has suppressed any type of knowledge for them. You are the smartest Eloi I have met," He smiled. "because you were taught that way. When I see you it does remind me that even though we can suppress such things it doesn't mean we can vanish it all together."