by Greig Beck
Michael’s eyes welled up as they heard Wenton’s screams continuing on for many minutes. But then they abruptly shut off with a strangled gurgle. Michael hated himself for the thought, but he just hoped the man was dead and wouldn’t be taken prisoner.
From time to time, they still heard sounds of pursuit, whether it was the scrape of hard shell against stone, or the click and squeak of their language.
Andy led them up the ever-steepening cave tunnel, and the tethered spears had stopped being flung at them long back. The advantage they had was smaller human bodies were faster in the tight spaces than the bulkier bodies of the arthropods could ever hope to be.
Michael prayed that they had entered a choke point that wouldn’t allow the creatures to follow at all, or…
Andy was first into the open chamber, followed by Maggie who had tear streaks in the dirt on her cheeks. Jane then, and also Michael, piled in. He expected that they had a huge lead on their pursuers, but just not enough time to rest.
The room was large, and on the floor at its center were rock debris, bones all piled up, plus all manner of strange items.
“Look,” Andy said.
Hanging mid-air was a rock, levitating.
Michael lifted his crystal and in the cave’s ceiling was an opening, about 30-feet wide. He immediately reached into the woven pouch at his waist and drew forth one of his own spare crystals and tossed it upward.
They watched as the blue, glowing speck kept going up and away until it vanished.
He exhaled with relief. “The gravity well. Saknussov was right, thank God.”
Jane looked back down the dark passage they had exited from. “I think they’re still coming.”
“Will they even know what the gravity well is for?” Maggie asked.
Michael quickly looked around the chamber. There were multiple tunnels leading into it. He crossed to one and grabbed another of his crystals. He rolled it far and hard. Luckily, it didn’t shatter but bounced away end over end into the darkness, eliciting a blue glow from deep inside the space.
“Just in case. Let’s hope they follow that, instead of us.”
Jane stood beneath the well and held up her crystal. “Time to fly, little birds.” She crossed herself, and then leaped.
Maggie next, Andy, and then Michael took one last glance back before doing the same.
CHAPTER 25
The remaining ragged humans slumbered as they flew upward. Without knowing it, they attained speeds of nearly 250 miles per hour, but in the center of the gravity well, there was no friction, no weight, and not even dreams of pursuing monsters.
The fatigue meant there was no way any of them could have withstood the desire to rest in the cocoon of warmth, weightlessness, and what they hoped was relative safety.
It was the well itself that slowed them down as they came to their final junction. After traveling for nearly 25 hours, they decelerated, and then stopped to hang in space over the dark hole like some sort of conjurer’s trick to levitate a human body.
Jane was first to open her eyes. Disorientation and fear jerked her to full wakefulness.
“What?” She pinwheeled her arms. “Michael.”
She swam toward him and tugged at his long hair. He spun in the air and smacked his flaking lips as his eyes opened to slits.
“What is it, honey?” His eyes widened. “Shit.”
“We’re here,” Jane said. “Andy, Maggie, wake up, hurry.”
The two groggily came to their senses and the four swam awkwardly to the side of the pit. Once over the solid land, they dropped, feeling gravity take hold again and weighing their bodies down once more.
Maggie stayed down on all fours and coughed. “Oh God. Jet lag.”
Andy lay on his back, breathing hard. He began to laugh. “We made it.”
Jane got carefully to her feet. “By made it, you mean we’re still many miles beneath the surface and have no idea whether these caves even lead to the surface.”
“Oh yeah, that.” Andy sat up. “But I still feel better.”
Michael also got to his feet and stretched his back and then shook himself out. He then began to walk around the outside of the chamber, looking into each of the caves that fed into it. He spat on his hand and held it up in front of each cave mouth, feeling for the slightest breath of air movement.
“Nothing.”
Jane exhaled. “Okay, step one, let’s see what supplies we have.”
They checked their woven bags they had over their shoulders and wrapped around their waists. They all had several of the blue crystals that were like lanterns in the darkness. Plus, large chunks of raw mushroom left. In the dry atmosphere of the caves, it would last for weeks. Also, it was light to carry, so that was a plus. Their water bottles had been filled before they left so if they rationed them and didn’t find any more water sources, they could stretch it out for more than a week as well.
The downside was they expected to be miles underground and climbing for a full day was as arduous as it got; they’d be burning more energy than they were replacing. Losing what little weight they had left wasn’t the problem; what was a problem was the loss of muscle mass, and that would doom them.
Michael did his best to boost everyone’s spirits. “A good haul. We can make this.” He also knew that a positive outlook could drive a human being for days. And the corollary was a depressive mood could roll you into a ball to die alone in the darkness.
“Where did they all go?” Andy asked. “Of all of the fleeing people, some must have made it up here. So what happened?”
“Everyone spread out,” Maggie said. “Look at the ground, look at the walls, look for any clue or indication of where they went.”
They spread out, holding the crystals close to the walls and then the cave floor.
“Ground’s churned up,” Andy observed. “But in a deep cave that could have happened yesterday, or 50,000 years ago.”
Michael straightened. “The ground is also disturbed over here, but not in the exit cave. How about yours?”
“Not mine,” Jane replied.
“These are also undisturbed.” Maggie turned back to the group.
“Yep, yep, got something. There’s disturbance that goes all the way into the cave,” Andy said. “Someone or something went this way.”
Michael looked at each of them. “It’s all we’ve got. Any objections?”
“All we’ve got is all we need. Let’s do it,” Jane said.
Michael held up his crystal and walked into the cave.
*****
They hiked for a few hours with the caves narrowing and then opening out dozens of times. So far, the going was easy and only on a gentle incline.
Jane hurried to walk beside Michael. “Where do you think we are? Geographically, I mean?”
“I’ve been wondering that as well.” He glanced at her. “We traveled for many miles at the center, and a mile down there could be the equivalent of hundreds up here. We could be anywhere by now.”
“As long as it’s not under an ocean then I don’t care where we surface,” Jane replied.
He looked down at her. “Remember sunlight? Used to be pretty cool, I recollect.”
“You’re tired of nightclub blue already?” She grinned.
“Oh yeah.” He sniffed, and his brows came together. “Hey, you smell something?”
Jane did the same. “I do.” She lifted her chin and sniffed again.
Michael turned. “Hey, anyone taking a piss back there?”
Both Maggie and Andy had stopped and both shook their heads.
“I can smell it though,” Maggie said. “Uric acid—definitely piss.”
“Got to be fresh then,” Jane said. “Animal urine with its associated oils and minerals breaks down in only a few weeks.”
“Do you think it’s the people from below?” Andy asked.
“I don’t know. But I’ve smelled tiger’s urine at the zoo, and it has the same ammoniac scent. This is a carnivore w
aste,” Jane said.
“That’s not good,” Michael said.
They entered a larger cave and Michael stopped the group. “I think we just found what happened to our long-lost inner Earth tribe.”
The floor of the cave was littered with ancient bones. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of bodies.
“Notice something?” Jane asked as she walked into the center of their small group and then squatted down. She waved her arm over the skeletal remains. “The skeletons aren’t intact.”
“So, what does that mean?” Andy’s voice was small.
“It means they’ve been moved,” Michael said.
Jane reached out to lift a long bone. She held her blue crystal closer to it.
“Look here.”
The group crowded closer.
“See these marks? They look like tooth marks,” she said.
“Tooth marks? You think they were attacked by a freaking predator?” Maggie demanded.
“Maybe. Or maybe they attacked each other.” She dropped the age-browned bone and waved her light slowly around. “Yes, see, the thick bones are grouped together, same as the arm bones. I think this was a feast.”
“Oh…God,” Maggie stammered.
“So this is where that proud race ended their journey.” Michael kicked a bone out of the way.
“I don’t think all of them,” Jane said. “I think some became predator and some became prey—the strong preyed on the weak.” She moved from skeleton to skeleton. “Male, male, male, male, female, male….” she stopped. “This is like what happens when one tribe takes over another. They kill all the able-bodied men and take their women and children.”
“They became cannibals?” Andy shook his head. “That’s insane.”
“We don’t know how long they were trapped in this mid-world,” Michael sighed. “But it doesn’t bode well for a way to the surface.”
“I don’t know. Maybe they preferred it here. Maybe they thought that even worse things awaited them at the surface. Maybe they enjoyed the dark. I have a million maybes, and it’s all just theory.” Jane shrugged.
“So where are they now?” Andy asked.
“Do we really want to find them?” Maggie cast an arm around. “After this?”
“No, but I think we need to stop following them and we need to climb the hell out of here right now.” Andy lifted his blue crystal and raised his face. He quickly jerked back down. “Shit.”
The thing was hanging in the crevice above them and sped away when it knew it was seen.
“That’s them! That’s them!” Maggie screamed. “They’re the things we saw on the way down.”
“Don’t panic!” Michael barked. “It’s gone now.”
“We’ve got to stay together. Anyone that runs off in the dark is going to find nothing but trouble,” Jane said.
Andy wiped his face and kept his eyes closed for a moment. He pushed his long, stringy hair back off his face, and his voice trembled. “Sorry, I’ve just about had it. I’ve got to get out of here.”
“We will. But I think you’re right.” Michael also held his crystal upward. “We’ve been following these horizontal passages long enough. It’s time we headed up.”
Andy grinned and shook his head. “Yeah. Go vertical and go home.”
CHAPTER 26
They climbed upward for a day, navigating chimneys so tight they had to flex shoulders and then worm their way upward inches at a time. There were cracks in rift walls that scraped their chests and the tips of their fingers quickly became abraded. And they perched on ledges overhanging cliffs into voids that seemed to fall all the way back down to the center of the Earth.
The small group had to stop often and they ate their ever-dwindling supplies of mushrooms. They could only sip at their water even though their throats screamed out for more, and their tongues dried in their mouths.
The thing in the darkness had been ghosting them, staying close, but not coming within sight now. It meant that someone always had to stay awake, at a time when sleep wasn’t just needed, but without it, could prove deadly.
Like Jane, they all had their crystal lights tied around their necks, and in the blue light, Michael noticed that Jane’s face looked thin and haunted, with deep rings underneath glassy eyes as she chewed her food like an automaton. He bet he looked the same, or worse.
Michael saw that Maggie half-dozed, and when he looked to Andy, he saw that the young man was almost in darkness.
“Andy, your crystal,” Michael said softly.
The caver nodded and opened the pouch at his hip. The other crystals were also fading.
“It’ll probably happen to all of them soon,” Jane said hoarsely. “The further we move away from the core’s radiation, the less the crystals have to absorb and then emit.”
Her eyes slid to his, and Michael knew what question it held—how much longer would they be in the caves, verse how much longer the crystals would continue to glow with their comforting cobalt blue light? It was now a race.
Michael sighed. “Don’t worry, we only need one to get us to the top.”
He felt their eyes on him. He’d been in caves before when the lights went out. The total absence of light was enough to freak out even the hardiest of cavers. In that black nothingness, having your eyes open or closed made no difference.
Compounding the dread for them was that there was a creature down here that was able to locate them with senses beyond eyesight. And that creature was most likely a carnivore.
He suddenly had a horrible thought—maybe that was why the things were staying out of reach for now; they might know that the crystals would fade, and then the big, dumb, and blind humans would be at their mercy.
“Well then.” He slapped his thighs. “Let’s not wait until we’re all sitting around singing songs in the dark. We climb until we have nothing left in the tank.” Michael got to his feet and ignored his screaming muscles and joints. He flexed his fingers, trying to get the blood flow back into them.
He held one hand out flat. “Until there’s nothing left.”
“Until there’s nothing left in the tank,” Maggie repeated as she placed her hand over his.
Jane and Andy did the same. Michael walked to the edge of their small ledge and looked upward. The good news was that it was a large rift cliff and continued up for as far as his illumination allowed him to see. The downside was it was a sheer face, and it meant most of it would have to be done as a free climb.
One of the things they taught you in basic speleological training was to never climb when drunk, sick, or tired. You made mistakes. And a single mistake on a sheer face meant death.
“Michael.” Andy lifted his chin.
“Yeah?” Michael turned.
“Do you think we’ll still win that award?” He grinned.
They laughed, hard, and all of them sounded a little mad. But it felt good.
“They damn well better give it to us.” He pounded the meat of his fist against the rock face as he took one last look upward. His smile fell away. “Okay, boys and girls, last lap.”
Michael closed his eyes for a moment, and a line from an old classic story crept into his mind: long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.
It was from Milton’s Paradise Lost, written over 400 years ago. About the same time Arkady Saknussov was writing his manuscript. One man wrote of an inner Earth paradise that was lost, and another theorized about a hidden paradise to be found.
He opened his eyes.
Out of Hell leads up to light. Michael used the tips of his fingers to hang onto a half-inch extrusion of stone. He lifted his leg to rest the side on a small jutting rock and then levered himself up another few feet—the fingers, arms, and shoulders were important, but the powerful legs did a lot of the work. And by now, they screamed at every inch he stole up the dark rock face. He lifted his hand to the next hold.
Their world shrunk to only being the next few feet, as what was going on hundreds of feet a
bove didn’t matter, because unless you climbed the next two, you were never going to get to the next two hundred. Inch after inch, foot after foot, and every fraction was fought for and was agony.
Michael found a small ledge and rested his elbows on it. “How we all doin’?”
The team had spread out a little. Andy was the lowest, down and to his left, and Maggie and Jane were just to his right, with Jane slightly up front.
“Good, but gonna need one hellova manicure,” Maggie shouted back.
“Amen to that,” Jane replied.
“Hurtin’, but still tracking okay,” Andy yelled up at them.
Michael liked that they still had a few ounces of good spirits left. It all helped. He looked upward but there was nothing to see but blackness. His halo of blue light was shrinking, but he had to fight the urge to try and rush. One slip, and it was over. He took a deep breath and continued.
Tock.
Michael frowned and paused.
Tock.
“You hear that?” he asked.
“Water dripping?” Jane turned her head.
Tock.
“Yeah, I hear it. Coming from below us, I think,” Andy said. He tried to look over his shoulder but was constrained by the angle of his shoulders.
“Weird.” The hair on the back of Michael’s neck prickled.
He levered himself up onto his little ledge a fraction more and carefully reached into his pouch for one of his last shards of glowing crystal. They were only a pale blue now and distressingly, all seemed to be giving up at once.
He let the crystal fall, and it plummeted down the rock face, past Andy, and threw a small ball of blue light as it dropped.
As he watched, the breath caught in his throat—about 50 feet below his friend he saw a pale body clinging to the wall. Michael only saw it for a second or two but it was as big as a man and hanging on with strong claws on each hand.
Michael swallowed down his fear. “Andy, ah, keep coming to me, buddy.”
Tock, tock.
“What’s up?” Andy tried to look over his shoulder again. “That damn sound is still here.”
“Just. Come. To me.” Michael urged in the calmest voice he could muster.