“There’s nothing but tunnels. A city would have residences, marketplaces. This seems more like a refuge or a frontier outpost.”
“A repository for their technology,” ventured Hurley. “That would make sense.”
Hobbs however withheld comment and when they reached the end of the passage some minutes later, what they found left them too awed to speculate. The half-domed chamber in which they found themselves was immense beyond belief; easily twice the size of the hub cavern, even though it was semi-circular, with one flat wall that dominated its far extremity. The dimensions of the vault were only the beginning however, for inscribed on that broad slab of ice were designs so intricate and terrifying that they could only be the workmanship of demons.
Dodge found himself involuntarily turning to flee, as though the relief figures carved in the frozen surface were alive and coming after him, and to his surprise, he saw that Hurley was also beating a hasty retreat.
“Stop.” Hobbs voice was compelling and both of the other men stopped dead in their tracks. “Do not look at the wall.”
Even as the priest spoke, Dodge felt his irrational terror slipping away, replaced by embarrassment at having panicked. Hurley echoed the sentiment. “Uh, Padre, what just happened?”
“The images carved on the wall are… well, think of it as an ancient ‘Keep Out’ sign. The specific arrangement of statuary and hieroglyphics work together to trigger an instinctive urge to flee.”
“You’re kidding, right? It’s a picture so scary that you have to run away?”
“It’s the perfect way to keep the curious away. The ancient Egyptian sorcerers left curses on the doorposts of their Pharaohs’ tombs, but a warning is only as good as the language; most tomb robbers were illiterate.” Hobbs strode forward, out of the view of the other men who obediently avoided looking at the wall, and began examining the carvings.
“Is that what this is?” ventured Dodge. “A tomb?”
“How come you can look at it?”
Hobbs ignored Hurley’s complaint. “Perhaps a tomb. Perhaps something…”
“What?” Dodge gritted his teeth against the expected visceral response and looked up despite the earlier admonition. The waves of terror were bad, but his rational mind won out. He found the Padre several feet off the ground, staring at a blank spot in the middle of the elaborate mural.
“There’s a door here.”
Hurley also sublimated his panic response and rose up to inspect the portal blocked by a sheet of featureless ice. “Great. A door in the middle of the world’s biggest ‘No Trespassing’ sign.”
“This is what he found, isn’t it.”
Hobbs nodded soberly. “I don’t believe this is an ancient outpost or a tomb, but something much more sinister. In the Bible, this place was called ‘The Abyss’ and when it was opened, great plagues were unleashed on mankind.”
“He found it,” Dodge deduced. “And let something out; something that changed him into… whatever it is he’s become; a sort of evil god.”
“Yes. It’s possible he has no memory of his former life.”
Dodge thought back to the strange encounter on the airship. Perhaps there was still some vestige of the man whose mind and body were now thoroughly possessed by the dark god. But trying to reform the lost polar explorer who had inadvertently opened Pandora’s Box was not their mission. “Do you think he put the President in there?”
Hobbs nodded, and Hurley chimed. “I’d wager money on it.”
“Dare we open it?”
“Whatever evil was once imprisoned here has long since escaped.” Hobbs tone was less than convincing however and he made no move toward the portal. He was waiting for something; waiting for a command from his leader.
For as long as Hobbs and Hurley had followed Falcon, he had led them true, and now these brave men needed that kind of leadership again. They would have followed Falcon into Hell itself if he had given the command, but without an assertive voice to rally them, they were immobilized. Dodge shared their anxiety but with it he felt a growing frustration. He didn’t want to be their leader, but if that’s what it was going to take… “Open it.”
Hobbs reticence evaporated and he moved forward to touch the doorway. Dodge perceived no mechanism to secure or open the portal, but Hobbs evidently knew something about secret doors, for after a few seconds, the ice was gone as if it had evaporated to steam in a flash.
Dodge braced himself against a half-expected rush of evil spirits, billowing like black smoke, but nothing of the sort happened. Instead, there was merely a square opening in the ice, a window into impenetrable night. He eased forward and peered inside.
Beyond the threshold, the darkness was absolute. Even the walls of the abyss surrounding the door itself could not be distinguished. Dodge extended a hand into the void and tried to find any of its limits, but his hands touched only emptiness.
“It may be,” Hobbs offered gravely, “that what lies beyond this doorway is not a place on this earth.”
“Not on this…” Hurley’s outburst faltered as soon as he peered into the black opening and he said nothing more on the matter.
“Mr. President!” Dodge’s call did not echo, but was swallowed whole, as if he had shouted into a pillow. He glanced at his companions. “I’m going in.”
“Yeah,” Hurricane offered unenthusiastically. “Right behind you.”
Dodge shared the big man’s apprehension, but there was no turning back. He angled his body forward and let the exoskeleton carry him into the black maw….
…and stepped onto the cold tile floor of the office.
Startled by the sudden change, he whirled to catch the door, but it had already clicked shut. He stared mutely at it for a moment, seeing from behind the painted black letters that were so familiar: “Sports Desk.” Impulsively, he tried the doorknob and pulled the door open, but beyond was only the familiar corridors of the Clarion Building.
He shot a glance at his watch, realizing that he was dangerously close to the press time for the early edition and headed for his desk. He tried to remember the particular facts of the game he was going to write…No, it wasn’t a game. There was something else I was going to do…Was it a Falcon story?
Just thinking about Captain Falcon broke the spell. He became aware of the exoskeleton, as if it had emerged from a fog, and he remembered everything. Then where am I? I was looking for…
“Mr. President?” Curiously, no one in the office looked up from their labors when he shouted, so he did it again as he opened the door once more. “Mr. President?”
The Commander-in-Chief looked up from his desk as Dodge passed through the doorway into the Oval Office. “Yes? Who are you? Who let you in?”
“I’m Dodge Dalton, sir.” He stared at the familiar face of America’s executive leader, trying to remember why he had come here. He felt faintly foolish for having barged into the man’s private office and it didn’t help that he had no good explanation.
“Dodge? Ah, yes, Mr. Dodge; I remember now, we met at the… at…” The Presidential brow wrinkled behind his spectacles. “I’m sure we’ve met. You write those marvelous Captain Falcon stories.”
“That’s right, sir. We did meet, last Sunday in the…” The veil lifted again. “Mr. President, you’re in danger here. We have to get out.”
“No, no. I have a two o’clock appointment with the Secretary of State. In fact, he should have been here by now.”
“Sir, this isn’t what it seems. We’re not in the White House. You were abducted last Sunday by a group of mercenaries using advanced technology. Try to remember.”
“Mercenaries?” scoffed the President. “I seriously doubt a group of thugs could…”