by Dave Bartell
Zac bear-hugged her. Eyrún and Ian stepped up to them.
“I’m tired of all this testosterone bullshit,” Stevie yelled. “It’s not enough that one of you almost went into the hole over there. Now you want to kill each other. Morons. We’re five hundred kilometers from anything, and you need to make a war. Jesus, what are you even fighting over?”
“He…” said Zac. Stevie stomped on his foot and he let her go.
“Stevie,” said Eyrún and followed her down the tube. They argued until Stevie went slack and they both sat down.
“She’s right you idiots,” said Ian to Karl and Zac. “We’re a helluva long way from any kind of help. Lose the edge now, Karl!”
Karl growled something unintelligible and walked off. “Asshole,” muttered Ian.
“What happened?” asked Darwin, inspecting the water tank.
“It’s my fault,” said Jón. “I was following too close and bumped him over the edge.”
“Shit,” said Ian. “How much water did we lose?”
“Looks to be about twenty liters,” said Darwin.
“Fuck!” Ian smacked the side of the ATV and walked after Karl.
“Don’t!” Jón lunged toward the duct-taped container and felt around the tape. His hand came back dry.
Zac leaned against the ATV. “Is she okay?” he asked Eyrún, who had returned.
“Yeah. She’ll be fine. She used to date a French special forces guy. It didn’t end well,” said Eyrún.
Darwin studied the group, wondering what the hell had happened. Just a few days ago they had been happy like they were on a camping trip, now he could see their nerves fraying. And what’s up with Ian? He’s less engaged, spending more time with Karl, not leading. Somebody has to lead. He walked into the chamber as if he would find the answer on its walls.
Jón and Zac placed CO sensors in each of the tubes and one near the edge of the abyss. Jón flew his recharged drone under the lip of the broken edge and measured the floor at one meter thick at the edge to three meters toward the chamber walls. Using lasers to triangulate any movement, they determined the edge was solid, even under the weight of three people and calculated that the ATVs could be driven near the main wall without issue.
With all their instruments in place, they retreated to a comfortable spot to manipulate the data. Meanwhile Karl and Ian went farther up the Scotland tube to explore. Eyrún, Pétur, and Stevie gathered around Darwin to discuss their situation.
“Agrippa didn’t write each day,” said Darwin as he compared the original scans and English translations of the scrolls. “The more I’ve read this, the more I sense he wrote it from memory after the journey. Light would have been precious, and writing materials were cumbersome. There were no little notebooks like this one.” He tapped the palm-sized notebook lying between them. Darwin pointed at the text as he read from the scroll,
Four days after leaving the diamond room we came to another room as large as the Colosseum in Rome.
“That would be here,” said Eyrún.
“Yes, but there’s no detail, like he wrote it from memory. They just passed through. Remember, these are miners, and I see nothing valuable in there,” said Darwin.
“And he doesn’t mention the broken floor,” said Pétur.
“Do you think it happened since they were here?” asked Stevie.
“Yes. Two thousand years is a blink in geologic time,” said Eyrún.
“It changes nothing. They passed through this chamber and so are we,” said Darwin.
Stevie stood up, shined her light across the room and sat back down. “There’s something else. Have you noticed that we’ve split up since the CO alarm? Why is that?” said Stevie.
“What do you mean?” asked Eyrún.
“I mean Ian is spending more time with Karl. I think they did something,” said Stevie.
“Like what?” asked Pétur. “We’re together all the time.”
“Not true,” said Darwin and repeated his observations of Karl.
“What’s he even supposed to be doing? Darwin, you need to talk to Ian,” said Eyrún.
Darwin felt their eyes on him. “Why do I have to talk to him?” he asked.
“It’s your discovery, Darwin. You’ve said your family’s been looking for years. And you said you saw Karl looking around,” said Eyrún.
Now it’s MY discovery, thought Darwin. “Fine,” he said and went to find Ian.
“Hey, Ian, got a minute?” asked Darwin as Ian and Karl reentered the large chamber from the Scotland tube.
“Yeah, sure. What’s up?” said Ian. Karl walked off toward Jón. Darwin breathed a sigh of relief.
“Some of us were… ah, wondering… ah,” said Darwin.
“Where Karl and I went?” said Ian.
“Yeah, well, no. The carbon monoxide. The others were wondering about the source.”
“We haven’t found it.”
“That’s not what I meant. I’ve seen Karl wandering around while we’re sleeping and the two of you have been less a part of the group since the alarms the other night,” said Darwin.
“So you’re saying we caused it?”
This isn’t going right. “Look, they’re nervous about going on.” He gestured toward the Iceland tube. “With you and Karl taking a hard line to keep going when we haven’t determined a source of the CO is causing a rift. I think it’s a bad idea to split up.”
“We agree on that,” said Ian. “Karl isn’t an easy guy to understand. He’s been restless as long as I’ve known him and doesn’t sleep well, as you’ve seen. What do you think we should do?”
“We’ve got to be only a few days from the diamond room. I want to keep going, but we need to decide as a group,” said Darwin.
“Let’s get everyone together, then,” said Ian. Darwin hesitated. “Come on, thinking won’t get us moving. Let’s round them up. It’s time to get back on schedule.” They walked back toward the Iceland tube. Ian split off to get Jón and Karl.
A couple minutes later they formed a loose circle just inside the wide chamber. Stevie stood with her arms crossed close by Eyrún and Pétur. Darwin noted their negative body language and positioned himself next to them. Ian nodded at Darwin. “We need to keep going or turn back,” said Darwin. “Our schedule has little extra time built in so we need to decide. Jón, any CO readings since we’ve been here?”
“No. None of the sensors have registered anything out of normal, including the new one,” he said.
“The new one?” asked Darwin.
“We went about one and a half clicks up the Scotland side and left another sensor,” said Ian.
“Zac and Jón, what about the hole—could it have caused the CO readings?” asked Darwin.
“I don’t think so,” said Zac. “It’s as deep as the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean—hot as hell down there, but no gas readings. The potential for a plate tectonics study is huge. It’s more like Mars down there than Earth.”
“What?” asked Stevie. “Why did you say that? Mars?”
“It’s got a unique chemistry not found anywhere else on Earth.”
“Jón let me see that,” said Stevie, walking across the circle and standing next to Jón. He brought up his tablet, and she swiped through the data. “Eyrún, come look at this. You know volcanoes better than I do,” she said. Pétur followed, and they all grouped around Jón.
Stevie pointed at the tablet and Zac answered rapid-fire questions, deferring one question to Jón. Darwin looked at Ian, who shrugged as if to say, Your move.
“Okay, does this mean we continue?” asked Darwin.
The small group around Jón looked up. “Yes,” said Eyrún, and they looked back at the tablet.
54
Three days later, Darwin awoke in a good mood. We’ve got to be close, he thought. He did not care about the diamonds, but he knew finding the diamond room was a key proof point for Agrippa’s scroll.
“The floor is rising,” said Jón. “I compared the
sensor data between us and the ATVs yesterday. We gained about a hundred meters.”
“How steep is that?” asked Eyrún.
“A couple degrees at most. It’s hard to tell with the undulating surface, but lava would flow downhill like water,” replied Jón.
“What are the days again Darwin?” asked Eyrún.
“Three in from the Caledonia and fourteen to Iceland. Agrippa and his team were experienced surveyors, but it’s difficult to compare our speeds,” said Darwin.
“Then we should find it today or tomorrow,” said Zac chewing a protein bar.
“Dunno. No one else has ever been here,” said Darwin.
“Which means this could still be a hoax,” said Karl.
“The diamonds maybe you idiot, but have you noticed the big fucking tunnel we’re in,” said Stevie.
They all looked at her. “What?” She stared back. “I don’t get you people. A month ago nobody knew this place existed. I’m going to pee,” she said and retreated toward Iceland.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the voice of reason,” said Zac, smiling and waving like a ringmaster in Stevie’s direction. They finished eating and packed up the gear. Darwin and Eyrún mounted the ATVs and drove up the tube.
“Do you think we’re close?” Jón asked Zac as the growling from the ATVs faded.
“He worked out the riding schedule,” said Zac nodding toward Darwin. “My money’s on him finding it today.”
55
Eyrún’s hands and fingers were numb. The floor was rutted so deeply that the machine bucked like a mechanical bull in a cowboy bar. I want off this thing; she thought. No, what I want is a shower. Or a bath. Just to lie in warm water and let my skin wrinkle. The tube smoothed out again, and they went faster but; it was nothing like the ATV commercials that showed speed and flying mud. She watched Darwin’s body undulating from side to side. Nice, she thought. Wide shoulders and a slim waist propped up by a cute butt.
He looked back and smiled like he could sense her thoughts. She smiled back. How does he know to do that? Like he knows what I’m thinking. The tube widened around him. “Darwin!” she yelled. He turned around and throttled back. She stopped behind him. They dismounted, switched on their headlamps and walked the remaining ten meters into another wide chamber. It was smaller than the previous one and sparkled with a million points of light.
Darwin did not feel the cramps in his cheeks until Eyrún said, “If you smile any bigger, your face will break.” He massaged his face and continued staring. He had thought he would see something like the night sky punctuated by a zillion stars. Instead, the chamber walls and ceiling resembled a crude concrete embedded with countless thumb-sized chunks of dark glass.
After a few more moments standing at the edge of the tube, they wandered into the chamber; the only sound was a faint crunch of grit. It’s like being in the crypt under the Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral, thought Darwin, picturing archeologists breaking into ancient tombs. Is this what it was like? Except these diamonds have been here for a hundred million years? He closed in on the wall and extended his hand. It was dry and cold. Up close, the diamonds were ugly glass. Nothing like the sparkling adverts. He could just cover about seven clusters with his palm and his brain locked up trying to calculate how many palms covered the area he could see let alone the rock that extended upwards. He looked up the wall where it domed above his head, lost his balance and fell on a hip. He rolled onto his back and laughed.
“Darwin, are you okay,” said Eyrún, running toward him from the other side.
“Yes,” he said. Tears ran down his temples. “This is so beautiful.”
Eyrún lay down next to him and looked up.
“It’s real. It’s so real. And it’s just… I dunno… unreal,” he coughed from the tears dripping down his throat. Their lamps cast white circles on the ceiling. Eyrún rolled her head in small circles. The ceiling sparkled like a disco ball and she laughed.
“I have never seen anything so beautiful,” she said. “You found it Darwin.”
He took hold of her hand. “If it wasn’t for Pétur’s dig, we wouldn’t have stumbled in here.”
“Maybe. But it was you who convinced me,” she said squeezing his fingers.
56
About ninety minutes later Darwin heard Zac’s voice yelling something about having lunch ready and making sure the beer was cold. His joking broke the monotony of their journey, but it was getting old.
“Holy…” Zac’s voice sputtered out when he reached the diamond chamber. Everyone bunched up at the opening, then one by one stepped down the short slope. Darwin and Eyrún watched them fan out, then all at once launched into a frenzy of activity like kids at a party when the piñata broke.
Eyrún and Pétur jumped up and down in a clumsy embrace. Jón began snapping photos and taking out instruments. Ian and Karl gathered chunks of diamonds scattered about the floor. Zac stood silent. Stevie held one hand against the wall and traced it with her other hand.
“Stop! Everybody stop,” Pétur yelled. They turned at the outburst from their soft spoken companion. “This is an archeological site. We need to survey this, then we can play with diamonds,” he continued.
“He’s right,” Darwin added. “The room isn’t going anywhere. First thing is to find evidence of the Romans.”
Everyone shuffled out of the room and set to getting food off the ATVs. Jón placed a laser device in the middle of the chamber and green laser beams swam around the walls. They passed around the diamonds picked up by Karl and Ian. Stevie looked at one with a jeweler’s loupe.
“This did not come off the wall by itself,” she said through her hands while holding a diamond cluster near her face.
“What?” asked Darwin.
“Here,” she said, holding the cluster toward him. “This edge has a small starburst pattern. Someone struck it with an ax or something hard and sharp.”
“Metal? What kinds of tools did the Romans have?” asked Eyrún.
“Iron tools were common. The Romans mined Britannia and Caledonia for gold, silver and tin. These guys were miners by trade or at least exploring for mineral potential, so they would carry tools,” said Darwin.
“Aren’t diamonds harder than iron?” asked Eyrún.
“Diamonds, sure, but not the underlying rock. A good ax will do it. Lava is soft by comparison,” said Darwin.
“This is worth billions?” asked Zac.
“Perhaps, but the cost of extraction would be enormous,” said Jón.
“Then, we scoop up a few handfuls to cover the cost of expenses and a house on Maui,” said Zac. “I think this one would cover a new McLaren.” They looked at him. “I’m just saying what we’re all thinking.”
Each talked about what they would buy with their handful while Stevie and Pétur went into the chamber to make measurements and collect samples. Entering behind them, Darwin squinted as the quiet beauty of the diamond room took on a garish color when they switched on powerful LED lights. After an hour Pétur walked over to them. “I’ve got five locations with human detritus,” he said. “You can see them marked with the red tape. I’ll sample each once more, so stay out of the marked areas until I’m done.”
“Anything interesting?” asked Darwin.
“No. Some fecal material in that spot.” He pointed to the side of the chamber about ninety degrees from where they were sitting. “And rock chips and dust over there,” he said, sweeping his finger around.
“Stevie?” asked Darwin.
“No growth of anything. Too dry in here. No signs of water flow. How deep are we?” she asked.
“Impossible to tell for sure,” said Jón. “Kimberlite shafts can go a thousand meters or more. Do you think we are still under the ocean?”
“I dunno… ah… Agrippa wrote they found this chamber in three days’ journey from the cave in Caledonia. At their estimated walking speed, I’m guessing we are under the Hebrides Islands or a little farther out,” said Darwin.
&nb
sp; “Well no one would see the structure in the sea floor and there would be no practical way to mine it,” said Jón.
The survey confirmed the diamond room was a near perfect thirty meter circle. The ceiling domed ten meters overhead, and the floor bowled below giving the room an oval shape like a hand pressing on a balloon. Deep red blotches highlighted the salmon colored floor and a dozen large cracks crossed its surface. Crevices and gaps encircled the room where the pooling lava eroded the walls similar to beach waves undermining a sand castle. Four lava tubes entered or exited the room depending on how one envisioned the lava flows. They reentered the chamber and explored.
Darwin stood by the Iceland tube just inside the chamber and mentally mapped the room. He pictured the room as a clock. The tube from Iceland entered at six o’clock and cut straight through toward Scotland, exiting just right of twelve o’clock. Smaller tubes entered at ten and three. The three o’clock tube, to his right, was a flattened oval about chest height and entered the room about a meter and a half above the floor. The ten o’clock tube was partially submerged by the lava that made up the floor and was a couple meters tall.
His thoughts were interrupted by several thuds and a cascading gravel sound from the other side of the room. He turned to see Karl, pry bar in hands, standing by a half meter pile of debris that slumped out of the wall. Dust clouds roiled in the room. Jón and Ian stood a few meters back shooting video.
“What the hell are you doing?” said Darwin marching up to Ian.
“Checking the density of the diamonds,” said Ian.
“You could have brought down the ceiling,” yelled Darwin.
“Not likely. That was a soft spot according to Jón,” said Ian.
“We didn’t agree to go tearing about the room. We’ve barely studied it,” said Darwin.
“You’re right, but we didn’t agree not to either. You said yourself we have little time before others follow,” said Ian. Darwin turned to plead with the others, but saw they were already at the pile. Zac and Eyrún sifted through the rubble. Stevie was looking at something with her jeweler’s loupe.