Ladies, Gentlemen, and others, for your reading pleasure. The journey of Alpha Squad continues. If you have any suggestions as to what should happen further down in the clockworks with the Roarmulus Twins or Firestorm Citadel (the Jelly King chapter is almost done), by all means shout it out. Enjoy.
When we stepped off the elevator, we noticed something strange – the terrain. While we had encountered everything from bushland to factories to castles, this place was different. It was also quite small – we could see the next elevator from where we stood. The floor was metal, like that of the factories we’d visited before, but other than that the entire continent was obviously abandoned.
“I guess not much makes it past that beast,” Rulen muttered.
“Camp here for the moment, squad,” I said, still looking around. “Parma, check for any traps, just to be sure. Rulen, Grantz, help me set up.”
In the middle of pitching our temporary campsite, Parma returned, looking disturbed.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Chief – we’re stuck here.”
Rulen and Grantz looked up from where they were unrolling their bedding.
I frowned. “What makes you say that?”
“With all due respect, sir, it’s been staring us in the face ever since we started, and I can’t fathom how we managed to overlook it.” Parma glanced around at the surroundings; the quiet, desolate room of a continent and the blackness far, far above that showed where we had come from. “The elevators, sir.”
“Yes?”
“They…they only go one way, right?”
Silence reigned over us for a second, then Rulen said, “Ah, bollocks.”
“You’re right,” I said, my face starting to turn a shade of white as well. “Hahn did mention there were only two elevators, and they only went one way.”
Rulen pounded a fist into his bedroll. “So we’re stuck here? Even if SCOM was able to follow us, they couldn’t get back either! We’re trapped.” He looked over his shoulder at the pad we had just arrived on. “Maybe the elevators could be modded to go both ways, but even so it’d take more tools than I have right now. And…”
“And even if we did, we’d have to go past that…thing up there,” Parma added.
Grantz, who had so far been silent, spoke up. “Sir, may I suggest a course of action?”
“I’m all ears.”
He pointed towards the next elevator. “Sir, Captain Ozlo told us to blaze a path to the Core and find that energy source. Even if we can’t clear the path, we can at least scout ahead. I think Esscom would eventually modify those elevators, given the resources they have, and if we can hold out at the Core that energy source’s radiation alone should be able to power our life-support systems long enough for a rescue team to get to us.”
I gazed into space, considering.
Rulen jumped in. “The radiation might sustain us, Grantz, but it could also kill us. We don’t know enough. These are all ifs and maybes. It’s not solid enough.”
“Way to be a team sport, Rulen.”
“What? I’m just stating the obvious. Besides, what’s the point of going forward if we can’t bring the source back until Esscom finds us any-”
“Quiet.” I nodded at Grantz. “What Grantz says may just be hypothetical, but it’s still a good plan. We will eventually run out of energy rations if we stay here. And besides that, we were given a direct order from Spiral HQ – Captain Ozlo, and we will carry out our orders.” I frowned at Rulen. “Understood?”
Rulen nodded and saluted. “Yes, sir, I understand. I apologize if my words sounded insubordinate, it’s just my habit to point out the logical probabilities and outcomes-”
“It’s also your habit to talk too much,” Grantz rumbled. “Be quiet.”
“Oh, you wanna make me be quiet, big boy? I’m tired of you hushing me up! Bring it on, I’ll rip you limb from limb, you big stumbling clumsy mmf umf urf!”
Parma reached from behind him and clicked the mute button on his helmet speakers, reducing his rants to muffled gruntings. I chuckled as Rulen went on, not noticing the fact that we couldn’t hear what he was saying.
Grantz sighed in relief. “Thanks, sergeant.”
Parma grinned, making a mock salute. Rulen finally got what had happened and unclicked his helmet, unleashing his voice on us again.
“You imbeciles! The nerve, silencing the input of a valued squad member at a time of critical importance-”
Grantz leaned in, looming over Rulen in his Guardian armor. The hilt of his Suderuska protruded menacingly from over his right shoulder, and his eyes glared at Rulen through the bars of his helmet.
“Okay! Right, um, shall we, er, take a rest?”
“That sounds like a splendid idea.”
“I’ll take first watch,” I said, laying my Divine Avenger across my lap. “Rulen, you’re next, so shut up and get to recharging.”
The hours passed slowly as I sat in solitude, listening to the crank and grind of the planet. The machine sounded so precise, so meticulous, like it was the gears of some kind of giant clock constantly working.
The Clockworks, I thought, the name popping into my head. That sounds fitting.
Then the reality of the situation came crashing down on me, like all the continents we had traversed had suddenly decided to collapse in on themselves and onto me.
We’re lost.
Trapped.
Alone.
I looked over at my three squadmates, all slumbering peacefully, humming softly as their suits charged with the stored energy we’d brought. Squadmates I’d willingly die for. And here I’d led them into a trap.
What was this place? Why had the Spiral Order been stranded here, of all places? This…this land of many lands, of forests and castles and factories. This land of beasts. I shuddered as the picture of the recruit being shredded by the monster we had encountered only one level above came unbidden to my mind.
If that had happened to one of my squad members…
I shook my head. And for what? An energy source that might be able to bring us spaceworthy again? Possibly? Despite what I had told the others earlier, I was having doubts about Ozlo’s orders. I doubted whether it was worth it. I doubted that we’d find anything down there at all.
My chronometer chimed, and I heaved a sigh, slowly standing up. I walked over to Rulen, still slumbering in standby, and tapped him twice on the helmet.
“Eh? What’s that? Enemies on the horizon! Prepare for battle!” Rulen blinked, then looked up at me sleepily. “Oh, hi, Chief. My turn already?”
I nodded. “Just don’t accidentally fidget the safety off your BAB, sonny. And for goodness’ sake, don’t get any ideas about singing, or I’ll unleash Grantz on you.”
“Aye aye, sir. No notes will pass my lips.”
I lay down onto my own bedroll, snapping an energy capsule into the headrest. As my systems began to dim, I felt the doubts still nagging at the edge of my consciousness, but I shoved them aside.
I was a Spiral Knight, after all, and I did not disobey orders.
Uh... you should continue to post this on one forum not make a new thread each time