Tethered Twins

Chapter Nineteen

Emmie Keyes

The elevator doors opened with a ‘ping’ sound. ‘Floor 56’. The top floor of TethTech and the office of Tobias Zen.

I stepped out of the elevator onto a walkway suspended in the air. The walkway itself was comprised of orange metal struts that zig-zagged in the same double helix pattern that I had seen on the side of the tower. Large grey metal poles went vertically upwards holding the walkway in place. It looked secure so I began to take tentative steps towards a pillar at the centre of the walkway.

As I walked forward I made the mistake of looking downwards and saw through the metal struts that the next floor was twenty feet or so below me. I wouldn’t survive a fall if it came to that. The elevator behind me began to whir into life and start to descend; there was only one way to go now.

I took off my heels and left them by the elevator door as they looked like they would easily get stuck in the struts. Walking bare foot made me feel exposed and the cold feeling of metal on my feet sent a shiver all over my body. It was a refreshing feeling after the intense heat of the previously tight corridors of the last floor.

As I arrived at the central pillar the walkways radiated around it in a circle and the floor changed to a white hard plastic coating. It gave my feet a moment to recover from the hard steel helixes and I felt the blood rush back into my feet as they recovered from the cold.

The central pillar reached my waist and then stopped rather than continuing to the top of the building. Whilst I rubbed one of my feet I could see that the central pillar was wide open at the top and through it I could see a long fall down to the bottom of the building.

Intriguingly there were several thin slits in the side of it, no wider than the size of a chocolate bar. Letting curiosity get the better of me I leant forward towards one of the holes and could see that the pillar itself was lined with mirrors that looked like they snaked down the entire tower. Each mirror showed a vision of a different room in the building and I worked my way around the different holes taking in glimpses of the world of TethTech.

What I saw amazed me. I saw rooms filled with plant life that sprawled across every surface, their vibrant colours of green, purple and red creating an intense burst of colour. One room was covered in plastic sheeting and contained a giant tank of water with dolphins in it who playfully splashed around. Another room was nothing but white space with a single pillar in the middle that gave off sparks of electricity. In one room I’m sure I saw a man walk through one wall and emerge through another on the opposite site of the room.

This was truly a house of science and it was fascinating.

Yet one of the rooms was one that filled me with horror. This room was filled with cells that contained animals, probably for testing. Cats, dogs, monkeys, rabbits and so much more all sat on the floors of their cells waiting for their next experiment. I felt sick. It was the first sign that there was more to TethTech than I had first thought.

Then in the last cell I saw a person lying on the floor. He was wearing an army uniform that had been torn. His hands were bound and his mouth gagged. I could see his face and his dark black hair and stubble but I’d never seen this man before. I thought about crying out to him but he seemed to be located at the base of the tower in the lowest level I could see. He’d never hear me and I wasn’t sure how I could reach him.

“Ms Young,” came a booming voice from right behind me. It startled me forwards and I felt my feet slip, sending me heading towards the pillar. The owner of the voice grabbed my jacket and pulled me backwards.

I regained my footing and turned to face the voice.

“Careful Ms Young. I wouldn’t want you to fall down there at least until we have had a little chat,” he said.