Extreme Difference (18 page)

It was a pity Mop had not been present to hear the acclamations for her food packages, spiced as they were with the new sweet herbs, only recently grown large enough to be harvested from the seedlings Bell had acquired during an exchange of goods.

Ben made much of the fact that Sandy's portion was much larger than anyone else's, which brought forth the usual ribald comments, and laughter echoing up and down the tunnels, dissipating the tension which had quietly built up.

The meal break over, they continued their journey ever downwards, some sections being very steep and long. This caused the travellers to become more tired than they expected, largely due to the excessive use of muscles which normally only had to cope with short periods of the downward slopes in their home tunnels.

It was at the end of a particularly long downwards incline that Kel announced ‘the journey back up was going to be a right pain in the basic orifice.’ This caused Sandy to reassess the point in their rations depletion which would indicate when they should begin the return journey.

His original decision had been to return when nearly half the rations had been consumed, irrespective of whether they had achieved their goal or not, but now this was changed to a return when one third of the rations had been consumed, so allowing a small safety margin for unforeseen circumstances.

A level section of the tunnel cheered everyone up, although it added little to their objective of reaching the bottom of the crater, but was a welcome break for aching muscles.

Rounding a bend in the passage, Ben, who had been leading for a while, raised his hand, and they all stopped. Ahead, the tunnel walls had changed from the familiar rock to one of metal; a long dull grey tube stretched off into the distance.

The lamps were too feeble to show how long the tube was, but all agreed they felt more than a little uneasy about it.

‘It has obviously been constructed to transport people over something they could not otherwise have crossed,’ Sandy said, to allay the fears they all felt, ‘so it should be safe enough. I suggest we go across one at a time, and signal with a lamp when the other side is reached.’

No one volunteered to be the first to attempt the crossing, so Sandy took the lamp with the flexible reflector, and walked out onto the metallic floor of the tube, dramatizing a bravery he did not feel. The sound of his footsteps echoed loudly, adding a surrealistic atmosphere to the already strange scene, the light from his lamp gradually fading until it was only just visible in the distance, and then it was gone.

Everyone waited with bated breath for the light to reappear, signalling that he had safely reached the other end, but it failed to show. Ben suggested they wait for a while, and then someone else should go across to see what had happened, but there was no consensus for his proposal.

Ben was just about to announce that he would go across next, when a faint glimmer of light bobbed up and down in the far reaches of the tunnel.

‘There you are, he’s safe and signalling us, I’m going over now.’ And with that he strode off, disappointed at the lack of feeling the others had for their leader.

Sandy met him about halfway across the long echoing tube,

‘What happened?’ Sandy asked, ‘I’ve been waving my lamp for ages, thought you’d all gone home.’

Ben explained, but Sandy made light of it. ‘I’ll leave my lamp here,’ he said, waving it up and down, ‘and we’ll go on, there’s something I want to show you.’

Ten metres further on and Sandy slowed his brisk pace,

‘There’s a section of the tube floor which is transparent, and you’ll not believe what’s below us. Don’t worry, we’re quite safe, it just looks worse than it really is.’

A section of the floor had been replaced with a glass like substance for some two metres, and a dull red glow could be seen lighting it up from below.

‘Bloody roll on,’ exclaimed Ben, who had dropped to his knees, and crawled forward to peer into the transparent section of the floor. A fiery lake of molten rock bubbled and boiled some hundreds of metres beneath them, sending long streamers of liquid rock high into the air, which then fell back to create yet more splashes of fluid light.

‘You can see why they built this tube,' Sandy said, not at all fazed by the incredible spectacle below, ‘it's the only way to cross this huge pit. If you look at the sides, you’ll see great cracks going back a long way into the surrounding rock, so a curving passage around this lot would be too long.

Ben knelt there, seemingly hypnotized by the awesome spectacle of nature in the raw.

‘Come on,’ Sandy said gently, ‘the others will be along soon, that’s if they can get the nerve up to enter the tube.’

‘That’s the most incredible sight I’ve ever seen,’ exclaimed Ben, still reeling from the shock of seeing so much raw energy below him, ‘why doesn't the tube melt in such tremendous heat?’

‘For one thing, notice the air flow through the tube, that will take away a fair amount of heat, and I expect it is made from material which is designed to withstand it anyway.

‘Quite something, isn’t it? There must have been a very good reason to construct such a thing in the first place, that’s why I’m sure we can reach this other world below the volcano base, there has to be something important there.’

They waited at the tube end for the others to come across, and in time they did, visibly shaken from having to walk across the transparent section with the molten fires below.

‘Come on, gentlemen, we’ve a long way to go yet.’ Sandy set off again down the tunnel, his lamp sending sparkles of light back from the crystalline structures in the fused rock of the walls, reminding them of the enormous powers the volcano once had, hoping it was now in its sleeping stage.

Another meal break, and the rations were looking sadly depleted, but they had not yet reached the critical quantity which would herald a return to the world above.

A rock fall held them up for some time, as the rubble had to be passed back along the passage to be distributed evenly along the walls, so as not to impede the progress of those who would hopefully follow them in time.

The tunnel suddenly swung to the right, and a patch of light shone on one side of the wall. They slowed down, not too sure of what to expect, so Sandy took the lead once more, guessing what it was, but saying nothing.

As they neared the light, Ben suddenly remembered the external ledge they had found earlier, and eagerly joined Sandy as he strode ahead towards the outside world.

This time, the lip of rock was of immense proportions, jutting out over a forest below, and giving a good view of the vast towering cliffs of rock which disappeared into the clouds above.

As the four of them stood there, gazing out over a sea of greenery, something brightly coloured glided down past the ledge and into the trees below.

‘What was that?’ asked Greg, stepping back from the edge.

‘That’s a ... Bird.’ Sandy replied, not too sure if he was right, and then the pictures from his past came flooding back in. ‘Yes, it’s a bird, a creature which can fly through the air by flapping its wings. That means there are insects down there, and probably other creatures too. I knew I was right, there had to be something other than that bloody crater, and this is it. Somehow, we must get down there.’

Sandy went to the edge of the lip, and dropped onto all fours to safely peer over at the tangle of growth below.

‘If we have to, we could get down using ropes, although I don’t think those we have would be long enough. We may be able to get down to a ledge as a group, and then go on down in stages. Trouble is, I can’t see the ground, and I’ve no idea how tall those trees are.’

‘The tunnels may go on down to ground level,’ Ben suggested, ‘and that would be a lot easier for the others. I can’t see some of them shinning down a rope, no matter what’s at the bottom.’

‘Right, that’s settled then, we go on down. It doesn’t look too far, so we should be able to do it before the food runs out and we have to turn back.’

They all trooped back into the tunnel and waited for their eyes to get used to the gloom before beginning the last stage of their journey to a new life.

They had gone but a few metres, when Sandy stopped.

‘Just realized something. The tunnel didn’t split in two as it did up above, so where’s the one we need leading down?’

In the dim lamp light, they looked at each other in horror, neither wanting to admit they had been thwarted, as the tunnel they had just come down was the only one in sight.

‘There must be a way down,’ Sandy said in desperation, ‘it’s just that we haven’t found it yet.’

They stood there for a while, undecided what to do, all looking at Sandy to come up with a solution to the problem.

‘There’s nothing for it, we’ll have to go back up again, and then use ropes from the ledge if we want to reach ground level.’ Sandy was more disappointed than he let himself sound, suspecting that the drop down from the ledge using ropes was likely to be more difficult than it sounded.

They had gone but a few metres, with little enthusiasm, when Ben let out a yell, and everyone jumped.

‘Look there, a tunnel has been partially blocked off, and it’s coming in at an angle, that’s why we didn’t see it on the way down.’ Ben was jubilant at his discovery.

Sure enough, there was another tunnel, cutting in at an obtuse angle, and the entrance was partly blocked with broken stone, not sealing it off, but disguising its presence from anyone coming down the main tunnel.

Eager hands removed the stone blocks, laying them in neat rows along the passage walls until the opening was fully exposed.

‘Do we go down there? asked Kel.’

‘You bloody bet we do!’ Sandy instantly responded.

The passage curved around, so that before long it was evident that it was in line with the main one they had come down earlier, although no one could suggest a reasonable explanation for the deceptive junction.

The incline was not so steep that a safe fast walk could not be maintained, and the group marched on, chatting and making the odd joke as the metres sped by.

Sooner than they expected, a change took place. The tunnel opened out into a large square cavern, around the sides of which a stone ledge ran, encompassing a large pool of water.

They went all around the cavern looking for a continuation of the passage, but found nothing. The side facing the tunnel entrance had no ledge, so their attention was drawn to this as it was different to the other three sides of the chamber.

‘I think we’ve reached ground level,’ said Sandy, confidently, ‘and this looks like a dock, something a ship goes into to discharge its cargo.’

The others looked puzzled at the strange words, so he explained, and in doing so, his memory of docks and ships came back from the deep past.

‘Do you think that end wall without the ledge, is a kind of door,’ asked Ben, trying to rationalize the scene, ‘something which could be lifted or moved to one side?’

‘It looks like solid stone to me,’ Greg answered, ‘but I see what you mean. If the water continues on the other side, then I would expect there to be some means of opening it.’

‘We don’t know if it does.’ Kel added, sounding nervous, as he wondered what they would be asked to do next.

‘I’ve got an idea,’ said Sandy, ‘put all the lamps in a group facing up the tunnel, and then carefully make your way back to the ledge here.’ A tinkling clatter echoed around the chamber, and the light dimmed to a pale glow.

Scuffles and grunts indicated that the various members of the team were moving towards the ledge on their hands and knees, none wishing to unsuspectingly step off into water of unknown depth. Not that they could exactly remember what might happen to them if they did, but certain survival instincts were well able to survive the mind blocks which had been imposed on the unfortunate inhabitants of the crater.

‘Let your eyes get used to the dark, and if I’m right, you’ll be in for a surprise.’ Sandy made it sound more like a children's outing than one of survival, realizing that his men would respond far better to an emergency if tension was kept to a minimum.

Greg was the first one to notice the light seepage coming in under the end wall of rock, a very pale glow of green adding an eerie touch to the jet black of the main body of water.

‘So it looks as if the water continues on the other side of that wall,’ said Sandy, a satisfied tone in his voice, ‘who’s going to volunteer to swim under it and find out?’

The ensuing silence was only broken by the occasional drip of water from some place high up in the roof into the pool below, there were no volunteers, not that he really expected there to be any. The longer they stood there, the more their eyes got used to the darkness and the brighter the glow from the outside world grew.

‘There must be some way out,’ Sandy stated, returning to the lamps, ‘all we’ve got to do now is find it.’

They scoured the walls of the cavern for clues, but they were just solid rock, cut smooth and square by some machine they could hardly imagine. It was Kel who solved the mystery, by tripping over a bar of stone and falling flat on his face, emitting some expletives which made Sandy wince.

They had to re-light his lamp, which had gone out in the tumble, and then attention was turned to what had caused the accident.

Although it looked like stone, Greg insisted it was metal made to look like it, the ensuing argument being purely academic, although somewhat heated. It was when Ben tried to lift one end of the block that they were all in for a surprise. It was hinged at one end, and came up quite easily, accompanied by the sound of rushing water, and the whirling of gears.

Slowly the level of water in the cavern dropped, only just perceptibly at first, but quickening as the gears ground out their music.

Several minutes later, the gears were still, the water all but gone, and strong sunlight flooded into the boxlike recess in the cavern floor.

‘Well I’ll be ...' Sandy never got to finish the sentence, as the scream of some creature in its death throws shattered the silence, making them all jump.