JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

Chapter 5

What They Found There

   "Eyes front! Back straight! Try not to react to anything! And keep close!" Jack clipped out the orders in a furious whisper but there was fear not fury in his voice. Then he stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hall to the right.

   Brian and Justin obeyed and followed at a quick march. Brian's mouth thinned with fury at what he saw but Justin could not contain a gasp. His blue eyes widened expressively before Brian bumped his shoulder to calm him down.

   They were in a huge cavern compound that had been coated over with institutional looking concrete. The hallway they were walking down had a row of elevators on the right and was open to the left with a guardrail. Stairs led down into the expanse at various intervals.

   The cavern was huge with halls and catwalks and stairs and ladders reaching the equivalent to two stories down. It stretched as far as the eye could see and the ceiling was so high they could not see it. More catwalks riddled the expanse overhead leading to rooms and open area where things were stored and/or activity was humming like a beehive.

   In the very middle of all the hubbub was an enormous beanstalk growing out of the earthen floor. The bottom of the stalk was twisted together with many strands and was fully 25 feet, if not more, in diameter. Vines and tendrils and bean pods were everywhere. The stalk grew up and up and at about the 4 story mark it disappeared into a shimmering, purple portal. It was clear that the beanstalk was nowhere nearly done growing and was growing up and up and up into God knows where...when? Who knows? Maybe both.

   "Something's coming through! Fast! Clear the floor!" somebody yelled.

   There was a fearsome zapping sound and the purple portal shimmered and rippled as if it were made of water. A bean pod the size of a limousine fell through and landed heavily on the floor, barely missing a few guards as it did. A dozen workers dashed out onto the floor and began dragging it off to the right side of the compound.

   On the ground floor, all around the beanstalk was mission control. There were computers and technicians and equipment and machinery all around it. All this was monitoring and running and even bigger machine above them whose main function seemed to center around four huge lasers at the four corners of the beanstalk. The lasers shot out a huge purple laser beam each and were maintaining the portal.

A little ways beyond the portal there was an enormous figure. It looked human but that couldn't be possible. It was laid out flat on the floor and didn't move.

   Jack led them around the perimeter in a quick march, pretending to know where he was going and that it was incredibly important to get there as soon as possible. They reached the area beyond and even Brian's eyes widened a bit and Justin could not restrain his gasp of horror. His gentle heart was cut to pieces.

   The figure of the floor was indeed human. It was fully 30 feet tall. It was alive. And it was tied to the floor to heavy iron rings that surrounded it Gulliver's Travels style. It was dressed old world style in a tunic and long stockings and buckled shoes and its face was very dirty.

   It was because of the dirty face that Brian and Justin did not realize the most horrible truth of all.

   But then the figure on the floor moved. It struggled mightily at the thick ropes that were as thick as a strong man's arm that had been used to fasten him to the floor. The guards around him gasped in fear and pointed their weapons and a few prodded him not gently.

   "OYY! Quiet down there!" the head guard yelled.

   "NO!" yelled the giant rebelliously. "You let me go! Let me go! I wanna go home! I wanna go home! HELP! HELP! Somebody help me! I wanna go home to my Daddy! DADDY! I WANT MY DADDY!! I WANT MY DADDY!!!"

   "SHUT UP!!" yelled the guard roughly.

   The giant child began to cry softly with an occasional "Daddy..." inserted in.

   The three men marched grimly on, not letting on. Brian's teeth were gritted and his face was a thundercloud. Justin had to bite his tongue so hard to keep from crying out that he began to taste the copper of his blood.

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   As soon as he could, Jack led the way over and the three of them ducked into another supply closet. Jack let out a huge sigh of relief as he barred the door and they were alone at last.

   "Now you know," he said soberly, "I tried...I warned..." He held his head and took a deep breath. "I tried to warn you," he began again. "I told you it would be better not to know."

   "But not because of this!"Justin cried out, "You said it would be better not to know so we couldn't tell. But this is utterly monstrous! Jack...that is a CHILD out there! He's huge but...but he's still a child! How long has this been going on!? And why?"

   "He's a hostage. As long as we have him, the father up above does whatever we want. Well, whatever Stockwell wants. So far, he's taken the magic harp and enslaved it as surely as he has the giant. He's also extorted a lot of the golden eggs from the goose up above but he can't actually take it because in this realm the goose only lays natural eggs."

   "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Magic harp!? Eggs? Goose? You mean there really is a goose that lays golden eggs!? Brian demanded, his head spinning, "I thought that was just Theo...uhh...your accountant's nickname!"

   "Where do you think he got the nickname?" Jack asked grimly. "The real goose exists in the realm above the purple portal in the giant's country at the top of the beanstalk. At first, Stockwell demanded him as well but as I said, he doesn't work magically down below. So now, Stockwell only demands the eggs. Last night when he found out what the man you rescued had done, he was terribly angry. He's demanded a whole twelve dozen eggs to be delivered as soon as possible. The poor goose must be exhausted but the giant dares not disobey because we have his son."

   "How did this happen??" asked Brian, slumping to the floor. His head was spinning, trying to make nonsense into reality, which is what it now seemed to be.

   "When Stockwell first arrived and built the factory, he broke through a wall and discovered tunnels that eventually led to this cavern," Jack explained, "He found that machine. The one with the lasers. Incredibly...and no-one knows how...the machine opened a portal into the fairy tale realms. All of them. There are different frequencies and each one leads to a different one. Snow White's. Sleeping Beauty's. Red Riding Hood's. And so on and so forth. They're real!"

   "Anyway," he said, overlooking their shell-shocked expressions, "Stockwell began to think about which one could give him the most profit. So he hit upon Jack and the Beanstalk and hit it hard. He went through the portal, lay in wait until the exchange between the old man and Jack went through. As soon as Jack was out of earshot of the old man, Stockwell struck. He mugged Jack and stole two of the beans, and then escaped back through the portal into the cavern. He planted the beans and used grow lights until it was able to grow through the portal as you see it now. Once it did, it must have hit sunlight for it grew out of control and within an hour it was as you see it. Stockwell climbed the beanstalk, stole the harp, and used it to entice...no that's not the right word...to control the child and make him come and then imprisoned him. Now he uses the child to control his father, as I said, the goose won't work in our world."

   "That...that child has been tied down there...for years?" Justin asked in horror.

   Jack nodded sadly. "Yes...and I think time must work differently...up there...because as long as he's been down here...he's never really aged much."

   "How did this...this...harp thing...control the giant?" asked Justin.

   "The harp is made of pure gold, very ornate and is one of those ones you can hold in your arms. The carving around the edge comes to life and it can play itself. The music it plays affects the emotions...and minds of anyone who hears it. Happiness, sadness, patriotism, depression, euphoria, it can make you feel anything. As well, it can induce trance at will. It is for this purpose alone that Stockwell uses the harp now. That is how he induces the mass trance that wipes their memory of what they really do down here all day. It also makes the idea of this OATH completely acceptable to them. I remember never questioning it. Now, I wonder why I never did."

   "But you DO question it now! Don't you feel the least bit responsible!? Don't you have any morals at all? Why don't you help him? Tell someone!!" Justin yelled.

   "First of all, keep your voice down! We're fairly safe here but we're not immune. And of course, I feel terrible. But releasing him is not a one man job.  He's guarded by 12 men at all times. If I had help I might be able to take them down but 12 would overpower me and I'd be captured and handed over to the harp and this time there would be no escape. Stockwell would have it lobotomise me. The only thing I'd be worth for would be a human ashtray or licking clean boots! As it is, I go down in the dead of night and tell one guard he's relieved so I can talk and comfort the lad a little."

   "What about the police? The FBI? Can't we get help?" Justin refused to give up hope.

   "If I could, I would have by now. But think about it. The factory is heavily guarded and from the outside it's just a glue factory. The police don't care and if an officer ever did visit, Stockwell would have the harp playing soothing music through the intercom, seducing the officers into complacency. And suppose I did go to them and tell them the truth. "Help! A child has been kidnapped. He's thirty feet tall and tied up about a mile underground! I'd be the one arrested...and stuck in a loony bin for the rest of my days!"

   Justin slumped to the floor and leaned against Brian. Both of them looked utterly dejected. Things looked hopeless.

   "As I said, I can't do anything...by myself. But are you really here to help? Is that castle really real? Are you serious when you said you'll be my new benefactor?"

   "Yes! Of course it is! And of course we will!" they enthused. ‘

   "Then there might be something we can do. We'll have to wait for later. And I should take you to a deeper level, to a more secure hiding place. We'll have to forget about the Oath for now, we're no match against the harp anyway. And she'd do exactly what Stockwell told her to do; she's a slave like the rest of us. She's been told if she disobeys the child will be hurt."

   "Then what are we to do?" they asked.

   "Well, it's really quite simple from what I told you," Jack said smugly, "There really is only one thing TO do! We have to wait until it's late and the main crew goes home. I'll hide you and return to my post. Then at midnight, I'll come to collect you. That's when we'll spring into action and..."

TBC