Tunnels 03, Freefall

his hand in the direction of Mrs. Burrows motionless body. "What you see is merely a husk. I'm afraid there won't be anything much left in there -- we had to break all the crockery in the shop. It's a shame because I was rather hoping we might use her again in the future."
    "She probably won't last the night," the young assistant said.
    "I was wondering..." the Second Officer began, his voice failing as the old Styx's hard eyes switched to him.
    "Yes?" the old Styx said.
    "If she hasn't got long, I could look after her," the Second Officer blurted out.
    The old Styx lowered his head, as if inviting an explanation. To say that the Second Officer's request was irregular would have been a rank understatement.
    "I mean, rather than let her die in the Hold. Even though she was a Topsoiler, she... she seemed like a good sort to me," the Second Officer gabbled, then shut his mouth and looked at his feet.
    For a moment no one spoke, then one of the other Styx came out of the room, carrying a Dark Light in his arms, and passed down the corridor.
    The old Styx smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant smile. It was the smile of someone who had learnt something they could use, and would use, in the future.
    "Have you got anyone at home, officer?" the old Styx inquired. "She'll need to be cared for while you're on duty."
    "My mother and sister," he replied.
    "Take her, then, but it's probably kinder just to let her fade away in the Hold," the old Styx said, and began to move off with the young assistant several paces behind him like a shadow. "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again," he recited without looking back.
    The Second Officer waited until they were out of sight, then slid a finger around the inside of his starched collar. It was slick with sweat. He didn't know what had come over him. He should never have spoken out of turn like that. But he'd felt he had to.
    He took a deep breath to prepare himself before he went into the bright room.

35

    This time Will was fully conscious.
    As he hurtled through the air, he went into an uncontrolled spin, then came out of it only for the same thing to happen again. The G-force was so powerful that his head swam and he thought he was going to be sick. But he quickly found that if he spread his limbs like a skydiver, he could bring himself out of the spins, which made his downward passage far smoother. And by angling his arms and legs, he could precisely direct his flight despite the encumbrance of the bulky Bergen and the weapons he was carrying, and avoid any collisions with the sides.
    He fell and fell and fell, and there was ample opportunity to ask himself if there would ever be an end to it, a happy end .
    "What have I done?" he shouted at the showers of water that fell with him, licking his lips and tasting their saltiness. He tried to mop the moisture from the lens of his headset so he could see more clearly, but it caused an imbalance and his trajectory became erratic. He quickly extended his arm again. His speed was so great that everything was shooting past and rather blurred, but he was doing his best to look out for the submarine. He had made a commitment to Drake that he would deal with the Rebecca twins and the Limiter, and he wasn't going to let him down.
    He could see the needle flickering on the tracker in his hand, and just about hear the clicks it was emitting. His father was somewhere below.
    His father...
    What if Dr. Burrows had got it dreadfully wrong? What if the gravity didn't show any further reduction, or, more to the point, what if the void wasn't deep enough for him to reach the areas where there was lower gravity?
    Oh, God, he hadn't thought of that!
    It had seemed like the right thing to do when he'd flung himself into the void... he had listened to his father's words about faith, and they'd made sense to him then. For the first time in a long time, Will had really understood why Dr. Burrows had been acting so incredibly selfishly. And Will had wanted to demonstrate that he too had faith, faith in his father.
    But now... well, he must have been off his head to jump. Maybe this was one grand gesture too many.
    Then he noticed that the onrush of air against his face seemed to be less intense. It wasn't snatching his breath away any more. And although it was difficult for him to be certain because the change had been so gradual, he could have sworn that he wasn't falling quite so rapidly.
    The tracker continued to click