Chapter Twenty-Six
Hiccups Happen
To the horror of Maria and Sara, they saw cracks beginning to appear in the rock surface of Pan Gu. At first, these fractures were tiny, barely noticeable against the weathered appearance of the stone.
Quickly, however, they began to stretch and splinter, until spider webs of cracks became visible throughout the creature’s body. Even more alarmingly, pieces of the stone shell began to crumble and drop away, falling to the floor, where they exploded into smaller pieces.
Evelyn gained her feet, and she stumbled over to the railing at the pit’s edge. Her jaw dropped in bewilderment, and she stared at Pan Gu with dismay. Perhaps recalling what she had read in her ancestor’s journal about this ancient creature, she exclaimed, “This is a really, really terrible idea!”
But Ebenezer was not concerned in the slightest. To the contrary, he was beside himself with delight, hopping from foot to foot, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. “It won’t be long now!”
As more chunks of the stone fell away, the sisters caught their first glimpse of the thing that lay beneath. It was of a rich, dark green in color. After a few moments of study, they realized what they were looking at was scaly, reptilian flesh. The scales had a metallic appearance, glittering in the light of the energy beam, creating the odd, otherworldly impression of woven emeralds.
Once the stone began crumbing away, the process rapidly gained momentum. Pieces fell upon the floor like a hailstorm, revealing greater and greater sections of the mysterious monster within.
Before long, the last of the stone that had enshrouded the beast fell away… the great, terrible dragon was finally woken from its many centuries of hibernation.
In a burst of quick, lithe movement, the monster uncurled its form, stretching to its full size. It was, by any measure, an awe-inspiring sight.
Immediately, it became clear that Pan Gu was much larger than it had originally appeared. Its body was long and powerful, layered with muscles and the green scales that glittered like emeralds. It had four strong legs, and its feet were armed with sharp claws. A long tail, feathered with gold and green, swept about as if it were an elaborate flag.
Most impressive was the dragon’s head, which featured an extensive, mustachioed snout, pointed ears, and ornate antlers. Oh, and there were teeth… lots and lots of teeth.
Pan Gu slowly blinked, and the great, black pupils of its eyes swirled like vortexes. To look into those eyes was like looking into the chaos of a hurricane, and the effect was somewhat hypnotizing.
The dragon turned its monstrous head toward the mechanical thingamajig that was emitting the energy beam, bellowing in displeasure. The yellow-white energy was continuing to pour forth, striking the beast’s hide. Pan Gu snorted with irritation, and when it did so, dark smoke streamed from its nostrils, curling into the air.
“I don’t think it much cares for that bright light in its face!” Sara exclaimed.
No sooner had she made this observation than Pan Gu reared up on its hind legs, stretching out to an impressive height. With a mighty swat of its foreleg, it struck the humming thingamajig, causing it to swivel wildly.
“Look out!” Evelyn cried.
The curator dove to the floor, pressing herself flat, in order to escape the chaos of the energy beam. Realizing the wisdom of this maneuver, the sisters quickly followed Evelyn’s example.
The mighty blow that Pan Gu had delivered to the gizmo caused it to frantically spin. The end result was that the trajectory of the energy beam was drastically altered. When the thingamajig finally stopped moving, it was pointed toward the doorway from which Evelyn and the sisters had come.
The energy continued pouring out, flowing down the hallway. Wild arcs of blue-white electricity danced about, and sparks flew this way and that. Combined with the bellows of Pan Gu, the chamber had become a place of utter chaos.
“What do we do?” Maria hollered to her sister.
“Just hold tight!” Sara shouted back from her place on the floor. She held her hands clasped over the back of her head in an effort to protect her noggin in this hectic environment. “We’ll make a break for it as soon as we can!”
The loud humming of the thingamajig continued, but soon there came other sounds… crazy sounds. There were bangs, and clangs, and great jingle-jangs… as if heavy metal doors were being forced open, slamming against the walls as they came free from their locking mechanisms.
And far weirder were the noises that sounded like… howls, perhaps?
Maria and Sara exchanged worried looks. What was going on? Had the energy from the beam woken up all those slumbering creatures that were in the hallway they had passed through earlier? And what would the consequences of that be, they wondered? They had quite enough on their hands with a single rambunctious beastie, never mind a whole herd of them.
“Pan Gu!” Ebenezer hollered over the railing. “Simmer down, now! You must remain calm – you’re wrecking my precious laboratory!”
Pan Gu paid Ebenezer not the slightest amount of attention, and the creature seemed to have no inclination whatsoever to do as it was told. It continued bellowing at the thingamajig, stomping its feet into the floor, shaking the very foundation of the museum with the force of the impact.
“Well, I must admit, I didn’t foresee this occurrence… the creature does not seem to be obeying me…” Ebenezer said thoughtfully, more so to himself than to anybody else. The others could just barely hear him, over the chaotic scenario, able to do so only because of his close proximity. He removed a pad from some unknown place within his leotard, and began jotting notes. “Nope, I wasn’t expecting this to happen. Not at all! Interesting… very interesting.”
Maria stared at him in exasperation. “How do you reverse this confounded thing you’ve built?”
Ebenezer’s eyes drifted toward the bottom of the pit. “I, ah… seem to have thrown the lever away…”
“Yeah, you did! You said you would never need to turn this thing off, remember?” Sara demanded.
“Well, science isn’t always as clean and predictable as we would like, young lady,” Ebenezer lectured. “One can always expect a few hiccups in the process, here and there. Perhaps I need to run some more calculations before I make another attempt. I don’t suppose you would be a good child, and retrieve that lever for me, would you? Just hop on down there and toss it up to me, why don’t you? It shouldn’t be much trouble for a spry young whippersnapper like you!”
“Are you completely bonkers?” Sara asked. “You are, aren’t you?”
“There’s no doubt about it – he’s flipped his wig,” Maria declared.
“Oh, come now, it will be a cinch,” Ebenezer encouraged. “Go ahead – just hop on down there! That big ol’ creature probably won’t even notice you, you’re so small by comparison.”
“Uh, no, I’m not doing that, thank you very much,” Sara told him. “And why don’t you have a spare lever on hand, if you’re in the practice of removing them and throwing them into the worst possible locations?”
“A spare lever… you know, that never occurred to me,” Ebenezer confessed, as he jotted the notion into his notepad. “Perhaps I’ll have to manufacture one for occasions such as this… You know, this critter was a lot smaller when he was curled up in a ball, encased in stone, peacefully snoozing on the floor. It seems to be quite unruly, if I do say so myself.”
As if to prove this point, Pan Gu reared up on its hind legs, placing both of its front feet upon the thingamajig. Its talons dug into the metal mechanism, tearing pieces of steel free as it squeezed with monstrous pressure.
The beam continued to blast forth, and the yellow-white energy struck Pan Gu directly in the face, splashing wildly about. This only served to further infuriate the dragon, and it bellowed with outrage, sending its whiskers trembling with the undulations of this outburst.
With a final, definitive jerk of its upper arms, Pan Gu wrenched the mechanism completely free from
its anchor. The thingamajig was effortlessly thrown across the chamber, clanging and banging as pieces of it came free, flying this way and that.
With the dismantlement of the Spectro-Solar Blaster 1000, the chamber was suddenly a very different place. No longer was there the loud humming of the machine, and the beam of bright, yellow-white energy had disappeared. The stronghold of the Black Hats had become a much quieter place, and this made the noises of the awakened beast all the more evident.
In the still air of the chamber, Maria and Sara could hear huffing and puffing, and the snorting, rumbling, shuffling of the creature. They gazed into the swirling, chaotic eyes of the dragon, and they were once more struck by its powerful presence – it was like nothing else on earth, a force of nature, a storm that was longing to break free and tear loose.
“Well, this is just great, Ebenezer,” Maria said. “Now what do you suggest we do?”
“Hmmm…” the mad scientist said, scratching at his disarrayed hair in thought. “I don’t… really… know.” He shrugged his shoulders. “What can I tell you? I’m at a loss here. It’s a conundrum we’ve found ourselves in. A very curious conundrum.”
Sara placed the palm of her hand against her face, sighing in exasperation. “What I would give to have Lefty here right now…”
Growling and grumbling, Pan Gu examined its surroundings. There seemed to be an element of confusion to its reaction, as if it could not comprehend this strange, synthetic place in which it had awoken.
It did not seem to be pleased with what it observed. With a ferocity that was akin to that of a hurricane, it began thrashing about, tearing its way through the chamber, which it perceived to be nothing more than an unjust, temporary prison.