Friday Fiction: ToiBox Edition No. 005 #fridayreads (quest, inside, weapon, confuse)

Prompt #0269138167

Topic/Theme: quest | Location/Setting: inside

Character(s): NA | Object(s): weapon | Action: confuse | Random Additive: NA

From the Inside

Eric’s head swooned as he tried to stand, bouncing translucent orbs circled him. “Where, where are we?”

“Inside,” Victor replied, his voice booming in Eric’s ear.

Blinking through the pain and weight of lifting one’s own body to a standing position, the bouncing orbs slowing down and fading away, Eric looked around. “Inside where?”

“That’s a good question kid. Wish I had an answer for you.”

Eric followed Victor’s voice, finally locating him this vast void. Victor looked strong as usual; whatever had overcome Eric must have eluded Victor. Victor stood erect, wearing a black loincloth, staring at a blank wall of sorts. His bulging muscles were for once at rest though his demeanor expressed alert. Victor was waiting for something.

Eric looked down, still regaining his balance and focus, as the bouncing orbs faded completely allowing him to take in the stark brightness of his surroundings. He too wore a black loincloth, but his body looked thin and pale. Was I this thin before the incident? What was the incident? What’s happening here?

Finally Eric approached Victor. “What’s going on? Where are we?”

Victor was unmoving. Speaking in a low calm voice he reiterated. “We are inside. As to the where, why, or how I do not know.”

Eric spun around slow, fully taking in his surroundings. He and Victor were in a bright void that went on as far as his eyes could see, but within the void was a large transparent box. He and Victor were inside the box. Eric’s head ached from some unknown physical impact, but trying understand what had happened to him and where he was, made it throb.

“The Mittiens and their weapon- we were on a quest to find it. I remember.”

“Good kid; glad you remember, but it doesn’t help us understand what’s happening now.”

“We must have been caught by the Mittiens. They are holding us here.”

“Perhaps, but to what end. Where exactly are they holding us?”

Eric opened his mouth to say something and then quickly shut it realizing he had no response to offer. Pacing back and forth the length of the clear box, Eric interrogated himself, searching to find answers hidden beneath the right questions. Suddenly Eric stopped and stared at Victor. He had not left his spot, nor altered his position, and barely breathed. Taking a few steps toward his mentor, Eric noticed for the first time the sound of… Buzzing? No, the minute hum of vibration. With each step he took the humming skidded passed his ear- mmm, mmm. Now the vibration tickled the hairs on the back of his neck.

“You figured out the vibration didn’t you, Victor?”

“I did.”

“That’s why you’re not moving.”

“That’s part of it.”

“What does the vibration mean?”

“What does any of it mean Eric? I don’t know. I can only assume that whatever is holding us up, within whatever this brightness is, it’s as stable as I would like.”

Eyes fighting to stay closed, head swaying, and perspiration beading his forehead, Eric tried to recall his lessons on mediation to aid him in and effort to achieve his mentor’s stillness, but brightness and aches distracted him.

“Victor, were you injured or damaged when you came to? Did you feel the aches, as I do, before working through them?”

Victor’s eyes blinked and his shoulders twitched- mmm. “No,” he answered.

Eric sighed. Maybe I’m asking the wrong questions. “What’s the last thing you remember of our quest? How far did we get?”

Another blink and twitching of the shoulders- mmm.

“Victor, are you alright? Do you remember anything?”

Victor finally tuned his head to face Eric – mmm. His eyes blinked rapidly. Pulses of micro vibrations began to crash into one another, almost to the point where the box shifted. Still unmoving, eyes blinking, and facing his protégé, Victor spoke. “We didn’t get far, but you made it into their vault. After you cracked their code, you stepped in.”

Everything went dark.

Mmm, mmm. Mmm, mmm.

Footsteps approach in the darkness. Clunk, mmm, mmm. Cluck, mmm, mmm.

Eric braced his body against a wave of cool air. He felt like he was falling and then he wasn’t.

Clunck, mmm, mmm. Clunck, mmm, mmm. Clunck, mmm, mmm. Clunck, mmm, mmm.

His ears twitched, and he fought the urge to lean into the sound of the steps. Now the floor beneath him buzzed and his body shook. The void was bigger around him now, he could feel it. He knew the box was gone, but that the floor remained. The blackness, oddly enough, was much more comforting to him than the light. His training was coming back to him and his meditation techniques helped him to keep calm. Buzz, mmm, buzz, mmmm.

Nothing, at least that’s what they want me to think. I’m not floating around in nothing. I wouldn’t be able to breathe if I was. Why are they doing this? What did I find in that vault- a weapon, something worse?

Buzz, mmm, mmm. Buzz, mmm, mmm.

****

Gamma Don. Rowe stood and saluted Beta Don. Xett before delivering his report. “Sir it seems that we may have a problem in the Confusion Chamber.”

“What sort of problem Gamma?”

“The latest p.o.w. seems to have figured out how it works, or at least he’s on the verge of figuring it out.”

“Gamma Don. Rowe, please elaborate. What has the human been able to decipher?”

“Well sir, it seems that his memory is returning, he’s locked in on the vibrational pattern of the box, so we now have him in the spatial quadrant, but his not going for the bait. Then there’s the matter of the second pulse.”

“Second pulse? Explain Gamma; I don’t have time to keep up with all the technology to youngers implement these days.”

“Sir, unfortunately, the second pulse isn’t one of ours. We’re not even sure what it is. All we know is that the human entered the Confuse Chamber alone, but periodically, we register two heart beats in the room with him. It is as if someone is helping him defeat our weapon from the inside.”

1,021 words

July 17 #, 2015 – Prompt #343693121

Topic/Theme: luck | Location/Setting: office

Character(s): couple(s) | Object(s): whistle | Action: NA | Random Additive: NA

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