by JC Ryan
JR was attempting to think of all the possible outcomes of this exercise. It was possible they would find other passageways out, but he had a hunch they would all lead back to the cave system, and he doubted that surrounded them all the way around within the canyon walls. If they did find their way back to a cave system, how would they know it was their cave system? They could wander for days without finding another exit to the canyon where they’d entered, and if they came out somewhere else, how would they know which direction to go to get to the base? Did they have the resources to get back to base on foot with winter storms coming on or already raging? He doubted it. It was more likely that their real problems would only begin if and when they found a way out of the cave system.
None of JR’s musings gave him much comfort. The only thing that made much sense to him was that they figure out some kind of shelter here in this hidden and temperate valley until the next austral summer. But that begged the question, how would they know when that was? They might have to wait for rescue, but would rescuers come if they were thought dead?
Around and around, his thoughts chased each other until he found himself asking the same questions. Finally, he tore his thoughts from them, resolved to cross each bridge as he came to it, and firmly told himself to think of something else. His eyes alighting on Rebecca’s shapely backside, he began to wonder if he’d ever have a chance with her. The chief question was whether he could ever be good enough for her, but another was how could he attract her positive attention?
She was one of Sarah’s best friends, and reminded him so much of Sarah that it was as if Sarah were with them. Not only in looks, but in temperament, too. JR grinned. That meant he’d better get his act together, because he’d been on the receiving end of several of Sarah’s scoldings about his irresponsibility, and he was pretty certain Rebecca would feel the same way. It delighted him, then, when she dropped back from her position beside Cyndi to tease him.
“JR, I’ve learned something new about psychology today,” she said with a grin.
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Why, that singing opera cures claustrophobia, of course.” All three of them had a laugh, unfortunately at Charles Summers’ expense, but they would never tell of his failing. Confessing it was up to him, and if he never did, well, they’d cross that bridge when they came to it.
~~~
In contrast, Robert and Angela were highly alert as they made their way through the center of the valley. They were looking for any sign of man-made structures, as well as the geothermal sources. The path they started out on came to an abrupt end at a broad expanse of green grass, backed by closely-planted tall deciduous trees in full leaf. At least, they assumed the trees were deciduous. They didn’t look like any evergreens that either of them had seen before, and that covered a lot since Angela was North American and Robert Australian. Angela quickly sketched in the natural barrier, with the caption ‘Park?’ as they turned right to seek a way around. Thick mist wove its way through the trunks of the trees and rose when it reached the relatively open area where they stood.
What felt to Robert like about a mile later, their path intersected with another and they turned left to resume their cross-valley journey.
“Angela, does it seem like it’s been daylight for a really long time?” Robert asked.
“Yeah, now that you mention it, it does. And what’s weird is, there are no really long shadows. It’s almost twilight most of the time outside of here. What’s making this light?”
“I’d like to find that out myself, but I’ve looked up and all I can see is mist high above our heads. Can’t even see the tops of the canyon walls. I’m thinking the external conditions meeting the rising heat from inside here is what’s causing that. But, I can’t see a light source, and you’d think we could. It’s got to be coming from directly in the center of the valley to not cast shadows.”
Angela looked up, stopping so she wouldn’t run into something as she searched the ceiling, for that’s what the mist seemed to be, for a source of the ambient light. The mist was as evenly lit as the rest of the valley.
“It’s kind of creepy,” she admitted.
“No more so than the Pole at midsummer, right?” Robert asked.
“It isn’t like a sun. More like a huge room lit by fluorescent light. It’s more white than yellow. Does that make any sense?”
“Well, it makes me want to climb these canyon walls and find out if there’s actually a ceiling up there, with a bunch of tubes. Man, that would be something, wouldn’t it? A fluorescent tube that lasts over thirty thousand years?”
Angela laughed at his whimsy. There had to be a different explanation, but now they’d noticed the quality of the light, they couldn’t get it out of their minds that they were in an observation gallery of some kind, perhaps even now entertaining the indescribable beings that watched them. It made them look up and cringe now and then, though the notion was silly.
After another couple of miles, they came to another intersection, and decided to turn left again. If they found yet another after a mile, they’d be back on their original course by turning right. Angela wished there were time to follow each path to its conclusion, to get an accurate map of the interior, but of course there’d be time later, when the current crisis had been resolved.
~~~
Summers was much happier to be out of the cave and almost back to his normal self. Unlike Robert and JR, he took the point position and expected Carmen to keep up with him, which she did without complaint. With Summers leading and no one else to see, she had time to think and no need to guard her expression. Carmen had suspected that Roosky was OS, and she found the timing of the avalanche to be highly suspicious. What she intended to do about it remained to be seen, but if she ever had occasion to encounter him again, she’d have something harsh to say to him, at the very least.
The good news was that he wouldn’t have been acting alone. Even now, it was probable that other OS operatives were on the way to their location. That would give her an opportunity to escape this enclosed valley, but she’d be back. The wealth of slightly different botanical forms hinted at an equal wealth of microbiological specimens that would bear further study and assure her a place in the history of the science for years to come. What she wouldn’t give for her specimen collection kit right now!
Summers was humming tunelessly ahead. He seemed to have recovered completely from his bout of claustrophobia. However, they had traded the confined area of the cave for another enclosed area, though admittedly a much larger one. What he would do if they did find an aperture leading back into the mountain and perhaps outside was a question for which she wasn’t anxious to have the answer. It would be bad enough trying to make their way through another maze like the one that had led them in, without having a quivering wreck of a claustrophobic as her only help. Carmen decided at that thought that if they did find a passage into the canyon wall, she would leave Summers behind if possible, and explore only far enough to determine whether it was worth going further before meeting the others.
Lost in thought, Carmen almost ran into Summers when he stopped abruptly. He’d started shaking, so she looked fearfully at what he had his eyes fixed on. It was an opening in the canyon wall…a possible way out, but clearly another cave. Now she knew what he’d do…he’d fall apart again. She was glad she’d figured out a Plan B.
Carmen put her hand on Summers’ arm to calm him. “Charles, there’s no need for you to go in there. I’ll go in and see if it goes anywhere. You wait here. If it looks promising, we can go on to meet the others as planned, and then come back here.”
Summers was ashamed of his weakness, but he couldn’t face another cave. He hung his head. “You’ll come right back out if it branches too much, or gets tight, yes? I don’t want you to get lost or get stuck.”
“I will. Just sit here and wait. Give me the rope, and I’ll be out in less than an hour, okay? But, please don’t go anywhere. I don’t know what I’d do if we
became separated.”
That little hint that she still relied on him for something restored Summers’ self-esteem to some extent, and he straightened. “Of course. I’ll be right here when you come out.” Looking around, he found a vine-covered protuberance about bench-high and sat down. “Right here. But, hurry!”
Carmen smiled at Summers and ducked into the cleft they’d found, delighted to learn that it opened out within only a few feet into a large room, larger than the main room of the first cave. She wondered if the two caves met up somewhere, as they hadn’t traveled all that far before finding this opening. Her flashlight was growing dim, and she had only one spare set of batteries left, so she was trying to wait to change them. Something caught her eye, a movement perhaps, and she went on full alert, cursing herself for waiting on the batteries. She was peering into the gloom where she’d seen whatever it was when a person appeared, dressed in white snow gear and carrying a Kalashnikov automatic rifle, which was pointed directly at her. She raised her arms.
Chapter 25 – A Rift In The Wall
A little over six hours after they parted ways, JR and the women with him rounded a large boulder to find Robert waiting on the other side. Rebecca’s eyes widened to see him alone, but before she could ask, JR barked.
“Where’s Ange? Why did you separate?”
“Don’t get your knickers in a knot, mate. She needed a bit of privacy. She’s only over there a few yards.” He waved into a dense tangle of vines that were laden with something that looked like blackberries.
JR relaxed, and muttered, “Sorry.”
“No worries. Did you find anything?”
“Nothing. Ran into a couple of places where the canyon walls jutted out into the valley so we had to go around them. You?”
“Nothing definite. There’s a large square more or less in the center that we had to circumnavigate, but we didn’t see any sign of the geothermal outlets, nor a magnetic source. I’d like to go back and explore within that square. It’s about eight miles around, assuming the other side was regular, like the side we took. The trees along the perimeter were so dense that there could have been a regular power plant in there, for all we know.”
“All in good time. If I’m not mistaken, we’ve been gone from the camp for at least a full day. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Agreed. It will still be here next year, I’m sure. Say, have you noticed that the light in here is weird?”
“Yeah, it’s too bright for the time of year. And it hasn’t varied since we’ve been here. It’s almost artificial, isn’t it? One more thing to find an explanation for when we come back.”
“Can’t wait for that, mate! I haven’t even had time to pick up any samples of the rocks ‘round here.”
“Do you have a theory about them?”
”Bloody oath, it’s igneous. If I had to guess, I’d say we’re in the crater of a dormant volcano. That’s what’s keeping it warm, the geothermal source under us. But damned if I know what the light is.”
Angela emerged from the vines at that point and greeted the others, giving each a hug as if she hadn’t seen them just six hours before. “What now?” she asked.
Instinctively, everyone looked to JR, a fact that Rebecca didn’t miss. What was it about him? No matter what kind of screw-ups he’d pulled earlier in the expedition, he was clearly their leader now. Even his bearing showed it. Instead of the lazy slouch that he affected at home, he was standing tall and confident, looking into the distance where Summers and Carmen should be.
“They shouldn’t have been as slow as we were,” he said, looking apologetically at Cyndi, who nodded. “They must have found something. Let’s all go to meet them. It’ll save time, no use making them come all the way to us.”
As one, they turned and fell into walking pairs, with JR in the lead. Angela and Cyndi wanted to catch up on the sights they’d seen, and Robert was happy to be walking beside Rebecca. Rebecca, however, had her eyes on the retreating form of JR, who, forgetting his stride would soon leave the rest behind, was pulling away from the pack. “JR, wait up!” she called. He didn’t turn, but he did slow down so they could keep up. He felt a sense of responsibility to get these people out and to the base in time to get them home, but time was running out.
As he went, JR’s eyes roamed constantly. He’d seen no animals here, nor spoor nor tracks, large or small. He hadn’t even seen any birds. If they couldn’t get back to base, the best thing would be to stay in this valley where there was fresh water and fruit at least. Could human beings survive on nothing but fruit for six months? He’d have to ask Rebecca. The other question, though, was whether they could stand each other’s’ company for that long.
It hadn’t escaped his notice that there was sexual tension within the group, or that the nominal leader, Summers, was not one of the favored males. With four women and only three men, it was likely to get dicey, especially if all the men, or at least the two younger men, wanted the same woman. He liked Robert all right, but if the man made a move on Rebecca, there’d be a price to pay.
Abruptly, he stopped. Ahead was a rift in the canyon wall, but there was no sign of Summers or Carmen. As the others caught up, he pointed ahead. They would have to explore the rift, in case Carmen and Summers either hadn’t gotten here yet or were somewhere inside it. JR cataloged his options. He could go in with one of the women, send Robert in with one of the women, or leave all of the women on guard outside here and go in with Robert. He’d seen no sign of anything dangerous in the several hours they’d been in the valley, so he preferred the third option.
“You girls stay outside here, in case Summers and Carmen are still on their way. Robert and I will reconnoiter and come back out to get you one way or another. Can any of you accurately estimate when an hour has passed?” Rebecca raised her hand.
“Okay, if we’re not out in an hour, two of you keep going to find Summers and Carmen, and the other stay here. Agreed?”
Nods all around assured him he was understood, and without another word he plunged into the rift with Robert on his heels. Immediately, he sensed there was something different about this one. It was tall and narrow, and he could still see the strange, white-mist-filled sky after traveling several yards. He stopped and turned to consult with Robert. “This doesn’t seem to be a cave. Is it possible it goes all the way through to the outside?”
“We’ll know in a little while, I reckon. If it doesn’t peter out and it gets colder, I’d say there’s a chance.” JR grinned and gave Robert a fist-bump.
“Let’s hope.”
Robert wasn’t as sanguine. By the rough map in his head, even if they came out of the valley and back onto the ice by this route, they were at least four or five miles from where they’d gone in, with the mountain between them and the canyon where the Sno-Cat hopefully waited for them. If the winds were high, they wouldn’t survive that trek. When the rift reached a point where they were blocked from forward progress without a technical climb they weren’t equipped for, he didn’t know whether to be glad or sorry.
JR was definitely dejected. Robert put his hand on JR’s shoulder and said, “Sorry, mate.”
“No worries,” JR grinned. “I’m certain Summers and Carmen have found something, otherwise we’d have met up with them by now. Let’s get out of here.” He took point again as they retraced their steps, arriving well before the hour was up.
Chapter 26 – A Visit From The OS
“Septentrio,” Carmen blurted.
The person carrying the rifle lowered it, slowly and gave the countersign. “North”
Carmen breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her arms.
“Ich bin froh, Sie zu sehen,” she said.
“English, please. We don’t all speak German.”
“I’m glad to see you.”
As she absorbed this, five more figures appeared. They could have been clones, they were all so alike. Well over six feet tall, clearly well-built even though the bulky snow gear obscured thei
r bodies. Identical weapons. The leader questioned her.
“What are you doing here? Where did you come from?”
With some asperity, she answered. “The same thing you’re doing here, except that stupid Russian brought the mountain down on us and I was trapped with the others inside the cave. Please tell me he was buried in the avalanche.”
A grim smile broke the serious countenance of the OS team leader. “I’m afraid not. He reported there was a cave and left us a marker where the opening should be. He’s enjoying the fruit of his labors in Moscow by now.”
“Too bad, I would have enjoyed making him aware of my displeasure. Did he not know I was OS?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t spoken to him. But, quickly, where is the rest of your party? We have orders to terminate them and secure this cave system. What are we going to do about you?”
A wash of fear went through Carmen, before she steeled herself to negotiate. “Take me out with you. I’ll change my appearance, become a new person. No one will ever know I was rescued; they’ll think I was lost with the rest of them. I’ll help you with the others. What’s your name, anyway?”
“Pyotr. I think we can arrange that. Tell me who is in here with us, and how we should take them.”
“First, you need to know they aren’t ‘in here’. A few feet from here is an opening into a hidden valley. You’re not going to believe what you’ll see there. But, to answer your question, the science director, Charles Summers is sitting right outside the opening. Elsewhere in the valley are Robert Cartwright, the geologist and Angela Brown, the cartographer. They’re progressing from the opening that let us out here across the valley through the center. Robert says there’s a geothermal source somewhere. The valley is warm, you have to see it for yourself.”