Extreme Difference (3 page)

Nan began to sway on his bench, and Sandy leapt forward to steady him, holding him in place until the spasm passed.

‘I’m sorry to do this to you, but you must realize that you have all been fooled, for God knows how long. It’s about time the truth was pulled out of this pitiful charade.’

Tears ran down Nan’s grime streaked face, and his shoulders heaved as he tried to suppress the turbulent emotions which tore at his very being. Why had this stranger come to upset their world? Everything was just fine yesterday, the plants were growing well, their water bowls were full, there had been no raids for many a day, and now this.

The very fabric of their existence was being torn apart.

‘How do you know these things?’ asked a sobbing Nan, doing his best to control the turmoil which was racing through his mind, threatening to tear apart the fabric of all he knew and understood.

‘By the same means you know about ‘machinery’, and other things you do here. I just know. I know the words, and I know what some of them mean. There’s no way I could have learnt them here, so they must come from my past somehow. I can’t explain it, but I know it to be true, and so will you if you’ll only let go of this claptrap you hold onto.’

The two men sat huddled on the same bench, one comforting the other, both trying to make sense of the seemingly unfathomable situation they found themselves in.

Nan eventually pulled himself together, and had assumed some semblance of dignity by the time one of the others came into the cavern, stating it was time to get the growing bins inside, as the sun was just breaking the top of the peaks.

They all hurried outside into the harsh light of a brilliant white sun, shielding their eyes until they had acclimatized to the powerful glare, and working in pairs, brought the growing bins back into the relative cool of the bin cavern.

‘Please don’t say anything about what we discussed earlier,’ said a somewhat demure Nan to Sandy, as they trouped back into the main cave, ‘it’s hard enough trying to keep this lot working as a team as it is, God knows what will happen if they start thinking for themselves.’

‘Don’t worry on that score,’ Sandy replied, ‘we have a lot more to sort out before we can let them in on it, I’m not really a destructive fool, I just don’t like being taken for a ride by some unknown force, that’s why I’m trying to pick this sorry mess apart, and make some sense of it.’

Nan nodded in tacit agreement.

When the entire group had assembled in the cavern, Nan stood on a raised section of floor to address them, physically reinforcing his authority over them by his elevated position.

‘It is noticeable that some of you seem reluctant to accept our newest arrival into our midst with the degree of welcome usually afforded a stranger. This is most unfortunate, as he has much to offer us, and we would be the losers if he should decide to leave us and join another group.’

‘Such as what?’ someone asked, all heads turning this way and that to see who had dared to be so outspoken, but the originator of the tart remark remained a mystery.

Bell did her best to give Sandy another welcoming smile, but the two missing front teeth along with the other misshapen and discoloured ones, did little to reassure him that he wanted to be welcomed into such a dishevelled and grime streaked rabble.

‘I can understand your hesitation in accepting me into your cosy little group,’ Sandy began, ‘but I can offer you something you don’t have. First, I shall need to settle in and find my place among you, and then we can begin to bring about some changes for the betterment of you all.’

If he expected a rousing blast of applause, or even a mild cheer, he was going to be disappointed. Apart from scowls from a couple of men, his speech of reassurance did little to change the stolid sullen attitude which seemed the norm for the group. Sandy realized that if he was going to make any headway in the popularity stakes, he would have to work on them individually, and very carefully.

Nan, who had the wind taken out of his sails by Sandy’s outburst, realized there was nothing constructive he could add to what had gone before, and quickly stepping down said, ‘Let us get to work, there’s much to do.’

The scruffy little group of cave dwellers melted away as quickly as they had assembled, leaving behind the sour odour of greasy hair and unwashed bodies, their shuffling footsteps gradually fading away in the distance as they went about their allotted tasks, leaving Nan and Sandy alone.

‘I would assume that water is in short supply,’ Sandy began, to break the awkward silence, ‘and I doubt anyone’s washed their hair since they arrived, let alone cut it. Why do they let themselves get into such a filthy state?’ he asked, and then realized he had inadvertently included Nan in his disparaging remarks.

‘As you say, water is in short supply, we only have what we can collect from the dew which trickles down from the rocks outside, and there is never enough of that.’ Nan was obviously hurt by the remark. ‘Drinking water is our first priority, and we recycle what we can to add to that used for the growing bins. I noticed the aroma when I first arrived, but I soon got used to it as time went by. Do you really find it so offensive?’ he asked, hoping Sandy would not make too much of it.

‘Well, let’s put it this way, if one of the females were the most gorgeous creature alive, I would think twice before taking her to bed!’ Sandy replied, trying to make light of the issue, and failing completely.

‘Seriously though, is there no other way of obtaining water? Do any of the tunnels go downwards, and if so, have you looked for it there? If it trickles down on the outside of the rocks, there’s a good chance some of it may collect within the rock formation.’ Sandy concluded.

‘That would take us into regions we aren’t meant to go into.’ Nan replied, looking worried that this newcomer might break well established taboos and endanger them all.

‘There you go again,
who
said you couldn’t go into certain tunnels? I’ll bet it started because someone a long time ago got careless, and didn’t return. That’s no reason to put certain tunnels out of bounds, that’s just stupid superstition.’

‘Would you be willing to go into the forbidden zones then?’ asked Nan, hoping to see terror at the prospect.

‘Certainly, if we take care, and don’t go falling down any holes, I see no reason why we shouldn’t go where we please, I’ll bet there’s lots of things we could find out which would enhance our lives, if only you’d all forget the superstitious crap you’ve build up around the place.’

Nan assumed the hurt look again, mixed with a little fear.

They talked on for some time, finally being interrupted by Mop bearing two bowls of something which gave off copious wisps of water vapour and an indescribable smell.

‘Here we are,’ she beamed pleasantly, ‘you’ll both feel better with this inside you.’ She had sensed that Nan was not quite up to his usual bright state.

They took the proffered bowls and crude metal spoons, Nan tucking in hungrily before Mop had left the cavern.

‘Come on, eat up,’ Nan said between mouthfuls, ‘it tastes better than it looks and is very nutritious, you’ll get used to the smell after a while.’

Sandy dipped his spoon into the gruel-like mess, hooking out a piece of something he could not identify, and was grateful for the lack of recognition. Nan was right, it tasted quite palatable if he held his breath while chewing and then quickly swallowed, the liquid remains in the bottom of the bowl was something else, and Sandy put it aside.

Nan quickly scooped up the bowl, and asked hesitatingly,

‘Are you sure you don’t want it?’ and drank it down in a couple of gulps before Sandy could reply.

‘You have fire then?’ Sandy asked, a little surprised at the hot goo they had been served up with.

‘No, why do you think that?’ asked Nan, a puzzled look on his face.

‘Because of the hot...,’ he had to force himself to say ‘food.’

‘Oh, that’s heated by the hot gas vent in one of the caves.’ Nan replied, relieved another assault on their beliefs had been avoided, for the time being.

‘I’d like to see that,’ Sandy said, suddenly finding something of real interest to investigate, ‘can we go now?’

‘I suppose so, although it’s Mop’s domain really, and we should ask her first.’

Nan led the way down a series of tunnels, one of which eventually opening out into a cavern lit by three gas lights, and equipped with a rough table littered with pots of various sizes, two shelves, somehow fixed to the wall, but he could see no obvious means of attachment, and a copious amount of Mop’s body odour.

A large bundle of rags in one corner suddenly moved and unwound itself, revealing the dreaded Mop. She had been stooped over a pile of wrinkled brown and black things, sorting them out into two piles.

‘I was just getting something tasty together for the evening meal,’ she offered, giving Sandy a welcoming smile.

‘What are those?’ he asked, dreading the answer.

‘Mushrooms, of course. We grow them in one of the caves near here, would you like to see them?’ she replied, pleased that someone had at least acknowledged her presence and possibly her culinary skills. Sandy went over to the pile and looked closer at the wrinkled and shrivelled objects, wondering if these were the extra chewy bits he had had so much difficulty in swallowing.

‘These aren’t mushrooms,’ Sandy exclaimed, ‘mushrooms are rounded white things, on a stalk. But they are of the fungi family. How do you know they aren’t poisonous?’

‘No one’s died yet!’ exclaimed Mop, sounding hurt.

‘I didn’t mean to be disrespectful,’ he hastily added, ‘but some fungi are deadly poisonous, I was just wondering how you knew these were edible.’

Nan, fearing an argument was about to ensue, and upset the delicate balance of his charges, interrupted the conversation.

‘Sandy would like to look at the hot gas vent you use for your excellent cooking, that’s if you don’t mind.’

‘I don’t mind,’ Mop replied, still a bit huffy, ‘it’s over here.

As they drew near a recess in the cave wall, a faint hissing noise could be heard. Picking up a piece of dirty rag, Mop took hold of a stone plug and withdrew it from a hole at the back of the recess. The hiss was now more of a deep whistle, and Mop stood back to let Sandy look into the exposed hole.

The roundish hole went in about half a metre, and then expanded out to form a small cavern of its own. A small slit in the floor of the cavity emitted a stream of high pressure gas, only visible because of the shimmer it imparted to the surrounding air.

‘It’s very hot.’ Mop warned. ‘You’ll burn yourself if you touch it.’ she added as an afterthought.

‘Have you got a long piece of metal I could use for a moment?’ Sandy asked, reaching one hand out behind him in anticipation.

Mop rummaged about for a moment in one corner of the cavern, returning with a metre long strip of metal which she gently placed in his outstretched hand.

‘Be careful,’ she said, sounding concerned, ‘it’s very hot in there, you could easily burn yourself.’

Taking the proffered strip of metal, Sandy pushed it into the opening, being careful to let only part of the hot gas stream impinge on its end. Withdrawing it a few moments later, he ran his finger along the beads of condensate which had been deposited on the metal strip, and touched it to his tongue.

‘That’s water!’ he exclaimed, ‘you’ve a water supply here you didn’t know about. That’s not hot gas coming out of the vent, it’s steam. If we can cool it sufficiently, it will condense into water droplets.’

‘How did you know it was water vapour?’ asked Nan, puzzled by Sandy’s ability to be so certain of his discovery.

‘It’s not water vapour,’ Sandy replied, ‘it’s steam. Water vapour is like a mist, you can see it, and it’s not usually very hot. Steam is very much hotter, and is invisible. What made you think it was gas?’

‘My predecessor said it was gas, so I took his word for it,’ a somewhat contrite Nan answered back, ‘it’s hardly my place to query his knowledge of things, he was a very clever man.’ he added defensively.

‘Obviously,’ Sandy commented, ‘but it’s only when you query things which are taken for granted, that you find out the truth.’ He paused for a moment, deep in thought, wondering if it was wise to disclose his idea for water production, and what effect it might have on the rest of the group.

‘We could certainly do with more water,’ said Nan, breaking the uneasy silence, ‘but how can we get it without getting burnt by the hot gas?’

‘If we had some metal pipes, we could let some of the steam go through them, and water would collect on the cold surface and run out into a container, but the difficulty would be keeping the pipes cold.’

‘The main difficulty is the pipes, we don’t have any.’ Nan sounded disappointed at the thought of the extra water supply suddenly disappearing.

Sandy looked into the hot cavity again to see where the steam was going, as it didn’t come into the main cavern.

‘There’s a hole in the roof of the cavity, like a chimney, and by now it’s so hot the steam can no longer condense in it. If we could divert some of the steam into another cavern, it would condense onto the walls, and we could collect the water, allowing the cavern to cool down again every so often.’

‘There’s a cave next door,’ Mop suggested, ‘but we don’t use it, as it is so cold. We keep it blocked off with a cover, or we’d all freeze to death.’

Sandy looked at Nan, and he nodded.

The next door cave had a small opening covered with a dark brown piece of cloth, stuck to the rim of the hole with what looked like pitch. Whatever it was, some of it transferred to Sandy’s hands as he tried to pull the cloth away from the opening, and Mop giggled at his failing attempts to remove the offending compound.

She was right, the air in the cave was certainly chilly compared to the tunnel they were standing in, and when Sandy squeezed through the hole he found out why.

‘There’s a strong draft blowing from a hole in that corner, and it seems to go out of a hole in the top of the cave. Don’t know why it should be so cold though.’