Tunnels 03, Freefall

frantic pointing and gesticulations, Martha wasn't allowing them a second's rest.
    Half an hour later they entered a sizable cavern. Will had just detected the distant sound of falling water when Martha slowed to a crawl. Will saw why as her light fell on something. Protruding at an angle from the swells of fungus, there seemed to be a small tower, maybe thirty meters tall. Only its upper half was visible -- it's dark surface smooth and with a metallic sheen to it -- while the rest was encased in swells of fungal growth.
    "The metal ship," Will whispered, his face breaking into a grin.
    They'd finally arrived at their destination. He wanted to shout with joy, but knew he couldn't. Chester was jabbing his finger frantically to draw Will's attention to the area underneath the tower, and to the left and right of it. Their lights didn't penetrate very far into the darkness, and it took Will a few moments to see what Chester was so excited about. The form of the fungus suggested there was more to the tower than immediately met the eye, and whatever it was, it was big. It seemed to be cylindrical, and Will immediately tried to work out what sort of ship it could be. He'd never been terribly interested in them, except those of historical importance, like the Cutty Sark .
    Martha hurriedly shepherded them to the base of the tower. The boys had to keep shielding their faces as strong squalls blasted showers of water at them. Salt water , Will thought to himself as he tasted the tanginess on his lips.
    Beyond the tower nothing was visible, just a gaping blackness. Will immediately assumed that the ship was poised on the very edge of another of the Seven Sisters. At first glance it could have been the Pore itself, but the never-ending roar of falling water, like faraway thunder, set it apart.
    They climbed up the curved surface of the ship with some difficulty, slipping and sliding as they went, then gathered together at the base of the tower. Martha was using a knife to poke around in the fungus, evidently searching for something. As the knife grated against metal, Martha thrust her hand into the fungus and pulled hard, grunting and straining, until a few links of rusted chain were visible. The fungus growth had clearly enveloped the chain, as it had just about everything else in the vicinity.
    With a last effort from Martha, the chain suddenly came free, tearing a line all the way up the fungus sheath. As it rattled against the exposed metal at the top of the tower, Will saw it was secured to something up there. Grabbing hold of the chain, Martha wasted no time in heaving herself up. It occurred to Will that they weren't attempting to jump to the tip because of the risk of missing it and ending up in the void.
    Chester climbed up next, the lowered a rope to pull up Elliott and the stretcher. After Rebecca had ascended with the rucksacks, it was Bartleby's turn. He was none too happy when Will looped a rope around him so that Martha could hoist him up. Once this was done, Will heaved himself to the top, and found only Martha still there.
    He didn't have any time to take in where he was, or where the others had gone, as a high-pitched wail cut through the air.
    "Brights," Martha said, her voice not much more than a whisper. In a heartbeat, her crossbow was in her hands and cocked. As Will craned his neck to peer up above, he glimpsed dim lights, but these were so vague and undefined it was as if he was viewing fireflies through a mesh screen.
    He wasn't sure if he'd blinked or not, but there was suddenly a large object within the limits of Martha's light. It seemed to come from nowhere, and Will found it difficult to take in what he was actually seeing.
    His first impression was of its color -- and it was almost pure white. Its wings, some ten meters from tip to tip, were stretched wide. Between these, its body was the size of a full-grown man's, but there was nothing remotely human about it. Will recognized straight away that it was some kind of insect from the arrangement of its head and thorax, and its strange abdomen which seemed to be split, as if it actually had legs. But he saw that these twin prongs of its abdomen were not limbs, and were covered in downy feathers, or perhaps mothlike scales of some description. And clinging to its forked abdomen were many small black objects -- arachnids -- tiny versions of the spider-monkeys, he guessed on the spur of the moment.
    There was something very batlike about the angular