Tunnels 03, Freefall

Will. You were always clever like that. And when you do, you've got to take me with you," Rebecca said, "because I can be useful to you. I can tell people the whole story." Then she gave a deep sigh, glancing at Bartleby who was napping by her side. "And I know there's no way you'll ever believe me, but I miss Dad so much. He was my father too."

    * * * * *

    "Hurry it up, you stupid old fart," the Rebecca twin said under her breath.
    "Did you say something?" Dr. Burrows asked, with a nervous glance at the Limiter prowling in tight circles round him as he tried to work on a translation of one of the tablets.
    "No, nothing," she replied innocently. "How's it going -- nearly finished?"
    "Hah!" he exclaimed. "You're asking me to do the impossible. All I've made out so far in these inscriptions is something about seven--"
    " Seven what?" she cut in.
    "I don't know. I can read the word seven or seventh , but I don't know what it's in relation to. This is really hard going -- I can get a handful of words, but then I'm lost." He readjusted his glasses, peering at her as she perched on a mound of fungus.
    "Oh, come on -- it can't be that difficult," she urged him.
    "I keep telling you and you just won't listen. I have to have the drawing of the Burrows Stone from my journal," he said despondently. "There are way too many variables for me to do this quickly. It will take me yonks to piece it together -- unless, that is, you happen to have a cryptanalyst with a high-spec computer hidden away down here."
    The Limiter said something in the nasal Styx tongue to the Rebecca twin, and she nodded.
    "Okay," she announced, easing herself down from the fungus. "What are our options? You've got a basic map there -- even if we can't read the words, we must be able to use it somehow."
    "Well," Dr. Burrows began, sounding more upbeat.
    "So, come on then, spit it out," she urged him, clapping her hands together. "What can we do?"
    "We explore until we spot something that ties into the icons on the map. Then we might just be able to get ourselves on the right track."
    "The Rebecca twin considered this for a second. "So... let me get this right... you're expecting us to slog through hundreds of miles of these slimy tunnels on the off chance we see something familiar -- maybe with a big "Seven" on it? Is that the best you can come up with?" she asked snidely.
    "Have you got a better suggestion?" Dr. Burrows said. "We could make a start where I discovered the skeleton with these tablets. From there, we fan out in ever-increasing search radii, and we comb every damned inch of the tunnels... we explore them thoroughly for anything that might help us."
    The Rebecca twin didn't look too convinced. "Sounds like a long shot to me," she said.
    Dr. Burrows' expression turned to one of confusion. "Rebecca, why is it that all of a sudden you're so keen to help me? You weren't the slightest bit interested in my work all those years in Highfield."
    "I just want to go back to my people, Dad," the Rebecca twin said, all sweetness and light. "Or at least get out of this grotty place. Okay," she said, glancing at the Limiter, "let's give plan B a try, but I don't want us to wander too far."
    "Excellent," Dr. Burrows said, wrapping the tablets carefully in his handkerchief again. "And while we walk, I want to hear more about your people. I know so very little about them."
    "You and the rest of the world," the Rebecca twin said. In the Styx tongue, she added, "Thus it has ever been, and thus it will ever be."

    * * * * *

    When Will returned to the shack there was no sign of Chester in the main room. He assumed he was on Elliott watch. Will was actually quite relieved -- he needed time to think things over. Bartleby padded past him and made straight for the hearth rug, where he stretched himself out in that luxurious way that only cats can. "Good old Bart," Will said, and sat down on the rug next to him.
    Will took the phials out, re-knotted the cord attached to them that the Rebecca twin had snapped, then hung them before him, wondering if they really contained Dominion. After a while, the crackling fire gave him an idea. He thought how easy it would be to throw the phials into it. He knew the heat would destroy the virus and, worst case, if any of it were to escape, it would be highly unlikely to get all the way up to the Topsoil population and infect it.
    On second thoughts, that didn't seem like such a clever idea -- he and the others wouldn't fare so well