So we were in the dark for about the first fifty feet, surrounded by packed dirt. Chose not to ask why they didn’t have metal walls or lighting—wasn’t my planet, after all. Instead, focused on not feeling claustrophobic, because this was a lot like being buried alive while standing up.
Jeff took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, while Bruno and Ginger snuggled against my legs. Reached down and gave each of them a pet. Peter shared that this was scary but would be over soon. Reached into my purse and petted him and Harlie. Well, petted all the fur I felt in there. Hoped we had more Poofs on Board than just Harlie, but couldn’t tell in the dark.
But then, to my relief and despite my expectations, instead of us continuing through earth, we lowered into a gigantic cavern. Could see a whole lot of platforms going up and down on thick, round pipes or tubes or whatever they called them here. Everyone peered over the sides of the platform, then took a step closer to the middle as we all became aware that we didn’t want to fall off—it was a long way down.
Bruno and Ginger also looked. He squawked angrily, she hissed, and they both shoved into the middle between everyone’s legs. Peter shared that he never looked over the side and apologized for not warning me, Ginger, and Bruno about it. Peter said that he hated being down here, and I couldn’t blame him—this wasn’t a place that seemed welcoming to animals.
The resemblance to movie versions of bad guy hidden factory bunkers was amazing. There were vats and bins and areas where what certainly looked like bombs or rocket ships and other things I couldn’t identify were being created. There were catwalks, ramps, moving vehicles manned by what really looked like squirrels, flashes of fire and sparks that indicated welding or other metalwork, spotlights on various areas, all manner of rigging, and more. And it stretched as far as I could see. This was a place made for humans or humanoids, and yet we were the only ones I could see.
It should have been warmer here, but it wasn’t. I wasn’t freezing, but I once again wished I was in jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoodie, versus my FLOTUS-wear, and I really wished I had my Converse on instead of sensible but attractive pumps. Then again, if wishing was going to work, what I really wanted was for all this galaxy-ending crap to be over with and for all of us to be safely home. Waited. Nada, we were still on this open-air elevator. Nice of the cosmos to do its usual and ignore me.
It smelled like earth, oil, animal musk, and gunpowder. There were other scents I couldn’t identify, but those were plenty. The sounds were mostly normal, none of them very loud, but there was some chittering mixed in with the other sounds, which I really and truly hoped was squirrels talking. We were very high up still, so figured I’d discover new smells and terrifying noises in a little while.
“This is a hollow world?” White asked SuperBun politely.
SuperBun said that parts of it were hollow, yes. There was a core that allowed the planet to safely remain in its normal orbit around the sun, however.
“Uranium?” Chuckie asked casually, after Jeff had done his translations, as if he was just guessing for fun.
SuperBun shared that he didn’t know for certain, because it wasn’t what mattered.
“What does matter?” I asked.
A safe, clean world where creatures lived in harmony was SuperBun’s reply.
“But I thought you killed the predators,” I pointed out carefully.
SuperBun shared that it was because the predators were not able to live with the others in harmony. Harmony seemed to be the mental word of the hour for SuperBun.
The ride was long, and I was tired of running blind. Besides, harmony was something I was always after, in that sense. “I’m kind of freaked out by heights and elevators without walls,” I said to SuperBun. “I’m going to put my headphones in and listen to music, to keep myself calm. I can still hear everyone talking and I’ll be able to hear you in my mind with no problem. I just want to explain why I’m being kind of rude.”
SuperBun felt that this was acceptable.
Ignored the looks I was getting from Jeff and Christopher while I let go of Jeff’s hand and pulled out my phone and headphones. White, Oliver, and Chuckie didn’t appear to be bothered by this, and Ginger and Bruno were all for it, which meant the majority was on my side.
Didn’t have a lot of time to look for whatever Serene had planted on me, because Peter took up a lot of room in there, but I definitely had Poofs on Board in addition to Harlie, so that was a great thing. Petted all the Poofs I could spot and Peter as well while I was digging, sent a mental request for them to move up anything I might need to the top, and called it good.
Got my headphones into my ears and looked at my playlists. Breathed a quiet sigh of relief—Algar had delivered again. The Hollow Earth playlist was queued up.
Hit play and was greeted by the melodious sounds of “Deeper Underground” by Jamiroquai. Wasn’t sure if this was just working as soundtrack or if Algar wanted us to go down farther once we’d reached whatever was counting as the ground in this section. However, as expected, it calmed me down considerably.
“What are you building?” Christopher asked SuperBun.
SuperBun said that what we were seeing were planetary protections and enhancements.
“How do you keep the top of the planet all grassy and watered,” I asked, “when we haven’t seen any actual water here? I mean, other than what the little elephants sprayed onto us.”
There was water, SuperBun shared. But it was protected. And we’d learn all about it shortly.
Oliver was taking pictures. He hadn’t asked for permission, but SuperBun didn’t seem to mind. Wondered if SuperBun wanted his world shared with the greater cosmos, but couldn’t come up with a good reason for why he would.
As we lowered, the massiveness of what we were inside came more sharply into focus. Everything was even more gigantic up close than it had seemed from far away. My music changed to “Reflection” by Tool. Wasn’t sure what this meant, however, but it was a long song. Wondered if it would still be playing or not when we stopped.
Noted that the other platforms seemed to mostly hold sets of pygmy elephants or rabbits. Didn’t take genius to guess that we’d hit watering time. Didn’t see where the water source was, though. Had no guess for why more rabbits were being sent to the top, but they were. Hoped it wasn’t to attack my team, but also had no guess about that, either. Though, experience told me to expect that we were all going to be attacked, a lot, and soon. My life was just that kind of fun.
Tried to mind-meld with the elephants and the squirrels. Nothing, not even white noise. And none of them reacted to my attempts, either, so it wasn’t as if I’d made contact and they were just ignoring me. I simply couldn’t get through.