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chapter 33 :)
One more to go, see you tomorrow for the finale of this book ^^
“Seriously? You knew where to find bombs and we had to wait for your crazy alter ego to use it? Wasn’t it an emergency enough?”
Jozie couldn’t help the remark that crawled in the back of her mind at approaching the stairs plunging into darkness. Adam casually grabbed a torch on the wall and made the dragoness light it, but it didn’t fully erase the anxiety. Close and dark places clearly weren’t her thing. She was a bit claustrophobic. The room they were leaving was only fine to her because the phosphorescent crystals in the ceiling brought a comforting light. And because the huge map-table in the center made it look more like a fancy living room in her eyes.
When uneased, the words came out easier. It was always better to blame someone rather than letting them notice and make fun of her discomfort.
“No, it was locked.” Adam replied, a bit oblivious of her state. “But given the circumstances, I believe Killian succeeded where I could not. Actually, I don’t see another explanation for what happened this morning.”
Jozie looked at the female dragon, who had the same reflex as hers. Both had heard Killian brag about his capacities to blow up an entire army and the mountain with it. It was a hope to find some fire power, but imagining that Killian went first gave even less appeal to these stairs. What if that dement alter ego of his had trapped the path?
“I hope you don’t mind going first…” Jozie suggested in a sarcastic tone, in hope he’d get the dangerousness of the situation. A hint that fell flat.
“I intended to. I’m already mad that Killian got to discover it first…” He replied with a complaining note. “It’s bothering me how this maniac could open this vault.”
Everyone else hesitated, but he already walked down into the darkness, path lit by his torch. It looked like he was in competition with himself, and that was a bit disturbing. That made him forget some basic safety rules!
“You should take the time to check if there are no deadly traps.” She tried to warn him from behind, seeing him walking down a bit too confidently in her taste. “if a blade falls from the roof…”
“Then I’ll avoid it. I’m more focused than I look, I go to my own rhythm.” He replied casually, although her words stopped the dragoness who inspected around like a paranoid. “Besides, killing me would end Killian as well. It’s not in his interest.”
It sounded enough of an argument for the female dragon to follow him, and Jozie went after with a sigh. Like a good sheep, she thought with clenched teeth. Why couldn’t he go at other’s rhythm, once in a while?
But it was for the good cause. Survival, ironically. It helped a bit to think that she was some kind of adventurer searching for a godly relic in an ancient temple. Like in the movies or video games. It chased a bit the fear of real threats.
The walls seemed curiously well carved, with little to no asperity for a place supposedly old. It made her think its building had been recent. However, the thick layer of dust on the steps told otherwise. Strange place for sure…
“It wasn’t in his interest either to provoke a barrage of arrows, yet it didn’t stop him.” Jozie pointed out.
“He had a way out and he knew it… I can feel that dying is definitely not on his list.” Adam replied elusively before stopping all a sudden. Thankfully for him, because Jozie was about to ask a torrent of question following these words.
At seeing his reaction, Jozie moved her head to look further, and saw the end of the stairs, lit by the flame he held. And also… by another source of light. Further, there were big doors. And at such size, it wasn’t hard to notice that one wasn’t entirely closed. A timid ray of light illuminated the end of the path, coming through the enclosure.
“And that bastard definitely had a way in too.” Adam spat in frustration, before walking to the door. He fixed the torch to the wall, and pushed to enlarge the entrance. “Let’s see what Killian left then. I hope he didn’t destroy anything.”
Jozie grumbled a bit in silence at seeing him enter like a stubborn mule without checking the way. As a video game archeologist, he wouldn’t have gone further than the tutorial! However, he didn’t go that far. The dragoness had to go around him to enter as well, because he just stopped a step further. And when she entered as well, Jozie understood why… She couldn’t believe her eyes.
Bathing in a bright light generated by floating orbs, a gigantic room with endless shelves and doors on the side walls was spreading before them. It seemed to cover under such large area that Jozie immediately thought that it had to run under the entire mountain. And it contained objects, many objects, so many objects… It was… breathtaking.
“This is not a vault… “Adam spoke with astonishment tinting his voice. “This is a gigantic time capsule… That would surely blow up this island, just not in the way I expected.”
“Helios would be ecstatic if he saw these…” Nimera commented. Even the dragoness wasn’t insensitive to such display, visibly. It was hard to tell though if it was in awe or distrust.
“Why do you think I assigned him to the surveillance of our guest? If there was a chance to find something dangerous here, Helios would have made it far more dangerous.” Adam asked while his stare ran over the room. He also took a few steps to inspect the objects on the closest shelves.
Jozie had a strange feeling about this gigantic room.
Some places carried a dark atmosphere, something heavy that most people described roughly as ‘bad feeling’. The woman had her fair share of these kind of places. Haunted houses visited in urban explorations, scenes of heavy events, or even some apartment habited by negative people. However, she had never been in a place that rose the opposite kind of feeling. Until now.
Here, it was like the air was charged with peace and benevolence. Jozie usually wasn’t sensitive to these sorts of things and yet, she undeniably felt something. Like she knew in her core that this place had been built with the best intentions.
“Adam, this place makes no sense…” Jozie voiced her mind, moving to the first random object that encountered her path. A bike, simply put against a shelve.
“Like the rest… But yeah, the organization is a mess…” he replied, scratching his head. “A bike next to a ventilator and a radio post… I hope there’s an inventory and a classification somewhere…”
“Not only that, but these objects seem brand new. It looks like the painting of this bike has been made yesterday. Do you imagine anyone we met here, making one?”
“You’re right… and It’s not all…. What is this place powered by?” he looked up at one of the floating orbs. “You remember the scandal about free electricity?”
“Of course, we knew it you and me. I’m glad it didn’t last…”
“What are you talking about?” the dragoness couldn’t help but ask with an intrigued tone.
“Around the year twenty one fifty six, ruling humans of our time decided to implement a feature to environment. Power in the air to feed objects like these without any kind of connection.” Adam explain, pointing at one orb with a finger. “The downside was, people in the test areas suffered side effects. Headaches, nausea, irritability… This project was shut within a few months due to multiplication of complaints and explosion of crime rate. Jozie and I were in a test area. It was a crazy time. They assured us there wouldn’t be consequences on the long term. But there were harsh debates on this. The thing is… I don’t feel the same sensations here. No nausea, no headache… quite the opposite actually. This is not free electricity.”
Jozie gave it a thought. It was a pretty valid point too. It was kind of true that it felt like the opposite of free energy. How to forget the unpleasant sensations she had yet suffered for only a few months? Even ten years later, Adam hadn’t forgotten either, apparently. Maybe they finally found a way to counter the secondary effects?
“In which year did you say we were, exactly?” Jozie asked.
“One million two hundred thousand and… a bit. Twenty four, I think. And yeah, I know what you think of. They might have invented something better after us. That would be how I rationalize everything that surrounds us. But I just can’t get how it works… I mean it has to possess a power source, right? Nothing gets created out of nothing.”
“Maybe they are all frozen?” Nimera suggested, immediately attracting the attention of both humans. Which seemingly intimidated her a bit. “S-Sorry…”
“No, what did you say? Frozen? What do you mean by frozen?” Adam encouraged her to speak.
“Well… you know… when things don’t move and remain exactly the same. The old one told me once that this island was frozen in some extent. That how I remember about the term, until he told me I thought it was a state that required low temperatures.”
Adam looked at Jozie. He had that face of when a crazy idea made total sense to him. He could sometimes let his mind wander a bit too far.
“Adam, you know it’s impossible.” Jozie brought him back on earth. “Sure it could explain for the painting on a bike. But, basic physics fact, photons must be emitted to bring light, and they don’t magically pop up. Like you said, there’s nothing without something to begin with. I know you’re having an image of a real-life picture in your head, but that doesn’t work with these. They must be powered somehow.”
“This place was probably condemned for thousand years. Can you think of an autonomous system able to last this long, unless they captured a star?”
“Capturing a star seem less farfetched than breaking the laws of physics.”
“But it would also explain other things. The decreased need of feeding and sleeping. An empire that could last a million year. Newton was a universal reference before Einstein found new rules. What if they found new grounds after us?”
Jozie sighed. This was an empty debate. Nether she or he could now what happened after them, the scientific breakthroughs, the gap between their civilization and the current one. But Jozie preferred to remain rational until proven otherwise, while he tended to do the opposite and dream big. With lack of further proof to explain this place, it wasn’t the main interest. Best not keeping on a vain distraction.
“Maybe we could keep speculations for later as well. This is not why we’re here.” She refocused the discussion. “How will we find means of defense in this mess?”
“I suggest we split to cover more ground…” Adam proposed.
“At least a reasonable idea. You see when you try…” She friendly teased him in return. “You take the right, I take the left, we join at the end?”
It reminded her a bit the visit to museums, when they always planned the same visiting pattern. Curiously, museums were places young Adam didn’t despise. Jozie liked those for the feeling of exploration and discovering wonders. While it always fed his daydreams. How many times had she found him planted like a tree, staring at statue, a painting or an old tablet? Maybe this place was that… a museum of human materialism? It revived her curiosity, more than her fear for traps.
“May I come with one of you? I wouldn’t know what to look for anyway…” the dragoness asked precipitately, like afraid to be left alone in a too humanish environment.
“That sounds wise, you can come with me.” Adam naturally answered
“Actually, I’d like to go with Jozie…”
The reply took both humans aback, especially Jozie. Why her? Not that she particularly disliked Nimera, but she didn’t see why she’d prefer to be with her in this exploration. Adam had another point in mind, given his face. Could it be that she was afraid of him? Or of Killian? He looked at both of them, and finally asked his old friend.
“Don’t you mind?”
“I have no objection…” Jozie replied honestly, although she felt a bit awkward about it.
“Very well then, first to find calls the others?” He nodded with a little smile of relief.
“And don’t you make us way for thirty minutes in the end.” She warned.
Smiling to that, Adam took his own way through the shelves, and Nimera followed Jozie as they took their own. Curiously, despite the mess in their organization, the shelves themselves were disposed in perfect parallels, akin to a library. The center would be to explore later. It was easy to have a sight meters ahead on the objects aligned, mostly gadgets of everyday life. Some quite vintage despite a perfect state of preservation. Nothing really useful on the moment
The woman was more intrigued by the rooms and corridors along the wall. The old fantasy of secret rooms and weird architecture at its best. At every new one, Jozie leaned the head inside to see what kind of curiosity it held. She found one dedicated to sound and music stuff, one that looked like a lab with all kinds of weird instruments, one that could be mistaken for an actual library… The rooms seemed far better organized than the shelves. At least they seemed to follow themes.
Adam maybe wasn’t so far from the truth when he talked about a time capsule. Neither was she when Jozie compared it to a museum. She started to think that the objects and themes were so random that there might very well be an exemplary of every man-made object in this gigantic vault.
“May I ask why you wanted to come with me?” Jozie finally asked the silent dragoness following her. Even her fascination couldn’t eternally ease the discomfort of the reptilian presence “We don’t know each other that much…”
“No but… I know enough to prefer observing you…”
This made Jozie cringe. First, because she didn’t know what the dragoness mean by ‘knowing enough’. And then, because she also had a doubt about the notion of observing…
“Because you want to keep an eye on me?”
“Well yes, kind of. It’s easier to learn from you.”
“Learn? Learn what?”
“How to be… How to handle things. You always seem in control, at peace.”
For a moment, Jozie froze in surprise to the naïve justification. Then it made her laugh. It was true that these dragons probably never had to live in a world made of appearances. She was simply caught by the mask of strength Jozie forgot she wore by default. She turned and resumed the exploration, amused that this oversized reptile could imagine a model in her.
“Believe me, I’m not. I’m in total panic, I just hide behind humor and laughter to forget that if we don’t find anything useful, we’re doomed.”
“Yeah, a lot like him. But you do it better in my taste.”
“If you’re after lessons on how to annoy Adam, maybe I could be of help indeed.” She giggled, inspecting another room. Paintings… no real use there, but quite a place she’d keep in a corner of her mind the day she’d need to evade.
“I’m more after how to have my voice heard. How to handle the most erratic elements with ease. How to appear trustworthy and reliable to my kind.”
“Is that the impression you got of me? Sounds quite extrapolated…” Jozie reacted with a shrug.
“I know it’s the impression he has of you.” Nimera replied with a movement of the head surely meant to refer to Adam. “He told me. He thinks a lot of good of you. And he listens to you. I wish I could do the same with Helios…”
It was a bit embarrassing, on so many levels at once. In front of her, it seemed to scorch Adam’s tongue to say something nice, and he deified her in her back? With the welcome she had, and how hard it was for him to speak nicely again, she clearly didn’t expect him to have such opinions of her.
Secondly, this whole talk sounded too much like motherly advices, and it clearly wasn’t her domain. It came naturally with Adam, through years of practice. Everyone required a different approach, and Jozie didn’t feel legitimate for having ‘tamed’ one reckless mind…
“If you feel this way, feel free to explore.” She said with a shrug. “I personally think it’s proper to everyone to figure out what’s good for them.”
“You know, you speak a lot like him.”
“No, it’s him who speak a lot like me. Ha. Maybe he did listen indeed.”
The last room before the end of the shelves was more intriguing though. At first, Jozie couldn’t see well because a fog and persistent darkness filled it. But when approaching, the dragoness was the first to emit a gasp.
“This is meat!” she exclaimed.
As her eyes got accustomed, Jozie could distinguish big masses hanging to the ceiling. At entering, a coldness immediately enveloped her, so she didn’t go further than the closest mass. It was meat, indeed… frozen meat, this time in a literal way.
“This is like the cold room of a butchery… or a bunker…” Jozie commented, thinking of this new possibility. If there was food, it meant the builders planned to survive, in here, right?
“This would be enough to feed everyone for a month without hunting…” The dragoness said in awe.
“Not more?”
“Well… one like this could do for a meal for the average dragon. We eat around once a month. But we are many.” The dragoness developed
It reminded Jozie that her temporary companion on this exploration was an oversized reptile with sharp teeth. She couldn’t tell exactly why her mind kept forgetting this. Despite a friendly behavior, she should remember they were carnivores, and that starvation should be a more worrying matter.
“Then make sure to note where it is, and to spread the word.”
“You think Adam will allow it?”
“I allow it. I order it if you prefer.” Jozie confirmed in her way, exiting the room that felt a bit too morbid for her. “And if he’s smart, he’ll say the same. Let’s see who speak like whom.”
They arrived to what seemed to be the end of the shelves. In front of them, a big wall with two doors was standing. And on each extremity, perpendicular corridors. The most intriguing were definitely the inscriptions written on the doors ahead. On the left: ‘weapon you can use’ and on the right: ‘weapons you never want to use’. Without surprise, the right door didn’t seem fully closed.
“Have you seen anything interesting?” Adam’s voice asked them as he emerged from his side of the shelves. Good. He hadn’t blocked in a daydream on the way. But he seemed joyful.
“The dream rooms of a science nerd, of an art collector, of a teenage musician… nothing really harmful. Ho, and a cold room full of dead meat” Jozie replied. “And you?”
“I noted some. A bank of seeds – and actual seeds, I anticipate your dirty mind – and an immense room filled with raw materials. It’s good news you found food. Keeping large carnivores fed was definitely on my list. We should test it first to make sure it’s proper for consumption, but we’ll let them know they don’t have to hunt. Now if we manage to fortify the place, we could handle a siege.”
“See? Told you he’d think like me.” Jozie said to Nimera with an amused little laugh.
There were times Jozie would tease him for looking so childishly excited. But after being in stress and in a disadvantageous position, she felt in the mood to bring even better news.
“And what do you think of these?” Jozie pointed at the doors, and more specifically to its explicit messages.
“I think we may very well have found everything we need.” Adam smiled. “We don’t need to fight, if we can convince them once and for all that our technologies don’t play in the same league. Means of construction, means of feeding the local population, and means of dissuasion. That was exactly the saint trinity I was looking for. What’s this?”
Focused on promises of victory, Jozie was staring at the doors when his question made her search for his look. Adam and his lack of attention when he thought it was won… But maybe was he inspired to look around though.
On his side of the room, the corridor was straight and ended on a strange view. A big object with a window. And a face could vaguely be distinguished even at this distance.
“Someone’s there?” Jozie asked, following the steps of an Adam that wouldn’t hesitate to go have a look.
The room in the end wasn’t that big, and quite sober in decoration. But while the rest of this vault evoked a museum, here the ambiance was more similar to a funerary… for the object, that Jozie first took for some kind of stasis chamber, looked more like a coffin standing straight.
The window on the front allowed the view of an old woman’s face. It was said that some people held the mark of their temper as they grew old. This lady’s face, beside looking absolutely peaceful, was still expressive through the wrinkles. They gave the impression that she had smiled a lot in her life, and died smiling.
“Probably someone important…” Jozie tried, respectfully though. “looks like a modern sarcophagus.”
“Do you think this whole place could be her tumb?” Adam wondered, with a strange sad face as he stared at the deceased lady. “All these objects were probably her belongings.”
“Adam, look. At your feet.”
There was indeed a book with a black cover laying against the coffin. It was only because the angle of view allowed to see the white of the pages that Jozie noticed it. Because it matched perfectly with the box color.
Adam crouched to grab it carefully. Always afraid to deteriorate objects, it was an odd obsession with him. At least, it guaranteed that borrowed objects were returned in perfect conditions. There was no title on it. When he opened it, it revealed entirely hand-written pages. Adam jumped from a page to the other, then apparently chose to go forward.
“Still not patient enough to start from the beginning like everyone, as I can see?”
“Jozie, this is a journal. In such circumstances, there’s only one thing I want to know from it.” He spoke with a grave tone. “And this is how it ends. Ah.”
With a finger, he pointed at the top of the page, and moved it as he read silently at first. Jozie cleared her throat to correct that, and he finally decided to add some voice to it.
“It is hard for the colleagues. Especially Hermann. He tries his best to hide it, but I can sense it when he’s troubled. It’s normal. I’ve spent most of my life by his side. I think this is my only regret. For the rest… I fulfilled my purpose on this earth. I had the life I wouldn’t have dared to dream of. My friends will be there until the end, with me. If I had one wish… take care of Hermann. Be nice with him. And don’t let him die alone…”
Moving words. The words of an old lady sensing the end coming, and worrying for a relative. It was touching, but Jozie surely didn’t expect seeing tears on Adam’s face. She didn’t speak a word when he put a hand on the surface of the coffin.
“At least you were happy in the end, old lady. I’m glad you found your peace in this world before moving on. And I’m really sorry we disturbed your rest. We need your treasures to save lives, and I hope you will approve. You seemed like a kind person.”
“Don’t you think you’re doing a bit too much there?”
“Jozie, if anything, please don’t disrespect the deceased...”
“Alright but I just want to be sure you haven’t turned necrophiliac there…”
“Ew.. Seriously, Jozie? Do you even think I could?” he looked at her with a disgusted face. “When someone dies, I always wonder… what’s it like? Was the person terrified, held onto unspoken regrets until the end? Or was it softer, painless and surrounded by loved ones? Did she had a good life, did she endure it? Make no mistake, I take a dead body for a pack of meat and bones. But it once belonged to sombody, someone with a history. It’s a matter of decency toward their memories to show respect.”
What a strange compassion he showed there…For once, it was a field Jozie felt ready to explore, not with an intention of teasing, but to figure out more of him. He was as cold as the arctic before! There had to be a lot happening during those ten years. And what brought the best evolutions, deserved attention. But a voice interrupted her before she could speak more questions.
“Adam… you might want to look at that…”
Nimera… For a reptile her size, the dragoness could be incredibly discrete. Jozie hadn’t even noticed she hadn’t been following them in a while.
Adam put the book back in its place, and the two humans exited the room. Nimera was standing in front of the opposite corridor, and seemingly too intimidated to enter. With a burning curiosity, both Jozie and Adam went looking at what caused such reaction. And they both instantly shared the sense of discomfort.
Ahead, against the wall, something was chained. Not a box this time, but an inert body. Like the prisoners of olden times, with shackles. It became stranger when they entered the room. Painted on the wall above was a single word. ‘V.I.T.R.I.O.L’. Nimera and Jozie both hesitantly looked at Adam, puzzled.
For this body wore his face. For this body… was his. A perfect replica of the Adam frowning at it, with maybe only the clean clothes as a difference.
One more to go, see you tomorrow for the finale of this book ^^
“Seriously? You knew where to find bombs and we had to wait for your crazy alter ego to use it? Wasn’t it an emergency enough?”
Jozie couldn’t help the remark that crawled in the back of her mind at approaching the stairs plunging into darkness. Adam casually grabbed a torch on the wall and made the dragoness light it, but it didn’t fully erase the anxiety. Close and dark places clearly weren’t her thing. She was a bit claustrophobic. The room they were leaving was only fine to her because the phosphorescent crystals in the ceiling brought a comforting light. And because the huge map-table in the center made it look more like a fancy living room in her eyes.
When uneased, the words came out easier. It was always better to blame someone rather than letting them notice and make fun of her discomfort.
“No, it was locked.” Adam replied, a bit oblivious of her state. “But given the circumstances, I believe Killian succeeded where I could not. Actually, I don’t see another explanation for what happened this morning.”
Jozie looked at the female dragon, who had the same reflex as hers. Both had heard Killian brag about his capacities to blow up an entire army and the mountain with it. It was a hope to find some fire power, but imagining that Killian went first gave even less appeal to these stairs. What if that dement alter ego of his had trapped the path?
“I hope you don’t mind going first…” Jozie suggested in a sarcastic tone, in hope he’d get the dangerousness of the situation. A hint that fell flat.
“I intended to. I’m already mad that Killian got to discover it first…” He replied with a complaining note. “It’s bothering me how this maniac could open this vault.”
Everyone else hesitated, but he already walked down into the darkness, path lit by his torch. It looked like he was in competition with himself, and that was a bit disturbing. That made him forget some basic safety rules!
“You should take the time to check if there are no deadly traps.” She tried to warn him from behind, seeing him walking down a bit too confidently in her taste. “if a blade falls from the roof…”
“Then I’ll avoid it. I’m more focused than I look, I go to my own rhythm.” He replied casually, although her words stopped the dragoness who inspected around like a paranoid. “Besides, killing me would end Killian as well. It’s not in his interest.”
It sounded enough of an argument for the female dragon to follow him, and Jozie went after with a sigh. Like a good sheep, she thought with clenched teeth. Why couldn’t he go at other’s rhythm, once in a while?
But it was for the good cause. Survival, ironically. It helped a bit to think that she was some kind of adventurer searching for a godly relic in an ancient temple. Like in the movies or video games. It chased a bit the fear of real threats.
The walls seemed curiously well carved, with little to no asperity for a place supposedly old. It made her think its building had been recent. However, the thick layer of dust on the steps told otherwise. Strange place for sure…
“It wasn’t in his interest either to provoke a barrage of arrows, yet it didn’t stop him.” Jozie pointed out.
“He had a way out and he knew it… I can feel that dying is definitely not on his list.” Adam replied elusively before stopping all a sudden. Thankfully for him, because Jozie was about to ask a torrent of question following these words.
At seeing his reaction, Jozie moved her head to look further, and saw the end of the stairs, lit by the flame he held. And also… by another source of light. Further, there were big doors. And at such size, it wasn’t hard to notice that one wasn’t entirely closed. A timid ray of light illuminated the end of the path, coming through the enclosure.
“And that bastard definitely had a way in too.” Adam spat in frustration, before walking to the door. He fixed the torch to the wall, and pushed to enlarge the entrance. “Let’s see what Killian left then. I hope he didn’t destroy anything.”
Jozie grumbled a bit in silence at seeing him enter like a stubborn mule without checking the way. As a video game archeologist, he wouldn’t have gone further than the tutorial! However, he didn’t go that far. The dragoness had to go around him to enter as well, because he just stopped a step further. And when she entered as well, Jozie understood why… She couldn’t believe her eyes.
Bathing in a bright light generated by floating orbs, a gigantic room with endless shelves and doors on the side walls was spreading before them. It seemed to cover under such large area that Jozie immediately thought that it had to run under the entire mountain. And it contained objects, many objects, so many objects… It was… breathtaking.
“This is not a vault… “Adam spoke with astonishment tinting his voice. “This is a gigantic time capsule… That would surely blow up this island, just not in the way I expected.”
“Helios would be ecstatic if he saw these…” Nimera commented. Even the dragoness wasn’t insensitive to such display, visibly. It was hard to tell though if it was in awe or distrust.
“Why do you think I assigned him to the surveillance of our guest? If there was a chance to find something dangerous here, Helios would have made it far more dangerous.” Adam asked while his stare ran over the room. He also took a few steps to inspect the objects on the closest shelves.
Jozie had a strange feeling about this gigantic room.
Some places carried a dark atmosphere, something heavy that most people described roughly as ‘bad feeling’. The woman had her fair share of these kind of places. Haunted houses visited in urban explorations, scenes of heavy events, or even some apartment habited by negative people. However, she had never been in a place that rose the opposite kind of feeling. Until now.
Here, it was like the air was charged with peace and benevolence. Jozie usually wasn’t sensitive to these sorts of things and yet, she undeniably felt something. Like she knew in her core that this place had been built with the best intentions.
“Adam, this place makes no sense…” Jozie voiced her mind, moving to the first random object that encountered her path. A bike, simply put against a shelve.
“Like the rest… But yeah, the organization is a mess…” he replied, scratching his head. “A bike next to a ventilator and a radio post… I hope there’s an inventory and a classification somewhere…”
“Not only that, but these objects seem brand new. It looks like the painting of this bike has been made yesterday. Do you imagine anyone we met here, making one?”
“You’re right… and It’s not all…. What is this place powered by?” he looked up at one of the floating orbs. “You remember the scandal about free electricity?”
“Of course, we knew it you and me. I’m glad it didn’t last…”
“What are you talking about?” the dragoness couldn’t help but ask with an intrigued tone.
“Around the year twenty one fifty six, ruling humans of our time decided to implement a feature to environment. Power in the air to feed objects like these without any kind of connection.” Adam explain, pointing at one orb with a finger. “The downside was, people in the test areas suffered side effects. Headaches, nausea, irritability… This project was shut within a few months due to multiplication of complaints and explosion of crime rate. Jozie and I were in a test area. It was a crazy time. They assured us there wouldn’t be consequences on the long term. But there were harsh debates on this. The thing is… I don’t feel the same sensations here. No nausea, no headache… quite the opposite actually. This is not free electricity.”
Jozie gave it a thought. It was a pretty valid point too. It was kind of true that it felt like the opposite of free energy. How to forget the unpleasant sensations she had yet suffered for only a few months? Even ten years later, Adam hadn’t forgotten either, apparently. Maybe they finally found a way to counter the secondary effects?
“In which year did you say we were, exactly?” Jozie asked.
“One million two hundred thousand and… a bit. Twenty four, I think. And yeah, I know what you think of. They might have invented something better after us. That would be how I rationalize everything that surrounds us. But I just can’t get how it works… I mean it has to possess a power source, right? Nothing gets created out of nothing.”
“Maybe they are all frozen?” Nimera suggested, immediately attracting the attention of both humans. Which seemingly intimidated her a bit. “S-Sorry…”
“No, what did you say? Frozen? What do you mean by frozen?” Adam encouraged her to speak.
“Well… you know… when things don’t move and remain exactly the same. The old one told me once that this island was frozen in some extent. That how I remember about the term, until he told me I thought it was a state that required low temperatures.”
Adam looked at Jozie. He had that face of when a crazy idea made total sense to him. He could sometimes let his mind wander a bit too far.
“Adam, you know it’s impossible.” Jozie brought him back on earth. “Sure it could explain for the painting on a bike. But, basic physics fact, photons must be emitted to bring light, and they don’t magically pop up. Like you said, there’s nothing without something to begin with. I know you’re having an image of a real-life picture in your head, but that doesn’t work with these. They must be powered somehow.”
“This place was probably condemned for thousand years. Can you think of an autonomous system able to last this long, unless they captured a star?”
“Capturing a star seem less farfetched than breaking the laws of physics.”
“But it would also explain other things. The decreased need of feeding and sleeping. An empire that could last a million year. Newton was a universal reference before Einstein found new rules. What if they found new grounds after us?”
Jozie sighed. This was an empty debate. Nether she or he could now what happened after them, the scientific breakthroughs, the gap between their civilization and the current one. But Jozie preferred to remain rational until proven otherwise, while he tended to do the opposite and dream big. With lack of further proof to explain this place, it wasn’t the main interest. Best not keeping on a vain distraction.
“Maybe we could keep speculations for later as well. This is not why we’re here.” She refocused the discussion. “How will we find means of defense in this mess?”
“I suggest we split to cover more ground…” Adam proposed.
“At least a reasonable idea. You see when you try…” She friendly teased him in return. “You take the right, I take the left, we join at the end?”
It reminded her a bit the visit to museums, when they always planned the same visiting pattern. Curiously, museums were places young Adam didn’t despise. Jozie liked those for the feeling of exploration and discovering wonders. While it always fed his daydreams. How many times had she found him planted like a tree, staring at statue, a painting or an old tablet? Maybe this place was that… a museum of human materialism? It revived her curiosity, more than her fear for traps.
“May I come with one of you? I wouldn’t know what to look for anyway…” the dragoness asked precipitately, like afraid to be left alone in a too humanish environment.
“That sounds wise, you can come with me.” Adam naturally answered
“Actually, I’d like to go with Jozie…”
The reply took both humans aback, especially Jozie. Why her? Not that she particularly disliked Nimera, but she didn’t see why she’d prefer to be with her in this exploration. Adam had another point in mind, given his face. Could it be that she was afraid of him? Or of Killian? He looked at both of them, and finally asked his old friend.
“Don’t you mind?”
“I have no objection…” Jozie replied honestly, although she felt a bit awkward about it.
“Very well then, first to find calls the others?” He nodded with a little smile of relief.
“And don’t you make us way for thirty minutes in the end.” She warned.
Smiling to that, Adam took his own way through the shelves, and Nimera followed Jozie as they took their own. Curiously, despite the mess in their organization, the shelves themselves were disposed in perfect parallels, akin to a library. The center would be to explore later. It was easy to have a sight meters ahead on the objects aligned, mostly gadgets of everyday life. Some quite vintage despite a perfect state of preservation. Nothing really useful on the moment
The woman was more intrigued by the rooms and corridors along the wall. The old fantasy of secret rooms and weird architecture at its best. At every new one, Jozie leaned the head inside to see what kind of curiosity it held. She found one dedicated to sound and music stuff, one that looked like a lab with all kinds of weird instruments, one that could be mistaken for an actual library… The rooms seemed far better organized than the shelves. At least they seemed to follow themes.
Adam maybe wasn’t so far from the truth when he talked about a time capsule. Neither was she when Jozie compared it to a museum. She started to think that the objects and themes were so random that there might very well be an exemplary of every man-made object in this gigantic vault.
“May I ask why you wanted to come with me?” Jozie finally asked the silent dragoness following her. Even her fascination couldn’t eternally ease the discomfort of the reptilian presence “We don’t know each other that much…”
“No but… I know enough to prefer observing you…”
This made Jozie cringe. First, because she didn’t know what the dragoness mean by ‘knowing enough’. And then, because she also had a doubt about the notion of observing…
“Because you want to keep an eye on me?”
“Well yes, kind of. It’s easier to learn from you.”
“Learn? Learn what?”
“How to be… How to handle things. You always seem in control, at peace.”
For a moment, Jozie froze in surprise to the naïve justification. Then it made her laugh. It was true that these dragons probably never had to live in a world made of appearances. She was simply caught by the mask of strength Jozie forgot she wore by default. She turned and resumed the exploration, amused that this oversized reptile could imagine a model in her.
“Believe me, I’m not. I’m in total panic, I just hide behind humor and laughter to forget that if we don’t find anything useful, we’re doomed.”
“Yeah, a lot like him. But you do it better in my taste.”
“If you’re after lessons on how to annoy Adam, maybe I could be of help indeed.” She giggled, inspecting another room. Paintings… no real use there, but quite a place she’d keep in a corner of her mind the day she’d need to evade.
“I’m more after how to have my voice heard. How to handle the most erratic elements with ease. How to appear trustworthy and reliable to my kind.”
“Is that the impression you got of me? Sounds quite extrapolated…” Jozie reacted with a shrug.
“I know it’s the impression he has of you.” Nimera replied with a movement of the head surely meant to refer to Adam. “He told me. He thinks a lot of good of you. And he listens to you. I wish I could do the same with Helios…”
It was a bit embarrassing, on so many levels at once. In front of her, it seemed to scorch Adam’s tongue to say something nice, and he deified her in her back? With the welcome she had, and how hard it was for him to speak nicely again, she clearly didn’t expect him to have such opinions of her.
Secondly, this whole talk sounded too much like motherly advices, and it clearly wasn’t her domain. It came naturally with Adam, through years of practice. Everyone required a different approach, and Jozie didn’t feel legitimate for having ‘tamed’ one reckless mind…
“If you feel this way, feel free to explore.” She said with a shrug. “I personally think it’s proper to everyone to figure out what’s good for them.”
“You know, you speak a lot like him.”
“No, it’s him who speak a lot like me. Ha. Maybe he did listen indeed.”
The last room before the end of the shelves was more intriguing though. At first, Jozie couldn’t see well because a fog and persistent darkness filled it. But when approaching, the dragoness was the first to emit a gasp.
“This is meat!” she exclaimed.
As her eyes got accustomed, Jozie could distinguish big masses hanging to the ceiling. At entering, a coldness immediately enveloped her, so she didn’t go further than the closest mass. It was meat, indeed… frozen meat, this time in a literal way.
“This is like the cold room of a butchery… or a bunker…” Jozie commented, thinking of this new possibility. If there was food, it meant the builders planned to survive, in here, right?
“This would be enough to feed everyone for a month without hunting…” The dragoness said in awe.
“Not more?”
“Well… one like this could do for a meal for the average dragon. We eat around once a month. But we are many.” The dragoness developed
It reminded Jozie that her temporary companion on this exploration was an oversized reptile with sharp teeth. She couldn’t tell exactly why her mind kept forgetting this. Despite a friendly behavior, she should remember they were carnivores, and that starvation should be a more worrying matter.
“Then make sure to note where it is, and to spread the word.”
“You think Adam will allow it?”
“I allow it. I order it if you prefer.” Jozie confirmed in her way, exiting the room that felt a bit too morbid for her. “And if he’s smart, he’ll say the same. Let’s see who speak like whom.”
They arrived to what seemed to be the end of the shelves. In front of them, a big wall with two doors was standing. And on each extremity, perpendicular corridors. The most intriguing were definitely the inscriptions written on the doors ahead. On the left: ‘weapon you can use’ and on the right: ‘weapons you never want to use’. Without surprise, the right door didn’t seem fully closed.
“Have you seen anything interesting?” Adam’s voice asked them as he emerged from his side of the shelves. Good. He hadn’t blocked in a daydream on the way. But he seemed joyful.
“The dream rooms of a science nerd, of an art collector, of a teenage musician… nothing really harmful. Ho, and a cold room full of dead meat” Jozie replied. “And you?”
“I noted some. A bank of seeds – and actual seeds, I anticipate your dirty mind – and an immense room filled with raw materials. It’s good news you found food. Keeping large carnivores fed was definitely on my list. We should test it first to make sure it’s proper for consumption, but we’ll let them know they don’t have to hunt. Now if we manage to fortify the place, we could handle a siege.”
“See? Told you he’d think like me.” Jozie said to Nimera with an amused little laugh.
There were times Jozie would tease him for looking so childishly excited. But after being in stress and in a disadvantageous position, she felt in the mood to bring even better news.
“And what do you think of these?” Jozie pointed at the doors, and more specifically to its explicit messages.
“I think we may very well have found everything we need.” Adam smiled. “We don’t need to fight, if we can convince them once and for all that our technologies don’t play in the same league. Means of construction, means of feeding the local population, and means of dissuasion. That was exactly the saint trinity I was looking for. What’s this?”
Focused on promises of victory, Jozie was staring at the doors when his question made her search for his look. Adam and his lack of attention when he thought it was won… But maybe was he inspired to look around though.
On his side of the room, the corridor was straight and ended on a strange view. A big object with a window. And a face could vaguely be distinguished even at this distance.
“Someone’s there?” Jozie asked, following the steps of an Adam that wouldn’t hesitate to go have a look.
The room in the end wasn’t that big, and quite sober in decoration. But while the rest of this vault evoked a museum, here the ambiance was more similar to a funerary… for the object, that Jozie first took for some kind of stasis chamber, looked more like a coffin standing straight.
The window on the front allowed the view of an old woman’s face. It was said that some people held the mark of their temper as they grew old. This lady’s face, beside looking absolutely peaceful, was still expressive through the wrinkles. They gave the impression that she had smiled a lot in her life, and died smiling.
“Probably someone important…” Jozie tried, respectfully though. “looks like a modern sarcophagus.”
“Do you think this whole place could be her tumb?” Adam wondered, with a strange sad face as he stared at the deceased lady. “All these objects were probably her belongings.”
“Adam, look. At your feet.”
There was indeed a book with a black cover laying against the coffin. It was only because the angle of view allowed to see the white of the pages that Jozie noticed it. Because it matched perfectly with the box color.
Adam crouched to grab it carefully. Always afraid to deteriorate objects, it was an odd obsession with him. At least, it guaranteed that borrowed objects were returned in perfect conditions. There was no title on it. When he opened it, it revealed entirely hand-written pages. Adam jumped from a page to the other, then apparently chose to go forward.
“Still not patient enough to start from the beginning like everyone, as I can see?”
“Jozie, this is a journal. In such circumstances, there’s only one thing I want to know from it.” He spoke with a grave tone. “And this is how it ends. Ah.”
With a finger, he pointed at the top of the page, and moved it as he read silently at first. Jozie cleared her throat to correct that, and he finally decided to add some voice to it.
“It is hard for the colleagues. Especially Hermann. He tries his best to hide it, but I can sense it when he’s troubled. It’s normal. I’ve spent most of my life by his side. I think this is my only regret. For the rest… I fulfilled my purpose on this earth. I had the life I wouldn’t have dared to dream of. My friends will be there until the end, with me. If I had one wish… take care of Hermann. Be nice with him. And don’t let him die alone…”
Moving words. The words of an old lady sensing the end coming, and worrying for a relative. It was touching, but Jozie surely didn’t expect seeing tears on Adam’s face. She didn’t speak a word when he put a hand on the surface of the coffin.
“At least you were happy in the end, old lady. I’m glad you found your peace in this world before moving on. And I’m really sorry we disturbed your rest. We need your treasures to save lives, and I hope you will approve. You seemed like a kind person.”
“Don’t you think you’re doing a bit too much there?”
“Jozie, if anything, please don’t disrespect the deceased...”
“Alright but I just want to be sure you haven’t turned necrophiliac there…”
“Ew.. Seriously, Jozie? Do you even think I could?” he looked at her with a disgusted face. “When someone dies, I always wonder… what’s it like? Was the person terrified, held onto unspoken regrets until the end? Or was it softer, painless and surrounded by loved ones? Did she had a good life, did she endure it? Make no mistake, I take a dead body for a pack of meat and bones. But it once belonged to sombody, someone with a history. It’s a matter of decency toward their memories to show respect.”
What a strange compassion he showed there…For once, it was a field Jozie felt ready to explore, not with an intention of teasing, but to figure out more of him. He was as cold as the arctic before! There had to be a lot happening during those ten years. And what brought the best evolutions, deserved attention. But a voice interrupted her before she could speak more questions.
“Adam… you might want to look at that…”
Nimera… For a reptile her size, the dragoness could be incredibly discrete. Jozie hadn’t even noticed she hadn’t been following them in a while.
Adam put the book back in its place, and the two humans exited the room. Nimera was standing in front of the opposite corridor, and seemingly too intimidated to enter. With a burning curiosity, both Jozie and Adam went looking at what caused such reaction. And they both instantly shared the sense of discomfort.
Ahead, against the wall, something was chained. Not a box this time, but an inert body. Like the prisoners of olden times, with shackles. It became stranger when they entered the room. Painted on the wall above was a single word. ‘V.I.T.R.I.O.L’. Nimera and Jozie both hesitantly looked at Adam, puzzled.
For this body wore his face. For this body… was his. A perfect replica of the Adam frowning at it, with maybe only the clean clothes as a difference.
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 50 x 50px
File Size 29.1 kB
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