NaNo Session 5

Sorry for the delay - didn't actually do any writing yesterday like I should have. Making it up today with a double entry and double the word count! This is the first! :)

Chapter 6
Evan woke up as the car pulled to a complete stop, the compact Triceratops staring up at him, following his every move. It took him a moment to recall what had happened - his dad, the gas station, the artifact - the fact they were still on the run, fleeing from who-knew-what-enemy…
And he had saved them by creating a metal dinosaur made out of parts of a gas station that had somehow saved their lives. This day couldn’t get any weirder. It was evening now, the sun slowly setting behind a sprawling lake.

“We’re here,” Geleth said grimly. “Everyone out.” He obeyed, numbly undoing his seatbelt and scrambling out the front seat. The dinosaur followed him, marching next to him.

“Where exactly are we, though?” Derek asked. Evan had to agree with the skepticism in Derek’s voice - they were standing in the middle of nowhere. A building stood on the top of a hill - it looked like some sort of office building - the sort of generic glass and steel structure that was pretty much just drive-by scenery in the city.

It was weird, however, to see something like that way out in the middle of nowhere.

“It’s an off-site research facility, a spin-off the main site of Aerego Labs. You do know who they are, right?”

“Uh - weren’t they in an arms race or something against MagnaCorp?”

“Right. This was where some of the most important research happened - its our next stop. The Sentry is likely still alive in there, so stay alert…”

“Can I just say that sounds really, really ominous,” Evan said. “Why are we here again?”

“This is our best bet of getting off-world,” Geleth replied, striding up to the door, Evan struggled to keep up. “We don’t have a lot of time, really, so we will have to make this very quick indeed.” As they got closer, it quickly became evident that the building had been long abandoned - windows were broken, all the lights were off.

Next to him, Derek pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. He quickly did the same, as they stepped over broken doors. The lobby was a mess - furniture in disarray, a thick layer of dust on the counter tops. There was some vegetation - a spot for an indoor tree. It had long since withered and died. Above, a broken skylight provided a shaft of sun down into the dungeon.

“Yeah, this looks really a great way to leave the flippin’ world behind,” Evan said sarcastically.

Geleth smacked him lightly on the back of the head.

“Don’t be absurd,” he said. “What we need is further down. There’s nothing of value on the upper floors. The really interesting stuff - what’s left of it, anyway - is down below.”

He marched over to the elevator.

“Uh - this building doesn’t exactly have power anymore,” Derek said. “The elevator’s not going to work.” Geleth paused and frowned.

“They would have prepared for this,” he said. “A reserve energy source.”

“But wouldn’t that be long since dead - I mean, this place has been abandoned for - what, twenty years?”

“Frank Seghill worked here,” Geleth said. “I trust him to have thought of something. Perhaps we do need to check upstairs.”

“My dad worked here?” Evan looked around at the place with renewed interest.

“Yes.” Geleth nodded. “Let’s see - I think I can remember where his office is. It’s been a long, long time though.”
Together, they
climbed the stairwell to the second story, waiting for whatever would come next.

Chapter Seven

The second floor turned out be just as dismal as the first - ratty carpet, darkness and a thick layer of dust. Evan noticed, with some interest, there were no mice, no rats. The place was falling apart but apparently wildlife didn’t want anything to do with it. That alone made him uneasy  - but all the same, apprehension built in his chest.

What had his dad been working on here, exactly? Why had he been working on some sort of device to send them completely out of the world entirely? As they walked, he noticed the signs of a battle - black streaks on the walls as it from laser blasts, dark stains on the carpet, like blood and once, what looked like a fragment of bone.

“I’m impressed they didn’t burn this place to the ground,” Derek said. “But its still standing after all this time.”

“Neither side wanted to risk damaging the research. Both wanted it for themselves - in the end, its scattered. Your father ended up with a good piece of it, though. It was all in his labs, where he was trying to continue the work by himself. There are still some important things here, too big to effectively move.”

“…Here it is,” Derek said, tapping a nameplate on the door. “Frank Seghill.” They opened the door and peered inside, eyes adjusting to the gloom. It didn’t look like much - another abandoned office - a beat-up desk with an ancient computer on it, some rusting filing cabinets. An ancient computer stood on the desk.

“What exactly are we looking for?” Derek asked nervously. “And where’s this sentry thing you were talking about?”

“Oh, we won’t have to worry about the Sentry until we’re downstairs,” Geleth replied casually. “Must be something…” he opened a door to the filing cabinet. On a burst of inspiration, Evan knelt to the next to the small metal dinosaur.

“You can scan the room, can’t you?” he asked, feeling stupid. He was, after all, talking to a mechanical dinosaur. It stared at him for a moment, before two lasers burst from its eyes. Wherever it looked, walls faded into shadows. Geleth paused and turned around, obviously somewhat surprised.

“Well done,” he said, patting the creature on the back of the head. “Let’s see…ah.” For right in the middle of the wall was an enormous man-high safe.” He walked over to it.

“Hmph. If this place was still powered, I’d wager that you’d speak a passcode or some-such, which would lower the door. Very fond of faking people out, Frank was.”

“We saw that back at the house,” Derek volunteered. Geleth didn’t answer, his eyes narrowed in thought before he looked back at the Triceratops.

“Evan, see if you can command it to use its laser horns on the wall, firing around the safe we just found.”

“Uh…” Evan leaned down next to it. “You heard him, didn’t you? Can you expose whatever’s behind there?”

Two thin laser beams burst from its head, forming a rectangle. A whole section of the wall fell out, exposing an ancient metal machine, lightening flickering faintly inside a tube. A digital keypad was embedded in the middle.

“And there we are,” Geleth said smugly. “It’s a backup generator - he built it using my people’s technology as a base. I remember when he built it - granted he hadn’t moved it up here yet but all the same, now we can get moving.”

“But do you know the password?” Evan asked.

“I watched him set it myself,” Geleth said smugly. He tapped a few buttons. Moments later, the lightening inside the tube intensified. Lights flickered on, a low humming filled the building.

“There we are. Now perhaps we can get to the lower levels.”

“What happened here anyway?” Derek asked, as they walked, heading back to the lobby.

“A terrible battle,” Geleth said. “The people here were forced to evacuate - there was little time left in the end…”

They reached the elevator in the lobby, which opened silently.

“I worked here with him all those years ago,” he said. “I watched the battle on earth here begin - and now, it shall end.”

They descended.

“Be vigilant,” he advised. “The sentry prowls around. If we’re lucky, we won’t encounter it.”

“But what if we’re not?”

“I suggest you pray that we are.”

With a slight lurch, the elevator began to descend, dropping rapidly down below. Evan felt tense, scared. What was down there? Geleth seemed tense. Their only real protection was, apparently, a small robot Triceratops. Not exactly a comforting thought…

The door hissed open. They stepped out into long metal hallway, dimly lit by emergency lights. Doors to abandoned labs stood open and exposed.

“It’s down this way,” Geleth said. “The hanger is just up ahead.”

They walked down the corridor, tense and nervous for what was to come. And then they heard it - a loud, terrible screeching echoed down the hallway.

“It’s sensed us,” Geleth swore loudly. “Run.”

Chapter Eight

They ran. Evan didn’t even bother stopping to ask what was going. Labs passed by in a blur, when an enormous metal creature stomped down the corridor, crouched over, all turning copper gears and valves and computer chips, a terrible amalgamation of steampunk and modern-day aesthetics. Flames leaked from one claw and cold frost from another, linked to enormous tanks on its back.

“The Sentry,” Geleth said grimly. “He woke up more quickly than I thought he would.”

“What do we do now?” Derek asked, backing up. “We can’t go through…”

“We must,” Geleth said. “There’s no choice.” A burst of flames filled the corridor, they ducked into a lab, looking desperately around for something - anything - that might help contain the creature. Broken beakers and test tubes, leftover filing folders with some random bits of schematics - it seemed desperate.

It’s silhouette filled the room as it stomped in. The Triceratops stood its ground, standing firmly between Evan and the creature. Its horns glowed with light, striking the creature on the chest. It glanced off.

“It can’t be defeated like that,” Geleth said.

“The tanks on its back,” Derek said suddenly. “What if we smash them?”

“Well, that will take its weapons out of operation. But that won’t do much good, considering its still incredibly strong…”

I have to fix this, Evan thought. I have the artifact, don’t I?

He closed his eyes, trying to contain his fear. It appeared in the center of his mind, a glowing, translucent inverted pyramid. A rune peeled off of it - sparking with energy. He could do it - he could dismantle the monster-

“That won’t work!” Geleth cried, scrambling towards him. “It’s completely immune to the Artifact!”
New plan, then.

He focused on the Triceratops, still firing its lasers. The creature swatted it away, obviously irritated.