Tunnels 05 - Spiral

was more rarefied and it was becoming harder to breathe.
    Will peered around at everybody. As their eyes reflected the glow of the computer screen, the sense of anticipation radiating from them was tangible. At least here was some hope. Not one of the other ideas had come to anything, and Will had begun to think only a miracle could save them now.
    “Eddie and I have been going over the original construction plans for the Complex with a fine-toothed comb,” Drake said. He scrolled through a succession of pages on the screen. “Here are some cross-section schematics of the mountain to show how this installation sits inside it.” He settled on an illustration and tapped the screen with his finger. “You can see there’s a substantial margin of rock around the Complex, to protect it.”
    “That was the basic idea,” Parry mumbled.
    Eddie took over from Drake. “Nothing jumped out at us at first, but then we cross-referenced these construction plans with a geological survey undertaken in the fifties.”
    Drake opened another window on the screen, which showed more cross sections of the mountain, but without any sign of the Complex. “This report referred to several areas toward the mid-contours of the mountain where the erosion was particularly marked.” Drake indicated one of the drawings. “And we noticed that on the northern face of the mountain — just above the small ledge you can see there — the erosion was quite considerable. Add another sixty-odd years of water action and frost damage, and even more of the rock will have been worn away.”
    “The freeze-thaw cycle,” Will chimed in, then wished he hadn’t as Parry gave him a sharp look.
    “So how does all this help us, exactly?” the old man asked.
    “Time and water erosion wait for no man.” Drake smiled as he went back to the first window and dragged an image from it. “It helps us because if you overlay the geological report with the construction plans, the area of accelerated erosion is” — he pointed at the plan — “right next to the external wall at the end of Level 2.”
    “So it’s the most vulnerable point in the Complex,” Eddie said. “And if we were to plant every last piece of explosive against that wall, there’s a slim chance we could blow a way out for ourselves.”
    Parry whistled. “High-stakes stuff,” he said. As Parry leaned on a neighboring desk and began to tug his beard in thought, Will noticed that everyone’s eyes were on him. Stephanie even had her mouth open and was shaping words as if she was willing him to decide that the scheme was feasible.
    Parry was shaking his head when he eventually spoke again. “I see what you’re saying, but the volume of explosive material in the arsenal will be a limiting factor. And even if we plowed ahead with every last stick, if the plan fails, all the remaining oxygen in the Complex will have been used up. We’d have brought forward the last curtain call.” With a sniff, he crossed his arms. “Besides that, what’s left of the Complex might just come crashing down on our heads.”
    “Er . . . Commander,” Sergeant Finch began. “Aren’t you forgetting someth —”
    “No, Finch, I’m not!” Parry snapped savagely at him.
    Drake was looking from his father to Sergeant Finch and then back again as he tried to work out what their exchange had been all about. “If there’s something you two aren’t telling us, I think we have a right to know.”
    Parry was on his feet in an instant. “No,” he barked. “There are some things that
nobody
has a right to know. And Finch here has spoken out of turn, when he doesn’t know the whole story.”
    Mrs. Burrows’s voice was quiet and controlled as she joined the conversation. “Parry, we’re the only people in the world who are aware that the Phase might still be under way. And we’re the only ones who can do anything to stop it. So what can be so important that you’re prepared to let us all die in this place?”
    Parry was looking at the ground and tensing a leg as if he was racked with indecision. He suddenly raised his head to his son. “Are you certain that we’ve got a chance with this cockamamie idea of yours? Are you absolutely certain?”
    “Within the tolerances of the drawings we’ve seen, and on the assumption that more erosion has taken place . . . yes,” Drake replied. “The only real negative is that we could do with two or three times the amount of explosive to punch through the