A Twist of the Tale by P R Glazier
Chapter 46. The Beast Laid to Rest
Serinae was looking up into the sky. Today was the day that they had arranged with JDC to bring the volunteer emissaries back from the various places they had been sent and she was expecting to see the Leviathan machine at any moment. Sure enough the sky was darkened by a looming shape above. The Leviathan, it had returned. She watched as the vast craft slowly descended and gently came to a halt just above the ground. The spiral stair descended from the belly of the beast and JDC jumped to the ground after descending down with the stair. As soon as the stair stopped moving many people came down and alighted upon the ground spreading out like a pool of water pouring forth. Serinae walked forward a broad smile on her lips. She hugged a rather chatty female Grûndén who seemed to be scolding her for some reason; she then hugged another male Grûndén in full plate armour. Serinae had told the male Grûndén that he would not be needing his armour where he was going, but he had just winked at her and said, “ach lassie, ye nat be attemptin’ t’ undress me now eh? Serinae had laughed. She then spied a timid looking Pnook, he came across to her and held his hand out in greeting, she disregarded the hand and picked up the little man in a long hug. She then greeted an ognod female with a knowing nod. But it was the elderly looking T’Iea female standing behind these old friends that brought a tear to her eye. Serinae grasped the outstretched hands of her old friend, Serinae smiled as the two of them stood looking at one another. Many passed them by as they stood there acknowledging each other only with a silent understanding.
JDC had been watching this spectacle, he stood there with the two T’Iea and with a sigh and nodding at each in turn he said, “well milady Serinae, milady Solin, we did it in the end after all.”
Serinae looked at him and sighed, she smiled with her whole face, her green eyes alight with delight. She nodded slowly and said, “you know master Pnook, I think we really did at that!”
But JDC turned and pointed at the great Leviathan machine. “What happens to the leviathan, we cannot leave it here, there is too high a risk and I don’t think it will be a wise idea for any one race to take it with them into their sanctuary, apart from the fact of course that the thing is so big the drain on the remaining arcane energy within the stone would most probably be too great and a waste of a precious resource.”
Nar’Allia and Solvienne joined them and the assembled friends looked towards one another, searching each face for an answer a glimmer of an idea.
It was JDC who spoke. “I feel kind of responsible for it, it was me who brought the monster back into the world. I have also learnt to my cost that I cannot be entrusted with its safekeeping. But alas I cannot return it to where it was hidden. No it must remain here in the world of men. Yet I am loathe to give it to any one faction, for there is always the risk that they will use it for ill purposes. The Leviathan was part of a great war once, it is wholly a machine designed with war in mind, it is it’s only use.”
Nar’Allia thought how she had continuously had misgivings about the machine. She did not want to give the responsibility of its management over to anyone. Many would perhaps agree to look after the thing, but in the end none could be trusted, for the machine would outlive them all and who knew what circumstances would come in the future.
JDC spoke. “I have been thinking and I do have an idea where it may be taken and secured from prying eyes, at least for a while.”
“What do you mean by saying ‘for a while’ Master Pnook?”
“Well I think I can hide it somewhere away from the eyes and knowledge of men, at least until mankind regains the technology to discover it once again. Even then they may not have the technology to recover it for many more years. Or if they do then that technology may extend beyond that which the Leviathan is constructed and it may be just a piece of historical junk anyway, a curious antique from a time long gone.”
By this time the others had joined them, everyone was looking towards JDC.
Thor spoke. “Why can’t we just destroy the machine?”
JDC looked at Thor, “a good question. But you see to destroy the machine we would need a technology equal to, or better than the technology contained with the Leviathan itself. We would also require an immense source of energy. I don’t think master Amndo would have liked us to drain the large key stone of its energy and waste all his hard earned toil, in any event I suspect that the key stone does not contain enough stored arcane energy to do the job. It is too great a risk, we could drain all the remaining energy from the stone and be marooned her in the world and still have a Leviathan machine to contend with.” He looked at them all in turn, no one spoke so he said, “I want to make a suggestion. You see I still have the chip with me that contains the original map set that was on board the Leviathan when I first ummmm, took control of it. Back then when the chip was made many ages in the past, the landscape of the world was vastly different.” He looked towards Solvienne as if wanting some kind of agreement.
She said with a nod of her said, “yes, I remember, the sea levels were much, much lower than they are today, the continents where vastly different shapes, the islands in the Sea of Beadreas where still the uppermost peaks of a great mountain range that now of course lies deep beneath the ocean.”
“Yes, exactly,” said JDC, “you see if we were to hide it deep in one of the trenches that we know exists between the islands of that archipelago, the trenches which were in ages past deep valleys between the mountains, I am sure it would remain hidden and undetectable for many ages to come.”
“But how would you get it there, you would have to take it beneath the waters deep down in the ocean and then even if you got it there how would you return to the surface? There are no portals now to do the job.”
“Ah well, you are of course right Solvienne, but you forget one of the amazing features of the Leviathan. But I will come to that later.”
Solvienne looked curiously at the Pnook.
JDC smiled and continued, “first let me explain something else. If we use the original map set ……..” He thought for a while and then said, “perhaps it would be easier to show you than try and explain. Come.” He gestured for them all to follow him back on board the Leviathan machine.
They all gathered within the main control room. JDC reached inside his jacket and produced his little leather wallet in which he kept his collection of Biplextor devices. He sorted through them and eventually held one of the chips in his fingers. He powered up the crafts navigational desk and pressed a button that opened a small access panel. He withdrew the chip that he found behind and replaced it with the one he had just retrieved from his wallet. He then closed the access panel once more and stood looking at the navigational control desk. They all gathered closer to see what would appear.
After a few seconds a map appeared it was obviously the original map that the Leviathan was kitted out with many years in the past, perhaps the one that it was fitted with originally when the machine was constructed. JDC adjusted some controls and the map seemed to move away from them as if they rapidly flew to a great height. Once he was satisfied he moved another control and the map moved accordingly beneath the glass screen, it was if they flew over the world’s surface at an impossible speed. Soon however he stopped and zoomed back in to a more detailed map. The sensation was that they plummeted back down to almost ground level. When Nar’Allia looked at the statistical data showing on the navigation console it reported that they were some twenty thousand meters above sea level. But this was a sea level in ages past, for they looked at the peaks of a great mountain range.
As JDC slowly manoeuvred it below them the ground rose and fell rapidly as they went over the high peaks of the mountain range. “What we are seeing here is the mountain range that Solvienne rightly pointed out now forms the islands of the Beadreas. Of course the sea level is as we discussed was much lower and the mountain peaks you see here had yet to form what we now see as islands. But if you watch closely.” JDC moved the map away from the neare
“Here is one of many large lakes, all that remains of the seas that perhaps once flowed around here before the water level dropped because of the insatiable need for water in the human city of old. Now if I change the maps mode so that it shows relief patterns.” He switched from one mode to the next until he said, “aha. Here we are.”
What the map now showed was the same landscape yet overlaying it were many winding lines with numbers repeated along them at regular intervals. JDC explained. “These lines that are now showing are contour lines. They originate from more modern map data, data that I in fact gathered recently. The shape of the land has changed somewhat in the intervening years, this is due in main to continental drift but also to erosion by the sea’s and weather. I managed to overlay the data on this old map, but I believe it is roughly accurate. These contour lines give height, or depth data corresponding to the current day sea level. The present sea level is represented by this mark of zero metres, he pointed at this figure with his finger. He zoomed further in over the waters of the lake and the contour lines got much closer together as they made odd patterns roughly following the edge of the lake waters where they washed against the land. “As you can see there are numbers marked along the lines, these numbers give an indication of the depth of the landscape below the current sea level. You will see that the contour line that runs roughly around the edge of this particular lake has the number minus seven thousand, three hundred metres. ”
Nar’Allia looked closely at the numbers, the first line that was drawn within the borders of the lake was minus seven thousand, eight hundred metres, the next line in was marked minus eight thousand, two hundred metres”
JDC nodded and said, “yes, just so. But if you now look at the other lines that are drawn more towards the centre, what number would you associate with the deepest part of this particular lake?”
Nar’Allia ran her finger across the map looking at the various contour lines and the numbers associated with them. She quickly established that the deepest part of the lake was not actually in its centre; rather there was a deeper part towards one end of the lake. She read the number out loud. “minus fifteen thousand, five hundred and fifty seven metres to be precise.”
JDC nodded, “yes the waters in this particular area reach over fifteen thousand metres deep by todays reckoning. Now you can see that the bottom of this particular lake, is now submerged well below the modern sea level which we can guess at with comparison with a modern map, we can deduce that the bottom of this lake today is in fact correspondingly at least some fifteen thousand metres beneath the current sea level.” He looked around at the assembled faces, “a good place to hide something you do not want found eh?”
They all nodded their agreement. But again Solvienne asked, “that’s all very well but once more I have to ask, how would you fly the machine down there and get back out again yourself?”
“Aha, said JDC. “Now that’s the neat part. I mentioned perhaps you had forgotten a feature of the Leviathan? I perhaps have tried to explain this in the past, but I will refresh your memories if I may. The Leviathan was designed with many automated features, thus minimising the need for a large crew, most of the time I have flown it alone, even operating weaponry and other features on my own. Well, using these automated features I can programme a set of coordinates into the navigational controls of the machine and tell it to fly to these coordinates either immediately or at a set date and time in the future. I can also add another figure instructing it to then fly to a specified altitude even if this set altitude is in negative figures. The Leviathan will follow this instruction all by itself without any operator intervention, and without anyone needing to be on board. I believe there are inbuilt safety mechanisms to stop the Leviathan from crashing into solid ground, but I also believe that to instruct it to fly beneath the water will not be a problem.” He stood up and smiled at them.
“You are a genius JDC. But how can you be sure the machine will fly beneath the waves as well as it does above them?”
“I have tried, when I was mapping the contours, water is just another medium as is the air, the Leviathan can be sealed completely from the outside world as you know and the engines and controls work just as well in water as in air.”
So it was that a few hours later they all stood back as the Leviathan machine slowly rose up into the air vertically and flew off. They watched until it was but a small dot in the blue sky above them. Then it moved off in an easterly direction. They all kept their eyes fixed upon it until it disappeared from view. Nar’Allia felt mixed emotions towards what she witnessed. She couldn’t help missing the machine that she had spent so much time on board, yet she also couldn’t help feeling a sense of relief that such a potentially powerful and destructive force was once again laid to rest and no one was able to use its power ever again for any reasons, whether they be of good or bad intent.