Camping

 

As many of you know I often take inspiration from art for flash fiction or whatever. This week I was watching a video of ambient music and the artwork for it got me of thinking of a camper bigger inside than it is on the outside- and what would be happening within. So here's a peek!    

The man outside the trailer finished his cigarette and looked around, shivering in the cool night air. There was something in the wooded hills nearby- he had heard it howling not long ago. The guards were on edge too- he got to go in after his smoke, but they had to remain out here. Sometimes they lost a guard. He took a last look around and then opened the camper door. Light spilled out as he stepped up into the camper, and into a different world. 

The interior was like any other camper- a little cramped, initially, but once you passed through into what wouldnormally be sleeping quarters, everything changed. There were stairs leading down into a long hallway, lit with light globes at intervals, and several doors on each side, until the hallway gave into a larger chamber, filled with technicians and humming machinery. At the far end of the room were the tanks filled with greenish liquid, and... there were things within them. They didn't bear close inspection, although there was a team of scientists doing just that. White coated, carrying clipboards or tablets, taking their readings. Occasionally something in the tanks would thrash about and an alarm would go off. Luckily he wasn't assigned to that area. 

Beyond the tanks was the gate. An archway of strange metal, with glyphs that no one could decipher, and which glowed when the thing was functional. It would hum at times, which was the only way they would know when it was about to go live. Good thing, too, because otherwise there'd be no warning before other places appeared through the portal, or something dangerous would come through. Thank goodnes for the containment dampers.  

"Hey Joon, can you help me over here?" called out Maia. She was gowned up and working in one of the sterile areas. There was a device- looked like a space heater- that emitted a sterilizing bubble around the work area. He didn't really have time for this, though, and he let his irritation show. 

"Alright, alright, forget it," Maia threw her hands up. "You had time for a smoke, though." She flashed him a smile as he flipped her off. He felt a twinge of regret as he moved on. Maia was a good tech, and a friend as well. More than a friend, if he was honest. But he was on a schedule.  

As he approached the rear of the chamber he never ceased to be amazed how massive it was, how it could all just travel wherever the camper went. The camper was just a conduit, really. They weren't actually on a mountainside in Colorado. Well, they were, until they entered the camper and went downstairs. He felt sorry for any locals, though. It was a pretty remote area, but the kinds of things that were attracted to their presence... or that occasionally escaped from the containment units could cause lots of trouble. 

There were several stairs leading up and a ramp leading further down, and various balconies on the upper levels. He passed through a restricted entryway into a dimly lit control room. Monitors covered the walls and clumps of people spoke in hushed tones. 

"...the extraction team screwed up their beacon, but most of them made it out," Stella was saying. "I'm not happy they left equipment behind, but..." she threw her hands up. 

"Are we going to just leave them there?" asked Mallory. "The soldiers, I mean."

"Well, they're dead, so... yeah," replied Stella. "Unless we want to throw more bodies in there just to drag them out. I'm more worried about the tech, actually. Who knows what will find it?"

"Nice," giggled Mallory. "Equipment before people."

"Well, the equipment's still functional," retorted Stella. She turned her attention to Joon. "What's going on outside?"

"Something howling out there," he replied. "The guards aren't happy."

"They never are," Mallory muttered. 

"Well, something got through," Stella said. "There were alartms yesterday and all kinds of blips on the scans. I guess a rift opened when we did the punch. Guess there'll be a bunch of Sasquatch sightings... or worse."

"Should we evacuate?" asked Mallory. 

Stella just looked at her. 

"I'm talking about the locals."

Stella rolled her eyes. 

An alarm went off at that moment and the lights dimmed. They could hear shouting and troops running by outside. 

"For fuck's sake, now what?"