There was a dull whoosh accompanied by a gush of flame and sparks, as the second oil container disgorged its contents into the inferno that now raged in the tunnel.
They waited for a time after the flames had died down, just in case some vestige of life remained in the creature, but all was still except for the odd little twists of smoke that drifted up from the remains on the passage floor.
The group advanced slowly until they were about half way through the mess, and then they all took to their heels and fairly belted up the passage to get clear of the nightmare.
Kal noticed a sadness had fallen over the little group, as they mourned the loss of their companion, and he too felt the loss.
The little people seemed to not only advance in their ability to learn and think things out for themselves, but their emotions and appreciation for things was growing.
This was a development that usually took many generations in other races, but with these people it was speeded up considerably, to a point which was very noticeable.
The climb up the tunnel was getting steep again, and frequent rests had to be taken. Just ahead the ways divided into three separate exits, and the dilemma which now faced them was which one to take.
Kal saw that one of the openings showed markings as thought it had been cut or enlarged, and so that one was chosen as it probably led to the workings above from which they had descended earlier.
They didn’t know where they would come out, or even if they would reach the surface for sure, but as they had no option other than to press on, they did so.
The passageway now took on a definite look of having been cut, so this cheered them up considerably and the pace increased accordingly. Kal wondered, as they forged ahead, what other strange creatures these mountains held within them, and whether it would be worth their while setting up a special expedition to explore the tunnels.
There was great excitement as one of the party recognized a mark on the wall that they had made on their way into the tunnel complex. The only problem was, which way to go, as the mark on the wall was at an intersection which they had just come out of, and there was no indication as to the direction the party had taken when the mark was made.
They remembered the air flow on the way in had been behind them for some distance, but they couldn’t feel anything now. While they all stood around wondering what to do, one of the little ones gathered up some fine dust from the floor of the passageway, and holding his hand in the light of the lamp, let the dust gently trickle from it.
There was a slight drifting of the dust in one direction, so they knew that the way out must be the opposite one, and set off as fast as their weary legs would carry them. Kal thought that the ‘dust test’ was yet another example of the brightness of these people, as he had not thought of doing it, and yet again wondered just how advanced they would get in time and with the right stimuli.
As they progressed along the tunnel, more of the markings came into view, and they knew for sure that they were on the way out of the complex.
It had been a difficult journey, and they had learned a lot from it, but the relief when it was over was very evident.
The main tunnel was entered at long last, and they positively hurried along and out into the bright light of day, or evening, as the sun had dipped towards the horizon.
The greeting they received from the rest of the crew of the steam wagon was quite overwhelming, and a surprise to Kal. It was as if they had been away for many years and the rumour had gone around that they were all dead.
This was another indication that the little people were changing, or maybe, hidden or repressed feelings were now coming to the fore.
The evening meal was an almost joyous occasion, and went on for a long time interspersed with much story telling. Kal wished he could have joined in more fully with it, but was limited to his sketches of events, which were looked upon with what amounted to reverence.
‘There’s no substitute for a good old chat’ he thought, and wistfully watched the others squeaking and whistling away for all they were worth.
That night they all slept very soundly, and were not disturbed by the visit they had from something very large and possibly hungry.
The safety shields had been put up as a matter of course, and it was just as well that they had been.
Pad marks deeply impressed in the areas of sand denoted something heavy had come this way, and one of the bronze safety sheets on the side of the wagon had been bent back, as though something very strong had tried to force an entry.
The bronze sheets were very tough and it must have taken a lot of force to have bent the damaged one so out of shape, and Kal was surprised that no one had heard the attempt to get at the wagons contents.
This was something new to them all, and caused some consternation on the part of the little ones, as to them the visitor must have seemed colossal.
Kal was not too keen to meet it either, and set about following the tracks with an armed guard, to see if it was still in the vicinity, but the trail faded out as it crossed a rocky area, and could not be picked up again.
Extra guards were to be posted at night now, and would work in shifts, sitting in the driving seat of the wagon as this gave the best all round view from the vehicle.
As no one wanted to go back into the tunnel system for a while, it was decided to go back down the track and continue along the base of the mountain range; to see what else there was of interest.
The bag of crystals interested those of the crew who had remained on the wagon during the expedition, and a small crystal was used to demonstrate the electric effect for those who were willing to try it.
Kal thought that it might make some of them think up some uses for the crystals, although thinking back to his academy and training days, he had already got some ideas on the subject.
The journey down the track was mostly uneventful, except for two places where the steepness of the slope gave them a little more forward speed than they would have liked.
This meant that there was going to have to be a modification to the braking system, as soon as they returned to the compound.
The vegetation was beginning to get a little sparser as they travelled along, and the food stocks were topped up and water levels checked to make sure that they had the maximum quantity on board.
The steam engine used up quite a lot of water, and without a renewable supply the wagon would have been as much use as a fishnet in the desert. Fuel for the engine was not limited to charcoal, as wood could be used, but it did make a lot of smoke, and the crew much preferred the almost smokeless charcoal.
Midday brought them to the first area of open water they had seen since the pool rocks back at the compound. It was only a small lake, but made a pleasant change from the usual surroundings. It was fringed with an assortment of growths, all jostling for premier position at the water’s edge, and quite a few new varieties were to be seen.
Kal stopped the wagon in a clear space well away from the water’s edge, as anything new had to be checked out for safety before liberties were taken.
Some of the crew began collecting water for the main storage tank, while others stood guard on the water party. A few dead trees were found, cut up, and added to the fuel supply, before a meal break was taken.
Kal wanted to have a swim and tried to get the concept over to his friends. At first they seemed horrified at the idea of actually going into the water, but gradually interest was shown in him going in, but they thought water was only for drinking.
The idea of washing the body with water was something new to them, and Kal tried to explain his need to bathe. But as they didn’t, and seemed as though they didn’t need to, there was little understanding of the whole concept.
He had noticed without thinking much about it, that they didn’t have a body odour as such in his terms, only a slight musky smell that was not at all unpleasant.
After the area had been checked out for carnivorous plants and other unwelco
me items, and the water closely looked at and poked with a spear, Kal took off his clothes and slowly walked in.
It was very pleasant and cooling, and as he could see the sandy gravel that formed the bed of the lake, he felt fairly safe. By the time the water was up to his waist the onlookers were beginning to get a little nervous, and signalled for him to come in.
The bottom was still in clear view, there were no fish or anything else moving about in the water, so he lowered his body and began to swim. The look of sheer horror on the faces of his friends was something to behold, as it must have been the first time that they had seen such a spectacle.
Kal swam on until he was well out of his depth and dived down for a metre or so, surfacing some distance away. This did cause some concern, and he was sorry to have caused the little ones such an unnecessary fear.
He turned and swam as fast as he could for the lake side to demonstrate his prowess as a swimmer, not that it cut much ice with the audience, but he felt good about it.
As he stepped ashore there was a small tidal wave racing across the waters towards him, and he turned in disbelief as a vicious set of jaws set in a very ugly head broke surface a mere three metres away from him.
The water monster was all head, or so it seemed. There was a very small body with a disproportionately large set of driving fins, and a tail that looked as if it was capable of cutting him in two with one flick.
The creature had, in its enthusiasm to convert him into a meal, beached itself, and was not able at first to return to water deep enough to swim in.
As it thrashed about in its frustration, they all had a good look at a very proficient killing machine doing its best to take it’s revenge on the shallows, as if were their fault that lunch had got away.
Somehow Kal had lost interest in the water, and didn’t think he would go for another swim just yet. He was still shaking some minutes later after the monster had churned its way out into deep water, and swam off.
After things had returned to as near normal as they were going to for a couple of hours, the leader of the crew came to Kal with his sketch block, and very sternly forbade him to go swimming again.
There was no mistaking the authority displayed in his manner, and Kal felt for the first time that he was no longer the boss of the expedition.
In a way it was nice to know that they felt that much for him, but it also drove home the point that they were looking after their own interests in no uncertain manner, and would brook no nonsense.
A meal seemed to put things back into perspective, and the local vegetation was checked out for new edibles to add to the food store. They somehow knew what they could eat safely, or they had a sense that Kal didn’t recognize.
He found only one new item, but it was worth waiting for. A large melon-like growth was found in the middle of a collection of the most vicious spine covered leaves he had ever seen. It took a while to strip enough of the leaves away to enable them to get at the fruit, which was a dull grey colour, and therefore possibly safe to eat.
It proved to be not only edible, but of the most delicious flavour he had ever tasted. He could not believe his luck, and was on the lookout for the hidden catch, but there didn’t seem to be one, as yet.
The troupe got underway for the afternoon stretch of their quest, and followed the edge of the mountain range as before.
After the lake, the vegetation diminished considerably, with only the occasional small area of gross and its accompanying plants.
It would seem that water was getting in short supply as far as the ground was concerned, and only when there was an up welling from the subterranean water table could plants survive. Of course it could have been that the underlying rock was very near the surface, and didn’t give the plants much of a chance.
On the horizon there was a large dark shape. They couldn’t make out what it was from this distance, but thought it might be a lone rock or possibly a clump of trees. It looked out of place because of its size and isolated from anything else.
The steam wagon puffed along its way, eating up the kilometres as it went, and the dark shape drew nearer.
They had stopped, for no reason that anyone could understand, except that it had seemed a good idea. There was an area of very inviting sand just off to the side of the wagon, and the crew disembarked to go and investigate it.
Most had gathered a metre or so from the edge of the ‘sand lake’, for that was what it looked like, and Kal joined them.
There was something compelling about the sand. It was clean and silvery and looked soft and inviting and it would be nice to touch it and we would all feel so much better if we did and .... Kal let out a shriek at the highest frequency that he was capable of.
They were all going into a trance, and who knows what they would have done if all control had been lost. He had seen a movement out in the middle of the sand area, and this was quickly followed by several slight quivers of the sand in many different places.
Kal motioned them all back a few metres and a dazed huddle of travellers looked at him for the next instruction.
A few seconds later and the effect had worn off, and they all realized what had happened.
It was the first time he had seen what he thought to be anger displayed on their faces. Kal went back to the wagon and picked up a small selection of food stuffs.
Throwing the collection as far as possible out across the sand, they saw the whole area became alive as hundreds, possibly thousands, of ‘something’s’ wriggled their way to the food.
Except that wriggle was not the right word because of the speed involved. It was about as fast as he could run, when going at full tilt.
In seconds there was nothing left to indicate that anything had ever been there, except the lovely inviting sands which.... here it was again, and Kal shook his head as though there was something nasty in his ear.
The others cottoned on quickly, and shook their heads to clear them. This was one of the most dangerous things they had yet come across.
It was one thing meeting a six legged tiger, a plant that caught you in its whip like tentacles or something that tried to make you think it was a pool of water in order to catch you, but when something could get at your mind and override your conscious thoughts it was time to take note, and clear the area until you knew a little more about it.
There was something, or a lot of something’s, out there in the sand that did just that. The temptation was too much for Kal, as he had to know what it was, and set about trying to catch one.
He tried to remember which bait had been taken the most earnestly, and decided it all was, so it didn’t matter what he used as long as it represented food to ‘them’. The sketch block came out, and he showed the crew what he wanted them to do.
A quantity of fruit was lashed to one end of a pole and a long rope attached to the other end. A team of the little people held the free end of the rope while Kal threw the baited pole out across the sand lake as far as possible, being very careful not to get too near the edge, and keep his mind on what he was doing.
They hardly had time to take up the strain on the rope before they had a catch. The rope was hauled in, and on the end of the pole was a collection of very unpleasant looking worm like creatures.
They differed in size and colour, although the colours were mainly dark greens and greys through to black. A large head with teeth out of a nightmare completed the business end of the creature while the body tapered off to a thin whip like tail with barbs on it.
As the pole came ashore most of the little horrors dropped off and wriggled back into the sand, but one didn’t quite make it, as it had driven the barbed tail into a piece of fruit and couldn’t release it.
The bright light must have caused it some discomfort as it tried to bury its ugly head in the hard ground. Kal grabbed the pole and holding the creature down firmly with it, worked his way along the pole to get a better view.
Waves of fear with a hint of pain swept over him and he was ne
arly sick. Kal realized that the nearer he got to the creature, the stronger the feelings were getting.
He forced his attention on what he was doing despite the strange impulses he was picking up from the creature on the end of his pole.
‘If it can send thoughts, then it should be able to receive them’ Kal reasoned, and he strongly thought a picture of searing white heat blasting down on the creature.
The light or something must have got to it, for it gave a final wriggle and then lay still. Kal was taking no chances and gave it a poke with his foot, but it was dead.
Closer examination showed that the barbed tail was driven into the prey so that the head end could get a good purchase and go to work with the teeth.
Having gleaned all the information from the carcass that he was able, Kal pushed it towards the lake of sand, and as it touched the edge something waiting therein grabbed hold of it, and it was gone.
A little of the sand had stuck to the pole, as it had been moistened by the juice from one of the fruits, and Kal took a good look at it. There were a few grains of genuine quartz sand particles present, but most of it was made up of crunched up bones. He gave a little shudder as he realized the potential of those teeth. He would steer well clear of any sand lakes that came into view in the future.
The team were badly shaken by the experience, as they had been so easily taken over, as it were, and were not likely to forget it for a long time.
If the sand lake could contain creatures like this, where else might they be? This was not a pleasant thought, and Kal tried to forget about it, but the idea wouldn’t go away.
They all piled back into the wagon, a very quiet and sombre little group, thinking their own thoughts no doubt, which were probably not too far removed from those of Kal.
They chugged on for a few more hours, but all the jolliness had gone out of the expedition.
It had shaken the little people far more that Kal had realized, and so he called a halt to the journey as soon as they came to a pleasant and safe looking spot, although there was still plenty of light left for travelling.
The Inosculation Syndrome Page 15