Tales of WID 72 #9 A Puzzling Encounter
Charles Thorne wiped away the dirt from the base of the statue, revealing an inscription. “It looks similar to Mayan,” he said. “So, you can translate it?” Colonel Geoffrey Gordon asked. “It’s not that similar,” Charles said. “And it’s curious, the Mayan civilization was in Central America, not South America. “Is there anyone else that would be able to translate it?” Major Jon Teleros asked. “Not anyone I’m aware of,” Charles said. Captain Aaron Hammer climbed down from the tree he was on. “There’s some movement a few klicks north from here,” he said. “Don’t know if it’s anything we need to worry about, but we’re not alone.” “We’re in the rainforest,” Jon said. “There’s no such thing as alone around here.” “I meant people,” Aaron said. “Unless monkeys have started using Jeeps.” “Seems unlikely,” Geoffrey said. “Are they moving towards us?” “Not at the moment, but you know how trails are around here,” Aaron said. “All the winding and such.” “Yeah, get back up there and keep an eye on them, while Thorne tries figuring this statue out,” Geoffrey said. “Aye, aye, sir,” Aaron said. A few kilometers north, Harold Thompson was looking at the map as Isabel Reaves was driving their jeep down whatever paths they could find. “I think we made a wrong turn back there,” Harold said. “We really should have asked for directions when we went by that village an hour ago.” “We’re fine, it’s fine,” Isabel said. “We’re getting closer, right?” “We are getting closer,” Hiroshi Tanaka said from the backseat. “The artifact is continuing to glow brighter and brighter.” “But we might end up running out of paths this Jeep can fit on this way,” Harold said. “Then we’ll walk the rest of the way,” Isabel said. “Don’t tell me you’re getting soft in your old age.” “Don’t worry about me,” Harold said. “I was old long before you were born, and will continue to be old long after you’re gone.” “Looks like the Jeep is either not moving anymore, or it’s in deep enough foliage that I can’t get a glimpse of it,” Aaron said. “You remember what it was like driving out here,” Jon said. “Fifty bucks says they’re continuing on foot.” “Canadian or American dollars?” Aaron asked. “If we’re talking Canadian, I’ve got that on me, and you’ve got a bet.” “I mean, I was hoping to make a bit more than that, but sure,” Jon said. “I’ll take your weak-ass money if that’s all you’ve got.” “Careful there, Major,” Geoffrey said. “Don’t forget I’m from Canada too.” “Right, sir,” Jon said. “I meant to say polite-ass money.” “Much better,” Geoffrey said. “Any luck yet, Thorne? I don’t know for certain these people are out here for the same reasons as us, but even still I’d prefer we be quick.” “I might have figured out something,” Charles said. He pressed on one of the eyes of the statue, then grabbed the arm, which he was able to twist. Almost immediately the statue slid to the side, revealing a staircase going underground. “Correction, I have definitely figured something out.” Hiroshi chopped away at the foliage as he tried to clear a path. Isabel and Harold followed after him. “I still think we could have avoided this if he took a different route,” Harold said. “Either way, we’re getting close,” Isabel said. She was now holding the artifact, which was continuing to glow brighter and brighter with every step. “Wait,” Hiroshi said, holding up as his hand as he stopped. “What is it?” Isabel asked. “We’re being watched,” Harold said. “Up in the trees.” “Yes,” Hiroshi said. “By who?” Isabel asked. “Who else would even know about this?” “Not a person,” Hiroshi said. “It’s a jaguar. It’ll probably leave us alone, as there is much easier prey than the three of us, but it is considering.” “What do we do?” Isabel asked, as she unslung her rifle. “Where is it?” “Don’t shoot it if you don’t have to,” Harold said. “But it’s over to the left of us, a bit ahead.” “I have it in my sights,” Isabel said. “Then keep it there, in case it makes a move,” Hiroshi said. “But if it doesn’t, we don’t want to alert anyone that we are here if we don’t have to.” Geoffrey took point going through the tunnel they had found at the bottom of the staircase. Charles was following behind him, then Aaron, and Jon was talking up the rear. They had been expecting to need to use their flashlights, but as they had come down, the place had lightened up, although they could not tell the source. The place was clearly ancient, the walls and ceiling were made of stone bricks, while the floor was just a dirt path, which just made the mysterious light seem even more out of place. “My money is on magic,” Aaron said. “You always bet on magic, and you always lose,” Jon said. “We have yet to discover anything that suggests magic is real.” “But when we do, that’ll be the day I can say I told you so,” Aaron said. “You can be wrong a hundred times, as long as you’re eventually right.” “I’d guess it’s more likely some kind of alien tech,” Charles said. “This seems similar to some of the stuff from my father’s notes.” “One day, I’d like to see those notes,” Geoffrey said. “If I ever find them, I’ll let you know,” Charles said. “I have no idea where he left them before he died.” “Speaking of, I’ve been looking into the accident again,” Jon said. “And I’m starting to think it might not have been an accident.” “I asked you to leave it alone,” Charles said. “I don’t want to know the details of how my parents died.” “Right, sorry,” Jon said. “Didn’t mean to… “Wait,” Charles interrupted. “I was just apologizing,” Jon said. “No, I mean, over in the wall there.” Charles pointed to a brick that was a slightly darker shade than the rest. He went over to it, and pressed it in, causing a section of the opposite wall to slide open, revealing a room. It looked like a massive lab, but not like a lab any of them had seen before. It was like something out of a science-fiction movie with all sorts of unfamiliar equipment and materials. “The jaguar seems to have left,” Isabel said. “Or it just moved out of our view,” Harold said. “Either way, it seems we have found what we are looking for,” Hiroshi said as he stepped out of the trees into a small clearing in front of them. “This is what the artifact was leading us to?” Isabel asked as she looked around. “A statue and an underground staircase?” “Presumably what it’s leading us to is down the stairs,” Harold said. “Someone else is already down there,” Hiroshi said as he looked around the area. “In fact, I believe the statue was covering the staircase before they opened it.” “What are we thinking?” Harold asked. “ESS? Although it is the Amazon, so it could also be KOKON remnants.” “A team of three,” Hiroshi said as he bent down and checked the ground. “No, four. One of them was in a tree providing lookout while the others presumably puzzled out the statue.” “Team of four suggests ESS,” Isabel said. “As does the fact that three of these people were military, and the other was a civilian,” Hiroshi said. “You can tell that from footprints?” Isabel asked. “Military tend to all wear similar boots, but one of these guys clearly has more expensive tastes,” Hiroshi said. “Fascinating,” Charles said as he looked around the lab. “I don’t know what I was expecting, but this certainly wasn’t it.” “So, what is all this?” Geoffrey asked as he picked up a small blue cube off a table. “I haven’t the slightest idea,” Charles said. “So be careful what you touch. Who knows what any of this could do.” Geoffrey quickly put the cube back on the table. “I think this is some sort of computer over here,” Aaron said from over where he had found a screen. “I don’t see any kind of mouse or keyboard though.” Charles went over and looked at the writing on the screen. “It’s the same language as on the statue. Also, I think it might be a touchscreen.” “A touchscreen?” Jon asked. Charles pressed down on one of the words, and the screen changed to show some images of the ground outside the entrance they had come in. And they just had the briefest glimpse of someone going down the stairs. “We’re about to have company,” Geoffrey said. “Let’s get ready.” The four each took up a position behind cover where they still had a clear view of the door. Hiroshi put his finger up to his mouth to indicate silence as he moved towards the door in the hallway. Isabel and Harold followed after him. Hiroshi had his sword in one hand, and his gun in the other. Harold took out his sword, while Isabel grabbed her gun. “We know you’re out there,” someone said from inside the room. “What are you doing here?” “We could ask you the same question,” Harold said. “You’re ESS, right?” There was silence for half a minute before the same voice spoke up again. “What do you know about the ESS?” “We know that this is a bit outside your jurisdiction,” Hiroshi said. “You deal with scientific threats, not mystical.” “I don’t know, I’d say this seems pretty sciencey in here.” “Are you planning on shooting us if we go in?” Isabel asked. “Not if you don’t shoot at us.” Hiroshi put down his gun, but kept it and his sword in his hands as he slowly entered the room. Just like he had predicted, three military men, and a civilian. “My name is Hiroshi Tanaka, and these are my associates, Harold Thompson and Isabel Reaves.” “I’m Geoffrey, and my men here are Jon, Aaron, and Charles,” Geoffrey said, pointing to each member of his team in order. “No last names?” Harold asked. “Not for you to know,” Geoffrey said. “So who exactly are you people?” “We’re part of an organization you’ve probably never heard of,” Harold said. “The Custes.” “Latin for guardians?” Charles asked. “Our organization was founded at the same time as Rome,” Harold said. “You said you deal in mystical stuff?” Aaron said. “I’d definitely like for you to be right, as that’s what my money was on, but this does look pretty high tech.” “He’s got a point,” Isabel said. “But the artifact was pointing here, so obviously something’s up.” “Artifact?” Charles asked. Hiroshi removed it from one of his pockets, and as he did it glowed very brightly, right before everything went to black. Aaron woke up with a pounding headache, and looked around. He was still in a lab similar to the one he was just in, but this one was smaller. Harold was there as well, and was just waking up too. “That was strange,” Harold said. “Any idea what happened?” Aaron asked as he realized that this lab had no doors. “We’re trapped in here.” “Must be some kind of security system,” Harold said as he got up. “Some kind of field to knock us out, and then put us here. Wherever here is.” “If it’s supposed to be a prison cell, why lock us up with all sorts of crazy tech?” Aaron asked as he picked a small device up off a table. He looked it over, and had no idea what it was. “Maybe it won’t actually do anything,” Harold suggested as he started looking at the different types of equipment available. “This looks like some kind of high tech bow,” Aaron said picking something up. He tried pulling back on the bowstring to test the weight, and an arrow made out of energy appeared in it. “Huh, that’s cool.” He fired it at a wall, which it hit without doing any seeming damage. “Be careful,” Harold said. “For all we know there could be something explosive in here.” “Right, sorry, looks like there’s different settings on this thing, not sure what they mean though.” “Let me see,” Harold said and Aaron handed it to him. “Hmm, yeah, I’m not certain myself. I’d imagine there are setting for like stun or kill or whatever.” “Like in Star Trek? Never much cared for that series. But we should probably try figuring out what the settings are for certain, it may help us with getting out of here.” “Yes, and I’m also curious what happened to the rest of our teams.” Jon got up to his feet. He was not sure where he had been moved while he was unconscious. The room he was in was a cube, with walls, floor, and ceiling that were smooth and white, with no doors or windows or anything else. And the room was completely empty except for him, and Isabel who was also getting up and looking around. “What happened?” Isabel asked. “Where are we?” “I have no idea,” Jon said. “The last thing I remember was your friend removing that glowy thing from his pocket, and then everything went black and now we’re here, wherever here is.” “Yeah, that’s what I remember too,” Isabel said. “What was that thing anyway?” Jon asked. “It’s a magic artifact that locates other magic artifacts.” “I’ve been with the ESS for a long time, and there have been multiple instances of something seeming like magic, but they always end up with a scientific explanation.” “Maybe because most of the time, we deal with the actual magic stuff before you guys ever get there.” “Uh huh,” Jon said. He was feeling along the wall, looking for any sort of seam or indent or protrusion, but had yet to find anything. “I don’t suppose you have any magic tricks to get us out of here.” “Sorry, I’m not a magic user of any sort myself. And most of the equipment I have with me is guns.” “Don’t think those are going to help with our current predicament, but I do appreciate a well armed woman.” Hiroshi woke up and looked around. He still had his artifact and it was still glowing, which was good as he was in a dark cave, and it was the only source of light. But he was not alone he noticed, as Charles was there too, and also waking up. “What happened?” Charles asked. “And what’s with this splitting headache?” “We are not where we were,” Hiroshi said. “Possibly we were teleported somewhere?” “Is teleportation a thing?” Charles asked. “Not that I am aware of,” Hiroshi said. “I am just throwing ideas out there.” “We’re in a cave,” Charles looked around. “A cave with no obvious entrances or exits.” “So, what do we do?” Charles started looking along the walls for anything. Hiroshi did the same. “This, I suppose. And if we don’t find anything, we’ll have to figure something else out.” “And how do we know we can trust each other?” “I gave you my full name, so I’m showing a bit more trust than you are, Mr. Thorne.” “You recognize me?” “My son has been asking for a computer for a while. The ones made by your company are at the top of his list.” “Oh, your accent doesn’t sound British.” “My son has been looking at computers from all over the world. And he says yours are the best.” “Well, if your kid has that kind of taste, I suppose that’s a good start for me to trust you.” Geoffrey woke up and looked around. He was sitting on a recliner in a normal looking living room. Not a living room he had ever seen before though. There was only one door in the room, so he went and opened it, and found a kitchen. Again, it was a pretty normal looking kitchen, but also one he had never seen before. There was a man by the oven, who looked to be making an omelette. “Who are you?” Geoffrey asked. “Where am I? What’s going on here?” “Oh, good morning,” the man said, without turning around. “You can call me Samuel. As for where you are, well, that’s a bit more complicated.” “The last thing I remember, I was in that lab with my team, and those other people, and then what happened?” “One of the Custes members took an artifact out of his pocket, and that woke me up.” “So, that lab is yours?” “Not originally, but I’ve since set up shop there. It’s a nice enough place to live, if a bit boring.” “And what’s all this?” Geoffrey indicated the kitchen with his hands, and realized the only door in here was the one back to the living room, other than cupboard doors and the fridge anyway. “It’s a test of course.” “A test? What do you mean?” “I mean, there’s only one way for you to escape this place, so good luck,” Samuel said before he vanished into thin air. Geoffrey started looking around the kitchen, and the living room, going back and forth between them, trying to find any clues as to what to do. The only door connected them, and there were no windows. He checked the fridge and cupboards in the kitchen, which were well stocked with a variety of foods and dishes, but did not provide any clues, at least not that he could figure out. He checked under all of the furniture, but found nothing out of the ordinary. There were three books on a shelf on one of the walls in the living room. He checked each one in turn, but pulling them off did nothing. And looking through the books themselves, none of them were in English. One looked to be Japanese, and another was Russian. The final one was in Latin, he was pretty sure. He started looking through the Russian one, flipping through pages, looking for anything in it. He did not understand Russian, but he was hoping there might be some kind of clue he could find in it anyway. “Look at that,” Isabel pointed to the ceiling, where a small square had turned blue. “Huh, I wonder why that happened,” Jon said. “I haven’t felt any buttons or anything along the walls. You?” “No, it’s all been smooth for me. But speaking of buttons, should we maybe try pressing the blue square?” “Maybe? I don’t know, but then, I don’t understand any of what’s happened here.” “Same, but I have no other ideas, besides maybe just waiting and hoping something else happens.” “Okay, I’ll boost you up, and you can try pressing it,” Jon said as he put his hands together, palms up. Isabel stepped on them, and he stood up straight as she tried to stay steady. She reached up as high as she could, but her hand was still about a foot away from the ceiling. “Can you reach?” Jon asked. “Not quite, uh, one second.” Isabel reached into her jacket and pulled out a rifle, and used that to press the blue square. As soon as she did, the square turned back to the same white as everything else. “Huh, not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.” “Or maybe it’s neither,” Jon said as he let her back down. “For all we know it did absolutely nothing.” As Geoffrey was paging through the book, it suddenly vanished, as did the shelf on the wall and the other two books that were on it. And the part of the wall where the shelf had been turned into a door. Geoffrey opened it, and it lead to a garage, although one without a garage door. The only type of door in it was the one he had just opened. There was a car parked in it, a Honda Accord. There were also various tools hanging from the walls of the garage. The wall where the garage door should have been though, was mostly empty, except for the book shelf, with the same three books as had been in the living room. Geoffrey walked over to them, and considered. More of this house had been revealed while he was looking at the Russian book, even if he could not actually read it. So, should he try looking through it again, or perhaps one of the other books. He grabbed the Japanese book at random, opened it up, and started leafing through the pages. The cave that Hiroshi and Charles were in suddenly lit up as glowing symbols appeared on the walls. “Hmm, that’s interesting,” Charles said. “I don’t recognize the symbols though. Do you?” “No,” Hiroshi said. “If they are a writing of some kind, I am unfamiliar with the language.” The symbols were all at the same height on the walls, about halfway between the floor and ceiling of the cave, and went around the entire cave. Hiroshi counted them up, and there were exactly twenty-five, with each of them being unique. They were a variety of different shapes. “They might not be letters though,” Charles said. “It might be some kind of test?” “But testing what? The pattern?” “Maybe,” Charles said. “If there’s a pattern. Umm, let’s see, this symbol has four lines in it, then the one to it’s left has five lines, and the one after that has six. Oh, but the next one has only two.” “That could still be a pattern, if we count up the lines in all of them,” Hiroshi said. “Assuming that’s what the pattern is. And assuming a pattern is even what we are looking for. But it’s a start, I suppose.” Geoffrey had been looking through the Japanese book for as long as he had been looking through the Russian book, but nothing had happened as of yet. At least not in the garage. He went back into the living room, and it seemed to have remained the same, as did the kitchen when he looked in there. He wished he could read either of those language, or Latin, so he would at least have an idea of what was in the books. He returned the Japanese book to the shelf, and then grabbed the Latin book, and started looking through it. “Look at that,” Harold said as he pointed at a container that contained a green liquid, which had just started boiling. “What is it?” Aaron asked. “Not sure,” Harold said. There were two other containers next to it, one had a purple liquid, and the other had an orange liquid. There were also three buttons behind them. One was red, one was blue, and one was yellow. “A test maybe?” Aaron asked. “Although it seems a bit of an easy one. Yellow plus blue equals green, so if it’s a test, presumably we just press both those buttons at the same time.” “Or we might press just the red one,” Harold said. “The problem with tests like this is you don’t know what they’re asking, if this even is a test.” “So, do we just do nothing?” Aaron asked. “Are we supposed to just sit around waiting?” “You young people are so impatient. But if you must do something, go ahead.” Aaron pressed the yellow and blue buttons at the same time. The green liquid immediately stopped boiling, and the orange liquid started. He pressed the red and yellow buttons, and this time the purple liquid started boiling as the orange stopped. He pressed the blue and red, and then all three started boiling, so he pressed all three buttons. They all stopped. “Nothing seems to have happened,” Harold said looking around. “So possibly that wasn’t the right thing to do?” Aaron asked. “But at least nothing bad has happened.” “Not here anyway,” Harold said. “At least not that we can tell.” After a few minutes, the books and bookshelf once again disappeared. Geoffrey looked around the garage, but it still looked the same, other than the missing bookshelf. He went back into the living room, where there was now a set of stairs where there had previously just been a wall. He walked up the stairs and found a hallway. No doors, but the book shelf was now on the wall at the end of the hallway, with the same three books on it. He went to the end, and picked up the Japanese book again. Hiroshi and Charles had been halfway through writing down the symbols, when the symbols had disappeared. But now they suddenly returned. “Did you figure out any pattern to them?” Charles asked. “Nothing yet,” Hiroshi said. “You?” “Same, there has to be something to them, but I have no idea what it is.” “Maybe it’s something to do with the amount of them, twenty-five.” “One less than the English alphabet,” Charles said. “But if it is the alphabet, just missing one letter, I don’t see how that helps us. And counting up the number of lines in each symbol hasn’t provided any sort of pattern. Like look at this bunch in a row, four, four, three, three, three, one. It almost looks like a pattern, but, doesn’t fit with anything else.” “Wait, what?” Hiroshi said as he looked at them. “I mean, it’s hard to decide at some points what to call a line, but I’m pretty much going with curves continue a line, sharp angles separate lines.” “No, yeah, that makes sense, but that fits the amount of lines per character in my name, if it’s written in hiragana.” Charles looked at the next bunch of symbols. One, two, two, two, one, two, one. “And the rest is my name, but in the English alphabet. So what does that mean, and what do we do with it?” Hiroshi put his hand on the symbol that represented the start of his name. “This maybe?” Charles put his hand on the first symbol for his name. Nothing happened. “Maybe if we each run a hand across our own name?” They did that, and as they finished the symbols disappeared again. “Were they disappearing again for the same reason they did before?” Charles asked. “Because it happened right as we finished what we were doing.” “Hmm, it’s possible that this time it’s because of what we did,” Hiroshi said. “But it’s hard to say for certain, and we don’t know the significance either way.” After a little while, the books and the shelf disappeared once again, and Geoffrey looked around. The hallway he was in now had a door in it, and he went and looked inside. It was a master bedroom with a nice large bed, and everything else you would expect to find in a normal bedroom. And of course there was the bookshelf, with the same three books. Geoffrey walked up to them, and considered them again. Clearly they were doing something, although he still had no idea how or why. And the Japanese book had only caused changes the second time he had looked at it. He thought about the books, as well as the Custes people he had met. Hiroshi was definitely Japanese. Isabel was a name that could be Russian, although her last name Reaves did not sound that way. And what about Latin? Maybe Harold was Catholic? This was all assuming the books were even connected to them. But without any other ideas, Geoffrey just took a book off of the shelf again. This time he picked the Latin one again. In the lab, Aaron was pacing back and forth, while Harold was continuing to look over and study everything. “Fascinating,” Harold said. “Learning anything useful?” Aaron asked. “I don’t know yet.” As they were talking one of the wall shimmered and a door appeared. There was a computer panel on the wall next to it. “Huh, that’s new,” Aaron said as he went over to it. The door had no handle or knob on it. Aaron pressed his hands against it and tried to slide it open, but it did not move. “The computer panel will potentially open it,” Harold said. “It’ll probably require a code though.” He touched the computer panel and it lit up with six squares. Red, blue, yellow, orange, purple, and green. “Related to the buttons and liquids from earlier?” Aaron asked. “Perhaps, but again, we don’t really know what it’s asking,” Harold said. “We might as well try something,” Aaron said. “Go ahead then.” Aaron thought back to earlier. He pressed the green button first, then the yellow and blue buttons simultaneously. Then the orange, then the red and yellow together. He then pressed the purple button, then the blue and red at the same time. He then pressed all three of the green, orange, and purple, followed by all three of the red, yellow, and blue. The door opened. “I think you’ve just been overthinking things,” Aaron said. “Sometimes the simplest solution is the best.” “Occam’s razor,” Harold said. “Good point.” They looked through the door, which lead into an office with a desk and some chairs. There was a computer and a phone on the desk. The office had no doors other than the one they were looking through, and no windows. Aaron went in and picked up the phone, but it was dead. Similarly, the computer was not on, nor did it turn on when he hit the power button. Geoffrey was getting used to it as the books and shelf disappeared once again. He looked around the room, which was unchanged. He checked out in the hall, which now had an additional door, and going in, he found a small office with a computer and a phone. No books on a shelf this time though. He checked the computer first, which was off, and the power button did nothing. So then he picked up the phone and heard the dial tone. He dialed an ESS number, but that did nothing. He tried a few other numbers he knew, including his own, but nothing was working until he tried the number belonging to Aaron. It rang for a few seconds before it was answered. “Hello?” Aaron asked. “Hammer?” Geoffrey asked. “Are you back at home?” “Colonel Gordon?” Aaron asked. “No, I’m in a small office attached to a lab that looks similar to the one we were in, but smaller. Why would you think I’m at home?” “Because that’s the number I just dialed,” Geoffrey said. “I’m in a house of some sort, but there’s no way out, at least not yet. Is anyone else with you?” “That Harold Thompson guy,” Aaron said. “And originally there was no office here, a door to it just appeared a few minutes ago, and we needed to input a code based on some puzzle thing we solved earlier.” “A puzzle thing? There was a man here earlier that told me this was a test. He said his name was Samuel.” “Weird, but yeah, that was maybe half an hour or so ago.” “There are three books that keep appearing over here,” Geoffrey said. “One in Japanese, one in Russian, and one in Latin.” “Japanese, Russian, and Latin?” Aaron asked. “Okay.” “When I look through them, more doors keep appearing in here. Those two events line up with me looking at the Latin one.” “One second, Harold would like to talk to you,” Aaron said. “Hello, this is Harold,” Harold said. “Do you know what’s going on here?” Geoffrey asked. “I don’t,” Harold said. “But those languages you mentioned are interesting. Hiroshi is Japanese.” “I gathered as much,” Geoffrey said. “And Isabel is Russian on her mother’s side,” Harold said. “And I take it you know Latin?” Geoffrey asked. “Yes, I most definitely know Latin,” Harold said. “It’s my first language.” “I’m sorry, what?” Geoffrey asked. “The reason isn’t that important,” Harold said. “Do you have the books on hand?” “No,” Geoffrey said. “Every other time a new room has appeared in the house I’m in, the books have been in the new room, but not this time. I haven’t gone to check the other rooms yet though.” “I’d recommend you do so, and then we can see if I can translate them,” Harold said. “Makes sense,” Geoffrey said. “I’ll be right back.” He went through the house, checking the hallway, master bedroom, and then going down the stairs and checking the living room, kitchen, and garage. All were the same as before, and none had the shelf with the books. He returned to the office and picked up the phone. “Nope, they aren’t here anymore.” “Hmm, I don’t suppose you remember anything from them,” Harold said. “I’m only familiar enough with the languages to recognize them, nothing more,” Geoffrey said. “That’s unfortunate,” Harold said. In the cube room where Isabel and Jon were, a book suddenly appeared in one of the corners. Isabel went and picked it up, and started looking through it. “I don’t suppose you know any Latin?” she asked Jon. “Sorry, no. The only language I can read fluently is English. I understand bits of others, but not Latin, as it’s not usually that relevant.” “That’s unfortunate. If Harold were here, he’d be able to read this.” “Charles too,” Jon said. “That guy knows more languages than I’ve had girlfriends.” “Too bad he’s not the one here then,” Isabel said. “Well, we’ll just have figure out something ourselves.” In the cave where Charles and Hiroshi were, Charles was pacing while Hiroshi was sitting on the ground. “I don’t know how you can remain so calm, when we’re trapped in here, with no apparent way in or out,” Charles said. “At least when those symbols appeared we had something to work on, but near as I can tell they did nothing.” “Worry won’t help with the situation,” Hiroshi said. “All we can do at the moment is wait.” “Wait for…” Charles trailed off as he noticed a book wedged into the wall. He was pretty sure it had not been there before. He pulled it out, and opened it up. “Are you at all fluent in Russian?” he asked. “No,” Hiroshi said. “Isabel is, but I am not.” “Hmm, I know a bit of it,” Charles said. “It’s not one I’ve needed to study much, but relations between the USA and USSR being what they are, I’ve picked up a bit of it.” Harold was still on the phone with Geoffrey, when Aaron came back into the office from the lab. And Aaron was holding a book. “No, I have no idea who this Samuel might be, or what these tests are about,” Harold said on the phone. “The Colonel said one of the books was Japanese, right?” Aaron asked. “Is that it?” Harold asked. “It’s a book, and it’s written in Japanese,” Aaron said. “What’s that?” Geoffrey asked over the phone. “We have a Japanese book here,” Harold said. “And it wasn’t here before,” Aaron said. “Let me see, I know a bit of Japanese.” He traded the phone to Aaron for the book and started flipping through it. “Hmm.” “What?” Aaron asked. “It seems to be gibberish,” Harold said. “Like, the katakana and hiragana don’t form any words I know, and the kanji don’t form any coherent statements.” “Is it possible it’s a code of some sort?” Aaron asked. “It’s certainly possible, very likely I’d even guess,” Harold said. “But I don’t know where I’d even begin.” “Okay, like I said, Russian isn’t one of my specialties,” Charles said. “But I’m pretty sure this is gibberish.” “Or it’s another code,” Hiroshi said. “That’s certainly possible. Maybe even probable. But we don’t really have a starting point on how to decode it.” “What’s the title on the book’s cover?” Hiroshi asked. Charles looked at it. “I’m pretty sure it translates to ‘Betrayal of Family’. So the title sounds like an actual title. But I have no idea what it could refer to.” “Hmm, I may have an idea. I mentioned earlier that Isabel is fluent in Russian. That is because her mother is Russian, but her father is American. I won’t go into details, but let’s just say things went badly, and that title sounds like it is referring to her.” “Strange, but I don’t know if that helps us. Unless…” Charles opened the book, and took out a pencil, and started writing in it. “What?” “I’m trying to see if yeah, on the last page, this might be a cypher, but it was incomplete. I’m putting in Isabel’s name, and it looks complete, but it’ll take me some time to start decoding the book, and seeing if it’s correct.” “Well, it’s not like we have anything else to do at the moment,” Hiroshi said. “What about the title on the cover?” Aaron asked. “Is that gibberish too?” “No, the title is actual words,” Harold said. “It roughly translates to ‘End of a Legacy’.” “Does that mean anything to you?” “It might refer to Hiroshi. His family has long been part of the Custes going back several centuries, but he doesn’t want his kids following in his footsteps.” “Okay, how does that help us?” Aaron asked. “I don’t know.” “Hmm, I think this word maybe means death,” Jon said. “It’s similar to the French word. But I’m not sure of the rest of it.” “‘Death of a Saviour’ maybe?” Isabel asked. “That looks like it might fit.” “Plus it seems like it relates to Howard’s history.” “Oh yeah? How’s that?” “It’s…complicated,” Isabel said. “I’m sure it is, but it’s not like we have much else to do at the moment,” Jon said. “I’m not telling you someone else’s secrets. Maybe at the end of all this, he’ll tell you, but they aren’t my secrets to tell.” “Fair enough.” “You guys figuring anything out yet?” Geoffrey asked over the phone. “Maybe,” Aaron said. “Harold’s been going through the book, and he might have found a cipher that was complete when he filled in Hiroshi’s name. He’s trying to decode the book now.” “Well, hopefully he figures something out, I’ve been up and down throughout this house, and have yet to figure anything new out.” “Yeah, there’s a lot in the lab we have here, but who knows what it even all does. I did find this cool energy bow though.” “Energy bow?” “Yeah, it’s like a bow and arrow, except with energy bolts instead of arrows.” “That Samuel I talked to said this was a test, but I don’t know, all of these puzzles seem to be rather arbitrary. Like what is even being tested here?” “I don’t know,” Aaron said. “Perhaps he’s just toying with us. Giving us random situations and seeing how we deal with them.” “That thought had crossed my mind. The question is, why? What is he gaining from this?” “Hmm, that’s interesting,” Charles said as he was working on decoding the book. “What is it?” Hiroshi asked. “Are you finding anything useful?” “Maybe, not certain yet. Could you start knocking on the cave walls, and see if you can find a location that sounds hollow?” “Sure,” Hiroshi said as he started on that. After a minute or so, he found such a spot. “Okay, now what?” Charles went over also, put the book in front of the spot, and then punched the book. He took it away from the wall to reveal a hole in the wall. Inside it there was an electrical outlet, and a cord that was not currently plugged in. “Is that what you were expecting?” Hiroshi asked. “I really had no idea what to expect. But we might as well plug it in.” Geoffrey was pacing back and forth in the office, when the computer suddenly turned on. He picked up the phone. “The computer in here just turned on. Did you guys do anything?” “No, I don’t think so,” Aaron said. “The computer here is still off though.” There was a pause. “Harold is asking what’s on the computer.” “Looks like a word processor of some kind. Nothing’s written in it yet.” Geoffrey pressed a few keys on the keyboard, spelling out <Hello> on the screen. “Presumably this is yet another weird test of some sort. But I have no idea what I should do about it.” “Well, that’s new,” Isabel said as she looked up at the ceiling, where the word <Hello> had appeared. “So, someone’s trying to communicate with us,” Jon said. “But who, and how do we communicate back?” “Can you hear us?” Isabel asked. They watched the ceiling, but nothing else immediately appeared. Jon walked over to the wall, and started tracing his finger in the form of letters. Nothing appeared though. “It’s possible there isn’t even a way for us to communicate back.” “So, we’re not really in a different position than before anything appeared on the ceiling. This is getting annoying. Are you figuring out anything with the book?” “Not really,” Jon said. “That’s where it would be really nice to communicate back, assuming that hello was from one of the people we know who knows Latin.” “Aha,” Harold said. “What is it?” Aaron asked. “Ask your boss if there is a car in the house he’s in,” Harold said. Aaron picked up the phone and asked. “Yeah,” he said after listening. “There’s a Honda Accord in the garage. But he says there’s no keys in it.” “Tell him to check the cupboards, there should be some boxes of cereal, one of which is a sugary kid’s cereal that has a prize inside. The keys should be in there.” Aaron told Geoffrey about that. “Okay, he’s going to check. What’s this supposed to do though? He mentioned earlier the garage doesn’t actually have a garage door.” “I don’t know,” Harold said. “But it’s something to do, at any rate.” Geoffrey looked through the cupboards. He quickly found several boxes of cereal, and tossed them out until he found one that mentioned a prize. He opened it up, and sure enough, there was a car key inside it. He went to the garage, and started up the car. The radio turned on with it. He heard two people talking, and he instantly recognized one of them as Charles. He was fairly certain that the other one was Hiroshi. That just left Jon and Isabel unaccounted for. Charles and Hiroshi were talking about a Russian book, which explained where that went. And apparently they had just plugged in a cord a few minutes ago, which lined up with the computer turning on. But the pressing question now that he could hear them, how could he communicate back to them? He was not hearing anything about them seeing the message he had typed on the computer, so that was probably not what that was for. “Clearly we’re missing something,” Jon said. “That ‘Hello’ is still on the ceiling, we just need to figure out what it means.” “Maybe we press it like those colored squares that appeared up there earlier?” Isabel asked. “It’s as a good a theory as any.” Jon once again lifted Isabel up to the ceiling, and she pressed on the <Hello>. Nothing happened so she came back down to the floor. “Okay, we’ve tried responding verbally, and nothing,” Isabel said. “Pressing it doesn’t do anything either. What if someone is on the other side of one of the walls?” Jon walked over to a wall, and started knocking on it. “Sounds pretty thick and solid.” “Maybe not the whole thing though? Let’s see if we can find somewhere that sounds thinner or hollow or something.” “I suppose it’s as good an idea as any.” “Do you hear that?” Hiroshi asked. “Hear what?” Charles asked. Hiroshi put his ear next to the cave wall, and started walking alongside it. “Yes, there’s a tapping sound here.” Charles went over and listened. It started out as random tapping, but then it turned into morse code. Charles took out his notebook, and started marking it down. “Hello, can anyone here us. This is Jon Teleros and I am with Isabel Reaves.” “Hmm, that’s good,” Hiroshi said. “We’ve finally made contact with someone. Can you respond back?” “Yeah,” Charles said. “You hearing that?” Jon said as he listened to the tapping on the wall. “Someone is responding. It’s Charles and your friend Hiroshi is with him.” “That’s great,” Isabel said. “Or are they trapped too?” “He’s saying that they’re in a cave. And yeah, they’re trapped in there.” “Do you know if that message on the ceiling was from them?” “I’ll ask,” Jon said, before tapping the message in morse code. After a bit there was a response. “No, it wasn’t them.” “Hmm, so was it some of our other people, or was it someone else entirely?” Isabel asked. Geoffrey listened as Hiroshi and Charles talked about what Jon and Isabel were telling them. He was not sure the <Hello> they had seen was the same one he had typed, but it seemed like a decent enough theory. He returned to the office, and informed Aaron and Harold of what he had learned, while typing a new message on the computer, and going back down to the garage to listen in some more. “Huh, look at that,” Isabel said as she pointed to the ceiling, where words were starting to appear. <This is Colonel Geoffrey Gordon, and I am hoping this is being read by Major Teleros and Isabel. I can listen in on Charles and Hiroshi, and know they can communicate with you.> “Right,” Jon said. “I’ll let Charles and Hiroshi know that we’re seeing that, and they can let the Colonel know.” “Excellent, it’s good that we’re finally making some progress here,” Isabel said. “At least, I hope this is progress.” “Okay, so now we can all communicate with each other,” Aaron said. “Even if some of that communication is limited.” “Yes, the question is, what do we do next?” Harold asked. “I suppose the obvious answer is to pass along the contents of each book to those that best understand the language.” “That’ll take a while. Like, we have the Japanese book, so we need to tell Geoffrey over the phone so that he can type it out for Colonel Teleros and Isabel, so they can use morse code to tell Hiroshi.” “It’s not ideal, but it’s the best we can do.” Over the next several hours they slowly communicated the contents of the book to those that could understand them fluently. Each book contained a number of instructions and tests and puzzles, and they started working on them. Some were as simple as finding the right location on a wall to tap, while others were more complex and required things like advanced mathematics, or chemical concoctions, amongst other things. With every task they completed more was opened up for one of them. Some caused new rooms to appear in the house that Geoffrey was in. Others started created tunnels and new caverns in the cave Hiroshi and Charles were in. And some created more side rooms for the lab that Aaron and Harold were in. However, nothing new was created in the area that Jon and Isabel were in. Geoffrey was checking out the new additions to the house. He had just come up from a newly appeared basement, and decided to check out the garage. It now had an actual garage door in it. Geoffrey went over and opened it, revealing a vast emptiness. It was like space, but without any stars or anything. He was also not being sucked out into it, and was able to breathe just fine. He walked to the edge, and put his foot out, but there was nothing solid to step on. He got into the car, and checked the gas gauge. Despite how much it had been running, it was still full. It had been backed into the garage, so he slowly inched forward. The front of the car started going out into the emptiness, and he continued, until the front wheels were right on the edge of the garage floor. He slowly continued forward, and the car continued staying level. He continued on until about half of the car was out of the garage. He opened the car door, and stuck one of his feet out. He could not feel any solid ground, and his foot was able to go further below the point that the bottom of the wheels were at. Geoffrey backed the car back into the garage, and got out. He went over to the edge, and stuck his foot out again, and he still felt no solid surface beyond the garage, yet somehow the car had still been driving on it. “There’s nothing in any of the books about that,” Harold said after Geoffrey had told him about what was outside the garage. “Maybe not, but we’ve done about everything we can find in those books, and this looks like the next step,” Geoffrey said. “I’m just a bit worried about completely leaving the garage with that car.” “Understandably so,” Harold said. “And it brings up so many questions about where you are, and where the rest of us are for that matter. Is this some sort of illusion, or perhaps a simulation.” “And if so, how was it created,” Geoffrey said. “Your team deals with mystical stuff, or so you said, and that’s what you were investigating. I’ve never put much stock in magic, but this is not like anything the ESS has encountered before. Or at least nothing that I’m aware of.” “Honestly, our team has never encountered anything quite like this either,” Harold said. “And there’s very little our group has encountered that I’m not aware of.” “Why are all of the other areas expanding, but not this one?” Isabel asked. “That’s a good question,” Jon said. “Possibly the nature of this room. Like the other places are a house, a cave, and some kind of laboratory. Those are all perfectly regular places, even if the lab is like something from sci-fi, but this is different. Who would make a room like this?” “I mean, it’s a pretty good jail cell, if you don’t mind driving your prisoners mad. Might even be the goal.” “You feeling like you’re going mad?” “No, but we haven’t been in here for very long yet. It also helps that there’s the two of us, so we can talk with each other, but can you imagine being in here by yourself. Things like the book appearing, or the text on the ceiling from your Colonel. That would seem like hallucinations before too long.” “Hmm, so you think that might be the intended purpose of this room? Then why put us both in it?” “No idea, but this whole thing just seems so strange,” Isabel said. “Like, these supposed tests, there’s no rhyme or reason to them. It just seems so pointless.” “What if that is the point?” Jon asked. “What if that person that Colonel Gordon saw is just toying with us, like a kid with a magnifying glass toys with ants.” “That’s kind of a terrifying thought. We’ve certainly faced our fair share of powerful beings, I mean hell, the Custes used to assist the wielder of the twin swords of Mars in keeping Alket out of our world, but our organization isn’t exactly what it used to be.” Geoffrey got back into the car, and started driving forward again. He slowly drove out of the garage, the front wheels seemingly on a surface which did not otherwise seem to exist. He kept going until the back wheels were right on the edge of the garage. He took a deep breath and then continued driving the car forward. It stayed level. He kept going, looking out the window, as he was seemingly driving on and through nothingness. He looked back at the house, which was pretty big, and seemed to be about the right size for what he had all seen so far inside. But then he noticed something behind the house, a shed. He drove over to it. Just like the house it was floating in the void. He opened the car door, and tried stepping out with a single foot, but just like before he could not find any solid surface with his foot. He went as close as he could to the shed door, and reached out to open it. There was floor inside, and he jumped over. It was dark inside, but he felt around, and found a light switch, which he turned on. “Good to see you again,” Samuel said. He was sitting in a chair next to a work desk, whittling away at a piece of wood. “I was wondering how long it would take you to find me.” “We’ve been passing your tests,” Geoffrey said. “It’s time to let us go.” “Not quite, not quite, but nearing that, yes.” “What else do we need to do?” Samuel tossed the wooden object he was working on to Geoffrey. It was shaped like a duck. It took him a moment, but luckily not a very long moment, to realize the significance, and duck as something was swung at him from behind. Geoffrey turned around as he came back up, and punched his attacker right in the side of the face. The attacker stumbled back into the wall as Geoffrey looked him over, and grabbed a hatchet off a table next to him. The attacker looked identical to Samuel, and Geoffrey glanced over to make sure Samuel was still sitting where he had been. “Yeah, I know,” Samuel said. “He stole my good looks.” The attacker came at Geoffrey again, with the baseball bat he was holding, and Geoffrey parried the blow with the hatchet, before punching him in the face again with his other hand. He then brought the hatchet down, and with the blade pointed away, he hit the attacker in the legs tripping him. Geoffrey then held the blade of the hatchet to his attacker’s throat. “Who the hell are you?” “My name is irrelevant,” he said. “But I will not allow you to free him.” His eyes glanced at Samuel. “I’m trying to free myself and my team,” Geoffrey said. “As well as that Custes team. I wasn’t even aware Samuel was trapped here.” “Samuel, is that what he called himself?” “It’s a decent enough name,” Samuel said. “And at least somewhat appropriate.” “You are a pretender, a fake.” “Would someone tell me what the hell is going on here,” Geoffrey said. “All you are seeing is an illusion,” the attacker said. “He has created it in order to trick you into helping him escape.” “Is this true?” Geoffrey asked. “He’s the one that attacked you, not me,” Samuel said. “It’s true that I am trapped here, and would like to leave, but the same is true of you and your people.” “Then why the deception?” Geoffrey asked. “Because he knew you would never agree to the final thing that he needs to do to escape.” “Luckily for me, that’s all that remains,” Samuel said as he disappeared in a flash of light. Hiroshi was flipping through the Russian book. He did not understand any of it, but they had already translated most of it. “What about this page?” he asked as he compared it to the notes they had. “I’m not seeing a translation of this.” “Hmm?” Charles asked as he looked. “Oh, that’s nothing major, I was able to translate that page on my own, and didn’t need Isabel’s help.” “What is it about?” Hiroshi asked before Samuel suddenly appeared in the cave. “Who are you?” “I’m Samuel, and it is time. He can’t hear right now.” “Time for what?” Hiroshi asked before he felt something piercing into his back and out his chest. He looked down at a sword blade, and looked back at Charles holding it. “I’m sorry, you seem like a nice enough guy,” Charles said. “But that page explained what was required to let the rest of us go, and I for one have no intention of being trapped here.” Hiroshi fell to the ground as the world went dark. Jon blinked, and suddenly he was back in the lab he had originally been in. Isabel was still with him, and Charles, Aaron, and Harold were there as well, as was someone he did not recognize. “What happened?” Jon asked. “Who’s that, and where’s the Colonel?” “And where is Hiroshi?” Isabel asked, turning to Charles. “I’m Samuel, and I’m not really certain why your Colonel isn’t here, although Hiroshi isn’t because he’s dead. It’s been fun, but I am off now.” With that Samuel disappeared. “Hiroshi is dead?” Isabel asked. “That Samuel killed him,” Charles said. “He said it was the only way to escape. I tried to stop him, but there was nothing I could do.” “You…he…no,” Isabel said. “I’m sorry for your loss, but we still need to figure out why Colonel Gordon isn’t here,” Jon said. “And I’m not sure if we’re really equipped to deal with this Samuel anyway.” “Unfortunately, I think you are correct,” Harold said. “But I’m not sure what we can do to help your Colonel either.” “What do you mean?” Geoffrey asked. “What’s the final thing for him to escape?” “It has to do with how we were trapped here. You and your people were simply trapped by the illusion that he had created, with him free they are now as well, but I have kept you here, for two reasons. The first is so that I can explain.” “I thought you were trying to keep him trapped, but you’re trapped too?” “I am indeed. There are multiple locks on this place, which is why he had you go through those bizarre tests, to unlock them, because we are unable to. But after all of the locks are undone, there is one final thing that he needed to do to escape. Someone had to die.” “He killed someone?” “He is unable to kill anyone himself, or at least was unable while here. One of the members of your team was made to kill one of the members of the other team that was with you here.” “Who was it?” “I could tell you, but it matters not. You see, with him free, I need to free myself as well, in order to stop him.” “That the second reason you kept me here,” Geoffrey said. “You want to kill me.” “I do not want to kill you, but I have my duty. And unlike him, I am able to do so while trapped here.” “I beat you once.” “I underestimated you. That will not happen again.” Jon, Aaron, Charles, Harold, and Isabel were still in the lab, when the guard who looked just like Samuel appeared. Everyone immediately pointed their guns at him, except Charles who did not have any. “You bastard,” Isabel said. “You killed Hiroshi. Give me one good reason I shouldn’t end you now.” “I am not the one you know as Samuel, I have simply taken the same form as him. And I must chase after him to capture him and return him to this prison. Although I must apologize first for what I had to do in order to get out myself. I had to kill Colonel Geoffrey Gordon, and for that I am sorry.” “You what?” Jon asked, but the guard had already disappeared before he was finished asking. “So, now what?” Aaron asked. “We’ve lost our commanding officer, they’ve lost one of their team, every answer we’ve got here has just lead to more questions.” “We’ll head out, let HQ know what happened here,” Jon said. “Please don’t tell them about us,” Harold said. “It’s already become increasingly difficult for us to operate this past century.” “Does it even matter?” Isabel asked. “Our organization once had hundreds of members. Now it’s the two of us. We already can’t be what we need to be. Maybe it’s time to let someone else take over.” “There are still others that are still around,” Harold said. “Some might return. Leonardo and Nicholas are two I know that I can still contact. And we could try recruiting more.” “Hiroshi was the person that recruited me, and he was the reason I stuck with the group as it dwindled,” Isabel said. “You can try rebuilding if you want, but I think I’m out.” “And I’m sorry, but I can’t leave you out of my report,” Jon said. “Whatever happened here was much bigger than any of us, and I can’t take the risk of leaving out anything.” Harold sighed. “I understand, I just hope you understand the severity of what you’re doing. The Custes have existed for over two thousand years, and have protected humanity against innumerable threats. Your ESS is still a young organization, with much to learn. I just hope you are able to deal with the threats we will no longer be around to handle.” “You could always come join us,” Aaron said. “Teach us what we need to know.” “Hmm, me as a teacher?” Harold asked. “Maybe, I’ll have to consider it.” “If either of you are interested in joining the ESS, I can help with that,” Jon said. “I don’t know what my plans are now,” Isabel said. “I just don’t know.” “I may assist in an advisory role,” Harold said. “But I have no interest in becoming an actual agent.” “I understand, but the invitation is there, if you ever choose to accept,” Jon said. “But for now, let’s just get out of this place before anything else happens.”