Titan Six by Christopher Forrest Read Free Book Online Page B

empty.”
    “Not recommended,” Quiz said.  “If the honeycomb manufactures Sents, it could do irreversible damage to your bodies.  Maybe even kill you.”
    The wall was twenty feet from Titan Six, moving towards them with a low-pitched whirring sound.
    “The center hexagon halfway up leads to another chamber,” Touchdown said.  “It’s a passageway.  It’s the tenth hexagon right above you.  Shag it, T6!”
    “That’s our only ticket,” Hawkeye said.  “Let’s start climbing, people.  We’re going to go farther down the rabbit hole to save our asses.”
    The wall was ten feet away as Aiko, Shooter, Gator, and Tank squeezed into the hexagon.
    The wall was five feet away and closing.
    Hawkeye glanced back as he hauled his body up and scrambled into the hexagon.  The wall made contact with the honeycomb, leaving Titan Six, crawling forwards in complete darkness.

Titan Six
The Cube beneath Mount Elbert
     
    Titan Six fell ten feet to the floor of a brightly lit white room.
    “I don’t mind falling hard,” Gator declared, “as long as I know I’m about to fall.”
    “Once you’re in the air,” Aiko said, “you have to think ‘roll.’”
    Gator rolled his eyes at Aiko’s latest metaphysical advice.
    “Good point,” Hawkeye said, “but in the meantime, I want Gator to train his SAW on the hexagon we just emerged from.  Let’s make sure we’re ready if any Sents come through.”
    “What is this place?” asked Tank, walking about the room.
    “Looks like a high-tech lab,” Ambergris interjected over the COM link.
    The room had long chrome counters on which sat crystals of various shapes and colors, slim silver objects that resembled surgical instruments, and numerous round mirrors that pivoted in vertical stands.
    Tank approached one of the mirrors.  “Feels like regular glass,” he said.  “Just like the mirror I use when shaving.”
    Tank stepped back quickly, eyes wide.  “You better take a look at this, big brother.”
    The surface of the mirror grew milky and then displayed the picture of a modern glass building.  The tall structure gleamed beneath a sunny blue sky.  Hills and verdurous forests could be seen in the background.
    Hawkeye touched two other mirrors.  On the surface of the first was a video of a park surrounded by ultra-modern buildings made of glass, shiny metals, and polished stones.  Glowing monorail cars shot past the park at incredible speed while humans walked about in loose-fitting white garments. 
    On the second mirror was a video of a more densely packed cityscape.  Tall glass and chrome buildings rose into the sky to a height of hundreds of stories.  They glowed different colors: purple, red, green, orange, and yellow.
    “Are you receiving this, Ops?” asked Hawkeye.
    “Receiving and recording,” Ambergris replied.  “Touch more of the mirrors.  This is absolutely fascinating!”
    Hawkeye gently applied his forefinger to three more mirrors.  The first showed glowing balls of light drifting in random patterns through the sky.  The second showed people hovering in the air, their arms spread wide as if they were engaged in a religious ceremony.  The third displayed a gleaming, smooth pyramid roughly the size of the Great Pyramid of Cheops on the Giza Plateau in Egypt.
    “I think there’s another lab next to this one,” Hawkeye said, spying an oval portal on the right.
    “Check it out,” said Caine.  “All members of Titan Six.  No one gets separated.”
    Hawkeye and the team stepped into the adjoining room, but it was empty.
    “Pulses of white light are moving through the walls,” Hawkeye said.  “These walls don’t look like metal.  They’re semi-transparent, and the lights are traveling along a branching network of lines inside the walls, which have that blue hazy look we saw while still outside.  Downright creepy.”
    Aiko ran her hand across several feet of one of the walls.  “Feels smooth but elastic,” she