Tunnels 04, Closer

rather too much on yourself and your family. Look upon this as a blessing."
    The old Styx and his assistant were moving toward the door to leave as the Second Officer managed to say, "Thank... you," but only because it was expected of him. Inside, he was yelling, "Keep your bloody hands off her, you filthy White Necks! Haven't you done enough already? Let her live out her days here, in peace!"
    He took a few seconds to compose himself before he went out into the hallway. The old Styx and his young assistant had already left and were moving down the street with the rest of their entourage, curtains twitching in the windows of the houses as they passed them.
    Eliza closed the front door, then banged her head against it as if the world had ended.
    "What 'ave you done ? You brought them to our 'ouse! To our 'ouse!" the Second Officer's mother accused him. "Ohhh," she groaned, sinking down onto the bottom step of the staircase as she fanned herself with her hand. "I feel all funny. I'm 'avin' an 'ot flush. I think me dodgy ticker's givin' out."
    "I hope you're satisfied -- you've made our mother ill!" Eliza said, as she wheeled around from the door. She groaned as if she too was suffering from some painful affliction. "The shame of it all -- the Styx in our house, as if we were common criminals or troublemakers. What will people say?" She shook her head. "Everyone will know -- I can just imagine all the tongues wagging in the market tomorrow."
    The old lady puffed, then looked inquiringly at the Second Officer. "What did they say to you, anyway?" she asked.
    The despair evident on his face, the Second Officer didn't answer right away. "They're taking Celia for a medical examination," he eventually replied.
    "What sort of exhamanation ?" his mother demanded.
    The Second Officer couldn't contain his despair any longer. 'They're going to put her on a slab and cut her up!" he blurted.
    There was a moment as Eliza met eyes with her mother and they absorbed this piece of information. Then their faces cracked into huge grins and the old lady, apparently forgetting her 'dodgy ticker', leapt to her feet. She and Eliza began to dance around one another, chanting, "She's going, she's going. They were like two children who had been told that they were let off school tomorrow because it would be closed for the day.
    As the Second Officer returned to sit with Mrs. Burrows, the sounds of jubilation were still coming from the hallway. "I'm so sorry, Celia," he said. "It's out of my hands now."

    * * * * *

    "There's another of them," Will noted, slowing as he pointed at the three-pronged symbol carved into the side of the stone passage. He automatically put his hand to his neck, although Uncle Tam's pendant no longer hung there.
    He turned to Elliott. "The effort that must have gone into hollowing out this passage is simply mind boggling. I suppose the Ancients wanted a link between their " Garden of the Second Sun " and the outer crust. Maybe for a trading route between both worlds."
    "When you come out with stuff like that, you have no idea how much you sound like your father," Elliott remarked.
    "Do I?" Will replied, quietly pleased that she should think that. He hiked his Bergen up on his back. "At least I've got Dad's journal in here -- thanks to you. You saved it. After he was shot I wasn't thinking straight... in fact..."
    Will was constantly aware that he was now the guardian of Dr. Burrows' journal, the sole record of all his investigations. If he could get it to the appropriate people on the surface, it should secure his father's place in history as one of the greatest explorers of all time and, in some way, guarantee him immortality. And this notion helped Will to cope with the immense sense of loss he was feeling for the man who'd been the single most important person in his life.
    "... in fact, I wasn't thinking at all," he mumbled, his expression vacant.
    "Nobody'll blame you for that," Elliott assured him.
    Will came out of his short reverie and frowned. "And do you know, we haven't gone that far yet, and I'm already beginning to feel lighter. The gravity's definitely less."
    "Definitely," she agreed. "Now can we get a move on? We've got so far to go, I don't want to think about it."

25

    The Limiter General timed it perfectly. As the storm receded, the fleet of helicopters swept in low and put down in the middle of the stadium. The massive complex had been built outside the city limits several decades ago for a