Starfire Redemption

Chapter 10 - The Vault

Holly focused on seeing what the Secretary of defense saw in his dream state. It came in bright colors at first. She was in a field of tall barley on the edge of a dense thicket. Perhaps this was a place the secretary was familiar with? Holly focused on his mind. She entered the thicket that skirted the edge of the field. It was dense at first, but the trail opened up into a wider hunting path. She followed it away from the open light of the field. Holly focused her thoughts. She could sense something to the east. She entered deeper into the woods. The woods were now dark as the dense cover above only let narrow shafts of light into the thick undergrowth below. She felt whatever it was it was close by now. She looked all around. All Holly could hear was the quiet of the wind and the leaves rustling as they were picked up and tumbled through the brambles and brush.

Then she saw it. She had almost missed it, but the light was somehow 'off' in that area. It just didn't look natural. Holly walked over to it. There in the clearing in the shaded dimness stood a black sphere like polished obsidian glass. It had a deep black luster. She looked at it as she drew up next to it. It was marked with symbols on it. They were incoherent to her. They most likely carried a special significance to the dreamer alone. Hesitantly she reached out. Holly stopped just shy of the polished shimmering obsidian black surface. She took a deep breath reminding herself why she was here and what was at stake. Her trepidation vanished replaced by a cold purpose. She thrust her hand against it. The symbols lit up shining brighter than the sun itself. She had to close her eyes in pain shutting out the light.

Holly opened her eyes. She had entered the vault now. She was now in a house that was...well strange. The first thing she noticed was that the walls shifted randomly forming new patterns of paths through the rooms and halls. As she entered what she assumed was the dining room she could see the faucet was on across in the kitchen but the water was pouring straight up and out the skylight above. Water also was pouring down the stairs and straight down the walkway to the front like a river on its way out the door. As soon as the small wall of water hit the steps of the doorway to the outside it poured up like a reverse waterfall into the sky.

What in blue blazes was this place Holly wondered? What was she even supposed to make of all this?! She made her way towards the living room stepping over the water stream heading towards the center of the livingroom. From there she saw a couch and an old style hardwood coffee table. A huge grandfather clock caughther eye. The ceiling of the living room was vaulted and the clock was absolutely massive. It was almost two and a half times her own height. The once golden polished brass pendulum now oxidized black ticked back and forth. It was confined in a large glass housing. The face of the clock bore three arms. The hour and minute arms were in black. The date hand was in red but was unmoving. It had Roman numerals one through twelve stationed equidistantly around the border of the face. Holly could see what looked like pinecones of brass hanging on chains that came out of the upper part of the clock down into the lower part of the pendulum area. Holly surmised these were the counterweights that gave the clock something to draw potential energy from for the gearing.

The pendulum swung slowly in sync. Then in mid-swing, it halted. Everything in the house went silent. Even the water halted. Holly waited unsure of what to do. Then she felt an urge. She opened the clock compartment lifting the tiny brass clasp shaped like a hook out of the receiving end ring and then opened the door. Stepping inside the clock she reached up putting her finger on the minute hand. She turned it around the face multiple times until both hour and minute hands naturally faced up to twelve. She even set the date hand to the first pointing straight up too.

Holly heard a soft click as the date hand was moved into place, then a soft noise like a latch being lifted. She heard the clock gears begin to whir and spin inside. Holly heard a chain sound and gearing clicking behind her. She turned around to see a trap door had sprung open out of the floor in a long plank-like five-foot portion that ran the length of the room. Against the angled boards that made up the wooden flooring of the room, it would have been indistinguishable before it was drawn back. It now revealed a stone stairway with torches lit. The stairs came all the way up to the base of the clock she now stood within. Holly stepped down the stairs softly. The door below was just an archway cut into the stone. She stepped through it into the room.