Part 1: There Is Hope
Chapter 1: The Tunnels
After two weeks of travelling, the small convoy of enforcer vehicles reached Location 6. The vehicles pulled up next to the small, rocky area where the location was hidden.
‘This doesn’t look like much,’ said Eugene as he turned to Denise, who was sitting next to him in the enforcer vehicle.
‘That’s the point,’ replied Denise as she turned to face Eugene. ‘They are intentionally hidden in the middle of nowhere to remain a secret.’
‘Secrets, ehh,’ said Eugene, shaking his head. ‘I feel we’d all be better off if we shared our feelings and emotions.’
‘Well, that’s all fine and dandy when those around you are accepting of you and your behaviour,’ replied Denise as she opened the door to exit the vehicle. ‘However, if there are those out to get you, hiding is probably your best option,’ continued Denise as she closed the vehicle door.
Eugene got out of the vehicle and followed Denise. The enforcers and maintenance workers gathered to one side of the vehicles. Denise walked to a spot where all could see her.
‘This is it,’ she announced. ‘It doesn’t look like much, but below this rock formation sits, possibly, one of the most important discoveries of our time.’
Denise smiled confidently as a few of them began to applaud enthusiastically.
‘We have a lot of work ahead of us,’ said Denise. ‘The tunnels beneath us have partially collapsed. I don’t know how much of an obstacle removing the rocks will be or how long it will take.’
The enforcers looked at each other while slightly shaking their heads.
‘Don’t worry, we will soon have a much better idea,’ added Denise in a more optimistic tone. ‘Our expert maintenance team has equipment that will tell us exactly how far we need to dig and provide us with a good idea of what lies behind the rubble.’
All the maintenance workers raised their thumbs as a show of support for Denise’s comments.
‘Before we can do anything, we need to set up camp,’ continued Denise. ‘We will begin the heavy lifting tomorrow.’
The team went to work setting up the campsite and assembling their machines and equipment. Denise noticed Eugene was staring slightly perplexed at the food rations.
‘I know what you’re thinking,’ said Denise to Eugene with a slight grin on her face.
‘We’ve already eaten a quarter of the food coming here,’ said Eugene, shaking his head.
‘Follow me,’ said Denise as she walked around the other side of a rocky mound. Eugene scurried after her.
On the other side was a small area with large leafy plants with a small stream running between them.
‘Food, growing in the wastelands. How is this possible, friend?!’ exclaimed Eugene.
‘Nature has reclaimed the wastelands,’ said Denise as she smiled. ‘I gave it a little help by planting some of these the last time I was here.’
‘Is it…?’ stammered Eugene.
‘Yes,’ replied Denise. The water is clean, and the leafy plants are safe to eat. We can work here for months before we’ll run out of food.’
‘I would much rather we ate fruit,’ sighed Eugene.
Denise shook her head as she walked back to the camp.
At dawn, the team gathered outside the campsite. Denise briefed them on their plan for the day. The senior maintenance worker, Louis, briefed them on how they were going to enter Location 6.
The maintenance team scanned the rock formation for weaknesses and possible access points. Then they aimed a giant laser at the selected places. The laser cut into the vulnerable places with relative ease. Within half an hour, a sufficiently large hole was made for them to move their machinery and equipment into the hidden area.
Denise ran over to the frozen humanoid-like creature. ‘First time seeing you in the natural light. Wow, you are beautiful!’ she exclaimed with delight.
‘Ha, really!’ called out Eugene. ‘He looks off colour and has a weird face. If you want to see beauty, there is a real good-looker in the mountains near the Capital.’
Denise ignored his comment as she walked over to Louis, who was looking at the generator. ‘Notice anything interesting?’ asked Denise.
‘This is amazing!’ exclaimed Louis. ‘The amount of energy this machine is pulling out of the atmosphere is insane. It could easily power our whole region.’
‘Why? It’s only powering that,’ said Denise as she pointed to the frozen humanoid-like creature.
‘It’s powering much more than that!’ exclaimed Louis. ‘Its usage is almost at capacity.'
‘Look at these readings,’ he said to Denise as he pointed at a dial on the left. Louis got down on his knees and began inspecting the bottom of the generator. After a few seconds, he got to his feet.
‘I believe the power is being channelled to something in the ground,’ he told Denise. ‘Something is definitely going on down there.’
‘Then we need to find out what that is,’ said Denise assertively. ‘I want you to find out as much as you can about this machine and fully document it. I want Orcilla to see this.’
‘I’m on it, ma’am,’ replied Louis.
‘Hhhmm, you’re not from Downs, are you?’ asked Denise curiously.
‘No, I was rescued from the Tarrus Region,’ replied Louis. ‘I was a research assistant.’
‘It’s great to have you here,’ said Denise as she walked over to the rest of the maintenance team, who were now preparing to enlarge the opening down into the tunnel below them.
‘We’re going to cut around the opening, friend,’ said a maintenance team member. ‘After that, we will be able to lower everything into the tunnel. It’ll only take a jiffy or possibly sooner.’
‘I have full faith in your ability, friend,’ said Denise as she patted him on the shoulder.
The enforcers standing around began to chuckle and nod to each other.
‘Downs culture is just growing on me,’ said Denise with a smile.
The team aimed their laser at the ground around the hatch into the tunnel. Within minutes, the hole was increased to a size that would fit their machinery. The maintenance team hooked the machines one by one to a pulley system. The enforcers helped lower them down into the tunnel. Eugene stood back and watched while eating a powdered donut.
Within an hour, everything they needed was in the tunnel. Two machines rolled towards the caved in segment of the tunnel. They stopped a few metres from the rubble. Both machines scanned the rubble to determine what might be behind it. A maintenance worker studied the images displayed on one of the machine's monitors.
He looked up at Denise. ‘This tunnel continues far beyond the range of our machines, friend,’ he said enthusiastically. ‘This blockage will not be our only obstacle. It looks like we have several more up ahead before we reach a split in the tunnel.’
‘Wow, we have a whole network of tunnels down here!’ exclaimed Denise in excitement.
They turned the laser on again. It cut through some of the rubble, but this caused the displacement of the rubble that was being held in place. They had another machine with them that could pull some of the loose rubble aside. The maintenance workers alternated between using the laser and physically moving rubble aside.
Finally, several hours later, they had access to the other side of the rubble. After they had sucked the dust out of the air. Denise and Eugene entered the newly uncovered section of the tunnel. They shone their torches at the walls. They could see some interesting carvings.
‘This is amazing!’ exclaimed Denise. ‘They are telling a story in pictures.’
‘I’m glad you’re pleased, friend,’ said Eugene, ‘but these pictures are pretty amateur. Alex’s finger paintings far exceed them in quality and detail.’
‘It’s not about quality. It’s about them being here. These were drawn by a species from an ancient civilisation,’ said Denise as she shook her head at Eugene’s lack of appreciation of this discovery.
They both walked until they saw a second blockage. Denise rubbed her hands together. ‘Looks like we have another busy day tomorrow,’ she said as she patted Eugene on the back and turned to head back down the tunnel.
Denise approached the maintenance team. ‘I would like you to continue clearing this until you have enough space to bring the machines to the next blockage,’ she told a maintenance worker. ‘After that, we can call it a day.’
‘No problem, friend,’ replied one of the team.
Denise climbed back up to where the generator was. Louis was waiting for her. They both returned to camp to discuss what they had found out.
Around an hour later, the others returned to camp to eat dinner. They sat around chatting and joking. Denise walked off from the camp to sit on a rock to stare up at the sky. Eugene saw her sitting by herself. He decided he would go over and join her.
‘The sky is so black out here,’ said Eugene as he sat down next to Denise.
‘It is as it’s meant to be,’ said Denise in a soft tone. ‘Nature is being restored. It is giving us another chance.’
‘You don’t need another chance,’ said Eugene as he turned to face Denise.
‘I meant us as a civilisation, not us, as in you or me,’ responded Denise, sounding a little frustrated.
‘Then why do you keep running away?’ asked Eugene.
Denise quickly rose to her feet. ‘It’s getting late. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow,’ she said curtly as she walked away.
Eugene sat on the rock a while longer before he headed over to his sleeping bag. Denise had moved her bag to the far end of the camp. She wanted some privacy from the others. She sobbed for a while before falling asleep.
Sapien Loop: End of an Era
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my @spectrumecons account, and in individual chapters in my @captainhive account.
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