Camping Ch 9

 

The tube transport beat walking, Joon thought as they whizzed along. They were flying blind, with no idea where they were or were going. He had instructed the transport to take them to Quadrant 2- at least there he knew his bearings.  

"How is this place so big?" asked Maia. 

"Well, as you know this is an interdimensional place- or several interdimensional places- linked by certain conduits that allow us to come and go. By definition no one actually knows how big they are. Discovered in the 20th century, kept secret by the Directorate... presidents don't know about it."

He smiled to himself, thinking of the political chaos of recent years and allegations of  "deep state". They had no idea- there was a deep state, all right, but not like they were talking about. Extraterrestrial contact, that weird signal from Neptune- was there a consciousness there?- and then the discovery of interdimensional travel. Yeah, the politicos had no idea. 

The car slowed, interrupting his reverie. They both clutched the handrail as the tube slowly came to a halt. 

"Error. Track malfunction," the pleasant female voice said. 

"Looks like the end of the line," Joon observed. 

Ahead of them was a gaping chasm- the track simply ended in a hole. Joon and Maia climbed out and gingerly peered over the edge. 

Below them was level upon level of access tunnels and corridors, as well as ruined sections of track. What had happened? It looked catastrophic. 

"Okay," Joon exhaled. "So... clearly things are worse than an Incursion and Sasquatches running around." 

"What could do this?" Maia breathed. 

"Mallory said something about dimensional warps. Perhaps the complex is... unstable." 

That was reassuring. 

They retraced their route back along the tube tunnel until they came to a corridor. Disembarking, they entered the tunnel. It was humid here, and they quickly noticed strange vegetation on the walls. Some of the plants were moving, oddly. 

"Where are you?" his commpiece crackled. Mallory's voice. "Your tracking has you going the wrong way."

"Well, we came on another tube, but there was howling, so we booked out of there. But the track collapsed... did you know there are levels of damage, the track is completely out?"

"Yeah, we heard. It's fucked. Whole areas out, that blip you had- the hole you fell through- that's happening all over the complex. The Gate being open," she lowered her voice, "I think it's causing dimensional chaos- instability- alternate realities converging." 

"Meaning?"

"We all should get the fuck outta here."