[SEC 2014] - The Big Dig

The tunnel workers had been working on overtime status for months. Finally, after all the useless meetings and the glowering 'pep' talks by the Generals in Charge, they were nearing the end of the job. The new line would allow ever-faster transport between the great eastern hills and the vast mountains and deserts of the southwest continent. Much was made of the decision to skirt the neon-lit cities above in the desert, but in the end it seemed expedient - their electromagnetic signature and oddly negative psychic imprint, felt by all within miles, was worth avoiding.

Most of the engineering and tunneling work had come off without a hitch, but there were strange reports coming in from some quarters; workers murmuring about foreign voices being heard in their heads, telepathic signals coming in from beyond the tunnel walls, lyrical sounds but sometimes harsh and grating. The usual governmental compartmentalization precluded much discussion but the lunchtime gossip circumvented that. Some One or Some Thing was on the other side of the crystalline walls...

Some workers had gone missing; their disappearances were reported to the usual authorities but no further information was ever forthcoming. In the end, it didn't matter much; their families were told they 'died in service to their country' and the usual full military honors were given. With millions of tunnelers working, some deaths were to be expected; it was just stranger, somehow, when the bodies were never found. Some thought that the disappearances were rumored to be the design of the generals, who wanted everyone just a little bit afraid of the surface, afraid of what was up there; lest anyone go and check for themselves. Others laughed at the thought, that anyone would ever want to go up into the blinding light, and the incessant solar radiation, just to investigate; it was well known that there was nothing important up there, and was not for a patriot or an honorable man to question. The gossipers were usually ridiculed into mute submission.

Soon, the entire project would be complete, and the workers could rejoice! Honeycombed chambers had been built under the massive city-states above, preparing for the day when the sinkholes would collapse them, bringing centuries' worth of food down into the hatcheries and finally ending the incessant vibrations filtering down through the earth, the head-hammering sonic insults that plagued so many and interrupted their sleep. Whatever 'they' were, up above, they had no right to interrupt the colony building, the endless digging, and 'they' had to go. It was a simple matter of expedience; the donation to the food supply was a welcome bonus and would feed billions of hatchlings.

Ancient history reported that some of 'them' had been captured over the eons; found languishing on the ground, seemingly dead or dying; disgusting creatures with soft exoskeletons, hardly worthy of the name; two legs, two legs!!! and astonishingly, no muscles to speak of. They could hardly even carry half their weight, can you imagine!?! The geneticists were at a loss to understand how such a weak creature could exist, much less function in society, and much care was taken to see that no genetic contamination happened between 'them' and the colonies in the grand canyons below.

The day of reckoning was nigh; the final bombs were set; everything was readied, checked and double-checked. Sentries had been posted lest any sabotage or invader ruin the carefully planned final assault.

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Communique from Citizen #QR342, Section 17-ZED:

Our knowledge of what happened next is insufficient to determine exactly what occurred. A category 20 Earthquake on the CavernBuilder's Scale, far more intense than ever before encountered, completely shattered the People's Houses and Storehouses, the Monuments to Victories Past and Progeny Future. Immediately after the Great Earthquake, a Great Wind occurred, and after the horrific tornadic blast, lasting seemingly hours with a force never encountered before in history, all was lost; only a few survived its fury, fewer still were willing to talk about the Great Massacre.

One clue only remained, a psychic recording of a shrill blasting noise heard after the Great Earthquake but before the Great Wind... it is reproduced here in phonetic resonant detail, in the hopes that some historians of the future will be able to determine the cause of the disaster and plan future attacks on the monsters of the surface with greater deadly success; it went thusly:

EYEEEEERRREEEEE!!!!TIMMMEEEEYOURANTFARMHASTIPPEDOVERCOMEAND
CLEANYOURROOOOMMMM!

edit on 3924911pmSundayf24Sun, 02 Nov 2014 21:24:39 -0600America/Chicago by signalfire because: size issues

nevermind...

a reply to: signalfire

Love it!

a reply to: Nechash

Thank you dear

Haha nice ending. Good effort a reply to: signalfire

I believe it's a great contribution to the contest. I actually had to restart and read from the beginning again once I detected the subtle character shift. Nice twist. If you can make me go back two paragraphs, and make me read your story again, then it's imbued with just enough content to make me think "WTH?"

For a first timer, good story. Best of luck! SnF.

a reply to: WORD2URMOTHER

AlephBet is off his meds again

a reply to: signalfire

ahahahahaha

It took me a while to get the ending mostly because I can't read, but I laughed.

So glad you jumped in the contest!

Fun twist, Signal - I really enjoyed that!!

Peace,
AB

a reply to: signalfire

Love it!

lol


Enjoyed the twist ending

And the ants go marching on

Hope see more in the future

a reply to: signalfire

That was so cute! I liked it very much! Very good you! S&F

a reply to: signalfire


Hello SignalFire ! Good to see You!!
Great Story here!!!
I S+F'd this for You!
If You have a few min's, please check out my entry.
Link is at the bottom of this post.

See Ya later, Syx.

Great story and the twist made me smile. Well done and best of luck!