Ch. 4 –- Descent



The stairs were narrow enough for them to have to move in single file. All the while the air grew colder with each step they took.

Liam slowly led the way, his heart pounding in his chest as they ventured deeper into the unknown. Their shoes made soft scuffing sounds on each concrete step, while the distant hum of machinery grew a little louder as well.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the stairs came to an end at the teens found themselves in another hallway.

Unlike the sterile, climate-controlled environments of the upper levels, these corridors were cut right out of solid rock. The air was cool and damp, sterile lights making it feel like an abandoned hospital.

Liam, Selina, and Marcus stayed close together, their eyes wide with a mix of fear and awe. Scrapper padded softly beside them, his nose twitching curiously.

“This is insane,” Marcus whispered excitedly, his voice echoing softly off the stone walls. “What kind of experiments could they be doing down here?”

Liam and Selina exchanged dubious looks while Scrapper tilted his head, seemingly unimpressed by Marcus’ enthusiasm.

“Could you please at least try and pretend like you’re taking this seriously?” Liam asked. “This isn’t a video game, you know.”

Marcus smirked and opened his mouth to respond.

He was cut short by the sound of footsteps echoing down the corridor.

Someone was coming their way.

The teens and hyena exchanged terrified glances before quickly darting in the opposite direction.

For some unknown length of time, they made random turns in their haste to avoid being seen. Somehow, Liam felt they wouldn't get off so easily as with the guards above.

Finally, salvation appeared in the form of an open supply closet.

"In here!" Liam hissed, grabbing Marcus and pulling him inside, Selina and Scrapper following right behind them.

They got inside just before two guards rounded the corner.

The four crouched behind a janitor’s cart, keeping out of sight as the guards passed by the door. They were dressed in dark, foreboding uniforms with combat helmets and carried military-grade weapons. Each had an emblem on their shoulders, an elongated triangle with the words Shadow Spear.

As they passed by the closet, the guards spoke with each other.

"Did you hear something?"

"Nah. You must be hearing things."

"Not surprising. This place is creepy as all heck."

Slowly, Liam led the others out of the closet. They were just in time to watch the guards disappeared around the far end of the corridor.

“That was too close,” Liam sighed.

Coming out next to him, Marcus muttered, “Shadow Spear… never heard of that organization. This is getting deeper and deeper – a hidden sector, military guards, next thing you know there’ll be secret experiments.”

Selina warily glanced back the way they’d come from. “Uh… I hate to interrupt your daydreams, but do either of you know which way to go back?”

Liam and Marcus turned to look, only then seeing that the passage split into different directions. The reality of the situation sank in as they tried to remember which way they’d come from. Whichever path they’d taken was a blur of identical corridors and sterilized lighting.

They had become completely lost.

Slowly, Liam looked down at Scrapper. “Hey, buddy… any chance you can smell our way back?”

The striped hyena gave him a deadpan look, as if to say, “What do you think?”

“I thought so,” Liam sighed, shaking his head.

Looking back at his friends, he continued, “Looks like we’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way.”

When the group got to the split, they picked a random direction and began to follow it. All the while they kept their eyes and ears alert for any signs of more guards.

<<<>>>

If the floors above had been a maze, these lower levels had to be a labyrinth.

Now thoroughly lost, the four pushed further into the facility. With their senses on high alert, they narrowly avoided being detected several times by ducking into empty rooms and hiding behind crates.

They passed by several doors on their venture – big, metallic security doors that looked like they could fend off keep an army. Some of these would be open, allowing them to see what was going on inside.

Through one door, they watched a scientist through a canister at a large FV4034 Challenger 2 tank. The canister broke open, spilling a dark green substance over the vehicle, which began to dissolve as the liquid spread.

Within a matter of minutes, the only thing that remained of the tank was a small pile of scrapes.

In another room, men with guns were firing at a mannequin wearing a chest harness with a silver orb attached to it. A hazy blue energy field was being generated around the dummy, which the bullets bounced off harmlessly.

Through yet another door, scientists in hazmat gear were carefully working in what looked like a chemistry lab. One of them had opened a metal box and was removing a glass vial filled with a brownish yellow liquid – the label on the vial was a mix of letters and numbers.

“That was a chemical formula,” Selina whispered as they hurried away. “I remember is from one of our history assignments – sulfur mustard.”

Marcus gave her a worried look. “You mean… mustard gas? I thought that stuff was completely destroyed years ago. What the heck is OmniGen going with it?”

A similar question had already formed in Liam’s mind.

Everything he had seen down here had sent chills down his spine. None of it seemed like the kind of stuff OmniGen – or his parents – would ever get involved with.

However, the more he saw, the more he began to wonder.

Liam was jerked from his thoughts when Marcus suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

With a panicked expression, he pointed along the corridor to the nearest fork. The ever-familiar sound of approaching footstep was steadily growing louder.

“More guards!” Marcus hissed.

Liam’s heart began to race as he quickly looked around. He zeroed in on a door – not a heavy security door, but a normal one that usually connected to a supply closet.

“In there!”

He quickly darted over and opened it, ushering his friends and the hyena into the dimly lit space within before jumping in himself. A quietly as he could, he closed the door and waited.

The footsteps came nearer, the muffled conversation of the guards barely audible from within the space. And then they were leaving, their steps growing fainter the further they went.

Liam released the breath he’d been holding as relief washed over him. “They’re gone.”

“Hey,” Marcus said, “where does this go?”

Turning around, Liam found that they weren’t inside a closet has he had guessed.

The walls on either side held shelves of supplies and uniforms on hooks – the back wall had an opening with a staircase going up.

“It’s not the one we came down from,” Selina observed. “There’s no way of knowing where this one goes. I say we don’t risk it.”

“Agreed,” chipped in Marcus, who was starting to become less enthusiastic about the whole situation.

Liam was about to agree as well when he heard voice coming from the stairs. They were coming from a long way off, but he thought he recognized one of them.

“Dad?” he whispered, taking a step towards the steps.

“What?” Selina asked.

“I think my dad’s through there,” Liam said, placing a foot on the first step.

“And you think it’s a good idea to go and see?” Marcus said, starting to panic a little. “We’re already way in over our heads as it is. What if we’re caught.”

Liam paused before turning to look at the others.

“I have to know,” he said quietly. “If my dad’s involved with all this, then I need to know.”

Scrapper silently padded over to Liam before turning to look back at the others.

Marcus and Selina shared a look. While they knew Liam might not like the answer he found, they also knew he wouldn’t be able to move on from this if they did leave.

“Okay,” Selina said as they joined Liam at the stairs. “We’ll go and check. But then we leave and try to get out of here.”

Liam nodded before he turned and began to ascend.

After a short climb, they emerged out onto a series of catwalks suspended above an enormous circular chamber.

Far below them, a massive machine hummed with energy. Its main body consisted of a large disc lying flat on the ground, its circumference lined with metal obelisks.

Hovering above these were three great metal rings of different sizes – these were arranged inside of each other, like the multi-axis trainers that astronauts used. The rings vibrated and glowed as they rotated in the air.

Within the smallest ring was a mass of blue lights that swirled and pulsed with an otherworldly energy.

Liam stared at this, completely transfixed by it, until Selina nudged him on the arm.

She was pointing to the side of the chamber, at a group of men standing at a control panel – some of them were scientists in lab coats, but there were also more guards and some men wearing military clothing.

One of the scientists, Liam realized with a start, was his father – Dr. Frank Whittaker.

The voices of the group below echoed up to the catwalk.

“Output readings are steady,” one of the scientists said, eyes scanning the readouts from the terminal. “The vortex is stabilizing.”

One of the military men, whose uniform bore the rank of a general, nodded in satisfaction. “And you’re absolutely certain it will remain stable this time?”

Frank stepped forward, his voice confident as he spoke. “Last time was just a fluke, we never guessed our exotic particle harvester could actually open an actual portal into another world – even for the split second before the machine failed.”

Back up on the catwalk, Liam exchanged uneasy glances with each other.

“Exotic particles?” Marcus asked.

“Theoretical subatomic particles with unusual properties,” Selina explained. “They’re associated with dark matter as well as many other theories of what might lie outside our universe.”

“And they were trying to harvest them?” Marcus asked, a stunned look on his face.

Down below, Liam’s father was continuing his explanation. "With this portal generator, we'll be able to harvest resources and materials from other worlds and possibly even entirely new forms of energy."

"Oh, I believe we can do much more than that, Dr. Whittaker,” the general said, not taking his eyes off the machine.

Pausing, Frank turned to give him a confused look. "What do you mean, General Walters?"

"You're already aware of the rising crisis, my good doctor. Food and resources are in short supply, which is why you've been working so hard on your little project. What you don't realize is that it isn't just about supplies – space and land are also in high demand."

"What are you saying?" Frank asked suspiciously. "Land? You can't possibly be talking about invading other worlds, are you?"

General Walters looked at him and gestured to the machine.

"Why else do you think a private military group like Shadow Spear offered its services as guards? Several foreign governments have taken a high interest in your research and what it could achieve for them."

Liam's father paled, backing away as realization dawned in his eyes. "Y-you can't be serious…"

The general cut him off with a wave of his hand. "And, now that the experiment is a success, we will take it over from here."

A furious expression crossed Frank’s face. “Now see here, you can't just take everything over. You have no authority– ”

A malicious grin crossed the general’s face as he turned to look at Liam’s father. His voice became low and threatening as he took at step closer to the scientists.

“I believe you’ll find, Dr. Whittaker, that we have all the authority we need. My men have already infiltrated OmniGen, and soon it will all belong to us.”

The scientists looked around, suddenly aware that the guards had surrounded them, weapons at the ready.

A palpable tension filled the room. Upon on the catwalk, Liam and the others watched with bated breath.

Alarms suddenly blared from the control panel as red lights flashed around the room. At the same time, several of the obelisks on the machine began to emit sparks, the vortex within rippling like boiling water.

"What's going on?" General Walters demanded, he and the others tensing and looking around nervously.

Liam's father rushed to the panel, his eyes scanning the readouts. "There's been a malfunction with the containment field. A breach is imminent!"

As though on cue, the portal within the rings undulated violently and sent out several bursts of energy. They ricocheted around the room, destroying everything they came in contact with.

One of these bursts shot up at the catwalk, almost striking the group hiding there. The structure shook as it became compromised and started falling apart.

“Run!” Marcus shouted above the noise.

While he and Selina bolted for the other side, Liam turned to grab Scrapper. However, before he could make get them to safety, the catwalk gave way beneath him, leaving them falling through the air.

Liam had a final glimpse of his friends turning to look, their faces white with horror as he and Scrapper fell for the spinning rings.

Just before they hit, Liam’s eyes met his father’s.

He saw the look of realization and horror on his dad's face as he shouted so something. The man tried to run forward, a hand outstretched, but it was too late.

Liam and Scrapper were engulfed in the swirling energy, the world dissolving into a chaotic blur of light and sound.

Liam cried out, terror gripping him as he tumbled through the vortex. Darkness stretched before him, filled with unnatural light that clung to him like a second skin. It burned, a searing sensation that left no physical mark but was no less tangible.

Beside him, Scrapper yelped and whimpered, his fur standing on end as they were buffeted by the relentless energy.

Suddenly, something shot past them, a blur of motion against the light.

Liam caught a glimpse of a feminine form clad in a silver and red suit, riding what appeared to be a surfboard. Long platinum hair streamed out from the back of her helmet as she flew by.

As she passed, the figure turned her head, and her eyes met Liam's for a brief split second. He saw the confusion in her gaze, a reflection of his own shock and fear.

And then, as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone, swallowed by the void.

Liam and Scrapper were left tumbling through the endless expanse of light, uncertain of what was going to happen.

---

The one question I had been battling with for sometime was how to get a young human along with an animal of some kind into a secret laboratory where trans-dimensional research was being conducted... and here's what I came up with XD

My original plan was for Liam to be a part of a group of activists breaking into a lab to free the animals being tested on... but the more I worked on it the less it felt right.

So, school tour it was XD

For those wondering, yes, we're being introduced to one of the villains in the form of General Walters - he'll come into play sooner than you think XD

The woman Liam and Scrapper encounter in the vortex is an obscure reference to the anime Fooly Cooly... make of that what you will XD

And yes, the experiments being done in the human world is having an affect on the animal world in the form of the pulse from years back.

As for what sort of affect the vortex will have on Liam and Scrapper... well, you'll just have to wait and see :D

... no, Liam doesn't become an animal, and he and Scrapper don't merge, nothing like that ^^;

Anyway, read and enjoy ^_^

~ Aaron