Chương 31: The Metallic Chamber

"We are here, you guys ready." Both nodded.

"Okay then let's go in." The wall slid open with metallic noise, I expected another white room but to my surprise it was something big, something dark and metallic. It was unlike any other room that I stepped in, it was a metallic chamber. The floor, walls and ceiling were all forged from dark metal. Massive plates covered the entire surface of the chamber, pillars so thick which gave the impression of an ancient structure built to withstand the immense pressure.

The chamber was enormous, at a glance, it looked nearly a hundred meters long and perhaps hundred metres wide. The ceiling seemed to reach to the sky, like it was disappearing into the shadows. Walls covered with metallic pipes, which were running all across the chamber, suspended platforms hanging from the wall, connected with ladders. Chains hanging from the ceiling, catwalks connecting each hanging platform.

The space felt strangely empty despite its size, no furniture and the air felt damp, it was just cold metal and silence. Standing at the entrance, I had the unsettling feeling that lingered in my chest, a structure that was making my heart pound faster.

"What the hell is this, where are we? I have never seen something like this." Aeris said.

"Guys, let's go back, I have a bad feeling about this." Eli said.

"What!" She shouted.

"Now you are getting cold feet, Eli?"Aeris paused and took a deep breath.

"I know it looks terrifying but it's probably nothing we should worry about. Did you forget what nova said to us, we have to stay together." Just like Eli, I was stunned by the structure as well. I had a feeling that this was going to be more dangerous than the gravity room. I took the first step, and walked carefully, at the time I had no idea what would trigger a trap. Every step of mine, I could hear my foot tapping on the metal floor and making a sound of metallic clang.

"I thought it would be another white room or a chemistry lab, I was not expecting a chamber. It feels like an industrial factory from inside." I said.

"Wait, are you familiar with this place? Is it also from your world?" Aeris asked.

"Yes, some of it but not entirely. A chamber is a room made with metal, which are these black things that you are seeing. But I still don't know what purpose this entire strange lab was made for."

"Look over there, what's that in the centre of the room?" A structural circular platform in the very middle of the chamber had five pillars around it connected to the top of the ceiling, which was kind of confusing. Maybe it is where the Log would activate itself. It's strange the door hadn't closed behind us, if we wanted we could still go back. But I have a feeling, after stepping on that circular platform we wouldn't be able to go out.

"I think whatever is about to happen in this chamber will happen after we all step on that platform."

"Okay, let's go." She said,"Wait." I grabbed her hand. I scanned the chamber but I wasn't able to find any exit, just the opened entrance where we came from.

"Eli, can you spot where the exit is? Just don't step on the center platform." He nodded If we manage to find the exit without any quest in this terrifying chamber, I would go out in a heartbeat, it's better to avoid this life threatening quest.

"I doubt he would find any, but I get it. You want to avoid the quest to trigger and find an exit. Well if anyone has a chance of finding the exit, it's him." Aeris said.

"I have been meaning to ask how he is able to locate the exit that easily, which are invisible?"

"It's a long story, once we get out of here I'll tell you."

"I see."

"Any luck Eli?" Aeris asked.

"No, I checked everywhere, and couldn't find the exit anywhere." Is the exit only visible after the quest is activated? If that is the case, then there is no other option but to face the quest.

"So what should we do now?" He asked.

"You guys are thinking too much, it's probably nothing. Maybe there is something over there." Aeris said and started walking towards the centre, towards the circular platform.

"Wait…" I followed her and we all reached the centre of the platform.

"Look there is something here." she said bending down on her knees. I took a closer look to the thing that she was pointing at. It looked like a different kind of metal, which was grooved on an oddly shaped surface, covered with dust. I rubbed my hands over it and cleared away the dust from the surface.

It looked to me like a pattern engraved on the surface, which was three circles, shaped like rings, inner ring, middle ring and outer ring with a line shaped grooving cutting from outer through the middle and reaching the inner ring connecting to each other. Before I could study it further — A flicker. The display appeared. MYSTERY LOG: QUEST: PROVE YOUR MIGHT. SURVIVE THE HEAT WAVES. THIS CHAMBER HAS FIVE VENTS LOCATED AT THE TOP OF THE CEILING FROM WHICH THE HEAT WAVE IS DISPERSED.

EACH VENT INCREASES ONE DEGREE OF TEMPERATURE EVERY TWO MINUTE. YOU MUST FIND A WAY TO CLOSE THE VENTS TO COMPLETE THIS QUEST. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. FAILURE OF DOING SO WILL RESULT IN YOUR DEATH. CURRENT TEMPERATURE: 5 DEGREE CELSIUS. TIME REMAINING FOR TEMPERATURE INCREMENT: 00: 02: 00 The Entrance was closed, the log had activated with a new quest, surviving heat waves that was the challenge.

I couldn't feel any heat at that moment, maybe because the temperature was just five degrees at that moment. Each vent increases one degree temperature and there are five of these, all of them opened as soon as the timer started. Judging by this chamber, now I understand why all of it is metal, if we do not figure this out as soon as possible, this chamber will turn into a furnace. If all of the vents are just above us on the ceiling, reaching it is quite impossible, but more important is how do we close this vent.

Even if I close it manually, the hot air pressure will open the vent. Unless, there has to be something that would close those vents, like a mechanism. My eyes searched everywhere, trying to find the mechanism that would shut the vent. And it finally landed on a — Button.

"What is this vent?" Aeris mumbled as she read the mystery log.

"Do you see that opening on the ceiling?"

"Oh you mean that thing with holes?"

"Yes. That's the vent."

"Okay, but how would we get there? It's impossible." Eli said, both of them were looking up.

"We have to close that somehow, or the heat will increase every two minutes and we will all burn to a crisp if that happens." He said.

"What do you think, Nova? How do we close that?" Aeris asked.

"Look over there near the entrance where we came from, there's a button I think that will close the vent."

"A button?"

"Yes I think if we press that the vent should close. Wait here..." I told both of them and stepped down from the platform. The floor started rotating suddenly, my legs stumbled and I almost lost my balance.

"Nova!" Aeris shouted.

"What the hell is going on, how is she moving?" Eli asked.

"I am okay, I am okay… don't worry." I extended my hands and signalled Aeris to stay there. The floor was rotating, I turned back and looked at the platform, strangely it wasn't rotating. I was confused and didn't have a clue why all of this was happening. I desperately looked around the chamber while keeping my balance on the rotating metallic floor, and then above me, I spotted a set of gears rotating on the wall. Maybe that was the one that was making this floor rotate.

As the floor was rotating the button on the entrance became far from my reach then slowly I was near it when the rotation of the floor made me reach closer to it. I moved forward and pressed the button, my eyes went up to the ceiling. I expected the button to close the vent, but instead. A flicker. The display appeared. The information changed slightly on the Log. EACH VENT INCREASES TWO DEGREE OF TEMPERATURE EVERY TWO MINUTE. YOU MUST FIND A WAY TO CLOSE THE VENTS TO COMPLETE THIS QUEST.

"Wait Two!" The words left my mouth before I could stop it. I immediately understood that I was wrong and that I had pressed the wrong button. Doubts started flooding my mind. If this button is wrong, then which is the right one? How many buttons are there in this chamber? The timer came to an end. 00: 00 INCREASING TWO DEGREES IN EACH VENTS. CURRENT TEMPERATURE: FIFTEEN DEGREES.

TIME REMAINING FOR TEMPERATURE INCREMENT: 00: 02: 00 It just jumped from five to fifteen degree celsius, it was supposed to be ten degrees but by pressing that wrong button the temperature increased. This is bad, I had to find the right buttons as quickly as possible.

"What's going on, Nova."

"It was the wrong one." I walked back towards them.

"If I can just pinpoint the locations of the buttons, located inside this chamber then I can figure out the right buttons. But I don't even know how many there are in the first place. How the hell are we supposed to find the total number of buttons, before we can find it all this place will become an inferno. There is no time to find out each and every button."

"Uhm… Why don't you just see the blueprint of this chamber." Eli said. He is right, why didn't I think of it before, I am sure the advanced structural analysis would give me the blueprint of this chamber and also give the location of the buttons. It's probably my best bet. I put my palm on his shoulder.

"You're a genius, Eli."

"Activate advanced structural analysis." I spoke out loud. A flicker, The Technology Log display appeared. TECHNOLOGY LOG ADVANCED STRUCTURE ANALYSIS: ACTIVATED ANALYSING… CHAMBER DETECTED. VENTS DETECTED. PIPES DETECTED. PLATFORM DETECTED. ATTACHED CATWALK DETECTED. ATTACHED PLATFORMS DETECTED. BUTTONS DETECTED. The information kept on scrolling down like a list but the important priority was to know the locations of those buttons and now we were able to see the location of each and every button in the chamber.

There were a total of ten buttons which were spread all across the chamber and different locations, some were within our reach, some were above us and were not easy to reach. All left was just to figure out the right buttons to press and close those vents. The Log only helped with locating but there was still no way of knowing which was right and which was wrong.

"Nova, look here I found something." Aeris said. I approached her, she was standing and leaning closer to one of the five pillars which were on the platform itself.

"Look there is some kind of marking here. Do you think this is the clue to finding the right button?" Before I answered her any further I walked to a different pillar and tried to find the markings on it. But it was different from the marking from the other pillar.

"There is one here too." Eli said. Depending on the markings and the number of buttons, the immediate thought that came to my mind was that these five pillars are telling which five of the buttons are right and where they might be at.

"You're right Aeris. I do think these are the markings that will give us the clue of finding the right buttons." She gradually stepped back, while still keeping her eyes on the pillar.

"I found it." She said, "You have to see this."

"This marking looks like that over there." She pointed her finger upwards towards the Catwalk. I looked at the marking carefully, it was a zig-zag line shaped like the letter 'Z'. Strangely enough the catwalk that she pointed looked similar to the marking engraved on the pillar. I took a second look at the blueprint and I found the button located exactly at the end of that catwalk.

"You're right again." The height of that catwalk is about thirty feet high. There is no way I am letting them climb along with me. But I have to convince both of them, especially Aeris, she will definitely want to come.

"Okay, here's the plan. I am going to climb up there and shut down one of the vents." Before I could speak further, Aeris interrupted me like I expected.

"I am coming too." She said,"No, you're not. I want you both to stay here —""But why?" She jumped in again.

"Just listen, I want you both to solve these clues on all this pillar. We don't have much time left before this place turns into a hell. That's why I am relying on you both to solve the rest and guide me." I looked at Aeris.

"Do you understand? I am counting on you both." Both nodded.

"Good." I turned back and stood on the edge of the platform, across the direction of the ladder, so as it rotated I could grab it in time. The timer came to an end. 00: 00 INCREASING TWO DEGREES IN EACH VENTS. CURRENT TEMPERATURE: TWENTY FIVE DEGREES. TIME REMAINING FOR TEMPERATURE INCREMENT: 00: 02: 00 A human can usually sustain the temperature of forty five to fifty degree at highest, before they die from a heat stroke.

Considering this chamber, the heat would circulate quickly among the metal, that means I only have six minutes at most to shut all of them. But would that be enough? Only one way to find out.