Tunnels 03, Freefall

to his friend and hugged him. "Will, it's so good to see you," he said. "But I'm not sure I'm ever going to forgive you for grubbing a quick holiday Topsoil, not without me."
    "You will when you see the food we've brought back with us. Fancy a curry?" Will said.
    "Is the sky blue?" Chester chuckled.

    * * * * *

    Martha lit a fire to heat the food, and Elliott dived into the Bergen full of equipment from Drake. As Dr. Burrows sat by himself scribbling furiously in his journal, Will told Chester all about the underground harbor and their return to the surface.
    "So, we follow these radio beacons, and we can get home again. Simple as that? Chester said. "And we don't have to mess with the Deeps or the Colony." He punched the air with his fist. "Result!" he roared.
    "Yeah, but don't forget what Drake said -- we've got to make sure about Dominion first," Will reminded him.
    Chester arched his eyebrows. "And how exactly do we do that? If the Styx didn't reach the sub in time and they somehow survived the blast, then they've either been gobbled up by spiders or the Brights, or--"
    "Or they're still floating around here somewhere," Will interrupted.
    Chester looked doubtful. "They could be miles away by now. And if they did reach the sub, then they could be miles down. C'mon, Will, the likelihood is that they're out of the running, isn't it?
    "Drake wants us to make sure," Will said.
    "Then that's what we do," Elliott put in, her tone resolute. She'd been listening to the boys' conversation as she reverently handled the two spare Sten guns Will had brought with him. "We can have a scout round and see if Bartleby picks up any scent trails. And if the submarine got hooked up somewhere further down the void, we might not have to go too far to check it out."
    "But what if it's right at the bottom?" Chester posed.
    He never received an answer to his question, and he didn't much mind as at that moment Martha announced that the food was ready.

    * * * * *

    With Martha handling Bartleby, who was in full bloodhound mode as he strained on his lead and sniffed away at the fungus floor; they explored the passages. They were making their way lower and lower, until they reached the huge cavern that Elliott's explosion had carved out of the side of the void. Once there, Drake's climbing ropes gave them the means to work their way around to the other side of the cavern, past where the submarine had been, and into one of the tunnels that lay there.
    They trekked down this tunnel, and just as Martha was saying that they must be close to the void again, Will and Chester made a discovery that was to change everything.
    "Dad, you need to see this," Will called to him.
    "What is it now?" he answered cantankerously. He'd been moseying along at the back of the group, supposedly to protect them from any spider attacks to the rear. But he certainly wasn't being very vigilant, his can of repellent stuffed in his duffle-coat pocket. And he'd also been peculiarly uncommunicative for the last couple of hours.
    As he joined his son, Dr. Burrows saw that a tall boulder protruded from the fungus, and that the three-pronged symbol was scored into it. "Yes," he shouted, and hastily removed his Bergen. He delved into it and fished out the black-and-white photograph the submariner had taken.
    "Snap!" It's the same one," he confirmed as he held up the picture to compare it with the boulder before him.
    "And, Martha, you're right -- we're at the edge of the void again," Will said. He stared down into the darkness where the showers of water fell, wondering where the submarine was. Then he wheeled round to face his father. "But what does this sign mean, Dad? That we're only at the beginning of the map on your tablets? That doesn't make sense, because it's a hell of a hike from the Pore to get here."
    Dr. Burrows didn't answer as he ran his fingers over the three deep notches chiseled into the boulder.
    "Dad, if you think about it, how can this be the beginning of the map?"
    Dr. Burrows looked up, his lips slowly curving into a smile as he nodded approvingly. "Good boy, Will, you got there, too. After you worked out how to put the tablets in the correct order, I assumed that they were describing the route from left to right. How mistaken I was to use our Western conventions, when I should have been thinking more laterally. The fact is, they describe the route right to left. So my premise that this symbol must be at the start couldn't have been more wrong. No,