When it Stops Part II

“Bill, have you ever seen anything like that before?”

“Can’t say that I have, Jack. Can’t say that I have, but it’s pretty impressive, that’s for sure.”

The two men stood staring at the cave walls, mesmerized by the light radiating from them. Every rock and every crevasse glimmered with soft beams of everchanging colorful hues.

“Bill, this must be what the corporation was hoping we’d find, a treasure trove of unobtanium. I doubt there is another planet in this system, maybe in this galaxy, with such a high concentration of the stuff.”

“You’re probably right, but don’t get too excited just yet. Listen to that rumbling. This planet is in the middle of shifting configuration. It’s exactly the way the old legends spoke of. The Originals left old maps showing a continent shaped like a square and then the same continent shaped like a triangle just two hundred years later. The shifting has been dormant since our species arrived, but before they died, they warned us it would start again. The shifting is why they never built towns and cities. It’s why they lived as nomads.”

Both men remained silent for a while captivated by the light show that surrounded them. It was Jack that was first to break the silence.

“So, if I understand everything you just told me, our options are, 1. We are doomed to wander through this ever-changing system of colorful caves until our food and water runs out with no chance of ever finding a way out or, 2. One of the cave walls splits open in front of us and if we’re not crushed by falling unobtanium, we will simply walk out into the daylight. Did I get that right?”

“Almost!”

“Almost? What did I leave out?”

“Morlocks.”

“Morlocks, what the hell is a Morlock, and I bet I’m not going to like your answer?”

“I’ve never had the misfortune of seeing one, but Morlocks are genetic mutations of the Originals. I’ve heard differing stories about how they came to be, but the consensus is that there was a genetic experiment that went wrong and the Morlocks are the result. They primarily live in these caves and are only active during the continental shifts, like now.”

“Wow, Bill, you are just full of surprises. Do they like us for the main course or dessert?”

“I don’t know. As I said, they are only active during a shift and there hasn’t been one of those for a long time. I do know the Originals were wary of them. Now I have a question for you, Jack, since you come from corporate. Unobtanium is the rarest element in the universe and there hasn’t been enough of it available to be used for any commercial product. We’ve been doing just fine without it so far, so why the big push to find a large stash of it?”

“The company wouldn’t want me doing this Bill but, take out your weapon and shoot a beam at that rock. Go ahead. I’ll show you why in a minute.”

Bill unholstered his pistol and fired its particle beam causing the rocks to crack and fall to the ground.

“Now, remove the power pack and replace it with a small piece of unobtanium.”

He did as Jack asked, shaking his head in doubt.

“Now fire it at that bolder that’s blocking the entrance.”

Once again, Bill raised his weapon while muttering how this wouldn’t work and fired. The bolder shattered into hundreds of pieces and the entry way was clear.

“Holy Shit, Jack! Where did all that power come from?”

“That’s unobtanium before it has been processed, now imagine what it can do after it’s refined.”

Both men looked at the newly emptied opening and could clearly see and hear that the rain was still slicing the ground. Another sound emanating from deep in the cave caught their attention, and it wasn’t the rain.