Islands in the Sky Read online

  Several other jellyfish were drawn to the disturbance it made as it fought for its life; far away from where Logan had reached the outer wall. Scrambling up the aquatic vines, the shaken professor grabbed our hands as we leaned over the balcony to help him up.

  "Holy hell, that was close!" the stunned professor spouted as he tried to get himself dry. He was lucky that his thermal wear was of a lighter layer and had only a short way to swim before he reached the wall or he likely would have drowned.

  "Are you alright?" Mica flared with concern as she tried to help Logan out of his wet coat to wring it out.

  "I do say I was starting to feel a bit of despair after losing sight of you," Logan responded, "and got myself lost among that maze of bridges."

  "We found an inner walkway and made the mistake of awakening that swarm of bats," Alexander breathed as he motioned to the shrieking creatures darting about the cavern.

  "Bats you say?" Logan snapped back in astonishment, "This species is enormous; but how could they have survived in this enclosed environment for such a length of time?"

  Mica filled him in on her own theories on the enclosed ecosystem, but there were too many missing pieces to the puzzle to be sure of anything. I tried to remind them that there were more pressing issues at hand and that their debating the evolution of these flying rats would be better contemplated after we had found a way out of this place and back to the safety of our ship.

  We struggled our way down to the lower level just a floor above the waterline and explored our way through the interior building of this oversized temple. Logan mumbled remarks about an odd reference of an ancient myth about something called Yggdrasil; derived from several northern European legends. Noting the several giant steps and doorways, he tried to tie the locations of their origins together from the side of the globe. Whatever he was saying didn't make much sense to me, but it rung a bell with his assistant.

  "Ancient earth history forged from the land mass that was once Pangea, which split into the northern and southern hemispheres, what we call Laurasia and Gondwana," Mica commented.

  "...The what?" I stumbled on my words, trying to pronounce the names she had uttered.

  "They're based on the theories of land mass distribution across world and how it relates to the migration of their residing species before the shifting continental plates were separated by the open seas," Mica tried to explain; though I wasn't following her line of thought.

  "As I mentioned at the exterior site with the giant tree, the numerous fables tied a series of nine realms together," Logan affirmed, "The massive circle of eight surrounding a single inner circle at the base of the tree, may very well refer to eight lost civilizations locked under the ice of Antarctica."

  "You mean these ruins and the ones we crossed before?" I blurted with dismay.

  "Yes, lost worlds of gods and elves of dark and light, and hidden realms of trolls and dwarves..." Logan began to spew with wonderment.

  "And of giants," Mica added, as she motioned to the enormous stature of the architecture of this ancient temple.

  I just gave a scoff of laughter, but caught myself when I could tell the three of them didn't consider it a joke, "Elves and giants, really?"

  "Consider that the Mammoths of old earth where enormous creatures in their own right," Mica granted as I nodded in agreement, "which diminished to 1/5th their size over the generations of their species during the bleak times of the ice age when food became evermore scarce."

  "It is common fact that species evolve into smaller or larger body sizes due to the influence of their habitat," Alexander interjected.

  As they put it, it began to make sense that there was a correlation between what we called dwarves and giants, which were likely just products of evolution at the time; originating from the same biological strains. Their reference to 'elves' was a little fanciful; but not when placed in the context of the many races and skin colors present in modern humanity. It wasn't a far stretch to add physical exaggerations to that mix of slanted eyes and pointed ears which where usually features of feral animals that relied on their sense of hearing for survival.

  Delving our way deeper into the interior of the temple, we began to hear a low hum which could be felt through the walls. As we descended deeper into the complex I couldn't help but realize that we should have hit the waterline by now, if the entire facility was actually flooded. It wasn't until we dropped several more stories in our decent that I was positive we were now below the water table and that this section had been somehow sealed from the rest of the floodwaters. We followed the source of the noise until we came upon a long bridge reaching out into the darkness.

  "Hmm, what's this?" Logan whispered as he inspected the architecture. The structure of the bridge was of particular interest to him as it seemed almost mechanical in the precision of its construction. The pathway turned to a type of dark black plate which appeared to be seamless and retained a vertical rail to either side a mere 20 centimeters tall. These rails were lined with a smooth silvery metal which had been inlaid into its surface. This narrow path led down through a corridor where it came to an abrupt end among a cobweb of what at first glance appeared to be wet leather.

  "What might this be?" Alex inquired as he began to test the strands; but withdrew his hand as Mica snapped at him.

  "I wouldn't handle that until I can test a sample," Mica warned, "this looks like some sort of organic compound, so it would better not to touch it with your bare skin," she noted towards Alexander who had lost his gloves.

  Mica took out a small test kit from her bag and applied a few drops of some substance onto a piece of the sticky material she had removed and placed in a specimen tube. The skin turned a deep blue then began to give off a green fizzle.

  "Oh my, well that's certainly not good," she frowned.

  "Uh, what ...what was that?" I inquired towards the little chemistry test she had performed.

  "Its toxicity is elevated, but I can't determine what species it is from..." Mica trailed off in wonder as she poked at the elastic web of leathery strands, "maybe some kind of arachnid or aquatic animal we haven't yet seen."

  "But this area is dry," Logan noted to his assistant.

  "Sea turtles are aquatic a vast portion of their life, but come to dry land to lay their eggs," she responded with an example.

  "Well, we've got to get through to the other side, so I suggest everyone get behind me," I ordered as I reloaded the flare gun.

  "Wait, this is a rare biological find, we can't just destroy it," Mica spat in defense as Alex and the Professor shuffled behind me. I tried waving Mica out of the way, but she was persistent.

  "What are you doing? We have to go through!" I noted as made it clear there was no other passage we had the luxury of choosing.

  "But if you burn this, you may release the toxins within it and kill us all," she warned, which partially explained her hysterics.

  "Aye, that's a pretty good reason there not to fire that thing, Allen," Logan muttered over my shoulder. So I lowered the flare pistol as a response to his basic logic.

  Mica cooled down once I realized she was right and began to follow the rationale of her precaution. As the tension subsided, it was quickly replaced by a raking screech which echoed through the hallway behind us. All four of us turned back towards the light funneling down the hallway towards us to see the silhouette of something very large and unfriendly climbing its way towards us along the walls.

  "Oh my..." Alex sputtered as he adjusted his glasses to get a better glimpse at the creature.

  "Ah, fuck this," I muttered out loud as I turned back towards the webbing and ushered Mica out of the way. I don't know whether it was the menace of the approaching monster or the serious look in my eyes that convinced her to step out of the way; but I'm glad she did.

  "Cover your mouths!" I warned as we pulled our scarves up over our noses and I fired the flare.

  Flares weren't meant to be used at such close range, so the jettisoned ammo
took a moment before it burst into a fiery red ball. A thick black smoke began to bellow from the threads of poison skin as it crackled and withered while being consumed by the growing flames. A hole opened up for us to pass through as the material fell away, and I stood back while my three crew members scurried through. Pulling my firearm, I aimed my pistol at the creature bearing down upon us and fired; missing once as the bullet glanced off the wall near it. The beast paused for a moment and gave a horrid hiss which made my stomach drop with fear.

  Partially blinded by the glare of the brighter light behind it, I took a second shot and the creature lurched. With a pause of gratification, I stood upright thinking I had done it in. That moment of satisfaction drained away to panic as the spidery beast gave off a blood curdling growl of anger and lurched towards us even faster. Jumping back, I dashed through the burning strands and caught up with my comrades farther down the hall.

  "Did you get it?" Mica asked in despair, as she looked past my shoulder. I turned with a glint of dread in my eyes, to see where the creature was.

  "The fire is keeping it at bay for the moment, but I fear that won't last long," I informed the two men who were standing before a barrier comprised of criss-crossed bars of glass.

  "Well, this is a dilemma," Alexander admitted as he tested the temperament of the translucent bars.

  "This appears to be made from a natural crystal of some sort, I would assume," Logan added, "but I don't see any mechanism to operate this barrier."

  "Yeah, guys ...we don't have much time; so figure this out," I prompted them to hurry as Mica and I watched the flames eating away at the web behind us begin to dwindle. The creature hissed its outrage for being injured and scurried in circles with anticipation of catching its prey.

  "Here, let me try something..." Logan offered as he pulled out a tuning fork from his breast pocked. Tapping it on the side of the crystal, he set the base of it on one of the bars. As the frequency of the small device began to fade, the bluish crystal turned a pure white and pulled up into the recess in the ceiling.

  "Astonishing!" Alexander whispered aloud in wonder, as the professor continued the same process on the other crystal bars.

  "What kind of oddball keeps a tuning fork?" I muttered under my breath in confusion.

  Logan worked as fast as he could with the tuning fork by removing several bars to create a small opening in the cell wall so that we could slip through; which was just barely in time before the multi-legged beast scrambled its way past the smoldering debris as it tried to snare us. Mica fell back upon Alex as she dodged a claw coming through the opening in the bars; which were still too tightly spaced to allow the large beast to follow us through. I aimed the gun back up at the creature, but Logan took my shoulder to settle me down.

  "If you miss, you could break the crystal bars and let it through," he warned.

  I was hesitant to take his advice as the creature continued to hiss; but after a moment, it slowly turned away, yielding to the fact it had lost a fresh meal just beyond its reach. We watched the horrid creature as it scurried up the hall a little ways past the smoking shards and began to adhere a layer of stretchy material between the surrounding walls.

  "That must have been its deathtrap," Alexander noted, "and used the hallway to funnel in its prey towards the web in order to catch it."

  We collected ourselves and a continued down the dark corridor while following the source of the strange hum that permeated the air. As we progressed the ceiling above us began to flare ever higher until we saw a soft blue glow beckoned to us from a room at the end of the long passage. The light from it shone upward high into the vaulted ceiling, reaching into the unfathomable darkness floating above. The definition of the object within the chambers center came into focus as we drew ever closer.

  There sat a large stand made of a pale pitted stone, curving in a circle with a flattened top. Within this bowl spun an enormous sphere. The simple construct of it resembled an enormous replica of an old-style world globe stand one might find in a mansion full of antiques. The orb itself was pewter in color, with streaks of deep scratches upon its surface. It turned upon itself slowly while emitting the low hum we had followed.

  "Oh my," Logan uttered, breathless at this unique find, "this is amazing, just amazing. Mica, get some photographs of this mechanism," he directed her to get shots of it from all angles.

  Mica fumbled for her camera as she too was caught staring at the enormous object in wonder. The sphere was spinning gently with such grace and fluidity that the sight of it was mesmerizing.

  "Professor, do you think this is the magnetic amplifier to you mentioned in your notes?" Alexander wondered as he adjusted his glasses.

  "I cannot tell, but it does appear to be held aloft and stabilized by magnetic energies," Logan affirmed, "this very object might be the core that is generating the energy waves which are being drawn by the iron tree and the ice to retract from it and around these ancient ruins."

  Looking down at the floor, it was clear that we were now standing at the center of a hub which had many other hallways lined with similar identical railings and blackened tiles which led off in several equal directions around us. It was almost like a giant circuit board that was either drawing or directing the power emitted by this massive device. It was energy we could neither see nor feel until Mica noticed something strange.

  "My camera won't activate," she complained, gently shaking the casing.

  "What's wrong with it?" Alex asked.

  "It turns on for a second, and then shuts down," she answered.

  "It's drawing the power from the batteries perhaps, or I would rather assume that this giant sphere is impeding or interrupting its functions," Logan explained. After several moments, Mica gave up on trying to get her digital camera to work.

  "Well that's a shame, nobody is going to believe this," Alex remarked on her inability to capture any photographs.

  "What is this thing, Doc?" I prompted my question towards Logan.

  "Well Allen, what I assume we have here is a converter of sorts, which is harnessing the natural energy waves of the earth itself. Converting them into usable power that can be directed towards specific uses ...whatever they might be."

  "So, what you have here is a giant defroster?" I half joked.

  "Well, or a sorts," Logan admitted, any humor I found in my remark entirely escaping him.

  Shining our flashlights around, the lights began to fail as the bulbs flickered then began to die one by one; leaving us to bask in the soft blue aura radiating from the enormous sphere.

  "Well, that puts us in a pickle," Logan voiced as we stood there in the veil of indigo light radiating upon us.

  Alex did note that the light from it did seem warm and tingly; and actually not all too unpleasant, since he and Logan were still standing in their soaked clothes. The ambient temperature did seem to rise the closer we stepped to the orb, but I did wonder what we would do about providing proper clothing for Alexander once we breach the surface. When that happened, he would be hard pressed to fight off the effects of hypothermia. Logan could manage if we were able to dry his gear properly. However, standing this close to the source of heat, that didn't seem to be a problem at the moment.

  "Ah yeah, I enjoy a sunbath and all, but did anyone stop to think that the reason this feels warm is that it might be radioactive?" I inquired with a raised brow, though my concern was genuine.

  Both Alex and Mica took a notable step back from the device as Logan began to rub his chin in contemplation. He seemed perplexed as he looked around the chamber and took interest in the silver rails that led out in all directions from the stand that held the turning sphere. Counting, he noted there were six spokes that led out into the darkness beyond.

  "What if we could spin that orb a little faster, do you think it might melt the ice away any quicker?" Alex dared to ask. I thought it was a reasonable question; but Logan just gave him a hard glare.

  "I'm not too keen on playing with devices
I don't understand, my friend," the professor advised, "the consequences could be catastrophic."

  Alexander nodded in agreement like a dolt, though I didn't share his level of humility. I wanted to get the hell out of here as soon as possible, and this circular engine, or whatever it was, might be the key to our getting out of here alive.

  "Well, why not test it somehow and figure out what this thing really is?" I offered, "Maybe Alex is right, and we should give it a go since there's little chance we will be returning back to this spot," I noted, adding that we were only carrying a few days of food at most if we rationed it out, since Alex had lost his own personal share of our supplies.

  After walking the circumference of the orb, Logan noted that there were no markings or controls of any kind that he could see around or upon the pedestal. We would have to hoist someone on top of the platform that held it in place. Grasping onto one another, Logan and I helped Alex crawl up on our shoulders since he was of smaller frame. Mica however, was the lightest, so we made a rudimentary human stairway to boost her up to the edge of the rim which was well over a meter above our standing reach.

  Kicking and groaning her way up, Mica finally managed to pull herself up to the wide rim that held the spinning silver orb. After a moment, she came back to the outer ledge.

  "The sphere is floating about half a meter above the base, but it's not connected to it or anything that I can see. However, I did notice some small point of light directly beneath it, thought its hard to view it clearly at this angle," she noted.

  "Do you want to try and spin it?" Logan asked his protégée.

  "Well ...I guess so," she shrugged, since that was the purpose she had climbed up there. Logan was just being polite about asking her risk herself, and let Mica know she had a choice to decline if she thought the task was too dangerous.