MORPHEUS IN THE UNDERGROUND, Chapter 4

Morpheus has received a warning 'phone call from Jareth.

Morpheus had descended to level with the top of the nearest tree when the rung he was standing on snapped. The rung he was grasping with both hands immediately came away and he fell backwards. He landed flat on his back on a soft surface, sending up a great cloud of dust and dry leaves. He was on his feet, coughing and spluttering before Niobe could reach him.

"You didn't fall far," she explained, "these trees are not tall; the view from above was deceptive."

The trees, whatever they were, had knobbly trunks of impressive girth and broad canopies, but were stunted in height: the branches were not much above their heads, easily in reach of an outstretched arm.

Before going further they checked their kit. They still had the same toy guns; their phones still displayed 'no signal' and now the walkie-talkie was showing 'low battery'.

"Great," muttered Niobe. She took her throwing knife from its hidden sheath and hurled it at the nearest tree. It went in almost to the hilt and she struggled to withdraw it. "Great!"

There were no obvious paths, but neither was there any undergrowth, just soft moss and leaf mulch underfoot. Some trees were hung thickly with moss, others appeared to sparkle. They saw nothing living, and there was no birdsong, but their ears were assailed by the constant, irritating racket of innumerable frogs. The whole place seemed unreal, rather like a film set.

"It is odd," said Morpheus, after they had been making their way for some time. "I feel hunger. I have never before felt hungry while jacked-in; now I crave food."

"Me too," said Niobe, "I keep asking myself why we didn't bring something to eat with us: it's not right."

There was nothing they could do but continue their way between the trees, slowly approaching the castle on the hill. The ground had many ups and downs; once, looking down, they briefly saw a broad back of red fur moving ahead of them. "Whatever that thing is," whispered Morpheus, "it's going the same way we are."

They reached the top of a ridge which gave them a clear view of the castle, now quite near. "It's becoming dark," observed Niobe. "We've been taking the light for granted."

"Yes, I wonder if Jareth controls it. I suspect he controls the Labyrinth pretty closely."

"You reckoned that Hoggle was autonomous."

"Yes, though under the king's thumb." Morpheus checked his flashlight; that at least was working. He shone it onto the ground ahead of them, which they had to cross next. "Looks like a rubbish dump; it'll be slow going crossing that. Then inside that wall is the Goblin City."

"It looks like there may be routes through the junk," Niobe pointed out. "What do you know about goblins, what can we expect?"

"We are here to find out. They are, I think, redundant programs smuggled out from the Source, but what they look like, or how they behave, I have no idea."

As Niobe had seen, there were pathways through the junk: narrow lanes meandered through tottering piles of discarded things, from abacuses to xylophones, all jumbled together. Here and there, little fires burned untended, giving tiny patches of light in the gloom. As they cautiously advanced they noticed movement in the jumble and dull little faces blankly staring at nothing in particular. They did not stop until they caught Hoggle in the flashlight beam.

Hoggle was sitting with his great head in his hands. He did not look up when they stood in front of him, but flapped a hand. "Go away! I've got troubles enough without you," he groaned, looking wretched.

"Is it Jareth?" asked Morpheus.

"It's what I've done because of him. I've betrayed my only friend."

"Then do something, make a difference, help us to confront him."

"Confront him, eh? Then what? … I've let down Sarah and she was my friend. To stand against Jareth you need luck and courage, and I don't have neither!"

Niobe, remembering what Hoggle had said to her outside the Labyrinth, took an interest for the first time. "Tell us about it, Hoddle. Perhaps we can help."

"It's Hoggle!" Nevertheless, he told them the whole tale: how the Goblin King had taken the baby, and how Sarah was trying to get him back. He told them about Ludo and Sir Didymus, and how Jareth had got him to give Sarah the doctored fruit.

"Sarah and the child, Toby, they are human?" asked Morpheus.

"Right now they are, but if Sarah doesn't reach the castle soon then her kid brother will become another goblin. Can't say I like goblins."

"Jareth can really do this?" Niobe was angry.

"I guess so. Here he can do most things; he'd be watching us if he weren't too busy with Sarah."

Morpheus maintained his steely calm. "Residual self-image: it's not strong in an infant. Exposure to the Labyrinth for a few hours could affect it, make it malleable. He could make the child look like a goblin." He took a deep breath and spoke slowly: "Hoggle, you have a choice: sit there feeling sorry for yourself, or join with us and help Sarah. Redeem yourself, it is not too late."

Hoggle stood. "I'm doing this for Sarah."

Morpheus nodded, "Understood. Where is she?"

Hoggle, head raised, turned slowly as though sniffing the air in all directions. "Ludo and Didymus are together over there. But Sarah isn't a program; I'll only know where she is when I see her."

Niobe and Morpheus spoke over each other. Niobe wanted to know where he had last seen Sarah, and Morpheus asked whether he could really locate any program in the Labyrinth.

"I wouldn't be much of a maintenance program if I didn't know what was going on in the Labyrinth, now would I."

Niobe repeated her question.

"I gave her that peach back there – among the trees. She just might still be there, inactive … what do you call it? … Sleeping, that's it! She could be sleeping under the trees."

On the hovership. Link was continuing to monitor the Labyrinth, following the two captains as best he could. He called the trainee over. "What do you make of that?"

"It looks like a different space, a tiny world inside the Labyrinth."

"Correct: it's a construct like one of our training programs, and there's a whole bunch of sentients milling about inside it, including Jareth – his profile is very distinctive."

"Is that a human, there, next to him?"

"Oh my! … Female I think. She must be jacked-in to the Matrix, and gone through into the Labyrinth and on into this little make-believe place. I can't imagine what it seems like to her! … Whoa! What's happening? We've lost it!" He stared at the code coming through. "It's deconstructed, gone."`

"Hell! That must be fatal!"

"I guess so … No, there she is, not so far from Morpheus and Niobe, and … and that must be Hoggle."

Meanwhile, Hoggle had climbed a pile of junk for a better look around. He suddenly started and slid down, riding an avalanche of junk. "You know what this stuff is, don't you?" he asked the two humans. "It's scraps of code from the Matrix; discarded possessions end up here, and she uses them."

He waited for his audience to look puzzled; he was getting to like the attention they gave him. "The old Junk Lady is one of his tools," he gestured towards the castle. "She was written as a trap for any human who gets this far. And he has just activated her. First he got Sarah on her own and be-fuddled, and now he has set the Junk Lady to delay her."

"We can talk on the way," said Morpheus, "Take us to her."

"Now, I don't know nothin' about humans; we don't find many here – just the ones that Jareth lures in from time to time. But the Junk Lady - you could say there ain't nothing she don't know about them. She can read their minds, find memories long forgotten and then – this is the cunning bit – she will produce some long-lost treasure from their past and distract them. Sometimes for days. Sarah's hours are nearly up; we've got to find her!"

They followed Hoggle along the narrow lanes between the spoil heaps, barging their way through, heedless of the chaos left behind them. Hoggle suddenly darted down and through a doorway. He stopped and both careered into him, knocking him flat. "This is her trap," he said, scrambling to his feet, "and there she is! I don't see Sarah." He looked around; they were in what appeared to be a child's bedroom that had been attacked by a wrecking ball. The room was bright, but there were great holes in the walls through which gloom and junk appeared to be pouring in.

In the midst of this mess was a tiny, bent figure, the face all dust and wrinkles. Her voice was faint and whining. "She's gone, she saw through it. I didn't have enough time; the trap was too weak. It takes time to build a solid illusion – you tell Jareth that!"

Even as she spoke the light faded, and the illusion of a bedroom faded too. They were left in the dark.

Hoggle scrambled out, calling the humans to follow him. "Sarah will be heading for the Goblin City!" Very soon they had dodged around more rubbish piles and arrived at the foot of yet another wall. "This is the city wall," Hoggle told them. "It's not so difficult to climb over, especially if you're as big as you two."

"Isn't there a gate?" asked Niobe.

"Of course there is. It's that way, but you wouldn't want to try it, believe me." Even as he pointed he gave another start. "Oh, no, the Guardian of the Gate has been alerted!" He jiggled with indecision and frustration; but soon had an idea: "Above! I need to get above it! Quickly, don't just look lost, give me a hoist to the top of the wall. Now!"

Niobe stood on Morpheus's shoulders up against the wall. Hoggle clambered up the pair of them and managed to find a toehold to get the rest of the way. It was an ungainly struggle, but he succeeded in hauling himself onto the top of the wall. He raced along the wall, yelling "Sarah, I'm coming Sarah!"

"Well," said Morpheus, "What do we do?"

"We find this gate and see what the fuss is about," replied Niobe calmly, massaging the ear which Hoggle had kicked on his way up.