Tunnels 03, Freefall

canopy of trees.
    "Happier now?" Dr. Burrows said to him as they stopped to drink some water.
    Then they pressed on, battling their way through the jungle, which was almost impenetrable. Dr. Burrows compared it to Amazonian rainforest, telling Will and Elliott that the trees were several times taller than those in any Topsoil rainforests. Then they had some respite as they came to several stretches where the going was far easier. The leaf cover was so dense above these stretches that it was really quite dark on the jungle floor, and much cooler. Here there was little to hinder their progress except the tremendously thick tree trunks and a few smaller bushes, from some of which dangled exotic fruit. Now she was out of the bright sunlight, Elliott seemed to be in her element as she took the lead and upped the pace.
    They also caught fleeting glimpses of what appeared to be antelope and gazelle. Elliott spotted a large snake coiled around a branch high above them, and although it was motionless, they were careful not to walk underneath it. And on the ground, hiding in the leaf detritus, there were smaller reptiles -- vividly colored lizards -- and frog-like amphibians, which delighted Bartleby as he sniffed inquisitively at them and they scuttled or hopped frantically away from him.
    Dr. Burrows had been whistling in his atonal, random way as he took in the varied fauna, but all of a sudden fell silent, and strode past Elliott with an air of self importance. He'd clearly made up his mind that it was his place to lead the party. However, after he nearly blundered straight into a fast-moving river, which was completely hidden by a thick mat of vegetation, he dropped back and let Elliott take the lead again. And they all took more care about where they were treading.
    Following Dr. Burrows' compass bearing, they finally came to the edge of the jungle. They stepped out into a clearing. Some fifty meters away was the nearest of the pyramids.
    Will and Dr. Burrows stopped dead on the spot. Dr. Burrows was examining it through his binoculars, greedily taking in the detail of each of the tiers, as he worked his way to the very top.
    "God almighty, just look at that! Do you see all those carvings? It's stunning!" he cried. "And, Will, look at the scale of it! The apex is way up above the trees!"
    "What are those?" Elliott said, squinting at the sky. Huge clouds loomed overhead, blanking out the sun so completely it was as if dusk had suddenly come upon them. At the same time the calls of the cicadas and the birds stopped, leaving an eerie silence.
    "Don't worry -- they're just clouds. You get them Topsoil, too," Will told her as there was a blinding flash of lightning. In the next instant, they were pelted by a torrential rain.
    "It's a monsoon," Dr. Burrows laughed.
    Will was holding his arms out, letting the rain wash over him. "Ahh, that's just what I needed!" he yelled above the noise of the storm. But a few seconds later, the downpour had grown so powerful it was knocking them off their feet. "Ow! It hurts!" Will cried as they beat a hasty retreat back into the jungle. "That was a bit more than I needed," he complained.
    As the three of them watched the deluge from the edge of the jungle, they heard a crashing sound as something seemed to be crashing through the trees. It wasn't long before they discovered what had caused it -- some twenty meters behind them a hefty branch dropped to the ground.
    "The trees certainly take a beating," Dr. Burrows said as Will and Elliott went over to inspect the fallen branch. Will frowned, then bent over and, using both hands, plucked something from it.
    "An apple... as big as a head?" he said, holding the massive fruit up so his father could see it.
    It certainly resembled a giant apple, with beautiful rosy patches on its flawless green skin. Using Cal's penknife, Will cut a hunk nearly the size of a slice of watermelon from it.
    "Let me see," Elliott asked, and Will passed it to her. At first she simply sniffed it, then she took a bite out of it. "That's good. Have some," she said, and handed it back to Will who also sampled it.
    "Good? It's bloody delicious!" he exclaimed, offering it to his father.
    "No, we need to take this one step at a time," Dr. Burrows said. "If we eat the same thing, and it doesn't agree with us, it might put us all out of action. After all, this isn't our natural habitat."
    "Tastes pretty damned natural to me," Will said, biting off another large mouthful.
    As