"Danger In Cubes"
The cart began its slow roll into the forest. Immediately upon entering the forest, we were bombarded by an array of colors and sounds. Thousands of sounds: birds, animals, rustling leaves. The transition was so immediate and so startling, that we stopped and backed out of the forest again. The utter silence and the total lack of color returned immediately.
“Curious,” commented Melissa.
Returning into the forest, we noted that the ground became the typical ground that one would expect to find in a forest; gone was the aluminum grey surface of before. There were rocks and fallen logs, leaves, mosses, grasses; everything looked normal. The shafts of sunlight that managed their way through the thick foliage, cast spooky tri-color glows on everything.
“If this is the Deadly Forest,” started Lisa, “it certainly sounds very lively.”
“And looks beautiful,” added Cindy.
“Why didn’t Rob’s sensors pick up all of this life?” asked Melissa.
“Sensors indicate one lifeform, 1.2-km ahead.”
“Still?! What about the birds and things?” asked Cindy.
“Negative.”
“But we hear them,” I stated.
“Sonic analysis indicates synthesized sounds. There are no birds,” he stated.
Rob continued to roll onward, pulling the cart behind him. The floor of this forest looked extremely rocky, but the cart didn’t seem to be affected. Looking over the side, I realized that the wheels seemed to be passing directly through the rocks.
“Analysis of trees and rocks?” I asked.
“Trees are as observed. Negative readings on the geological specimens.”
“But we see the rocks,” stated Cindy.
“Negative. There are no geological formations.”
We continued on until we came upon an old sign. The letters were carved into the rotting wood and it was stuck into the ground at a slight angle. It simply read: GO BACK!
“Rob, stop the cart,” I said. “Do your sensors confirm the existence of that sign?”
“Affirmative.”
“But you can’t confirm the existence of the rocks?” asked Melissa.
“Negative. There are no...”
“...geological formations, we know,” Lisa finished.
We started up again. Coming around a bend in the road, we found ourselves entering a clearing. The road we were on abruptly came to a dead-end at the side of a steep cliff which shot up into the clouds. To one side of the cliff was a crystal clear stream. To the other side was a group of similarly warning signs. They read: “LEAVE!,” “PRIVATE!,” “BEWARE!” and the oddest of them all merely said “WOMBA!!” with two exclamation points.
“If that cliff is not a geological formation, I don’t know what is,” stated Cindy.
“Negative. Scanners still show no geo....”
“...logical formations, we know,” said Melissa, “what is it then?”
“Holographic.”
“Then all of the rocks we’ve seen so far have been holograms?” I questioned.
“Affirmative.”
“Well then why didn’t you say so before?” asked Cindy.
“No one asked that particular question.”
“From now on Rob, feel free to volunteer any information that we might find pertinent,” scolded Melissa.
“And what about the stream?” asked Lisa, “is it real?”
“It is as it appears.”
“Isn’t it strange that the signs are in English,” pondered Cindy, “but what is ‘womba’?”
“Womba unknown,” replied Rob, “as for the signs, they are multi-lingual, not unlike ‘The Spell Book of Androganine’.”
“Could ‘womba’ be the lifeform that you’ve been registering?” asked Lisa.
“Unknown,” stated Rob.
“My legs are stiff,” whined Cindy, “can’t we get out and stretch awhile?”
“Rob, what do your sensors currently read?” I asked.
“Lifeform is .5-km bearing 360,” he pointed directly at the cliff.
“The cliff must be another hologram?” asked Melissa.
“Negative.”
“Then where is the lifeform?” asked Lisa.
“.5-km bearing 360,” repeated Rob, pointing again at the cliff.
“Do you mean ‘up’?” asked Lisa.
“Negative. Through.”
“Through? And you said it’s not a hologram. Do you mean the lifeform is somehow underground?” asked Melissa.
“Negative. Through. That is all the sensors read.”
“Oh, good, it’s like a riddle,” smiled Cindy gleefully.
“Can the lifeform get to us from its present location?” asked Lisa.
“Unknown,” stated Rob.
“How about this one: is the area safe enough for me to let the force field down?” I asked, “we all could do with a good stretch.”
“Affirmative. Lifeform is stationary.”
“Good, I sure would like a drink from that stream,” said Lisa, “we haven’t had anything to eat or drink since we left.”
“I would like a nice cool dip” said Melissa.
“All right,” I said, looking up the spell that would remove the force field from around us, “let’s get out of this bubble. Rob, give me an external air analysis.”
“Atmosphere is capable of sustaining your lifeforms.”
“Please don’t refer to us as lifeforms,” asked Lisa.
“Understood.”
“Then here goes,” I said, removing the Multi-Purpose Protection Field.
We heard a similar hum to the one that put the field up around us, only this time we heard a descending tone. Rob undid the quick release on the harness and proceeded to take a water sample through his pincer.
“Water is pure H2O. Temperature is unknown.”
“There certainly are a lot of ‘unknowns’ in this place,” stated Lisa, dipping her finger into the stream. “Oooh, the temperature is a chilly 45-degrees,” she said surprisingly.
“Rob, are your sensors functioning properly?” asked Melissa, dipping her finger into the stream. “Hey, wait a second. This water isn’t 45-degrees. It’s more like 70.”
“Diagnostics complete. Sensors functioning properly.”
“Wait a minute,” I said thoughtfully, “Lisa wanted the water for drinking and 45-degrees is the perfect drinking temperature. Melissa, you wanted to take a swim, and 70-degrees is perfect for that.”
“A little cool, if you ask me,” said Cindy.
“You mean the water is whatever temperature we want it to be?” asked Lisa, taking a drink with her cupped hand.
“Cin, feel the water,” I said. She bent down and dipped her hand in.
“You two are cracked. That’s not 70 and it certainly isn’t 45; it’s more like 85!” she cooed, “Sauna city!”
She sat down on a large mushroom shaped rock and started taking off her sneakers. Suddenly the rock began to disappear into the ground beneath her. Cindy shrieked as she hit the ground. The side of the cliff where the road ended, suddenly opened up and we heard a loud growling noise.
“Warning! Lifeform is now moving.” Quickly we all jumped back into the cart and I restored the force field.
“Could this be the entrance to Living Land?” asked Lisa.
“Negative,” replied Rob. We heard the loud growling again.
“Was that the womba?” asked Lisa.
“Negative. Sound was synthesized.”
“This is getting weirder,” said Melissa, relaxing her apprehension a bit.
We now proceeded into the cave. The walls were made of a glass-like rock with a bright orange tint. The ground was covered with a powdery white substance, resembling snow. Hanging from the ceiling were stalactites of turquoise and what looked like natural crystal chandeliers. Every now and then we heard the growling again, growing louder as we proceeded.
“Rob, analyze this gaudy place,” I said.
“It is as it appears.”
“Tacky. Very tacky,” said Cindy shaking her head, “turquoise and orange just don’t go.”
We continued on until we came upon a large archway. I instructed Rob to stop the cart. “I think I’ll just peer around the corner of this archway and see what we’re heading into.”
Lowering the force field momentarily, I jumped out of the cart and then restored the force field for the others. I placed a small separate one around myself.
Peeking through the archway, I saw a stone sculpture that looked like a barber’s chair on a little pedestal, with its back to me. It was situated by the side of a pool of water that was carved into the floor. There was a little rock next to the chair and what looked like a glass of lemonade on top of it.
“Rob, analysis,” I whispered.
Suddenly, the barber’s chair spun around and we saw the most odd little creature.
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