Chapter 2: Mysteries Within Brethren
(This section will focus on Yazoo as the speaker) I woke up what seemed like the next day, and sat up, sitting with my back against the wall. Loz was still asleep, and I decided to sit and wait for a little bit to see if he’d wake up on his own. I remembered his questions and confusion about what happened, why we were separated from Mother, and why everyone outside and upstairs was after us. Even though he was pretty upset when he said all of those things, I knew he had a point. I didn’t understand any of it more than he did. There were too many questions we had, and not enough information to give us the truth at the time. Not to mention we both had very bad dreams before we woke up in that place with all those shiny bluish trees, and the black pond in the middle of where we awakened. I also wanted to know what was going on, and why we were being targeted. But something told me we wouldn’t get any answers unless we found our Mother. I didn’t know where to start looking, or how to find her, but I somehow knew she was out there somewhere, waiting for us to see her and get back together. I mentally tuned into her, and said “We have a lot of catching up to do… just hang on a little longer, Mother. We’ll figure this out…” I heard Loz yawn and saw he had woken up. He shook his head, probably to shake away the sleep, and stood up before he sat down beside me “What are we doing today?” I shook my head “It’s hard to say, especially since we don’t remember anything… but the best answer I can give you is we continue finding Mother. We wont learn anything by sitting in the shadows like this and doing nothing. We’ll just have to stay low and be quiet so nobody sees us. We’ve got a lot of sneaking around to do. Think you’re ready?” Loz stood up and helped me to my feet “I’m as ready as you are. You don’t think those strange people are still lurking around, do you?” I shook my head “I don’t think so. We slept a lot, so things probably have settled down. We should be able to continue for now.” Loz nodded slowly “Ok… but, where do we start?” I shrugged, then reached my silver revolver, holding it carefully in my hands “I don’t, but let’s take it one step at a time. If we get too hasty, it will just make accomplishing the mission harder than it already is. Stay close to me, alright? I’ll take the lead.” We stepped outside the alley we slept in, and I studied the area thoroughly. Loz also seemed to be looking around “Brother, she’s not here… but, I feel like there’s a small trace she might’ve been before…” I turned to him and asked “You see anything? Any signs, even little ones?” He nodded, then turned to look at the long path ahead. We seemed to be at some kind of old train station. He pointed ahead of us, and said “There, that stuff… don’t you see it?” I followed what he was pointing at, and noticed a small area on the ground spotted with something that was mixed with green and black. I drew closer to study it, and touched it with my free hand “This is… Mother’s cells? But why are there so little of them?” Loz caught up to me and asked “You don’t think she had an accident, do you?” I shook my head “I hope not… those men, the weird guys in the suits…” Loz was confused “Who are you talking about?” I got back up and replied “I don’t know what they’re called, or what group they are, but I remember seeing some bad guys who wore navy blue suits… they were very mean to Mother…” Loz asked “Can you remember anything else?” I shook my head “No, except… I think they tried to catch her a very long time ago, and they locked her up… I cant remember anything else though…” Loz seemed worried “Oh no… you don’t think she got caught again, do you..?” I replied “Let’s hope not. If they got her, that would mean we probably have to go upstairs and help her. We’re no match for those bad guys… I don’t think we’d get very far if we tried to break into their base…” Loz sighed and felt discouraged “You remember more than I do… In that bad dream I had yesterday, I saw some weird guys in blue suits trying to take Mother away from me, and I tried to stop them… but I couldn’t. They were too big and strong, and I couldn’t save her… I was powerless..!” He broke out in tears, and I put my hands on his shoulders to help calm him “Aww, Brother… don’t cry. We’ll figure this out together, alright? They didn’t get Mother. I’m sure she managed to take cover before anything could get ugly. She’s very strong, ok?” He wiped his tears away and nodded, and we continued walking together, keeping our eyes peeled for any further traces of Mother’s cells. I said “Pay attention, alright? We should follow Mother’s cells. They might lead us to wherever she’s hiding.” Loz understood “Got it.” We walked a long way in silence, and turned a corner sometime later. We came to a strange gate with bright blue lasers blocking the path, and I saw a keypad that was next to it. I approached it, and sighed “Great, we need a passcode to open the path.” Loz grumbled “Ahh, what? I’m no good at that stuff! What are we supposed to do now? Turn back and find a different way through?” I shook my head and turned back to him “There is no other way through here. If we don’t know the correct code, we’ll have to find a way to get it ourselves. I wouldn’t advise we get careless and start a guessing game on this one. If we enter the wrong numbers, something bad is bound to happen.” Loz nodded “Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised… I don’t wanna find out what would happen either. We cant go dying on Mother after just waking up like this…” I studied the room, and saw a computer on an old and dusty desk. I approached it and studied it “Geeze, this hasn’t been used for a long time… look at all that dirt and dust.” Loz asked “Does it work? Can you use it?” I pushed the power button on the monitor, and it started up immediately. I nodded “I think it should still work. If I can somehow hack into the enemy’s archives about this place and this locked gate, we’ll be through this in no time. But I’ll have to do it without triggering any alarms… if I’m discovered, we’ll be in big trouble.” Loz grumbled “Isnt there another, less dangerous way to get through?” I turned back to him and got firm “Would you rather guess the code and get us both killed by getting it wrong?” Loz groaned “Fine… hack into their stuff already. I wanna get outta here before anyone shows up.” I sheathed my revolver, then got right to work on the task at hand. I didn’t understand how I knew all about hacking into the enemy’s servers, but I just did it so naturally. I guess it was Mother’s blessing since I was still a kid growing up, and the only ones I knew she had now are me and Loz. There was no sign of other children who might be connected to her. At least not yet, anyway. Before much time passed, I got what we needed, and I also found another passcode while I was hacking in. I decided to remember them both, with a hunch we’d need both passcodes to proceed inside of whatever was ahead of us. I clicked the download button to save the information, and a small drive containing the codes was ejected from the computer’s power source beneath the desk. I took it, and stuffed it in my pocket to keep it safe, then went back to Loz. Loz asked “Did you get it?” I pulled the drive from my pocket and laughed a bit “You know it. That was too easy. Let’s keep going.” Loz smiled “Nice work! I never would’ve done it that fast. But… you sure you werent provided with fakes?” I nodded “I don’t think so. I checked for that as a precaution, and didn’t find anything. We should be alright.” I approached the keypad and searched for a place to insert the drive, then connected it. I heard a loud beep, and the lasers disappeared. I removed the drive and put it back into my pocket, then got my revolver back out and went ahead of Loz “We’re good. Follow me.” He obeyed, and we ran to a second laser gate, where I inserted the drive a second time. The lasers disappeared, and I put it back into my pocket and continued leading the way. Loz stopped somewhere behind, and said “Uhh, Yazoo… shouldn’t we cover our tracks so nobody knows someone came without permission?” I stopped and turned back to him “That wouldn’t get us anywhere. The people who built this stuff will already know the passcode anyway. We’d be wasting our time. Just keep going and stay quiet.” He nodded and caught up to me, and we came to an elevator. There was a button that showed it would take us down, and another that pointed up. Loz asked “Uhh… which way now? We cant go upstairs here, right?” I shook my head “No, we’ll be fine if we go up here. I was talking about going upstairs in the city’s main areas. This place should be ok, though. It’s not directly linked to the enemy’s main quarters like the main upstairs is.” Loz nodded, and pushed the up button. We waited, but nothing happened. Loz seemed confused “Huh? Nothing happened… is it broken?” I shook my head “Shouldn’t be if the security gates were working. Maybe this is upstairs? I guess the only way to go is down.” I pushed the down button, and the doors closed, then the elevator began descending. Loz sighed in relief “Phew! I thought this was a trap for a minute! That’s a relief…” I felt a wave of dizziness, followed by a powerful energy surge and moaned in reaction. Loz took notice of my discomfort “Yazoo, what’s wrong?” I replied “I don’t really get it, but… I’m sensing high energy readings close by. It made me dizzy for a little bit, that’s all.” Loz asked “Do you think… Mother is downstairs? Is that what it means?” I replied “It’s too soon to say for sure. It might not even be her cells I’m feeling, but a different kind of energy. We wont know until we explore what’s ahead.” The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. We exited the elevator, and found ourselves in a massive room. There was a set of stairs that went high up, and the floor was metal and appeared to be old. Loz pointed at something and said “Look, Yazoo… that stuff.” I followed his gaze and saw a thick green substance flowing from somewhere below the floor, out in a large and open space. I drew close to the edge and looked down “Ugh, that’s a long drop… we’d better find another route.” Loz followed me and looked down the seemingly endless hole flooded with blinding green light that seemed like thickly concentrated energy “No way… I’m not jumping that one. What if there really is no bottom? We’d be done for sure if we tried to jump down!” I agreed “Yeah, normally I’d be willing to risk the jump, but this one isnt worth it. I don’t think this green stuff is of Mother either. Don’t touch it.” We both stood up and gained distance from the edge, and Loz said “But if it’s not connected to Mother, then isnt finding another way down pointless?” I answered “I don’t know… don’t forget, if Mother really did take cover to avoid trouble, she probably did it in a place the enemy would least expect to find her. And if this green stuff flowing out from below us is energy alien to our kind, or dangerous to us in any way, Mother might be waiting at the bottom to have our enemies think she died. More than that, there might something hiding beneath all of it that is impossible to see from here. That would make it a perfect place for Mother to safely hide.” Loz nodded and said “Then she did make it! Let’s find a way down and help her!” He turned the other way and stared up “Don’t worry, Mother… this time, with someone like Yazoo, I will be strong enough to help you.” I felt warm happiness inside of myself at that and faintly smiled. I said “Let’s go, Loz. We cant wait around for bad people to catch up or find us!” He shouted “Right!” and ran to me to catch up. We began exploring for a while, and I came to a rather suspicious looking wall, studying it thoughtfully. Loz came to me and groaned “Ugh! There’s no way down! Are we supposed to use those stairs first?” I shook my head “Wait. See anything unusual about this wall?” Loz was confused “Like what? The tile pattern?” I sighed “No, of course not.” I set my attention on a large block in the corner that looked to be made of stone, and carefully pushed on it. It was painted in order to make it blend in with the rest of the wall, but I saw right through the attempted camouflage. The rest of the wall around it fell apart, and the opening it revealed showed a set of stairs that appeared to lead down. Loz laughed “Whoa, awesome! Looks like there’s a way down, after all.” I sighed “Of course there was. I knew they wouldn’t make it the path too obvious. That’s basic soldier logic, Brother. You should know that.” Loz complained “Hey, stop it! I don’t know what those people like to do. We just woke up, right? So how would I know anything about what we’re dealing with?” I sighed and shook my head, but decided not to argue “Just follow me downstairs. Come on. And turn down the volume so we don’t get killed while you’re at it; I told you to be quiet.” He grumbled but didn’t protest. We walked down the stairs, and kept silent the entire way down. When we reached the lowest level, we came to a small room, and saw a machine that had its glass shattered on the floor in front of it, blood smeared all over beneath the broken glass. The machine seemed like some kind of cell designed to house another person, like for an experiment or something. On the inside, there was another puddle of Mother’s cells, but much thicker and bigger. They were also cloaked on the back’s glass in thick streams of black and green. It was very obvious that Mother was kept here and most likely broke free, killing whoever threatened her. I shook my head in sorrow “Mother… where are you?” Loz sniffled “She’s not here, either… what’s going on?” I approached Loz and put my hand on his shoulder “Hang in there, Loz. We’ll find her somehow. At least we know she was here, and apparently escaped sometime ago… that’s better than finding nothing. But, where did she go after that?” Loz whined “Now what? Where are supposed to look next?” I shrugged “I guess we’ll have to figure that out ourselves. But for now, let’s get out of here and find an alley to sleep in. We’ll snag a bite to eat on the way, alright? Just calm yourself, Loz. We’ll find her somehow.” Loz nodded, and we turned around to leave and prepare to call it a day. There was nothing more for us to do or see here. We already saw what we had to see, and all we could do was get something to eat and call it a day.
To Be Continued…
(This section will focus on Yazoo as the speaker) I woke up what seemed like the next day, and sat up, sitting with my back against the wall. Loz was still asleep, and I decided to sit and wait for a little bit to see if he’d wake up on his own. I remembered his questions and confusion about what happened, why we were separated from Mother, and why everyone outside and upstairs was after us. Even though he was pretty upset when he said all of those things, I knew he had a point. I didn’t understand any of it more than he did. There were too many questions we had, and not enough information to give us the truth at the time. Not to mention we both had very bad dreams before we woke up in that place with all those shiny bluish trees, and the black pond in the middle of where we awakened. I also wanted to know what was going on, and why we were being targeted. But something told me we wouldn’t get any answers unless we found our Mother. I didn’t know where to start looking, or how to find her, but I somehow knew she was out there somewhere, waiting for us to see her and get back together. I mentally tuned into her, and said “We have a lot of catching up to do… just hang on a little longer, Mother. We’ll figure this out…” I heard Loz yawn and saw he had woken up. He shook his head, probably to shake away the sleep, and stood up before he sat down beside me “What are we doing today?” I shook my head “It’s hard to say, especially since we don’t remember anything… but the best answer I can give you is we continue finding Mother. We wont learn anything by sitting in the shadows like this and doing nothing. We’ll just have to stay low and be quiet so nobody sees us. We’ve got a lot of sneaking around to do. Think you’re ready?” Loz stood up and helped me to my feet “I’m as ready as you are. You don’t think those strange people are still lurking around, do you?” I shook my head “I don’t think so. We slept a lot, so things probably have settled down. We should be able to continue for now.” Loz nodded slowly “Ok… but, where do we start?” I shrugged, then reached my silver revolver, holding it carefully in my hands “I don’t, but let’s take it one step at a time. If we get too hasty, it will just make accomplishing the mission harder than it already is. Stay close to me, alright? I’ll take the lead.” We stepped outside the alley we slept in, and I studied the area thoroughly. Loz also seemed to be looking around “Brother, she’s not here… but, I feel like there’s a small trace she might’ve been before…” I turned to him and asked “You see anything? Any signs, even little ones?” He nodded, then turned to look at the long path ahead. We seemed to be at some kind of old train station. He pointed ahead of us, and said “There, that stuff… don’t you see it?” I followed what he was pointing at, and noticed a small area on the ground spotted with something that was mixed with green and black. I drew closer to study it, and touched it with my free hand “This is… Mother’s cells? But why are there so little of them?” Loz caught up to me and asked “You don’t think she had an accident, do you?” I shook my head “I hope not… those men, the weird guys in the suits…” Loz was confused “Who are you talking about?” I got back up and replied “I don’t know what they’re called, or what group they are, but I remember seeing some bad guys who wore navy blue suits… they were very mean to Mother…” Loz asked “Can you remember anything else?” I shook my head “No, except… I think they tried to catch her a very long time ago, and they locked her up… I cant remember anything else though…” Loz seemed worried “Oh no… you don’t think she got caught again, do you..?” I replied “Let’s hope not. If they got her, that would mean we probably have to go upstairs and help her. We’re no match for those bad guys… I don’t think we’d get very far if we tried to break into their base…” Loz sighed and felt discouraged “You remember more than I do… In that bad dream I had yesterday, I saw some weird guys in blue suits trying to take Mother away from me, and I tried to stop them… but I couldn’t. They were too big and strong, and I couldn’t save her… I was powerless..!” He broke out in tears, and I put my hands on his shoulders to help calm him “Aww, Brother… don’t cry. We’ll figure this out together, alright? They didn’t get Mother. I’m sure she managed to take cover before anything could get ugly. She’s very strong, ok?” He wiped his tears away and nodded, and we continued walking together, keeping our eyes peeled for any further traces of Mother’s cells. I said “Pay attention, alright? We should follow Mother’s cells. They might lead us to wherever she’s hiding.” Loz understood “Got it.” We walked a long way in silence, and turned a corner sometime later. We came to a strange gate with bright blue lasers blocking the path, and I saw a keypad that was next to it. I approached it, and sighed “Great, we need a passcode to open the path.” Loz grumbled “Ahh, what? I’m no good at that stuff! What are we supposed to do now? Turn back and find a different way through?” I shook my head and turned back to him “There is no other way through here. If we don’t know the correct code, we’ll have to find a way to get it ourselves. I wouldn’t advise we get careless and start a guessing game on this one. If we enter the wrong numbers, something bad is bound to happen.” Loz nodded “Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised… I don’t wanna find out what would happen either. We cant go dying on Mother after just waking up like this…” I studied the room, and saw a computer on an old and dusty desk. I approached it and studied it “Geeze, this hasn’t been used for a long time… look at all that dirt and dust.” Loz asked “Does it work? Can you use it?” I pushed the power button on the monitor, and it started up immediately. I nodded “I think it should still work. If I can somehow hack into the enemy’s archives about this place and this locked gate, we’ll be through this in no time. But I’ll have to do it without triggering any alarms… if I’m discovered, we’ll be in big trouble.” Loz grumbled “Isnt there another, less dangerous way to get through?” I turned back to him and got firm “Would you rather guess the code and get us both killed by getting it wrong?” Loz groaned “Fine… hack into their stuff already. I wanna get outta here before anyone shows up.” I sheathed my revolver, then got right to work on the task at hand. I didn’t understand how I knew all about hacking into the enemy’s servers, but I just did it so naturally. I guess it was Mother’s blessing since I was still a kid growing up, and the only ones I knew she had now are me and Loz. There was no sign of other children who might be connected to her. At least not yet, anyway. Before much time passed, I got what we needed, and I also found another passcode while I was hacking in. I decided to remember them both, with a hunch we’d need both passcodes to proceed inside of whatever was ahead of us. I clicked the download button to save the information, and a small drive containing the codes was ejected from the computer’s power source beneath the desk. I took it, and stuffed it in my pocket to keep it safe, then went back to Loz. Loz asked “Did you get it?” I pulled the drive from my pocket and laughed a bit “You know it. That was too easy. Let’s keep going.” Loz smiled “Nice work! I never would’ve done it that fast. But… you sure you werent provided with fakes?” I nodded “I don’t think so. I checked for that as a precaution, and didn’t find anything. We should be alright.” I approached the keypad and searched for a place to insert the drive, then connected it. I heard a loud beep, and the lasers disappeared. I removed the drive and put it back into my pocket, then got my revolver back out and went ahead of Loz “We’re good. Follow me.” He obeyed, and we ran to a second laser gate, where I inserted the drive a second time. The lasers disappeared, and I put it back into my pocket and continued leading the way. Loz stopped somewhere behind, and said “Uhh, Yazoo… shouldn’t we cover our tracks so nobody knows someone came without permission?” I stopped and turned back to him “That wouldn’t get us anywhere. The people who built this stuff will already know the passcode anyway. We’d be wasting our time. Just keep going and stay quiet.” He nodded and caught up to me, and we came to an elevator. There was a button that showed it would take us down, and another that pointed up. Loz asked “Uhh… which way now? We cant go upstairs here, right?” I shook my head “No, we’ll be fine if we go up here. I was talking about going upstairs in the city’s main areas. This place should be ok, though. It’s not directly linked to the enemy’s main quarters like the main upstairs is.” Loz nodded, and pushed the up button. We waited, but nothing happened. Loz seemed confused “Huh? Nothing happened… is it broken?” I shook my head “Shouldn’t be if the security gates were working. Maybe this is upstairs? I guess the only way to go is down.” I pushed the down button, and the doors closed, then the elevator began descending. Loz sighed in relief “Phew! I thought this was a trap for a minute! That’s a relief…” I felt a wave of dizziness, followed by a powerful energy surge and moaned in reaction. Loz took notice of my discomfort “Yazoo, what’s wrong?” I replied “I don’t really get it, but… I’m sensing high energy readings close by. It made me dizzy for a little bit, that’s all.” Loz asked “Do you think… Mother is downstairs? Is that what it means?” I replied “It’s too soon to say for sure. It might not even be her cells I’m feeling, but a different kind of energy. We wont know until we explore what’s ahead.” The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. We exited the elevator, and found ourselves in a massive room. There was a set of stairs that went high up, and the floor was metal and appeared to be old. Loz pointed at something and said “Look, Yazoo… that stuff.” I followed his gaze and saw a thick green substance flowing from somewhere below the floor, out in a large and open space. I drew close to the edge and looked down “Ugh, that’s a long drop… we’d better find another route.” Loz followed me and looked down the seemingly endless hole flooded with blinding green light that seemed like thickly concentrated energy “No way… I’m not jumping that one. What if there really is no bottom? We’d be done for sure if we tried to jump down!” I agreed “Yeah, normally I’d be willing to risk the jump, but this one isnt worth it. I don’t think this green stuff is of Mother either. Don’t touch it.” We both stood up and gained distance from the edge, and Loz said “But if it’s not connected to Mother, then isnt finding another way down pointless?” I answered “I don’t know… don’t forget, if Mother really did take cover to avoid trouble, she probably did it in a place the enemy would least expect to find her. And if this green stuff flowing out from below us is energy alien to our kind, or dangerous to us in any way, Mother might be waiting at the bottom to have our enemies think she died. More than that, there might something hiding beneath all of it that is impossible to see from here. That would make it a perfect place for Mother to safely hide.” Loz nodded and said “Then she did make it! Let’s find a way down and help her!” He turned the other way and stared up “Don’t worry, Mother… this time, with someone like Yazoo, I will be strong enough to help you.” I felt warm happiness inside of myself at that and faintly smiled. I said “Let’s go, Loz. We cant wait around for bad people to catch up or find us!” He shouted “Right!” and ran to me to catch up. We began exploring for a while, and I came to a rather suspicious looking wall, studying it thoughtfully. Loz came to me and groaned “Ugh! There’s no way down! Are we supposed to use those stairs first?” I shook my head “Wait. See anything unusual about this wall?” Loz was confused “Like what? The tile pattern?” I sighed “No, of course not.” I set my attention on a large block in the corner that looked to be made of stone, and carefully pushed on it. It was painted in order to make it blend in with the rest of the wall, but I saw right through the attempted camouflage. The rest of the wall around it fell apart, and the opening it revealed showed a set of stairs that appeared to lead down. Loz laughed “Whoa, awesome! Looks like there’s a way down, after all.” I sighed “Of course there was. I knew they wouldn’t make it the path too obvious. That’s basic soldier logic, Brother. You should know that.” Loz complained “Hey, stop it! I don’t know what those people like to do. We just woke up, right? So how would I know anything about what we’re dealing with?” I sighed and shook my head, but decided not to argue “Just follow me downstairs. Come on. And turn down the volume so we don’t get killed while you’re at it; I told you to be quiet.” He grumbled but didn’t protest. We walked down the stairs, and kept silent the entire way down. When we reached the lowest level, we came to a small room, and saw a machine that had its glass shattered on the floor in front of it, blood smeared all over beneath the broken glass. The machine seemed like some kind of cell designed to house another person, like for an experiment or something. On the inside, there was another puddle of Mother’s cells, but much thicker and bigger. They were also cloaked on the back’s glass in thick streams of black and green. It was very obvious that Mother was kept here and most likely broke free, killing whoever threatened her. I shook my head in sorrow “Mother… where are you?” Loz sniffled “She’s not here, either… what’s going on?” I approached Loz and put my hand on his shoulder “Hang in there, Loz. We’ll find her somehow. At least we know she was here, and apparently escaped sometime ago… that’s better than finding nothing. But, where did she go after that?” Loz whined “Now what? Where are supposed to look next?” I shrugged “I guess we’ll have to figure that out ourselves. But for now, let’s get out of here and find an alley to sleep in. We’ll snag a bite to eat on the way, alright? Just calm yourself, Loz. We’ll find her somehow.” Loz nodded, and we turned around to leave and prepare to call it a day. There was nothing more for us to do or see here. We already saw what we had to see, and all we could do was get something to eat and call it a day.
To Be Continued…
