Tunnels 03, Freefall

-- are the same. People stay with what they've got, although, underneath, they're not really happy. I'm sorry to say that your mother and I had grown apart. You must have seen it."
    "But it doesn't need to be like that," Will threw back at him, becoming very upset. "You don't just give up. You didn't try hard enough!"
    "I'm trying right now," Dr. Burrows replied. "I'm trying to do something to make people proud of me. I'm trying to make you proud of me."
    "Don't bother," Will grunted disdainfully, pulling his jacket collar up around his neck and crossing his arms over his chest.

    * * * * *

    They both slept, and barely spoke to each other as they climbed back into the launch to continue their journey. Again they skipped a refueling point, knowing that if they made a push for it and kept going, they should arrive back in the underground harbor in under twenty-four hours.
    And so, after a day and a half of traveling, the barrier across the channel which housed the hydroelectric turbines loomed in front of them. Will was at the prow but due to his fatigue, he wasn't as alert as he should have been. He only spotted it at the last moment, shouting a warning to his father. It didn't give Dr. Burrows much time to maneuver. He had to open the throttle fully in order to power them around the corner and into the harbor. He clipped the wall of the archway as he went, splintering the top of the hull. But the damage wasn't serious and, now in the calm waters, he finally cut the engine and they coasted slowly towards the pier.
    The brightness of the overhead lights making him squint, Will grabbed hold of a bollard, then leapt from the boat and onto the pier in a single effortless bound.
    "Bet you're happier now you've got your super-powers back," Dr. Burrows laughed, trying his best to relieve the tension between them. "Let's unload all the kit, and then get ourselves dry."
    "Dad," Will began, as he squatted at the side of the pier. He might still be angry with his father, but he knew he had to get on with him if they were going to achieve anything. "We've come all this way again, but we don't really have any sort of plan, do we?"
    "Sure we do. I've got a set of directions, which are almost complete," Dr. Burrows countered.
    "but you still don't have any idea where the map starts from."
    "The tablets say the route begins in the place with the falling sea , and by the single stone , if my translation is accurate. And that's likely to be somewhere near the sub, because I believe that "single stone" could be the one in the submariner's photograph. And also you think brine -- sea water -- is falling down the inside of the void. Sounds promising to me."
    "Fine, but the submarine's not there anymore, now Elliott's blown a big part of the void to smithereens, and before I do anything else I'm going to find my friends. And then I need to make sure the Rebecca twins and the Limiter are out of action."
    Dr. Burrows looked up at Will on the pier and took a deep breath. "Then we've got an awful lot to do," he said.

    * * * * *

    Drake held back at the bottom of the steps as Mrs. Burrows knocked on Ben Wilbrahams' front door. He answered, wearing a silk dressing gown and slippers.
    "Celia!" he said with surprise. He moved his glasses from where they were resting on the top of his head and put them on properly. "I didn't expect to... see..." His voice petered out as his eyes fell on Drake, who was staring coldly at him from the pavement.
    "Let's just drop the pleasantries," Mrs. Burrows said, her voice uncompromising. She thrust her hands into her leather jacket and turned her head to regard the street, curling her lip with disdain. She didn't bother to look at Ben Wilbrahams as she spoke, as if the sight of him was distasteful to her. "Tell your friends we have something they want. We have information about the twins and the virus they had with them."
    "My friends? The virus?" Ben Wilbrahams asked.
    "I'm not in the mood to dance with you!" Mrs. Burrows barked, only now turning to look at him. "So don't waste my time. You know precisely what I'm talking about. I'm prepared to do a deal with the Styx. Tell them they can have Dominion and the twins, but in return they're to leave me and my family alone. And I'll only do a deal with someone who can give me the right assurances, so I want a parley with their Mr. Big."
    Ben Wilbrahams blinked, but didn't say a word.
    "I know precisely what the grey-haired Styx looks like, so tell them not to try to