Tunnels 04, Closer

hesitating as he came up with a name for the strange beings, "these 'bushmen'."
    "Alarm them ?" Will replied, then noticed something that made him do a double take. "Dad, that one's got my Sten, and he looks like he knows how to use it!" Will was right -- the bushman was holding the Sten correctly with his unwieldy hands, and was pointing it straight at Will and Dr. Burrows.
    "Hmm," Dr. Burrows said, trying to give his son the impression that he was calm. "Yes, they seem to be humanoid -- perhaps their appearance is due to some sort of skin mutation? And I agree with you that they definitely seem to be intelligent. I'm going to have a shot at communicating with them."
    Dr. Burrows opened his journal slowly, so as not to startle them, and then, after a few seconds, began to speak in a language the likes of which Will had never heard before. The words sounded harsh and epiglottal.
    The bushmen rustled a little, but otherwise there was no reaction.
    "Might be my pronunciation is wrong, if indeed they are capable of language," Dr. Burrows remarked.
    "Whatever you're going to do, just get on with it!" Will urged.
    Dr. Burrows tried again. This time there was no rustling, but somewhere from the circle of bushmen came a reply, in the same ugly language Dr. Burrows had used.
    "Yes, yes, yes!" Dr. Burrows was beside himself with excitement, getting his pencil stub out and scribbling in his journal. "Did you see which one spoke?" he whispered to Will, as he translated the response. "He or she said that... we have... trespassed and if we don't leave the temple... the guards -- or more accurately -- guardians... are going to..." Dr. Burrows glanced nervously at Will. " Kill us . Christ, Will, they're going to kill us."
    The Bushmen began to shuffle slowly forward, closing in on the two Burrows.
    "Is it all right to panic now?" Will asked, frantically scanning around the circle of bushmen to see if there was anywhere he could break through it.
    Dr. Burrows didn't offer an answer, but gulped loudly.
    Will had a brainwave. "The symbols on the wall... I'm going to try something," he whispered urgently. He stuck his hand inside his shirt and tore the pendant Uncle Tam had given him from around his neck. Then he brandished it at the bushmen, showing it to as many of them as he could, as if he was fending off a gang of blood-crazed vampires with a crucifix. "Quick -- tell them something, Dad... tell them I'm their ruler, their king or something, and that they have to obey us and let us stay here."
    Dr. Burrows was no help. "Er," he'd just mumbled, when one of the bushmen lashed out, sending the pendant spinning from Will's hand. Another of them said something which sounded curt, even in their ungainly tongue.
    "Oh," was all Will could manage, noticing that the bushmen's eyes now looked even more hostile, and how they were raising their weapons.
    "That didn't do us any good," Dr. Burrows said. "He just swore at you -- he called you a thief. There's no way they're going to let us stay here now."
    "Thanks a bunch, Uncle Tam," Will muttered.
    As one of the trees stepped forward and raised his sword, there was a massive thump, which made Will's teeth rattle. The whole chamber seemed to shake, rafts of dust showering down over the Burrows and the circle of bushmen.
    "What the hell was that?" Dr. Burrows asked.
    A few pieces of masonry crashed onto the floor. Then a larger block of stone detached from the ceiling and struck a slightly shorter bushman on the head. He simply toppled backwards to the ground. His fellow bushmen turned to look at him, but none of them went to his aid.
    "Timber?" Will quipped. The hopelessness of their current predicament was beginning to get to him -- he still couldn't quite believe that he and his father had eluded the Limiters and almost certain death, only to be plunged into another equally dangerous situation. Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire. And even though the bushmen now seemed to be backing off a little as they talked amongst themselves in rapid exchanges, he couldn't see how he and his father were going to escape and rejoin Elliott.
    "What was that?" Dr. Burrows repeated, blinking at the ceiling above. "An explosion?"
    "Yes, Dad," Will replied resignedly. "It's the Limiters... they're trying to blow a hole through to get at us." He sighed. "So if these freaky trees don't do us in first, the Styx will. Great. Bloody great."

    * * * * *

    Under the reduced gravity, the explosion sent