§ The Silver Submachine Series §

TF: After a somewhat long wait, here's the next chapter to the SilvSub Series! I nicknamed it that. Catchy? No? Don't care, I'm still using it. –u– Kinda nervous now at the moment because apparently, the Submachine games might get taken down because the site that helped produce them is shutting down, unless the Submachine creator can work out a new deal – which I hope he'll do! DX We need Silver to keep exploring the Submachine! But anyway, onto the story and disclaimer!

Wilbur: The Submachine series and all related characters and objects are owned by Pastel Studios. We all know that one.

Skye: Silver the Hedgehog and all characters, places, organizations, and objects in the Sonic franchise are owned by SEGA.

TF: The cover for this story was put together by me, but consists of multiple images. The back-ground and jewel are both from "Submachine 1: The Basement" and are taken from the Submachine Wikia. The black cat was a picture found on Google Images clipart, and the drawing of Silver is credited to the talented DeviantArt artist eliacube, as their clipart "Combo Attack". The font used is Rough Draft, and the official Submachine font.

Felix: Por favor revisa, que no conseguimos ninguno nuevo la última vez! Please review, we didn't get any new ones last time!

TF: And we all know reviews help. :) Flamers will be doused with the living puddle! ... Don't get it? Stick around for the next chapter ...

"The game is not lost – or won – until the last bell goes." – John Curtin

§ The Silver Submachine Series §

Episode One: The Basement

Chapter Four: Bells Are Ringing

"... What?"

Silver didn't know what he'd been expecting exactly – perhaps someone's secret stash of Rings, maybe a few Chaos Emeralds, or some valuable antiques, or at the very least a ring of keys or a map or electronic device that would tell him where he was. Instead, the box-like vault was almost completely empty except for a thin, tube-like object, covered pure white with red stripes running down it's front and probably back, a small needle on either side.

The psychic raised an eyebrow before carefully reaching into the box, picking up the tube gingerly and standing as he weighed it in his palm. It was actually not as small as he'd thought it'd be, as thin as three of his fingers put together and roughly half the length of his arm. Strange, though, he still had no idea what it was, he didn't recognize it at all ... it did appear to be an electrical device of sorts, as if he looked closely enough, he could see wires just inside the tube, which felt like it was made out of some sort of fiberglass.

Shrugging, Silver carefully stashed it in his quills – the assortment of objects they could hold! – and turned around, picking his way through the tangle of wires and back out the door to the room with the bolts. There was another door to the opposite side of the room, and considering he hadn't explored that one yet, the thirteen-year-old walked over and peered into the open doorway, golden eyes taking in the area before him with a mixture of curiosity and confusion.

There was a large, stone square settled directly in the center of the room, and on it were set down four smaller, also stone, square cubes. Above the cubes, on the ceiling, were four large, steel bells, each bigger then Silver's head and perfectly arranged in a neat line in the direct center of the room's ceiling. They looked rather heavy, too. But who in the world would have something like this in a room all to itself ...? The others he could somewhat understand, they all appeared to be electrical devices, even if they did appear to be broken, but this?

This stuck out like a sore thumb. Stone cubes and bells? What was the purpose of that?

Silver carefully stepped into the room, walking forward and circling the cubes on the rock square before looking up at the bells again. Did they even work? Maybe they could do something? At the very least alert someone to the fact he was STILL stuck in here ... standing on his tip-toes, the Hedgehog aimed a hand, then leaped up into the air as high as he could and smacked the tip of the nearest bell, the one closest to the door. It let out a high-pitched ring, and at that exact moment, the last three of the four cubes were lifted up into the air, hovering stock-still as if suspended by some invisible force.

His golden eyes widened, and the Hedgehog just stood there in shock.

... All right, he had not been expecting that. So the bells could lift these cubes? Wait ... why? What was the point? Was it some kind of game or something? Crouching down, Silver leaped back into the air and hit the bell again, which gave another ring as the three cubes dropped back to the stone square. Another jump, another hit, another ring, and they lifted up again. Another jump, another hit, another ring, they lowered.

Well, this was no accident. The bells clearly were meant to do something to the cubes ... which reminded him. He'd only rung one bell. What happened when he rung the others? Only one way to find out, after all, and Silver made sure not to say that out loud. He was already losing it. Walking over to be as close to the next bell as possible, Silver stood on tip-toes, then jumped into the air and hit the second bell above it. This one gave a loud, echoish-sounding ring that was much deeper then the first one, and the last two cubes lifted up into the air instead of the last three.

Interesting.

Jumping up and hitting the bell again to make the cubes lower themselves, Silver moved down a bit and jumped up to smack his gloved hand against the rim of the third bell. This one was also loud and deep, but not as clear, sounding somewhat dulled. The first and last cubes in the line lifted up. Smacking the bell again to make them lower and walking down to the fourth and last bell, Silver leaped up and hit that one. This one was deep, but soft sounding, and very hard to describe in either words or thoughts ... it sounded old and a bit gentle. The first cube and the last two of the cubes moved up, and he hit the bell again to make them go down.

So, each bell moved a different number of cubes in different positions ... but what was the point? Was there any point at all?

He paused, crossing his arms and tapping one boot against the floor of the room – the room of which, he might add, was colored a yellowish-green color. There had to be a point if the bells were here. Maybe ... maybe something happened if he moved them? Nothing was obviously happening when they were all down, maybe the point was to lift the cubes all up, and then something would happen! It was worth a shot, right?

Walking back to the first bell, Silver smacked it's rim hard as he jumped, lifting up the last three of the cubes, then moved down and smacked the rim of the second bell. This time, however, the last two cubes moved down instead of going up, leaving the third cube still hovering. Silver walked over and jumped up, hitting the third bell, which made the first and last cubes rise up with the third one. Or second one actually, considering it was the second in the line of four ... the psychic then jumped up and hit the fourth bell, making the first and last cubes move down and the one that was down move up with the second/third one.

Time to retrace his steps, since the cubes weren't fully up yet. Walking back a bit, Silver jumped up and hit the third bell – and from that, he got results. The first and last cubes lifted back up, joining the two middle ones and causing the entire line of cubes to be suspended in midair, and at that moment, a line appeared on the side of the square facing him, drawing itself up. It then turned to the right, then went down, then to the left before stopping, forming a perfect square in the solid stone, and the teenager blinked.

Pausing, he carefully kneeled down on the floor and tapped the square, then drew back in surprise as it suddenly swung itself up and upside down, away from the stone like a door and revealing a hidden opening in the table-like object. Inside was nestled a triangular-shaped, piece of metal with markings and engravings inlaid in it's polished, steel surface. Silver stared, then shrugged and reached inside, picking up the metal piece as he stood again and studied it. The carvings seemed to be curves, circles, and lines mostly ... but for some reason, he couldn't help but think that this object was strangely familiar.

Silver shrugged, stashing the thing in his quills carefully, and walked back out of the room, grabbing onto the ladder rungs hanging from the ceiling and scaling them back to the floor above. Pulling himself over the edge and getting to his feet, walking over and climbing up the next ladder leading the next floor above, Silver pulled himself through that opening as well and stood up, brushing his silver quills off as he looked around. Back in the "lighthouse room" ... and right! He hadn't gotten around to exploring the doorway on the other side of the room, yet! Might as well, right?

The Hedgehog walked over, stepping into the doorway and looking around again as he studied the new room. A dark, greenish-brown color with three pipes running through the walls near the ceiling, emerging out one side and vanishing into the other. There was also a trapdoor in the floor a few feet away, possibly leading to yet more rooms. Silver paused, then sighed. "Who am I kidding ... I don't have anywhere else to go," he mumbled, heading over and crouching down by the trapdoor before lowering himself down it, climbing down the ladder to the room below.

This room, he saw as he dropped down the wooden floor, was a pumpkin-orange kind of color, an open doorway to his right hand if he faced the ladder, while on the left side of the room was another strange-looking, mechanical contraption. It was a large, steel rectangle bolted up on the wall, two long, thick, steel pipes coming out of the side closest to the wall and disappearing into the wall opposite. In the rectangle were four tube-shaped slots, three of them holding long, white fiberglass tubes with red lines on them.

Wait a moment ... white fiberglass ... tubes ... red lines ...

Silver blinked, then reached into his silver quills and pulled out the tube he had gotten from the vault-box, staring at it before walking over to the device and holding it up to the lowest slot to compare the two.

They matched perfectly.

His ears perked up, and he slowly grinned. One slot was empty, the one just above the slot he was holding the loose one up to ... reaching up, the Hedgehog carefully pressed the tube into the slot, where it slid in easily and snapped into place with a click. He could faintly hear the sound of crackling electricity above him, making Silver wonder if perhaps these tubes were some type of electrical fuse and had turned something on ... maybe the levers did do something, they just couldn't work because the electricity wasn't on! Same with that big machine he'd first seen! But he'd check on them later, for now, he had some more area of this place to go through.

Turning, the teenager quickly ran through the doorway, then yelped and skidded to a stop as he almost fell through a trapdoor that was lying dangerously close to the door, teetering before regaining his balance and exhaling. "Whew ..." he mumbled, looking down the trapdoor for a moment and, seeing nothing except a floor, looked back up to study the room. It was pale yellow, with the trapdoor in the floor and another one in the ceiling on the other side of the room, while in the center was what looked like a bedside table or desk. It had two drawers in it, closed, and on top was settled an off-white, old-fashioned radio – somewhat rectangular, but with a curved top that held a circle that was probably the speaker, underneath the circle being two knob-like dials and a bar with tiny writing. Radio station readings or something, he assumed.

Walking around the trapdoor and over to the desk, Silver crouched down, pulling on the top drawer and jiggling the two knobs on either side that served as handles, then pulling and jiggling the ones on the bottom drawer. Neither budged. Probably locked, although who locked drawers? He stood up again, studying the radio before turning the dial on the left back and forth, ears perking up as he listened for something.

Nothing.

Giving a huff of frustration, Silver released that dial, turning the one on the right instead, only half paying attention now as he zoned out, staring into space.

He was getting tired of feeling lost, of gathering objects that didn't seem to go anywhere, of seeing nowhere, of talking to himself ... he was going to go insane at this point. Wasn't there anyone he could talk to here?! Anyone?!

Who was he kidding, he was alone, and he'd stay alone until he found some way out of here. It was the only logical way of doing things, if somebody was here, they would have made themselves known by now ...

"... Logic doesn't exist here, Silver."

Silver froze.

"The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

Genesis 2:18, NIV (New International Version)

TF (TFTime)

Coming up next ... "Chapter Five: Talking to Water"