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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 5002722" data-attributes="member: 3285">Landscrapes: Part 6 – The LaboratoryPast the Fumo Loco were workbenches and shelves, covered with plants—except that they had grown far out of their own pots, reaching down to the floor and rooting in the earth there, mingling with each other in unholy biological matrimony. Looking closer, the actual species were weird—crossbreeds, bulbs of unnatural shape and flowers of unholy hue. The lab had obviously not been used for some time. All tools were removed, although some glass containers filled with seeds and samples remained. There was a door on the far side of the room.Jim-Bean tilted his head.  "Do you hear that?""No," said Hammer, trying to keep his eyes on every plant at once.  "What are you hearing?""Singing." Jim-Bean leaned down to a patch of pink flowers.  "Yep, singing.""The flowers are singing to you?" asked Hammer, skeptical."Need I remind you that we were just attacked by a tree?"Hammer ignored him. "What's that?" He pointed at something on the floor beneath a large, broad leaf. Jim-Bean bent down to inspect Hammer's find.  Among the plants was a leather-bound book. Wiry vines had grown around and into the book, and the cover was spoiled. Pulling out a utility knife from his belt, Jim-Bean cut the vines loose. The book was riddled with six-inch long caterpillars, bloated yellow-green monsters. "Yaaah!" shouted Jim-Bean.  He shook the loathsome insects off of him. "What is it?" asked Hammer."A book.  Totally ruined. "Jim-Bean pulled out a sliver of paper that was unchewed, on which a few typeset words could be discerned.  "Something about keeping the 'thing' in.  Looks like that red blob is related to the other blobs and tentacles and crap we've been dealing with."  Hammer tried the door. The large space beyond the door was mostly open. Metallic nets hung on a wall immediately above several large lockers.  A long bench was cluttered with bits of rock, small bones, and broken arrowheads.  A loading dock was built into the rear wall, in which the metallic sliding doors of an elevator were visible.  Arrowheads, fragments of clay pottery, and bones lay on the countertop, along with several small brushes, a microscope, and microscopy supplies.  "Looks like they were doing more in here than just farming," said Hammer.Jim-Bean rifled through the lockers.  They contained spelunking equipment, including ten full sets of helmets and helmet lights, kneepads, long pants and over-the-ankle boots (with deeply treaded soles), gloves, harnesses and associated climbing gear (including nylon rope, a plethora of carabiners, and friction plates) and wet suits. "This could come in handy." Hammer reached into the very back and bottom of one of the lockers and pulled out a box of dynamite.On the other end of the room was an elevator, its doors open.  "May as well put on the wet suits," said Jim-Bean.  "That's a—" Jim-Bean put up one hand before Hammer could say anything.  "I know, I know, you don't swim, but—"Hammer was already shrugging on one of the wetsuits. "I was going to say it's a good idea. If we're going down deep, it could get very cold and wet down there."Jim-Bean dressed in a wet suit as well.  They both stepped into the elevator. It contained just two buttons.  One button was labeled “Surface” the other labeled “Pellucidar.” Hammer pressed "Pellucidar" and the elevator shaft plunged four hundred and fifty feet into the earth below.</blockquote>

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