Customs Violation

The antechamber was in fact some sort of hangar for antique land vehicles, or as Astrid called it, a ‘garage.’ Evidently someone in Cevtech had had an affinity for these ancient machines, or perhaps they were apart of some investment holdings. Either way, no one had been in the room for a very long time. The good news was that, unless the vehicles had been taken apart and meticulously reconstructed inside the garage, there was likely another way out.

The sphere had broadsided a squarish, metal vehicle with four wheels, the decals of which read, “Chevrolet Nova,” leaving a crescent shaped dent in between the doors. Inside the sphere, the naked man was still doing slow somersaults the suspension liquid. 

“Well, if he’s dreaming in there it’s probably a doozy,” said Zyon.

“Astrid, are you in contact with the ship?” Asked Jasper.

“No, the faraday cage extends to this room,” she replied. “I do, however, detect a slight breach in the environmental pressure coming from an artificial fissure in that wall. It is most likely a service tunnel which leads to the surface.”

“Great,” said Jasper. “See what you can do about getting us in there.”

Jasper scanned the room. None of the vehicles were large enough to hold the sphere and there did not appear to be any tools or means of cutting through diamond. There was, however, a net connected to the arm of a miniature crane, which gave him an idea. 

“You know how to start one of these things?” Jasper asked Zyon.

“No way! I’m a man of the cloth, not a historical engineer,” he said. 

“Here,” said Jasper flicking a manual over from his holo to Zyon’s. “Skim this. It’s an old combustion engine. Somewhere around here there’s probably a repository of clear petroleum-based, flammable liquid. Find it, put it in the little door and we should be able to bring it back to life.”

“Flammable liquid? How stable is this fuel source?” Asked Zyon.

“No idea,” said Jasper, “but if the textbooks are to be believed, ancient humans died in automobile explosions regularly, so no sudden moves.”

Jasper was scaling the miniature crane, which, miniature thought was, was still nearly 17 meters tall. He shimmied along the arm until he got to the metal chain upon which hung a large roped net. He then reached into his pocket and withdrew a small, oblong multi-tool which, upon pressing one of the indentions, sprouted spindly metal legs. 

“Make yourself useful and cut down that net,” he growled at it.

The multitool quickly crawled along the edge of the chain and paused.

“What are you doing?” Yelled Jasper at the multitool. “Cut it down!”

The multitool waited for a moment longer until Zyon was directly beneath the net, and with a single movement, sliced through the middle of the chain with a burst of red light.

“Aaargghh!” Yelled Zyon. The weight of the net had forced him to the ground. “What the hell?!”

“Sorry,” yelled Jasper. “This damn multitool is possessed with the devil.” He snatched the multitool and deactivated it, shoving it back into his pocket.

Within the half hour the three had managed to open the door, fuel up the transport, and create a harness with the net for the diamond ball to roll behind them. Jasper, who had insisted on driving, was running a historical program to assist him with the controls of the ancient vehicle. Little words above each apparatus indicated their function. He looked over at Astrid who was sitting beside him. 

“What do you suppose a cassette deck is?” He asked her.

Astrid looked at the appliance in the center dash of the vehicle and shrugged. “I can find out for you once we are able to reconnect to the Cerean Global Network.”

“You know what,” said Jasper, “book mark it for me.” He pumped the accelerator pedal a few times and on the third push twisted the key in the ignition. The vehicle had obviously been expertly stored because after a few tries it roared to life.

“Open the gate,” said Jasper to Astrid.

“Any idea where that’s going to take us?” Asked Zyon.

“Nope,” said Jasper, “continuing to keep the engine’s revolutions per minute at 4000 as suggested by the program he was running.

“Great, well we better get there in a hurry then,” said Zyon.

The massive hangar door moved slowly to the side and the second the gap was wide enough for them to pass, Jasper shoved the stick into the first gear and popped the clutch. The vehicle jerked forwards violently and immediately slowed violently against the weight of their cargo.

“Easy!” Screamed Zyon. “This thing is gonna fall apart!”

The new corridor was much bigger than the previous one and Jasper was relieved to see that it had a steady incline. Despite this, the automobile picked up some speed. After 10 minutes or so of driving, there was still no sign of an exit. Twice they had to stop for Astrid to get out and open a new door. 

When she got back in the second time she sent Jasper a private transmission. The hologram message was superimposed over her physical body and said, “Jasper, that door was pressure sensitive. Air locks are common enough for underground Cerean structures, especially as old as these, but I suspect that the last one may have taken us outside of the Kerwan Crater dome.

“Oh shit,” Jasper accidentally said out loud.

“What?” Asked Zyon.

“Never mind,” said Jasper back to him, and then privately to Astrid he reiterated, “Oh shit. So we’re depressurizing right now.”

“Very slowly yes,” she said and put her finger on the window of the automobile where a faint crystaline structure was beginning to appear. “I believe there is perhaps one more door between us and surface. My readings also suggest that we are beginning to lose artificial gravity.”

“Are you in contact with the ship?” Jasper asked her.

“Are you two talking about me?” Asked Zyon. “Cause I get the feeling I’m being talked about.”

Astrid continued privately, “There is a tear in the faraday cage somewhere. I believe I can get the ship to rendezvous with us on the other side of the final door, but it will be dangerous. This vehicle is not rated for depressurization.”

“No shit,” said Jasper.

“I estimate you and the other human will be unconscious in 8 minutes,” continued Astrid calmly.

“Ok, we’ll try a barn swallow. What are our chances?”

“I really can’t speculate without information as to the terrain outside the final hatch.”

“Well I don’t see that we have much of a choice. How long till the ship gets here?”

“I have requested departure from the station master, but the ship is being held for a customs violation,” she said.

“What? We haven’t even boarded the ship! What customs could we have possibly violated.”

Astrid paused for a moment and then said, “They’re not saying. 7 minutes.”

“Um, guys?” Said Zyon from the back seat. He pointed to the growing crystal on the side window. “Something tells me we’re not under the dome anymore.”

“Yea,” said Jasper to him. “All apart of the plan.”

“Sure it is,” said Zyon.

Turning back to Astrid he said grimly, “Ok, do it.”

“By, ‘Do it,’ are you asking me to engage the Alcoubier Drive?” Astrid asked with a hint of would could almost be described as glee.

Jasper’s knuckles went white on the steering wheel and he stared strait forward into the dark tunnel. 

“Yes, do it,” he said again.

“Spooling up. 3, 2, 1… mark. Mark 2.”

Seconds later rumbling like an earthquake began to shake the tunnel walls. It was too much for the for the suspension on the old vehicle to handle, and the 3 were jostled violently around the cabin. The spherical suspension chamber behind them hit a rock and bounced into the air which pitched the automobile sideways, but Jasper kept the accelerated jammed to the floor and kept the nose pointed towards the center.

“What the hell is happening?” Yelled Zyon.

Before he could reply, Astrid said, “There’s the door.” Jasper still couldn’t see it, but he trusted that she could. 

“We won’t have time to get out and open it the traditional way,” he said to her.

“No.”

“What do you suggest?”

“We hit it with a pulsar, 40% power.” 

“Go for it,” said Jasper.

“6 seconds,” she replied.

“I recommend holding your breath,” Jasper warned Zyon. “Also, I would close your eyes and put your face in the seat. One look at that laser and you’re perma-blind.

“Gods in heaven,” said Zyon.

The massive dark door in front of them started to glow. Both Jasper and Astrid put light responsive blast goggles.”

“Break through in 3,2,1.” Suddenly the entire tunnel was filled with 12 angry red beams of light which arced around the car and moved slowly counter clockwise. They were quickly nearing the door.

“Astrid…”

“Compensating for material,” she said. The beams thickened and moved faster.

“Astrid, which way is that thing going to fall?”

“It will fall the direction I intend for it to fall,” she said shortly.

“Ok then,” said Jasper backing off.

“When the lasers finished connecting the incisions they shut off and Jasper’s blast goggles adjusted for the ambient light. Simultaneously, the atmosphere from inside the tunnel exploded outward and the door was tossed into the air like it weighed nothing, which, Jasper realized a little too late, it nearly did weigh nothing because the yellow caution line only a few meters ahead indicated the end of the electromagnetic plates which simulated gravity in the city. This was less concerning than the fact that the air was being audibly sucked from the car and the temperature had dropped to -455 Degrees Kelvin. Jasper’s mind barely had time to register the change and his conscious was fading fast as he saw the PLSR framed in the archway. He was just able to make out the starboard weapon’s port opening and firing the rail gun at the ground in front of them causing them to lift off the ground lazily and, due to the lack of atmosphere, silently. The last thing Jasper saw before unconsciousness engulfed his mind was the cargo hatch opening as they floated towards it.