Europa

Chapter 6- Base

We wake to a surprising chill hanging in the air around us. I sit up and crawl out of the hole, peering around. Frost litters the plants and floor in front of me.
We're running out of time.
The others wake and observe the crystallised ground.
"The cold" Farren says quietly.
"No time to waste!" I tell them, "we can eat as we go, grab the stuff!"
One by one we exit our den and after a quick direction check we begin walking west, munching on the bruised fruit as we go. The others bicker about who has the least bruised piece, but my thoughts are far from theirs.
I'm worried.
The sudden appearance of the cold has unnerved me, yesterday it was still fairly humid and the drastic change overnight is extremely concerning to me. For all we know we could wake up tomorrow to snow covered ground, or not wake up at all. Flantloc told us that the cold here can kill in seconds if you aren't deep underground. I also imagine the severe elements would damage the machine beyond repair. We need to get a move on big time but there's no telling how much further we have to go. I imagine it's not too far considering the spike in the remote, but it could be anywhere from an hour to a week away, I can't help but feel a week is too long.
"What're you moping about?" Farren asks, sliding next to me.
"Nothing" I tell her. I don't want to freak her out.
"It's the cold, isn't it?" She sighs. "I'm worried too. Looks like we're on bought time huh?"
I nod, not wanting to confirm her fears out loud.
She stays silent for a moment, glaring ahead with a far off stare.
"What will be will be, Adriel" she says quietly. "Even if we die here, I'm glad I got to spend my last moments with you."
I almost choke. Is Farren saying she likes me back?! I turn and look at her but she's staring at her feet, fidgeting with her hands.
"Thankyou Farren" I manage to squeak out, "if it means anything, I feel that way too."
She nods and blushes slightly. Am I hallucinating? Resilient Farren blushing? We truly are in an alien world. I thought she wasn't physically capable! Before I squeak out something else she saves me from embarrassment and trots over to Alora.
We're burdened with very adult worries right now, but underneath we're still awkward teenagers.
I look over at Marsh and see him staring at Farren. It's not a secret that we both like her, it's nothing short of a nightmare really, two best friends crushing on the same girl. But I'm not going to throw in the towel just because of Marsh and he wouldn't do it for me either. He's clearly noticed that me and Farren have got closer and I'm sure he heard what she just said. All I can do is hope that it won't drive a wedge between us. I really like Farren, but Marsh and me have been best friends since we were kids. Its no secret that I would be lost without him.
"It sure is chilly!" Loan groans, rubbing his arms.
"I can make dragon breath!" Alora laughs, breathing out a cloud of condensation.
"It's not something to be cheerful about" Marsh huffs, "it means if we don't find the machine soon we are all gonna freeze to death."
"Don't be negative, Marsh!" Stephen accuses, "if we feel it get too cold we can find an underground hole to jump into! I'm sure there's other flantlocs who will house us."
"Your way to optimistic" Marsh says sullenly. He's clearly in a bad mood, maybe because of the Farren situation. But it's no reason to freak out the others. He's right- but there's no use in scaremongering.
"Stop it Marsh" I say sternly. "I'm sure we could find a hole in time."
"You and I both know that's crud!" He shouts, surprising me and everyone else. "Your babying them like they aren't smart enough to make their own decisions! Since we got here you've took charge, not giving anyone else a look in! Your not a hero Adriel, so stop trying to act like one!"
I reel in shock. Marsh has never shouted at me before. But I'm also angry, how dare he ridicule me when all I've done is help everyone else!
"You've got a real audacity, you know that Marsh!" I retort, "I've done what I've had to, I didn't intend to call all the shots or seem bossy, unlike some I'm focusing on the end result and trying to get us all out alive!"
"And what's that supposed to mean?" He growls, "I've done exactly the same!"
"What you've done is be negative and pull everyone else down!" I shout.
Marsh starts towards me but the others jump in the way.
"What's wrong with you!" Farren shouts at Marsh, "Adriel's done nothing wrong!"
"You being a real buzzkill Marsh!" Loan adds, "we're trying to be positive, there was no need for any of that!"
Marsh turns away, shaking his head.
"Whatever" he barks. "I'm not concerned with arguing, I'm concerned with getting home! And when I do I never wanna see your face again Adriel! But for now we have to work together. So stop hiding behind everyone else and let's go."
Marsh starts walking forward. I share a glance with the others and after a moment, we follow. It must be because of Farren, there's no other reason for him to bite at me like that. But how is that my fault! Sure, if it was the other way round I would be a bit salty but I would never talk to him that way. As much as I want to press him on it, now isn't the time. He's right about something, and that's that we need to keep moving.
After an hour or two of walking in almost complete silence we finally see the end of the forest in front of us. Stephen and Loan cheer and run ahead towards the woodlands edge.
They slink out of sight and we jog towards them, breaking through the last trees and finding them stood on the rolling purple biome infront of us.
It's Europa's equivalent of thick, ankle high grass, except it's a deep purple, embedded in a mustard looking mud. I look beyond, hills roll and the ground looks like solid waves. I see Loan and Stephen staring at something in the distance and I stand next to them, looking down.
What looks like horses are running in a herd across the field. Some are stopping and grazing on the grass, much to my relief, then starting up again and catching up to their fellow herd mates.
They're hard to see from this distance, but they have six legs similar to the alien dogs except longer and all of equal length. They're lime green with long faces closely resembling the horses of earth, bar their long floppy ears. Long tails fan behind them & their covered in shaggy lime green hair. They look to me like furry green goat horses.
The others step up next to us and Alora gasps.
"Do you think they're dangerous?" She asks.
"I don't think so, they seem to be herbivores. Best not to get too close regardless though, we don't want to spook them" I tell her.
We watch as they sprint across the land in tandem. There's something uplifting and majestic about them. They gallop at increasing speed and disappear into the distance. Once they're completely out of sight we start down the hill and begin to cross the rolling land. As soon as we get to the bottom the ground infront of us ascends straight up into another hill.
"This is ridiculous!" Stephen moans as we reach the halfway point. He's visibly sweating and wipes the beads from his brow. The others are short of breath too, but we push on and reach the top of the hill. I pull out the remote, hoping that the open space will provide a more accurate reading. To my shock the signal pulses and streams clear as day. I call the others over and show them.
"We're close!" I tell them excitedly. "Like, really close!"
"So it should be around here somewhere?" Marsh asks. It's the first time he's spoken to me since our argument.
"It should" I tell him. "Keep your eyes peeled!"
Vigour renewed, we storm across the land, bouncing up and down as the ground rises and drops. I see what looks like an edge in the distance and call to the others who are slightly behind me. We run towards it. I glance down at the remote and see it pulsating quicker than ever. The machine should be just beyond this edge!
We reach it together and eagerly peer over, before quickly stopping in our tracks. I push the others back and we drop down onto our stomachs.
My heart sinks.
Over the edge is a rock structure. Unlike the giants Stonehenge, this one is reminiscent of an actual building. It has a main structure in the middle, a huge roofed building. There are four smaller ones, two to each side and what seems to be walls and winding open corridors leading from the main building to them. At the front of the biggest one a long paved pathway leads to the hole of a door and as I squint I see makeshift torches stuck on the walls outside and also leading in. Most worrying, two orange monsters stand seemingly guarding the entrance.
The chunbers!!
This is our first time getting a real look at them. They're tall. Hard to tell from here but at least seven foot. They have turtle like heads but no teeth that I can see from this height, though I'm sure they have them. 6 strong, thick arms jut out of their torso. Their belly's are a lighter shade of orange and are visibly shredded. They stand on two muscular legs and claw looking feet. They don't have weapons on hand, but they don't look like they need them. Just two of those arms could rip a head clean off, let alone the other four.
"Oh no" Alora whispers.
"They must have the machine" Loan comments.
"That's it" Stephen declares, "it's over. There's no way in hell we are getting anywhere near it!"
"Calm down Stephen!" I tell him, "we will think of something."
"No, we won't" Stephen replies miserably, "what are we gonna do Adriel? We can't fight them. Sure, we could take down those two with our weapons, possibly that is. But I'm sure that place is crawling with them! We've lost, it's over."
I look around and see defeated looks on every face, even Marsh and Farrens.
"We can't give up now, not when we're so close!"I cry "We've overcame so much, we can beat this last hurdle!"
"How is that possible?" Farren utters, "we can't fight them all Adriel, we will die."
I want to spit out an elaborate full proof plan, but I can't. I don't have one. I stare hard at the structure, willing my brain not to fail me now. But the cogs won't turn, I have no idea what to do.
"We have to try regardless" Marsh declares. "We vowed that we would fight till the end, and we are almost at the end. Even if we are walking into our deaths we need to have the confidence that we stand a chance!"
"Exactly!" I beam, happy that he's backing me up.
"We are so close to home I can taste it! We need to think of a plan."
We wrack our brains, throwing out a few ideas. Loan says we could try and find a back entrance, but Marsh thinks if there is one it's probably guarded. Stephen suggests tunnelling underground, but as Alora pointed out that would take far too long.
"We need a distraction" Farren states. "Something to make the ones guarding it and any others nearby move away from the entrance!"
"Good idea Farren!" I exclaim, slightly jealous I didn't think of it myself. "What do you propose?"
She thinks hard for a moment.
"We could create a noise or explosion over there!" She cries, pointing to the far right. "The one's at the door and any in the building that hear it will come rushing out, then when they're close to the explosion site we dart in undetected!"
"Last time I checked we don't have dynamite Farren" Loan tuts sarcastically.
"No, but we do have that!" Farren says firmly, pointing to the fannypack.
Farren snatches it and pulls out the deodorant that Alora has.
"This will explode when pierced or set on fire!" She laughs, "it's simple! We slink around the back to the right, throw down our remaining root and some of this grass which is sure to smoke and set it alight on top of the can. Approximately 20 seconds later, Kablooey!"
"Kablooey?" Marsh laughs, raising an eyebrow.
Farren shrugs. "Ok, then bang!" She scowls.
"That will work!" I agree, "we just need to be extra careful not to get spotted." I look back over the edge and spot a fairly big mound close to the planned site.
"We run behind there!" I tell them, pointing towards it. "But we have one problem. We gave flantloc the lighter so how are we gonna start the fire?"
"I can start it" Farren says confidently. "We have dried root that's basically twig and I went to scouts as a kid so I know how to do it."
"Great!" I nod. "Let's go."
We creep to the right, then silently start down the hillside. It's a fair enough distance from the structure so we duck down and sprint across without being spotted.
I throw the root and some dried leaves that were in the bottom of the bag onto the ground, then pull out the can and cover it with them. Farren kneels down next to me and grabs two of the bigger twigs, rubbing them together at lightening speed.
"Hurry up Farren!" Alora gasps, looking around frantically. The smell of burning suddenly hits me and the leaves beneath the twigs set alight. We wait a few seconds, holding our breath and willing the fire to properly catch. After a moment it vooms into life.
"Go, now!" I screech.
We sprint towards the rock and dive behind it, then turn and stare at the fire. It's starting to give off smoke now, any second it should blow!
BANG!
The can explodes and a small ball of fire expands.
The chunbers shoot their heads round, then run towards the site. More run out of the building as we suspected, at least 12, then the stream stops. We dart from behind the rock and out into the open, heading for the entrance. We sprint up the path and with a big gulp, I lead us into the lions den.
It's faintly lit by the torches on the walls, ahead is a straight stretch. I hope it's not like this the whole way, we have no cover. Just as I think this it splits off into hallways with closet sized dents in the rocky walls. I hear a noise and jump into one and push myself up against the side of it. The others follow. We kneel down, catching our breath. I look at their faces, mildly lit, wide eyed and terrified.
Gibbering and grunting sounds out, along with running steps. I place a finger to my lips, then peer round slightly and see two chunbers sprinting past towards the entrance. I give it a moment till I'm sure their gone, the nod at the others to confirm it.
Reaching into my pocket, I pull out the remote and study it's screen. The signal is stronger than ever, it must be here.
"We need to head that way" I whisper, pointing to the west corridor. They nod.
Marsh pulls out the weapons, handing the swords to me and Stephen and keeping one for himself. He gives the gun back to Loan and I put the small disc weapon into my pocket and after a moments thought I take out the translation device, putting it in my waistband and hanging the hearing device over the top of my ear so I can slot it in at ease.
"What about us?" Farren spits in a whisper. She's right. We've had the weapons the whole time, we need to give one to one of the girls.
"Here" Marsh says before I have the chance, "take this." He hands her his sword and shrugs.
"I'll stay close to you Adriel."
I nod firmly, then peer out, looking left and right.
"We can do this, okay?" I reassure them. "One last hurdle, then it's home time."
With one last look, I creep out and we begin jogging west.
It gets hotter the further down the corridor we go, it's a menacing, unnatural kind of heat.
Then I see it.
A door at the end of the corridor, and a familiar looking blue light filling the room beyond.
"Do you see that?" Farren whispers.
"It's the portal, it's gotta be!" Loan agrees.
I nod, then duck into one of the walls crevices, the others follow and we all kneel down.
"This is it" I tell them shakily, "the true final hurdle. We don't know what's gonna be in there, we can't just run in there like maniacs."
"He's right" Marsh agrees, "the room is probably full of chunbers."
"If we see the machine we run at it!" Stephen growls. "I'm going home!"
"We can't just run at it Stephen!" Alora scowls.
"We can't" Loan nods, "we need to pull the levers at exactly the same time remember!"
"Okay, here's what we do" I say, then spot Marsh scowling at me. "If we agree that is!" I add, "I'm open to any ideas. Me and Marsh will stick together, Farren and Alora do the same. Stephen and Loan, you guys try and hang closer to the girls, just incase. If we have to fight we do it in those respected groups, but try and head towards the machine even as we do. Once we are all close enough, I- no, Marsh will look around and check we all have opportunity. If we do, he will shout go. When you hear that, dive at the machine with all you have and once we are all there we will have but a second to pull the levers up in tandem. Even one person can throw this whole thing. We need to have absolute faith in each other okay?" Everyone mutters agreement. I look at Marsh and see a firm expression on his face. We're acting tough, but deep down we are just kids way in over their heads. We're terrified, alone, against all odds. But we are gonna be heroes today! If not for anyone else, then for ourselves!
"I'm proud of all of you" I whisper, tears forming in my eyes. "No matter what happens, you will always be my closest friends. I'm so thankful for you all." I look up at Farren and see her staring hard at me, also donning tears that threaten to spill onto her cheeks. "I love you guys." I choke. We all lean in and hug each other tight, very aware it could be our last hug. Then we stand up straight, and with our heads held high we turn out of the crevice and head into the room.