A Machine Called Earth

“Come on! Let’s go.” Hector shouted at Hope, as she was staring blankly into the lifeless body of Kaelin. She didn’t respond, so Hector grabbed her hand, along with Jessy’s, and headed out to the deck.

It was still dark, the moonlight still shining brightly. A strong gust, which had been blowing for some time now, was cutting furiously through the air. This assisted in blowing the airship well off course. When Hector pulled the leaver of the furnace, the airship lost altitude and dropped right into this windstorm. As before, it was flying over the windstorm, and above the cloud level.

The airship was on route to Violet Town, to take them, its prisoners, to become slaves, or worse. But due to the wind, it has blown well off course, and now floated over the Opal Bay, east of the Violet Town dock. But its descent was leading them to a crash landing on the eastern bank. That is, if they were not to eject themselves from the falling airship.

The airship had lowered enough to make a survivable jump. However, they were still several hundred meters from any land, but their chances would be significantly increased, jumping, then if they were to stay on board, and brace the impact. Still, it was a long fall. But it was a necessary one.

“HOPE! CAN YOU SWIM?” Hector shouted, through the strong gale.

She still looked blankly, and confused. As though she did not hear, or understand what Hector had said.

“Never mind.” He said. Grabbing onto Hope and Jessy’s hands, and jumping off the edge of the airship, into the water.

As they fell, Hector felt his guts rise up into his chest. Then Splash. Darkness. It took several seconds to reach the surface of the water. But they were safe.

The wind was whipping up the water, and waves began throwing them around.

“We got to get out of this water!” Hector said. But it was an obvious statement. Hector made sure Jessy had hold of him, round his neck. He also had hold of Hope’s hand, and began swimming. (With but one free hand.)

Hector then noticed, not too far from them, some sort of structure which was emerged from the water. They swam towards it. They were battered and thrown around by the ruthless waves, but eventually they made it to the structure. It was a building of sorts, built on top of a rock base. Hexagonal in shape, with bright sandstone bricks. There was a wooden wharf. Well, the remains of one. Just a few struts and boards left. Not leading anywhere in particular.

Hector then helped Jessy and Hope onto the structure, out of the water. There they sat, and watched the airship make its landing. It’s crash landing.

It seemed to fall in slow motion, until it hit the ground, in which it exploded. There was a huge fire ball, which went forth into the sky, and lighting the surrounding trees ablaze.

They were safe, but Hector couldn’t help but feel remorse for the deaths of all who dwelt within the airship. Many of whom were bandits, but they certainly didn’t need to die. Not by his hand at least.

Hector didn’t see where they took Milorad, he didn’t even know if they took him on board. Nevertheless, his death lay heavily on Hector’s heart. The thought that he may have killed him, made Hector feel sick. The heat from the explosion could be felt from where they were, despite being several hundred meters away. No one could have survived the crash.

“Hope, are you alright?” Hector asked.

She stared blankly into the ripples of the water. “I killed him. My husband. I killed him.” Her words, almost a whisper. “He was a bad man, I know. But I still loved him.”

Hector hadn’t the slightest idea of what to say. Really, what could you say? She shot her husband, no doubt this was an incredibly emotional day. Much had happened, and it was long into the night, coming up to morning. They were all very tired and confused. Hector decided to ask, in the gentlest way possible. “Why did you shoot him?”

“He was going to kill you. He had that look in his eyes.”

“You didn’t have to stop him. I wouldn’t have held it against you.”

“Hector. You’re the only one who can fix all this. I long for peace again in this land. You’re closer than anyone, to working this all out. Fixing this.”

They both sat silently, staring at the flaming crash site, watching the waves dance around the lake, watching the distant fire slowly die down. “Let’s get some sleep. We need all the rest we can get. A lot happened today. Let’s just sleep on it.”

Hector said, as they all lay down on the wooden floor. “And besides. I couldn’t have gone this far without you, Hope.” And at that, they fell asleep.

They woke about two hours later, when the sun had risen. A sound was heard. It was a strange, constant sound. It sounded like the combination of cuffing your hands over your ears, listening to the air pass through, and curling your tongue, whilst breathing. It was coming from the structure.

They got up, and inspected the building. Noticing that on one of the faces, was a door. It was wooden, and coated in a peeling coat of white paint. It had a blueish, patina covered, copper knob which was locked.

“Do you think you can unlock that?” Hector asked.

“I’ll give it a try. What do you think is in it?” Hope replied.

“No idea. There’s only one way to find out.”

Hope then began to pick the lock. It took some time, for it was quite complex, and old. But she did it. She unlocked it, and opened the door. The structure had no roof. Which was strange. It looked as though the structure was actually designed without a roof. But why?

It was then, that they witnessed the staircase. It was a staircase that went down. Spiraling into darkness.

The rock structure, went down, under the level of the water. And a breeze was blowing from below. The structure seemed as though it was breathing. Inhaling and exhaling. It was at this, that Hector remembered the underwater city. It was built inside, what looked to be a dome of glass. Which was connected to the volcano that Shamus dwelled in. Hector was not certain, but he had good reason to believe that this was the entrance, or tip, of the volcano. The hollowed out, underwater mountain was the source of sustainable living for the city under the waves.

“Are we going to go down there?” Jessy asked, both scared and excitedly. His head dangling off the railing, looking down into the black.

“Yep. That’s where we’re going.” Hector replied, taking the firsts steps down the metallic staircase.

“How strange.” Hope said, following Hector’s lead. Jessy walking between them. It was a narrow staircase, designed excessively single file. Down they went.

Within moments, traversing the tightly twisted staircase, spiraling under the waves, darkness had overcome them. But only momentarily. For the darkness was extinguished. The trinket that Jessy had found, or should I say, the trinket that Jessy was drawn to, had lit up. It’s bright, calming light filled the narrow, twisting corridor, and now, they could see.

“What is that?” Hector asked in astonishment, seeing Jessy’s chest light up.

“It’s a thing. I found it.” Jessy responded.

“But, where did you get it?”

“I found it in that place. The one with all the books.”

“The Arccon Archives?”

Jessy nodded.

Perhaps if Hector were Jessy’s father, he might have lectured him on the act of stealing. But Jessy’s guile, resulted with quite the beneficial circumstance. With Hope’s lock-picking ability, they were able to enter this place, and with Jessy’s, let’s call it, resourcefulness, had given them visibility. Which had deemed quite useful. For as they went down, they were faced with a missing section of the staircase.

A few missing stairs, and quite the drop. A gap not too disastrous, but an unwatchful eye, and a blind step, may have led to a devastating drop. Hector however was able to bridge the gap, and help Jessy and Hope make it safely across.

At this point, Hector was quite sure that this would lead to the hall where Shamus dwelled. Hector was filled with contrasting feelings. He was quite excited to be moving closer to some answers, assuming that Shamus did have the book. This excitement was contrasted with an uneasy feeling, meeting Shamus again. For he was a strange man. Unpredictable, and possibly dangerous.