Tunnels 03, Freefall

failed. But at least she'd tried. She was proud of that, even if she was about to die.

34

    As Will and his father traveled further down the passage, they came into a section sheathed in fungus.
    "I never thought I'd be pleased to be in mushroom land again," Will said, knowing that it meant that they were getting close to where the submarine had been. Then, as they heard the sound of falling water, they finally came to the end of the passage. "The void," Will said.
    For a while they both stared out into the darkness, trying to catch their breath. Dumping his Bergens, Will leant out as far as he dared from the mouth of the passage to investigate what lay below.
    "Got anything?" Dr. Burrows asked as Will came back inside.
    "No -- we're on some sort of overhang so I can't see much."
    "Bloody marvelous," Dr. Burrows complained. "I suppose we're going to have to retrace our steps and try the next offshoot?"
    Will was already pulling a climbing rope from one of his Bergens. "This will be quicker," he said, scanning around for something to secure it to. He stepped slowly back from the void and further into the tunnel until he spotted a boulder. Looping the rope around it, he knotted it. Then he went back to the void and played the rope out.
    "You should take this," he said, passing his father one of the aerosol cans. Then he sprayed himself with repellent from his can and re-taped it to his arm. "Still got my Browning?" he asked.
    Dr. Burrows nodded.
    "Great. Wait for me here," Will said, and began for the edge.
    "There isn't going to be any more silliness with -- you know -- your thing about heights, is there?" his father asked him.
    "I wish you hadn't reminded me," Will replied, "but no, I seem to be okay now."
    And he wasn't troubled in the slightest by the irrational urges that had plagued him before. And due to the reduced gravity, it was barely any effort to walk himself down the vertical wall of the void, but the never-ending deluge of water against his face made it difficult to see anything around him. He kept looking over his shoulder in case any spiders or Brights decided to turn up. He estimated he was three-quarters down the length of the rope when he caught sight of a passage mouth off to the side. It was level with him, but thirty or so meters further around the void, and he couldn't quite get enough traction on the fungus-coated wall to reach it without slipping back. He resorted to swinging himself like a pendulum to get there. Then he was finally far enough over to drop into it.
    He held the Sten and the can of repellent ready. The passage seemed clear, but he was just giving it a couple of squirts to make absolutely sure, when he heard a sound behind him.
    It was the beat of wings in the air.
    He turned.
    It was a Bright.
    It was only a couple of meters away from him, its wings extended and its legs reaching out towards him.
    "JESUS!" he yelled. Acting purely on instinct, he gave it a full burst from the aerosol.
    He'd fully expected the creature to zip away, but it didn't. It hung there for what seemed like seconds. Then the strangest thing happened. Will could only compare it to when salt is sprinkled on a garden slug and the poor animal froths up and eventually bursts into a messy splurge. In the same but much more immediate way, viscous fluid oozed from joints all over the Bright's body as it shook frenziedly.
    Then, piece by piece, it simply fell apart. Its two-pronged abdomen was the first to go with a wet, slurping sound. Then its head lolled to one side and rolled off altogether. The thorax with the wings still attached went into a dive, turning end over end as Will watched them vanish down the void.
    It took him a moment to recover from his fright, then Will began to laugh with relief. "Well, Drake, full marks for this stuff!" he yelled.

    * * * * *

    Like a small voice calling through the chaotic fog in her brain, a notion occurred to her. Mrs. Burrows seemed to still retain some control over her breathing, and she began deepening each inhalation, holding it for longer and longer before she released it. Part of her mind cleared for an instant, as if a wind machine was blowing the fog away, and she grasped at the memory of what her yoga master had taught her. At first it was elusive, then, as she concentrated with every fiber of her body, she had it.
    'I pray that I might not let those about me spoil my peace of mind,' she began to think or say -- she couldn't tell which -- over and over and over