A/N: I just wanted to say thank you to those who commented and sent me messages with well-wishes and advice on how to deal with anxiety. Thank you so much, it really means a lot to me!!! :D Anywho, enjoy!
Rose yelps in shock and fear, diving for the sofa and bounces off a cushion, tumbling to the floor. Harry was quick to pull Ginny under a table when the vulture shrieks and goes for her and George tries to hit it with a stunning spell. Rose gasps when something hard and heavy lands on top of her, nearly knocking the wind out of her.
"What are you doing!?" she demands.
"Protecting you!" Basel shouts in her ear as if it were obvious.
The vulture goes flying past them when George gets a hit in. It didn't stay down for long and with a metallic groaning, it takes off after George, trying to peck him with its beak.
"Get off me, you muppet!" Rose groans, trying to get Basel off her. "We've got to get proper cover!"
"Under the couch," Basel tells her and they quickly squirm to get under it.
"What about Adiel?" Rose asks, looking at George fighting the bird off worriedly.
"Threw a blanket on her," Basel shrugs.
"Next time, I'll take the blanket and you can jump on her, yeah?" Rose huffs.
George gets another spell in and the vulture goes crashing into the wall, collapsing on the ground. Rose watches warily as the bird struggles to get up and drunkenly wobbles on its large talons. George flies to the ground by the sofa when with a grating, mechanical screech, the vulture flies straight for the window. It bounces off and tries to right itself, beating it's heavy metal wings.
"You alright?" Rose asks.
"Just brilliant," George flashes her a wide grin, aiming his wand at the vulture.
Before he can shoot another spell, the bird hits the window again, this time shattering it. Squawking, the sound like gears sticking, the vulture flies from the window and heads off toward the volcano. George pulls Rose out from under the sofa and Harry does the same with Ginny, checking her over frantically.
"I'm fine," she gives a small smile as Harry freaks out.
"You sure?" he asks, still checking her over and Rose raises an eyebrow at the almost manic concern.
"Yes, now stop worrying," she laughs quietly, slapping his hands away.
"Well, there goes the air-conditioning," Rose sighs, staring at the broken window and wincing when sand blows in. "Come on, we can't let Big Bird disappear," she grabs George's hand, starting to head for the door.
"Who?" George, Ginny, and Basel ask, Harry snorting quietly as he helps Ginny to a chair and gives her another fruit drink.
"Never mind," Rose shakes her head, watching Basel check on Adiel; she'd slept through the whole thing. "Let's get after it," she nods to the vulture that was flying outside. "It was stone dead one minute-"
"Well, metal dead," Ginny cuts in with a smirk.
"And then it came back to life!" Rose exclaims with a small smile, giving Ginny an 'exasperated' look'.
"Eva and the Doctor are gonna want to study it," Harry nods, rubbing Ginny's back.
"Let them catch it, then," Basel scoffs before changing his mind almost immediately. "No, hang on... you're right, we should get after it," he runs a hand over his hair.
"Why the change of mind?" George raises an eyebrow.
"If the bird came back to life..." he trails off.
"Then maybe your mate Kanjuchi has too," Ginny realizes, her eyes going wide.
Basel hops through the broken window, Rose and George right behind him. George pokes his head back through the window to see Ginny and Harry just sitting there: "you coming?"
"We'll catch up," Harry waves off as Ginny bites her lip.
George raises an eyebrow between them suspiciously before shrugging and running off, grabbing Rose's hand on the way and she smiles, intertwining their fingers.
• • • • • •
Eva, the Doctor, and Fynn were walking through one of the growth chambers; Fynn lost in his own thoughts and the Doctor and Eva talking through their mental link.
"Oops," the Doctor slips in the guano, holding his arms out to gain his balance back.
Eva laughs as he struggles, the Doctor narrowing his eyes at her playfully, nudging her. Eva yelps, grabbing onto his arm to keep from falling and punches him in the back. Fynn rolls his eyes at the two, deciding to keep quiet while the Doctor and Eva hit each other, trying to outdo the other. The Doctor had shown Fynn some ID that named them as inspectors for the Global Farming Standards Commission; Eva was in training and had no qualms about getting involved with her boss, apparently.
"Blimey, this stuff's slippery," the Doctor mutters, reaching back and grabbing Eva's hand when she almost falls off the pathway.
"Be careful, the fungus is very fragile," Fynn hisses.
"How did you stumble on to it, anyway?" Eva asks curiously, taking hold of the Doctor's back belt loop to stay on the small path easier.
"The bats' waste had built up here in the old lava tubes for hundreds of years; a natural fungus was growing on it," Fynn glances at her. "One of the oldest, most primitive forms of life on Earth. Fungi do not require sunlight, do not need to produce chlorophyll as plants do. They feed on anything, dead or alive, breaking down matter and digesting it in order to grow."
"Almost anything," the Doctor agrees.
"I am evolving in my fungus a taste for many kinds of organic matter," Fynn explains. "I have already re-engineered its DNA to increase the nutritional value. I have enhanced its life cycle so that it grows tall and fleshy. If I can only make it hardy enough to withstand different environments; extremes of heat and cold..."
"Then it could be farmed where conventional crops never grow," Eva nods.
"The Earth's crust is up to 50 kilometers thick in some areas," he replies. "Imagine the potential crop yield if we were to farm one-thousandth of it!" he smiles to himself. "Imagine how my critics will eat their words..."
"Why, what have they been having a go about?" the Doctor frowns.
Fynn pauses, readying himself: "the fungus is unfortunately poisonous," he admits quietly.
"Ah," Eva nods in controlled innocence, making the Doctor shake his head with a smirk. "That does sort of offset the nutritional value a bit, doesn't it?"
"It is simply a matter of finding the right medium in which to grow the fungus. I will achieve it. I have already performed experiments which would..." Fynn trials off, seeing the young couple's expressions and realizes Eva was being patronizing. "Those who gainsay me are fools... wishing to hold back human progress," he murmurs.
"Let me guess; they see corn and aloe vera growing on the same stalk and they think Frankenstein, scary science, all that," the Doctor raises an eyebrow.
"Genetic modification is more an art than a science," Fynn insists.
"So if the masses can't eat your mushrooms, they can gather round and admire them instead, right?" Eva smiles.
"Well, speaking of admiring, Kanjuchi is just through here," the Doctor cuts in. "Remember him? The member of your staff who's dead?"
Fynn closes his eyes, breathing deeply. This had to be a practical joke he thinks to himself. All of it was nonsense; the golden vulture, the faked readings on the data-get. Fynn was so wrapped up in his thoughts and rebooting the sensors as they turned the corner, he'd almost ran straight into the golden statue of his deceased staff member.
"There you go, now, that really is a work of art," Eva nods to the statue.
"If you're trying to trick me..." Fynn narrows his eyes at her.
Eva rolls her eyes and uses the data-get to run a scan on the statue. A few moments later she shows Fynn the results:
ORGANIC-MINERAL CONTENT, COMPOSITION UNKNOWN
"Kanjuchi has been affected, maybe even infected, by an alien substance," she tells him in a tone that dares him to disagree.
"I think it's something that's mixed with magma from the depths of this volcano and re-engineered it," the Doctor takes the data-get and tosses it to Fynn. "Questions are; why, how, what, and from where?"
"Cheer up, though, Director," Eva sends him a smile. "At least we know when... roughly speaking, anyway."
"Doctor... Eva..." Fynn trials off warily, showing the two that the screen was blinking.
COMPOSITION SHIFTING
Suddenly a splitting, crackling sound explodes from the golden statue and Kanjuchi's already large stomach swells larger. His head moves from side to side slowly, his neck bulging as if fluid was pumping beneath the plated skin. The clothes of the statue stretch and deform as the shoulders broaden and the legs lengthen. It was like they'd taken the statue and placed it in front of a carnival mirror, only real and much more disturbing.
"Holy shit," Eva mutters quietly with wide eyes.
"I think it's time I did a little composition-checking of my own," the Doctor decides, squeezing Eva's hand before getting out his sonic, holding it to the statue's fingers.
The misshapen statue lashes out in a single wild movement. Its huge, disfigured hand lands a blow on the Doctor, right in his chest, and slams him against the wall of the cavern.
"Doctor!" Eva shouts, rushing over to kneel beside him. "Are you alright, sweetie?" she asks, moving his hair from his face.
"What?" the Doctor asks groggily, blinking up at her before shaking his head. "It's ok, don't worry, love," he assures her. "I think I got my sample," he unbuttons his shirt down to where it's tucked in.
Eva blinks, momentarily distracted by seeing his bare chest for the first time, before her eyes widen at the bruising on his chest and sides: "you're hurt," she frowns, moving her hand as if to brush the skin, but thinking better of it.
"Yeah, I can just pick the residue out of my ribs," he gives a drunken smile, his head lolling back as he passes out.
"Doctor? Doctor!?" Eva shakes him lightly, trying to be careful of his bruises. "Come on, wake up," she tries, Fynn just staring at Kanjuchi's statue in fear and horror.
A metal grating brought her attention to the statue and she raises her eyebrows at the fact it had moved about a meter away. Its eyes were burning with the dark crimson light of the chamber and it was standing to attention, the opening to the chamber clear.
• • • • • •
Soloman watches as Nadif and a handful of the perimeter guards spread out through the crop fields, hunting for more golden creatures. While he wasn't a man of science, Solomon did know one thing: "it's my fault," he murmurs, wiping sweat from the back of his neck.
All my fault he thinks. And only I can do anything about it.
Steeling himself, he trudges off toward the sealed entrance of the eastern cave network.
• • • • • •
Basel, Rose, and George were running through the bark-chip field in the blazing heat. The gleaming gold vulture flies through the hot air, swooping down and seeming to vanish from view.
Basel stops, wiping his forehead on his arm as he tries to catch his breath: "must be a skylight," he pants.
"Yeah, right, a skylight in a volcano," Rose rolls her eyes, fanning herself.
George conjures up a goblet and points his wand to it 'Aguamenti' and water spills from it into the goblet. Rose takes it gratefully and downs the cold water before George takes it and gets a drink for himself then passes it to Basel.
"Thanks," Basel nods, passing the goblet back to George and he throws it off in the field. "That stick is pretty useful," he raises an eyebrow and George just shrugs. "Anyway, a skylight is an opening in the lava tube to the surface," he explains to Rose.
"So, what; maybe it built its nest there and found a way into this growth chamber place?" George asks.
"Right," Basel nods.
"We should climb up there and check it out, then," George looks up at the volcano.
Rose pulls her hair into a ponytail and looks at the distance, it wasn't so far up... but the heat: "what's got you so keen?" she raises her eyebrows.
"Maybe I just want to impress you," he smirks.
"Oh, yeah?" Rose smirks right back, Basel rolling his eyes at their obvious flirting.
"Maybe," George shrugs, sending Rose a wink and running off again.
Not to be outdone, Rose forces herself to match his pace, Basel right behind them. They reach the rocky side of the volcano, a portakabin had been put up close by as a storehouse. Basel takes several billycans and makes them into a makeshift staircase for them to climb up. The three reach the roof and from there it was a leap onto the sheer rock-face, but there were plenty of hand and footholds.
"You two up to it?" Basel asks, raising an eyebrow between Rose and George.
George scoffs quietly and jumps, landing perfectly and gives a mock-bow. Rose shakes her head, giggling as she accepts his offered hand. Then, she hurries up the slope to the next ledge, holding her hand out to him with a tongue-in-teeth smile. He takes her hand with a wide grin and keeps it after he climbs up, intertwining their fingers. Rose's smile turns from cheeky to coy as she squeezes his hand.
"I think our bird took the next one up," Basel rolls his eyes when he catches up to them.
"Let's slow down a little, could be dangerous," Rose suggests.
Rose, George, and Basel climb up to a shelf cut into the bare rock cautiously. There was a hole about the size of a dinner place with little heaps of crumbled stone around the edges. Higher up and beyond it there was a large, messy pile of dried straw, sticks, and husks.
"That must be its nest," George nods to it.
"It didn't go back there, then," Basel sighs warily.
"Needs a place with a bit more bling now," Rose jokes, making George snort. "Must have vanished off down that skylight of yours," she tells Basel.
"Wait," Basel tenses suddenly. "Skylights are formed when the rock falls inwards, but there's stone chips and stuff round the outside of this one," he frowns down at it.
"So whatever made this hole was inside the cave and tunneling out..." Rose trails off, heart sinking.
Right as she says that, a blob of what looks like molten metal pops up from out of the hole. It sort of resembled mercury but with a golden sheen and it was quivering like metallic jelly. The three stumble back, almost to the edge of the ledge.
"I know it's hot here," Rose mutters. "But hot enough to melt metal?"
"It's cold in the caves," Basel shakes his head. "This stuff must be what Adiel saw with..." his voice chokes off as the molten blob starts rolling toward them, leaving no marks on the rock behind it.
"Run!" Rose and George shout.
Basel goes over the edge, followed by the other two. When they reach the next ledge, Rose turns and squeaks when the blob sticks to the side of the rock-face, rolling after them.
"What is that thing?" Basel gapes at it.
"Does it matter?" George asks incredulously. "It's hungry and chasing us!" he pulls Rose after him as he runs down the next slope.
They reach the roof of the portabakin and the blob was rolling after them faster and faster as it hisses against the rocks. Basel sprints over the makeshift billycan stairs and Rose and George follow quickly. On the way down, one of the canisters knocks loose and Rose loses her footing, going down. She cries out when pain shoots through her ankle and George was down beside her in a second.
"Rosie, are you ok?" he asks worriedly, helping her to her feet. "Can you walk?"
"Better hope I can run," she groans, looking up at the blob that was now at the edge of the roof and pulsing with golden light.
It suddenly flops off the edge and lands on the ground right in front of the three of them. George quickly wraps his arms around Rose's waist, lifting her up and away from it. Basel had crept up behind it with one of the billycans and brought it down, trapping the blob inside it: "quick, get something we can stick on top of it!" he shouts.
George sets Rose back on her feet carefully and grabs a fallen canister. Basel turns the billycan over and George places the other on top of it, Rose hobbling over to collect more. She set the others around the sides of it. The first one was covered and still.
"Nice one, Basel," Rose smiles appreciatively.
"Simple but effective," George agrees, grabbing Rose's arm and lifting it over his shoulders so he could support her and she leans into his side gratefully, wrapping an arm around his waist.
"We don't know how long it'll hold that thing," Basel shakes his head, unsure.
"Let's find Eva and the Doctor, they'll be able to sort it," George suggests.
"But where's it come from?" Rose frowns.
"Fynn," Basel says without hesitation. "He's been messing round with nature too long, something like this was bound to happen," he tells them.
"This isn't anything to do with nature," Rose shakes her head. "It's got to be... well... it's got to be alien or something," she furrows her eyebrows.
"Yeah, right," Basel scoffs with a smile. "Come on, we'll see what Fynn has to say about it," he heads off.
George and Rose look at each other and George makes a face at Basel's back, making Rose giggle. George smirks, proud of himself, and kisses Rose on the top of the head before they head off as well.
• • • • • •
Eva yelps when the Doctor suddenly sits upright and Fynn about jumps out of his skin: "are you ok?" he looks down at him.
"Where was I?" the Doctor frowns, looking around.
"Don't move," Eva places her hands on his arms to hold him still when he winces.
"Oh, yes," he remembers, groaning. "In here, in pain and in the dark... could be getting lighter," he looks over at the open entrance to the growth chamber. "When did Goldfinger step aside?"
"Not long ago," Fynn mutters. "I... I was going to go inside but..." he looks away, embarrassed. "I didn't think I should leave you here," he lies.
"Oh, sweet," Eva sends him a fake smile. "Now hush while I try and heal my idiot boyfriend," she searches her pockets, grinning widely when she finds some bruise cream and takes off the cap. "Uh... um..." she trails off awkwardly, clearing her throat as her cheeks turn pink.
"Something wrong, love?" the Doctor looks up at her with a teasing smirk, making her face burn brighter.
"Can you, um... open up your shirt more, please?" she bites her lip, not meeting his eyes.
Fynn scoffs quietly, leaning against a wall and folding his arms, looking away from the couple. The Doctor untucks his shirt and slides it off, setting it aside: "I don't think I've ever seen you look so flustered," he teases Eva in her mind as she openly gawks at his lean torso.
"I-" Eva bites her lip harder, looking away from the Doctor's extremely smug expression. "Shut up," she huffs, making him snicker.
Eva squirts some of the cream into her hand with a pout and the Doctor grins, enjoying the effect him being shirtless was having on his girlfriend. After rubbing her hands together to take the chill off, Eva hesitantly and carefully rubs the cream into the Doctor's bruises and tries not to think of how soft his skin was.
"Sorry..." she murmurs when he hisses in pain, trying to be as gentle as possible.
"Look at you, being a doctor," he smirks. "Isn't that my job?"
"I'd look hotter in scrubs and a lab coat," Eva smirks back, glancing at him as she finishes and puts the cap back on the cream, shoving it back into her pocket.
"Mm, without a doubt," the Doctor sends her a wink, making her let out a weird giggle and he beams. "Thanks, tesoro," he pecks her lips when his bruises fade and he feels loads better. "Now, what we have to ask ourselves is: why is he knocking us back one minute and welcoming us in the next? Eh? Mm? What's changed?" he wonders aloud.
"You used that tool on him," Fynn reminds him. "What was it?"
"Sonic screwdriver," he answers. "Resonates magnetic fields, oscillates atomic structures, and available in a variety of attractive colors," he smiles. "Do you think he responded to a bit of posh technology, is that it?"
"You said he was dead," Fynn scowls.
"Oh, Kanjuchi's dead, yeah," Eva nods, standing up.
"The man himself, the man you employed, he's dead as a dinosaur," the Doctor agrees. "But his body is still in service. Question is: whose service?" he lets Eva help him to his feet. "And whoever or whatever's in charge, do they want to find out more about me and my posh technology, or do they want me dead? I don't know... I just don't know," he claps Fynn on the back. "I do a great impression of a lamb trotting off to the slaughter, wanna see?" he grins.
"Did you hit your head on that wall?" Eva raises an eyebrow, folding her arms and the Doctor just shrugs, making her roll her eyes.
"I need to find out what's happened to my crop," Fynn shakes his head.
"Let's have a look, then," the Doctor pulls Eva through the narrow gap between the two boulders and into the growth chamber.
Fynn follows quickly, only to stop in his tracks: "oh, no... no!" he shouts when he sees the golden gleam on all of the fungi. "What's happened here?"
"This stuff has coated Kanjuchi, that vulture, and now your fungus," the Doctor shrugs.
"Maybe it's designed to target organic life," Eva murmurs thoughtfully.
"Designed?" Fynn frowns.
"By a controlling intelligence," she nods.
"A controlling alien intelligence?" Fynn scoffs, wiping cold sweat from his forehead. "Is that what you're asking me to believe?"
"I'm telling you," Eva rolls her eyes, snapping. "Up to you if you believe me or not, but I'm getting about tired of your fucking attitude," she huffs.
"Fungi are classified as being closer to animal life than plant life," the Doctor cuts in, running his thumb along Eva's knuckles. "Perhaps this stuff isn't very discriminating," he suggests.
"But what does it want?" Fynn asks.
"Maybe it's just trying to make your art look a little prettier," the Doctor shrugs, getting a smile out of Eva.
Suddenly there was a piercing shriek from above them as a bloated, enormous shape comes flapping down from the ceiling of the growth chamber and perches on the fungus. It has a hooked and twisted beak, wings so badly distorted they had to be broken, and talons like broken pitchforks.
"Hold very still," the Doctor murmurs under his breath. "Looks like our vulture's come home to roost..."
"Whatever happened to Kanjuchi has happened to the bird?" Fynn whispers.
"Yes... the DNA's been reordered," the Doctor nods.
"By that," Eva whispers, staring behind Fynn.
The Doctor and Fynn follow her line of vision and see a gold, gleaming thing that was slowly pulsing light. It was rocking back and forth as if in anticipation, waiting. The vulture rises up into the air on its broken wings and Fynn takes a few steps backward. The blob splits into four smaller ones and starts to roll forward. Fynn stumbles when the vulture hurls itself at him and he throws his arm up over his face.
"It's trying to herd us into that lot," the Doctor hisses, grabbing a hold of Fynn to keep him from running. "The sonic must have made it wary... whatever this stuff is, it's taking no chances," he mutters quickly.
The golden vulture flaps at Fynn with another shriek and Eva grips the Doctor's hand more tightly: "we're trapped," she moves closer to him.
"You said your sonic device made this stuff wary," Fynn moves out of the Doctor's grip. "Use it again! Full power! Scare it!"
"Full power?" the Doctor stares at him in absolute horror. "Have you any idea how much the batteries for this thing cost?" he asks incredulously, kneeing Eva in the butt when she snorts loudly.
The vulture dives down toward them and hits Eva in the chest, knocking her to the ground and ripping her hand from the Doctor's. Eva bats at the vulture as it tries to slash her face with its talons and the golden blobs move to get her. The Doctor was quick to pull out his sonic and hold it out toward the blobs. The vulture flies back and then dives back at Eva, pecking at her gloved arms and she kicks out at it, getting a good one to land in its stomach. The blobs stop moving forward and pulse faster, quivering as if they were trembling with fear.
"Ultrasonics," the Doctor grins cheerfully over the shrieks of the bird trying to peck his girlfriend's eyes out. "Agitates the molecules, and sometimes..."
With a deafening clap, the back of the growth chamber splits open. The vulture flies backward as if hit with some invisible force and Eva lays back, breathing heavily. The molten blobs flow back into one. The distorted statue of Kanjuchi appears in the opening of the chamber, struggling to squeeze through the gap due to his swollen form. His fingers tear at the stone and he even starts to bite at it, his golden teeth cutting into the solid rock like nothing.
"He's not scared, he's livid!" Fynn shouts, staring in complete shock.
With a loud roar and an explosion of rock, Kanjuchi pushes through into the chamber and runs straight for the Doctor. Eva grabs the Doctor's leg and yanks him down, making him fall on top of her with a grunt. Kanjuchi runs past the three and stands in front of the gaping split in the chamber, his arms raised so he blocked the way through.
"Hello, there," the Doctor lifts himself up, looking down at Eva with a wide grin and she rolls her eyes with an equally wide smile. "Interesting," he hops up, pulling Eva to her feet and checking her over quickly. "The primary purpose of this stuff has to be defensive," he looks over at the statue when he was sure Eva was fine.
"It's trying to protect something and so it's converting local animal life into sentries," Eva mutters.
"But what's it protecting, eh? What's so important?" the Doctor furrows his eyebrows.
"What's suddenly set it off now if you opened up this chamber a while ago?" Eva folds her arms and nods to the split. "What's through there?" she steps up to Kanjuchi. "I said: what's through there?" she narrows her eyes and Kanjuchi clenches his disfigured fists.
"Come on," Fynn mutters, walking toward the crumbling exit. "Before something else comes to bar our way," he shudders.
"Ignoring the problem won't make it go away, Director," Eva rolls her eyes. "Something's woken up; something very old and very hostile," she warns.
"And what we're seeing are the first stirrings, that's all," the Doctor puts it. "It's gonna get worse, a whole lot worse; we're talking huge amounts of worse here!"
Alarmist nonsense Fynn thinks to himself as he hurries from the chamber, wishing he had the courage to say it aloud.
• • • • • •
Solomon walks slowly through the dark, abandoned eastern caverns, his torch shining yellow light on the winding path ahead. All over was rubble where the ceiling had collapsed and stalagmites had shattered. Some of the lava tubes at this part of the tunnels were too small to walk through, forcing you to crawl and some only big enough to squirm through on your stomach. The eastern tubes had been written off until the fungus crop had taken hold and they needed the extra room.
Solomon reaches what appears to be a dead end in the narrow crawl-space, but the light of his torch shows the shadow of a pile of stones, blocking the way. Solomon flicks the light off and starts pulling the rocks away. He freezes at a sound from behind him, he mustn't be found here, if he was... the noise didn't come again and he relaxes. Returning to his task, he gets the rocks moved and he wiggles through the small gap. On the other side, the passage was taller and wider. At the other end was a dark figure, holding a flaming torch.
"What are you doing here?" Solomon demands.
"We want more food," the figure says quietly.
"There is no more," Solomon shakes his head. "I've told you all along, I can only give you one delivery each week."
"It is not enough," the person retorts.
"Anymore would be missed," Solomon counters, walking to the man and holding out his hand. "It's good to see you, Talib, but I've warned you never to come here," he sighs.
Talib accepts the hand, but his gaze was cold: "robbers and rebels took most of the food. They took our sheep and cows, even the mats we sleep on. And they will be back."
"I cannot give you any more," Solomon insists. "You risk too much, coming here. If you were seen; if anyone knew the tunnels stretch as far as Gouronkah, you could find yourselves relocated to the shelters, or pushed into aid camps. Is that what you want?" he looks at Talib suspiciously. "No. I know what you want. You want to find your own way through, don't you? Trying to take food for yourself."
"We need it, Solomon."
"If I'm caught stealing for you, I'll be sent to the labor camps," Solomon raises his voice. "And then you'll get no food, nothing, you understand? Nothing ever again!"
"If we do not get more we will have no need of the food because we will all be dead!"
"I'm sorry," Solomon shakes his head. "I can ask Basel to speak to his friends at the Iniko camp..."
"Your father would be ashamed," Talib sneers. "You say you want to help your village, but-"
"I left Gouronkah 15 years ago, yet still I'm risking everything to help you!"
"You are Fynn's now!"
"On Sunday," Solomon says slowly. "There will be food left as usual in the marked cavern. If I think I can safely increase the amount, then I will. Now, go."
Talib turns and stalks away. For a good minute, Solomon stands listening to the sound of Talib's steps echoing away to nothing. When he was satisfied the man was gone, he starts to follow him, then squeezes himself into a narrow side tunnel. The floor was uneven, coated with welled-up lava and the ceiling was covered with stalactites left from the cooling of the molten roof. Solomon wasn't bothered by claustrophobia but in some of these passages, it felt as if he were trapped inside an enormous instrument of torture... perhaps because he was nearing the machine.
Solomon had found it while looking for a less difficult path through the lava tubes; the faster he could smuggle food from out of the agri-unit, the safer for everyone. That had been his plan, only now something had woken up, no one was safe. Kanjuchi was dead, and Solomon felt sick to his stomach, being sure there would be more to die.
He turns left into another tunnel and at the end of the dark path he could already see the magma-like glow of the machine... why had the damn thing started glowing? Because you found it he tells himself. Because you woke it up. He turns off his torch and stares at it: a large rectangular panel in the floor, the size of a movie screen and made from the same gleaming, golden material as Kanjuchi and the vulture.
It had been laid into the surface of an ancient pool of lava and odd sculpted controls lay like molten metal on its surface. A thrum, somewhere between the rush of a stream and the hum of a generator, came from it. He should have told someone, of course... told Fynn, let it be his problem. But Fynn would want it studied, the tunnels would be crawling with experts and scientists, and he'd be lucky to get a tin of beans out to Talib.
His tools still litter the tunnel and Solomon picks up his hard hat and a shock hammer and stares at the golden panel, which was glowing and humming serenely: "time you were hidden from sight again," he murmurs.
Just a few hammer blasts and he could bring the roof down. Maybe then things would be better. Solomon takes a deep breath and releases a shockwave up at the ceiling of the chamber and the whole place shakes around him. Gritting his teeth, he fires again. This time huge clumps of rock are knocked free from the roof, coming down onto the panel. He bites his lip and fires again. There's an ear-splitting crack and the roof of the chamber comes crashing down.
Solomon runs from the chamber and down the tunnels for his life, praying the shockwaves wouldn't cut off his way out. He was running so fast, he didn't see Adiel watching him from the shadows, her fingers toying with the beads on her necklace.
A/N: Hope you like it, let me know!! Thanks for reading and see ya next week! :*
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