Tunnels 04, Closer

"He died in his bunker."
    The Chancellor was about to answer when a servant appeared from a small door in the corner of the room, and instead he grinned and clapped his hands together. "I thought we should take some luncheon. As our meeting is such an auspicious event we're having Plesiosaurus," he said, as he began toward the table, where three places had been laid.
    "Plesiosaurus?" Rebecca Two asked with a frown. She realized as soon as she'd said the word why it was so familiar to her -- Will and Dr. Burrows would babble on interminably about fossil remains they dreamed of finding on their trips together. The plesiosaurus and ichthyosaurus were two of them. "It's an extinct dinosaur, like a huge lizard with a long neck?"
    "Very impressive and absolutely correct," the Chancellor praised her, "except for one thing. The creature is not extinct in our oceans, and the choicest cuts come from the rump. My chef is the finest in the city -- he lightly sears each steak and serves it on a bed of mango rice." The Chancellor licked his shiny lips. "You're in for a rare treat, I promise you."
    They took their places, and the servant filled their glasses with chilled water from a silver jug. "One quickly learns that in order to adapt to this world and its high temperatures, one has to drink enough fluids, and eat well,' the Chancellor announced, helping himself to a bread roll and breaking it open on his side plate. "We are not used to entertaining visitors from the outer crust, but I trust you have been well looked after? I hope everything has been to your satisfaction?" he inquired. He'd evidently been briefed that this young girl was in charge, but perhaps didn't quite believe it, making sure he also addressed his questions to the Limiter General.
    "Very satisfactory, thank you," Rebecca Two answered politely. "I have to say all the showers your medical officers insist that I take and the endless doses of iodine I've been gulping down do get a little tedious after a while."
    The Chancellor nodded in sympathy. "Quite so. It is unfortunate that you reached our city through the uranium mines, but I'm informed your exposure to the radiation wasn't excessive. I'm afraid the showers and the iodine are precautionary measures, but very necessary. As I'm sure you've been told, we limit our time in those mountains and certain areas of the jungle due to the high radiation counts there."
    Rebecca Two nodded.
    "And your sister? She is recovering well?" the Chancellor asked.
    "Your doctors have done wonders," Rebecca Two replied. "She'd lost so much blood, it was touch and go at first whether she was going to make it through. But she did, and she's well on the mend now, and I'm very grateful to you for that. And she's also over the moon that a dentist was sent to fix her broken teeth."
    The Chancellor waved his hand dismissively. "Such assistance is only to be expected between old allies like us," he said. He glanced at a file on a bureau behind the Limiter General. "So... Mephistopheles. I've been reading files on you -- they're stored photographically so they took a while to locate, but I'm up to speed now. And I apologize for not meeting with you before now, but I have been directly in touch with my staff all the time you've been our guests."
    "Guests?" Rebecca Two responded sharply just as the Chancellor was taking a mouthful of water.
    There was a moment as the man swallowed loudly -- he was unused to being spoken to like this. He put his glass down on the table with great precision, then leant back in his chair, waiting for Rebecca Two to continue.
    "Guests, or prisoners ? We've been confined to a compound, where we've been kept under armed guard. Other than this visit to you now, you haven't allowed us to go anywhere," Rebecca Two leveled at him.
    The Chancellor knitted his fingers together. "The protection has been for your own good. We do not want to alarm the civilians in the city who are unused to the presence of outsiders. You are free to leave the city whenever you wish -- but whilst within its walls we must insist that you remain under our supervision."
    "So you'd let us do that? You'd allow us to go? Aren't you afraid we might reveal your existence to the outside world when we return there?" Rebecca Two said.
    "I don't believe you would," the Chancellor replied without hesitation. "It seems to me that the Styx value their privacy every bit as much as we do. In any case, the fissure in Antarctica through which we entered has