37. The Field Trip

        Dell god of Mercantile was one of the younger Anunnaki siblings, endowed with the right kind of energy to fertilize minds of the young gen potentials with the desire to succeed. The classroom was teeming with eager anticipation before classes had even begun, engaged with light conversation the students hushed, falling captive to his attention the moment he arrived.

        Dell greeted the class with an introduction, then proceeded with writing the title of their first subject on the chalk board. As the letters appeared, the students recognized a subject they were already fairly familiar with: 'DOGONS'

         Snickers erupted accordingly, to Dell it was the usual reaction; they had all heard stories of the dogons, they had all been afraid but after a few weeks living in the Underworld they had grown secure, it was as if the story had been stretched a little far, there certainly didn’t appear to be any bloodthirsty dogons lurking in the Underworld like they had been led to believe.

         Dell was visibly enthusiastic about the dogon lesson. "Who here has seen one?"

         The class hushed, Nolan glanced at Bell but he just shrugged, head shaking, still smirking.

         "That's right!" Dell continued with a glistening smile. "No one has, because if you had you wouldn’t be here!!!" 

         He scanned the students with intense green eyes, growing serious. "Dogons pose the second greatest threat to the Atlan Empire!"

         The students listened with growing concern as he delved into the history of the ancient feud and how it related to the Underworld that they had discovered. "We have lost vast sections of the Underworld to Aquilla's destructive forces in the past" he lectured. "The dogons are Aquilla's forces. Controlling them is fundamental to the growth of the Atlan Empire!"

         Nolan found his gaze wandering towards the portraits of the gods on the wall as the more complicated machinery of the empire began to expose itself.

         "You do not see them or hear them because we have managed to control them." Dell glanced around the room, catching each student's attention one by one. "How did we manage to control them?"

         Serious faces now, the class exchanged glances, shoulders shrugged, heads shook solemnly... 

         "Simple!" Dell turned to the board once more and wrote in chalk: 'TRAINING'.

         The class stared with blank expression, unsure of where he was going...

         "We have trained the dogons!" He announced proudly. "Can anyone guess how?"

         Once again, shoulders shrugged, heads shook solemnly...

         Dell turned to the board once more and wrote in chalk: 'FOOD.'

         The class groaned in unison, was this a joke?
         "We control the dogons by feeding them!" 

         It wasn't a joke. Dell was obviously very proud of their success. "Over time the dogons have become lazy, they have forgotten how to hunt which has made them dependent on us... Yes, my fine young Merchants, you heard me correctly. They depend on us, but don't tell anyone, that is your little secret!"

         The students couldn't believe their ears, how was that possible? "But you can't control Aquilla with food?"

         "The dogons will do ANYTHING to get free food!" Dell replied. "Therefore, by default they are afraid of us, afraid that if they don’t do as they're told, they won’t get fed! It's a very simple formula my friends, as genius usually is."

         The class broke out in smiles and applause, impressed with the crafty scheme.

         "However" Dell continued with his solemn tone, "brilliant as the scheme is, it requires maintenance, and as Junior Merchants, it is your duty to feed the dogons."

         Gasps were unanimous.

         Predictable, too. Dell continued. "Feeding the dogons is basic training for the Merchants, compulsory for the whole class. You will gain the self confidence you need to be a successful Merchant by learning to respect how powerful the dogons can be when used correctly. You will overcome your fears, it will build your strength, and soon enough you’ll even be joking about it, I guarantee!"

         Nolan glanced at Josh, he wasn’t looking too thrilled with the idea at all.

         "You will be divided into pairs" Dell continued. "There will be a schedule on the wall by the door. The dogons get fed twice a day, before and after classes, and everyone gets a turn. Now if you will all follow me, I will give you the tour and show you the routine."

         Terrified, the class got up and followed Dell towards the door. He paused to remind. "Don’t forget, the reason this is a surprise for you is because of the excellent job the Merchants that have graduated from this program before you have done at keeping it buttoned up. Leaking buckets get incinerated, they cannot be fixed. It is a self policing society, you have been warned. There are thousands of prior graduates watching out for the integrity of the system, it’s very effective. No play, no pay. In Atlan, all the walls have eyes and ears."

         With brave faces the students followed Dell out of the classroom, every one of them terrified of the disturbing field trip ahead. Feed the dogons? For real?

         Nolan sidled up to Bell, the toughest gen he knew yet even Bell looked scared. As the class arrived at the Shipping storefront Dell explained the tablet filing procedure at the reception desk. Once the tablets were properly filled out, the porter retrieved the cart of expired Moha Lab examples from the storage cell and handed them over to Dell.

         The students were shocked to see the cart was full of decrepit and moaning aribu, they were feeding the dogons expired Moha Lab examples? Alive?

         Nolan swallowed hard but the lump in his throat was stuck, a chill ran down his spine as the empty bloody cart from the Welcome Tour flashed through his mind...

         "Ok, bring it this way" Dell led the students, now pulling the cart, back out into the Hub to a train that was parked outside. "The cart connects to the last car" he pointed to the spur-rail onramp and obvious hitching involved.

         With some first-time difficulties, the students linked the cart, boarded the cars and the train lurched forward, trundling into a dark tunnel marked with an old smoked out sign above that read ‘GORIAS’.

         The train travelled down a gradual grade into the bedrock beneath the sea, eventually passing a set of old iron gates at a junction before heading uphill again. A few miles past the gates the tunnel divided again and the train turned off into a narrower tunnel, heading down farther into the bedrock.

         Nolan caught sight of another old sign tucked into the dimly lit rocky wall as the train entered the narrow tunnel ahead, it read "HELLIAS..." He knew now, deep down, the stories they had heard were real, now he was starting to see how they could be.