The Ruins of Arlandia

Chapter Six: The Tower



When Calvin woke up he felt rested. He wasn’t sure how long he had slept, but the view outside was unchanged; they were still traveling in hyperspace. Calvin sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He stood up and stretched his legs. He was surprised when a robot showed up at his door with more food. The food smelled good, and this time it resembled breakfast food.

There was a knock on the door, and Jax walked in before Calvin had a chance to respond. He was carrying his own tray of food.

“I’m really starting to like this place,” Jax said. “The service is really good.”

“Yes, it is. But I wonder how they knew I was awake.”

Jax didn’t respond. He was already eating. Calvin quickly forgot about his questions when he smelled the food. It smelled very good, and there was a lot of it. There were pancakes, eggs, and bacon with toast. There was a glass of something that tasted like orange juice. Also, the robots had left him a new set of clothes—black pants and a purple, long-sleeved shirt. When they finished eating, Jax returned to his room, and Calvin tried on his new clothes. He shouldn’t have been surprised, but everything fit him perfectly and was very comfortable.

He was feeling a lot more at ease. He wasn’t afraid anymore, but he was still confused about what was happening.

Thirty minutes after breakfast, Calvin and Jax met in the hall outside their rooms, both dressed in clean clothes.

“Ready to go?” Calvin asked.

“Yes, do you think the robots will let us explore the ship?”

“Only one way to find out,” Calvin said. They walked down the hall and climbed the stairs to the bridge. It was very quiet except for computer sounds. They stood at the top of the stairs and looked around.

“I don’t see any robots,” Jax said.

Calvin looked around. “This is the bridge,” he said. “They wouldn’t leave it unmanned. Look, there’s one over there,” Calvin said. There was a black robot sitting at a computer terminal.

“Think we can get by without getting caught?”

“Let’s go,” Calvin said. He quietly led the way around the main ring with Jax close behind. His biggest fear was that the robot would stop them from leaving the bridge, and make them stay in their rooms. But Calvin had to find a way to contact Space Command.

They walked slowly and quietly. Calvin’s eyes were fixed on the black robot, but his eyes should have been on where he was going. His foot hit a computer console with a loud thud. Calvin stopped. The robot looked up at him, but then something surprising happened. The robot turned and went back to work, not seeming to care about what Calvin and Jax were doing.

They stood still for a minute, looking around. Calvin half expected a swarm of robots to descend on them and take them back downstairs. When it didn’t happen, they casually walked to the elevator and into a waiting car. Both of them took a deep breath when the door slid quietly shut.

“Where to first?” Jax asked. There was a silver, button-covered panel next to the door, with a strange symbol next to each one.

“I’ve only seen robots so far,” Calvin said. “I really want to find some people. Let’s try the city.”

“I wonder which level it’s on.”

“Let’s work our way down, best guess. Go ahead.”

Calvin pressed a button that would take them down twelve levels, and the elevator began its downward journey. After a few minutes the elevator slowed to a stop.

Calvin was excited, but that feeling quickly died. When the doors opened, all they saw was a dark blue robot pushing a machine down a long corridor. The machine hovered a few inches over the floor, cleaning as it went.

“A blue robot,” Jax said. “Is that the working-class robot?”

“Might be,” Calvin said, pressing a button another twelve floors down. “And what, the black robots are technicians?”

“And the silver one is in charge.” They watched the blue robot clean the floor until the doors closed. When the doors opened again they found a large empty room.

This wasn’t going to be as easy as Calvin hoped. They made four more stops, but none of them led into the city. The doors closed again, and Calvin selected a level much farther down. This time the trip lasted a lot longer.

Suddenly light flooded the elevator. Calvin smiled; they were over the city.

“I still don’t see any people,” Jax said. “The streets are all empty.” Both of them stared out the windows, trying to scan the city quickly, knowing they only had a few minutes until the elevator dropped below the city’s ground level. Calvin couldn’t wait to get down there and walk around. He wanted to go up to the top of the tallest building. When the elevator passed the ground floor, Calvin saw something that looked like an entry point.

“What was that?” Jax asked.

“It looked like a way in,” Calvin said. “Did you see what level it was?”

“That one,” Jax said. When the elevator stopped, Calvin pressed the button Jax had pointed to, and they went back up.

The doors opened, and they stepped out. Calvin looked up at the glass elevator tube that stretched up into the vast heights above until it disappeared into the roof of the dome. They followed a stone sidewalk that led away from the elevator. Buildings lined the path on both sides. The path wasn’t straight; it wound its way between buildings. They couldn’t see anything because of the buildings. It was like walking through a thick forest, but instead of trees, it was concrete and glass. For the most part the path led consistently downward. They passed small shops on both sides. The windows were dark, and the rooms inside were empty except for furniture. The doors were all different colors and were covered with intricate designs. It looked like someone had gone to great pains to put a personal touch on each one.

It was very strange to walk past all the empty buildings and dark windows. The air was still and heavy. It almost felt like Calvin could feel a deep sadness in the air. Even the small saplings that lined the path seemed to droop with despair. Ten minutes later they entered a large courtyard. In the middle was a fountain, surrounded by a circle of white stones. The fountain was off, and the pool was dry. There were brightly painted doors and windows looking over the square. Each window had a small flowerbox under it, but they were all empty.

The path continued on the other side of the square, down and consistently toward the tallest building in the city. The path ended near the shore of a large lake. The surface of the lake was like glass, perfectly reflecting the tall buildings. The path circled the lake.

“Wow,” Jax said. “It’s beautiful.”

“It sure is,” Calvin said. “It almost reminds me of New Arlandia City.”

“You’re right.” The tallest building was across from them, on the other side of the lake. They took the left path, for no particular reason. There was an open grassy area between the path and the lake, and a small sandy beach. The parks were very well kept and clean. There were freshly painted park benches facing the lake and nicely cut grass, and the path looked like it had been scrubbed clean.

Calvin tried to imagine a time when this city wasn’t empty, when the walking path and park were crowded with people out enjoying the fresh air. There could have been people out with their children, buying balloons from vendors on the street, maybe flying kites.

It was a longer walk than he thought it was going to be. When they started walking around the lake Calvin guessed it would take about twenty minutes. They arrived in front of the giant building over an hour later at the bottom of a long, steep stone stairway. It was very wide, and it went right up to the main doors of the building. Calvin and Jax climbed to the top of the stairs, and they turned around. At this level they were just over the lake, and they could see all of it.

The green park wrapped all the way around the lake, and there were several small docks; two had boats tied up to them. Calvin looked up. The top of the building looked like it was hidden in clouds. The doors were unlocked and slid open when Jax touched them. The room inside was clean, just like everywhere else on the ship. There was no dust, and everything looked highly polished. They walked into a huge open room, layered with balconies that seemed to house offices on each level. Tall, dark red, richly carved pillars lined the walls. In the middle of the room was a large fountain, which wasn’t turned on. There were small white tables and chairs around the fountain, and a small café off to the side. On the far right side of the room were several elevators. In the middle of two different sets of elevators was a silent, unmoving escalator that disappeared into the heights above. Calvin walked to the nearest set of elevators, and he pressed the up button. The doors opened instantly, and they both stepped inside. The inside of the elevator was very plush, with deep, soft carpet, and floor-to-ceiling glass windows on three sides.

There was a large control panel that glowed with a soft blue light. There were a lot of buttons, but there was only one place Calvin wanted to go, so he pressed the top button.

The doors closed silently. The elevator moved slowly at first, then picked up speed. Calvin looked out one of the windows. There was nothing to look at until the elevator lifted out into open space. At first he thought the elevator was no longer attached to the building, when in fact it was hanging off the side. The elevator accelerated, climbing the building at an impressive speed. Jax stood in one corner, holding onto the handrails tightly, until his knuckles turned white.

The elevator ride was very smooth, but Calvin held onto the handrail too. The ride up was short. They were so entranced by the view that they barely noticed when the elevator slowed and gently came to a stop. Calvin and Jax left the elevator and walked into a large round room with tall windows all the way around. In the center of the room was a staircase. Calvin ignored the view and went straight for the staircase, intent on finding the highest point of the building he could reach. Jax followed close behind. There was a glass door at the top of the stairs. He pushed it open, and a blast of cold air hit him. There were four more steps to walk up, and then they were out onto an open roof. Calvin was struck with awe and fear at the same time. He slowly approached a metal railing and looked out over the city below.

“Oh, wow,” Jax whispered. “This is amazing.” Thousands of buildings, green parks, and small lakes filled the city. But one structure got Calvin’s attention. It was on the edge of the city, a dark gray building with long, thin windows running down all sides. A gold-colored dome was on top.

“That's an interesting building,” Calvin said. “Do you see the dome, right over there?”

“The gold one?”

“I wonder what's in it,” Calvin said. “It’s the only building that has gold on it.”

“That must mean it’s important. On New Arlandia only very special buildings have gold on them. We should check it out.”

“Good idea,” Calvin said. “We can go there next. What's that?” He pointed to a long, thin line that wound its way around the city, circling like a ring about halfway inside.

“It looks like an elevated train.”

“How did we miss that? We must have walked right under it.” Calvin looked up. From this high up he could see the top of the glass dome, and the darkness of space above him. It was breathtaking, and the cold air blowing in his face felt good. He didn’t want to leave. He could have stayed there all day, but he wanted to keep exploring the city. They spent thirty more minutes at the top, admiring the view. When they were done, they headed back down to the street level.

“I think the gold dome is that way,” Jax said. Calvin agreed, and they marched off. They hiked for several hours, but they couldn’t find the dome. They walked until they were completely lost and wandered around the city aimlessly for several more hours. They passed an uncountable number of shops, restaurants, and office buildings, and they crossed dozens of wide streets that looked like the ones at home that hover cars drove on. They never saw a single person or animal the entire time. The silence that smothered them was eerie and emotionally draining. Several times they went to the top of a building, in the hopes of getting a bearing on where they were, or at least to see the dome; they had no such luck.

They were both tired and hungry, and even though they were together, they felt lonely. Calvin was getting very worried. He hated being lost. He was on the verge of losing hope, when finally they reached the edge of the city and stumbled on a way out. A waiting elevator took them back to the bridge. On the way up, they caught a glimpse of the gold dome.

“We were way off,” Jax said.

“And again, we didn’t see the elevated train.”

They made it back to their rooms without seeing any robots on the bridge.

When Calvin came out of the bathroom he found a covered tray on the table. He lifted the cover to find dinner. He was so happy when steam rose into the air, and the smell filled the room. It was exactly what he needed—a nice hot dinner. He sat and ate. When he was finished he put his tray out in the hallway and went to bed.

Calvin lay on his back and stared at the ceiling. His mind refused to shut off. He couldn’t stop thinking about his family. Did they think he was dead? Were they looking for him? He desperately wanted to contact them and let them know he was all right. He also wanted to tell them where he was, but the problem was he didn’t know where he was. He needed to keep looking for a communications center. But the ship was so huge, and everything looked strange to him. Everything was written in a strange alien language. The robots couldn’t understand him, and he couldn’t understand them. Whenever he asked them if he could contact New Arlandia, they replied, but he had no idea what they were saying. He was losing hope of ever contacting home.