Tunnels 05 - Spiral

herself to make sure he was never left by himself. To begin with, she’d tried to take Chester’s mind off his grief by talking to him, but after he continued to show no interest whatsoever, she just sat silently beside him.
    So Will found himself on his own. He floated around in the darkness of the Complex, feeling like a fifth wheel because there wasn’t anything in particular he could do to help anyone.
    And Chester wasn’t alone in staying awake; Drake and Parry hardly slept a wink as they struggled to come up with a way out of the Complex, or a means to summon assistance. Mrs. Burrows put out canned food in the kitchen for everyone to help themselves, and when Will ventured in there, he would often stop to listen to Drake and Parry’s lengthy discussions. They sometimes had Colonel Bismarck, Eddie, or Sergeant Finch in attendance, but father and son would be doing most of the talking.
    The first initiative Will overheard was Parry’s proposal to blow open the doors to one or more of the other levels, so additional air would be released. When he’d tried to explore them, Will found out for himself that the third, fourth, and fifth levels had each been sealed off by their own autolocking blast doors after the explosion in the Hub. When Will had asked Parry why this was, he’d said it was a measure to protect anyone in them if the integrity of the Complex was compromised.
    Drake had immediately come out against Parry’s idea, arguing that it wouldn’t provide them with an appreciable amount of extra air. And, after many calculations, it was decided that using explosives in the belly of the Complex would be too risky, and probably consume much of the extra air anyway as they went off.
    After more fruitless discussions, Drake and Eddie began to pursue a second initiative. With Sergeant Finch’s help, they had located the microfiche plans of the Complex. Will didn’t know what a microfiche was, so he watched with interest as Drake managed to get Danforth’s document scanner running on a string of industrial batteries. Once Drake had scanned the microfiches — as Will found out, these were postcard-sized transparencies with miniature photographs of various documents — he was able to increase the magnification sufficiently that they could be read on the laptop screen.
    Drake and Eddie took turns scouring this documentation — mostly architects’ drawings of the Complex’s structure, and wiring schematics down to the very last detail. Neither of them had said what they were looking for, but they still spent hours poring over them.
    Another initiative had been to use the radio antennae concealed in the electricity pylon on the mountain outside to send out a Mayday distress signal. However, after firing up one of the Hub radio transmitters, it became clear that Danforth had anticipated this. Despite trying everything he could think of, Drake didn’t get anywhere. Danforth had either used circuit breakers or planted more explosives to put the antennae out of action.
    It all looked pretty bleak, and the discussions between Drake and Parry became increasingly lackluster as the ideas ran out.
    But after hearing Parry refer to an arsenal on Level 6 — the lowest floor of the Complex — Will made up his mind to go down there and have a proper scout around. Besides, he was certain it was already becoming harder to breathe up in the Hub. This may have been all in his mind, but it was beginning to make him feel a little claustrophobic.
    He’d gone via his quarters to collect his luminescent orb and was en route for the stairs when he bumped into Stephanie. She was back to her old self; she’d washed her hair and smelled fresh. Will noticed that she was even wearing makeup. In all the grime and gloom of the Complex, she shone with a radiance that made Will’s heart skip a beat.
    “You look fantastic,” he found himself saying.
    “Thank you, Will,” she said with a small smile. “I think I’ve really done my bit for Sergeant Finch.” Will knew that she’d spent days keeping the old man company because he’d been so distraught following the death of his cats. “He’s a sweetie, but . . .” leaning conspiratorially toward Will, she continued, “. . . he’s a tad smelly. So I thought I totally deserved some time out. Some quality
me
time.”
    She asked Will where he was off to and insisted that she go, too. Will realized how grateful he was for the companionship.
    “It’s really spooky, isn’t