Tunnels 04, Closer

are -- fellow seekers of knowledge. They'll treat us with respect. We're no threat to them, and we've done them no harm." He genuinely didn't seem to be concerned by their predicament. After a moment of silence, he spoke again. "You know... waiting here in the dark like this has reminded me there's something I keep meaning to ask you."
    "What's that, Dad?" Will replied distantly, not taking much notice of him.
    "Cast your mind back to when you were in the Deeps... on the Great Plain... did you by any chance come across a Coprolite barge on the canal system? It had three Coprolites on it?"
    " What? I don't think this is the time or the pl--" Will began to object.
    "No, listen -- at the beginning, there were three of you, right? You, Chester and whatsisname... Col... Colin?"
    "Cal," Will said, an edge to his voice because he found it inexcusable that his father couldn't even get his dead brother's name right. "Yes, we were all together when we saw a Coprolite barge," he said with a sigh.
    "I knew it! I just knew it!" Dr. Burrows exclaimed, his voice rising a tone in his excitement. "I was on that barge, in a Coprolite dust suit. As I think back to that moment, I'm certain I saw the three of you! I saw you !"
    "No?" Will replied, with genuine amazement as he recalled the incident. Cal had remarked that one of the Coprolites was acting completely out of character. "I don't believe it! We came that close, and had no idea. That's so weird! If only we'd known."
    Dr. Burrows laughed. "Yes, but we're together now, and that's what really matters. Will, I can honestly say that working with you in this incredible world has made it, without question, one of the happiest times of my life. If not the happiest. I'm so very proud of you."
    "Dad," Will managed, overwhelmed by emotion as he absorbed his father's words. He didn't quite know how to respond to this overt show of affection from him. "Yes, it's been... such..." Will began, but trailed off as, all of a sudden, there was frenetic rustling all around them. Will completely forgot what he and his father had been discussing as he became anxious again. "Why are they doing that?" he asked in an urgent whisper. "You should light a match so we can see."
    "Better not -- I might set fire to one of them. Just keep your nerve, Will," Dr. Burrows replied. "I'll stake my reputation on there being an underground network, connecting these pyramids, and that's where they'll take us, in just a minute. Somewhere away from the Styx."
    Will became even more unnerved as the rustling reached fever pitch around them. "No, I'm not going to just stand here and do nothing. Give me the matches, Dad, right now," he insisted.
    He never received a response from his father. There was a grinding sound from close by, and they were enveloped in dazzling light. Simultaneously, they were propelled forward with such force that both of them lost their balance, tumbling over. But far from landing on a hard surface as Will had expected, he encountered soft ground and felt grass under his hands.
    "Too bright," he groaned, as he attempted to open his eyes in the glare of the sunlight. He caught a glimpse of the edge of the jungle some distance away.
    "The pyramid!" his father cried in alarm. "We're outside the pyramid again!"
    Will flicked his head around. His father was right. They were at the foot of the pyramid. He was able to distinguish vague shapes on it -- shapes of men, and they were coming toward him. Then he heard a voice he knew only too well, and his heart almost stopped.
    It was a voice he thought he'd never hear again.
    "Where did you two spring from?" it shouted down at them.
    "Rebecca!" Will gasped.
    Then there was another voice, identical to the first but from a different part of the pyramid. "Oh, looky here, I do believe it's the dynamic duo!"
    "NO!" Will shrieked, as it clicked that not just one, but both of them were still alive.
    As he tried to crawl away, he came across his Sten gun in the grass. The bushmen had thrown it out at the same time as he and his father were ejected. Snatching it up, Will wheeled around and pulled the trigger. He managed to loose off some shots, blindly spraying the pyramid in the hope he'd hit one or the other of the Rebeccas. The rounds were ricocheting off the stonework in all directions.
    He was halfway through the magazine when he was struck on the back of the head, pistol-whipped by a Limiter.
    Then there was no more blinding light.

    * * * * *

    "Got to take it