Shephard was not the only one with persistent willies since arriving here.
While following this ramshackle trail, with only a flimsy yellow rope acting as the only barrier to keep us from tumbling over into the void, we were given a temperate showcase of common Xenian wildlife, and much of it was a bit unsettling. While sparse on this side of our floating island, the foliage growing along the porous rockface to our right encompassed enormous amounts of surface area, fanning out like ominous sprawling hands. It was along this section of the trail that I was first introduced to growths called "Xen Trees".
Large, fleshy organisms with wrinkly pinkish skin and a long trunk-like end that curled forward, resembling an upturned root almost as they swayed around autonomously. They were around seven feet tall, though if their pointed trunks were fully extended upward, they could easily surpass fourteen feet at least. There was an Aperture warning sign propped up alongside a couple of these large stationary creatures to establish a safe distance from them―around five feet―and expressed that these creatures would attack you if you got in their personal space.
Aside from those ghastly spectacles, the rest of the "native" plant life along the way appeared passive, though they blurred the line between flora and fauna. As the trail grew wider and more encompassing, that gave room for massive stationary organisms like large four-legged bulbous growths to sprout across various surfaces, and their chalk-coloured tops heaving in and out slowly as if they were breathing. There were also, oddly enough, flora that resembled coral and other marine-like invertebrates, further making me question what category all of this fit into.
"Remarkable. Truly remarkable," I marvelled as I cautiously strode along, keeping a steady distance from much of what was growing in the rocks and patchy soil, fascinated as I was unnerved by the grotesque yet captivating nature of the Xenian wildlife we encountered so far. "What kind of world do you suppose fosters this kind of life?"
"Only this one as far as I'll ever be concerned," Shephard said, nervy by all the organisms we were passing by. "Everything is so wet. I ain't liking that at all."
"As…unsightly as it all may look, we mustn't discredit its robustness," I said, trying to find the good that comprised this floating island's composition―though I truly struggled to find actual beauty in it. "This realm is a culmination of elements from different universes. Nothing is actually native in Xen. To thrive in such a hostile place should be seen as a testament to its ability to adapt."
Shephard, I could sense, was persuaded very little by my reasoning, but was nonetheless interested by what I was saying. "The vorts tell you all this?" he guessed.
"Indeed," I vindicated. "Essentially all on Earth are refugees from this realm after being freed from the Nihilanth's boundless control. They have an intimate understanding of this place, and I receive glimpses of it whenever my mind merges with theirs as we commune within the Vortessence."
"You don't say," Shephard said, continuously distracted by the oddities in our environment, which seemed to personify the word "unorthodox". "The Nihilanth…" he muttered to himself, having familiarity with that character now after getting to know our vortigaunt friends back home. He remained silent as we rounded another tight corner of this ledge, which felt like was getting narrower the further we went, which put both of us on edge. We both decided to keep closer to the rock wall to conserve space, wanting to stay as far away from the ledge where the lone yellow rope on pikes acted as its only barrier.
"So…correct me if I'm misremembering," Shephard began, potentially trying to keep our minds off of the void just several feet away from us over the ledge, "the big-headed baby man in the murals; their 'master'; where did he come from?"
"The vortigaunts don't know themselves; all they know is that he was the last of his kind after they were wiped out by the Combine when they invaded and ruined his world," I explained, keeping my eyes on my feet. "He possessed incredible innate psychic powers that hijacked the vortigaunts' shared consciousness and exploited it for his own benefit. As ruthless and unforgiving as the Nihilanth was, the vortigaunts insist everything he did was out of self-preservation. He was not a conqueror by choice, and his invasion of Earth was merely an act of desperation to put greater distance between him and the Combine. This was the move that ultimately caused his demise in the end."
"Seems like it. And it also apparently had a PHD," Shephard said. That did manage a little chuckle from me. "But, this Nil… Nihi…"
"Nihilanth."
"Gotcha," Shephard thanked. "The vorts talked about him a little bit when I went back to see their mural once. They didn't sound like they had hard feelings about him, but they were his slaves. He forced them to fight on Earth, right? I shot and killed a good several of them, and yet they don't hold a grudge against me."
"You are confused by their mutual tranquillity," I guessed.
"I mean…yeah. Considerably, actually," Shephard confirmed. "I guess I don't really understand how…content they are with their given circumstance, even now."
"I wouldn't say they're content," I vouched. "They desire freedom and justice like any other subjugated race, but they envision this life as only being one stage in their existence. They know they are destined for death regardless of what happens; it's merely ideal that they live this existence in truth."
"Hmm. Wish my species committed to that philosophy more often," Shephard replied. "Maybe that means we had it pretty easy overall. Guess you gotta suffer if you want to know what really matters in life."
Shephard's words couldn't have been truer, especially to someone like me who lost everything at a very young age. And it definitely put things in a much clearer perspective now that we found ourselves here in this forsaken realm. I learned to be formidable at reading the terrain of a new world or environment, but I had a bad feeling my skills wouldn't be up to par in this landfill of a dimension.
Me and Shephard had been rounding this ledge around the island for several minutes now, meticulously making sure each of our steps was slow and cautious to not slip, for the ground got looser and gravelly as we progressed. Just when we both feared that we were reaching a dead end―and just as likely a literal one―a much-needed relief in the terrain was eventually presented to us. Our winding trail led to a large plateau that spanned about one and a half glorious acres of open space, filled with an assortment of exotic Xenian flora and large porous boulders.
It also housed another Aperture Science outpost. The campsite was a mobile laboratory; underneath a large canopy was a station with computers, another with crates and an examination table, and an assortment of large spotlights that were positioned around the campsite, but mostly in an area outside the camp, where a few digging tools could be spotted lying idly in the ground. Everything was hooked up to a couple of mobile generators sitting closest to the rock wall, though they didn't appear to be running. Another abandoned outpost.
"Looks like nobody's home," Shephard deduced.
"Indeed," I replied. "I would have sensed someone long before coming across this. There is a definite silence in human thoughts all around."
"Figured as much," Shephard said, slightly downcast though not surprised. "All the better; I'm happy to give my feet some more real estate."
"Me too, my friend."
We both eagerly spaced out after arriving on the landing, savouring the comfy amount of ground to walk on. We then cautiously entered the camp to have a look around. Just before we could get underneath the canopy covering the mobile lab, we were greeted by a sign that gave the apparent name and the number assigned to this area, with the name, in particular, making Shephard tilt his head in confusion.
"New Little Munchkin Land?" he read aloud, sounding quite mystified by the choice. I found myself a little tickled by the odd name despite not knowing the possible cultural context, though Shephard appeared to know so. I heard it in his voice.
"What does that mean?" I wondered.
"Oh. It's nothing, really," Shephard shrugged. "It's just a reference to some old movie. Definitely not the name I would have chosen for this dump."
While somewhat interested in Shephard's fixation on the camp's given name, my attention was primarily joined to the vacancy of the campsite, and coaxed me to explore a little bit of it. The mobile computer lab underneath the canopy, again, was surprisingly undisturbed for the most part, much like the teleporter base in the cave. The haunting light breeze jostled and flapped the tight canopy slightly as I moved past it while Shephard investigated the lab a little more.
This must have been some kind of sedimentology site if the various digging equipment suggested anything. There were several presumed rock samples placed on various mats in the dig sight just beyond as well as by the lab, directly adjacent to clean white crates bearing the Aperture Laboratories logo. Or at least they would have been clean white if oozy Xenian growths weren't presently trying to consume them.
Still sensing no sentient thoughts, let alone the likes of animals, I was coaxed to move into the excavation pits, which weren't too deep but were expertly carved out. It was also quite dusty around here, though it didn't seem arid enough to get picked up by the breeze―so there must have been some moisture in the ground.
Given the relative pristineness this camp had to the base up the cliff, it was just as much a mystery here as to how long this place had been abandoned. It surely couldn't have been too long, couldn't it? That at least was able to provide some kind of hope that there may have been survivors still staking it out here, but a gut feeling told me to not bank on this possibility.
While perusing the remnants of the dig site, I thought I spotted something massive just over the towering rocks up ahead. A little break-up in the dense grey mist must have occurred when a large structure with metallic frames seemed to appear out of nowhere just beyond the rocks. I would have gone up around the rocks to investigate the phenomenon until I heard Shephard call for me.
"Hey, Pop-Tart, come look at what I found," he beckoned through his comm. I turned to see him wave from the lab before I traipsed back over to him, coming to discover he was holding a clipboard of some kind.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Check this out. I think I've found ourselves a map to the relay station. Have a look-see," Shephard enticed, offering me the clipboard.
I took it and held back the pages Shephard already thumbed through to see five large chunks of solid colours dominating the entire page with gaps of various sizes between them, surrounded by numerous smaller chunks. I saw names ascribed to the largest blocks: Gillikins, Quadlings, Winkies, and Mifkets to name a few. There was a familiar name on one of the blocks: Munchkins, which was a name on the sign just outside of this camp. There was a prominent yellow line linking these chunks, which I began to realise must have been other floating islands, following a linear pathway to each of them before arriving at a point near the top left centre of the map, a bold green chunk named Emerald Central, and had words in parenthesis language that referred to the Xen Relay tuning station.
"All right, this must be the route to the station," I declared, feeling a reassurance that I didn't realise I was missing while studying this page's layout.
"Yeah, I'll take it," Shephard concurred. "It sure as hell beats flying blind out here. At least this is something to work with."
"Indeed," I agreed with a mindful nod. "Do you suppose we're on this Munchkins region right here? We have to be if that sign alluded to it."
"It must be," Shephard considered before putting his finger on the distinctive green splotch on the map. "I'm betting that's where we've got to go. It's talking about relays and stuff, and it's a different colour from the rest. It has to be the relay station."
"I believe you're right. We better keep this on hand if we value a reference, no?"
"We'd be idiots if we didn't," Shephard said, though I sensed he wasn't completely sold on this prospect. And neither was I, for one glaring issue needed to be addressed. "Assuming these shapes are meant to be floating islands, how are we supposed to reach them? I doubt there's a bridge to them."
"I spotted something unusual past those rocks beyond that dig site up there," I pointed out. "Maybe there's something over there that might help us? Assuming that this peninsula is identical to the one on the map right here," I said, pointing my finger at what I was referring to. Shephard looked at it for a moment and nodded compliantly.
"Let's go and see."
Moments later, Shephard and I rounded past the rocks I never got to peek around and discovered something quite spectacular. Towards the edge of this peninsula was an enormous net rising around twelve feet off the ground, encompassing enough to catch an entire lightweight lorry. It was tilted a few degrees like it was designed to catch something at a predictable angle, and what looked to be a large cushion installation was positioned right beneath it to catch the captured projectile when it inevitably fell to the ground.
"The hell is this big thing for?" Shephard gawked at the large contraption in bewilderment before it led his eyes down towards its base, where he discovered a peculiar-looking platform and a posted sign. "Maybe that thing's got an answer," he deduced, leading me over to it so that we could both look.
Presented before us, relatively close to the ledge, was what looked to be an assembly of three ovular plates, each being roughly the size of an ottoman, contained inside a big boxy case that was buried in the ground. Right in front of the plates was a metal plaque that designated this contraption as "Aerial Faith Plates", and below it was a set of instructions alongside illustrative graphs similar to those I saw on the screens in the test chambers back in Arbeit #1.
"Hey, am I reading this right when it says this is supposed to launch us over the endless abyss?" Shephard asked me, a little perturbed by the messaging used in this sign. I reviewed the texts and graphs a few times, and it most certainly laid out clearly that this was its purpose. There was supposedly another island out yonder past this relentless fog, and these plates were supposed to send the user flying over to it.
"I'm afraid so, my friend," I concluded, getting a little knot in my throat as I looked over at the aerial faith plates in the ground. Since the plates were positioned so close to the ledge, my eyes were able to spot something both peculiar and a little frightening. Stepping over a hump in the elevation, I was able to spot a line piercing through the cloud in front of us towards the aerial faith plates, and I quickly realised that it was a thick steel cable fastened to a robust metal bollard. It led out to somewhere in the dense cloud cover, attached to something unseen.
"What does the map say the closest island is?" I asked. "Assuming we're on the Island of Munchkins, of course."
"Uhm…" Shephard pondered, pulling out the acquired paper map from one of his satchels and looking it over. "Quadlings," he said. "Would be fricken' nice if we were able to actually see what was out there. It's all pea soup from what I can see!"
The mist felt like it had gotten much denser since we arrived at this camp. I looked out where the steel cable was heading before finishing into the thick of it. I then had a practical idea.
"I think I may be able to remedy that―if by just a little bit," I offered.
"How's that?"
"With a little handy sorcery," I clarified, unclipping my staff from my waist and deploying it to full length. "I can shoot of flare in that direction. I should be able to make a blast bright enough to cut through this cloud and see if anything's hiding somewhere in it."
Shephard thought quite highly of my practical solution. "Sounds optimal," he said. "Let her rip, then."
I walked several steps backwards to an area a little length behind the faith plates while Shephard watched me curiously. I grabbed my staff with two hands and planted my feet before I began channelling it to conjure a weighty fire blast. The spearhead flashed open to allow a steady charge to build up before unleashing outward.
A bright red and orange fireball shot out from my staff and out into the dense cloud layers, making this whole end of the peninsula light up as the light refracted through the abundance of water vapour. I was able to gauge the distance the flare was travelling; it made it a staggering quarter and a half mile before disappearing entirely.
"Hmm," Shephard grunted analytically. "I guess the cloud's too thick."
"No, no," I insisted, "I merely didn't put enough power into that shot. I'll quadruple the output this time."
"You sure you can handle that?" Shephard asked, well aware at this point that any magic cast out from my staff siphoned off of my own stamina.
"Relax, Popeye. I know my own limits," I reassured, making Shephard cross his arms, though I sensed that smirk again.
Pivoting my feet even firmer into the ground, I began to well up another fire blast―a much bigger one than the previous. While not a hard task, I did feel my arms begin to tremble as the charged blast was growing exponentially, feeling like three pounds of weight were being added to them with each passing second.
Gritting my teeth, I maintained myself long enough for the fiery swell at the end of my staff to grow to the size of a smart bomb before shooting it out across the veiled void―mostly because I felt my knees about to cave in from exhaustion. I released a sharp and tired exhale as I watched the blazing flare shoot into the cloud, now lighting the whole peninsula up in fiery light, which was bright enough to make Shephard avert his gaze temporarily.
The flare was quite the blazon one; it flew the same distance as the last one and maintained its brightness. As its descent slowed the further away it flew―about half a mile―a massive ominous shadow suddenly appeared within the cloud cover, revealed by the flare's luminous blaze. It was a long and bared outline resembling a mountain, which essentially confirmed that the Island of Quadlings was indeed far off in the distance, or at the very least revealed more land to traverse.
Now we were left with the problem of getting there. Currently, only one method of reaching the island was available to us. And when looking over to these aerial faith plates positioned close to the edge, both I and Shephard got a queasy feeling that we weren't going to like it.