Doors
By: SilvorMoon
Jack froze, staring uselessly into the pitch darkness. Somewhere in the far corner of the room, someone was stirring.
"What's all the noise?" said a voice, thick with sleep.
"Mm?" said a second voice. "It's late. Go back to sleep."
"But I heard something. People talking..."
"You were dreaming," said the voice. It sounded like a child's voice. Both of them did - a boy and a girl. Jack relaxed a little.
"Actually, he's right," he said.
He was rewarded with a pair of yelps, and he felt vindictively pleased. If he was having a bad night, everyone could have a bad night.
"It's all right," said Yusei, spoiling his fun. "We won't hurt you."
"See, I told you someone was here," said the boy's voice.
There was the sound of someone scrambling, pushing back blankets, and then the pop of a light switch being flipped. The sudden illumination revealed that the bed furthest from the door was occupied by two children of about eleven or twelve years old. They looked like siblings, probably twins, with identical pale hair and matching dust-colored pajamas.
"Who are you guys?" the boy asked.
"I could ask you the same thing," said Jack.
The boy scowled. "I asked you first."
"Don't worry, we're not dangerous," said Yusei. "I'm Yusei, and these are my friends. That's Bruno, Crow, Kiryu, Carly, and that over there is Jack."
The girl piped up, "I'm Ruka, and this is my brother Rua. Are you all monster callers too?"
"That depends," said Crow. "What the heck's a monster caller?"
Before anyone could answer, there was a chirruping noise. What Jack had taken for a toy animal began moving around under the blankets. A furry face blinked up at them all.
"Kuri?" it said.
"Whoa, a monster!" Carly exclaimed, leaning closer to get a better look at it. "Where did you come from?"
"This is Kuribon," said Ruka. "She's my friend."
"That's why we're monster callers," her brother elaborated, with a hint of pride. "We can talk to them, and sometimes they come when we call for them."
"I don't think we're in here for anything like that," said Yusei. "I think we just got on the wrong side of the wrong people."
The others nodded, but Jack thought of the dragon that kept coming to his aid, and the other creatures who had been following them, and wasn't sure.
"You'd be better off as a monster caller," said Ruka, her gray eyes serious. "The ones that don't work out..."
"What about them?" asked Yusei, when she showed no signs of continuing.
"I don't know," she admitted. "They go away and don't come back."
"Well, great," said Crow. "I'm sure going to sleep well with that on my mind."
"Maybe it won't be so bad?" said Bruno, without much conviction.
"Divine put us down here for some reason," said Jack. "He had to have set up that whole farce with the assassins. He's not going to just kill us after he went through all the trouble to get us down here. He wants us to do something for him."
"The trouble is, we have no idea what," Kiryu finished.
"The best thing to do is cooperate," said Rua. "He'll hurt you if you don't, but as long as you play along and do what he says, it's not... it's not as bad as it could be."
Crow walked over and put his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Hey, it's okay," he said. "We'll help you guys get out of this."
Ruka looked away. "You're not the only one who's said that. Thank you for saying it anyway, though."
"We will make it out," said Jack. "If we've made it this far and nothing has killed us off, we'll make it out of here."
"He's right," said Carly staunchly. "These are pretty tough guys, you'll see."
Ruka gave a wan smile. "All right. You'd better sleep, though. Someone will probably come check on us soon. They'll yell if the lights are still on."
"Well, we wouldn't want you to get into trouble," said Yusei.
He picked out a vacant bed, and the others did the same. Jack settled down on his pillow, thinking that this bed wasn't nearly as unsettlingly soft as the one upstairs. That was probably the only good thing about this situation. Rua snapped the lights off again, and the room once more became pitch black. Even so, Jack didn't close his eyes. He lay awake, staring into the darkness, trying to untangle the threads of the mess he was in. He didn't even notice the transition when his eyes began sliding shut, and he fell asleep in the middle of his thoughts.
The lights came on with a snap. Jack sat up with a jolt, disoriented, and looked around to see the others doing likewise - all but Rua and Ruka, who seemed used to the routine.
"Don't worry," said Rua, scrambling out of bed. "It's just breakfast and stuff."
He and his sister scrambled over to the door, crouching eagerly next to the hatch. Not knowing what else to do, Jack wandered over to get a closer look.
The panel flipped open. Much to Jack's surprise, the same red haired young woman he had seen before was crouching on the other side.
"Good morning, Aki!" said the twins.
"Good morning," she answered. She gave them a smile that looked only slightly forced. "Are you getting along with your new guests?"
"They're nice," Ruka assured her. The red haired woman - Aki - was passing trays of food through the slot. The twins collected theirs and carried them back to a table so that the others could have their share.
Warily, Jack peered through the wicket so that he could look the woman in the eye. Her expression was solemn.
"Good morning, Mr. Atlas," she said in a businesslike tone. "I have breakfast for you and your friends, and I was able to recover some of your personal belongings. I advise you to take your things and get out of the way quickly so the others can get their share."
She leaned forwards, as though to better push the bundles she was carrying through the slot. As she did so, Jack heard her whisper, "I think you should know that the Goodwins know you're here."
Jack felt a chill run down his spine.
"Thank you," he said calmly, and collected his things. He retreated to the long table where the twins were eating their breakfasts and tossing bits of toast to the Kuribon.
"Who is that woman?" he asked them as he sat down. He watched his friends taking their turns collecting their own food and belongings. While they were getting situated, he went through the rest of the things Aki had handed him. His clothes were there, and all the usual odds and ends he usually had in his pockets. The letter from Goodwin was still there too, wrapped up in his shirt. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.
"Her? That's Aki," said Rua. "She's nice to us."
"She's the mayor's fiancée," said Ruka knowledgeably.
"Hm," Jack muttered, thinking of the previous night's dinner. "She doesn't look enthused about the idea."
"I don't think he's quite what she had in mind," said Ruka.
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Do tell."
"We don't know," said Rua. "It's just gossip and stuff. Sometimes the guards talk to each other, and we can hear them. They say her folks are really rich, though. She's from another city, see, and he went over there and courted her and got her parents to give him money, and then he came back over here again and now she's stuck with him."
"He sounds like a real charmer," said Jack.
"She's a monster caller, too," said Ruka. "She's really strong. A lot more than us. We're not allowed to call for them unless she's there with us."
"Hm," said Jack again.
The rest of the group joined him, carrying their trays of food. It was actually decent food – not as elaborate as dinner had been, but at least as good as what Jack usually got when he stayed in a city, which didn't make Jack feel any better. Getting free meals as payment for services rendered was one thing; being treated like someone's pet was humiliating. To take his mind off of it, he filled his friends in on what he'd learned.
"I don't like it," Bruno muttered. "I don't like knowing that they know we're here. We're sitting ducks."
Yusei put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We'll get out somehow. There has to be a way."
Rua shook his head. "You'd never make it. We're three floors underground, so you can't climb out a window or dig your way out or something. The door is always locked, unless there are guards around, and even if you got it open, there's no way out but up the stairs, and there's a bunch of locked doors in the way."
"We tried crawling out the food hatch a couple of times," Ruka admitted.
"How did you guys end up down here, anyway?" asked Crow. "Don't your parents miss you? Do they even know you're here?"
Ruka looked down. "We lost them."
"You mean they're dead?" Carly blurted, and winced.
"They're not dead!" said Rua firmly. "They're not. They just got lost in the storm, but they're not dead!"
More quietly, Ruka said, "We were in a tanker caravan. Dad had gotten a better job in this city, so we were moving. We'd made friends with some kids in another tanker, so Mom said we could play with them during the day and then come back to their tanker when we stopped for the night. Only there was a storm, and the plating on their tanker broke..."
"We went looking for them," said Rua, "after the storm. But all we found was Kuribon." He gestured at the fluffy creature his sister was holding. It blinked huge green eyes, looking almost apologetic for its role in the proceedings.
"We didn't know what to do, so we just kept riding with our friends in the caravan," said Ruka. "Their parents brought us to the mayor, and he said he'd make sure we found a place to live. Then he put us here. We've been stuck working for him ever since."
"I wouldn't leave anymore, anyway," said Rua with surprising firmness.
"Why not?" asked Crow. "Don't you want to get out of here?"
"Where would we go? We don't have any other family," said Ruka. "I don't even know where our friends are anymore. But Divine knows how to open doors to the place the monsters come from."
Rua nodded. "And that's where our parents are, so we have to stay here until we can figure out how to get to them."
"And if it turns out they are dead?" Kiryu asked.
A silence fell over the room. Crow gave Kiryu a dirty look.
"You're just a little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" he asked.
"Someone has to ask the difficult questions," said Kiryu evenly.
"We'll keep trying until we know for sure," said Ruka, and Rua nodded. "After that, maybe we'll know enough about this place to escape."
"I think we'll need to get out of here sooner than that," said Yusei. He sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't see any way to do it."
"Something will come to us," said Carly firmly.
There didn't seem to be much to say to that. The group broke up slowly, drifting off to wait their turn in the bathrooms so they could wash and change. A couple of them browsed the books on the shelves without much interest. Crow found a deck of playing cards and began building a house with them. Jack leaned against the wall and tried to think of a solution that would get them out of their current problems, but nothing would come to him but a sense of frustration and a desire to find someone responsible for this mess and pummel them into submission.
After what felt like hours, there came a brisk rap at the door.
"Everyone decent in there?" shouted a voice. "We're opening the door. No funny stuff. The security gate is down, so you're not going anywhere but where we tell you to, got it?"
The door was shoved open. Out in the hall stood an assembly of armed guards. From where he stood, Jack could see that part of the hallway had been blocked off by a metal grating; there would be no getting back up the stairs that way. Jack asserted his independence by being the last one out of the room. He regretted his choice; being in the back made him a prime target for being poked by men with pointy weapons in their hands, who were itching for a chance to assert their authority. As he scrambled to get ahead, he noticed that both Divine and Aki were up ahead, leading the way. That piqued his interest enough to make him push his way to the front of the group.
At the end of the hallway was a heavy metal door, locked with a number of locks. Divine made a show of undoing all of them with an assortment of different keys, and then waited as his captives were all shoved and prodded them all inside. Beyond the door was a vast room, also heavily lined with metal plating. The guards hustled their prisoners off to one corner of the room, while Divine walked to the other side and disappeared behind a doorway. A moment later, a flicker of light drew Jack's eyes upwards, where there seemed to be some sort of observation deck set into the wall. He could see Divine moving around up there, partly obscured by the thick tinted glass. Surprisingly, Aki stayed with the rest of the group.
"Stand inside the painted lines, everyone," she said.
Jack looked down to see that a rectangle was painted on the floor. He scooted a few inches backwards to fit more neatly inside it. There was still plenty of room for everyone. Once they were all in place, Aki gave a signal to one of the guards, and he flipped a switch on the wall. A metal cage slid down from the ceiling, locking Jack and his companions inside.
"That will do," said Aki, as calmly as though she hadn't just been caged in. "You are dismissed."
The guard gave her a brief nod, and all of them trooped out, shutting the door firmly behind them. Aki relaxed a little.
"We have a few minutes while Divine sets up the machinery," she said. "If you have any questions, now is the time to ask."
"Why are we here?" asked Crow. "What did we do to this guy to make him want to do this to us?"
"He suspects that one or more of you is a monster caller," Aki replied. "We've had reports from our intelligence agents that there have been monsters following you all around. Divine is testing you now to see what you're capable of. If any of you are able to muster up any power for a doorway, then he'll try to find some way to keep you here. Anyone who doesn't show any signs of ability will be turned over to the Yliasters."
There was a pause.
"Sounds like we'd better open a door," said Crow.
Aki nodded. "I would advise trying."
Divine's voice boomed out from a loudspeaker above them, "Brace yourselves! I'm starting the engines in five... four..."
A mechanical whine rose from somewhere behind the steel walls. Jack felt the floor thrumming beneath his feet. A breeze sprang up from nowhere, whirling around the room and tugging at his hair and clothes. As the wind intensified, Jack felt another sensation as well, something that seemed to center somewhere deep inside him, as though someone had run a line from his backbone to his navel and was pulling on it. He gritted his teeth and pulled back, literally pushing away from the bars of his cage. Whatever it was pulled harder. It didn't quite hurt, but it was an unsettling feeling, as though gravity had fragmented and was pulling in multiple directions at once. He forced himself to take a deep breath, trying to loosen the weird tension in his gut, and concentrated on resisting the pull. It felt like something was being drained out of him, like electricity through a cable, and he didn't like it. He gathered up his willpower and yanked.
The winds died down so suddenly it was like a physical blow, and Jack rocked backwards an inch or two, gripping the bars to steady himself. The tension that had been building inside him didn't vanish, but it abruptly relaxed to a bearable level. The others had similar reactions, and he heard a number of yelps and scuffles. He barely paid attention, though, because in front of him, the door had opened.
It looked like the eye of a spiritstorm, but minus the storm. It was simply a perfect circle, resting more or less perpendicular to the floor, rippling slightly around the edges. Through it, Jack could see waves of grass, the distant darker green of trees, and a sky that was blue instead of yellow with dust. It filled him with a brief but potent longing. For a fleeting instant, it seemed unbearably unfair that this world was so beautiful and his was so grim.
Somewhere out of sight came a clamor of voices. A few seconds later, a humanoid creature with purple skin and large tusks came lumbering through the door and into the room, carrying a heavy sack. It glanced around, looking nervously in all directions, before dumping the contents of the sack on the ground and hurrying back through the portal as fast as it could go. As soon as it was gone, a second creature, this one with fair skin and pointed ears, came in and did much the same. Over the next few minutes, a steady parade of creatures, some humanoid, some bestial, some unidentifiable, piled heaps of goods onto the floor. Most of it was food, but there were other things as well, crystals cut and uncut, jewelry and ornaments, bolts of fabric, strange devices, all of it piled in a jumble.
Jack began to sweat. The tension in his insides was slowly increasing, and his muscles were trembling with the effort of holding whatever it was in check. He risked a glance towards Aki, who must surely have known what was going on, and was unsettled to see the tension in her eyes. She noticed him looking at her.
"It doesn't usually go on this long," she said.
"It better not go on much longer," said Crow, sounding breathless. "I think it's getting to be a little much for the kids."
He gestured to Rua and Ruka, who were looking worse for wear. Their skins had taken on identical gray casts, and Ruka was leaning against her brother's shoulder. He was valiantly trying to support her, even though he didn't seem to be having much better luck staying on his feet. Their hair stuck to their faces and necks in damp straggles, and their clothes were dark with sweat.
Aki pressed her lips together, with the look of a woman who disapproves and doesn't feel it's her place to say so.
"It won't go on much longer," she said. "He won't let us get hurt."
Jack didn't have that much faith in Divine, but apparently the man was too smart to kill the goose that laid the golden egg. After a few more seconds, his voice came over the intercom again.
"That's fine! You've done enough," he said.
The last of the monsters dropped what it was carrying, sack and all, and made a dive for the door. As soon as it had gone through, there was a brief thrum of mechanical things moving, and the portal snapped shut like a bubble bursting. This time, Jack did lose his footing, and he dropped to his knees. He panted for air, feeling like he had just pulled an all-nighter and then tried to run a footrace. All around him, he could hear his companions doing much the same, but he didn't bother to look at him. Tiny white spots whirled lazily before his eyes.
"It's all right," he heard Aki say. "It's all over now."
"You could have warned us," said Carly accusingly. "That hurt."
"There was no time to explain," said Aki. She hesitated. "Listen. Pretend you're exhausted when you get back to your room. Sleep. I'll come visit after midnight. Divine will be asleep by then, and I can answer more of your questions."
"I don't think I'll need to pretend," said Bruno.
Divine descended from his vantage point and began strolling among the offerings left by the monsters.
"Excellent work," he said. "I knew you would do a good job. Well done, all of you. You have all passed your trials with flying colors. I'm simply amazed."
"What were you trying to do, kill us?" Kiryu demanded.
Divine contrived to look scandalized. "Of course not! You are far too valuable to me to kill. You are honored guests in my household."
"I thought last night we were criminals," said Crow sarcastically. "Guess I didn't hear that part right, huh?"
Divine gestured at the heaps of food and treasure on the floor. "I would say you have repaid me for your crimes."
"Great, then you can let us out," said Crow.
"You haven't paid that much yet," Divine answered smoothly, "but ask again in a few months and I might consider it. But now I'm sure you all are ready for some rest. The first time opening a gate can be trying, I hear."
He walked over to a panel on the wall and slid it open, revealing an intercom. A few words from him summoned the guards to escort everyone back to their cell. Jack found he didn't have the energy to care. Now that the excitement was over, the idea of a quiet place to lie down and not move for a few hours appealed to him more than he would have believed. He was beginning to feel a headache coming on.
At least now I know why the professor sent us this way. He must have had some idea this was going on, he thought. Too bad he didn't have time to explain a little more.
No one spoke as they returned to their room. As soon as they arrived, they shuffled off to their beds and collapsed into them without a word. Jack dropped into the mattress and closed his eyes, and was out before anyone could even turn out the lights.
When he came around again hours later, the lights were still on. A few of the others were milling around, killing time. He sat up with a groan.
"Well, look who decided to rejoin the living," said Crow cheerfully.
"You okay, Jack?" asked Carly. She didn't sound cheerful; he imagined she must have been worrying.
"I'm fine," he said. A new thought occurred to him, and he added, "I'm starving. Is there food?"
"Help yourself," said Yusei, gesturing towards the table. Now that Jack was looking, he could see the remains of what looked like a hearty meal of some sort. There was still enough left to feed another half a dozen or so people, should Divine suddenly decide he needed a few more prisoners. Jack decided that he had better get up and make sure he got his share first, just in case. He climbed carefully out of bed and nearly fell back in. His knees wobbled beneath him.
"Are you sure he's okay?" Carly asked the room in general.
"He's fine," said Rua, who was playing a board game with Crow. "Ruka was that way, too, the first couple of times. The more of the whatever-it-is you've got, the more that gets sucked out of you. I think that's how it works."
"He'll feel better after he eats," said Ruka.
"He had better," Carly muttered.
Jack decided that the best thing he could do was to eat and regain his strength. While he filled his plate, Carly wandered over to keep him company.
"I'm glad you're up," she said. "You were out for hours."
"I was tired," he said.
Carly leaned an elbow on the table and propped her chin in her hand. "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. There really is another world in there."
"You saw the professor's video," Jack pointed out.
"Yeah, but that was just on a tiny little screen. I could fake something like that myself, with the right equipment. But this was real." She picked up a seed cake and began pulling it to pieces. "I wonder what he's going to do with all that food and stuff. He can't eat it all by himself."
"Who knows?" said Jack. "Maybe he sells it. Maybe he hands it out as rewards. Or bribes."
"It doesn't seem right," said Carly. "If he can do something like that, he should share it with everybody."
"I don't think he's very fond of sharing," said Jack. "What I want to know is, why were those monsters giving him presents?"
"They looked scared," Carly commented. "I guess he has something on them."
"This whole situation makes my skin crawl," said Jack. "If we don't get out of here soon, I'm going to go crazy."
"We'll get out," she said. "One of us will think of a way. Hey, maybe your dragon friend will come and knock down the walls for us."
That almost made Jack smile. "I suppose it's possible." He stood up. "I'm going to take a bath. Maybe that will help clear my head."
She gave him a sidelong look. "Need someone to help scrub your back?"
He started to say no, he would just as soon take care of himself, thank you very much. Then he changed his mind. It might provide a momentary diversion, and he had a feeling that time was going to be moving very slowly for him in the days to come, and he would be grateful for all the distractions he could get.
"Do as you like," he said, and walked off towards the bath.
When they emerged sometime later, he was feeling somewhat more relaxed and refreshed. He was able to maintain his composure through the rest of the evening, and even unbent enough to play a board game with some of the others, on the grounds that there wasn't really anything else to do. Eventually, a guard came and announced lights-out, so they retreated to their beds to lie in the dark and wait.
After his long sleep, Jack was feeling wide awake. He lay with his eyes closed, mulling over potential escape plans and wondering what Goodwin was planning on doing now that he knew where Jack was. Nothing that came to mind was very encouraging. He was relieved when he finally heard a tap on the door.
Someone switched the lights back on, and then all of them hurried to gather around the wicket, where Aki was waiting for them.
"I'm sorry I can't open the door," she said. "Only Divine and the guards have keys."
"Why do you stick with that guy?" asked Crow. "I mean, anyone can tell he's scum, but you seem like you're decent enough."
She lowered her eyes. "I can't leave. I have nowhere else to go."
"How did it happen?" Yusei asked sympathetically.
"I've always had this power - the ability to open doors," said Aki slowly. "They started small, but as I got older, they got more and more dangerous. My father almost got pulled into one, once. People started becoming afraid of me, even my own family. Then Divine came. He said he had a way of siphoning off my power and putting it to good use. I'd be helping people with it instead of hurting them. I was willing to work with him. He... he charmed me. He said that I was beautiful and clever, and I wanted to believe him. No one had ever treated me that way before. When he asked me to marry him and come live here in the city with him, my whole family was delighted, and I was overjoyed. And then..."
"You found out he didn't want you, hm?" said Kiryu.
She made a face. "No. He does want me. He doesn't love me, but he wants me. That's just it - he wants everything. No matter how much he gets, he still wants more. You saw him at the gate today. His larders are already overflowing, he's probably the wealthiest man alive, and he's still not happy. I don't think he'll ever be happy." There was genuine pity in her voice as she spoke. Even knowing Divine's nature, it seemed, she still had feelings for him.
"What's with all that stuff anyway?" asked Carly. "Why were those monsters giving him things?"
"It's complicated," said Aki. "He's got a deal worked out with the Yliasters. He pays them tribute in exchange for not causing storms over the areas that Divine owns. Divine developed a machine that channels the power of monster callers and allows him to open doors to the other world wherever he wants them. He opens doors that correspond with various points in our world - this city, the mines, our farming domes, all of that. He tells the monsters in those parts of the world that he's the one who brings the storms, and that if they pay tribute to him, he'll keep the storms away. Of course, he gets much more than he ever gives to the Yliasters, and they have no idea that he's doing this."
"Sounds like a dangerous game to play," Crow muttered.
"He can't go on forever," said Bruno. "The Yliasters aren't stupid. They have a lot of spies. Sooner or later, they're going to get suspicious."
"That may have already happened," said Aki. "Goodwin had a courier on our doorstep almost before you all were imprisoned. He says he wants to be present at your trial. I don't think Divine will let you all go without a fight - you're too useful to him - but he will do it if Goodwin presses the matter hard enough."
"Great," Jack muttered. "Either I get executed or I stay down here playing doorman forever."
"The rest of us aren't in such great shape either," Crow drawled.
"I don't know if there is anything I can do to help," said Aki, "but if there's anything... I know what he does is wrong. I help him anyway, by my own choice, but you never wanted to be here. Maybe I can make up for something by helping you."
"We'll let you know if anything comes to us," said Yusei. "In the meantime, I don't know what else you can do beyond trying to convince Divine that we're more use alive than dead."
"I'll do my best," she said seriously. "I'll visit again tomorrow night and let you know if anything else comes up."
"We'll make sure at least one of us is awake, then," said Yusei. "Thank you for trying to help us."
She smiled wanly. "Good luck."
Aki disappeared up the hallway again, never looking back.
"Well, that was encouraging, wasn't it?" said Kiryu to no one in particular.
"We've really got to get out of here," said Carly. "I don't want to be executed!"
"None of us are getting executed," said Yusei firmly. "We've just got to think of a way out. There must be some gap in the security here, if we just look for it. If Goodwin is traveling here, he'll have to come by tanker, and that means we've got a few days to work with. Maybe even a few weeks, if there isn't a caravan on the move. We can't lose hope yet."
"What did you guys do?" asked Rua, sounding impressed. "And what's a Lillister?"
"Yliaster," Bruno corrected automatically. "And they're bad news."
"Can we help?" asked Ruka.
"I don't know yet," said Yusei. "We'll let you know if we think of anything."
"At least someone is offering to help," Jack muttered. He didn't feel very confident about their odds if all they had going for them was two children and a browbeaten woman.
I'll just have to think of something myself.
To Be Continued…