Tunnels 03, Freefall

like ages, but the whole scale of the place was so mind-blowing and so terrifying that none of them dwelt on this for very long.
    And words such as up or down, left or right held little meaning in this place -- there was only the crystal belt to orientate themselves on.
    It may have taken them as much as a day -- Will really couldn't tell -- but they entered an area where dust particles and water droplets hung in the air, making everything hazy. May hours later, it seemed to Will, they'd passed through this area and were moving away from the crystal belt. Just as he was wondering if the dust they'd traveled through was at the very edge of the belt, ht thought he caught a glimpse of what his father was aiming for.
    Dimly visible in the distance, he spotted a beam of light. It was different from the triboluminescence -- it was constant. And it gave them all hope.
    With each shot from the Sten, the beam of light was coming that little bit closer. And when Will looked back, they definitely seemed to be leaving the crystal belt behind. But as Dr. Burrows fired the weapon time and time again, Will began to worry that they'd run out of ammunition. Then he found they were actually in the beam of light. There was a quality to it, a warmth that prompted him to think it could be sunlight, but that notion didn't make much sense to him.
    At one point, Dr. Burrows stopped using the Sten and became terribly animated as he jabbed a finger towards the crystal belt. The column of light penetrated it like a searchlight, enabling them to see that it was not only composed of the huge rotating crystals. No, between them were suspended large bodies of water, like huge raindrops, but these suggested the size of lakes, seas or maybe even oceans. And in these bodies of water, there appeared to be moving objects. It may have been a trick of the light, but they all swore later that they had caught sight of huge snake-like creatures, and fish as large as whales.
    Dr. Burrows continued to use the recoil from the Sten to drive them towards the source of the light, which grew so strong that Will switched his headset off. He saw that Elliott was smiling, and then he realized why. They seemed to have left the huge area and entered a new void. The illumination allowed them to see its walls were all around them. They were still moving towards where the light was originating, moving deeper inside this void. And little by little gravity was returning. And the rumbling sound was diminishing too.
    It was hard to tell because of its scale, but this new void appeared to be cone-like, with steeply angled sides. Dr. Burrows drove them closer to one of the sides, where they could see no sign of the ubiquitous fungus, but something much more surprising. They began to notice small specks of green in amongst the rocks. These were Alpine plants growing together in clumps in the scree. These specks of green became more numerous the further in they traveled, until eventually they were joined by gnarled looking trees, sorry looking specimens with twisted trunks and very little foliage, which gave the impression they were hanging on to the steep sides for dear life. And when, finally, Elliott spotted a ridge on the side wall, Dr. Burrows took them over to it.
    Like survivors washed up from a shipwreck, they crawled a little way, and then just lay there, panting and more grateful than it was possible to express that they were on terra firma again. Elliott had the presence of mind to rope them to one of the trees -- the last thing they wanted was to drift off again.
    They passed around a canteen of water, and although the rumbling sound was at more bearable levels and they could hear each other, they barely exchanged a word, because none of them knew quite what to say. But they were alive, and as they realized this, their sheer fatigue overtook them and they slept.

    * * * * *

    "And do the Princes fade from earth, scarce seen by souls of men," the old Styx declaimed, as he stood by the very edge of the Pore in the Deeps.
    A little distance round the perimeter, ranks of soldiers in formation were lining up and leaping from the edge. As these Limiters deployed their parachutes, they resembled windborne seeds drifting gently down into the wide expanse of darkness. Each soldier was loaded with equipment, and a number had large bundles dangling below their feet, which writhed and growled.
    "Takin' the dogs with them, too?" said a perturbed voice. "Why are so many of yer