Tunnels 03, Freefall

saying?"
    "I can speak their language because I'm half-Styx. My father was a Limiter," Elliott said. To prove the point she uttered a couple of nasal and completely unintelligible words.
    "Thirteen.. almost twelve seconds," Rebecca One translated.
    Elliott had the Rebecca twins' undivided attention now.
    "Eleven seconds," Elliott announced through a yawn.
    "Have you really set the explosives?" Will asked her, still unable to believe what was happening.
    Elliott nodded. "Ten seconds," she said. And suddenly everyone was galvanized.
    Chester snatched up Elliott, and Martha yanked both of them, not towards the cavern, but to the left of the submarine and in the direction of the alternative passage she'd indicated.
    Although Will had his rucksack on his back, he hesitated for a split second, debating whether to retrieve the other two that Rebecca One had discarded behind him. The memory of how he'd wandered the lave tubes in the Deeps without food or proper equipment was still painfully fresh in his mind, and there was no way he wanted a repeat of that. But there just wasn't enough time, so instead he put his head down and thundered towards his father with all his might. He saw Bartleby pounce towards him.
    "Geddoff!" Will bellowed, lashing out at him with the stock of his rifle. Possibly because he was confused and couldn't understand why everyone was haring off in different directions, Bartleby's attack lacked its usual intensity. The rifle struck him on the shoulder, and he yelped and curled into a ball as he was sent spinning away.
    Will kept on running. He was heading straight for Rebecca Two as she tore in the opposite direction towards the submarine. Rebecca One was already at the base of the conning tower with the Limiter, who was fighting off an attack from another Bright.
    By now, Dr. Burrows was up on his feet and yelling, "Will, stop that Rebecca! Get my tablets from her!"
    The urgency of his father's shouts got through to Will, who aimed himself directly at Rebecca Two, knocking her to the ground.
    "Left-hand jacket pocket! Get my stone tablets!" Dr. Burrows yelled as Will stood over the dazed Styx girl. He immediately dug into her pocket and found a small bundle wrapped in a grimy handkerchief. As she was beginning to come to her senses and was trying to hit out at him, he didn't try to search her further. There just wasn't time.
    "GET OUT OF HERE!" Will yelled at his father, who showed no intention of moving to safety as he shouted back.
    "Did you get them?" Did you get them?"
    Pounding towards Dr. Burrows, Will built up so much speed he was virtually airborne by the time he reached him. His momentum was enough to carry both of them not towards the main tunnel, but towards a small passage at its side. Everything was happening so quickly that Dr. Burrows didn't have any say in the matter as his son swept him away and out of the cavern.
    Will kept going. The countdown in his mind reached zero, then passed beyond it, but still nothing happened. He was beginning to ask himself if Elliott had actually set the fuses or whether it had all been a bluff when there was the most almighty explosion.
    The ground bucked under his feet as if he was in the midst of an earthquake.
    He and Dr. Burrows were flung on their fronts, pelted by a hailstorm of pieces of fungus.
    Although the tremors were relatively short-lived and the ground settled down again, the sound of the explosion seemed to go on forever. Echoes were reverberating from the walls of the void beyond the submarine. As the last report finally faded, Will moaned and began to stir. Pushing aside slabs of fungus, he rolled over and sat up. His ears were ringing, and he swallowed a couple of times until they felt more normal.
    "Dad," he called, his voice sounding so small and remote. He staggered to his feet, blinking to clear his eyes of the stinging, stinking liquid. He shrugged off his rucksack, felt around for his lantern until he found it, then began to search for his father.
    There was no sign of him and Will became increasingly worried until he spotted a boot sticking out from under a heap of fungus. Dr. Burrows was almost completely buried, but Will quickly hoisted him out. He knew his father wasn't too badly hurt when he began to spit brown glop from his mouth, at the same time issuing a torrent of curses. His glasses were missing, but he didn't seem to be the slightest bit concerned about this.
    "Where are my tablets? Give me my tablets!" he demanded,