The F.O.X. Project

Chapter 9: Void

Walking down the station steps, Max thought about what he could encounter at the Obelisk. He promptly bought a ticket at one of the machines and headed onto the platform, planning to take a more conventional method of travelling this time.
It was an old station, there were a few broken benches and vending machines around and some tiles were missing in patches on the walls. The lights flickered as he walked through a small door. Travelling as conventionally as a Bounty Hunter could anyway.

The Underground Railroad was the name for a network of deep BiRail tunnels operated by the Nova Corporation. It was the chosen mode of transport for fugitives travelling undetected and members of the resistance travelling to and from 'points of interest'. Most of LANRail's fleet was down here.
Max waited on the platform with a few other people for the train to arrive.
A few minutes of waiting and a large set of headlights appeared at the end of a tunnel and the BiRail shot out of the tunnel and, with a deafening screech, came to a stop with the doors opening.

Immediately, chaos ensued on the platform but, somehow, an orderly chaos. Forklifts swiftly loaded vehicles and freight and passengers piled on and off the train. The train starting to move just as the last vehicle is loaded. Late commuters jumping into the closing doors and railway workers hanging onto the outside handrails as the BiRail sped up down the dark tunnels.

About five minutes later there was a chime and message was sent over the train's speakers:
'Welcome to the Underground Railroad! This is the service to: the Obelisk. Calling at: Leat'D, Glade and the Obelisk. Please be aware that due to recent bombings, the track will be uneven and broken in places.Thank you.'
Just as the message finished, the carriage jolted downwards and wobbled on its suspension, sending Max (and several other people) into the wall beside them.

Darkness flew by outside, broken up only by the lights on the carriages in front and behind.
BiRails don't use the usual wheelbase for a train. Too fragile. Instead they use articulated caterpillar track systems known as treadbases as they have a stronger suspension and they are very hard to damage, even with almost completely broken tracks. This is also helped by the armour plating of the BiRail covering most of the especially fragile bits.
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Trent was floating in the void. A black hole of emptiness swallowing everything. Slowly, pieces of a train carriage materialised around him. Suddenly, he was standing on the grated floor of the carriage. Looking behind him, there was a wall with no door. In front, the carriage disappeared into the darkness, the lights on the roof doing nothing to give any light.

Wrecked and decaying seats lined the walls showing no way out.
He started walking, and walking, and running. Sprinting as fast as he could. The carriage never ended.
He crashed into the door at the end with a grunt. Stepping back, it was open and a shadow looming over him beckoned him through.
The shadow dissipated the second he walked through the door and he found himself in the void again, with two chairs facing each other and a door nearby.
A figure walked through the door. It was the man everybody seemed to know, the monster in peoples dreams, the guardian of time; Mr C.

'Right let's get this over with,' He said like this was his normal, gruelling routine.
'Where am I?' Was the first question he ought to ask.
'Why are you here' Trent asked instead.
'I have been- put this in a better way- following you.'
Trent said nothing.
'I can't stay long so get all you flabbergasting and such out of the way now so we can get down to business.'
'I'm done.'
'Good. Now I assume you know that you have been part of a scientific experiment known as the F.O.X. Project.'
'Seems like an appropriate name.' Said Trent recalling his time discovering his new look.'
'They are putting you in a stasis until you are needed. They are running tests on the others.'
'I'm sorry, who's they?'
'DCC,'
'And there are others like me??'
'More or less yes. Some with slight modifications.'
'Confusing but continue,'
'I wanted to give you a chance.'
'Wait. a chance to do what?'
'We would value your assistance with a certain thing we are working on.'
'And if I refuse?'
'Then you will be stuck in this pod until DCC deem it necessary to release you.'
'Sounds kinda nice actually.'
Mr C gave him a look that just said; moron.

He then got up and left Trent in the void.
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Endless sand dunes and craters of blast glass littered the landscape outside the thin window in Max's cabin. The train was almost entirely empty now. The other passengers having got off at Leat'D and Glade.
The train passed several complex buildings before disappearing underground. It then emerged on the forgotten tracks at the back of the Obelisk's southern rail yard.

Max got off and watched as the railway workers draped tarps and vines over the BiRail to disguise it from DCC. Then he walked across the yard and entered a vent.
The vent was cold and very dusty. Looked like this section hasn't been used for ages. Trent was in stasis so he had to be in the cryogenic room... near the four hundred and fiftieth floor of the Obelisk itself.
Max sighed. This was going to be a looong trip through the vents. He was getting bored already from crawling. His back hurt.

After 2 gruelling hours of crawling, Max exited on a damaged platform above a huge chasm. He stood up. Stretching and marvelling at the shear, black emptiness that filled the room.
He needed a way to get across the chasm. Several cables swung nearby but they were too far away. He did, however, spot a large metal beam long enough to make it across. Grabbing it, he gave it a good shove and the plank fell down with a crash on the other side.
Max gritted his teeth and prepared to cross. He hated heights with every fibre of his being. Putting one step after the other, he slowly crossed the thin plank.
A crack. The sound of metals twisting and crippling. Max found the plank dropping from beneath him and he plummeted into black along with it.