Paphos

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Carolina doodled on her notepad, eyes innocent as she drew.  “They came here for safety,” Carolina said.  When she realized everyone was staring at her she set her marker pen down and lowered her head.  She went from comfortable to very uncomfortable with a slouch of her shoulders.

“What do you mean?” Dmitry asked. 

Carolina looked at her drawing and crumpled up the paper, tossing it and glaring at the empty desk.  Dublin and Dmitry shared a look.  The kid knew things, they just didn’t know how.

“Do you at least know which way the parasite went?” Orlean asked Carolina.  She pursed her lips and hid behind her hair.  Austin was ready to say something when Dmitry changed the subject.

“Orlean was able to scan behind this wall over here, we know for sure that there’s a hallway behind this wall and that there’s a second floor underneath this one,” Dmitry said, pointing across the lobby.  Austin put an arm around Carolina.  He hated having her here.  This was a mistake.  But being at the quadrohuts was a worse mistake.

Dmitry and Dublin peered in front of three hallways, judging them without anything to judge by.  The hallway in the middle had a red glow of light, the others were much darker.  “This way,” Dmitry said, choosing the hallway in the middle.  The red glow in the hallway saturated their suits, making everyone a shade of crimson as Austin followed behind next to Carolina.  As he walked he saw a few patterns in the wall emerge, decorative squares, and then a long narrow plate for ventilation.  They had not traveled very far when the lights went black, and he couldn’t see his hand in front of him.  Just as Austin went to activate the flashlight on his suit, the red lights came back on.  Everyone looked around, secretly expecting to see something terrible appear, thankful it had not.  “It’s just a little light, guys, use your personal flashlights if it makes you feel better,” Dmitry said. 

The hallway arched slowly in, warping the ambient sounds resonating through this place.  As they crept deeper inside, the floor lowered a half step.  Austin noticed what looked like water damage lining the walls about three centimeters off the floor, as if this section suffered a flood previously.  The floors were still polished and smooth except in places were debris formed piles.  Everything was also decades old by any standard Austin could determine.  Dmitry slowed as they came upon a smooth and very thin round crate, he stopped and studied it.  It was empty, and after two more crates he quit slowing the team to inspect them.  The hallway finally came to an anticlimactic end and a gaping elevator waited.  It was two and a half meters tall and wider than any elevator he had seen.  Dmitry traded a glance with Dublin.  “Where to?”

“Thinkin’ we could backtrack, try the other hallways,” Dublin said.  Dmitry looked at the elevator and took a long moment.  He was too intrigued to just turn around.  He stepped inside, a subtle test as if he were still unsure about it.  When he came inside the elevator turned on.  Lights beamed from buttons on the key panel and he heard overhead motors warming up. 

“Let’s stay together,” Dmitry said.  All of them boarded, and waited, wondering how to make it activate.

Dublin stared at a panel of foreign symbols, wondering which one to press and how.  After a reassuring glance around he pressed the first button and watched the floor level rise and seal them inside.  Austin felt his stomach twisting as the motors moaned, sounding like they could break and drop the elevator at any moment.  Carolina’s knuckles were squeezed white, though he couldn’t tell if it was him or if it was her squeezing.  He looked down at her, she simply waited unafraid.  Yep, it was him.  He gave her a smile and a wink, a timid effort to reassure, and suddenly the elevator jolted to a halt.  Thank goodness, Austin sighed to himself.