Today Jack had been excused from class to help work on some maintenance the city required. He had been doing such a good job that Ms. Posie wanted to bring him along so he could learn more. “You have a knack for machines, and we are going to help it grow!” she said proudly as she led him down an old corridor. Jack had not been warned about this excursion, he had been getting ready for class when she dragged him away. “I have something special to show you today child. This is really impressive machinery. We are going deep under to work on the original machinery that was created with the original city. There are only a few parts still active, but one reactor is still in pristine condition that the city uses. The machine is crude but incredibly reliable as long as it’s maintained. We need to ensure everything is tight and greased.”
“Uh, they still haven’t found the monster beneath the city,” Jack said, trying to hide the worry from his voice.
“Yes yes, I’m well aware of the threat, that’s why we have not been sending you many maintenance jobs.”
“Oh, I just thought there wasn’t much to do.”
“There is an entire academy to maintain, and we also help with the city. Of course there is stuff to do.” He felt guilty they had taken up the slack due to the fact that the monster had a weird fascination with him. “Anyways, today a large security force already checked the area. And the district has been on constant high alert. They may not be actively hunting for it anymore; we still know it is out there, so we are actively patrolling the more important and commonly used areas.”
“Oh, ok,” Jack said. They went down into the underground tunnels. They used a large maintenance access point Jack had used before and it was impressive.
“This door is where we bring in and out the really big machines. It’s the biggest access to the underground that we have in the academy.” Jack marveled at the size of it all. It was a giant sloping tunnel that had large stairs, but it also had 2 giant ramps that were smoothed into each side of the steps allowing for behemoth carts to roll up and down. The corridor was so large it took them almost 10 minutes just to walk to the bottom. The walls had exciting-looking carvings with antique lights that were impressively bright. Once they reached the bottom, they opened a huge gate. The entrance only slid open a little and they walked in. When the door activated there was a blaring horn similar to the one that could be heard in the residence. Jack grumbled at the sound, it had quickly become his and every student’s least favorite part of the academy. Many have speculated on where and what it is, but none of the students can figure it out.
As they passed through the threshold of the door the temperature dropped suddenly and the air smelled completely different. The air was much damper and had a very slight mold smell to it. The architecture looked exactly the same as before the door, but there was a very slight dust coating everything. “This way.” She pointed to an access door, and they headed towards it. There were hundreds of doors in the giant room they had entered and most of them looked similar. As they approached the door, Jack realized they were a lot bigger than he thought. The room he had been standing in was so big that from far away the big door looked small. The door was easily the size of a house and had a smaller door built into it that Ms. Belle approached.
Jack had his goggles with him at the instruction of Ms. Posie, and once he entered the area, he decided to activate his goggles to find out what he could see. He couldn’t believe what he saw beyond the walls. It was a never-ending maze of pulleys, gears, pistons, wires, pipes, and many more crazy contraptions. How could anyone possibly design or work on this?
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Ms. Belle brought him over to a specific door and pulled out a surprisingly large key. It was gold and intricately carved with incredibly advanced-looking runes. The key was the size of her hand, and she slid it into a hole beside the door. There was a loud sound, and you could hear a bunch of machines buzzing a whirring behind the walls. With his goggles, he could see some of the movements, but it was impossible to tell what was being controlled. Everything was moving so fast, and it was insanely complicated. After a few moments, Jack started to get a headache and took his goggles off.
“Hahaha, yeah, it’s a lot. Most students don’t see this place until the third year, but you have a knack for design, so I wanted you to get a little ahead. Just don’t tell anybody.” She winked at him mischievously. You won’t be needing your goggles here though, there is way too much going on here. What we will be taking a look at is much much deeper. The trip through the depths was beautiful and interesting. They slowly traveled deeper. The air gradually got wet and cold as they traveled down. It was another hour before they finally came upon a door that looked different from the ones before. By that time Jack was shivering and shaking. “Just another minute and you will be warm again, I promise.” She walked over to the weird door, made Jack turn around, then opened it. For some reason, he wasn’t allowed to see how to open the door. But that didn’t bother him, he was much more interested in the warmth that came from the opening. Jack quickly ran into the new room. The air was hot and dry. It felt amazing. He rubbed his hands together as he sighed heavily.
After enjoying the heat for a moment, he took in his surroundings. What the fuck? How is this possible? The room he was in looked completely different from the earlier construction. It was an ancient design. Everything was metal. There was no stone anywhere. The metal was bronze similar to Pyke and the beast. Jack looked around worriedly. “This area was built before the original city was built. The original city was built on top of a machine that was found here. No one knows for sure who built this. There are a few theories. The prevailing one is that it was built by Merlin himself. Jack looked around in awe. “I wanted to take you down here so you could see the craftsmanship. Does this make look similar to the beast?”
Yeah. Jack gulped. That’s what I feared. There is a possibility those creatures were very old creations. We found a new area under the city. It hadn’t been opened before. And now it is open. We don’t know who opened it. But we think that’s where these monsters have come from. Deep under the city are some of Merlin’s original creations.
Anyway. What I actually brought you here to see is just up ahead. Jack could hear it. It was a deep booming sound. Rhythmic and unending. The thump would rattle your core. It beat consistently roughly every second. The path that Ms. Posie was leading him down was dark, but at the end of the tunnel was a bright light. As they walked down the path the sound slowly got louder until Jack finally put earplugs in. Any good maintenance worker had a pair of ear protection near them. Jack had made himself special ones that allowing voices to travel through without a problem. They were special and one of his best creations.
The machine was surprisingly small for the sound. It was a giant piston that was standing up and down. It slowly rose then dropped back to the ground. Slamming with a deep force. Then it rose again. Dropping with the same force. Again, and again. It was a weird design. Nothing was connected to the piston. It was just slowly moving up and then down. The drop was softened by something magical, but it was still very forceful. Some weird connections attached to the device would light up every time the machine dropped.
“This machine is one of the reasons the city was founded here. Its origin is completely unknown. We have no idea what is powering it. Eventually, we were able to connect to it and take advantage of it. We use it to power multiple backup systems throughout the city and the academy.” Jack spent some time just watching the machine work up and then down. It was mesmerizing. After a moment Ms. Posie got to work and Jack followed suit. It took them roughly two hours to completely check over the machine. Everything seemed in working order. By the time they finished and got back to the surface his school day was over and the cafeteria would be closing soon.
Crap I better hurry before the cafeteria closes. “Thanks for teaching me today!” Jack said as he ran off to grab some food.