Jacob slid through the dark, picking up speed as he flew down the spiraling tunnel. The slide wound forwards and backwards upon itself, twisting and turning until it was impossible to know where he was in relation to where he began. There wasn’t a single sliver of light in the tunnel, with the directionless dark stretching the perception of time. Jacob didn’t know how long he traveled through the dark; he assumed it was a minute at most, though it felt closer to forever. No light pierced into the inky black in front of him, and he began to wonder if the tunnel was never ending.
Until, suddenly, it ended.
The light of the room came without warning, thrusting itself upon Jacob when he least expected it. Unlike the amusement park ride earlier there was no light at the end of the tunnel; One moment Jacob was flying down the tunnel at top speed, the next he was entangled and unable to move, surrounded by light.
He heard the sounds of muttering, and was suddenly hoisted upwards by a pair of hands hooked under his armpits.
“Hell of a ride, aint it?” Stan’s voice said from next to him. Jacob felt the floor under his feet and stood uncertainly as his eyes slowly acclimated.
The room the group was in was fairly small, a cube that was roughly 10 feet in every direction and perfectly white. Every surface seemed pristine and unmarked, with a bright white light glaring down from large lightstrips overhead. Where Jacob had been pulled from was a large foam pit like one you would find in a gymnastics studio, which was filled with large chunks of soft white foam. On the wall across from them the exit of the slide stuck slightly out of the wall, marring the wall with a dark void. The entire group was standing patiently on a small ledge that overlooked the pit itself, which took up the majority of the floor space. in the middle of the wall was a perfectly white door, which looked like it was lifted out of one of the ancient suburban television programs that was sometimes aired on the state television channel during funding cuts. Rama leaned up against it, watching the group knowingly. She nodded as Jacob noticed her, and he blinked several times to clear out the last parts of his vision that refused to acclimate.
“That was really something.” Jacob muttered, looking back at the pit
“Yeah the drop sneaks up on you.” Stan replied, patting Jacob on the back “That pit comes out of nowhere.”
“All a part of the fun.” Rama continued to lean against the door, smiling knowingly “Fun we can continue, now that we’re all here."
“Hopefully this fun doesn’t involve any more sudden drops.” Jacob’s grandfather walked over to him, a surly expression on his face “I’m starting to get all ‘funned out’ of those.”
“Oh there’s plenty of surprises ahead.” Rama smiled and looked into the middle distance, deep in thought. “I don’t think there’s any more sudden drops in the future. At least their shouldn’t be.”
“You run this factory, and you don’t know what’s ahead?” Veronica was standing in the corner with her father, placing the maximum distance between herself and the pit. Outwardly she projected confidence, but Jacob noticed she was shaking slightly. His suspicion earlier had to have been correct; she was definitely claustrophobic.
“I did much more than run it.” Rama forced a smile at Veronica “I designed the entire structure; every inch, every line.”
“And you don’t know what’s ahead?”
“Only one way to find out.” Rama reached over to the white doorknob next to her and twisted. There was a slight click as the door started to open, then a slam as Rama suddenly shut it again. The group jumped slightly, and she smiled ominously.
“I will remind you all of what I said earlier.” Rama dropped her voice down to just above a whisper, and the group leaned in slightly. “What’s beyond these doors is dangerous. Touch nothing, take nothing. This section of the factory is dedicated to our most cutting edge experiments; that slide is more than a fun distraction. It keeps whatever happens here, away from the production line out there. Things in these rooms have a tendency to go boom when they aren’t handled correctly. Refuse to listen to my rules, and I'm not responsible for what happens to you.”
The group looked at her for a moment in silence, as Rama stared each of them in the eye in turn. After an uncomfortable pause she finally nodded, then slowly turned the knob again. The door opened inwards slowly, and Rama quickly disappeared into the room beyond. The group quickly filed after her, muttering amongst themselves as they went. Jacob looked over at his grandfather, who shrugged before following. Jacob took up the rear of the group as always, walking through just behind his Grandfather and Stan.
The door shut behind him, and he glanced back to see a small robot floating away from it. He looked forward again and took in the space they had entered.
The space looked like a hybrid between an electronics laboratory and a manufacturing line; long tables ran the length of the room, next to conveyor belt lines that slowly moved down the length carrying various devices and components. Machines of every size moved about across the room, and sparks flew as robotic arms worked on several items on the belt. The whole room was roughly half the length of a football field, with ceilings at least 15 feet tall. On the right side of the room there appeared to be a two car high speed train waiting, which several machines were loading and unloading with an assortment of parts and equipment. It was a busy place; designed practically for production and testing.
“Is that…” Stan looked over to the right and pointed “A train?!”
“It would appear it is.” Rama sighed and leaned forward towards a machine that appeared in front of the group, offering her a clipboard. She reviewed it for a moment, then scribbled something on it and shooed the bot away “Unfortunately we won’t be able to take it until later on the tour, which is an absolute shame. It’s quite a nice way to travel about.”
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
The train beeped a few times and the doors all shut slowly. The entire room suddenly glowed with red light, and a warning bell sounded. There was a slight whirring as the train powered up, slowly picking up speed as it left the station. It disappeared into a tunnel on the other side of the room, and the lights returned to normal.
“Exactly how big is your factory?” Jacob looked at the train station in mild disbelief.
“Spoilers, spoilers.” Rama chuckled. She twirled in place and her cloak billowed behind her, turning to face the group. “Welcome to the first of the factory’s many invention rooms. This is where we create the technology that changes the nature of how cards are cast; The cards have massive power, this is where we work to unlock that power. In these rooms we pry apart the secrets of the world, pushing the boundaries, breaking all the rules. The things built in this space are revolutionary, though hopefully they’ll be commonplace in the future. Feel free to look around, but do not touch. Nothing in this room is finished; it’s here because it’s still an experiment. Otherwise, it would be in the rooms we’ve already toured.”
The group looked around the room with uncertainty, and Rama sighed.
“This isn’t the first room we’ve done this in.” She continued “Come on all of you, scatter, explore the space.”
“For someone concerned about us not touching anything,” Jacob’s grandfather said to him quietly “she sure is giving us a lot of unsupervised time.”
“It’s not like we could sneak off anywhere.” Jacob shrugged.
“Mhm.” Jacob’s grandfather grunted, looking around. “I’m gonna take a look at the production line, see if there’s anything cool to definitely not touch.”
Jacob shook his head as the old man wandered off, heading towards the conveyor belt as the group broke up and began to wander. Veronica Worth and her father wandered over in the same direction as Jacob’s grandfather, investigating the devices as they rolled down the belt. Stan and his wife walked over to the train station, his hand around her waist as the two laughed and talked. The South Koreans took an interest in the machines themselves, looking over one of the robots working on what appeared to be a small go-kart like contraption on one of the tables. That left Jacob alone once more with Rama, who seemed to ignore him as she looked over the group.
“So.” Jacob broke the silence “Any other cryptic words to impart?”
“Nope.” Rama didn’t look at Jacob, instead spotting Veronica and her father looking at a small levered device “Ah! You two have spotted the explosives launcher.”
Rama began walking over as the two jolted back. She began launching into an explanation of its use, fading as she began describing incendiary cards and the launch mechanism. Jacob stood near the entrance of the room for a moment, unsure of where to move. He looked over the multitude of inventions constantly moving across the space, finding himself quickly overwhelmed.
The tour had been non-stop since they had disembarked from the WCS Ceasarion; each of the rooms had come in rapid sequence, leaving little room in between to catch ones breath. He suspected that was very likely the point: the tour was using shock and awe tactics to impress the guests, while making it difficult to process what they had seen. It allowed Rama to present her factory in whatever light she chose, without giving the room or time to look too deeply.
Jacob began walking slowly between the desks and conveyor belt, not focusing on any specific item or location. He wanted to take in as much as possible, but knew if he focused on any specific project he would quickly get absorbed. It was easy to lose yourself in the factory; so much happened in a single space it was nearly impossible to see it all. He thought back to the Card Testing room and the mysterious room labelled “other”. It hadn’t come up again since, and despite happening so recently felt like it had happened an aeon ago. He didn’t want another mysterious room or item to slip away without him noticing - who knew what could be important in the long run?
Before he knew it Jacob had reached the other end of the room, and he paused. Another simple door was on the wall across from where they had entered, no doubt leading to another room jam packed full of surprises and secrets.
Jacob turned around, and glanced back at the large space. Rama was still talking to Veronica and her father about the Explosives Launcher, standing by the conveyor belt. The production line appeared to have paused, the robots and machines still working on the things upon it while the belt itself ground to a halt. Across from them the South Koreans appeared to have moved on to looking at another device on the long tables running down the room across from the conveyor belt, studying it closely. Stan and his wife were still at the train station, chuckling and laughing as they looked over the items more machines were arranging to be placed on the next train. Jacob frowned as he looked around. His grandfather wasn’t in sight, hidden somewhere behind the multitudes of robots and equipment.
Jacob paused as an item caught his gaze. He walked over and looked at it on the edge of the table, appearing out of place amongst the technology. Sitting open on the corner of the table was a thick leather journal, filled with 8 ? by 11 inch pages covered in drawings and notes. A small pencil sat on the table next to it, sharpened down to almost the very bottom of what was available. On the pages it was open to there was a drawing of what appeared to be the magical portal from 50 years ago; a spiraling swirling mass with hazy borders that showed a blurred vision of a world beyond. The drawing itself appeared to have faded a bit with time, the pencil lightly smudging at the edges as the details were slowly lost. Around the drawing was a series of notes in a language Jacob didn’t understand; some form of pictographic sequences, using blocky symbols that looked like a more primitive heiroglyphics. The symbols were arranged in a series of rectangles and were tiny; Jacob squinted as he looked at them, struggling to see them all.
On the page opposite of the portals was multiple engineering sketches of various electronic devices, all of which were surrounded by more of the blocky writing. They drawings were ornate and detailed; masses of wiring and electronic components Jacob could barely understand. Their purposes were a mystery, though they seemed to share a variety of design similarities to the devices being built throughout the room. Other than that they were indecipherable; yet another mystery to add to the Factory’s generous supply.
As he looked at the drawings he saw a small slip of paper sticking out of the side of the journal, showing the corner of a sketch that looked to be of the Ancient Dragon of the Forgotten God. Jacob reached a hand out towards the drawing, his fingers lightly grazing it as he did.
“WHAT DID I SAY.” Rama’s voice suddenly thundered across the room, and Jacob look up. She was staring at the two South Koreans, her face contorted into an expression of rage. “LOOK, BUT DO NOT TOUCH.”
Rama quickly rushed over and Jacob glanced over at the two, who were still standing by the table. A look of panic filled the eyes of both as they stared at Rama, saying nothing in their defense. Otherwise everything looked the same, and Jacob was about to look back at the journal when he spotted it.
On Ku Do-Yeon’s left arm the shiny metal of a strange contraption glinted, strapped to her forearm and blinking in a variety of lights. It was clearly an invention from the table itself, and a robot next to the two was whirring about trying to access it. Ku Do-Yeon’s face had gone pale in the commotion, and the woman appeared to be trembling. The device almost looked like a strange form of an equipper, though it was bulkier than any Jacob had ever seen. The machine next to the South Koreans pressed a button on the device, causing it to beep aggressively.
And it was equipped to Ku Do-Yeon.
Jacob felt the sinking feeling return to his stomach.
Look, but do not touch. Both Kerl and Ku Do-Yeon are testaments to why Rama has to repeat that rule so often. Her factory is whimsical and strange, but it is still a factory. It is inherently unsafe as a space, with a multitude of dangers that could harm the people in it at any moment. To no one’s surprise, the majority of the danger the tour group has faced has been a direct result of its members not listening. Ku Do-Yeon is about to find the result of not listening; I don’t envy her.
trust in the cards…
What do you think is going to happen to Ku Do-Yeon?
