Tunnels 03, Freefall

halberd, the clash of steel ringing around the luminous garden. Then Chester went on the offensive, swinging the halberd at Will, although without much force. Taking advantage of the low gravity, Will easily avoided the weapon by leaping high into the air.
    Chester continued to sweep the halberd at Will, who each time sprang high above it. After a while, Chester got the giggles and couldn't go on. "This is like one of those crazy kung fu movies where they all leap around as though they've got springs on their feet."
    Will was trying his utmost to maintain his very best murderous pirate face, but couldn't stop himself from laughing too. "Yeah, you're right. What was that film called -- Leaping Dragon, Flapping Duck , or something like that?"
    "Ready thyself, White Beard," Chester said. "Prepare to face the largest tin opener in the world," and swung the halberd again.
    To avoid the attack Will executed a perfect backwards somersault in the air, landing squarely on his feet further down the path.
    "Aha!" he exclaimed, delighted with his acrobatics. "Not so easy to kill, am I? Ninja Rawls?"
    "Show-off," Chester muttered.
    They continued to play-fight each other, vaulting across to other paths they'd discovered between the flowerbeds, gradually moving their battle to the rear of the shack where they hurtled between the rooftops of the small outhouses.
    "Let's stop a minute -- need to get my breath back," Chester puffed, landing beside Will.
    "Yeah, okay," Will replied, passing his cutlass in front of him in a figure of eight. "This is great, isn't it?" he said, smiling at his friend.
    Chester smiled back, nodding in agreement. As the days had passed, they had adjusted to the reduced gravity, and the nausea they'd experienced to begin with had all but gone. Martha looked after them well, and without the constant threat of the Styx hanging over them, for the first time in a long while they could truly relax, and enjoy themselves.
    To fill the hours they devised new activities to keep themselves occupied. Will had found an ornate ivory chess set in one of the trunks and they would play into the small hours, drinking endless cups of tea. And Martha was only too happy to teach them about the different properties of the plants in her garden and entertain them both with stories about the Colony and the Deeps. She'd been reluctant to let them use her crossbow when they first asked her, but finally gave in to their constant requests. Although it took them a while to master the weapon, they eventually got the hang of it and set up some targets by the barricade at the end of the garden. They found it amazing how true the flights of the bolts were, traveling in an almost straight line with little or no loss of trajectory whatsoever -- another feature of the low gravity.
    "Okay, Captain Snow, let's do it," Chester said, now he'd recovered.
    "Only if you can catch me first," Will dared his friend, leaping clean over the roof of the main shack and landing on the ground in front of it. There he took refuge behind some bushes which, exceptionally for the garden, didn't seem to emit any light. Chester stole around the side of the shack, then surveyed the garden. Guessing exactly where Will was hiding, he propelled himself at him, wailing with his best battle cry.
    Will ducked out from the bushes and onto the path, his sword up and ready to repel the attack. Chester advanced. In the blink of an eye, something dropped in front of him on the path.
    "Wh--?!" Chester gasped.
    It was Bartleby. As the cat arched his back, Will saw that all his muscles were bunched under his hairless skin, as if he was about to pounce. Bartleby edged forward and hissed at Chester with such vehemence that he dropped the halberd. As he hastily stepped backwards, he tripped and fell into a border of dainty plants that let of a pinkish hue. The cat, still in a panther crouch, crept towards the terrified boy.
    "Jesus! Do something, Will!" Chester squawked. "Call your bloody moggy off!"
    "Bart! Stop!" Will cried.
    Bartleby glanced at his new master for confirmation, then lowered himself to the ground. But he was still watching Chester intently, as if he didn't entirely trust him.
    "Silly old cat," Will said, stroking him affectionately on the head. "What did you do that for? You didn't really think Chester was attacking me, did you?"
    Chester was more than a little put out that his friend was taking the incident so lightly. "Will, I swear, it was about to go for me. It