INTERWOVEN ADVENTURES | Circadian Earth: Book 1

Chapter 4

"Alice! How many times do I have to tell you? Don't go off alone!"

"Oops!" Alice turned around, running back to Cybal. "Sorry! It won't happen again!"

"Yes it will..." Cybal muttered. "But whatever. Did you take a crystal today?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Colour?"

"Ahhhh... let me think. Might've been red."

"Red, got it." Cybal scribbled the details on a notepad before putting it back in the bag Izzy gave her when the two of them left.

"No, wait, it might've been green."

Cybal glared at her sister. "What colour was the crystal?"

"I think it was white."

Cybal took out the notepad once more, pulled off the page she had written on, and shoved it in her mouth, letting her crystal harvesting mechanism shred it into dust. Having something other than a crystal go through a Nasric's system wasn't an issue, it just didn't give energy. "I know you have memory issues but you have to work with me here. I'm trying to keep us both alive."

Alice grinned. "I know! I really appreciate it!"

"I really wish you could experience negative emotions."

"But I can't, and I don't see it as a problem."

"I do." Cybal put the other sheets she'd written on in her mouth, shredding those too. "Can't trust previous data at this point. Just tell me when you're getting low, okay?"

"Okay! But if you see it as a problem and I don't, then whose problem is it?"

"Please stop having these random moments of being smart." Cybal stuffed the remains of the notepad back in the bag once again, before grabbing Alice's hand and walking towards Skycross' city centre. "Let's finally get that phone Izzy wanted us to get. They're probably wondering what happened to us."

"Oh! I forgot about them!" Alice followed Cybal. "Should we visit them?"

"That's why we're getting that phone. We'll be able to talk to them remotely."

"Right!"

Alice closely followed Cybal as they walked towards the centre of Skycross. None of the surrounding Trialians paid them any mind, large robots weren't usually anything special. The only people they got any kind of attention from were Nasrics, who often looked a mixture of impressed and confused. Most of them were with Trialians, though, and the prototype pair were never directly approached, much to Cybal's relief. Eventually, Cybal spotted something.

"Over here, Alice..."

"Ooh, what's this?" Alice looked at what Cybal was referring to. Three metal poles stuck out of the ground, equidistant from each other, surrounding a circular part of the ground that looked like it could open up. Around this, there was a red painted circle, which Cybal correctly guessed was a warning to not cross. Next to the whole setup was a board, which Cybal recognised as a map of Skycross. Numerous places were marked with a numbered dot, the numbers being higher towards the outer reaches of the city. One such dot was larger than the rest, signifying their current location.

Alice looked at the map with a big smile. "I don't understand any of this!"

"Of course you don't."

A Trialian appeared in front of them, pressing a button in the lower left corner of the board, causing a ding sound to be heard. Alice and Cybal watched as the circular area opened up, and a huge glass sphere rose out of the ground, supported by the metal poles. A door in the sphere opened up, and the Trialian walked inside. After they pressed a button, the door closed, and the sphere began to descend once more, using the metal poles as a guide. Once it was below the surface, the hole closed up.

"So... what was that?" Alice asked. "Did the ground just eat them?"

Cybal sighed. "No. It looks like this is the citywide underground transport system Izzy occasionally mentions. We might find something useful in the city centre, so I think we should give it a try."

"Okay then!" Alice pressed the button before Cybal could react. But nothing happened. No glass ball, no ding. "Why isn't it working?"

"Hang on." Cybal started to read some more information from the board, as Alice started repeatedly pressing the button. "Oh. There aren't any of those glass balls here right now, so we'll have to wait."

"Oh, I get it." Alice stopped pressing the button. "Does pressing it mean that one will show up soon?"

"Yeah. The system knows there's people waiting here, and it's sending one over."

Alice looked at the button. "I pressed it multiple times."

Cybal gave her sister a stern look. "I hope you didn't just break the whole system."

"It'll be fine!"

"And if it isn't?"

"We can fix it!"

Cybal sat down on a nearby bench, deciding to just wait. Alice, on the other hand, walked up to the board to give the map another look. "Hey, do you know where Izzy is on this map?"

"I probably wouldn't be able to tell you, no."

"What about where we are now?"

"The map itself points that out. Look for the 31."

Suddenly, they heard the ding again, and the the ground opened up to reveal a new glass ball, which itself opened up to allow the two prototypes to enter.

"Well, now what?" Alice asked.

Cybal looked at the panel that was now in front of them. On the right was another map, on the left was a keypad. "I'm guessing we type the number of the destination." She pressed the zero, followed by the one. Immediately, the door closed, and the ball descended with Alice and Cybal inside. The two were shrouded in darkness, but they could feel the ball rolling faster and faster. There was, however, some mechanism that kept the inside of the ball upright.

"This is awesome!" Alice exclaimed. "Can we do this more?"

"If we need to," Cybal replied.

It wasn't long before they started slowing down once again. Once they came to a complete stop, they felt themselves ascending. A bright light from above allowed them to see once more, and they found themselves in a large space with what appeared to be several of the stops for the system they'd just used.

"Wow, so many! Do they each go to different places?"

Cybal shook her head. "I doubt it. There's probably multiple here because this is a popular destination."

"Oh, so people can use them faster?"

"Something like that." Cybal started heading to what looked like the exit. "Come on, let's get that phone. Izzy is probably getting worried about us."