DEVIMAYNA 2980 - Book One - Chapter 6

First draft :)

If you haven't read the previous chapters, this probably won't make any sense haha

This one's pretty rough (and dark...) and I'm not sure how much I actually like it, buuuut what can ya do. Enjoy

- FIFTEEN YEARS EARLIER -

- Exit Darcy's Point of View

"Come along, Darcy, we're almost there now."

"How much farther? We've been walking for ages."

"We're very close. See, there's the room." After turning a corner, the broad man in the suit pointed straight at the iron door twenty meters ahead. This produced a broad smile from his unusually bubbly eight-year-old companion, who changed her lagging walk into a sprightly skip. The man quickly grabbed her collar and pulled her back, shaking his head.

"Stay with me, Darcy. I have some things to tell you before you enter."

Darcy nodded, though her happy grin remained. "This is another test, isn't it?"

He offered his own kind smile and averted his eyes. "I ain't allowed to say." The girl giggled.

"It's another test, I know it is. You always say that same thing." She reached over to grip onto his hand, excitedly pulling him forward. He gave up on trying to retain a proper pace and rushed on with her.

"You love these tests, don't you, Darcy?"

"Of course I do! They're always so easy, they just make me read some stuff and press some buttons, and do puzzles, and those are always really fun, and I always get everything right." She seemed very proud of herself, puffing out her chest smugly. "And then they give me candy for free! I never get candy otherwise, my keepers don't allow me to have any, they said it makes you less smart. But I like candy, because it tastes very nice I think."

The man chuckled as they approached the door. He knelt down beside her, patting her shoulder in a fatherly manner as he drew a ring of keys out from his pocket. "Well, we're here." He began to shuffle through the keys. "You're gonna have t'go in on your own for this one, okay?" Darcy frowned, and he stood up again, ruffling her long, fluffy hair. "This test won't last too long, I'll be right here waitin' for you when you're done. This one might be... a little harder than what you're used to..."

"That's okay, I always get everything perfect."

"Yes you do. I have no doubt you'll do great. You're different from the others, you're smarter, and that's why you get to do all this. You're a winner, right?" He held up his palm to give her a high-five.

Darcy nodded furiously, slapping his hand with all the vigor of an energetic child. "I'm a winner!"

The man shared a quick laugh with her, before turning a long thin object in the lock and opening the door for the girl. "See you soon, Darcy."

She waved back at him, stepping inside the room, turning her head away just in time to miss the somber, regretful frown that appeared on Josiak's countenance as the entryway shut.

This new place was completely white, every inch of it, and a glass wall cut the area in half. Five adults of varying ages, all in the same apparel composed of bland white lab coats, greeted her upon entry, and one brought her over to sit down in a lone chair on the left sector of the room. The other four took their seats on the opposite side of the barrier. Her escort handed a strange device to her before joining his companions, leaving the girl alone, locked inside, facing the wall.

She stood up again, looking back at the spectators. Instantly her bubbly mood began to fade, now that she was away from the comfort of her counselor, away from the familiarity of his presence. "This appears to be a different kind of test," was her observation. She waited for a response but received none. "What kind of test is this?"

After a few moments, a ceiling speaker she had not noticed before began to echo out an unsettlingly calm feminine voice. "Welcome, Darcy Marsalis. Please, take your seat."

Wary, the girl sat back down again. She glanced at the object in her hands, turning it over to try and identify it. She had never seen one of these before.

"The object you have been given is known as a 'taser'," the voice continued. "You will be using this for your test today."

"But... do I not usually engage in puzzles and tests during these trials?" Her vocabulary had become unnaturally advanced for a kid of her age. It seemed she lost all the childish verbal slump now that she wasn't around her mentor.

"You are progressing through our courses, Darcy. This test is to make sure that you will be a good asset to the government of our wonderous city when you grow up."

"What does that mean?"

Her inquiry was ignored. "Be careful with your taser. There is a small button on the side of the handle. Pressing and holding this button will create an electric current at the top. Making physical contact with this current will hurt you. On the other side of the handle you will see a switch with corresponding number levels. The higher the level of the switch, the more painful the current. The levels are in increments of two. Understood?"

Darcy only nodded, her gaze focused on the item. By now, her smile had completely vanished. "What am I supposed to do with this? There's nothing in here to... tase."

"Part of succeeding in your work when you grow up will mean making lots of sacrifices and doing hard things that you may not want to do. But in the end, it will make you all the greater and more useful. We are always looking out for the most eligible citizens that we may foster into leaders and hard workers, and today, we will be seeing if you can fit up to this standard."

The door on Darcy's left she had arrived from opened up to show another young girl, around her age, being forced into the room by one of the men in lab coats, before it shut again with a loud BANG. Darcy almost began to smile again before she noticed the pained, fearful expression on the new girl's face, accompanied by the large ropes tied around her legs and wrists.

"Belle?"

Dropping the taser and nearly knocking the chair over, Darcy dashed over to her friend and fell on her knees, pulling her up from the floor. The misty cloud that typically hung over her eyes disappeared, and was replaced with a display of intense focused emotion, an abnormality to her. "Belle, Belle, are you okay? What happened?"

The newcomer collapsed against Darcy, shaking. "Please, please don't do it... I'm sorry Mars... please don't listen to them--"

"Do what? What's going on?"

The voice from the speaker interrupted. "Darcy, today's task is to obey my orders without hesitation. There will be great rewards for you if you comply. Please, help Miss Andra into the chair."

There was a short pause, in which Darcy did not move a single inch, trying to assess her situation.

"I said, help Miss Andra into the chair. Do not make me repeat myself."

Slowly, Darcy wrapped her arms around her friend's waist, stood up again, then hauled the two of them over before carefully setting Belle on the seat. Belle in question had gone completely silent, though her eyes remained as wide as ever.

"Good girl, Darcy. Now, what I want you to do next is flip the switch on the taser to the lowest setting, level two."

She picked up the object from the floor and did as the voice asked. As she did so, however, her shoulders suddenly slumped completely, and a frantic, worried look took hold of her features.

"Wait, you aren't going to make me--"

"Now, press and hold the button, and bring the end of the taser to the side of Bellamene's neck."

Silence filled the room. Darcy glared down at the item in disbelief.

"Shall I repeat myself?"

No response came. The voice sighed.

"Dr. Bridge, would you please speak with Marsalis?"

The man that had given her the taser in the first place entered and knelt down beside where Darcy was stood. For some reason she could not comprehend, he was smiling wide. "It's okay, kiddo, you can do it. You're our best student, remember? If you're able to do this, we'll give you and Belle all the candy you want, I promise. Show us how good of a citizen you are."

Darcy shook her head, stepping back. "I--I don't want any candy." A few tears began to form in her eyes, then they multiplied into sickened sobs. "Please, I don't want any candy, I don't want any candy, I don't want any candy, please, please, I don't want any..."

In an instant, Bridge's pleasant expression disappeared. "All right then. If you're going to be difficult..."

He now produced a strange collar from his pocket. Darcy struggled with him as he fitted it around her neck. After this he raised himself up to exit the room, taking his place behind the glass wall once more.

Darcy scratched at the collar in an effort to pull it off, but this action was greeted by a quick, mild ZAP that caused her to wince. The voice from the speakers picked up again.

"That is a shock collar. It will always be set at a level higher than your taser throughout this test. Every time you do not comply, you will be zapped. Now, let's not mess about any longer. As I instructed earlier... press and hold the button, then bring it to the side of Bellamene's neck."

Darcy did not move.

ZAP!

She jumped a little before approaching her helpless captive, wielding the taser, vision blurred by the tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Belle... please... you can have all the candy... please don't be mad at me..."

Belle leaned back into the chair, curling up, beginning to cry again. There was so much raw terror pervading her youthful features, enough visceral emotion to fuel a lifetime of nightmares. Darcy knew she would never, could never, forget this moment, forget this look of horror and bitter panic upon the countenance of her own greatest friend. This is what she was doing. She caused this. It was all her fault they were here, that's what Jo had said.

She shut her eyes to the disturbing sight, but could not shut her ears out to the fervent pleading of the little girl bound in ropes before her.

ZAP!

--

Enter Darcy

The tunnel was quite large in circumference, probably a good fifteen meters around by my estimation. It was decently far out from the station, which is likely why the scientists hadn't discovered it for so long, though it was still a little surprising it took so long to find. I pushed away this thought. The nonstop blizzards in these areas, Rhiannon had explained to me, was enough to keep the scientists indoors most of the time. This only made me wonder what had changed to bring them outside.

Barron Price stood at the edge in a comically long, thick, fluffy coat, smiling triumphantly. "See!" he shouted over the raging winds. "Told yeh I wasn't lyin'!"

Josiak nodded, unable to tear his eyes away from the fearsome sight.

Rhiannon let out a nervous laugh, warily stepping back from the entrance. "Hah, better throw a rock down there, see how far it goes..." Winoa chuckled dryly.

"What are you planning to do, captain?" I inquired with the radio, preferring this method of communication over screaming at each other through the storm. "I suggest we report this back to headquarters. Let the Geoscience Department handle it."

What came next I found to be very unexpected. Josiak turned back to us, asking in a surprised manner, "What're you sayin', you're afraid to go on?"

Bewildered at this line, there was no immediate response from us. I shuffled closer. "Can... can you repeat that, sir?"

"You heard me. We have better equipment for this kind of stuff than any of the scientists did. We're the Foreign Mission Division, for goodness' sake. We might as well pop down there for just a few minutes to at least see if the men are alive, then we can climb right back up, maybe help 'em out if they somehow are. It's our job to figure out this stuff."

Winoa scoffed, though by her tone it was obvious she was very open to this idea. "You cannot be serious. Well, how rebellious you are, captain. What's up?"

Josiak shook his head. "Not rebellious. This is part of our work, or did you forget? We were sent to investigate the station and find out what happened. I don't want to go back to HQ and only have one random old technician--"

"I heard that!"

"...and word of a demolished station and some missing scientists. The officials will want at least some clue of what's down there. I'm simply proposing this as an extension of our mission. Just because we typically have very uneventful expeditions, doesn't mean we're required to do the bare minimum now."

Rhiannon shrugged. "You have a point, sir..."

"Pardon me for asking, but what if it's too dangerous?" I interjected. The idea of going even further from home was not a pleasant one. "The probes reported creatures 'like they'd never seen before'. They could be hostile. Additionally, we don't know how breathing conditions are - you know how our oxygen receptors are more on the fragile side - and what if something went wrong and we got stuck? I mean, what do you think happened to the scientists? They just got lost? I'm not sold on this." I was not too keen on getting farther out of my comfort zone than I already was.

Josiak leaned in. "Darcy. I have been doing this job for years. I've been in enough dangerous situations to know what's more than my match. We have oxygen tanks back in the jet for breathing, and like I said, we'd only be down there a few minutes. It's just a cave, whatever creatures are down there are likely no more than bats and spiders. And if they're not." He tapped the assault rifle on his back. "That's why we carry weapons."

No protests came forth. The captain smiled approvingly. It was obvious he could not be swayed. "Good. Now, let's head back to the jet for equipment. Barron, you'll stay there and wait for us to return. Marsalis, Madden, Whitlock, you have no need to worry, I would never put you in a situation I thought you couldn't handle. There is nothing to worry about. And... I'm your superior, meaning I'm responsible for you three, also meaning you don't get to argue my decisions. Trust me."

And thus began the second trek back to the OWV-19. Josiak seemed genuinely unconcerned about the whole thing, providing me with a tiny bit of confidence and security. Surely he knew what he was talking about. And if he was wrong? The man was elected to captain tier for his tough survival skills, he could get us out of any scrape. Perhaps he was right. There was nothing to worry about... though the last time he'd told me that, things hadn't gone so well.

--

There was no dispute as to whether or not we had the tools necessary for the job. Being part of a far more action-oriented division, the jet held for us some of the most high-tech devices and equipment Kartov had to offer. Among these were a slew of climbing gear, which, thanks to their modernistic designs, mostly relied on accessing the power of physical laws to provide the users with the ability to move disconnected from any tethers, or in other words, the ability to float, if that's the best way to describe it. This could be considered their most hallmarked trait. The gear we would be utilizing to get down consisted of additions fastened to our boots and backs, additions creating intense levels of pressure that would be forced out, allowing us to hover, and a pair of similarly functioning vambraces (a piece of armor that is attached to one's forearms), to help us balance. These accessories would be hooked up to the oxygen tanks in case the air became too thick. We would also work on latching a rope securely to the wall. On our way back to the surface, we would be using this rope again to help boost us along while pulling ourselves up on it.

We stood overlooking the deep tunnel, prepared to descend. Despite our leader's sedating assurances, anxiety still creeped into me as the moment of entrance drew near. The rope we would be using had just been pinned into the ground after clearing away the snow, and was now hanging down into the abyss. Each of us had a few extra coils inside our packs, in case this one wasn't long enough on its own.

Josiak took a deep breath before speaking. "All right girls, keep your mics on, and do not separate from the group for any reason, unless I explicitly order you to do so. Follow all of my instructions without question, the moment I give them. And lastly, do not act unless it is upon one of my said instructions. Aside from that, you understand basic procedures. Our objective is to simply check out the place, run a few tests, see if we can get an idea of where the missing scientists disappeared to, and then come back up. Ready?"

His words were received with quick nods and some nervous shuffling. Even Winoa seemed visibly unsure of herself, something that did not often occur. But orders were orders, and this was our job.

"Ready."

"Ready."

"Ready, sir."

Josiak smiled, leaning down to connect his waistband to the rope with a latch. "Good. I'll go down first. Then you, Whitlock, then you, Marsalis, then Madden, you come in last. Count to fifteen after each person departs, then begin your descent. Understood? Excellent. Now come on, let's not waste any more time. Best of luck."

Gripping two small remote-like devices connected by wires to his vambraces, the man stepped off over the edge, freefalling for a moment before stabilizing himself with his gear. And thus, the voyage downwards had begun. After the desired interval passed, Rhiannon connected herself to the rope, then followed after the captain. Then myself, then Winoa.

As he went down, Josiak used what would appear to be large staples to secure the rope on the wall, so that it would not swing around unsteadily on the return journey. This also made it much easier for us above him to safely move about...

--

There is really no less-blunt was to put it, but the tunnel was much longer than we had anticipated. Seconds passed, then minutes, then hours. And while one might expect at least one of us to let up a complaint at some point, not a single person raised their voice, myself included. We were too focused on not falling out of line. The consequences of doing so would be tremendous. Staple after staple, meter after meter, under we went. Inches turned into feet, feet turned into yards, yards turned into miles. After three hours of this, Josiak permitted us to push pegs into the walls to balance upon while we took a break. The air was noticeably far thicker and warmer than surface air, and we had to suck in as hard as we could before pulling our helmets back on. It was only five minutes after this that Josiak permitted us to turn on the convenient air conditioning feature in our armor suits, having become too hot for comfort. This was, however, not enough to banish the artificial sweat that dripped down on our faces.

The time on my watch displayed 4:27. Weariness tugged at my springs and joints again, my throat had gone dry long ago, and my personal AC was now at full blast, yet I was still burning up. The red light blinking at the corner of my glasses with the text BEWARE: DANGER OF OVERHEATING had appeared about an hour back. The flashlight attached to my helmet had begun to flicker every now and then, and would need new batteries soon, though I could manage without it with my night vision. I was far too exhausted to want to speak, as were the others. What a first mission this was turning out to be. I almost wanted to laugh aloud recalling what Rhiannon had described this job as on the flight here. "It isn't very serious or risky, and it's a lot of fun." This had certainly shaped up to be an inaccurate assessment. Once again, I began to wish for my MRID paperwork back; at least my old job in the Kartov communications towers had not been so sweat-inducing.

Oh, what I would do to be back in my apartment again...

Interrupting my woeful thoughts came a sudden excited shout from the radio.

"Girls, I see the ground! We're almost there! Just a little bit longer!"

Us three girls in question offered up our own fatigued expressions of joy, and our sluggish pace increased to twice as fast. Josiak chuckled, quickly matching our speeds as he drove another bracket into the hard wall with his heavy-duty stapling machinery. He himself had lost patience quite some time ago, and was equally happy to have the end of our struggle in sight.

Facing the rope in order to keep our balances in check, none of us thought about looking around; we were more concerned with looking down, at the floor that was rapidly approaching, appearing to be only a few hundred meters away. So focused upon this were we, in fact, that we barely noticed the light that began to appear, our surroundings growing brighter and brighter. In the back of my mind, I started to notice such a change, but didn't pay any attention to it.

It was only when, after pushing another bracket into place and beginning to move lower again, Josiak felt a sudden intense chill envelope him that caused him to let up a shout of surprise and twist around to view the area, moving his hand to his chest to shut off his AC. He immediately fell dead silent.

"Captain! Captain Timberland, are you okay?" Rhiannon nervously called into the mic, to no avail. "Timberland! Jo, please respond!"

We started moving down at a dangerously fast pace towards our captain, only to grab onto the ropes again and come to a harsh halt after his voice finally came back in through our earpieces. His voice in question had gone very quiet.

"Girls, turn off your ACs, quicklike..."

"Sir! Sir, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine... hurry up and get down here, you're gonna want t' see this..."

Josiak descended a little farther to allow room for the rest of us to reach his position. Puzzled, we switched off the air conditioning as we followed to where he was at. Treacherous heat swamped us for just a split second, then was replaced very suddenly by pleasant temperatures, quite a shocking reveal. All three of us instantly spun around to look out upon the scene. Two things were for sure: one, we were no longer in the tunnel, and two, our flashlights would no longer be necessary. What I saw rendered myself speechless.