Equinox: DreamScape

Chapter 8: Maru Elt Marr

 I woke up from the pod and sat up.

Trojan: "Hey, you're awake! How was your first day back in the DreamScape?"

Chris: "It was weird. I learned the identity of both the new threat and the Unknown."

Trojan: "Sounds like you're making progress. You should relax a little bit."

I looked over to John and Kate who were still inside.

Trojan: "I wouldn't worry too much about them. I'm sure they are doing just fine."

Chris: "I didn't see them anywhere while I was inside."

Something seemed off, but I couldn't tell what it was. I shrugged it off and went into the cafeteria of the building. I got in line and saw that they were serving hamburgers, fries, and mac & cheese. I got a little bit of all three and sat down. I was in the middle of my meal when John and Kate both came up with a tray. I saw that Kate looked tired still and John had seemed out of focus.

Chris: "Hey you two!"

Kate: "Please don't yell, my head hurts."

Chris: "What were you doing the entire time while you were in there, drinking?"

We all laughed a little.

John: "Well I kept busy at least. Jack had me running numbers for a new weapon they are testing."

Chris: "Wait, Jack? he... WAIT, HE WAS ABSORBED BY THE SPHERE!!!"

We all raced to his pod. When we got there we saw that he had slipped into a coma and his brain patterns were very inactive.

Chris: "Oh my god."

Trojan: "Don't worry, he will be fine. We have been monitoring his vitals and it seems as though he is being kept alive by something."

Chris: "The sphere is keeping him alive."

I looked at my pod and started towards it.

Kate: "If this thing is really that powerful, then do you really want to risk going back?"

Chris: "I have to, for Jack."

I laid down in my pod and Trojan put me back to sleep.

I woke up in my suit as it came back online. Erann had already woken up and was studying the door. I walked out of the room.

Erann: "Ah, finally decided to join me? You sleep like a rock! I tried to wake you up using loud noises, bright lights, and by moving you and nothing worked."

Chris: "I was... Never mind, it's a long story. How are you coming with the door?"

Erann: "I'm on step three of seven. It would seem that the seven steps to open this door are each another part of a big puzzle. Step two was to rotate the two circles counterclockwise by thirty-seven degrees. The hint for the third step is 'Narrow hearts do shatter as one'. I can't figure out what that means."

I thought about it for a minute, looking up. I saw a large crack in the ceiling that, when I stood in a certain spot, had dark red heart shaped pressure points inside.

Chris: "I think we need to hit all of those at the same time."

Erann: "Ah, yes. We can use my turrets to fire at them, instead of using what little energy you have."

He used a device on his arm to manually aim each turret at a heart.

Chris: "Try firing them all at once."

He fired them all and each heart broke with the shot. The circles on the door lit up and displayed three words on the door.

Erann: "That's odd, those words don't translate."

Chris: "Maru Elt Marr... what do you think it means?"

Erann: "I don't know. It could be short language or it could be something totally different. Wait, this says now we are on the last step. Chris, try saying those words aloud."

Chris: "MARU ELT MARR!"

The whole cavern shook and the door started glowing. A light started shining from the other side and the door started to open inward.