Tunnels 03, Freefall

soldiers taking the plunge? Either this is a suicide mission, or yer know something I don't."
    "But tho' obscur'd, this is the form of the Angelic land," the old Styx continued. He turned slowly to regard the misshapen human form, its head draped with filthy cloth, which had materialized beside him. "I wondered how long it would take for you to show up, Cox," the old Styx said.
    Cox was silent for several seconds, and then as he spoke there was indignation in his voice. "Nobody told me 'bout this. What are yer Limiters up to? And what's with the dogs -- why do they need stalkers with them?"
    "We have recently learnt that the twins are still alive."
    "Down the Pore?" Cox gasped. "No, can't be."
    "It can be -- our information is indisputable. So there's every chance we can recover the Dominion phials."
    "Ah, that's good. So--" Cox gushed, but the old Styx silenced him with a flash of his obsidian eyes.
    "Let me finish. Not only did the twins survive, but also the Burrows child and, so it transpires, did Elliott."
    "Burrows? Elliott?" Cox gulped. On hearing this, his head twitched like a bird's and he took a hasty step back from the old Styx. As nebulous as his body was, from the way he was holding himself there was no doubting that this piece of information had made him acutely nervous.
    "Yes, they're both down there somewhere," the old Styx said, rubbing his chin absently. "And if I recall correctly, your side of the bargain was to deliver up Will Burrows and anyone who'd had contact with him, and in this you have failed us singularly. And to add insult to injury, Drake is loose Topsoil, and he's been a minor but very real irritation." The old Styx raised his black-gloved hand and a pair of Limiters immediately appeared either side of Cox, hoisting him into the air between them.
    "But I am not without compassion." The old Styx grinned, showing rather too much of his teeth. "I'm prepared to give you the opportunity to honor your commitments," he said.
    "No, please, no, no," Cox gibbered as it dawned on him what the old Styx was saying.
    "Isaiah, chapter twenty-eight, verse fifteen -- "We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement," the old Styx said.
    "You don't want to do this, not to yer old friend Coxy."
    "Deal's a deal," the old Styx said simply. With that the Limiters heaved Cox into the Pore. As he corkscrewed downwards his filthy black stole flapped in the wind behind him, making him look like a particularly hideous warlock short of one broomstick.
    "Rough justice -- wasn't that what you said, Cox? Rough justice?" the old Styx yelled, his voice echoing around the Pore.

36

    Will opened his eyes. He found he was lying on his front, his head resting in the scree, and only centimeters away from his nose there was a most curious sight. It was a slow-moving creature, which for all intents and purposes could have been a well-fed slug. But what set it apart from the common garden variety was that it had alternating stripes of light and dark green down its back, which seemed to pulse with iridescent light.
    As he was going cross-eyed, Will pulled himself back so he could see the slug more clearly. It sensed his movement and immediately stopped in its tracks.
    "Hello," Will said. As it continued to hold completely still, he puffed slightly on it.
    All of a sudden, the slug seemed to roll itself inside out so that the vivid greens were replaced by a dull grey color, almost indistinguishable from the rock it had been slithering across. At the same time it contracted into a ball. If one hadn't known better, one would have assumed that it was merely a satisfying round pebble.
    As it was insisting on playing dead -- or playing at being a piece of inanimate rock -- Will blew on it again. This time there was no reaction at all, so he blew even harder.
    There was a popping sound and it flicked itself vertically into the air like a flea, and was gone.
    "What the...?" Will exclaimed, sitting up sharply.
    As he scanned around, he saw Elliott and Bartleby were still asleep. However, his father was wide awake, lounging against a small fern tree.
    "Did you see that?" Will said to him.
    His father nodded, but his eyes were burning with an intensity that had nothing to do with the discovery of a flying slug.
    "I've never seen anything like it before... must be a completely new species," Will said.
    Dr. Burrows held up a hand. "Will, that's really not important... not right now."
    "What do you mean?"
    "Just look