Eternal Horizon: The Chronicle of Vincent Saturn (Eternal Horizon: A Star Saga Book 1) (8 page)

“Right…” Vincent grunted.

They crossed the base and entered a gate that opened into a stairwell scarcely lit by a purplish light. A grinding sound thundered through the building and was occasionally followed by a thudding noise. Before they began to ascend, Exander put his forefinger next to his lips. “And you,” he said pointing at Vincent, “no more trifling questions.”

The stairs were continuous, each floor similar to the other: a door at every landing, victims of a century-old corrosion; cobwebs beneath the ceiling holding famished arachnids; and walls covered in graffiti and murals. One of the murals was a magnificent masterpiece portraying a robed Xenian man floating in the sky, arms spread as if he were about to embrace the viewer. His eyes were fixed in a determined frown, sparkling with electricity. One half of his body radiated a light blue aura, and the other was ablaze. The background was divided as well: a serene landscape beneath the light side and a devastated city under the other.

“Nice…” Spaide said and reached into his pocket. “I have to take a picture of this.”

“As is the message behind it,” Gaia added.

After they reached the twentieth floor (give or take), Exander kicked one of the gates, opening their path into a room filled with machines that were the source of the awful noise. “Through here,” he said, entering.

Gears, generators, and robotics were in every corner of that warehouse. The wires stretched, twisted, disappeared from view, ran alongside the walls, and entered the soaring ceiling and into the machines. Pipes—some of them dozens of feet in girth—protruded from the floor and the walls, releasing steam and vibrating from time to time. The companions made their way down a maintenance aisle between all of this apparatus.

“What’s all this?” Vincent shouted to Spaide, gesturing towards the machinery.

“The generator rooms, water mains and so on!” Spaide answered. “They power up the city above and the rest of this buildin’…” The machines silenced them as they slipped between two metal panels after Exander.

Vrooom
!
Vrooom
!
Vrooom
!
the machines churned, followed by,
Ta doom! Ta doom! Ta doom!

Vincent’s headache was coming back stronger than ever, like a monster awakening inside his skull.

At last, they came to a stop.

The opening in front of them was sealed with metal bars; a small control panel was to the left of it.

After looking around and seeing no other way, Exander turned in place. “
Spaide?
”

The Dirsalian got down on one knee, pulled out a small pocket knife, and began carefully digging in the panel. He was doing that task for perhaps a minute or two, but it seemed like an eternity to Vincent.

Vrooom
!
Vrooom
!
Vrooom
”

Vincent placed his hands on his temples in an attempt to numb the pain.

Ta doom! Ta doom! Ta doom!

And then it began again—the images, same noise,
different
place…

He was standing on the edge of a mine which was overflowing with thousands of people. They were miners, working diligently to collect some sort of precious mineral, a gleaming blue rock… Then he saw—no, deep in his heart he knew—that they were not miners, but slaves—their faces cold, aching, full of sorrow produced by the forced labor. Some were starved to the point of dystrophy, others dead. Soldiers that patrolled the place dragged the bodies of the deceased and threw them into a pit dug out at the lowest point of the canyon.

He looked down into the pit and nearly cried out. The trench was filled with bodies piled up on one another. Xenians, all of them, staring at him with the lifeless eyes, the crystals in their pupils no longer shining… And the smell…

It reeked of death.

“Soon, we’ll make our move,” said a deep baritone voice.

He turned, but could only see the back of the dark-haired man in a loose, black outfit standing beside him. His hands were crossed behind his back: one of them in a black leather glove, the other clasped with an armband at the wrist. “Soon, they will all pay...”

Vincent lost balance and fell over.

Gentle hands stopped him from hitting the floor. “Vincent? Are you all right?”

He opened his eyes. Gaia caught him in midair and held him steady. As she lunged forward, she dropped her hood, and now he awoke to her angelic appearance in bright light. Vincent paused, momentarily losing himself in those lavender eyes, in her thick arched eyebrows, in her full lips, in her tanned skin, and in her long, bronze hair that poured past her shoulders like silk…

“Thank you,” he said, moving away from her.

Signs of a smile appeared on her face as she threw up her hood, concealing her breathtaking looks.

“What the…?” Exander suspiciously looked over at Vincent. “
Hurry!
” he added to the Dirsalian. “I don’t want our new guest to die here! Not until I’m content, that is.”

“I can’t open it!” Spaide sighed, getting up. “But I turned off the alarm, so go ahead and do your thing!”

Exander reached down into his robe and yanked out his sword. The blade had a cool tint, made from a metal unfamiliar to Vincent’s eyes. It was slightly longer than three feet with a handle covered in golden ridges. With one dexterous swing, Exander sliced through the left side of the bars, and with the second, they fell to the ground, leaving small knobs of metal on either side.

Exander squeezed through and continued forth. Damocles had a bit of a problem, but managed behind. As the rest of the companions followed, Vincent bent down to pick up one of the bars. It was made of pure metal and was as thick as his wrist.
How could a sword cut through solid steel?
Yet another enigma.

“
Come on!
” Exander called him.

The further they headed, the less tormenting the noise became. After a minute of the identical passages, they reached an open shaft disappearing up into the darkness.

“Elevator?” Vincent was glad to see a piece of familiar machinery.

“Oh, so you have elevators?” Spaide said cynically as he dug through the wires in the control panel. In a mere second, a lift made of solid glass appeared in front of them. The door slid open. “WELCOME,” announced a robotic voice. Spaide turned around with an attained grin. “After you.”

“Where does that lead?” Vincent asked as he stepped into the elevator.

“The Seven Galaxies Hotel,” Gaia answered. “Well, we’re already in the hotel, but—”

“You ask too many questions and don’t give enough answers!” Exander intruded.

“Would you relax?” Gaia said in Vincent’s defense.

“Your highness, we don’t know if he is who he claims to be,” Exander said, pushing the elevator buttons. “So I advise you not to talk to him unless we find out the truth.”

“He’s lost, Exander, from a planet no one has ever heard of. If our allies take notice of this information, it can be a great asset to our cause. There are
intelligent
people that evolved on their own!”

“We’re not sure of this yet,” Exander insisted. “Especially the intelligent part,” he then muttered.

Gaia rolled her violet eyes and sighed.

As the lift took off, Spaide couldn’t shut up any longer. “Come on, let’s be reasonable. Have you ever seen anyone who looks like that?” He pointed at Vincent. “Sure, he has the same skin and hair as any other advanced hominids, but look at those round ears and the black pupils. I’ve traveled far more worlds than you, boy, and I’ve never seen any species like this.”

“He kind of looks like a Corsarian,” the quiet Damocles said, standing in the back, looking downward. “Only without the pallid skin and those creepy eyes.”

“Kind of does, doesn’t he?” Spaide reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of shades. “Here, this should cover your oddity.”

Vincent was astounded. “Oddity?”

“Just wear the damn glasses!”

Vincent put on the shades and saw his reflection in the surface of the elevator glass.
Now I look like the Unabomber
, he thought, looking at the ridiculous specs and the hood over his head. Presently, the elevator came to a stop.

“Be very quiet,” Exander said.

The vivacious hallway the elevator opened to was not like Vincent expected. Instead of the filthy corridors like the ones on the bottom floors, these were laid with a crimson carpet. The walls were richly detailed with velvet wallpaper and thoroughly engraved with stucco decorations. Every ten feet there was a flower urn, and paper-thin monitors lined the top portion of the walls, streaming commercials of the hotel and its number of accommodations.

People—
creatures
—of various species made their way through the passage without paying the companions much heed. Most of the creatures were humanoid; and from afar, some—like the prevalent Xenians and the
Dirsalians
—even resembled everyday humans. They were all dressed stylishly: donning robes, pompous suits, and long dresses with no signs of weapons of any kind. Even the security guards, whom Vincent figured out to be some sort of complex robots, carried batons.

At the end of the hallway was a staircase that led them to a rotunda full of the hotel’s current guests. Gigantic chandeliers were suspended in midair, slowly floating beneath the forty-foot ceiling that was covered in hundreds of beautiful images which periodically changed. A projecting cornice supported by semi-columns ran across the entire area. The patterned floor was made of black marble with a striking mosaic design around the edges. A hologram screening a green alien woman explaining the hotel’s hospitality was atop a pedestal in the middle. Around the pedestal was the information desk with six females of different species. One of the women, Vincent noticed, had two pairs of arms. Bellboys, who were blue reptilian creatures, instantly ran up to them, hoping for a tip in exchange for their help, but one look from Exander made them change their minds.

Exander led the team to one of the room’s six exits, which turned into a busy enclosed skywalk, its walls and ceiling made of thick glass providing a spectacular view of the outside.

The hotel was a massive skyscraper surrounded by six smaller ones. Three skywalks connected each smaller skyscraper to the main building at different levels. The sun had finally set, its last rays dazzling over the horizon composed of grey peaks. The nocturnal life of the planet was becoming evident, especially from this height: jets, aerial buses, and the thousands of billboards lit up the city along with the sky that held millions of stars, probably thrice the amount visible from Earth.

The skywalk exited into the smaller building. There were hallways going in every direction, lined with rooms. Following several turns and stairways, Exander stopped by one of the doors and uttered a word that slid it open.

“Everybody, get inside,” he said, looking down the hallway, assuring they weren’t followed.

The room was spotless. Burgundy-brown furniture and a large divan covered with green silk sheets decorated the living area. The parquet floor was made of the same wood as the rest of the furniture. There were two doors on either side—one leading to an open bedroom, the other to the lavatory. A big window across the room opened a view of the
Sebalonian
night sky.

Upon entrance, the companions took off their cloaks and threw them on the floor, where in a mere second, a small machine resembling a crustacean animal appeared, rolling on wheels. It grabbed the clothes with the intention of taking them to the nearby closet.

“That’s some good housekeeping,” Vincent said.

“Droid maids,” Gaia said. “They react to anything non-cellular that falls to the floor.”