by L K Hingey
He turned and strode with long steps behind the greenhouse and into one of the drying shacks. Kimber followed him in with no particular haste. He could pick out whatever he liked while she composed herself. The walls were made of sewn pelts and a fire was ablaze in the center of the room to facilitate the drying process. The room was so dark compared to the brightness outside that it took several moments for Kimber’s eyes to adjust. When she could finally start to see shapes and colors, she spotted Caleb’s tall figure bent over a row of exotics.
She wandered over to him, looking at all the different kinds of mushrooms laid out on the tables. They were misshapen and pruney but knowing that they were one of the lifelines of the city seemed to give them an air of wisdom. Well, as wise as a mushroom can look, Kimber thought. “So, what’s on the menu?” she whispered excitedly.
“These porcini’s look perfect,” he replied. “And since I know that you’ve never met a mushroom you didn’t like, I think they’ll do just fine!”
Caleb wasn’t wrong. She really did love any kind of mushroom. “I’ve never smuggled vegetables,” she giggled. “How do we do it?”
He mocked offense. “You make it sound like I’m a regular. And mushrooms aren’t vegetables. Annnnd you are the one with the to-go sack!” He exaggerated a wink at her as he put a small handful of mushrooms into her leather pouch.
“Caleb!” she exclaimed.
Before she could do anything, he turned on his heel towards the exit. “Act normal, you fungi thief!” he joked, his eyes twinkling like always, as he disappeared behind the pelt door.
Back outside, Kimber felt like she had been blinded. She could not have even acted suspicious if she had tried, she was so focused on shielding her eyes from the intensity of the light. “Yeah, it’s a bit hard to adjust,” she heard Caleb say and felt him grab her free hand.
He walked nice and slow, giving her plenty of room to stumble along beside him. It did not take long for the photosensitivity to wear off and when it did, she realized they were going in the wrong direction. She stopped and started to pull him the other way.
“Since I’m apparently the designated criminal, you have to follow me,” she said shrewdly. Caleb looked puzzled but followed. She was taking them to the outer edge of the agriculture cavern, and all that was out there was the zoo.
The far side of the cavern was walled with a maze of shallow catacombs. This is where the city raised its exotic animals. Dozens of habitats had been created back here in an effort to preserve the diversity of life as much as possible. Reptiles and amphibians were the most common residents in the habitats because they “would prove hardiest in the damp and dark conditions.” Fires were kept lit throughout the entire day-sleep cycle to keep the animals warm. Twice a day, the man in charge of the zoo, Mr. Wayne, would personally swap out hot lavarocks for the animals.
Bearded dragons, iguanas, Komodo dragons, chameleons, salamanders, frogs, toads, newts, scorpions, turtles, and of course, snakes, colonized the habitats. Snakes of many different species laid around on their heated rocks, hissing in both camouflaged and colorful glory. Some were harmless, some were constrictors, and some were venomous. Kimber loved coming here to watch the animals, always gravitating towards the venomous snakes.
The Bureau had ensured that multiple pairs of African Bush Vipers had been brought into Inanna in case the DNA was needed in the future. The citizens had a hunch that this was the root purpose for all the reptiles, but it did not do any good to speculate about it. It was not like they could simply mosey on up to the surface and swap a Komodo dragon for a red panda to help even the score. Besides, the reptiles ate far less than mammals, required less care, and needed less space. Elephants, tigers, giraffes, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, kangaroos, penguins, bears, wolves, bison, cow, deer, and hundreds of other large warm-blooded species were remembered only in stories now.
Not to say that an effort had not been made at all to preserve a few of the mammal species. There was a section of rodents which included mice, guinea pigs, chinchillas, and squirrels. There was also a section of medium-sized mammals, where raccoons, pigs, cats, dogs, armadillos, and foxes were housed. The people of Inanna would have loved to have had animals like pandas, koalas, capybaras, sloths, and monkeys, but there was simply no way to sustain to the dietary needs of such creatures.
The zoo was also home to rows of fish tanks, insect tanks, and bird enclosures. The birds always interested Kimber. It seemed so sad to have them locked down here, flightless. The hope was that one day, the songbirds, or the doves, or the owls, or the bats, or the scavengers, or the predatory birds, might get a chance to spread their wings again and fly. Kimber had always seen similarities between the birds and the humans; some were songbirds, and some were predators, but they were all trapped together in a cave waiting on a miracle.
Today, Kimber was not here to visit the cute raccoons, the poisonous frogs, or her beloved bush vipers. She had brought Caleb back here simply to prevent him from having to walk out of the mouth of the agricultural cavern. The Auroras were natural cavers, and over the years, they had explored and shared with each other many off-route passageways. The Auroras understood how interconnected the cave’s tunnel system actually was and had been taking advantage of it for years.
The zoo served as a visual barrier, the cavern continuing behind it, divided from the main chamber space only by a few layers of the catacomb’s spidery legs. Kimber wove her way to the back stack of the catacomb system and dropped to her hands and knees. She climbed through one of the larger gaps in the rocks to the space behind and got up again. The ceiling was no longer dozens of feet high, but there was enough room for even Caleb to stand up straight.
Although he said nothing, Kimber sensed an immediate increase in the rate of Caleb’s heartbeat. Since humans did not have the same heightened senses as the Auroreans, they were not nearly as comfortable in blackout conditions. Kimber did not necessarily enjoy the dark either, but when she tuned into it, she could sense certain changes in the air. And when she really focused, it was like lighting up the world in the sixth sense.
A fraction of light spilled in through the holes in the catacomb as Kimber dug around in her new bag. She felt around for her flashlight and the few extra batteries that she had thrown in the sack earlier. Batteries were not easy to come by, but occasionally, they could be found stored in cool and dry places on the surface. The Auroras, although confident in the tunnel systems, always tried to carry light on them.
Caleb heard the familiar metal clinking of batteries going into a flashlight and Kimber felt the immediate slowing of his pulse. What the brain made the body do was so weird, she thought silently, relieved that Caleb couldn’t read her as easily as she could read him. She turned the flashlight on and gave it to him. “You’re in charge of this. If you lose it, you’ll owe me a brand new one, hot off the press. With batteries included!”
He smiled at her, knowing she was trying to make him more comfortable by having the light. He did not argue. “You know, humans are only slightly terrified of the dark, right? Like 20%... max.” Caleb shone flashlight around the dark passageway as he spoke.
Kimber lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, just 20%?” she asked cheekily.
“Yup!” He broke out laughing. “The other 80% of terror is fear of spiders. Specifically, giant spiders that magically spawn in the dark.”
Kimber couldn’t help but laugh at his discomfort. “We will link up with some of the established passageways soon. We are heading down.”
Caleb did a silly little bow, ushering her forward like a butler. “Ladies first.”
Kimber moved gracefully as she turned down the dark passageway, her bare feet making no sound. All they could hear were each other’s breathing and the echoing sound of hundreds of droplets of purified water depositing calcium onto awaiting stalagmites. Caleb moved quietly too, his leather moccasins stealing deftly across the cool stone.
The passageway grew and shrank in size as they wound onwards and
down, making many cuts left and right. Hard to think this had all been carved out of the limestone by ancient rivers, Caleb thought in awe as they traveled deeper. They started to cross over wet areas with more and more frequency until finally, Kimber stopped at a fork in the path.
“We’re at the link up! There is a tiny bit of crawling at the end. I’ll go first.”
Kimber ignored the larger dark passage that continued descending, instead turning into a much smaller asymmetric opening to the right. The passageway got narrower as they walked, and the floor seemed to slope diagonally. It quickly got too small for them to stand and Kimber dropped to her knees. They had crawled for about ten feet when she called back to Caleb.
“I can see lamplight, and the coast is clear.” Suddenly, her bright body disappeared from the beam of the flashlight. Had she not warned him, it might have induced a small panic.
They had reached the end of the tiny passageway and to Caleb’s surprise, the exit hole was nearly at the ceiling of the connecting corridor. He poked his head out and looked down to where Kimber was waiting.
“Thanks for the heads up. I would have started prepping to come save you from some imaginary eight-legged monster.” A thin ledge provided an easy enough ramp down and Caleb was by her side in a matter of seconds. He passed the flashlight back and looked around.
Caleb was grateful for the lamplight but clearly did not recognize where they were. Kimber saw him evaluating the corridor and answered his unspoken question. “We are on the far side of the Eastern pool rooms.”
“For real? How long were we traveling for? That couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes!” Caleb asked amazed.
Kimber smiled. “That’s why I like short cuts.”
It had been quite the shortcut too. To use the known pathways, it would have taken them through the Rotunda and considerably farther peripherally, before connecting to a downward bound path. They would have then had to backtrack quite a way, not to mention keep going east once they had regained the lost directional ground. Kimber still had a little more traveling planned for them, but she knew it would be worth it.
“Well, I am impressed. As long as you don’t take the flashlight and the food and leave me here,” Caleb mused.
“Aw, good point,” Kimber said dramatically. “I could have taken the bunny, so I had company after I left you here. Opportunity missed. Guess I’ll just stick around for a while.” Kimber liked being silly with him. During training and surface duty, everything was always so serious, especially lately. She needed this. She needed to laugh for a change.
“Well, I am happy you’ll be sticking around for our picnic. And as a special thanks, I have something to add to the menu.” Caleb pulled a pouch from his pocket. Wrapped in it were several chunks of jerky. “Just don’t tell your furry friends.”
Kimber’s stomach started to growl. She was hungrier than she had thought, and the jerky looked amazing. She beamed at him. He wrapped the smoked meat back up and placed it in her bag. “Let’s go find a spot,” Kimber said.
Chapter V
“Close your eyes,” Kimber instructed Caleb. “What do you hear?” Caleb knew they were standing near the eastern pools of the cavern, an outer boundary of the winding system of semi-underwater caves. All Inannians had been down here to soak in the beauty, if not the frigid temperature, of the water. The citizens did not frequent the eastern pools though, and Kimber wanted Caleb to bathe in its beauty in more senses than just sight.
The western pools, on the other side of the caverns, were more popular than the eastern pools. Not simply because they were closer, but because they were bigger and deeper. They also offered higher ceilings and wider ledges for lounging on the rocks. The western pools were so large in fact, that all of the youth of Inanna could fit in and around the water’s edge. There was something magical about the eastern pools though, and Kimber had a surprise for Caleb.
Caleb closed his eyes and quieted his breathing. “I hear the drips of a hundred stalactites. Or maybe just the echoing of a dozen of them. I hear the flow of water and something that sounds... like wind?”
Kimber smiled, and Caleb opened his eyes. He had heard what she had wanted him to. The wind that he heard was not wind at all. That was their destination.
“Up for a quick jog?” Kimber asked him.
“I should have known a date with you would involve running,” Caleb replied slyly.
“A date?!” Kimber pretended to be offended. “Now I am definitely not going to take it easy on you!” And with that, she took off in a dash.
The people of Inanna were careful about keeping the passageways lit, and it was no different even in the more remote extremities of the caves. Bowls of kerosene were staged regularly, illuminating the amazing rock formations as the pair jogged past. The rock configurations around the active streams were the most stunning formations of all. Sure, there were breathtaking formations throughout Inanna; the Frozen Niagara, the Drapery room, the Giant’s coffin, the Bottomless Pit, the Karnak Temple, and the Crystal Lake Cavern were some of the most glorious examples, but their grandeur was somewhat spread out. The formations that made up the pool rooms were smaller, sharper, and more concentrated.
The trail that wove around the water’s edge was flat and smooth enough to allow Kimber and Caleb to move at a fast clip. Up and down the path rolled, sometimes crossing over the stream’s tributaries, sometimes passing under archways, and sometimes going into small tunnels. Caleb was in awe at the marvelous limestone that surrounded them. They even managed to see a few albino cave-crickets. The crickets had not loved the invasion of people into their space and had long since migrated away from the more frequently used zones of the cave systems.
Caleb was smiling as he watched Kimber run ahead of him. It was what she was born to do. The muscles in her strong legs were well defined, carrying her with ease across the worn-down rock. She was silent as she ran, striking the ground primarily on the balls of her feet, occasionally breaking the stillness with laughter. What she was laughing about Caleb had no idea, but it was pure and it was infectious. He found himself grinning ear to ear as they jogged on. He did not know anyone else who could find such joy in exertion.
They had been arcing around the edge of the pools and as they ran, the tunnel began to narrow, and the ceiling started to close in. Caleb had never been so far down this path and wondered just how far it went. The kerosene bowls were lit, so he knew it was still one of the established passageways. He figured the path must loop all the way around the pools and connect back to the mouth of the pool cavern. Finally, Kimber started to slow, calling out, “Here we are!”
The main path continued to hook around to the left, but there was a sliver of pathway that led to the right. Had it not been pointed out to Caleb, the opening would have remained invisible in the picture that the shadows painted. When his breath calmed, he could hear that they had arrived at the source of the sound that he had heard at the mouth of the pools. Kimber disappeared into the sliver. It was not actually a passageway at all, but instead was a very steep staircase.
Caleb had not expected it to be lit, but there was a bowl aflame every seven steps or so. The light happily reflected off the left wall and bounced out into a small chamber. When they reached the bottom, Caleb inhaled sharply, and looked around. Bowls of kerosene had been placed everywhere. A pool of emerald water lapped at a wide ledge of rock that surrounded it. The water seemed to glow from underneath and the entire cavern flickered in teal and yellow.
There was a waterfall about fifteen feet away, roaring and churning happily. “It’s not wind at all! This must be where the river disappears to after the path hooks back around,” Caleb said softly, as if speaking too loudly might break the spell.
They walked over to the cascading stream and Caleb reached into the icy water. Nearby, someone had hung a small wind chime. Wind was a relic of the past for the citizens of the city, but here, there was enough wind generated by the waterfall to swing and sway the delicate
chimes into each other. A soft twinkling melody entwined itself into the dancing light.
Most remarkable of all though, was the moss that grew, not only on the rocks behind the waterfall, but on the walls and ledges of the entire chamber. Caleb gingerly touched the moss. He had seen lichen before when they had tried to cultivate it in the greenhouses, but since it proved to have no real value to the city, the horticulture experts decided to use the precious real estate to grow more nutrient-rich vegetation. What Caleb had not seen, was a green thing that could grow naturally. It was worth the trip itself.
“I read about this place,” Kimber whispered, also touching the moss softly. The green lichen was a marvel to her eyes too. “I want you to see something.”
She walked behind the waterfall to where the water met the rock ledge with a little more depth. She knelt at the water’s edge and waited for Caleb to do the same. Gently she reached an arm into the water and grabbed hold of something. She pulled up a handful of the lichen, but instead of the rich evergreen of the moss on the walls, it was glowing a bright neon color. Kimber handed the moss to Caleb. He held it in his hands in bewilderment, as if he were holding a miracle.
“How?” Caleb whispered hoarsely. “How... any of this?” As he was staring at his handful of wonderment, it started to lose its glow. The neon faded and the lichen became more subdued in color. “Are we killing it?” Caleb croaked in panic.
Kimber smiled softly. This young man, who slaughtered animals daily on behalf of the people of Inanna, was horrified that he may be killing even a scoop of this precious moss. Calmly, she lifted the moss out of his hands and placed it in the water. She held it there for a few moments before lifting it out. She passed it back to Caleb. All its former glow had returned. Caleb’s entire body relaxed in relief.