Mobius: Eyes Above the Clouds- Chapter 18

“What does this mean?” Daniels finally cracked the silence.

Babir turned his back to the chamber and took in a slow, deep breath. “There are other cases of such a thing down on the surface. A fungi that invades its host and overrides its natural instincts.”

Richards tugged at the captain’s shoulder. “I believe we should turn back.”
Daniels rubbed at his chin, looking between the chamber and the doctor. “Mushroom spores or some nonsense?”

“Yes, sir.” Richards nodded, glancing to Babir who gave a nod to affirm.

Daniels sighed and began to begin the march back. His pace was slow and deliberate, his steps placed in the same markings we had made on the way in. “Is this mushroom… thing doing something to Mobius?”

Babir nodded his head. “It had already done so, I am afraid.” He clicked his tongue. “It has taken up residence, and it will go nowhere. A fungi like this is a single, expansive organism.”

“And now…” Daniels grumbled, rolling his head. “It has some sort of control over it?”
“More or less.” Babir said. “It is hard to say… the fungi we know of takes over small creatures… ants, insects. Mobius is big, complex.”

Richards pushed up behind me. The glow from behind was slowly fading in the distance. “It is also a primitive creature.”

“This could have been festering for…” Babir paused. “Years, decades maybe. Who knows how or when it picked up the spores.”

Daniels glanced back at the rest of us. “And this is why you feared news getting out. That Mobius, this creature is not existing for itself any longer. Just some brainless slave to an even simpler organism.”

The silence went on for several long moments before Babir broke it. “Yes.”

My boots trudged out of the final bit of organic webbing as we found our way back to the separate chamber. Daniels stopped and turned back to us, blocking the path. “Well. There are various ways to present this, twist it, or even trim it down, so that the public may consume it. Isn’t that right, Sami?”

I caught the captain’s piercing eyes before jutting my gaze to the floor. “Yes…, sir.” Just before my eyes met with my boots, I saw one of the others just outside, obscured by Daniel’s position.

“Mrs. Dunn.” Babir called out, attempting to shift his weight side to side to peer out past the captain. “What are you doing out there, Mrs. Dunn?”

“Do not pay it any attention.” Daniels warned, his hand further to the wall, blocking the path.

“You returned quickly, Wess.” The woman called out. I caught sight of Joseph also near her, his hands at work.

“We have some unique news of our own.” Daniels called out over his shoulder.
Babir squeezed through under the captain’s arm. Daniels attempted to grab at him, without any success. “Sengupta, because of circumstances, I assume you won’t object to this.

Continue reading “Bridled | Pilfer”

Mobius: Eyes Above the Clouds- Chapter 17

Daniels leaned in beside Babir, shoving his hand out into the cold air outside. “The air craft took off four days ago… Tuesday… this coming day should be…”

“Saturday.” I spoke up.”

“Thank you, Sami.” The captain replied, pulling his hand back in and shoving it under his arm. “They won’t be back in the air until Monday… to see if they can come across us again.”

Chase groaned and sat up painfully. “Gonna’ be a long three days.”

Daniels paced around a bit, gazing at us in the dim light, as well as the surroundings.

“The flare gun-” He announced suddenly, a tension in his voice.

“Who had it?” Mary called out. “Chase?”

“Had nothin’ but food.”

“I know I should have-” Daniels grumbled under his breath. He shuffled his feet about, knocking the toes of his boots into the various packs lying about. “Ain’t anyone seen it?”

“Mr. Daniels-” Joseph perked up. “Is it in this box?” The big man asked, rattling around a red leather-covered package with a handle.

The captain snatched it up, shaking the contents. “Good man,” He praised. “You’re at least good for something.”

I sidled up to Daniels, just barely able to see him undo the buckles holding it closed. “It didn’t get soaked?”

“Don’t you worry yourself, Sami.” The captain shook his head. “The cartridge is water proof. The primer will be just fine too, once it takes some time to dry. As long as the gun doesn’t rust out on us.”

I let my shoulders relax, letting out a sigh. Daniels clasped the box closed and shoved it under his arm. “Don’t anyone let me leave this anywhere. This is our ticket home, to signal Lorraine where we are.”

Alice leaned against crevice leading outside, her eyes trained to the watery horizon shining with the last remains of the half moon’s glow. “That gives us enough time to find a more suitable place to get out of here.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, Padilla.” Daniels stomped. “I know you’re probably eager to rid yourself of us, but the craft ain’t going to come any earlier, the paycheck neither.” He leaned once again to the sky, taking in slow breaths through his nose. “If only Alcott were still here to tell us where we might be.”

“Captain…” Babir played with his light, flicking it off. He pocket it and pushed himself off the ground. “May I have a word?”

“About what?” Daniels huffed, holding his hands to the back of his head. “Is it something that the rest of us can hear?”

Babir’s face twisted up. He glanced at me with studious eyes before looking back to the captain. “That depends.”

“Depends on what, Sengupta?”

“How this knowledge may effect people of the world.”

Daniels bit at his lip, looking between Babir and myself. “I see. Sami, what does your father plan to pass on? I’ve seen you with your notebook, always taking any chance to write down something.”

I jumped, remembering the materials in my bag. I crouched down and threw it open. The side pocket, held shut with a single button was still damp. Inside, I could feel the wavy, wrinkled pages of my writings beside the stubby pencil and sharpener. I carefully pried it out of the bag, flipping through the pages. Some were stuck together, but despite the water damage, the lead still clung legibly where I had deposited it.

“All still there, I hope?” Daniels asked sarcastically.

I waived the notebook back and forth, allowing it to catch the air. “I have a duty to pass on the things we learn here…”

“Well, Sengupta?” The captain sighed, shrugging my direction. “You heard the boy.”

Babir leaned against the back wall, his arms crossed over his midsection. “Take this as you will… but this creature is not in proper health.”

Richards cleared his throat. “I had the same suspicion.”

Daniels looked back at the doctor, his head nodding in rough agreement. “How do you figure?”

“You see-” Babir began, shaking his chin back at the path we had come from. “Such a… cesspit should not exist inside a healthy creature. We have seen decay and malady, invasive organisms.”

“The fungi.” Richards added.

“I see.” Daniels said with another nod. “I feel I’ve asked this before- we know very little of this creature to begin with. How can we be sure this is out of the ordinary?”

Continue reading “The Words of Warning”

Mobius: Eyes Above the Clouds- Chapter 16

It was about a week after that primary flight up to elevation that we as a whole crew went up together for the first time. We took with us parachutes- a pack slung across our backs, holding onto a folded tarp that would pop out at our command, catching the air and suspending us under multiple strings while we floated down effortlessly back to Earth. Samuel Alcott, our Copilot, was the inventor. The man had originally created something not too far off, but its purpose rather meant to record the direction and strength of wind. When a particularly strong storm came through, he noticed the structure his invention had been mounted to had been torn from the ground, but luckily let down with little damage. From there, he refined the design to be able to carry a person in a similar fashion. After something working was in his hands, he went to my father in hopes of selling the design for profit for the mission.

My father would not so easily look at such an offer from a man such as Samuel without making his own counter offer. My father learned that Mr. Alcott was the son of a meteorologist, following in his father’s footsteps. Lorraine had, at some time, been revealed to be less than perfect at keeping a heading, let alone looking out for unfavorable conditions. Samuel, on the other hand, could read a compass, a map, even the wind to look out for peculiar weather systems that we might encounter. He was offered a position as Co-Pilot, finally filling out our team. The only thing that was to be proven was the efficacy of his invention.

Daniels predictably went first out the door of the flying craft, his hands on the straps of the pack. I can still remember the sound of the flapping wind tearing at the door. We had chose to fly above a large lake, just in case something were to go wrong. A ship rented by my father was also below to fish us out of the water, regardless of what would come of us. The speck that was the captain disappeared into the deep blue below. Not a few seconds later, the wide tan cloth opened up, catching him as predicted. It took some imploring to get certain others out, but at the risk of Samuel emotionlessly pushing them out, they decided to head out on their own. I still remember the stony look from his as my feet met the air. After that… I believe my being almost entirely left my body, giving me just enough control to release the cloth to guide me down to my rough, soggy landing on the lake below.

More of the obnoxious headlines of our successful flights hit the papers soon after that particular mission. They called us daredevils, reckless, and most strikingly, faithless. My father took the chance to finally show his face again to the public, at the town hall. They had to put up tall fences and panes of glass to stop the throwing of trash and rotten fruit and vegetables.

He posed the question that if Mobius were simply ordinary rather than extra ordinary, if they think less of it. If it was simply existing rather than watching, would people give it a second thought when they saw it above? If it ran on instinct rather than logic, would they care to know why is goes where it does? Not a single answer came, but rather indistinct cries and anger. My father returned to our home without another word. He remained in his room for the next week, until it came time for us to depart. He said a final goodbye, a wish of luck and strength to me before I was driven off to the long strip of land where we would lift off from.

---

A bright light shone in my vision. I shuddered myself awake from my half-dazed state. Babir had gotten his little torch working. The glass lens covering the bulb was dotted with droplets of water. “Turn that off.” Chase complained.

I shifted to one side, pushing myself off the wall. My bare back stuck to the slick flesh behind me. Alice was to my right, dressed down in just a tank top and small, form fitting short pants. Among our bits of damp, discarded clothes, the other’s legs were stretched out in sleep. I felt a sudden heaviness in the pit of my stomach. I crawled and stumbled on my hands and knees to where the light was shining off the dirty water. I released the contents of my digestive tract into the slop, arguably doing little to make the damp worse.

“Again, Sami?” Daniels spoke up, his voice heavy.

I held my abdomen. I was ravenous and nauseous at the same time. “How much… how much…” I held back another urge as the snot trailed out my nose. “How long, been here?” I said with a loud snort.

“Who knows?” The captain said again.

“Captain.” Babir spoke up. The dark man pointed his light up to the ceiling, waiving his fingers through the beam.

“More white stuff.” Daniels groaned. “What did you call it?”

“Mycelium.”

“Even here?”

“Its worse than I have suspected.” Babir finished.

Continue reading “Knowledge or Faith | Innerworkings”

Mobius: Eyes Above the Clouds- Chapter 15

The others finally came our way. Chase was shoved between Joseph and Daniels, an arm on each of their shoulders. Behind them, Mary followed, holding onto her husband’s discarded gear, including the busted lamp. They let the injured man down on the ground, just far enough from the standing liquid.

“Is he…” I asked, looking to Chase’s sleepy eyes.

“Hey! I’m right ‘ere!” Chase bucked up and shouted, his neck still floppy. “Somethin’ like this ain’t gonna’ keep me down!”

“He may have a bruised vertebra or two, if that.” Richards explained.

“I’ve ‘ad worse.” Chase called out again, followed by a shallow cough. “We’ll be movin’ ‘ere in a bit.”

Daniels leaned against the wall, catching his breath. “No need to rush,” He sighed. “At least until we know where we’re at. Sengupta?”

Babir paced around in the water, feeling at a bit of mushroom tissue between his fingers.

“The direction we’ve been traveling… if I were to guess, we should be close to what could be a central nervous system.”

“As in…?” Daniels insisted.

“Brain, spinal cord.” Richards spoke up.

“If we consider the creature to be like us.” Babir noted.

Daniels paced a bit, looking to the tunnel into which the strange stagnant water was trickling. “Always something new to explore.” He bit at his lip and glanced at me, shielding his eyes from the light in the my hand. “How much more fuel do we got, Sami?”

I looked down to the lantern and shook it back and forth. It was distinctly lighter than I had remembered, and the weight of the kerosene inside shifted greatly with each swaying movement. “A… quarter, I’d assume?”

The captain turned his head down, shaking it tiny bits. “Won’t last much longer. And we’re out the other, too.”

I reacted to his worry by twisting on the knob attached to the wick. It retracted slightly into the reservoir, sucking some of the light from the surroundings. “Babir…” I spoke up. “This formation isn’t natural, is it? It shouldn’t be like this.”

He glanced back at me, turning away from his observations. Only the dark man’s gray clothing and the yellowed teeth were visible in the dim light as he talked. “No.”

“It’s disgusting.” Mary said, rubbing at her forearms.

“Something… is not right.” The dark man added.

“Are we safe being here or not?” Daniels cracked. His feet treaded loudly back and forth through the water.

“We are safe.” Babir stressed. “At least as long as we move some time soon.”

Dr. Richard’s glasses glinted in the light. He had taken them from his face to attempt to wipe them down. “Spores from these mushrooms?”

“Yes. And we are likely disturbing them.”

“Me, I’m worried ‘bout that trench foot, down in ‘ere too.” Chase mumbled. “Wet socks and boots’r no laughin’ matter.”

Daniels slid before me, holding out his hand for the lantern. “We’ll be out of here soon enough it seems, Mr. Dunn.” He took the light source from me, and held it before him. “Just catch your breath. Sengupta, Sami, what do you mean this isn’t natural?”

“It is… not of the creature’s being. It is carved out of it, rather. This… is rot.” Babir admitted. His hand was flush against the wall. As Daniels brought the light closer, it could be seen the thick, oily flesh underneath, stained dark. Babir’s fingers dug into the surface, pulling off bits and revealing spots of pink inside.

Daniels held his sleeve to his face and backed off. “Vile.”

“But the shrooms must love it.” Richards replied as if it were a joke.

“They are perhaps a cause, or symptom.” Babir flashed a glare back to the doctor. “No healthy creature should be… infested… like this.”

“No creature has a rain forest growing inside it either.” Daniels countered. “Mobius is clearly a unique being. We know that already.”

“Ever creature has germs and bacteria, captain.” Richards said. “Humans are no different. This is the same, just on a different scale.”

“He is correct.” Babir continued. “But rot eating though one’s body… necrosis… this is… unnatural. Devastating.”

Chase coughed loudly. I turned back to see him standing back up, his hands to his back. Mary jumped by his side to support him. “Hold on, dear.”

“Don’t slow down on accounta’ me.” He huffed.

Joseph joined by his side. “I have you too, Mister Chase.” The big man shoved his arm into his side uncomfortably.

“Don’t push yourself.” The captain complained. “Richards, should he even be moving?”

“If he can… I don’t see why not. It will take time to heal, whether he chooses to move or stay put.”

Continue reading “The Darkness”