We've Seen the Enemy Page 5

‘Something is definitely odd…’ Timothy thought as he scanned the ridge and got a full picture of the outline. The whole ridge seemed too perfect, as if cut by human hands and not the hands of time. After walking back, he sat there and pondered over it, and after a few minutes tried to move the object. He was unusually tall and thin, but he was the strongest of all in the tribe and if anyone could move the object or get it out of the ground, it would be him. ‘I bet there is something much bigger and very interesting attached to this,’ Timothy thought.

  Timothy was a careful man, studious and thoughtful, not the sort of person to be quick to accept tradition as taught by the group elders; because of this he was a constant thorn in Pliny’s side. This fact mattered not one bit to Timothy as he set about carefully scanning the base of the cliff, looking for anything out of place. This thing had obviously been here a very long time, so the clues would be faint and all but invisible as to what lay beneath this hill.

  He spent all afternoon picking up odds and ends of metallic things, all of them old. He had gotten no further ahead on figuring out the object buried in the hill itself, but there was the whole west and north face left to inspect. The north face ended abruptly where the hill he was following turned into a massive cliff. Running at the base of the cliff was a large river Timothy had never seen before. It had obviously been there a long time. Part of it was being fed by an underground aquifer, which exited a cave about 400 meters down. He appreciated the outstanding view and made a mental note to search for the cave entrance, if he could find it.

  Returning to the edge of the hill, he continued searching for any clues as to what lay buried. The whole time he looked though, he felt as if someone was watching his every move. Every once in a while he would hear a sound - nothing significant, but enough to tell him something or someone was out there.

  Not being able to do anything about it at the moment, he sat down again and spread out before him all the things he found. In the collection were lots of bullets from both small and large arms. The largest, a 100mm round he had found cradled in the feeding port of the weapon was left behind in the rusted ruin. Next was a brass belt buckle, a stainless steel blade with the remnants of the handle still on it, and what looked like an ancient compass without glass or needle. Letters like the ancient writings could still be seen on the face, which was made of plastic. As he held it, the plastic cracked and when he reacted, the housing broke apart and crumbled in his hands.

  The last item was a small aluminum canister with a plastic reflector on the one end. He guessed it to be a battery powered lantern. Timothy knew what all this was for and he knew this was a site of war. This was possibly the very war that ended the cataclysm, or ‘the termination of all ungodly people’ as Pliny would say rather proudly.

  He got up and kept searching, carefully walking along the rest of the perimeter of this unusual hill. Rounding a giant oak, he came face to face with a large rusted heap of twisted metal overgrown with vines and weeds. He was not able to discern any edges except that it appeared to be some sort of armored vehicle. Just behind it was more metal, a long, crushed and dented aluminum frame pushed up against it, and large pieces of aluminum scattered about in the forest. One piece had been carried upwards by a growing tree, and was now solidly nestled within its bows. It was easier to climb over the scrap than to go around, so Timothy started up.

  So much of it had rotted that he fell through parts of the machine a number of times, having to slowly untangle his legs from the twisted wreckage. He smiled as he thought about Ruth and how she would berate him for doing something like this. Just as he crested the top, his left leg fell through once again and, losing his balance, he fell over. Timothy heard a sickening crunch as excruciating pain shot through his body. Screaming in agony, he thought he was hallucinating when Ruth’s face popped into his field of view just before he passed out.

  Hours passed and evening turned into night when Timothy finally regained consciousness. In the darkness, he panicked and jerked thinking that he was being exposed to the night poisons, but the sharp pain in his leg reminded him that it was still broken and it was best not to move.

  “Serves you right, you idiot! Sneaking about where you shouldn’t. If Pliny only knew… Though he’s an even greater idiot I dare say.”

  “So it was you that I heard.” Timothy groaned. ‘Should have figured as much…’ he thought. That girl was always following him, though he couldn’t really blame her. She was outspoken, annoying, and strong as an ox, much stronger than most guys he knew. She wasn’t all that pretty, a girl who was ignored by all guys in the tribe. But she was also caring, a hard worker and a loyal friend, someone who stuck by her friend through thick and thin. Whenever Timothy had a difficult job to do, she was always the one he chose to be by his side. Seeing as he didn’t tell her where he was going, she obviously snuck behind and followed him.

  “It was about time you showed up, instead of skulking around making a racket. Bet you thought you were being quiet about it too…” Timothy had an easy going demeanor, but in truth his body was in a cold sweat and tense with pain. He looked down to see his leg straight and in a splint, much to his relief.

  “That’s the thanks I get? I only saved your life again. And what do you mean by skulking around? I had just gotten to you when you broke your leg. Followed you pretty easily with all that mud around…”

  Timothy was going to argue but he thought better of it. That’s when he noticed he wasn’t outside anymore, but in a bed, in an interior room full of some kind of machinery. The room was shocking enough, but the fact it was electronically lighted left him speechless.

  “What is this place?”

  “It’s a hospital, from the Ancients. I know that because it says ‘Hospital’ right outside this door, in the ancient Bible language.” Ruth smiled, easing the sarcasm.

  “You’re in here because when you passed out I carried you to the entry dug in the side of the hill, and it was the only place to go before nightfall. Carried your skinny frame on my back until I found this room. Most of the place lit up as I came in. By the way, you’ve lost more weight. You have to come over for some decent food, instead of eating that garbage you cook up. It’s a wonder you’ve lived these 33 years.”

  He laughed at the thought of Ruth carrying him, but the pain made him stop. “I’ll eat at your place all next week if you promise not to tell anyone you carried me around.”

  Timothy liked her, and he would have married her except that he was always getting himself into trouble as he went off to investigate things he shouldn’t. He didn’t want to involve her in any of it which is why he didn’t invite her to this place to begin with. He had gotten into a number of contentions with the tribal council over his theories about the Ancients because it contradicted some of their teachings. The council elders felt he was challenging their power and Pliny kept threatening him with The Shunning. He didn’t want her involved if it ever did come to pass.

  “I have to go tend dinner.”

  “Dinner? Where in the world did you get dinner in this place?”

  She didn’t answer as she walked out the door.

  Timothy figured that anything here would have rotted away a long time ago, even the most carefully packed food. Still, he could smell a fire and see the shadow of flames dancing on the glass. She never ceased to amaze him with her capabilities. And then all hell broke loose as the klaxons whooped in alarm and the sprinklers came on.

  CHAPTER 5

  The Base

  Timothy looked up at the old sprinkler system as it started knocking and groaning. Nothing came out, but the klaxons kept on whooping because of the fire.

  He heard Ruth walking about, swearing and knocking on things and causing a commotion until a few minutes later the klaxons shut down one by one. A moment later Ruth came in with a large old wrench held over her shoulder and a satisfied grin on her lips.

  “You look like you’ve been doing God’s work, Ruth. Will they ever work again?”

&nbs
p; She laughed and turned back to her dinner preparations. He noticed she had lost some weight, looking slimmer and more…feminine. She had also done up her hair, which had grown longer since he had noticed it last. He was impressed at how pretty she could look when she tried to be more feminine.

  Timothy surveyed his surroundings. The hospital area was large, with enough beds to care for over one hundred people. It was in surprisingly good shape considering how long it must have been here. Putting together all the clues he had gotten the day before, it was obvious that the hospital was underground, and that it was only a small part of a very large structure. Steel girders hugged the walls and ceiling at regularly spaced intervals, and Timothy noticed that both the doors and windows looking into the hallway outside looked indestructible. It was clearly an important place to the military.

  But what was its purpose, and why had it come under such fierce attack? Why was it not destroyed and what had happened to the occupants?

  As he was mulling this over, Ruth came in with dinner.

  “The salt’s flat but the pepper is still good. I found these plates too, but no forks. Apparently, the Ancients ate with their hands…” Ruth said, giggling at her own little joke.

  Timothy stared open-mouthed at the roasted rabbit. Then his eyes slid back to Ruth's face. “How...where?”

  “Out of my hat,” she replied.

  “Really, how in the world did you get a rabbit?”

  “Can’t tell you. A woman’s got to keep her secrets, you know.”

  “Ruth, I have to tell you, you never cease to amaze me. Hands down, this is the best surprise yet. But tell me where you got that.”

  “Nope.”

  “Come on Ruth!”

  “The Lord provides.” She said with a grin. Seeing the impatient look on his face, she added, “He provides an open door that rabbits and other animals run into each evening before the poisons come out.”

  Now Timothy laughed too, even though it hurt.

  “I have another surprise for you, you know.” Off she went, only to come back with two crutches. “This is a hospital after all. Don’t want you sitting on your ass all day long just because of a broken leg.” She knew he couldn’t keep still, and that the last thing he would do was spend two weeks sitting. Yet she didn’t want him to aggravate the injury. They had just finished losing Dart, a young girl of mating age who had died of gangrene after she had fallen and not taken proper care of her injury. There were precious few of those left.

  Although anyone could mate and have offspring, those over 20 had to promise to take proper precautions. Any subsequent births were immediately culled to protect the gene pool. It was the way and it had been that way for longer than any could remember, written in the annals. Only those under twenty years of age were allowed to mate and produce offspring able to propagate, seeing as the toxins in their systems had not yet reached a high enough level to cause birth defects, mutations and genetic weaknesses. Both Ruth and Timothy were thirty-two, old for this world and much too old to have Ruth carry any children.

  “What would you say if we had a look around? I want to know more about this place, what happened to it, and where the people went,” Timothy said.

  Ruth looked at him with a worried eye and then said, “I can answer part of your question. The ‘people’ didn’t go anywhere. They lived here for a bit and then they left to go outside.”

  “How do you know that?” Timothy asked.

  “Because you can see a pile of garbage filled with open metal containers near the garbage pickup points, and although they were rusted, I could still make out some of the pictures on the containers, pictures of food.

  Also, on top of the pile were discarded animal bones. A hospital would not normally have garbage out in the open. Plus the fact that there are no human bones here tells me that they left and abandoned this place before they died.”

  Ruth stood there quietly after she had finished talking, watching him and waiting for any possible challenge to her reasoning. Timothy could only lie there and wonder why he hadn’t married her yet. What she had said made perfect sense. The elders would have shunned him for this, and they constantly warned against taking up residence in underground structures or caves because of the toxins. Perhaps the people inhabiting this place abandoned it because of the toxins.

  “Ruth, why do you think that everything here is in such good shape? After all, it’s been almost 800 years, and everything should have decayed to uselessness. But the air seems fresh, and there is no unusually thick layer of dust anywhere. The lights work, and those horns work too, although you fixed that…” he added with a smile.

  Ruth had wondered about the same thing and answered: “I’m not sure why, but I think we’ll find out soon enough.” Timothy knew he wouldn’t get anymore from her, so he got back to eating the rabbit.

  After a while, Ruth said, “There was one more thing Tim, and I saw it while you were unconscious. This hospital also has a room that’s completely enclosed in transparent plastic and airtight I think, and inside it was something…something not right…” Timothy waited for more, but Ruth seemed worried about saying anything more.

  “Ruth, Pliny isn’t here. What’s more, he’s been saying a lot of things that simply aren’t right. The truth is the truth, whether Pliny agrees with it or not. If there is something important here, something that tells me the truth about our past, then I want to see it too.”

  “Well then, get up. Might as well get it over with…” Her voice softened then and she added, “Plus I want to get your opinion on what I found.”

  Ruth helped him up but even with her help he almost passed out from the sudden stab of pain. Eventually he regained his composure and he hobbled alongside her in the hallway. Timothy was surprised to see the lights come on and turn off as they walked, and he thought about it until they came to the room she was talking about. The door was locked and wouldn’t open for them, but they peered inside and made out the form of an insect, except this one was much bigger than the tiny ones they were used to. It was face up on a table, and they noticed that the complete torso from head to thorax was about a meter long and looking somewhat like a giant ant. The antennae and legs added another meter and a half to the creature.

  Someone had done an autopsy on it, and various exoskeleton parts had been cut away and put on the smaller tables around the insect. The color had faded on it and what they could see of the innards was all dried up.

  It was clear that whoever did this was especially interested in the brain, because all of the head’s outer shell had been carefully removed. They could still see electrical wires attached from the insect brain to a complex machine.

  As they looked more closely, Ruth said in a whisper: “Tim, look at the body. It’s tied down and hooked up to equipment, tubes and bags. They didn’t take those off before doing the autopsy, which means…”

  “…that they cut it open while it was still alive.” Timothy concluded.

  They both noticed the unusually large straps holding down 6 legs, all of which appeared to be broken. The uppermost two legs were much thinner and ended in almost humanlike hands - four spindly articulated ‘fingers’ and an opposable ‘thumb’.

  “Could humans do such a thing?” Ruth asked. Timothy was silent as he contemplated the insect and thought deeply of the machines, the “Tests of Faith” left behind that maimed and killed so many of his family and friends. He thought of the tiny buttons too unwieldy for human hands, but perfect for the needle sharp ‘fingers’ at the ends of the insect arms, the view-screens on them that showed colors and patterns instead of objects, and the final Cataclysm that almost wiped out the human race. He thought of the nightly poisons that seeped out of the ground with the mist and rotted out your lungs if you breathed it in for too long.

  “Yes Ruth, I think we could end up doing that. I think we could end up doing much more if need be…” and without another word they both returned and huddled together under a blanket, more for support than warm
th.

  Ruth and Timothy were startled awake with more klaxons sounding. Timothy jerked again with the noise, and although the pain was intense, it wasn’t as bad as before. Ruth was eyeing the hallway door from where she had slept snuggled up to Timothy. Although they never had sex, they were very close and had lost all shyness with the passage of time.

  “I thought you fixed those…”

  “I thought so too. No fire now though. Wonder why they went off… I’ll go take a look.” Ruth got up and grabbed her old wrench, and when she opened the door, she dropped her wrench on the floor.

  Timothy couldn’t see what she was looking at, but whatever it was definitely startled her. She slowly bent down, never letting her eyes off of whatever it was on the other side, and picked up the wrench again very slowly.

  “What is it Ruth?” Timothy asked as he desperately tried to get up, but she gave him a ‘be quiet’ hand signal. Time passed slowly, until finally a voice from the other side said in the ancient language, “Please do not damage the klaxons.” Timothy then heard a very low hum, gradually fading to nothing. Ruth followed with her eyes, and when she was satisfied it was gone she came back to him. The klaxons were still ringing.

  She kneeled down and said: “Well, I found out what is keeping this place maintained. Do you feel up for a walk? I have to find out more about this place.”

  “Sure, but first tell me who that was.”

  “Not who, but what,” Ruth said. “It was a machine, very large with four arms and an assortment of tools around it. It was fixing the klaxon right outside our door when I opened it. Now let’s go! Something is wrong and I want to know what it is.”

  With no further comment Timothy got up on his crutches and carefully kept his foot off the floor as he followed Ruth out the door. He had to smile as he watched her carry that old wrench on her shoulder, ready to strike anything in her path.

  They exited the hospital area and noticed that all klaxons had been repaired by the machine. As he hobbled by, he again watched the lights come on and then turn off as they passed each one. What was their power source? Obviously it was still powering the machines and this building, or part of it.