The Treasure

Finally, they reached a wide-open space between the ruins. It was cluttered with abandoned machines, which stood there like someone would come in the morning and set them all in motion. In the center of the space there was a large depression, almost a crater at what seemed to have been meant to be the middle of an intersection. On one side there were the remains of a large building. Its skeletal remains were half reaching into the night sky, half lying on the ground. On the other side of the crater there was a strangely shaped blob. With its surface shimmering in the moonshine and it slightly seemed to lean into the depression, giving it a strangely alien effect.

Angela stopped and pointed towards the depression in the ground.

'What, that's it?!' Mr Spencer exclaimed, 'That's supposed to be my treasure?!'

'Not up here,' Angela answered. 'You'll just have to dig a bit.'

Mr Spencer growled angrily and waved his gun. 'You're kidding me, right?'

Angela shook her head. 'Oh no, not at all. I am sure there must be some kind of ancient shovel lying around here somewhere.'

With just two quick steps, Mr Spencer was right beside her, grabbing her wrist.

'Now listen to me, I'm not in the mood for your jokes anymore,' he grunted.

Angela nodded slowly, 'I can show you a different way, but it's dangerous and you still won't be able to get all the way down.'

Mr Spencer waved his gun and said, 'Show me.'

Angela led them around the strangely shaped building. Coming closer, it became obvious how parts of the structure had disconnected itself from each other has the building had more and more leaned down into the crater. They walked up a wide, cracked staircase to a gaping rectangular hole in the curved silvery facade. A faint clanking sound could be heard echoing through the empty halls.

Mr Spencer stopped for a moment.

'What's that?' he asked.

Angela waved her hand. 'Don't let it bother you. It's the way to your treasure.'

They entered a wide corridor which led them into a high hall. From here they could see several storeys above them through a large round opening under a skylight through which the moon was casting its pale light. A monumental spiralling ramp was connecting the storeys above, but also led further down into the ground. Tanja and the others, led by Angela Morgenstern, went further and further down, along empty halls and galleries.

As she walked, Tanja noticed wide cracks in the walls and even the floor. Everything seemed slanted to different directions and this wasn't just due to the fact that they were walking on a ramp, she was sure. It didn't make the impression that it was safe. Further and further the way spiralled downwards. The opening in the center of the ramp slowly got smaller. As they descended more and more debris was lying on the floors. At some places old building machines were standing, probably long forgotten. Some ceilings had collapsed. The floors were all cracked and uneven. The noises from below were getting louder.

Suddenly there was a noise from behind them. Tanja turned to see the silhouette of a person run towards them, screaming with rage. Mr Spencer was too surprised to react quickly, which gave the attacker the chance to get to him and try to push him over the railing and down the hole. Unfortunately, Mr Spencer was quite tall and heavy and wasn't so easy to lift. Also, the railing was higher than the assailant probably thought. It took Tanja a few seconds to realize who it was: Rahim. Zara racted fast enough to help and go for Mr Spencer's feet to make him lose his balance, while Angela managed to rip Tanja's weapon out of his hand.

Together, they managed to push Mr Spencer over the railing and heard a satisfying thump when he unmistakably reached the bottom of the hole. Tanja jumped to the railing and looked down. She saw that the bottom was just a few meters away. Mr Spencer was lying down there, but then started to move and slowly got up. He limped as he collected his weapon from some meters away and then moved out of sight as fast as he could. Tanja cursed.

They couldn't let Mr Spencer just get away, so they sprinted down the ramp and to the direction where he disappeared. After running down a wide corridor with a cracked floor. In some places they had to make a little jump to cross the gaps.

While Mr Spencer had a little head-start from starting further down the hole, he was not very fast as he was still visibly hobbling and therefore they could soon make him out in front of them. Suddenly, Tanja again saw movement from the corner of her eye. She turned, but Rahim was right behind her and so was Zara, while Angela was lagging a bit behind. When she saw Tanja turn around, she gestured to her to keep running and not mind her. Mr Spencer had just disappeared behind a corner to where a large sign with the inscription 'SUBWAY' was pointing.

Tanja jumped over a wide crack in the floor and then made her way through some rubble. It looked like someone had deliberately made a path through it in the middle. Suddenly she heard a scream from somewhere ahead. She sped up for the last steps to see around the corner, then scrambled to a halt, looking in disbelief at what was in front of her.

Mr Spencer was standing some way ahead of her. In front of him the corridor was completely collapsed, with only a small gap in the center. Behind it a faint blue light could be seen. Tanja thought it was moving. The sides of the corridor were completely filled with rubble, with a cleared path in the middle. It was wide enough for an automatic excavator to roll through. Just like the one was standing right in front of Mr Spencer, clanking away with its shovel, trying to lift a rather large piece of the ceiling, which was lying on the ground in front of it. It was emitting a faint blue glow.

Tanja turned around when someone put their hand on her shoulder and pulled her to the side. It was Rahim. Behind him a small automatic dumper was just turning around the corner, making its way over to the excavator, where it stopped. It was rather battered and old.

Mr Spencer, meanwhile, tried to hobble and scramble up the heap of rubble towards the hole. He slipped and slid down to the piece of ceiling the excavator was just about to remove. Again, he screamed. Tanja wasn't sure whether it was fear or anger, but in the next second Mr Spencer made a leap and clenched the excavator's arm with his whole body.

'You won't keep me from my treasure!' he screamed.

Tanja, Rahim and Zara stood and stared at what was happening, when Angela joined them with some delay.

'Has he completely lost his mind?' Angela asked.

They stood and watched as Mr Spencer attacked the excavator, which was obviously trying to shake him off. Finally, Mr Spencer fired a shot at what seemed to be the engine of the excavator. The machine started to give off a wailing sound, which was soon joined by the dumper. From a distance, more sounds could be heard. Mr Spencer seemed to be oblivious to this and continued to attack the machine in rage.

Then, two flying drones buzzed around the corner of the corridor. One started to spray green paint on the man, the other seemed to have some kind of malfunction and just vaguely waved a brush in his direction. There were however clear indications that more machines were on their way.

As the dumper slowly started to move to their direction, Angela urged the others to leave. Things were bound to get uncomfortable. They hid behind a pile of rubble, as a medium-sized tunnel drill came rolling towards them.

'Well, that was not what I expected,' Tanja observed as they ran up the ramp.

Angela nodded. 'At least he won't be any trouble anymore, I guess. It's not wise to make them angry.'

Tanja nodded. 'So you started to dig out the place again, then?'

To her surprise Angela shook her head. 'Oh, no. Not me. They just kind of started doing it one day. Usually they are no trouble. At least not if you just leave them alone.'

As they emerged from the front entrance of the building, on top of the large staircase, the horizon in front of them was slowly turning a shade of dark blue and the stars were slowly getting dimmer. A crane not far away was slowly turning around in circles, but maybe it was just the wind doing that.

Then, Rahim tapped Tanja's shoulder.

'I think we're done here... and I'd really like to get something to eat soon. And I don't mean a ration pack,' he said.

Tanja nodded. 'Sure, let's go. By the way, how come you rose from the dead?'

He laughed. 'I took theatre classes at school.'

For a moment Tanja looked up to the sky, she could see the morning star just looking over the edge of the canyon and wondered if she would ever go there, to the old world. She also thought of Elanor and Harry and what they may be doing up there right now.

And then she turned to look at Angela, who was crouching down to look at what in the first light of the morning, Tanja recognized as a tiny blue flower growing in the sand.

Tavaron

31.07.23 Front Page

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