Systems In Chaos: Dissention

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The hidden entrance into the Hart Estate was hard to find, even for Klair. They had come across it by chance, really. If Vladimir hadn’t been as weak as he was he would never have dropped his gun, and they would never have heard the sharp metallic twang of metal striking on metal. The hatch which lead into the secret tunnel lay underneath one of Kalorin’s many enormous trees. This particular tree was being held thirty feet into the air by its thick, strong, roots which weaved and tangled around each other to form a webbing of roots that held up this hundred metre tall behemoth of a tree. The netted roots formed something akin to a room inside it. Gaia had explained that this entire valley used to be a lake, even before human’s had colonised Kalorin, and that sometime before the humans of Earth had settled this jungle planet, the lake had slowly drained away over many years leaving only this forest a millennia old.

They had wondered around a particular area that Klair swore the entrance to the hidden tunnel was located, but all the trees looked alike. The one they had finally found the steel hatch in was in no way special, or easy to spot or tell apart. The hatch was buried half a foot under rotted bark, sticky with honey coloured sap. Except for where Vladimir’s rifle had struck and scraped it away bright green and crimson red moss had taken over the entirety of the exposed steel, making it look like nothing more than a rock covered in a green and red slimy cushioning.  Keimi and Vrik set to cleaning off the slick substance at Klair’s insistence. The hatch was simple enough; a two by two metre block of metal, sitting about an inch above the ground. There was a button on the side which did nothing when Vrik pressed it. Vrik pushed it several more times, each thrust more violent than the last.

“Bah,” Vrik cussed as he threw his hands up in defeat. He rose to his feet and pulled one of his stormsword hilts out and was about to activate it when Klair told him to stop.

“Idiot,” she said as she squatted down near the small panel that had the switch on it. She placed her thumb on a small rubber pad. After a few seconds the panel came to life, emitting a bright blue glow. It read “Print match to database entity. State your name.” Klair spoke her name out loud and into the small blue screen, thinking that the microphone would be located somewhere near there.

“Klair Hart.” The writing on the screen changed to read “Name accepted. Voice patterns matched to entity name and print. Please state password.” Klair had to think for a moment, she hadn’t been told the password in years. Her father said that only members of the Hart family knew the password, not even Gaia knew it. Klair had never had any reason to use it either. Her mind was blank. She looked around at everyone standing over her. Half of them were bloodied and bruised and battered. One of them was dying on his friend’s shoulders. Only Gaia, herself, and the one in the full metal combat suit hadn’t been injured. The bounty hunter had kept them safe, though she had been very concerned with the dying man the other soldier who wouldn’t let her near him. Her, Klair and Gaia would never have guessed it was a female behind the visor and helmet had she not taken her helmet off for a few moments while they were trudging through the forest. Everyone was looking at her expectantly, something she had always been victim of back in the time before the war. All of Kalorin’s upper class, her family not excluded, had always looked at her with hopeful eyes. Will the heir of the Hart Estate and the Hart’s family corporation measure up to the likes of her father, her father’s father and the father before him? Her parents had never had another child other than her. They had tried twice, but both times the baby was ill fated. One died seven months into her mother’s pregnancy, and the other died almost two years after his birth. Klair could barely remember him, he had been born when she was five or six. After that she had been their only child, and they had tried no more to birth a male heir to the family business.