Oracle, page 13
Mr. Coy fell backwards in an attempt to get away, the tendril’s sharp edge barely missing his neck.
“Do you like it?” asked Dr. Cross. “I call it Hydro Whip,” he said proudly, flipping it up and back so that it made a loud, wet crack. He then moved forward and demonstrated the weapon’s ability on a nearby metal stool, slicing it in half as the tendril cut through it like butter.
Mr. Coy pressed a white button inside his subsuit’s forearm compartment again and this time two large gloves grew around his hands, each glove’s surface covered in tiny iron tiles.
“Haven’t you heard the saying, Ben?” Dr. Cross teased as he continued his forward march, snapping his whip with each stride, “Water always wins.” Dr. Cross whipped the sharp tendril of water at Mr. Coy who was still lying on his back, but just as he did so, Mr. Coy lifted his gloved hands and the tendril’s tip miraculously split apart, missing him.
“Yes, I have heard of that saying,” Mr. Coy retaliated as he got to his feet, “but there are exceptions to that rule, like these little beauties I’ve been working on ever since Ret stole my Iron Pillar. I call them my Iron Gauntlets. They repel water.”
With an angry grunt, Dr. Cross charged at Mr. Coy, striking with his Hydro Whip again and again, but each time Mr. Coy blocked it with his Iron Gauntlets, the tendril disintegrating with each contact.
Dr. Cross ceased his barrage, his chest heaving.
Mr. Coy simply lowered his gloved hands.
“Fine, I admit it,” Dr. Cross said. “You have proven yourself a worthy opponent, Ben. But there is one final challenge you must pass before you can claim victory over me.”
“Is it a pie-eating contest?” Mr. Coy said. “Because I have to warn you, I can really pack it away.”
“I’m afraid it’s something a wee bit hotter than a freshly baked pie,” Dr. Cross said. He loudly commanded, “Computer, initiate Fire Devils.” Dr. Cross then turned on a dime and slid under a metal door that was dropping into place as all the doors and windows in the room sealed shut.
Mr. Coy looked around as he felt a faint breeze begin to blow. The breeze quickly turned into a gale, picking up sand as it swept across the laboratory. Mr. Coy could also smell something foreign in the wind—less and less oxygen, with something more and more flammable. The wind began to stir, picking up all the lightning sand in the room, forming two large swirling lightning-sparking columns. Then the worst happened. Everything lit up as the columns ignited and two huge dust devils composed of flame threatened to consume the only living thing left in the lab: him.
“Aren’t they beautiful, Ben?” the voice of Dr. Cross echoed through the room. “And, because I control the room’s air currents, I control where my Fire Devils go. If I want them to move left, then I just move a lever and …” the flaming pillars moved to the left. “Or if I want them to move right, then I move another lever and …” the fire columns moved to the right.
Mr. Coy was completely surrounded, the flaming funnels moving around him. He was in trouble and didn’t have a clue what to do. He reached down, searching for something, anything that could help him. He made contact with the pouch holding the Oracle. He opened the pouch and pulled out the amazing orb, the translucent ball that was currently holding five of the six all-powerful elements: Earth, Fire, Ore, Wind, and Wood.
“Please!” Mr. Coy pled as he peered into the Oracle. “I need help!” The flaming columns were right on top of him now, their heat close enough to scorch his skin.
Suddenly the Oracle began to glow, its wedges unfolding like a flower basking in the sun’s rays. The Oracle rose into the air and began pulling all the Earth, Fire, and Wind out of the billowing columns, sucking the elemental streams into their respective wedges within the Oracle until the Fire Devils were completely consumed.
The Oracle then floated towards the control room where Dr. Cross was hiding, so Mr. Coy followed. Without warning, the metal door that stood between them began to melt away, flowing in a constant stream up and into the Oracle’s Ore Element wedge.
Dr. Cross was at a loss, both exposed and out of ideas. He tried to make a run for it, but then a large rectangular tile of light burst from the Oracle’s Wood Element wedge. It grew until it was big enough for a full-grown man to move through. The time-tile launched itself at Dr. Cross, then engulfing and swallowing him whole. The time-tile then reversed its course, shrinking until it was just a tiny light that returned to the Oracle. Slowly all the wedges closed, and the Oracle floated back down, landing gently in Mr. Coy’s hands.
“Um, thank you,” Mr. Coy said feebly as he stared down at the Oracle, its wedges still pulsing slightly as he held it. He carefully slipped it back into his subsuit’s pouch, took a deep breath and scratched his head, trying to fathom what had just happened.
* * * * *
After Mr. Coy had separated himself from the line of invisible intruders, the now eleven-person procession continued down the hall until they rounded a corner and approached the final door to Lye’s conference room.
“This is a unique room,” Jaret explained before they entered. “We need to remain invisible until we go through, but once we are on the other side, we can de-cloak because there are no surveillance cameras inside. This is where Lye holds his board meetings and communicates to outsiders, so the room can feel a bit intimidating. It was purposely built around the top core of the island, so even though this hallway might look like a normal office setting, the room inside is not. It is cold, and can often feel heartless, and lifeless. Stick together and we should be fine. Here we go.”
Lye’s conference room looked more like a cave than a room, its walls and ceiling roughly hewn out of the rock. The air felt damp and much of the room was covered in a thin film of moisture. There was a table at its center, surrounded by five chairs, one of which was taller than the rest, and there was a large flower arrangement at its center.
“Everyone can now become visible,” Jaret told them after closing the door.
“You weren’t kiddin’,” said Leo. “This place feels like Lye.”
“Ugh, charming. Who is his decorator? Dracula?” Ana said, scrunching up her face in disapproval.
“At least the flowers are sort of pretty,” Pauline said.
“Those are Venus Flytraps, honey,” Jaret said. “Genetically modified, poisonous, and extremely aggressive. I’m pretty sure they are what’s holding the Coin Relic.”
“Figures,” commented Stone.
“Okay, here’s the plan.” Jaret looked around. “Wait, where’s Mr. Coy?”
“He broke the chain back in the hallway,” Ishmael said.
“What?” Jaret said.
“He’s gone to have words with Dr. Victor Cross,” Albie said. “Don’t worry … I’m not.”
“Alrighty then,” Jaret continued. “Like I was saying, one of these plants has the Coin Relic inside it, and it will take all of us working together to retrieve it. I’m going to pair you up. The first person I name will sit in one of the chairs around the table, and the next person will stand to their right. Keep your hands at your sides at all times until I instruct otherwise. Understood?”
Everyone nodded.
“Okay, it will be Paige and Albie, Ana and Falco, Leo and Lester, Dusty and Walter, and Pauline and myself. Ishmael, you are going to be our wild card.”
Ishmael nodded in agreement.
“Okay, everyone take their positions.”
The group dispersed, sitting or standing in the order Jaret had assigned them, Pauline sitting in the chair that was taller than the rest, with Dusty and Walter to her left, and Ishmael standing behind them, outside of the circle. As the group sat down, the bright-red trapping mechanisms in the flytraps, ten of them in all, shifted unnaturally outwards, towards their eleven visitors, their spiked edges looking like large, vicious teeth hungry for human flesh.
“These plants are unusual, bewitched even,” said Jaret. “Did you notice how they individually moved to each of us as we drew close? We will work together to outsmart them. Everyone look from your angle and see if you can see anything shiny that might be our Coin Relic.”
Each person slowly peered this way and that, the trapping mechanisms following their movements.
“Oh, I see something,” Pauline said, starting to point at the plant closest to her.
Jaret quickly grabbed her hand and pulled it back just as one of the trapping mechanisms reached out and snapped where her hand had been.
“Remember, they are aggressive and poisonous,” he said.
“Let me try something,” Dusty said, lifting his hand and turning on the black mirror tech just for his arm. He slowly reached his invisible hand closer and closer to his nearest plant, but as he did so, its trapping mechanism swiveled and lurched towards it.”
“It must be their trigger hairs,” Paige said. “They must be enhanced so they can sense the air being disturbed around them.”
Jaret nodded at her. “Right, so here’s the plan. Ishmael, you come crouch on Pauline’s left side. I’m going to count to three and then all ten of us, except Ishmael, are going to start blowing at the plants as we move one of our hands forward at the same time, which should gain the attention of all ten trapping mechanisms. Ishmael, as we are doing this, you are going to reach in and quickly snatch the coin.”
“With lightning speed?” Ishmael asked.
“With lightning speed,” Jaret agreed.
Ishmael moved into position, crouching next to Pauline to locate the glint of the coin.
“Okay,” Jaret said, “take a deep breath … now one … two … three!”
All at once everyone at the table started moving a hand forward and blowing at one of the plant’s scarlet maws.
Each plant sprang to life, its trapping mechanism snapping wildly towards the people surrounding it.
Ishmael reached in and grabbed the coin, but found it was tangled in the plant’s roots. He tugged, knowing he only had a couple of seconds before the plant’s poisonous teeth would bite down on him. He twisted the coin and it broke free. But as he pulled back, one of the trapping mechanisms came down and struck his hand, piercing his subsuit and sinking into his flesh. Ishmael wrenched his arm free, but the damage was already done. He stumbled back, the coin falling on the table as he fell to the ground.
“Ishmael!” Pauline yelled, moving to kneel beside him.
Just then, the door burst opened and in stepped Mr. Coy, his hair standing on end, clothes singed, eyebrows gone, and face burnt a bright red. His eyes grew wide as he took in the scene. “What happened?” he asked.
“Poisoned,” Jaret responded, giving Mr. Coy a where-were-you look as he joined his wife at Ishmael’s side.
Mr. Coy pulled a silver flask out of one of his subsuit’s pouches and joined the others at Ishmael’s side. “Help me sit him up, will you?” he asked.
Jaret lifted the limp man up to a sitting position as Mr. Coy unscrewed the top of his flask, pouring a large portion into Ishmael’s mouth.
Within moments, Ishmael’s eyelids fluttered and then opened wide. He sat forward, no longer needing any support and looked down at his hand. The skin beneath the puncture holes in his suit appeared unharmed.
“Let’s get you to your feet.” Mr. Coy held out his hand and helped Ishmael rise.
“Thank you, Ben,” Ishmael said.
“It’s the least I can do,” Mr. Coy said.
“Dad!” Paige said. “What happened to you?”
“Oh, uh, this?” Mr. Coy looked down at his charred subsuit. “I was in a fight, and the Oracle saved my life.”
“The Oracle did what?” Leo asked.
“It came to life and then … saved me,” Mr. Coy answered.
“But that’s not possible,” Ana said.
“I know, but it did! And I learned something else too …”
“What’s that?” asked Jaret.
“Ret’s First Father is still alive. And he’s a prisoner here, in Lye’s dungeon. Along with who knows how many more of Ret’s relatives.”
Everyone was silent, looking confused.
“Who is this First Father?” Falco asked.
“He is the one who scattered the elements and the one who sent the six Guardians to protect them, according to Ret,” Mr. Coy replied. “He’s an ancient sage, from before the world was broken. He’s the one Lye betrayed, and now he sits in Lye’s dungeon. We need to rescue him.”
“Wait,” Jaret said, stepping forward. “We have the coin.” He lifted it up for Mr. Coy to see. “After what just happened with Ishmael, I think we need to get our families out of danger.”
“Yes,” Mr. Coy said. “I agree, but the First Father is family. He’s Ret’s family and we owe it to Ret to try and save him, and maybe others.”
Jaret looked over at Pauline, who nodded. He then looked to Ana, who did the same, and finally to Ishmael, who smiled and winked. “Okay,” Jaret said, “reform the line and follow me. We’re headed to Lye’s dungeon.”
Chapter 10
Oganesso’s Return
In the cave-like conference room at Waters Deep, the members of Coy’s twelve-person strike team were once more forming their line, Jaret at the lead, preparing them to make yet another dangerous trek through the corridors and confines of Lye’s military base.
“The entrance to Lye’s dungeon is located on the north side of the complex, about ten levels down. This means we’ll need to wind through several halls and twice as many elevators to get to it,” Jaret explained.
“Or, we could take a more direct route,” a quiet voice came from behind Jaret. It was Stone and he was standing at the far side of the conference room, staring at the wall.
“Where?” Jaret asked. “Through the wall?”
“Exactly,” Stone said. “There’s a secret passage somewhere along here.”
“Walter, you should give them a hand,” Coy said, motioning to the elder Thorne, knowing he was an expert in these types of things.
“Hmm, I wonder if a hologram is concealing it,” Thorne said, stepping forward. He retrieved a small device from his subsuit and started scanning the wall. As he projected his gadget on a certain section, the wall suddenly disappeared, replaced with a rectangular opening that led into a dark passageway.
“And, there it is,” Stone said.
“Well, I’ll be …” Jaret said.
“It’s some kind of three-dimensional camouflage,” Thorne told them, shifting his hand back and forth over the secret passageway, the opening disappearing and reappearing as he did so.
“This passage leads to a downward spiral of stairs that will take us directly to the dungeon,” Stone said. “Lye worked hard to conceal it.” He chuckled. “You’d never find it, unless you knew it was there.”
“So, how do you know about the passageway?” Jaret asked. “He never told me about it.”
Stone’s face dropped, his smile shifting to sadness. “Because of Virginia,” he said.
“Your wife?” Jaret asked.
Stone nodded. “After one of our meetings, Lye had me stay behind. He must have sensed my allegiance was wavering. So, he took me to his dungeon via this passageway. He showed me the prisoners down there … all skin and bones, too weak to stand. He told me if I wasn’t totally devoted to him he would take my Virginia, lock her up, and keep her forever. I believed him.”
“Oh, Lester,” Pauline said.
“I’m sorry, Lester,” Jaret said.
“It’s okay,” he said. “She’s safe now.”
Coy motioned to Falco and Ishmael. “We’ll check out the passageway. Everyone stay here. We’ll be right back.” The three men entered the secret passage, with Falco ducking his head to fit. They disappeared from view for a moment, returning seconds later. “The steps look both narrow and slick,” Coy said to Stone.
“Yes, they are,” Stone said, “and the mists grow thicker and thicker the further down you go. The stairs encircle a dark chasm and it goes straight down. It represents the center of the island, and the stairs were built around it to only allow single-file access, so, yes, it is very dangerous. But it is a direct route to the dungeons and there are no troops or guards.”
“I thought I was clear,” Pauline chimed in, “no more black holes of death for me.”
No one laughed.
“What do you think, Ben?” Jaret asked. “Sounds like a good idea but I’m also willing to go back the way we came.”
“Maybe we should just flip that Coin Relic of yours,” Mr. Coy said. Jaret shot Coy a shocked expression. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. We should take the direct route, but have Falco lead the way with Lester directly behind him in case we encounter something only known to him. If Falco’s giant body and feet can fit through the passage and down the stairs, the rest of us should be fine. Any objections?”
Falco nodded, then stooped over once more to fit into the passageway. Stone followed closely behind.
“Okay,” Jaret said to the rest of the company, “we need to re-form our single-file line. This time I want each younger person to line up between two adults. Remember, from here on out, we need to be as quiet as possible. If you have to talk, only do so in a whisper. Let’s go.”
Mr. Coy entered the passage next, followed by Paige, then Albie, Jaret, Ana, Pauline, Leo, Walter, Dusty, and finally, bringing up the rear, Ishmael.
The passageway was dark and short, as it turned away and then parallel to the conference room. The ceiling and walls were wet to the touch, scarcely tall and wide enough for Falco to fit through. As the team continued forward, the stairs curved before them in what appeared to be an ever-expanding circle. The wall to their left was nothing but jagged rock. To their right was a vast opening—a cone-shaped cavern that, like the inside of a honeypot, expanded outwards as it continued downwards. The passage was so short and the stairs so narrow, it felt as if they were leaning to the right directly over the chasm’s throat. Thankfully, the ever-growing mists obscured their vision of the depths below.
