Tunnels 03, Freefall

that was perhaps the size of two football fields, although it was difficult to tell precisely how far it extended.
    Will spotted a large section of rock a little distance away and, with several massive strides leapt onto it. With the reduced gravitational pull, it had hardly taken any effort.
    "Yes, I think I can see the edge over there... it's a hundred feet or so away." From his elevated position he could just make out where the fungal growth ended. But the lens gave him the ability to see much farther than this, to the titanic void of the Pore itself. He could even make out its far wall, which appeared craggy, and shone as if water was running down it. "Jesus, Chester, we fell down one almighty hole!" he whispered, as the sight brought home to him the scale of the Pore. He was struck with the thought that it must be rather like glimpsing the sheer face of Mount Everest through the window of a passing aeroplane.
    Then Will turned his attention to what was above them. "And I reckon we've got another ledge right over us." Chester was squinting up at where his friend was looking, but nothing was visible to him through the heavy blanket of darkness that enveloped everything. "It's not as big as the one we're on," Will informed him. "And it's got holes in it." As he examined these, he wondered if they were the result of boulders and rocks slamming into it and tearing large rents.
    "Anything else?" Chester asked.
    "Hang on," Will said as he moved his head to get a better view.
    "Yes?" Chester pressed. "What can you--?"
    "Just be quiet for a second, will you?" Will said distractedly, as a series of objects caught his eye. They were regular and patently not formed by nature, not even by the strange forces of subterranean nature that never ceased to surprise him. They just didn't fit in. "There's something very odd up there," he said quickly as he pointed. "There, right on the edge of the shelf."
    "Where?" Chester asked.
    Several seconds passed as the view through Will's lens fizzled with static then cleared down again. "Yes, there are loads of them. They look like..." He tailed off, sounding unsure of himself.
    "Well?" Chester prompted.
    "From what I can see they could be nets , in some sort of frames," Will said. "Which means we might not be alone down her," he added, "however far we've fallen."
    Chester absorbed this piece of information, then blurted, "Do you think it's the Styx?" He was suddenly terrified that they might be in danger again.
    "I don't know, but there's..." Will began, then his voice dried up.
    "What?" Chester asked.
    When Will finally spoke again, it was difficult for Chester to hear him. "I think there's a body in one of them," he murmured.
    Guessing what might be coming next, Chester didn't speak as he watched Will begin to tremble.
    "Oh, God. I think Cal's up there," Will said, staring in horror at the body spread-eagled on the net that Chester had no way of seeing.
    "Er, Will," Chester said tentatively.
    "Yes?"
    "It might not be Cal -- it might be Elliott."
    "Could be, but it looks like Cal," Will said haltingly.
    "Whoever it is, we still need to search for the other one. If it isn't Elliott, she might still be--" Chester swallowed the last word, but Will was only too aware what it was intended to be.
    " Alive ," he said. He wheeled around to face Chester, breathing fast with emotion. "God, will you listen to us! We're talking about living and dying as if we're discussing some bloody exam result or something. All this is turning us on our heads."
    Chester tried to interrupt, but Will wasn't to be stopped.
    "My brother's probably up there, and he's dead. And my dad. Uncle Tam, Granny Macaulay... they're all dead too. Everyone dies around us. And we just carry on as if it's quite normal. What have we become?"
    Chester had had quite enough. He yelled at Will.
    There's nothing we can do about any of that now! If those twins had got their stinking hands on us, we'd all be dead right now, and we wouldn't be having this half-arsed conversation!" His raised voice resounded around the place as Will watched him, startled by his friend's precipitant anger. "Now get down from there and help me to find the one person who might just get us home!"
    Will considered his friend in silence then jumped down. "Yes, you're right," he said, adding, "as usual."
    As they made their way across the fungus, the prospect of actually finding Elliott filled them both with unremitting dread.
    "This is where I hit the deck,"