by Donal Myrick
By now, Spider had caught up with him, and she answered his question. “Naw, if you get stuck, I don’t think we could pull you out. We would just have to leave you there, so you had better be careful.”
“What a fine caving partner you are,” grunted Bufford as he squeezed further down the passage. “You would just leave me there?” he asked sheepishly.
Spider quipped, “Well, we would probably take your boots. There wouldn’t be any sense in leaving a perfectly good pair of boots down here to rot. Besides, you have really nice boots, and we would need something to remember you by.”
Bufford said, “You are such a joy to cave with. You know you have a really mean streak in you.”
They squeezed and crawled, grunted, and moaned their way on through the boulder maze for about a hundred feet before the passage terminated with the air whistling through a small crack much too small for either of them to squeeze through. Bufford said. “Well, so much for this lead. We can’t go any further.” With that, they started inching their way backward. Bufford complained, “Is there any place back there where I can turn around? This belly crawling backward is worse than backing up a long-nosed Peterbilt with a fifty-three foot rifer through a Wally World parking lot on Black Friday.”
Spider laughed, “I think there is a place about twenty feet back here. Think you can make it?”
“Well, I damn sure don’t want you to leave me down here and let you take my boots.” Bufford quipped back.
Spider laughed again, trying not to make too much fun of Bufford’s struggles, “You poor thing. I won’t leave you. Besides, your boots are too big for me.”
Bufford grunted, “You skinny broad, you know you are going to pay for your sick humor, I promise.”
Spider said, “I’m so afraid.”
About thirty minutes later, they emerged from that tortuous dead-end passage. Bufford said, “That there is the reason I prefer rock climbing.”
About then, Max saw their lights emerge at the top of the breakdown pile, and he hollered up at them, “Get on down here, Ted has some news. Turn your helmet phones on so you can hear.”
Bufford and Spider scrambled down the rock pile and met Max and Jim at the camp. “What’s up?” Spider asked.
Ted, who could hear everyone now, said, “Fred has been spending a lot of time over with the Russians in their lab. They have discovered something, but we don’t know what it means yet.”
“Tell us, tell us,” said Spider excitedly.
Ted explained, “Well, they have been analyzing all the samples that we gathered plus a bunch more from the canyon and around the area. They are using a mass spectrometer to assay the elemental composition of all the stuff. First, they determined what the ancient rock that makes up this mountain was made out of, that is to say, what elements are present in the vast majority of the unaffected rock samples. They also managed to get a good quantitative measure of proportions in which those elements appeared. There were no surprises there. They then performed the same analysis on the samples from the cave wall leading back to the pit and on the samples you all collected from the bottom of the pit. Then they subtracted the unaffected results from the affected results. The difference identified everything that shouldn’t be there. That’s where the plot thickens. There is a ton of stuff that shouldn’t be there. There is stuff that probably shouldn’t be on this planet, much less on this planet in the same place. Anyone got any ideas?”
Max quickly replied, “Aliens!”
Ted responded, “That would be the easy explanation. The Russians are speculating that most of the unusual elements showing up are generally associated with highly advanced electronic devices, but there are some elements that, as far as anyone knows, are not associated with any known integrated circuit, laser device, superconducting material, or anything else. All this suggests that this was not a natural event and that this Churún River event was due to the explosion of a highly sophisticated man-made device. So, how did that stuff get here? Who is behind whatever occurred here? Those are the questions now. Sergei says that it definitely is not his government, and from their intelligence, he doesn’t think the U.S is involved, at least not directly. He says that leaves China, Israel, or possibly one of the international mega-corporations. Actually, I got the feeling he was leaning towards the later. There are several dozen possible candidates if that is the case.”
Jim, who had been listening silently, chimed in, “Okay, what now? What are we supposed to do? The way I see it, we are in a rather precarious position down here. Whoever is behind all this probably doesn’t want a lot of light shed on this event or on their activities. Which in turn probably means that they would rather we stay down here you know like forever.”
Max said, “You may be right. Ted, what are your thoughts?”
After a brief pause, Ted opined, “I think that, if there are other players, we will be protected by the Russians. To get to us, they would have to contend with the Russians first, and I believe the Russians have the strongest position here of anyone. Our best strategy is probably to continue working closely with Sergei and stay in his favor.”
Max said, “I think you are undoubtedly correct. I also think we need to finish up down here as quickly as possible and get our butts back topside.”
Ted finished his report and said, “I’ll keep you informed, so stay tuned.”
Bufford said, “The day is early, so let’s get started. Spider and I opt for not trying to push through this rock pile, but rather, let’s go over the top if possible.”
Jim said, “I assume you didn’t find much promise in following the air through the breakdown, right?”
Bufford said with emphasis, “You are so very, very right. Belly crawling through cracks and crevices, and ridiculously low passages are not what I call fun. I thought for a while I was going to be stuck in there, and I am not interested in going back.”
Max asked, “What do you think are the chances of going over the top?” Spider said, “I think the climb to the top will be fairly easy. If there is passage up there, it has to be easier than what Bufford and I pushed earlier. From what I saw earlier, I think I can climb it fairly quickly. Bufford and I can set up fixed ropes, and then we can all go up and down quickly and easily.”
Max said, “Okay, let’s do it.”
Bufford said, “Someone grab that rope bag. It’s got about four hundred feet of rope in it. We will need all of it. Spider, do you have your stuff?”
Spider said, “You all go on ahead and get the gear up to the top of the slope. I’m changing into some shorts. I don’t climb in long pants very well.”
Everyone grabbed their climbing gear, some spare hardware a couple of extra ropes, two spare batteries for the drills, some eats, and water and began the trek up the breakdown boulder pile. Spider quickly changed and rejoined the group. Once at the top, Spider clipped in her belay line and said, “On belay,” as stuck her hand in a crack and up she went like a gecko chasing a fly.
CHAPTER 10
An Unusual Find
Back in Miguel’s dining tent, Peggy was lamenting to Scott, “On the last trip, I was really involved. I had a lot to do. On this trip, I feel like a bump on a log. I’m not doing anything, I’m not contributing anything, I need to get involved.”
“You know,” Scott replied, “Ted was saying much the same thing. He told me he was just being the messenger between us and Dr. Fred and the Russian scientists. He said that he really needed to get down the pit and see the cave structure for himself.”
Peggy said, “Do you see any reason why Ted and I shouldn’t join the group on the bottom? I know I could be a lot more productive, and besides, I really want to do that pit while we are here this time. I’ve done nearly as many deep pits as Max. Well, maybe not nearly as many, but I’ve done a lot.”
Scott suggested, “Let’s go talk with Ted and see what he thinks.”
Thirty minutes later, Peggy and Scott were hanging on slings beside Ted atop the pit where Ted and
Sam were perched listening for any conversation that might emanate from below.
Peggy said casually, “Ted, why don’t you and I join the guys below?”
It took a second for Ted to understand what Peggy had said, then he responded, “Hell yeah, I think that’s a great idea. I’ve been thinking along those lines all along. What do you think, Scott?”
Scott agreed, “I think you both need to get your stuff together and get down there and help. Look, Miguel, Sam, and I can handle everything here on top, especially since Sergei has his troops helping us at every turn. Go on back there and get you stuff, and tell Miguel to start preparing a new provisions package to support the two of you. I think they are going to be moving away from the base camp soon, so you need to hurry. Hopefully one of them will check in soon. We can’t haul the shield back up until they release it from below, and you can’t descend until we get it back up here.”
Ted said, “Understood.”
Ted and Peggy started making their way back to the topside camp to get their gear ready. On the way back, Peggy said, “I’m going to take one of my drones down with me.”
“And just how are you going to do that?” asked Ted. Peggy said confidently, “I’ll just pack it up in its Pelican case, duct tape the fool out of it to ensure that can survive the waterfall, and hang it below me when I descend.”
Ted said, “Sounds like a plan.”
Peggy went on to say, “I can’t imagine that it won’t come in handy, especially if we get into some more high canyon passage.”
Down below, Spider was making spectacular progress towards the top, alternating between climbing on and around the boulders that were jammed between the walls of the canyon and climbing on the vertical canyon walls themselves. She periodically paused her climbing only to set secure anchors so that Bufford could climb up to join her and reset his belay for her next pitch.
As she approached the one hundred and fifty-foot mark, she hollered down to Max, “I think we will reach the top in another two to three hours. I’m going to want to change back into my caving jeans then. Do you think you could get my jeans and bring them up when you and Jim climb up?”
“Max hollered back, “Sure, I’ll be glad to. Anything else you need?”
“No, that’s it.” She replied. When Bufford joined her, they set about sinking two secure anchors for the first of the fixed ropes for this route.
Max and Jim had been sitting around watching Bufford and Spider do their thing. Max was getting a bit stiff from just setting down, so he was grateful to have a reason to get up and stir around. Jim opted to keep sitting where he was, so Max went by himself back down the breakdown pile to their base camp. As he neared the camp and came in range of the shield, his headphones became active. It was Sam pinging to see if anyone could hear him.
Max responded back, “I can hear you now, Sam, we’ve been a little out of range. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Sam said, “I just want to give you a heads up, Peggy and Ted will be on their way down there soon.”
“Oh, really!” Max responded, rather surprised. “What prompted this decision?”
Sam said, “They and Scott decided it would be a good idea. I think they were just getting bored with sitting around up here, and thought they could be more useful down there. I think they were jealous that you all were having all the fun. Anyway, they will be heading down soon, and we will be sending a provisions package for them shortly after.”
Max said, “Actually, I think it’s a good idea. We should all be pushing this together anyway. Anything else I need to know before I sign off? I’ll have to untie the NMI rope so you can haul the shield up.”
“No, that’s it,” Sam said. “Okay, let me know when you are ready to start hauling up. I have to walk the shield back to the pit when you begin. Right now, we have it tied off a long way from the bottom of the pit.”
Sam said, “Understood. Give me about ten minutes to get organized up here before we begin hauling.”
Max shouted up to Jim, “Jim, come on down here. We’ve got work to do. Tell Bufford that we will be busy down here for a while.” Jim, wondering what was going on, did as he was told, and started down the breakdown pile back to base camp to join Max.
When Jim told Spider and Bufford that he was heading back down to base camp and would be busy for a while, both of them couldn’t help but wonder what was going on and whether they should be concerned or not. They concluded that since Jim didn’t seem concerned, maybe they shouldn’t be either.
After they got the first fixed rope secured, Spider began climbing once again. Spider remarked, “You know, this rock has plenty of cracks, but they are all mostly very small, which makes finding useful handholds very tedious. I thought I was going to be able to climb much faster.”
Bufford suggested that she make more frequent use of her razor chock instead of trying to muscle her way up as she so often did on their rock climbing ventures.
Spider agreed, saying, “Yes, you are right. It is probably more important that we make progress than it is how we make progress.” With that, she slipped her razor in a small little crack, clipped in, and relaxed as she fished out her spare razor chock and stirrup. Using the two chocks in tandem on the cave wall, up she went. She started going so fast that to the uneducated eye, one might have thought she was climbing a ladder.
Bufford shouted up to her, “Don’t go so far without setting a safety anchor. With this much rope out, if you fall, you could get hurt.”
“Yes, you are right,” she replied, then she paused to hammer in a wedge and then clip the belay line into its carabiner.
As Jim clambered over the last boulder into base camp, Max was just about to finish untying the shield and NMI rope from its secure tie-down point. Max said, “Peggy and Ted will be coming down as soon as we can get this shield back up.”
“Great,” replied Jim, “What prompted their decision to join us?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, but I’m happy that they are coming down. I think it is only appropriate that the six of us explore the cave together. Grab hold of this with me, this rope has a lot of tension on it. When I cut it loose, it’s going to have a mind of its own.” said Max as he loosened the last loop on the tie-down. As the three thousand foot rope recoiled from being stretched a couple of hundred extra feet, Jim and Max practically had to run with it back to the bottom of the pit.
“That was awkward,” Jim said as they were finally able to slow down.
Max commented, “Well, you have to remember that it took all four of us to stretch it back to the base camp, so it had a bunch of stored up energy. Hey, Sam, you all can start hauling the rope up whenever you are ready.”
Sam said, “Starting the retrieval now. Stand by, in an hour or so, Peggy will start down. After both Ted and Peggy are down, we will be lowering a provisions package, so stand by for that as well. Signing off till then.”
Max said to Jim, “I’ll hang around here until Peggy gets down. Why don’t you go back and let Bufford and Spider know what is going on? By the time you get back here, Peggy will probably be down, and you can show her back to base camp.”
“Okay,” Jim replied, “And while I’m at it, I think I’ll haul another one of these rope bags back with me. See you in an hour or so.”
While he was waiting for Peggy’s arrival, Max started poking around the area on the bottom of the pit. Previously, they had quickly picked up any small loose rocks that were lying around and sent them back up for assessment. This time Max took the time to dig down a bit and to turn over some of the boulders to see what might lie beneath. His efforts did not go unrewarded. Almost immediately, he found some glassy rocks with some unusual colors, much more colorful than any they had seen before. Then, with considerable effort, he pushed over a sizeable boulder, and underneath was his most interesting find. “What the heck is this?” he thought out loud to himself. “This looks like something metallic, but what the heck is it doing here? Ted really needs to see this
.” He looked around and spotted a rope bag that had ripped open during impact. Inside was a smaller bag that was undamaged. He dumped out the contents, ripped off a piece of the ripped up bag, and carefully wrapped and stowed his new finds in the small bag. He knew that these new finds would be much more interesting than the previously collected samples. About then, he could hear Peggy descending, so he scrambled back to the top of the breakdown pile to meet Peggy as she touched down with her gear and drone case, which were dangled below her on the way down.
“How was your ride?” he asked. Peggy was beside herself with excitement.
“That was absolutely incredible!” she exclaimed. “It was a lot more exciting than how you described it. I listened to you when you first went down, and you didn’t say anything about how it felt like flying!”
“I did too. I told everyone that it felt like I was going up instead of down.” Max said in his defense.
“Maybe you did, but you didn’t say it with enthusiasm, you didn’t shout it out to let us know how incredible it felt. I remember that you sounded rather calm,” Peggy lamented.
Max said, “That’s probably because I was scared out of my gourd.”
Peggy exclaimed, “What, the infamous Max Meccum scared? I can’t believe I just heard that.”
“Well, don’t tell anyone,” Max said.
Sam chimed in, “Too late, I heard every word. I’m posting it to the internet right now.”
Max replied, “Eavesdropping again, Sam? You are bluffing, you know there is no internet service down here; besides, you have to haul this shield back up. So get to it.”
Sam acknowledged with a “Roger that,” and then began hauling the shield back up.
About then, Jim arrived back at the pit, and they began shuttling Peggy and her gear back to the base camp. Max said, “It will be about an hour and a half before Ted can get down here, so that should be enough time to get Peggy set up and changed into some proper caving garb.”