Forever Young

Chapter Twenty. The Search.

Chapter Twenty 

The Search 

The summers' heat and high humidity had warped the wood in the metal studded door and rust had caused the lock to seize. 

"Leave it to me," urged Axel, the sturdiest crewman on the Discovery. "I'll break it down." 

A series of vigorous shoulder charges seemed to have little effect on the unyielding door. "Maybe we'll have to use explosives," suggested Leitus, the leader of the expedition. 

"Just one more try," yelled Axel. 

The door screeched ajar. 

"Well done, Axel," shouted Leitus. "Now stand aside."  

Leitus stepped on to the threshold, turned, and beckoned the other members of his research group to join him. Erika, a tall attractive blonde, Janik, a young man of obvious Bellican parentage, and Lars, a Darsian male of pensionable age, responded instantly. 

"In we go. You know what to expect. Cover your noses." 

Dim light, diffusing through hopelessly inadequate skylights, revealed a vaulted ceiling, the upper reaches of towering walls, and little else. Leitus switched on his torch and aimed its powerful beam at the shadows. A plethora of banners, covered with unfamiliar script, festooned the walls. Only the numbers were familiar. Just above ground level, the beam revealed a bank of closely spaced wooden bars, attached to the wall on every side of the vast room. Row upon row of neatly arranged exercise mats covered the timbered, dust- covered floor. 

"Crux," cursed Janik. "Not again." 

Leitus, who had instinctively grimaced at Janik's profanity, understood his reaction. They had witnessed similar scenes at their two previous landfalls along the majestic river leading into the heart of Pergamon. 

"Let's split up. Each of you take a row and see if you can find a clue as to what happened here." 

Leitus chose to examine one of the outer rows. Each mat bore skeletal remains, some alone, others pairs locked in a final embrace. He wondered at the small stature of the skeletons, the fact that they bore only the remnants of a tiny loincloth, and the complete absence of infant remains. What could possibly have happened? A mass suicide or genocide? He didn't know what to think.  

Everything in Pergamon had taken him by surprise. The landscape was devoid of anything familiar. There was no evidence of industrial activity. The power stations and smoke belching factories of home didn't exist, and there appeared to be no farmland, just massive greenhouses. He knew the winters here were bitterly cold, yet most of the homes they had seen were flimsy constructions with no evident insulation. Why the absence of windows? What were the ochre coloured screens on the rooftops? Nothing, was as he had expected. 

"Over here, over here," yelled Lars, breaking into his thoughts. 

All three of them rushed towards Lars' undulating beam and found him bending over a skeleton. Lars handed Leitus a gnawed luggage label and shrugged.  

"I presume this is what is left of Dr. Hertz, but why would he attach this to his wrist?" 

Leitus glanced at the label. "That's the first word I've seen written in Darsian since we landed in this blighted place. Maybe this is the breakthrough we've been looking for. I'm guessing Dr. Hertz was Darsian and that we have found ourselves in an..." 

"But the skeleton is so small, sir." 

"Not all Darsians are big, Janik. I think from the architecture, especially the cupola on the roof, that this was a Darsian building. If I'm right we'll find even more Darsian artifacts in room 238, wherever that might be."