Second Quadrant

Cairo-3998 aka Planet Challenger

The Dungeon — Fifth Level

The cracks in the floors were getting bigger, the walls were shaking and bits of the roof were falling down.

Point-Two found it hard to keep his balance with the floor moving under him, but the area in the middle was the least affected. In fact, the area around Ubik seemed the only place still completely intact.

Ubik himself didn’t seem to be all that worried. His attention was on the pink stone in his hand which he was staring at lovingly, turning it this way and that like a precious jewel.

It was an ugly pink stone, a bit like a raw crystal yet to be refined. But it gave off a light that bathed Ubik, putting him into a trance, it seemed.

The pinkish light that had emanated from the walls and floor tiles had disappeared at the same time as Ubik had made Point-Two shatter the pillar. Everything around them had turned dark and inert, like ancient ruins.

“Put it back,” said Point-Two. “Put that thing back where you found it.” He had to shout to be heard, not just because of the noise but because Ubik wasn’t listening. He had said he would think of a way out but he seemed completely enamoured by the pink stone he had picked up.

“I don’t think he can,” said Fig, who looked pale and unsteady.

“Are you still suppressing your organic?” said Point-Two. “I think you can stop.”

“I think my organic wants to kill Ubik,” Fig said through gritted teeth.

“At this point, I’m willing to let it have a go,” said Point-Two.

“Yes, it’s fine, you can let it go,” Ubik called over to them. “That should help with the, er…” He pointed vaguely at the rapidly disintegrating ceiling.

A large rock smashed into one of the floor tiles and went through it. A blast of light shot out and then the area where the tile had been went dark.

Fig groaned and let out a long breath. He steadied himself.

Everything stopped falling apart.

“You alright?” asked Point-Two, looking around.

“Yeah.”

“And your organic?”

“Fine. I think he’s calmed down.”

Point-Two had also calmed down. The sudden change of plan, from getting the key and leaving to finding some pink rock and getting buried in a cave-in, had taken him by surprise.

He had known things wouldn’t go according to plan, of course, but it was still a shock to have the world start to collapse around them.

“Is that it?” said Point-Two. “No more surprises?”

Ubik shrugged. “If I knew that, it wouldn’t be a surprise.” He was acting like he had nothing to do with what had just happened. “You two did great, by the way. I had no way to tell you to suppress that bastard without him knowing, but you figured it out. Honestly, you’d both make excellent thieves. Top notch.”

“Here,” said Fig, holding out the skeleton arm and hand. “What do you want to do with this?”

The hand was still curled into a fist with one bony finger pointing upwards. It was a strange, four-fingered claw that looked like no animal Point-Two had ever seen. As Fig moved it around, the hand always pointed in the same direction.

“Hold on,” said Point-Two. “Let’s make sure we can get out of here first. Can we get out of here?”

“Of course,” said Ubik.

“How?” asked Point-Two.

“Same way we came in,” said Ubik.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” said Point-Two, “but the walls have changed. No more pinkish glow. The only pink light now is coming from you.”

The stone in Ubik’s hand was giving off a glow that illuminated the area around them. Beyond that, the room that had been giving off a menacing energy when they had arrived was now dead and lifeless. Point-Two could feel the difference, and he could also see where all that energy was now.

“Let me try,” said Fig, walking up to the nearest wall. Nothing changed. No opening appeared, no pink glow. “I don’t feel anything. It isn’t opening.” He put out a hand and patted the wall. It remained the same.

“What does your organic say?”

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“That we should kill Ubik and examine his insides for an explanation of what he is,” said Fig.

Point-Two wasn’t completely against the plan.

“How do we get out now?” said Point-Two. “You’ve taken the thing that let us move through the walls.”

“This?” said Ubik, looking at his hand. “Oh, I suppose it is related to that, yes.”

“What is it, Ubik? And why do you want it?”

“Are we still talking about this thing?”

“Yes, Ubik, we are.”

“Ah, well, I suppose it’s basically what you would call, um, how can I put this…”

“Is it the planet’s core?” said Fig.

“Not exactly.”

“Isn’t it a bit small for that?” said Point-Two.

“This planet doesn’t really have a core,” said Ubik. “It’s not really a planet. It was made especially to house this, which was made to house that. But sometimes — and you would know this if you were a veteran of high-end burglaries — the safe is worth more than the valuables inside it.”

Ubik paused to let his words hang in the air.

“Can you use it to open the way back to the surface?” asked Point-Two.

“Given enough time…”

“Give me that,” said Point-Two.

“It’s probably better if I hang onto it. It’s incredibly powerful. Like, more powerful than a planet’s core. Like, the next generation, with far greater processing power and much better audio. If something like this were to fall into the wrong hands…” Ubik shook his head. “We have to be very careful with it. If it gets damaged, it’ll greatly affect its price on the black market.”

“It already has fallen into the wrong hands,” said Point-Two. “Give it here” He held out his hand.

Ubik reluctantly handed it over.

“Take it,” said Point-Two, passing the rock onto Fig, who swapped it for the skeleton arm. “See if you can connect with it. It was made for you, so I think you should be able to access its power.”

Fig closed his eyes and his breathing slowed.

Point-Two looked at the hand moving around at the top of the skeleton arm as he turned it from side to side.

“This is the map, right?” said Point-Two. “This is what we need.”

“I suppose,” said Ubik. “It’ll show us where to go.” His eyes were on Fig and the pink rock. He didn’t seem very interested in the actual reason they had come here.

Fig opened his eyes. “I don’t feel anything.”

“And your organic?”

“He’s sulking because I won’t let him dissect Ubik.”

“You can’t trust it,” said Ubik

“We can’t trust you,” said Point-Two.

“Of course you can. You just don’t want to.”

“I can’t do it,” said Fig, a little out of breath.

“I told you,” said Ubik. “It’s very advanced. The moment we came to this world, I could tell there was something here, like a monster waiting to be found. That stone could unlock so many mysteries. So many. But it needs the right conditions, the right materials to be able to release its concentrated power. It could take years.”

Point-Two took the stone from Fig.

“The right material is obviously this.” He waved the bone arm about. “All we need to do is put them together, and Fig will be able to use it again.”

He heard Ubik’s protests but he ignored them. Something about imploding the planet or creating a mini-blackhole. It wasn’t very clear.

But the bone had very definitely felt like it belonged with the hand, and when he followed that instinct, the two had joined together.

Now, it felt like this pink crystal also was part of this set.

Ubik had talked about flow, and there was a kind of flow here. A sense of connection.

He could either rely on Ubik’s eye for a choice relic with high resale value, or he could go with his own gut.

Point-Two brought his two hands closer and there was a definite attraction.

He had changed things but he hadn’t tried to merge them. Now he let these separate objects find a common base to share.

“I think it’s working,” said Fig.

The pink rock seemed to lose its shape, thinning out, turning into a pink liquid. It enveloped the bone, slithering across its black surface. Up to the hand and over its digits.

Soon, it had covered the whole thing like a skin. Very much like a skin.

The hand and arm almost looked alive.

“Try now,” said Point-Two, reaching out with the arm.

“No, I think you should,” said Fig. “I feel like it might collapse once you let go.”

He also had an inkling that he was only just managing to keep it in this state. He turned to the wall and touched it with the hand, which was pointing up still.

The wall shimmered and warped, and then opened like a dark mouth. The tunnel beyond it undulated like it wasn’t fully formed.

“Which way?” said PT.

“I don’t know,” said Ubik.

“I thought you were all about the flow,” said Point-Two. “Where’s the flow telling you to go?”

“There,” said Ubik, pointing at the arm in Point-Two’s hand. “This is what I followed. But it’s got to be up, so we just aim the way the finger’s pointing. By the way, seeing the way you handled that thing gives me an idea. What if we cut off your arm…”

“No.”

“Wait. And then we, no I haven’t finished, then we replace it, no, hold on, let me explain, we replace it with that arm.”

“Definitely not,” said Point-Two. He walked into the tunnel, the arm stretched out ahead of him.

“But you would have full access. Probably. What could it hurt?”

Point-Two was tempted to turn around and use the hand to slap Ubik in the face, but he didn’t.

The tunnel was long and continuous. No small rooms to break up the journey. They travelled far further than on the journey to get here.

They were also on an upward incline. It boded well for an easy escape. They would get to the surface, get back to the ship, and then they could head directly for the Antecessor homeworld.

Light appeared ahead of them and they hurried forward. A breeze, which meant they were outside. Maybe they were no longer inside the dome of Daring City.

The last part was a little tricky as the tunnel went straight up and they had to climb out.

They were in a large open area with no buildings.

Boss Glosso stood in front of them. Behind him were at least thirty men, all heavily armed and wearing battle armour, including the two they had left locked inside their own suits.

“Welcome back,” said Boss Glosso, a smug smile on his face. “What is that and please hand it over?”