The Past Read online

  ‘You are one slow piece of roach goo, VanWest’! Alpha derides him.

  VanWest chooses to ignore him, his mind transfixed by the gigantic and eerie statue of Jupiter. Now closer, he sees the volcano’s steep and jagged rock face that they must climb to reach the next stage. The statue’s bronze hand points forebodingly at them its index finger stretched out as if warning them to go back.

  Alpha is unintimidated, he smirks, ‘This will be roaching easy’! Thinking that this climb will be the end, with the gateway to Stage 2 at its top. If that’s true, then this would have been one of the easiest Games’ courses ever - a telling indication of Alpha’s inexperience and foolish arrogance. VanWest shakes his head but decides it’s better to say nothing. He knows there is more.

  As they near the summit, pulling themselves over the rock face with their gear in tow, Alpha is made to eat his words. There’s another obstacle before the green light: a rusty wrought iron bridge, partially obscured by black smog, hanging precariously over a stream of molten lava. It twists violently - screech - with every new spew of lava shooting up from beneath. As VanWest suspected, a rookie mistake to think that this stage would be anything close to easy.

  Indeed, any notion of this is further eroded as they watch a Red Space soldier stumbling across the bridge, completing a slow dance with death. VanWest exchanges a tense look with Barys, who does his best to reassure him, ‘Y’all know this was not going to be a moon stroll, but you know we defeated bigger piles of roach goo’!

  VanWest is happy to have his long-time colleague Barys by his side. They have been close all through their academy days and tours. One might even call them friends, having stuck together all this time, but ‘friends’ isn’t a used word or even a concept in the Year 3000, at least not amongst Enforcers. All are taught in this Sparta inspired system, to treat each Enforcer equally, to devote themselves to the Universal Council and defer preference only to its Elites.

  The Space Soldier’s death of dance finally comes to an end as he makes one stumble too many and is caught by the next spew of lava. Agh! Screaming from the excruciating pain as it encases his armour and cooks him alive.

  Alpha laughs at the gruesome spectacle, ‘Space Roach! Good riddance’, slapping Kun-lee hard on the back. Kun-lee is visibly unimpressed by Alpha’s reaction and gives him a cold stare. Alpha has always behaved like a mindless brute, albeit an Enforcer, his behaviour has never been Spartan as far as VanWest and the others have observed. Nevertheless, he has never been reprimanded.

  ‘Laugh it up’! Barys replies ‘You got a plan to stop us getting deep-fried? Do you’?

  ‘Maybe we should just run through it’, a nervous sounding Kun-lee suggests, to which Alpha nods enthusiastically in agreement, always keen on anything that involves sprinting.

  Barys shakes his head, ‘Come on, it is not going to be that simple’!

  Their time is ticking down. A reminder from the Colonel rolls across their Moggle X lenses, 00:03:00 Remaining until disqualification.

  VanWest studies the bridge, quickly figuring out how they can complete this challenge. ‘Kun, you are partly right, do you see the pattern of the spews? Look at the lava! It splashes over the rails in rhythm. We could all sprint across, one after another’.

  ‘Really’? Kun-lee replies.

  ‘We will need to time it right’! VanWest answers.

  Alpha grins, ‘I see you are not a total waste of space after all! I’m first up, roachtards’!

  Pushing past VanWest and Barys, he hurries to the bridge and, without hesitation, times his run perfectly and sprints across, clearing it in a matter of seconds. The bridge screeches loudly as he finishes.

  Kun-lee and Barys follow in sync, racing through the lava spews, dodging each one flawlessly. By the time it’s VanWest’s turn, the spews of lava have not only changed rhythm but have also hastened, with the bridge screeching louder and louder as it twists. VanWest races forward onto the swinging bridge, doing well to make it to the halfway point before falling to his knees.

  He lifts himself up but, worryingly, must now wait for another spew to cross the end of the bridge. As it passes, he hurries forward only for it to twist violently once again, throwing him onto his back. Glancing back, to his dismay, he finds that two blue Enforcers from a different squad have stepped onto the bridge, desperate to finish the race in the allotted time. They appear unaware of the lava spews’ pattern and are not waiting for VanWest to finish crossing.

  A concerned Barys frantically waves his arms at the other Enforcers, yelling at them to get off, ‘Hey-hey, it’s too heavy’! But his pleas fall upon deaf ears.

  The weight of the Enforcers causes the railing to twist further, screeching dissonantly as it starts to untwine. VanWest manages to crawl towards Barys’s outstretched hand, who is just about able to pull him to safety. The chains snap behind him, taking the rusty iron bridge down into the ravine below along with the Enforcers. They cry out in agony as they melt into the lava stream.

  ‘Close call, roachtard! A deadweight! Can’t even cross a bridge! Don’t roaching cost me my trophy’! Alpha scolds, throwing numerous insults at him. With only 30 seconds to spare, an ego wounded VanWest follows into the wall of green light and enters Stage 2.

  Excited citizens cheer them upon their arrival, especially thrilled by VanWest’s death-defying bridge crossing. The cheers give him a timely and much-needed boost of confidence, he has also made it further than expected, further than his given odds of 150-1.

  ‘Born entertainer’! Barys jokes, patting VanWest on his back.

  At the top of the dome, the Games leaderboard shines red, revealing a heavy toll with only 144 out of the 200 competitors remaining. The red colour is not a warning, rather an indication that the Red team is in the lead. The leaderboard then begins to show the updated odds for each competitor left in the race with the Elites having placed new bets between themselves. VanWest is somewhat pleased to see that his odds have slightly increased to 130-1, but his squad still trails far behind most. And so too does any realistic chance of winning. Nevertheless, for VanWest at least, there is still honour to be won.

  He doesn’t have much time to catch his breath as his Moggle X sends through new instructions, this time from the Games commission, on the details of Stage 2, Pytheas’s Labyrinth. The first instruction ominously informs him that his Moggle X Mapping and Orientation Programs Are Suspended. The second that there are only 2 hours to navigate through a 10-mile long maze 02:00:00 To Complete.

  ‘What the flying R!’ a flustered Kun-lee grumbles.

  ‘Clean your sticks boys! We are going to need them working’! Barys instructs as he cleans the swamp’s mud from his own plasma rifle, the weapons having become active.

  ‘No map but weapons… great’! Kun-lee remarks sarcastically.

  ‘Scared? Stop acting like an injured and crying child’! Alpha tilts back his head and grins. A sick reference, they know to be that of the dreadful massacres during their tour of ColaBeers.

  ‘Screw you! You ugly roach’! A now visibly rattled Kun-lee replies angrily.

  Stage 2 is specifically designed by the Games Commission to thin the field in the most entertaining way possible, with the result being that only the strongest and very best competitors make it to Stage 3. Last year’s second stage was one of the most perilous, forcing competitors to row over rivers of molten rock whilst fire rained down - the one before that involved battling past giant monstrous and mythical creatures. Both these challenges left 50 competitors active and able to compete for the prize.

  Although a maze type challenge is relatively uncommon, it nevertheless holds the grim record of having the highest number of casualties. Mainly as of those who are lost and injured, few are ever rescued or retrieved because Space Soldiers and Enforcers are the only ones able, and trained, to navigate this maze and its dangers. Thus, teammates and superb teamwork are of the upmost importance.

  Long ‘ohs’ and ‘ahs’ rise as the stage commences with an
archway appearing out of the darkness. The arch is decorated with intricate carvings: on the right, a giant bull with large horns, on the left is the face of a man without a nose. Above it, an ancient Greek inscription shines in gold, Πυθέας ὁ Μασσαλιώτης, Pytheas of Massalia.

  Chapter 2 Pytheas’s Labyrinth

  Colonel Cornelius, their base commander, radios through, ‘Listen up, there are nine possible dangers within the maze… remember no Moggle X available’! And sends through the following list:

  Number 1. Murderous criminals armed with lasers

  Number 2. Booby-traps, fake floors and trip mines

  Number 3. Freezing ice chambers below minus 20C

  Number 4. Falling rocks and spikes

  Number 5. Thermal weapons, burning oil

  Number 6. Sensory turrets set to kill

  Number 7. Packs of mutant dogs

  Number 8. Gigantic carnivorous insects

  Number 9. Sensory deprivation gases causing hallucinations

  ‘Confirm list received, Enforcers! Affirmative’?

  ‘Yes, Colonel. Affirmative’! All Enforcers reply simultaneously. The list isn’t a surprise, the Colonel had warned and trained them well for this.

  With the communication ended, Barys tries to lighten the mood with a joke, ‘They all run out of ideas or what’!

  ‘Seems so’, Kun-lee agrees in a serious but slightly quivering, voice, doing his best to keep his nerve and appear stolid.

  Barys does his best to motivate, ‘Come let’s go, we have a game to win’!

  ‘Moon fairies go first though’! Alpha coldly shoves Kun-lee towards the archway.

  As he steps forward, the archway opens, releasing with it a deathly low shrill. Reverberating along the walls, the squad instinctively assume a guarded melee formation as they activate their energy shields. VanWest and Kun-lee place their rifles to the front while Barys and Alpha guard the back, opting for their ancillary laser swords to form a defensive square. They proceed cautiously walking as the light from their rifles ominously reveals walls decorated with skulls and bones, like that of ancient catacombs. They have no choice but to proceed. Adrenaline pumps through their veins; it’s fight, fleeing is not an option.

  They walk until they reach three passageways, each indistinguishable from the other, ‘Can’t go wrong with the middle, hey’? Says Barys always able to crack a joke.

  ‘After you then… I order you’! Alpha commands, not wanting to put himself at risk. ‘Your job is to help me win. No-one else has a roaching chance, got it’?

  No one answers, VanWest, Barys and a nervy Kun-lee exchange a nod to each other, cold air whistling past them as they enter. Each step seems to push them tighter together as if the walls are narrowing, each feeling quite claustrophobic and on edge. What on the Colonel’s list will they encounter first? The passageway winds nearly endlessly; whichever route they take, it returns them again and again to the same place.

  After what feels to be hours rather than a few minutes, they worry if this maze even has an end. Its quietness and lack of dangers thus far most strange, as if it had been set up this way to build suspense. Focussed, the squad does not notice the Games’ viewing portals spaced every dozen meters or so, camouflaged as round black blobs. This all a glorified killing spectacle, Universal Council propaganda used to entertain and, at the same time, show off the strength of their forces and their might; inducing fear into any would-be dissenter.

  ‘Good choice, roachtard’! An increasingly agitated Alpha insults Barys.

  ‘Shout your mouth boy! Or I’ll stick this laser sword where sun don’t shine’, Barys replies angrily.

  With tensions reaching boiling point, a glimmer of light calls their attention. They hurry forward with a renewed sense of urgency, the light growing brighter. It brings them to a new junction that connects two passageways they haven’t come across before.

  ‘This is new’, VanWest whispers, too worried to speak louder.

  A light above the junction reveals what must be a star and other strange symbols carved into the floor, including what appears to be a boat. As if to give them a confirmation of their progress, their Moggle Xs reactivate and moments later a scrambled transmission comes through.

  It sounds like their base commander, Colonel Cornelius, his voice fragmented and distorted, ‘Good progress. The path… Pytheas navigator guided… above… using Polaris, affirm… mat… out’.

  Barys tries to respond, only to find his Moggle deactivated once again. It shares the same name of the stage and that above the archway, Pytheas of Massalia. It must be a clue how to escape Pytheas’s Labyrinth: a map of sorts to show the way out.

  VanWest tries to connect the dots. Polaris, known as the Guiding Star and the North Star, was used by sailors in ancient times to navigate across Earth’s vast seas. He remembers Pytheas of Massalia from the Universal Council’s Wiki. A famous Greek explorer credited with being the first man to have sailed from Greece, through the Strait of Gibraltar, to the British Isles, documenting the pagan site Stonehenge as well as Germanic tribes on his travels. This at a time, the first millennia BC, when these lands were green and seas blue. All of, which has since been destroyed by radiation.

  ‘These symbols must depict the voyage of Pytheas. Look how the angle between the sailing boat and Polaris changes on each pictogram’, VanWest explains to a by-now disorientated squad.

  He continues, ‘Look how it sails westwards from our Island, Crete, along what must be the Mediterranean Sea, at a right angle to Polaris… until the last pictogram, an Island directly below Polaris, it must be the British Isles’!

  ‘Heck, it sure does match with the day’s theme! Y’all need to take the passage westwards then’, Barys concludes.

  Each nods in agreement and proceeds with renewed resolve. But, as they veer around the corner, a strange noise, that of demented giggling - he-he, he-he - greets them and stops them in their tracks. A blue light, moving towards them, brightens the tunnel ahead. Soon an outline of a man can be seen, the light emanating from his blue laser sword, which he swings wildly from side to side. Kun-lee aims his rifle at the man, VanWest does well to react quickly by grabbing its tip and pulling it down he points at the walls and ceiling. A close call as a blast could have caused a cave-in.

  Barys whispers to Kun-lee, ‘Make me a clean hit, wait until closer’.

  To their dismay, they realise that the man wears blue armour, that of an Enforcer. Except he wears a large unkempt beard, he doesn’t look like one of the competitor’s from this Games. It’s not long before this deranged man is upon them, readying to swoop down with his blade. Kun-lee is first to react, striking him with the butt of his rifle and breaking his neck.

  VanWest is sad to see what appears to be a fellow Enforcer killed but, after a short-bewildered pause, he thinks it better to be supportive, ‘Good hit’.

  ‘Poor crazy whoever he is’, Barys commiserates, also unsure as to what just happened.

  ‘Think… must have breathed in some sensory deprivation gas or something’, Kun-lee surmises.

  Alpha heckles, ‘Maybe he just lost his roach goo at the sight of your ugly face’!

  ‘Nah, was your bad breath that did it’, Barys ripostes, exchanging a telling, fed up look with VanWest.

  ‘We need to move on’, VanWest recommends, refocusing on the Games. ‘There’s a race to finish’!

  ‘Better we all take precautions first and activate hazmat mode’, Barys suggests, and the squad promptly does so.

  ‘You are smart’, Alpha replies sarcastically. ‘Any more tips’?

  VanWest is sweating profusely, knowing it to be just the start of the dangers listed on the Colonel’s list. He wants to take his helmet off to wipe his brow, but his Enforcer training has shown this to be just about the worst thing he could do in such a hostile place.

  Before they can fully recompose themselves, as VanWest feared, growling noises - grr-grr - cause them to move even more tightly into their defensive square
formation. Kun-lee weapon’s light shows what appears to be a dog-like creature with large sharp teeth edging closer towards them. Suddenly, it lunges! Barys manages to intercept, swooping down with his laser sword, slicing it in half. However, its death only serves to bring yet more growling - grr-grr. More dog-like creatures emerge. And before Alpha can react, one bites down hard into his shoulder - straight through his reinforced titanium armour and energy shield as if it wasn’t there at all.

  Barys comes to his defence and lops the dog’s head clean off, this strike sending the rest of the pack into retreat. Before VanWest can stop him, a wounded and belligerent Alpha swings his rifle round and fires off several disorientated shots. The shots ricochet along the walls, filling the corridor with clouds of dust.

  Crack! Stones come crashing to the floor and the passage caves in like falling dominoes in a line.

  They try to retreat only for the ground beneath them to collapse, sending them freefalling into the darkness below. Luckily for VanWest, sticky material catches his arms and cushions his fall, stopping him from getting hurt. Slightly shaken but otherwise unharmed, he gets back to his feet. No longer able to resist removing his helmet, he deactivates his hazmat mode and takes it off to catch his breath before convulsing.

  Regaining his bearings, he reaches for his amber stone pendant, which to his relief is still tied around his neck, holding it as if to thank it for saving his life. He retrieves his weapon, which lies close by entangled in a bed of sticky silk-like material. Peeling off the threads, the light activates and reveals a network of silky strands. His eyes narrow, to his surprise and dread, he can see that there are bones, human bones and skulls ensnared in it.