However, he didn’t seem clear that what we were wearing on our backs were weapons. Possibly because we hadn’t used them in that way—we’d already put our weapons away by the time he’d joined our party, and they looked nothing like the weapons this world had. Decided this was us being stealthy and hoped it wouldn’t blow up in our faces in some embarrassing way later.
Telzor went to the side of the hole and waited. Went with him, though all of us stood far enough away that he couldn’t shove us in easily, Roanach and Clorence, too. My music changed to “Demons” by Imagine Dragons. Not the most comforting of song choices, but at least it wasn’t the Cosmic “So Close Yet Still So Far” Thing playlist for the moment.
The source of the rage is nearby and underground, Lilith said. Be cautious.
Looked down. Saw nothing. “I wonder if it’s going to be like on Nazez. Where we’re going down into an illusion.”
“This is no illusion,” Telzor said as he nodded to one of the rabbits standing around the hole. It pointed to the bulls, and sixteen of them went to the capstan and started turning it. This required a great deal of effort on the bulls’ part.
Hadn’t meant to speak the native language, nor had I realized I’d done so. Oh well, my, as always, bad.
“What is this place?” Buchanan asked.
“The entry to the palace of Mad Lord Johpunnt,” Telzor said. “May the sun continue to love his reflection.”
Chose not to mention that he hadn’t used the sun phrase until now.
A platform rose up. It was metal and had intricate designs depicting a solar system, but not the one we were in, at least, not as far as I could tell. The system shown reminded me of the one we’d seen in the picture sets—the first solar system, the one whose sun had gone supernova, the one we felt the Mykali had come from.
“That’s a beautiful design,” I said to Telzor.
He nodded. “It is.”
“Is this the design on every platform, or do they change?”
“This is the approved design.”
Telzor stepped on the Approved Design and the rest of us did, too. Telzor indicated that he wanted some of the rabbits to join us, which they did. Had no idea where the rest of our away team was, but there was enough room that they could all be on this thing and no one would know. Once we were on, Telzor nodded to the rabbit in charge of the capstan. It had the bulls start turning in the opposite direction. We started down.
This platform went faster than the one on Nazez had, possibly because it was being run by real people. Looked around for signs of illusion, but saw nothing. We went down with dirt all around us until we were about as deep as I’d seen the rabbits digging in that other hole. Then we left the dirt, though we could still see the sky above us. But what we were in now wasn’t dirt.
We were in a city, a real city. Just a totally underground one.
Actively made sure I was speaking English. “This looks a lot like how Tolkien described the underground dwarf cities.”
“Complete with very active mines,” Buchanan said, nodding his head toward one.
“And volcanoes,” White added as he looked around. “I have no idea how they’re harnessing them, but these volcanoes look as active as the ones we saw erupting.”
Noted that Roanach and Clorence looked awed. Switched back to their native tongue. “This city is amazing. It must have taken decades to build.”
“More than a thousand years,” Telzor said. “And this city is more than ten thousand years old. We reap the benefits of those from Helix Rime who have come before us.”
“Wow. It’s lasted that long? That’s amazing.”
“We survive and endure on Helix Rime.” This also sounded like a scripture quote.
“Brilliant architecture, too.” It was. Somehow the pillars were holding up not only the earth but a crisscross of metal latticework that was both beautiful and efficient—many things hung from the lattice, including what looked like homes, work areas, and mining offices.
This reminded me much more of Haven—Fancy’s underground network of cities protecting her and her people—than it did of the factory on Nazez. This place definitely felt real. Unlike Haven, though, I was really sure that people, not Algar, had built it. What people was the question—the architecture I was seeing sort of screamed the need for opposable thumbs. Though, who knew, maybe I was selling those with hooves and claws short. After all, they were driving, farming, and wielding weapons. Why not create a gigantic underground city, too?
Had to figure the smoke and mirrors clue related to the top of the world versus what lay underneath. From the outside, this planet only looked like Apokolipse. From the inside, however, it looked very functional, civilized in a certain Industrial Age way, and quite bustling.
Spotted a machine that looked more futuristic than anything else anywhere on this planet. Saw a variety of rabbits going to it, getting something out of it, and eating.
Eat nothing from that machine, Lilith said urgently. It is the source.
Of evil? I think it’s some kind of food replicator.
It is not food as they’re growing aboveground. That is the food of rage.
Noted that there were giant telescopes, or things that certainly looked like telescopes, on platforms that raised and lowered just like the one we were on. So they were definitely able to look at what they were shooting.
Are those the telescopes of rage? I asked Lilith.
“We’ve found the industry,” White said in English, which I was starting to think of as Our Secret Tongue, before Lilith could reply. “They’re building the rockets here, as well as other machines.”
Looked for the machines. There were vehicles like the one we’d driven in on rolling off of an assembly line. There were also things that looked suspiciously like parts of a rocket, but not the bomb kind. These were bigger and likely for spacecraft.
“Have your people ever traveled to other stars?” I asked Telzor.
“Not for a long time.”
“Why not?”
“We had . . . things that had to be done first. The Mad Lord Johpunnt, may the sun continue to love his reflection, will share what he feels is best with you.”
“Gotcha.” We were still a good ways from the bottom, but that was because the pillars were so very high—twenty stories if they were one, and potentially more—when the song ended and we went right back to the Cosmic Thing playlist, this time with Lifehouse crooning “The Beginning.”
My phone beeped right after. “Kitty,” Jerry said softly, “I’m going to connect you to Tim. We know you’re going underground and I assume you don’t want to be caught talking to no one, and we really don’t want you losing your communicator and earpiece. Tim won because we think he’s the best at deciphering all your clues, particularly in situations like this, so you should be good. Oh, and some of your team is in the shuttle, hovering over the hole you just went into. The rest are with you in there, using stealth and Siler’s skills. Everyone’s listening in, but only Tim can talk to you.”
“Um hum,” I said softly. Telzor seemed not to notice.