The Moon, chapter 40: Chambers

A small cloud of gray dust expanded from the spot where Susie had landed, clouding her vision slightly before the disheveled ash floated gently to the sea floor. Susie felt a little at ease, finally out of the near eternal descent into darkness, and planted on some solid ground. This ground, however, perplexed Susie somewhat, for when she landed, she heard a muffled, metallic sound. Susie bent one knee and brushed away the ash. It took a bit of excavation work, but she eventually reached the surface below the ash. Steel. Perfectly flat, grayish steel. She didn't think much of it for a second, but when she thought of a terrifying possibility, she knew she needed answers. A firm grip still planted on the large flashlight, she flicked the switch to help her vision, and turned the power to it's maximum brightness. She surveyed her surroundings, and her suspicions were realized.

The light was incredibly powerful underwater, much more powerful than she was suspecting. Perhaps the flesh gave this thing more anomalous powers, but it allowed her to see for an incredible distance. Such a great distance, in fact, that she could just barely make out the mile or so that surrounded her. Vague, box shaped structures were littered across the landscape, some larger and smaller than others, but all keeping a cube-like shape. There were dozens of them, some that were so small she could easily mistake them for pebbles, some so massive that they towered over her. Steel boxes. Test chambers, just like the one she came from. There could be hundreds in this area alone, never mind the rest of the sea.

She knew now, that the real “failures” that populated this place weren't just above, visible to the naked eye. Who knew how deep they went, as well? The puppet said that she had to go to the core of the planet, what was buried underneath? How deep did the planet go? Susie felt her blood boil. The endless suffering these devices once caused, just to be thrown away and started anew. What could the things behind this be testing, she thought? Surely it wasn't worth it. In any case, if she wanted to stop this terrible deed from being done again, she would need to do as the puppet asked anyway. She had no choice but to trust him. The landscape around her dipped down a little towards one side, as if she was on the side of a hill. Susie began descending.

Her metallic footsteps, though muffled, made enough noise to echo as she walked. It was dead silent otherwise, Not a single thing, living or dead, spurred to life. Only the occasional sight of incredibly large bones kept her company. Anything from nondescript white fragments to full ribs, teeth and claws, floated around her, some buried firmly in the ash. She descended, and didn't count the minutes this time. How she was supposed to find her way back was less of an issue to her, as she knew how to swim rather well, and at any point she could have simply swam to the surface by detaching her boots. Still, the sinking feeling of something lurking in the darkness crept over her skin like a spreading disease, getting more and more rampant until she noticed a dark, red light in front of her.

Susie followed the light until she reached what she assumed was the bottom of the hill, realizing that the landscape resembled a crater much more. The light was slightly obscured by ash, but as she cleared it and it's surroundings, she found a large, circular door unlike any she had seen before. It was built into the metal she stood upon, with only a handle in it's middle to hint at how to use it. Assuming that this would lead her to the core, she firmly gripped the handle and pulled. When the handle refused to move, she turned it clockwise, then counter clockwise. The third action worked, as the handle turned forty five degrees. The handle retracted into it's frame, the door splitting open at such a speed that Susie gasped a little. She fell through the door, colliding with the water below shortly after. She only fell about six feet down, but it was enough to give a shock to her system. She got as upright as she could, finding the water's surface relatively quickly and poking her head above.

She was in a short, vertical metal corridor that was made out of the same steel as the other cubes. The walls were featureless and flat, besides the flashing red lights that were posed on each side of each door at both ends of the room. The one she fell in through shut almost immediately after she entered. The lights sort of disoriented her, and the entire event went by in a flash of red flashes and confusion before the door below her opened as well. Thankfully, she was standing on the edge of the door's frame, so she didn't fall straight through this time. The water, however, did. Once it had drained out of the room, a gray light shone through the door's frame as a thin layer of ash fell into the door, covering the bottom half of her. Confused, Susie bent down once more and put her hand into the frame. She felt an odd weight being put on it, as if she was being prevented from entering. Then, she let her legs dangle slightly off of the edge. They bent back, towards her, landing perpendicular to her body by this strange weight. With her interest piqued, she dropped into the hole, landing on her back as she was pulled backwards and to the left, and faced with a gray, cloudy sky.

Susie got to her feet, finding that she was now in... Hometown. Specifically, the area just behind her house, and facing the town proper. Looking back and into the strange door she had entered from, she found that it was somewhat sinking into the ground at a forty five degree angle, buried underneath a pile of ash somewhat. When she'd exited the door, the gravity had shifted. Hometown, and the area that surrounded it, was a complete mess. The sky was a foreboding dark gray, covered with billowing storm clouds, though no rain nor snow fell from it. Barely any trees remained in the once heavily wooded area, any that were left resembling dark, burnt spires that rose above the ground. They were so sparse that she could see far past where hometown was, even though all there was to see was a never ending expanse of white and gray ash. Susie debated taking off her mask, but thought that this may be useful if the air was dangerous as well, so she decided to keep it on. Her boots had turned back to a reasonable weight as well, leaving no reason to take anything off quite yet.

Looking towards the town, she could tell from here that the place was much in the same state of the trees, with most of the buildings being dilapidated and burnt until they were no longer recognizable. Her house, however, was the least destroyed of all of the buildings. In fact, it looked the normal amount of destroyed that it always had been. No light source could be spotted that would even allow her to see any of this. It was as if the world was inherently visible, and normal laws of physics hadn't applied here. And why should they have? This was just another failed test. The rest of existence no longer cares about this world. It had been left to die, so why make sense if nothing matters?

Susie was about to walk to the house she once called home when something out of the ordinary caught her eye. There was a figure, standing at the edge of hometown and facing her. If her depth perception was to be trusted, it was only a little taller than her. It was somewhat chubby and stood on two tall, pure black legs that connected to a larger body, which then connected to a white, incredibly disproportionate head that was taller than both. She couldn't spot arms of any kind. Even with the size of it's head, she couldn't quite make out it's features. Susie was only dozen or so feet from the house so she carefully made her way to the front door, keeping an eye on the figure just in case it had tried to do anything.

Susie walked parallel to the front of the house, daring not to let her vision stray from the figure. This world didn't apply to the normal laws of nature or physics. Nothing was to be trusted. When she felt a doorknob collide with her side, she jumped a little, but quickly maneuvered inside. She was still able to see the creature with the door half open. She began to close it slowly, keeping a very close eye on the figure until there was only a couple inches left to see through. In the minuscule time it took for the gap between the door and the frame to be closed, the creature had easily cleared the space between hometown and her house, and by the time the door was closed it was already furiously banging on the door. Susie was sent reeling backwards, landing on her back and scuttling away from the door. The banging stopped after a few moments. The door easily would have shattered if it had continued, but it stopped. For what purpose? It wasn't even breathing, but she could still feel it's presence on the other side of the door. Waiting.

How in the hell was she supposed to put up a fight against something that fast?