Mobius: Eyes Above the Clouds- Chapter 14

The tips of my toes bounced off some sort of slick structure before me intermittently. The light was just barely enough to cast a shadow of my feet upon what looked like a rough, raw flesh, uneven with crag-like protrusions.

“Sometimes…” I managed to speak up, my breath heavy. “It’s hard to remember we are in fact… inside some living creature.”

Alice blew out a loud breath. “Let’s hope we don’t get digested, or something equally bad.”

I glanced up at the woman. She was danging a good body length above me, seemingly comfortable to hold position, the rope wedged between her feet. I grasped my thighs to the rope before me to balance myself while switching the lamp to my opposite hand. My tendons ached, and I could feel my mind urging me to simply let go.

Alice’s voice came to me again. “Any sign of the bottom?”

I let out a slow silent breath between my lips to stifle the strain on my limbs. “No.” I shimmied down farther another six inches or so, when the singed stub of the rope brushed against the sole of my boot. I glanced down into the light of the lantern to verify it’s presence.

“I don’t think…” I mumbled, suddenly realizing that if there were no way down, I would be faced with the now impossible seeming climb back where we had come.

The rope shook back and forth. Alice’s boots bumped together not too far from my head. “Give us more slack!” She called out, her high voice clinging to the walls in the form of an echo. She sighed and let out a humph. “Figures they can’t hear me. And I can’t give them a tug with you dragging out all the extra rope.

“I can’t make it back up there, no way.” I said lowly.

“Well, they might attempt to pull us back up soon, or not.” Alice mulled. In the shadows, her chin turned up then back down. “Can you get that lantern any brighter? Perhaps we can find a ledge to lean against.”

I shrugged my shoulder, hefting the metal fuel-filled base of the contraption upon my thigh while my knees kept hold on the rope. I rested it in the crux of my arm and wrapped my hand around enough to find the winged knob. The flame shot up against the glass. The sudden rush of heat sent a drop of sweat tumbling down my forehead to disappear into my lap. I shoved it back down and waited for my vision to clear.

“Look, Sami.” Alice nudged the rope again. “A reflection?”

I blinked the stars out of my eyes. Below us, there was a round orange glow upon a mirrored surface, showing us the bottom of my feet. The drop was just about as far as Joseph was tall. “I assume you know how to swim, Alice?”

“Yes.” She stated. “And you? Perhaps it simply won’t be that deep. Waiting here won’t answer that question for us, though.”

I gulped and felt at the final length of rope. I inched my way down, clinging to the release on my harness. As my knees met the last of rope, I braced myself, locking my joints in place. “I’ll be right after you Sami.”

I shoved the springy release of the clip on my harness, and the breath departed from my chest. I felt a hard surface beneath my feet, followed by my knees knocking into the ground and a cold sensation soaking into my pant legs. Droplets of the liquid had flown up on my cheeks, and I realized that my eyes had been closed for the last few seconds.

The light gave its last flicker as I allowed myself to return to the surroundings. The glass cover from the flame had slipped upward, likely from it slipping from my hand upon impact. The burning wick had been choked off. I pushed myself up, making sure the lantern was still within reach. Alice splashed down not too far from me, and from the sound of it, more elegantly.

“Are you Okay, Sami?”

“The light…”

“I’ve noticed, don’t fret.” She spoke in the manner I had seen accompanied with a roll of the eyes. “I usually have some matches on me. Though…” She stopped short.
In the once pitch black, a hazy blue-green glow crept up across from the walls and in the reflection the uneven ripples we had created in the liquid’s surface. “I’m not imagining this, am I?” I mumbled and rubbed at my eyes.

Alice dragged her shins through the pool with a muffled splashing. She approached one particular source of the strange light- a cone-shaped piece of vegetation on a rough stalk. “I suppose Sengupta was correct about there being mushrooms.”

More of the fungi seemed to sprout from the area. Some were tiny and intricate, covered in neat ridges running up to the center stalk, whereas others were gnarled and rigid, with bits of flesh absent.

I bent to the liquid and scooped up some in the palm of my hand. Any sign of odor was absent, and a hesitant taste revealed that it was, in fact, water.

“You can’t be drinking that, are you?” Alice glanced back to me, hearing my second slurp.

“Seems it’s fine.”

“Richards would give you a tongue lashing for something like that, you know. Sengupta probably, as well. Drinking that certainly can’t be healthy.”

“Joseph had the rest of my water on him. Can’t blame me for my thirst slipping my mind in a situation like this.”

“You’re so eager to please, Sami.” Alice splashed a bit more, moving about. “To a fault, almost.”

From above, I heard a loud grunting. “Sam! Miss Alice?” The dull voice echoed about. “Are you still alright?”

“Joseph?” I called up, looking for any movement in the glow.

“Sam!” A cheery call returned. I eventually saw the set of massive boots continuing down, before effortlessly dropping off and into the water. More of the liquid was splashed upon me in fat droplets. “You are safe.”

“Lomeli?” Alice asked. “Why are you down here, and not belaying?”

“The captain and Mr. Chase and Mrs. Mary held the rope to get me down here. The rope just went limp, I felt. They said to go and check, cause I can yell back real loud.”

“Well, obviously.” Alice snapped. “The rope didn’t quite reach the bottom, as you can see.”

I looked back up at the dull end of the cord, barely visible in the light, an arm’s length or more out of my reach. “This may not be good, Joseph. Was there any more length up there? Or if they have a bit more.”

Joseph had already turned his attention away. His feet splashed loudly trough the water as he approached one of the glowing mushrooms. “They light up.”

“Joseph.” I spoke up.

“Lomeli!” Alice followed suit. The big man finally lurched his shoulders in compliance. “What about you yelling back?”

“Right!” He jumped and rolled his head back. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouted a loud reverberating cry up the tube. “Mister Gupta! We are safe!”

In the expanses above our heads, up where the glow from the strange fungi was able to reach, I saw a pale orange flashing. “Well, if nothing else, Babir should like to see what’s down here.”

“That flashing looks like morse.” Alice mentioned. She took long strides around the chamber, evidently looking for a dry spot to rest her feet and legs.

“What did it say?” Joseph pondered aloud.

“I don’t know it well enough.” Alice huffed. “Sami, you?”

Joseph still had his head cocked up to the darkness. “There he is! Mister Gupta, did you hear me?”

“Of course,” came the reply of the dark man as he went hand under hand, leading himself down little by little. “Else I wouldn’t be coming down this way. My, this is quite something.”

Alice approached the landing zone, forcing Joseph back with her arm to clear the area. “Sengupta, what were you signaling up top?”

“Just the same as this big man reported. That you found a safe way down.” At the bottom of the rope, Babir let out a ‘hup’ and allowed himself to drop down, causing a gentle, guided splash into the water. “And how fortunate I would be able to join you down here. Bioluminescence.”

Continue reading “The Fiber of Life”

Mobius: Eyes Above the Clouds- Chapter 13

After drinking down some of the water infused with the strange fruit, I felt the malady inside my throat abate, just slightly. It seemed to fill my stomach slightly more than usual as well. Daniels gathered us around as he looked up to the membrane, slowly projecting more light upon us.

“Sengupta tells me of the jungle you three came across.” He looked to me and Joseph. In his hands was a tin mug of coffee, lazily letting off its last bit of steam. “Seeing as how we found the terminus on our end, I say there’s no better way than to continue on.”

Richards was intent on cleaning the lenses of his round glasses when he cleared his throat. “What do you suppose we could make our way into?”

Babir paced around beside Daniels, looking out into the dim expanse. “A digestive system, perhaps. A primitive one, if I had to guess.”

The doctor nodded. “It has no shortage on carbohydrates, it seems, given these pods or whatever you found.”

“Anything to get out of this odor.” Alice grumbled, rubbing her nose against her knees propped before her.

Daniels smiled and sauntered between us. The supplies had mostly been packed up already by his order, save one pack between Mary and Chase, just at the wall. “Mrs. Dunn.”

“I found them like you asked, Wess.” She spoke up. One of the packs she had been holding onto was wide and flat, meant to rest against her back just under the pack for the chute. She unbuckled the wide flaps and flipped them open, revealing the wide tear-shaped leather sections, stitched together at one side.

“Perfect. I heard it was quite the dense vegetation.” Daniels spoke up, bending down to pick up one of the instruments- a machete. The metal of the blade shone as it hit the light. “Lomeli, how are you with sharp objects?”

“I am allowed to trim the hedges and grass and tree branches at the Rees estate.” Joseph responded, counting off each of the tasks on his fingers.

“Perfect.” Daniels smiled, waiving the blade up in the air. “I would assume the next one could go to Sengupta?”

Babir finally turned back to us, studying the weapon in Daniel’s hand, then looking to Lomeli, who was sitting up, fixed upon the same item. “As long as I am not in front of that man.”

“It is decided then.” The captain recovered the leather pouch from the ground and slipped the machete back inside. It closed with another strap of similar material. “Leave behind anything you don’t think you’ll require for the next few hours or more. Chase, make sure to gather up the bog rolls and any medical supplies Richards can’t handle.”

“Yessir.”

“Right, then. Form up in five.”

I stood and rubbed at my throat in hopes to detect if any of the soreness had subsided. Mary came out of the airway, carrying her and her husband’s bed rolls, returned to their cylindrical shapes and wound with twine. She placed them beside the wall with the pack holding the stove and other supplies that had been stowed already. I jumped off the pad beneath my bottom and rolled it up similarly, preparing it to join the others.

“Do you feel better now, Sami?” Mary asked as I sorted the rest of my things.

“Just fine.” I answered shortly. My voice still held onto a bit of dryness.

Mary nodded slowly, flipping out a tarp to guard the supplies from any excess moisture. “Don’t push yourself too hard.”

---

I had heard the same words many times previous. My mother had died shortly after I had become school aged, and my father was at work much of my childhood after. I was raised by maids and servants it seemed from that point on, but whenever my father was present he tried to dote on me. He did so in the manner of hiring tutors and teachers to teach me how to read, write, do mathematics, even going as far as someone to teach me how to speak formally- but never once how to speak for myself.

At age 9, I snuck out of the manor one day to attempt to find Joseph and play around with him. After traversing much of the outside of the building, I went to the gardens and tennis court area. Not being able to see him from anywhere, I attempted to climb a tree, an act I had read much about in books like Huck Finn, but had never seen attempted. I managed to reach the first branch before scraping my leg. I created a sizable scratch down my thigh, at the time it seeming to me life threatening. So much so that I could not wrap my head around the notion of returning to the ground. In that tree I remained for anywhere between five minutes to two hours, a time period to which my child brain could not comprehend in its panic.

A search party of a butler, two maids, the gardener, and Joseph eventually came across me, my eyes stuck closed red from the bawling. Joseph was able to reach me without an effort. I was returned to the interior of the house safely, and treated with the sting of isopropyl to the scratch, adding the final insult to injury. My father had already revived a message at his work, and was already on his way home. When he did arrive, I dumped out before him my entire recollection of the experience. I was scolded, despite my father barely knowing how, being told for the first time in my memory ‘not to push myself too hard’. He then scooped me up in his arms as a reminder that I was his sole child, and that being taken away from him would be greater than any business failure.

From that day on, I saw more of my father, as well as a manageable addition of responsibility to my daily routine. I still heard the warning not to push myself more that necessary more than a few times, to a point where I could anticipate it. Alas, somehow I turned into a fine young adult somehow, it seemed. I remember now the last time I heard the particular warning too- when my father finally decided that heading out into public to manage the creation of the flying craft was impossible in the state of our affairs. It was I who mentioned that I could take it over. After all, I had heard or seen second hand everything that had gone into developing it and the team around it. My father told me that taking over such a thing would be too much of a burden. In the coming weeks, I saw a slight desperation in his actions, not being able to be a part of what was going on at the warehouse. It was shortly my nineteenth birthday, and when asked what I wanted, I replied that I should want to take his place, and nothing else. A few moments of silence followed, ending with him preparing himself to utter those same words- but instead, he stopped himself, and smiled.

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Continue reading “Interlinking Organisms | To Push Harder”

Mobius: Eyes Above the Clouds- Chapter 12

After we all had gotten ample time to catch our breaths and level our heads, Alice opened up to me about what they had explored father down the airway. Beyond the opening, the tunnel continued on at the same mild incline for about another kilometer. At that point, it shifted down more steeply, wider too- too much to continue down normally.

From there, Alice had taken point and pulled out more of her climbing gear. She anchored the ropes at the top of the incline. Harris volunteered to stay behind and belay her and Daniels down. Naturally Alice set off first down the rope, slowly treading against the wall before her. The captain went next, the lamp in his hands. It seems it was cold and drafty, much like before. She said the rope eventually ran out, keeping them from descending farther. Daniels, though, she said, had other ideas. There was a faint light below, that which could have been the way out. With her one remaining bundle of rope, he decided Alice could tie into the side and continue down, saying that the incline was still not entirely that steep.

Alice said she attempted to talk him out of it, but he insisted, saying that he would stay and make sure the connection was secure, and that he would stay put to not put extra weight on it. She anchored a new barbed pin, also tying into the previous line. Down she went, to a point where she could hear the air moving by. The rope continued off down, dangling in what seemed to be open sky, outside.

At that point, she described, was likely when the creature shifted in the sky to catch the sun above. There was a sudden movement, and the rope ran about the tube, banging her into the wall and causing her to lose her grip. The clip jerked her down, allowing her to catch hold before going too far. Alas, she was still farther down than she had wanted to go- several arm lengths dangling away from the the underside of Mobius.

She described the view below as the first time she had considered the reasoning behind someone having a fear of heights. Below was no sign of land, simply splotches of blue and white. The bottom of Mobius was not smooth, as previous observations had told, but rather ridged with gray skin, leaning front to back. The patterns of the skin were also vaguely fingerprint like. Putting her feet to the rope, she had been resigned to inching her way back up to the orifice. It was widest near the bottom, pointing out towards the back of the creature, formed in a way to be also aerodynamic. Nothing else could be said of it, other than the feeling of assurance that being back within reach of it gave her, she said.

She gazed at Daniels as she described climbing back up to the point where he had been resting, flickering lantern still in hand. She was only able to nod when the man had asked her if it did indeed continue on to the underside of the creature. He was apparently happy with the answer, not asking any more, and simply calling up to Harris to begin guiding them up.

---

After I packed away my writing some time after, I noticed the smell of something burning pungently. There was a faint stack of smoke coming out of the airway, albeit most of it contained inside. I poked my head in to where Chase and Mary were crowded beside the stove, lit with a flickering flame.

“Don’t get yur hopes up, Sami.” Chase grumbled at me.

“Oh, I was just… about what…?”

Mary prodded at the grate over the flame with the long-pronged fork, turning over a blackened piece of something vaguely meat-like. “Like I said, mostly gristle. Can’t be bad if you cut away most o’ the bad stuff, though.”

I felt a shoulder push past me and into the airway. “Smells like you ruined it pretty nice, Mr. Dunn.” Daniels revealed himself.

“Well, it ain’t no piece’a chuck.” The cook shook his head.

“Can’t be worse than when the pouch of seasonings fell in the river two weeks up the Colorado.” Daniels chuckled. “All we had to salt our rations was the sweat from our upper lips, Sami. Will you be… partaking?”

Mary passed the captain a slice of the charred section of meat on one of our metal plates. Along the severed section, there was a bit of pale pink flesh, surrounded by jagged bits of soiled gristle. “No, thank you. I think I’ll suffice with the dried stuff in our rations.”

Daniels shrugged and took a seat beside the Dunns. “Suit yourself.”

I crept back out, the smell of smoke blowing out my nostrils. The light coming through the membrane above us was beginning to die out. I crept around the slick surface back to my bedroll, where my sack was located. While I tore into the fresh vacuum-sealed bag of dried meat, I saw Babir’s light flashing about the edge of the camp.

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Continue reading “Deeper | The Weight of Air”

Mobius: Eyes Above the Clouds- Chapter 11

Before departing the area, we had found and cut down a few more of the strange pods. I held carefully to the strange pieces of vegetation, one under each arm with just enough pressure to avoid tearing the tender exterior. Babir cradled a couple more inside in the crux of his arm, held against a leaf pressed to his chest. Joseph was ahead of us, walking with another of his own while arduously retracing the steps back to the camp. Somewhere out back into where the ceiling returned to a higher peak, the familiar vein was found, or at least one that appeared similar.

There was a small glint of metal in the distance, and surrounding it was the clearing in the muck where we had set up our camp. As we drew nearer, I saw a head pop up from one of the piles of gear.

“Wat d’ye got there?” Chase called out to us. He jogged up, scooting ahead of Joseph to look at the fruit in his grasp. Babir moved in, passing the wide leaf platter to the cook.

“Take a look, sir.”

Chase poked at the object, digging his fingernail into the flesh. He brought it back out and examined the clear juice upon his digit. “S’kay to eat?”

“Just fine.” The brown man insisted. “I suppose you’ll like it.”

Chase touched his tongue to his finger, rubbing against his bottom teeth. His lips curled up, with his tongue giving them a once-over. “Reminds me o’ the cacti hidin’ out down there in the canyon.”

---

The Dunns were always happy about offering up their experiences, both with the captain, and before they knew him. Chase had worked on a boat for much of his teenage life, going back and forth between the British Isles and New England. He said he had seen Mobius a total of two times doing his work.

He had met his wife in one of the ports in the states- North Carolina I believe it was. She was just a teen as well when they had met, she the daughter of an innsman, who was also a successful hunter. After the course of a few visits over several months, he finally decided to remain the in the states for the sake of marrying her.

Mary accepted the proposal, with her father begrudgingly giving up her hand. After the marriage, Mary fell pregnant, and nine months later, they had their selves a son. Unfortunately for the child, Chase had already made up his mind to go off deeper into the states to explore the wild west, as he called it. In order to continue with him, Mary dumped the child off on the side of the road at the edge of some town they were passing by.

This story was told to us more than a couple of times, the details changing little by little. Each time, about the halfway mark, it would always seem to trail off into rambling that slowly ate away at the otherwise convincing nature. Daniels did once corroborate that when he had met them way back in a railway station in California, there was never any talk of a child or anything else of the sort. Chase would say that he was thankful that the Captain found them then, before they were planning a trip up the Sacramento river to try and relive the gold rush of fifty years previous. Instead, they were to head to the Sierra Nevada mountains, to map out a mountain pass to navigate easier to the famed Lake Tahoe at the border of the state. Apparently, Chase was also promised that if he did find any gold, we would be able to keep it.

It was after that point that Captain Daniel’s fame was quickly growing, and that having talented, brave, and level-headed folks who could hunt and fish like nobody else would be important to follow him. Mary always nodded with a smile when Chase would repeat those words.

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Continue reading “Fruits of Labor | Pair of Hands”

Mobius: Eyes Above the Clouds- Chapter 10

The bed rolls had been splayed around the entrance of the airway, a couple inside. Save Alice, the others had stripped down out of their outer layers, experiencing the ambient heat inside where we were located. The light had become dim, all but the dancing light from the flame in the airway. A few of us, including myself, were finishing the rest of our early dinners, the cold beans clinging to our spoons like glue.

“Anyone got the time?” Mary asked.

“Could be any time.” Harris replied, his eyes transfixed to the ceiling above.

“I’m not even tired.” Joseph added.

Daniels extinguished the lantern and stood up among us, his silhouette barely visible. “It’s time we make a plan of action. There’s no way we could cover everything we hope to explore here inside this creature on the food we have at hand.”

Babir gave his hands a singular clap to grab attention to him. “This digested plant matter we have here is coming from somewhere. If we find the source, we can borrow some to use for ourselves.”

“Correct.” Daniels said. “However, if we do not, we should need to return to the ground so we can avoid starving up here. At first light tomorrow, I’m going to have us split up. Alice, Dr. Richards and I will attempt to map out the rest of the airway, perhaps to the an exit. Sengupta, Sami, Lomeli, you three see if you can’t seek out this source of vegetation. Mary and Chase shall hold the camp here.”

“Yes, Captain.” Babir nodded.

Chase huffed and laid back down his the mat. “Lovely. I’m knackered anyway.”

“You’re a fool, Mr. Dunn,” Mary spoke up, “if ya think we’re jus’ gonna lay around all day. We can have a look around ‘ere.”

I laid back down myself and stared up at the network of veins and flesh above us, just still barely visible. Joseph was beside me, sitting with his legs crossed, massaging his shin. Babir flicked on his battery powered lamp to once again peer at his glass-enclosed sample of slime. I shoved my eyes closed to block out the obnoxious light, and before I knew it, I had fallen off to sleep.

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I awoke some time later. My throat was sore, and I could feel the humidity and sweat clinging to my skin, despite having slept without any coverings. There was the faintest bit of light above us. A few of the others already seemed to be up and about. I rubbed my eyes and sat up.

Harris was beside me, tending to Joseph’s leg. He had taken a white cloth bandage to wrap tightly around the bruise. “I’ve wet this down just a bit to help keep it cool, too.” He explained. “If you find another source of clean liquid, you should soak it.”

“Dun worry.” Chase spoke up. I caught sight of him and his wife stretching a wide cloth across a form consisting of four stands, holding bits of wire between. “We can start replenishin’ our waters here real quick like.”

I stood and examined the contraption. Mary stopped by and placed an empty jug beside the lowest edge of the tarp. “Collecting rain?”

“Not too far off, Sami.” Mary said. “Condensation. The Incas did somethin’ like this, called fog catching. Water’ll condense on this as it cools down.”

“Plenty humid ‘ere, ay?” Chase added in.

Harris nodded back to the cook and gave one final tug at the wrapping around Joseph’s leg. “Go get ‘em, big boy.”

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Continue reading “Source of Power | Working Wings”