The Monster Machine

The Book

Tova went upstairs and back to her room, sitting down in the middle of the floor. She didn't realize how stuffy it was in this room than it was outside. The only thing she could do now was wait until the man got back from finishing his work and had something else for her to do. But she didn't know how long it would be until he was actually finished. She thought maybe there was something in this room that could keep her busy. Instead of just sitting around and thinking to herself.

That was, until there was a knock at her door. She expected it to be the man, but it was the woman from yesterday.

"Tova, you're back already? Is your father finished?"

Tova looked up at the woman, noticing that she'd never really paid much attention to her appearance before. She wore a purple long-sleeve sweater and a long black skirt. Her brown hair was tied up in some sort of messy bun or ponytail. She couldn't tell from the angle she was sitting in.

"He told me to go straight back home. He's probably still working by himself," Tova responded.

"Really? He's never let you go anywhere by yourself before." The woman said in a surprised tone. Tova looked away, not sure what else she could say.

"Tova, don't you get bored here sitting by yourself?" she asked. Tova looked up at her again.

"I don't know, I usually just wait here until he needs me to do something."

"You just sit here all by yourself? You don't have anything else to do?"

Tova shook her head. The woman looked around the room, realizing she hadn't paid much attention to it before. It was the smallest room in the house, only able to hold an old mattress and a broken table. Besides the small stacks of books near the table, there wasn't anything else provided for Tova to keep her entertained. And it didn't seem like a clean room either.

"Why don't you ever ask him to bring you something to play with? Maybe a puzzle or some new books?"

"He's too busy with his work and I don't want to bother him," Tova said quietly. She thought back to what happened earlier today. She just asked a simple question and her father didn't really provide her with much of an answer. That was the first time in a long time that she'd ever actually spoken a full sentence to him.

"What have you two been working on?" the woman asked, running out of things to talk about.

"It's this machine that he's been trying to build for as long as I can remember. He says it's almost finished, but he won't tell me what it is or what it does." Tova explained. The woman had a sudden worried look on her face. She turned away for a moment to think.

"Tova, I bet your father won't be back for a while. Why don't you come with me for a moment? There's something I want to show you."

Tova looked up curiously.

"What is it?"

The woman looked up and down the hall before beckoning Tova out of her room. Out of curiosity, Tova stood up and followed her down the hall. They passed the bathroom and stopped at another door down the hall. The woman opened it and let Tova walk inside before closing the door behind her. It was a much bigger room, much like Tova's, but slightly cleaner and neater. There was a large bed in the corner of the room, but all the sheets and blankets were a mess and there was a large stain on the floor. A large pipe stood next to the bed and it was making a strange humming noise. Next to that was a desk that had a large stack of papers that looked like they were about to topple over any second and a small cup holding a variety of pens and pencils. The window on the other side of the room overlooked the street that Tova had just walked down. It wasn't much of a view, but it was definitely a better sight than Tova's room.

"What is this?" Tova asked.

"This is your father's room. Since he's always working in his study, I've been trying to keep everything around here as clean as I can make it. But no matter how hard I try, I can never seem to keep it that way."

Tova went over to the window and stared through the glass.

"Why'd you bring me here?" Tova asked. The woman sighed before bending down near the bed and reaching her arm underneath it. She pulled out what looked to be an old shoebox. Tova walked back to her and looked at the box curiously.

"What's that?"

The woman glanced cautiously at the door and back at the box.

"Let's take this to your room. I don't want to get caught with this." said the woman. They took the box and went back into Tova's tiny room, setting it down on top of her broken table and kneeling down together in front of it. The woman opened the box carefully and took out the contents one by one. She pulled out a small book. The label on the front cover was unreadable.

"Tova, do you know anything about the past?" the woman asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know anything about the history of the earth? You know, before all of this?" the woman tried to explain.

"You mean like, before people used to live underground?"

"Yes, exactly. Didn't your father ever tell you anything about it?"

"Hmm... not really, but I do remember some things. All I know is that people who used to live up on the surface couldn't live up there anymore because of how bad things were and they built all of this so they could survive."

"Yes, that... pretty much summarizes it all. But do you know the real reason why?" the woman asked.

Tova shook her head. The woman set the book down on the table and began to flip through the pages.

"Here, I can show you. See this?" the woman pointed to a page with an illustration of the earth.

"This is what the earth looks like from the outside. From really far away... Back when people lived on the surface, there used to be lots of space where everyone could live comfortably. The sun is what made the earth warm and gave it light. And at night, you could see the moon and all the thousands of stars in the sky."

The woman pointed to another illustration on the other page that depicted the moon and the stars. Tova stared at it in curious fascination.

"What's all that green stuff?" Tova pointed at.

"That's where we all lived. It was all land, and all the blue stuff is the ocean. Long before humans lived there, there were different kinds of plants and animals that lived everywhere. And when humans started building homes and buildings, they started getting rid of everything so they could make room for everything they needed to live. But as time went on, they realized that all the stuff they were getting rid of waas actually very important, but by then it was too late. Humans needed lots of space and food to live, but so did plants and animals. They were what made the earth a real home. And... they didn't know what they were doing to it." the woman explained.

"What happened to it?" Tova asked.

"We were destroying it. We were destroying life, and we were destroying our home along with it. And we didn't realize it until it was too late. That's why we live down here now. We can't go up there anymore. It's not safe for us anymore, and there's nothing we can do to fix it," the woman explained.

Suddenly, she looked towards the door. Tova flinched too. They could hear footsteps. The woman quickly packed the book away into the box and shoved it into Tova's arms.

"Hide this somewhere safe. Whatever you do, don't let your father see or get ahold of it." the woman said quickly, before standing up and rushing out of Tova's room in a panic. Leaving Tova all by herself once again. Tova waited silently until she couldn't hear anymore footsteps. When everything was completely silent, she took the box and shoved it underneath the broken table. The dark shadows hid it perfectly. Tova hoped it wasn't too noticeable.

She moved back to her original spot in the room and went back to her usual pastime of sitting and staring at nothing in particular. But as she did, she began to think. She thought about all the information she'd just learned.

The Earth used to be green? And the sky changed color?

She'd never imagined anything like this before. Nor could she try to envision it. The stars that lit up the sky at night... She wondered what they looked like.

If you looked up at the sky, what else could you see? Was there anything else up there?

She began to wonder even more. Had anyone else thought of this before? Had anyone thought of going up and seeing what it was like now? How much had it changed? Was it still as dangerous as it was before?

And then she began to think of the possibilities. Maybe someone did.

Did they ever come back? Were the dangers of the surface too terrible? Did they die trying to find a way out? Did they die trying to live on the ruined surface? Did they not find a way out? Is there a way out?

Tova thought about this for a long time.

As she was deep in thought, the man from before walked through the front doors and spotted the woman standing at the top of the stairs.

"Ah, Dr. Isandro. You're back already?" the woman said, slightly startled at his sudden appearance.

"Is Tova in her room?"

"Um, yes she is. I was... just about to prepare some food."

"Good. When you're finished with that, then you can be done. You can go home."

The woman looked up at him, confused.

"Sir...?"

"I said when you're finished with your duties, you can go home. We won't need you anymore after that."

"But, sir... what about-"

"The project is almost complete. We have no need of your assistance any longer. Finish whatever you have planned today and you can go home. Don't come back here."

The woman was surprised to hear his response, and she wanted to object, but decided to keep her mouth shut instead. Dr. Isandro walked past her without a second thought. The woman continued to stand there, lost in thought. She debated her next course of action.

Tova didn't hear any of this conversation. But she quickly snapped back to reality when she heard footsteps coming towards her door. She stared at the door for a long time, waiting for it to open and her presence to be needed. The footsteps just stopped at her door for a moment before continuing down the hallway. Tova waited another moment longer before turning her head to look at the box underneath the broken table. She hesitated for a moment before shuffling back to the table and slowly pulling the box out into the light. She took one last glance at the door before finally opening the box and pulling out the small book, leaving the other items untouched. She began to flip through the pages and constantly checked the door to make sure she wouldn't be suddenly interrupted.