Eternity by Phillip P Peterson

Author:Phillip P Peterson [Peterson, Phillip P]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-06-28T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

“That must be it,” Ed said. A large flat building rose in front of them, connected to the wall by a bridge. It had a glass facade and was vaguely reminiscent of a modern train station.

They crossed the bridge onto a small balcony. As they approached the glass front, one of the panes slid silently to the side. In front of them, a wide staircase led into the depths, a high glass ceiling vaulted above them.

“Goes down pretty deep,” Grace remarked.

Ed stopped at the top landing and looked down. The end was hidden in darkness. “Looks like the stairs go straight down to the basement. Maybe it really is some kind of underground transportation.” He looked around. There were no maps or signs like those that pointed you toward the right metro rail line back home.

“What do we do now?” Wendy asked.

Ed shrugged and started down the stairs. What else could they do? Wendy and Grace followed. David hesitated for a moment at the top, and then also began the descent. After a few minutes, they reached ground level and the glass wall in front of them butted against a metal wall that opened to a wide tunnel at the bottom of the stairs. It became darker, and Ed was just about to get a flashlight out of his rucksack, when a light flickered on. It was coming from the tunnel.

The tunnel was wide and the ceiling was about twice their height. It could have been the New York subway. Long elements in the ceiling looked like strip lighting. But one thing that was ubiquitous in terrestrial mass transport stations was missing. “Much as I hate them back home, I wish there were some ads. At least they provide some color.”

“You could start your own business—first ad agency on the monster planet,” Grace suggested.

Ed snorted. “Nah. Not enough potential buyers.”

After they’d gone about ten yards in, the tunnel forked. Somewhat smaller tunnels sloped downward to the right and to the left. “Now what?” Ed asked. Both tunnels were lit.

“Hawking?” David called into the radio. “Do you read us?”

“Loud and clear,” came the answer in Ed’s earbud. There was some static, but it was easy to understand him.

“There’s a tunnel heading northwest and one heading southwest,” David reported. “Which one should we take?”

“Do both descend?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you. Both lead to the underground tunnel system that we sighted from orbit.”

“Left,” David decided.

“Why left?” Ed asked.

David shrugged. “We can go right if you want.”

Ed groaned and began walking down the left tunnel. The others followed. After a few minutes, they entered a large hall. It was dark as they approached, but square light fixtures in the ceiling switched on the instant they stepped out of the tunnel, flooding the room with blinding light. The hall was about the size of a football field. At its center sat a dull gray container about the height of a person—it looked like an oversized gas canister on its side. As they walked closer, Ed saw he had misjudged its size.

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