Tunnels 03, Freefall

There were no fungal ledges to aim for, and even if there were, they had no means of reaching them. And while Will and Elliott remained in a state of panic, Dr. Burrows appeared strangely composed.
    They gravitated towards a large boulder, which was spinning slowly on its axis, and were eventually able to seize hold of it. Its surface was pitted and rusty, like that of an asteroid. They clung to it for a while, then, at Dr. Burrows' suggestion, they used it to push themselves off, precisely as though they were three divers jumping into a pool. Equal and opposite forces , Will thought as they went one way and the boulder the other. Although it really didn't get them anywhere, Will was using his headset to check the space around them, hoping and praying there would be something else to help them. They bumped into pieces of rock and sometimes encountered small cloudlike formations of gravel, but nothing substantial. Will was still scanning all around them when, with a start, he realized he could no longer see the sides of the void. They seemed to have disappeared altogether. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that they were some distance behind, and growing smaller by the second.
    Will knew then that they had gone beyond the void.
    He pointed frantically in an effort to tell his father, but Dr. Burrows just shrugged in response. Slowly but surely they seemed to have floated into a totally new area. Into the area where the triboluminescent flashes came and went.
    Will broke into a cold sweat as he saw that ahead of them was an infinite darkness. It was as though they had been shot beyond the stratosphere and into outer space, but this was some kind of inner space at the center of the Earth.
    All that they could do was watch the triboluminescence as they gradually approached a continuous belt of what appeared to be floating mountains of crystal. As these crystals trundled ponderously around against each other, the evanescent but regular bursts of light zipped through the belt, allowing Will to make out that it stretched as far as the eye could see to the left and the right. The closest thing he could compare it to was the satellite photographs he'd seen of the rings of Saturn. There was a dreamlike quality to the lights, and as he stared at them, he found he was becoming almost mesmerized. This must be one of the wonders of the planet, he thought to himself, knowing that he might not be around long enough to tell anyone about it.
    And it was impossible to judge distances. Wave upon wave of nausea washed through Will, and this wasn't solely due to the effect of the zero gravity on his stomach. It was because he had the impression he was falling towards the lights from an incredible height. And at other times his mind played tricks on him; he really believed the lights were in touching distance and would try to reach out to them. They became a string of Chinese lanterns flickering on and off. But as he regained his sense of perspective, he knew that there was probably a vast distance between where he was and where the belt of crystal mountains lay. Will wondered if they would simply die of hunger as they drifted there, marooned in the night-black darkness, or if they ever did get as far as the rotating crystals perhaps they'd be crushed to a paste between them.
    Then Dr. Burrows gathered them together and was trying to explain something by scribbling on a scrap of paper and motioning with his hands. In the end, he gave up and simply took Will's Sten gun from him. He slipped off the safety catch and, without any warning, he shot it. It was as though a retro rocket had been fired. Bartleby had been startled by the muzzle flash from the weapon and Elliott had a devil of a job to restrain him, but they were on the move again. The recoil from the Sten had propelled them at some considerable speed, although not back towards the void, but deeper into the place where the crystal mountains were slowly turning.
    Will couldn't for the life of him understand what his father was hoping to achieve, but he didn't attempt to stop him. At least he seemed to have a plan. Dr. Burrows continued to fire the Sten. Will and Elliott reloading the magazines for him each time he emptied the weapon. Sometimes the shots made them wheel dizzily around as they went, but more often than not Dr. Burrows got them just right and they sped along at a fair lick.
    Will found he'd completely lost track of time. They hadn't eaten anything or slept for what seemed