Teruvisa: Two Kingdoms Page 10

  Chapter 6

  The Sublevel

  Hilcar pushed the only button on the inside panel to the right of the door. The door closed, and immediately the elevator propelled them downward. Jared felt a momentary sensation of weightlessness.

  After a few seconds, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened, revealing a small room with a window that was nearly the width of the room and, below that, a control panel that was slightly narrower than the window.

  When Jared got out of the elevator, without waiting to be told where to go, he stepped up to the console underneath the observation window in front of him and looked out.

  The booth he and the others were in overlooked a stadium-sized chamber. Conduits of different sizes ran in every direction. There were many pointed towers of varying heights. Also, huge columns rose to the ceiling.

  Some of the numerous conduits went into circular tunnels. These passageways could be seen everywhere. There were even some in the ceiling far above the control room.

  “Wow. We must be underneath Teruvisa.” Jared’s curiosity was piqued.

  Dorn responded to Jared’s awe, “Yep. This is the sublevel.”

  Prienna added, “You need to get some of that gear on so that we can take you down there.”

  Jared looked to his left where a row of several belts and some headgear hung on the wall. On the floor just below the belts and helmets was a row of boots lined up in pairs.

  The adults started putting on boots.

  As Jared walked over to the gear, he asked, “What are we doing in the sublevel?”

  Hilcar said, “It’s the safest way to the transport room. We can more easily evade detection by that Beast that attacked our shuttle.”

  Jared grabbed a pair of boots. Beast. That’s a good name for it.

  Danielle held up a boot. “All these are really big. I only see adult sizes here.”

  Jared had noticed the same thing when he grabbed a pair. He figured it was because the Teruvisan engineers and clothing designers probably never planned on kids using them.

  “Just pull the straps tight,” Prienna said.

  Jared put on the shiny, vinyl boots. They were army green and as heavy as lead. He concluded that the black soles must contain some kind of metal, although they were flexible like rubber.

  Then, he yanked the three boot straps as tight as he could. As soon as he did, the boots shrank to fit his feet.

  Whoa! Jared was impressed. “Cool.”

  Danielle, who had also put on some boots and watched them resize, agreed. “Very.”

  Next, Jared grabbed one of the brown belts off the wall. He noticed that the buckle had a dial with numbers around the edge from 0 to 10 on it. The dial was currently set at 0. He shrugged, not knowing what the numbers were for, and then fastened the belt around his waist.

  Then, Jared grabbed a helmet. The helmet was shaped like a bicycle helmet and had a light on the front. Also, what looked like a microphone and headphones were built into it.

  He put on the headgear and fastened the chin strap. As he did, the lamp on his helmet began shining on the wall next to the elevator door.

  Hilcar stepped toward the middle of the room. “Follow me.”

  Once he was standing inside the lines of a square painted in the center of the room, that area of the floor vanished, Hilcar dropped out of sight, and then the floor became solid again.

  Prienna and Dorn nudged the youths closer, and Prienna said, “Okay, one at a time now. Jared, you go first.”

  When Jared clomped into place, the floor vanished, and he dropped out of the control booth. Almost instantly, he found himself at ground level in the arena. He looked up. Directly above him was the bottom of the control booth.

  He quickly stepped out of the square painted on the floor because he knew Danielle or Paul would come down at any moment.

  Hilcar, to Jared’s left, motioned for him to follow. “This way.”

  As Jared took his first few exploratory steps out from below the control booth into the vast chamber, it dawned on him, as he kind of stuck to the floor as he walked, that the boots were probably magnetic.

  Everyone assembled at the round entrance of the tunnel Hilcar had chosen. It was about 15 feet tall. Inside the tunnel, a line of lights were installed along the top, and several runs of smaller conduit were fastened together along one side. The conduits and lights disappeared around a bend way down the tunnel.

  Hilcar said, “Okay. Let’s go. We’ll explain how to travel the sublevel systems as we walk. But, let’s walk quickly, okay?”

  When Dorn and Paul, who were in front of everyone else, stepped into the shaft, Paul was immediately lifted off his feet and began floating away slowly from the rest of the group.

  What’s going on? Jared wanted to help and was about to race into the tunnel to catch Paul, but he hesitated. He didn’t know why Paul starting floating and wondered if he stepped into the tunnel if he would start floating uncontrollably, too.

  Paul cried out, “What’s going on?!”

  Jared looked at his grandpa, who was grinning, Why does he think this is so funny? and then looked back at Paul, who was trying to undo the chin strap of his helmet.

  Dorn called out, “It’s okay, Paul. Just turn the dial on your belt back to 0.”

  Paul fumbled with his belt buckle and then dropped back onto his feet.

  Hilcar entered the tunnel. “Well, now you all know how the belt dials work.”

  Jared checked the dial on his belt buckle to make sure it was on 0 and then followed his grandpa. So, the dial controls whether we can fly or not and how fast—kind of like a speed dial. Cool.

  Paul, who was waiting for the group to reach him, smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Sorry. I must’ve bumped the dial when I was putting on my belt.”

  When the group was together, Dorn said, “We need to keep moving.” He motioned down the tunnel. “As Paul demonstrated, the belt controls the initial lift and forward movement, so let’s all turn our dials to 1.”

  Jared turned his dial one click, and he lifted off the ground. As he began floating lazily down the tunnel, he wobbled a little but held his arms out for balance.

  He wondered what kind of force kept him situated in the center of the tunnel and propelled him forward. Magnetism?

  Dorn, who was in the lead with Paul, said through the helmet communicator, “Now, turn your body 90 degrees.” He took a surfer’s stance. “I’ve found that turning yourself this way and holding your arms out helps you balance better.”

  Jared turned so that his left side was leading, and, almost immediately, his balance improved.

  “Also, you can lean back or forward to turn left or right, lean toward the direction of travel to go down, and lean away from the direction of travel to go up.” Dorn swayed left and right and bobbed up and down as he demonstrated.

  Jared tested his steering ability by leaning slightly backward and then forward a few times. He quickly started to feel more stable and confident with the zero-gravity ride. Cool.

  Dorn said, “Let’s try going a little faster now. Turn your dials to 3.”

  Jared did so and started moving at the speed of a fast jog.

  The group approached the first bend in the tunnel. Dorn said, “Now, remember what I told you: lean.” He and Paul leaned as they reached the bend and didn’t have any problem staying in the center of the tunnel as they followed the curve.

  Looks easy enough. Jared reached the turn and leaned back, but he leaned too hard and bumped into the side of the tunnel with his shoulder. As he bounced off the tunnel wall, he quickly adjusted his weight, got back in the center of the tunnel, and finished the turn smoothly. I’ve got it now. No problem.

  Hilcar complimented him. “Good, Jared.”

  After everyone made it around that bend, Dorn told them to go faster.

  At 5, Jared felt like he was moving at the speed of a very fast sprint, and, at that speed, the turns started coming faster. Jared didn’t have trouble ke
eping up, though.

  Soon they got to their first up and down branch in the tunnel.

  Jared’s first attempt to go up as he followed Dorn and Paul into the upper fork of the tunnel went much better than his first try at a left turn. Much better.

  A short time later, Dorn and Paul said something to each other, glanced back at Jared and the others, and then shot forward, pulling away from the rest of the group.

  Jared guessed that they had turned their dials to 8 or 9. So, they want to race, huh? He and his grandpa exchanged smiles.

  Hilcar asked, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Jared nodded.

  From behind, Prienna called out, “Well boys, what’re you waiting for?”

  “Let’s get ‘em.” Jared cranked his belt dial to 10 and accelerated with a jolt. Ha ha! Here I come! The lights overhead became blurry flashes as he rocketed through the tunnel.

  Jared started to catch up to Dorn and Paul but then, only a few seconds later, noticed that he had stopped gaining on the leaders. He assumed that they too had put their dials on 10.

  Those cheaters. How are we supposed to catch up? Jared narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. I’ll show them. He was determined not to let Paul and Dorn get any farther ahead.

  It was challenging following Dorn and Paul through all the curves, turns, and forks. Sometimes it took a quick change of weight to maneuver through one turn or fork and then another as he shot through the tunnel, but Jared focused on keeping his balance and watching where Dorn and Paul were going.

  As Jared watched Dorn’s and Paul’s movements, he realized he would have to change his impression about Paul. Apparently, Paul wasn’t always as reserved as Jared thought. Between being first into the tunnel and first to go fast, Jared was seeing an adventurous side to Paul.

  Not long after that, Jared heard Dorn’s voice through the headphones built into the helmet. “We’re almost there. Slow down.”

  Immediately, Paul dropped, hit the bottom of the tunnel with all his momentum, tumbled, and then slid to a stop.

  “Whoa!” Dorn quickly added, “Turn the dial slowly to 0.”

  Jared, Hilcar, Prienna, and Danielle passed over Paul a second later.

  Jared gradually turned down his speed dial and gracefully landed on his feet next to Dorn. “Whew! That was awesome!” Jared had never experienced such a thrill ride—no roller coaster he’d ever been on could compare to the exhilaration he felt as he flew through the tunnel. He wanted to go again.

  Jared made a fist and, flexing his arm, tucked his elbow into his side. “That was the best ride ever!” he exclaimed as he shot his fist into the air.

  “Wait here.” Dorn walked back to Paul, helped him up, and then, holding Paul’s upper arm to help keep him up, brought him back to the group.

  Jared smiled at Paul, “He said slow down, not fall down.”

  Danielle elbowed Jared in the arm.

  “Hey.” Jared rubbed his arm even though it didn’t really hurt. “I was just joking.”

  “Ha, ha,” Paul said with a fake laugh. “Funny.” He wobbled slightly as he walked, obviously a little dizzy from his tumble.

  “Are you okay?” Danielle asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

  “Yeah,” Paul said as he planted his feet down firmly and tried to shake it off.

  Jared thought Paul looked a little nauseous and jokingly asked, “Ready to go again?”

  Danielle looked at Paul, then Dorn. “How about if we walk for a little while?”

  Paul nodded. “That would be nice.”

  Jared smiled and shook his head. Figures.

  “Sure. Our exit is just up ahead anyway.” Dorn took the lead. “Follow me.”

  As they walked, Jared noticed that Danielle was helping Paul steady himself. Eventually, Paul was able to walk on his own and seemed to be doing alright.

  After they had walked a few hundred yards, Dorn stopped, held up one hand, and pointed down with the other. “Here it is.”

  Jared looked down and saw that Dorn was pointing at a 10-foot-wide, round hole in the floor of the tunnel. He stepped up to the edge of the hole next to Dorn and saw a dim light at the bottom of the vertical shaft.

  Once everyone had gathered, Dorn said, “Jump in and turn your dials to 1. Then, when you touch down, turn them back to 0.” He jumped down into the opening.

  Jared put his belt dial on 1 as he followed Dorn into the shaft. He lazily floated down through and out of the pipe. After he gently landed on the floor in the middle of a stadium-sized room, he turned his belt dial to 0.

  Jared saw Dorn a few steps away and, a little more than midway up the wall he was facing, a control booth sticking out into the arena. A way out. He wasn’t anxious to leave the sublevel—it had been fun—but he followed Dorn to the area just below the control booth.

  After Dorn was shot upward and disappeared through the underside of the control booth, Jared stepped into the square that was painted on the floor directly under the control room and was also launched up through the bottom of the booth.

  Jared looked down when he was inside. The floor had immediately reappeared beneath his feet. He stepped toward the wall, and moments later, one right after the other, Hilcar, Danielle, Paul, and Prienna appeared in the booth.

  Dorn looked at Paul. “You can go ahead and take that stuff off now.” He pointed at Paul’s boots, belt, and helmet.

  After they had all taken their gear off, they got into the elevator. Prienna pushed the only button on the panel. Jared felt a brief sensation of heaviness as the elevator launched upward. After several seconds, the elevator stopped, and the door opened.

  As Jared and the others entered a large room, a man dressed in white like the guards in the security control room started walking over to meet the group. He must have been waiting for them. “Come on. Let’s get the children out of here.”

  The room Jared and the others entered was the size of an enormous warehouse. Straight ahead, along the wall, were two rows of large but shallow recesses. The bottom row had rectangular indentations. The row on the mezzanine above had round holes.

  Next to each alcove was a small control panel on a pedestal. There were several escalators leading to the upper level, but they were motionless.

  Jared had expected to see shuttles in a transportation room, and he didn’t see anything that looked like it could be used for transportation.

  Dorn asked the guard, “So, do you have any information about the...?”

  Jared looked at Dorn, then in the direction Dorn was looking, and saw why Dorn hadn’t finished his question. The guard had grown fangs and claws.

  He gave Jared a mean look and leapt toward him.