Trapped (The Prometheus Project Book 1) Read online

“Do you have a hypothesis that could explain this?”

  Ryan rolled his eyes. His dad could have chosen a more difficult example than this. “Heavy objects fall faster than light objects.”

  “How could you test this hypothesis?”

  “There’s no need to test it,” said Ryan. “In this case it isn’t a hypothesis, it’s an absolute fact.”

  “Are you sure about that?” asked Mr. Resnick, his eyes twinkling.

  Ryan nodded. “Positive.”

  His dad grinned broadly. “Let’s try it anyway. Show me a way to test the hypothesis.”

  Ryan found a small pebble and retrieved the same large, heavy rock his dad had dropped. He held them out in front of him, one in each hand, and dropped them with a bored look.

  They landed at the exact same time!

  Impossible! Ryan couldn’t believe his eyes.

  Shaking his head in disbelief, Ryan picked up the pebble and rock and tried once again, this time making absolutely certain he released them at the same time, from the exact same height. Sure enough, he had not imagined it—they both hit the ground at the exact same instant.

  Ryan still refused to believe it. His father watched, amused, as he tested rubber bands and pebbles and paperclips against basketballs and rocks and phone books. In each case, both of the test objects landed at exactly the same time. He had been so sure. All his instincts told him the heavy objects would fall faster. But they didn’t.

  Ryan winced, feeling a little foolish. “Okay, maybe I’m not as positive as I thought.”

  His dad smiled. “Okay, so your original hypothesis is wrong, after all. Good thing we did the experiments. Can you think of a hypothesis that does account for all of the results?”

  Ryan thought about it. The only object he had tried that didn’t fit the pattern was the feather. It was the oddball. He dropped the feather by itself a few times and watched it carefully. It didn’t take long for him to realize that it was the air that was slowing it down. Finally, he had his new hypothesis. “All objects fall at exactly the same speed,” he said, “unless one of the objects is light enough to float in the air.”

  His dad encouraged him to come up with an experiment to test this new hypothesis, and Ryan rose to the challenge. He taped several pieces of facial tissue together until they weighed exactly the same as a paperclip and dropped them both. Sure enough, the paperclip cut through the air and landed quickly while the tissues floated slowly to the ground.

  His dad had suggested another test would be to drop a feather and a bowling ball on the moon, which had no air. If this hypothesis was correct, on the moon the feather and the bowling ball, against all human expectations, should both land at the exact same time.

  Ryan remembered vividly how his father had congratulated him and confirmed that his new hypothesis was, indeed, correct and that sure enough, all objects on a given planet did fall at exactly the same speed as long as there wasn’t any air to slow the objects down.

  The scientific method was simple but it had been responsible for huge advances in scientific knowledge. Could Ryan apply it here? Maybe. An idea began to form in his head.

  “Wait a second,” he said finally, breaking the long silence. “Let’s imagine the city is alive, like an enormous animal.” He had been about to say, ‘let’s hypothesize the city is alive’ but didn’t want to risk confusing his sister. “If we were inside a city-sized animal, what would that make us?”

  “Lunch?” guessed Regan.

  Ryan shook his head. “No, we’d be far smaller than a crumb. Think much, much smaller.”

  It took Regan only seconds to see the answer. “A disease,” she said confidently. Their mom was a biologist and had taught them well.

  “Right. So imagine the force-field surrounding the city is like our skin—our first line of defense against invaders. The best way to avoid an infection is to not let it enter the body in the first place. Our skin helps prevent an invasion by bacteria, maybe the force-field is there to prevent invasion by … well, maybe invasion by … us.”

  Regan frowned. “Maybe. But if that’s true, it failed. We did get in. We cut the city’s shield.”

  “Right,” said Ryan. “But what happens when we get a cut?”

  “Lots of things,” said Regan, not sure what he was getting at.

  “Our skin eventually heals. It grows back and fills in the gap.”

  Now she saw where he was going with this. This could explain why the entrance was gone—the barrier managed to heal itself.

  “And what happens after bacteria enter the body?”continued Ryan excitedly.

  Their mother had explained this many times. “The body’s defense force comes into action,” replied Regan. “The body’s immune system—antibodies and other cells. They kill the bacteria.”

  “Right. And the antibodies can tell which cells are part of your body and which cells are foreign. Anything the immune system doesn’t identify as part of your body is targeted for elimination.” He paused. “Sound familiar?”

  It did! This theory would also explain why human stuff was devoured and alien stuff was left alone. If the bugs’ job was to protect the city from invaders, they would only attack the invaders.

  “But why now?” said Regan. “Humans have been in the city now for more than a day.”

  “It can take a while for the immune army to build, especially when facing something totally new,” said her brother. “Sometimes the immune system isn’t fast enough and the bacteria multiply so much that they win the battle for a while and you get sick.”

  “It is a great theory, Ryan. It does explain a lot. But then why haven’t they attacked us yet?”

  Good question. Ryan was about to say, I wish I knew, when the answer hit him. Of course! “Because the scientists damaged the inside of the city,” he said. “They cut a piece of the webbing from that staircase. They actively attacked it. If something does that to our body the damaged part sends out all kinds of chemical signals that can activate the immune system.” He paused. “Even though people are foreign to the city, we must seem pretty harmless, so it isn’t too worried about us. But as soon as the scientists cut that piece of material out the city saw us as a danger and sent out the army.”

  This had to be right, thought Regan. How else to explain the insect attack only minutes after the webbing was cut. “So if we concentrate on being totally harmless . . .” she began.

  “Then we won’t attract them,” finished Ryan. “Exactly. We just have to be sure to be very gentle. Don’t even disturb a single flower,” he cautioned.

  Damaging the city on purpose would be a great way to test his hypothesis, but then again, if he was right, it would also be a great way to get himself devoured by the city’s ‘antibodies’. This was one hypothesis he wasn’t so eager to test at the moment.

  A tear rolled gently down Regan’s face as she thought once again of her parents. If only their mom could be with them to see how well they had paid attention to her lessons in biology.

  Ryan knew he couldn’t afford to consider his parents’ fate right now. He was determined to get his sister to safety and they were still trapped in a very dangerous alien city. His parents wouldn’t want him to just give up. They would want him to do whatever it took to save himself and his sister.

  “We need to explore the city,” said Ryan in determination. “We have to find a way out, or maybe some alien equipment we can use to open another hole in the shield. And we need to find food and water, too. We may be here a long time.”

  Not finding food and drink was Ryan’s biggest fear. They would have to keep exploring individual buildings until they did. People could last a long time without food if they had to, but the human body couldn’t get by without water for very long at all.

  “Let’s go,” said Ryan, pretending to be confident. He was determined to find a way out of here somehow.

  But he didn’t have the faintest idea how he could accomplish this impossible task.

  Chapter 16


  Technology and Magic

  Ryan and Regan explored for hour after hour as their hunger and thirst mounted—and their desperation.

  They went into several structures and discovered artifacts of every size, shape and kind. They inspected several very cautiously but couldn’t figure out how to operate any of them—or even if they could be operated. It was maddening. For all they knew they had held the key to leaving the city in their hands and hadn’t recognized it.

  Dr. Harris had said current human technology would seem like magic to earlier ages. So what would a prehistoric man make of the inside of their house? Would he think a telephone hanging on a wall was art? That a computer was something used for hunting—to throw at animals? What would he make of a microwave oven? He could be in total darkness, searching frantically for some flint to hit together to make a fire, not knowing that all he had to do was push the small white switches sticking out from the walls and he could have all the light he needed. What if he was hungry? He could find a can of soup and never know there was food inside. Even if he did, he wouldn’t know what a can-opener was or how to use it. A feast could be waiting inside the refrigerator but he wouldn’t guess it, and he wouldn’t even know for sure that a refrigerator could even be opened.

  Ryan and Regan knew that in this case, they were the ignorant primitives stumbling around in the dark, not advanced enough to have any idea of what they were seeing within the astonishing alien buildings.

  Ryan continued to try to put on a brave face for his sister but he was getting more worried by the hour. “If we ever get out of here,” he said and then quickly amended, “I mean—when we get out of here, I promise to never complain about being bored again.”

  Regan smiled weakly as they exited another building after yet another fruitless search. “Yeah. I’d give anything to be bored right now. This could have been the greatest day of our lives. Getting to see this amazing city. Learning about the most important discovery of all time. But instead, it’s turned into a nightmare. How could things—”

  “Down!” screamed Ryan.

  Before Regan could react he dove on her and threw her forcefully to the soft ground, covering her with his body.

  Regan looked up in terror to find the reason for her brother’s action.

  An immense alien bird of prey was flying directly toward them! It had the sleek, dangerous lines of an eagle, but it was the size of a minivan.

  The swooping predator extended its razor sharp talons as it prepared to complete its attack.

  Chapter 17

  The Unearthly Zoo

  Regan closed her eyes tightly.

  A few seconds went by.

  Then a few more. Confused but relieved, Regan opened her eyes.

  The bird was gone! In its place was a small, cuddly-looking alien creature with big blue eyes. “What in the world . . .” she began.

  As she watched, wide-eyed, the creature vanished, only to be replaced by an animal that looked something like a kangaroo with the face of a lion.

  “Holograms,” whispered Ryan. Although the animals looked every bit as real as his sister did, they weren’t. None of them. They were just three-dimensional movies.

  He quickly got to his feet and helped Regan up off the ground. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She ignored his question. “You saved my life,” she whispered, her eyes wide. “And you risked your own life to do it. I really owe you one.”

  “Nah,” said Ryan, feeling awkward at his sister’s heartfelt appreciation. “I just haven’t tackled you in a while and thought this would be a good excuse. I only saved you from a hologram,” he finished modestly.

  “You didn’t know that at the time, so I’m afraid you’re stuck being a hero,” she insisted in a tone that made it clear that this was the final word on the subject.

  As they talked, perfect three-dimensional holograms of different animals continued to appear before them. The images changed every few seconds and they had yet to start repeating. The animals appeared directly in front of a large, arch-shaped building.

  “A zoo?” guessed Regan after watching several more animal holograms appear.

  “That would make sense,” said Ryan. “But inside this single building? The cages would have to be awfully small.”

  “Even if it is—or was—a zoo,” said Regan, “it’s not as though any animals are still going to be alive in there. This city has been abandoned for a long, long time.”

  They had been in the city all day and had yet to find the slightest hint that the city had ever been inhabited.

  “Let’s check it out anyway,” suggested Ryan.

  They entered to find that the building contained absolutely nothing but dozens of oval doorways, spaced evenly around the walls. Above each doorway a different animal hologram appeared every few seconds, just as they had outside. This time the holograms above each doorway seemed to have a theme; winter animals, or desert animals, and each of the groupings had subtle similarities that made the kids think they came from the same planet.

  Regan gestured to one of the doorways. It was clear they could pass through the opening but they couldn’t see what was on the other side. “Should we go through one of them?”

  Ryan considered. “Okay, but I’ll go first,” he said protectively. He walked through a doorway with his sister close behind.

  They had expected to see cages. What they saw was a vast forest of trees with greenish bark and round, orange leaves. A forest that was far, far larger than the entire building they were in! Maybe even larger than the entire city.

  “These crazy aliens,” quipped Regan. “They really do wonderful things with living space. I’d love to have them design a closet for me—with a thousand times more room inside than the entire house that it’s in.”

  “Ah, I think they could even do better than that,” whispered Ryan in a trance. He pointed upward.

  Upward to the sky and the clouds. They were outside!

  Incredible! And even more incredible was the fact that they could see two huge orbs hanging in the sky, visible even during the day.

  Moons. And there were two of them.

  They looked once again at the bizarre orange trees and gulped. They were definitely outside all right.

  And they were just as definitely no longer on Earth.

  Chapter 18

  Predator

  A terrifying thought occurred to them both at the same time—was the doorway still there? They turned slowly, fearfully, to look behind them.

  It was!

  What a relief.

  Just to be sure they weren’t stranded they stepped back through the doorway. Sure enough, they were back in the zoo.

  They stepped through to the forest again and considered the vast landscape carefully. “I have to admit, the cages are slightly bigger than I thought they would be,” said Ryan impishly.

  Regan laughed.

  “This could be the break we’ve been looking for,” said Ryan. “There must be some sort of food and water here. I think we should stay fairly close to this entrance and explore. Each doorway in the zoo must go to a different world, so if we can’t find water right away we can try one of the other worlds.”

  They decided to climb a nearby tree to scout the area, but after walking only thirty yards a wall of force, just like the one around the city, appeared magically in front of them, completely blocking out the woods. They jumped back, startled.

  And the wall disappeared again.

  After just a little experimentation it became clear that an invisible dome completely encircled them, with the door back to the city at its center. Whenever they got to within five feet of the barrier it instantly became visible, probably so no one would slam into it without realizing it.

  “I suppose this is here so the zoo animals won’t eat the zoo visitors,” said Ryan.

  Regan nodded. “Yeah—probably. Zookeepers must hate it when the animals spoil their appetite that way.”

  “Well, I guess this is a g
reat setup if you want to safely watch the local animals, but if you want to find food and water—it’s not so great.”

  “I’m not so sure it’s so great for watching animals,” said Regan. “Do you see any? They could be anywhere on this planet.” She shook her head. “What they need is a car or tram of some sort to carry visitors around, like they had in the first Jurassic Park movie.” She paused. “In fact, I’ll bet you they do have one somewhere. They would almost have to.”

  Ryan shook his head. “Just because they had a tram in a science fiction movie doesn’t mean they’ll have one in an alien zoo on an alien planet,” he said skeptically. He thought the chances of them finding a tram simply because his sister thought there should be one were less than zero. But after looking at his sister’s eager face he added, “I guess there isn’t any harm in looking.”

  Less than two minutes later they found a tram, right where Regan had guessed it would be. Ryan stared at it in disbelief and whispered, “You were right. Nice going. Let’s just hope we don’t find the dinosaurs from that movie here also,” he joked.

  They entered the small tram carefully. Inside several small holograms showed the tram performing different maneuvers. Ryan reached forward and touched one that showed the tram going forward. As he had hoped, it served as a control, and the actual tram began to glide slowly forward into the unknown woods. It passed beyond the location of the force-field without activating it.

  Minutes later they exited the tram and climbed one of the orange trees. They were in luck! A stream was only a few hundred yards away, winding its way through the woods.

  Using the holographic controls they drove toward the stream. The tram slid forward as though on a sheet of ice, even over rough and uneven terrain. They passed several small alien animals but nothing that looked threatening.

  They parked the tram and walked eagerly to the stream. Ryan bent over and put a hand in. The water was cool and nothing had ever looked more refreshing. He smelled it carefully. It had no odor of any kind. This was a good sign. Ryan cupped his hands and prepared to take a sip.