The Prometheus Project Read Online Free PDF Page B

the cavern.
    Ryan ran forward and stooped down beside her. “Regan, are you okay?” he asked worriedly. She caught his eye and gave him a quick wink. She then shifted her eyes suggestively toward the doorway before quickly returning them to her brother.
    Ryan caught her meaning instantly. She was good, he thought in admiration. Very good. He nodded ever so slightly to let her know he understood and was in. He was game if she was.
    Ryan glanced up at the guards as his sister continued her performance. The two men had backed up a few steps and had turned away, looking somewhat ill themselves as they listened in disgust to what they thought was Regan heaving her guts out onto the floor.
    “Now!” shouted Regan as she sprang up and dived through the multicolored doorway with Ryan close behind, taking the guards completely by surprise. As they hit the doorway they felt an electric tingle—the same pins-and-needles sensation as if their foot or arm had fallen asleep, except that they felt it everywhere— for just an instant. And then they were through.
    They were through! They had actually made it! Their mouths fell open in shock. They were outside! Outside?
    Impossible. They were still thousands of feet underground.
    But underground or not, the place they were in stretched on as far as they could see in every direction, including straight up.
    But they weren’t really outside either. There was no sky . Just open space stretching as far up as the eye could see. No sun. No blue. No clouds of any kind.
    It was as if they were in a well-lighted building so vast that they couldn’t see any of the walls or ceiling. But how could any light source other than the sun illuminate such a huge space? And the light wasn’t coming from any one place. It was everywhere .
    The air was fresh and clean, like outside country air would be, not damp and chilly like the air in the cavern had been.
    The landscape was dotted with exotic buildings of every kind and flowers and vegetation unlike anything they had ever seen before. To their left was a structure that was the size of a house but perfectly spherical, with a mirrored surface that reflected its surroundings in dazzling brilliance. Just beside this globe was a transparent building that seemed to be suspended in midair. Another building was morphing from one fantastic geometric shape to another continuously before their eyes.
    They were so spellbound by the sight of this astonishing place that they completely forgot the trouble they were in. Regan was rudely brought back to reality by a firm grip on her arm. “Feeling better now!” snapped Dan angrily.
    Regan gulped. “Much better, thanks,” she croaked. “What is this place?” asked Ryan in wonder.
    Carl sighed. “You are standing in a city built by an alien race using technology thousands of years more advanced than ours. A city that also happens to be the biggest secret on Earth. And now you kids know about it!”
    Regan swallowed hard. “So what does that mean exactly?” she asked timidly.
    “It means,” said Carl angrily, “that you kids are in trouble. Big, big trouble.”
     

 
    Chapter 9
     
    Big Trouble
     
     “Follow me,” ordered Carl.
    He stepped on what was clearly designed as a sidewalk or walking path. Ryan and Regan followed and Dan took up the rear.
    The surface of the walking path was extraordinary. It was soft and cushiony and at the exact right moment it would trampoline them forward so that their steps were effortless. Ryan guessed it was allowing them to walk three or four times faster than usual. “It almost seems as if this walkway is alive,” he whispered in wonder. “As if it’s intelligent and knows exactly when to bounce us so we don’t ever lose our balance.”
    “I know what you mean,” agreed Carl. “In fact, this entire city almost seems alive to me sometimes.”
    “Ah . . . where are we going?” asked Regan, not sure she wanted to know.
    “A building about a twenty minute walk